SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — An eight-year-old lawsuit
filed against PG&E Co. for alleged releases of dioxin from stored utility
poles into San Francisco Bay and Humboldt Bay has been settled, according to
the environmental group that filed the lawsuit.
The Ecological Rights Foundation, based in
Garberville (Humboldt County), alleged in its 2010 lawsuit that dioxin, a
chemical that causes cancer and birth defects, was carried by storm water
runoff from treated wooden utility poles, sawdust and wood waste into the two
bays.
The settlement was signed by U.S. District Judge
Richard Seeborg in San Francisco on Friday and announced by the foundation on
Monday.
Under the agreement, which will remain in effect
through 2026, PG&E will identify storage yards containing treated poles and
will test and implement technologies for reducing dioxin runoff to levels that
pose lower risk to human health and wildlife.
The technologies could include storage
improvements, such as covering poles or keeping them indoors; improvements in
storm water treatment; and possibly the use of different materials, such as
cement or steel, for utility poles, according to foundation attorney Fredric
Evenson.
Evenson said, “Dioxins are among the most toxic
chemicals known to science.
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