One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies is set to pay Bay Area cities tens of millions of dollars after settling a class action lawsuit involving PCBs, a toxic chemical compound manufactured by Monsanto that seeped for decades into storm water, sediment and the area’s rivers, streams and lakes.
German-based Bayer, which acquired the now defunct Monsanto in 2018, will dole out $36.5 million in total to 13 Bay Area cities and Alameda County. The recipients include large cities — San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco — and smaller ones, including Antioch, Alameda, San Leandro and Vallejo.
The lawsuit, which stretches back to March 2015 in the U.S. District Court