Agreement Reached to Address Contamination in Anniston, Calhoun County, Alabama.

Business Editors & Environmental Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2000

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Solutia, Inc. have reached agreement, an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC), for a Superfund removal action at the Anniston PCB Superfund site in Anniston, Calhoun County, Alabama.

A removal is a short-term cleanup intended to stabilize or clean up a site that poses an imminent and substantial threat to human health or the environment.

According to the terms of the AOC, Solutia will:

    --  continue the sampling effort initiated by EPA in the
        neighborhoods surrounding the Solutia facility and along Snow
        Creek, and the un-named stream in the 9th Street/Eulaton
        Street area;

    --  offer to remove contaminated surface soil from properties
        where polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentration is 10 parts
        per million or higher. Property owners generally will be
        allowed to choose whether they want the cleanup. Properties
        from which soil is removed will be restored as close as
        possible to their original condition;

    --  sample dust inside houses and remove the dust if the PCB
        concentration is greater than 2 parts per million (for
        properties requiring cleanup); and

    --  clean up the 11th Street Ditch that flows from the Solutia
        facility into Snow Creek.

All work associated with the AOC will be under the authority and oversight of EPA's Emergency Response and Removal Branch.

The Anniston PCB site consists of residential areas around the Solutia, Inc. (formerly Monsanto) plant in West Anniston where soil and stream sediments are contaminated with PCBs. PCBs were manufactured in Anniston from 1929 to 1971.

NOTE: EPA will hold a press availability on Monday, October 23, 2000 from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. at the Anniston PCB site Community Relations Center, 1313 Noble Street in Anniston. EPA officials will be available to provide detailed information regarding the Agreement. Copies of the Agreement will be available upon request.