The Montrose Chemical Corporation of California was a chemical corporation that was the largest producer of the insecticide

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from 1947 until it stopped production in 1982. Its improper disposal of chemical waste from DDT production resulted in serious environmental damage to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

near

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

,Kehoe, T., & Jacobson, C. (2003)
"Environmental Decision Making and DDT Production at Montrose Chemical Corporation of California"
''Enterprise & Society'', 4(4), 640-675. Retrieved April 27, 2021. and its former main plant in Harbor Gateway South area of

near

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

has been designated as a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

site by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

Environmental impact

Between the late 1950s and early 1970s, the company was responsible for discharging an estimated 1,700 tons of DDT into the ocean via the county's sewer system, which contaminated sediment on the ocean floor off the coast of

.Cleaning Up the Palos Verdes Shelf , Region 9: Superfund , US EPA
last updated July 26, 2007. In addition, the company dumped hundreds of thousands of barrels containing waste laced with DDT at a deep sea site located between the California coast and Santa Catalina Island during the same time period. Some of the barrels were dumped considerably closer to the coast than the designated deep sea site, and many of the barrels were punctured beforehand to ensure that they would sink. In 2011 and 2013, Professor David Valentine and a research team at

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

discovered barrels of DDT leaking on the ocean floor which extended well beyond the spills at Montrose's Superfund site. A grant was awarded to the

Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for oceanography, ocean and Earth science research ...

in 2022 to fully characterize the dumpsite situation. DDT and

polychlorinated biphenyl Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

s (PCBs) move from contaminated sediments into the water, so although the dumping of DDT stopped in 1982, the Palos Verdes Shelf remains contaminated. DDT and PCBs enter the

food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...

through worms and micro-organisms living in the sediment. Fish may eat many of these organisms, causing the DDT and PCBs to accumulate in fish tissue. Fish-eating birds, marine mammals, and birds of prey that feed on both accumulate more of the toxins. Since 1985, fish consumption advisories and health warnings have been posted in Southern California because of elevated DDT and PCB levels. Bottom-feeding fish are particularly at risk for high contamination levels. Consumption of

white croaker White croaker (''Genyonemus lineatus'') is a species of croaker occurring in the Eastern Pacific. White croakers have been taken from Magdalena Bay, Baja California, to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, but are not abundant north of San Francis ...

, which has the highest contamination levels, should be avoided. Other bottom-feeding fish, including

kelp bass ''Paralabrax clathratus'', the kelp bass, bull bass or calico bass, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea bass from the subfamily Serraninae, classified as part of the family Serranidae which includes the groupers and anthias. It is foun ...

rockfish Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks. The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food. This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and ca ...

queenfish The queenfish (''Seriphus politus'') is a species of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, where it occurs along the North American coastline from Oregon to Baja California; it has been ...

black croaker Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

, sheepshead, surfperches and

sculpin A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand a ...

, are also highly contaminated. As a part of the

project, the EPA is looking to reinforce the commercial and recreational fishing ban on white croaker. Until as recently as 2007,

bald eagles The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

on Santa Catalina Island were unable to reproduce because the DDT caused their eggshells to become too thin and to break open before the

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

was fully developed.

California sea lion The California sea lion (''Zalophus californianus'') is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lions. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of C ...

s have high levels of DDT and a high rate of cancer which is rare in wild animals.

Lawsuits

In October 1989, the former Montrose Chemical site was added to the Superfund

National Priorities List The National Priorities List (NPL) is the priority list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanup) financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protec ...

. In 1990, the

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

filed lawsuits against Montrose Chemical and nine other facilities near the

Palos Verdes The Palos Verdes Peninsula (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a landform and a geographic sub-region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. Located in the Sou ...

peninsula, citing damages to the nearby marine environment. In December 2000, the Montrose Chemical Corporation of California and three other corporations settled their lawsuits for a collective $73 million. When combined with prior lawsuits, this brought the total up to $140 million to fund the restoration of the Palos Verdes Shelf marine environment.

References

External links

* * * {{cite web , title =Region 9: Superfund , publisher =

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, date =May 27, 2009 , url =http://www.epa.gov/region09/superfund/index.html , accessdate =July 21, 2009 Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Disasters in California Environmental disasters in the United States Environmental issues in California Health disasters in the United States History of Los Angeles County, California Superfund sites in California 1947 establishments in California 1982 disestablishments in California

Environmental impact

Lawsuits

See also

References

Further reading

External links