D.C.’s Attorney General announced a historic environmental settlement with a local energy company over the company’s alleged contamination of the Anacostia River, with the company agreeing to pay $57 million for cleanup and penalties.
In a Tuesday news conference, Attorney General Brian Schwalb announced the agreement with the Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco). The company will spend $47 million towards cleaning up the Anacostia River, as well as contamination found at its Buzzard Point and Benning Road facilities. They must also investigate their current and historic environmental impact on the company’s underground, District-wide system of transformer vaults.
An additional $10 million will be for penalties.
“For far too long, District residents have been deprived of fully enjoying one of our greatest environmental resources – the Anacostia River – due to chronic, illegal, and intentional pollution. For decades, Pepco routinely discharged hazardous chemicals into soil, groundwater, and storm sewers, which fouled the Anacostia River, deprived us of the river’s many benefits, and endangered public health and safety. And as is too often the case, communities of color East of the River bore the brunt of the company’s illegal conduct,” said AG Schwalb in a statement.
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