By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – St. Louis-based Monsanto has avoided government penalties by agreeing to take over an environmental cleanup in Sauget, Ill.
The Justice Department had set yesterday's deadline for Monsanto to either outline a cleanup plan or contend with penalties that could have included fines or legal action.
The company is picking up work dropped by Solutia Incorporated, a bankrupt chemical maker that Monsanto spun off in a corporate reshuffle in the 1990s.
The work involves cleaning up dioxins, heavy metals, industrial chemicals and PCBs dumped from the 1930s through 1979.
Sauget is just across the river from St. Louis. The town used to be called Monsanto.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the materials contaminate Dead Creek, soil and sediment, and threaten the Mississippi River.