Company Asks Judge to Stop Demolition of Contaminated School

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) –The manufacturer of chemicals that are forcing Vermont’s largest city to tear down its high school wants to block the demolition, saying that would result in the destruction of evidence.

Burlington’s school board sued Monsanto in federal court on Dec. 9, more than two years after PCBs were found during renovations to the school. It was closed. City voters approved a $165 million bond last month to help pay for a new school.

Officials hope to begin demolition in January, build the new school on site, and open in 2025.

Monsanto and new owner Bayer on Monday filed a motion in a related lawsuit from two school employees, asking a judge to stop the demolition until it can conduct a full campus inspection.

“The stakes are simply too high to play a game of chicken with a wrecking ball, especially when the delay being sought is reasonable and necessary,” the motion said.

Burlington High School students are attending classes in a renovated Macy’s department store in the city’s downtown.

VT Digger reported that Bayer, which purchased Monsanto in 2018, said in a statement hat the lawsuit “has no merit but hopefully it will shed light on the role of the state of Vermont, the Burlington School District and the manufacturers of the building products at issue in creating the perfect storm that resulted in unwarranted actions to abandon the school, move students to a converted Macy’s, cancel renovation plans and spend $165 million, more than twice the renovation cost, to build a new high school – actions that could have been avoided.”

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Burlington, seeks compensation for the mitigation and removal of the PCBs, VT Digger reported. The lawsuit also demands that Monsanto pay the cost of building a new school, estimated at around $190 million.

PCBs are toxic industrial chemicals, now banned, that have accumulated in plants, fish, birds and people for decades. PCBs were used in many industrial and commercial applications, including in paint, coolants, sealants and hydraulic fluids.