Defending Against State PCB Contamination Claims

Project Summary

When an energy company was sued by a state attorney general for alleged PCB contamination throughout the state, Integral provided scientific analysis and expert testimony demonstrating no connection between the client’s facilities and environmental impacts. The case settled favorably before trial. 

Challenge

The state attorney general sued our client for allegedly causing statewide PCB contamination.

Our client was sued by the state attorney general for allegedly causing PCB contamination throughout the state, creating significant financial liability and reputational risk for the company. The case presented substantial technical challenges with limited environmental data that was old and difficult to access, while time constraints prevented collecting new field data to support the defense. 

The client needed expert scientific analysis regarding the presence or absence of relations between their operations and alleged environmental impacts, requiring sophisticated chemical forensics and fate-and-transport evaluations. Counsel required clear, defensible scientific arguments that could be effectively communicated to legal teams and potentially to the judge and jury, who were expected to be unfamiliar with complex environmental chemistry. 

Our Role

We provided comprehensive scientific analysis despite data limitations and critical review of opposing experts’ testimony.   

Our team applied graphical and statistical fingerprinting techniques to evaluate potential contamination sources and developed a conceptual site model to illustrate chemical fate and transport. We performed on-site and off-site ecological risk assessments to characterize potential risks posed by PCBs. 

What We Delivered

Integral delivered scientific evidence and common-sense arguments that addressed the state’s contamination claims through rigorous analysis and clear expert testimony. 

Our expert reports demonstrated no relationship between client facilities and alleged environmental impacts. We showed that the concentrations of PCBs in soil and fish tissue were too low to pose significant ecological risk. We developed visual communication tools that enabled legal teams to present complex scientific concepts effectively, and we provided effective expert testimony based on common-sense arguments understandable to non-experts. 

We integrated multiple analytical approaches spanning chemical forensics, fate and transport evaluation, and ecological risk assessment. Our team developed novel visualization methods for presenting technical findings to non-technical audiences and applied advanced statistical methods to distinguish contamination sources in data-limited environments. 

The Result

Our client achieved a favorable settlement prior to trial, avoiding substantial financial liability and protecting their corporate reputation. 

Ecological risk assessments, fate and transport analyses, and forensic analyses were crucial to the project’s success. Our scientific analysis demonstrated no nexus between the client’s facilities and environmental impacts, leading to settlement without the risks and costs of trial.