ConAgra Grocery Products Co., a major U.S. food company that makes Chef Boyardee, among many other brands, has agreed to pay a federal agency $5.7 million for environmental cleanup costs at a former tannery site in Western Maine.
The Maine Public Broadcasting Network reported that ConAgra recently reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for cleanup costs at the former tannery site in South Paris that became the Nebraska-based company’s responsibility through “a series of complex corporate transactions.”
When the former tannery site was operated as A.C. Lawrence Leather, the company had dumped tannery sludge into several surrounding lagoons between the 1950s and 1970s. After South Paris reported finding “green ooze” on the banks of the Androscoggin River in 2000, the EPA eventually designated the area as a federal Superfund site.
The settlement is pending approval by the U.S. District Court.