DC Reaches $57 Million Settlement With Pepco Over Waste (1)

Electric company Pepco has agreed to pay $57 million to settle claims that it discharged toxic chemicals into Washington, D.C.’s Anacostia River for decades.

The money will be split between clean-up costs, remediation of two contaminated sites, and damages, according to a consent decree filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. This is the biggest environmental settlement in the district’s history, according to the attorney general’s office.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb called Tuesday’s announcement a “critical step” toward making the Anacostia swimmable again.

“The settlement we’re announcing today is paving the way” for all ...