AVX to pay $366 million for New Bedford Harbor cleanup

   Under a settlement with the federal government, electrical component maker AVX Corp. (Greenville, SC) has agreed to contribute in excess of $366 million to the ongoing cleanup of New Bedford Harbor, a cash infusion that federal officials say will accelerate the cleanup and allow the work to be completed in five to seven more years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) long ago identified AVX as a responsible party for the contamination of New Bedford Harbor, based on the company’s operation of a capacitor manufacturing plant at the northern end of the harbor and its discharge of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous substances into the water body. The cleanup involves dredging the contaminated sediments and disposing of them in a “confined aquatic disposal cell” in the lower harbor and in other facilities to be constructed in the area.