In victory for children, city agrees to speed up removal of PCBs from schools
Out by end of 2016
After a two year legal battle, the Bloomberg administration agreed to cut in half its ten-year timeline to remove light fixtures containing toxic PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl ) from more than 750 New York City public schools, many in Brooklyn.
Announced Monday, the settlement requires the city to remove all PCB light fixtures by the end of 2016, five years earlier that its original plan.
“This settlement is a real victory for New York City parents, students and schools staff as in three and a half years, our public schools will finally be free of these toxic PCB light fixtures,” said Christina Giorgio, attorney for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), which brought the litigation with White & Case.