Settlement reached on Woburn Superfund cleanup

The federal government has reached a settlement with two companies over cleanup of a Superfund site in Woburn.

The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency filed the agreement on Wednesday in federal court in Boston.

The settlement resolves disagreements over the second phase of cleanup at the Industri-Plex site. Heavy metals and other contaminants are left over from more than a century of chemical and glue-making operations that ended in 1969.

The settlement spells out the cleanup obligations of two companies, Pharmacia and Bayer CropScience. Both firms are successors to companies that previously operated at the site.

Cleanup costs are estimated to be nearly $26 million for the second phase. (AP)