Mass. harbor area gets $6.6m to restore PCB damage

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) -- Officials have distributed more than $6.6 million for six projects that aim to restore damage from decades of toxic PCB pollution in and near New Bedford Harbor.

The money is the final installment of a $20 million settlement, which increased to $30 million with interest, paid by electrical parts makers that released the cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls between the 1940s and 1970s.

The largest portion of the funding announced Monday was $2.9 million for a walkway along the Acushnet River in New Bedford. The funding also includes $1.3 million to begin restoration of Round Hill Marsh in Dartmouth. Another $1.2 million will help restore a sawmill property in Acushnet.

The money is distributed by the New Bedford Harbor Trustee Council, which is made up of state and federal officials.