"WINFIELD, W.Va. -- A proposed settlement has been reached in a huge class-action lawsuit where Nitro residents say the chemical giant Monsanto unsafely burned dioxin wastes and spread contaminated soot and dust across Nitro, polluting homes with unsafe levels of the chemical."

"In a hearing Thursday in Putnam Circuit Court, Judge Derek Swope raised several questions about the proposed agreement and how residents would be notified of it.

For more than 50 years, the former Monsanto plant churned out herbicides, rubber products and other chemicals. The plant's production of Agent Orange created dioxin as a toxic chemical byproduct."

Kate White reports for the Charleston Gazette February 23, 2012. [2]