McDonnell Douglas Settles Pollution Lawsuit : Manufacturing: It will install emission-control equipment at Long Beach, Huntington Beach plants.

McDonnell Douglas Corp. has agreed to install $600,000 in air-pollution control technology to settle a California lawsuit alleging that the company failed to warn the public about toxic emissions at manufacturing plants in Huntington Beach and Long Beach.

The St. Louis-based aerospace contractor’s proposed settlement with the state was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren said. McDonnell Douglas also agreed to pay $125,000 in penalties, investigative costs and payments to the California Public Health Foundation.

The lawsuit stemmed from California’s Proposition 65, which requires companies to provide a clear and reasonable warning before potentially exposing people to chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects. The state was concerned about emissions of hexavalent chromium from two McDonnell Douglas aircraft manufacturing plants, Lungren said.

Installation of the pollution-control devices will reduce the amount of the chemical released in neighborhoods near the plants, Lungren said. In addition, the company will install specialized filters at two spray paint booths in Long Beach and one in Huntington Beach.

McDonnell Douglas’s commercial aircraft operations, which make the MD-80 twin-jet and MD-11 tri-jet, are concentrated in California. The company also builds the C-17 military transport plane in California.