An infusion of funds through a federally negotiated settlement with Greenville, S.C.-based AVX Corp., if approved by a federal court, will slash the cleanup schedule for the New Bedford Harbor Superfund site in Massachusetts, officials say.

In a settlement with federal agencies, AVX Corp. has agreed to pay more than $366 million, an infusion that officials say will dramatically speed up the long-running cleanup of the PCB-contaminated New Bedford, Mass., harbor.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of 209 chemicals that have very good thermal and electrical insulating properties, were widely used in industrial applications for decades beginning in 1929, when they were first commercially produced under the Aroclor trade name.