"DuPont Agrees To $1.3M in Chemical Leak Fines"

"DuPont Co. has agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million in fines to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to resolve violations the EPA cited after a string of 2010 chemical leaks, including one that killed a worker at the company’s plant in Belle, EPA officials announced Wednesday.

The proposed deal, filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston, settles EPA allegations that DuPont violated provisions of federal air pollution, chemical management, and public right-to-know laws and requires the Wilmington, Delaware-based chemical giant to implement a variety of environmental and workplace safety reforms.

Among other things, EPA officials alleged that DuPont officials allowed one leak to go on for five days without taking action, ignored internal safety recommendations that could have prevented a second incident, and did not timely replace a worn-out hose used to transfer toxic phosgene gas in a fatal January 2010 incident."

Ken Ward Jr. reports for the Charleston Gazette August 27, 2014.

SEE ALSO:

"Dupont Fined $1.275 Million in West Virginia Toxic Pollution Case" (Reuters)