"WASHINGTON - The U.S. subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Corporation will pay $2.85 million to settle civil charges it violated federal air pollution laws after a series of fires and explosions at its petrochemical manufacturing plant in Texas injured some of its workers, the Justice Department said on Monday.

In its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the Justice Department said that during the fires at the company's Point Comfort, Texas, plant from May 2013 through October 2016, workers suffered serious injuries including second- and third-degree burns, as well as chlorine inhalation.

The Clean Air Act requires companies to identify potential hazards, maintain safe facilities and minimize the consequences of accidental releases. The measure was put into place by Congress following a 1984 release of methyl isocyanate in Bhopal, India, which left more than 3,400 people dead and another 200,000 people injured."

Sarah N. Lynch reports for Reuters September 13, 2021. [2]