DuPont to pay $4m fine in US environmental case

20 July 2007 22:46  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--DuPont Co. will pay a civil penalty of $4m (€3m) and make $66m worth of air pollution control improvements at four sulphur products plants to settle federal environmental allegations, US officials and DuPont said on Friday.

 

However, DuPont disagrees with the federal government’s interpretation of environmental regulations governing the case.

 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) alleged in a joint statement that DuPont made modifications to four of its US sulphuric acid production facilities without first obtaining construction permits from EPA and installing required pollution control equipment.

 

Under 1977 Clean Air Act amendments and EPA’s new source review (NSR) regulations, chemical plants and other manufacturing facilities making “major modifications” must obtain an advance permit from the agency, which specifies what construction may be done and what emissions limits the modified facility must meet.

 

The NSR rules do not apply to routine maintenance, but industry and EPA have differed sharply over what facility improvements constitute routine maintenance or qualify as major modifications.

 

Although it agreed to pay the civil penalty of $4.125m as part of a consent agreement disposing of the federal allegations, DuPont said in a statement that it disagrees with EPA’s interpretation of the new source review regulations in the case.

 

The company said the work it did at sulphur processing facilities in Louisiana, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky was “routine maintenance, repair and replacement projects for safety, efficiency and reliability, but none of the projects resulted in an increase in emissions”.

 

However, DuPont said that rather than contest the EPA interpretations it “has chosen to work co-operatively with EPA to resolve the disagreement”.

 

The states of Louisiana, Virginia and Ohio joined in the settlement and will receive shares of the civil penalty, the Justice Department said.

 

($1 = €0.72)

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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