MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont and Performance Materials NA (PMNA) have agreed to pay USD3.1m to the state of Texas as part of a settlement for alleged violations of several environmental laws at the Sabine River plant in Orange, Texas, said Reuters.
Under the settlement, DuPont and PMNA will conduct compliance audits, control benzene emissions, and perform other obligations to address violations at the facility. In a consent decree, filed 13 October, joint plaintiffs the United States, on behalf of the EPA, and the state of Texas claimed the Sabine facility violated hazardous waste, air, and water environmental laws during their respective times of ownership.
DuPont owned the facility until February 2019, when it was then transferred to PMNA, then a subsidiary of DuPont. PMNA is now a subsidiary of Dow. The alleged violations include a failure to make a hazardous waste determination, storage or disposal of hazardous wastes without a permit, failure to perform land disposal determinations and to meet applicable treatment standards for hazardous waste disposal, among other violations under the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.
The Sabine site is one of many similar industrial sites in along the Sabine river, which could lead to an increase in the “overall burden” of pollutants on local communities, the EPA said. Injunctive relief, which refers to restrains put in place to prevent a party to act a certain way, will be required.
The measures that will be taken will include, hiring a third-party auditor to locate and identify each waste streams, conducting a complete review and analysis of pH exceedance and tracking system to ensure it is operating properly, submitting a report that addresses the full nature and extent of the contamination, among others.
The decree also includes corrective action obligations for the surface impoundments and ditches onsite to ensure clean-up of any soil, sediment, or groundwater contamination, if identified through sampling. The consent decree was filed under the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and is subject to a 30-day public comment period.
It was erlier reported, DuPont is investing USD400 million in the production capacity of Tyvek nonwoven fabric made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) at its site in Luxembourg. A new building and a third work line at the production site will be constructed. The launch of new facilities is scheduled for 2021.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
The DuPont Corporation, founded in the USA in 1802, operates in more than 70 countries. The company produces specialty chemicals, offers goods and services for agriculture, food production, electronics, communications, security and protection, construction, transport and light industry. In Russia, DuPont has 100% control over the DuPont Khimprom plant since 2005, and in 2006 established a joint venture between DuPont - Russian Paints and Russian Paints.
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