KENTUCKY PLANT SETTLES ENVIRONMENTAL
LAWSUIT OVER SULFURIC ACID EMERGENCY
Release Date: 08/03/2000
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2000
KENTUCKY PLANT SETTLES ENVIRONMENTAL
LAWSUIT OVER SULFURIC ACID EMERGENCY
On Aug. 1, EPA and the Justice Department reached a $1.5 million settlement with E.I. du Pont de Nemours to settle Clean Air Act violations at its Wurtland, Ky., plant. In August 1995, the DuPont facility released more than 23,800 gallons of a sulfuric acid solution into the air over a four-hour period, creating a chemical cloud. Local authorities evacuated more than 1,000 residents from their homes, and several people underwent treatment for burns to their eyes, nasal passages and lungs. The Delaware-based company will pay an $850,000 penalty and will spend about $650,000 to create a state-of-the-art emergency notification system for 10 counties surrounding the plant. The charge arose from DuPont’s use of cast iron piping in a tank used to store oleum (sulfuric trioxide dissolved in sulfuric acid) and the company’s failure to inspect that piping. The oleum solution corroded the cast iron piping, which ultimately fractured and released the chemical into the atmosphere. Cast iron is susceptible to corrosion and abrupt cracking when in contact with oleum. The agreement was filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington, Ky. For more information, contact Wesley Lambert at 404-562-8316.
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