DuPont Settles With EPA

TheStreet.com, Staff
Published December 14, 2005

DuPont (DD:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle Environmental Protection Agency reporting-violation charges. The Wilmington, Del., chemicals giant neither admitted nor denied the agency's claims, which were linked to the company's handling of the synthetic chemical perfluorooctanoic acid. The EPA said the payout was the largest civil administrative penalty the agency has ever obtained under any federal environmental statute. The agency alleged DuPont violated both the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. DuPont said the agreement resolves four counts of reporting violations that were filed in 2004, one of which dates back to the 1980s. Four additional counts, raised by the agency in 2005, also were resolved. "Our interpretation of the reporting requirements differed from the agency's. The settlement allows us to put this matter behind us and move forward," said DuPont Senior Vice President and General Counsel Stacey J. Mobley. "We have already cut PFOA emissions from U.S. plant sites by 98%, and we are committed to reducing those emissions by 99% by 2007." DuPont will pay $10.25 million in fines and fund $6.25 million worth of environmental projects. In April, DuPont and EPA reached an agreement in principle and the company established a reserve of $15 million. The supplemental environmental projects include funding for a research program to evaluate the potential for fluorotelomer biodegradation; and funding for microchemistry and green chemistry programs in certain West Virginia schools. On Wednesday, DuPont rose 16 cents to $43.44.