DuPont Saddles Chemours With Potential Liabilitie
DuPont is said to have burdened its newly listed Performance Chemicals spin-off Chemours with potential liabilities at 171 of its US production sites.
Reports said as many as 25 active facilities could be involved, with potential investors left in the dark as to how much capital will be required to respond to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleanup demands. Personal injury lawsuits are another threat.
DuPont has quantified potential cleanup costs of up to $945 million. A cleanup at Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, where explosives were manufactured 97 years, could potentially cost $116 million, according to a Chemours estimate. EPA is said to be still investigating the property.
Environmental costs for a site in Parkersburg, West Virginia, which up to 2013 made perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a starting material used in DuPont’s Teflon brand coatings, could reach $1 billion, according to a pressure group called Keep Your Promises DuPont.
Altogether, Chemours is believed to face 3,500 personal injury and 32 wrongful death claims involving Parkersburg.
The new standalone company estimates the cost of removing PFOA pollution at its sites at around $14 million. It also will be required to fund up to $235 million for medical monitoring in the Parkersburg community and pay any liabilities arising from the suits.
