EPA ISSUES LARGEST FINE EVER AGAINST DUPONT - $16 Million Fine Linked To Alleged Cover-Up

(12/15/2005)
In a new set-back for chemical giant DuPont, the company has been ordered to pay millions of dollars to settle allegations that it failed to report information about a chemical used to make Teflon.

DuPont has agreed to pay ten-and-a-quarter million dollars in fines and six-and-a-quarter million dollars for environmental projects.

The Environmental Protection Agency says the settlement represents the largest civil administrative penalty their agency has ever obtained under any federal environmental statute.

DuPont lawyer Stacey Mobley says the company could have litigated the case for years but wanted to move forward.

The settlement involves action taken against DuPont by the EPA for allegedly withholding information about the chemical known as P-F-O-A.

Some of those documents are purported to say that DuPont covered up health problems to their workers and the community years ago, including birth defects of newborn children.

The company has already agreed to pay millions for alleged problems related to the dumping of C-8 in Wood County, and are currently conducting a massive health examination program which reportedly involves 60,000 people.

A civil suit alleged that the chemical company has affected the public water supply.