SETTLEMENT REACHED IN BAYER CROPSCIENCE 2008 EXPLOSION - Company Withheld Disaster Reporting, Compared To Bhobal Consequences

(09/23/2015)

The Bayer CropScience chemical company has agreed to a settlement of a Kanawha County explosion that killed two in 2008, which was described as a catastrophe that could rival the Bhopal disaster, threatening tens of thousands of Kanawha Valley resident. Bayer CropScience has agreed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice that calls for the company to spend $4.23 million to improve emergency preparedness and response in Institute and to protect the Kanawha River from toxic pollution. Bayer CropScience has also agreed to pay a $975,000 fine and spend $452,000 on a series of measures to improve chemical storage facilities across the country as part of deal with federal regulators over allegations of safety violations that helped cause the massive 2008 explosion. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board blamed the explosion on "significant lapses" in plant safety practices. At the time of the explosion, company managers reportedly told employees to withhold vital information, including the actual reporting of the explosion to Kanawha County responders. Kanawha County officials were appalled by the cover-up, and then felt that the company shifted hundreds of jobs from the local plant in retaliation. See BAYER WOULDN'T GIVE 911 INFORMATION ABOUT EXPLOSION BAYER CROPSCIENCE KEEPING EXPLOSION DETAILS SECRET EARTH DAY 2009: BAYER EXPLOSION COULD HAVE EQUALED BOPHAL KANAWHA RESIDENTS BLAST BAYER FOR EXPLOSION, SECRECY

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