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DUPONT EMISSIONS STILL UNDER SCOPE - Safety Standards Being Questioned |
| (03/14/2003) |
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The West Virginia EPA Thursday asked DuPont Co. for more information to determine if the levels of C8 in air around the
company's Wood County plant are safe. The agency has requested stack-by-stack C8 emission figures. John Benedict, deputy director of the DEP Division of Air Quality, said DuPont data previously submitted is "insufficient for future C8 compliance demonstrations." Benedict indicated the company may have possible violations of a C8 concentration limit that DEP established last year. "In order for DAQ to be able to monitor compliance through air dispersion modeling to estimate concentrations of C8 around the Washington Works facility, it is imperative that DuPont report C8 emissions for each individual stack," Benedict wrote. Safety concerns have been raised by residents in the area who filed suits against DuPont over contamination to water wells, which the company has denied. The DuPont's Washington works has used C8, which can ben a toxic substance, since 1951 to make polymers that are used in the production of Teflon. Federal officials launched a priority review of C8 because of concerns about human health. Under a November 2001 agreement, DuPont promised to cut C8 water and air emissions in half from 1999 levels by the end of this year. A company spokesperson said Thursday C8 emissions in 2002 were 77 percent below 1999 levels. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said that it had found C8 concentrations in neighboring communities that exceeded what workplace safety officials said might be considered safe. Ohio EPA said the results raised "our level of concern" regarding DuPont plant neighbors' exposure to C8. DuPont officials continue to say there is no health problem. |
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