The Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, and the state of Texas have finally reached a settlement with E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) regarding the alleged hazardous waste, air, and water violations stemming from an explosion at the La Porte, TX facility in 2014.
Susan Bodine, EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Assistant Administrator, stated “This settlement concludes EPA’s efforts since 2008 to address impacts to the environment at the La Porte site. Although DuPont’s chemical manufacturing facility never reopened after the 2014 explosion, there are other operations located on the DuPont-owned property. This settlement ensures both proper management of the wastes generated by those operations as well as the cleanup of contamination from past operations.”
As part of the settlement, Dupont will pay $3.195 million civil penalty. This settlement resolves the alleged violations of the Resource, Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Clean Air Act (CAA) from DuPont’s past chemical manufacturing operations. The alleged RCRA violations include failure to make hazardous waste determinations; treatment, storage or disposal of hazardous waste without a permit; and, failure to meet land disposal restrictions. The alleged CWA violations include failure to fully implement the facility’s oil spill prevention plan and alleged CAA violations include failure to comply with applicable emissions standards at its Biological Water Treatment unit.
