Dow Chemical Company and two Subsidiaries Eliminate Thousands of Tons of Air Pollution at four Chemical Plants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) declared a settlement with Dow Chemical Company and two subsidiaries, Performance Materials NA Inc. what's more, Union Carbide Corporation, that will dispose of thousands of tons loads of air pollution from four of Dow's petrochemical manufacturing facilities in Texas and Louisiana.

The settlement settle claims that Dow and its subsidiaries disregarded the Clean Air Act by neglecting to appropriately work and screen modern flares at their petrochemical offices, which brought about excess emissions of destructive air pollution. Under the settlement, the organizations will spend roughly $294 million to introduce and work air pollution control and checking technology to diminish erupting and the subsequent hurtful air contamination from 26 modern flares at the organizations' offices in Hahnville, La.; Plaquemine, La.; Freeport, Texas; and Orange, Texas; pay $3 million in civil penalties; and perform three state-authorized helpful environmental projects in Louisiana.

“By requiring a reduction in the quantity of waste gases that are flared and an improvement in combustion efficiency at four Dow facilities, this settlement will prevent the annual discharge of thousands of tons of harmful air pollutants,” said Larry Starfield, EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Those controls, plus a requirement for fence line monitoring of benzene emissions, will result in significant benefits for the local EJ communities in Texas and Louisiana.”