Union Carbide Corporation Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Federal Judge Rules Against Union Carbide In South Charleston Landfill Case

A federal judge in Charleston has ruled against Union Carbide, ordering the company to pay for the cleanup of a hazardous materials site in South Charleston.

This story has been clarified to reflect that the penalty phase of the trial will take place at a later date.

A federal judge in Charleston has ruled against Union Carbide, finding the company in violation of federal law over a hazardous materials site in South Charleston.

Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, in a 400-page ruling dated Sept. 28, said Union Carbide is responsible for the cleanup of the Filmont site, where numerous hazardous substances were dumped from the 1950s to the 1980s, under the federal Superfund law, or CERCLA.

Copenhaver ruled the Filmont site violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, creating an illegal “open dump.” Union Carbide also violated the federal Clean Water Act, which required the company to seek a permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for stormwater runoff from an adjacent railyard it owns.

Copenhaver’s ruling mostly favors the Courtland Company, which had first sued Union Carbide in 2018 over contamination of its property from the Union Carbide landfill and railyard.

Copenhaver dismissed two of the pending lawsuits against Union Carbide. And he also ruled that Courtland is responsible for cleaning up contamination on its South Charleston property that was not caused by Union Carbide.

Both properties are adjacent to Davis Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River. The Filmont landfill is located in the city of South Charleston, down the hill from the Union Carbide Tech Center, which is also on the Superfund list, and across Davis Creek from where the West Virginia Division of Highways is performing major construction on the Jefferson Road interchange.

The penalty phase of the trial will take place at a later date.

The case was the subject of an 18-day trial in Charleston last year.

Union Carbide had argued that it was not required to remediate the site under CERCLA, the site was not an “open dump” and it was not required to seek a permit from the EPA.

Copenhaver, 98, is one of the last active federal judges nominated by President Gerald Ford. Copenhaver was confirmed to the federal bench in 1975.

Union Carbide is a subsidiary of Dow Chemical.

View previous reporting on this issue from West Virginia Public Broadcasting here.

DEP Discusses Ethylene Oxide Report And Union Carbide Agreement At Public Hearing

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing Thursday to discuss the findings of a final report on ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing Thursday to discuss the final report on their ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions monitoring project.

The hearing also centered around a new agreement the DEP’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) recently signed with Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) to reduce emissions of EtO, a known carcinogen, at its Institute facility.

On August 22, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an update to the National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). The national screen tool provides information on potential health risks from breathing air toxics, or hazardous air pollutants.

Using data from its 2014 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA), the report identified Union Carbide’s facilities in Institute and South Charleston as emitting ethylene oxide (EtO) at one of the highest rates in the country. EPA has since succeeded NATA with the Air Toxics Screening Assessment, or AirToxScreen, starting with the 2017 data analysis. The mapping tool offers a new approach to air toxics with annually updated data and risk analyses to more easily identify existing and emerging air toxics issues. Their latest assessment uses 2019 data.

Under the terms of the agreement reached with DEP, Union Carbide agrees to continue its ongoing cooperation with the EPA and the DAQ. This would be done by providing in-kind or other tangible resources to assist with the development of air quality-related data collection, and develop monitoring protocols concerning EtO. The agreement would include securing meteorological data related to such research, and identifying and fixing leaks at levels 50 to 1,000 times lower than current regulations allow.

UCC Institute would also be required to develop a unique site-specific EtO emissions screening program for rail cars it has in EtO service. Each rail car would have to be screened within 12 hours of arriving at the facility. Should there be a reading indicating potential rail car emissions, appropriate action would be initiated based on developed response plans.

The Division of Air Quality conducted a short term ethylene oxide air monitoring project in 2022, with samples gathered over 24-hour phases at sites in and around the Union Carbide chemical facilities in Institute and South Charleston.

Michael Egnor, air toxics coordinator for the Division of Air Quality, spoke for almost an hour, explaining test comparisons.

The tests, which included other states, revealed the presence of EtO at all locations evaluated. The site near Institute where Union Carbide loads its railcars is one of two sites identified by the EPA as having a higher concentration of the chemical. Higher levels of EtO were also detected in areas where no known source exists, including Buffalo in Putnam County and Guthrie in northern Kanawha County.

Egnor said in South Charleston EtO emissions actually decreased from more than 1,800 pounds of ethylene oxide in 2014 to 357 pounds in 2021. But Laura Crowder, director of DEP, admitted that the methodology for the tests is not perfect.

“The method itself may not have all the steps necessary so that it would show the actual concentration,” Crowder said. “There are things that would allow it to be biased, where other things could interfere. The methodology needs to specify exactly what needs to be done.”

The department is considering using air modeling to replace air monitoring tests in the future to better predict potential risk in identified areas of concern.

Pam Nixon lives in the Springhill area of South Charleston and has lost both friends and family members to cancer. She said she worries about the unknown synergistic effects of chemical agents.

“Ethylene oxide is only one chemical. There are other carcinogens that are here. When they mix in the air, my nose isn’t just breathing in ethylene oxide for 70 years, it’s breathing all of the chemicals in,” she said.

Nixon said while the agreement with Union Carbide is a step in the right direction, she said it is only one step. She hopes that authorities will reduce the amount of carcinogens in general.

The EPA’s published guidelines for EtO are 100-in-one million lifetime cancer risk.

The agency’s final report on the monitoring project is available on the DEP’s website.

Union Carbide, DEP Agreement To Lower Emissions In Institute

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has signed an agreement with Union Carbide Corporation to further reduce ethylene oxide emissions at its facility in Institute, Kanawha County.

Scott Mandirola, deputy cabinet secretary for the DEP said this agreement establishes new requirements above and beyond state and federal regulations.

“The new regulations are expected to identify and fix leaks 50 to 1,000 times lower than what was required by current regulation,” Mandirola said.

The agreement also requires a site-specific screening program for railcars containing ethylene oxide in its service.

Mandirola said Union Carbide will continue to work with the DEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop improved monitoring for ethylene oxide emissions around the facility.

“The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection conducted a short term ethylene oxide air monitoring project in 2022,” said Mandirola. “Which sampled seven sites in and around the chemical facility in Institute in South Charleston over four 24 hour periods.”

A public meeting on the final report will be held Thursday, March 2, from 6-8 p.m. at the Wilson Union Hall on campus at West Virginia State University.

The agency’s final report on the project is now available on the DEP’s website.