Dow Chemical Company was fined $3 million for violating the US Clean Air Act and ordered to eliminate thousands of air pollutants from four manufacturing sites in Louisiana and Texas. This is a result of a settlement announced by The US Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) after an allegation that Dow’s subsidiaries Union Carbide Corporation and Performance Materials NA Inc. failed to operate and monitor industrial flares at the four sites properly.
Under the settlement, Dow will invest about $294 million to install and operate air pollution control and monitoring technology at 26 industrial flares in its facilities in Hahnville, Plaquemine, Freeport, and Orange. This technology will reduce flaring and the resulting emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by more than 5,600 tons/year and other toxic pollutants such as benzene by nearly 500 tons/year.
