Steel Workers Union Worried about Dupont Consolidation in Louisiana

In a September 2 United Steel Worker press release, the labor union indicated that DuPont will consolidate its potentially cancer causing emissions of chloroprene to LaPlace, Louisiana.

Dupont will be closing its Louisville, Kentucky factory where the Louisville Courier-Journal, in a June 27 article, reported that under the government it allowed production of Neoprene rubber which emits chloroprene in the production process, as many as 357,000 people for every million residents could be at risk for cancer. Dupont will limit the production of Neoprene rubber, which emits chloropene as a by product to LaPlace, Louisiana. The move to LaPlace will add only a few jobs but will bring potentially a high risk of cancer to the LaPlace plant, according to the USW press release.

In the letter to the governor of Louisiana which is available on the Dupont Council website (http://www.dupontcoucil.org ), the USW union stated that the data from 2005 Toxic Release Inventory indicated that Point Source Air Emissions for Louiville, Kentucky had been 366,207 pounds and the Point Source Air Emissions for Laplace, LA had been 270,000 pounds. The United Steel Workers admonished The Honorable Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana that all the pollution from the two plants would be concentrated in the LaPlace, Louisiana area after the move. (The letter stated that DuPont had not yet released its estimated production of chloroprene once the move of all Neoprene rubber making to LaPlace has been completed.)

The letter on the Dupont Council website specified some of the dangers of chloroprene stated on the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services Hazardous Substances Fact Sheet such as that chloroprene should be treated a carcinogenic, is a flammable liquid and a fire hazard, and can cause damage to the kidney, lungs and liver with high or repeated exposure. The letter also said that the fact sheet stated that chloroprene causes irritation to the skin and eyes, and may cause reproductive damage.