RESERVE, La.—A chemical manufacturing plant west of New Orleans has agreed to pay a $480,000 federal fine and install equipment to stop the release of a cancer-causing chemical from a storage tank and pipe.
The consent agreement and final order outlining the settlement between DuPont and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was filed Sept. 25, about 2½ years after an unannounced inspection found several releases of benzene at levels greater than federal rules allowed, The Advocate reported.
The plant is located roughly a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) from an elementary school in Reserve, Louisiana, and is within an 85-mile (137-kilometer) stretch of the state known officially as the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. Colloquially it is called Cancer Alley….