Chemical Industry

WILMINGTON, Del. -- DuPont Co. said yesterday that it will slash 1,500 jobs in its fiber businesses to make them more competitive, and said it took a first-quarter charge of $27 million.The action affects about 1,200 employees at the company's North American nylon and Dacron polyester divisions, and another 300 people who work under contract. Of the 1,200 DuPont workers, 800 will be fired and 400 transferred to other jobs, the company said.Rising competition has forced the world's largest nylon maker to cut costs in an effort to maintain its leading position.

Mitt Romney wants to open up more federal lands and waters to drilling for oil and natural gas. His party is pushing, in the name of freedom and economic opportunity, to roll back a variety of environmental protections. Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, are seeking to ease pesticide regulations; some are even questioning the Environmental Protection Agency's ban on DDT, reopening a controversy that stretches back half a century. Fifty years ago this month, Rachel Carson published "Silent Spring.

Thousands of chemicals are used in consumer products, and a group of public health and environmental organizations gathered at the Inner Harbor on Tuesday to rally for better oversight of them. A coalition called Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families formed outside an Inner Harbor hotel where chemical industry officials were holding a conference. The rally comes ahead of debate in Congress over legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, which has not been updated since 1976.

Last month, we read a powerful story about just how far one industry would go to protect its bottom line. In a four-part exposé in the Chicago Tribune titled "Playing with Fire," we learned how big chemical companies - on a mission to sell more toxic chemicals - covered up the health impacts of their products, exaggerated their effectiveness, and went to extremes to scare legislators like us, poised to regulate these chemicals. The Tribune series detailed how the industry set up sham "citizen groups" to promote its agenda in the media, lied to low-income communities to garner community leaders' support, and even teamed up with Big Tobacco.

Pollution monitors in the Baltimore area have found what many people long suspected: The air we're breathing is bad for us.Four air sampling stations set up last year by the Maryland Department of the Environment have detected an invisible "soup" of nearly 40 toxic chemicals blanketing the city and Dundalk in southeast Baltimore County that includes high levels of cancer-causing compounds linked mainly to car exhaust and gasoline vapors.The samples were collected for 24 hours every six days.

Last month, we read a powerful story about just how far one industry would go to protect its bottom line. In a four-part exposé in the Chicago Tribune titled "Playing with Fire," we learned how big chemical companies - on a mission to sell more toxic chemicals - covered up the health impacts of their products, exaggerated their effectiveness, and went to extremes to scare legislators like us, poised to regulate these chemicals. The Tribune series detailed how the industry set up sham "citizen groups" to promote its agenda in the media, lied to low-income communities to garner community leaders' support, and even teamed up with Big Tobacco.

DALLAS -- Texaco Inc. has agreed to sell its Texaco Chemical Co. and almost all its worldwide chemical operations to a joint venture controlled by two billionaires, Jon M. Huntsman of Utah and Kerry Packer of Australia, for $1.06 billion, the two parties said yesterday.Texaco said the sale would allow it to focus on its core oil and gas business.The deal would be the largest in a series of acquisitions that Mr. Huntsman has made since 1982 to build his closely held #F Huntsman Financial Corp.

A trade association of Maryland chemical manufacturers is launching its first billboard campaign this week with signs designed to "improve community outreach" to South Baltimore neighborhoods near industrial plants.The Chemical Industry Council of Maryland will post signs in seven locations along roads in Curtis Bay, Brooklyn and Fairfield that lead to Wagner's Point. Residents of that tiny south city section, surrounded by chemical companies and oil tank farms, have argued that chemical pollution and spills have made the neighborhood unacceptably dangerous.

Pollution monitors in the Baltimore area have found what many people long suspected: The air we're breathing is bad for us.Four air sampling stations set up last year by the Maryland Department of the Environment have detected an invisible "soup" of nearly 40 toxic chemicals blanketing the city and Dundalk in southeast Baltimore County that includes high levels of cancer-causing compounds linked mainly to car exhaust and gasoline vapors.The samples were collecyed for 24 hours every six days.

ANNAPOLIS -- Stressing the need to reverse the decline in Maryland manufacturing, Gov. William Donald Schaefer unveiled a package of tax bills and regulatory reforms yesterday to encourage research and development and to cut bureaucratic red tape."

Thousands of chemicals are used in consumer products, and a group of public health and environmental organizations gathered at the Inner Harbor on Tuesday to rally for better oversight of them. A coalition called Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families formed outside an Inner Harbor hotel where chemical industry officials were holding a conference. The rally comes ahead of debate in Congress over legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, which has not been updated since 1976.

Thousands of chemicals are used in consumer products and a group of public health and environmental organizations gathered in the Inner Harbor Tuesday to rally for better oversight of them. The coalition called Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families formed outside the of the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel where chemical industry officials were holding a conference. The rally also comes ahead of debate in Congress over legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, which hasn't been updated since 1976.

In what may be a first among mainstream parenting books, an updated version of Baby 411 tells parents to stop using polycarbonate plastic baby bottles that contain the controversial chemical bisphenol-A, or BPA. Most baby bottles on the market are made from the hard, clear, shatterproof plastic, such as Avent, Dr. Brown's, Evenflo, Gerber and Playtex. But "until we get more answers about their safety, we do not recommend using polycarbonate bottles," wrote co-authors Denise Fields and pediatrician Ari Brown.

Maryland is ahead of most states in trying to prevent terrorist attacks on plants that make dangerous chemicals, but more needs to be done on the federal level to make sure the industry and local governments have the tools to prevent a catastrophe, said a panel of experts that met in Towson yesterday. Congress and the Bush administration are debating steps to more uniformly regulate the chemical industry, which has so far beefed up security under a voluntary industry program. The effort has particular resonance in Maryland, where more than 1 million residents live downwind from chemical facilities that make or stockpile chlorine and other chemicals that could cause mass casualties if scattered over a wide area.

WASHINGTON -- The magnitude of a terrorist attack on U.S. chemical facilities could easily exceed the loss of life suffered on Sept. 11 in New York. So it is time to address the vulnerability of this industry. Recent events underscore the immediacy of this threat, including the two nationwide security alerts by the FBI and a 72-hour moratorium by the railroad industry on carrying chemicals such as chlorine. Even President Bush was at risk. On Sept. 11, when Air Force One landed in Louisiana, the president joined more than a million Louisiana residents who live every day in a region that is blanketed by chemical "kill zones."

WILMINGTON, Del. -- DuPont Co., the biggest U.S. chemical company, said yesterday that it will cut 800 jobs in its agricultural chemicals business, or about 15 percent of the unit's work force, to trim costs and boost profit.The cuts would result in pretax savings of $200 million annually in DuPont's crop protection business, which makes herbicides, fungicides and insecticides used on soybeans, corn and other grains, the company said. DuPont expects to take an unspecified third-quarter charge for the job cuts and is also considering writing off assets.

Thousands of chemicals are used in consumer products and a group of public health and environmental organizations gathered in the Inner Harbor Tuesday to rally for better oversight of them. The coalition called Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families formed outside the of the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel where chemical industry officials were holding a conference. The rally also comes ahead of debate in Congress over legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, which hasn't been updated since 1976.

However far-fetched, this is the fear: A rail car at a chemical plant in southern Baltimore ruptures without warning, releasing its full contents -- 180,000 pounds of chlorine -- into the atmosphere in a scant 10 minutes. The resulting toxic plume spreads for 14 miles, putting 1.6 million people at risk of property damage, injuries or worse.That worst-case scenario -- considered improbable if not impossible by experts -- was one of several disclosed yesterday morning during an awkward set of open houses at six of the state's largest chemical plants, all located near Curtis Bay.During the three-hour session, chemical executives shared with the public their worst nightmares about their plants -- and, in the next breath, insisted that residents have nothing to worry about.

However far-fetched, this is the fear: A rail car at a chemical plant in southern Baltimore ruptures without warning, releasing its full contents -- 180,000 pounds of chlorine -- into the atmosphere in a scant 10 minutes. The resulting toxic plume spreads for 14 miles, putting 1.6 million people at risk of property damage, injuries or worse.That worst-case scenario -- considered improbable if not impossible by experts -- was one of several disclosed yesterday morning during an awkward set of open houses at six of the state's largest chemical plants, all located near Curtis Bay.During the three-hour session, chemical executives shared with the public their worst nightmares about their plants -- and, in the next breath, insisted that residents have nothing to worry about.

The president and chief executive officer of W. R. Grace & Co. said yesterday that the relocation of the chemical company's worldwide headquarters to Columbia later this year will create 80 jobs, bringing the number of employees in Maryland to 1,100.Paul J. Norris, who also serves as W. R. Grace's chairman, said at the annual stockholders meeting at the Sheraton Columbia Hotel that the company's move from Boca Raton, Fla., to an existing site in Columbia will begin in July and be completed in September.