DuPont fined $531,000 by EPA for emitting air pollution

PENNSVILLE – The federal Environmental Protection Agency fined DuPont $531,000 Thursday for emitting air pollution from its chemical manufacturing plant at Deepwater.

The EPA penalty was for release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from the Chamber Works facility owned by E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. and for its failure to submit reports to the agency.

An EPA press release said DuPont improperly maintained and repaired two large refrigeration units designed to minimize CFC leakage into the environment.

Judith A. Enck, EPA regional administrator, said CFCs deplete the ozone layer and that this destruction has been clearly linked to a public increase in skin cancer.

Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club director, praised EPA for stepping up and enforcing federal Clean Air Act violations to achieve better compliance at the DuPont plant.