Federal regulators announced Wednesday they had reached an agreement with the controversial Denka Performance Elastomer plant in LaPlace over violations of hazardous waste rules related to its handling of a likely cancer-causing chemical, reports NOLA.com.
The consent agreement between Japan-based Denka and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency addresses the plant’s handling of chloroprene waste, produced from the manufacture of neoprene. It is the only plant in the country that manufactures chloroprene.
EPA inspections in April and May found chloroprene contained in what is known as “Poly Kettle Strainer Waste” being transferred to an outside, open-air brine pit, with elevated levels of the chemical in the air in the area, the agency said. Read the entire story.
