History
The factory opened in 1948 and was named after George Washington, who was granted the land in 1772.[4]
In 1984, high levels of C8 were found during secretive tests of community drinking water in Little Hocking, Ohio, located across the Ohio River from the factory. DuPont, who did the tests, did not inform regulators of their findings[3] until 2002.[1]
A 98-acre wildlife habitat was created on the site in 1988.[4] In 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued DuPont a permit to investigate soil and ground water contamination. The investigation found the four of the five waste management units on site had contaminated soil and/or groundwater. The EPA report on the contamination described the contaminants as primarily "methylene chloride, and trace levels of tetrachloroethene, and 1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane" with lesser quantities of contamination from perfluorooctanoic acid (C8).[2]
In 2005, residents of Parkersburg began finding level of C8 in their bloodstream at a volume that exceeded Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. Residents launched 3,500 compensation claims, blaming the factory for contaminating water, air, and soil.[3] A DuPont-commissioned survey undertaken by ChemRisk stated that DuPont released over 1.7 million pounds of C8, 632,468 pounds of that into the Ohio River system. 394,486 pounds was reported to be buried in unlined landfills and 686,233 pounds was released into the environment via chimneys.[3]
The factory was operated by DuPont until 2015. In 2015, DuPont formed Chemours, transferring the factory's ownership to the company.[4][6] Despite the name change, the factory remained under the leadership of the same leadership team.[7] As of 2019, Jay Valvo was the plant manager.[7] That year there was 608 full time employees and 432 full time contractors working on site.[7] Also using the site are Kuraray America and Celanese Corporation.[4]
