Parkersburg residents sue DuPont over C8
The Marietta Times - May 31, 2006
By Jeffrey Saulton
PARKERSBURG — Three Parkersburg residents filed suit Tuesday against DuPont, alleging the company has caused bodily injury, emotional distress and property damage in allegedly contaminating the city’s water supplies.
Plaintiffs in the suit were identified as William R. Rhodes, Russell H. Miller and Valoria A. Mace, all of Parkersburg. They are represented by Harry G. Deitzler and R. Edison Hill of the law firm of Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee and Deitzler, PLLC, of Charleston; Larry A. Winter of Winter, Johnson and Hill of Charleston and Gerald R. Rapien and Robert A. Bilott of Taft, Stettinius and Hollister, LLP of Cincinnati.
According to the filing with the Wood County Circuit Court clerk, the three have been exposed to PFOA, C8 and related materials through the ingestion or other significant exposure to water supplied by Parkersburg Utility Board for at least one year.
DuPont released a statement Friday: "DuPont regrets that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of residents who consume water supplied by the Parkersburg Utility Board. We will defend ourselves forcefully against this lawsuit, which is both factually and legally without merit."
DuPont’s reply states, "According to the lawyers' complaint, their lawsuit is based on recent test results detecting PFOA in Parkersburg city water at levels above 0.05 parts per billion, with at least one result as high as 0.057 parts per billion. These levels are far below any established regulatory guidance for drinking water and have not been shown to pose a health risk. In fact, to date there are no human health effects known to be caused by C8.
"We believe, therefore, that Parkersburg city water is safe for human consumption."
Although PFOA is not a regulated chemical, the company said, DuPont has dramatically reduced emissions of PFOA from facilities, including Washington Works.
"We already have reduced emissions 95 percent from our U.S. manufacturing facilities since 2000. In addition, DuPont has developed technologies which will substantially reduce PFOA content in its products and emissions from its manufacturing facilities by 2007," the company said.
According to the suit, the company had detected C8 of less than one part per billion in public water supplies as early as 1984, the level the company set in a 1991 community exposure guideline for C8 in public drinking water supplies.
In the suit the plaintiffs accuse DuPont of negligence in operating the Washington Works plant, gross negligence, reckless, willful and wanton conduct, private nuisance, past and continuing trespass, past and continuing battery, and requests medical monitoring.
SOURCE:
http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story ... 681308.asp