Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

1995

University of Richmond Law Review

Environmental Law

Kepone

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Law

From Kepone To Exxon Valdez Oil And Beyond: An Overview Of Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Danielle Marie Stager Jan 1995

From Kepone To Exxon Valdez Oil And Beyond: An Overview Of Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Danielle Marie Stager

University of Richmond Law Review

In July 1975, officials from the Virginia State Department of Health learned that employees of the Life Science Product Company ("Life Science"), in Hopewell, Virginia, had been poisoned by a toxic chemical known as Kepone. Life Science had produced Kepone under contract for Allied Chemical Corporation ("Allied Chemical"), the original developer and manufacturer. Shortly thereafter, state officials discovered that both Life Science and Allied Chemical had unlawfully discharged Kepone into freshwater tributaries of the James River. In addition to poisoning their own employees, Life Science and Allied Chemical had also contaminated Virginia's atmosphere, soil, and wa- terways with Kepone.


Allied Chemical, The Kepone Incident, And The Settlements: Twenty Years Later, Robert R. Merhige Jr., Manning Gasch Jr., William B. Cummings, Robert H. Sand, Robert B. Smith Iii, W. Wade Berryhill Jan 1995

Allied Chemical, The Kepone Incident, And The Settlements: Twenty Years Later, Robert R. Merhige Jr., Manning Gasch Jr., William B. Cummings, Robert H. Sand, Robert B. Smith Iii, W. Wade Berryhill

University of Richmond Law Review

Twenty years ago this July the happenings at a small chemical plant in Hopewell, Virginia ushered in what has since become an incident of national impact and importance. Through the prosecution of criminal cases, the filing of civil personal injury suits and the closing of the James River to fishing, the release of the chemical from the Kepone manufacturing process gained national attention.


Deception, Self-Deception, And Myth: Evaluating Long-Term Environmental Settlements, William H. Rodgers Jr. Jan 1995

Deception, Self-Deception, And Myth: Evaluating Long-Term Environmental Settlements, William H. Rodgers Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

This paper draws upon six famous settlements that are known in various degrees to students of environmental law. Three are a matter of deep history: the 1970 Environmental Defense Fund settlement that led the last manufacturer of DDT in the U.S. to cease discharges into the Los Angeles sewer system and thence into Santa Monica Bay, the Kepone settlement of the mid-70s that followed in the wake of Judge Merhige's initial assessment of a record-breaking criminal fine of $13.24 million, and the Hudson River settlement of the early 1980s in which environmentalists gave up demands for cooling towers on several …


Changes In The Clean Water Act Since Kepone: Would They Have Made A Difference?, Wiliam Goldfarb Jan 1995

Changes In The Clean Water Act Since Kepone: Would They Have Made A Difference?, Wiliam Goldfarb

University of Richmond Law Review

In the anti-regulatory climate that currently pervades the American political scene, it is important to emphasize the palpable and significant accomplishments of environmental regulation. One measure of the success of environmental law during the past twenty-five years is that long-term, relatively localized environmental contamination-such as the pollution of the lower James River by Kepone between 1966 and 1975-probably can no longer occur in the United States. Major environmental statutes, enacted during the decade between 1976 and 1986, have precluded continuing environmental abuses of this scope and magnitude. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, establishes a compre- …


Facing A Time Of Counter-Revolution-- The Kepone Incident And A Review Of First Principles, Zygmunt J.B. Plater Jan 1995

Facing A Time Of Counter-Revolution-- The Kepone Incident And A Review Of First Principles, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

University of Richmond Law Review

The Kepone contamination episode of 1966-75 was a milestone that focused an entire nation's attention on environmental hazards and our need to do better in recognizing and avoiding them. We have learned a great deal from that unfortunate story. The evolution of American environmental law since the Kepone debacle has repeatedly used the incident as a touchstone in identifying environmental pollution's causes, effects, and potential solutions.