DuPont forming spinoff to clean up its Superfund sites in Pompton Lakes and elsewhere

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The federal government is seeking damages for the pollution caused by the munitions plant DuPont operated in Pompton Lakes for decades.CHRIS PEDOTA/staff photographer DuPont plans to create a spinoff company that would take on the environmental liability for about 190 contaminated sites across the country, including DuPont’s former munitions facility in Pompton Lakes, one of its most costly cleanup sites. The change is not expected to slow progress on cleanups in the short term, state and federal officials said. But it raises longer-term questions about whether the move could insulate DuPont from future cleanup and natural resource damage claims, particularly if the spinoff, called the Chemours Co., developed financial problems. DuPont said in recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the new company would be financially sound. It said the environmental liabilities for the 190 sites is estimated at nearly $300 million, including $87 million in expected cleanup costs for Pompton Lakes. Those costs are not expected to have much impact on the new company’s financial position, liquidity or ability to operate, DuPont said. But DuPont also cautioned that “expenditures are subject to considerable uncertainty.” The company acknowledged that cleanup and other liability costs could climb to more than $1 billion. Other spinoffs in the nation have indeed failed under the... [Click here to see the rest of this post]

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