http://www.wvgazettemail.com/section/APNews/News/ap0072r
The Charleston Gazette
(West Virginia)
November 23, 2004
Judge OKs terms of C8
settlement
By ERIK SCHELZIG
Associated Press Writer
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (AP)
-- A judge on Tuesday approved the terms of an almost $70 million medical
study of up to 80,000 people who drank water contaminated with C8, a chemical
used to make Teflon at DuPont Co.'s Washington Works plant.
Blood tests will be
conducted on current customers of area water districts, former customers
of those suppliers, and residents with private wells. Lawyers for the residents
hope to test anyone who drank contaminated water for at least a year.
Wood County Circuit
Court Judge George W. Hill congratulated the two sides for agreeing on the
settlement.
"I commend the
parties on a job well done, as far as I can tell,'' Hill said. "We'll
see if it works out as well.''
General terms of the
settlement were released in September, but a formal settlement agreement
was not filed until last week. The settlement will not be final until after
a public hearing on Feb. 28.
Legal notices will be
published notifying the customers of the Lubeck and Mason County public
service districts in West Virginia, and Little Hocking Water Association,
city of Belpre, Tuppers Plains -- Chester Water District and Pomeroy, all
in Ohio.
Residents who apply
and are found to qualify would be paid $150. If they take part in two blood
tests, they would be paid an additional $250, for a total of $400.
The incremental payments
will serve as an incentive for a higher level of participation in the study,
which is needed to detect C8's potential effects on people who drank the
water, said the plaintiffs' attorney, Harry Deitzler.
"That gets the
answer to the question everyone wants to know: 'What does C8 do or not do
to me?''' he said.
The testing itself costs
$546. So, the total cost of testing each person is $946.
DuPont continues to
deny any wrongdoing but decided to enter into the agreement because of the
time and expense of litigation, said Laurence Jannsen, the company's attorney.
Allowing independent
scientists to examine the alleged effect of C8 is preferable to leaving
it to the legal system, Jannsen said.
"This is a case that cries out to be decided by science,'' he said.
If any of the $70 million
is left over, it will be distributed equally among the participants, unless
the amount per person would be less than $25. In that case, the money would
be donated to the Good Samaritan Clinic in Parkersburg, according to the
settlement.
In all, DuPont will
pay at least $107.6 million to settle the class action lawsuit over polluted
water supplies near its Washington Works plant, which is located on the
Ohio River about seven miles southwest of Parkersburg.
Under the agreement,
DuPont will offer to provide the six local drinking water utilities with
new treatment equipment to reduce C8 in their water supplies. The company
will also fund a $5 million independent study to determine if C8 makes people
sick, and pay $22.6 million in legal fees and expenses for residents who
sued.
Eventually, DuPont could
be forced to spend another $235 million on a program to monitor the health
of residents who were exposed to the chemical.
Participation in the lawsuit does not rule out future litigation against
DuPont if the scientific panel finds C8 harmful.
In July, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency alleged that DuPont repeatedly failed over a 20-year period
to submit required information about C8. The EPA is seeking millions of
dollars in fines for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act and
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The company is challenging the
fines.
