| Washington Works | |
|---|---|
 The factory in 2014 | |
  Location in West Virginia | |
 | |
| Built | 1948 |
| Location | Washington, West Virginia |
| Coordinates | 39°16′N81°40′W / 39.27°N 81.67°W /39.27; -81.67 |
| Industry | Chemicals |
| Employees | 608, plus 432 contractors (in 2019) |
| Volume | 150,000 tons per year |
| Owner | Chemours |
Washington Works, officially namedChemours Washington Works and previouslyDuPont Washington Works is aplasticsfactory inWest Virginia, United States.
The factory was opened byDuPont chemical company in 1948 and ownership transferred toChemours in 2015 as DuPont restructured. The factory produces chemicals used in semiconductors and in the manufacture of kitchen utensil non-stick productTeflon.
Three thousand and five hundred residents are engaged in litigation against the factory following thecontamination of soil andgroundwater.
Washington Works is a plastics factory[1] that occupies a 1,200-acre site.[2][3] It is located on DuPont Road,Washington,[3] six miles[4] fromParkersburg, West Virginia, on theOhio River.[2]
The factory manufacturesfluoropolymers that are used in semiconductors[2] andperfluorooctanoic acid (commonly known as C8) used to make cookware non-stick coatingTeflon.[4] In total, the factory manufactures over 150,000 tons of materials per annum.[5]
The factory opened in 1948 and was named afterGeorge Washington, who was granted the land in 1772.[2]
In 1984, high levels of C8 were found during secretive tests of community drinking water inLittle Hocking, Ohio, located across the Ohio River from the factory. DuPont, who did the tests, did not inform regulators of their findings[4] until 2002.[1]
A 98-acre wildlife habitat was created on the site in 1988.[2] In 1989, theUnited 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 oftetrachloroethene, and 1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane" with lesser quantities of contamination from perfluorooctanoic acid (C8).[3]
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.[4] A DuPont-commissioned survey undertaken byChemRisk 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.[4]
The factory was operated byDuPont until 2015. In 2015, DuPont formedChemours, transferring the factory's ownership to the company.[2][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 andCelanese Corporation.[2]
