[CPEO-MEF] Court orders feds to pay for toxic cleanup at Dow rubber plan

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Business: Court orders feds to pay for toxic cleanup at Dow rubber plant 

Copyright © 2002 AP Online      
The Associated Press 
 

LOS ANGELES (August 7, 2002 9:39 a.m. EDT) - The federal government must 
pay the entire cost of cleaning up a hazardous waste site created to aid 
the war effort in 1942 and cannot compel Dow Chemical Co., the operator, 
to bear some of the expense, an appeals court ruled. 

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that Dow cannot be 
held responsible for cleaning up a plant in Torrance, Calif., that was 
built during World War II to produce synthetic rubber for the 
government. 

In the original contract, Dow Chemical agreed to operate the plant as an 
"agent" and "at the expense and risk" of the government. The government 
argued that Dow should have to share some cleanup costs because it 
supervised the digging of the waste pits. 
 
This article can be viewed in its entirety at:
http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/491298p-3920602c.html

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