Document pm9qXr3m7Dga8k3EdDgnZajmj

/ < 79 May )<;. 2001 Christine T Whitman EPA Administrator 1101 A O'SEPA Headquarters Ariel R on Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N W Washington, D.C. 20400 RECEIVED MAY 2 3 2001 CHAIRMAN'S OFFICE Dear Ms Whitman, 1 am writing you this day to inform you o f soma criminal actions of which 1 have derailed liuTwIcri^c. Thaae actions are the dtract result o f Informed decisions by the DuPont Company to deny, cover-up and otherwise circumvent the legal process as it pertains to environmental ralcasea and/or disposal o f known toxins, carcinogens and embryo text as. Cover ups are now a way of life at DuPont 1 worked for the DuPont Company and have direct knowledge o f their ongoing efforts to cover-up dangerous situations at or near various plant titee acroaa the US. I have cboeen to contact you anonymously because I fear lor my safety aa a reauh o f what this company might do to me if my identity were known. While 1 worked for them, 1 regularly tried to do the right thing in reporting violations to management and was regularly threatened by their corporate goons for doing so. 1 did nothing wrong; I only demanded that' they follow existing law which they publicly said they were doing. The reality waa a difforent matter i no longer work for DuPont. 1 cannot be party to a company that deliberately poisons children, other innocent persons and even their own employees and then ties and threatens people to cover up their actions. They violated laws set up to protect the greater public good. Dcspito a very public face o f a caring company concerned with their employees and the betterment o f the human condition, DuPont's reality is a for different matter. Every action, every decision or non-decision is motivated solely by the accumulations o f money for bonuses fbr a very select fow in the hierarchy o f the company. Everything ia ciotkad in secrecy DuPont has even ebonen, in one case, to poison its own employees rather than inform them o f severely contaminated drinking water which they consume everyday. s pcctrijalbL-Ldeapite halca jta.Hs.dsuiU:J).a> .can frajsariiJy Ksail<isLivKh u i s u cursory invesriuatinn on vour pgrL Considerably more illegal activity ia ongoing but might require more investigation to ferret out the truth. Aa to why DuPont uontlnuea to arrogantly ignore the (aw, I can only say what I knew aa a reality In my time there. We were regularly told never to acknowledge any situation that DuPont spend even a nickel to rectify Many times, we were direeriy told to falsify data and reporta to paint a differem public picture than the private reality we knew to be tru e Some individuals chose to go along with the company's itlsgai activities, some still are doing so. Some, such as myself, chose not to do this. That is why some o f us, including mysdC no longer work for them. Z 3Xd VU 2Q 134 2-9808-d liniNDdnCinarill 9S:60 10. 9 l ' l 0 Z T z E'O 000006 I Upper and middle managers knew of and directly planned the denial of reality and coverups of incriminating data and information In more than one instance, lawyers frum downtown" confiscated arry references to well known illegal acts occurring at some sites Below is a summary of m e of these activities: 1) Washington Wonka Site at Parkersburn.WV. Ammonium parflourooctanoate (C3) is the contaminant o f note at this site. C8 has totally contaminated this site and nearby town and environs The sit* and local drinking water supply ia seriously contaminated with C8 C8 is a well known and very serious carcinogen Site"and corporate'rnanagemem have known for years that C8 has caused these damages and that their own workers were drinking the contaminated water. Not only have they done nothing In notify either the workers or the local and state people of the situation, they formed a high level group, headed by Sr VP Joe Miller to "handle the problem." Corporate lawyers were sent around to personally nfle through files and confiscate any documents mentioning Cfl. its effects and properties. We were told alter 1999 "never to even use the word C8 in conversation or in documentation' presumably because management was vary actively involved in covering up this nasty and despicable situation.. While other chemicals are at least equally serious at this site, DuPont management's response to the C l situation ia clearly illegal and immoral. 2) Wavneahom. VA Elemental mercury and methylated mercury a rt the major contaminants hare. The known span o f the contamination is well over 200 miles downriver of the plant. The South River and the south fork o f the Shenandoah River beds and banks are severely contaminated with mercury. DuPont knows about this in great detail and is currently employing a deliberate policy o f denial and avoidance to duck responsibility for the mercury releasee and their affects. 3) Martinsville. VA: Several organic solvents - including carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, phenol, phenyl and many knows dangerous acids constitute the bulk o f the contamination here. A policy o f deliberate denial hat been instituted to avoid responsibility The contamination is very severs and is the direct result o f unrestricted dumping on open ground o f these solvents ( and more) on a multithousand ton basis. The contaminetion has left the site and has already severely contaminated foe nearby river. 4 ) Cbam btri Wflfta. neeim ilS C JlL This sits is the mother o f all pollution and environmental contamination, and o f corporate denial o f responsibility. A witches brew o f contaminetion is leeching daily into the nearby Delaware River and has been for decades from redrieasiy constructed "secret" landfills right on the river banka. The "official" policy at Chambers Works has ahvaya bean to deny any knowledge o f everything. In addition to the usual chlorinated solvents, heavy metals (Including rj v r t of tetraethyl lead) and anilines, diamines, benzenes, mercury end arsenic arc regularly released into the river through a aeriea of SM WUi (landfills) which DuPont denies even 3SWd 7 ira VU. 206 135 -9808-4 'ItmfCdnanfrai 9=60 10. 9 1 ^ 0 76 ^ 000007 I Mist. A casual walk ( if you dare) on the river's beach reveals orange end purple liquids oozing from the sand into the nearby river The groundwater and underlying aquifer are jo severely contaminated that only Divine intervention can cleanse them at this point fa t, Dupont vehemently dentes there is even a problem. 5) East Chicago. IN: High IcveJs o f arsenic in the groundwater leaving the site are the main culprit here. DuPont dentes that they had anything to do with it as it steadily flows Into a nearby housing development 6) Edyemoor. DE: Lead, arsenic, and mercury are regularly leeching into the nearby Delaware River from this plant but DuPont does nothing. 7) Newport. DE: High levels o f arsenic, lead and barium are the principals here. O f course, there is a policy o f denial to the level and the severity o f the problem. This plant sits in a highly populated area. I oould go on tod on but 1trust you get the picture o f what i t going on at the DuPont Company. Like J said, their actions are not only dearly illegal, they are immoral. 1 respectfully demand that your agency do what is required to rectify the contamination and prosecute those responsible for it If you have any respect at all for the law, that is what must happen. Thank you. SJocerely, A concerned citizen w ho is sick o f the lies and cover upa Co: Editor, The Newe Journal, Wilmington, DE Mr. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Environmental Law Project Office o f the President, AFL-CIO IBDW Mr. Don Hewitt, 60 Minutes Mr. Lany Kane, KYW/CBS 3, Philadelphia Editor, The New York Timas Editor, The Philadelphie Inquirer Office o f the CEO. DuPont Co. 7 3Dbd 7i n 7LL S0 136 2-5808-a lirUM3dnana:ai 88:60 10. Sl 'l Q e"q , ., ^ z-' -> - l . c c 000008