10 Million Americans Currently at Risk from DuPont Operations in Case of Terrorist Attack or Accident: Strong shareholder vote signals a need for further disclosure, discussion by DuPont
DuPont shareholders sent a clear message to the company today when 7.8 percent voted in favor of a shareholder resolution
asking DuPont to report on the potential for improving the safety of
its chemical plants by reducing the use of extremely hazardous
chemicals and taking other similar steps.
According
to EPA filings, DuPont operates 30 plants which in total put more than
10 million Americans at risk of death or injury in case of an accident
or terrorist attack. These plants use large quantities of some of the
most dangerous chemicals in existence, chemicals such as hydrofluoric
acid, chlorine, phosgene, and sulfur trioxide. Until today, DuPont had
never disclosed the existence of this danger to shareholders.
“DuPont’s
operations are putting Americans in danger,” said Andrew Shalit,
Director of Shareholder Advocacy at Green Century Capital Management,
the environmentally responsible investment firm that sponsored the
resolution. “The company has failed to disclose these dangers to its
shareholders, and they have failed to articulate plans for reducing the
number of people who they put at risk. While we appreciate the
company’s security programs, they need to do more to remove the risk by
reducing the use of these chemicals.”
This
shareholder vote came at a time of heightened concern over chemical
plant security and continued inaction by the U.S. Congress. The U.S.
Army Surgeon General has called chemical plant security second only to
biological terrorism for the risk it places on Americans.
“Chemical
security can’t be fixed by adding more guards or building more fences,”
said Meghan Purvis of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education
Fund, which has issued reports on chemical plant security. “The only
foolproof way to address the problem is to reduce the use of these
extremely hazardous chemicals. We hope DuPont will step forward with a
plan for doing that.”
This
is the first time that shareholders at any company have been asked to
vote on matters related to chemical security. The resolution had been
challenged by DuPont, but the SEC decided to allow it to move forward.
A similar resolution will be voted on at Dow Chemical’s annual meeting
on May 11th in Midland, Michigan.
Green
Century Capital Management (GCCM) is an environmentally responsible
investment firm which focuses on environmentally progressive companies
and uses shareholder advocacy to improve corporate environmental
responsibility.
U.S.
PIRG is the national lobby office for the state Public Interest
Research Groups. State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan public
interest advocacy organizations.
