Report: Dow To Conduct More Groundwater Tests Near W.Va. Plant

Dow Chemical will reportedly conduct additional groundwater testing near a West Virginia facility already at the center of a legal spat.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that Dow will pay for tests at Shawnee Regional Park in Dunbar, W.Va., as local officials seek to develop a youth sports complex in the park.

The park is adjacent to West Virginia State University, which last month filed a lawsuit against Dow alleging that its Institute, W.Va., plant led to groundwater contamination on its campus.

Kent Carper, the president of the Kanawha County Commission, told the paper that he previously asked Dow to pay for the tests at the park and that that he expected them to find contamination in some form.

"It’s not unusual to have that around a chemical plant,” Carper said.

Dow officials told the Gazette-Mail that its Union Carbide subsidiary would pay for tests as well as a consultant to evaluate the results. The company did not provide additional details about the tests or a timetable for conducting them.

Carper, meanwhile, said that any decision on a cleanup effort would be made after the results are in — and would depend on Dow's commitment to fund it.

The company reportedly has not responded to demands from West Virginia State to pay for cleanup costs as well as "the harm this will do to our image locally and nationally."

Dow found 1,4-dioxane, 1,1-dichloroethane and chloroform on property acquired by the university four years ago. The Institute plant previously drew scrutiny for its spotty safety record and its past storage of methyl isocyanate — the dangerous chemical responsible for the Bhopal disaster in 1984.