The Disaster
Kepone is the brand name for chlordecone, a powdery, white pesticide that was used to control leaf-eating insects, ants, and cockroaches. Allied Chemical patented Kepone in 1952 and began commercial production in 1962. Allied Chemical began manufacturing Kepone in Hopewell in 1966 and also outsourced production to other companies, including Life Science Products, which was operated by two former Allied Chemical executives. Life Science started producing Kepone at its facility in Hopewell, a converted gas station stocked with second-hand machinery, in February 1974. At its peak in 1975, Life Science produced some 6,000 pounds of Kepone per day while operating around the clock. The city of Hopewell allowed Life Science to send its waste directly into the sewer system, which caused the system to malfunction. As the plant produced more waste, workers dumped it directly into sewer drains, onto nearby land, and in a few cases at the city landfill. As the waste continued to enter the environment, city officials gave Life Science leeway to fix its disposal problems, which it did not. State officials who investigated the plant did not halt production, also preferring to allow Life Science time to fix the problems. No officials showed concern for Kepone dust in the plant, which filled the air, covered machinery, and coated the exterior of the plant, blowing into nearby neighborhoods. The workers didn’t use protective equipment and were at times reported to have handled Kepone with their bare hands. Some workers exhibited uncontrollable tremors known as “Kepone shakes” and they and their families reported a variety of ailments.
In June 1975, one worker who suffered from uncontrollable shivering sought medical care from a local cardiologist. Suspecting Kepone poisoning, the doctor sent blood and urine samples to the Centers for Disease Control for analysis. The results confirmed extraordinarily high levels of Kepone in the worker’s body. The doctor notified the Virginia Department of Health, and those officials then visited the plant. They interviewed workers coming off their shifts and immediately recognized the health crisis as many exhibited the shakes and reported various neurological ailments. With these results, the health department went to Life Science and the company agreed to shut down in late July.
Federal investigators joined those at the state level to assess the level of the disaster. They identified seventy-six workers with Kepone poisoning, and twenty-nine were hospitalized for treatment. Investigations of the James River and surrounding tributaries showed high levels of Kepone in sediment and a variety of fish and shellfish, as well as Kepone contamination in the soil around Hopewell. This prompted Virginia’s governor, Mills Godwin, to close the river to recreational and commercial fishing in December 1975.
Aftermath
The multi-million dollar fishing industry in Virginia was decimated by the commercial fishing ban, which wasn’t fully lifted until 1988. Even after that, many consumers, wary of the Kepone scandal, refused to buy seafood from Virginia. A Kepone consumption advisory remains in effect for the James River. A study in 2017 showed Kepone still present in fish, but below the level of 0.3 parts per million that is considered dangerous to humans.
As investigations continued, it became clear that Life Science and local, state, and federal officials either ignored or refused to address safety concerns and significant Kepone contamination before the Virginia Department of Health visited the factory. Allied Chemical executives and engineers also violated federal environmental laws when the company dumped Kepone waste into the James River and surrounding waterways. Records from Allied Chemical and government agencies revealed that laboratory testing in the 1950s and 1960s showed chlordecone to be likely carcinogenic and an endocrine disruptor that caused health problems related to the liver, eyes, and reproductive system.
With Life Science insolvent, Allied Chemical became the prime legal target of federal prosecutors and former workers, residents, and fishermen. The company settled lawsuits with workers and with the fishing industry. Medical intervention helped workers alleviate the pain and shaking, but the long-term health effects remain unclear. In 1976, Allied Chemical was held liable in court for violating federal environmental laws and ordered to pay a fine of just over $13.2 million. Allied Chemical worked out an innovative solution which saw the fine reduced to $5 million while the company spent $8 million to establish the Virginia Environmental Endowment, which continues to use its resources to improve the quality of the environment in Virginia. In addition, Allied Chemical agreed to pay for the cleanup of the former Life Science factory. In the end, the Kepone incident cost Allied Chemical some $30 million. Allied Chemical buried Kepone waste on its property near the James River, and the city of Hopewell buried Life Science waste at its former sewage treatment site. Allied Chemical sent the remaining Kepone stocks to Germany for burial in a former salt mine converted into a hazardous waste disposal site. Kepone remains in the James River, buried under sediment, where it still enters the food chain, albeit below levels considered dangerous for human consumption.
The Kepone disaster helped spur two major pieces of legislation. In 1976 Virginia approved the Toxic Substances Information Act, which requires commercial entities to report toxic discharges that pose a threat to life or health, along with several other “Kepone bills” that addressed toxic discharges by commercial entities. The same year, the federal government approved the Toxic Substances Control Act to regulate harmful chemicals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an immediate stop sale order for Kepone in August 1975 and cancelled all registrations for its use by the end of 1977. Other nations continued to make and use chlordecone under different trade names through the 1990s. Based on the Hopewell experience, and a public health crisis in the French West Indies stemming from chlordecone use there, the United Nations listed chlordecone among persistent organic pollutants set for elimination.
