Regulators drop toxic chemical warning after plant lawyer complains

Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette used the federal Freedom of Information Act to obtain records showing that a plan by West Virginia environmental regulators to warn residents of Wood County about the spread of the toxic chemical C8 from DuPont Co.’s Parkersburg plant was killed after complaints from a DuPont lawyer. The paper reported that a state science adviser “insisted that DuPont review, edit and approve all C8-related statements issued by the state.”