According to the panel, "existing legal remedies and actions may be adequate ... to deal with very large claims." These same remedies, however, are not adequate to deal "with claims, by hundreds of victims, each of whom suffered a few thousand dollars in damages." In fact, these are the very claims former residents of the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, N.Y., and World War II shipyard workers exposed to asbestos are asking the current legal system to address. To correct the problems posed by legal barriers, the panel recommends major changes to the tort system. These changes include amending states' statutes of limitation to allow a victim the right to sue beginning with the diagnosis of disease rather than the date of first exposure, which often is decades before the illness becomes manifest. The panel also recommends two levels of compensation. The first, or Tier One, level the panel calls a limited "no-fault compensation remedy," set up by federal legislation to meet swiftly the economic and medical needs of the victim. Compensation for these smaller claims would come from a fund fed by taxes on the chemical industry and administered by the states. Victims making larger claims could do so through Tier Two, or tort, litigation in the state courts. Though more time-consuming and costly, the Tier Two route offers the victim the prospect of full recovery for loss of earnings, medical expenses, and pain and suffering, which is not allowed under Tier One. The report is expected to be controversial and, if its recommendations are implemented, costly to the chemical industry. Chemical Manufacturers Association spokesman Jeff Van refuses to "talk about how to pay for the fund," preferring instead to focus on the report's deficiencies. He says it "doesn't answer the basic question of whether hazardous waste sites are causing injuries, or, if they are, what kinds and to how many people." Further, Van says, the report "neither offers nor proposes alternatives, and it doesn't examine the economic fairness of the proposals." In short, he adds, "the report is based on speculation and assumptions, and is not the way to conduct public policy." On the other hand, Sen. Robert T. Stafford (R.-Vt), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, calls the report a "benchmark in developing legislation." D
Bendix acquisition to alter Allied makeup Allied Corp. will not be the same company after it formally acquires Bendix. What once was one of the biggest chemical companies in the U.S. will become a very diversified corporation with interests not only in chemicals and oil and gas, but in aerospace electronics, automotive equipment, health equipment, industrial tools, and other markets. In fact, chemicals, which made up more than 39% of the old Allied (1981 figures), will decline to just over 23% of the combined operations. Allied acquired Bendix after coming in late in a protracted fight involving Bendix, Martin Marietta, and United Technologies. Originally, Bendix had tried to acquire Martin Marietta. Martin Marietta then bid for Bendix, and United Technologies entered the fray to help Martin Marietta.
After the dust cleared, Allied was the apparent victor. Allied, Bendix, and Martin Marietta say they have agreed on transactions that will result in the merger of Allied and Bendix and will resolve the tender offers of Bendix and Martin Marietta for each other. According to the agreement, Allied will receive all of the Bendix shares that now are owned by Martin Marietta, and Martin Marietta will acquire a substantial portion of its own stock now held by Bendix. The remainder of the Martin Marietta stock that Bendix owns will be acquired by Allied in the merger, leaving Allied owning about 39% of Martin Marietta. Bendix stockholders will receive 1.3 shares of Allied common stock and $38.50 in value on a fully distributed basis of Allied fixed income
Train derailment involves mix of chemicals Derailed tank cars poured out black smoke that could be seen for more than 10 miles after 43 cars of a 101-car Illinois Gulf Central freight train derailed at 5 AM Sept. 28 near Livingston, La. The combination of chemicals found in the train's cars made fire fighting difficult. In particular, one of the derailed cars contained metallic sodium, which reacts vigorously with water to release highly combustible hydrogen gas. Consequently, fire fighters avoided using water to fight the blaze and instead were letting it bum itself out. In the process, at least three tank cars exploded, scattering fragments over 50 yards. One of the exploded cars contained tetraethyllead, a gasoline additive. Exactly what was contained in the other two cars is uncertain—one of them may have been a tankload of vinyl chloride. The train also is said to have been carrying methyl chloride, sodium hydroxide, phosphoric acid, styrene, toluene diisocyanate, and hydrofluosilicic acid. At the peak of the emergency, some 3200 people were evacuated from communities surrounding the derailment, including the entire population (2000) of Livingston, a small town about 30 miles east of Baton Rouge.
Oct. 4, 1982C&EN
5
Allied becomes conglomerate with acquisition of Bendix Allied before acquisition
Allied after acquisition
Aerospace I ifeétreitlc
Chemical*a
mm ν Εΐ8|||ρβ^ρ!|^βΐ
:
Health & scientific 7.2%
Electric & electronic 14.5% Total sales = $6.77 billion5
Automotive Other 5.2%' Health & scientific 4.4%
OH & gas 1*J% Industrial tools 7.0%
Total sales = $11.20 billion0
a Includes fibers and plastics, b Based on Allied's 1981 results, including full-year results for Fisher Sci entific, acquired by Allied in fourth-quarter 1981. c Based on 1981 results for Allied and Bendix, including full-year results for Fisher Scientific, acquired by Allied in fourth-quarter 1981.
securities in the merger. Each Bendix share will be valued at about $85. Allied says that William M. Agee, chairman of Bendix, will continue as Bendix chairman and chief executive officer and will become presi-
dent and a director of Allied. Two other Bendix executives will become Allied directors. Bendix will be operated as a separate subsidiary of Allied and will remain headquartered in Southfield, Mich. D
Monsanto bows out of polyester staple Strike Monsanto from the dwindling list of U.S. polyester staple fiber producers. The company is shutting its polyester staple plant at Decatur, Ala., which has a capacity of about 120 million lb per year. This is the last of Monsanto's interests in polyester fiber. Early in 1981, it sold to Celanese a 70 million lb-per-year polyester filament plant in Fayetteville, N.C. At the same time, it closed another plant, of similar capacity, at Sand Mountain, Ala. The action is, in part, an indication of the continuing problems facing the polyester fiber business, both for staple and filament. This summer, for example, Celanese cut its capacity for polyester filament, slashing maximum output from about 450 million lb per year to 250 million lb (C&EN,May31,page7). Monsanto has decided, instead, to concentrate on its nylon fiber business, in which it is a far more significant factor, probably the second largest producer in the U.S. At the same time Monsanto announced the exit from polyester, it disclosed plans to convert two thirds of its nylon flat feeder yarn capacity to partially oriented nylon yarn at Pensacola, Fla. This modification, which will not change the capacity total, is expected to be completed by mid-1984. 6
C&ENOct. 4, 1982
"This project will enable Monsanto to keep pace with our downstream customers, the throwsters who are investing in advancedgeneration draw texturing equipment, by providing a fiber that they can use on their new machinery," says Robert E. Burke, managing director of Monsanto Textiles Co. Primary end uses for partially oriented nylon are women's hosiery, men's socks, and active wear. G
Monsanto still is one of biggest nylon producers . . . Capacity (millions of lb)
Du Pont Monsanto Allied Akzona Badlsche TOTAL
1375 560 455 210 145 2745
. . . but in polyester, its exit leaves four majors Capacity (millions of lb)
Celanese Du Pont Eastman American Hoechst TOTAL
970 963 450 355 2738
Cyanamid to lay off 75 lab employees Troubled by the state of the economy, more chemical producers have turned to layoffs of laboratory workers as part of their efforts to cut costs. The latest is American Cyanamid Co., which will shut down almost all research at its Bound Brook, N.J., site and fire 75 persons, most of them technical. The biggest layoff of laboratory workers to date is at Celanese, which has let 172 people go at Summit, N.J., and Corpus Christi, Tex. Still other layoffs have occurred at Gulf Research & Development Co., a part of Gulf Oil. American Cyanamid will consolidate all of its chemical research in Stamford, Conn., and eliminate 129 jobs at Bound Brook. Only 54 of these persons will be offered transfers within the company. Some process research will continue at Bound Brook on behalf of the firm's Lederle Laboratories subsidiary. Edward W. Cantrall, director of research for Cyanamid's chemical division, said the decision is part of a continuing program to improve profitability of the chemical business by concentrating on research programs that meet long-term objectives and eliminating those that do not. In addition to severance pay and other benefits, Cyanamid has offered outplacement assistance. Similar desires to reduce efforts on mature products led Celanese to lay off 130 of the 560 salaried people at its corporate research center in Summit, N.J., and 42 out of 278 employees at the Celanese Chemical Co. technical center in Corpus Christi. The company also gave outplacement assistance as well as other benefits during August, when the layoff occurred. Gulf Research & Development notified 60 of the 1500 people at its Harmarville, Pa., laboratory on Sept. 17 that their jobs would end effective Nov. 11. A company spokesman said the move was part of a program to streamline their efforts and reduce costs. Though PPG laid off 200 people in its glass fiber division during September, only 10 of these were at the research center near Pittsburgh, says a company spokesman. The firm also closed a laboratory associated with the chemical division in Corpus Christi. PPG's glass division also has reduced employment about 20%, most of that gradually in 1982. G
