News of the Week bankrupt. However, as the court notes, between 1971 and 1983— when the current case began—the company purchased 67 comprehensive general liability policies from 23 insurers. The court holds these insurers responsible for the cleanup costs. Dell E. Perelman, senior assistant general counsel for the Chemical Manufacturers Association, points out that the D.C. court decision follows in the steps of the majority of recent court decisions. He adds that the decision is good news, in that it contradicts a related case involving NEPACCO directly, which "is a thorn in the side of policyholders." In that case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit held that under Missouri law, NEPACCO's insurers did not have to reimburse the company for its share of the Times Beach cleanup costs, because the costs were not "damages" covered by insurance policies. But Perelman does not expect the D.C. decision to have any far-reaching impact. Insurance law is a state issue. "One of the things that makes it so expensive and so difficult," he explains, is that "each state has to decide on its own what these contracts mean." Federal courts get involved only in diversity cases, where policyholders are in one state and insurer or insurers in another state or states. And in a diversity case the federal court's duty, Randolph says, is to "ascertain and apply state law." Janice Long
OSHA fines Union Carbide $2.8 million Pending appeal, Union Carbide has been fined $2.8 million by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration for "willful violations" related to the explosion and fire that destroyed part of its ethylene oxide plant in Seadrift, Tex., last March. The accident, which dealt a blow to Carbide's vigorous post-Bhopal efforts for an accident-free record in its plants around the world, killed one person and injured 32. It also knocked out much of the company's ethylene oxide capacity, resulting in 6
September 23, 1991 C&EN
a drop of about $50 million in earnings this year. OSHA Administrator Gerard F. Scannell says Carbide operated the plant "in a manner which created the potential for catastrophic explosion." Not only was there an explosion of the ethylene oxide reactor, but the blast also sent flying metal "shrapnel" that punctured methane lines nearby. OSHA's investigation, says Scannell, "showed that several exits from the area were locked, and some employees had to climb over a fence to exit the area." The fine is one of the largest ever imposed on a chemical firm by OSHA. But it is less than the $4 million Phillips paid last month for an October 1989 explosion at its polyethylene plant in Pasadena, Tex. Carbide, which faces many lawsuits stemming from the accident, is especially miffed by use of the term "willful" in OSHA's citation. Carbide's chairman, Robert Kennedy,
says "such accusations are unjust and an affront to every Carbide employee." Kennedy notes that only last March, OSHA gave Carbide a special award for safety performance at Seadrift. He claims that no points in the citation relate to the actual March 12 event. Carbide plans to appeal by the deadline this Friday. According to Carbide's investigation, the accident was apparently caused by a chemical quirk resulting in explosion of ethylene oxide vapors, catalyzed by a "unique" iron oxide compound that formed under high-temperature conditions. The vapors were formed when ethylene oxide circulation was stalled "by a combination of several factors." "Neither this unique iron oxide nor its catalytic reaction with ethylene oxide was known to Union Carbide or the industry, or reported in the scientific literature," says Carbide. Wil Lepkowski
Former ACS chairman Milton Hams dead at 85 Milton Harris, chairman of the American Chemical Society Board of D i r e c t o r s from 1966 to 1970 and Priestley medalist in 1980, died of cancer Sept. 12. A self-acknowledged "born optimist," Harris in his Priestley Medal address mirrored his enthusiasm for the future of science and technology. "Certainly the future is filled with uncertainties," he said. "But in my experience the optimists generally have been proven better realists than the pessimists." Harris' experience with science began at the age of 10, when he was drawn to the technology section of his local library. His interest in chemistry was k i n d l e d in h i g h school, and he graduated from Oregon State University with a B.S. degree in c h e m i s t r y in 1926. He earned his Ph.D. degree at Yale University in 1929. Harris was well known for his
work with fibers, which included the d e v e l o p m e n t of a shrink-proof process for wool fabrics. In 1931 he led a group of scientists at the former National Bureau of Standards in setting u p an i n s t i t u t e for studying the properties of textiles. In 1945 he founded Harris Research Laboratories, a consulting company that was purchased by Gillette in 1956. He joined Gillette as director of research and vice president—positions he held until his retirement in 1966. His work was recognized with multiple awards over the years. Among them were the Olney Medal from the American Association of Textile Chemists & Colorists in 1945, the Perkin Medal from the Society of the Chemical Industry in 1970, and the 1982 Gold Medal from the American Institute of Chemists. Dolores Miner
