BUSINESS
SIGNING ON THE DOTTED LINE Corporate executives hustle to certify financial data by SEC deadline
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AST WEEK, CORPORATE EX-
ecutives rushed to satisfy the Securities & Exchange Commission'sJune 27 order that they personally attest to the authenticity of their companies' financial statements. The certifications—intended to assure investors who have bid down share prices in the wake of accounting scandals at firms such as Enron and WorldCom—arrived at SEC offices last week. All ofthe largest chemical companies whose chief executives and chief financial officers had to supply sworn statements met the Aug. 14 deadline, with the exception of Hercules. It asked for a five-day extension on certification to deal
CHEMICAL
with accounting complexities from the sale of BetzDearborn to General Electric. Only officers of 945 companies with sales over $1.2 billion had to file statements. More are on the way OnJuly 30, President George W Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires officers of all public companies— effective Aug. 29 —to certify financial results. Many CEOs carefully reviewed recent financial statements before they signed on the dotted line. Some certified in advance of the deadline, including Solutia's John C. Hunter III and PPG's Raymond W LeBoeuf. "We have strict ethics and
WEAPONS
ARMY ASKS TO BURN ROCKETS Normal destruction doesn't work as nerve gas, stored for years, has gelled
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N M I D - O C T O B E R , T H E ARMY
plans to begin trial burns of sarin-filled rockets now stored in earthen bunkers near Anniston, Ala. Butfirstit has to receive state approval for its request to burn undrained nerve-gas-filled rockets in a furnace designed only for explosive parts. Under the Army's National Research Council-sanctioned destruction system, the nerve gas is drained from a rocket and burned in one furnace while the metal parts, including explosives, are burned in a separate furnace. The Army is asking the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
approve a departure from this scheme because sarin has gelled in about 30% of the nearly 43,000 rockets slated for destruction at the Anniston chemical agent disposal facility, Army spokesman Michael B. Abrams says. "DICI, or diisopropylcarbodiimide, added as a stabilizer, is the culprit" that caused gelling, he explains. The department's approval would speed up rocket destruction but could potentially increase risk to the environment and to 75,000 people living within 9 miles of the facility But Abrams contends, "If we protect our workforce, the community and environ-
compliance standards in place," DuPont CEO Charles O. HollidayJr. said in a letter to employees. He said he signed the SEC certificate confident that "our financial statements were in absolute compliance." Integrity plays a big role in accounting, many chemical executives note. Vincent A. Calarco of Crompton Corp. says that "accounting is not a black-and-white issue. It requires judgment, and good judgment depends on integrity"—MARC REISCH
ment will be protected as well." Brenda Lindell, a founder of Families Concerned about Nerve Gas Incineration, counters that "the workers are there by choice. Children and the elderly living near the facility have no choice and no protection." She says that "the community is concerned about the change, concerned that we will be an experiment." At the Army's Tooele, Utah, facility, the state permitted the Army to burn sarin-gelled rockets at the rate of one per hour. At Anniston, the Army is asking to destroy them during trial burns at a rate that could eventually reach 34 per hour. ADEM has reviewed the Army's request and "has determined that everything looks good, looks sufficient" to proceed to the required comment period, spokesman Scott Hughes says. Data from trial burns of surrogates and public comments will determine whether ADEM approves the Army's request, he adds. —LOIS EMBER
Thisfast burn rate has "not been tried before and they are doing it in the midst of J5,ooo residents." Brenda Lindell, a founder of Families Concerned about Nerve Gas Incineration
C&EN
/ AUGUST
19, 2002
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