DuPont Co.’s plan to spin off its Teflon unit is spurring concern on the West Virginia-Ohio border that the new company won’t cover medical payments for residents sickened by a chemical long-used at the production plant.
In 2004, as a result of a class action filed three years earlier, DuPont agreed to pay $235 million to monitor residents’ health around Parkersburg, West Virginia, where the plant is located. The new company, though, will start life heavily in debt because of a promised $4 billion dividend it owes DuPont after the spinoff, set for July 1.
