Environmental Injustice in DeLisle DeLisle residents are paying a high price to supply the rest of the country with bright white products. DuPont titanium dioxide plants in DeLisle, Mississippi, and the EdgeMoor plant near Wilmington, Delaware, are responsible for 49 percent of the dioxin or dioxin-like waste landfilled in the U.S. according to the Toxic Release Inventory. Currently DuPont DeLisle is No. 1 in the entire country for releases of dioxin-like compounds to non-hazardous waste landfills, according to EPA's Toxic Release Inventory. While DuPont only "discovered" the dioxin in its waste materials a few years ago, it is now known that the dioxin has been produced there for the 25 years the plant has operated. In earlier years the waste was transported in uncovered trucks up Kiln-DeLisle Road to a landfill, and residents report so much waste was blown out of the backs of the trucks that the roads turned white. DuPont's DeLisle plant has a long history of environmental problems. It had at least one incidence of non-compliance with its wastewater permits in every quarter from April 2002 until the beginning of 2005, and formal action was taken against the plant in 2005 because of violations of its air permits over a 15-year period. The site has a large concentration of contaminants beneath the property. This includes perchloroethene and other organics, as well as heavy metals such as arsenic, barium, beryllium, manganese, and lead. Although the PCE plumes are mostly contained under the plant, other compounds such as manganese have been found in drinking water wells beyond the boundaries of the plant. Continued contaminationIn spite of the dire consequences of titanium dioxide manufacturing, DuPont is excavating some already-processed waste to remove another 10 percent more titanium dioxide. This re-mining of waste could release more dioxins, PCBs and heavy metals into the surrounding environment--and continue the cycle of illness and death that DeLisle residents have faced. According to DuPont whistleblower Glen Evers, a former employee of DuPont, dioxin has been found in the titanium dioxide that DuPont manufactures and sells. "What they will not tell their paint, plastic and paper customers is that dioxin has been found in the white powder that DeLisle manufacturers," Evers says. "Dioxin contaminated titanium dioxide is also used for manufacturing drinking water PVC pipes. In addition to dioxin, DeLisle previously used high arsenic Malaysian ore to produce the titanium dioxide that is amongst highest arsenic concentrations in the world. It was so high, in fact, that Japan would not allow this grade of white pigment in their country. So how are USA human beings any different?"
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