#Cleantech #Podcast – #ForeverChemicals and the DuPont (NYSE: $DD) Handbook
–Spin, Deny, Delay $CC $CTVA
November 17, 2023 - Investorideas.com, a global news source and leading investor
resource covering cleantech stocks issues a new edition of the Cleantech and Climate Change Podcast.
Listen to the Podcast:
https://www.investorideas.com/Audio/Podcasts/2023/111723-Cleantech.mp3
Read this in full at https://www.investorideas.com/news/2023/cleantech-podcasts/11171DuPont.asp
Listen
to the cleantech and climate change podcast on Spotify
Transcript:
Good morning and welcome to
today’s podcast. Today I would like to pose the question, ‘What happens when a company
contaminates us with chemicals that last forever, poisoning our water and soil
for generations to come?’ Well, if you are
DuPont (NYSE: DD), you have a readymade handbook to create spin-offs,
delay court proceedings, deny any wrongdoing and pay settlement fines, only if
necessary and just go about your business as always.
To explain in simple terms
what these forever chemicals are and the massive problems they represent,
NRDC.org (the Natural Resources Defense Council) one of the organizations
attempting to holding polluters accountable, explains:
“Nonstick cookware, grease-resistant food
packaging, and waterproof clothing are all products that make our daily lives
less messy, but that convenience comes at a cost.
A class of manmade chemicals known as PFAS—which
stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—is part of what makes these
consumer goods water-, stain-, and grease-resistant. PFAS are also toxic at
extremely low levels (i.e. parts per quadrillion), posing significant risks to
our health. And if you’re wondering why they’re called “forever chemicals,”
it’s because they are nearly indestructible.
Unfortunately, PFAS are almost impossible to avoid.
They are found in our homes, our offices, our supermarkets—practically
everywhere.”
If you spend a few moments online searching for PFAS
litigation against Dupont, you will find a very long historical list of litigation
that has been in court for years. Dupont and other large corporations like them
play the long game and are willing to pay the big legal bills while they create
corporate spin-offs, change the name of their products and keep generating
profits.
Violation tracker reports a penalty total since 2000 of $1,287,936,396 and number of records: at
241, of which environmental violation penalties were $648,481,945 with 177 records.
In June of this year, The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC), DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE: DD) and Corteva, Inc. (NYSE: CTVA) announced they reached an agreement in principle
to comprehensively resolve all PFAS-related drinking water claims of a defined
class of public water systems that serve the vast majority of the United States
population.
Continued from their news: The
class includes water systems with a current detection of PFAS1 at any level and
those that are currently required to monitor for the presence of PFAS under EPA
monitoring rules2 or other applicable laws. This includes but is not limited to
systems in the South Carolina aqueous film-forming foam multi-district litigation.
The companies will collectively establish and
contribute a total of $1.185 billion to a settlement fund (“water district
settlement fund”). Contribution rates will be consistent with the binding
Memorandum of Understanding between the companies reached in January 2021, with
Chemours contributing 50 percent (about $592 million), and DuPont (about $400
million) and Corteva (about $193 million) collectively contributing the
remaining 50 percent. The settlement amounts will be funded by the companies in
full and deposited into the water district settlement fund within ten business
days following preliminary approval of the settlement by the Court.
DuPont generated over 13 billion U.S. dollars of revenue in 2022.
Corteva’s revenue for the twelve months ending September 30, 2023 was $17.344
billion. Chemours 2022 Net Sales
were $6.8 billion.
Just to clarity, this incestuous pool of players
are all spin-offs of the same company. The Chemours Company is an American
chemical company that was founded in July 2015 as a spin-off from DuPont.
And then you have to look at the Dow (NYSE: DOW)/Dupont (NYSE: DD) merger
(Aug. 31, 2017) that later changed again. The dissolution of DowDuPont was
completed on June 1, 2019, splitting the company into three different segments;
Dow, Dupont, and Corteva.
Dupont explains to shareholders: “When our company was created through
the merger of equals transaction between The Dow Chemical Company and E. I. du
Pont de Nemours and Company, we announced our intention to separate into three
independent, publicly traded companies – one for each of our agriculture,
materials science and specialty products businesses. On April 1, 2019, we
completed the separation of the materials science business through the spin-off
of Dow Inc. and our stockholders
received one (1) share of Dow stock for every three (3) shares of DowDuPont
common stock held on that date. This is what we refer to as the Dow
Distribution.
On June 1, 2019, we completed the
separation of the agriculture business, through the spin-off of Corteva,
Inc. and our stockholders received one
(1) share of Corteva common stock for every three (3) shares of DowDuPont
common stock they held on that date. This is what we refer to as the Corteva
Distribution. In both cases, DowDuPont stockholders received or will receive
cash in lieu of any fractional shares of the common stock of Dow Inc. or
Corteva, Inc.”
This is clearly a gameplay that they took from
Abbott and Costello – Who’s on First.
So why so many spin-offs? An article from
Promarket.org entitled “How Companies Spin off Environmental
Liabilities to Avoid Legal Obligations” gives some insight.
“In 2015, DuPont spun off specialty chemicals
businesses into a separate company called Chemours. Chemours produced
fluoroproducts, the most famous of which was Teflon, and other performance
chemicals.
Within a year, Chemours lost three consecutive
cases finding perfluorooctanoic acid (otherwise known as PFOA or C-8, an input
in the production of Teflon) was responsible for a range of diseases, including
cancer. While the individual awards were small, amounting to several hundred
thousand dollars to a few million each, the number of cases exceeded 3,400.
In 2017, the company, jointly with DuPont, agreed
to pay $671 million to settle certain claims involving PFOA—with each company
responsible for half.
This settlement did not put Chemours’ legacy
liabilities behind it. In 2019, the company sued its former parent alleging its
environmental liabilities greatly exceeded those reported at spin: $2.5
billion, or five times the amount accrued. Liabilities included those unrelated
to performance chemicals, including DuPont’s legacy exposure to explosives,
asbestos, and benzene. Chemours received two-thirds of DuPont’s environmental
liabilities but only 19 percent of revenue—in addition to $4 billion in debt.
The judge dismissed the lawsuit—ruling no
jurisdiction—and sent the matter to arbitration. A settlement has not been
reached.”
So did Dupont know what was happening all along?
UCSF has reported “According
to a 1970 internal memo, DuPont-funded Haskell Laboratory found C8 (one of
thousands of PFAS) to be “highly toxic when inhaled and moderately toxic when
ingested.” And in a 1979 private report for DuPont, Haskell labs found that
dogs who were exposed to a single dose of PFOA ‘died two days after ingestion.”
What you invest in is ultimately up to you. All I
ask is that you become informed, awake and discerning. It is one thing to lose
or make money; I love the possibility of making money in the stock market.
Companies succeed and some fail - that’s the risk.
It is a whole other game to invest in a company
that poisons a planet.
About
podcast host:- Dawn
Van Zant – founder of Investorideas
Dawn Van
Zant is a female pioneer in the financial markets sitting in every seat as a
trader, a broker, IR and PR before finally starting Investorideas. She has been
featured in interviews in Business Week, CNN Financial TV, CBS Market watch
radio and other financial publications online, radio and print, talking about
renewable energy, water and homeland defense stocks.
If you are a small company doing big things to benefit our water and our
environment I would love to hear from you and tell your story.
Thanks, that’s it for today. Do something good for this beautiful planet
each and every day.
If you would like to be a guest on this podcast and
tell your story please call me at 800 665 0411
Or reach out at Linkedin
Visit the Cleantech and Climate Change Podcast page at Investorideas.com
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