Diamond Alkali

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Diamond Alkali Company was an American chemical company incorporated in 1910 in West Virginia by a group of glass industry businessmen from Pittsburgh. The company soon established a large chemical plant at Fairport Harbor, Ohio, which would operate for over sixty years. In 1947, the headquarters of the company was moved from Pittsburgh to Cleveland.[1]Later the company established a plant in Redwood City, California, that produced ion-exchange resins. In 1967, Diamond Alkali and Shamrock Oil and Gas merged to form the Diamond Shamrock Corporation. Diamond Shamrock would go on to merge with Ultramar Corporation, and the combined company, Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation, would in turn be acquired by Valero Energy Corporation in 2001.

Diamond Alkali was largely responsible for contamination leading to the creation of a Superfund Site in the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey. Between 1951 and 1969, Diamond Alkali in Newark produced approximately 700,000 US gallons (2,600,000 l; 580,000 imp gal) of the herbicide Agent Orange. The plant had a reputation for accidents and producing the lowest quality (most contaminated with by-products) herbicides.[2] Furthermore, the firm frequently dumped "bad" batches of the herbicide into the Passaic River[citation needed]. The former plant property and adjoining portions of the Lower Passaic River were declared a Superfund site in 1984.[3] In 1986, the Diamond Shamrock Corporation agreed to pay $150,000 for a canvas tarpaulin to cover 3 acres (12,000 m2) of the contaminated area.[2] Remediation efforts at Diamond Alkali began in 2000[4] and ecological investigation, dredging, and other cleanup activities are still underway.[5][6][7][8] As of 2020 the EPA indicates that the site is not yet ready for reuse and redevelopment.[9]

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  1. ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cnNZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zUgNAAAAIBAJ&dq=diamond%20alkali%20mayfield&pg=6527%2C389815
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Morren, George (2007). When the Chips are Down. ISBN 978-1-59271-388-2
  3. ^ USEPA Region 2 Superfund: Diamond Alkali, Newark, NJ
  4. ^ "Diamond Alkali Superfund Site". Archived from the original on 2015-09-27. Retrieved 2013-01-12.
  5. ^ "Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2013-01-12.
  6. ^ "Lower Passaic River Restoration Project Commercial Navigation Analysis" (PDF). United States Army Corps of Engineers. July 2, 2010. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  7. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/science/superfund-efforts-to-clean-waterways-come-with-a-risk.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
  8. ^ https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0200613#bkground
  9. ^ Superfund Site: Diamond Alkali Company Newark NJ Cleanup Progress (retrieved 12/1/2020)
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