THE STAUFFER CHEMICAL PLANT HAS BEEN CRITICIZED BY LOCAL NEWSPAPERS FOR POLLUTING THE AIR - NARA - 545837

Stauffer Chemical Company was an American chemical company which manufactured

herbicides Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page fo ...

and

pesticides Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and la ...

for various agricultural crops. It was acquired by

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at ...

from Chesebrough-Pond's Inc. in 1987. In 1987, Stauffer's head office was in

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

. Late that year, Imperial sold Stauffer's basic chemicals business to Rhône-Poulenc S.A.

History

The company was founded in 1885 in San Francisco as a partnership between two young Europeans; a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, John Stauffer Sr., and a

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially th ...

, Christian de Guigne. Ships exporting wheat to Europe used stone from the chalk cliffs of Dover as ballast. This discarded ballast became the inexpensive raw material for the newly formed company. The company was incorporated by John Stauffer Sr., who died on March 4, 1940, at the age of 78. In 1931, the company announced plans for a new manufacturing subsidiary, the Pacific Hard Rubber Company. Hans Stauffer, nephew of founder John Stauffer Sr, who joined his uncle at Stauffer Chemicals in 1920 and who retired as president in 1967, died in 1986. John Stauffer Jr., director emeritus of the company and son of the company's founder, died in 1972. The John Stauffer Laboratory for Physical Chemistry, the John Stauffer Chemistry Building at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, and the John Stauffer Science Center at

Whittier College Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...

are all named after him.

Pollution and site contamination

A Stauffer Chemical factory in Tarpon Springs,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

in Pinellas County (), produced

elemental An elemental is a mythic being that is described in occult and alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, and particularly elaborated in the 16th century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsus and his subsequent fo ...

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ea ...

from

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

ore operated from 1947 until 1981. The factory was originally operated by Victor Chemical Company, and was acquired by Stauffer Chemical in 1960. The

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

reported that "Site operations resulted in the contamination of soils, ground water, and waste ponds on the property. The main contaminants of concern (COCs) in soil include arsenic, antimony, beryllium, elemental phosphorus, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), radium-226, and thallium."

1982 and 1983 earnings dispute

In 1984, the company was accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of overstating its 1982 and 1983 earnings through non-standard accounting.

Phosphorus trichloride plant

The company was in the headlines in the mid-1980s for selling its design for a chemical plant to make

phosphorus trichloride Phosphorus trichloride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula PCl3. A colorless liquid when pure, it is an important industrial chemical, being used for the manufacture of phosphites and other organophosphorus compounds. It is toxic ...

to Krebs A.G., a Swiss company. The plant modeled after a Stauffer plant in Pennsylvania, was subsequently built by Krebs for El Nasr Pharmaceutical Company of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. Phosphorus trichloride is well known for its dual use capacity as a precursor for the manufacture of organophosphates including both pesticides and nerve agents such as

Sarin Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound.Tabun.A Cordesman (1996).
Perilous Prospects: The Peace Process And The Arab-Israeli Military Balance.
Taylor&Francis, Westview Press. . . Retrieved 22 April 2018.

References

{{Authority control Chemical companies of the United States Defunct chemical companies Imperial Chemical Industries Manufacturing companies based in Connecticut Companies based in Westport, Connecticut Chemical companies established in 1886 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1987 1886 establishments in California 1980s disestablishments in Connecticut Defunct companies based in Connecticut Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area

History

Pollution and site contamination

1982 and 1983 earnings dispute

Phosphorus trichloride plant

See also

References