Mile 135.7 - LBD DuPont Pontchartrain Works

135.7 LBD DuPont Pontchartrain Works

This DuPont Pontchartrain Works contains two plants that each produce materials of importance to paddlers: one that makes neoprene rubber, the other makes Kevlar fiber. DuPont invented neoprene, a synthetic chlorinated rubber, in 1930. DuPont invented Kevlar, a para-aramid synthetic fiber, in 1965. In 2014 DuPont sold the neoprene plant to Denka and Mitsui companies of Japan. Starting in late 2015 E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, known as DuPont, will merge with Dow Chemical Company and the resulting company will be called DowDuPont. Neoprene is made from the monomer chloroprene which shows clear evidence of causing cancer in rats and mice and is reasonably anticipated to cause cancer in humans. 258,185 pounds of chloroprene was released into the environment from the DuPont neoprene plant in 2013. DuPont Pontchartrain Works toxic releases for 2013 were 345,803 pounds into the air and 20,275 into the river.