DuPont ordered to pay $16M in Texas plant leak that killed 4

JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a chemical company has been ordered to pay $16 million and sentenced to two years of probation for its role in a poisonous gas leak that killed four workers. During a court hearing Monday in Houston federal court, DuPont, along with a former supervisor, Kenneth Sandel, pleaded guilty in the case. Sandel was sentenced to a year of probation. DuPont was also ordered to pay a $12 million criminal penalty and make a $4 million community service payment. The employees at the now-closed chemical plant in LaPorte, Texas, died in November 2014 when a chemical used in the manufacturing of insecticide and fungicide, methyl mercaptan, was released.