15. Far Easten New Century Corp.
> Toxic hazard (pounds released x toxicity): 1,966,969,554
> Environmental justice, poor population share 43% – #11 highest out of 100 corporations
> Environmental justice, minority population share 1% – #98 highest
> Pct. of toxic hazard from a single facility: 100% – #1 highest
Operating as APG Polytech in Apple Grove, West Virginia, the company produces polyethylene terephthalate, known as PET, used for, among other things, plastic soda bottles. It releases over 19,000 pounds of dioxane, an animal carcinogen and likely human carcinogen, into the Ohio River, pursuant to its wastewater discharge permit.
14. Alfa S.A.B.
> Toxic hazard (pounds released x toxicity): 2,166,104,301
> Environmental justice, poor population share 25% – #70 highest out of 100 corporations
> Environmental justice, minority population share 29% – #49 highest
> Pct. of toxic hazard from a single facility: 82% – #57 highest
Alfa, a Mexican conglomerate, is one of the largest producers of PET in North America. Four of its plants – two in South Carolina, one in North Carolina, and one in Mississippi – together discharge over 21,000 pounds of dioxane into their states’ waters.
13. Energy Capital Partners
> Toxic hazard (pounds released x toxicity): 2,531,273,104
> Environmental justice, poor population share 43% – #11 highest out of 100 corporations
> Environmental justice, minority population share 30% – #46 highest
> Pct. of toxic hazard from a single facility: 93% – #45 highest
Energy Capital Partners earns its high toxic hazard score mainly due to its annual discharge of 1,500 lbs of arsenic from a single plant, Envirofocus Technologies, into Tampa, Florida’s POTW, which in turn discharges it all into public waters. However, Envirofocus is also playing an important role in environmental waste management as a reprocessor of scrap metal.
12. Boston Scientific
> Toxic hazard (pounds released x toxicity): 2,580,001,087
> Environmental justice, poor population share 24% – #77 highest out of 100 corporations
> Environmental justice, minority population share 10% – #81 highest
> Pct. of toxic hazard from a single facility: 100% – #1 highest
In its manufacture of medical devices, Boston Scientific’s manufacturing plant in Maple Grove, Michigan, transfers over 2,500 pounds of thiourea to the local sewage treatment plant. Thiourea is a highly toxic material that has a sky-high toxic hazard score because it is both a carcinogen and a mutagen.
11. Cargill
> Toxic hazard (pounds released x toxicity): 2,687,920,789
> Environmental justice, poor population share 26% – #66 highest out of 100 corporations
> Environmental justice, minority population share 21% – #58 highest
> Pct. of toxic hazard from a single facility: 92% – #47 highest
Of the many Cargill facilities throughout the U.S., its corn milling plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, discharges the vast majority of the company’s toxic wastewater. All together, the mill releases to a POTW over 20,000 lbs of toxic material, including metals, acids, and other chemicals, the most dangerous of which are carcinogenic lead compounds.
