A Multi-Billion Dollar Company, Enpro Industries, Is Primary Defendant In Environmental Lawsuit
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EnPro Industries is responsible for periodic testing and remediation efforts in the contaminated area after entering an agreement with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality in 2016. Environmental workers are pictured on property on South Main Street testing soil samples in 2022.
WATER VALLEY – A multi-billion dollar company is the primary defendant in the first of what is expected to be multiple lawsuits (see related story, Page 1) filed over a decades-old toxic chemical spill in Water Valley.
The defendant company, EnPro Inc., acquired environmental liability for the plant located at 600 Hwy. 32 East in Water Valley in a complicated ownership trail dating back to 1972 at the former carburetor plant. The plant where the contamination occurred is currently occupied by Solero Technologies. Solero is not a defendant, as the company acquired the facility in 2022 long after the toxic chemical was discharged into the environment and remediation had long been underway for the clean-up.
The Holley Automotive Division of Colt Industries acquired the former Ram Tool manufacturing facility in Water Valley in 1972 and began manufacturing automotive parts including carburetors. Corporate successor Coltec Industries, Inc. continued to manufacture automotive components at the plant until 1996 when BorgWarner purchased the plant. BorgWarner and its successors did not assume the environmental liability for the toxic spill.
In 1999, through one or more corporate transactions, the B.F. Goodrich Company acquired Coltec and assumed environmental liability for the toxic chemical in the environment at the plant site in Water Valley. In 2001, the B.F. Goodrich Company changed its name to Goodrich Corporation. And finally, in 2002, the Goodrich Corporation formed EnPro Industries, Inc. and EnPro contractually assumed Goodrich Corporation’s environmental liabilities.
According to the company’s website, EnPro Inc. is a leading industrial technology company focused on critical applications across many end-markets, including semiconductor, photonics, industrial process, aerospace, food and pharma and life sciences. The company has 61 primary manufacturing facilities located in 12 countries worldwide.
Other defendants in the June 4 lawsuit include EnPro Holdings, Inc.; Detrex Corporation; Italmatch SC, LLC: and Italmatch DW, LLC.
EnPro Holdings is a wholly owned subsidiary of EnPro Industries which expressly assumed all environmental liabilities for the Water Valley Plant, according to the lawsuit.
Defendants Italmatch, SC, LLC and Italmatch DW, LLC are two limited liability corporations formed as part of an expansion process in 2017 wherein Italian company Italmatch Chemicals entered into a merger deal with Detrex Corporation. Detrex manufactured a degreaser machine that used the toxic chemical, trichloroethylene, that was used at the plant from 1972 to 1986, according to the June 4 lawsuit.
This is the not the first time EnPro has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit connected to the toxic chemical spill. In 2020, the company settled a lawsuit with Yalobusha County and Yalobusha General Hospital for $3 million for loss of property value. The settlement stemmed from environmental damages to county-owned property including Yalobusha General Hospital.
EnPro also settled a second lawsuit filed by 33 plaintiffs including homeowners and businesses located north and northwest of the Water Valley plant. The plaintiffs’ property is located in a contaminated area called a plume that encompasses approximately 340 acres. Terms of the settlement were confidential.
EnPro also settled a lawsuit in 2016 unrelated to the Water Valley plant. The settlement came after suit was filed for current and future asbestos claims related to Garlock Sealing Technologies and Garlock’s parent company, Coltec Industries. In March, 2016, EnPro set up a $480 million trust to resolve asbestos-related legal claims in the United States, as well as setting aside $17 million to cover asbestos claims in Canada.
EnPro Inc.’s net worth as of June 7, 2024, is $3.12 billion based on its market captalization, or the current stock price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding.
