Union Carbide

History

The Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation was formed on November 1, 1917. It resulted from a merger of the Union Carbide Company (founded in 1898), the National Carbon Company (founded in 1886), Linde Air Products Company (a Buffalo-based supplier of liquid oxygen that was confiscated from Gesellschaft für Linde's Eismaschinen AG under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917), and the Prest-O-Lite company, which manufactured calcium carbide in Indianapolis. In 1920, the company set up a chemicals division which manufactured ethylene glycol for use as automotive antifreeze. The company continued to acquire related chemical producers, including the Bakelite Corporation in 1939. The company changed its name to "Union Carbide Corporation" in 1957 and was often referred to as Carbide. It operated Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1947 to 1984.

During the Cold War, the company was active in the field of rocket propulsion research and development for aerospace and guided missile applications, particularly in the field of chemicals and plastics, solid rocket motors, and storable liquid fuels. R&D and engineering were conducted at the Technical Center in South Charleston, West Virginia. The Aerospace Materials Department was part of the company's Carbon Products Division.

Ucar batteries was Carbide's industrial and consumer zinc chloride battery business. The business, including Eveready and Energizer alkaline batteries, was sold to Ralston Purina in 1986, following a hostile takeover attempt.

After the Bhopal disaster in 1984, Union Carbide was the subject of repeated takeover attempts. In order to pay off its debt, Carbide sold many of its most familiar brands such as Glad Trashbags and Eveready Batteries. Dow Chemical announced the purchase of Carbide in 1999 for $8.89 billion in stock. The deal was consummated in 2001 and valued at $11.6 billion. Carbide became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical on February 6, 2001.

1985 West Virginia gas leak

The year after the Bhopal disaster, a faulty valve at the UC plant in Institute, West Virginia caused a cloud of gas that injured six employees and caused almost 200 nearby residents to seek medical treatment for respiratory and skin irritation. Union Carbide blamed the leak of aldicarb oxime (made from MIC but does not contain residual MIC), the main ingredient in the farm pesticide Temik, on a valve failure after a buildup of pressure in a storage tank containing 500 pounds of the chemical. A company spokesman insisted that the aldicarb oxime leak "never was a threat to the community."

In the early 1960s, Union Carbide Corporation began mining a newly identified outcrop of chrysotile asbestos fibers near King City and New Idria, California. These fibers were sold under the brand name "Calidria", a combination of "Cal" and "Idria", and sold in large quantities for a wide variety of purposes, including additives for joint compound or drywall accessory products. Union Carbide sold the mine to its employees under the name KCAC ("King City Asbestos Mine") in the 1980s, but it only continued operation for a few more years after the transfer of ownership.

Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster

The Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster took place between 1927 and 1932 in a West Virginia tunnel project led by Union Carbide. During the construction of the tunnel, workers found the mineral silica and were asked to mine it for use in electroprocessing steel. The workers were not given masks or breathing equipment to use while mining, despite best practices at the time. Due to silica dust exposure, many workers developed silicosis, a debilitating lung disease. According to a marker on site, there were 109 admitted deaths. A congressional hearing placed the death toll at 476, After additional research, auther Martin Cherniack estimated the death toll to be 764, making it America's deadliest industrial disaster.

1984 Bhopal disaster

Union Carbide India Limited, owned by Union Carbide (50.9%) and Indian investors which included the government of India (49.1%), operated a pesticide plant in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. This plant was opened in 1969. The pesticides and herbicides they produced were created from an insecticidal compound called carbaryl, which, itself is produced using a chemical intermediate, methyl isocyanate (MIC).

Initially this plant imported MIC, but in 1979, after continued pressure from the Indian government to produce the upstream chemical intermediates domestically, the company decided to manufacture the ingredients in Bhopal. This plant was located next to a very poor, densely populated neighbourhood, and heavily trafficked railway station, which was in violation of the 1975 Bhopal Development Plan requiring that hazardous industries such as the MIC plant be located in a different part of the city that was further away and downwind from densely populated areas. According to one of the authors of the Bhopal Development Plan, "Union Carbide India Limited's" initial application for a permit was rejected, but due to connections steming, in part, from government co-ownership of the company, it was able to gain approval from centralized governing authorities.

Around midnight on 3 December 1984, gas was accidentally released from the plant, exposing more than 500,000 people to MIC and other chemicals. The Government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 16,000 deaths related to the gas release with an additional 40,000 individuals permanently disabled, maimed, or suffering from serious illness, making it the world's worst industrial disaster.

Following the incident, organizations representing the victims in Bhopal filed a U.S. $10 billion injury claim against Union Carbide. Additionally, the Government of India filed its own $3.3 billion claim against the company. Union Carbide's response was an offer in the range of $300-$350 million. In 1989, the Supreme Court of India ordered the company to pay $470 million to the Indian government as a final settlement. The settlement amounted to 43 cents per share reducing annual earnings to $4.88 earnings per share.

After the settlement, Union Carbide’s parent company divested its entire stake in UCIL. Carbide insists the accident was an act of sabotage by a plant worker. The plant site has not yet been cleaned up.