Eastman Chemical Company
Profile
Eastman Chemical is the former chemicals division of the Kodak photo company. The Tennessee operations of Eastman were commissioned to make RDX explosives and to manage nuclear weapons development during the Second World War. In 1960 a major explosion at the company’s aniline manufacturing plant in Kingsport, Tennessee, killed 16 people. In 1994, Eastman Chemical became a separate company, headquartered in Kingsport. Today, Eastman owns and operates over 50 manufacturing sites in 16 different countries.
Chemicals, Fibers, Plastics.
Violations
| Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
|---|---|---|
| environment-related offenses | $82,468,933 | 111 |
| safety-related offenses | $364,882 | 41 |
| competition-related offenses | $16,000 | 1 |
(September 29, 2022)
Stories
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Activism
WHO’S IN DANGER? Race, Poverty, and Chemical Disasters
Environmental Justice and Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform | May, 2014
More than 134 million Americans live in the danger zones around 3,433 facilities in several common industries that store or use highly hazardous chemicals. Millions more people work, play, shop, and worship in these areas.
But who are the people that live daily with the ever- present danger of a chemical disaster?
- Amnesty International
- Center for Health, Environment & Justice
- Ecology Center
- Greenpeace
- International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
- Pesticide Action Network
- Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
- A Community Voice
- Alliance for Affordable Energy
- Climate Reality New Orleans
- Coalition Against Death Alley
- Healthy Gulf
- Justice and Beyond
- Louisiana Bucket Brigade
- Louisiana League of Conscious Voters
- New Orleans Office Sierra Club
- Poor Peoples Campaign
- SouthWings
- Sunrise Movement, New Orleans
- RISE St. James
- 350 New Orleans
& Lawsuit
Tennessee’s Eastman Chemical subpoenaed by Mexican authorities for alleged cartel connections
Anita Wadhwani | Tennessee Lookout | January 28, 2021
Eastman Chemical Company, a global corporation headquartered in northeast Tennessee that is among the state’s largest employers, is under investigation by Mexican authorities over alleged ties to cartel-controlled suppliers of raw materials processed at its plant in the state of Michoacán.
Company Hid Cancer-Causing Effects of Chemicals, Lawsuit Claims
FDSLaw | January 23, 2020
A federal lawsuit has been charged against the company whose chemicals leaked into the Elk River and left thousands of West Virginians without water for more than a week
Judge OKs settlement in Eastman leak suit
Longview News Journal | February 23, 2018
A federal judge Monday tentatively approved a $151 million settlement involving Eastman Chemical Co. and another company sued over a 2014 chemical spill that contaminated drinking water in southern West Virginia.
Eastman Chemical sued over West Virginia chemical spill
Johnson City Press | January 15, 2014
Legal fallout from the accidental chemical spill that affected the water supply for 300,000 West Virginians has landed at the doorstep of Kingsport-based Eastman Chemical Co.
Environmental Impact
Eastman steam line failure led to 3,000-plus pounds of excess volatile organic compound emissions
Jeff Keeling | WJHL | February 14, 2022
An “unpermitted emission point” that released up to 1,800 pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — primarily methanol — was among spots at Eastman Chemical Company that released above permitted amounts of pollutants starting early Jan. 31 after a steam line failure caused a power outage.
5,380 pounds of compound released into Holston River during January incident, Eastman says
Murrey Lee & Slater Teague | WJHL | April 14, 2021
Eastman Chemical Company released more than 5,000 pounds of ethylene glycol into the Holston River in early January, the company said in a statement to News Channel 11.
After EPA auditor urges public warning, DEQ reviews cancer risk data for accuracy
David Mitchell | The Advocate | February 17, 2021
It's been almost a year since the inspector general for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urged agency officials to take "prompt action" to warn people living near 25 "high-priority" industrial facilities across the nation. Residents around five plants in Louisiana are still waiting.
Chemical spill in W.Va.: Federal probe launched, 300,000 without water
Noelle Swan | Christian Science Monitor | January 10, 2014
A chemical spill in Charleston, W.Va., has compromised water supplies and prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency in nine counties.
W.Va. chemical spill: Is more regulation needed for toxic substances?
Noelle Swan | Christian Science Monitor | January 10, 2014
Little information is known about Crude MCHM, the chemical that leaked into West Virginia's Elk River and potentially contaminated the tap water of 300,000 residents.
PERI Pollution Indexes
Based on United States Environmental Protection Agency data ranking the top 100 worst polluters.
& Relations
Eastman announces layoffs, delayed raises
Hank Hayes | Times News | March 13, 2019
KINGSPORT — Eastman announced today it will be laying off an undisclosed number of workers and cited the U.S.-China trade dispute as one of the contributing factors for the move.
Worker’s widow: Company was negligent in plant explosion
Meg Kinnard | AP News | April 20, 2017
The widow of a South Carolina plastics plant worker who was killed when a pipe exploded and hot chemicals were sprayed on him has sued his employer, saying the company was negligent.
The Day Kingsport Wept-Eastman Explosion October 4, 1960
Mary Kiss | Kingsport Archives | October 5, 1975
“Earth shattering events have a way of burning themselves into the consciousness. Most people, if they’re old enough can recall exactly what they were doing when they learned that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and that President Kennedy had been shot. For Kingsport, it’s that way with the Eastman Explosion.”
Financials
Note: Most recent list is not always the most complete list.
- Eastman Chemical Subsidiaries (via U.S. SEC 2018)
- Eastman Chemical Subsidiaries (via U.S. SEC 2013)
- Eastman Chemical Subsidiaries (via U.S. SEC 2006)
Croctail Subsidiary Tool using the CorpWatch API - This API extracts the subsidiary relationship information from Exhibit 21 of companies' 10-K filings with the US SEC.
- CIK numbers link to SEC database (EDGAR)
- Section 21 links to SEC list of companies.
- Eastman Chemical Croctail Profile
Click here for the latest data.
Political Influence
Open Secrets - Tracks corporate lobbying of US politicians.
OpenSecrets.org Profile of Eastman Chemical
Import & Export Data
ImportYeti - Shipping Tracking Tool - Bill of ladings are public information that are too cost prohibitive, challenging to obtain and difficult to use for the average joe. ImportYeti's goal is to solve that problem.
- ImportYeti Profile of Eastman Chemical
& Evasion
Legalized Tax Fraud: How Top US Corporations Continue to Profit Through Offshore Tax Havens
United States Senate | February 18, 2015
The Business Roundtable (BRT), a coalition of CEOs from 201 of America’s biggest companies, are supportive of raising the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare to 70, cutting Social Security benefits, lowering the corporate tax rate, and adopting a “territorial” tax system that exempts the offshore profits of American corporations from U.S. taxes.
Eastman Chemical Co. to expand its Louisiana facility with $70M investment
WAFB9 | June 26, 2019
Eastman Chemical Company is investing $70 million over the next three years to expand its manufacturing operations in St. Gabriel. This include a new chemical intermediates production facility.
Eastman partners with Air Products on $1.6 billion coal gasification plants in Texas, Louisiana
Times News | July 26, 2007
Eastman Chemical Co. has signed a letter of intent with Air Products & Chemicals Inc. on a $1.6 billion petroleum-coke fed gasification projects at Beaumont, Texas and Louisiana.
Procurement
Eastman Chemical contracts with the U.S. Federal Government (via USA Spending)