Stendhal 𐌕

Salut și Bine ai venit, Vali! 🙂

Government officials had been in talks with kidnappers after third school attack in less than three months All 279 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped from their boarding school in the north-western state of Zamfara last week have been released and are on government premises, the governor of the state has said. “It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students of GGSS Jangebe from captivity,” Bello Matawalle tweeted. “Our daughters are now safe.” Hundreds of girls wearing hijabs were seen at the government premises, waiting to be reunited with their families. Authorities initially said 317 girls were abducted in the raid by hundreds of gunmen on the Government Girls secondary school in the remote Jangebe village on Friday. But Matawalle said the total number of female students abducted was 279. “We thank Allah they are all now with us,” he said on Tuesday. Government officials had been in talks with the kidnappers, known as bandits, after Nigeria’s third school attack in less than three months. State officials in Zamfara, like in other states besieged by bandit violence, have previously signed controversial “peace agreements”, offering money and amnesties with some of the many bandit groups that have terrorised much of north and central Nigeria in recent years. A source told Agence France-Presse “repentant bandits” had been contacted to reach out to their former comrades as part of efforts to free the students. Heavily armed criminal gangs in north-west and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging, exploiting a lack of rural security. The groups have staged attacks from the haven of a forest expanse stretching from north-west Nigeria into Niger. Attacks have continued despite several air force raids and army operations. Last week, unidentified gunmen killed a student in an overnight attack on a boarding school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger and kidnapped 42 people, including 27 students. The hostages are yet to be released. In December, more than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in Kankara, in President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina, while he was visiting the region. The boys were later released but the incident triggered outrage and memories of the kidnappings of 276 schoolgirls by jihadists in Chibok that shocked the world. Many of those girls are still missing. Boko Haram, which kidnapped the Chibok schoolgirls, claimed responsibility for the kidnaps in Kankara, heightening fears that associations were forming between the armed groups who largely kidnap for profit, and jihadists. As insecurity has worsened in northern Nigeria, Buhari’s government has become increasingly vilified. Bandit attacks have surged even as an 11-year jihadist insurgency in north-east Nigeria continues, which has killed more than 30,000 people and spread into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Authorities have denied paying any ransom to secure the recent releases, although analysts say this is unlikely and security experts fear it will lead to an increase in kidnappings in these regions plagued by extreme poverty. Kidnapping for ransom in Africa’s most populous country is a widespread problem, with businessmen, officials and ordinary citizens snatched from the streets by criminals seeking ransom money. At least $11m (£8m) was paid to kidnappers between January 2016 and March 2020, according to SB Morgen, a Lagos-based geopolitical research consultancy.

Hello! Even if you started the activity at the end of January, I give you a I hope you keep up the good work!

Unlike England’s roadmap, Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘strategic framework’ avoids setting specific dates Nicola Sturgeon has unveiled a “cautious and gradual” plan for how coronavirus lockdown measures will be eased in Scotland. Unlike Boris Johnson’s “roadmap”, the “strategic framework” deliberately avoids specific dates. “If we open up too quickly to meet arbitrary dates, we risk setting our progress back,” the first minister says in a foreword to the document. A day after the release of England’s date-heavy plan, Sturgeon said: “To set dates that are too definite now would be irresponsible. There are far too many uncertainties such as the impacts of both new variants and of the vaccinations.” Instead Scotland’s government will implement a series of stages for easing lockdown “when the epidemiological conditions allow”. Sturgeon said the Scottish government would continue to aim to “suppress the virus to the lowest possible level and keep it there”. But approximate dates are given in the document, and it says there will need to be a gap of at least three weeks between each stage. Stage 1: now to early March On Monday children between the ages of four and eight in primary years one to three returned to school, along with some senior secondary pupils who need to do practical work for qualifications and nursery-age children. Restrictions on care home visiting will be eased. Stage 2: from mid-March The second phase of school reopening with all primary schoolchildren set to return to class, as years four to seven join their younger classmates who returned on 22 February. More senior secondary pupils will also return. Children aged 12-17 can take part in outdoor non-contact group sports. The number of people who can meet outside will increase from two to four people from two households. Stage 3: from early April The “stay at home” order could be lifted. All pupils likely to be back in school. Some retail will begin to return, with the definition of essential retail extended and restrictions on click-and-collect services removed. Six people from two households can meet together outdoors. Churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship can reopen. The exact return date for communal worship will take into account the timing of major religious festivals, with Easter and Passover falling on 4 April. Stage 4: from late April Scotland will move back to its five tiers of coronavirus restrictions, with level 0 the least restrictive and level 4 most. All areas are currently in level 4. Sturgeon said from 26 April “hopefully all of Scotland” will move to level 3, “albeit with some possible modifications”. But strategy stresses this would only happen if the R number remains below 1 and all the first nine priority groups have been vaccinated. Non-essential retail, hospitality, and gyms and hairdressers can reopen in level 3, though under current rules alcohol cannot be served in pubs. Sturgeon added that at this stage “we will begin to reopen the economy and society in the more substantial way that we are all so longing for”. Travel restrictions to continue Sturgeon said the easing required “continuing to accept some trade-offs for a period, for example on international travel”. She said: “Travel restrictions are also essential and are likely to remain so for some time yet. “We saw over the summer how new cases were imported into Scotland, after the virus had almost been eliminated. We do not want that to happen again.”

Boris Johnson has set out a plan for reopening in four stages, with a minimum of five weeks between each *A man sits outside a closed pub in Eton, Berkshire. Most outdoor venues including pubs and restaurants will be allowed to open during step 2. Boris Johnson has announced detailed plans for the unlocking of England amid the coronavirus vaccination programme. Here is the proposed timetable, in four stages, and other initiatives announced by Downing Street. No 10 is stressing that after the first step the subsequent stages of reopening could be subject to delay and that the programme would be guided by “data rather than dates”. There is a minimum of five weeks between each stage – four weeks to collect and assess data and then a week for people and businesses to prepare for the next step. All the changes will be England-wide with no return to regional tiers. The only exception could be localised efforts if a new variant of the virus is detected, for example additional testing. Step 1, part 1 – 8 March All pupils and college students return fully, with before- and after-school clubs opened. For a period, secondary school pupils and older will wear masks in classes. People can meet one other person outside for, say, a coffee or picnic, not just for exercise. Children will still count towards this. Care home residents can receive one regular, named visitor. The “stay at home” order will otherwise stay in place. Step 1, part 2 – 29 March Outdoor gatherings allowed of up to six people, or two households if this is larger, not just in parks but also gardens. Outdoor sport for children and adults will be allowed including outdoor swimming pools. The official stay at home order will end, but people will be encouraged to stay local – the definition of local will largely be left to people’s discretion. People will still be asked to work from home where possible, with no overseas travel allowed beyond the current small number of exceptions. Step 2 – no earlier than 12 April Reopening of non-essential retail, hair and nail salons, and public buildings such as libraries. Most outdoor venues open, including pubs and restaurants but only for outdoor tables and beer gardens. Customers will have to be seated but there will be no need to have a meal with alcohol. Also reopening will be settings such as zoos and theme parks. However, social contact rules will apply here, so no indoor mixing between households and limits on outdoor mixing. Indoor leisure facilities such as gyms and pools can also open but again people can only go alone or with their own household. Reopening of holiday lets with no shared facilities, but only for one household. Funerals can have up to 30 attendees, while weddings, receptions and wakes can have 15. While it is not part of step 2, this is the earliest point after which the bulk of university students could know about the resumption of face-to-face classes. A review of this will take place at the end of the Easter holidays. Step 3 – no earlier than 17 May Most mixing rules lifted outdoors, with a limit of 30 people meeting in parks or gardens. Indoor mixing will be allowed, up to six people or, if it is more people, two households. Indoor venues such as the inside of pubs and restaurants, hotels and B&Bs, play centres, cinemas, museums and group exercise classes will reopen. The new indoor and outdoor mixing limits will remain for pubs and other hospitality venues. This will be the earliest date at which international holidays could resume, subject to a review – see the list of reviews below. For sport, indoor venues can have up to 1,000 spectators or half capacity, whichever is lower; outdoors the limit will be 4,000 people or half capacity, whichever is lower. Very large outdoor seated venues, such as big football stadiums, where crowds can be spread out, will have a limit of 10,000 people, or a quarter full, whichever is fewer. Weddings will be allowed a limit of 30 people, with other events such as christenings and barmitzvahs also permitted. Step 4 – no earlier than 21 June All legal limits removed on mixing will be removed and the last sectors to remain closed, such as nightclubs, will reopen. Large events can take place. There are likely to be changes to wider social distancing measures but this will be decided in a separate review – also see below. Four reviews taking place within the unlocking process On whether “Covid status certificates” – ie vaccine or test passports – could be used to help reopen the economy and/or reduce restrictions on contact. This will be set out ahead of step 4. Officials say it is not a foregone conclusion that these will be used. An “events research programme”, with pilots to test the effects of larger crowds and/or reduced social distancing. This will start in April. A Department for Transport review into how to allow more inbound and outbound travel as soon as possible, given worries over new variants of Covid. It will report on 12 April, but international travel will not resume before 17 May at the earliest. A review of social distancing, for example the 1 metre-plus rule, and on masks and working from home. This will conclude before step 4. Commons scrutiny and votes For most of the rules the government will lay a statutory instrument, a form of legislation, before 8 March and it will be debated and voted on before the Easter recess. Before this there will be a much more limited measure to allow one-to-one outdoor meetings and the reopening of venues such as after-school clubs.

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Both creations are good, but my vote goes to version 1 (effects and text) , at version 2, second text barely visible.

The Z4 has made a big step ahead. Mind you it kept, and improved, the best bit. Overview The Z4 has changed. It’s become sportier – the old one, with its folding hardtop and cuddly dynamics, took aim mostly at the Mercedes SLK (now SLC). The new one has a fabric top, dropping the weight measurement and centre of gravity. It’s evidently having a pop at the Porsche 718, itself in a vulnerable position since the much-lamented departure of that old flat six. To prove its sporting bent, we’re driving a Z4 with an M in its name. Well, a part-way M car, the Z4 M40i. It’s got a turbo six with 340bhp. Other engines are four-cylinders in the 30i and 20i. Ah yes, sporty. Hello internet, the ’Ring time is comfortably under eight minutes. The Z4’s physical dimensions are good for hot laps. The wheelbase is shorter than before by a huge 20cm, for agility. The track is much wider, for grip. The body is a whole lot stiffer than the old Z4’s, and it’s light. The front suspension, unlike other BMWs, mounts to a special aluminium subframe for precision. Those aren’t the only declarations of intent. The Z4 M40i’s tyres come from the M4. Its brakes are M-developed too. There’s an e-diff between the rear half-shafts. You get the gist. You can thank Toyota for the existence of the Z4. Toyota wanted a new Supra but didn’t have a platform. BMW saw the roadster market softening and wasn’t sure if it could sell enough to justify replacing the Z4. But sharing could satisfy the spreadsheet-jockeys. BMW of course is one of the staunchest global holdouts for straight-six engines and rear drive, two articles of faith for a Supra. So the Supra gets most of the Z4’s basic engineering, which is BMW stuff. Engine, suspension and basic platform parts, and electronics too, come from BMW’s current set that’s used on every longitudinal car they’ve launched since the 7-er of 2017. The Supra is tuned and set-up differently from the Z4. Both the cars are built at a BMW-overseen line in the Magna plant in Austria. So if it matters to you that a car has ‘brand purity’, you’ll be wanting the Z4. If you want a roadster, that’ll also be the Z4. The Supra, a coupe, plays to a different, JDM-infused vibe. So despite the common rootstock, these cars legitimately appeal to different audiences. So if there’s no hardtop under there, Top Gear wondered aloud to a Z4 designer, why’s the tail so bulky? We think unbecomingly so, but we didn’t say that. Aerodynamics is the answer. At the other end of the car, the jutting jowls are designed to help capture airflow and usher it past the wheels. If you don’t like it, well, lower-spec Z4s have a slimmer front bumper. Whatever the reasons, a measure of gawkiness afflicts the proportions of this coachwork. TopGear.com’s comments section was very unkind about it when we first showed it to you. Seeing it in the metal doesn’t help. Shame. You want it to be handsome. Because more than any other kind of car, a roof-down roadster is an item of clothing. Driving Six cylinders. Those two words take you a long way into the appeal of the M40i. It revs to 7,000rpm, and all the sensations – in the pull of it and the sound of it – say it’s pretty darned chuffed to be doing so. Use the paddles why don’t you. And when you enjoy the engine’s generosity, the chassis can easily cope. As promised, there’s enormous grip, and the suspension keeps a vigilant eye on body roll and float. The steering is high geared – gets even more so on lock too – but it acts intuitively so you can always aim the car with lovely accuracy, and even small efforts will thread it into a tight bend with the immense forces those tyres can generate. Only thing is, the steering doesn’t bring back a whole big lot of sensation from the front wheels. That job is left up to the back end. You feel the e-diff working as you lean onto the power, the rear half of the Z4 crouching down and neatly holding onto the edge of traction as it bleeds out of a bend. The engineers say the handling target was the M2. I don’t think the Z4 is quite that transparent, but it’s that capable. Unlike the M2, the Z4 M40i has adaptive dampers, so full-on recreational driving isn’t its only happy place. Even in the sport mode, where you get clearly sharper turn-in, the dampers allow the suspension to relax a certain amount on the straights. In comfort mode, things really become remarkably supple, rounding off most of what a broken surface throws at it. So the Z4’s chassis relaxes nicely into commuting or long-haul work. And while you’re at it, the driver aids and headlamps are all you’d expect from modern German premium. On the inside Layout, finish and space The seats haven’t just been yanked out of a saloon. They’re bespoke to the Z4, and have electric bolsters to plug you solidly into the car whatever your girth. Mouldings for the dash and door cards are also different from the rest of the BMW range, but, as with the 8 Series, maybe not different enough to make the Z4 feel really distinctive. It seems people want their BMW to be fully BMW-esque in all particulars. So the iDrive, virtual instruments and the climate controls are ‘version 7.0’, exactly the same as all this year’s BMWs (X5, 8 Series, Z4, 3 Series) and beyond. It’s an easy system to mani[CENSORED]te in most ways. Our fingers are less frustrated mani[CENSORED]ting hardware buttons for climate, and an actual rotary controller and shortcut buttons for other stuff, than they are when jabbing at Audi’s new all-touchscreen system. And the BMW central screen is touch-sensitive now anyway. But whatever was wrong with clear round dials? The rev-counter is an odd polygon, with red-on-red markings and a short needle. It’s absurdly hard to read, and this in a sports car. A navigation diagram sits between the speedo and rev-counter, but if you know where you’re going you can’t reconfigure that real estate to show anything more useful. Yes I’ve banged on about the graphics of that cluster before, and familiarity has in no way bred content. Folding hardtops were invented when soft tops were too easily penetrated by the weather and vandals with Stanley knives. These days a well-done fabric roof really is all you could want for coziness, and the yobs are too busily engaged in social-media bullying. Wearing a cloth cap does no harm to the Z4, and it usefully increases the boot size too. Roof-up at motorway-speed-plus-VAT, there’s a mildly turbulent hiss of rushing air, but otherwise its insulation, warmth and general stormproofing are beyond serious reproach. Spend 15 seconds pressing a button to lower the cloth but keep the windows up and the neat little between-the-rollhoops wind deflector in place. That way you can still enjoy the excellent stereo at big open-roof speeds. Even on a parky day there’d be no call for one of those airscarf gadgets. Owning Running costs and reliability The two four-cylinder Z4s are both rated at 47.1mpg with 138g/km CO2. Best get the 30i of the pair then, as it gets to 62mph in 5.4sec. The M40i’s time is 4.6. Its fuel consumption isn’t great, mind, at 38.7mpg and 165g/km. It’d be fine if you could actually manage that yourself, but this is the old unreachable NECD figure. None of these engines are available with manual transmission. Probably only about three people would want it, and two of them work for Top Gear. Standard kit is pretty generous, with connected nav and heated M Sport seats bundled in on all versions, and, like it or not, the virtual instruments too. So’s the 10.25-inch central screen. Greedily, you’re asked to pay £170 extra for the wind deflector. Standard cabin equipment and options, by the way, are pretty much the same for all engines, though the M40i gets better brakes, an e-diff and so on. Some useful safety aids including autonomous emergency braking are standard. But blind-spot warning and cross-traffic alert come bundled in the slightly over-egged assistance package. You’ll be wanting the adaptive headlights and the head-up display, which BMW does brilliantly The £399 servicing package covers pretty well everything up to three years or 36k miles.

Hello! Your activity leaves much to be desired and you have many topics done in a hurry: 1 ; 2 ; 3 for the moment!

Initial group, which includes aged care residents and staff as well as chief medical officer, will receive Pfizer vaccine on Sunday A health worker draws up a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the US. The first vaccinations in Australia will be given on Sunday. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will be among a small first group to be vaccinated against Covid-19 on Sunday – a step the government says is intended to build public confidence in the safety of the vaccines. On Sunday the Australian prime minister will receive the Pfizer jab in an initial group that includes several aged care residents, aged care staff, the chief medical officer and the chief nursing and midwifery officer, according to the health minister, Greg Hunt. “The prime minister will be the last of that group,” Hunt told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday. “Today is the day where the first vaccines will be administered in Australia.” The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, is not in the Sunday group but he is set to receive a jab later this week. Asked about potential criticism that Morrison had jumped the queue, Hunt said there had been “a very strong focus on the need for key leaders, not the Parliament, not the Cabinet, not even the leadership group, but a cross-party group, to provide that confidence” in vaccines. He said that had been an approach taken “in many places around the world”.

Hello! I see that you are part of three projects, but unfortunately you started your activity this month on February 7th. Here are some examples of topics you made: 1 ; 2 ; 3 ; 4, and the examples can go on; There are some topics made in a hurry, not even when you gave us paste on the forum, a word appears on it and it appears I don't know what source!; For my part, you have because you don't know how to make a topic in its nature and you don't know how to use some functions that help you give a topic a pleasant look! Edit: @Reus He came 10 days ago as I said, but let me ask you, how did he get into 3 projects in 10 days? You can answer me? Now let's go to all grades after 3 days, practically every 3 days he entered a project, right? Edit1: @Reus I understand, you can't explain to me how he got into three projects in 10 days! I don't take it personally, you're right, we're humans.

I'm a believer too, DH2

Lap Time: 2:59.3 Class: LL2 | Base: $51,985 | As Tested: $56,680 Power and Weight: 382 hp • 3402 lb • 8.9 lb/hp Tires: Michelin Pilot Super Sport, F:255/35ZR-19 (96Y) ★ R: 275/35ZR-19 (100Y) ★ We like to imagine Toyota engineers, product planners, and marketers were clinking Sapporos at a karaoke bar celebrating the completion of the 2020 Supra when inspiration struck for the 2021 model. Was it someone's stirring rendition of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" that inspired them to make a better, faster, and stronger Supra just one year after the sports car debuted? It had to have been. The changes for 2021 lop 2.1 seconds off the Supra 3.0's time. Credit the additional 47 horsepower from the turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six. On the front straight, the car's 382 ponies are good for 144.3 mph, 5.1 mph higher than the peak speed achieved by last year's car. The better and stronger bits include a chassis that's been tweaked to increase stability with a front end stiffened by additional bracing. While the handling remains playful enough to allow you to rotate the car by trail braking or by impatiently stabbing at the throttle on corner exit, the better part comes in when you turn into a corner. The redone Supra hunkers down, tracks true, and won't surprise you with gratuitous oversteer like last year's car. That stability helps you build the confidence to work the Supra harder, at least in one critical spot. At the blind, off-camber, downhill, pucker-inducing, does-this-qualify-as-an-at-work-accident left-hander that follows the Climbing Esses, the new Supra picks up an extra 6.9 mph. That one corner helps shave about a quarter-second from last year's lap. While the updates dialed out some body roll, we're glad that enough was left in to allow the Toyota to bob over surface imperfections and lean through curves. While not trendy, that bit of body motion delivers seat-of-the pants feedback that makes this car more fun and more alive than many other sports cars.

Multibillion-dollar company DuPont worried about the potential cost of offsetting emissions of a ‘likely human carcinogen’ The former Dupont plant, now owned by Denka, in Reserve, Louisiana. Residents described the revelations as ‘appalling’. Chemicals giant DuPont decided to sell a plant in south Louisiana that emits a likely cancer causing pollutant, citing “major concerns” that government agencies would regulate its emissions to protect the community living nearby, internal documents seen by the Guardian reveal. The documents show the multibillion-dollar company worried in 2011 about the potential cost of offsetting its emissions of the “likely human carcinogen”, chloroprene, and so moved to sell the plant, the Pontchartrain Works facility. The company codenamed the sale “Project Elm” in an apparent bid to keep the deal, completed in 2015, secretive. It is also alleged the company withheld details of its own research to offset emissions from the plant’s new owners. Residents of the town of Reserve where the facility is located, described the revelations as “appalling” and said they had never been informed by DuPont of any potential emissions regulation. According to the EPA, several census tracts next to the plant in the majority Black community have the highest risk of cancer due to airborne pollution anywhere in the US, over 50 times the national average, primarily due to chloroprene emissions. The community is the subject of a sustained reporting project by the Guardian. “They [DuPont] should have told us. They have a good-neighbour policy but they were not trying to change anything. They were going to go for another 50 years if this [potential government regulation] hadn’t come to light,” said Mary Hampton, a resident who lives a few hundred feet from the plant. “They prioritize profits over people. They come to your neighborhoods and give you as little information as possible,” said Lydia Gerard, another resident who lost her husband to cancer in 2018. “To me this shows that DuPont thought, ‘Let’s see how long we can get away with it in this community before anyone finds out and says anything about it.” Excerpts from internal documents preceding the sale of the DuPont plant. Gerard is a lead plaintiff in a mass tort civil lawsuit being brought against DuPont and the plant’s current owners, the Japanese chemical company Denka. The documents reviewed by the Guardian at a state courthouse in St John the Baptist parish, were used as evidence in the case. The plaintiffs accuse both companies of negligence and harm due to ongoing and historic air pollution. Much of the case remains under court seal, but a limited number of exhibits, including an internal DuPont memo, are available for public viewing at a state courthouse in St John the Baptist parish. DuPont has argued in court it cannot be held liable as it no longer owns the plant, despite opening the facility and polluting the air with chloroprene for nearly half a century. In November, Judge Kirk A Vaughn ruled against DuPont. Last week a state appeal court also ruled against DuPont. DuPont did not respond to detailed questions from the Guardian but a spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on pending litigation, we will vigorously defend our record of safety, health and environmental stewardship.” Sign up to the Green Light email to get the planet's most important stories A spokesman for Denka also declined to comment on detailed questions citing ongoing litigation. The DuPont internal memo from June 2011 highlights the company’s motivation for selling the plant. It was eventually purchased by the Japanese firm in November 2015 with no public mention of potential emissions regulation. The briefing memo is authored by the company’s then president of polymers, Diane Gulyas, and was sent to the office of the chief executive. It lists two “major concerns for the future” as background reasoning for selling the plant. The first point cites the EPA’s 2010 decision to list chloroprene as a likely carcinogen, and states that: “Local regulatory agencies may use this new guidance change and set acceptable exposure levels in the workplace and community.” The memo cautions new compliance regulations could be put in place in 2012 or 2013, stating: “Measures required to achieve compliance may entail capital expenditures.” In fact, the plant was not compelled to regulate its emissions until after the sale to Denka. In 2017, Denka entered into a voluntary agreement with the Louisiana environment department to reduce stack emissions by 85%. The company says it spent over $35m retrofitting the plant. Emissions often continue to exceed the 0.2 micrograms of chloroprene per cubic meter recommended though not required by the EPA, as a safe sustained lifetime exposure limit. The Japanese firm has said it was not aware of an EPA air toxics report that highlighted the cancer risk in Reserve published shortly after it purchased the plant. The 2011 memo notes that while sales of neoprene, the synthetic rubber invented by DuPont and manufactured using chloroprene, have been declining internationally, DuPont still maintained its “position as the primary supplier to the US markets” and held a “significant role” in Europe. The memo cites supply chain issues as another reason for sale. The neoprene unit was valued at $190m at the time, but DuPont estimated it could have to pay up to $30 million to “comply with changes in the regulatory environment” and believed there was an “unlikely” scenario where it could pay even more. The company was prepared to lose up to $100m on the valuation at sale. Lawyers working for residents have argued in court submissions that DuPont had examined emissions offset costing up to $50m in order to reduce emissions by up to 99%. DuPont did not pass on any of the research it had commissioned on chloroprene emissions offset to the plant’s new owners, according to allegations in the filings. The allegation is supported by extracts of sworn deposition testimony of a senior DuPont employee, George Denny Wright. In one short extract, reviewed by the Guardian, Wright states the company wanted to explore a reduction in emissions and later adds: “We knew we had to look at a very difficult number to hit, so we looked at every possibility and every option we had.” “It was a money decision to continue contaminating a community, when in fact the technology was there to implement the controls to operate the facility safely. And they [DuPont] chose not to do it because of the price tag,” said Hugh Lambert, a lawyer working for the plaintiffs in the case, echoing his claims in court. Lawyers have argued in filings that DuPont also maintained close ties to the plant’s new operators even after the sale, and leased certain services to Denka as it continued to manufacture neoprene, including water systems, compressed air and nitrogen. Filings also quote extracts from the lease directly, allegedly showing that DuPont required Denka to operate the plant in the same manner it had done previously and needed “prior written consent of DuPont” to change certain manufacturing processes. DuPont also still owns the land on which the facility is built and operates a kevlar production line on the same premises.

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