Dupont Sabine River Works now fully operational 152 days after Ike

(From Dupont North America Operations)

ORANGE, Texas, Feb. 18, 2009 - DuPont Sabine River Works has completed its restart project following Hurricane Ike. The site's ethylene unit recently began operation - 152 days after the storm struck the Texas coast. The ethylene unit was the site's final unit to return to normal operation. Manufacture of products has been under way at the site for several months as various utility and production units started up in a planned, staged process.

Most importantly, the five month recovery project was completed safely, with no Occupational Safety & Health Administration recordable injuries to site employees.

"The safe repair and restart of Sabine River Works is one of the greatest achievements in this site's 63 year history," said Mike Sanchez, site manager. "An achievement made possible by the collaborative efforts of the 850 DuPont Sabine River Works employees, hundreds of DuPont employees and almost 2,000 of our contract partners working together as a unified team. It has been an amazing yet inspirational challenge to be a part of this incredible rebuild effort. The focus, commitment, hard work and dedication of thousands of people, who despite their own personal hardships, joined together to safely rebuild and restart Sabine River Works in such a short period of time."

Prior to Hurricane Ike's arrival, Sabine River Works shut down all operations to ensure the safety of employees and the community. When the plant's hurricane response team toured the facility after the hurricane landed, they found a safe and environmentally sound process, but significant damage to buildings and electrical equipment due to flooding and high winds.

"Our first priority was the safety and well-being of our employees and the local community.  We worked diligently to execute our hurricane response plan. Our safety systems and processes operated as intended and all of our employees were accounted for and safe," Sanchez said.

According to Sanchez, the next step was taking care of people.  Housing and basic supplies were procured for employees who were left homeless and needed the company's help.  Employees continued to be paid while the plant was shut down.  "We knew that taking care of our people, who faced a lot of personal difficulties outside of work, was something we had to do," Sanchez said.

Then came the long road to recovery.  All production facilities, power and utility services and electrical equipment on the plant site had to be inspected, repaired and/or replaced.  "All of our employees Works has completed its restart project following Hurricane Ike. The site's ethylene unit recently began operation - 152 days after the storm struck the Texas coast. The ethylene unit was the site's final unit to return to normal operation. Manufacture of products has been under way at the site for several months as various utility and production units started up in a planned, staged process.

Most importantly, the five month recovery project was completed safely, with no Occupational Safety & Health Administration recordable injuries to site employees.

"The safe repair and restart of Sabine River Works is one of the greatest achievements in this site's 63 year history," said Mike Sanchez, site manager. "An achievement made possible by the collaborative efforts of the 850 DuPont Sabine River Works employees, hundreds of DuPont employees and almost 2,000 of our contract partners working together as a unified team. It has been an amazing yet inspirational challenge to be a part of this incredible rebuild effort. The focus, commitment, hard work and dedication of thousands of people, who despite their own personal hardships, joined together to safely rebuild and restart Sabine River Works in such a short period of time."

Prior to Hurricane Ike's arrival, Sabine River Works shut down all operations to ensure the safety of employees and the community. When the plant's hurricane response team toured the facility after the hurricane landed, they found a safe and environmentally sound process, but significant damage to buildings and electrical equipment due to flooding and high winds.

"Our first priority was the safety and well-being of our employees and the local community.  We worked diligently to execute our hurricane response plan. Our safety systems and processes operated as intended and all of our employees were accounted for and safe," Sanchez said.

According to Sanchez, the next step was taking care of people.  Housing and basic supplies were procured for employees who were left homeless and needed the company's help.  Employees continued to be paid while the plant was shut down.  "We knew that taking care of our people, who faced a lot of personal difficulties outside of work, was something we had to do," Sanchez said.

Then came the long road to recovery.  All production facilities, power and utility services and electrical equipment on the plant site had to be inspected, repaired and/or replaced.  "All of our employees