Bayer CropScience Settles West Virginia Explosion Suit for $5.6M

Bayer CropScience LP has reached a $5.6 million settlement over an explosion at its Institute, West Virginia, facility that killed two people in 2008, U.S. authorities said on Monday.

The company will spend $4.23 million to improve emergency preparedness and response at the West Virginia plant, pay a $975,000 penalty, and spend approximately $452,000 to improve safety at chemical storage facilities across the United States, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The deal was reached jointly with the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Sandra Maler)