Meet Rohm and Haas: An Old Neighbor with a New Name

News Release from 'READING VALLEY COURIER'

READING, OH (August 31, 2000) —Located within the boundaries of Mill Creek, the Veterans Memorial Stadium recreational complex, the BEFIT exercise trail and a cluster of well-kept homes along Bernard Avenue is the 33-acre Rohm and Haas Cincinnati Facility. Formerly Morton International, Inc., the plant was acquired by Rohm and Haas Company in June 1999.

Today, Rohm and Haas is the second-largest specialty chemical manufacturer in the world, serving a number of industries including electronic materials, paints and coatings, agriculture, plastics, water treatment, pharmaceuticals and automotives. The local facility employs a staff of 175 and manufactures heat stabilizers and lubricants used to produce PVC pipe, vinyl siding and windows, plastic bottles and blister packaging.

The acquisition in part raised legitimate questions among residents about the facility—what it does, who it serves and its impact on the community and the environment. After responding to their questions, Plant Manager Bruce Beiser asked residents a few of his own.

"We wanted to know what our neighbors thought about us. We needed to hear their concerns, and how they felt about our role as a corporate citizen of Reading and how we could improve our efforts," said Beiser, who lives in the Cincinnati region and has been a charter member of the Reading Business Roundtable since 1997, the year of its inception. "Well, we listened. They cited educational and recreational initiatives for children and environmental improvement as the area’s greatest needs. We believe that, too, and we’re committed to continuing and growing our support of programs that target those issues."

As a quiet but active neighbor in Reading since 1950, the facility’s zeal for the community isn’t new. Last year, it allocated nearly $20,000 to programs, organizations and awareness initiatives that promote education, community safety and the environment, recreation, culture, social services and the local economy. Among them were the monthly Science Screen Reports videotapes for students at Reading and Wyoming High Schools, the Safety in Schools program for local elementary-schoolers and grants to support high school science departments and the Reading School District’s Parent-Teacher Organizations. Beiser said plans are underway to establish other educational partnerships this year.

Like Morton International, Rohm and Haas is a member of the American Chemistry Council, a trade association that oversees implementation of Responsible Care®—the chemical industry’s voluntary commitment to continually improve all aspects of health, safety and environmental performance and openly report activities, plans and targets pertaining to that performance.

To that end, the Reading facility was a founding member of the Alliance for Chemical Safety (a Greater Cincinnati organization), conducts joint drills and training with and financially contributes to local emergency response organizations and has established its own ongoing and systematic pollution prevention programs. Since 1990, the site has made a capital investment of $2.5 million towards improvements to its Environmental, Health and Safety program—a measure that has led to an 80 percent reduction in hazardous wastes. In 1998, it began issuing a newsletter to its fenceline neighbors to inform them of all of the site’s environmental activities, be they good news or bad.

And as a major corporate sponsor of the community’s upcoming A Taste of Reading celebration, Beiser says he hopes his site’s commitment to being a good neighbor is clear.

"We believe the right for us to operate in Reading is an earned privilege—not one that we assume for ourselves, but one that is granted to us by our community," said Beiser. "The best way for us to demonstrate that belief is by operating responsibly and safely, and by helping to sustain and grow our community. I assure you we’re committed to both."

Rohm and Haas, Cincinnati

8/31/00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: 
(513) 733-2213 OR
fax: (513) 733-2276

Betsy Wollam
(215) 592-2417