The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Dover Chemical Corporation has agreed to pay $1.4 million in civil penalties for the unauthorized manufacture of chemical substances at facilities in Dover, Ohio and Hammond, Ind. The payment is part of a settlement agreement in which Dover will cease production of all short-chained chlorinated paraffin in its facilities in the United States.  The EPA site reports that Dover Chemical produces the vast majority of the chlorinated products sold in the United States, and that it had the last remaining domestic chlorinated paraffin manufacturing facilities.

Dover was accused of violating section 5(a)(l) of Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) 15 U.S.C. § 2604(a)(l), and 40 C.F.R. Part 720 by manufacturing short-chained, medium-chained and long-chained chlorinated paraffins without first submitting a pre-manufacture notice to the EPA. 

Dover's Website touts it's compliance with American Chemistry Council's Code of Responsible Care^(R).  No mention of any change in the status of that, so feel free to draw your own conclusion.

Dover has issued a press release regarding the settlement [Link].  Dover cites a "culture of cooperation" for its decision to avoid litigation.  In reality, it would be difficult to litigate such a case for $1.4M so Dover has made a prudent financial decision as to the litigation.  The impact on Dover's bottom line is not known to us, but they have other products.

It is unknown which (if any) domestically sold metalworking fluid products will be impacted by the termination of Dover's production.  Dover's continues to offer the medium and long-chain chlorinated paraffin as mwf lubricant additives and for many other product categories.