SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. - An agreement reached last August by the West Virginia University Research Corp. and Union Carbide Corp., now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co., fell through earlier this week, according to an announcement released late Thursday afternoon.

Under that agreement, WVU Research Corp. would accept the land and buildings in South Charleston donated by Union Carbide to hold classes for WVU engineering students and to rent space to private firms for research activities.

The agreement, "mutually canceled" by both parties, would have established the WVU Charleston Research Campus on 58 acres of land that is part of the Union Carbide Technology Park.

But apparently, the WVU Research Corp., an independent part of WVU, could not obtain all the insurance it believed necessary to protect it against potential future environmental liabilities at the site.

Lara Ramsburg, spokesperson for Gov. Joe Manchin, said late Thursday afternoon, "All we know is that when the deal was first proposed, we believed WVU would not have to hold any liabilities with regard to previous activity on the site.

"Our understanding is that is where the breakdown occurred," Ramsburg said. "That is an important issue and they could not afford to take on that potential liability. The governor had been informed of the impasse earlier this week."

Curt Peterson, WVU Research Corp.'s vice president for research and economic development, did not return telephone calls to his office on Thursday.

The planned WVU Charleston Research Campus would have included several research and development laboratories inside a 125,000-square-foot building, currently being rented to several other research groups.

Rosemary Rung, a Dow spokesperson, said, "WVU Research, Carbide and Dow were all disappointed. This would have been a great way to use that land and building at the Technology Park.

"But many business arrangements don't reach fruition. There was one insurance requirement that needed to be met in order for the deal to go through," Rung said.

Apparently, WVU Research Corp. could not get that additional insurance coverage it believed was required by the donation agreement it signed with Carbide on Aug. 20. The original closing date of Oct. 31, 2007, was extended to July 11, 2008.

Jim Guidarini, a Union Carbide vice president in charge of activities at the South Charleston site, said Thursday, "Any business deal is a complicated transaction. There are hundreds of different issues that pop up when you are putting a deal in place.

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. - An agreement reached last August by the West Virginia University Research Corp. and Union Carbide Corp., now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co., fell through earlier this week, according to an announcement released late Thursday afternoon.

Under that agreement, WVU Research Corp. would accept the land and buildings in South Charleston donated by Union Carbide to hold classes for WVU engineering students and to rent space to private firms for research activities.

The agreement, "mutually canceled" by both parties, would have established the WVU Charleston Research Campus on 58 acres of land that is part of the Union Carbide Technology Park.

But apparently, the WVU Research Corp., an independent part of WVU, could not obtain all the insurance it believed necessary to protect it against potential future environmental liabilities at the site.

Lara Ramsburg, spokesperson for Gov. Joe Manchin, said late Thursday afternoon, "All we know is that when the deal was first proposed, we believed WVU would not have to hold any liabilities with regard to previous activity on the site.

"Our understanding is that is where the breakdown occurred," Ramsburg said. "That is an important issue and they could not afford to take on that potential liability. The governor had been informed of the impasse earlier this week."

Curt Peterson, WVU Research Corp.'s vice president for research and economic development, did not return telephone calls to his office on Thursday.

The planned WVU Charleston Research Campus would have included several research and development laboratories inside a 125,000-square-foot building, currently being rented to several other research groups.

Rosemary Rung, a Dow spokesperson, said, "WVU Research, Carbide and Dow were all disappointed. This would have been a great way to use that land and building at the Technology Park.

"But many business arrangements don't reach fruition. There was one insurance requirement that needed to be met in order for the deal to go through," Rung said.

Apparently, WVU Research Corp. could not get that additional insurance coverage it believed was required by the donation agreement it signed with Carbide on Aug. 20. The original closing date of Oct. 31, 2007, was extended to July 11, 2008.

Jim Guidarini, a Union Carbide vice president in charge of activities at the South Charleston site, said Thursday, "Any business deal is a complicated transaction. There are hundreds of different issues that pop up when you are putting a deal in place.

"The 'donation agreement' required the WVU Research Corp. to get some liability insurance, which they did. But it was not the insurance WVU decided they needed," Giudarini said. "It has nothing to do with us. They could not obtain suitable insurance and decided not to proceed.

"We guaranteed to basically maintain all responsibility for all environmental issues with the site. The donation was contingent upon that. We said we would maintain environmental responsibility for the property in perpetuity," Giudarini said.

At the time of the initial agreement, outgoing WVU President David Hardesty said he hoped to create "something along the lines of the Research Triangle in North Carolina."

"On July 10, the decision was made to cancel the agreement after much due diligence," the Dow press release stated, "because insurance requirements satisfactory [to both parties] could not be obtained."

WVU officials plan to continue "other appropriate efforts in the Kanawha Valley," the press release added, while Union Carbide "will include this property in its strategy development for the transition of the Technology Park."

Union Carbide opened the South Charleston facility in 1959 as its primary national research center. Employment peaked at about 3,500 in the 1960s, but dropped below 2,000 by the time Dow purchased Carbide in 2001.

When Dow downsized the South Charleston facilities, it decided it no longer needed a research center. Today, Dow employs about 800 people in Kanawha County.

Guidarini said, "We are disappointed. We will continue to look at other options, not specifically with WVU. There are a lot of other potential uses for that technology park."

West Virginia State University will continue to hold classes on the South Charleston site, he said.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com

or 348-5164.