CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- WVU Research Corp. officials said Friday they needed more protection than Union Carbide Corp. had offered against potential environmental liabilities at the site of a proposed South Charleston research campus.

Both parties announced Thursday they had "mutually canceled" a deal in which WVU Research Corp. would have established the WVU Charleston Research Campus on 58 acres of land that is part of the Union Carbide Technology Park.

Union Carbide Corp. is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co.

Last August, WVU Research Corp. and Union Carbide reached an agreement for donation of the land. Dow would have given the land to WVU Research Corp. to hold classes for WVU engineering students and to rent space to private firms for research.

Under that agreement, Dow would "forever be responsible for any environmental issues that arise from that site," Dow spokeswoman Rosemarie Rung said Friday.

However, officials with WVU Research Corp. felt they needed to take extra precautions, said Curt Peterson, the group's vice president for research and economic development. They sought environmental-liability and general corporate-liability insurance for the site.

"We believed we needed additional protection," Peterson said. "That was what we believed was good business practice, to make sure we were completely covered under any circumstance."

A condition in the donation agreement said Union Carbide would not transfer its liability to a third party, Rung said.

"We believe that assuming all environmental responsibility forever for this site is appropriate," she said. "We don't feel that there's any need to go further."

In 1959, Union Carbide opened the South Charleston facility as its primary national research center. The proposed campus would have included several research and development laboratories inside a 125,000-square-foot building, currently being rented to several other research groups.

Initially, the parties had set a closing date of Oct. 31, 2007. That was later extended to July 11, 2008.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- WVU Research Corp. officials said Friday they needed more protection than Union Carbide Corp. had offered against potential environmental liabilities at the site of a proposed South Charleston research campus.

Both parties announced Thursday they had "mutually canceled" a deal in which WVU Research Corp. would have established the WVU Charleston Research Campus on 58 acres of land that is part of the Union Carbide Technology Park.

Union Carbide Corp. is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co.

Last August, WVU Research Corp. and Union Carbide reached an agreement for donation of the land. Dow would have given the land to WVU Research Corp. to hold classes for WVU engineering students and to rent space to private firms for research.

Under that agreement, Dow would "forever be responsible for any environmental issues that arise from that site," Dow spokeswoman Rosemarie Rung said Friday.

However, officials with WVU Research Corp. felt they needed to take extra precautions, said Curt Peterson, the group's vice president for research and economic development. They sought environmental-liability and general corporate-liability insurance for the site.

"We believed we needed additional protection," Peterson said. "That was what we believed was good business practice, to make sure we were completely covered under any circumstance."

A condition in the donation agreement said Union Carbide would not transfer its liability to a third party, Rung said.

"We believe that assuming all environmental responsibility forever for this site is appropriate," she said. "We don't feel that there's any need to go further."

In 1959, Union Carbide opened the South Charleston facility as its primary national research center. The proposed campus would have included several research and development laboratories inside a 125,000-square-foot building, currently being rented to several other research groups.

Initially, the parties had set a closing date of Oct. 31, 2007. That was later extended to July 11, 2008.

WVU Research Corp. and Dow had conducted "due-diligence studies" that showed the site was safe to use as a research campus, Rung said.

"We didn't due a due-diligence study for another purpose," she said.

Officials on both sides have called the collapse of the deal disappointing.  

"We worked tirelessly, in my opinion, to bring closure to this, and we were unsuccessful," Peterson said. "It's a business transaction, and that happens."

He said WVU Research Corp. is still "open to opportunities" for a research campus, but has not identified another site for such a venture. 

Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Gov. Joe Manchin, said the governor has been a proponent of the research campus and is following the situation.

However, she added: "I'm not aware of any specific role we could play. We haven't been told that there's anything particular at the state [level] that WVU could look at."

Dow has a consultant that is helping develop future strategies for the Union Carbide Technology Park, and the company is committed to making science and technology central to those plans, Rung said.

"Even though this specific agreement fell through, it doesn't prevent us from revisiting this in the future," she said.

WVU Research Corp. is an independent, nonprofit corporation that provides research support services, technical and marketing expertise for the university's faculty research. It also receives and administers funds from outside agencies for research and other activities.

Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 348-1240.