A chemical company located a new plant in a depressed area with high unemployment in West Virginia. It built a state-of-the-art plant that had the latest pollution control technology meeting all EPA requirements. It created 2,500 jobs. The company was attacked for polluting a previously pristine area.

Had the plant been built in an industrial area, such as the coast near Houston, no one would have been likely to complain. Was the company socially irresponsible for building the plant in such an area?