Under Denis L. Feron, Chemetco had been a major producer of high-purity copper derived from secondary sources – recycled and residual materials.
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On 12 December 2008, Denis L. Feron, the former president of Chemetco, was placed on the federal EPA's 'most wanted' list.
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A scientific study by the Centre for the Biology of Natural Systems (CBNS) Queens College of the City of New York, individually names Chemetco as one of the top ten individual contributors of dioxins deposition at eight Nunavut land receptors, from a total of 44,000 potential sources in the United States.
However Feron paid $500,000 restitution to be expressly used to assist a USEPA environmental remediation program at and near the Chemetco plant site.
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On April 21, 1999, a federal grand jury charged Chemetco Inc., Feron, and five of his employees with violating the United States Clean Water Act for using an illegal secret discharge pipe to deliberately pump hazardous waste water contaminated with various pollutants and industrial waste including cadmium, lead and zinc into Long Lake (Illinois), a tributary of the Mississippi River.