EPA: 218 US chemical plants must reduce toxic emissions
WASHINGTON — More than 200 chemical plants nationwide will be required to reduce toxic emissions that are likely to cause cancer under a new rule issued Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The rule advances President Joe Biden’s commitment to environmental justice by delivering critical health protections for communities burdened by industrial pollution from ethylene oxide, chloroprene and other dangerous chemicals, officials said.
Areas that will benefit from the new rule include majority-Black neighborhoods outside New Orleans that EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited as part of his 2021 Journey to Justice tour. The rule will significantly reduce emissions of chloroprene and other harmful pollutants at the Denka Performance Elastomer facility in LaPlace, Louisiana, the largest source of chloroprene emissions in the country, he said.
“Every community in this country deserves to breathe clean air. That’s why I took the Journey to Justice tour to communities like St. John the Baptist Parish, where residents have borne the brunt of toxic air for far too long,” Regan said. “We promised to listen to folks that are suffering from pollution and act to protect them. Today we deliver on that promise with strong final standards to slash pollution, reduce cancer risk and ensure cleaner air for nearby communities.”
When combined with a rule issued last month cracking down on ethylene oxide emissions from sterilizers used to clean medical equipment, the new rule will reduce ethylene oxide and chloroprene emissions by nearly 80%, officials said.
The rule will apply to 218
facilities spread across the United States — more than half in Texas or Louisiana. Plants also are located in two dozen other states, including Ohio, other Midwest states, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and throughout the South, the EPA said. The action updates several regulations on chemical plant emissions that have not been tightened in nearly two decades.
Democratic Rep. Troy Carter, whose Louisiana district includes the Denka plant, called the new rule “a monumental step” to safeguard public health and the environment.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers, said it was reviewing the rule but criticized the EPA’s use of what it called “a deeply flawed’’ method to determine the toxicity of ethylene oxide.
“We also remain concerned with the recent onslaught of chemical regulations being put forth by this administration,’’ the group said in a statement. Without a different approach, “the availability of critical chemistries will dwindle’’ in the U.S., harming the country’s supply chain, the ACC said.
The new rule will slash more than 6,200 tons of toxic air pollutants annually
and implement fenceline monitoring, the EPA said.
The Justice Department sued Denka last year, saying it had been releasing unsafe concentrations of chloroprene near homes and schools. Federal regulators had determined in 2016 that chloroprene emissions from the Denka plant were contributing to the highest cancer risk of any place in the United States.
Denka, a Japanese company that bought the former DuPont plant in 2015, said it “vehemently opposes” the EPA’s latest action.
“EPA’s rulemaking is yet another attempt to drive a policy agenda that is unsupported by the law or the science,” Denka said in a statement, adding that the agency has alleged its facility “represents a danger to its community, despite the facility’s compliance with its federal and state air permitting requirements.”
The Denka plant, which makes synthetic rubber, has been at the center of protests over pollution in majority-Black communities and EPA efforts to curb chloroprene emissions, particularly in the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor, an 85-mile industrial region known informally as Cancer Alley. Denka said it already has invested more than $35 million to reduce chloroprene emissions.