Chemical plants across the country will need to slash the amount of toxic air pollution they release — including a cancer-causing gas — under a rule the Environmental Protection Agency finalized Tuesday.
The regulation specifically targets ethylene oxide, which is used to sterilize medical devices, and chloroprene, which is used to make rubber. Long-term exposure to these two chemicals can increase the risk of certain types of cancer, including lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer and liver cancer. The agency last month finalized a separate rule that will limit ethylene oxide from facilities that sterilize medical equipment, rather than chemical plants.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Tuesday’s rule will especially benefit communities in Louisiana, where an 85-mile-long area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is known as “Cancer Alley” because of numerous polluting facilities. He visited the region in 2021 as part of a “Journey to Justice” tour through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
“When I visited St. John’s Parish in Cancer Alley during the first leg of my Journey to Justice tour in 2021, I saw firsthand how the multigenerational and widespread effects of pollution are affecting the health of the local community,” Regan told reporters on a call Monday previewing the announcement. “Nearly every person I spoke to knew someone who suffered from an illness connected to pollution from the air they breathed.”
The final regulation, Regan added, will “slash pollution, reduce cancer risks and ensure cleaner air for communities across the country.”
The rule will reduce more than 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year, according to the EPA. Once fully implemented, it will curb both ethylene oxide and chloroprene emissions from covered facilities by nearly 80 percent, the agency said.
The limits will apply to roughly 200 chemical plants that make synthetic organic chemicals, polymers and resins. They will target a facility owned by Denka Performance Elastomer, a synthetics maker in Laplace, La. Air monitors near the facility have shown chloroprene concentrations reaching up to 15 times the level that EPA considers safe for a lifetime of exposure, according to the agency.
The EPA last year sued Denka in an effort to force the company to curb these emissions. The company said at the time that concentrations of the chemical did not pose a public health emergency, and that they had declined significantly since 2015.
Denka did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
