EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
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.
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 and 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.
Communities near the plants are often disproportionately Black or Latino and have elevated rates of cancer, respiratory problems and premature deaths.
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READ AP’S STORY
New EPA rule says 218 US chemical plants must reduce toxic emissions that are likely to cause cancer
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WHAT DOES THE RULE DO?
The new rule will slash more than 6,200 tons (5,624 metric tonnes) of toxic air pollutants annually and implement fenceline monitoring, the EPA said, addressing health risks in surrounding communities and promoting environmental justice in Louisiana and other states.
Fenceline monitoring for six toxic air pollutants — ethylene oxide, chloroprene, vinyl chloride, benzene, 1,3-butadiene and ethylene dichloride — will be crucial to ensure accountability and transparency, environmental advocates said. The new rule marks just the second time that EPA has mandated fenceline monitoring in air toxics standards under the Clean Air Act.
When combined with a rule issued last month cracking down on ethylene oxide emissions from commercial sterilizers used to clean medical equipment, the new rule will reduce ethylene oxide and chloroprene emissions by nearly 80%, the EPA said.
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FIND YOUR STATE: WHERE ARE THE NEW CHEMICAL PLANTS SUBJECT TO THE NEW RULE?
You can find specific plants listed here by city and state.
The rule applies to plants in 29 states:
Alabama
Arkansas
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Iowa
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana (more than 50 plants)
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Mississippi
Montana
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas (more than 80 plants)
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
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WHAT IS THE POLITICAL AND REGULATORY CONTEXT BEHIND THE RULE?
The Biden administration and EPA Administrator Michael Regan have made environmental justice a top priority. Areas that will benefit from the new rule include majority-Black neighborhoods outside New Orleans that 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, Regan said.
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 (137-kilometer) industrial region known informally as Cancer Alley. Denka said it already has invested more than $35 million to reduce chloroprene emissions.
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 rubber-making 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.”
Regan said the rule issued Tuesday was separate from a civil rights investigation launched by the agency but later dropped. He called the rule “very ambitious,″ adding that officials took care to ensure “that we protect all of these communities, not just those in Cancer Alley, but communities in Texas and Puerto Rico and other areas that are threatened by these hazardous air toxic pollutants.″
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CONSIDER THESE REPORTING THREADS
—- How many plants in your state are subject to the new rule? How does the state plan to enforce the rule, if at all?
-— What is the history of these plants? Have they been cited for pollution violations or been the target of protests/criticism from local groups?
—- What do local and state officials say about the plants in your state?
—- Will the plants or business groups in your state challenge the rule in court?
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Localize It is an occasional feature produced by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan at koyan@ap.org.