Last week, Biden administration officials finalized a rule they said would significantly reduce cancer-causing air pollutants, lowering cancer risk and advancing environmental justice goals. But the move by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency left out a Black West Virginia community yet again.
While the rule will target facilities surrounding communities historically overburdened by toxic air pollution, it doesn’t cover the chemical production category that has disproportionately affected one of West Virginia’s only two majority-Black communities.
“It’s actually a positive development, but it doesn’t fully address the issues in Institute,” said Maya Nye, a former Kanawha Valley resident and member of the Charleston-based People Concerned About Chemical Safety.
A 2021 Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica story detailed how majority-Black communities across the country, like Institute in West Virginia, were saddled with a disproportionate health burden from industrial pollution. A ProPublica analysis found that Institute faces an increased cancer risk from industrial air pollution at 36 times the level the EPA considers acceptable.
In September, the Charleston-based group sued the EPA to force the agency to update federal emissions standards for facilities that produce polyether polyols — a chemical production category that emits ethylene oxide.
Elevated cancer risks also affect the overburdened “Cancer Alley” along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and New Orleans as well as around Houston, Texas, where there are also clusters of polyether polyols production facilities, according to the lawsuit.
The West Virginia organization, along with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the Sierra Club, filed the lawsuit against the EPA for failing to perform its required duties by missing a 2022 deadline to update the polyether polyols production source category, which applies to the Union Carbide facility, now owned by Dow Chemical.
Dow Chemical did not respond to an emailed request for comment. The company has told other media outlets its emissions are safe, but it is committed to reducing them further.
The EPA’s new rule strengthens standards for chemical plants that make synthetic organic chemicals, polymers and resins, which federal regulators say will “dramatically” reduce the air toxics-related cancer risks for communities who live near roughly 200 plants. The EPA estimates that ethylene oxide and chloroprene emissions from synthetic chemical plants will be reduced by 80%.
“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,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a press release.
Four plants in West Virginia will be subjected to the stricter rules, including the Altivia site in Institute and the formerly DuPont chemical plant, now owned by Chemours, in Belle, according to the EPA.
Under the rule, chemical plants that make, use or store the key air pollutants, including ethylene oxide, chloroprene and benzene, will be required to monitor emissions at their fenceline. The data collected will be posted quarterly by the EPA and will help ensure facilities control their air pollutants.
Although the rule doesn’t address the outdated standards for the polyether polyols source category identified in the lawsuit against the EPA, it is still highly relevant, according to Adam Kron, an attorney for Earthjustice representing the environmental groups.
Most of the polyether polyol sources involved in the lawsuit are located in the same facilities that are subject to these new standards and the fenceline monitoring requirements apply to the entire facility, Kron added.
The rule also addresses several of the same substantive issues with the outdated standards that regulate hazardous air pollution emissions raised in the lawsuit, including an updated risk review of ethylene oxide emissions, the need for fenceline monitoring and unlawful malfunction loopholes.
While the case has not yet been settled, the involved parties are “engaged in successful settlement negotiations” and are “finalizing the terms of a proposed consent decree,” according to court documents. The court granted the EPA until April 19 to respond to the complaint.