Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule to significantly reduce toxic pollution from plants like the Union Carbide facility in Institute, one of West Virginia’s few majority-Black communities. However, the pollution reductions proposed are at risk of being killed by incoming President Donald Trump, who has vowed his administration will continue to roll back pollution limits.
Three citizen groups sued the federal agency last year when regulators failed to update the emission standards for facilities that produce polyether polyols — a chemical production category that can lead to emissions of carcinogens such as ethylene oxide. A settlement was reached last month requiring federal regulators to propose an updated rule by Dec. 10.
In 2021 Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica 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.
On Dec. 11, the EPA posted the draft of its updated rule that would reduce ethylene oxide emissions by nearly 80%. The rule also proposed additional measures, including monitoring ethylene oxide emissions at the plants’ fencelines.
Environmental groups celebrated the proposed rule, declaring it a victory.
“This is a critical step forward in protecting communities from the dangerous risks posed by ethylene oxide emissions,” said Adrienne Lee, an attorney for Earthjustice representing the environmental groups.
However, the rule faces a lengthy process before it can take effect. Once the regulation is proposed and published in the Federal Register, there is a period for public comment before it can be finalized.
Because of that process, the rule won’t be finalized before President Joe Biden leaves office, leaving the rule in the hands of Trump’s EPA.
Trump has pledged to reverse federal climate, air and water regulations during his presidency. During his first term, his administration tried to roll back more than 100 environmental rules.
He has tapped several major players who were involved with crafting the conservative playbook Project 2025 to serve in his second administration. The chapter devoted to the EPA says the agency should be more conservative and critiques its policies under the current administration in this way:
“Not surprisingly, the EPA under the Biden Administration has returned to the same top-down, coercive approach that defined the Obama Administration. There has been a reinstitution of unachievable standards designed to aid in the ‘transition’ away from politically disfavored industries and technologies and toward the Biden Administration’s preferred alternatives.”
Trump has tapped former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to head his administration’s EPA despite Zeldin’s limited regulatory or environmental experience.
The League of Conservation Voters gave Zeldin a pro-environmental voting record of 14% for his time in Congress.
Despite the change in administration, the EPA is required to issue a final version of this rule by next December because of the settlement. However, what the rule looks like in its final form could be very different from the current proposed version.
Even if the rule is finalized under the Trump administration as is, there’s still more to be done to address toxic air pollution, especially in communities historically overburdened by industry pollution.
“Any reductions are good, that’s what’s a step in the right direction, but it really needs to be zero risk,” said Maya Nye, a Kanawha Valley resident and member of the Charleston-based People Concerned About Chemical Safety. “That’s all that’s acceptable, personally, to me.”
The Union Carbide facility, now owned by Dow Chemical, is one of the facilities that this rule will impact as it makes ethylene oxide to help produce a wide variety of products, including antifreeze, pesticides and sterilizing agents for medical tools.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Union Carbide said the company will review the proposed rule and “engage through the formal regulatory process to advocate for sensible, risk-based emissions standards based on the best available science.”