Jessica King, jessica.king@sierraclub.org
Cindy Carr, cindy.carr@sierraclub.org
LaPlace, La. -- EPA is taking action against harmful air pollution from chemical manufacturing facilities by proposing a suite of new rules impacting more than 200 of the most toxic chemical manufacturing facilities in the nation, many of which are located in communities already overburdened by industrial pollution.
The proposed rules will, if finalized, reduce toxic air pollutants such as ethylene oxide, vinyl chloride, benzene, ethylene chloride, and chloroprene at chemical manufacturing and petrochemical facilities across the country. The proposals will have an outsized positive impact in the Houston Ship Channel, the Ohio River Valley, and Cancer Alley–three areas with disproportionately high concentrations of heavily polluting industries. EPA is using two legal tools from the Clean Air Act to achieve these benefits, the New Source Performance Standards, and the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.
These proposals were prompted by legal complaints by Sierra Club and environmental justice organizations. They will also remove loopholes that allow industrial polluters to release deadly air pollution into fenceline communities any time a facility starts-up, shuts-downs, or experiences a malfunction, with virtually no accountability or consequences.
Chemical facilities impacted by EPA’s proposals are shown on this map released by FracTracker Alliance.
The proposed rules are New Source Performance Standards for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and Group I and II Polymers and Resins Industry, and will be available for public comment for 60 days following their publication in the Federal Register.
“For too long, Gulf Communities have borne the burden of toxic air pollution from chemical manufacturers,” Sierra Club Healthy Communities Campaign Director Pedro Cruz said. “Fully 83% of these facilities have been out of compliance with environmental statutes meant to protect the health and environment of communities in the last three years–a shocking revelation that indicates just how abysmally this industry treats its fenceline communities. With EPA's proposals today, we are finally seeing a step in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done. Now, we must continue to demand that all illegal exemptions be removed from federal air quality rules to truly prioritize the health and safety of our communities over the corporate profits.”
“Here in Houston, I know firsthand the negative effects that these large chemical manufacturing facilities can have on our health, particularly during start-up, shutdown and malfunction upsets,” Environmental and Climate Justice Campaign Representative for Sierra Club’s Healthy Communities Campaign Bryan Parras said. “In the Houston Ship Channel, there are over 30 chemical manufacturers, which disproportionately harms the public health of Black and Latinx communities living in the area. The Hexion Deer Park and Shell Deer Park refineries along the Houston Ship Channel currently have multiple significant violations in environmental justice communities as well. Ninety-one percent of Texas facilities included in EPA’s online Enforcement and Compliance History have been in noncompliance for the past three years with the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Put simply, measures to curtail pollution from chemical manufacturers in Houston and beyond are long overdue, and we eagerly await the protections they can bring to our communities.”
“The risk of cancer in St. John the Baptist Parish is seven times greater than the national average, and the location of these chemical manufacturing plants is no coincidence,” Senior Organizing Representative for Sierra Club in Louisiana Darryl Malek-Wiley said. “While community members have been sounding the alarm on dangerous facilities like Denka Performance Elastomer for decades, the state of Louisiana has repeatedly failed to take action. We’re pleased to see EPA propose regulations to reduce toxic air pollution from chemical manufacturing facilities nationwide, including those in Cancer Alley.”
“Living in the “Chemical Valley” of West Virginia, downstream of facilities owned by corporations like Dow, Bayer Crop Science, and Dupont, we’re no stranger to “malfunctions,” Sierra Club Senior Organizer, Beyond Dirty Fuels and Beyond Coal Alex Cole said. “We call them leaks and explosions. Our school children practice shelter-in-place drills in kindergarten. It is absolutely absurd that these chemical plants are allowed to operate outside of their already lax permits at any time, much less in situations as predictable as start-ups and shutdowns. Loopholes for chemical plants must be closed, and today’s proposal is a welcome and long-overdue step forward."
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.