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WASHINGTON \u2014 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\u2019s commitment to environmental justice by delivering critical health protections for\u00a0communities burdened by industrial pollution<\/a>\u00a0from ethylene oxide, chloroprene and other dangerous chemicals, officials said.<\/p>\n Areas that will benefit from the new rule include majority-Black neighborhoods outside New Orleans that EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited as part of\u00a0his 2021 Journey to Justice tour<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery community in this country deserves to breathe clean air. That\u2019s why I took the Journey to Justice tour to communities like St. John the Baptist Parish, where residents have borne the brunt of toxic air for far too long,\u201d Regan said. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n When combined with a rule issued last month cracking down on\u00a0ethylene oxide emissions from commercial sterilizers<\/a>\u00a0used to clean medical equipment, the new rule will reduce ethylene oxide and chloroprene emissions by nearly 80%, officials said.<\/p>\n The rule will apply to 218 facilities spread across the United States \u2014 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.<\/p>\n Democratic Rep. Troy Carter, whose Louisiana district includes the Denka plant, called the new rule \u201ca monumental step\u201d to safeguard public health and the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cCommunities deserve to be safe. I\u2019ve said this all along,\u201d Carter told reporters at a briefing Monday. \u201cIt must begin with proper regulation. It must begin with listening to the people who are impacted in the neighborhoods, who undoubtedly have suffered the cost of being in close proximity of chemical plants \u2014 but not just chemical plants, chemical plants that don\u2019t follow the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n Carter said it was \u201ccritically important that measures like this are demonstrated to keep the confidence of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The Justice Department\u00a0sued Denka last year<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n Denka, a Japanese company that bought the former DuPont rubber-making plant in 2015, said it \u201cvehemently opposes\u201d the EPA\u2019s latest action.<\/p>\n \u201cEPA\u2019s rulemaking is yet another attempt to drive a policy agenda that is unsupported by the law or the science,\u201d Denka said in a statement, adding that the agency has alleged its facility \u201crepresents a danger to its community, despite the facility\u2019s compliance with its federal and state air permitting requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The EPA, under pressure from local activists, agreed to open a civil rights investigation of the plant to determine if state officials were putting Black residents at increased cancer risk. The agency initially found evidence of discrimination, but in June\u00a0it dropped its investigation without releasing any official findings<\/a>\u00a0and without any commitments from the state to change its practices.<\/p>\n Regan said the rule issued Tuesday was separate from the civil rights investigation. He called the rule \u201cvery ambitious,\u201d adding that officials took care to ensure \u201cthat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n While it focuses on toxic emissions, \u201cby its very nature, this rule is providing protection to environmental justice communities \u2014 Black and brown communities, low-income communities \u2014 that have suffered for far too long,\u201d Regan said.<\/p>\n Patrice Simms, vice president of the environmental law firm Earthjustice, called the rule \u201ca victory in our pursuit for environmental justice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always more to do to demand that our laws live up to their full potential,\u201d Simms said, \u201cbut EPA\u2019s action today brings us a meaningful step closer to realizing the promise of clean air \u2026 safe and livable communities and \u2026 more just and more equitable environmental protections.\u201d<\/p>\n Fenceline monitoring for six toxic air pollutants \u2014 ethylene oxide, chloroprene, vinyl chloride, benzene, 1,3-butadiene and ethylene dichloride \u2014 will be crucial to ensure accountability and transparency, Simms and other 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.<\/p>\n \u201cFor years, we\u2019ve watched our families and neighbors suffer from disease, like cancer, due to underregulated emissions,\u201d said Robert Taylor, founder of Concerned Citizens of St. John, a local advocacy group.<\/p>\n After the EPA closed its civil rights complaint, \u201cwe felt little hope that any government could protect us from industry,\u201d Taylor said. Regan\u2019s commitment to address chemical emissions and announcement of the final rule \u201care renewing our hope,\u201d he added. \u201cThey\u2019re a starting point for lowering toxic emissions and saving the children in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to Impact Report, a weekly newsletter on the trends and issues shaping corporate sustainability. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n