New EPA restrictions for 200 US chemical makers target ‘cancer alleys’
Ethylene oxide, chloroprene, benzene, vinyl chloride, 1,3 butadiene, and ethylene dichloride are some of the airborne pollutants that are released by more than 200 manufacturing sites in the United States. On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established new regulations to protect areas that are located in close proximity to these businesses.
According to research conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), approximately 104,000 people in the United States live within a distance of six miles of factories that either produce specific synthetic organic compounds or use them in the manufacturing of polymers and resins. Their risk of developing cancer as a result of that exposure is greater than one in ten thousand persons, which is a threshold that the FDA considers to be unacceptable. As compared to the general population, those who live in close proximity to industrial chemical makers are disproportionately impoverished and more likely to be of African or brown descent, according to other research conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Due to the new regulation, the amount of hazardous pollutants that these firms are permitted to discharge is reduced by approximately 6,200 pounds. Additionally, the cancer risks that are associated with hazardous airborne pollutants are significantly reduced.
During a press briefing, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan, stated that “this rule alone will reduce the cancer risk for people living in these communities by 96%.”
The law will also mandate air monitoring along the perimeter, commonly known as the fenceline, of the property, which is a win obtained by environmental supporters after a long and difficult battle. Companies will be able to identify harmful air pollutants that are escaping from their facilities in this manner. If the leaks exceed a level that is considered to be unsafe, the companies will be required to locate and repair the leaks when they are discovered.
The question at hand is whether a woman will acquire breast cancer or whether a child will be diagnosed with leukemia. Impaired brain function, respiratory illness, heart attacks, and strokes are all included in this category. Patrice Simms, vice president for healthy communities at Earthjustice, stated that for many people, this is a question of life and death. “In a very real sense,” she said. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has only required businesses to check the air for toxins near their fencelines for the second time now. In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandated that petroleum refineries conduct monitoring for benzene, a substance that is known to cause cancer. A public dashboard on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website displays the results. The government body has stated that it aims to make the findings of this latest batch of air monitoring data accessible to the general public as well.
Additionally, the agency also delayed the deadline by which businesses are required to begin doing this fenceline monitoring. Following the implementation of the new rule, the proposed rule required businesses to start monitoring fencelines one year after the rule was implemented. Right now, businesses will have a period of two years to comply. There have been complaints from chemical businesses that they required additional time in order to get the monitoring system operational. Testing methods for these substances are still something that laboratories need to work on developing.
However, there will be an exemption made for businesses that produce neoprene, which is a manufacturing method that generates chloroprene, which is known to cause cancer. Within the next ninety days, such facilities will be required to comply. This section of the rule applies to the region surrounding the Denka Performance Elastomer facility, which is located in a region of Louisiana that has become often referred to as “Cancer Alley.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made the discovery in 2016 that the parish of St. John the Baptist had the highest cancer risk in the country, which was around 15 times greater than the permitted level. This was mostly due to the emissions that those plants produced.
EPA’s Regan stated that the new regulations would result in a reduction of emissions of chloroprene and ethylene oxide by more than 80 percent. Just a few weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new, more stringent regulations for facilities that use ethylene oxide gas to sterilize medical equipment, spices, and other goods. The new rule for chemical makers came just now.
The agency has stated that it is continuing to investigate different methods that can be used to limit other sources of exposure to ethylene oxide. One example of this is warehouses that store sterilized products and such facilities emit off-gas into the atmosphere. In addition, the government has said that it is now doing research in order to better comprehend and quantify ethylene oxide.