Two groups of the chemical industry ask President Trump a complete exemption to release their factories from new limits from dangerous air pollution.
Under a new rule finalized by the Biden administration last year, chemical factories would soon be required to monitor and reduce toxic pollutant emissions, such as ethylene oxide, an ingredient causing cancer used in antigel and plastics.
Now, the two groups, the American Chemistry Council and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represent the major chemical companies in the country, are looking for a temporary presidential derogation for all polluters to the rule.
The new requirements hang their member companies with “considerably expensive requirements on an impracticable calendar”, wrote the groups in a letter dated March 31 which was obtained by the Environment Defense Fund, an environment defense group.
In the letter addressed to Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the groups said that the cost for companies to meet even parties of the new rule would exceed $ 50 billion, much more than the agency’s estimate of $ 1.8 billion.
The request came after the EPA told companies last month that it could ask for derogations from the main own rules by sending an email to the agency. The EPA underlined a section of the Clean Air Act which allows the president to temporarily exempt industrial installations from the new rules if the technology required to comply with these rules is not available, and if it is in the interest of national security.
Under M. Trump, the EPA decided to make several of the same rules go back. This could mean that companies have granted a temporary exemption now would never have to comply with the new rules.
Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that she “would not be ahead of the president, but we can confirm President Trump’s commitment to release American energy, protect our national security interests and guarantee environmental management.”
The Biden era rule had been part of the efforts of this administration to deal with the disproportionate effect of environmental risks facing communities near chemical factories. They are often low -income, mainly black or Latino districts with high asthma levels, cancer and other health problems.
It updates several regulations governing the emissions of chemical factories, some have not been tightened for almost 20 years, and applies to more than 200 chemical installations through Texas and Louisiana, as well as the Ohio valley and Virginia -Western – which are hosting the main chemical hubs.
The rule had for the first time considered the cumulative effects of several chemical plants on the communities of these centers, rather than simply the effect of a single source of pollution.
Companies would be required to rigorously tighten controls and processes to limit chemical emissions. They would also be required to monitor the chimneys and the vents of the manufacturing facilities, while checking if chemicals are present on the property line of a factory. This type of closing line monitoring is similar to those required by oil refineries.
But the chemical industry had raised various concerns concerning new restrictions, in particular on ethylene oxide, saying that it was used in a variety of products such as batteries for electric vehicles. It is also essential to sterilize medical equipment, According to the Food and Drug Administration.
In a declaration on Saturday, Chet Thompson, general manager of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, qualified the rule of the Biden era “illegal, unreasonable and technologically incompetent”, adding that it endanger “critical American manufacturing operations”.
Vickie Patton, lawyer general of the Environment Defense Fund, said that the Trump administration had “opened a rear door to companies in order to avoid complying with reasonable limits on the most toxic forms of air pollution”.
American families, she said, “must be concerned about their loved ones who breathe a dirtier air, their children who lack school days and suffering from a life of illness due to toxic pollution and more cancer in their families.”
The last decision is part of an effort by the Trump administration to keep EPA away from its initial role of environmental protection and regulation. Zeldin described the agency’s new mission as reducing the cost of buying cars, heating houses and businesses, as well as encouraging the domination of American energy.
Last month, the administration abandoned a federal prosecution against a chemical manufacturer accused of having published high levels of chloroprene, a likely carcinogen, of a Louisiana factory.
