The EPA’s latest rule is intended to help communities in Cancer Alley. Half of the affected plants are in Texas or Louisiana.
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’s commitment to environmental justice by delivering critical health protections for communities burdened by industrial pollution from ethylene oxide, chloroprene and other dangerous chemicals, officials said.
Areas that will benefit from the new rule include majority-Black neighborhoods outside New Orleans that EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited as part of his 2021 Journey to Justice tour. 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.
The rule covers half dozen pollutants which must be monitored at the edge of the property.
Fenceline monitoring for six toxic air pollutants — ethylene oxide, chloroprene, vinyl chloride, benzene, 1,3-butadiene and ethylene dichloride — 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.
https://fortune.com/2024/04/09/epa-chemical-plants-denka-toxic-emissions-cancer-biden-pollution-black-neighborhoods/
Darcy Hitchcock 
I have been struck recently by the string of new environmental regulations issued by the Biden Administration. It takes time to put these together, so it’s not surprising that it’s year four. However, the timing early in an election year likely is not coincidental. How many of the rules will survive court challenges? And how much delay in implementation might result? Maybe we will know four years from now.
Dick, Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, it does seem like actions are piling up at the end of Biden’s term, just in case…