EPA unveils ‘stringent' emissions rules for plastics plants

About 200 large chemicals and plastics resin plants are facing much tougher rules for fenceline emissions under an April 6 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposal that's drawing concerns from industry groups and praise from environmentalists.

The major update of federal emissions rules would require factories to cut discharges for about 80 chemicals and require, for the first time, fenceline emission monitoring for six chemicals, including plastics building blocks like benzene, 1,3-butadiene and vinyl chloride.

It would also remove the general exemptions the plants currently have from emissions control rules in so-called startup, shutdown or malfunction events like hurricanes.

At a news conference in front of a Louisiana chemical plant, and with cows grazing in a field in front of the facility, EPA Administrator Michael Regan linked the proposal to his November 2021 environmental justice tour of communities around chemical plants.

Some of the strictest provisions in the proposal would apply to ethylene oxide and chloroprene.

"When finalized this rule will drastically reduce the risk of cancer caused by exposure to EtO and chloroprene, especially in states like Louisiana and Texas, where the vast majority of these facilities are located," Regan said. "The proposed rule would also cut the emission of nearly 80 additional air toxic pollutants from plants … in other parts of the country."

The new EPA proposal comes about six weeks after the agency and the Department of Justice sued Denka Performance Elastomers LLC to reduce chloroprene emissions at its facility in LaPlace, La.

The EPA plan also comes after the agency agreed last year to develop new rules to settle lawsuits from environmental groups. The agency said it hopes to finish the rules in about a year.

The American Chemistry Council, for its part, said it understood communities' concerns but also pointed to federal data showing sharply reduced emissions from the industry in recent decades and it raised concerns about parts of the proposal.

"We recognize the concerns that communities have about their local environment and support increased access to accurate, up-to-date and scientifically robust air monitoring data," ACC said. "We will be reviewing the proposals put forward by EPA before commenting in detail. However, we are particularly concerned with the EPA's proposals regarding ethylene oxide."

It said EtO has important uses in many industries, including sterilizing 20 billion medical devices annually, as well as in manufacturing electric car batteries and supporting agriculture and the oil and gas industry. It also It pointed to what it said was flawed EPA data.

"We support strong, science-based regulations for our industry," ACC said, "but we are concerned that EPA may be rushing its work on significant rule-making packages that reach across multiple source categories and could set important precedents. We will be engaging closely throughout the comment and review process."

Regan said the new rules will cut cancer risk among residents in nearby communities by 96 percent.

"We're going to set very stringent levels," he said. "The proposal will stop that pollution at the fenceline and preserve the air quality and the quality of life for these communities that have been overburdened by pollution for far too long."

EPA said about 80 percent of the reduction in air toxins and volatile organic compounds would come from new requirements to improve the efficiency of flares that are used to burn off gases and control pollution.

For plastics plants in particular, the agency said it's updating two National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, known as the Group 1 and Group 2 polymers and resins rules.

The agency said the fenceline monitoring its proposing for the six chemicals will require public reporting, and would require companies to make repairs if annual average air concentrations are above an "action level."

"Fenceline monitoring provides facilities with flexibility to determine what measures should be taken to remain below the action level, while ensuring that facilities are effectively controlling hazardous air pollution," EPA said.

The agency said the monitoring requirements are modeled after fenceline requirements for petroleum refineries, which have identified sources of benzene emissions and led to corrective actions.

EPA said the proposal would cut 6,000 tons of air toxics emissions and 23,500 tons of smog forming VOC emissions a year. It would reduce EtO emissions by 63 percent and chloroprene by 74 percent from 2020 baselines.

Speaking at the April 6 news conference, Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans, said the EPA plan is trying to address the cancer-causing impact of exposure to multiple pollutants.

She said Louisiana has some of the highest cancer rates in the United States, and she called the proposal "truly a historic day."

"We have a lot of pollution here," she said. "We have been poisoned and we are sick, and we are finally being able to address some of the multiple chemicals that are poisoning us."