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GoGreenNation news

Environmental Protection Agency Limits Pollution From Chemical Plants

News Feed
Tuesday, April 9, 2024

More than 200 chemical plants across the country will be required to curb the toxic pollutants they release into the air under a regulation announced by the Biden administration on Tuesday.The regulation is aimed at reducing the risk of cancer for people living near industrial sites. This is the first time in nearly two decades that the government has tightened limits on pollution from chemical plants.The new rule, from the Environmental Protection Agency, specifically targets ethylene oxide, which is used to sterilize medical devices, and chloroprene, which is used to make rubber in footwear.The E.P.A. has classified the two chemicals as likely carcinogens. They are considered a top health concern in an area of Louisiana so dense with petrochemical and refinery plants that it is known as Cancer Alley.Most of the facilities affected by the rule are in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast as well as in the Ohio River Valley and West Virginia. Communities in proximity to the plants are often disproportionately Black or Latino and have elevated rates of cancer, respiratory problems and premature deaths.Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the E.P.A., traveled last year to St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana, the heart of Cancer Alley, to announce his agency’s intention to limit pollution from the plants.Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

The new regulation is aimed at reducing the risk of cancer for people who live close to plants emitting toxic chemicals.

More than 200 chemical plants across the country will be required to curb the toxic pollutants they release into the air under a regulation announced by the Biden administration on Tuesday.

The regulation is aimed at reducing the risk of cancer for people living near industrial sites. This is the first time in nearly two decades that the government has tightened limits on pollution from chemical plants.

The new rule, from the Environmental Protection Agency, specifically targets ethylene oxide, which is used to sterilize medical devices, and chloroprene, which is used to make rubber in footwear.

The E.P.A. has classified the two chemicals as likely carcinogens. They are considered a top health concern in an area of Louisiana so dense with petrochemical and refinery plants that it is known as Cancer Alley.

Most of the facilities affected by the rule are in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast as well as in the Ohio River Valley and West Virginia. Communities in proximity to the plants are often disproportionately Black or Latino and have elevated rates of cancer, respiratory problems and premature deaths.

Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the E.P.A., traveled last year to St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana, the heart of Cancer Alley, to announce his agency’s intention to limit pollution from the plants.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

Read the full story here.
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Texas and California have not adequately inspected potential polluters: EPA watchdog

Texas and California state agencies have not been adequately inspecting some potential polluters, possibly raising the risk of community exposure to toxic chemicals, according to an internal watchdog for the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The office of the EPA’s Inspector General found that Texas’s Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) did not keep track of...

Texas and California state agencies have not been adequately inspecting some potential polluters, possibly raising the risk of community exposure to toxic chemicals, according to an internal watchdog for the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The office of the EPA’s Inspector General found that Texas’s Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) did not keep track of facilities that have the potential to hit a certain pollution threshold.  Of the state’s 18 facilities that apparently meet this threshold, the TCEQ did not visit 11 of them between 2017 and 2022, despite agency policy saying such facilities should be evaluated every five years. The office found that California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District failed to inspect 27 out of 109 of similar sites between 2016 and 2021.  The report said that this undercut the deterrent effect that these assessments provide, adding that the fact that they were not done “potentially increased the public’s risk of exposure to air pollution in Texas and along California’s southern coast.” The EPA divides polluting facilities into categories known as “major” and “minor” pollution sources. The facilities looked at in Tuesday’s report are not quite “major” sources, but have the potential to emit nearly as much as those considered major — at least 80 percent of the major source threshold.  Thirteen of Texas’s 18 facilities that meet this criteria emit chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, which the EPA says can damage the liver, kidneys, and nervous system, the report said. The state allegedly failed to visit seven such sites between 2017 and 2022, while five were found to not have received a visit since before 2012.  The report also knocked the federal EPA for not ensuring that the inspections were carried out.  Texas’s commission governs the entire state, while South Coast Air Quality Management District deals with parts of southern California.  In a formal response, EPA officials said that the agency believes that it conducts “adequate oversight” and will request that TCEQ and California’s South Coast update their plans. It also noted that “115 of 117 delegated agencies” with the exception of the two noted in the report “have identified” the relevant pollution sources.  The Hill has reached out to the Texas and California agencies for comment.

Chemicals
Pollution

Cocaine Found In Sharks Leaves Scientists 'Dumbfounded'

The baffling research raises serious questions about ocean pollution.

Scientists are blown away after finding significant traces of cocaine in a small sample of sharks from the waters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.In a study published online last week, researchers reported the presence of the unfiltered drug in the liver and muscle tissues of all 13 Brazilian sharpnose sharks they tested.Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis, a co-author of the study and a biologist at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, said her team was “actually dumbfounded” by the discovery.“We were excited in a bad way, but it’s a novel report,” she told The New York Times. “It’s the first time this data has ever been found for any top predator.”Though past research has detected cocaine in an array of smaller ocean species, like mollusks and crustaceans, the amount seen in the sharks was 100 times higher than that found in previous studies of marine wildlife, suggesting chronic exposure to the substance.(Sharpnose sharks are relatively small themselves. While some of their more fearsome relatives, like great whites, can weigh tons, one study of Brazilian sharpnoses found that they weighed up to 6 or 7 pounds.)A researcher holds a young male Atlantic sharpnose shark, a close relative of Brazilian sharpnoses, near the Outer Banks of North Carolina.Raleigh News & Observer via Getty ImagesAccording to Hauser-Davis, some think the cocaine could have made its way into the water via illegal drug labs near the coast or traffickers dumping the illicit substance into the ocean. But the biggest contributor is perhaps less lurid.“We feel that the major source would be excretion through urine and feces from people using cocaine,” Hauser-Davis told the Times.And while the discovery of cocaine in sharks is making headlines, researchers say the presence of the drug points to larger questions about all kinds of waste contaminating Earth’s waters.“Cocaine gets people interested,” environmental engineer Tracy Fanara told the Times. “But we have antibiotics, antidepressants, pharmaceuticals, sunscreen, insecticides, fertilizers. All of these chemicals are entering our ecosystem.”

Chemicals
Waste
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EPA takes next step toward banning chemical spilled in East Palestine crash

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday proposed designating one of the toxic substances spilled by a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, as a high-priority chemical under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the next step to a full ban. Vinyl chloride, a hazardous substance used in the production of plastics, is one of...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday proposed designating one of the toxic substances spilled by a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, as a high-priority chemical under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the next step to a full ban. Vinyl chloride, a hazardous substance used in the production of plastics, is one of five chemicals for which the EPA announced it will explore a designation. The other substances include acetaldehyde, acrylonitrile, benzenamine and 4,4’-methylene bis(2-chloroaniline) (MBOCA). They were selected from a longer list of chemicals the agency had previously identified for additional assessment. “Studying the safety of these harmful chemicals – all five of which have been linked to cancer and are used to make plastic – would help lead to critical public health and environmental protections in communities across the country and would ensure that the public has access to more data on these chemicals sooner,” Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff said in a statement. Vinyl chloride has been tied to liver, brain, and lung cancer and its presence in the 2023 East Palestine derailment is one of the major reasons residents remain concerned about possible long-term health hazards, even though no one was killed or injured in the immediate crash. Environmental protection officials have raised concerns about vinyl chloride going back to the 1970s, and in recent years, as more municipalities replace lead pipes, new concerns have emerged about potential chemical leaching from PVC replacements. “This designation requires EPA to thoroughly evaluate the risks associated with vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, and implement stringent regulations to mitigate its dangers,” Earthjustice director of crosscutting toxic strategies Eve Gartner said in a statement. “With the alarming frequency of vinyl chloride incidents and its pervasive presence in our air, water, and soil in communities near petrochemical manufacturing, as well as ongoing use in consumer products, this action is necessary to protect vulnerable communities and prevent further harm."

Chemicals
Health
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E.P.A. Moves Toward Regulating Vinyl Chloride, a Dangerous Chemical

Vinyl chloride, used to make things like PVC pipes and packaging, is also toxic and highly flammable, and was at the center of a major train disaster in Ohio last year.

The NewsThe Biden-Harris administration said Wednesday that it was taking its first steps toward potentially regulating vinyl chloride, a versatile yet cancerous and flammable chemical used widely to make plastic for PVC pipes and packaging.Experts and environmental groups had been urging the federal government to more stringently regulate the chemical after a train shipment of it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last year, prompting officials to perform a large controlled burn that sent a black cloud of smoke over the surrounding area, raising health concerns.Why It Matters: Numerous health and safety concerns.Tougher rules or a ban on vinyl chloride would address a host of health and safety concerns: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has classified vinyl chloride as a known human carcinogen, and the chemical is highly flammable and potentially explosive.Safety experts had also raised concerns over the transport of vinyl chloride across long distances on accident-prone freight trains. The more than 100,000-gallon vinyl chloride shipment that burned in Ohio was on a 1,600-mile journey from a chemicals plant just outside Houston, Texas, to a PVC flooring plant in Pedricktown, N.J.But tougher regulations would also upend the market for a type of plastic used widely in electrical wiring and cables, blood storage bags and other medical devices, packaging and household goods like shower curtains and raincoats, and PVC pipes for drinking water.What’s More: JD Vance on the disaster in his state.Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

Chemicals
Government
Water

Pesticides may contain an alarming amount of 'forever chemicals': Study

Toxic "forever chemicals" are increasingly appearing in U.S. pesticides — contaminating waterways and posing a possible threat to human health, a new study has found. Pesticides containing these compounds, called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are used widely nationwide on staple foods, such as corn, wheat, kale, spinach, apples and strawberries, according to the study,...

Toxic "forever chemicals" are increasingly appearing in U.S. pesticides — contaminating waterways and posing a possible threat to human health, a new study has found. Pesticides containing these compounds, called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are used widely nationwide on staple foods, such as corn, wheat, kale, spinach, apples and strawberries, according to the study, published on Wednesday in Environmental Health Perspectives. Known for their ability to linger in the human body and the environment, PFAS have been linked to many different illnesses, such as thyroid disease, kidney cancer and testicular cancer. PFAS-laden pesticides are also used inside homes, for flea treatments on pets and in insect-killing sprays, noted the authors, who represent several different environmental organizations. The researchers — from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Working Group and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility — said they drew their conclusions by compiling data on sources of PFAS in pesticide products. "I can think of no better way to poison people and the environment than to spray PFAS-laden pesticides on our crops and in our homes,” Kyla Bennett, science policy director at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said in a statement. In addition to their presence in pesticides, these compounds are found in certain types of firefighting foam, industrial discharge and in a wide range of household items — particularly in many of those with non-stick or waterproof properties.  "Lacing pesticides with forever chemicals is likely burdening the next generation with more chronic diseases and impossible cleanup responsibilities," Nathan Donley, environmental health science director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. Among the study's findings that the scientists flagged as most troubling was their observation that 14 percent of all U.S. pesticide active ingredients are PFAS. Within the past decade, about 30 percent of such approved ingredients were PFAS. Thousands of types of PFAS exist in the world, but all of these compounds are synthetic and none exist in the natural environment. Of the many different variations of these chemicals, the study authors found that two legacy compounds that have largely been phased out of production — PFOS and PFOA — are still present in some pesticide products. They attributed that contamination to the possible leaching of fluorinated containers — those whose makeup includes fluorine, a precursor for PFAS.    Because pesticides can amass PFAS from multiple sources, the scientists warned that a single container may house a mixture of different kinds of compounds. They also noted that PFAS-laden pesticides have been discovered in waterways across the country. At the same time, the researchers stressed that the U.S. regulatory environment is not equipped to identify and quantify the risks PFAS pose via pesticides. “Toxic PFAS have no place in our food, water or homes, posing a serious threat to our health and environment,” David Andrews, deputy director of investigations at the Environmental Working Group, said in a statement. “The increasing use of PFAS pesticides will lead to increasing levels of PFAS in the environment." 

Chemicals
Food
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Chemicals
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Science

Unacceptable Risk: Dr. Margaret Kripke on Cancer and the Environment

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Chemicals
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