EPA proposes tighter regulation of chemical plants, looks to cut cancer-causing pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed tighter restrictions on air pollution from chemical plants on Thursday as part of the Biden administration’s pledge to fix long-standing environmental inequities in Louisiana, and across the country.

The new rule would strengthen the Clean Air Act and target the release of toxic chemicals like ethylene oxide and chloroprene – pollutants known to elevate a person’s risk of cancer when breathed in over a lifetime.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan traveled to Reserve, Louisiana to announce the proposed rule, backdropped by the industrial plant, Denka Performance Elastomers – the country’s sole emitter of the likely carcinogen, chloroprene.