A new update to pollution rules for over 250 smaller chemical plants around the country will not address emissions of the carcinogenic gas ethylene oxide, at least for now.
The delayed ethylene oxide standards come as the Trump administration works to ease other Biden-era rules seeking to curb emissions of the cancer-causing compound.
Because facilities in multiple sectors that emit ethylene oxide are often located near communities, targeting the gas became a major environmental justice goal of the Biden administration — and in turn a target for repeal or relaxing under President Donald Trump.
The new EPA rule, to be published in Wednesday’s Federal Register, covers over a dozen hazardous air pollutants from “area source” chemical manufacturers, facilities with emissions below a certain threshold for higher emitting — and more stringently regulated — major sources.
