EPA aims to remove a chemical used in paint and other products from its roster of hazardous air pollutants with a rarely used deregulatory maneuver that the compound’s manufacturer predicts will ultimately yield environmental benefits.
In a draft rule published late last month, Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed to grant a petition from Dow Chemical to “delist” 2-Butoxyethyl Benzoate, or 2-BEB. While the petition dates back to 2019, listing or delisting decisions can take over a decade to resolve.
If made final, that determination “would allow industry to use 2-BEB in their formulations in place of other similar chemicals without the risk of increasing” hazardous air pollutant emissions, according to an official summary.
Under the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, Congress deemed almost 190 pollutants or classes of pollutants as hazardous because of research showing ties to cancer or other serious health ailments. That classification requires industries to adopt controls to limit releases. In the intervening decades, EPA has removed only four compounds from the original list.
