The petrochemicals industry is taking the Trump administration up on its offer to provide exemptions from Clean Air Act limits on toxic emissions, requesting a full suspension of a Biden-era regulation meant to protect neighboring communities from potent carcinogens released by their production sites.
In a letter sent Monday to the EPA inbox set up to field such requests, the industry groups representing chemicals-makers and petrochemical and fuel manufacturers asked the Trump administration to exempt more than 200 facilities from a 2024 rule, Reg. 2060-AV71, that set strict new limits for emissions of ethylene oxide and chloroprene. If enacted, the move would swiftly halt the Biden-era regulation without the Trump administration having to go through the laborious and time-consuming process of formally repealing it.
The chemicals facility rule was a major plank in the Biden administration’s effort to protect low-income communities and communities of color that have been disproportionately exposed to pollution. Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” and heavily industrialized regions of Texas are home to clusters of facilities covered by the regulation.
Although EPA had previously offered to exempt individual facilities, the industry groups asked for a blanket two-year compliance exemption for all facilities covered by the rule.
