EPA Calls Out Environmental Racism in Louisiana s ' Cancer Alley' HEAD TOPICS

EPA Calls Out Environmental Racism in Louisiana s ' Cancer Alley'

10/21/2022 10:30:00 PM

For the first time in a long time the EPA is putting civil rights enforcement tools to work

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Truthout

The Environmental Protection Agency has said that Louisiana must examine how polluters imperil the health of Black residents in response to civil rights complaints about the region known as Cancer Alley. For the first time in a long time the EPA is putting civil rights enforcement tools to work In an email, an LDEQ spokesperson said the agency is “committed to working with EPA” and remains “confident that we are implementing our air permitting program in a manner that is fully consistent with” federal and state laws.to Denka in 2015. It is the nation’s only industrial site that emits chloroprene. ProPublicaA DuPont spokesperson declined to comment on EPA’s letter to Louisiana regulators but shared a response it sent to Regan in March in response to his letter about the school. In its response, DuPont said that Denka, not DuPont, operates the neoprene facility, and that tens of thousands of residents have worked at DuPont’s adjoining facility. The workers’ children have attended Fifth Ward Elementary, the company said, and “we care deeply about its success.” Read more:
Truthout » EPA eyes Sandy medical device maker’s use of carcinogenic gas EPA: UPS to pay fine, correct hazardous waste violations Town expecting state EPA guidance on toxic chemicals found by mom at Colonia H.S. EPA: UPS to pay fine, correct hazardous waste violations

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The pop star revisits her best—and boldest—outfits over her career. Read more >> EPA eyes Sandy medical device maker’s use of carcinogenic gasBD Medical Systems, which operates a plant in Sandy, uses a carcinogenic gas called ethylene oxide, to sterilize the medical devices it manufacturers. The company is now working with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to reduce emissions of the gas. EPA: UPS to pay fine, correct hazardous waste violationsThe Environmental Protection Agency says it has reached a settlement with United Parcel Service to resolve violations of hazardous waste regulations at more than 1,100 facilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico. Town expecting state EPA guidance on toxic chemicals found by mom at Colonia H.S.The 4 carcinogenic chemicals found on school grounds can cause cancer and other diseases So that means the Mayor and council really didnt test much before like they claimed? EPA: UPS to pay fine, correct hazardous waste violationsThe violations include failure to make land disposal determinations and to conduct proper on-site management of hazardous waste. EPA: UPS to pay fine, correct hazardous waste violationsThe consent agreement with Atlanta-based UPS resolves a range of alleged violations, including failure to make land disposal determinations and to conduct proper on-site management of hazardous waste. The company has three years to reach compliance across 1,160 locations and will pay a civil penalty of $5.3 million. New head of EPA office of environmental justice says they're putting civil rights into agency's DNAThe EPA has long been complicit in environmental racism. But now, a new office has been implemented to oversee environmental justice and civil rights and has been granted $3 billion to put toward remedying injustices. mischaracterized air monitoring data .online meeting Thursday evening to share the findings of a risk analysis it has completed on the plant, located at 9450 S.Climate FILE - The UPS logo is displayed on the side of a delivery truck in Mount Lebanon, Pa.toxic chemicals found at the school through independent testing, NJ Advance Media has learned. “We take these concerns very seriously and are committed to health equity — which is why we are fully cooperating with the EPA’s investigation into Denka,” the state health department said in a statement. In an email, an LDEQ spokesperson said the agency is “committed to working with EPA” and remains “confident that we are implementing our air permitting program in a manner that is fully consistent with” federal and state laws. Officials are quick to assure residents that the plant is operating within current federal regulations and its state permits, and its emissions remain too low to result in short-term health effects associated with EtO, such as nausea, dizziness and breathing problems. Local activists have fought for environmental protections for decades. The Environmental Protection Agency has reached a settlement with the private United Parcel Service to resolve violations of hazardous waste regulations at more than 1,100 facilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico, the agency said Wednesday, Oct. Robert Taylor, executive director of Concerned Citizens of St. which is linked to cancers of the blood, lymphatic system and breast, according to Madeline Beal, senior risk communication adviser with EPA. John, said he founded his organization after attending a 2016 EPA meeting that revealed chloroprene concentrations at the school.” Massimino did not provide a timeline in the memo, but said he expected the state to provide recommendations and guidance “in the upcoming days. “I went from fear to anger to shock,” he said, that “the government was allowing people to do this. 17 virtual public meeting with Mayor Monica Zoltanski and officials with the Utah . Puskar, File) (Gene J.” The public school is about 1,500 feet from the Denka facility, which produces neoprene, a form of synthetic rubber used to manufacture wetsuits. DuPont began making neoprene at the site in 1969 and to Denka in 2015. A global medical technology company headquartered in New Jersey, BD Medical Systems, or Becton, Dickinson and Co. It is the nation’s only industrial site that emits chloroprene. The consent agreement with Atlanta-based UPS resolves a range of alleged violations, including failure to make land disposal determinations and to conduct proper on-site management of hazardous waste. EPA Administrator Michael S. The plant has since been expanded to a sprawling 650,000-square-foot complex and now employs 1,260, following $276 million in investments over the past decade, according to company spokesman Troy Fitzpatrick. Regan last fall as part of his “Journey to Justice” trip that was announced two days after ProPublica He later sent a letter to Denka and DuPont that stated, “As a parent, I remain extremely concerned” about the “health and well-being of the students.” Three-quarters of Fifth Ward Elementary’s students are Black. Before they are shipped, these products must be sterilized so they don’t introduce bacteria into patients’ veins, which is why EtO is used at the plant. UPS, whose familiar brown trucks are known worldwide, generates hazardous waste regulated under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act when a package containing certain hazardous materials is damaged, as well as during day-to-day operations such as maintenance, EPA said. A DuPont spokesperson declined to comment on EPA’s letter to Louisiana regulators but shared a response it sent to Regan in March in response to his letter about the school. In its response, DuPont said that Denka, not DuPont, operates the neoprene facility, and that tens of thousands of residents have worked at DuPont’s adjoining facility. According to a recent stack test, Fitzpatrick said, the plant’s EtO emissions were so low they could not be detected. The workers’ children have attended Fifth Ward Elementary, the company said, and “we care deeply about its success. UPS spokesperson Lauren Spangler said the parcel-delivery service has long-standing procedures in place to handle hazardous waste and is taking additional steps to improve its practices. ” DuPont is “committed to continue to work with Denka,” regulators and the community “to maintain the strong ties and supporting efforts needed to keep St. “We emit about two grams,” Fitzpatrick said. John Parish a safe and great place to work and live,” the company added. In 2010, the EPA released a report classifying chloroprene as a “likely human carcinogen.” Still, the company is in the midst of a $15 million upgrade to reduce stack emissions by 95%.'' EPA officials in Texas-based Region 6 entered into a settlement agreement with UPS last year for facilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.” Chloroprene is a mutagen, meaning it causes cancer by attacking and mutating DNA. Mutagens are particularly dangerous for children and infants, whose cells divide much more rapidly than those of adults. Fitzpatrick said BD Medical Systems has asked to participate in both the Aug. Recent air monitoring data from Denka, collected about 1,000 feet from the school, showed average concentrations 11 times what EPA considers acceptable, according to the agency’s letter. UPS has developed compliance strategies at its Region 6 facilities and has begun similar steps nationwide, EPA said. At times over the past few years, air samples collected by the EPA on school grounds showed concentrations as high as 83 times the acceptable guideline. Each year, EtO is applied to 20 billion medical and dental devices, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Jim Harris, a spokesperson for Denka, said in a written statement that the EPA’s chloroprene limit is “based on a faulty and outdated exposure model.” The company asked the EPA to revise its chloroprene guidelines last year, arguing that the model used was not “sufficiently rigorous. “Medical sterilization conducted at facilities like BD Medical is a critical service that protects public health,” DEQ director Kim Shelley said. All rights reserved.” The EPA refuted Denka’s conclusions this spring, stating that the company did not identify any errors with the agency’s analysis. “There is simply no evidence of increased levels of health impacts near” the plant, Harris wrote.” The EPA’s risk threshold calculates the number of cancers that would result among people who are exposed every day, all day from birth to age 70. “Data compiled by the Louisiana Tumor registry (LTR) have repeatedly shown for decades there are no widespread elevated rates of cancer in the parish or in the census tracts neighboring the facility compared with state averages.” Kim Terrell, a research scientist at the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, argued that the registry’s census-tract-level data obscures health effects in the communities closest to industrial facilities. For the August presentation, the DEQ released a map showing an oval extending a few blocks around the plant. The tumor registry, too, has said that its data should not be used to represent cancer rates in smaller populations, such as neighborhoods near industrial fence lines. “The cancer rates Denka cited are not specific to the people who have been most exposed to chloroprene,” Terrell said. About 700 people live within that zone. Harris, the Denka spokesperson, said the company has “invested over $35 million to reduce its emissions by over 85 percent” since purchasing the facility in 2015 and conducted community air monitoring that showed similar reductions. The EPA’s letter acknowledged the reduced concentrations, which resulted from an enforcement order from LDEQ. “This means that if we can reduce the amount of EPO that is coming out of the facility, it will reduce risk almost right away. “There is no question, however,” the EPA wrote, “that elevated cancer risk for residents of all ages and school children still exists and has existed as a result of breathing air polluted with chloroprene and that this risk has impacted and currently impacts Black residents disproportionately.” Taylor, the community advocate, said the letter indicates the agency is “considering our humanity” and “doing what we consider is the right thing. It uses a three-step process to sterilize most of the products from the Sandy plant and some from a BD Medical Systems plant in Nogales, Mexico.” For too long, he said, residents have operated under the assumption that “our government has abandoned us — we are just sacrifice zones. ” A lifelong resident of St. In the first step they are subject to steam. John the Baptist Parish, Taylor recalled how his children used to run into the house to escape fumes that made their chests hurt. He lives five blocks from the Denka plant, close enough to hear announcements from the company’s loudspeakers. The gas is put through a catalytic process to break it down into carbon dioxide and water. He has grandkids and great-grandkids who attended local schools, including a Catholic school next door to Fifth Ward Elementary. The EPA letter is a response to . BD Medical Systems’ goal is to proactively get in front of EPA’s new emission standards before they are finalized, he said.