Trump administration guts protections for communities against cancer-causing pollution

WASHINGTON — Today the Trump administration announced plans to roll back federal standards that cut cancer risks of hazardous ethylene oxide pollution by over 90 percent, another reckless federal action that caters to industry at the expense of local communities’ health and safety.

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is an extremely toxic chemical primarily used to sterilize medical equipment. In 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration substantially strengthened the federal standards for EtO pollution from commercial sterilizer facilities based on the agency’s own scientific studies that it is 60 times more carcinogenic than previously thought.

The 2024 rule has been shown to reduce EtO emissions by more than 90% and reduce cancer risk by 92%. EPA found that the 2024 standards would reduce the number of children facing lifetime cancer risks from sterilization facilities of more than 1-in-1 million from 1.25 million to 162,300. The number of children facing risks of greater than 100-in-1 million would drop from 4,300 to zero.

The proposed rule comes just ahead of the April 5 deadline for commercial sterilizer facilities to comply with part of the 2024 standards.

The Trump administration has already taken steps for facilities to avoid complying with the 2024 standards by granting presidential exemptions to 40 commercial sterilizers nationwide. The Southern Environmental Law Center and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) on behalf of CleanAIRE NC, Sustainable Newton, Savannah Riverkeeper, and Virginia Interfaith Power & Light have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s illegal use of presidential exemptions.

“EPA’s 2024 rule was an important and overdue step to reduce toxic ethylene oxide pollution and protect communities,” said Irena Como, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Repealing this rule that is proven to significantly lower pollution exposure and cancer risks will subject even more people who work, live, and send their children to schools located near these facilities to harm that is entirely preventable.”

“The 2024 standards were a life-saving breakthrough that promised to cut cancer risks by over 90 percent,” said Jeffrey Robbins, Executive Director at CleanAIRE NC. “We know this gas is 60 times more toxic than previously thought, and we know the technology to stop it is available right now. To roll back these protections now is an abdication of the EPA’s duty to protect American families and communities.”

“Many Black, Brown, Indigenous, and rural low-wealth communities are already overburdened by toxic polluting industries,” said Dr. Faith Harris, Executive Director of Virginia Interfaith Power & Light. “By repealing this rule, the EPA is consigning our neighbors to increased healthcare burdens and costs, exposing them to higher cancer-causing emissions, and stymying their ability to build wealth. Rolling back this rule will result in real, unjustifiable harm as there are viable solutions to lower emissions.”

“We always knew the presidential exemptions issued last year were part a broader plan to put the interests of corporate polluters above the health and wellbeing of American families,” said Maurice Carter, President of Sustainable Newton. “But we won’t stop fighting to protect our community by demanding common sense, reasonable measures that even the EPA has said would reduce harmful emissions by 90 percent and lower cancer risks by 92 percent.”

“The continued release of ethylene oxide represents a very real threat to public health–there is nothing theoretical about it,” said Tonya Bonitatibus, Savannah Riverkeeper. “What we are asking for is recognition and appropriate action build on a foundation of real science. To do otherwise is to minimize the welfare and inalienable rights of the communities affected.”

Background:

In March, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a process inviting regulated facilities to seek Clean Air Act “presidential exemptions.” The EPA subsequently posted instructions for submitting exemption requests, including a dedicated email address. Hundreds of the nation’s worst polluters emailed to ask for exemptions from major air toxics standards, including petrochemical plants, coal-fired power plants, coke ovens and commercial sterilizers.

The Trump administration granted two-year renewable exemptions from these regulations for 40 sterilizer facilities nationwide, nine of which are located in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. All of these facilities are located near residential areas and primarily impact overburdened communities of color or people living in low-wealth areas.

The technology to control this pollution exists andis widely used, and many of the facilities that received exemptions were already in compliance with the 2024 rule that the administration is now working to repeal.

The Southern Environmental Law Center and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) on behalf of CleanAIRE NC, Sustainable Newton, Savannah Riverkeeper, and Virginia Interfaith Power & Light have filed a federal lawsuit in the District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the Trump administration’s illegal use of presidential exemptions for commercial sterilizer facilities.