Duckworth, Durbin call out EPA on EtO
Senators say proposed new rule on hazardous air pollutants ‘would allow highly elevated risks of cancer to persist’
Sen. Tammy Duckworth charges that proposed new EPA rules are too lax in allowing emissions of ethylene oxide. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
The state’s two U.S. senators sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday rejecting a proposed new rule that uses obsolete data to set limits on ethylene-oxide emissions and ultimately “would allow highly elevated risks of cancer to persist.”
Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin joined 18 other U.S. senators in sending the letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. It charges that the environmental watchdog is long overdue in setting new rules on hazardous air pollutants, and that its proposed solution uses old EtO standards to set limits that are too high and also allows too much leeway for businesses to emit the carcinogen in malfunctions.
The letter addresses the EPA’s Notice of Proposed Rule Making on Miscellaneous Organic Chemical Manufacturing: National Emission Standards, which is open to a public-comment period until March 19. The senators charge that the EPA’s proposed rule is too permissive in allowing EtO emissions during “exemptions that allow industry to make uncontrolled releases of ethylene oxide and other toxic air pollutants through pressure-release devices and flares during malfunctions.” It calls on the EPA to enforce Clean Air Act standards “even during periods of malfunction,” in keeping with established legal precedent.
It also charges that the EPA is using old data on the dangers of EtO and ignoring a 2016 Risk Information System study that upgraded standards and formally ruled the substance a carcinogen. According to the letter, using the obsolete data would subject some areas to a cancer risk of 200- to 300-in-a-million, which might sound low, but is actually “two to three times EPA’s presumptive benchmark for ‘acceptable’ risk.” The risk from short-term exposure, meanwhile, due to the allowances made for “malfunctions,” would create a hazard quotient that is “seven times (higher than) EPA’s acceptable-harm threshold.”
The letter charges: “The proposed rule would allow highly elevated risks of cancer to persist.”
“EPA last issued standards for the MON NESHAP nearly 17 years ago,” the letter states. “Since then, the available science on the public-health risk posed by these pollutants has matured, especially for children’s health, as has technology’s ability to mitigate emissions and monitor for pollution. It has also become clear how important it is for EPA to finally recognize and reduce the injustice of disproportionate toxic exposure based on race and income. That is why we believe that best available science and technology should be the foundation of this rule and why we are concerned this proposed rule fails to do enough to protect public health.
“If finalized as written, this proposed rule will leave some communities at cancer risk levels as high as 200- to 300-in-1 million, which is two to three times EPA’s presumptive benchmark for ‘acceptable’ risk,” the letter adds. “In our view, more must be done to protect public health because this approach will still leave some communities exposed to an intolerably high cancer risk. Failing to address this risk is inconsistent with the requirements of the Clean Air Act, which requires EPA to set limits to control all emitted hazardous air pollutants.”
It’s a hot-button issue in Illinois because a federal report detected an elevated cancer risk in the southwest Chicago suburbs surrounding the Sterigenics firm in Willowbrook in August 2018 and blamed EtO emissions. That ultimately led to Sterigenics being shut down and deciding to leave the state. Two other firms in Lake County, Medline Industries and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, also use and emit EtO, but the surrounding communities say they haven’t benefited from the same sort of testing to determine the risk.
Duckworth has been a leader on the issue since co-founding the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus last April. Democratic Sens. Tom Carper of Delaware, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Dianne Feinstein of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Chuck Schumer of New York, and Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont also joined Duckworth and Durbin in signing the letter.