A synthetic rubber manufacturer accused of increasing the cancer risk for the nearby majority-Black community in Louisiana told a federal appeals court it will have to shut down “likely permanently” if it’s forced to meet the Biden administration’s deadline to reduce emissions.
Denka Performance Elastomer on Tuesday blamed a new Environmental Protection Agency rule that targets emissions at more than 200 industrial plants, arguing that other, more dangerous facilities face a 2-year deadline to comply while it was singled out with an “illegal and politically motivated” 90-day deadline.
The Denka plant manufacturers neoprene, which is used to make wetsuits, automotive belts and other items, and employs roughly 250 people, the company said. It’s located roughly a half-mile (.8 kilometer) from an elementary school in Reserve, Louisiana, and is within an 85-mile (137-kilometer) stretch of the state known officially as the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. Colloquially it is called Cancer Alley.
Yup. Not only that, years earlier they were under investigation by the doj for their chloroprene emissions.
Denka’s arguments here are ridiculous. They are trying to play like chloroprene isn’t horribly toxic. It’s a human pesticide. No emissions are safe, and that means they can’t run their 60 year old cancer factory without rebuilding. Booo hooo.