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The Biden administration is already facing a potential legal roadblock to newly finalized regulations cracking down on the chemical industry, which critics say will have a devastating impact on the economy.
Synthetics manufacturer Denka Performance Elastomer (DPE) warned Tuesday that it is planning to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over the rules targeting hundreds of chemical plants over their emissions. DPE argued the regulations are politically motivated and seek to unfairly punish the company, which operates the nation’s sole neoprene facility. Neoprene is a synthetic rubber common in military equipment, wetsuits and medical technology.
“EPA’s rulemaking is yet another attempt to drive a policy agenda that is unsupported by the law or the science,” DPE said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “EPA has alleged that DPE’s facility represents a danger to its community, despite the facility’s compliance with its federal and state air permitting requirements.”
In particular, DPE blasted EPA’s requirement that its Louisiana neoprene facility – which produces chloroprene emissions – comply with the restrictions and fenceline monitoring requirements within 90 days, a reduction from the two-year compliance period initially proposed. EPA’s regulations also strip states’ authority to grant an extension of the 90-day compliance period.
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The Denka facility in LaPlace, Louisiana, on Aug. 12, 2021. It’s the only U.S. plant to produce neoprene, a synthetic rubber common in military equipment, wetsuits and medical technology. (Emiily Kask/AFP via Getty Images)
The company stated that EPA’s “draconian” compliance deadline would force the company to idle its operations at “tremendous expense and risk to its hundreds of dedicated employees.”
“We will therefore be pursuing legal challenges to extend the compliance period, to return the state’s authority to grant extensions, and to challenge the rule,” DPE said. “After addressing EPA’s unrealistic compliance deadline, DPE expects to join the ethylene oxide manufacturers across the U.S. in opposing the substantive requirements of this rule.”
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Overall, EPA’s regulations unveiled Tuesday impact 218 chemical manufacturing facilities nationwide, a large share of which are located in Louisiana. Activists have dubbed the region in southeastern Louisiana as “Cancer Alley” due to the presence of several chemical plants, which they argue produce emissions linked to cancer.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan speaks as President Biden listens during an event on Feb. 16, in East Palestine, Ohio. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
EPA said its rules will reduce emissions of ethylene oxide and chloroprene by 80%, in addition to benzene, 1,3-butadiene, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride. According to the agency, the number of people with elevated cancer risk will be reduced by 96% in communities near plants as a result.
“By issuing strong clean air standards and requiring companies to monitor pollution at the fenceline, the Biden-Harris administration is protecting communities from toxic chemicals that can cause cancer and ensuring people know what is in their air,” said White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory.
Earthjustice, a leading environmental activist group, said EPA’s announcement is a victory in the “pursuit for environmental justice” and called for rigorous enforcement of the rules.
The EPA has targeted the billion-dollar chemical industry as part of its sweeping environmental justice efforts. (Getty Images)
In response to the regulations, though, the American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers, said the regulations would have significant implications for vital industries such as electric vehicle battery development, agricultural products, domestic semiconductor manufacturing and health care access, which rely on ethylene oxide.
And neoprene, which DPE produces at a facility in LaPlace, Louisiana, is used in the production of everything from scuba gear to car gaskets. If the facility were to close as a result of the EPA’s regulations, industries reliant on neoprene may be forced to look to foreign producers for the material.
“Unless the Biden administration takes a different approach to how it creates and implements regulations, the availability of critical chemistries will dwindle – and the country’s climate, infrastructure, and supply chain priorities will suffer as well,” the American Chemistry Council said.
The EPA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
