Denka Performance Elastomer in Louisiana threatened to shut down if the Biden administration doesn't give it more time to reduce its emissions.

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.

  • athos77
    113•6 months ago

    When the agency originally proposed tougher emissions limits, Denka had a longer timeframe to comply. But the EPA sued the company last year, finding the facility posed an “imminent and substantial endangerment” to the nearby community. […] The company wants the EPA’s 90-day deadline put on hold and says the agency won’t consider lengthening that timeline until Denka sets out an emissions reduction plan, according to the filing.“ […] (Denka) will need at least two years to plan, develop, test and install the controls required by the rule,” the company said in a court filing.

    The EPA has been working on this rule since Biden took office. You knew it was coming, you just hoped there would be a change of administration before you had to comply with the ruling (so you wouldn’t have to comply at all, which is also what you’re hoping for with your current delay tactics). Sucks to be you - your lack of planning does not constitute my emergency, etc …

    • @cogman
      58•6 months ago

      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.

    • bluGill
      7•6 months ago

      They had all of Bidens presidency. They should have a plan in place already. If they can show the court the plan is reasonable and they have been working on it for a while and are making progress then fine I’ll wait. But they need to show they were seriously trying.