May 5, 2025Sweeping exemption requests from polluters are an affront to fenceline communities
Press Release
Media Contact
Deidre Nelms; Communications Director; Coming Clean; dnelms@comingcleaninc.org, (802) 251-0203 ext. 711.
Today 34 individuals and organizations sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, opposing an unprecedented Presidential exemption that would allow hundreds of chemical plants to simply ignore stricter emissions standards that were finalized last year.
Among these was the “HON rule”, which requires over 200 chemical plants - shown to contribute to high cancer risk in fenceline communities - to conduct fenceline monitoring for six cancer-causing air pollutants and take action to prevent leaks if emissions exceed certain thresholds. A recent request from chemical industry lobbyists seeks to exempt all HON facilities from complying with the new standards.
There are over two dozen HON facilities in Harris County, TX alone (the greater Houston area). The facilities seeking exemption to this rule are a public danger. For example:
- The ExxonMobil olefins plant in Baytown, TX is legally required by July 15, 2026 to monitor and take corrective action to repair leaks of 1-3 butadiene, a carcinogen. The Baytown facility emitted 56,800 lbs of 1,3-butadiene in 2022, and has racked up over 25 federal air quality violations in just five years. 30 workers were injured in a 2019 explosion in the Baytown ExxonMobil complex.
- The Oxyvinyls vinyl chloride monomer plant in Deer Park, Texas released 11,000 pounds of vinyl chloride into the air in 2023. The HON rule would require it to monitor its vinyl chloride emissions at the fenceline and take action to reduce those cancer-causing emissions if they reached actionable levels.
- The Celanese Clear Lake plant released over 3,800 pounds of cancer-causing ethylene oxide into the air in 2023. The HON rule would require this and other facilities to significantly reduce ethylene oxide emissions.
“No community should ever have to sacrifice its health and safety while private and corporate interests reap the monetary benefits and experience none of the chronic health burdens –or the economic costs for treating these health burdens– that they externalize to our communities,” reads the letter. “Companies should not get to send an email to ask that toxic air pollution standards just stop applying to them – they should follow the law like everyone else.”
The EPA claims on its website that the President is allowed “to exempt stationary sources of air pollution from compliance with any standard or limitation under section 112 for up to two years if the technology to implement the standard is not available and it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so.” But industry trade groups seeking blanket exemption for facilities covered by the HON provide no compelling evidence that exemptions from pollution controls are critical to national security. No chemical facility has ever been granted such a Presidential exemption from the Clean Air Act, even in wartime.
"The chemicals emitted by these facilities can shorten lives. EPA must reject requests from chemical industry lobbyists to exempt some of the most harmful chemical plants from the law," said Judith Robinson, Executive Director of Coming Clean "Polluter profits should not be prioritized over community health. "
Coming Clean is a nonprofit environmental health collaborative working to transform the chemical industry so it is no longer a source of harm, and to secure systemic changes that allow a safe chemical and clean energy economy to flourish. Our members are organizations and technical experts — including grassroots activists, community leaders, scientists, health professionals, business leaders, lawyers, and farmworker advocates — committed to principled collaboration to advance a nontoxic, sustainable, and just world for all.