{"id":350654,"date":"2025-08-17T02:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T02:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/350654\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T02:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T02:57:12","slug":"trump-told-polluters-to-email-him-for-an-exemption-in-california-three-places-have-already-been-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/350654\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump told polluters to email him for an exemption. In California, three places have already been approved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Three industrial facilities in California have received exemptions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to emit a carcinogenic chemical after the Trump administration invited large emitters to bypass key provisions of the Clean Air Act by simply sending an email<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The EPA in March announced that it would allow large stationary sources of air pollution \u2014 that is, sources that aren\u2019t vehicles \u2014 to apply for an exemption that would enable them to avoid regulations that limit hazardous emissions. The provision in question<\/a> applies to the regulation of nearly 200 pollutants, including mercury, arsenic, benzene and formaldehyde. <\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s top environmental agency said the exemptions could be granted under the president\u2019s authority \u201cif the technology to implement the standard is not available and it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so.\u201d Environmental groups were outraged by the announcement \u2014 dubbing the email offer as an \u201cinbox from hell<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of publication, at least 340 facilities nationwide have received or applied for exemptions from the EPA, including 87 in Texas, 51 in Louisiana and 18 in Pennsylvania, according to a tracker<\/a> created by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. <\/p>\n

So far, three facilities in California have applied for and received approval. All three belong to Sterigenics, a company that provides industrial sterilization technology for medical devices and other commercial products at two locations in Los Angeles and one in San Bernardino County.<\/p>\n

The rule<\/a> from which they are seeking relief applies to a chemical known as ethylene oxide, or EtO, which is commonly used to sterilize medical devices that can\u2019t be cleaned using steam or radiation. An estimated 50% of sterile medical devices in the U.S. are treated with EtO. The colorless gas is also used to make chemicals found in products such as antifreeze, detergents, plastics and adhesives. <\/p>\n

Yet the EPA\u2019s own website notes<\/a> that short-term exposure to EtO by inhalation can cause adverse health effects including headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, respiratory irritation, gastrointestinal distress and vomiting.<\/p>\n

Long-term exposure is even worse, with the EPA website noting that \u201cEtO is a human carcinogen. It causes cancer in humans.\u201d <\/p>\n

Specifically, chronic exposure to ethylene oxide over many years increases the risk of cancers of the white blood cells, such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as breast cancer, according to the EPA. Children are particularly susceptible to its health risks.<\/p>\n

Granting exemptions for such emissions is \u201csomething we should all be concerned about,\u201d said Will Barrett, assistant vice president for nationwide clean air policy at the American Lung Assn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public counts on these types of protections to ensure that their families are limiting their exposures to cancer-causing and other health risk-inducing pollutants,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cAnd to the extent that these exemption requests are allowed to undermine that, or to delay and continue the pollution that people are being exposed to \u2014 that can have deadly consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Biden administration took steps to strengthen regulations for ethylene oxide under its amended air toxics standards in 2024<\/a>, designed to reduce the amount of EtO released from commercial sterilizers by 90% and lessen the hazards for nearby communities. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration instead argued those regulations place \u201csevere burdens on commercial sterilization facilities,\u201d and risk making sterile medical devices unavailable to patients who need them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe continued utilization of ethylene oxide by commercial sterilization facilities is essential to ensuring that our Nation provides its sick and injured with the best outcomes possible \u2014 an objective that is at the forefront of the Federal Government\u2019s responsibility to the American people,\u201d Trump wrote in a July executive order<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Trump in that same order listed nearly 40 facilities receiving exemptions from EtO compliance deadlines for two years, including the Southern California plants belonging to Sterigenics, one in Ontario, and two across the street from each other in Vernon. <\/p>\n

In a statement, a Sterigenics spokesperson said the company \u201cremains committed to operating safe facilities that protect patients, employees and communities.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe company has proactively implemented additional enhancements to further reduce already negligible levels of EtO emissions,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThis extension to the timeline will allow Sterigenics to continue to make thoughtful, proactive investments and focus resources on ensuring stable, reliable compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to public data, the two Sterigenics plants in Vernon released a combined 78 lbs of ethylene oxide<\/a> emissions in 2024, while the one in Ontario released 612 lbs<\/a>. By comparison, one of the largest ethylene oxide emitters in the country, the Union Carbide plant in Louisiana, emitted 6,894 lbs. in 2024. The federal government also granted that facility an exemption. <\/p>\n

This is not the first time Sterigenics has faced scrutiny. In 2022, the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued violation notices<\/a> for improperly handling ethylene oxide to Sterigenics and another company called Parter Medical Products in Carson for improper handling of ethylene oxide. <\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s standards are set to go into effect in mid-2026. The Trump administration has said one reason it is issuing these exemptions is that the technology to implement these stricter standards \u201cdoes not exist.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the Biden administration would not have finalized the rules if such technology were not available, according to Ellen Robo, senior manager of clean air policy and analytics at the Environmental Defense Fund, who helped create the tracker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe standards that are now being ignored by these exemptions were carefully considered,\u201d Robo said. \u201cAnd with this arbitrary designation, they are being allowed to pollute in these communities with very little notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robo said at least 10 more sterilization plants in California are governed by the ethylene oxide standards, and it\u2019s likely that they have also applied for an exemption. They are located in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, Sacramento and Marin counties. <\/p>\n

Thinking nationally, this is just one of eight rules<\/a> for which the EPA has recently offered exemptions via email. The others include rules governing mercury and air toxics; polymers and resins; rubber tires; copper smelting; and coal power, among others. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are things that cause cancer, cause developmental delays in children and babies,\u201d Robo said. \u201cThese are many of the most toxic pollutants.\u201d <\/p>\n

The EPA\u2019s exemption template asked applicants to explain why they can\u2019t currently meet the emissions reduction goals and why an extension is in the national security interests of the country. The EPA said an email alone doesn\u2019t guarantee an exemption but that the president \u201cwill make a decision on the merits.\u201d The two-year exemptions can potentially be renewed, the agency said.<\/p>\n

While California so far has been granted fewer exemptions than some other states, it also has consistently ranked as one of the worst states for air quality in the nation, said Barrett of the American Lung Assn.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s most recent annual \u201cState of the Air\u201d report<\/a> ranked San Bernardino as the nation\u2019s most polluted county for ozone and particle pollution, while Los Angeles has been ranked the nation\u2019s smoggiest city 25 of the last 26 years. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the millions and millions of people \u2014 and hundreds of thousands of children \u2014 living with asthma and other respiratory illnesses that people are dealing with on a daily basis, any erosion of the clean air protections under the Clean Air Act is a real step backward and a rejection of decades of peer-reviewed scientific literature about the harms of air pollution,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three industrial facilities in California have received exemptions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to emit a carcinogenic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[557,1204,1322,123976,728,30555,123971,123972,123970,123974,123975,59016,457,47195,70,123973,1757,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-350654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-cancer","10":"tag-company","11":"tag-ellen-robo","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-epa","14":"tag-ethylene-oxide","15":"tag-eto","16":"tag-exemption","17":"tag-industrial-facility","18":"tag-medical-device","19":"tag-nation","20":"tag-people","21":"tag-rule","22":"tag-science","23":"tag-sterigenics","24":"tag-trump","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115041864676075569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}