The Trump Administration has issued a pass to some of the worst petrochemical polluters in the United States, allowing them to continue pumping dangerous amounts of toxic pollution and putting millions in harm’s way.

The following is a statement from Heather McTeer Toney, executive director, Beyond Petrochemicals:

“Death and disease are the only certain outcomes from these pollution passes. This is akin to pardoning an arsonist and handing him matches. This administration has decided to offer ‘relief’, not to the millions of people blanketed in industrial pollution day after day, but to the multi-billion dollar corporations responsible for that pollution. The petrochemical industry has spent decades dumping dangerous chemicals into communities, with hundreds of new facilities planned.

“Communities deserve better and they’re demanding better. Today is no different. Communities have spent decades fighting to protect their homes and families and will continue to do so. The cause remains urgent, and the resolve of these communities and our campaign is unchanged.”

More on the impact of the pollution passes:

• Of the 52 facilities granted exemptions from the HON rule, 34 are located in Texas and Louisiana, and many of these have plans to expand.
• The original rule, from which the Trump administration is now offering exemptions, was expected to reduce cancer risk by 96 percent in communities living within six miles of the polluting facilities and by 60 percent for those living within 31 miles.  
• These facilities emit ethylene oxide, benzene, chloroprene, and other extremely hazardous, cancer-causing air pollutants. Just last year, new state-of-the-art air monitoring found levels of ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical, at concentrations thousands of times higher than what is considered safe in Louisiana.