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What happened

The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule Tuesday that will require 218 chemical plants to reduce toxic and carcinogenic airborne pollutants, aiming to reduce the number of people with elevated cancer risk by 96% nationwide. The rule targets ethylene oxide, used for sterilizing medical devices, and chloroprene, used to make rubber in footwear, plus four other chemicals. More than half the affected plants are in Texas and Louisiana, including a strip of factories and adjacent communities known as Cancer Alley.

Who said what

These “strong final standards” will “slash pollution, reduce cancer risk and ensure cleaner air for nearby communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. 

The new regulations, based on “deeply flawed” methodology, “threaten to affect the production of chemistries that are needed for countless everyday products” and “key industries,” said Tom Flanagin, spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council. For the families living near these plants, “in a very real sense this is about life and death,” said Earthjustice’s Patrice Simms.

What next?

The rule will take effect soon after it is published in the federal register.