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Brief thread about a story I've been covering since 2018: The Trump @EPA still hasn't told thousands of Americans they faced elevated cancer risks from breathing ethylene oxide, a highly toxic gas. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/environment/ct-met-ethylene-oxide-trump-epa-outreach-failure-20200403-545u3u4vbjdoxopox4npegpcje-story.html
The @EPA inspector general found the agency has been largely absent in poor, predominantly African American communities near ethylene oxide manufacturing plants in Louisiana and Texas. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6824308-2020-3-31-List-of-EtO-Emitters-Where-EPA-Has-Not.html
The lack of an @EPA outreach campaign runs counter to one of the priorities outlined by @EPAAWheeler when he became acting administrator in 2018.
Some communities at risk from breathing ethylene oxide have demanded aggressive action, most notably Willowbrook, a wealthy, predominantly white Chicago suburb where local officials hastily organized a community forum after learning about the EPA's latest pollution assessment.
"It is not a community’s responsibility to translate the EPA," Willowbrook Mayor Frank Trilla told me this week. "Communities aren’t qualified to do that.”
Yet @EPA has failed to draw attention to elevated cancer risks in other communities exposed to ethylene oxide.
Yet @EPA has failed to draw attention to elevated cancer risks in other communities exposed to ethylene oxide.
Also worth noting: I reported in December that the Trump @EPA agreed last year to reconsider the dangers of ethylene oxide, a key priority for the U.S. chemical industry and users of the toxic gas. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/environment/ct-ethylene-oxide-chemical-industry-epa-standardas-20191220-2gv6ryk5ejc5lddky46uggh3ia-story.html
An industry-friendly re-evaluation of ethylene oxide by the Trump @EPA would make elevated cancer risks abruptly disappear on paper. Makers and users would avoid mandates to spend millions of dollars on pollution-control equipment, or perhaps stop using the toxic gas.
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