Louisiana chemical plant threatens to shut down if EPA emissions deadline isn’t relaxed

A synthetic rubber manufacturer accused of increasing the cancer risk for the nearby majority-Black community in Louisiana told a federal appeals court it will have to shut down “likely permanently” if it’s forced to meet the Biden administration’s deadline to reduce emissions.

Denka Performance Elastomer on Tuesday blamed a new Environmental Protection Agency rule that targets emissions at more than 200 industrial plants, arguing that other, more dangerous facilities face a 2-year deadline to comply while it was singled out with an “illegal and politically motivated” 90-day deadline.

The Denka plant manufacturers neoprene, which is used to make wetsuits, automotive belts and other items, and employs roughly 250 people, the company said. It’s located roughly a half-mile (.8 kilometer) from an elementary school in Reserve, Louisiana, and is within an 85-mile (137-kilometer) stretch of the state known officially as the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. Colloquially it is called Cancer Alley.

The company has been at the center of a broader fight over environmental rules and racism — and of the Biden administration’s promise to use its enforcement and regulatory power to make life better for residents who live in communities, often poor and majority-minority, that disproportionately bear the brunt of pollution impacts.

“Absent relief from the 90-day implementation period, (Denka) will have no ability to comply with the rule and will be forced to shut the facility, likely permanently,” the company told a Washington, D.C. federal appeals court.

When the agency originally proposed tougher emissions limits, Denka had a longer timeframe to comply. But the EPA sued the company last year, finding the facility posed an “imminent