GEISMAR - A recent proclamation from President Donald Trump will allow 25 chemical manufacturers, including 12 with sites in Louisiana, to ignore new federal rules meant to contain harmful emissions.

A week ago, Trump issued what the White House labeled “regulatory relief for certain stationary sources to promote American chemical manufacturing security.” His action creates a two-year exemption to regulations the Environmental Protection Agency published in May, called the Hazardous Organic National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants – or the HON rule for short.   

“The HON Rule imposes substantial burdens on chemical manufacturers already operating under stringent regulations,” Trump said in his proclamation. “Many of the testing and monitoring requirements outlined in the HON Rule rely on technologies that are not practically available, not demonstrated at the necessary scale, or cannot be implemented safely or consistently under real-world conditions.”

The Louisiana facilities now exempt from the HON Rule include:

Shell Chemical, Geismar plant
Dow Chemical Co. Glycol II plant, Plaquemine 
Formosa Plastics, Baton Rouge
Union Carbide/Dow Chemical, Hahnville
Westlake Vinyl, Westlake
BASF Corp., Geismar
Rubicon, Geismar
Citgo Petroleum, Lake Charles
TotalEnergies Polystyrene, Carville
Denka Performance Elastomers, LaPlace
Sasol Chemicals, Lake Charles
DuPont Specialty Products, LaPlace

Anne Rolfes, director of the environmental group Louisiana Bucket Brigade, said Trump’s proclamation is based on the false claim that there is already strict government oversight of chemical facilities.

“The HON rule was a reasonable step toward controlling the pollution that is making us all sick. If anything, it didn’t go far enough,” Rolfes said. “Our congressional delegation should be up in arms about the White House rollback, but instead they are doing as they have always done: serving the needs of the chemical industry instead of the health and safety of the people. It continues to be up to us – to ordinary people in Louisiana – to protect ourselves from this industry.” 

David Cresson, president and CEO of the Louisiana Chemical Association, said the organization’s members strive for regulations that provide environmental protection and regulatory certainty for industry. He sees president’s proclamation as a step toward that objective.

“The current regulations do not provide for a realistic timeline to make the changes needed to meet the standards set by the HON Rule,” Cresson said. “There are simply not enough contractors or equipment currently available to facilitate this nationwide manufacturing effort, and while our members are making strides to meet these requirements, time is needed for facilities to implement solutions safely and effectively without jeopardizing public safety.”

Many of the facilities on Trump’s HON rule exclusion list have a history of environmental concerns, with Denka Performance Elastomers arguably having the highest profile.

In February 2023, the EPA and U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging its neoprene operations “present an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and welfare” for the cancer risks its chloroprene emissions pose.

The Biden administration demanded Denka reduce emissions of chloroprene and ethylene oxide, another carcinogen, at its LaPlace plant. The EPA gave Denka 90 days to bring down its toxic emission levels, compared with two years for facilities in other parts of the country.

Gov. Jeff Landry accused the federal agency of trying to shut down the Denka site.

Within weeks of Trump returning to the White House, the Justice Department had the EPA lawsuit dismissed. 

In September, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality reported a chloroprene leak at the Denka plant that forced it to halt operations. The EPA has identified five census tracts in the LaPlace area as having the highest exposure to chloroprene in the nation — all attributed to the Denka plant.

Other incidents at the exempted chemical plants have also made the news.

A  July 2023 explosion at Dow Chemical’s glycol plant in Plaquemine produced a fire that burned for nearly two days before being brought under control. The same facility saw a string of emergencies dating back to 2019. The unit involved in the explosion two years ago was involved in four previous unauthorized releases of ethylene glycol, according to state records. The toxic compound is highly flammable and can cause kidney damage from prolonged exposure.

In January 2022, an explosion at the Westlake Chemical complex in Calcasieu Parish injured six people and forced nearby schools to place students under lockdown until a dark cloud of smoke over the Lake Charles area cleared. Federal records show the plant has an extensive history of spills, accidents and injured workers. 

Before Trump returned to office, the EPA pursued financial sanctions against facilities that violated its safety and environmental regulations. The agency reached a $1.4 million settlement early last year with Sasol Chemicals for an “alleged accident” in October 2022 that resulted in a fire that burned 8 tons of triethyl aluminum, a catalyst used to make synthetic materials and jet fuel. 

Trump’s EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, has argued the agency is authorized – but not mandated – to enforce the Clean Air Act, based on a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. 

Zeldin also wants to walk back the Endangerment Finding, a 2009 EPA declaration that  greenhouse gases and certain pollutants pose a public health risk. The finding gave the agency more power to enforce environmental regulations.

This report was updated to include comments from David Cresson with the Louisiana Chemical Association.