{"id":1279653,"date":"2023-10-19T15:02:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T15:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=619706"},"modified":"2023-10-19T15:02:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T15:02:02","slug":"proposed-regulations-offer-hope-for-communities-battling-petrochemical-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/10\/19\/proposed-regulations-offer-hope-for-communities-battling-petrochemical-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed regulations offer hope for communities battling petrochemical pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Port Arthur, a small city located east of Houston along the Gulf of Mexico, a majority of residents live in close proximity to one of the 13 petrochemical facilities<\/a>. For decades, residents have pushed back against blatant and unmitigated air and water pollution that has led<\/a> to a host of medical problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those residents is John Beard, the founder, president, and executive director of the Port Arthur Community Action Network, as well as a former refinery worker. Beard explains that the industry exploits this allowance to pollute, affecting communities like his without concern for their lives. \u201cWe can’t simply stop breathing when they do these things,\u201d Beard said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, has an opportunity to take action. Next spring, the federal agency will finalize its proposed regulations that may protect frontline communities like Port Arthur from petrochemical pollution. The proposed rules would strengthen monitoring standards and cut an estimated 6,000 tons of air pollution<\/a> a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petrochemical facilities are often clustered in low-income and communities of color along the Gulf Coast, which have long organized against the outsized impacts of pollution and exposure to carcinogenic chemicals. The industry is the largest commercial consumer of oil and gas<\/a>, processing extracted resources into products like fertilizers, pesticides, soaps, and plastic products. As demand for oil and gas as a fuel declines, many companies are increasingly pivoting to petrochemicals\u2014so advocates say strengthening and enforcing these rules is more important than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHistorically, the regulation hasn’t matched the risk nearby communities live with every day,\u201d said Dionne Delli-Gatti, the associate vice president of community engagement at the Environmental Defense Fund, a non-profit advocacy group. \u201cWe have seen under-regulation in the petrochemical industry for a very long time,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules, which EPA is expected to finalize in spring 2024, would help address the concerns of the communities who have borne the brunt of this pollution. It would mandate additional monitoring for six chemicals the agency has listed as a priority concern. The proposal would apply to 218 facilities nationwide, nearly 60 percent of which are located in Texas and Louisiana. The map below includes the facilities impacted by the EPA’s proposed rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n