WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a synthetic rubber manufacturer accused of worsening cancer risks for residents in a majority-Black community near its Louisiana plant, two sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The move would undo one of former President Joe Biden's highest-profile targets for an environmental justice effort aimed at improving conditions in places disproportionately harmed by decades of industrial pollution. Biden's Environmental Protection Agency sued the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in early 2023, alleging it posed an unacceptable cancer risk and demanding cuts in toxic emissions of cancer-causing chloroprene.
The AP sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the action has not yet been made public, said court action is expected in coming days. The plan to drop the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana, was first reported by the New York Times.
The Trump administration has moved quickly to reverse the environmental justice focus of Biden's administration, placing roughly 170 environmental justice-focused staffers on administrative leave. Dropping the Denka case relieves pressure on a company that has spent years fighting federal lawsuits and investigations over its impact on public health.
Denka, based in Japan, bought the former DuPont plant in LaPlace, Louisiana a decade ago. It's located near an elementary school in a community about 30 miles outside New Orleans.
The site produces neoprene, a synthetic rubber that is found in products such as wetsuits and laptop sleeves. The Department of Justice sued the company in early 2023, accusing it of emitting unacceptable levels of chloroprene, a chemical that may be especially harmful to children. A judge had scheduled a bench trial for April.
David Uhlmann, who oversaw enforcement and compliance assurance for the EPA in the Biden administration, said Justice officials under Biden pursued the case and stood up for community members who are exposed to cancer-causing pollution.
“The Trump administration chose to protect a well-heeled and well-connected, multinational corporation over protecting American children and their families, ignoring the clear requirements of the Clean Air Act,” Uhlmann told the AP.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to an email sent Tuesday seeking comment. An attorney for Denka did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the company did not immediately respond to a message.
The EPA under Biden issued a related rule aimed at reducing industrial pollution that gave Denka a fast deadline to lower its emissions. The company said it was being singled out — and that other manufacturers were given far more time to comply. The company also said the plant has significantly reduced its emissions in recent years, since the sale was completed in 2015. The company won an extension of its deadline.
The EPA also investigated Louisiana air regulators, making an initial finding that state health officials didn’t do enough to inform the public about the plant’s cancer risk. But the EPA dropped that investigation in late 2023 after the Republican-led state sued, arguing that the federal agency had overstepped its authority under a decades-old Civil Rights statute. A federal judge last year agreed and reduced the EPA’s authority to pursue environmental discrimination in Louisiana.
The Denka plant is located in an industrial stretch of Louisiana from New Orleans to Baton Rouge that is officially called the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. It's known informally as Cancer Alley for the high incidence of cancer among residents who live near the industrial corridor, which has about 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical operations. The area accounts for about 25% of the petrochemical production in the United States.
Michael Regan, the EPA administrator under Biden, traveled to the area as part of a “Journey to Justice” in 2021. He told residents that if federal and state officials had been upholding environmental protections, conditions wouldn't be so bad in the industrial corridor.
Robert Taylor, a longtime local resident and a co-founder of the advocacy group Concerned Citizens of St. John the Baptist Parish, called the plan to drop the lawsuit terrible and a reversal from the Biden administration, which he said had done great things to help fight harmful emissions.
“This only adds to the darkening of our hopes," Taylor said Tuesday.
The federal government's lawsuit said air monitoring shows that long-term concentrations near the Denka plant are as high as 15 times the amount recommended for long-term exposure to chloroprene.
Moving to dismiss the case is part of the Trump administration’s broader moves to abandon communities hit hardest by air pollution and promote unbridled industrial expansion, said Deena Tumeh, an Earthjustice attorney who worked on complaints alleging Louisiana’s environmental protections were discriminatory.
___
Phillis reported from St. Louis.
___
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Matthew Daly And Michael Phillis, The Associated Press
