Category: Emissions

Chemical Factory Producing Ethylene Oxide
Emissions
Posted by:

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Revives Ethylene Oxide Medical Monitoring Suit

On August 18, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its long-awaited decision in Sommerville v. Union Carbide Corp., reversing the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the plant owner defendants. In the case, the lead plaintiff, on her own behalf, and others similarly situated, alleged exposure to ethylene oxide (“EtO”). It is claimed that EtO is a cancer-causing gas. The lawsuit involves manufacturing operations in South Charleston, …

Continue Reading
power station
Emissions / New York
Posted by:

New York Moves Forward With Ban on Fossil Fuels in New Constructions

On July 25, the District Court for the Northern District of New York in Mulhern Gas Co. v. Mosely ruled that New York has the power to enact the All-Electric Building Act (AEBA). The decision clears the way for the AEBA to take effect in 2026, making New York the first state to require (most) new buildings to be all electric.

The AEBA was passed by the New York Legislature and signed into law by Governor Hochul back in 2023. Under the AEBA, new single-family …

Continue Reading
Flag of California
California / Emissions
Posted by:

‘Berth Control’ – California’s War on Idle Emissions

California – as part of effort to reduce the environmental impact of maritime shipping, particularly within vulnerable port-side communities – has implemented one of the most ambitious port-emission control programs to date.

California’s At-Berth Regulation (ABR), implemented in 2007, is a key environmental policy created to reduce air pollution from nonvehicular sources. Since 2014, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has enforced the ABR for container ships, reefer ships, and passenger ships, requiring the use of shore power or CARB-approved emission control/capture systems while at …

Continue Reading
Emissions / Regulations
Posted by:

Does EtO’s Recent Regulatory Battle Victory Mean It Will Win the War?

Following years of heightened concern about the dangers of exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO), increased regulatory oversight, and a steady hum of litigation, in 2025 it seems like things might be changing for the beleaguered industry dependent upon this highly effective but potentially cancer-causing sterilizing gas. With a new administration in the White House, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency laser focused on deregulation, and with the first defense verdict issued in an EtO case out in Colorado this past spring (covered by …

Continue Reading
Smoke-stacks-view-from-above
Emissions / EPA
Posted by:

EPA Grants Coke Plants Breathing Room on Emissions Requirements

The EPA on July 2 issued a finalized interim rule, published six days later in the Federal Register, which delays implementation of certain National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) requirements for coke oven manufacturing facilities.

According to the EPA, hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emitted from these coke oven manufacturing facilities can include benzene, mercury, lead and arsenic. Coke at these facilities is produced using coal and coke-oven batteries (which is a group of connected coke ovens). From there, coke in blast furnaces then …

Continue Reading
sunrise over industrial park
Emissions / NEPA
Posted by:

NEPA’s Greenhouse Gas Guidance Blown Up In Smoke

At the beginning of this year, ELM forecasted that 2025 would be a big year for the National Environmental Policy Act (previously covered by ELM  here), and so far, our prediction continues to ring true. 

In the latest NEPA news, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the withdrawal of its interim guidance on “Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change” in NEPA reviews, effective May 28. The CEQ determined this interim guidance, which was previously …

Continue Reading
US state Illinois flag
Emissions / Illinois
Posted by:

Illinois Supreme Court to Decide Whether Ethylene Oxide Emissions Qualify as Traditional Environmental Pollution

The question of whether ethylene oxide emissions constitute traditional environmental pollution for the purpose of interpreting commercial general liability pollution exclusions remains unsettled in many jurisdictions across the United States. The issue may soon receive greater clarity in Illinois — and more broadly within the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals — in response to a recent direct request from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to the Illinois Supreme Court to provide specific direction concerning how Illinois law should address the question.

The Seventh Circuit’s …

Continue Reading
Large coal fired power plant with smoking chimneys
Emissions / EPA
Posted by:

Montana Power Plant Requests Clean Air Waiver: Is This the Future of America’s Coal Energy?

The Colstrip Power Plant in Montana is now one of the early applicants to the new EPA exemption application process which we have previously discussed here. Specifically, the Colstrip plant has requested a two-year exemption from EPA standards regarding air pollution.

Previously, in April 2024, this power plant was subject to stricter standards under updates to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for power plants which was targeted at reducing airborne emissions of heavy metals including lead, arsenic, and mercury and had a compliance …

Continue Reading
Industry chimney with white smoke stack against blue sky.
Emissions
Posted by:

Colorado Jury Issues First Defense Verdict after Years of EtO Exposure Lawsuits in US

A Colorado jury issued a defense verdict following a six-week trial during which four women alleged their respective cancers were caused by exposure to EtO emitted by the nearby Terumo Blood & Cell Technologies Lakewood plant over the course of several decades. They asked for a $444 million judgment.

Notably, during a years-long nationwide assessment of EtO facility emissions (covered by ELM here), the EPA previously concluded that the fence-line community living next to the Lakewood facility in Jefferson County had an elevated cancer …

Continue Reading
Computer Monitor screen, concept of email
Emissions / EPA
Posted by:

EPA Introduces New Email Account for Regulated Community to Request Presidential Exemption

The Environmental Protection Agency announced March 12 it set up an e-mail account allowing the regulated community to request a presidential exemption under Section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). 

The CAA permits the president to grant exemptions to stationary sources from compliance with any standard or limitation set forth under Section 112 for up to two years if the technology required to meet the standard is not available and if it’s in the United States’ national security interests.

In particular, the EPA requested …

Continue Reading