EPA Moves to Potentially Ban Vinyl Chloride Amid East Palestine Spill Fallout

The EPA has taken the next step to potentially ban vinyl chloride, a chemical that spilled in East Palestine, OH, in 2023. The process started in December when the agency moved to begin risk evaluations for five chemicals, including the controversial chemical that has caused significant health effects to the residents of East Palestine. The whole process can take another six years to complete.

At the end of July, the EPA classified these chemicals as high-priority substances: Vinyl Chloride (CASRN 75-01-4), Acetaldehyde (CASRN 75-07-0), Acrylonitrile (CASRN 107-13-1), Benzenamine (CASRN 62-53-3), and 4,4’-methylene bis(2-chloroaniline) (MBOCA) (CASRN 101-14-4).

The town’s residents are still experiencing the devastating impacts of the Norfolk Southern train derailment. In June, The HighWire spoke with Independent Evaluator Scott Smith regarding the EPA’s alleged cover-up on behalf of the multi-billion-dollar corporation.

The EPA, in its latest press release, states, “Vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen and can cause liver, brain, and lung cancer in exposed workers. Short-term exposure to vinyl chloride can also result in other health effects, such as dizziness, nausea, and eye and skin irritation. Vinyl chloride exposure can also damage genetic material in cells, which can lead to numerous adverse health effects. In the 1970s, the White House Council on Environmental Quality and EPA officials raised serious concerns about the health impacts of vinyl chloride as an example when the Nixon Administration asked Congress to write a law to ensure chemicals were made and used safely, which led to passage of the “original” TSCA in 1976.”

Vinyl Chloride is still being used and transported in America nearly 50 years following the passage of the original TSCA when the EPA was well-aware of the significant health concerns related to the chemical’s usage. The public may be happy to hear that action is being taken, but the chemicals on the agency’s short list may still be deemed safe to stay on the market. Even if they are not deemed safe, it may take up to six years for the process to play out. The Highwire reached out to the EPA to ask about the process and why it took so long to take action.

There is currently a 90-day public comment period and more than 10,000 comments have been made so far. “If EPA finalizes these High-Priority Substance designations, the agency will then begin risk evaluations,” Jeff Landis from the EPA Office of Media Relations said. “EPA is required to complete existing chemical risk evaluations under TSCA section 6 within 3-3.5 years. If at the end of the risk evaluation process EPA determines that a chemical presents an unreasonable risk to health or the environment, the agency must immediately start the risk management process to reduce or eliminate these risks. EPA has one year after the risk evaluation is completed to propose a risk management rule, and then another year to finalize that rule.”

Landis described the original TSCA regulations as being inadequate because it “grandfathered  in thousands of existing chemicals without a comprehensive EPA risk assessment.” He further stated that “Republicans, Democrats, the chemical industry, the public health and environmental community, and many others agreed with the need to update the law” after EPA’s ban on asbestos was overturned in 1991. Landis said there was consensus among the stakeholders over 30 years ago regarding the TSCA. Despite that, nothing was done until 2014 when a TSCA work plan was initiated and in 2016 President Obama signed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21stCentury Act. That was the last year Obama was in the White House.

“The 2016 amendments to TSCA allow EPA to effectively protect human health and the environment from dangerous uses of existing chemicals,” Landis said. “Unfortunately, our ability to implement TSCA and provide these protections has been hindered by a significant lack of resources. Despite facing a massive increase in responsibilities and statutory deadlines from the most significant piece of environmental legislation enacted in a generation, the previous Administration never asked for any additional resources to implement TSCA. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, we’ve taken the resources we have and managed to make significant progress towards building a sustainable program that fulfills the promise of amended TSCA.”

Lesley Pacey, Senior Environmental Officer for the Government Accountability Project, said she is “pleased” that the EPA has finally taken action regarding these dangerous chemicals but said it is much too late for the residents of East Palestine, OH. Pacey said, “I can only believe that this action is the result of the dangers of vinyl chloride debuting on the world stage in February 2023 when five train cars of the plastic poison were burned after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine.”

Pacey also made it clear that she doesn’t think Landis’ response regarding the delayed action on toxic chemicals is accurate. I tend to believe the delay in regulations has less to do with weak TSCA regulations and EPA budget constraints and more to do with the undue influence of the vinyl industry,” Pacey said. “The EPA has a tendency to move at a snail’s pace on regulating chemicals manufactured by powerful industries like chemical production corporations and lobbies like the Vinyl Institute,  which represents the vinyl industry. The EPA was slow to move on PFAS, Coal Ash, Corexit dispersants, and many more toxic chemicals that have wreaked havoc on the health of exposed populations, causing untold pain and suffering and premature deaths. Vinyl Chloride is no different. Consider the fact that the Vinyl Institute ramped up its lobbying efforts, spending a record breaking $560,000 in lobbying in 2023 in the months after the Norfolk Southern train derailed and vinyl chloride burned, creating dioxin, phosgene and other products of incomplete combustion.”

During the comment period, a number of corporations within the industry have commented to oppose this regulatory move by the EPA. American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers insist that the EPA has only considered toxicity and not likelihood of exposure. AFPM spent a record $8 million in lobbying so far in 2024, with 70% of lobbyists previously working in government positions. Aaron Ringel, the Vice President of Governmental Affairs for AFPM, worked at the EPA from 2017-2019 and the Department of State for two more years.

The American Chemistry Council also commented that the EPA should not be using “rare events” such as train derailments, to classify a chemical as having a high exposure risk. That comment was written by Paul DeLeo, the Senior Director, who worked for the FDA for nearly eight years before working a number of consulting and environmental safety positions for the chemical industry. 69% of ACC’s 75 lobbyists previously worked in government positions and the council spent over $15 million in lobbying in 2023. 

Peer.org uncovered an “untraceable backchannel” of communication between chemical companies and the EPA in June. Scott Smith, the independent East Palestine evaluator, said the EPA serves as the “public relations arm of Norfolk Southern.” With a six year time table to potentially ban the five chemicals listed as “high-priority” and a number of chemical companies lobbying heavily to the government agencies, there are concerns that no meaningful actions will occur to protect the public from harms like what happened in East Palestine.

Pacey said, “The EPA would like us to believe that budget constraints are to blame for their inaction, but the EPA’s budget increased from $9.3 million in 2021 to $65 million in 2022, the year before the derailment, according to the White House Budget Authority by Agency tables. It is unconscionable that it takes a disaster like the Norfolk Southern train derailment to force our EPA to finally act on dangerous chemicals like vinyl chloride and other chemicals used in plastics production that when burned create numerous congeners of dioxin and other dangerous chemicals.”

“EPA has made significant strides toward addressing some of the chemicals posing the greatest threats to large numbers of Americans,” Landis said. “The agency has stopped the use of some dangerous chemicals by banning all ongoing uses of asbestos and most uses of methylene chloride, protecting people from cancer and other health problems. EPA also proposed rules to protect people from TCE, PCE, carbon tetrachloride, NMP and 1-BP. Taken together, just these five proposed and two final risk management rules under amended TSCA would protect over a million workers and 15 million consumers from toxic chemicals.”

It remains to be seen whether the use of chemicals that are known carcinogens will be further regulated to protect the public from harm. Pacey said public pressure has helped get the EPA to act. However, with a six-year lag time, the public should be aware that action has been started, but nothing has been further regulated or banned based on this latest announcement.