The American Chemistry Council (ACC) commends President Trump for granting two-year exemptions from the section 112 compliance obligations of the New Source Performance Standards for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and National Emission Standards (NSPS) for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry (SOCMI) and Group I & II Polymers and Resins Industry (collectively referred to as the HON Rule) for certain sources in the categories covered by the rule.
The President’s action appropriately recognizes the critical role of a strong chemical manufacturing sector to our nation’s overall infrastructure and advanced manufacturing needs across supply chains. As such, this action is a key step forward to necessary relief from several concerning parts of the Biden administration’s rule, which required significant capital expenditures and risked potential shutdowns with unworkable compliance deadlines.
“ACC represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry, a $633 billion domestic industry directly employing over 550,000 people. Our members are responsibly operating their manufacturing sites to help ensure the safety and health of the communities in which they operate, their employees, and customers. In fact, ACC members are safer and cleaner than ever before. Our most recent Responsible Care® data shows meaningful industry progress across a suite of safety and environmental performance metrics. These include significant reductions in ethylene oxide emissions that were ignored by the Biden administration, including reductions that resulted from projects undertaken to address concerns raised by EPA.
“We thank Administrator Zeldin for bringing this important issue to the White House and applaud the President for granting these exemptions and recognizing the need to address one of the most serious problems inherent to the updated HON Rule, as it was adopted by the previous administration.
“Without relief from these unworkable timelines, the HON rule jeopardizes the production of essential chemistries that are crucial for our national security interests, including public health and economic security, as they are used for countless everyday products and critical industries such as agriculture, healthcare, semiconductor manufacturing, and more.
“As our members continue to strengthen their environmental and safety performance, they are also responding to the need for innovative products that will help make our nation safer and cleaner. To successfully meet these responsibilities, it is critical that regulation of our industry is based on sound science and that those regulations reflect a reasonable assessment of the risks and benefits involved. We look forward to working expeditiously with EPA to support appropriate, science-based regulatory frameworks for this important work.”
