"The Biden administration has tentatively agreed to revisit EPA air toxics standards for hundreds of chemical plants, signaling a move on an issue that groups framed as central to the pursuit of environmental justice.
Under the terms of a proposed consent decree officially made public today, the agency commits to consider tightening the existing emissions limits for synthetic organic chemical manufacturers on a series of deadlines running from next year to 2024.
If signed by a judge following a routine 30-day cutoff for public feedback, the proposed deal would end a lawsuit brought late last year by Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services and a half-dozen other advocacy groups in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The suit had alleged that EPA was long past Clean Air Act deadlines for taking a fresh look at the standards aimed at factoring in advances in pollution control technology and new knowledge about the health risks posed by cancer-causing ethylene oxide and other hazardous pollutants released by the plants."
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