Justice Dept. says ending Louisiana petrochemical case helps ‘dismantle radical DEI programs’

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday celebrated its decision to drop a federal lawsuit against a Louisiana petrochemical plant accused of worsening cancer risks for residents in a majority-Black community, saying the dismissal showed that officials are “delivering on President (Donald) Trump’s promise to dismantle radical DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs and restore integrity to federal enforcement efforts.”

The dismissal Wednesday of the two-year-old case underscored the Trump administration’s commitment to “eliminate ideological overreach and restore impartial enforcement of federal laws,” Justice said in a statement.

At the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency withdrew its formal referral of the case to the Justice Department. The agency said the action aligns with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s pledge to end the use of “environmental justice” as an enforcement tool that Zeldin was too often used to advance liberal ideological priorities.

Dismissal of the case unraveled 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 EPA 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The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana and was formally withdrawn Wednesday.

The action is one of a series the Trump administration has taken as it moves 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 Justice Department 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.

Dismissal of the case reflects the Justice Department’s “renewed commitment to enforce environmental laws as Congress intended — consistently, fairly and without regard to race,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson, who oversees the department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who took over the EPA in late January, said the dismissal was “a step toward ensuring that environmental enforcement is consistent with the law. While EPA’s core mission includes securing clean air for all Americans, we can fulfill that mission within well-established legal frameworks, without stretching the bounds of the law or improperly implementing so-called ‘environmental justice.’”

Denka said the dismissal was “long-overdue” and ends litigation that it said lacked scientific and legal merit. The lawsuit was a “draining attack on our business,” the company said.

“The focus should be on the real-world data that shows no adverse health effects, even at substantially higher emission levels,” the company said in a statement.

The government’s lawsuit said air monitoring showed that long-term concentrations near the Denka plant are as high as 15 times the amount recommended for long-term exposure to chloroprene.

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 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 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.