The Charleston Gazette-Mail published this editorial on June 22:
There are many industrial sites in the rustbelt — especially in Appalachia — where the dark joke goes “You get cancer just driving by that place.”
Data from two Union Carbide facilities in Kanawha County — one in Institute and one in South Charleston — show an increase in fugitive ethylene oxide emissions over the past decade. Overall, emissions of the chemical byproduct — which was declared a carcinogen in 2018 — are down since 2014, but the rise in “fugitive” emissions means more ethylene oxide is getting into the air through leaks or other malfunctions at the plants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And, overall, emissions at the South Charleston plant tripled from 2009 to 2019.
Can you get cancer just by driving by? No. However, the Institute plant is in an area that includes West Virginia State University and several homes and businesses, and the South Charleston plant also has an emissions range that covers highly-populated areas, including schools. Breathing in the toxin over a long period of time does lead to higher rates of cancer and can even cause genetic mutation.
It’s been linked to higher cancer rates by the EPA in other parts of the country with high levels of the compound in the atmosphere. Kanawha County has the 10th highest risk of cancer in the nation, with much of that risk owing to high levels of ethylene oxide in the air, according to a story in the Gazette-Mail by reporter Mike Tony.
What’s truly troubling is that, although emissions have been reduced recently, ethylene oxide has been pumped into the air for years from those facilities before it was declared a carcinogen. So a lot of the potential damage might already be done.
That doesn’t mean the company and state and federal agencies shouldn’t do all they can to minimize the danger going forward.
Just what the real risk is remains undetermined because of incomplete models and studies. The EPA and the state Department of Environmental Protection need to step up their monitoring activities to get as much of an accurate risk assessment as possible.
The EPA also needs to stop dragging its feet on community outreach. Those in the range of emissions need to know how they are potentially impacted just by living or going to school near these facilities.
A spokesman for Union Carbide’s parent company, Dow, told Tony the companies are investing in new equipment, facility modifications and updated emissions control technology to reduce emissions across all of its ethylene oxide-producing sites in North America.
But no one from Union Carbide or Dow explained why emissions drastically increased in South Charleston from 2009 to 2019, nor why there was an increase in fugitive emissions or what, if anything, is being done to curb fugitive emissions. Union Carbide needs to assure the community it is monitoring the situation and has a plan to fix the problem.