On Tuesday, the Denka Performance Elastomer’s (DPE) board announced that it would suspend production. The plant produces neoprene polychloroprene, a chemical in wetsuits and koozies.
The plant also releases chloroprene, a chemical linked to cancer that has long concerned the surrounding community. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, cancer risk in the town of Reserve, La. is 50 times the national average.
”We buried my mom this year. She suffered for 22 years. She lived but suffered from cancer and autoimmune diseases,” said Tish Taylor, a Reserve resident and program director of Concerned Citizens of St. John. “My sister takes infusions every week for a rare autoimmune disease. My brother has kidney disease. I lost other family members, a rare disease. It's unbelievable how much we suffer in our community.”
Taylor said those who have been fighting against the plant’s pollution for years have mixed feelings about this development.
”We’re relieved. We won because we have clean air,” she said. “But we’re also sad that once again, the petrochemical industry can come into our community and if they're not making enough money or if they have to adhere to regulations to protect their employees as well as the community, they'd rather shut down.”
She said they sympathize with the plant’s workers who might lose their jobs, though Denka said it has not made a decision yet about workforce reduction or permanently closing the facility.
New air pollution regulations was one of the reasons the plant stopped production, according to a statement from Denka Performance Elastomer. It also cited increased production and labor costs due to inflation and lower demand for neoprene in the global market.
“The Board reached this decision due to significant and ongoing economic and other pressures faced by DPE, including substantial costs related to pollution control—specifically, the identification, design, purchase, installation, and operation of emissions reduction equipment that was not anticipated when the facility was acquired,” Denka said in a statement.
Denka purchased the plant from DuPont in 2015.
Last year, under the Biden administration, the EPA finalized a new rule that required petrochemical plants, including Denka, to monitor and reduce emissions of chloroprene and ethylene oxide, another carcinogenic chemical. But under the Trump administration, the EPA is allowing companies to apply for two-year exemptions to this rule. It also committed to rewriting the rule.
The Trump administration also dropped a Biden-era federal lawsuit against the company, accusing it of increasing cancer risks in fenceline communities. Gov. Jeff Landry had also expressed support for the plant in the face of these lawsuits and regulations.
”Our governor and our president and the new appointees have pretty much relieved them of all responsibilities,” said Taylor. “So I'm not understanding what would make them all of a sudden shut down.”
Even so, the company said the uncertainty around the new rule and costs incurred from previous efforts to reduce chloroprene emissions, led the board to decide to stop production.
“With the Trump Administration’s efforts to halt those unfair and targeted actions, DPE can work closely with the Governor’s office and state agencies to explore all options for the facility,” said Denka.
It said it may sell the facility to another company.
“There's still a chance that someone else will come in and, in this climate, actually work unregulated, so the fear of someone else coming in and doing the same thing is there, it's looming,” said Taylor. “We just have to see where it goes. But for right now, I can breathe easily. I can go out to my flower garden and I can smell my flowers and enjoy the beauty of all God has created and not worry what the readings are right now on the monitors of chloroprene.”
