Ethylene Oxide: Technical Reviews and Outreach to Potentially Affected Communities
Status Report - Second Quarter 2021 Update
April - June 2021
Union Carbide Corp., Hahnville, LA
As EPA pursues its mission to protect public health and the environment, addressing ethylene
oxide (EtO) remains a major priority for the Agency. EPA's National Air Toxics Assessment
(NATA), released in August 2018, identified a number of areas of the country where risks of
cancer were potentially elevated because of ethylene oxide emissions. NATA estimated these
risks based on EtO emissions from 2014, which were the most recently available at the time.
Because NATA is a screening-level analysis, additional work is needed to better understand
emissions in areas NATA identifies as potentially having elevated risk, and to identify
opportunities for early reductions at individual facilities, while EPA reviews its regulations for
industries. EPA is supporting its state air agency partners in that work.
In January 2021, EPA posted the first status report describing the technical analysis and
outreach work conducted for Union Carbide Corp., St. Charles Operations (Union Carbide Corp.)
in Taft, LA. Since then, updates have been posted for the first and second quarters of 2021. This
document summarizes additional work conducted in the third quarter of 2021.
Technical review updates:
• EPA has completed additional, more refined technical and risk assessments. The EtO technical
assessment report for Union Carbide Corp. can be found at the following website:
https://www.epa.gov/caa-permitting/site-specific-information-ethylene-oxide-eto-union-carbide-
corp-st-charles. The results of an updated air toxics risk assessment for Union Carbide Corp. are
available at this website: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-07/region-6-risk-
assessment-of-ethylene-oxide-emitting-facilities-in-texas-and-louisian-iul-8-2021.pdf.
Outreach updates:
On August 19, 2021, EPA conducted a virtual EtO community outreach event for community
members who live near Union Carbide Corp. During the virtual meeting, EPA staff and facility
representatives provided information and answered questions about ethylene oxide, how it is
managed by the facility and the associated potential risks in the communities near the facility. A
video and transcript of the event are under review and will be posted to the following website:
https://www.epa.gov/caa-permitting/site-specific-information-ethylene-oxide-eto-union-carbide-corp-
st-charles.
Written responses to questions from the meeting will be posted on the website above when
they become available.

-------