Posted January 2021 Ethylene Oxide: Technical Reviews and Outreach to Potentially Affected Communities Status Report: Sasol Chemicals (USA), Lake Charles Chemical Complex - Westlake, Louisiana 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 (census tracts) with potentially elevated risk from continuous exposure, over 70 years, to EtO in the outdoor air. NATA estimated these risks based on EtO emissions from 2014, which were the most recently available at the time. NATA is a screening-level analysis that is intended to identify pollutants or areas for closer examination. Because of this, additional work is needed to better understand emissions in areas that NATA identified as potentially having elevated risk. EPA has been supporting its state air agency partners as they conduct that work and identify opportunities for reducing EtO emissions from individual facilities, while the Agency reviews its national regulations for industrial facilities that emit EtO. Actual risks today may be higher or lower than NATA estimated due to several factors, including updated or more refined facility emissions information, or recent facility changes such as the installation of pollution controls. The information below describes the technical analyses conducted for Sasol Chemicals (USA), Lake Charles Chemical Complex (Sasol Chemicals) in Westlake, La., as part of the follow-up work conducted since NATA was issued in August 2018. It also summarizes outreach to nearby communities about the NATA results. EPA is providing this information, in part, in response to the EPA Office of Inspector General's March 31, 2020, Management Alert which called on EPA to provide information to the 25 communities that NATA identified as potentially having the highest risk from EtO emissions. Technical reviews conducted: • On October 15, 2020, EPA Region 6 sent letters to request assistance from the State of Louisiana in gathering the most current information on the specific ethylene oxide emitting facilities, including Sasol Chemicals, and to assist with the development of technical assessments. The letters outline the Region's proposed technical approach/steps to complete these assessments, including the information needed from our state regulatory partners. • Additional information on Sasol Chemicals will be provided on this website in future updates. Outreach conducted: • EPA Region 6 is currently focused on developing additional, more refined assessments. EPA Region 6 will then discuss with the state of Louisiana how to share information with nearby communities. • Additional information on Sasol Chemicals will be provided on this website in future updates. ------- |