Source: Mountain State Spotlight

Excerpt:

A citizens group in West Virginia is suing federal regulators after their Black community and others in Louisiana and Texas were left out of an effort to tighten rules to control cancer-causing air pollution.

The lawsuit filed Monday alleges that the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to protect vulnerable communities from cancer-causing chemicals by missing a key deadline.

Pam Nixon, a long-time environmental advocate and member of the Charleston-based People Concerned About Chemical Safety, said she felt like her community was often neglected by the EPA. 

“There is no justice yet until all communities are treated the same and until people everywhere are breathing clean air and it doesn’t impact the health of their families,” said Nixon, who got sick after being exposed to a leak from the Institute plant in 1985. 

The lawsuit seeks to pressure regulators to update federal emissions standards for facilities that produce polyether polyols — a chemical production category which emits carcinogens such as ethylene oxide.

Read more: Overlooked by the EPA, a Black West Virginia community sues to spur action on toxic air pollution