A Westlake Vinyls Inc. plant in Calvert City, Ky., is facing pressure from federal and state regulators to cut emissions of the carcinogen ethylene dichloride, after a government review of air monitors found worrying levels of the chemical in the community.
A January study from the Environmental Protection Agency detected emissions "above the target cancer risk level" around the PVC resin plant, prompting EPA and Kentucky regulators to say they want Houston-based Westlake to reduce airborne emissions.
That study prompted several residents of Calvert City to sue the company in state court, alleging that Westlake knew of the risks and was negligent.
At a well-attended community meeting in mid-February in Calvert City, EPA and Kentucky environmental regulators tied nearly all the EDC emissions in the community to Westlake.
"Risk in Calvert City near the Calvert City industrial complex is elevated," said Sara Taft, acting director of the air and radiation division for EPA's Region 4 office in Atlanta, at the hearing. "EPA and Kentucky are concerned about this risk. … We are working to reduce this risk."
EPA documents say that 96 percent of the reported EDC emissions in Calvert City comes from the Westlake facility, which is also the single-largest source of EDC air emissions in the United States, based on 2020 data in the EPA's National Emissions Inventory.
Beyond these concerns about EDC, the plant was part of two previous consent decrees with EPA, in 2022 and 2011, designed to cut releases of other toxic chemicals.
EDC, a man-made chemical that does not occur naturally in the environment, is mostly used in making PVC, solvents and other chemicals.