Trump appointees obstructed investigation of Sterigenics, cancer-causing emissions, EPA says [View all]
A senior political appointee in the Trump administration stifled attempts by Chicago-based environmental regulators to investigate and remedy cancer-causing ethylene oxide releases in the Chicago area, a new government report says.
The unnamed official instructed the Chicago office of the federal Environmental Protection Agency to refrain from inspecting ethylene oxide facilities including the Sterigenics medical sterilization plant in Willowbrook unless asked to by state officials, according to the report from the EPA’s inspector general.
Citing information investigators gathered from managers from the EPA’s Chicago region office, the report says “senior leaders” instructed staff members of the agency to limit air monitoring around the Sterigenics plant, refrain from seeking health and risk assessments from federal health officials and hold off on sending requests for information to ethylene oxide facilities in the area.
Trump appointees also withheld information almost three years ago when air monitoring detected a potential threat to residents in Willowbrook, according to the EPA inspector general’s report.
Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/4/16/22387994/epa-trump-sterigenics-ethylene-oxide