Q & A: How Rescinding the Endangerment Finding Makes Petrochemical Pollution Worse

Here is what you need to know about the link between the Endangerment Finding and petrochemical pollution:

1. How are petrochemicals and other fossil fuels heating the planet?
2. Can extreme weather events cause petrochemical disasters?
3. Are certain petrochemical facilities more vulnerable to disaster during extreme weather?
4. What types of petrochemical disasters are associated with extreme storms, hurricanes, and flooding?
5. What can happen to hazardous wastes during climate-fueled extreme weather?
6. What petrochemical-related risks do extreme heat and fires pose?
7. How can extreme heat lead to pollution spikes, particularly near petrochemical facilities?
8. Who is most at risk from extreme weather and the resulting chemical disasters?
9. How else is the Trump administration attacking our ability to prepare for and recover from extreme weather and chemical disasters?
10. What can we do to fight back against the proposal to rescind the Endangerment Finding?

How are petrochemicals and other fossil fuels heating the planet?

There is unequivocal scientific evidence that the climate is heating at unprecedented rates because of human activity, due largely to the release of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and a suite of fluorinated gases. In the U.S., combustion of oil, gas, and coal account for 74% of total greenhouse gas emissions and for 93% of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions.

Plastics are the fastest growing source of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. It is predicted that by 2040 as much as 19% of global greenhouse gas emissions will come from plastics. The fossil fuel industry is on track to triple plastics production by 2050, which would dramatically increase greenhouse gas pollution. Every step of the petrochemical supply chain—including extraction, processing, production, transport, use, and incineration—releases greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants. These emissions heat the earth’s climate and intensify extreme weather events, from fires to hurricanes.

Can extreme weather events cause petrochemical disasters?

Yes. Extreme weather can be dangerous and deadly in and of itself. In communities burdened by fossil fuel and petrochemical infrastructure, or near transportation routes for hazardous materials, the resulting chemical disasters add a terrifying sequel that can last for years or decades and end in cancer and other serious illnesses linked to toxic chemical exposure.

Already the U.S. averages one petrochemical spill, fire, or explosion every three days. The Trump-Zeldin rollback of the Endangerment Finding would increase the frequency and intensity of these chemical disasters, putting human health in danger and contaminating our environment. The effects on families are particularly unsettling: children’s developing bodies are uniquely vulnerable to toxic chemicals. The resulting cancers and other ill-effects can emerge at any time during the following years or decades—altering the lives of young children or teenagers or young adults.

Are certain petrochemical facilities more vulnerable to disaster during extreme weather?

Yes. Many of the facilities that make, use, or store large quantities of extremely toxic and flammable petrochemicals are located in areas at elevated risk for floods, sea level rise, drought, storm surge, and wildfires. Looking at 10,420 facilities that use extremely hazardous substances, one study found more than 3,200—nearly 31%—are sited in areas with higher vulnerability to extreme-weather events. Children and families living in these communities endure chemical releases before, during, and after the extreme weather hits:

Pre-disaster chemical emissions

It is common for plastics makers and other petrochemical facilities to start releasing toxic air pollution well before the extreme weather arrives. Storms can damage equipment, disrupt power supplies, and cause chemical temperatures to rise or plunge. So when a storm is coming, facility operators vent (release directly) and flare (openly burn) their flammable and explosive fossil gases as a way to depressurize their equipment, emptying out toxic chemicals in an effort to prevent fires and explosions. The air pollution from this venting and flaring can far exceed the toxic pollution levels during normal operations, endangering the health of people working at or living near such facilities.

EPA regulatory loopholes enable polluters to emit unlimited amounts of toxic air pollution (often without monitoring or reporting) as part of the “startup, shut-down, and malfunction” exemptions to air pollution controls. This pollution contributes to respiratory issues, cardiovascular problems, and death.

Chemical explosions, fires, and toxic leaks during extreme weather events

Extreme weather events trigger large-scale chemical releases and industrial disasters in different ways. Facilities continue to vent and flare their hazardous air pollutants into surrounding communities, as they do before a disaster begins. In addition, extreme weather brings about elevated risks of chemical fires and explosions. These can occur as a direct result of lightning strikes and fires that ignite flammable materials, or during floods, landslides, and other events — for example, pipelines that rupture or fuel tanks that explode following equipment malfunctions. In addition, power outages can disable the energy infrastructure and backup generators that keep toxic chemicals chilled and under pressure. The resulting chemical fires and explosions can release massive amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals into the air.

Extreme weather events can cause chemical leaks into surrounding neighborhoods. Floods, fires, winds, storms, and tornadoes can damage petrochemical equipment and storage vessels, thus emitting toxic chemicals into air and floodwaters. High winds can tip over chemical storage tanks, as occurred in Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Such tanks are also subject to rupture from flying tree branches or airborne rooftops and other debris. In addition, extreme flooding events can submerge Superfund hazardous waste sites that are full of toxic petrochemicals, washing away the clay, earth, concrete, or sand coverings that are meant to protect communities from the toxic chemicals beneath.

Extreme heat events can melt PVC plastic pipes and other equipment. Intense heat causes PVC plastic to degrade significantly starting at 300°C (less than fire temperatures), meaning that pipes near the fire zone may be damaged too. Extreme heat events turn PVC pipes into contamination sources, polluting community drinking water systems with benzene, toluene, styrene, and other chemicals. High temperatures can also put air pollution on steroids, amplifying the toxicity and worsening the health effects from the harmful chemicals that we breathe.

Petrochemical pollution and fossil fuel dependency following extreme weather events

Disaster-response operations continue to contaminate communities with fossil fuel and petrochemical emissions during the days- or years-long relief operations that follow. The often-extended power outages force people to rely on heavily polluting machinery, such as generators. Massive amounts of plastic-packaged water and other supplies are trucked in given widespread contamination of water resources. And plastic disaster debris gets burned on site with minimal pollution controls. Disasters typically result in more driving, less walking, and greater reliance on air conditioning and plastic packaging.

Some disaster response efforts involve aqueous film-forming foams, which are PFAS-containing fire suppressants. PFAS “forever chemicals” are used for combatting fires at places like military bases and airports involving fossil-based flammable liquids, such as diesel and jet fuel. Some civilian fire stations continue to use these foams as well. But PFAS are persistent and potent carcinogens; the foams pollute the air, soils, and waterways.

Another post-disaster application of petrochemicals involves the use of plastic-polymer dust suppressants and plastic encasement of toxic wastes. For example, as part of the ongoing remediation efforts following the deadly 2023 Lahaina fire in Maui, authorities have been applying a petrochemical polymer-based soil stabilizer to help control harmful contaminants like asbestos, lead, and arsenic. The plastic coating is meant to temporarily “glue down” the toxic ash and reduce the risk of inhalation and the run-off into streams and ocean waters. Authorities are now transporting the contaminated waste on a 19-mile journey by truck to the Central Maui Landfill. The amounts are significant: 400,000 tons of toxic debris—the equivalent of five football fields, five stories high—which they will wrap in thick plastic sheeting. These remediation efforts contribute to the burden of plastic pollution and microplastic contamination.

What types of petrochemical disasters are associated with extreme storms, hurricanes, and flooding?

Hurricanes and related extreme storms are associated with a range of chemical incidents, from toxic contamination of air and waterways to runaway chemical reactions and explosions. These are some examples:

In August 2017, heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey battered Texas, killing 36 people and exposing large sectors of the population to toxic chemicals. The storm caused petrochemical plants and refineries to release nearly 2,000 tons of “excess emissions,” including benzene, vinyl chloride, dioxins, PCBs, and other human carcinogens.

Many of the more than 100 storm-related toxic releases were not reported to the public, such as a 457-million-gallon spill at ExxonMobil Corp.’s Olefins Plant in Baytown, which also emitted 228 tons of airborne pollutants. Meanwhile, an 18-inch pipeline owned by Williams Midstream Services Inc. unleashed a plume of toxic and corrosive hydrogen chloride gas in La Porte, southeast of Houston. Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Deer Park released over 3,000 pounds of the carcinogen benzene. Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. in Baytown released about 34,000 pounds of sodium hydroxide, which can cause severe chemical burns, and 28,000 pounds of benzene. Other petrochemical facilities inundated the region with large spills of gasoline and other fossil fuels.

Hurricane Harvey also damaged the Arkema Chemical Plant in Crosby, Texas (located near Houston, north of Baytown). The more than three feet of floodwaters disabled the refrigeration and backup power systems and ignited the explosive and corrosive synthetic chemicals (called organic peroxides) stored at the plant. The resulting fires, fumes, and smoke endangered first responders, plant workers, and residents, prompting the mass evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes for a week.

In February 2020, months of persistent heavy rains and flooding caused a landslide, rupturing a carbon dioxide pipeline operated by Denbury Gulf Coast Pipelines in the rural community of Satartia, Mississippi. The pipeline burst and spewed corrosive carbon dioxide (CO2) for four hours. The carbon dioxide displaced oxygen in the air, so car engines stopped running and people struggled to breathe. More than 45 people were hospitalized and over 200 had to evacuate. CO2 releases are life-threatening, causing disorientation, heart malfunction, and death by asphyxiation.

When the liquid CO2 in these intensely pressurized pipelines comes in contact with water or other contaminants, the resulting acids eat through steel, weakening the metal and leading to violent “zipper-like” fractures along the pipeline. There are about 5,300 miles of these CO2 pipelines in the U.S., a number that could grow to more than 65,000 miles in the coming years, mostly in the Midwest and Gulf Coast, as fossil fuel companies rush to build new pipelines for carbon capture and storage. The vast majority of these minimally regulated pipelines—including the one in Satartia—carry carbon dioxide used for “enhanced oil recovery”—the process of injecting CO2 into depleted oil and gas wells to force out more fossil fuels. These pipelines are in addition to the millions of miles of other pipelines crisscrossing the country carrying flammable and explosive fossil fuels.

In August 2020, strong winds from Hurricane Laura damaged buildings at the Bio-Lab facility (near Lake Charles, east of Mossville) in Westlake, Louisiana. Stormwater triggered a chemical reaction with the chlorine-releasing agent trichloroisocyanuric acid, which was stored at the facility. The resulting fire released into the air a large plume of toxic chlorine and other hazardous air pollutants. The hurricane also caused a power outage and the failure of the company’s backup power generators and fire protection systems. Residents in the surrounding community were ordered to shelter in place. Ultimately, the Bio-Lab company rebuilt the facility for $250 million.

In July 2024, Hurricane Beryl slammed Texas, causing power loss at multiple refineries and petrochemical facilities. Freeport LNG, Formosa Plastics, Marathon Petroleum, and other fossil fuel facilities began massive-scale flaring operations, releasing thousands of pounds of excess air pollution, including benzene and other potent carcinogens. The hurricane also spawned tornadoes in Indiana and New York and caused flooding in large swaths of the U.S., including in Vermont, where it washed away an apartment building.

In September 2024, Hurricane Helene killed over 200 people, almost half in North Carolina. This was the third deadliest hurricane in recent years. Beyond the immediate toll of death and destruction, the storm put communities at risk of catastrophic chemical disasters, flooding hundreds of industrial facilities across the Southeast, including paper mills, oil and gas storage facilities, and a nuclear power plant. Like Harvey and other highly destructive hurricanes, the costs from Hurricane Helene were estimated to surpass $50 billion. Ninety-five percent of the damage was not insured.

This map shows how often proposed petrochemical facilities would have been in the path of named storms over the last 10 years.

What can happen to hazardous wastes during climate-fueled extreme weather?

Communities surrounding Superfund hazardous waste sites are at particular risk during hurricanes and other extreme weather events. These sites are located in virtually every state — nearly 1 in 4 people in the U.S. live within three miles of a toxic waste dump. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has warned that 945 Superfund sites are especially vulnerable to hurricanes, flooding, sea level rise, increased precipitation, or wildfires. In 2017 alone, more than 252 Superfund sites nationwide flooded in hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma.

The caps on hazardous waste sites are often nothing more than thin layers of clay, earth, concrete, or sand covering extremely toxic chemicals. Although the Superfund program used to try and clean up these toxic chemical dumpsites, since the 1990s EPA has instead been covering these sites and leaving the chemicals in place. The coverings are no match for the increasingly powerful hurricanes, floods, and storm surges.

For example, during Hurricane Harvey, one of the three Superfund sites that flooded was the dioxin-laden San Jacinto Waste Pits. The protective concrete cap was smashed by 16 feet of water, sending the dioxins downstream. EPA later found dioxin levels in the San Jacinto River sediment at 2,300 times the EPA cleanup standard.

What petrochemical-related risks do extreme heat and fires pose?

Extreme heat, droughts, and fire weather are nothing new, but burning fossil fuels have turbo-charged these events, causing immediate harm to life and limb on a massive scale. These events also bring about the melting and burning of petrochemical pipes, houses, and other infrastructure.

The January 2025 Los Angeles, California, fires, for example, were the culmination of intense heat and vegetative dryness from eight months of near-zero rainfall, fanned by powerful Santa Ana winds. Similarly in Hawaii, wind gusts over 90 mph from Hurricane Dora and extremely dry vegetation set the stage for the deadly August 2023 Lahaina fire. The fire killed more than 100 people and left thousands of families homeless. Both fires exposed people to extremely toxic chemicals, such as asbestos, PFAS, and dioxins, as urban infrastructure burned.

Some of the greatest toxic risks during fires and extreme heat events come from vinyl chloride, a flammable, and explosive chemical that can set off a cascade of health effects, including liver cancers, brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia. PVC siding, flooring, wire insulation, plumbing lines, molded furniture, wall coverings, and other products transform conventional building fires into raging toxic infernos. Heated vinyl chloride contaminates the air with toxic pollutants, such as phosgene, dioxins, benzene, and formaldehyde, which are extremely harmful to human health. Firefighters and other emergency workers face astronomically high toxic chemical exposures during explosions, fires, and other incidents.

In addition to releasing hazardous air pollutants, wildfires can melt PVC pipes and other structures, contaminating drinking water resources. Vinyl chloride, styrene, benzene and other carcinogens have been observed leaching from heated pipes following fires in Santa Rosa and in Paradise, California. Plastic pipes don’t even have to burn to severely contaminate drinking water supplies.

How can extreme heat lead to pollution spikes, particularly near petrochemical facilities?

The U.S. is facing longer lasting and more intense heat waves. In 2024, at least 37 states reached 100 degrees or more. Phoenix, Arizona, has had some of the most extreme heat, with scorching temperatures of at least 110-degree on 54 days in 2023 and on 70 days in 2024.

Air pollution can spike in hot weather. Heat is a catalyst for chemical reactions that speed up the creation of dangerous air pollutants. The high atmospheric pressures (essentially, the heavier air column) that regularly are part of these high-pressure “heat domes” cause the air to descend. Pollutants become trapped near the ground, unable to disperse. In urban centers, this stagnant pollution and high heat are often concentrated in heat islands, the hot spots of intense ultraviolet absorption by asphalt, concrete, and building materials.

What happens chemically is this: Gas vehicles, power plants, petrochemical manufacturing, and other fossil-fuel activities release toxic chemicals and climate-heating gases. Some of these pollutants (including nitrogen oxides, benzene and other VOCs, sulfur dioxide, ammonia) are known to be affected by heat and sunlight, volatilizing or undergoing reactions that create even-more-toxic secondary pollutants. For example, in the presence of heat and sunlight, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds interact to form smog. Sunlight provides the energy to break down the compounds and start the chemical reactions, and heat accelerates these reactions, producing ground-level ozone and particulate matter. Further reactions, sped up by the high temperatures, result in formaldehyde and other pollutants. The result is more pollution, amplified toxicity, and worsened health outcomes. These can include asthma, dementia, reproductive harms, cancers, and other effects.

Elevated temperature and humidity also increase off-gassing of formaldehyde and other chemicals in the home environment from plywood, particle board, foam insulation, adhesives, and other building materials and furnishings. This is of particular concern in mobile homes and trailers, including the FEMA units supplied following hurricanes and other disasters.

Vehicle interiors, such as seats, arm rests, dashboards, floor materials, and carpets, are another source of concentrated emissions, releasing benzene, formaldehyde, phthalates, and other chemicals. Studies have found between 30 and 250 different VOCs in a single vehicle. Hot temperatures supercharge these emissions in both gas-powered and electric vehicles. A study on car carpets, for example, found that far more VOCs (including aromatic compounds, heterocyclic compounds, acids, esters, and ketones) were released during higher temperatures.

There is also a growing body of research on the role of hot weather in the uptake of PFAS by agricultural crops. In particular, hotter temperatures may increase the uptake of PFAS in plant leaves and roots, especially from longer-chained PFAS (such as PFOS and PFOA). This is a concern because PFAS enters food chains and can contaminate food supplies for people and animals. Some of the PFAS found in agricultural fields comes from the application of sewage sludge, the PFAS-rich solids that are filtered out by municipal wastewater treatment facilities. An analysis of state reports filed with EPA found that in 2023 alone, nearly 4.5 billion pounds of sewage sludge were applied to farm fields or used in compost, contaminating nearly 70 million acres with PFAS. U.S. agricultural fields have become a dumping ground for PFAS-dense sewage sludge. Food crops are also polluted by PFAS industrial emissions, irrigation with contaminated water, leachates from landfill sites, and the growing use of PFAS-containing “forever pesticides.”

Who is most at risk from extreme weather and the resulting chemical disasters?

When extreme weather hits, the health risks to people living in the vicinity of chemical infrastructure can be catastrophic. Some of the highest risks are faced by those in the Southeast U.S. Many of the worst-affected are economically disadvantaged families and people of color. Approximately 4,374,000 people live within 1.5 miles of 872 highly hazardous chemical facilities along the Gulf Coast, particularly in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Among the most vulnerable to extreme-weather-induced chemical disasters are those who live near the Houston Ship Channel, a 52-mile-long stretch of water linking the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of Houston. This area is lined with roughly 500 chemical plants, 10 refineries, and more than 6,670 miles of oil, gas, and chemical pipelines. Many parts of Louisiana face extreme danger as well, including those living near Lake Charles and the 200 petrochemical plants and refineries in so-called Cancer Alley between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

How else is the Trump administration attacking our ability to prepare for and recover from extreme weather and chemical disasters?

The proposed repeal of the Endangerment Finding is taking place amid a host of other attacks on the health and safety of people in the U.S. The administration is making it easier to get sick and harder to get well. They are making deep cuts to Medicaid, reducing health services in rural communities, and kicking millions of people out of the health care system.

Many of the communities besieged by corporate polluters are among the worst hit by droughts, tornadoes, fires, hurricanes, floods, and other extreme weather events. These very communities will be adversely affected by the Trump administration’s simultaneous gutting of other human health protections. Here are some examples of cuts at the intersection of extreme weather preparedness and chemical disaster response.

Forecasting extreme weather events

• The Trump administration is dismantling the government’s ability to track hurricanes and other extreme weather events. They are slashing the budgets of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service.
• The Trump administration plans to shutter 10 weather laboratories across the country. This includes, for example, the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, which has a tool to improve the accuracy of flash flood forecasts (and which correctly predicted the rise in the Guadalupe River from the recent floods in Central Texas).
• The administration is terminating a Department of Defense weather satellite program, one of the only such satellites in the world, that collects vital information for forecasting hurricanes. The satellite data enables weather forecasters to predict when hurricanes will make sudden, extreme gains in wind speed—notoriously dangerous intensification that can turn tropical storms into cataclysmic events in mere hours.

Disaster response

• President Trump has been threatening to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which provides assistance to communities facing catastrophic emergencies.
• President Trump has vowed to zero-out the budget for the Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency that investigates the root causes of chemical disasters, such as fires and explosions—and makes recommendations on how to ensure that they never happen again.

Hazardous air pollution

• EPA Administrator Zeldin and President Trump are proposing to exempt more than 160 major polluters, including at least 52 chemical manufacturing facilities and more than 70 coal-fired power plants, from hazardous air pollution rules controlling the emission of benzene, mercury, formaldehyde, and other carcinogens. The renewable two-year presidential exemptions allow facilities to open the spigot of hazardous air pollutants now rather than having to wait for EPA to finish dismantling the chemical manufacturing rule and other air pollution rules.
• EPA Administrator Zeldin also plans to gut the Risk Management Program chemical disaster rule, which protects workers and communities from facilities that are using the most toxic and explosive chemicals.
• Congressional Republicans have voted to repeal Clean Air Act protections against seven of the world’s most toxic air pollutants, allowing 1,800 of the nation’s largest industrial polluters to permanently shut off their pollution controls.
• EPA Administrator Zeldin is dismantling EPA’s scientific research branch—firing the toxicologists and other researchers who study how toxic chemicals harm human health—part of Trump’s plans to cut 65% of the EPA budget.

What can we do to fight back against the proposal to rescind the Endangerment Finding?

President Trump’s and Administrator Zeldin’s attacks on families and children are reckless and cruel. Reversing the Endangerment Finding would enable power plants, refineries, plastic producers, and other heavy polluters to emit vast amounts of climate-heating air emissions, turbocharging extreme weather events and threatening to bring about a staggering toll of death and destruction. The resulting petrochemical releases, explosions, fires, and other disasters only compound the horrors. Families that survive the initial hurricanes, floods, or other extreme weather are then subjected to a horrific next chapter owing to exposures to potent carcinogens, reproductive toxicants, and other harmful substances.

Send a message to EPA Administrator Zeldin today. Tell him the Endangerment Finding is essential for all families’ health and safety.

Send a message to EPA Administrator Zeldin

Released: August 2025