By: Lucia Valentine, West Virginia Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: February 20, 2024
About: EPA TSCA Prioritization Webinar
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Good morning,
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Lucia Valentine and I am the West Virginia Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. I am from Shepherdstown, West Virginia and have lived in the mountain state my whole life. On behalf of our 6,600 West Virginia members, Moms Clean Air Force is urging EPA to designate vinyl chloride a High Priority Substance and ultimately ban this harmful chemical.
Vinyl chloride is dangerous. It’s toxic, extremely flammable, and potentially explosive. People living near vinyl chloride production facilities have an elevated risk of numerous types of cancer, adverse birth outcomes, asthma and respiratory illness, and kidney disease. Children are especially vulnerable to harm from vinyl chloride. Children breathe more air per unit of body weight than adults and therefore can receive higher doses of pollution. Children’s lungs and brains are still developing until early adulthood so toxic air pollution exposures can have harmful effects that can last a lifetime and even shorten life. EPA should designate vinyl chloride as a high priority chemical and expeditiously conduct a TSCA risk evaluation for this very dangerous carcinogen.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to ban vinyl chloride under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which is our nation’s chemical safety law. TSCA is supposed to protect our families and communities from the health and ecological impacts of harmful chemicals. Certain uses of vinyl chloride have already been banned, such as use in cosmetics, household paints, and air fresheners. Now it’s time to stop using this toxic substance altogether.
Moms Clean Air Force is urging EPA to do the following:
- Designate vinyl chloride a High Priority Substance and ultimately ban this health harming chemical.
- Comprehensively assess the risks of vinyl chloride by looking at all sources of exposure including industrial incidents, spills, leaks, and transportation.
- Cumulatively evaluate the risk of vinyl chloride in combination with other chemicals that are produced, used, or released together. EPA currently assesses each chemical individually as if there are no other exposures.
West Virginia is considered the birthplace of the petrochemical industry. The rapid expansion of the petrochemical industry in the Ohio River Valley region, Texas and Louisiana means that more trains carrying toxic chemicals could be traveling through communities, putting children, families, and communities like mine at risk.
Vinyl chloride pollution is a matter of environmental justice. Vinyl chloride is often manufactured in areas already overburdened by pollution and it is important for EPA to identify communities near vinyl chloride Superfund sites that continue to be exposed to vinyl chloride, including through vapor intrusion.
Moms Clean Air Force is urging EPA to designate vinyl chloride a High Priority Substance and ultimately ban this harmful chemical.