Institute Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Groups Push Back On House Bill To Limit Use Of Air Monitoring Data

West Virginia’s industrial and mining trade groups support the bill, but most people spoke in opposition.

Community and environmental groups testified Friday morning in a public hearing against House Bill 5018.

The bill would limit how community air monitoring data could be used in court cases or to affect regulations. West Virginia’s industrial and mining trade groups support the bill, but most people spoke in opposition.

Bill Bissett, president of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, compared the situation to a citizen who bought a radar gun to monitor speeding drivers in the neighborhood. Only police can enforce the law, not the citizen.

“We are in no way against community monitoring, but also do not believe that environmental activist groups should become regulatory agencies,” he said. “It is important to recognize that this bill, House Bill 5018, does not stop community air monitoring. Community air monitoring has occurred in the past and it will continue into the future.”

Angie Rosser, executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, noted, as many other speakers did, that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has a limited number of its own air monitors statewide. The DEP needs citizen input, Rosser said.

“DEP’s resources are limited, they have 18 ambient air quality monitor data across the state,” she said. “This leaves large gaps and information and data and that’s, as it’s been said, where community monitors play an important role in providing information where people live. The legislature and industry should be embracing community efforts.”

Pam Nixon, president of People Concerned About Chemical Safety, said residents use devices called purple air monitors to measure industrial pollution in their communities. Nixon is a former resident of Institute, a Black-majority town where poor air quality has been an issue for decades.

“Low-income communities and communities of color are already vulnerable due to proximity to polluting industries emitting fine particles, which include chemical plants, coal fired power plants, fossil fuel drilling sites for oil and gas mining sites, diesel fuel trucking companies, and asphalt and concrete plants to name a few,” she said.

An attempt by House Democrats to amend the bill failed on Friday. It now goes to third reading.

DEP Discusses Ethylene Oxide Report And Union Carbide Agreement At Public Hearing

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing Thursday to discuss the findings of a final report on ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing Thursday to discuss the final report on their ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions monitoring project.

The hearing also centered around a new agreement the DEP’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) recently signed with Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) to reduce emissions of EtO, a known carcinogen, at its Institute facility.

On August 22, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an update to the National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). The national screen tool provides information on potential health risks from breathing air toxics, or hazardous air pollutants.

Using data from its 2014 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA), the report identified Union Carbide’s facilities in Institute and South Charleston as emitting ethylene oxide (EtO) at one of the highest rates in the country. EPA has since succeeded NATA with the Air Toxics Screening Assessment, or AirToxScreen, starting with the 2017 data analysis. The mapping tool offers a new approach to air toxics with annually updated data and risk analyses to more easily identify existing and emerging air toxics issues. Their latest assessment uses 2019 data.

Under the terms of the agreement reached with DEP, Union Carbide agrees to continue its ongoing cooperation with the EPA and the DAQ. This would be done by providing in-kind or other tangible resources to assist with the development of air quality-related data collection, and develop monitoring protocols concerning EtO. The agreement would include securing meteorological data related to such research, and identifying and fixing leaks at levels 50 to 1,000 times lower than current regulations allow.

UCC Institute would also be required to develop a unique site-specific EtO emissions screening program for rail cars it has in EtO service. Each rail car would have to be screened within 12 hours of arriving at the facility. Should there be a reading indicating potential rail car emissions, appropriate action would be initiated based on developed response plans.

The Division of Air Quality conducted a short term ethylene oxide air monitoring project in 2022, with samples gathered over 24-hour phases at sites in and around the Union Carbide chemical facilities in Institute and South Charleston.

Michael Egnor, air toxics coordinator for the Division of Air Quality, spoke for almost an hour, explaining test comparisons.

The tests, which included other states, revealed the presence of EtO at all locations evaluated. The site near Institute where Union Carbide loads its railcars is one of two sites identified by the EPA as having a higher concentration of the chemical. Higher levels of EtO were also detected in areas where no known source exists, including Buffalo in Putnam County and Guthrie in northern Kanawha County.

Egnor said in South Charleston EtO emissions actually decreased from more than 1,800 pounds of ethylene oxide in 2014 to 357 pounds in 2021. But Laura Crowder, director of DEP, admitted that the methodology for the tests is not perfect.

“The method itself may not have all the steps necessary so that it would show the actual concentration,” Crowder said. “There are things that would allow it to be biased, where other things could interfere. The methodology needs to specify exactly what needs to be done.”

The department is considering using air modeling to replace air monitoring tests in the future to better predict potential risk in identified areas of concern.

Pam Nixon lives in the Springhill area of South Charleston and has lost both friends and family members to cancer. She said she worries about the unknown synergistic effects of chemical agents.

“Ethylene oxide is only one chemical. There are other carcinogens that are here. When they mix in the air, my nose isn’t just breathing in ethylene oxide for 70 years, it’s breathing all of the chemicals in,” she said.

Nixon said while the agreement with Union Carbide is a step in the right direction, she said it is only one step. She hopes that authorities will reduce the amount of carcinogens in general.

The EPA’s published guidelines for EtO are 100-in-one million lifetime cancer risk.

The agency’s final report on the monitoring project is available on the DEP’s website.

Union Carbide, DEP Agreement To Lower Emissions In Institute

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has signed an agreement with Union Carbide Corporation to further reduce ethylene oxide emissions at its facility in Institute, Kanawha County.

Scott Mandirola, deputy cabinet secretary for the DEP said this agreement establishes new requirements above and beyond state and federal regulations.

“The new regulations are expected to identify and fix leaks 50 to 1,000 times lower than what was required by current regulation,” Mandirola said.

The agreement also requires a site-specific screening program for railcars containing ethylene oxide in its service.

Mandirola said Union Carbide will continue to work with the DEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop improved monitoring for ethylene oxide emissions around the facility.

“The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection conducted a short term ethylene oxide air monitoring project in 2022,” said Mandirola. “Which sampled seven sites in and around the chemical facility in Institute in South Charleston over four 24 hour periods.”

A public meeting on the final report will be held Thursday, March 2, from 6-8 p.m. at the Wilson Union Hall on campus at West Virginia State University.

The agency’s final report on the project is now available on the DEP’s website.

Union Carbide Seeks Renewal Of Air Permit At Institute Plant

Union Carbide transfers ethylene oxide from railroad tank cars to storage tanks in Institute, where it is then distributed to facilities in Institute and South Charleston.

Union Carbide is seeking to renew an air quality permit for its Institute plant, which emits a flammable gas that’s a known carcinogen.

Ethylene oxide is a colorless, flammable gas with a sweet odor. It’s used to make antifreeze, as well as pesticides and sterilizing agents.

Union Carbide transfers ethylene oxide from railroad tank cars to storage tanks in Institute, where it is then distributed to facilities in Institute and South Charleston.

Despite a flaring system to control fugitive emissions, some of the gas does escape.

According to Union Carbide’s permit application with the Department of Environmental Protection, the Institute facility emits 400 pounds of ethylene oxide per year, with the potential to emit as much as three tons.

DEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are monitoring ethylene oxide levels in the air in the Kanawha Valley. They are supposed to release a report by the end of this year.

The public can comment on Union Carbide’s permit application through Nov. 14. The permit number is R30-03900005-2022.

W.Va. Chemical Valley Featured In Film Documentaries

West Virginia’s community of Institute is featured in two documentaries that examine environmental safety and accountability. Both films will be screened outdoors on Thursday, Oct. 5 at Institute's Shawnee Regional Park.

West Virginia’s community of Institute is featured in two documentaries that examine environmental safety and accountability.

The mini-documentaries are part of the series “Films for Our Future” and are hosted by Our Future West Virginia and the North Carolina production company, Working Films.

Chemical Valley follows the community of Institute in Kanawha County and explores the conflict of an economy dependent on chemical plants.

Out of Air examines what happens when environmental resources are turned into a commodity and ultimately who benefits.

Kathy Ferguson, interim executive director of Our Future West Virginia, said the movies underscore how communities of color and lower wealth are disproportionately impacted by environmental injustices.

She said Chemical Valley highlights the conflict and struggles of economies that rely on jobs from plants that produce chemical emissions like ethylene oxide.

“It’s just a new chemical,” Ferguson said. “I like to refer to it as the chemical du jour that we’re having to suffer and struggle with, and how we can stop these things from happening.”

According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Union Carbide and Specialty Products have emitted ethylene oxide at sites near Institute and South Charleston.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency’s 2018 National Air Toxics Assessment data revealed that six of 90 census tracts with the highest cancer risk from the chemical were in Kanawha County.

Ferguson said Out of Air explores what can happen in the future if toxic air pollution is not stopped by transitioning away from petrochemical industries and reducing the carbon footprint.

She said filmmaker Jessie B. Evans and his futuristic sci-fi short film captures the impact of past tragic incidents and the future of chemical emissions like ethylene oxide in the valley.

Both films will be screened outdoors on Thursday, Oct. 5 at Institute’s Shawnee Regional Park.

Chemical Valley will be shown again at Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema in Charleston on Oct. 10, 17 and 24.

March 31, 1943: The First Buna-S Synthetic Rubber Shipped at Institute

On March 31, 1943, the first Buna-S synthetic rubber was shipped from Union Carbide’s plant at Institute in Kanawha County. It was a significant development in our nation’s fight against the Axis powers during World War II.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japan had cut off America’s access to 90 percent of the world’s natural rubber supply. Fortunately, the federal government had anticipated this development and asked the chemical giant Union Carbide to develop methods for producing butadiene and styrene, which could be used to make synthetic rubber. Carbide quickly perfected the process and built the plant at Institute.

Institute became the largest government synthetic rubber plant and the only one whose production was totally integrated—from ethyl alcohol to the final product. During World War II, the Institute plant produced 60 percent of the Buna-S synthetic rubber made from ethyl alcohol in the United States.

After the war, the government discontinued the synthetic rubber program, and the plant was shut down. Union Carbide purchased the facilities and began a massive conversion to produce other chemicals and add new facilities at Institute.