Letter to the Hon. Andrew Wheeler, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency - Durbin, Duckworth, Foster, Lipinski, Schneider, Casten, Underwood Call On EPA To Use Its Authority & Prevent Use Of Ethylene Oxide At Sterigenics

Letter

Dear Administrator Wheeler:

Today, an alarming report was released by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) regarding incidences of cancer in Willowbrook, Illinois. The report confirms what many have feared: residents of the Willowbrook community--located near a Sterigenics facility that uses ethylene oxide (EtO), a known carcinogen--have higher incidences of certain cancers in comparison to the rest of the state. In response, we urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use its authority to prevent the use of EtO at Sterigenics until EPA can assure the Willowbrook community that EtO emissions from the facility no longer endanger public health.

In September, Senator Durbin sent a letter to the Director of IDPH, requesting an investigation into possible elevated cancer diagnoses in the Willowbrook community--a recommendation made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Today, IDPH released that report, which includes disturbing information about elevated cancer incidences in the population surrounding the Sterigenics facility, compared to the rest of the State of Illinois. These elevated cancer incidences include Hodgkin's lymphoma and breast cancer in women, and pediatric lymphoma--cancers that the EPA has identified as being directly linked to EtO inhalation.

In December 2016, EPA completed its years-long review Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of EtO. This assessment declared EtO to have an inhalation cancer risk that is 30 times higher than previously estimated. This new cancer risk estimate was then used in the EPA's most recent National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA), which models emissions to identify communities that may be subject to higher rates of cancer due to hazardous pollutants. From this assessment, as well as an ATSDR report specific to Sterigenics, Willowbrook was identified as an area of concern for higher cancer risks due to EtO emissions. Today's IDPH report confirms that the concerns raised by the ATSDR's report were justified.

The EPA also has identified two facilities in Lake County, Illinois--Medline Inc. in Waukegan and Vantage Specialty Chemicals Inc. in Gurnee--with EtO emissions that may be increasing cancer risks in the surrounding communities. We have requested on numerous occasions--in letters and conversations with the Administrator--that EPA begin ambient air monitoring at these facilities. Such monitoring would help discern whether or not the communities bordering the Medline and Vantage facilities are being exposed to high EtO emissions. To date, EPA has refused to conduct ambient air monitoring at these facilities in Lake County, and, instead, indicated that it will conduct dispersion modeling. EPA's suggested analysis not only side-steps our request, it also does not adequately address the residents' concerns about increased cancer risks and incidents due to EtO. While dispersion modeling can identify areas that may have higher EtO exposure, this analysis does not account for the impact of fugitive emissions, which are not released from the stack and have proven to be a significant source of EtO emissions in Willowbrook.

Members of the Willowbrook, Waukegan, and Gurnee communities deserve to live and raise families in a community where they do not have to worry that the air they breathe will cause them cancer. That is why we urge you to immediately use the full authority of the EPA to prevent the use of EtO at the Willowbrook Sterigenics site until the facility can meet EtO emissions limits set to protect public health. Further, we again request that EPA immediately begin ambient air monitoring at the two facilities in Lake County. It is the responsibility of the EPA to provide the necessary oversight and regulations to protect human health, and today's IDPH report shows that EPA is not doing enough.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, and we look forward to your prompt response.