West Virginia towns push back against air permits for chemical firm
Kanawha County residents are pushing back against a West Virginia industrial chemical company seeking state regulators' approval for two air permit requests. Ryan Kirkpatrick, climate and utility organizer for the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, said the company is asking the state to modify its existing permits to loosen emissions regulations at its facility in Dunbar-Institute, outside of Charleston. Union Carbide claimed the modified permits will not increase chemical emissions but residents disagree. "They're saying, 'Hey, we're not producing as much as we possibly could, so I feel like you guys should be a little bit less stringent on the regulations, the monitoring,'" Kirkpatrick asserted. Kirkpatrick explained residents are concerned about the effects of increased ethylene oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. Environmental groups, including Mom’s Clean Air Force , argued the changes would increase health risks for households, particularly children sensitive to air pollution. Kirkpatrick noted Dunbar-Institute, a historically Black community, has dealt with generations of higher exposure to pollutants and higher-than-average rates of cancer and illness. "Every house has someone who's either passed away with breast or lung cancer or testicular cancer. Those are like really, really common," Kirkpatrick observed. An activist told West Virginia regulators at a public
