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Dear Editor:

In the four years Denka Performance Elastomer has operated its LaPlace Neoprene facility, the company has done its best to operate safely and responsibly and reduce its environmental footprint. The company has spent more than $35 million on equipment reducing the facility’s emissions, monitored air quality near the facility continually, and met with residents and local leaders, all while maintaining the second-most jobs of any company in the parish.

It hasn’t been easy. Less than a month after DPE came to St. John, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a report that claimed the facility, which had been operating under previous ownership for more than 50 years, was contributing to some of the highest risks of health impacts to nearby residents in the country.

Why? One EPA laboratory study suggested levels of chloroprene, a chemical the company uses to produce synthetic rubber above, an extremely low concentration known as 0.2, could contribute to health risks.

That suggestion was concerning, but also confusing. It contradicted every other scientific study on chloroprene and the state’s own health statistics – which reflect actual residents’ health.

The facts are plain: that one study suggests two cancers to be related to chloroprene exposure at the levels reported near the facility – not asthma or other illnesses – but decades of research on facility workers and St. John residents show there simply aren’t any more cases of those cancers here than anywhere else in the state.

So what went wrong? EPA’s study had fundamental issues. For example, the agency made assumptions based on the most sensitive mice species, even while information on actual humans showed those assumptions, and other elements of the study, couldn’t be right. So a scientific research group conducted a more accurate, advanced model.

That model concluded EPA’s flawed 2010 risk suggestion could be over 100 times higher than it should be, and is supported by the actual impacts we observed in humans – not mice – who work in the facility or live near it. The risk EPA suggested for the facility’s neighbors, like the dramatically high cancer rates it suggested, simply never existed.

The model has been reviewed by other scientists, published in the scientific journal Inhalation Toxicology and accepted by EPA for the agency’s internal review process. If confirmed, the agency could then use the model to update its original suggestion to better reflect reality.

We’ve already made great progress. The facility’s emissions are more than 85 percent lower than they were when DPE purchased it, and concentrations of chloroprene measured near the facility are over 70 percent lower on average. The company will continue to work to reduce its environmental footprint where possible, and to be a responsible operator and good neighbor to the people of St. John the Baptist Parish.

Jim Harris

On behalf of: Denka Performance Elastomer, LLC

560 Highway 44, LaPlace, LA 70068