President Donald Trump’s administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a synthetic rubber manufacturer accused of worsening cancer risks for residents in a majority-Black community near its Louisiana plant, reports The Associated Press.
The move would undo one of former President Joe Biden’s highest-profile targets as part of an environmental justice effort aimed at improving conditions in places disproportionately harmed by decades of industrial pollution. Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency sued the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in early 2023, alleging it posed an unacceptable cancer risk and demanding that it cut toxic emissions of cancer-causing chloroprene.
The AP sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the action has not yet been made public, said court action is expected in coming days. The plan to drop the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana, was first reported by The New York Times.
The Trump administration has moved quickly to reverse the environmental justice focus of Biden’s administration, placing roughly 170 environmental justice-focused staffers on administrative leave. Dropping the Denka case relieves pressure on a company that has spent years fighting federal lawsuits and investigations over its impact on public health.
