Cases

Halogenated Solvents

In Brief:

The EPA has issued a rule which allows large industrial plants using halogenated solvent cleaners to emit unsafe levels of several pollutants, including methylene chloride (MC), perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), and 1,1,1-trichloroetheylene (TCA). Three of these pollutants are probable or possible human carcinogens, and all four cause adverse non-cancer health effects, including nerve, liver and kidney damage. All pollutants are also volatile organic pollutants that contribute to ozone pollution. 

Earthjustice is challenging this rule on behalf the Sierra Club and PennFuture, a Pennsylvania environmental group that has identified extraordinarily high cancer risks from two factories in Collegeville, PA that use halogenated solvent cleaners.

Updated: October 10, 2007

Case #1667