It Was Biden - Not Trump - That Exempted NJ Hazardous Air Polluters From Clean Air Standards
Biden Executive Order Issued In Final Days BEFORE Trump
NJ Spotlight Got The Story Wrong On Federal And State Fronts
"It speaks volumes about the corruption of the regulatory process that lobbyists for the commercial sterilization industry (medical devices are involved, so are they an off shoot of big pharma?) could convince two Presidents of very different ideological dispositions to issue novel Presidential Exemptions under the Clean Air Act."
Last week, I wrote to criticize the NJ Spotlight coverage of exemptions from Clean Air Act hazardous air pollutant emission requirements because they failed to mention the NJ DEP role in those exemptions, as well as exceedances of NJ's air pollution cancer risk standards and failure to comply with NJ's environmental justice law, see:
I've got some news for the good folks over at NJ Spotlight: the Trump EPA is a very easy target, but the NJ DEP, led by former corporate lawyer Shawn LaTourette, was just as bad as the Trump EPA in failing to protect NJ communities and workers from toxic air emissions from chemical plants....
NJ Spotlight wrote the story out of the DC Office and focused exclusively on Trump and EPA, and therefore missed a huge part of the story and again gave the NJ DEP a pass
Well, I have even more news for NJ Spotlight.
They got the story completely wrong. A Biden Executive Order established the exemptions BEFORE Trump took office!
Trump did issue an Executive Order on July 17, 2025 that, among others, exempted two NJ facilities from Clean Air Act hazardous air pollutant emissions requirements for the known carcinogen ethylene oxide. That is true.
But President Biden had issued a prior Executive Order on January 16, 2025 that did virtually the same thing, see:
To advance orderly implementation of the EtO Rule, I am therefore establishing a process, provided below, for considering requests for Presidential exemptions, the duration of which shall be as short as possible and no longer than two years. This process will ensure consideration of such requests in the exceptional circumstances in which a commercial sterilizer can demonstrate that, notwithstanding due diligence and best efforts, it will be unable to meet a covered standard or limitation required by the EtO Rule before the compliance deadline due to the unavailability of control technology for the facility, leading to likely shutdown of the facility, and the best available information demonstrates that the shutdown of the facility will likely lead to a serious disruption to the supply of medical products, such as medical devices and pharmaceuticals, necessary for America’s national security and public health.
Typically, outgoing Democratic Presidents act in their final days to adopt stricter environmental regulations - they let the Republicans issue the "midnight rollbacks" (with the exception of Bill Clinton, who issued more than George Bush).
The only difference was that the Biden exemptions came with a process for EPA to review, while Trump found facts and issued the exemption unilaterally by Presidential decree.
Here is the side - by - side text:
Sec. 2. Implementation of a Process for Considering Presidential Exemptions. The Administrator of the EPA (Administrator) shall receive requests for a Presidential exemption from a standard or limitation in the EtO Rule under section 112(i)(4) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 7412(i)(4)), review them, and advise the President regarding whether to grant them through the following process:
Notably, the elaborate bureaucratic Biden process did NOT provide for public hearing and public comment on the exemption sought by the polluter. The Biden process was limited to a public notice when an exemption request was filed and after a the exemption was granted, along with a report to Congress on behalf of the President, as required under the Clean Air Act.
A public hearing and comment opportunity would trigger strong public opposition, as people do NOT want to be poisoned by corporate polluters emitting carcinogens into their community.
So much for Democracy.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7412(i)(4), do hereby proclaim that certain stationary sources subject to the EtO Rule, as identified in Annex I of this proclamation, are exempt from compliance with the EtO Rule for a period of 2 years beyond the EtO Rule’s relevant compliance dates (Exemption).
The technology to implement the EtO Rule is not available. Such technology does not exist in a commercially viable form sufficient to allow implementation of and compliance with the EtO Rule by the compliance dates set forth in the EtO Rule.
Like the dictator he is, Trump rejected the process of governing (i.e. finding facts, applying law, delegating to experts at government agencies, etc) and simply ignored the Clean Air Act requirement to report to Congress under section 112(i)(4) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 7412(i)(4)).
Like the corporate Democrats always do, Biden spun his exemption as an attempt to establish "orderly implementation" of air toxics standards. At least he used technical terms for what he was doing.
But Trump went all red meat full on Project 2025 - he touted his approach to provide "regulatory relief" in order to "promote American Security".
Sadly, the results would have been the same: corporate deregulation and more pollution for people.
And it speaks volumes about the corruption of the regulatory process that the lobbyists for the commercial sterilization industry (medical devices are involved, so are they an off shoot of big pharma?) could convince two Presidents of very different ideological dispositions to issue novel Presidential Exemptions under the Clean Air Act.
Guess there were good people on both sides! (snark).