Louisiana Judge Tosses Denka Dismissal Bid in Chemical Rule Case

Denka Performance Elastomer LLC’s request to block the EPA’s bid for emergency shutdown of its plant in LaPlace, Louisiana, was tossed by a district judge.

The chemical manufacturing company tried to convince Judge Carl J. Barbier of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana that the Environmental Protection Agency was skirting around legal rulemaking processes in order to establish emission limits without notice-and-comment.

The agency in September revived its legal attempt to impose a rare Clean Air Act Section 303 order on the neoprene plant, which gives the agency power to temporarily shutdown operations in cases of ...