Trump’s Medical Sterilizer Plant Emission Exemption Draws Suit

Jan. 28, 2026, 9:23 PM UTC

President Donald Trump‘s decision to exempt dozens of medical sterilizer facilities from federal emission limits for the carcinogenic chemical ethylene oxide came under fire from environmental and community groups in a new lawsuit Wednesday.

Several of the exempted facilities already have the technology to reduce harmful pollution, leaving the enforcement delay unnecessary under the Clean Air Act’s presidential exemption provision, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The CAA allows the president to release industrial operations from emissions regulations for two years only if control technologies aren’t widely available and if ...

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