Stop EPA’s Sneak Attack on the Clean Air Act, Our Health & The Environment
Unfortunately, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has sneakily slipped a concerning provision into its draft rule on air curtain incinerators (which is a concerning enough rule on its own!) Buried on page 17 of the rule is one paragraph that would significantly deregulate most of America’s “chemical recycling” facilities, by removing pyrolysis units from the Clean Air Act’s Section 129 protections.
Make no mistake: this change would have major implications for air quality, public health, and environmental justice.
What You Can Do
Please submit a public comment urging the EPA urging the agency tocontinue regulating pyrolysis facilities under Section 129 of the Clean Air Act. It may sound complex, but it all boils down to ensuring clean air.
Click here to submit your comment to EPA through the official portal now.
Please personalize your message but make sure to cover the following bullet points:
“Chemical recycling” pyrolysis facilities must remain regulated under full Clean Air Act coverage.
Please do NOT remove the reference to “pyrolysis/combustion units” in the definition of “municipal waste combustion unit” in the Other Solid Waste Incinerators New Source Performance Standards and Emissions Guidelines.
Our health and the health of our environment depend on the continued regulation of these polluting facilities under section 129 of the Clean Air Act.
Finally, please do not abandon the federal regulation of air curtain incinerators which are basically metal dumpsters, which burn vegetative waste, without any pollution controls. Chipping and mulching wood waste is a much safer option.
It should only take you a few minutes, at most, to submit your comment and it is crucial that the EPA hear from you before the May 4 deadline.
What's At Stake
“Chemical recycling” via pyrolysis—the high-heat processing of plastic waste to make fuels or chemical feedstocks—can emit hazardous air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and other contaminants. Currently, pyrolysis facilities are regulated under Other Solid Waste Incinerators in Section 129 of the Clean Air Act, which sets strong emission limits and monitoring requirements for waste processing units. EPA’s proposed rule would remove this federal oversight. There is no other section of the Clean Air Act that adequately regulates these facilities. This change would allow pyrolysis units of all kinds to avoid the stringent safeguards that protect communities.
Why Did This Happen?
It's not a coincidence. Sixteen representatives for the plastics and fossil fuel industries visited EPA headquarters in Washington, DC a few weeks before the agency released this proposed rule. Read more about the connection in this article from Inside Climate News.
The EPA's attempt to hide this proposed exemption and give the public too little time to provide input are undoubtedly being done at the request of the plastic and petrochemical industry.
The industry's goal is to create more and more plastic, build more “chemical recycling” facilities to "deal" with it, remove regulations to allow their facilities to pollute with impunity, harming our health, polluting our environment and further entrenching us all in the plastic pollution crisis they've created in the process.
We Must Speak Up!
On Monday, April 6, Beyond Plastics president, Judith Enck and National Plastics Organizer, Rita O'Connell testified in opposition to this proposed change at the EPA’s public hearing, along with a number of inspiring allies.
Now it's your turn to speak up!
The EPA needs to hear from you by May 4 that this backdoor attempt to exempt pyrolysis facilities from Clean Air Act protections is completely unacceptable.
Please join us in speaking up now to try to stop this - click here to submit your comment to EPA through the official portal.
Although we encourage you to include the bullet points above, it's important to personalize your message as it will make a much stronger impact if it is in your own words and explains why maintaining strong clean air protections matters to you and your community.
Let’s make sure that the EPA hears the following messages loud and clear:
“Chemical recycling” pyrolysis facilities must remain regulated under the Clean Air Act;
The agency must not abandon the federal regulation of air curtain incinerators;
The American people are depending on the EPA to do its job to protect their health and their environment as is the agency's stated purpose.
Please note: If you'd prefer, you can also submit your public comment by emailing it to the address: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov and just make sure to include Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0068 in the subject line of your message.