Allyn West 2 minute read # Big polluters get exemptions. Your lungs don’t. Published: October 30, 2026 Some nights the flares that burn off excess toxic gases at the Indorama ethylene oxide plant in Groves, Texas, are so powerful they rattle the windows of the house across the street. Often — 500 times since 2003, state records show — the plant malfunctions and releases extra pollution beyond what its permits already allow. Five hundred times. ![A flare at an industrial facility](/sites/default/files/styles/1440px_width_scale/public/2026-10/edit20240703_Port_Arthur_EDF_0025%20%281%29.jpg?itok=7-p1YXTO) Flaring at an industrial facility in east Texas. (*Annie Mulligan and Mark Mulligan*) Not incidentally, a few years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that the cancer risk from ethylene oxide for people who live near Indorama was 20 times higher than the highest acceptable cancer risk. Twenty times. This is another way of saying that there’s already too much pollution in Groves. The community ranks in [the 98th percentile nationally for vulnerability to cancer risk](https://map.climatevulnerabilityindex.org/map/air_tox_total_cancer_risk/tract-48245010500-groves-tx?mapBoundaries=Tract&mapFilter=7&reportBoundaries=Tract&geoContext=State) from toxic air pollution. But the plant was still given one of the Trump administration’s exemptions to ignore certain standards under our national clean air law. Topics - [ Climate and energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=21) - [ People and planet ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=34) - [ Clean air ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=35) - [ Energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=24) Share - [ LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/big-polluters-get-exemptions-your-lungs-dont "Share this on LinkedIn") - [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/big-polluters-get-exemptions-your-lungs-dont&text=Drawing on government records, a New York Times investigation reveals how the Trump administration gave the country’s worst polluters a “free pass” from complying with certain clean air laws. 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"Share this on Telegram") ## Act now [Don’t let the Trump administration give the worst polluters a free pass](https://actnow.edf.org/a/epa-pollution-pass) A new investigation by *The New York Times* [provides the most detailed look](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/climate/trump-epa-chemical-air-pollution.html) to date at how the exemptions came to pass, revealing the process through which the administration maneuvered to allow some of the country’s dirtiest facilities to do their worst, “prioritizing the economic interests of corporations and easing costs for polluting industries” at taxpayers’ expense. We’ve sketched out that process before, [here](https://thework.edf.org/p/click-here-to-pollute-with-impunity) and [here](https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/nearly-2-million-people-now-live-near-facility-presidential-exemption-pollute-more-map-tells). Trump’s EPA set up a special email address and invited hundreds of facilities to ask for exemptions for all kinds of pollutants. One request was sent from an iPhone: “Hello, I am a gas company looking for an exemption. How do I start?” It didn’t take much more than that. Companies didn’t even need to make a case, as it turns out, as long as they invoked “national security” or claimed certain technology wasn’t “widely available.” As the *Times* reports, “The president approved \[the exemptions\] even though the equipment was readily accessible and the industry’s national security claims had little detail to substantiate them.” So far, 71 coal plants, 71 chemical plants, 40 medical sterilizers, 19 steel-related facilities and [one copper smelter](https://thework.edf.org/i/207448977/more-polluter-passes) have received passes. At least 3.3 million people live within three miles of one of them. - [**Do you live near a polluter with a free pass? See the map.** ](https://www.edf.org/maps/epa-pollution-pass/) And what’s more? Even after the supposed deadline came and went, industrial facilities didn’t stop asking, and the Trump administration didn’t stop handing out exemptions, [records obtained](https://www.edf.org/media/behind-closed-doors-trump-epa-worked-white-house-help-polluters-avoid-enforcement) through the Freedom of Information Act by Environmental Defense Fund show. “Giving companies a pass to delay long-needed, commonsense pollution controls puts more Americans in harm’s way,” Erin Murphy, an attorney at EDF, said. *(This article is excerpted from* [*The Work*](https://open.substack.com/pub/theworknewsletter/p/your-lungs-arent-exempt)*, EDF’s free weekly newsletter on Substack. For more commentary like this,* [*subscribe here*](https://thework.edf.org/subscribe?utm_source=menu&simple=true&next=https%3A%2F%2Fthework.edf.org%2Fp%2Fyour-lungs-arent-exempt%3FtriedRedirect%3Dtrue)*.)* ### Don’t let the Trump administration give the worst polluters a free pass ## Environmental news that matters, straight to your inbox Topics - [ Climate and energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=21) - [ People and planet ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=34) - [ Clean air ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=35) - [ Energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=24) - [ LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/big-polluters-get-exemptions-your-lungs-dont "Share this on LinkedIn") - [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/big-polluters-get-exemptions-your-lungs-dont&text=Drawing on government records, a New York Times investigation reveals how the Trump administration gave the country’s worst polluters a “free pass” from complying with certain clean air laws. 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