What is happening with EPA's ethylene oxide rules under the current administration?

The EPA announced in March plans to revise Biden-era EtO rules, citing concerns that the standards threaten sterilization capacity and domestic supply of medical equipment. The proposed changes include replacing continuous real-time emissions monitoring requirements with an option for annual performance testing and parametric monitoring. The Biden-era rules had been projected to eliminate over 90% of EtO emissions from commercial sterilizers and reduce the number of people exposed to cancer risk by 92%.

What did the EPA previously say about SSV's emissions?

The EPA flagged SSV in 2022 as one of 23 medical sterilizers nationally with potentially dangerous EtO emission levels. At a 2023 town hall reported by the Henrico Citizen, the EPA said SSV had recently installed controls that had dramatically reduced emissions. Sierra Club's Virginia chapter had identified SSV as having the highest EPA RSEI risk score in the state as early as 2019, describing its potential health risk as 10,000 times higher than that of the entire state of Vermont.

What does Sterilization Services of Virginia do, and how long has it been operating?

SSV is a medical sterilization company that uses ethylene oxide to sterilize medical devices. Its Henrico facility opened in 1990 and occupies 76,000 square feet of processing and warehouse space. The company also operates a facility in Atlanta, Georgia. Its third facility, in South Memphis, Tennessee, closed in 2024 following sustained community activism against its EtO emissions.

What did Virginia DEQ say about SSV's rising fugitive emissions?

EPA toxics release inventory data cited in the report show that while SSV's stack emissions declined, fugitive emissions — leaks from valves, seals, and connectors — rose sharply, leaving total 2024 emissions above 2020 levels. A Virginia DEQ spokesperson told Hunterbrook the higher numbers were "due to calculation differences" and not reflective of an actual increase, and later clarified that the discrepancy stemmed from SSV misunderstanding how to report fugitive emissions — a methodology error the company has since corrected.

Who is Joe Goffman and what did he say about the EtO rollback?

Joe Goffman served as assistant administrator in the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation under both the Obama and Biden administrations. He told Hunterbrook that science suggests people living near a facility emitting thousands of pounds of EtO annually face elevated cancer risk, and criticized the current administration's legal argument that the Clean Air Act permits only one risk review for ethylene oxide. He characterized that argument as an attempt to prevent the EPA from acting on improved scientific understanding of EtO's health effects.

Hunterbrook: A 580-Pound EtO Leak at Virginia's Top Medical Sterilizer Likely Exposed 260,000 Residents — 71% of Them Black — While the Facility Sought an Exemption Claiming It Lacked Compliance Technology It Already Had

The April 9 release – 580 pounds of liquid EtO evaporating off the facility roof after a faulty check valve failure – exceeded SSV's entire annual permitted emissions in a single event, and residents were not notified. Hunterbrook's HYSPLIT plume model shows the gas reached residential neighborhoods roughly a mile away, with 71% of the most-exposed census blocks being majority Black – in a county that ranks third in Virginia for leukemia incidence among Black residents and seventh for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. SSV had sought its July 2025 presidential exemption by telling regulators the required compliance technology was unavailable; Virginia DEQ subsequently confirmed SSV had already installed that equipment and was equipped to meet 2028 standards ahead of schedule. At the federal level, the EPA is now moving to replace continuous real-time emissions monitoring with annual performance testing – a rollback the Biden-era rules had projected would otherwise eliminate over 90% of sterilizer EtO emissions and reduce the number of people at cancer risk by 92%.

Ticker: N/A (Sterilization Services of Virginia — private company)
Research Firm: Hunterbrook
Report URL: https://hntrbrk.com/ethylene-oxide-virginia/?ref=shortreport.fyi
Position Disclosure: Hunterbrook discloses a financial interest in stories it publishes; the report does not specify a short position in a publicly traded security.

Thesis

Hunterbrook argues that Sterilization Services of Virginia's Henrico facility poses a serious and ongoing ethylene oxide cancer risk to a predominantly Black community, that a major accidental release in April 2025 went unreported to residents, and that federal efforts to weaken Biden-era EtO rules are leaving those risks insufficiently controlled despite documented emissions problems.

580-Pound Roof Leak: On April 9, a faulty check valve released 580 pounds of liquid EtO onto the facility roof; as temperatures rose, the chemical evaporated and "dispersed into the atmosphere," per DEQ air inspection records. The DEQ issued a notice of violation on April 24 stating the release exceeded SSV's entire annual permitted emissions.
260,000 in Exposure Zone: Hunterbrook's NOAA HYSPLIT plume model shows the gas reached residential neighborhoods roughly a mile away, with more than 260,000 nearby residents likely exposed to elevated EtO levels.
Environmental Justice Framing: 71% of residents in the census blocks where modeled EtO concentrations reached or exceeded 1 microgram per cubic meter for at least 30 minutes during the release are Black. National Cancer Institute data for 2018–2022 show Henrico County ranks third in Virginia for leukemia incidence among Black residents, seventh for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and ninth for early breast cancer cases among Black patients — out of 95 counties.
Top U.S. Emitter: Per 2024 EPA toxics release inventory data, SSV was the fifth-largest EtO emitter in the U.S. and had the highest ethylene oxide emissions of any medical sterilizer in the country — ahead of major industrial chemical plants including BASF's Geismar, Louisiana facility and Eastman Chemical's Longview, Texas site.
Emissions Moving, Not Falling: Although stack emissions declined, fugitive emissions rose sharply enough that total facility EtO emissions in 2024 were higher than in 2020. Virginia DEQ attributed the higher fugitive numbers to a reporting methodology misunderstanding by SSV that has since been corrected — meaning the data are disputed.
Exemption Contradicts Own Claim: SSV was among 40 sterilizers granted a two-year presidential exemption from Biden-era rules in July 2025. In seeking that exemption, SSV stated in an email obtained by Hunterbrook that "the technology necessary to implement the standards is not available." Virginia DEQ subsequently told the Henrico Citizen that SSV had installed additional control equipment in 2025 and was already equipped to meet 2028 standards — two years early.
Longstanding Prior Warnings: The EPA flagged SSV in 2022 as one of 23 medical sterilizers nationally emitting potentially dangerous EtO levels, estimating a lifetime residential cancer risk of 100 in a million (assuming 24-hour daily exposure for 70 years). Sierra Club's Virginia chapter identified SSV as the highest-risk facility in the state as far back as 2019.
Federal Rollback Risk: The EPA announced in March plans to revise Biden-era EtO rules, including replacing continuous real-time emissions monitoring with an option for annual performance testing. The agency's 2024 rules had been projected to eliminate over 90% of sterilizer EtO emissions and reduce the number of people exposed to cancer risk by 92%.

Notable Details

A local mother of a nine-year-old said she was never notified about the April 9 release and only learned of it when Hunterbrook contacted her — despite her daughter having been near the facility that day.
The EPA's 2016 revised toxicity assessment concluded EtO is 30 times more carcinogenic to adults and 60 times more carcinogenic to children than the agency previously believed — a reassessment that directly underpins the now-contested Biden-era rules.
Sierra Club's 2019 report said SSV's potential health risk was 10,000 times higher than the potential health risk of the entire state of Vermont, based on its EPA RSEI score — the highest such score in Virginia at the time.
SSV's South Memphis facility, Sterilization Services of Tennessee, closed in 2024 following persistent community activism against its EtO emissions.
About 50% of all sterile medical devices in the U.S. are sterilized with ethylene oxide, per FDA data — the supply-chain dependency the EPA cited in March when announcing plans to revise the rules.

"We can't let these guys win on the absurd notion that Congress meant for the agency to remain ignorant while the rest of the world is increasing its understanding of human health effects of certain chemicals."

— Joe Goffman, former assistant administrator in the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, speaking to Hunterbrook about the current administration's legal argument that the Clean Air Act permits only one risk review for EtO.

FAQs

What happened at the Sterilization Services of Virginia facility in April 2025?

On April 9, a faulty check valve at SSV's Henrico, Virginia facility released 580 pounds of liquid ethylene oxide onto the facility's roof. As temperatures rose to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the chemical evaporated and dispersed into the atmosphere. The Virginia DEQ issued a notice of violation on April 24 stating the release exceeded the facility's entire annual permitted EtO emissions in a single incident.

How many people were exposed to ethylene oxide from the SSV leak?

Hunterbrook used NOAA's HYSPLIT atmospheric dispersion model to estimate the plume's path and concluded that more than 260,000 nearby residents were likely exposed to elevated ethylene oxide levels. The model showed the plume reaching residential neighborhoods approximately one mile from the facility.

Were residents notified about the April 9 ethylene oxide release?

Louisa Alice Dickison, a Richmond-area mother who lives near SSV's facility, told Hunterbrook she received no notification from authorities and only learned about the release when Hunterbrook contacted her. She said her nine-year-old daughter would have been near the facility on the day of the release.

Is Sterilization Services of Virginia a major ethylene oxide emitter?

Per 2024 EPA toxics release inventory data cited in the report, SSV was the fifth-largest EtO emitter in the entire United States and had the highest ethylene oxide emissions of any medical sterilizer in the country — more than large industrial chemical plants including BASF's Louisiana facility and Eastman Chemical's Texas site.

What is the cancer risk from ethylene oxide exposure near SSV?

The EPA flagged SSV in 2022 as one of 23 medical sterilizers nationally emitting potentially dangerous EtO levels and estimated a lifetime residential cancer risk near the facility at 100 in a million, based on 24-hour daily exposure over 70 years. The EPA's 2016 revised toxicity assessment found EtO is 30 times more carcinogenic to adults and 60 times more carcinogenic to children than previously thought.

Does the ethylene oxide risk from SSV disproportionately affect Black residents?

Hunterbrook's plume model found that 71% of residents in the census blocks where modeled EtO concentrations reached or exceeded 1 microgram per cubic meter for at least 30 minutes during the April 9 release are Black. National Cancer Institute data for 2018–2022 show Henrico County ranks third in Virginia for leukemia incidence among Black residents, seventh for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and ninth for early breast cancer cases among Black patients — out of 95 Virginia counties. Eastern Henrico, where SSV is located, is described in the report as primarily Black.

Why did SSV receive a presidential exemption from ethylene oxide rules?

SSV was one of 40 medical sterilization facilities granted a two-year exemption from Biden-era EtO rules in July 2025. In seeking the exemption, SSV stated in an email obtained by Hunterbrook that "the technology necessary to implement the standards is not available." Virginia DEQ subsequently told the Henrico Citizen that SSV had already installed additional control equipment in 2025 and was equipped to meet 2028 EtO standards two years ahead of schedule — a direct contradiction of the company's exemption claim.

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