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Skip to content Permission to Poison? Hundreds of companies ask for exemptions to the Clean Air Act Investigation finds more than 180 facilities across 38 states and Puerto Rico received temporary waivers to tighter toxic air emission standards The Trump administration so far has exempted over 180 facilities across 38 states and Puerto Rico from various Clean Air Act rules. By and Mark Olade Published Apr. 27, 2026 at 8:16 PM GMT+2 | Updated seconds ago This story was reported as part of a partnership between ProPublica and InvestigateTV. BATON ROUGE, La. ( InvestigateTV ) — As Tonga Nolan walks through her old neighborhood, which is less than two miles from the nation's tallest state capitol, happy childhood moments are now her most cherished memories. She moved away from her Lupine Avenue home in 2007 after she was diagnosed with cancer. She believes the proximity of her house to heavy industry led to her ailment and the ailments of her neighbors. “It was 13 people off Lupine Avenue that passed away of some sort of cancer and they all passed away and went home to God,” Nolan said. Nolan's former block is encircled by the petrochemical industry, part of an 85-mile stretch from New Orleans to Baton Rouge dubbed “Cancer Alley.” At least 45,000 people call this corridor home, living in the shadow of those plants. “It was something in the air that caused them to catch this. It's no way and not a coincidence that 13 people all caught cancer and then later died back-to-back in threes. It just kept happening,” Nolan said. EPA documented violations at nearby plant Years ago, the EPA documented problems at a plastics plant near her former home. In 2009, the EPA ordered Formosa Plastics to pay millions in fines after inspectors cited extensive violations to the Clean Air Act. The most recent EPA reports show the plant has been noncompliant for the last 12 of 12 quarters, with significant violations. The EPA says vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen, and the plant has had releases triggering mandatory reports to the EPA. Nolan's frustration was compounded after learning recently that same plant applied for and was granted an exemption to the Clean Air Act. Through a public records request, our partners at ProPublica found Formosa Plastic's Baton Rouge plant was among those that applied for an exemption to a Clean Air Act rule. Formosa Plastics executives wrote to the EPA in March 2025 to make their case for an exemption. In their email to the agency, they wrote that the company needed a longer period of time to design and install the technology necessary to comply with the rule and that the plastic synthesized at the plant was important to national security because of its use in goods like blood bags. “Due to the complexities and challenges that the rule currently presents, we request that the President grant a 2-year compliance date exemption for related emission limits and standards, performance testing, monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements,” wrote Jay Su, executive vice president of Formosa Plastics. The administration granted the request in July 2025. Trump administration creates exemption process The HON Rule is among nearly a dozen different rules that make up the Clean Air Act requiring at least 220 chemical plants in the United States to implement stricter emission controls by 2026 or 2027 to reduce cancer risks in communities. But shortly after taking office in 2025, President Trump's administration set up an email address where facilities could request an exemption from nine toxic air emission standards, including the HON Rule. ProPublica found through a public records request that President Donald Trump has so far exempted more than 180 facilities across 38 states and Puerto Rico from various Clean Air Act rules. Twenty-five companies were granted exemptions to the HON Rule at 52 individual locations due to national security interests and concerns over the availability of the technology needed to comply — the only ways the president can grant an exemption under the Clean Air Act. Arizona copper smelter among facilities exempted Freeport‑McMoRan's copper smelter in Miami, Arizona, about 90 miles east of Phoenix, received an exemption to another Clean Air Act rule for these two reasons as well. Rose Rodriguez is among the nearly 10,000 people who live near that smelter. More than 1,000 miles from Nolan, Rodriguez is constantly worried about the air she breathes in Arizona. “I wonder what's coming down, raining down on us. There's this fine dust that collects on our windshields in the morning,” Rodriguez said. Her sentiments are echoed by many, but others also point out the good that smelter brings to their town. “The copper industry is what put this town on the map. It employs hundreds of people in this town and takes care of a lot of families. That's very important to this community,” Derryl Meeks said. Eduardo Sanchez echoes those sentiments and believes there's a very positive side to the smelter because it employs a lot of people. White House defends exemptions In defending the authority to grant the exemptions to complying with Clean Air Act rules that were updated in recent years, the White House cited national security concerns and said the timeline for compliance would require shutdowns or massive capital investments before any proven pathway to compliance exists. “A disruption of this capacity would weaken key supply chains, increase dependence on foreign producers and impair our ability to respond effectively in a time of crisis,” the White House said. Those words have environmental advocates, like Mary Lee Orr in Baton Rouge, crying foul over what she calls excuses being used to protect polluters. “It's alarming. I don't know if that's necessary for our national security, but it alarms me because it is putting off doing what's right for our air, for people inhaling these things,” Orr said. “It always should have been a right. Always. It's our right. People who fought and died to have this wonderful country need to be able to feel like we can grow things in our garden, and we can drink our water,” Orr said. “Certainly, you can buy a bottle of water, people used to tell me, but you can't buy a bottle of air.” Residents near multiple exempted plants Sharon Levigne is in charge of Rise St. James, a grassroots organization battling any petrochemical expansion in Cancer Alley. Her house is located near seven petrochemical plants that requested and received exemptions from the Trump administration. “Every household you would go to within this 10-mile radius, someone has died of cancer or from the pollution that the industry is putting into our air and our water and our soil,” Levigne said. Earl Tassin, a cancer survivor himself, said cancer destroyed his family. “My grandmother, my grandfather, my mama, my daddy, my older sister, my other sister. I had one brother die of cancer. I had another brother die from cancer, and I had another brother die from cancer,” Tassin told us. Tassin and Levigne believe the frequency at which the people they love are being diagnosed with cancer is no coincidence. “All they [petrochemical companies] care about is making money, and they don't care who has to die for them to make money,” Levigne said. Levigne said she has a nagging fear that won't go away living in Cancer Alley. “That I'm going to die before my time. And I know it. I feel it,” Levigne said, “because I don't have the funds to pack up and leave.” Back on Lupine Avenue, Nolan's afternoon stroll rekindles childhood memories of families, friends and loved ones. Each step carries the weight of all the people who are no longer here. “I'm not angry, I am hopeful. I'm hopeful that things will change for the better,” Nolan said. “As long as I keep looking up to God, anything better can happen every day. I am optimistic.” The exemptions give approved facilities a two-year pause on the law's mandates. InvestigateTV reached out to Formosa Plastics and Freeport-McMoRan for a comment on this story. We did not hear back. Copyright 2026 Gray Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.