EPA suspends ethylene oxide monitoring in Verona

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced earlier this month that it was suspending its monitoring of ethylene oxide (EtO) in Verona, using special equipment located on the grounds of the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Scrutiny over the promised monitoring revealed a lack of information reaching the public about current conditions in the city.
On Aug. 7, the city received an EPA fact sheet that accompanied the announcement that local monitoring was ending. The fact sheet graph documented EtO emissions from BCP Ingredients in Verona. BCP Ingredients, owned by the international corporation Balchem, uses ethylene oxide in its processes.
The fact sheet concluded with the statement, “EPA continued ambient monitoring beyond August 2025 when BCP Ingredients installed the required scrubber. Ethylene oxide concentrations continued to decrease after the scrubber installation. With these sustained decreases, EPA is concluding ambient monitoring in August 2026.”
Ben Washburn, public affairs director for EPA Region 7, observed that a scatter plot chart showing daily average EtO concentrations showed “a consistent decrease in average concentrations beginning after the scrubber installation, which was a part of the 2024 consent decree.”
 
Cancer risk 27 times higher than EPA acceptable 
A known carcinogen, particularly impacting breast cancer, ethylene oxide was revealed as a concerning emission by the EPA in a public meeting held with Verona city officials in 2018. EPA updated its assessment of risks from EtO in 2016. The volume of EtO emitted from the BCP Ingredients plant gradually became public knowledge through a series of public meetings. 
According to a November 2021 report from Pro Publica, the cancer risk in Verona was 27 times higher than the EPA’s acceptable risk. 
In December 2024, the EPA and BCP reached a consent agreement in Federal District Court in Springfield. The EPA launched an examination of the plant in January 2023, finding other violations, resulting in fines and penalties totaling $193,673 reached through negotiation and announced in December 2023. Concerns at that time included exposure to employees. 
After concerns about EtO surfaced, EPA reported BCP emitted 1.81 tons of EtO in 2017. In calendar year 2020, that amount had reduced to just under a half a ton, part of three years of consecutive declines. Those numbers followed a “stack test” to evaluate BCP’s scrubber on its emissions pipe. Another test was run in February 2023. 
Additional concerns arose after the accidental spillage of approximately 1,290 pounds of EtO, an odorless invisible gas, on April 8, 2022 during the unloading of a railroad car at the plant. Corrective steps were taken to reduce spillage from rail transfers and at shift change, when emissions measured higher. 
At a public meeting on Oct. 26, 2022, Mike Davis, administrator for EPA Region 7 with the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, pledged to set up an EtO monitoring station at Third and Washington, measuring weekly collections that would be posted on an EPA website. Davis said EPA planned “to validate BCP’s self-reporting.”
Prior to setting up the monitoring station in Verona, EPA estimated EtO emissions from a monitoring base in Springfield and received estimates from BCP on its own emissions. 
As a matter of context, speaking for the EPA, Ben Washburn stated, “EPA has maintained communication with Verona city officials since 2019 with regular briefings about air monitoring efforts, hosted public availability sessions, and responded directly to community concerns. EPA has also coordinated with BCP Ingredients, Inc. regarding the air monitoring results since October 2024. 
The facility has used this information to make voluntary improvements, which have contributed to a measurable reduction in ethylene oxide concentrations in Verona.” 
 
Community still concerned
However, details about the status of the EtO testing while it was underway apparently did not migrate to the general public in Verona to further allay concern. Mayor Amy Spears issued the following statement: “The city has not been made privy to any details or information regarding the emissions or the amount of emissions from EPA or any other source.” Previously, Spears stated EPA officials informed her that details of the EtO testing were between EPA and BCP. 
Jeff Borchers, corporate communications director for Balchem, issued the following statement for BCP Ingredients: “BCP has been informed by the EPA that it has concluded its ambient air monitoring of ethylene oxide in the vicinity of our facility. At all times, we fully supported EPA’s efforts to better understand the quality of the air in our community. Ethylene oxide can be emitted from a number of sources in our daily lives, including car and truck exhausts, cigarette smoke, decay of plants and trees, and even our own bodies, which presents a unique set of technical challenges that must be considered when evaluating monitoring data. 
“While BCP continues to operate well within our air permit emission limits, we are committed to continuous improvement, which included the installation of an additional scrubber in August 2025 as part of a new scrubber project, along with a number of other initiatives. We will continue to work in partnership with all local and federal agencies, including the EPA, to ensure that our facility continues to be safe for our employees and the community of Verona.”
The suspension of monitoring coincides with advertising by the Independence/Kansas City area-based law firm Humphrey Farrington and McClain, seeking clients for a class action lawsuit seeking damages for exposure to EtO. The law firm reportedly has several Verona residents who have agreed to pursue compensation. 
Ken McClain, speaking for the law firm, said their position is, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” They are taking the position that exposure to EtO is “the likely cause” of the Pro Publica’s calculation that the cancer risk in Verona is 27 times the EPA’s assessment of acceptable risk, adding, “A one-in-300 risk of cancer is out of this world.” 
McClain said his firm is working with clients to find options. 
“They don’t care,” he said of the industry. “They’re going to keep doing it until somebody stops them. We’re trying to find the medium to stop them.”