President Donald Trump's administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a synthetic rubber manufacturer accused of worsening cancer risks for residents in a majority-Black community near its Louisiana plant, two sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The move would undo one of former President Joe Biden's highest-profile targets for an environmental justice effort aimed at improving conditions in places disproportionately harmed by decades of industrial pollution. Biden's Environmental Protection Agency sued the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in early 2023, alleging it posed an unacceptable cancer risk and demanding cuts in toxic emissions of cancer-causing chloroprene.
