Shell Chemical: a history of ethylene oxide emissions, environmental violations, and settlements
Shell Chemical has been facing complaints and legal scrutiny over the ethylene oxide emissions of its petrochemical facilities. EtO is emitted as a colorless gas, and potentially odorless at lower levels, which means that workers and community residents around Shell Chemical facilities may have been exposed to these emissions for decades without realizing the dangers. Several of Shell Chemical's plants in the United States have been involved in settlements and lawsuits, including the Shell Chemical Geismar Plant in Louisiana.
Shell started operating its Geismar Chemical Plant in 1967. The plant is located south of Baton Rouge along the Mississippi River. The plant employs around 600 workers and 400 contractors. It is one of the twelve Louisiana facilities that have been given a two-year exemption from the EPA’s pollution limits according to the Hazardous Organic National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (HON). In 2024, Shell Chemical settled with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) for exceeding emission limits, including ethylene oxide emissions.
Ethylene oxide claims and lawsuits against companies like Shell Chemical involve different types of cancers strongly linked to ethylene oxide exposure, including breast cancer (male or female), Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, liver cancer, and lung cancer.
Filing an ethylene oxide exposure claim against Shell Chemical
Employees of the Shell Chemical Geismar Plant and residents who lived within four miles of the facility are eligible to file claims for any of the cancer types mentioned above. Our attorneys here at ELG Law have decades of experience in handling toxic exposure claims. We only need your medical documents (proof of cancer diagnosis) and your employment or residence records to determine your eligibility. If our attorneys have found your case to be eligible, they will start the filing process immediately.
