Sterigenics Can Reopen: Judge

WILLOWBROOK, IL — A DuPage County judge ruled Friday that Sterigenics, the Willowbrook-based sterilization company that attorneys and victims claim has been responsible for several deaths due to their ethylene oxide emissions, can reopen. Circuit Court Judge Paul Fullerton approved a consent order that was earlier agreed to by the company and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, officials said.

As part of the consent order, Sterigenics must install new emissions capture and control systems and submit plans for testing the new systems at their WIllowbrook I plant before reopening. At the Willowbrook II plant, Sterigenics must still apply for and obtain a permit from the IEPA before reopening.

The facility will have to reduce ethylene oxide emissions to no more than 85 pounds per year. It was previously as high as 2,840 to 7,340 pounds per year between 2006 and 2018.

Sterigenics was shut down earlier this year after a seal order was put in place by the ILEPA. Since the agreement to allow them to reopen was announced, another several dozen lawsuits have been filed against the company.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin issued a joint statement following the judge's ruling.

"When our offices partnered to file a lawsuit against Sterigenics in 2018, we called upon and gave the Illinois General Assembly time to strengthen our state’s laws regulating sterilization facilities that emit ethylene oxide. With nearly unanimous support, the Legislature this spring passed the nation’s strictest requirements on ethylene oxide emissions at sterilization facilities, which were quickly signed into law by the governor. The consent order entered today mirrors and goes even further than the new law.

"The consent order gives our offices the tools to act quickly to protect the community and hold Sterigenics accountable for any future violations of Illinois’ new ethylene oxide restrictions or other state environmental laws. To be clear, nothing within the consent order guarantees that the Willowbrook facility will reopen in the immediate future – or that it will reopen at all. Under the consent order, Sterigenics’ Willowbrook facility is strictly prohibited from resuming sterilization operations until it constructs new emissions control systems that have been reviewed and approved by the Illinois EPA. The Attorney General’s office, the State’s Attorney’s office and the court will be closely monitoring each step Sterigenics takes to potentially reopen.

"Our offices are duty bound to enforce state laws as written and passed by the General Assembly. The new law signed this summer – while containing landmark restrictions of ethylene oxide emissions – allows any facility in compliance with the law to operate in the state of Illinois. While Illinois has acted to significantly reduce ethylene oxide emissions, the health concerns arising from the use of ethylene oxide and other harmful chemicals is an issue of national importance, and the conversations surrounding ethylene oxide emissions should continue at the federal level.”

Attorneys were again quick to express disgust at the agreement to allow Sterigenics to reopen. Antonio Romanucci of Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, one of several law firms representing victims allegedly sickened by Sterigenics, released this statement.

"Anyone who lives near Sterigenics will shudder to learn that this dangerous company will be allowed to reopen. They have proven time and again that they are irresponsible and willing to put countless lives in jeopardy by emitting the toxic chemical ethylene oxide into the surrounding atmosphere at high levels. For decades, they knowingly blasted a deadly chemical into the air. Hundreds of thousands of have been exposed and tens of thousands have been sickened. Now, thousands of victims are being represented in these lawsuits seeking justice. Countless more will be sickened in the future--and no one knows how many have already died as a result of this noxious poison. Sterigenics cannot be trusted, and should not be allowed to reopen and put even more lives at risk."