Denka closes neoprene plant criticized for harmful emissions

The neoprene maker Denka Performance Elastomer (DPE) is ceasing production at a plant near LaPlace, Louisiana that regulators have scrutinized for harmful emissions. While the Donald J. Trump administration has promised to relieve the regulatory pressure, DPE says the cost of controlling emissions has rendered the plant unprofitable.

Neoprene, also known as polychloroprene, is an elastic rubber used to make wet suits, hoses, gaskets, and many other products. The starting material, chloroprene, which the US Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a likely carcinogen, is released into the air during production.

DPE’s parent company, the Japanese firm Denka, agreed to buy the Louisiana plant from DuPont in 2014. The EPA released an assessment in 2015 showing high levels of chloroprene around the facility, so the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality started collecting air quality data. In 2017, DPE agreed to reduce its chloroprene emissions. The company says it spent $35 million to install equipment that cut chloroprene emissions by 85% compared to 2014 levels.

Despite the progress, the EPA filed a complaint in 2023 that sought to force DPE to further reduce chloroprene emissions. The agency argued that they posed a threat to the health of surrounding communities, where a majority of residents are Black. In April 2024, the EPA created a new regulation capping chloroprene emissions. DPE appealed the rule, claiming that it didn’t give the company enough time to comply and that it unfairly singled out its facility—the only US site that was making neoprene.

After Trump’s election, things started to turn in DPE’s favor. In March, the Trump EPA dropped its lawsuit against DPE and said it would reconsider the 2024 regulation limiting chloroprene emissions. But in a statement, DPE says there’s no guarantee the regulation will be completely reversed. In addition to regulatory pressure, the company blames the plant closure on falling demand for neoprene and the rising cost of raw materials, labor, and energy.

DPE stopped production last month for maintenance. The firm says that it hasn’t decided whether to permanently close the facility and that it is considering multiple options, including selling the plant as a whole or the infrastructure as the base for a new project. Meanwhile, Denka says it will supply customers of the Louisiana facility from its polychloroprene plant in Omi, Japan.

Denka says it will take a $110 million charge to account for the closure. DPE had about 250 employees as of the end of 2024.

Dangerous chloroprene emissions made the Louisiana plant a specific target for regulators, but Yuan-Sheng Yu, a chemical industry analyst with the intelligence firm Lux Research, says the decision to close the plant fits into a broader chemical industry trend. “Facilities are being closed for similar reasons,” he says. “High energy costs, high feedstock costs, environmental regulation pressures, and increased competition from lower-cost sources.”