The Urethane Blog
April 6, 2023
Biden-Harris Administration Proposes to Strengthen Standards for Chemical and Polymers Plants, Dramatically Reduce Cancer Risks from Air Toxics
Proposal would reduce the number of people with elevated cancer risk by 96 percent in communities surrounding chemical plants, cut more than 6,000 tons of toxic pollution per year
April 6, 2023
Contact Information
EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)
WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to significantly reduce hazardous air pollutants from chemical plants, including the highly toxic chemicals ethylene oxide (EtO) and chloroprene. The reductions would dramatically reduce the number of people with elevated air toxics-related cancer risks in communities surrounding the plants that use those two chemicals, especially communities historically overburdened by air toxics pollution, and cut more than 6,000 tons of toxic air pollution a year.
The proposal advances President Biden’s commitment to ending cancer as we know it as part of the Cancer Moonshot and to securing environmental justice and protecting public health, including for communities that are most exposed to toxic chemicals. Administrator Michael Regan made the announcement at an event in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana – one of the communities the Administrator visited during his November 2021 Journey to Justice tour.
“For generations, our most vulnerable communities have unjustly borne the burden of breathing unsafe, polluted air,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “When I visited St. John the Baptist Parish during my first Journey to Justice tour, I pledged to prioritize and protect the health and safety of this community and so many others that live in the shadows of chemical plants. I’m proud that this proposal would help deliver on that commitment and protect people from toxic air pollution in communities across the country – from Louisiana and Texas, to Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio. Every child in this country deserves clean air to breathe, and EPA will use every available tool to make that vision a reality.”
EPA’s proposal would update several regulations that apply to chemical plants, including plants that make synthetic organic chemicals, and regulations that apply to plants that make polymers such as neoprene. The proposed updates would reduce 6,053 tons of air toxics emissions each year, which are known or suspected to cause cancer and other serious health effects. Those reductions include a 58 ton per year reduction in ethylene oxide (EtO) and a reduction of 14 tons per year in chloroprene.
Other air toxics the rule would reduce include benzene, 1,3-butadiene, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride. The proposal would also reduce emissions of smog-forming volatile organic compounds by more than 23,000 tons a year.
Facilities that make, store, use or emit EtO, chloroprene, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, ethylene dichloride or vinyl chloride would be required to monitor levels of these air pollutants entering the air at the fenceline of the facility, a requirement that would deliver on one of the commitments the Administrator made following his 2021 Journey to Justice tour. This powerful tool would help make sure EPA’s rules deliver: if annual average air concentrations of the chemicals are higher than an action level at the fenceline, owners and operators would have to find the source and make repairs. The proposed action levels vary depending on the chemical. For EtO, EPA is proposing an action level of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. For chloroprene, the proposed action level is 0.3 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
In order to ensure this data is transparent and available to communities, EPA would make the monitoring data public through its WebFiRE database tool. These fenceline monitoring provisions are based on similar Clean Air Act requirements for petroleum refineries nationwide, which have been highly successful in identifying and reducing emissions of benzene for more than four years.
The proposal would reduce cancer risks from breathing in toxic air pollutants that are emitted from the specific processes and equipment covered under the rules. These pollutants are linked to a number of cancers, including lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer and liver cancer, among others. EPA also expects the proposal to benefit children, who are more susceptible to the effects of EtO and chloroprene.
To provide the public with the best possible information about the impact of the proposed updates, EPA has conducted a first-of-its kind community risk assessment. That assessment evaluated the impacts of the proposed emissions reductions from synthetic organic chemical manufacturing on the total air toxics-related cancer risks from all large industrial facilities in an area combined – not just from the equipment and processes covered by today’s proposal. The community risk assessment shows that the numbers of people with elevated cancer risk could drop by 96 percent in communities surrounding chemical plants, if the proposal is finalized.
The community assessment also shows there is more work to do, finding that EtO is the largest driver of the remaining risks. In the coming weeks, EPA expects to announce proposed updates to its regulations for commercial sterilization facilities that emit EtO. In addition, the Agency is working to develop proposed rules for other sources of EtO, including polyether polyols production, hospital sterilizers, and smaller chemical manufacturers known as “area sources.”
EPA will accept written comments for 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register and will hold a virtual public hearing. The Agency also will hold a training for communities on April 13, 2023, to review the proposal and answer questions. Learn more.
April 6, 2023
Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC
Case # 23-90020
Judge David R. Jones
Jurisdiction Texas – Southern District
Filed Jan 23 2023
Manufacturing
- Overview
- Dockets
- Claims
- Key Documents
- Adv. Proceedings
Case Information
On January 23, 2023, Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC and thirteen (13) U.S. affiliate companies (collectively, the “Debtors”) each filed petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas seeking relief under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The Debtors’ cases have been assigned to Judge David R. Jones. The Debtors cases are jointly administered for procedural purposes, meaning that all pleadings are maintained on the case docket for Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC, Case No. 23-90020 (the “Main Case Docket”). The Main Case Docket can be accessed through the website maintained by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (https://www.txs.uscourts.gov). An unofficial version of the Main Case Docket is accessible by selecting the “Dockets” tab above.View Less
Case Actions
- Proof of Claim Form
- File a Claim
- E-Ballot
- E-Opt Out
- Docket Alerts
- Service List
- Submit Inquiry
- RSS Feeds
Equity Transfer Procedure Documents
• Notice of Substantial Stock Ownership
• Notice of Intent to Purchase, Acquire or Otherwise Accumulate Dawn Stock
• Notice of Intent to Sell, Trade or Otherwise Transfer Dawn Stock
• Declaration of Intent to Claim a Worthless Stock DeductionView Less
Press Release
Restructuring Information
The company is operating as normal and is serving retail partners and sleepers as usual. SSB’s manufacturing facilities are fulfilling orders, and the company is continuing to work with suppliers and vendors in the ordinary course of business. SSB also has meaningful launches planned for this year from Serta and Beautyrest.
For information and inquiries about this matter, please call the numbers listed below. U.S.-based parties should use the toll free number below. International parties should use the non-U.S. number below.
Toll Free U.S. #: (877) 618-5414
Non U.S. #: +1 (503) 966-3043
Additional information regarding the court-supervised process is available on SSB’s restructuring website, www.SSBRestructuring.com.
Supplier Frequently Asked QuestionsView Less
Key Dates
23
JAN
10:02 PM CT
2023
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24
JAN
01:00 PM CT
2023
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27
JAN
03:30 PM CT
2023
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1
FEB
12:00 PM CT
2023
Continued Scheduling Conference
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1
MAR
01:00 PM CT
2023
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14
MAR
10:00 AM CT
2023
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16
MAR
05:00 PM CT
2023
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23
MAR
09:00 AM CT
2023
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29
MAR
10:00 AM CT
2023
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5
APR
01:45 PM CT
2023
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1
MAY
04:00 PM CT
2023
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8
MAY
09:00 AM CT
2023
Confirmation Hearing; Final Hearing re: Cash Management Motion
ADD TO CALENDAR
22
JUL
05:00 PM CT
2023
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Section 341 Meeting of Creditors
Pursuant to Section 341 of the Bankruptcy Code, a meeting of creditors was held telephonically on March 14, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. (CT).
Notice of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case [Docket No. 187]
Debtors (14)
Lead Debtor 23-90020 Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC
Related Debtors
23-90019
Dawn Intermediate, LLC
23-90024
Dreamwell, Ltd.
23-90022
National Bedding Company L.L.C.
23-90021
Serta International Holdco, LLC
23-90027
Simmons Bedding Company, LLC
23-90025
SSB Hospitality, LLC
23-90026
SSB Logistics, LLC
23-90018
SSB Manufacturing Company
23-90030
SSB Retail, LLC
23-90023
The Simmons Manufacturing Co., LLC
23-90029
Tomorrow Sleep LLC
23-90028
Tuft & Needle, LLC
23-90031
World of Sleep Outlets, LLC
Dawn Holdings, Inc., Serta, Inc., Serta Canada Ltd., SSH Canada Holding Co., LLC, SSH Bedding Canada Co., and Simmons Caribbean Bedding, Inc. are not part of the filing.
April 6, 2023
More Phones Than People
by Tyler Durden
Thursday, Apr 06, 2023 – 04:15 AM
This week marked the 50th anniversary of a momentous phone call.
A big call on a big phone – Cooper in 1973
As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, on April 3, 1973, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper was standing in a street of New York when he made the first ever call on a true mobile phone, calling his chief rival at Bell Labs, Joel Engel, presumably to gloat.
The call, made on a prototype of what later became the Motorola DynaTAC, was brief, as Cooper later recalled.
“I said ‘Joel, this is Marty. I’m calling you from a cellphone, a real, handheld, portable cellphone.’ There was a silence at the other end. I suspect he was grinding his teeth.”
Cooper’s call was a pivotal moment in the history of mobile communication, as it marked the beginning of a new era.
Today, mobile phones are ubiquitous, with over 5.4 billion people worldwide having at least one mobile subscription, according to GSMA.
In fact, there are now more mobile subscriptions than people on the planet, as the former overtook the latter in 2016.
You will find more infographics at Statista
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there were more than 8.58 billion mobile subscriptions in use worldwide in 2022, compared to a global population of 7.95 billion halfway through the year.
April 6, 2023
Update regarding the divestment of Recticel Engineered Foams to Carpenter
Regulated information, Brussels, 06/04/2023 — 06:59 CET, 06.04.2023
Recticel reports that the closing of the Engineered Foams divestment to Carpenter Co. has not taken place at the end of March 2023.
Parties continue to work towards a closing to take place as soon as possible.
https://www.recticel.com/update-regarding-divestment-recticel-engineered-foams-carpenter.html
March 31, 2023
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