Faulty valve caused Virginia sterilization plant to exceed its yearly carcinogen limit in a day

Residents of eastern Henrico County are facing a new pollution scare after a valve malfunction at a medical sterilization plant near Richmond sent hundreds of pounds of a cancer-linked gas into the air in a single day, more than the facility is allowed to emit in a year.

The incident has sharpened long-running concerns from neighbors who say their community is already carrying too much industrial pollution.

What happened?

Sterilization Services of Virginia is permitted to emit 400 pounds of ethylene oxide over the course of a year. But on April 9, about 580 pounds of the gas were released from storage when a check valve failed, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and Chesapeake Bay Journal.

Even after the leak, DEQ has continued to allow the plant to operate. In May, the agency issued a consent order and fined the company $53,616.75, while the Chesapeake Bay Journal reported that the company has since replaced the valves and added equipment for periodic testing.

Residents say the facility is located in a part of eastern Henrico County already surrounded by pollution sources. The historically Black area east of Richmond is near three landfills, Richmond International Airport, a natural gas power plant, two crematoriums, and two data centers.

James Greene, a longtime Gravel Hill resident, said the steady buildup of industrial activity has changed the area he and his wife, Wilhelmina Greene, have called home for decades.

Why does it matter?

Medical equipment is often sterilized with ethylene oxide, a colorless gas with a sweet smell that kills microbes. Exposure to the chemical has also been linked to cancer risk.

According to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency risk assessment, the estimated cancer risk is under 1% for people living continuously near such a facility for 70 years.

Still, advocates say that risk becomes much more concerning when large numbers of people are exposed near multiple pollution sources.

"While 1% may seem like not a lot of people, when we have over 100,000 people [within five miles of the facility] who are living and working and playing next to these facilities, in addition to all of the other sources of pollution in the area, that matters," said Connor Eppley, communications manager for Virginia Interfaith Power and Light.

While many facilities may remain within their own permits most of the time, families are still left facing the combined effects of greenhouse gases, heavy metals, PFAS contamination, and now an unpermitted carcinogen release caused by equipment failure.

What's being done?

Residents, along with Virginia Interfaith Power and Light and the Southern Environmental Law Center, are urging the state to revoke the sterilizer's permit and more closely examine the cumulative burden of pollution in eastern Henrico County.

Virginia Interfaith Power and Light is also calling for fence-line and real-time monitoring, stronger notification rules when facilities breach protocol, and steeper penalties when companies exceed pollution limits.

At the federal level, the fight over ethylene oxide protections is shifting as well. The Biden administration tightened emissions rules in 2024, but the Trump administration later exempted 40 commercial sterilizers nationwide, including the Henrico facility. DEQ has said the plant is still operating under stricter controls through its state permit.

The Southern Environmental Law Center is suing over those exemptions, while the EPA argues the rule could threaten access to sterile medical equipment.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said, "The Trump EPA is committed to ensuring life-saving medical devices remain available for the critical care of America's children, elderly and all patients, without unnecessary exposure to communities."

"That's what concerns me, that they don't realize that we are people, we have lives that we have constructed," Greene said. "That bothers me."

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