Arlanxeo Pumped Unburned Toxic Gas Into a Texas Neighborhood For Three Years and Paid $150K to Make It Go Away

A federal inspection caught a chemical plant venting uncombusted hydrocarbons. The company’s own records confirmed it had been happening for years. The fine was a rounding error.

Source: EPA Region 6 Consent Agreement and Final Order • Filed: September 30, 2025

A federal inspector watched uncombusted hydrocarbons and excess steam pour from a chemical plant flare in Orange, Texas on February 15, 2024, and the company’s own data showed this had been happening on “numerous occasions” for more than three years.

The Non-Financial Ledger: What $150K Doesn’t Cover

Orange, Texas sits on the Sabine River near the Louisiana border. It is a working-class community where the chemical and industrial corridor defines the local economy and the local air. The people who live nearest to Arlanxeo’s rubber manufacturing plant at 4647 FM 1006 did not choose to breathe whatever came out of that flare. They had no say in whether the flare ran properly. They had no warning when it didn’t.

The plant uses 1,3-Butadiene to manufacture synthetic rubber. The EPA lists 1,3-Butadiene among its 188 classified hazardous air pollutants because it is a known human carcinogen. The whole point of the flare system at a facility like this is to combust these gases before they reach the surrounding community. When the flare runs with too little heating value in the vent gas, combustion is incomplete. Gases that should be destroyed survive and disperse. That is what the records show happened here, on numerous occasions, for over three years.

No public health study is cited in the settlement documents. No air quality readings from the surrounding neighborhood appear in the record. The government’s case was built entirely on data Arlanxeo itself handed over, and that data only covers what monitoring equipment at the plant captured. What drifted beyond the fence line is a question the settlement leaves permanently unanswered.

The company also failed to file a required compliance report for its pressure relief devices by the federal deadline of January 9, 2024. Pressure relief devices vent gases when pressure inside process equipment spikes. When those devices are not properly inventoried and reported to regulators, the public and the EPA have no way to verify they are operating within legal limits. Arlanxeo’s failure was bureaucratic on its face. Its practical effect was to keep a critical layer of public oversight turned off.

The settlement was filed on September 30, 2025. Arlanxeo paid $150,000 (roughly what a full-time worker in Texas earning median wages would accumulate over four and a half years of labor). In exchange, the company admitted to no factual allegations, waived its rights to appeal, and walked away from three-plus years of documented violations with its operations intact and its permits in the renewal process. The community of Orange received no compensation, no medical monitoring, and no public acknowledgment that anything had gone wrong at all.

Legal Receipts: Straight From the Document

These are direct quotations from the EPA Consent Agreement and Final Order. No paraphrasing. No spin. Judge for yourself.

“During the Inspection, EPA observed uncombusted hydrocarbons and excess steam from Flare 1.”

Findings of Fact, Paragraph 42 — EPA Region 6 Consent Agreement, CAA-06-2025-3385

“As reflected in the data Respondent produced to EPA, between January 1, 2021, and February 23, 2024, the vent gas routed to Flare 1 was below a 300 BTU/scf net heating value of the vent gas on numerous occasions.”

Alleged Violations, Paragraph 54 — EPA Region 6 Consent Agreement, CAA-06-2025-3385

“Respondent violated 40 C.F.R. § 63.6(e)(1)(i) because its operation of Flare 1 on numerous occasions from January 1, 2021, through August 11, 2023, with high steam to vent gas ratios failed to maintain and operate the Facility’s air pollution control equipment in a manner consistent with safety and good air pollution control practices for minimizing emissions.”

Alleged Violations, Paragraph 58 — EPA Region 6 Consent Agreement, CAA-06-2025-3385

“Respondent violated 40 C.F.R. § 63.2520(d)(4) because it failed to submit a supplement to the NOCS within 150 days of August 12, 2023, or by January 9, 2024, for the Therban unit pressure relief devices subject to the pressure release management work practice standards.”

Alleged Violations, Paragraph 52 — EPA Region 6 Consent Agreement, CAA-06-2025-3385

“The Act is designed ‘to protect and enhance the quality of the Nation’s air resources so as to promote the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of its population.'”

Governing Law, Paragraph 10 — EPA Region 6 Consent Agreement, CAA-06-2025-3385 (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 7401(b)(1))

“Respondent: neither admits nor denies the specific factual allegations contained in the CAFO.”

Civil Penalty and Conditions of Settlement, Paragraph 60(b) — EPA Region 6 Consent Agreement, CAA-06-2025-3385

Societal Impact Mapping

Public Health: Toxic Gas in the Air Above a Working-Class Town

The EPA’s list of 188 hazardous air pollutants exists for one reason: these chemicals are known or suspected to cause cancer, neurological damage, respiratory illness, and reproductive harm. The Arlanxeo plant’s Therban unit uses 1,3-Butadiene, a substance the EPA and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classify as a known human carcinogen. The flare system at the facility exists to destroy this and other hazardous gases before they reach people. When the flare runs incorrectly, that destruction is incomplete.

The settlement document confirms that on “numerous occasions” across more than three years, Arlanxeo’s Flare 1 operated with a net heating value below the required 300 BTU/scf threshold, meaning combustion efficiency was compromised. EPA inspectors also observed a high steam-to-vent-gas ratio, which the document explicitly notes “results in reduced combustion efficiency.” Reduced combustion efficiency means more of the hazardous gas survives the flare intact and enters the atmosphere. The records cover January 1, 2021 through February 23, 2024. That is 37 months.

There is no air monitoring data from the surrounding neighborhood included in this settlement. No health studies. No ambient concentration measurements beyond the fence line. The community of Orange, Texas was not a party to these proceedings. Their bodies were not consulted. Their health outcomes are not part of the public record.

Economic Inequality: The Price of Poisoning Your Neighbors

The $150,000 ($150,000 — about what a Texas household at median income earns in four and a half years, combined) penalty assessed against Arlanxeo represents the government’s official accounting of three years of repeated, documented hazardous air pollutant violations. The settlement document instructs EPA to consider “the economic benefit of noncompliance” in calculating penalties. That means regulators acknowledge that companies sometimes calculate it is cheaper to break the law than to comply. The final number suggests the math, in this case, worked out in Arlanxeo’s favor.

Arlanxeo is a specialty chemicals company that produces high-performance synthetic rubber used in automotive and industrial applications globally. The Orange, Texas facility operates under federal permits and produces material for international supply chains. The $150,000 settlement is not a deterrent for a company of this scale. It is a cost of doing business, paid once, with no admission of wrongdoing, and no obligation to compensate the people who live downwind.

The settlement also explicitly states that penalties paid under this agreement “shall not be deductible for purposes of federal taxes.” That provision exists precisely because Congress recognized that allowing corporations to write off pollution fines as business expenses would effectively subsidize the behavior. The non-deductibility rule is meaningful. It is also the only financial consequence that reaches beyond a single check. The people of Orange, Texas see none of that money.

The “Cost of a Life” Metric

What Now?

Corporate Actors on Record

The settlement identifies Arlanxeo USA LLC as the responsible legal entity. The company is a limited liability company operating in Texas. The settlement is binding on Arlanxeo’s “officers, directors, employees, agents, trustees, servants, authorized representatives, successors and assigns.” Specific executive names are not listed in the source document.

Regulatory Watchlist

Key Deadlines to Watch

• 30 days from settlement effective date: Arlanxeo must file its overdue pressure relief device compliance report with TCEQ and EPA.
• 330 days from settlement effective date: Arlanxeo must install automated monitoring systems, steam controls, and supplemental gas automation on Flare 1.
• 360 days from settlement effective date: Arlanxeo must submit permit applications to incorporate the new flare requirements into a federally enforceable Title V permit.

If you live near this facility or care about air quality in Southeast Texas: contact the Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS) and the Clean Air Council. Attend TCEQ public meetings when Arlanxeo’s permit renewal comes up for review. Request the permit file through a Texas Public Information Act request to TCEQ. Push local elected officials to demand fence-line air monitoring. Community science organizations like Earthworks can deploy optical gas imaging cameras to document flare performance independent of corporate self-reporting. You do not need to wait for the next EPA inspection. The tools to hold this company accountable are available right now, and the settlement’s compliance deadlines give you a clear calendar to watch.