New Mexico AG Filed Lawsuit against Medical Equipment Sterilization Company over Ethylene Oxide Emissions

DECEMBER 22, 2020

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas filed a lawsuit against Sterigenics, a medical equipment sterilization company with facilities across the United States and around the world, over the significant harm to public health caused by more than three decades of unlawful emissions of ethylene oxide (EtO) from the company’s sterilization plant in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The complaint noted that while Sterigenics has properly treated and reported a significant portion of the facility’s EtO emissions, it has also “caused substantial unreported, uncontrolled releases of EtO to the atmosphere from the Santa Teresa Plant as a result of their intentional or negligent subversion of environmental controls.” These uncontrolled releases ”significantly deteriorated air quality in Santa Teresa and surrounding communities for decades, and [have] materially contributed to increased health risks suffered by residents of such communities.”