FIRESTONE POLYMERS LLC - LAKE CHARLES FACILITY

Firestone Polymers LLC runs a synthetic rubber manufacturing plant at 1801 E LA Hwy 108 in Sulphur, Louisiana — Calcasieu Parish — wholly owned by Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc [source: https://www.sustainableenergycorps.com/?page_id=11101]. EPA ECHO data as of May 4, 2026 records 5 quarters of noncompliance within the trailing 24 months and a derived penalty total of $2.68 million at the single facility (FRS ID 110041921935) [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The plant remains bound by the February 22, 2022 consent decree entered by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, which resolved federal and state Clean Air Act claims for $3.35 million in civil penalties plus injunctive relief [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/firestone-polymers-llc-settlement].

EPA's 2021 announcement called the Sulphur plant "Louisiana's highest emitter of three types of hazardous air pollutants," citing illegal emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, 1,3-butadiene, and more than a dozen additional substances [source: https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2021/10/05/306321.htm] [source: https://epa.gov/newsreleases/firestone-polymers-agrees-settle-multiple-environmental-claims-its-sulphur-la-rubber]. That designation came from EPA Region 6 and attached to the agency's formal Clean Air Act complaint — not a modeling estimate. TRI Explorer shows four Form R filings and one Form A filing for the 2017 reporting year, with the 2024 dataset released November 2025 [source: https://enviro.epa.gov/triexplorer/release_fac_profile?FLD=&FLD=RELLBY&FLD=TSFDSP&OFFDISPD=&ONDISPD=&OTHDISPD=&OTHOFFD=&TRI=70602FRSTNLA108&TRILIB=TRIQ1&V_NA_INDICATOR=%2C&YEAR=2017]. Peer benchmarking against NAICS 325211 facilities places Firestone below Dow Sabine River Operations ($3.89M) and Equistar Chemicals ($3.33M) in aggregate 24-month penalty exposure, yet at higher per-facility intensity than Equistar's 14-site footprint, which averages roughly $238,000 per location [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

The regulatory record at the Sulphur plant is anchored by the multi-year Clean Air Act matter that culminated in the February 2022 consent decree. EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality alleged the facility emitted thousands of tons of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, 1,3-butadiene, and additional hazardous air pollutants across more than a decade of operations preceding the settlement [source: https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2021/10/05/306321.htm]. The September 30, 2021 announcement preceded court entry of the decree by roughly five months [source: https://epa.gov/newsreleases/firestone-polymers-agrees-settle-multiple-environmental-claims-its-sulphur-la-rubber] [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/firestone-polymers-llc-settlement].

The injunctive phase of the decree required emission controls on flares, storage vessels, and process vents, plus funding for ambient air monitoring upgrades in the surrounding community [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/firestone-polymers-llc-settlement]. ECHO exporter data dated May 4, 2026 reflects 5 quarters with noncompliance flags during the trailing 24 months and a derived penalty figure of $2,680,000, calculated as 24/60ths of the five-year total [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The exporter documentation specifies the derivation: viol_24mo equals the minimum of quarters-with-noncompliance and 8; penalty_24mo equals the five-year total multiplied by 24/60 [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. Active permit count in the ECHO summary is listed as zero, with a latest permit date of January 28, 2026 — a data point that warrants verification against LDEQ Title V records given the facility's continuous operating status [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

The Calcasieu industrial corridor shifted materially during the review window, and those shifts bear on the Firestone site's forward compliance margin. On December 15, 2025, Westlake Corporation announced a reduction in chlorovinyl capacity across Louisiana and Mississippi that will cut approximately 195 Calcasieu Parish jobs [source: https://kplctv.com/2025/12/15/westlake-corporation-shut-down-louisiana-north-site-reduce-south-site]. At the same time, Woodside Energy's $17.5 billion Louisiana LNG project advanced, with Grist reporting the Lake Charles-area terminal is projected to produce more emissions than any other U.S. LNG export facility [source: https://grist.org/energy/louisiana-lng-project-pollution-woodside-gas] [source: https://offshore-energy.biz/17-5-billion-lng-project-anchored-by-1b-investment-in-louisiana-businesses]. These developments reshape cumulative air-shed loading around the Firestone site. The Facility Registry Service detail record for 110041921935 remains the authoritative cross-reference for program-level permits [source: https://frs-public.epa.gov/ords/frs_public2/fii_query_dtl.disp_program_facility?p_registry_id=110041921935].

September 30, 2021 — EPA Region 6 announced a proposed settlement with Firestone Polymers LLC resolving alleged Clean Air Act violations at the Sulphur facility. The alleged violations included leak detection and repair (LDAR) program failures, flare operation deviations, and unauthorized emissions of hazardous air pollutants [source: https://epa.gov/newsreleases/firestone-polymers-agrees-settle-multiple-environmental-claims-its-sulphur-la-rubber]. The Insurance Journal and Claims Journal summaries from October 2021 reported the total monetary component at $4 million, combining the civil penalty with a supplemental environmental project [source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2021/10/05/635308.htm] [source: https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2021/10/04/306321.htm].

February 22, 2022 — The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana approved the consent decree. Civil penalty: $3.35 million, split between the United States and the State of Louisiana. The governing statute was the Clean Air Act, with state-law counterparts under the Louisiana Environmental Quality Act. Injunctive relief required installation of emission controls for hazardous air pollutants and funding for ambient air monitoring system upgrades in the fenceline community [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/firestone-polymers-llc-settlement].

Trailing 24 months (through May 4, 2026) — ECHO exporter records 5 quarters with noncompliance indicators at FRS 110041921935 and a derived penalty total of $2.68 million [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The ECHO data dictionary states this figure is a proportional allocation — 24/60 of the facility's five-year penalty aggregate — meaning it substantially reflects the 2022 consent decree amortized across the lookback window rather than discrete new enforcement events [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. Program attribution for the five quarterly flags is not itemized in the summary export. The FRS facility detail report is the cross-reference for CAA, RCRA, and CWA program linkages at this registry ID [source: https://frs-public.epa.gov/ords/frs_public2/fii_query_dtl.disp_program_facility?p_registry_id=110041921935]. No separate CWA or RCRA enforcement outcomes within the 24-month window appear in the research bundle.

Firestone Polymers LLC — Lake Charles Facility (Sulphur, LA): The sole facility under review sits at 1801 E LA Hwy 108 in Calcasieu Parish, operated as a synthetic rubber manufacturing plant. The corporate entity carries NAICS 325212 classification, while TRI records tag the site under rubber chemical manufacturing [source: https://enviro.epa.gov/triexplorer/release_fac_profile?FLD=&FLD=RELLBY&FLD=TSFDSP&OFFDISPD=&ONDISPD=&OTHDISPD=&OTHOFFD=&TRI=70602FRSTNLA108&TRILIB=TRIQ1&V_NA_INDICATOR=%2C&YEAR=2017]. Parent ownership resolves 100 percent to Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc [source: https://www.sustainableenergycorps.com/?page_id=11101]. The ECHO summary reports an ej_index_avg of 0.0, which reflects the absence of a populated environmental justice index value in the exporter — not an affirmative finding of low community exposure. The facility sits within the Calcasieu industrial corridor that EPA's 2021 release identified as hosting Louisiana's highest emitter of three HAP categories [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip] [source: https://epa.gov/newsreleases/firestone-polymers-agrees-settle-multiple-environmental-claims-its-sulphur-la-rubber]. TRI 2017 data lists four Form R submissions and one Form A certification, with public contact Terry LeBlanc at 337-882-5397 [source: https://enviro.epa.gov/triexplorer/release_fac_profile?FLD=&FLD=RELLBY&FLD=TSFDSP&OFFDISPD=&ONDISPD=&OTHDISPD=&OTHOFFD=&TRI=70602FRSTNLA108&TRILIB=TRIQ1&V_NA_INDICATOR=%2C&YEAR=2017]. Because the corporate entity operates only this single facility in the exporter dataset, the top-five facility ranking exercise collapses to this one site [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

1,3-Butadiene: EPA's 2021 release identified butadiene among the hazardous air pollutants emitted at Sulphur in quantities exceeding permitted limits [source: https://epa.gov/newsreleases/firestone-polymers-agrees-settle-multiple-environmental-claims-its-sulphur-la-rubber]. The compound is a feedstock intrinsic to synthetic rubber polymerization — its presence at this site is structural, not incidental. EPA classifies 1,3-butadiene as a known human carcinogen; inhalation is the primary exposure pathway for fenceline communities. The 2021 announcement specifically cited the facility's status as Louisiana's highest emitter of three HAP types, with butadiene among them [source: https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2021/10/05/306321.htm].

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs): The 127-page complaint underlying the consent decree alleged thousands of tons of NOx, carbon monoxide, and VOC emissions beyond permit thresholds [source: https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2021/10/05/306321.htm]. NOx and VOCs are ozone precursors. Calcasieu Parish ozone loading carries downwind consequences for communities in the industrial corridor between Sulphur and Lake Charles. The injunctive relief in the February 2022 decree specifically funded ambient air monitoring upgrades to measure these pollutant classes at the fenceline [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/firestone-polymers-llc-settlement].

Carbon monoxide and additional HAPs: The EPA complaint referenced more than a dozen additional substances beyond the headline pollutants [source: https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2021/10/05/306321.htm]. The full chemical inventory is not enumerated in the public enforcement summary. The FRS facility detail report at registry ID 110041921935 is the primary EPA cross-reference for program-specific pollutant inventories, including Title V air permit constituents and TRI-reported releases [source: https://frs-public.epa.gov/ords/frs_public2/fii_query_dtl.disp_program_facility?p_registry_id=110041921935]. The 2024 TRI reporting-year dataset, released November 2025, is the current source for quantitative chemical-by-chemical release data [source: https://enviro.epa.gov/triexplorer/release_fac_profile?FLD=&FLD=RELLBY&FLD=TSFDSP&OFFDISPD=&ONDISPD=&OTHDISPD=&OTHOFFD=&TRI=70602FRSTNLA108&TRILIB=TRIQ1&V_NA_INDICATOR=%2C&YEAR=2017].

Within the NAICS 3252xx chemical-manufacturing peer set, Firestone's Sulphur plant ranks third of three on aggregate 24-month penalty total — $2.68M versus Dow Sabine River's $3.89M and Equistar's $3.33M — and third on violation-quarter count, with 5 quarters against 8 and 35 respectively [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The per-facility picture inverts that ranking. Equistar's 35 violation quarters are spread across 14 facilities, producing a per-site average of roughly $238,000 in penalty exposure. Firestone's $2.68M sits entirely on one address. Dow Sabine River presents the closest single-facility analog, with comparable penalty scale concentrated at a single complex. All three peers return ej_index_avg of 0.0 in the exporter, which reflects data-field population status rather than any attestation of community-exposure levels [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

Firestone Polymers LLC is privately held and does not file a Form 10-K; the SEC disclosure inputs in this research bundle are empty, and no Item 1A forward-looking environmental risk language is available for direct citation [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. Parent Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc likewise does not file U.S. SEC periodic reports as an issuer. Forward risk must therefore be read from two sources: the 2022 consent decree's ongoing injunctive obligations, which remain enforceable by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, and the cumulative air-shed loading changes accumulating in the Calcasieu corridor [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/firestone-polymers-llc-settlement]. On the corridor side, Woodside Energy's $17.5 billion Louisiana LNG terminal — projected by Grist to become the highest-emitting U.S. LNG export facility — adds a material new source to the regional air budget [source: https://grist.org/energy/louisiana-lng-project-pollution-woodside-gas] [source: https://offshore-energy.biz/17-5-billion-lng-project-anchored-by-1b-investment-in-louisiana-businesses]. Westlake Corporation's December 15, 2025 announcement of chlorovinyl capacity cuts and roughly 195 Calcasieu Parish job losses shifts the corridor's industrial mix but does not reduce Firestone's own permit obligations [source: https://kplctv.com/2025/12/15/westlake-corporation-shut-down-louisiana-north-site-reduce-south-site]. Taken together, tighter regional air-quality headroom and active court-supervised injunctive requirements define the forward compliance environment for the Sulphur plant.