Ethylene Oxide Attorney in Four Oaks, North Carolina

The Regulatory Gap: Warehouses vs. Sterilization Facilities

The Four Oaks BD warehouse represents one of the most alarming gaps in federal environmental regulation. When the EPA finalized its 2024 NESHAP rules requiring 90%+ emission reductions from EtO sterilization facilities, the rules explicitly covered commercial sterilizers — facilities where devices are actively sterilized using EtO gas. But the rules did not cover warehouses where sterilized devices are stored while residual EtO off-gases from packaging and products. BD's Four Oaks warehouse emits 5,694 pounds of ethylene oxide per year through this off-gassing process — more than many regulated sterilization facilities — yet it is entirely exempt from the 2024 emission standards.

WRAL's June 2025 investigation revealed that the warehouse sits just 1,100 feet from residential homes in this rural Johnston County community. Families have lived next to this facility without any knowledge that a potent carcinogen was being released into their air. The regulatory gap is a central legal issue: plaintiffs will argue that BD knew its warehouses emitted significant quantities of EtO, knew that EtO is a carcinogen, and chose not to install emission controls because the law did not require them — a decision that prioritized cost savings over community health.

Novel Legal Theories for Unregulated Warehouse Emissions

Because warehouses fall outside the NESHAP regulatory framework, Four Oaks cases will require novel legal theories. Traditional negligence remains available: BD had a duty to prevent foreseeable harm to nearby residents, knew its warehouses emitted a carcinogen in dangerous quantities, and failed to install emission controls. The absence of a regulatory requirement does not eliminate the common-law duty of care — a point that Sterigenics plaintiffs successfully argued in Georgia and Illinois.

Additional theories include nuisance (the warehouse creates an unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of nearby property), trespass (EtO gas physically enters neighboring properties), and strict liability for abnormally dangerous activity. The WRAL investigation and EPA TRI data provide documentary evidence that BD knew or should have known about the emission volumes. North Carolina's 3-year statute of limitations for personal injury, with a discovery rule for latent disease, gives residents adequate time to file after a cancer diagnosis.