Chemicals

"Texas is a notably easy place to set up shop for industrial projects with lots of liquid waste and nowhere good to put it. The state’s waterways are open for business, an analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data shows, to send large volumes of discarded chemicals and industrial discharge downstream and out to sea."

"Sprawling industrial complexes line the drive east along the Mississippi River to the majority-Black town of Reserve, Louisiana. In the last seven miles the road passes a massive, rust-colored aluminum-oxide refinery, then the Evonik chemical plant, then rows of white tanks at the Marathon oil refinery."

"When Sally Rand, a former EPA official, used to meet with industry executives to discuss an obscure, but incredibly potent and long-lived group of greenhouse gases, she knew how to get their attention."

"One in 20 tap water tests performed for thousands of Chicago residents found lead, a neurotoxin, at or above US government limits, according to a Guardian analysis of a City of Chicago data trove."

"States are continuing to allow sewage sludge to be spread on cropland as fertilizer and in some cases increasing the amount spread, even as the PFAS-tainted substance has ruined farmers’ livelihoods, poisoned water supplies, contaminated food and put the public’s health at risk."

"A new report points to a chemical explosion in Louisiana this year as a prime example of why the federal government should toughen national safety standards at petrochemical plants."

"The Senate cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday afternoon before moving to ratify the international climate deal to phase down the use of potent greenhouse gases stemming from refrigerants and air conditioning units."

"Kevin Ferrara spent his career working around a wispy white chemical foam that could douse the hottest jet-fuel fires he fought, and was still considered harmless."