Latest Chemicals Headlines
All the headlines from our Chemicals Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Alabama School System to Sue 3M Over Contamination
Jan 2 2020 // A north Alabama school system has taken the first step to sue 3M Co. over claims that chemicals are leaking from a closed landfill that is on school system property. News outlets reported that Decatur’s school system...
2 Workers Die While Cleaning Chemical Tank at Houston-Area Business
Dec 30 2019 // Two workers apparently became overcome by fumes and died while cleaning a chemical tank at a business near Houston, authorities said on Dec. 28. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a tweet that deputies responded to...
New York Tweaks Clean Water Plan as Suppliers Call for More Time
Dec 24 2019 // New York would not issue violations against certain water suppliers who notify the public that they have too-high levels of certain industrial and synthetic chemicals under the latest plan to be proposed by state...
Texas Regulators Want Stiffer Penalty for Owner of Port Neches Plant That Exploded
Dec 20 2019 // Environmental and watchdog groups have long criticized the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for taking it too easy on polluters — and the TCEQ has often countered that its job is to coax industrial facilities...
Steel Mill Sued over Chemical Spill in Indiana Lake
Dec 17 2019 // Two environmental groups are suing a steelmaker for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act at its northwestern Indiana facility more than 100 times in the past five years, including an August spill that killed more than...
11 People Treated for Injuries from Chemical Reaction at Alabama Plastic Plant
Dec 11 2019 // Medical workers treated nearly a dozen people and firefighters evacuated a building Monday after a chemical reaction caused injuries inside a manufacturing plant. The Montgomery Fire Department said the incident happened...
Texas City Again Issues Voluntary Evacuation Order over Chemical Plant Blast
Dec 6 2019 // Concerns over air quality have prompted a voluntary evacuation order that was in effect on Dec. 5 for a Texas Gulf Coast city where a pair of chemical plant explosions occurred last week. Port Neches issued the voluntary...
Texas Chemical Plant Shut by Explosions, Fire to Be Rebuilt, Company Says
Dec 5 2019 // Petrochemical maker TPC Group Inc will rebuild the Texas plant shut last week by devastating explosions that ignited fires that burned for six days, a spokeswoman said on Dec. 4. The last fire at the Port Neches plant was...
County Official: No Plans to Sue over Texas Chemical Plant Fire
Dec 4 2019 // The top official of an east Texas county that evacuated 60,000 residents last week after a petrochemical plant exploded and caught fire said on Dec. 3 he does not plan to sue the company, and will leave potential...
Texas Plant Rocked by Explosions Was Declared High Priority Violator by EPA
Dec 3 2019 // The Port Neches, Texas, chemical plant where two explosions and a fire prompted widespread mandatory evacuations on Nov. 27 has a years-long history of state and federal environmental violations. The facility owned by...
3 Hurt At Texas Chemical Plant Hit By Two Massive Explosions
Dec 2 2019 // Two massive explosions 13 hours apart tore through a Texas chemical plant last week, and one left three workers injured. The blasts blew out windows and doors of nearby homes and prompted a mandatory evacuation of a 4-mile...
Texas Chemical Plant Fire Brought Under Control
Nov 29 2019 // AUSTIN, Texas , NOV. 29 —Officials lifted evacuation orders Friday for around 50,000 people on the Texas Gulf Coast, determining a massive fire was finally under control at a chemical plant rocked by two major explosions...
Massachusetts Attorney General Issues Asbestos Safety, Enforcement Report
Nov 26 2019 // Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has released a report highlighting her office’s ongoing efforts to protect children, families and workers from the health risks posed by exposure to asbestos. The report...
EPA Eases Safety Requirements Enacted after Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion
Nov 22 2019 // Days before President Barack Obama left office in 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule aimed at preventing tragedies like the 2013 explosion and fire in the tiny Central Texas town of West that...
13 Workers from a New Hampshire Company Treated at Hospital After Chemical Incident
Nov 22 2019 // Authorities say 13 people from a New Hampshire company were taken to hospitals and more than 50 others were evacuated after being exposed to a chemical. The incident at Fluid Air, a subsidiary of Spraying Systems Co., in...
Ex-DuPont CEO Backtracks, Says Chemours Liabilities ‘Uncapped’
Nov 15 2019 // DuPont de Nemours Inc.’s ex-top executive is backtracking on claims the chemical maker never intended to saddle its spinoff Chemours Co. with “unlimited exposure” for liabilities. Ellen Kullman, who...
Explosion Shakes Dow Chemical Plant in Louisiana; No Injuries Reported
Nov 4 2019 // No injuries are being reported after an explosion shook a Dow chemical plant in Louisiana. Dow Louisiana Operations said in a Facebook post that a “vessel” had ruptured at its facility near Plaquemine on Sunday...
U.S. Safety Board: No Alert System at Texas Petrochemical Facility Damaged by Fire
Nov 1 2019 // A company that owns a Houston-area petrochemical storage facility which burned for days in March didn’t have an alert system in place to warn of releases from its tanks, a federal agency investigating the blaze said...
Indiana Environmental Regulators: Steelmaker Too Slow to Act on Chemical Spill
Oct 31 2019 // The state environmental agency said a northwestern Indiana steel mill knew it was leaking dangerous chemicals into Lake Michigan but failed to report the spill or act quickly to mitigate the risks. The cyanide and ammonia...
Alabama Power to Pay $222K Over Chemical Spill, Dead Fish
Oct 29 2019 // Alabama Power Company has agreed to pay about $222,000 to settle a chemical spill that killed hundreds of fish near its coal-fired plant about 30 miles northwest of Birmingham, according to a notice Wednesday from the...