Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Air Monitoring Company Added to Texas Chemical Plant Negligence Lawsuit
Sep 21 2017 // Air monitoring company Bureau Veritas SA has been added to a negligence suit alleging first responders inhaled dangerous fumes during a fire at a chemical plant, lawyers for Texas police and emergency workers said. The...
Hurricane Harvey-Caused Oil, Chemical Spills Dwarfed by Katrina’s
Sep 18 2017 // More than 22,000 barrels of oil, refined fuels and chemicals spilled at sites across Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, along with millions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of tons of other toxic substances, a...
Obama Coal Ash Waste Regulation Getting New Look by Trump EPA
Sep 15 2017 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it will reconsider a rule regulating coal ash waste from power plants in a win for utility industry groups that petitioned for changes. The EPA, the lead...
U.S. Investigating Arkema’s Safety Practices After Texas Fires
Sep 13 2017 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether chemical maker Arkema SA followed safety rules at its Crosby, Texas, plant where chemical containers exploded and burned for days after flooding from...
Hurricane Irma May Push Island States to Seek Climate Change Aid
Sep 13 2017 // Devastation from Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean will sharpen the demands from small island nations that top fossil-fuel consumers help them cope with damage attributable to climate change, according to representatives of...
Texas GOP Leaders Push for Expensive, Long-Delayed Flood Infrastructure Projects
Sep 12 2017 // In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is calling for the construction of flood control infrastructure in the Houston area — things he said should have been built “decades and decades...
North Carolina Officials to Test Unregulated Chemical in Groundwater at Plant
Sep 12 2017 // Environmental officials say they’ll test groundwater for people living near a North Carolina chemical plant after finding worrying signs of an unregulated and little-studied compound. The state Department of...
Is Maryland Ready for the Next Big Storm?
Sep 11 2017 // In Maryland, which historically has ducked many of the worst storms of the last 50 years, the question is increasingly not if, but when the next big one will strike. And while some believe the state has often been spared...
Chemical Fallout from Hurricane Irma Could Be Worse than Harvey’s
Sep 8 2017 // Before flames and smoke leaped into the sky over the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, last week, Jolyn Masters was hunkered down at home on a Hurricane Harvey-flooded street a mile away. Then came a knock. A...
Harvey Leaves Texans to Clean Up Amid Health and Environmental Dangers
Sep 4 2017 // Harvey has moved on from the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving behind a toxic stew of human sewage, dead cattle, leaking chemical plants, spilled gasoline storage tanks and abandoned pickup trucks. The cleanup will take patience,...
Arkema Plant Fires Underscore Chemical Industry Risk Management Challenge
Sep 1 2017 // In its devastatingly slow crawl up the industrial Gulf Coast, Hurricane Harvey is proving to be the biggest test yet of the safety and vulnerabilities of the U.S. chemicals industry. A Houston-area chemical plant was hit...
Massachusetts Man Arrested for Allegedly Running Motor Vehicle Theft Scheme
Aug 31 2017 // An Avon, Mass., man has been arrested and arraigned in connection with allegedly running a major motor vehicle theft scheme. Authorities arrested Jose Sostre on Tuesday in Avon. Following his arrest, Sostre was arraigned...
Arkansas Task Force: State Should Bar Dicamba Herbicide Next Year
Aug 27 2017 // An Arkansas task force has advised the state to bar sprayings after April 15 next year of agricultural herbicides containing the chemical dicamba, which has been linked to crop damage across the U.S. farm belt, a state...
Harvey Hits Texas With Massive Winds, Torrential Rain
Aug 26 2017 // Harvey became the strongest hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, making landfall in the heart of the U.S. energy sector and bringing the danger of a life-threatening storm surge. Harvey came ashore as a Category 4...
Dakota Access Pipeline Company Files $1B Suit Against Greenpeace, Other Groups
Aug 24 2017 // The company building the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline filed a lawsuit against Greenpeace and other groups on Aug. 22, alleging that they disseminated false and misleading information about the project and interfered...
Storm-Prone Cities Vie for Environmental Impact Bonds
Aug 17 2017 // As climate change pushes U.S. cities to build protections against stronger storms and more frequent floods, the Rockefeller Foundation is helping cities with a novel kind of financing, one that transfers some of the risk...
Pioneer Special Risk to Offer CPL Coverage Expansion For Specialty Contractors
Aug 17 2017 // Pioneer Special Risk has launched a new optional coverage expansion for specialty contractors that offers them the option of including incidental contractors pollution coverage, traditionally required as part of their...
North Carolina Study Shows Coal Plants Might Be Even More Toxic Than First Thought
Aug 16 2017 // Scientists studying the aftermath of a massive coal-ash spill in North Carolina have discovered a byproduct of the fossil fuel that may pose human health risks. Duke Energy Corp. announced in early February 2014 that...
European Egg Scandal Widens
Aug 14 2017 // The European Union said Friday [July 11] that it plans to hold an extraordinary meeting late next month over a growing tainted egg scandal as it revealed that products contaminated with an insecticide have now spread to 17...
Wisconsin Dairy Group Sues State Over Pollution Discharge Rules
Aug 10 2017 // Wisconsin environmental officials are over-regulating large livestock operations, imposing pollution requirements that are tougher than federal law and arbitrarily changing runoff standards without going through the...
