Environmental Protection Agency News

Shipping Resumes in Houston Channel Closed After Chemical Tank Fire

The U.S. Gulf Coast’s most important industrial waterway partially reopened on Monday after it was polluted with cancer-causing benzene and toxic runoff from the region’s worst chemical disaster in more than a decade. A two-mile (3.2-kilometer) stretch of the Houston …

Bills on Tap at Massachusetts Statehouse Target Lead in School Water

Lawmakers on Beacon Hill are pushing legislation aimed at improving the safety of drinking water in schools in part by requiring schools and child care centers to test every drinking water outlet each year for elevated lead levels. Legislation on …

Houston-Area Chemical Blaze Intensifies After Loss of Water Pressure

A fire at a petrochemical storage facility that’s covered Houston in a thick pall of smoke for the past two days intensified overnight after firefighters briefly lost water pressure. Two additional storage tanks are ablaze, bringing the total to eight, …

Harmful Dry Cleaning Chemical Detected in W. Virginia Town’s Drinking Water

Officials say the drinking water in a West Virginia community along the Ohio River contains a harmful chemical widely used by dry cleaners. State Bureau for Public Health spokeswoman Allison Adler said in an email Wednesday tetrachloroethylene has been detected …

EPA Readies ‘Forever Chemical’ PFA Safety Plan Amid Calls for Tougher Action

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a plan for dealing with a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid complaints from members of Congress and environmentalists that it’s not moved aggressively enough to regulate them. So-called forever chemicals, perfluoroalkyl …

Trump EPA Chief Tells Senators Climate Change ‘Not the Greatest Crisis’

U.S. President Donald Trump’s new pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency told lawmakers on Wednesday he does not believe climate change is a major crisis, and would continue to undo Obama-era emission limits if confirmed. Trump nominated EPA Acting …

After State Ban Expires, EPA Approves Dicamba Use in Arkansas

A recent Environmental Protection Agency ruling clears the path for Arkansas farmers to use the herbicide dicamba on soybeans and cotton, ending a state-wide ban on the weed killer’s use. The federal agency on Oct. 31 announced the decision to …

Maryland Suing EPA on Power Plant Pollution in Other States

A federal judge has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to respond to Maryland’s request for a declaration that power plants in five upwind states are contributing to Maryland’s air quality problems. The judge on Wednesday ordered the EPA to take …

National Guard Helping After Chemicals Found in Delaware Town’s Wells

Delaware Governor John Carney has authorized the National Guard to assist residents of a southern Delaware town after the discovery of high levels of toxic chemicals in municipal wells. Authorities said that the Guard has provided two, 400-gallon portable water …

Terminix Fined $9.2M for Pesticide Use that Poisoned Delaware Family

A pest control company will pay more than $9 million in criminal fines tied to the use of a banned pesticide that sickened a Delaware family on vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2015. The News Journal of Wilmington …