Latest Chemicals Headlines
All the headlines from our Chemicals Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Congress Passes Bill Updating Chemical Safety Law
Jun 8 2016 // The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that would revamp federal chemical safety protections for the first time in decades, sending it to President Barack Obama for his expected signing into law. The Senate approved...
Alabama Utility Warns Residents in 2 Counties of Water Contamination
Jun 6 2016 // Lisa Davis, a cashier at a Foodvalu grocery store in rural north Alabama, spent Friday, June 3, ringing up bottled water sales after a local utility declared its tap water unfit to drink because of chemical...
Congress on Brink of First Update to Toxic Chemical Law in 40 Years
May 26 2016 // Legislation with bipartisan support that would revamp U.S. chemical safety law for the first time in decades is advancing in Congress, winning overwhelming passage in the House of Representatives as backers sought quick...
West Virginia Town Issued ‘Do Not Drink’ Advisory Over Chemical Level in Water
May 23 2016 // West Virginia officials have issued a “Do Not Drink” advisory for Vienna water after the Environmental Protection Agency announced a new limit for the amount of a chemical present in Wood County’s...
Missouri Woman Awarded $20.6M in Chemical Case
Apr 4 2016 // A southwest Missouri woman was awarded $20.6 million in damages after federal jurors found that a company exposed her to a toxic chemical that left her with permanent disabilities. A jury awarded Jodelle Kirk $13 million...
Group Sues ExxonMobil Over Baton Rouge Chemical Plant Emissions
Mar 7 2016 // An environmental group’s lawsuit claims ExxonMobil Corp. continues to violate Clean Air Act regulations despite a 2014 settlement over emissions from the company’s Baton Rouge chemical plant. The Louisiana...
Ex-Freedom President Gets 1 Month in Prison for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Feb 18 2016 // An executive who appeared unsympathetic when he spoke to the public after a chemical spill sullied tap water for 300,000 people in West Virginia was sentenced to one month in federal prison Wednesday. Ex-Freedom Industries...
Ex-Freedom Industries Exec Sentenced to 1 Month for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Feb 17 2016 // A former Freedom Industries executive was sentenced Feb. 11 to one month in federal prison for a chemical spill that fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West Virginians. Dennis Farrell also was fined $20,000 in...
Company Responsible for West Virginia Chemical Receives ‘Symbolic’ Fine
Feb 8 2016 // A bankrupt chemical company responsible for a spill that contaminated a West Virginia river and fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 residents was fined $900,000 on pollution charges Feb. 4, with a judge noting that...
Dozens of Dangerous Chemical Plants Operate near Public Centers in Texas: Report
Feb 8 2016 // Dozens of Texas plants similar to a fertilizer facility that exploded in the town of West in 2013, one of Texas’ worst industrial accidents, are still operating near schools, hospitals and residential neighborhoods,...
Freedom Industries Official Sentenced for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Feb 3 2016 // A former environmental consultant at a chemical distributor was sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $10,000 Monday for a 2014 chemical spill that fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West...
Dozens of Dangerous Texas Chemical Plants Operate near Public Centers: Report
Jan 29 2016 // Dozens of Texas plants similar to a fertilizer facility that exploded in the town of West in 2013, one of Texas’ worst industrial accidents, are still operating near schools, hospitals and residential neighborhoods,...
1 Worker Dead, 3 Hurt in Explosion at Texas Chemical Plant
Jan 19 2016 // Officials say an explosion at a Houston-area chemical plant has left one worker dead and three hurt. Pasadena police say the tank accident happened Saturday afternoon at the PeroxyChem Bayport Plant. A statement from...
11 West Virginia Workers Injured at Chemical Manufacturer Plant
Dec 17 2015 // Eleven contract workers were injured Tuesday in a boiler accident at chemical manufacturer Axiall Corp.’s Natrium plant in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle, the company said. The company said in a statement...
Testing Shows Chemicals in Well Water Near Tennessee Power Plant
Oct 28 2015 // Albert Hudson worries about the water coming from the well on his property near the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal-fired power plant in Gallatin, Tenn. Hudson received a letter recently from the Tennessee...
Ohio Woman Awarded $1.6M over DuPont Chemical in Water
Oct 9 2015 // An Ohio woman has been awarded $1.6 million in the trial of a lawsuit that alleged a chemical from a DuPont Co. plant contaminated drinking water and contributed to her contracting kidney cancer. A jury awarded the damages...
DuPont Found Liable in West Virginia Toxic Water Lawsuit
Oct 8 2015 // DuPont Co. was found liable for a woman’s kidney cancer in the first of 3,500 lawsuits over a toxic Teflon ingredient found in Ohio and West Virginia water, but spinoff Chemours Co. will have to bear any costs from...
Halliburton Offers Settlements over Chemical in Oklahoma Wells
Oct 6 2015 // Halliburton is offering settlements to dozens of property owners after a chemical compound called ammonium perchlorate showed up in residents’ private wells. The company has offered settlements to 130 plaintiffs...
Fed Probe Finds Safety Problems at Texas Dupont Plant Where 4 Died
Oct 1 2015 // A federal investigation into a poisonous gas leak that killed four workers at a Houston, Texas-area chemical plant in November found weaknesses and failures in the facility’s safety planning and procedures, officials...
Tianjin Port Blast Chemical Contamination Likely to Boost Re/Insurers’ Losses
Sep 30 2015 // Contamination from chemicals is likely to increase the cost to insurers of last month’s blasts in the Chinese port of Tianjin, costs which are already expected to exceed $3 billion, insurance specialists say. While...
