Latest Chemicals Headlines
All the headlines from our Chemicals Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Rotting Wood Product in Post-Katrina Built Homes May Spark Legal Action
Jan 7 2014 // Actor Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, which has built 100 energy-efficient new homes in the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, is considering legal action against the manufacturer of an...
Obama Administration Considers Rules on Use of Explosive Chemicals
Jan 7 2014 // Farmers and oil drillers may be required to report their use of explosive chemicals under measures the Obama administration is considering to avoid disasters such as a Texas blast that killed 14 people last year. Policy...
Texas Fire Marshal Preaches Safety, Training After West
Dec 30 2013 // When a fertilizer plant exploded in a small Texas town, killing 15 people and decimating homes and schools, it became Chris Connealy’s responsibility to stop anything like it from happening again. The state fire...
California Tops ‘Judicial Hellhole’ List
Dec 17 2013 // California isn’t just a warm place to live, which is often the case even in winter, but it turns out the state is considered a “judicial hellhole.” The American Tort Reform Foundation issued its annual...
9 with Cancer Sue DuPont Over West Virginia Plant Chemical
Nov 1 2013 // Nine Ohio and West Virginia residents who have cancer and other diseases have filed federal lawsuits this month against chemical giant DuPont Co. The lawsuits accuse the Wilmington, Del.-based company of knowingly...
Ex-Texas Chemical Firm Exec Gets Prison for Worker Death
Oct 30 2013 // A federal judge has sentenced the former president of a Port Arthur, Texas, chemical company to one year in prison for occupational safety crimes that led to an employee’s death. Matthew Lawrence Bowman is the former...
Oklahoma City Firm to Receive $113M Insurance Payment from Blast
Oct 28 2013 // Oklahoma City-based LSB Industries Inc. will get a $113 million insurance payment after a May 2012 explosion damaged one of its chemical plants in south Arkansas. No one was injured in the blast at the El Dorado Chemical...
West Fertilizer Plant Cited, Fined by OSHA
Oct 21 2013 // Further Investigation Delayed by Government Shutdown The partial government shutdown has delayed the federal investigation of the April 17 fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, and efforts to improve chemical safety,...
Further Investigation of Fertilizer Plant Blast Delayed
Oct 10 2013 // The partial government shutdown is delaying the federal investigation of the fertilizer plant explosion in West and efforts to improve chemical safety, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California said. Deadlines set by President...
BP Exposed Neighbors to Toxic Gases, Jury Told at Trial End
Oct 8 2013 // BP Plc deliberately exposed neighbors of a Texas refinery to tons of cancer-causing gases and then misled regulators and community leaders about the dangers, a lawyer told a Texas jury. Jurors are expected to begin...
Lawsuit: Pollution from Louisiana Fire Making Residents Sick
Sep 26 2013 // About a dozen Slaughter, La., residents allege respiratory problems and diminished property values in a lawsuit filed in the wake of the Nov. 19 blaze that destroyed the Monolyte Laboratories Inc. chemical facility. The...
In Flood-Struck Colorado, Concerns About Fracking Spills
Sep 19 2013 // Contaminated water spilling from flooded oil and gas drilling sites in Colorado is refocusing attention on the environmental risks surrounding America’s fracking boom. Floods that have devastated north-central...
BP Texas Refinery Neighbors Seek Billions at Toxic-Gas Trial
Sep 11 2013 // BP Plc faces the first of almost 48,000 toxic exposure claims from neighbors of a Texas refinery who say they’ll give the billions of dollars in punitive damages they’re seeking to charity if they win at...
Senate Bill on Chemical Safety Runs Into Roadbloack
Aug 1 2013 // A bipartisan measure on federal toxic chemical standards would undercut state efforts, the head of a Senate committee said in comments that may imperil a compromise to overhaul U.S. consumer-safety regulations. Senator...
Obama Administration Under Fire for Delay on Chemical Plant Safety
Jul 16 2013 // The Obama administration’s lack of action to impose recommended changes to make refineries, chemical factories and sugar plants safer is set to get a public rebuke from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. The independent...
Sites of 2 Deadly Louisiana Plant Explosions Still Closed
Jul 3 2013 // Plants that were the sites of two chemical explosions a day apart in south Louisiana remain closed, and it could be months before federal investigators determine the causes of the blasts that killed three workers and sent...
Agency Investigating Plant Blast Finds Lax Chemical Regulation
Jun 28 2013 // A federal agency investigating a deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant will tell a Senate committee that regulation of the dangerous chemicals used in the industry fall under a “patchwork” of standards...
Report: Louisiana Plant Explosion Released Toxic Chemicals
Jun 28 2013 // The deadly June 13 explosion and fire at the Williams Olefins chemical plant in Geismar, La., released more than 62,000 pounds of toxic chemicals during the accident that killed two workers and injured 114 others,...
Investigators to Examine Heat Exchanger at Louisiana Blast Site
Jun 26 2013 // State and federal officials investigating the cause of the deadly blast on June 13 at the Williams Companies Inc. plant near Gonzales, La., plan to inspect a key element of the facility that one federal investigator said...
Indianapolis Facing Heavy Costs Over Pool Evacuation
Jun 24 2013 // Dozens of people who were sickened by fumes after a chemical reaction at an Indianapolis public pool a year ago have filed claims against the city, raising the possibility that the accident and ensuing evacuation could...
