Latest Chemicals Headlines
All the headlines from our Chemicals Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hundreds File Claims Against Company in Wake of Texas Petrochemical Fire
Mar 28 2019 // A Houston-area petrochemical storage company that was heavily damaged by fire has received hundreds of compensation claims from residents seeking lost wages and other damages, a company executive said. Brent Weber, a...
Environmental, Economic Damage a Concern Following Texas Petrochemical Fire
Mar 27 2019 // Businesses and residents expressed concern on March 25 about the environmental and economic fallout from a fire at a Houston-area petrochemical storage farm that sent huge plumes into the air for days and prompted the...
Shipping Resumes in Houston Channel Closed After Chemical Tank Fire
Mar 26 2019 // 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...
Massive Explosion at Chinese Pesticide Plant Kills at Least 64
Mar 25 2019 // Rescuers in eastern China pulled a survivor from rubble early on Saturday [March 23], two days after a massive explosion at a pesticide plant killed at least 64 people, flattening nearby buildings and shattering windows...
Houston Channel Still Closed as Chemical Fire Cleanup Continues; Texas Sues ITC
Mar 24 2019 // Vessels will be allowed to enter a tributary to the Houston Ship Channel this morning, a workaround allowing some shipping in the area as the main route into the region remains closed as a result of a cloud of...
Benzene Levels Rise near Petrochemical Fire Site; Residents Told to Shelter-in-Place
Mar 21 2019 // Tens of thousands of people east of Houston are being told to stay indoors after benzene and other volatile organic compounds were found in the air within the city limits of Deer Park, one day after a fire that broke out...
Houston-Area Petrochemical Blaze Probe Weighed by Federal Investigators
Mar 21 2019 // Federal and local investigators are weighing a probe of the Houston chemical blaze as hazardous compounds waft near the burned-out site. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board “is following up on the incident and should be...
Regulators Wonder If One Farm’s Tainted Milk Is Isolated Case or Broader Problem
Mar 20 2019 // For Maine dairy farmer Fred Stone, the discovery in 2016 that his cows were producing tainted milk has since brought financial ruin and threatened to shut down a century-old family business. Now state regulators and health...
Houston-Area Chemical Blaze Intensifies After Loss of Water Pressure
Mar 19 2019 // 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...
Harmful Dry Cleaning Chemical Detected in W. Virginia Town’s Drinking Water
Mar 19 2019 // 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...
Chemical Safety Board Again Targeted in Trump’s Proposed Budget
Mar 11 2019 // The Trump administration’s budget proposal will again call for eliminating the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent federal agency that investigates major industrial accidents,...
2 Kansas Firms Indicted Over Noxious Chemical Release at Distilling Plant
Mar 8 2019 // Two companies have been indicted on federal charges after a mistake at a northeast Kansas distilling plant in 2016 released a noxious cloud of fumes that prosecutors say caused more than 140 people to seek medical...
Alabama Water Treatment Center Chemical Spill Sends Dozens to Hospitals
Mar 4 2019 // More than 50 people were sent to hospitals around Birmingham, Alabama, following a chemical spill at a water treatment plant. Authorities tell news outlets that irritating gas caused by a mixture of ferric sulfate and...
Brazil Health Agency Says Weedkiller Glyphosate Does Not Cause Cancer
Feb 27 2019 // Analysts at Brazilian health agency Anvisa have determined that the weedkiller glyphosate does not cause cancer while recommending exposure limits as international pressure to reduce use of the chemical grows. Companies...
Baltimore Sues Chemical Company Monsanto over PCB Pollution
Feb 22 2019 // Baltimore has filed a lawsuit against the agrochemical giant Monsanto and two other companies, accusing them of polluting city waterways and stormwater. The legal effort focuses on PCBs, the industrial chemicals that have...
EPA Investigating GenX Production at Chemours’ North Carolina Plant
Feb 21 2019 // A chemical maker’s North Carolina plant may have broken federal law by failing to notify the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before it started manufacturing and repurposing new industrial compounds, the agency...
EPA Readies ‘Forever Chemical’ PFA Safety Plan Amid Calls for Tougher Action
Feb 15 2019 // 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...
Report: Safety Management Gaps Led to 2016 Mississippi Gas Plant Blast
Feb 14 2019 // Gaps in safety management led to a 2016 explosion that idled an Enterprise Products natural gas processing plant in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for six months, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said in a report on Wednesday. The...
Derailed Train Spills Corrosive Chemical Near Georgia Town
Jan 9 2019 // A derailed train spilled various chemicals including hydrochloric acid outside of a small Georgia town, prompting evacuations. The director of the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency, Jim Anderson, says a Norfolk...
AGCS, Praedicat to Offer Product Safety Resource to Industrial Companies
Jan 7 2019 // Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), and Praedicat, an insurtech analytics company based in Los Angeles, have expanded their partnership to provide access to ChemMeta, Praedicat’s software product...
