Latest Chemicals Headlines
All the headlines from our Chemicals Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Bills Push Tougher Chemical Tank Rules to Stem Explosions, Spills
Jan 8 2021 // Deer Park, Texas, residents sheltered in place. The Houston Ship Channel shut down. Toxic chemicals spilled during Hurricane Harvey. And just last month, seven people were injured in a Corpus Christi fire. These are the...
1 Worker Killed, 3 Injured by West Virginia Chemical Plant Blast
Dec 11 2020 // An explosion and fire at a West Virginia chemical plant that shook surrounding homes killed a plant worker and injured three other people. It happened after 10 p.m. Tuesday at Optima Chemicals Co., a tenant on the Chemours...
Wisconsin Officials Draft Water Quality Standards for PFAS
Nov 9 2020 // Wisconsin health officials have finished drafting new groundwater standards for more than 20 substances, including a dozen types of PFAS chemicals. The Department of Natural Resources asked the Department of Health...
EPA Denies Ban; Permits Farmers’ Use of Dicamba-Based Weed Killers for Five Years
Oct 28 2020 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it will allow farmers to spray crops with weed killers based on the chemical dicamba that are sold by Bayer AG and other companies, after a U.S. appeals court...
FM Global Creates Specialty Division for Forest Products, Chemical Industry
Oct 15 2020 // Commercial property insurer FM Global is creating a new division within the company to further strengthen its focus on serving the property risk management needs of the forest products and chemical industries. James P....
North Carolina Sues for Damages in ‘Forever Chemicals’ Release
Oct 15 2020 // The state of North Carolina sued on Tuesday to seek financial damages from companies associated with so-called “forever chemicals” released for decades from a Bladen County plant into the Cape Fear...
Michigan Company Faces $115K Fine Over Concerns Tied to Chemical Use
Oct 7 2020 // A western Michigan company faces a $115,000 fine as part of a proposed consent order with the state over safety concerns tied to the use of a chemical used to make chlorine tablets for swimming pools. Kassouni...
Judge Tosses Case Over Texas Chemical Plant Fire During Harvey
Oct 5 2020 // A judge has dismissed the criminal case against a chemical manufacturer and one of its former employees over a fire at its plant near Houston during Hurricane Harvey, saying prosecutors failed to present sufficient...
Dismissal Rejected; Arkema Chemical Fire Criminal Trial Resumes in Houston
Sep 25 2020 // A criminal case against the U.S. arm of a French chemical maker accused of releasing pollution that injured 21 people resumed on Sept. 24 under a cloud as a judge ruled out a motion to dismiss the case. Prosecutors...
Alabama City Officials Drop Chemical Contamination Lawsuit
Sep 25 2020 // Officials in the northwest Alabama city of Guin have dropped a lawsuit against chemical giant 3M that alleged chemicals from its manufacturing plant had entered a creek that supplies drinking water to the community. The...
What Is the No. 1 Emerging Litigation Risk? ‘Forever Chemicals,’ Says Praedicat
Sep 17 2020 // The top emerging litigation risk identified for the year ahead is PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals” used in a wide variety of products such as Teflon, Scotchgard, food containers, firefighting foam and...
2 Charges Against Arkema, Manager over Plant Fire During Harvey Dismissed
Sep 16 2020 // A judge has dismissed two of the charges a chemical manufacturer and one of its former executives were facing during an ongoing trial over a fire at the company’s suburban Houston plant during Hurricane Harvey that...
Pool Disinfectant Caught Fire at Louisiana Chemical Plant, U.S. CSB Says
Sep 1 2020 // The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) said on Aug. 31 about 835 tons of a chemical used in swimming pools were stored at the Louisiana plant where a fire had erupted last week in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. The...
Fire at Hurricane-Hit Louisiana Chemical Plant Contained
Aug 30 2020 // A chlorine chemical fire that erupted last Thursday, triggering shelter-in-place orders and closing roadways in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, has been brought under control, the plant’s owner said on Friday. KIK...
Fire Burns at Hurricane-Hit Louisiana Chemical Plant
Aug 28 2020 // Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards on Thursday asked residents in three southwestern communities to stay indoors with windows and doors shut as a plume rose from a chemical fire at a Biolab plant in an area hit by...
Wisconsin Board Delays Rules Setting New Restrictions on PFAS Chemicals
Aug 17 2020 // Environmental regulators in Wisconsin has voted to table rules setting new restrictions on firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals. The Department of Natural Resources’ policy board made the decision in a...
Gutted Chemical Safety Board Tries to Proceed with Single Board Member
Aug 3 2020 // The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which has only one board member instead of the usual five, on Friday postponed a scheduled public meeting that was to include discussion of its plans to operate even as President Donald...
Alabama Environmental Regulator, 3M Reach Agreement on Contamination Cleanup
Jul 31 2020 // The Alabama Department of Environmental Management announced Friday that it has reached an agreement with chemical giant 3M regarding cleanup of “forever chemicals” at its plant in Decatur and at multiple sites...
Chemical Firm BASF and Its Law Firm to Pay $72.5M to Close Talcum-Asbestos Claims
Jul 24 2020 // BASF SE, the world’s biggest chemical maker, and a law firm agreed to pay a combined $72.5 million to resolve claims they hid evidence that certain talc products contained asbestos in an effort to scuttle thousands...
3 Workers Injured at West Virginia Chemical Plant
Jul 15 2020 // Three workers have been injured at a West Virginia chemical plant, officials said. The incident happened Sunday evening at the Westlake Chemical plant, which produces chlorine, news outlets reported. Details of what...
