Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Carolina Environmental Officials to Take Action Over GenX Spill
Nov 15 2017 // The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality says a spill resulting in an increase of toxic chemical levels in a river hadn’t been reported by a chemical company until regulators approached. The StarNews...
Austin American-Statesman: Texas Has 100s of Substandard Dams in Populated Areas
Nov 14 2017 // The earthen dam on the outskirts of Georgetown in Texas’ Williamson County certainly does not look flimsy. The Austin American-Statesman reports at 35 feet high and nearly a third of a mile long, it has done a...
New Phase in California Wildfire Cleanup: Clearing Ruins
Nov 13 2017 // Rumbling bulldozers and front-loaders have started scraping up the ash, charred wood and crumbled bricks and concrete left from thousands of homes and buildings destroyed by blazes in California wine country, launching a...
Special Reuters Report: The Path to Monsanto’s Weed-Killer Crisis
Nov 9 2017 // In early 2016, agribusiness giant Monsanto faced a decision that would prove pivotal in what since has become a sprawling herbicide crisis, with millions of acres of crops damaged. Monsanto had readied new genetically...
State Sues Gas Pipeline Developer over Pollution Violations in Ohio
Nov 6 2017 // Ohio is suing the company building a $4.2 billion natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Michigan over what it says are numerous water pollution violations during construction. The lawsuit says work on the Rover...
Despite Earthquake Risk, UK Ready to Begin Fracking – Again
Nov 6 2017 // Six years after Britain’s first fracking operation was stymied by earth tremors, its shale gas industry is poised to try again with a technology that could transform the UK gas market and drastically reduce its...
California Wildfires: May Take Years for Full Recovery
Oct 30 2017 // It will take at least months and likely years to fully recover from devastating wildfires that ripped through Northern California earlier this month, destroying at least 8,900 structures and killing 42 people, Sonoma...
U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern District of Texas Creates Disaster Fraud Task Force
Oct 26 2017 // Acting United States Attorney Brit Featherston has established a Disaster Fraud Task Force in the Eastern District of Texas comprised of local, state, and federal agencies to combat hurricane Harvey related disaster fraud...
Government Report Finds Climate Change Costing Taxpayers Billions Each Year
Oct 25 2017 // A non-partisan federal watchdog says climate change is already costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars each year, with those costs expected to rise as devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts become more...
Farmers in Upper Midwest Report Damage from Dicamba Herbicide
Oct 20 2017 // Hundreds of farmers in the Upper Midwest are reporting damage from the controversial herbicide dicamba, and state officials are considering restrictions for the 2018 growing season that might surpass even new federal...
EPA Appears to Ease Nuke Radiation Safeguards for First Responders
Oct 18 2017 // In the event of a dirty bomb or a nuclear meltdown, emergency responders can safely tolerate radiation levels equivalent to thousands of chest X-rays, the Environmental Protection Agency said in new guidelines that ease...
Residents Begin Filing Claims for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Oct 17 2017 // Residents and businesses in nine West Virginia counties left without tap water during a 2014 chemical spill can start filing claims. According to a website set up to handle claims, forms were being accepted both online and...
Developers Built Homes Inside Houston’s Reservoirs. But No One Warned Buyers.
Oct 12 2017 // Note: This story was originally published by the Texas Tribune and ProPublica. When Jeremy Boutor moved to a master-planned community in Houston’s booming energy corridor, he saw it as idyllic. Lakes on Eldridge...
Trump Administration Begins Repeal of Obama Clean Power Plan
Oct 11 2017 // When President Barack Obama unveiled his plan to pare emissions from U.S. power plants two years ago, he stressed the long-term health benefits: 3,600 fewer premature deaths, 90,000 fewer asthma attacks in children and a...
MGA Pen Underwriting Signs £150M Motor Capacity Deal with Zurich Insurance
Oct 9 2017 // Pen Underwriting, the UK managing general agent, has announced a new long-term capacity deal with Zurich in the specialist area of hazardous and tanker transportation, building on a successful partnership that extends back...
New Jersey’s New Day Underwriting Managers Promotes Torres
Oct 9 2017 // New Day Underwriting Managers LLC, a specialty intermediary of environmental and construction-related professional liability insurance coverages based in Bordentown, N.J., has promoted Maydelis Torres to vice president of...
Houston-Area Residents: Toxic Chemicals Found in Soil, Water After Plant Fire
Oct 4 2017 // Tests detected toxic substances in soil, water and ash samples taken miles from a chemical plant that flooded during Hurricane Harvey, caught fire and partially exploded, nearly 20 Houston-area residents said. The findings...
Maryland Suing EPA on Power Plant Pollution in Other States
Oct 3 2017 // Maryland is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to act on a petition requiring power plants in five upwind states to reduce pollution, the state’s attorney general and an official in Gov. Larry...
Legislators Struggle Over How to Handle Chemicals in North Carolina Water
Oct 3 2017 // North Carolina legislators are grappling with the growing knowledge that industries have discharged unstudied chemicals into the state’s waters for years, and that a recent upsurge in concern carries the risk of...
FEMA Statement on Texas Toxic Sites Clarified by EPA
Sep 26 2017 // The Environmental Protection Agency said on Sept. 24 it has recovered 517 containers filled with unidentified, potentially hazardous material found floating in or washed up along Texas waterways after the devastating...
