Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Newspaper Says Chemicals Found in Drinking Water Near South Carolina Air Base
Jan 17 2020 // A newspaper says it found high levels of a toxic chemical in the drinking water near one of South Carolina’s largest military bases. The Post and Courier paid University of Rhode Island researchers to examine tap...
California Refinery Hit With $125K in Safety Violations
Jan 16 2020 // Federal officials have fined a Southern California refinery $125,000 for chemical safety and risk-management violations, according to a newspaper report. The violations stem from a 2016 investigation into Torrance...
Severe Storms Expected to Bring Relief, New Risks to Bushfire-Stricken Australia
Jan 15 2020 // Severe storms are expected to bring some relief in the coming days from huge bushfires scorching Australia but the heavy downpours could also carry the risk of landslides and water pollution, officials said on...
New York Bans Use of Toxic Chemical in Firefighting Foam
Jan 14 2020 // New York plans to restrict the use of firefighting foam that contains certain chemicals that have the potential to contaminate groundwater. Firefighting foam can contain polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are...
Judge Refuses to Stop Idaho Tribe Lawsuit Against Mining Company
Jan 14 2020 // A Clean Water Act lawsuit filed by the Nez Perce Tribe that seeks to force a Canadian gold mining company to acquire permits for pollution discharged from its central Idaho facility will be allowed to continue, a federal...
Lead, Uranium Found After Detroit River Aggregate Spill, EPA Says
Jan 13 2020 // Federal environmental officials found uranium, lead and several chemicals during testing of an industrial site where limestone construction aggregate material spilled into the Detroit River last year, a state agency...
Steelworkers Union Sues to Reverse EPA Weakening of Chemical Plant Rules
Jan 10 2020 // The United Steelworkers sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court on Thursday in a bid to reverse its gutting of a safety rule at chemical plants, the union said. The largest U.S. industrial...
New York Governor Lays out Aggressive Climate Change Plan
Jan 9 2020 // New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing an aggressive climate change-fighting campaign for his state that includes a $3-billion bond act that would be put on the ballot this November. Cuomo, who says that money would go to...
Trump Wants to Speed Infrastructure Projects by Dropping Climate Impact Assessment
Jan 9 2020 // The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, including by dropping consideration of their potential impact on climate change. The plan,...
Insurance Journal’s Top 10 South Central Region Stories of 2019
Jan 2 2020 // It almost seemed like there was a major fire or explosion per month at one petrochemical facility or another in the South Central region last year. That’s not really the case, but there were a number of high-profile...
Honeywell to Pay Georgia $4M for Pollution in Coastal Marsh
Dec 27 2019 // A company has agreed to pay the state of Georgia $4 million for environmental cleanup of a former chemical plant. The Brunswick News reports Honeywell International has filed the settlement with the state Department of...
BP Alaska to Pay $125K Over Hazardous Waste Violations
Dec 27 2019 // BP Alaska agreed to pay a little more than $125,000 in fines over hazardous waste violations on Alaska’s North Slope, officials said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it reached the agreement with...
New York Tweaks Clean Water Plan as Suppliers Call for More Time
Dec 24 2019 // New York would not issue violations against certain water suppliers who notify the public that they have too-high levels of certain industrial and synthetic chemicals under the latest plan to be proposed by state...
Notre Dame Fire Reveals Global Safety Lapse Over Dangers of Lead Dust
Dec 23 2019 // PARIS (AP) — It took a blaze that nearly destroyed Paris’ most famous cathedral to reveal a gap in global safety regulations for lead, a toxic building material found across many historic cities. After the Notre...
DuPont Asks Delaware Judge to Toss Chemours Environmental Liabilities Suit
Dec 23 2019 // The DuPont Co. is asking a Delaware judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that it massively downplayed the cost of environmental liabilities that Chemours would be saddled with when DuPont spun off its former performance...
U.S. Government Backs Bayer in Bid to Overturn Roundup Cancer Verdict
Dec 23 2019 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department said a federal appeals court should reverse a lower court verdict finding Bayer AG liable in the case of a California man who blamed its Roundup weed...
Texas Regulators Want Stiffer Penalty for Owner of Port Neches Plant That Exploded
Dec 20 2019 // Environmental and watchdog groups have long criticized the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for taking it too easy on polluters — and the TCEQ has often countered that its job is to coax industrial facilities...
Steel Mill Sued over Chemical Spill in Indiana Lake
Dec 17 2019 // Two environmental groups are suing a steelmaker for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act at its northwestern Indiana facility more than 100 times in the past five years, including an August spill that killed more than...
Bayer Asks Appeals Court to Toss $25 Million Roundup Cancer Verdict
Dec 17 2019 // Bayer AG on Monday said it has asked a U.S. federal appeals court to throw out a $25 million judgment it was ordered to pay to a California man who blamed the company’s Roundup weed killer for his cancer. In a filing...
Probe Finds Intercontinental Terminals Fire Near Houston Began with Broken Manifold
Dec 13 2019 // A March fire at a petrochemical terminal that spread a blanket of black smoke across Houston began when part of a manifold, which includes a pump and motor, on one storage tank broke, according to a report by local and...
