Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Appoints State’s First Chief Resilience Officer to Prepare for Sea Level Rise
Aug 9 2019 // Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed Dr. Julia Nesheiwat as Florida’s first Chief Resilience Officer (CRO). The CRO will be tasked with preparing Florida for the environmental, physical and economic impacts of...
Insurers Pressured to Drop Coverage of Canada’s Oil Sands Pipeline
Aug 8 2019 // A coalition of 32 environmental and indigenous groups on Thursday urged insurers to stop underwriting the Trans Mountain pipeline to pressure Canada to cancel its plan to expand the project, which carries crude from...
City Officials Can Be Charged If Sewers Aren’t Fixed, Arkansas Prosecutor Says
Aug 6 2019 // An Arkansas county prosecutor said he has the legal authority to bring criminal charges against Bethel Heights city officials if they don’t take action to fix their system. State records show Bethel Heights’...
UK Regulator Asks Insurers to Weigh Possible Business Impact of Climate Change
Aug 2 2019 // The Bank of England for the first time is asking British insurers to gauge how global warming might impact the value of the stocks and bonds they hold — and its potential to upend financial markets. The central bank,...
Official: Harris County Sues Exxon Over Air Pollution from Petrochemical Fire
Aug 1 2019 // Exxon Mobil Corp. was hit with a lawsuit on Thursday over pollution from a fire at the company’s Baytown Olefins Plant, according to an attorney for Harris County, Texas, which filed the suit. The fire was being...
Fire at Texas Plant Could Disrupt Exxon’s Chemical Business
Aug 1 2019 // Exxon Mobil Corp.’s suburban Houston refining and chemicals complex erupted in flames on Wednesday, prompting municipal leaders to order residents to seek shelter indoors, shut their windows and turn off air...
Bayer Cites Safety Concerns in Pulling Monsanto NemaStrike Crop Product
Aug 1 2019 // Bayer AG has scrapped plans for wide sales next year of a chemical that is intended to protect U.S. crops from yield-robbing worms, citing ongoing safety concerns. The decision is the latest setback for Germany-based Bayer...
EPA Official: Montana Site Suited for Superfund Status
Jul 29 2019 // A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official says a Montana area emitting toxic vapors is a candidate to become a federal Superfund site. The Billings Gazette reports contaminants from old dry cleaning solvents are...
Report: Millions of Gallons of Waste Created by Texas Petrochemical Fire
Jul 24 2019 // The cleanup of millions of gallons of waste and polluted water is far from over four months after a large fire burned for days at a Houston-area petrochemical storage site. Intercontinental Terminals Company, the...
Roundup Not Only Monsanto Legal Woe For Bayer; PCB Claims Still Coming
Jul 24 2019 // The widening legal nightmare over Roundup weedkillers isn’t the only potential multi-billion-dollar liability Bayer AG inherited last year when it acquired Monsanto Co. While thousands of damage claims over Roundup...
Duke Energy Sued Over Environmental Damage to Dan River from 2014 Coal Ash Spill
Jul 23 2019 // The federal, North Carolina and Virginia governments asked a court Thursday to declare the country’s largest electricity company liable for environmental damage from a leak five years ago that left miles of a river...
Illinois Medical Instrument Sterilization Plant to Reopen with Emission Control Equipment
Jul 19 2019 // The operator of a closed suburban Chicago plant where medical instruments were sterilized with a cancer-causing chemical has reached an agreement with the state of Illinois that will allow the plant to reopen, both sides...
Environmentalists Lose Bid to Restore EPA Ban on Chlorpyrifos Pesticide
Jul 19 2019 // The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it will not ban the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to health issues in children, from use on U.S.-grown fruits and vegetables. The agency...
Wyoming Refinery Sued over Environmental Violations
Jul 18 2019 // The Wyoming attorney general’s office has sued an oil refinery, claiming it exceeded emission limits for a number of air pollutants. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported that the state filed the lawsuit last week...
Jim Beam Thanks Firefighters, Says It Regrets Environmental Impact of Kentucky Warehouse Fire
Jul 18 2019 // Jim Beam has written an open letter to some newspapers to thank firefighters for battling a fire that recently burned down a storage warehouse in Kentucky. The producer of the world’s best-selling bourbon writes that...
Minnesota City Seeking Study of Toxic Chemical After Refinery Blast
Jul 17 2019 // City leaders in Duluth, Minnesota, are taking steps to ensure that residents will be safe following the upcoming reconstruction of a refinery that exploded in neighboring Superior, Wisconsin. The Husky Energy oil refinery...
Chemical Contamination Found in Wells Near Delaware Air Force Base
Jul 17 2019 // Businesses and residents near Dover Air Force Base in Delaware are being provided bottled water after chemical contaminants were found in private wells near the base at levels far exceeding federal health advisory...
Wisconsin Court: Extra Insurance Not Needed for Enbridge Pipeline in Dane County
Jul 15 2019 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on June 27 that Canada-based Enbridge Energy doesn’t need to carry additional insurance for a pipeline project in Dane County, despite the local government’s insistence that it...
Towns Raising Concerns About New Hampshire PFAS Standards
Jul 9 2019 // Groups representing municipalities and businesses are trying to put the brakes on New Hampshire’s efforts to impose some of the nation’s toughest drinking water standards for a class of toxic chemicals that...
Research Shows Suburban Population Near Natural Gas Storage in 6 States
Jul 9 2019 // About 65% of active natural gas storage (UGS) wells in the United States are located in suburban residential areas and not in more sparsely populated commercial, industrial, or even rural areas like many new unconventional...
