Chemicals

"Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality has been accused of protecting the chemical industry it regulates. The agency is facing cutbacks as new plants are slated for communities that already have some of the country’s most toxic air."

"Fourteen oil and gas companies are funding a website that attacks scientists and undermines their work."

"Facing public pressure to rein in its pollution, a Japanese chemical manufacturer has instead launched an aggressive, years-long campaign to undermine the science showing that its compounds could cause cancer, according to newly released documents reviewed by the Guardian."

"EPA today proposed new restrictions on the use of the weedkiller atrazine, a widely used agricultural chemical. But environmentalists say EPA's plan weakens protections and would allow 50% more of the endocrine-disrupting herbicide linked to birth defects and cancer to end up in waterways."

"Federal prosecutors yesterday filed a criminal complaint against Timothy Litzenburg, who represented people affected by the herbicide Roundup, on charges that the Virginia attorney attempted to extort $200 million from a global chemical manufacturing company."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Inspector General found that state and federal environmental regulators didn't start monitoring air quality soon enough during the monster storm, which brought a spike in hazardous emissions from industrial facilities."

"Massachusetts state regulators have issued new standards for toxic compounds in drinking water."

"An environmental group launched legal action on Thursday seeking to ban commercial use of “super-toxic” rat poisons in California, citing data showing the products pose a grave threat to a dozen endangered species and other wildlife."

"People living near Medline Industries in north suburban Waukegan had higher levels of the cancer-causing chemical ethylene oxide in their bloodstream than others who live farther away, according to test results from a federally funded study."

"One of the companies responsible for polluting an 80-mile (129-kilometer) stretch of river and floodplains in southwestern Michigan with toxic chemicals will pay at least $245.2 million to advance a cleanup effort that began more than 20 years ago, federal officials said Wednesday."