Chemicals

"Beyond a chain-link fence topped with spiraled barbed wire, swaying coastal grasses conceal a cache of buried radioactive waste and toxic pesticides from a bygone chemical plant."

"The U.S. government has a specialized plane loaded with advanced sensors that officials brag is always ready to deploy within an hour of any kind of chemical disaster. But the plane didn’t fly over eastern Ohio until four days after the disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment there last year."

"An industry-backed bill to regulate how data from community air monitors is used was given final legislative approval Monday over objections from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and activists seeking to reduce pollution."

"Officials in Alameda, Calif., have told scientists to stop testing a device that might one day be used to artificially cool the planet by making clouds brighter, reflecting planet-warming sunlight back into space."

"The Food and Drug Administration has missed its own deadline to propose a ban on the use of formaldehyde as an ingredient in hair relaxers and hair straighteners on the market in the United States."

"Republican legislators have blunted the impact of citizen-led air monitoring, which is set to receive millions from the feds."

"U.S. Steel’s proposed sale to Nippon Steel stokes concerns over labor rights and national security, all while the company continues to break clean air laws in Western Pennsylvania."

"In communities across the U.S., water contains levels of fluoride some experts say could be harm developing brains."

"Donald Trump has pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry."

"The new rule builds on a landmark 2015 rule prohibiting coal ash from being permanently stored in places where it comes into contact with groundwater. This was meant to reform the widespread practice of creating so-called coal ash ponds where the toxin is stored in a wet slurry. While at that time the EPA only applied the rule to coal plants in active use, the new rule will require the cleanup of hundreds of “legacy” coal ash ponds."