"Two counties, dozens of first responders and hundreds of neighbors claim in court documents that the Arkema chemical manufacturing plans committed negligence. Environmental advocates say lax industry regulations exacerbated the disaster."
"CROSBY — Most of the houses along Crosby Eastgate Road and its neighboring streets are one-story outfits on sprawling green lots. In their driveways are spare trucks, old armchairs or small motorboats; grazing their grass are horses and cows. Some houses are raised on stilts; others look abandoned.
And many of them belong to plaintiffs suing their neighbor on Crosby Eastgate: an Arkema Inc. chemical manufacturing plant.
It’s hard, on a sunny March morning seven months removed from the storm that devastated this community, to picture the floods. On dry days, the brown water in the roadside drainage ditches sits relatively low. But in August, when Hurricane Harvey dropped 50 inches of rain on the Houston area, it surged up into the street, nearly swamping the head-high wire fence lining the road."
Emma Platoff reports for the Texas Tribune March 30. 2018.
SEE ALSO:
"New Report: One Year In, EPA Chemical Rule Delay Allows Chemical Disasters to Continue" (Union of Concerned Scientists)
"A Disaster In The Making" (Earthjustice)
"States Sue EPA Over Chemical Safety Rule Delay" (The Hill)
"Delay of U.S. Chemical Safety Rule Challenged" (Chemical & Engineering News: 7/28/2017)
"As The Arkema Crisis Is Unfolding, An EPA Chemical Plant Safety Rule Is On Hold." (New Republic)
"EPA Delayed Chemical Safety Rule After Industry Complaints" (AP)
"Lawsuits Over Arkema Chemical Disaster in Texas Add Up"
Source: Texas Tribune, 04/10/2018
