Before sunrise on a June morning in 2019, a section of pipe nearly five decades old ruptured at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, spewing a cloud of flammable vapor that hung to the ground like a spectral fog.
Within minutes, according to a surveillance video, a series of explosions in the refinery’s alkylation unit rained huge pieces of shrapnel across the refinery and released 5,239 pounds of hydrofluoric acid (HF), a chemical so toxic that worker-safety advocates have called for its banishment from use in refining.
Read More…
Photo Credit: Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Enquirer
Multiple health threats along the San Jacinto River
By Mihir Vohra. The communities along the San Jacinto River in Harris County, Texas face many environmental health threats from industrial activity in the area.
chejadmin
January 28, 2026