The Environmental Defense Fund has created a new mapping resource to locate onshore oil and gas wells that release methane. The tool was developed in response to the EPA’s proposal to rollback regulations on methane emissions within the oil and gas industries. The map reports emissions data and demographic information to visualize the sensitive populations that might be exposed to the increased releases of methane. Read More.
On Wednesday (December 4), residents of Port Neches were asked to voluntarily evacuate their homes in response to the TPC Group plant explosion that occurred early last week. Originally ordered to shelter-in-place, residents are now being asked to temporarily vacate the area surrounding the plant to reduce risk of exposure to harmful chemicals still lingering in the air. Read More.
The California Breast Cancer Research Program, in partnership with the California Department of Public Health, the Occupational Health Branch and the University of California, San Francisco, has developed a tool to research women’s exposure to chemicals in the workplace. The goal of the research and the basis behind this tool is to provide women with information on industries that have a higher risk of exposure to
chemicals that may cause breast cancer. The tool shows data on over 160 different occupations in California and data on over 1,000 different chemicals. Read More.
An explosion at the TPC Group plant in Port Neches, Texas this morning (Wednesday, November 27) has left 3 workers injured and hundreds other on evacuation notice. Families outside the evacuation zone are encouraged to shelter-in-place. Responders are still tending to the plant as officials work to uncover the cause of the explosion. Read More.
Louisiana health officials have plans to initiate a new study to determine how many individuals surrounding the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in St. John Parish have developed cancer. The Denka plant is the only one in the country to release chloroprene, a likely carcinogen to humans. The study will include graduate students going door to door of 1,900 homes in a 2.5 kilometer range to determine who has developed cancer. Read More.
The holiday season is the happiest time of the year, but is it the most sustainable? The end of the year holidays come with an increase in travel, eating, shopping and waste. This year, find ways to celebrate in a more sustainable way. Read More.
The EPA finalized a rule relieving chemical plant facilities from some of the major safety regulation set by the chemical disaster rule. The EPA explained in their press release Thursday that the updated rule will no longer require facilities to consider safer technology alternatives. In combination with other regulation easements, the update is expected to save American $88 million a year. However, groups are not as convinced that the change will keep chemical plant employees and surrounding communities safe. Read More.
A group a ten middle school students, from the Exploris School in downtown Raleigh, NC, have taken on the challenge to study the presence of PFAS in water and raise awareness in their community on the substance’s health impacts. The Exploris School and students are working in participation with the Design for Change program, a global nonprofit that encourages students to examine some the worlds most challenging social issues. The students are currently in the brainstorming phase of their project, where they will discuss potential solutions to decrease water testing time to more efficiently identify the presence of PFAS contaminated sources. Read More.
Formosa, a Taiwanese plastics production company, has proposed to build a $9.2 billion facility in St. James Parish, Louisiana. St. James Parish, positioned on a bend of the Mississippi River is already an area highly concentrated with industry and overburden by harsh chemicals. If approved, the facility project would be the largest in state history, with a plant spanning the length of 80 football fields, consisting of 16 facilities and releasing the cancerous chemicals ethylene oxide, benzene and formaldehyde. Read More.
Residents of Dover, New York and concerned individuals across the Northeast came together on Saturday, November 16, to block the construction of the Cricket Valley power plant. The protest included a tractor blockade and protesters climbing to the top of a 275 foot smoke stack. New York residents oppose the construction because it will dramatically set the state back in its goals to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2040. Once completed, the massive plant will release 6 million tons of greenhouse gases into the air, in addition to hundreds of tons of other harmful chemicals. Read More.
Link to livestream video of protesters
Link to video of protesters on a smoke stack