Chemicals

"The Environmental Protection Agency weakened a rule Thursday governing how companies store dangerous chemicals. The standards were enacted under President Barack Obama in the wake of a 2013 explosion in West, Tex., that killed 15 people, including 12 first responders."

"Actor-producer Mark Ruffalo is ... trying to translate film into political activism with Friday’s theatrical release of his Dark Waters, based on lawyer Rob Bilott’s years-long fight to hold DuPont Co. accountable for chemical contamination that a West Virginia farmer believed was killing his cattle."

"The House Energy and Commerce Committee forwarded on Wednesday major legislation that would target a cancer-linked chemical that is leaching into the water supply."

"A bill that would reinstate a regulation banning certain pesticides from wildlife refuges was approved by the House Committee on Natural Resources on Nov. 20."

"A panel of three appellate judges grilled attorneys for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Defense Council in a suit about the exemptions to the agency’s mercury inventory reporting rule."

"A House committee approved legislation Nov. 19 to ban asbestos but allow certain chemical manufacturers to transition away from use of the cancer-causing mineral."

"Two months after two men were arrested at an illicit marijuana farm on public land deep in the Northern California wilderness, authorities are assessing the environmental impact and cleanup costs at the site where trees were clear-cut, waterways were diverted, and the ground was littered with open containers of fertilizer and rodenticide."

"Science prevailing over politics: That’s how a researcher who was snubbed for a high-profile award earlier this year has characterized the decision to finally recognize his achievements in highlighting a deadly public health problem in rural Sri Lanka."

"The House Science Committee has formally issued two subpoenas to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), demanding answers on various scientific rulemakings that lawmakers argue have been unnecessarily delayed."

"America’s government-backed national recycling awareness day is being used as cover by large corporations that are churning out enormous volumes of plastic that end up strewn across landscapes, rivers and in the ocean, critics have said."