Chemicals

A July 19 fire at Citgo's Corpus Christi refinery released deadly hydrogen fluoride, maimed one worker, and threatened a poor, largely minority community at its fenceline. Now larger questions are being asked -- about how authorities responded to it and whether it could have been prevented.

"Drinking water containing a common herbicide could pose a greater public health risk than previously thought because regular municipal monitoring doesn't detect frequent spikes in the chemical's levels, according to a report released Monday by the Natural Resources Defense Council."

"A class action lawsuit representing water districts throughout Illinois cites recent research contending atrazine in drinking water is unsafe at any level, even measurements well below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines."

New research suggests that atrazine, a popular weed killer found in some drinking water, causes birth defects and health problems at concentrations lower than previously thought.

"In a long-awaited move designed to protect people from cancer, California officials on Thursday proposed a new health goal for chromium 6 in drinking water that is thousands of times lower than the amount contaminating some water supplies."

"Oregon's top environmental agency plans to side with one of the state's biggest polluters in its effort to seek an exemption from tough new federal rules controlling the release of toxic mercury."

"The Army on Wednesday won a court challenge to its plan to incinerate chemical weapons at storage sites around the country over objections from a watchdog group that says the practice releases toxic pollution."

"Very low doses of some types of the herbicide Roundup can disrupt human liver cell function; the formulations' toxicity may be tied to their 'inactive' ingredients rather than the active weed-killing ingredient glyphosate."

"The manufacturer settles an environmental lawsuit with California over lead used to keep the artificial turf green. AstroTurf and other turf-makers insist their product is safe in California."