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Toxic Smoke and Mirrors: How a Petrochemical Giant Broke Its Promise
The air in Port Neches, Texas, is thick, even in December. A pungent smell permeates the city — schools, parks, restaurants, hospitals, and grocery stores. The odor is reminiscent of burning plastic mixed with the smell of a gas station pump. Some locals say they stopped noticing it a long time ago.
This region in southeast Texas is known as the Golden Triangle because of the wealth generated by the massive oil boom in the early 1900s. But today, some residents say the economic opportunities the petrochemical industry has offered them and their neighbors have come at a high personal cost.
“You live here, you’re gonna get cancer,” a local mother said. She prefers not to be named because of her relationships with people who work in the oil and chemical industries. Timothy, her son, is an ICU nurse. Both of them grew up in the Golden Triangle. They have another name for the region: cancer alley, reminiscent of the nickname for an 85-mile stretch of petrochemical plants and refineries along the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
He said he has personally treated countless locals with various cancers, including numerous cases of patients with lung cancer who never smoked. For Timothy and his mother, the flames, the smoke, the never-ending smell of chemicals coming from refineries and petrochemical plants are a fact of life. So are the sirens that go off during the day. And the eerie orange glow in the sky at night, from the lights on machinery at the plants.
Residents feel “helpless to do anything about it,” Timothy’s mother said. And the plants and refineries are the economic lifeblood of the region. “You weigh the risks of living in the area with the good living wages that you get.“
Texas Alleges ‘Habitual Non-Compliance’ of Wastewater Rules at Dow Chemical Complex
The Texas Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit Friday afternoon against Dow Chemical Co., North America’s largest chemical manufacturer, describing hundreds of water pollution violations from its industrial complex on the rural Gulf Coast in Seadrift.
While the state’s 46-page lawsuit followed a 60-day notice of intent to sue filed in December by a local environmental activist, the lawsuit could actually shield Dow and two other companies by superseding litigation by the citizen group seeking tougher cleanup provisions under the Clean Water Act.
The state’s lawsuit said Dow, its subsidiary Union Carbide and the Brazilian petrochemical manufacturer Braskem “have been in habitual non-compliance” with pollution permits at their chemical manufacturing complex in Seadrift, 80 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.
The companies “have violated, and continue to violate, the Texas Water Code, the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, and regulations and permits” since at least 2020 through hundreds of described violations including unauthorized discharge of waste, unauthorized disposal of industrial solid waste and failure to report violations, the lawsuit says.
S.C. Leader Pushes for ‘Forever Chemical’ Bill Amid Wife’s Cancer Battle
State legislators are working to increase regulations on PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” with Rep. Joe Bustos of Mount Pleasant proposing legislation after his wife’s battle with cancer. Rep. Joe Bustos of District 112 is sponsoring the bill following his wife Kathy’s diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer linked to PFAS exposure.
“Certainly, Kathy’s experience, while you can’t absolutely say it was because of that, you can’t absolutely say it wasn’t either,” Bustos said. PFAS are man-made chemicals used in water-resistant products and have been found on military bases and in South Carolina waterways. The Bustos family moved from one military base to another for 24 years during his Army service.
Andrew Wunderley, executive director of Charleston Waterkeeper, said the chemicals have been detected locally. “Specifically, here locally in the Santee River Basin, they found it in fish and crabs and in oysters and in our river systems and Creek systems,” Wunderley said. Studies show PFAS bioaccumulates through the food web, causing health and reproductive problems in local dolphins, Wunderley said.
Study of 27.8M Americans May Have Revealed Direct Alzheimer’s Cause
Scientists have just found a direct link between air pollution and Alzheimer’s disease — suggesting that improving air quality could be an important way to prevent dementia and protect older adults. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, which affects about 57 million people worldwide, and there is currently no cure for it, making prevention is crucial.
While exposure to air pollution is a known risk factor for several common chronic health conditions linked to Alzheimer’s disease — like depression, hypertension and stroke — it was previously unclear whether air pollution causes these chronic conditions, which can then lead to dementia, or if these conditions might amplify the effects of air pollution on brain health.
To find out more, environmental health researcher Yanling Deng of Emory University, Georgia, and her and colleagues, examined data on more than 27.8 million U.S. Medicare recipients aged 65 years and older from 2000 to 2018. The researchers looked at individuals’ air pollution exposure level and whether they developed Alzheimer’s disease, while emphasizing the role of other chronic conditions.
Notoriously Hazardous South L.A. Oil Wells Finally Plugged After Decades of Community Pressure
The Los Angeles Times reported:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week that state oil and gas regulators have permanently closed one of the most infamous drill sites in Los Angeles, bringing an end to a decades-long community campaign to prevent dangerous gas leaks and spills from rundown extraction equipment.
A state contractor plugged all 21 oil wells at the AllenCo Energy drill site in University Park, preventing the release of noxious gases and chemical vapors into the densely populated South Los Angeles neighborhood. The two-acre site, owned by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is located across the street from several multifamily apartment buildings and less than 1,000 feet from St. Vincent School.
NH Farm Use of PFAS-Laden Sludge Raises Health Concerns. But, Some Ask, Where Else Can It Go?
A resourceful solution to repurpose waste and nourish farmland, or a poisonous and permanent mistake? Depending on whom you ask, the practice of spreading treated sewage, or sludge, on New Hampshire farmland might be either.
For decades, this fertilizer has been a point of contention both locally and nationwide. Now, with renewed attention on sludge’s PFAS, or “forever chemical” content, a new bill from Rep. Wendy Thomas, D-Merrimack, brings the practice back into the spotlight.
Grounded in concerns about the health impacts of PFAS, House Bill 1275 seeks to create a financial safety net for farmers who experience losses after discovering the chemicals on their land or in their crops.
The bill also proposes a five-year moratorium on agricultural use of the material, an idea that proved controversial among farmers, wastewater professionals, and legislators at a hearing Feb. 10.
