skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, July 26, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

Groups: EPA, Others Need to Step Up Oversight of Chemical Plants

play audio
Play

Friday, February 17, 2023   

Environmental groups in Illinois are pushing state and federal officials to tighten regulations on businesses that use toxic substances after a fire and explosion last month in north-central Illinois.

A Jan. 11 fire and explosion at a chemical company in La Salle spewed a cloud of toxic particles across the area. The city of 10,000 was covered with pink dust that contained sulfuric acid, lead and mercury.

Hannah Lee Flath, communications coordinator for the Sierra Club Illinois chapter, said it was clear the federal Environmental Protection Agency and its Illinois counterpart did not properly enforce existing regulations - and that local officials didn't have an adequate disaster plan.

"Wind and weather can carry ash and smoke widely, and so folks closest to the plant are certainly more impacted immediately," she said. "But we saw that pink material was landing on the Illinois River, and so it's very clear that it did travel."

Flath said she sees eerie similarities between the La Salle disaster and a recent incident in East Palestine, Ohio, where 20 derailed tanker cars burned and spread vinyl chloride and other toxins across the area.

The EPA and Carus Chemical Co. did not respond by deadline to a request for comment.

Flath said what happened in Illinois and Ohio are not isolated events, and both communities face long-term dangers from the toxic substances. Studies show that a chemical disaster occurs, on average, every three days in the United States, and often in less-than-affluent neighborhoods.

"These types of facilities are more frequently located in Black and Brown communities, lower-income communities that are already overburdened," she said. "Oftentimes, these types of plants are in locations that are already struggling because of other environmental issues and pollution."

Flath added that the Sierra Club and other environmental groups are working with the EPA and other agencies to develop proactive plans to protect communities, before and during chemical leaks.

"We're partnering with environmental-justice organizations and other groups who work on toxics issues," she said, "to urge the EPA and the Biden administration to make sure preventive measures are taken, to try to ensure these disasters don't happen in the first place."

Disclosure: Sierra Club contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Energy Policy, Environment, Environmental Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
According to the Tax Policy Center, for higher-income earners, sales taxes consume a lower share of their income than for other households. (Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

As Nebraska state lawmakers convene for a special session on property tax reform called by Gov. Jim Pillen, groups are weighing in on the details …


play sound

Traveling around rural Minnesota can be difficult but in more than half the state, nonprofit transit systems are helping people get where they need …

Social Issues

play sound

Student loan forgiveness took center stage on Thursday at the American Federation of Teachers conference. The Biden administration has canceled more …


Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has introduced legislation to codify the Chevron Deference into law. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Recent Supreme Court rulings on air pollution are affecting Virginia and the nation. Climate advocates said the court overstepped its bounds in …

Health and Wellness

play sound

World Hepatitis Day is this Sunday, and for the Oregon Health Authority, it's an opportunity to promote its plan to eliminate hepatitis across the …

The Gender Shades project revealed facial recognition performed poorest for darker-skinned women, and performed best for lighter-skinned men. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Columbia County, New York, is implementing new facial recognition and privacy policies, following new upgrades to the county's surveillance cameras…

Health and Wellness

play sound

New York disability-rights advocates are celebrating the 34th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 1990 …

Social Issues

play sound

As summer winds down and North Carolina students prepare to return to school, the focus shifts to the urgent need for better public education funding…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021