Public Health Watch - Inside Climate News

The Loosely Regulated Petrochemical Barge Industry Is Commandeering a Texas River

People who live on the San Jacinto fear chemical releases and explosions from the vessels. It’s unclear who’s policing the buildup.

By Salina Arredondo, Public Health Watch

An aerial view shows multiple barges on the water.

Growing Threat to Heat-Exposed Workers: Chronic Kidney Disease

By Gina Jiménez, Public Health Watch

A cracked pipe at Chevron’s oil refinery in Richmond, Calif., released a flammable white vapor that quickly ignited, sending a large cloud of black smoke across surrounding communities on Aug. 6, 2012. The eruption led to stricter state safety rules for refineries, but now officials are considering rolling back some of those provisions. Credit: U.S. Chemical Safety Board

‘Secret Deal’ in California Would Weaken Regulations for Oil Refineries

By Jim Morris and Molly Peterson, Public Health Watch

Sandra Edwards, who lives in Houston’s Fifth Ward, is still trying to recover from Hurricane Beryl, which badly damaged her home last July. “The government doesn’t care about us,” she says. Credit: Mark Felix/Public Health Watch

Texas Is Unprepared for Compound Climate Disasters

By Jana Cholakovska, Public Health Watch

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has recorded high benzene emissions for nearly 20 years outside K-Solv, a barge-cleaning and chemical distribution facility in the southeastern corner of Channelview, Texas. Credit: Jeffersonn Castellanos/Univision45

Levels of Cancer-Causing Benzene Reached New Heights in Beleaguered Channelview. Regulators Never Told Residents

By Savanna Strott, Public Health Watch

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