Chemicals

"A mandatory evacuation order issued after a series of explosions at a Texas chemical plant has been lifted, a county official said Friday morning."

"A New Hampshire judge ordered that the state suspend at year’s end enforcement of its new rules tightening allowable limits on fluorinated “forever” chemicals, as the 3M company had asked."

"3M Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co., and Chemours Co. were hit with suits by two water authorities in Nassau County, N.Y., alleging the companies contaminated their water supplies with toxic substances."

"The EPA asked Nov. 25 for information and opinions as to whether it should require companies and federal facilities that make or use certain “forever chemicals” to report when they are released and how they are managed."

"A retail ban on the sale of methylene chloride paint strippers takes effect Nov. 23, the EPA announced."

"Monsanto pleaded guilty to spraying a banned pesticide on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and agreed to pay $10.2 million in criminal fines and other payments for the spraying and for illegally storing hazardous waste, U.S. prosecutors said."

"Bayer AG discussed plans to give the German drugs giant influence within a prestigious American not-for-profit dedicated to media freedoms that would protect and promote the company’s business interests in exchange for generous funding, records obtained by the Guardian show."

"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."