SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)

"A controversial chemical plant in the centre of Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” region has indefinitely suspended all production following dire financial results, the facility’s operators announced on Tuesday."

"In a victory for global agrochemical maker Bayer, Georgia has become the second state to shield pesticide manufacturers from some lawsuits claiming that they failed to warn customers of potential dangers."

"The tart saltwater odor of fresh-caught shrimp hangs thick in the air, stronger even than the earthier scent of marsh and mud, at Bubba Gumbo’s and BG Seafood, a dockside restaurant and seafood market on Tybee Island, Georgia. This is one of many restaurants that dot the creeks and rivers snaking like veins through the coastal Georgia marshes. They run the gamut from the upscale and trendy to more bare-bones joints like this one, adjacent to a working dock."

"An area branch of the NAACP has joined the fight to keep Chemours and its predecessor company DuPont from shielding thousands of pages of documents from the public eye."

"Amid the vast forests carpeting the corrugated slopes of the Appalachians sit some of the country’s only remaining mountain bogs and a rare, threatened species of turtle living in them."

"Florida is poised to outlaw fluoride in drinking water under a bill approved Tuesday by the state legislature, adding the state to a growing backlash against a long-standing public health measure."

"A grassroots effort successfully pushed back on a development in Homewood that would have destroyed a critical salamander habitat. Still, amphibians face constant risks."

"Donald Trump has denied federal disaster relief funds to the people of Arkansas, which saw dozens of people die from a series of deadly tornadoes last month, as legislators plead for him to reconsider."

"On the morning of March 20, Mathew Roberts was working at a chemical plant on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when he was involved in an accident with a forklift. Unresponsive and in critical condition, the father of two and Iraq War veteran known for his big laugh and warm smile was taken from the Nutrien nitrogen plant to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries."

"For years a textile mill gave farmers its sewage sludge as free fertilizer. Today the land is full of “forever chemicals.”"