Chemicals

"The Pacific island nation of Nauru and its roughly 11,000 residents are at the center of the increasingly contentious debate over whether the world's seabeds should be mined for nickel and other green energy transition minerals."

"After firefighters spent two days battling an inferno fueled by plastics in eastern Indiana, the fire has been fully extinguished, officials said. “We’re now able to turn our attention to collecting air and water samples to determine when the evacuation order can be lifted,” Richmond Mayor Dave Smith told CNN Thursday night."

"Warnings that a large-scale plastics recycling plant planned along a floodplain in Central Pennsylvania could flush toxic PFAS into the Susquehanna River, a major source of drinking water for millions, are stirring a budding opposition movement."

"An evacuation order affecting more than 1,000 people remained in place Wednesday night around a large industrial fire in an Indiana city near the Ohio border where crews worked to douse piles of burning plastics."

"China is far ahead of the rest of the world in the development of batteries that use sodium, which are starting to compete with ubiquitous lithium power cells."

"Several environmental groups are suing federal regulators over what they say is a failure to set safe limits on harmful chemicals pouring into waterways from refineries, including eight facilities in Louisiana that are considered among the nation’s top polluters."

"The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Tuesday to limit the use of the chemical ethylene oxide after finding higher than expected cancer risk at facilities that use it to sterilize billions of medical devices each year."

"A senator questioned the EPA chief and a group sued the agency after ProPublica and the Guardian revealed that the EPA gave a Chevron refinery approval to make a fuel that could leave people nearby with a 1-in-4 lifetime risk of cancer."

"A February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, shone a spotlight on the impact of toxic chemicals. But communities who are exposed to such chemicals on a more routine basis say they’re still waiting for the same level of recognition."