"When a disaster strikes, be it a hurricane, flood, wildfire, or other type of extreme weather, an army of workers assemble. They arrive in waves to ravaged areas ready to respond." "From cleanup crews to powerline techs, these are the workers called in after catastrophe."
"A train derails and spills at least 1,000 gallons of hazardous materials in the U.S. about once every two months. Nearly half of those derailments resulted in evacuations; more than a quarter resulted in a fire or explosion since 2015, an analysis of federal derailment data showed. And many communities along the rail lines aren’t prepared to keep people safe when it happens."
"The waste and wastewater generated by fracking can be highly radioactive and toxic, especially in the Marcellus Shale, the formation beneath Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York that supplies fracking wells with gas."
"The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) today announced that the agency is seeking public comment on two Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to reduce regulatory burdens imposed on the energy sector."
"Over the past month, the popular Black Sea resort beaches of Russia’s Krasnodar region have been transformed into a scene out of a dystopian sci-fi film, with thousands of workers in white hazmat suits swarming the blackened coast amid dead birds and dolphins."
"Accidents that result in the release of hazardous materials are rare, but when trains do crash, the consequences can be serious. Most of the recent ones that caused evacuations have happened near small communities, NPR found. Local firefighters who respond are uniquely vulnerable to the effects. But across the country, they are often under-prepared to handle the chemicals when they come off the tracks."
"Contaminated soil from the site around the East Palestine train wreck in Ohio is being sent to a nearby incinerator with a history of clean air violations, raising fears that the chemicals being removed from the ground will be redistributed across the region."
"A pair of House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a bill that would tighten regulations for trains with hazardous materials, a direct response to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month that spilled chemicals into the area."
"There is no timetable for reopening part of the main southern Arizona highway southeast of downtown Tucson, officials said Wednesday afternoon, a day after a deadly desert crash caused a hazardous material leak and forced evacuations nearby."
"On January 11, neon-green corrosive ash rained down onto homes, businesses, and schools in La Salle, Illinois, following a fire at the Carus Chemical Company."
