Latest Chemicals Headlines

All the headlines from our Chemicals Topic Page, ordered by recency.

N.J. Implements Expanded Safety Rules for Chemical Plants

Mar 20 2007 // Chemical facilities in New Jersey using extremely hazardous substances must weigh using safer options and plant workers can now join state inspections under new state policies to improve safety and security at the...

Marsh Comments on Effect of EU’s ‘REACH’ Regulations

Mar 7 2007 // On 29 October 2003, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a new EU regulatory framework for chemicals. The new system, dubbed REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of CHemicals), outlined a complex...

Chemical Vapor Build-Up Cited in Mass. Paint Factory Explosion

Feb 5 2007 // A build-up of chemical vapor was the fuel for a massive explosion at a Danvers, Mass. paint and ink factory that leveled the building and forced a neighborhood evacuation, according to a preliminary conclusion by federal...

Report: U.S. Rails with Hazardous Materials Vulnerable to Terrorists

Jan 18 2007 // Train lines that carry hazardous shipments have little or no police presence and shoddy security that makes them easy targets for terrorists, according to a newspaper investigation.During a several-month, nationwide...

Feds Arrive in Kentucky to Investigate Hazardous Chemical Rail Fire

Jan 18 2007 // Federal agents will spend the rest of the week near Brooks, Kentucky investigating what caused a train carrying hazardous chemicals to derail and catch fire, forcing nearby residents to evacuate their homes.The chemical...

Texas AG Cracks Down on Chemical Plants for Alleged Air Pollution

Dec 21 2006 // Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office announced that Abbott has taken legal action against four Houston-area chemical plants for violating Texas environmental laws. The case is the first in Texas arising out of...

Court-Appointed Scientists Say Teflon Health Studies Could Take Years

Nov 17 2006 // Ohio and West Virginia residents who sued DuPont over a chemical used to produce Teflon may have to wait up to five years before learning if their health has been adversely affected by the substance, members of a science...

N.C. fire chief: Apex plant chemicals unknown

Nov 6 2006 // The fire chief for the town of Apex told a North Carolina state task force that he was prepared to lose an entire city block when a chemical fire ignited an industrial waste recycling plant last month because he...

N.C. fire chief: Apex plant chemicals unknown

Nov 5 2006 // The fire chief for the town of Apex told a North Carolina state task force that he was prepared to lose an entire city block when a chemical fire ignited an industrial waste recycling plant last month because he...

Safety Board: N.C. Waste Plant Fire Started Near Chlorine

Oct 31 2006 // The hazardous waste storage plant fire that led to the evacuation of thousands of residents this month in Apex, N.C. started in an area where chemicals such as pool chlorination tablets were stored, investigators said.An...

Apex, N.C. Fire Chief Predicted Heavy Loss From Chemical Fire

Oct 27 2006 // Apex’s fire chief told a North Carolina state task force this week that he was prepared to lose an entire city block when a chemical fire ignited an industrial waste recycling plant earlier this month because he...

Treasury Report on Terrorism Insurance Says Backstop Negatively Affects Private Capacity

Oct 3 2006 // A new federal report has found that the long-term development of the private terrorism insurance market remains at best uncertain due to the unpredictable nature of terrorist attacks.The President’s Working Group on...

Del. Residents Evacuated Near Chemical Tanker Return Home

Aug 28 2006 // Residents living near a railroad tanker car that released a hazardous chemical, sickening 23 people, have been allowed to return home, officials said.An evacuation notice for 44 homes had been issued Saturday morning...

Industry Group: Rita Did $150M Damage to 23 La. Chemical Plants

Aug 24 2006 // Major repairs are done and production is back to pre-storm levels at Southwest Louisiana’s 23 biggest chemical plants and oil refineries – but Hurricane Rita did about $150 million in damage to the plants...

Supreme Court to Hear States’ Case Against EPA Over Climate Change

Jun 28 2006 // Running for president, George W. Bush said he was ready to regulate carbon dioxide. But in early 2001, shortly after taking office, he changed his mind.It would be too expensive to force reductions of the leading...

N.J. Officials Push for Tougher Chemical Plant Safety Rules

Apr 18 2006 // Speaking near a cluster of chemical plants, New Jersey’s two United States senators and its new homeland security director said the state should be able to enact tougher safety standards for chemical facilities than...

Hundreds Evacuated as Train Burns After Collision in Ala.

Jan 20 2006 // Schools were open but about 500 residents were unable to return to their homes Jan. 19 after a train carrying sodium cyanide caught fire in a collision with another train near Lincoln, Ala.Jerome Hand, a spokesman for the...

Me.’s Collins, Conn.’s Lieberman Push Tougher Chemical Plant Safety

Dec 22 2005 // Oil-storage tanks in South Portland and paper mills in other parts of Maine would be among the facilities subject to additional safety standards if federal legislation to be introduced this week is enacted.U.S. Sen. Susan...

U.S. CSB Issues Urgent Safety Recommendation to BP Global Board in Wake of Accidents at Texas Facilities

Aug 18 2005 // The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, (CSB) recently issued an urgent recommendation calling on the BP Global Executive Board of Directors to commission an independent panel that would review a range of...

AIG’s Terrorism Protection Portfolio Includes Biological and Chemical Attack Coverage

Nov 5 2004 // The AIG Companies have launched LexHomeland Protector, a comprehensive terrorism insurance portfolio designed to help protect businesses against terrorism risks, including losses arising from biological and chemical...