Living with the proof of pollution
New data show Houston-area communities are being flooded with chemicals. Residents are taking matters into their own hands.
Why do so many chemical releases in Texas go unpunished?
In some cases, these ‘emissions events’ aren’t illegal. In others, state regulators give polluters the benefit of the doubt.
Texas state rep ‘deeply disturbed’ by story
State Rep. Morales Shaw said she will write policies to tackle issues revealed in IRW and PHW’s recent investigation.
Case closed?
A clean energy company that once operated at William Koch’s Oxbow plant in Port Arthur, Texas, claimed in a lawsuit that Oxbow manipulated sulfur dioxide emissions to avoid spending millions on pollution controls. Oxbow said it complies with the law.
Exposure: Pollution meets politics
The Oxbow plant in Port Arthur, Texas, continues to emit as much as lung-damaging sulfur dioxide as it did before the Clean Air Act was passed 51 years ago.
About the Toxic Zones series
The Investigative Reporting Workshop, in partnership with E&E News and NBC News, examines the health of people living in the shadows of U.S. oil refineries.
Pollution, poverty and pandemic collide
In a segregated community outside of an Alabama oil refinery, chronic illness tells a story of racial inequality, poverty and disease as U.S. deaths from COVID-19 surpass 300,000.
Breathing problems
State regulators for more than a decade allowed a New Mexico refinery to delay fixing leaky equipment that was releasing toxic gases, including high levels of the carcinogen benzene.
