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from the nothing-to-see-here-read-the-summary dept.
A toxic onslaught from the nation's petrochemical hub was largely overshadowed by the record-shattering deluge of Hurricane Harvey as residents and first responders struggled to save lives and property.
More than a half-year after floodwaters swamped America's fourth-largest city, the extent of this environmental assault is beginning to surface, while questions about the long-term consequences for human health remain unanswered.
[...] In all, reporters catalogued more than 100 Harvey-related toxic releases—on land, in water and in the air. Most were never publicized, and in the case of two of the biggest ones, the extent or potential toxicity of the releases was initially understated.
Hurricane Harvey's toxic impact deeper than public told
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by fritsd on Sunday March 25 2018, @11:05AM (1 child)
Yeah, I actually thought that as well, but I thought it was too paranoid a scenario to write down :-)
Imagine you are the director of a chemical factory in Houston Texas.
Imagine you have a chemical waste storage for the PCB and dioxin containing byproducts of your factory.
You have to send it to a specialized expensive destruction company, but you might as well wait until profits are up a bit, or the laws change.
Fast forward 20 years
(1) Now you have a ginormous tank with 20 years of this waste doing nothing but slowly rusting the waste silo and costing money. All previous directors shoved the problem forward in time. Profits are down and the environmental laws have become stricter and the destruction company asks for much more money than 20 years ago (no competition anymore from the cheap one that was run by the local maffia).
(2) Suddenly out of the blue, Hurricane Harvey is passing straight over your industrial terrain! Shock! Horror!
(3) ????
(4) An Act of God made your chemical waste disappear from the location that you have responsibility for!
(5) Profit!!!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Taibhsear on Monday March 26 2018, @05:21PM
That would be illegal. The chemical factory would likely be considered a "Large Quantity Generator." There are regulations for how long you can store waste or hazardous products.
https://www.epa.gov/hwgenerators/categories-hazardous-waste-generators [epa.gov]