While dangerous emissions were not found in the air surrounding the El Dorado Chemical plant in Bryan, Texas, thousands of residents were forced from their homes, reported the Associated Press (AP), citing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The evacuation was initiated because of the risk that ammonium nitrate—a chemical used in the manufacture of explosives—at the 11,216-square-foot plant could spark an explosion; the fire was still smoldering late last week. (more…)

The Honda Motor Company just announced that it expanded a previous recall from late last year and is now adding nearly a half-million—about 440,000—cars that could contain a dangerous and deadly airbag defect, CNN Money reported.

The affected Honda models include the 2001-2002 Honda Accord, the 2001 Civic, and the 2002-2003 Acura TL. According to CNN Money, the potential airbag defect has resulted in six injuries and one death, citing Chris Naughton, Honda spokesman. Acura is Honda’s luxury brand automobile, the Associated Press (AP) pointed out. (more…)

A fire at the El Dorado Chemical plant in Bryan, Texas, while under control, continued to smolder today. At least 1,000 people are still evacuated because of the risk that ammonium nitrate at the plant could spark an explosion.

The fire at the El Dorado Chemical Co. plant broke out around noon yesterday. Right now, it looks like a welding spark ignited the blaze. The fire produced a plume of smoke that extended up to 60 miles from the plant. Because of the toxicity of the chemicals involved, fire crews were forced to allow the blaze to burn itself out. (more…)

Following the Dow Chemical leak in Hahnville, Louisiana earlier this month, an investigator from the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has been a at the plant every day trying to determine what happened. According to a report in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, DEQ has been accused by an environmental group of ignoring problems at the Dow plant.

The Dow chemical spill, which involved the chemical ethyl acrylate, occurred early in the morning of July 7, and forced evacuation of the area around the Dow Chemical plant. Some residents were forced out of their homes until Wednesday afternoon. Because of winds and storms in the area, ethyl acrylate fumes were carried as far away as New Orleans, and St. Bernard’s Parish. Dozens of people were treated at the hospital for ethyl acrylate side effects. The foul-smelling chemical is known to cause nausea and headaches, and can irritate the skin, eyes, nose and throat. (more…)

The federal National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) made a recommendation that cell phones not be used by drivers, except in cases of emergencies, because of their link to traffic accidents, said MSNBC. That recommendation included hands-free cell phone use.

Unfortunately, the recommendation, which was made about seven years ago—2002 and 2003—was not released to the public until now, said MSNBC. Two public interest groups finally publicized the proposal—The Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen—, which obtained the documents via a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act, MSNBC noted. This, after The Center for Auto Safety unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the information in 2008, ABC News pointed out. (more…)

We have been covering issues surrounding the catastrophic Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) fly ash spill and have expressed concern over the hazards to people and the environment left in the wake of last year’s spill that dumped a mind-boggling 5.4 million cubic yards—over one billion gallons—of toxic coal sludge into Tennessee’s Emory and Clinch rivers and the 300 acres surrounding the TVA Kingston plant.

Now, the TVA has “significantly” increased the “hazard potential” for some of its ash sites under a self-assessment given to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Associated Press (AP) reported. (more…)

The Dow Chemical leak that occurred in Hahnville, Louisiana earlier this week could affect the area for days, plant officials are saying. According to a report on WDSU.com, the 640,000 gallon storage tank involved in the incident could intermittently leak ethyl acrylate while the cleanup is ongoing, filling the air with the chemical’s characteristic putrid smell.

The injury count from Tuesday’s leak at Dow Chemical’s St. Charles Operations facility has now reached 33, with two people treated at the hospital yesterday. A second ethyl acrylate leak occurred in the same storage tank yesterday morning at around 6:30, and residents nearby complained about the nauseating smell throughout the day, WDSU.com said. Although most said the odor from the chemical wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been on Tuesday, some did complain of feeling worse than they had when the original incident took place. (more…)

A new report says four main causes led to the catastrophic Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) fly ash spill that dumped a devastating 5.4 million cubic yards—over one billion gallons—of toxic coal sludge into Tennessee’s Emory and Clinch rivers and the 300 acres surrounding the TVA Kingston plant. According to KnoxNews, William Walton, AECOM engineer, and TVA’s Chief Operating Officer, Bill McCullum, recently discussed the report.

In addition to a layer of unstable ash sludge—“slimes”—that went undetected, the “construction of retaining walls on top of the ash,” “saturation of the stored ash,” and “pressure exerted by rising stacks,” led “to this problem,” said Walton, who added that, “It’s almost a perfect storm,” quoted KnoxNews. Walton said the slimes were “comprised of fine particles of fly ash, water, and sediments underneath the ash stacked in one area of the pond,” explained KnoxNews, which noted that Walton compared the consistency to that of yogurt. (more…)

Following the worst crash in the Washington DC Metro’s 33-year history, it has been revealed that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made recommendations years ago that, said McClatchy Newspapers, were needed because of passenger vulnerability to “catastrophic damage” in the event of a crash. The collision killed nine and injured 80 people, some critically.

The NTSB recommended—three years ago—that the Metro replace the type of rail car that was involved in the historic crash because of the cars alleged vulnerabilities, said McClatchy Newspapers. Although some of the cars have been in operation over 30 years—since 1976, in some cases—the Metro kept the dangerous cars due to financial constraints, reported McClatchy Newspapers. (more…)

Six months have passed since the catastrophic December 22 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) fly ash spill that dumped a devastating 5.4 million cubic yards—over one billion gallons—of coal sludge into Tennessee’s Emory and Clinch rivers and the 300 acres surrounding its Kingston plant. Now, reports WBIR, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—now in charge of the cleanup—says ash will be removed from the Emory River by next spring. Dredging is underway.

Leo Francendese, the EPA On-Scene Coordinator who began handling the cleanup early last month, said he will continue with cleanup efforts until all of the ash is removed from the Emory River, at which time another coordinator will come in to handle ash that did not enter the water, said WBIR. Francendese told 10News, “I sincerely believe spring 2010 is doable and maybe we can shave even more time off of that,” explaining that crews dredge over 7,000 cubic yards of ash from the Emory daily and he expects that to increase shortly to more than double at 15,000 cubic yards daily, said WBIR. When Francendese took over last month, the TVA was dredging about 1,000 cubic yards daily, noted WBIR. (more…)