The Sacklers’ Last Poison Pill
The opioid crisis remains one of America’s deadliest public health disasters. Victims demand answers about how it happened and who was responsible. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform seemed poised to address a facet of the crisis with a hearing this coming Tuesday on the role of Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler […]
St. Landry Parish, Cankton, sue oil companies over possible aquifer contamination
The St. Landry Parish government and the village of Cankton are suing more than 25 companies, including Chevron, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, over alleged groundwater contamination from a former 80-acre oilfield waste disposal site about 15 miles from Lafayette. Lafayette attorney William Goodell, representing the parish and village, alleges the former Cankton Tank Farm/MAR Services […]
E.P.A.’s Final Deregulatory Rush Runs Into Open Staff Resistance
President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency was rushing to complete one of its last regulatory priorities, aiming to obstruct the creation of air- and water-pollution controls far into the future, when a senior career scientist moved to hobble it. Thomas Sinks directed the E.P.A.’s science advisory office and later managed the agency’s rules and data around […]
Special Report: U.S. air monitors routinely miss pollution – even refinery explosions
When explosions ripped through a Philadelphia oil refinery last year, the shock waves knocked Felicia Menna’s front door frame out of place. Then came the black smoke. “My throat was closing shut,” recalled Menna, who lives about a mile away. “My nostrils felt like they were on fire.” She went to an emergency room, where […]
Scientists link record-breaking hurricane season to climate crisis
Paddling in a canoe through the flood waters left by Hurricane Eta in his rural village near the north coast of Honduras, Adán Herrera took stock of the damage. “Compared with Hurricane Mitch, this caused more damage because the water rose so fast,” said Herrera, 33, a subsistence farmer who is living on top of […]
Judge delays crucial permit for Formosa plastics plant
[BY DAVID MITCHELL] A state district judge sent critical air permits for a $9.4 billion Formosa Plastics complex back to state environmental regulators so they can take a closer look at the St. James Parish facility’s emissions impacts on Black residents living nearby. Nineteenth Judicial District Judge Trudy White issued the finding during a hearing […]
Bankruptcy judge OKs federal settlement with Purdue Pharma
[By GEOFF MULVIHILL] Proposed settlements between the federal government and OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and its owners cleared a major legal hurdle Tuesday when a bankruptcy judge said they could move ahead. Last month, the company agreed to an $8.3 billion civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice related to claims about its role […]
Marathon Petroleum, accused of fraudulently seeking tax exemption
[BY: SARA SNEATH] A state board deferred consideration of $43 million in tax breaks for Marathon Petroleum Friday after claims that the company falsified public records to avoid going to St. John the Baptist Parish officials for approval. Marathon went before the Board of Commerce and Industry Friday for a tax break for an expansion […]
Nearly 100,000 Western New Yorkers have been diagnosed with cancer
Startling statistics that our New York clients are sadly, all to familiar with. Buffalo Business First crunched the numbers from the New York State Cancer Registry and found nearly 100,000 Western New Yorkers have been diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes, and a new case of cancer is diagnosed in what works out to be […]
Purdue’s massive opioid settlement is tangled in a bankruptcy court fight
By: BLOOMBERG Purdue Pharma’s massive settlement over claims that it helped spark the opioid crisis is facing pushback in federal court, creating a potential stumbling block for the landmark deal. Purdue has agreed to plead guilty to three felonies and pay $8.3 billion to settle federal investigations of how it marketed the painkiller OxyContin. But […]