‘sweat and blood … and even death’
by Public Health Watch
July 18, 2024
Two years ago, Public Health Watch’s editor-in-chief got a tip about an unpublicized silicosis epidemic among immigrant workers in the LA area. Having written about this fatal lung disease before, he quickly grasped what a huge story this was.
environment
Long-Delayed Permit for LA-Area Lead Smelter Will Tighten Enforcement, Regulators Say. Plant Neighbors Aren’t So Sure.
After repeated delays, California regulators have unveiled more stringent requirements for Ecobat, the state’s only operating lead battery recycling plant.
New Texas Appellate Court Alarms Environmentalists
The all-Republican 15th Court of Appeals soon will begin hearing disputes involving the state’s environmental regulators. “It’s BYOC — bring your own court — for polluters and powerful interests,” one critic says.
commentary
Why the Full-Body Scan Craze Misses the Mark: Focusing on Evidence-Based Prevention
Full-body scans are generating buzz at the expense of time-tested prevention tools like chronic disease screenings and vaccines.
Federal Crackdown on Silica Dust Begins as Mining Industry Sues to Block It
As a long-delayed “rule” protecting miners from toxic silica dust begins to take effect, the mining industry seeks federal court reviews of its legality.
toxic texas air
‘Bad Actors Must Face Consequences’: Texas Legislator Ups Ante in Response to Public Health Watch Investigation in Channelview
Texas State Sen. Carol Alvarado says that PHW’s recent investigation into chronic benzene pollution in Channelview will be the blueprint for legislation she plans to introduce when Texas lawmakers convene in January.
PHW News
‘Toxic Texas Air’ Wins National Environmental Reporting Award
The National Press Foundation announced Friday that Public Health Watch had won the 2023 Thomas L. Stokes Award for Best Energy and Environment Writing.
A month of honors for Public Health Watch
Projects on unchecked air pollution and life without health insurance were honored in multiple journalism contests.
Lawmakers Take Aim at Community Air Monitoring in Louisiana. Are Other States Next?
Republican legislators in Louisiana are moving to blunt the impact of citizen-led air monitoring, which is set to receive millions from the feds. The effort could spread to multiple states.
medicaid expansion: ‘the holdouts’
East Texas County Fights a Bitter Battle Over a Reborn Hospital
As a rural hospital in Crockett struggles with the cost of indigent and other unpaid care, a torn community weighs how to keep its hospital open and financially viable.
environment
California Struggles With a National Problem: How to Safely Dispose of Dead Car Batteries
One of the nation’s few lead smelters is just outside Los Angeles and wants to renew its operating permit. But nearby residents say the state isn’t doing enough to protect them from the lead the plant has leaked into the air for almost 65 years.
workplace
Federal Mine Safety Regulators Finally Focus on Silica Dust — With Thousands Of Miners Sick And Dying
Fifty years after first being urged to act, federal mine safety regulators will finally impose strict exposure limits on silica dust in mines. Silica is blamed for an epidemic of severe black lung disease among coal miners.
environment
Who’s Polluting My Neighborhood? New Database Makes Searching for Chemical, Climate Data Faster, Easier
Public Health Watch and three partners today are launching FencelineData.org, a revolutionary tool that will make it easier for community members, advocates, journalists and researchers to find information on companies that release harmful chemicals and contribute to climate change.
Your Weekly Roundup of Public Health News
The Watch: July 12, 2024
Rural counties lack cardiologists despite dire need, children exposed to higher temperatures as fetuses are more likely to develop leukemia, tampons can contain lead and other metals, nearly 1K US workers died from exposure to heat and more
The Watch: July 5, 2024
Medicaid disenrollment leaves more people uninsured, toxic chemicals linked to depression, cool roofs help lower city temperatures, kids exposed to air pollution have higher risk for adult bronchitis and more
medicaid expansion: ‘the holdouts’
Thousands Die From Opioid Overdoses in Florida Each Year. Medicaid Expansion Could Lessen the Toll, Experts Say.
U.S. drug overdose deaths have soared over the past decade, and every state is being impacted. But research suggests states that haven’t expanded Medicaid coverage, such as Florida, are passing up an opportunity to save more lives.
radio reports
Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Can Be Dangerous for Those Who Need Opioid Addiction Medications
This report for NPR’s “All Things Considered” examines how the Medicaid “unwinding” has worsened health risks for patients in treatment for opioid addiction and strained resources among safety-net providers.
The Possible Impact of Medicaid Expansion — and Effects of Medicaid Unwinding — on Florida’s Opioid Addiction Care
Florida public radio station WUSF examines access to opioid addiction treatment in the state.
Commentary
‘You’re Fine.’ Why Delays in MS Diagnosis Matter.
Multiple sclerosis affects nearly 1 million people in the U.S. but is notoriously hard to diagnose.
toxic texas air
EPA Gives ‘Minor’ Polluters a Free Pass
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has broad-ranging authority to protect the environment and human health. But it systematically turns a blind eye to “minor” air polluters, leaving a small Texas community in a regulatory void.
‘Breakthrough’ Study Ties Microplastics to Strokes, Heart Attacks
The breakdown products of plastic waste, and their even-smaller cousins, nanoplastics, were found in 58% of Italian patients who had plaque removed from their carotid arteries
‘the holdouts’
Texas House Speaker Led Efforts to Improve Health-Care Access. His District Still Struggles.
State Rep. Dade Phelan has made health care a priority as Texas House speaker, reflecting his district’s chronic health gaps. But like most Republicans, he’s never backed full Medicaid expansion. GOP resistance could harden after elections.
Commentary
New Op-Ed in The Progressive: America Claims to Care About Its Blue-Collar Workers, But Really Doesn’t
In a new op-ed, PHW executive director Jim Morris notes that if America really cared as much about blue-collar workers as it claims to, it would devote more resources to protecting their health and safety.
toxic texas air
New Report Calls Houston Ship Channel a ‘Racial Sacrifice Zone’ for Human Rights
The report examining human rights violations by petrochemical companies along the Houston Ship Channel calls for Texas to overhaul its environmental regulations and asks the EPA to review the state’s policing of the industry.
Video: Nueva Historia de Univision 45 Sobre la Crisis de Benceno en Channelview
Este segmento en Univision 45, producido en colaboración con Public Health Watch, profundiza en una comunidad asediada por los altos niveles de contaminación industrial. Véalo aquí o en YouTube.
WOrkplace
Book Excerpt: ‘The Cancer Factory’, by Jim Morris
Today “The Cancer Factory,” an investigative book by Public Health Watch founder Jim Morris, goes on sale. It shows how blue-collar workers can be exposed to deadly substances without their knowledge, and how government efforts to protect them often fall short.
EVENTS
Public Health Watch Town-Hall Event Draws Nearly 100 People in Polluted Texas Community
About 90 people attended a town-hall meeting in Channelview, Texas, near Houston, on January 12 to discuss a Public Health Watch investigation into high levels of the carcinogen benzene in the community.
toxic texas air
A Texas Community Is Being Bombarded by Cancer-Causing Benzene. State Officials Have Known for Nearly Two Decades.
In 2005, Texas regulators documented startling amounts of benzene in a community outside Houston. Instead of solving the problem, they allowed a known benzene polluter to expand — a decision scientists worry could haunt residents for years to come.
‘We Are Not Taking This Lightly’: Texas Legislator Promises Action After Public Health Watch Investigation in Channelview
Texas State Sen. Carol Alvarado is exploring new legislation to address the issues uncovered during Public Health Watch’s investigation of chronic benzene pollution in the unincorporated community of Channelview.
The Science on Benzene Keeps Getting Scarier. Industry Remains in Denial.
The federal government has struggled to control the carcinogen, which threatens workers and residents who are exposed to it. Users and manufacturers have gone to extremes to argue that it’s dangerous only in high doses, hiding data and spending millions on questionable studies.
commentary
Social Isolation: An Underrecognized Health Crisis
Loneliness and social isolation are important – and treatable – public health problems that deserve more attention.
workplace
California Issues Emergency Rule to Address Silicosis Epidemic
One hundred cases of the fatal lung disease have been documented among fabricators of artificial-stone countertops in the state. Public Health Watch and two collaborators broke the news of the cluster.
workplace
Unearthing Pathology of Recent Rise in Black Lung Disease
Results will help pathologists diagnose a new, more aggressive form of the disease.
the holdouts
In East Texas, Living With Diabetes and No Health Insurance
Access to affordable health care can mean the difference between managing diabetes well or suffering its most debilitating outcomes. The risks rise where diabetes and uninsured rates are high.
Environment
Reaching for Air: How a Historic Mistake Led to Salt Lake City’s Pollution Nightmare
Salt Lake City’s west side has worse air quality than the east side — for reasons that range from a mistake made in the 1890s and decades of redlining.
Toxic Texas Air
Fine Particles Kill Thousands of Texans a Year. It’s Likely to Get Worse.
Ken Paxton and 18 other state attorneys general are fighting a Biden administration plan to crack down on the pollutant, linked to heart disease, breast and lung cancer and other ailments
The Deadly Toll of Fine-Particle Pollution in Texas
This interactive map shows how fine-particle pollution impacts the health of communities across Texas.
workplace
Arizona’s Construction Workers Face Growing Risks Amid Rising Heat and a Real Estate Boom
Worker advocates say the state has prioritized development over safety.
Environment
As U.S. Wildfires Pollute the Skies, a Loophole Is Obscuring the Impact. Can It Be Fixed?
Everyone agrees it’s time to change the Clean Air act’s exceptional events rule, but has different solutions
In Detroit, a ‘Magic Wand’ Makes Dirty Air Look Clean — and Lets Polluters Off the Hook
Across the US, local governments, lobbyists and industry have spent millions to get wildfire pollution excluded from the record. People like Robert Shobe pay the price.
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Workplace
Impact: Federal Mine Safety Agency Considers Tougher Response to Silica Dust After Public Health Watch Report
A proposed rule to protect coal miners from severe black lung acknowledges just a fraction of thousands of cases of disease.
PHW NEWS
Public Health Watch Wins National Investigative Reporting Award
PHW and collaborators LAist and Univision garner top honors in prestigious Barlett and Steele competition for silicosis investigation
Workplace
Impact: OSHA Announces Enforcement Initiative After Public Health Watch Reveals Silicosis Cluster in California
At least 77 fabricators of engineered-stone countertops in the state have been diagnosed with an accelerated form of the fatal lung disease since January 2016
Environment
New Tool Says Dallas-Fort Worth Ranks Third in the World for Transportation-Related Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
Dallas-Fort Worth’s obsession with highways has made it the world’s third biggest source of greenhouse gases from transportation, according to a model called ClimateTrace.
WOMEN
After a Decade of State-Led Attacks, Texas Seeks to Bankrupt Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood, which provides essential health-care services to low-income women, has weathered relentless attacks by conservative politicians in Texas and could go bankrupt if the state prevails in a lawsuit.
Environment
In a Small French Town Where Houston-Based LyondellBasell Is a Fixture, Residents Complain of Unending Pollution
Houston-based LyondellBasell, one of the world’s biggest chemical manufacturers, has had several major chemical releases in Harris County, Texas, in the past few years. Its environmental record in the industrial enclave of Berre-l’Étang, France, isn’t so great, either.
Workplace
Federal Fix for Silica Dust Understates What We Found: Thousands of Coal Miners Still Sick and Dying
Coal miners have been exposed to toxic amounts of silica dust for decades. Now, federal mine safety regulators are proposing tough new rules to protect them. But the proposal fails to mention the biggest cost so far, perhaps undercutting the case for urgent action now: more than 4,000 miners sick and dying since 2010.
‘This stuff is killing me’: After decades of delay, new black lung protections come too late for some West Virginia coal miners
For decades, coal operators, federal regulators and politicians have come up short in preventing miners from getting the disease. For miners with black lung, the inaction has been deadly.
Black Lung Disease Is Affecting More Coal Miners in West Virginia. Here’s What to Know
Miners, regulators and advocates have known about the threat of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis for decades. How does silica dust cause black lung disease, what are regulators finally doing about it — and will it change anything?
environment
Black Water: How Industry Fights Controls of Little-Known Drinking Water Contaminant
High levels of manganese in drinking water could harm infants and children, research shows. But industries that use or produce the metal are downplaying the risks in a fight against tighter controls by the EPA, including hiring consulting firms whose studies conflict with independent research.
Manganese in Public Water Systems
This interactive map reveals the EPA’s most recent measures of manganese levels in thousands of public water systems across the U.S.
Mental Health
Network Connects Pediatricians With Mental Health Professionals To Treat Growing Number Of Children
Texas children have a hard time accessing mental health care, but a state program is helping pediatricians and primary care doctors fill the gap.
Aging
Poverty Puts Older Texans at Risk
About 12% of older Texans live in poverty, and the numbers are even higher for Hispanic and Black populations.
Workplace
Silicosis Cases Are Mounting Among Countertop Fabricators in California. An Emergency Standard Is Coming.
The deadly lung disease is caused by the inhalation of silica dust, released by the cutting or grinding of artificial-stone countertop slabs. A new study offers details on its victims.
ENVIRONMENT
Deer Park Chemical Fire in 2019 Could Have Been Prevented, Federal Investigation Finds
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board found that the ITC tank farm lacked crucial equipment to warn workers about the failure that led to the three-day fire.
Watching the Watchers: How Journalistic Teamwork Uncovered Years of Regulatory Failure in Texas
After a massive fire at a Texas petrochemical storage facility, Public Health Watch and The Texas Tribune worked to shed light on who was responsible and what health threats had been hidden from the public. This behind-the-scenes report looks at the challenges the team faced and how they overcame them.
Commentary
Teenage Girls Are Struggling
Teenage girls in America are under extraordinary stress, for a variety of reasons. Our columnist, Lisa Doggett, and her 15-year-old daughter, Clara Williams, offer insight.
Environment
Texas Lawmakers Raised Pollution Fines for the First Time in More Than a Decade. But Regulatory Concerns Remain.
The Texas Legislature raised the maximum daily fine for polluters from $25,000 to $40,000. But it also gave environmental regulators more latitude to avoid investigating citizen complaints.
Mental Health
Texas Legislators Boosted Alzheimer’s Program Funding. It’s Not Enough.
Texas lawmakers set aside $14.2 million for the 2024-2025 biennium to help victims of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, a $4.2 million increase over the current two-year budget. Advocates for the state’s 400,000 dementia patients say it’s not enough.
Toxic texas air: Part 1 of 2
For Years, the EPA and Texas Ignored Warning Signs at a Chemical Storage Site. Then an Inferno Erupted.
Regulators repeatedly documented — but did little to address — problems at a Houston-area tank farm before a disastrous fire struck in March 2019. The fire released toxic chemicals into nearby communities for weeks.
Toxic texas air: part 2 of 2
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Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters in Southern California
Since January 2016, at least 30 artificial-stone fabricators in the Los Angeles area have been diagnosed with an accelerated form of silicosis, a deadly, dust-related illness.
California Regulators Drafting Emergency Rule to Combat Deadly Lung Disease
Cases of silicosis are mounting among fabricators of artificial-stone countertops in the state. Two agencies are working to address the epidemic.
Environment
As Wildfire Smoke Worsens Public Health, Government Watchdog Calls EPA Response ‘Ad Hoc’
Auditors say the EPA’s response to wildfire smoke is “poorly resourced and muddled by a lack of coordination with other agencies.”
mental health
Rio Grande Valley Is at Epicenter of Alzheimer’s Spike Among Latinos
A stretch of South Texas is struggling with a crisis many parts of the nation could someday face: the increase in cases of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The state’s response has been uneven at best.
LNG Export Terminals Pose a Growing and Invisible Threat: Air Pollution
Residents around existing LNG facilities in Louisiana already notice the smell and irritants from nearby terminals. With more under construction, air quality is poised to worsen.
What Would Life Be Like With MS and No Insurance or Help?
After she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Lisa Doggett received first-rate care because she had health insurance and a good job. But what if she hadn’t?
toxic texas air
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.
As Alarm Over Plastic Grows, Saudis Ramp Up Production in the US
President Biden is in the kingdom this week to strengthen ties, consistent with ‘American values.’ Meanwhile, a US-Saudi joint venture on the Texas coast is pumping out toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases.
A Texas County Wants to Punish Polluters. The State Won’t Let It.
Residents of eastern Harris County have grown tired of almost-daily chemical leaks and the occasional catastrophe. A new generation of county officials is trying to help them, even as state leaders undercut their authority and restrict voting access.