Federal Science Matters: We All Live Downwind of a Harvey-Arkema Disaster

摘要

Hurricane Harvey has dissipated. The sky in Texas has cleared, and the floodwaters will recede. The fallout remains. Adverse impacts on human health and the environment will persist. Widespread reporting in the popular media discussed explosions and fires at a Harvey-ravaged Arkema chemical plant near Crosby, TX. Evacuations within a 1.5 mile radius surrounding the facility amid fears of more explosions were also reported. In the absence of independent physical and chemical measurements, the extent to which this distance is certifiably safe is unclear. While the explosions and fires at the Arkema plant in Crosby, TX may be atypical, it is only one facility of many in the Houston area that should raise alarms in the context of severe storms and increased climate instability, as documented in the remarkable foretelling by ProPublica. As devastating as Harvey is, the deleterious impacts are likely worse than reported. Such extreme events will occur again, and in the absence of independent Federal science, the environmental consequences will continue to be poorly documented.