EPA Says It Won’t Protect Americans from Chemical Spills

In 2014, more than 10,000 gallons of a coal-cleaning chemical leaked into the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia, leaving more than 300,000 residents without clean tap water for a week—and eventually resulting in a court settlement that ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue standards to prevent such incidents.

But yesterday, under Administrator Scott Pruitt, the agency refused to follow through. “Pruitt’s action will seriously endanger Americans, because he is refusing to protect communities affected by the hundreds of hazardous spills that happen each year,” says Erik Olson, senior director of health and food at NRDC. “Millions of people—disproportionately low-income and people of color—live near industrial sites that pollute streams, lakes, and drinking water sources.”

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