The Depopulation Agenda has been activated, and they are killing us. Humanity is under attack. Today we are going to look at how they are creating and releasing toxic chemicals into our water, soil and the air we breathe.
YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT… I KNOW. THE WHOLE WORLD IS IN DENIAL. It is a scary truth, but it is the truth. There was a point when I and many others like me were hoping the warning was provided in time to change things. That hope is gone. It is too late to change it or stop it now. THE DIE HAS BEEN CAST.
We are still laboring to wake people up. Hopefully so that they can prepare themselves and not be caught unaware. Thus, the point of this post. I have enumerable related posts on my website with links and articles from countless other truthers. Don’t turn away from this post. You need to see the truth and fully understand what is happening. Hopefully, you can avoid some of the effects and a lot of the pain.
I have often pondered why they don’t just kill us all at once. I thought perhaps it was because they wanted to drain us of all of our money…but hell, they control the money anyway. But, in one of the videos in this post it was suggested that they want to kill us off in smaller numbers so that there a people left to tend to the bodies. That makes sense. As they say in their video, imagine what it would be like with all those 7.3 billion dead bodies at once. It would be overwhelming. A monumental task.
Honestly, at this point, the very best thing you can do for yourself and your loved ones is get close to GOD. Our Heavenly Father, the CREATOR of all things visible and invisible. The is the ONLY GOD, THE ONE TRUE AND LIVING GOD. He is your source. Or He should be. Take it all to HIM and TRUST HIM and only HIM. Pray at all times, over every situation. Pray over yourself and your loved ONES. GET UNDER the PRECIOUS BLOOD of the ONLY SAVIOR!
hydrogel
Hand Washing/Sanitizing – THE DANGERS KNOWN AND UNKNOWN
RESTORED: 3/8/22 I am sure that everyone is missing the simple JOY of HUMAN TOUCH. Isolated from our loved ones, friends and family we are craving interaction. The touch of a hand has so much power. Our hands are such awesome tools! They serve so many purposes. Without them how would we eat, get dressed, … Click Here to Read More
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2,010 Subscribers432 Views – 3 years agoSensitivity – Normal (BBFC 12)https://rumble.com/v28gy4a-j-and-j-jab-ingredients-list-exposed.html HIGHLIGHTED SEGMENT FROM THE DR JANE RUBY SHOW REGARDING THE SHOCKING INGREDIENTS IN THE J & J BIOWEAPON JAB.
Stew Peters Network writes:
Healthy adults are dropping dead all across the globe. In the last 18 months, the term “Died Suddenly” has risen to the very top of “most searched” Google terms. Now, the award-winning documentary team that brought you, “Watch The Water”, and “These Little Ones” travels around the world to find answers, and tell the stories, of those who Died Suddenly.
Original Rumble Video:
https://rumble.com/v1q1u1m-died-suddenly-official-trailer-streaming-november-21st.html
Watch the full documentary here:
https://rumble.com/v1wcesu-died-suddenly-full-documentary-not-suitable-for-children.html
Documentary Website:
https://diedsuddenly.info/
Stew Peters Website:
https://www.stewpeters.com/
See Also:
COVID-19 – Mystery Clots In Vaccinated Deceased People
https://sunfellow.com/covid19-blood-clots-in-vaccinated-dead-people/
Increasing Death Rates, Plummeting Birth Rates, Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS)
https://sunfellow.com/increasing-death-rates-plummeting-birth-rates-sudden-adult-death-syndrome-sads/
COVID-19 Documentaries
https://www.sunfellow.com/covid-19-documentaries/
………………….
Covid-19 Vaccine Pharmacovigilance Report
https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/resources/covid-19-vaccine-pharmacovigilance-report/
More Than 1,000 Peer Reviewed Articles On COVID Vaccine Injuries
https://community.covidvaccineinjuries.com/compilation-peer-reviewed-medical-papers-of-covid-vaccine-injuries/
COVID-19 Vaccination Stories, Side Effects & Healing
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-vaccination-stories-side-effects-healing/
COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Event Tracking System (VAERS)
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-vaers/
COVID-19 Vaccine Bad Batches Reference Page
https://sunfellow.com/100-of-covid-19-vaccine-deaths-were-caused-by-just-5-of-the-batches/
Increasing Death Rates, Plummeting Birth Rates, Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS)
https://sunfellow.com/increasing-death-rates-plummeting-birth-rates-sudden-adult-death-syndrome-sads/
COVID-19 – Mystery Clots In Vaccinated Deceased People
https://sunfellow.com/covid19-blood-clots-in-vaccinated-dead-people/
COVID-19 & Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (ADE)
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-antibody-dependent-enhancement-ade/
Covid-19 – Vaccine-Induced T Cell Suppression, Virus Activation, Cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s
https://sunfellow.com/bhakdi-burkhardt-cole-hoffe/
COVID-19 Menstrual & Breast Milk Disruptions, Miscarriages, Infertility, Transmission (Shedding)
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-menstrual-breast-milk-disruptions-miscarriages-infertility-transmission-shedding/
COVID-19 Magnetism, Graphene Oxide, UV Fluorescence
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-magnetism-graphene-oxide-uv-fluorescence/
COVID-19 Healing Resources
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-healing-resources/
Censored, Sidelined And Villainized Doctors, Nurses, Health Care Workers Describe Their COVID-19 Experiences
https://sunfellow.com/censored-health-care-workers-describe-their-covid-experiences/
Computer studies of population growth are false! Our population numbers have been steadily decreasing for the last 100 years. “They” didn’t just start to poison us, they have been doing it in every way imaginable. Sperm counts started going down while fertility clinics and abortion clinics started setting up near Walmarts. There have been many studies showing that “too many people using too much stuff is a bunch of BS” It just “looks” that way because they have been steadily forcing people off of Rural Areas and “stacking and packing” them into concrete prison cities. It was proven, long before the planndemic, that you could take all the people on the planet, give them one acre of land, and you could fit them all in an area the size of Texas. These same people saying that we are running out of resources are the very ones suppressing the over 6,000 advanced technology patents that would provide us with Med Bed healing technology, Zero Point (free energy), anti-gravity craft, anti-aging technology, food replicator technology, all of which we would not need to continue taking resources from the Earth. All of which “THEY” are using off planet. All of which can be proven, if people would just learn to do some research. If you do your due diligence, you will soon discover that 85% of all the world’s suffering can be laid at the feet of all the same people, the same eugenicists, who fabricate studies to justify their genocide. ALL VACCINES, ALL DRUGS, JUST STOP TAKING THEM. Learn about the natural healing modalities that these same people intentionally suppressed and paid their media to call it quackery. I don’t know if I can watch much more of this, as I have known about this and much much more for over 25 years. Now with many warned friends and family dead or dying, I feel like a broken woman. No one would listen, they’re not listening still. I guess they never will.
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Great Reset: The Long Planned Global Depopulation Goals.

“Who Controls the Food Supply Controls the People”
Gone Viral Video! – The Unbelievable Reason Why Trump Always Carries This Special Salt Everywhere He Goes!
This is to serve warning that what ‘the authorities’ are planning for us in the very near future is a ‘Great Reset’ of what we are accustomed to eating at our daily meals.
Under plans laid out by Klaus Schwab, executive director of the World Economic Forum, what food ‘is’ and how it is produced are to take a dramatic turn for the worse. From something broadly natural to something essentially synthetic.

Under the cold technocrat agenda know as ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution’ and ‘Green New Deal’ agriculture will have less and less to do with farmers cultivating the land and more and more to do with the laboratory production of synthetic foods by robots.
The great majority of mankind already carry traces of dozens of toxic synthetic chemicals in their bodies, with significant amounts of the carcinogenic herbicide glyphosate (Round Up) having been detected in more than 90% of the tens of thousands tested in Europe and the USA during recent years.
Right now in Holland, Israel and California entirely fake laboratory meat (‘cultured meat’) is commencing manufacture – using animal based cellular tissue; while nanoparticles are increasingly being adopted in the processing of many of the mass produced factory foods found on supermarket shelves today.
The GMO threat is also once again part of the plan, going under a new name: ‘gene editing’. These are foods that have been molecularly re-engineered to suit the profit motivated ambitions of the pesticide and pharmaceutical industries. Consuming them on a regular basis will irrevocably alter our own DNA to the point where ‘human’ will no longer fit the description of our species.
Most people are completely unaware of these so called ‘developments’. One of the excuses used for moving humanity onto a space-age laboratory engineered diet is that scientists in the pay of the global warming lobby say that dairy cows and beef cattle are causing climate change due to their natural flatulence negatively effecting the atmospheric methane balance.
This is at the extreme end of plausible, but only in the case of large scale factory farms on which cattle are fed entirely inappropriate diets.
This is the same bunch of ‘scientists’ who are warning that earthworms need controlling due to their supposed negative influence on the upper atmosphere.
Well, frankly, I would have thought that even the most dim members of the scientific community would have thought up something a little more credible for closing down conventional farming systems. But such is the insanity at large today that almost any theory backed by enough mass propaganda indoctrination seems capable of achieving its desired ends.
So let us be reminded of the words of Dr Henry Kissinger “Who controls the food supply controls the people.” Food production coming under the jurisdiction of a centralised global cabal, is a very dangerous move. Already just six vast seed corporations own and control 80% of the world’s seed production and distribution.

Using Codex Alimentarius clauses of the World Trade Organisation governments have already been influenced to pass laws severely restricting the use of native seeds and a wide variety of fruit and vegetables once on sale in traditional grocery stores.
The population as a whole is now confronted by the despotic Green New Deal programme forcing its fake ‘zero carbon’ policy on humanity and weaponising it to be the vector for the digitalisation and re-engineering of the food chain, as described earlier.
The largely synthetic diet that emerges out of this sterilisation programme will free-up the land for what is termed ‘re-wilding’, the leisure pursuits of the wealthy and large scale US style robotic factory farming units.
What to do?
Here follows a list of immediate actions to take to ensure you don’t get caught-out and find yourself on a corporate/state controlled artificial GMO diet with no way out.
*Immediately cease relying on the supermarket/hypermarket for your main food purchases. They are global killers of small, diverse and animal friendly farms and of real food. They will be the first to comply with the cabal government controls.
*If you are not already living in the countryside or small town/village with direct links to the surrounding land, plan your move to such a location straight away. Big cities are saturated with electro magnetic microwaves, CCTV monitors, traffic polluted air and a great excess of sterile concrete. They can no longer support the health and welfare of sentient humans.

Learn about Dioxin
- Dioxins are called persistent organic pollutants (POPs), meaning they take a long time to break down once they are in the environment.
- Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones.
- Dioxins are found throughout the world in the environment, and they accumulate in food chains, concentrating mainly in the fatty tissue of animals.
- More than 90% of typical human exposure is estimated by EPA to be through the intake of animal fats, mainly meat, dairy products, fish, and shellfish.
On this page:


What is Dioxin?
Dioxins refers to a group of toxic chemical compounds that share certain chemical structures and biological characteristics (see figure 1). Several hundred of these chemicals exist and are members of three closely related families:
- polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs)
- polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs)
- certain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Although hundreds of PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs exist, only some are toxic, those with the chlorine atoms in specific positions. Counting around the carbon rings, those with chlorines at positions 2, 3, 7, and 8 are toxic (see figure 1). The dioxin-like PCBs have both biphenyl rings in the same plane (flat appearance), which allows them to act like dioxins in the body.
PCDDs and PCDFs are not created intentionally but are produced as a result of human activities like the backyard burning of trash. Natural processes like forest fires also produce PCDDs and PCDFs. PCBs are manufactured products, but they are no longer produced in the United States.
What does dioxin look like?
Pure dioxin looks like white crystalline needles. In the environment, however, it generally is dispersed and attached to soil and dust particles and is invisible to the eye.
Where does dioxin come from?
Industrial activities: Dioxin is not produced or used commercially in the United States. It is a contaminant formed during the production of some chlorinated organic compounds, including a few herbicides such as Silvex. Over the past decade, EPA and industry have been working together to dramatically reduce the production of dioxin and its release to the environment.
Although environmental levels of dioxins have decreased in the last 30 years, dioxins are extremely persistent compounds and break down very slowly. In fact, a large part of current exposures to dioxins in the United States is due to releases that occurred decades ago (e.g., pollution, fires).
Even if all human-generated dioxins were eliminated, low levels of naturally produced dioxins would remain. EPA and its government partners are looking for ways to further reduce dioxins entering the environment and to reduce human exposure to them.
Other ways dioxins are produced:
Burning: Combustion processes such as waste incineration (commercial or municipal) or burning fuels (like wood, coal or oil) form dioxins.
Dioxins are formed as a result of combustion processes such as … burning fuels like wood, coal or oil.
According to EPA’s 2006 Dioxin Inventory of Sources Report man-made emissions, including backyard and household trash burning, dominated releases in the United States. The report also acknowledges the need for more data on natural sources, such as forest fires, that can form dioxins.
Bleaching: Chlorine bleaching of pulp and paper and other industrial processes can create small quantities of dioxins in the environment.
Smoking: Cigarette smoke also contains small amounts of dioxins.
Drinking Water: Dioxin can get into drinking water from:
- Air emissions from waste incineration and other combustion, with subsequent deposition to lakes and reservoirs
- Deposition from air to soils that erode into surface waters used for drinking water
- Discharges into water from chemical factories.
Learn more about dioxin in drinking water from this table of regulated drinking water contaminants.
How can dioxin affect my health?
Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones.
Related Resources
- More information about common sources of exposure
- FDA’s Chemical Contaminants: Dioxin
- Questions and answers about dioxin and food safety – Dioxin Related Activities (Feb 2012) (Joint FDA and EPA) is no longer available on the FDA website, see the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services Guidelines for the latest information on food safety.
Environmental Laws that Apply to Dioxin
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) / Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
- Hazardous Air Pollutants for Hazardous Waste Combustors and Clean Air Act
- Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
- Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)
- Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) / Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
In 2009, former Administrator Lisa Jackson directed EPA to accelerate work underway to reassess the human health risks from exposures to dioxin. One aspect of this reassessment was developing interim preliminary remediation goals (PRGs) for dioxin in soils.
PRGs are goals for lowering the concentration of specific chemicals in particular media. Media types include soil, sediment, and water at CERCLA (also known as Superfund) sites, federal facilities, and regulated waste, or RCRA, sites. EPA and responsible parties use PRGs as target concentrations during initial development, analysis, and selection of cleanup options.
PRGs are designed to
- protect human health and the environment
- comply with all applicable, relevant and appropriate regulations (ARARs) for all exposure pathways being addressed.
For more information, see:
- Risk Assessment for Dioxin at Superfund Sites
- Summary of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
- Process for Developing Dioxin Cleanup Decisions at Superfund Sites
- Treatment Standards for Hazardous Wastes Subject to Land Disposal Restrictions
Learn more about the Superfund clean-up process
Need help on CERCLA/RCRA? Contact the Superfund helpdesk.
Hazardous Air Pollutants for Hazardous Waste Combustors and Clean Air Act
The rule established national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (like dioxins) for sources that burn hazardous waste. These sources are commercial and onsite incinerators, cement kilns, lightweight aggregate kilns, boilers, and hydrochloric acid production furnaces.
These standards were promulgated pursuant to Section 112 (d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). That section requires EPA to issue standards reflecting the best performing industry sources, known as the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT).
After EPA issued the 2005 emission standards, the Administrator received four petitions for reconsideration of the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) final rule. EPA granted the petitioners’ requests for reconsideration and provided the public with an opportunity to comment on a proposed rule to amend the emissions standards. On October 8, 2008 EPA published a rule announcing the final action regarding the eight issues for which EPA granted reconsideration.
More information:
- Hazardous Waste Combustors: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)
- Hazardous Waste Combustors Microsoft Access Database Supplemental Documents
- Hazardous Waste Permitting
- How Do I Find Hazardous Waste Management Facilities in My Area?
- Summary of the Clean Air Act
Congress added Section 129 to the CAA in 1990 specifically to address emissions from solid waste combustion. Sections 111 and 129 require EPA to establish New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for new units. Sections 111(d) and 129 require the Agency to establish Emission Guidelines (EG) for existing units.
Both the NSPS and the EG under section 129 use a MACT-like approach as used under section 112. NSPS are direct federal regulations that apply to new sources. EG do not directly regulate solid waste combustion units. Rather, EG establish requirements for state plans to implement the guidelines. Once approved, the state plans become federally enforceable.
For further information see the CAA guidelines and standards for waste management. Section 129 includes a list of the waste incineration rules.
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
Under TSCA section 8(e), any person who manufactures (including imports), processes, or distributes in commerce a chemical substance (including, generally, dioxin) or mixture and who obtains information which reasonably supports the conclusion that such substance or mixture presents a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment to immediately inform EPA, except where EPA has been adequately informed of such information.
Under 40 CFR part 766, testing by manufacturers and processors of certain specified chemical substances to ascertain whether those substances may be contaminated with halogenated dibenzodioxins (HDDs)/dibenzofurans (HDFs) is required under TSCA section 4, and under TSCA section 8 manufacturers and processors of certain chemicals are required to report certain information to EPA.
More information:
- Summary of the Toxic Substances Control Act
- TSCA section 8(e) Substantial Risk Notifications
- 40 CFR Part 766 – Dibenzo-para-dioxins/dibenzofurans
- Need help on TSCA questions? Contact the TSCA hotline by email at tsca-hotline@epamail.epa.gov or phone 202-554-1404.
Additional Resources:
- Technologies for Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites
- Remediation Technologies for Cleaning up Contaminated Sites
- Greener Cleanups
- How Do I Find Hazardous Waste Management Facilities in My Area?
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)
Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) requires certain facilities manufacturing, processing or otherwise using listed chemicals to report their environmental releases of such chemicals annually. The list of reportable chemicals, known as the EPCRA section 313 list and also referred to as the Toxics Release Inventory, or TRI list, was originally identified in the statute and was comprised of more than 300 individual chemicals and 20 chemical categories.
More information:
- Summary of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
- Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program
- Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act Section 313 Guidance for Reporting Toxic Chemicals within the Dioxin and Dioxin-like Compounds Category
- Dioxin and Dioxin-like Compounds Toxic Equivalency (TEQ) Information
- Need help on TEQ’s? Contact the TRI Information Center.
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), EPA has established a maximum contaminant level for dioxin in drinking water. Learn more about how EPA regulates contaminants under the SDWA and the drinking water regulations for dioxin on these pages:
- Regulating Public Water Systems and Contaminants Under the Safe Drinking Water Act
- Basic Information about Dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) in Drinking Water
- Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Effluent Guidelines
- Need help with safe drinking water? visit the contact us about your drinking water website.
SKIP INSPECTIONS TO SAVE MONEY
Stakeholders, you know, the rich, spoiled, high handed experts who sit in their luxury hotels making decisions about how you and I should live while they munch away on fine foods and demand that we eat bugs to save the world. These are the people whose interest all parties are protecting. They do not care … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesEast Palestine Disaster, General Stuff, Railroad Maintenance, Track Inspections
OHIOANS in Danger – LIES! LIES! LIES is all they get.
UPDATE ADDED 2/13/23 Amazingly there has been little in the news about the Train Derailment, subsequent explosion and toxic chemicals released in the air and water. Hmmm. Apparently there have been a lot of lies and deceptions connected with what Ohioans have been told. Please pray for everyone in the area surrounding this derailment. You … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
UPDATES ON OHIO DERAILMENT
Hey Friends, I am busy today with personal business but I wanted you to see the updates on what is happening in Ohio and surrounding areas related to the recent TRAIN DERAILMENT. On this post you will find a video from BitChute and the following bits from Strange Sound’s website. spacer All the posts in … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
Ohio Train Disaster – More Information
You Don’t Want to Miss this. It is to important, that is why I made it a separate post… This disaster in Ohio is worse than any of us can comprehend I know that sounds sensationalist It is not. If anything this is an understatement. In this post you will hear from people far more … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
MORE BAD NEWS ON OHIO TRAIN DERAIL
UPDATE: 2/17/23sp God help us ALL! It never ceases to amaze me what humans can do to other humans, what governments will do to their citizens and what people are willing to believe to avoid the TRUTH. As we knew from the beginning, this disaster will not be OVER for a very long time. You … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
OHIO NORFOLK RAIL DISASTER snarly, tangled complexity
UPDATE ADDED: 2/24/23; RESTORED 4/27/25 We are still unraveling the mess that is the Norfolk Southern Rail Disaster. Sadly, we will not know the full impact for years, even decades to come. What is obvious here is that this is just the pinpoint of a much greater underlying problem. We owe it to the victims … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
EAST PALESTINE A VSL EXPERIMENT
The public is accustomed to getting their news in short blurbs that flash across the screes before you even catch their meaning. They no longer have an attention span that allows them to digest what they are hearing and seeing or reading, let alone discern the depth of its affect on their world. Americans watch … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
DAM SURE NOT SAFE NOW!!
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Man, the folks in East Palestine can’t catch a break!! Unbelievable. The dam built by the clean up crew to confine and control the toxic water has overflowed and burst due to heavy rain. Obviously, they did not take their efforts seriously enough to build a sufficient structure. I guess they expected to have it … Click Here to Read MoreCategoriesGeneral Stuff
THIS IS A MAJOR ATTACK ON OUR FOOD SUPPLY
If you don’t relish the idea of eating bugs, poop burgers, fake meat and gmo vegetables grown without soil… you better wake up. They are attacking our food supply in every way possible. This “accident” in East Palestine was no accident. It was a deliberate attack on our food supply. CHECK OUT THESE MAPS…they tell … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
OHIO CHEMICAL DISASTER THAT WILL NOT STOP
UPDATES ADDED 3/8/23 This event is so much more significant than any of us realize. I bet you are getting tired of hearing about it. DON’T let the devil cause you to tune it out. Trust me, I am not thrilled about the time and energy I find myself compelled to dedicate to this one … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
FROM A CHEMIST
The following videos are about the chemicals involved in the Norfolk Southern DISASTER in East Palestine. There are just two videos, mirrored from the same person’s website. They are short and sweet. Provided for your information. You might want to become familiar with these chemicals, incase this kind of thing comes to your neighborhood.spacer Chemocide … Click Here to Read More
CategoriesGeneral Stuff
Recent Incidents
Broader Context of Train Safety
Legislative Efforts
Overall, while specific details about all derailments in 2025 may not be fully documented yet, the incidents that have occurred highlight the persistent challenges and risks associated with rail transport in the U.S. and the ongoing efforts to improve safety standards.
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OUR CITIES ARE SINKING
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ONE VERY IMPORTANT ITEM IN OUR NEWS today is our aquifers. We are hearing that our water supply is disappearing, that the water that remains is contaminated with chemicals and or salt, and the land in many states is SINKING! In today’s post we are going to look at those reports and the stories that … Click Here to Read MoreCategoriesAQUIFERS, CHEMICALS- POLLUTANTS_SEA SALT INCURSION, DROUGHTS AND FLOODING, Farming Irrigation, General Stuff, INDUSTRIAL WATER USAGE, Oil and Gas Industry FRACKING, States That Are SINKING, TOXIC WASTE DISPOSAL, TRAIN Derailments’, UNDERGROUND TUNNELS
Truck moving hazardous wastewater from East Palestine crashes in Russell
STAFF REPORT
Jan 4, 2024
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Transport of East Palestine soil, water to other states prompts backlash

An EPA contractor walks past an aeration system and tree covered in ice on Feb. 24, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. Photo: Michael Swensen via Getty Images
Officials in Texas and Michigan are raising concerns about the water and soil transported from the East Palestine train derailment into their jurisdictions.
Why it matters: Their comments come as East Palestine residents report diagnoses of bronchitis and other conditions which they attribute to the crash. The freight train was carrying hazardous materials, including the carcinogenic gas vinyl chloride, when it derailed on Feb. 3 and forced the company to release and burn the contents of several cars.
What they’re saying: “I and my team learned yesterday that firefighting water from East Palestine was going to be sent to Deer Park, which is one of the 34 cities in Harris County, for disposal,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said at a press conference Thursday.
- “I learned about this not from a regulatory agency, not from the company, but from a member of the press, and that’s unacceptable,” Hidalgo noted, adding that she only learned Thursday that the water actually began arriving a week ago.
- “There are many things we don’t know that we should know.”
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) similarly said in a statement Friday that “[w]e were not given a heads up” about the transportation of contaminated soil from East Palestine to U.S. Ecology Wayne Disposal, Inc. in Belleville, Michigan.
- “We are making inquiries of EPA, DOT, Norfolk Southern, U.S. Ecology, the state of Ohio, and all others involved to understand what is being shipped, whether these are approved storage facilities, the implications of this decision, and how we ensure the safety of all Michigan residents.”
Officials in Wayne County, where the U.S. ecology facility is located, said they’re still not sure how the waste is being transported, per local ABC News affiliate WXYZ.
- “1.8 million people are being sandbagged,” Wayne County Executive Warren Evans noted at a press conference Friday. “Vinyl chloride is a serious carcinogen and something we should have heard about sooner.
- “The landfill taking the deep well injections is a facility cited many times and shut down in the past,” Evans added. “Any of us that live and breathe are at risk.”
The big picture: The crash has drawn ire and demands for accountability from both sides of the aisle.
- A preliminary report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board found that a wheel bearing, which connects the wheel to its axis, overheated on a hopper car toward the front of the train and resulted in the crash.
- “This was 100% preventable,” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said during a press conference Thursday.
Worth noting: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has faced accusations of not doing enough in response to the wreck, visited the site of the train derailment on Thursday.
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Chemical Plant Explosion/Texas/Chemical Cloud Moving into Louisiana/Arkansas
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Chemical Incident Tracker
Click here or on the map to view and search chemical incidents January 2021-present, sourced from media reports. You can also view facilities that use and store highly hazardous substances regulated by the EPA’s Risk Management Program, and their proximity to schools and hospitals.
Chemical incidents harm communities living near hazardous facilities, who are too often forced to evacuate and shelter in place in their aftermath. They have killed and injured on-site workers. And they pollute the air, water and soil, cumulatively harming our health.
Our coalition is calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies to implement strong chemical safety regulations to prevent chemical disasters. Learn More.
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EXPLOSION at a Fertilizer Plant in the town of West, Texas; April 17, 2013
SHOCKWAVE OF WEST, TX EXPLOSION SEEN IN NEW VIDEO
2013: West, Texas disaster destroys a neighborhood, prompting executive order. Our coalition demands stronger regulations to prevent future disasters.
On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas killed fifteen people, including twelve first responders, injured over 250 people, and leveled an entire city block of over 150 buildings, including two schools and a nursing home. The chemical involved in the explosion, ammonium nitrate, was not covered by the Risk Management Program and did not have to plan for a potential chemical release. Unfortunately, this and many other hazardous chemicals are still not covered by the RMP today.
Spurred into action, the Obama-Biden administration directed the EPA to develop a new RMP rule months later. The Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters launched a website and released polling data showing that the majority of American voters supported federal requirements for chemical plants to switch to safer chemicals and processes. Watch the video short “President Obama: Prevent Chemical Disasters.”
Federal agency releases findings of West explosion investigation

WEST, Texas — Rewind to April 17, 2013.
By now, the world is familiar with what happened after at least 30 tons of fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate exploded in West: Fifteen dead. 260 injured. Hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.
Now, for the first time, we have an animated simulation of what the scene may have looked like in the minutes leading up to the blast. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board released the animation in connection with the results of its nearly three-year investigation.
I find the fact they had to create ” an animated simulation of what the scene may have looked like in the minutes leading up to the blast.” There were several videos containing real live footage taken at the time. The plant was already on fire and the news people and fire departments were there. Several average citizens were there and some were lucky enough to capture the EXPLOSION as it occurred. At the time, I lived in Texas not far from the town of WEST. I was watching the news live and I saw the video of the explosion as it happened. I swear to you that you could see what seemed to be a missile or a rocket coming zooming in low across the plant and then the HUGE EXPLOSION! MASSIVE EXPLOSION! It might have been a directed energy weapon. I don’t know. But, it sure appeared to be coming from outside the plant area. It appeared to be deliberate.
The have scrubbed the internet of all the photos of the fire and the explosion and the billows of smoke.
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West Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion (VIDEOS, PHOTOS)
Eyewitness captured the horrifying images and sounds of the monstrous blast that leveled more than 60 homes and destroyed the small community of 3,000. Source
Here’s a video round-up of the monstrous explosion, which had the strength of a small earthquake and could be heard miles away.
The shockwave felt by a father and son who thought they were far enough away. A close-up view of the blast:

NEW VIDEO: Man shares new footage of West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion
WEST, Texas – Jeff Tobola had just wrapped up another work day and picked up his son in West, Texas, when he heard the city’s fertilizer plant was on fire.
Why not check it out?
“I noticed I could see the flames,” Tobola said. “I went like, yeah, that’s a good-sized fire and so it just drew me a little bit closer.”
Almost too close.
Tobola pulled out his cell phone to capture it on video, he hit record and then all hell broke loose.
The plant exploded sending a deadly shock wave through the tight-knit community of 2,800 people, many of them of Czech heritage.
“What I was thinking … as it exploded … is, ‘am I going to be able to hear when this stops? Is this gonna burn me?’ Because, I was like 200 yards away from it.”
When it was all over 15 people were dead, 120 homes destroyed and 200 more damaged.
In the fraction of a second before the explosion, the video shows a brilliant flash of light, followed by a massive shock wave — a dome of energy rippling from the blast.
“It definitely was the biggest explosion I’ve ever seen,” Tobola said. “It seems like it lasted forever.”
Tobola only released the video this week on the eve of the first anniversary of the April 17, 2013, blast.

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Texas Chemical Plant Explosion Forces Evacuation
A blast outside a Texas chemical plant early Wednesday blew out windows miles away, witnesses said. At least three people were taken to hospitals.

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Oil Spills — The Environmental Disaster that Continues to Plague Our Oceans
Author: Bryan Chung

03-04-2023
Photo Credit: Ace Space
Oil spills are a looming threat to the environment, with far-reaching consequences that can cause lasting harm to ecosystems, including wildlife, and even human health. The effects of oil spills can be long-lasting and severe, and the recovery time can take years, if not decades.
Oil spills occur when–usually as a result of an accident or malfunction during drilling, transport, or storage–crude oil or refined petroleum is released into the environment. These spills can lead to devastating consequences, including harm to wildlife, damage to ecosystems, economic impact, and human health.
Harm to wildlife is one of the most important effects of an oil spill, with animals such as fish, birds, and mammals being severely harmed. The oil can coat the fur and feathers of animals, reducing their ability to stay warm and dry, and making them more vulnerable to hypothermia. More severely, animals can even ingest the oil, causing damage to internal organs, leading to death.

Photo Credit: NOA
Ecosystems can also be devastated by oil spills. The oil can contaminate the water, soil, and sediments, killing plants and animals and disrupting the food chain. These effects can be very long-lasting, with some ecosystems taking years or even decades to recover.
Oil spills can also have significant economic impacts on communities, particularly those that rely on fishing and tourism. When beaches and other recreational areas are closed due to an oil spill, businesses can suffer significant financial losses.
Human health is also at risk when an oil spill occurs, particularly for those who work in the cleanup effort. Exposure to oil and the chemicals used to clean it up can cause respiratory problems, skin irritation, and other health issues.
Some of the most notable oil spills in recent history include the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Exxon Valdez spill released 11 million gallons of oil into the ocean, causing widespread damage to wildlife and the ecosystem. This spill affected over 1300 miles of coastline and cost Exxon almost 3 billion dollars. The Deepwater Horizon spill, which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, was the largest marine oil spill in history, with an estimated 210 million gallons of oil released into the ocean. The long-term effects of the spill are still being studied, but it is clear that the impact on wildlife, ecosystems, and communities was significant.
COAST GUARD RESPONSE TO BOAT COLLISION AND OIL SPILL SOUTH OF NEW ORLEANS
Mar 13 — Bayou Perot, LA (USA): Huge explosion after ship hits oil pipeline.
KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The Coast Guard sprayed water to keep an oil-laden barge cool Wednesday while waiting for a huge pipeline fire nearby to burn itself out in a remote Louisiana bayou.
The fire began the previous night when a tug pushing the barge struck a liquefied natural gas pipeline in shallow water, and smoke from it was visible 30 miles away in downtown New Orleans. The Coast Guard said pipeline owner Chevron shut off the flow of gas to the area, but what’s left in the 19-mile section of pipeline could fuel the fire until Thursday or later.
Petty Officer William Colclaugh said Chevron began a process Wednesday to inject nitrogen gas into the pipeline in hopes of extinguishing the blaze, but it was unclear how soon that might affect the fire. At the accident site, water was being sprayed on the barge from a safe distance to keep its 92,000-gallon crude oil cargo from igniting.
Earlier, Capt. Jonathan Burton stressed that the barge remained intact and none of the oil appeared to be leaking. However, as a precaution, protective boom was deployed in the area around the accident site and in nearby environmentally sensitive areas. Oil skimmers were also dispatched.
“We’re not waiting for something to happen,” Burton told reporters. Preparations included consultations with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on where currents might take the oil if it were released.
Four people were injured in the accident on Bayou Perot, a marshy area where Lafourche and Jefferson parishes meet. The Coast Guard said three were treated and released but one was taken to a Baton Rouge burn unit and was in critical condition. Their identities were not released.
Environmental company ES&H of Houma was hired by Settoon Towing for cleanup. “The barge appears to be intact and the integrity is OK,” Patrick Bergeron of ES&H said at a news conference. “But we are preparing with pro-active booming.”
The area is along the northern reaches of Barataria Bay, which was heavily affected by oil from the BP spill in 2010. It is mostly small communities where people often make their living from the sea, either working in the oil and gas industry or as fishermen.
The 92,000 gallons the Coast Guard says was being carried by the barge is a fraction of the millions of gallons that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 spill.
The region where the fire was burning is crisscrossed by pipelines. Wellheads are a common sight in the shallow waters of the bayou and bay shoreline.
Bayou Perot was the scene of an explosion and fire on a specialized oil rig in December 2010 in which three men were injured. The explosion happened while the men were welding and there was no pollution, the Coast Guard reported.
Another Settoon tug was involved in a February 2012 collision on the Mississippi River that resulted in an estimated 10,000 gallons of oil spilling into the river. The Coast Guard said the spill resulted from a collision between a barge pushed by the Clarence W. Settoon and a construction barge pushed by another tug about 50 miles upriver from New Orlean
Captain Chad James Breaux Sr., 46, was badly burned and died a month later in a Baton Rouge, La., hospital. source

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BP Gulf Oil Spill 2010
The BP Gulf Oil Spill of 2010, also known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, was a catastrophic event that began on April 20, 2010, when an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused the rig to sink. The spill was the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history, with an estimated 60,000 barrels of oil spewing out of the damaged well each day over an 87-day period. The spill had a profound impact on marine life, the Gulf Coast, and human communities, leading to extensive cleanup efforts and legal actions against BP for environmental damages. Wikipedia+5
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Overview of the Incident
Environmental Impact
Cleanup and Restoration Efforts
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the Gulf Coast, killing 11 and sending 134 million gallons (500 million liters) of crude gushing into the ocean, the effects of the nation’s worst offshore oil spill are still being felt.
Oil company BP paid billions of dollars in damages, propelling ambitious coastal restoration projects across five states. Yet cleanup workers and local residents who suffered health impacts they attribute to the oil spill have struggled to have their cases heard in court and few have received significant compensation.
Conservation groups say the spill catalyzed innovative restoration work across the Gulf Coast, but are alarmed at the recent halt of a flagship land-creation project in Louisiana. As the Trump administration expands offshore oil and gas, they are concerned the best opportunities for rebuilding the Gulf Coast are slipping away.
Tying health problems to the spill remains hard to prove in court


In this April 21, 2010 file photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, fire boat response crews spray water on the burning BP Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig. (U.S. Coast Guard via AP, File)
“But I couldn’t stop her — they were offering these kids lots of money,” Gremillion said. “They didn’t know the dangers. They didn’t do what they should have to protect these young people.”

Response team members clean a Roseate Spoonbill of oil at Fort Jackson Center, Louisiana. Courtesy photo: © Brian Epstein
Jennifer worked knee-deep in oil for months, returning home reeking of fumes, covered in black splotches and breaking out in rashes and suffering headaches. She also was exposed to Corexit, an EPA-approved chemical applied on and below the water to disperse oil, which has been linked to health problems.
In 2020, Jennifer died of leukemia, a blood cancer that can be caused by exposure to oil.
Gremillion, who broke down in tears as she recounted her daughter’s death, is “1,000% confident” that exposure to toxins during the cleanup caused the cancer.
She filed a lawsuit against BP in 2022, although the allegations have been difficult to establish in court. Gremillion’s suit is one of a small number of cases still pending.
An investigation by The Associated Press previously found all but a handful of roughly 4,800 lawsuits seeking compensation for health problems linked to the oil spill have been dismissed and only one has been settled.
In a 2012 settlement, BP paid ill workers and coastal residents $67 million, but this amounted to no more than $1,300 each for nearly 80% of those seeking compensation.
Attorneys from the Downs Law Group, representing Gremillion and around 100 others in cases against BP, say the company leveraged procedural technicalities to block victims from getting their day in court.
BP declined to comment on pending litigation. In court filings, BP denied allegations that oil exposure caused health problems and attacked the credibility of medical experts brought by plaintiffs.
Controversy over coastal restoration
The environmental impact was devastating, recalled PJ Hahn, who served on the frontlines as a southeast Louisiana coastal management official. He watched the oil eat away at barrier islands and marsh around his community in Plaquemines Parish until “it would just crumble like a cookie in hot coffee, just break apart.”
Oyster beds suffocated, reefs were blanketed in chemicals and the fishing industry tanked. Pelicans diving for dead fish emerged from the contaminated waters smeared in a black sheen. Tens of thousands of seabirds and sea turtles were killed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Since then, “significant progress” has been made restoring Gulf habitats and ecosystems, according to The Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustee Council, a group of state and federal agencies tasked with managing restoration funded by penalties levied against BP.
The council says more than 300 restoration projects worth $5.38 billion have been approved in the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of America. The projects include acquiring wetlands in Mississippi to protect nesting areas for birds, rebuilding reefs along Pensacola Bay in Florida and restoring around 4 square miles (11 square kilometers) of marsh in Lake Borgne near New Orleans.
While a tragedy, the spill “galvanized a movement — one that continues to push for a healthier, more resilient coast,” said Simone Maloz, campaign director for Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a conservation coalition.
The influx of billions of dollars in penalties paid by BP “allowed us to think bigger, act faster and rely on science to guide large-scale solutions,” she added.
Yet what many conservationists see as the flagship of the restoration projects funded by the Deepwater Horizon disaster payout — an approximately $3 billion effort to divert sediment from the Mississippi River to rebuild 21 square miles (54 square kilometers) of land in southeast Louisiana — has stalled over concerns of its impact on the livelihoods of local communities and dolphin populations.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has said the project would “break our culture” by harming local oyster and shrimp fisheries due to the influx of freshwater. Earlier this month, his administration paused the project for 90 days, citing its high costs, and its future remains uncertain.
More offshore drilling planned for Gulf
The Trump administration is seeking to sell more offshore oil and gas leases, which the industry trade group American Petroleum Institute called “a big step forward for American energy dominance.”
BP announced an oil discovery in the Gulf last week and plans more than 40 new wells in the next three years. The company told the AP it has improved safety standards and oversight.
“We remain keenly aware that we must always put safety first,” BP said in an emailed statement. “We have made many changes so that such an event should never happen again.”
Still, Joseph Gordon, climate and energy director for the nonprofit Oceana, warned Deepwater Horizon’s legacy should be “an alarm bell” against the expansion of offshore drilling.

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A cleanup worker picks up blobs of oil in absorbent snare on Queen Bess Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay near the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., June 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — When a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea over the next three months — and tens of thousands of ordinary people were hired to help clean up environmental devastation from the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
These workers were exposed to crude oil and the chemical dispersant Corexit while picking up tar balls along the shoreline, laying booms from fishing boats to soak up slicks and rescuing oil-covered birds.
Recognizing that some members of cleanup crews had likely become sick, BP agreed to a medical claims settlement two years after the 2010 disaster. Experts hailed it as “an extraordinary achievement” that would compensate workers fairly with little hassle.
But it hasn’t turned out that way.
The effort has fallen far short of expectations, leaving many workers who claimed lasting health effects stranded with little or no payment.
Through the settlement, BP has paid ill workers and coastal residents a tiny fraction — $67 million — of the billions the company has spent on restitution for economic and environmental damage.The vast majority — 79% — received no more than $1,300 each.
Many workers claiming illnesses from the spill were forced to sue — and they’ve fared worse.All but a handful of roughly 4,800 lawsuits seeking compensation for health problems have been dismissed.
Attorneys familiar with the cases say they are unaware of any that have gone to trial and know of only one that’s been settled. Former boat captain John Maas received $110,000 from BP for his lung ailments in 2022, according to a confidential copy of the settlement.
The repeated failures demonstrate how extremely difficult it is to prove to a court that a specific illness is caused by chemical exposure — even when those chemicals are recognized causes of illness more generally.
An Associated Press investigation that included dozens of interviews with cleanup workers, attorneys and experts, and a review of voluminous court filings revealed:
—A single switched word in the settlement prevented thousands of workers from receiving anything over the minimum of $1,300 each. To get more, they had to file individual lawsuits — an option that almost always led to defeat.
—Most federal judges hearing those cases required a level of proof connecting chemical exposure to worker illnesses that the lead government epidemiologist studying the spill says is likely impossible to meet.
—Big law firms representing dozens or even thousands of workers failed their clients in various ways. After BP accused one firm of manufacturing medical claims, its cases were dismissed in big batches.
Robin Greenwald, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys who negotiated the settlement, said even her firm has not been able to win a single medical case against BP.
“I wanted people to get their day in court and they win or lose at trial,” said Greenwald, a former federal environmental prosecutor. “Let a jury decide. … But they weren’t even given the chance to do that.”
BP declined to comment for this story, citing ongoing litigation 14 years after the spill.
GETTING SICK
After the explosion on April 20, 2010, the spill was spectacular. A camera live-streamed the rupture on cable news, showing the world in real time gushing oil that wouldn’t stop.Oil floated on the Gulf and washed ashore, covering plants, birds and other animals.
To break up oil, roughly 1.8 million gallons of Corexit were dropped from planes and sprayed from boats — far more than previous U.S. oil spills. The manufacturer said it was safer than dish soap.
But lab research on human tissue and animals has revealed Corexit can damage cells that protect the airways and cause scarring that narrows breathing tubes, according to Dr. Veena Antony, a University of Alabama professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine who has studied Corexit’s effect on lung tissue. Over time, she said, the process can make it harder and harder to breathe.
“I genuinely believe that there was harm done and we didn’t realize the harm was being done— and now people are suffering,”said Antony, who testified as an expert witness in one suit against BP. “I would not, at the present time, put my hand even in Corexit without wearing double gloves.”
The current producer of Corexit, ChampionX, said the dispersant was pre-approved by the government for use on oil spills and the manufacturer had no role in deciding when or how to spray it.
Oil itself has long been known to cause illness.One of its toxic components is benzene, which can cause conditions ranging from skin irritation to cancer.
But now researchers, including Dale Sandler at the National Institutes of Health, are finding that spill workers exposed to amounts of oil assumed safe have suffered from dizziness, nausea, lung problems and heart attacks.
“The exposures on average were still pretty low,” said Sandler, an epidemiologist leading the GuLFSTUDY, a major effort to quantify workers’ exposure and track health woes over years. “What surprised us is that we did see a wide range of health effects that were associated with these exposures.”
Sandler said the study is the largest ever of an oil spill and is ongoing.“We’re looking at long-term risks like diabetes, cancer incidence,” she said.
What researchers have found so far is echoed by other studies, including one involving about 3,500 Coast Guard responders.The responders who reported breathing oil fumes were 40% to 50% more likely to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease–like symptomsand sinus problemscompared to those who said they didn’t breathe fumes. And responders who reported exposure to both oil and Corexit were more than twice as likely to suffer shortness of breath.
A PROMISING SETTLEMENT
Proving to a court that a specific person’s illness was likely caused by their exposure to oil or Corexit can be difficult.
Yet the settlement for medical claims was supposed to make it easier for workers: BP would agree exposure to the spill could cause a host of known health issues — and workers suffering from them could file claims for payment.Initially, attorneys advocating for the settlement said it could help as many as 200,000 possibly injured workers and residents.
The settlement also included $105 million from BP for regional health outreach and free health checkups for exposed workers every three years for 21 years.
But things quickly went awry.
The third-party administrator hired to handle claims, Garretson Resolution Group, initially rejected 78% of roughly 37,000 claims. After many were resubmitted, around 36% still were rejected and claimants received nothing.
Greenwald was especially frustrated her clients’ claims were repeatedly deemed deficient. “We had many a meeting with Garretson’s team to try to shake them loose of some of their narrow reading and obsession with deficiencies,”she said. “We clearly knew the claim form. We negotiated it.”
Matthew Garretson, founder of Garretson Resolution Group, defended his claims handling in an email, saying, “it was the process the parties agreed upon and we had to administer the settlement exactly in the way the parties’ Settlement Agreement mandated.”The company was paid roughly $115 million to $120 million for administering claims and for the outreach program and medical checkup effort as of 2018, he said.
There was a bigger problem.
At the most basic level, workers could submit affidavits attesting to their medical problems and collect $1,300 — and residents could collect $900.About 18,000 received that much.
Those with longer-term illnesses who had proof from medical tests could collect up to $60,700, or more if they had been hospitalized.
But few people had that proof. Forty of about 23,000 with approved claims collected the maximum award — less than 0.2%.
Many people lacked health insurance or easy access to a doctor and the required medical tests— a problem U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier, who approved the settlement, acknowledged in a hearing.
“Speaking for south Louisiana, I know — you’re dealing with people who are probably at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. Most of these people, I feel sure, likely have no health insurance,” he said.
Even when people did seek medical attention, doctors untrained in treating chemical exposures often did not link illnesses to a patient’s cleanup work in medical records, according to Greenwald.
THE NATIONS CLIENTS
The Nations Law Firm, based in Houston, represented thousands of workers like Paul Loup IV, who helped clean an oil-contaminated beach in Pascagoula, Mississippi for several months.
Loup, 68, says he now has chronic respiratory issues, making it hard to stand or speak at length. He quit his job as a procurement manager because it involved too much travel.
The firm had wanted to help clients collect more than the settlement’s $1,300 minimum, so it developed a plan to obtain needed medical proof.
It was an assembly line.Out-of-state nurse practitioners who were paid $20 per plaintiff entered medical histories based on information the law firm — not a doctor — provided. Firm-designed forms listed illnesses that paid more under the settlement — and doctors could simply circle them.The forms included a statement linking a patient’s illness to oil spill work — with a line for the doctor to sign. Doctors didn’t keep their own patient records.
While such a process might seem suspect, firm founder Howard Nations said in an interview that he met with the claims administrator Garretson to try to develop an acceptable one.
Garretson rejected the claims — not based on the process, but on a deadline.
THE DEADLINE AND A SWITCHED WORD
The settlement was designed to make it easy to collect money for illnesses that surfaced quickly after crude oil exposure. People with diseases that can show up years later — such as cancer — would be forced to file individual federal lawsuits.
Early settlement drafts defined this second group as people with a disease that “manifests” after April 16, 2012. However, a later draft changed the word “manifests” to “diagnosed.”
In 2014, BP seized on that change to argue no one diagnosed after the deadline could receive an award for a long-term illness through the settlement.
That meant two people could have the same illness, but the one who got a diagnosis before the deadline could file a claim for compensation while the other would need to file a suit instead.
Judge Barbier said that’s not how he was led to believe the settlement he okayed would work.
“It is rather strange … that the court would approve a settlement, a class settlement that really doesn’t settle thousands of claims and requires them to file another lawsuit,” Barbier said at a 2014 hearing. “I mean, it doesn’t sound like much of a settlement.”
BP attorneys said any other interpretation would invite fraud, allowing opportunistic law firms to pay for a medical diagnosis after the deadline to get a settlement claims payout. They also said the word change was requested by the workers’ own attorneys, and Stephen Herman, co-lead counsel for plaintiffs’ attorneys, testified they didn’t recall how it happened.
Despite his doubts, Barbier said he had to follow the settlement language.
His ruling forced thousands of workers out of the relatively easy administrative claims process into federal courts throughout the South.
This photo provided by Tammy Gremillion shows Jennifer Lee Gremillion, a Louisiana resident involved in the clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with her daughter in 2020. (Tammy Gremillion via AP) Jennifer worked knee-deep in oil for months, returning home reeking of fumes, covered in black splotches and breaking out in rashes and suffering headaches. She also was exposed to Corexit, an EPA-approved chemical applied on and below the water to disperse oil, which has been linked to health problems. |
THE FEDERAL LAWSUITS
The ruling was devastating for Nations clients whose only option was to file federal lawsuits.
After BP attorneys alleged in Mississippi federal court that the firm manufactured medical diagnoses, Nations agreed to dismiss its cases by the dozens. In an interview, Nations did not deny BP’s allegations but said the cases were unwinnable without an adequate expert witness.
Loup, the former beach cleanup worker, said he didn’t know until informed by a reporter last year that his case had been dismissed years earlier. “I call (Nations) every six months or so … and they’ve just said it’s going to take some time,” he said.
Another Nations client was Jeff Herring, the deckhand of Maas, the boat captain believed to be the only person whose case reached a settlement.
When their boat was sprayed with Corexit, Herring started throwing up so badly an ambulance was called to pick him up. Although released from the hospital after a few days, he developed chronic sinus and respiratory problems, according to his lawsuit.
Months later, a doctor at an oil spill medical station referred him to a specialist, and he was hospitalized again, said Herring, now 39. An X-ray found spots on his lungs, and he was supposed to go to New Orleans for further testing but never did.
“That would have took another two weeks being in a hospital over there,” he said. “I couldn’t because I had to get back to work.”
Noting he had no insurance, Herring said he received about $8,000 through the claims process — not enough to even pay hospital bills.
Herring’s suit was thrown out in 2020 along with 235 other Nations cases, but he said he wasn’t told.
Howard Nations said the firm communicated with clients about the status of their cases and although the individual suits were dismissed, he intends to go back to Judge Barbier with new arguments.
EXPERT WITNESSES
Other law firms met a different obstacle:
Workers filing individual lawsuits have to prove they were exposed to enough oil or dispersant to — more likely than not — cause their illness.
The workers’ experts relied on studies, such as those from the National Institutes of Health and the Coast Guard, that found people exposed to oil and Corexit were more likely to develop certain illnesses.
But BP’s experts maintained workers needed to show exactly how much oil and dispersant they had inhaled or ingestedand that it was sufficient to cause their sickness.
Greenwald, the attorney who helped craft the settlement, said meeting such a standard is almost impossible: “I mean, ‘How deep did you breathe?Right at the moment you were standing there, was the wind blowing?’” she said. “What mortal human would be able to testify about that?”
Most judges have sided with BP, rejecting workers’ experts as unreliable and effectively ending the cases.
Sandler, the NIH epidemiologist, said its researchers went to great lengths to develop data on exposure like nothing ever been done before. “I’m not sure that they’ll ever meet the standards that the court is imposing on what constitutes evidence,”she said.
It also can be difficult to find an expert witness who knows the science but doesn’t have a conflict of interest through work with the oil industry.
The Falcon Law Firm brought on Jerald Cook, a retired Navy physician trained in occupational and environmental medicine, as an expert on numerous cases. He was rejected again and again by judges as BP poked holes in his professional history and work.
“Your report really doesn’t balance the evidence favoring your conclusions with the evidence that disfavors your conclusions; isn’t that fair?” a BP attorney asked Cook in a deposition.
“Yeah. I think that’s — that’s fair,” Cook replied.
He declined comment, and Falcon did not reply to requests for comment.
Some law firms that took on hundreds of cases have simply buckled under the strain, begging judges for more time so their overloaded experts could produce reports.
LOOKING FORWARD
It’s not completely over.
The Downs Law Group, which has lost hundreds of cases against BP, is appealing in the 5th and the 11th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, hoping they’ll rule federal district judges have misconstrued the level of proof needed for toxic exposure cases. One of those judges said the issue is “very ripe for the Supreme Court to resolve.”
“It has a broader reach than the BP oil spill,” said Jason Clark, a Downs attorney. “If the burden is one that’s too high for any plaintiff to meet, then a lot of people who are exposed … are never going to see justice.”
Meanwhile, Downs is talking to thousands of people interested in suing over illnesses such as cancer that emerged years after the spill, Clark said.
Sandler, the NIH epidemiologist, said the high burden of proof demanded by most judges means “people can’t win.”
“I think at the end of the day, did the oil from the oil spill make people sick? Yes,”Sandler said. “Now, courts may view this from a very different lens, but from a public health standpoint — yes, the oil spill made people sick.”
By Associated Press writers Travis Loller and Michael Phillis
Exon Valdez Oil Spill, March 24, 1989
The Exxon Valdez oil spill, which occurred on March 24, 1989, in Prince William Sound, Alaska, is one of the most significant environmental disasters in U.S. history, resulting in the release of over 11 million gallons of crude oil.Incident Details
Causes of the Spill
Environmental Impact
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