WATCH: Deer Park, Texas, petrochemical fire caused by years of federal and state neglect

Investigative reporting finds locals were put at risk by lax a safety response in the 2019 blaze.

In 2019, the sudden outbreak of a chemical fire wreaked havoc on the community of Deer Park, Texas.


A closer look revealed years of neglect leading up to the fire and lax safety measures in its wake.

This video draws from from the following investigative reporting by Public Health Watch and the Texas Tribune:

For years, the EPA and Texas ignored warning signs at a chemical storage site. Then an inferno erupted

Toxic benzene lingered for weeks after shelter-in-place warnings ended following 2019 Houston-area chemical fire

At a heated public hearing, residents urge state agency to reject permit for chemical facility that burned in 2019

Deer Park chemical fire in 2019 could have been prevented, federal investigation finds

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Credit: Manoj Balotia/Unsplash

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Credit: Mikhail Dudarev/BigStock Photo ID: 14021453

Opinion: Chokehold: The Trump administration’s stealth plan to unleash poisonous air

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Nature report, killed by Trump, is released independently

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How protecting nature could make the world safer

Debt-for-nature swaps and conservation funds to halt biodiversity loss are gaining traction as governments link ecosystem collapse to geopolitical instability.
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Trump may have inadvertently invited a wave of climate action from blue states

The administration’s decision to rescind the Obama-era endangerment finding undercuts its own legal arguments against state-level climate superfund laws.
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Texas seizes the solar crown from California, and other key points from the latest electricity data

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Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

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Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

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Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

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