Infographic: Companies' Share of Hurricane Harvey Air Pollution

New infographics at Chemical and Engineering News illustrate air pollution data attributed to Hurricane Harvey.

After constructing an interactive database for Greenpeace USA last month, we found that over 5.7 million pounds (2.3 million kilograms) of contaminants were reported by oil refineries, chemical plants, and industrial facilities due to record rainfall, flood water and wind from Hurricane Harvey in August. As illustrated by C&EN and reporter Jeff Johnson:

Of that total pollution, we found that over 1.5 million lbs (approx. 694,000 kg) of particularly hazardous chemicals were released, including known carcinogens (like benzene) and neurotoxins (like toluene and xylene).

From our report, here are the is what we included as “most hazardous chemicals,” linking to information on the health impacts of each chemical:

• 1,3 Butadiene
• Benzene
• Ethylbenzene
• Hexane (and Hexane, n)
• Hydrogen Sulfide
• Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
• Sulfur Dioxide
• Toluene
• Xylenes

Click for full-page Hurricane Harvey Air Pollution Database. Read our results and methods here.