EPA watchdog: Health monitoring after Harvey was lacking

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press

A new report by a federal environmental watchdog raises questions about public health assurances made after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast in 2017. The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general says in a report released Monday that limited data was used to make air quality assessments after the Category 4 storm unleashed an environmental assault to America’s largest corridor of petrochemical plants. The report supports findings by The Associated Press and Houston Chronicle last year that revealed a far more widespread toxic impact than authorities had publicly reported.