As Imelda was dumping as many as 43 inches of rain in just a few days across the Houston region — leading to what the Houston Chronicle reports as "unauthorized releases [of chemicals] ... triggered by electrical outages, the failure of floating roof tanks and equipment malfunctions caused by flooding" — companies reported "nearly 100,000 pounds of toxins, including cancer-causing 1,3 butadiene, benzene and ethylene oxide" entering our air.

Though the TCEQ said that it had not "seen any air emissions of concern," it asked Gov. Greg Abbott again to suspend environmental regulations, as it had for seven months after Hurricane Harvey, which made pollution worse.

Public Citizen's Adrian Shelley tells Perla Trevizo, "When people live near industrial activity, as they do in Texas, great care must be taken to protect their health and well-being.”

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