Kickstart: Keeping an eye on Beryl

Hurricane Beryl has grown into a powerful storm in the Caribbean and could potentially move toward petrochemical facilities in Mexico and parts of the Gulf Coast in Texas by the end of this week.

The National Hurricane Center projects Beryl will move across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula July 4 and affect Mexico's Gulf Coast by the weekend. That would include the region of Mexico's state of Tamaulipas, which is home to chemical plants in Altamira — the same region that was in a severe drought until rains from Tropical Storm Alberto helped to refill reservoirs in June.

As of July 2, the federal agency's forecast called for storm force winds to reach southeastern Texas on July 6.

"If the storm continues to move to the west, it could threaten Mexican facilities in Veracruz state, which is in the south of the Bay of Campeche," analysts with ICIS noted in a July 1 post. "Also in the region are the major port city of Coatzacoalcos and Braskem Idesa's integrated polyethylene Ethylene XXI complex."

I'm no expert on legal issues or environmental legislation, but I think it's clear that we can expect a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling related to rules established by federal agencies to have a big ripple effect on chemical producers.

The 6-3 decision announced June 28 overturned a 1984 decision that allowed experts from federal agencies to interpret ambiguous laws. The earlier case created what was termed the Chevron doctrine, which was then cited repeatedly in setting limits for air and water emissions, among other rules.

"The decision will likely have far-reaching effects across the country, from environmental regulation to health care costs," the website SCOTUSblog wrote.

That likely will lead to more confusion over what is allowable. Consider an ongoing case involving updates to the Clean Air Act. In one case, neoprene maker Denka Performance Elastomer LLC had appealed an order requiring it to meet new emissions standards within 90 days at its site in LaPlace, La., as our sister paper Rubber News reported.

While not citing the Chevron decision specifically, the state of Louisiana declared on July 1 that Denka now has two years based on its own ruling from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality ruling, overruling the federal order.

Expect more — a lot more — news on this and similar cases going forward.

Fireworks displays are fun. They're also loud, potentially dangerous, can spark wildfires and spook wildlife. So, it's not a surprise that some communities have moved to LED drone shows instead, which feature hundreds of small plastic-bodied drones flying in formation for aerial designs.

But that doesn't necessarily mean fireworks are going away. In fact, Sky Elements LLC of North Richland Hills, Texas, which will operate 35 drone shows across 12 states for Independence Day celebrations this year, recently unveiled "pyro drones," which attach pyrotechnics to drones to provide extra sizzle in the sky.