By Naveena Sadasivam, Clayton Aldern, Jessie Blaeser, and Chad Small. This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. This story is published in collaboration with Science Friday. It was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
In the early hours of August 22, 2020, Hurricane Laura was still just a tropical storm off the coast of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. But effects from the monstrous storm, which would ultimately take at least 81 lives, were already being felt on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
As rain poured down on the Sweeny refinery in Old Ocean, Texas, that afternoon, two processing units failed, releasing nearly 1,400 pounds of sulfur dioxide, which can cause trouble breathing, and other chemicals.
