Paul J. Weber

Associated Press

A man tries to talk to officials while standing in front of a line of cars stretching over two-miles to enter drive-thru testing for COVID-19 at United Memorial Medical Center, Thursday, March 19, 2020, in Houston. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Houston Pleads for More Tests, Gear

Cars lined up for more than a mile.

In this Sept. 1, 2017, file photo, smoke rises from the Arkema Inc. owned chemical plant in Crosby, near Houston, Texas. Texas officials refused to cooperate with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's watchdog for a report Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, that raises skepticism about public assurances following Hurricane Harvey that the storm's assault on America's largest corridor of petrochemical plants posed no health risks.

EPA Watchdog Says Health Monitoring After Harvey Was Lacking

The report paints a picture of regulators telling those who live in and around the nation's fourth-largest city that there were no public health risks even though it lacked a full range of data to make such a determination.

Smoke from an explosion at the TPC Group plant is seen Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019, in Port Neches, Texas. Two massive explosions 13 hours apart tore through the chemical plant Wednesday, and one left several workers injured.

Huge Texas Plant Fire ‘Contained’

Officials lifted evacuation orders Friday.

This April 18, 2013 aerial file photo shows the remains of a nursing home, left, apartment complex, center and fertilizer plant, right, destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The Trump administration is scaling back chemical plant safety measures that were put in place after the Texas fertilizer plant explosion in 2013 that killed 15 people.

EPA Ends Safety Rules Placed after TX Plant Blast

The Obama era rules followed a fire at the West Fertilizer Co. plant that caused ammonium nitrate to ignite, triggering a massive explosion.

This aerial photo shows firefighters spraying water on a fire at the KMCO chemical plant on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 in Crosby, Texas. Authorities say the fire has been contained at the plant near Houston and they have lifted an order that instructed residents within a 1-mile (1.6 kilometers) radius of the facility to stay indoors.

Fires Renew Oil Safety Debate in TX

Local officials say tougher state penalties would be a good start to deterring more accidents.

A worker uses a lift to move rolls of sheet metal at LMS International, in Laredo, Texas. Donald Trump’s campaign promise to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement helped win over Rust Belt voters who felt left behind by globalization. But U.S. border cities that have thrived under the trade pact now worry that an economic reckoning could be coming its way.

Border Cities Worry About Ending NAFTA

People in border cities such as Laredo and El Paso, TX or Nogales, AZ, have boomed under the 1994 treaty.

Blue Bell May Only Pay Fraction of Fines

The Texas company is required to immediately pay the state $175,000, but the rest will be forgiven under the terms of the agreement if Blue Bell complies with food safeguards and reporting requirements for 18 months.

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Oil Bust Leaves Massive Cleanup

The worst oil bust since the 1980s is putting Texas and other oil producing states on the hook for thousands of newly abandoned drilling sites at a time when they have little money to plug wells and seal off environmental hazards.