Hurricane Laura Could Lead To An Environmental Disaster On The Gulf Coast

As Hurricane Laura bears down on Louisiana and Texas and half a million people flee what forecasters are calling an “unsurvivable storm surge,” environmentalists are also worried about something else: the more than 60 refineries and petrochemical plants in the path of the Category 4 hurricane.

“The storm surge goes into the neighborhoods around them and people get wastewater and contaminated dirt in their homes and yards,” said Michael Tritico, president of the environmental group Restore in Lake Charles, Louisiana.