[mac01021]

Not many countries are anywhere near as big as the US, and those that are mostly have similar issues.

I think a part of the problem is that, for someone in a little town like the one in the article, regulatory authorities and the federal legislature are peopled largely with individuals who reside a thousand miles away.

That just can't happen in basically any European country.

[eigenstuff]

Oh, no, the regulatory authorities are there. They're just paid off by the entities they're supposed to be regulating or don't give a shit.

See: the entire state of West Virginia.

[moorhosj]

This seems like a bit of a cop-out. States and municipalities have regulatory power and are much closer to citizens. Many states are roughly the size of European countries.

[mac01021]

Perhaps the state of LA has the power to stop this pollution, but the residents lobbying for help from regulators， as depicted in the article, seem to be focusing their attention on the federal EPA. Unless I accidentally skipped a paragraph that talked about lobbying at a regional level.

If the state doesn't lack the teeth to fix this, why would they choose to compete for federal attention with an order of magnitude more people?

[moorhosj]

==If the state doesn't lack the teeth to fix this, why would they choose to compete for federal attention with an order of magnitude more people?==

I'm not sure, Louisiana does have a Department of Environmental Quality [1]. In Illinois we had a similar issue play out this year. The Governor is the one who ended up banning the plant's use of ethylene oxide [2]. It looks an obscure state law allowed for that action:

"Invoking rarely used authority in state law, Illinois EPA Director John Kim prohibited Sterigenics from pumping ethylene oxide gas into massive chambers used to sterilize medical equipment, pharmaceutical drugs, spices and food."

[1] https://deq.louisiana.gov/

[2] https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-pr...