think these are massive explosions. >> that is what we base a lot of the evacuations on, the modeling. i all means, the plume is incredibly dangerous. amy: as floodwaters from hurricane harvey continue to rise in some areas and recede in others to reveal corpses, revealing widespread devastation, a flood a chemical plant in crosby was rocked by

two explosions t that sent black smoke into the air while some doppler delete, the federal emergency management agency said the plume of chemicals leaking from the plant is incredibly dangerous. we will go to houston to speak with houston chronicle reporter matt dempsey, who question the arkema ceo about what is in his facility that has caused a mile and a half evacuation. we will also touch reporter david sirota. his article is headlined "texas republicans helped chemical plant that exploded lobby against safety rules." we end today's show looking at the corporate crackdown on environmental activists challenging the fossil fuel industry and human driven climate change. the company that owns the dakota access pipeline, energy transfer partners, has sued greenpeace international and other groups, accusing

them of inciting eco-terrorism. we will speak with greenpeace usa annie leonard and tara houska, national campaigns director for honor the earth. she is the ojibwe the coaching first nation. >> they are calling us the terrorists. they are the ones who are armed. these are unarmed men, women, and children who want nothing more than two protect their own water and protected for all future generations. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome e to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in houston, texas, floodwaters from hurricane harvey have begun to recede, revealing human remains and mass devastation to the nation's fourth-largest city. texas officials say at least 44 people were killed by the storm and nearly 100,000 homes are damaged by flooding. more than 30,000 people remain in shelters. health officials are taking steps to minimize the spread of

diseases such as cholera and typhoid, and nearly 150,000 homes have been told to boil their water. east of houston, in hard-hit beaumont, drinking water remains completely shut off and emergency workers have begun evacuating the city's main hospital. this comes as a chemical plant about 25 miles northeast of houston in crosby, that is swamped by about six feet of water, saw two explosions early thursdayay morning, sending thik black smoke into the air. the harris county sheriff's office downplayed the threat posed by the plant to michael's, but federal emergency management agenency head brock long said a plume of chemicals leaking from the plant is incredibly dangerous. >> we do what is called plume modeling. that is what we base e lot of ththe evacuatis onon. by all means, the plume is incredibly dangegerous. amy: officials in crosby had

already evacuated residents within a one-and-a-half-mile radius of the plant, which is believed to produce highly volatile chemicals known as organic peroxides, but the company's ceo has refused to ste preciselely which chemicals were produced or how mucuch of them are on-site. after headlinenes, we'll go to houston for momore on the environmnmental cacatastrophe lt behind by hurricane harvey. in south asia, heavy monsoon rains continued to inundate nepal, india, and pakistan, leaving more than 1200 people dead and a third of bangladesh under water. in mumbai, india, rescue workers scrambled to reach more survivors trapped in the rubble of a six-storey building that collapsed following torrential rains and flooding, as the death toll in the disaster rose to 33. in the pakistani city of karachi, at least 13 people died after heavy monsoon rains caused flooding throughout the region. in yemen, at least 18 people are dead, with dozens more missing, after monsoon rains triggered flash flooding across the

country. large parts of yemen have been left in ruins after more than two years of bombardment from the u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition. al jazeera reported that damage to infrastructure including drainage sysystems mayay have contributed to the death toll. meanwhile, in niger, thousands of people were left homeless this week after torrential rains pounded the capital niamey. niger's governrnment says at let 44 people have died from extreme weather since the rainy season began in june. scientisists have linked increasing r rainfall and deadly flooding to climate change from human activity. back in the united states, president trump is expected to decide the fate of the immigration policy known as daca as early as today, threatening to overturn the obama-era program that protects nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the u.s. as children. fox news, reuters, and mcclatchy all reported thursday that trump will end daca, citing an unnamed

senior administration official who said the u.s. will let daca recipients remain in the u.s. for up to two years until their work permits expire. but at the white house, press secretary sarah huckabee sanders insisted the president has not yet come to a decision. immigrant rights groups and their allies have pledged mass mobilizations in response to any move to cancel daca. organizers of the women's march on washington tweeted thursday -- "dear @realdonaldtrump, if you end daca, we will make your life impossible. signed, the 5 million who marched on january 21. #defenddaca" trump's imminent decision comes a week after he pardoned anti-immigrant arizona sheriff joe arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court for defying a court order to stop his deputies from racial profiling. trump's third wife, first lady melania trump, is an immigrant who in 1996 was paid for ten modeling jobs before she was lelegally authorized to work in the u.s.

this according to the associated press. the trtrump administrationon on thursday ordered the c closure f three russian diplomatic buildings in the u.s., in response to a similar move taken by russia one month ago. thursday's state department order will see the closure of russia's san francisco consulate, along with trade missions in new york and washington, d.c. russia won't be required to reduce the number of diplomatic staff who can be reassigned to other consulates or the russian embassy in washington. the move follows the kremlin's decision in late july to expel 755 u.s. diplomatic staff from russia after the u.s. imposed new sanctions on russia over its annexation of crimea and over allegations that russia meddled in the 2016 u.s. election. this is white house press secretary sarah huckababee sanders. >> we have taken a firm and measured action. we want to halt thth downwardd spiral and we want to move

forwrward towards a better relations. we will lolook for opportunities to do thatat, but we alslso wano have equity in the decision. amy: special counsel robert mueller is teaming up with new york attorney general eric schneiderman, expanding the investigation into alleged ties between russia and donald trump and his associates. politico reports the investigation is centered around trump's former campaign manager paul manafort and has collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering. schneiderman's presence in the russia probe raises the possibility that president trump or his associates could be prosecuted for crimes in new york state. unlike federal charges, the president cannot pardon people facicing state charges. in iraq, prime minister haider al-abadi declared tal afar liberated from isis control thursday following a bloody 11-day battle backed by u.s. air power that leveled s swaths of e northern iraqi c city. many civilians had fled tal afar ahead of the u.s.-backed

offensive, but the journalistic monitoring group airwars reported hundreds of civilians were killed by shelling anand aiairstrikes during ththe campa. in syria, up to 20,000 people remain trapped amid fierce fighting in the isis-controlled city of raqqa, where u.s. airstrikes have left much of the city in ruins. the devastation drew criticism thursday from ravina shamdasani, spokesperson for the united nations human rights office. >> what we are concerned about isthe battle to regain raqqa being waged at the expense of civilian life and the high commissioner for human rights of the united nations is concerned that perhaps a coalition forces are losing sight of the recent for this battle for >> meaning? >> meaning if you're going to cause massive loss of civilian life and infrastructure, then what is the point? the point should be to liberate the civilians from isil murders

regimes, not to pummel them so in the end you have victory. amy: back nus, the trump administration moved thursday to further undermine the affordable care act ordering drastic cuts -- therams promoting me 2018 open enrollment period on the act's health insurance exchanges. the administration also ordered cuts to funding for local organizations that help americans navigate the process of getting health insurance. after his efforts to repeal and replace the affordable care act failed in the senate last july, president trump tweeted -- let obamacare implode, then deal!" a federal judge has temporarily blocked a texas law restricting second trimester abortions just before it was set to take effect today. the ruling puts on hold a measure signed by republican governor greg abbott in may that outlaws an abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation, leaving women seeking second-trimester abortions with options that are riskier, more expensive, and more difficult to arrange.

thursday's ruling will put the law on hold for at least two weeks, giving opponents more time to mount a legal challenge. the trump administration said this week it's ending the collection of data on the wage gap between men and women, as well as on differences in pay based on race and ethnicity. in a letter to the u.s. equal employment opportunity commission, the trump administration said it was enending the obama-era rules, which require businesses with over 100 employees to collect pay data. the move was supported by trump's daughter and white house adviser ivanka trump, who previously campaigned for women's equality during her father's 2016 presidential run.. googles executive chair eric schmidt pressured and influential washington think tank to fire an employee who wrote a paper critical of the company. that's according to "the new york times," that reports the new america foundation fired staffer marylin after he wrote a letter applauding a record $2.7 billion fine levied against

google by european regulators. google and eric schmididt's s fy have provided $21 million to the new america foundation and schmidt previously served as the foundations chairman. treasury secretary steven mnuchin said thursday he's reconsidering g an obamama administration plan for a new $20 bill t tt would swswap out a poportrait of former president andrew jackson for famed abolitionist harriet tubman. mnuchin said he would base his decision on anti-counterfeiting measures, but told cnbc reporters, "it's not something i'm focused on at the moment." in wisconsin, milwaukee county sheriff david clarke resigned thursday as multiple news outlets reported he will take a job with the trump administration. it's not clear what role clarke will play, but politico reported he's likely to take a white house appointment that does not require senate approval. sheriff clarke is a staunch supporter of donald trump who has compared the black lives matter movement to the ku klux klan. clarke and his employees face multiple lawsuits alleging they have abused and neglected

prisoners at the milwaukee county jail, in cases that have led to the death of an infant as well as 38-year-old terrill thomas who died of dehehydration after being denied access to water for a week. in georgia, a cobb county police lieutenant resigned thursday just before he was to be fired after video surfaced showing him telling a woman during a traffic stop, "we only kill black people." the dash cam video taken in july of 2016 showows lieutenant greg abbott ordering a woman at a dui traffic stop to use her cell phone to make a call. the woman inindicates she's afad to rchch for her p phone because shshe's seen too many videos of police shoototings. >> but you are n not black. remember, , will he kill black people. yeah, we only kill black people, right?

to placeinteraction just days after the death of minnesota motorist philando castile, an african american man who was shot to o death by a police officer in an incident that was live-streamed on facebook by his girlfriend. new york state environmental regulators have denied the key permit for a natural gas pipeline to a $900 million power plant being built north of new york city. the ruling is a major victory for environmentalists o opposing the plant. they say it would increase hazardous air pollution and insume gas fracked pennsylvania and neighboring states. among the opponents is the oscar-nominated actor james cromwell, who was sentenced to a week behind bars for taking part in a nonviolent protest outside construction site in late 2015. this is james cromwell speaking recently on democracy now! basically came up with an

idea to chain ourselves together. we chained ourselves together with bicycle locks and we blocked the entrance to the to theaccording prosecution, for about 27 minutes. the judge in the prosecution seem to imply that it made absolutely no difference to what happened with this plant, but it does make a difference. what we're trying to get out is the message that this is one instance, but it is happening all around thihis country and al around the world. and ago that was james cromwell speaking on democracy now! the day before he went to jail. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. hurricane e harvey has been downgraded from a category 4 hurricane to a tropical depression as it moves over louisiana and intoto mississipi. in houston, floodwaters have begun to recede, revealing corpses and mass devastation.

texas officials say at least 44 people have been killed by the storm and nearly 100,000 homes are damaged by flooding. more than 30,000 people remain in shelters. health officials are taking steps to minimize the spread of diseases such as cholera and typhoid, and nearly 150,000 homes have been told to boil their water. east of houston in hard-hit beaumont, drinking water is completely shut off. emergency workers are in evacuating beaumont's main hospital. meanwhile, flooding continues in north houston as the neches river surged beyond its banks and is expected to rise another foot by friday afternoon. this comes as a chemical plant about 25 miles northeast of houston in crosby,y,hat is swamped by about six feet of water,r, was rocked byby two explosions e early thursdayy mornrning that sent thick blblak smoke into the air. the facility produces highly volatile chemicals known as

organic peroxides, and at least sheriff's deputies were 10 hospitalized after inhaling fumes. officials had already evacuated residents within a one-and-a-half-mile radius of the plant in crosby after i it lost p primary and backup powero its coolant system. harriris county sheriffff ed gonzalez insisted in an early-morning press conference that the plant had not exploded, describing the event as a pop followed by smoke. but federal emergency management agency h head brock long said a plume of chemicals leaking from the plant is incredibly dangerous. we do bottom line is, what is called plume modeling. that is what we base a lot of the evacuations on. by all means, the plume is inincredibly dangerous. amy: this comes as the company arkema has refused to statete resource which chemicals are produced or how many of them are still on site at the time of the explosions. during a call with reporters,

arkema ceo richard rowe said the compmpany expected the chemicals on-site to catch fire or explode and admitted it is a way to prevent a fire or potential -- no way to prevent a fire or potential explosion near the plant. he was questioned by reporter mamatt dempsey witith the houstn chronicle. chemical the 2015 inventory. you going to provide the most recent to the media? >> i don't know we see the need to do that. they're all involved with the peroxides that we're discussing. >> i understand that. there's a lot more detail in the inventory for reporters that could be useful. just to be clear, it sounds like you're not willing to release your current chemical inventory to the media. >> we do not see the need at this time to do that. amy: to talk about what we know about what could blow up at the

arkema plant in crosby, texas, we go now to houston where we're joined by the reporter you heard questioning the arkema ceo. matt dempsey is a data reporter with the houston chronicle who contributed to the investigative series called "chemical breakdown," which examined regulatory failures of the chemical industry. his latest article is "new explosions expected at crosby chemical plant." thank you for joining us on democracy now! start off by just explaining what do we know at this point about these chemicals in this chemical plant in crosby? 8:30 orsterday around 9:00, the company sent me a list of the names of the chemicals, but that is not a tier 2. i sent an angry a mill back saying this is not helpful and not what we asked for. the reason i want that chemical inventory is because it has the amounts of the chemicals and it

will tell you what kind of containers those chemicals are contained in. i've also asked for a map of the facility. yestererday in the morning, they assured meme that would providea tier 2 and a map of the facility. i have got neither of those things. many other questions remain unanswered. amy: what do you mean by tier 2? >> is a chchemicalnventoryy required under t the emergency preparededness and communityty t to know act ththat reqequires companies whoe certain typess of materials, prettyty broad come to send a lt of what chemicals theyey have, e names, chemical index code, the amounts of them, where they're located, whahat kind of contntas theyey are in the lococal law enforcement, to the state, to local emergency planning committees to be used for emergency preparedness. amy: so you were in crosby yesterday? >> yes.

amy: can you explain how it is possible when you have 10 sheriff's deputies that go to the hospital, that the public cannot know exactly what chemicals are poisoning people, not to mention the cause of this one in half-mile radius that has been evacuated around the plant? >> right. it is challenging. there is a federal right to know law, but a federal right to know law has a clause that says it cannot override any state law. nationwide, not just in texas, it has been particularly bad in texas, that law has been chipped making harder, and harder to get access to these chemicals. so i can ask questions, i can bug the company, sent emails and make calls to the state and other agencies, but it is very difficult to make any progress. because they have made it so

they can use terrorism -- the threat of terrorism as an excuse in texas to shshut down access o must chemical inventories. amy: i want to turn t to the fie chchief saying the expxplosion wasn't dangegerous. >> we're trying to make sure our citizens are comfortable in what is going on and they know the truth. so with that, these are small contaiainer ruptures that may he -- excuse me. may have a sound of a pop or something of that nature. this is not a massive explosion. amy: matt dempsey, your response? >> i know chief royal. he is a good man. he is a really smart experts at hazardous material response for the fire marshall's office. probably one of the most experienced at that in the country. my impression of what he is doing there is trying to be as accurate and precise about what he is describing to the public as possible. i think, especially in response

crosby, there are a ton of rumors going on. it would be easy your of government officials were more clear on what is going on and not going on. my thought and i heard that, because i was on the way when he said that, my thought when he said that was he is trying to make sure people don't think there is going to be a shockwave blast from this. he is right. there probably won't be a shockwkwave-type blast like something you'd see in an action movie. be my concern continues to explosion inic clai catching fire,e, my concern is there are tananks of chemicacals at are veryy lge. worst-case scenario report that arkema filed w with the eppa, i said that if that were to rupture, then we have a really serious problem on her h hands. this is s serious, but i if that uff goes out and gets released, then you have a very, very big problem. i keep asking arkema, , where ae

the tanks?? they say they are ever r remote area far away from organicic peperoxide i asked, can you s sw me where the organic p peroxidides are ad where the tanks are so i can reassure people, more than just they are faraway? they refuse to do that. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. we talking to matt dempsey, the data reporter at the houston chronicle who was in crosby, the lead reporter on the paper's series "chemical breakdown," which investigated regulatory failures of the chemical industry. his new article "new explosions , expected at crosby chemical plant." this is democracy now! ♪ [music break]

amy: a houston resident who went home, his house is flooded, playing his piano. only the keyboard above the water in his house. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue to look at the flooded arkema chemical plant in , northeast ofosby houston, texasas, that saw a par

of explosions early thursday black smoke into the air. officials evacuated residents within a one and a half mile radius of the facility, which produces highly volatile chemicals known as organic peroxides. a new investigation reveals the explososions come after arkema successfully pressured federal regulators to delay n new regulationons aimed at improrovg safety procedureres at chemical plants. it also found texas attorney general l ken paxton aggressivey attacked proposed chemical plant safety rule after his election $100,000garnered over from chemical industry donors. we are still joined by matt dempsey of the houston chronicle, but we're also joined by richard rennard, senior theor -- by david sirota senior editor. titled, "texase republicans helped chemical plant that exploded lobby

against safety rules." before we e go back to this chemical plant's history, david sirota, how is it possible people so threatened by this plant more explosions are expected, don't publicly know what their big exposed to? is at issue inle our story is a rule that was proposed during the obamama year after the explosion in earlier chemical plant in west texas. it would require third-party are the safety procedures at chemical plants and would have required more disclosure to the community about what is in chemical plants, what specific chemicals are being housed in chemical plants, and it would have mandadated better coordination andnd a closer relationship between ken and lolocal -- chemical companies ad

first responders and emergency services in those communities. what ended up happening was when that rule was proposed, , toplblicans in congresess republicans, forward a bill, a set of billsls, and the housused senate, to basically delay and effectively kill that rule. that was a way for them to signal they wanted the trump administration to kill l that rule. as you mentioned and in our story, texas attorney general ken paxton was one of a number of republican officials who sent a letter to the epa demanding the rule basically be withdrawn. it was highly critical of the rule thing was overly burdensome to the chemical industry. you had arkema, , d a letterer o the epa, basically making thee sasame a argument. yethe americican chemistry cocouncil, which arkema a member of, that is a big lobbying group inhe area mamaking similar arguments.

-- many texas s republicans endd up supportrting the legislationn the congress as they had been getting large campaign contributions from the cheemical induryry, legislatation that wod effectively kill those rules. the trump administration obliged. the trump administration delayed those rules until at least 2019. scott pruitt issuing that order. scott pruitt, as the attttorney general of oklahoma, hadad demanded the epa withdrawal thosee rules while he e was rung 30,000 that had receceived dollars from the american chemistry council. effectively, you had chemical industry funded politicians who made sure and were successful in helping the chemical industry, including arkema, lobby to delay and effectively for now, kill those safety rules. companythese rules, the arkema poured millions of dollars into lobbying right

teter the trtrump administration because the rules were going to affect the march 14? chemicalal companies, including arkema, were lobbying against these rules. by the way, journey obama administration and into the trump administration era through lobbying groups like the american chemimistry councilil, ararkema also lobbied on the rus other countries lobbied on the rules. exxonmobil, coke industries, the saudi arabian part government owned chemical conglomerate lobbied against these rules. they were successful. theampaign cash flowed into coffers of many republicans, many republicans from texas who ended up supporting the legislative efforts to get rid of the rules and ultimately the trump administration acted. amy: i want to bring stephanie thomas into this conversation, houston-based organizer for public citizen. your response to what is happening right now in crosby, to what the public has a right

to know? amy.s, yesterday, i drove from houston to baytown, which is about 15 .iles south of crosby in that drive, i could see the plume of smoke coming toward that community. about are very concerned their health, about their well-being, whether the air are -- they are breathing is really safe to breathe. there's this complication because right now, there's also a lot of flooding that has happened in our area. so even though they did evacuate the 1.5 mile radius, there were people outside of that radius who were considering evacuating and were not sure if it was safe to do so, if the roads were going to be passable because we still have a lot of water on the ground here.

i think another point of this, it is contributing a lot more concerned about air quality. we already have seen a lot of reports to the texas commission on environmental quality about you mission events duduring the past weeeek -- emiss eventsi during theo past weekn during hurricane harvey. people are concerned about what they're breathing in and whether this is as safe as the officials it is safe.hat amy: this issue of emergency responders, you have the sheriff deputies, 10 of them, went out to the hospital. >> that's right. there have been other folks saying, well, it is like a barbecue. you do not want to breathe in the air because it is not good for you, but they're downplaying the safety of it. i think it is import for the ismunity to find out what it they are breathing. i want to commend matt dempsey in his work for trying to get

those answers. amy: matt dempsey, first, you of arkema on the telephone, he said he wasn't going to give you the information, then you sort of from thetle infofo dump company. what changed in that amount of time? and what would you say to people now, given the information that we know? so the only thing i can think of that changed is there was a lot of attention to the press where they said they would not provide it will stop i believe -- the other thing about the info dump that i got, like a list of 29 chemical names, and that is it,t, i sent a very any email asking why didn't i get the tier 2? their response was that the texas commission for environmental quality has informed them that all requests for the tier 2 should go through them.

the interesting thing about that, that means we probably won'n't get access to thatat ti2 ever.. when now governor greg at it was th attorneyy generalal, his office i issued a ruling that sd people d don't have the right to access tier 2's from the state. so t the state i is telling prie company, arkema, to ask the state for information that they know they'rere not going to provide. it is really incredibly frustrating. amy: now, your knowledge, matt dempsey, of the texas delegation, congressional delegation that got money and exemptbied by arkema to them from these right to know laws. was thought david's piece excellent, but i do want to point something out. i do not think it is a hard push to convince politicians in the

state of texas to do what the chemical industry wants them to do. for example, there was a lot of focus on the republican .elegation from texas democrats have not done very much, either. there's been very few bills proposed by democrats in texas or the ship channel or in the houston much of area or along this petrochemical capital of the country from either party on increasing or strengthening right to know laws. the stuff -- the rules that david was springing up, that was done by president obama as an executive order after the west incident. the american chemistry council is extremely powerful. they basically call the shots when it comes to what people get to know and how the chemical industry is regulated. a really good example, it took decades for the toxic substance control act to finally get past. in many ways, it only passed because frank lautenberg died and they met his colleagues and commerce --

amy: the new jersey senator. >> right. so even then, the only version of the toxic substance control act, which is more about affects doestance a sex by the substances. the only version that passed through congress and got signed into law is one of. amy: can you talk more, david sirota, about the role of f scot pruitt, the head of the environmental protection agencny when it came to what the public has a right to know? and we seeing it playing out right now, for example, in crosby, with the company arkema. >> sure. scott pruiuitt, when he weighedn on the p proposed safety rulules that we are discussing as attorney general of oklahoma, scott pruitt made an argument that many attorney geneneral's o were opppposed to these rurulesn the ststates, that they were

arguing as well. and that argument was, essentially thahat the expanded mandndates for the public's rigt to know, the expanded mandates for those would threaten national security by allowing the bad guys, basically terrorists, to know where dangerous chemicals are. they were arguing by allowing the community to know where potentially hazardous, poisonous in normals, both practice and even during and after a catastrophe or a crisis, that even allowing the public to know would potentially empower terrorists to know that information and organize attacks, potentially, on those chemical plants. so thereby, their argument was, scott pruitt's argument, that allowing the public to know would be an undue risk for national security. he said the rules should be

withdrawn. the other side of the argument was, of course, the public should have a right to know about the chemical compounds in its communities, especially when it comes to emergency situations. but ultimately, ththe scott prut side won out because he went on from oklahoma attorney general of oklahoma to become the epa administrator who ultimately delayed a and for now, killed those rules. amy: let me ask you, matt, talk about the record of our, over the years. facility in 2011 and i believe in 2015 was cited by the cc eq for essentially a fire that started with organic peroxides in 2011 and in 2016 for not being able to control the temperature and reactor very well. ed themgust, osha's fin

tens of ththousands of dollalars from his hanandling -- essentially, processed safety violations for hazardous materials. they were mishandling hazardous materials. amy: we are talking about the arkema plant in crosby. i want to go to a clip of the local ceo. before i do that, i want to ask, in terms of circumstances on the , how are youtt doing? is your house flooded? how is it to work under these circumstances? >> right. my family is incredibly fortunate. our neighborhood got flooded. andad water in the street houses got flooded near us, but the water never got up over the curb near our house. i feel incredibly lucky and fortunate and feel a little survivor guilt to go so many other people have been impacted/wrongly by the floods. it is a little easier to get

around now. but when you're driving around, even getting to the studio today, you see people starting to gut their homes and starting demolition. you see sandbags out still. there is debris all over the roads still. it is really hard. even though houston has had three major flooding events in the last three years, this is different. it is a different kind. i am from phoenix. when i moved here three years ago, every subsequent flood event of to this point, people used to say, "oh, it is not as bad as tropical storm allison." nobody is saying that anymore. it is really rough. amy: stephanie, what about you? >> i am likewise lucky that my house did not experience any flooding. we just had minor damage with some water coming in through the roof. but i live not too far from buffalo bayou, which is one of the by use going through town --

bayous going through town. houston has no zoning. our neighborhood actually has some industry's mattered amongst it. i was taking a walk along the byaou and encountered a spill coming out of one of the facilities into the buffalo bayou. i am noticing there have been several of these small events happening locally, too, as well as these big events like the arkema chemical fire. a good point.p the analysis we did for chemical breakdown showed there is -- essentially, we made an index that ranks facilities on a potential for harm. .e had 55 that were the highest i'm doing a shortcut version of this. my quick and dirty analysis showed 13 of those 55 are in the 100 year floodplain. we are way past that with this flood. the 500 year

floodplain. one of the things i want to do as a reporter going f forward is find out just how many of these facilities that have highly potentially dangerous chemicals got impacted by this flight and we just haven't heard about it. there is more than 2500 chemical facilities in houston. they are all shut down due to the flooding. they're all going to start up in. the chemical safety board sent out an alert yesterday warning companies to be extra careful and make sure they are doing their due diligence on doing startups because startups and shutdowns is when most incidents occur. worried from an environmental and public safety and hazard perspective, what is going to happen when all of spin of theties all same time after encountering biblical portion flood. >> along with that, a lot of the advocacy work that i have been

wonderfulith, organizations in houston. we are focused a lot on the ship channel. arkema is not directly in our focus because it is further back, but i think we're finding a new normal where these incredible rainfall amounts -- i mean, about 42 inches i think in mont bellevue, close to crosby. these are just phenomenal rate of rainfall within short periods of time. so when people in industry consider risk management, i don't know that they are thinking about risk management in that kind of weight in terms of the amount of rainfall that they are experiencing. this is a whole new ballgame and people need to start thinking about things differently. amy: i want to go to arkema richard rennard, the president of the a arkema d division, speg on thursday.y. >> i don't know the composition of the smoke, but it is thoroughly noxious.

>> [inaudible] are you saying it is non-toxic coming yes or n no? i think it is a pretty important -- >> the smoke is noxious. the toxicity is a relative thing. amy: "the toxicity is a relative thing." we are going to end with the on this point. this is after the explosions come after people arare evacuatd for a mile and half radius. can you respond to what he said? >> in some way, in a weird and then take way, he is -- and in that way, toxicity is relative. the government measures exposure rates for certain chemicals. the way they measure is how much of the chemical will kill you, how much of the chemical will disable you so you cannot get away to help your way. and how much of it -- how much material will be very uncomfortable. you won't like it, but you can get away, you can remove yourself from the situation.

toxicity is relative, but it is nonsense to say it is relative and not explain how toxic it is. it is toxic, well, how toxic? my thought, honestly, from what i know of the substance burning, the organic peroxide, it is more likely we are expecting exposure levels on that last part, that it is irritating and uncomfortable, will affect people with cardiovascular disease or asthma. but it is something you can probably escape from. you can get to your home, shelter in place if you need to. amy: do you expect more explosions at the plant? >> absolutely. the company has said they expect all eight of those freezer traiailers, each have 32,000 , to explode.oxide amy: matt dempsey, thank you for joining us houston chronicle , data reporter, lead reporter for the paper's series "chemical

breakdown," which investigated regulatory failures of the chemical industry. stephanie thomas, speaking to us also from houston. and david sirota, we will link to your piece as well "texas , republicans helped chemical plant that exploded lobby against safety rules." when we come back, we will be speaking with the head of greenpeace here in the u.s. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "to those who dream" by joanne shenandoah. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as the unprecedented flooding exacerbated by climate change continues in houston, texas, we end today's show by looking at the corporate crackdown against environmental activists trying to stop the fossil fuel industry and human-driven climate change. at least chalallenge ththe indu. the company thatat owns the daka access pipeline, energy transfer partners, has sued greenpeace international, earth first! and other environmental groups, accusing them of inciting an eco-terrorism against the pipeline's construction. the pipeline's construction was delayed for months last year after thousands of native americans led by the standing rock sioux in north dakota, and their non-native allies, launched a nonviolent encampment to stop the pipeline from crossing the missouri river, saying a spill could contaminate the drinking source for

millions. earlier this year, the trump administration greenlighted both the dakota access pipeline and the keystone xl pipeline. dakota access pipeline takes oil the the baken oil fields south dakota, iowa, and illinois than hooking up with a pipeline to the gulf of mexico. for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined by annie leonard, executive director of greenpeace usa, and by tara houska, national campaigns director for honor the earth. she is ojibwe from couchiching first nation. annie leonard, you are named executivenally and director of greenpeace usa in this lawsuit brought by energy transfer partners. can you respond? here.rought the lawsuit i'm holding up a four inch stack of papers we were just served yesterday with his lawsuit. this lawsuit is a slap suit. that means strategic lawsuit against public participation.

it is an attempt to criminalize in silence protest at the exact time this country needs people rising up more than ever. amy: so explain what it is that this suit alleges that you have been involved with, using terms like "eco-terrorism." >> the term eco-terrorism was used to taint science-based free-speech advocacy. they are trying to criminalize healthy, righteous protest. the suit alleges one, defamation, sort of lawyer speak for lying. they are saying we lied to exaggerate the environmental and human rights effects of the pipeline. the second one that is ludicrous on so many levels, they're claiming greenpeace was the head of a criminal enterprise that orchestrated all of this protest. part of therico lawsuit. it is not about the facts. it is not about the law. if you read this massive

document, the allegations are absolutely ludicrous. it is about trying to intimidate , silence, and kill protests. our government has stepped back from offering any kind to protections for human rights and public health. the fossil fuel industry thinks they have absolute free reign to go for it. the one thing in the way is public opposition. civil society. activism. they are trying to squelch that, not to punish us for standing rock, but squelch it moving forward. that is not going to happen. we will not be intimidated or silenced. amy: the law firm representing energy transfer partners is president's, well, his former white house lawyer, is that right? >> president trump's go to law lawsuits is the second that this firm has filed against greenpeace in the last year. last are they filed a lawsuit on behalf of a large canadian

logging company called resolute. it was a similar lawsuit accusing us of racketeering and all sorts of criminal activity. that lawsuit, we haveve a motion to dismiss, it is going to be heard october 10 in san francisco. but we still have this one to face. amy: i want t to bring tara houa into the conversation with honor the earth. red warrior is also named in the lawsuit. can you respond to the owner of the dakota access pipeline suing ists who livental in protesting for a year? >> you are seeing a corporate head that is seeking all of the allies and support mechanisms in that that happened standing rock. people showing up in deciding to give up potentially their freedom and put themselves on the line to stop a pipeline going through the drinking water of the standing sioux reservatation and the peoeoe alg the missouriri river, to say ths is somehow type of criminal

operation, you know, orchestrated by greenpeace and all of these folks who really did not have a very largee presence there, this was indigenous-led. these people were supporting what we were doing, not leaving and trying to manipulate us. i thought it was disparaging and paternalistic that they characterized these organizations as misleading the tribe somehow and misleading the indigenous people. amy: you were not named? >> not personally. i thought it was careful of them not to name any particular indigenous organization, even though they were out in front of rednstead, they named warrior. energy transfer partners is the one who hired tigerswan ms. counterintelligence operations and private security whose main mission was to go in and infiltrate and cause division within the indigenous organizations and indigenous peoples there. this has come out and several tigerswan reports that have been

issued by intercept. you are seeing them try to demonize and divide indigenous movement organizations. amy: let's talk more about that, turning to those reports by tigerswan, the private military contractor hired by energy transfer partners to carry out extensive military-style counterterrorism efforts targeting the indigenous-led movement at standing rock. in one report, tigigerswan discussing how to use its knowledge of internal camp dynamics, writing -- "exploitation of ongoing native versus non-native rifts, and tribal rifts between peaceful and violent elements is critical in our effort to delegitimize the anti-dapl movement." in the documents, tigerswan also repeatedly calls the water protectors "insurgents" and the movement an "ideologically driven insurgency." tara, you're also a lawyer. >> they refer to us as jihadists and try to characterize us as these radical people who are instead nonviolently, peacefully trying to stop the construction

of a pipeline. this is people walking in front of machines, peacefully resisting, sitting down in the middle of the road. yet somehow we had snipers trained on his around-the-clock, with doctors overhead, attack dogs -- you were there -- released on men, women, and children trying to stop the destruction of a sacred site. you look at this anything, oh, you're the company that behaves is very, very badly and you were caught. you were exposed to o a large audidience that typically big ol would not b be exposed to, and you're also exposed to a lot of banks now looking at this and saying, "we don't want any part of this" and a movement focusing on investment and looking at these banks and saying, "ok, pull your money out of this project," and they are. amy: we were there on labor day weekend a year ago. we filmed the dogs that were unleashed on the water protectors. i should say, we also, while not

named defendants in this case, are mentioned in the lawsuit. anie leonard, t this is racketeering lawsuit. if you could talk about what that means? >> that is the rico lawsuit that this is a slap suit taking. it is a slap suit. the rico, racketeering is a type of slap suit. it is a lawsuit designed to squelch a public advocacy. racketeering, the part of as being the head of a criminal enterprise. they say greenpeace orchestrated this criminal enterprise. if found correct, we could then potentially be liable for anything that anyone did on standing rock because the theory is we organized it. done washat was criminal. it was nonviolent. it was science-based. it was by use-led. it was peaceful. the second thing, it was indigenous-led. greenpeace was proud to stand up and support and solidarity, but this was an indigenous-led

movement. it is false and offensive to say greenpeace orchestrated this. we were not the leaders. we were a strong ally and we don't regret a bit showing up. amy: tara houska, we are having this conversation in the midst of what could be the greatest catastrophe this country has seen in the greater houston area, the epicenter of the fossil fuel industry. can you respond to the hurricane, now a tropical depression, and the massive devastation we are seeing on the gulf coast? >> we are seeing something that people will have to acknowledge and step back and have a real conversation about climate tonge and our contribution it. this is what happens, severe storms, increased pressure toward our very existence. these are coastal states where we are at -- this is an epicenter of fossil fuel extractionon and refining. and all that is happening in that area, and now people have toxic water sitting i in the frt yard. we need a frank and open

discussion about climate change and acknowledge we cannot engineer our way out of this. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us, annie leonard, executive director of greenpeace usa. she is stand both personally and as executive director of greenpeace in this lawsuit brought by energy transfer partners that owns the dakota access pipeline and, to has to honor the earth. this affecting your work? >> it is a burden. we are putting our top people on this, but it will not silence us. we are going to be stronger and more unified with other groups moving ford. we are stronger than ever. amy: thank you so much to both of you. that does it f for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

announcer: this is a production of china central television america. woman: as the global population grows, the challenge to end hunger only deepens. the u.n. world food program wants to wipe out global hunger by 2030, but can it be done? this week on "full frame," we look asosome of the e innovative and perhaps a a little unconventiononal ideas f for eradicating hunger around the woworld once and f for all. i'm may lee e in los angeleles. let's take it "full frame."