Aug. 15, 2014, The Wall Street Journal
More than a year after a fertilizer explosion in West, Texas, killed 15 people, it is now harder for state residents to learn whether hazardous chemicals are stored near their homes, an issue that is stoking political debate leading up to the Texas gubernatorial election.
Texas used to periodically release information about the nearly 70,000 manufacturing facilities that store hazardous chemicals in the state, in accordance with federal and Texas right-to-know laws. But in June, the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the Republican nominee for governor, ruled that Texas no longer could release the information because of state homeland-security laws.
Julia Harte 