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Environmental Groups Sue Over Portland Tear Gas Use

Associated Press

   PORTLAND, ORE. - With the city experiencing some of the most sustained
   Black Lives Matter protests in the country, efforts by local officials
   and researchers are under way to determine whether, and how, people and
   the environment are being affected.

   Night after night in Portland, tear gas and other crowd control devices
   have enveloped protesters and bystanders in airborne chemicals that
   settle on the ground, later to be washed into storm drains.

   Amid allegations that human health and the environment are suffering
   the consequences, five environmental groups represented by the ACLU of
   Oregon and others Tuesday sued the Department of Homeland Security. The
   federal lawsuit alleges the U.S. government violated federal
   environmental law by deploying "an unprecedented amount of dangerous
   chemical weapons" without assessing their environmental impacts
   beforehand, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

   There was no immediate response to a request for comment from federal
   authorities.

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