US government toughens rules on chemicals used to break up oil slicks

Environmental activists sued EPA to update regulations, after thousands of people sickened from Deepwater Horizon cleanup

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced more stringent rules governing offshore oil spill response, amid continuing concerns about the effects on public health and wildlife from chemical disasters, including BP's Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010.

The federal agency, which announced the update on Monday, had not updated its rule regulating the chemicals used to break up offshore oil slicks since 1994.