Tag Archives: EPA

Eating One Freshwater Fish Equals a Month of Drinking Water With ‘Forever Chemicals’: Study

“The extent that PFAS has contaminated fish is staggering,” said the lead researcher, advocating for “a single health protective fish consumption advisory for freshwater fish across the country.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 1-17-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Tom Koerner/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/flickr/CC

Yet another study on Tuesday raised the alarm about the dangers of “forever chemicals,” revealing that eating just one locally caught freshwater fish in the continental United States can be equivalent to drinking contaminated water for a month.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely called forever chemicals because they persist in the human body and environment for long periods. Despite public health concerns, the manufactured chemicals have been used in products ranging from firefighting foam and waterproof clothing to nonstick pans and food packaging. Continue reading →

‘Huge News’: Alaska Native Group Secures Protections for Land Eyed by Pebble Mine Developers

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An Alaska Native village corporation drove the effort to conserve 44,000 acres of land in the Bristol Bay region, home to the world’s largest salmon fishery.

By Julia Conley Published 12-22-2022 by Common Dreams

The proposed site for Pebble Mine Photo: Jason Sear/KDLG

In partnership with a national conservation group, an Alaska Native village corporation owned by people of Dena’ina descent announced Thursday that it’s secured protections for 44,000 acres of land and waters that have been targeted by developers of the proposed Pebble Mine—creating the latest roadblock for a project that tribal leaders and conservationists warn would threaten the world’s largest wild salmon fishery.

The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit, announced that following an 18-month fundraising campaign, it has purchased three conservation easements for the land near Bristol Bay, surrounding Knutson Creek, Iliamna River, and Pile River. The easements cover part of the land on which developers have sought to build a mining road to transport ore from the proposed copper and gold mine. Continue reading →

‘Huge Win’: Court Finds EPA Approval of Bee-Killing Sulfoxaflor Unlawful

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“It’s long past time for the EPA to take meaningful action to protect our most imperiled wildlife and put protections in place for endangered species before approving use of toxic pesticides on millions of acres of crops,” said one advocate.

By Kenny Stancil Published 12-21-2022 by Common Dreams

Earthjustice attorney Greg Loarie said on December 21, 2022 that “scientists have long said systemic insecticides like sulfoxaflor are behind the unprecedented colony collapse of the last few years.” Photo: Charlesjsharp/Wikimedia Commons/CC

In a major victory for pollinators and other wildlife, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Wednesday ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s registration of the bee-killing insecticide sulfoxaflor is unlawful.

In response to a legal challenge brought by the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity, the court argued that the EPA’s 2019 decision authorizing the expanded use of sulfoxaflor across more than 200 million acres of pollinator-attractive crops violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The court gave the agency 180 days to collect public comment and issue a new decision on the insecticide, which is produced by Corteva, formerly Dow AgroSciences. Continue reading →

US Gas Flaring Releases Five Times More Methane Than Previously Thought

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“This study adds to the growing body of research that tells us that the oil and gas industry has a flaring problem,” said Jon Goldstein of EDF, which conducted related research on the practice.

By Jessica Corbett Published 9-29-2022 by Common Dreams

Natural Gas flaring in West Texas oil field. Photo: Jonathan Cutrer/flickr/CC

Flaring, the process of burning natural gas escaping from fossil fuel wells, releases five times more methane than previously believed, according to an analysis of most U.S. operations, published Thursday in the journal Science.

The study, led by researchers at the University of Michigan, is based on data collected during 13 flights over three years at the Bakken oil and gas field in North Dakota as well as the Eagle Ford and Permian fields in Texas—which collectively have over 80% of all U.S. flaring operations. Continue reading →

In ‘Historic’ Step, Biden EPA Moves to Designate Two Forever Chemicals as Hazardous

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Arguing the Biden administration’s new rule isn’t enough, campaigners said, “I-t’s time for EPA to address the whole PFAS class.”

-By Jake Johnson Published 8-26-2022 by Common Dreams

Photo: Steven Depolo/flickr

The Environmental Protection Agency moved Friday to designate two commonly used “forever chemicals” as hazardous under federal law, a long-awaited step that green groups welcomed as important while also warning it is inadequate to address the scale of toxic pollution caused by the increasingly ubiquitous substances.

The EPA said in a press release that it has proposed a rule to formally classify perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)—part of a long list of chemical compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—”as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as ‘Superfund.'” Continue reading →

Kids Born Near Fracking Sites 2-3 Times More Likely to Develop Leukemia: Study

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Exposure to fracking and its effects is “a major public health concern,” said a study co-author.

By Kenny Stancil Published 8-17-2022 by Common Dreams

An oil rig is couched between a field of celery and broccoli near Santa Maria, CA. Photo: Faces of Fracking/flickr/CC

Adding further evidence of the negative public health impacts associated with planet-heating fossil fuel pollution, new research published Wednesday found that children living in close proximity to fracking and other so-called “unconventional” drilling operations at birth face significantly higher chances of developing childhood leukemia than those not residing near such activity.

The peer-reviewed study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, examined the relationship between residential proximity to unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood leukemia. Continue reading →

Inside the Democrats’ climate deal with the devil

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The new climate package furthers the US’ most profligate pastimes: drilling oil and driving big cars

By Aaron White Published 8-2-2022 by openDemocracy

Senator Joe Manchin Photo: Third Way Think Tank/flickr/CC

Last week, Joe Manchin, the West Virginia senator whose decisive vote in the evenly split upper house has led some to brand him ‘President Manchin’, and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer surprised even the most clued-in political junkies by announcing support for a climate bill that had been declared dead just several weeks before.

The 725-page legislation seemed a brief respite from a summer of extreme weather – a brutal heatwave and flooding across the US – as well as soaring inflation, a cost of living crisis and radical Supreme Court rulings that overturned abortion rights and limited the regulatory power of the Environmental Protection Agency. Continue reading →

Renewed Calls to Ban Glyphosate After Toxic Herbicide Found in 80% of US Urine Samples

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“This chemical should not be in our bodies,” asserted one green group in response to a new CDC study.

By Brett Wilkins Published 7-11-2022 by Common Dreams

Photo: Mike Mozart/flickr/CC

Environmental and public health advocates renewed calls to ban glyphosate after a recently published U.S. report revealed the cancer-linked herbicide—which is the active ingredient in Bayer’s popular Roundup weedkiller—was found in the urine of more than 80% of study participants.

Of the 2,310 urine samples taken from children and adults for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1,885 contained detectable amounts of glyphosate. Continue reading →

Biden Accused of Lighting Fuse for ‘One of the Nation’s Biggest Carbon Bombs’

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“This is pouring another 5 billion gallons of oil on the fire every year and bulldozing a national forest in the process,” said one critic. “It’s a horrifying step in the wrong direction.”

By Kenny Stancil Published 7-7-2022 by Common Dreams

An oil trai outside Essex, Montana. Photo: Roy Luck/flickr/CC

The Biden administration came under fire this week after paving the way for an oil railway that its own projections suggest would increase planet-heating pollution in the United States by almost 1%.

President Joe Biden “should be doing everything in his power to respond to the climate emergency, but he’s about to light one of the nation’s biggest carbon bombs,” Deeda Seed, a campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, said Wednesday in a statement. Continue reading →

‘Payoff for 40 Years of Dark Money’: Supreme Court Delivers for Corporate America

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“It was the conservative court’s larger agenda to gut the regulatory state and decimate executive powers to protect Americans’ health and safety,” warned one expert.

By Jake Johnson Published 7-1-2022 by Common Dreams

The interior of the United States Supreme Court. Photo: Phil Roeder/CC

Over the past several decades, corporate lawyers, right-wing activists, Republican officials, and dark money groups with deep pockets have been laying the groundwork for a far-reaching legal assault on the federal government’s ability to regulate U.S. industry—including the oil and gas sector threatening the planet.

On Thursday, their investments bore major fruit.

In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, a Supreme Court packed with right-wing judges handpicked and boosted by some of the same forces leading the yearslong crusade against the power of regulatory agencies—which conservatives often dub the “administrative state”—dramatically restricted the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to rein in greenhouse gas pollution from power plants. Continue reading →

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Tag Archives: EPA

Eating One Freshwater Fish Equals a Month of Drinking Water With ‘Forever Chemicals’: Study

“The extent that PFAS has contaminated fish is staggering,” said the lead researcher, advocating for “a single health protective fish consumption advisory for freshwater fish across the country.”

US Gas Flaring Releases Five Times More Methane Than Previously Thought

“This study adds to the growing body of research that tells us that the oil and gas industry has a flaring problem,” said Jon Goldstein of EDF, which conducted related research on the practice.

In ‘Historic’ Step, Biden EPA Moves to Designate Two Forever Chemicals as Hazardous

Arguing the Biden administration’s new rule isn’t enough, campaigners said, “I-t’s time for EPA to address the whole PFAS class.”

Biden Accused of Lighting Fuse for ‘One of the Nation’s Biggest Carbon Bombs’

“This is pouring another 5 billion gallons of oil on the fire every year and bulldozing a national forest in the process,” said one critic. “It’s a horrifying step in the wrong direction.”