Environmental Health

"Information about potential environmental threats caused by Hurricane Ida have been slow in coming, but initial reports to the Coast Guard's National Response Center and the state Department of Environmental Quality confirm there were releases of crude oil, fuel oils and a variety of chemicals in numerous locations in southeastern Louisiana on the day before and the day of the storm."

"Whistleblowers say the US Environmental Protection Agency has been falsifying dangerous new chemicals’ risk assessments in an effort to make the compounds appear safe and quickly approve them for commercial use."

"Amid deadly heat waves and new evidence showing that wildfire smoke may contribute to premature births, the Biden administration is creating a new federal office to address the health consequences of climate change and their disproportionate effects on poor communities."

"Hospitals in Southeast Louisiana, already burdened with extremely high numbers of covid patients, took a beating from Hurricane Ida, with roofs ripped off or damaged, leaving water pouring inside and forcing three bayou-country hospitals ravaged by the eye of the storm to evacuate their patients. Patients at a fourth hospital were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard."

"Many Pennsylvania school districts have detected lead and other contaminants in their drinking water and documented problems with mold and radon in school buildings—but not all of them removed the hazards, according to a new report."

"The EPA says it will fully investigate allegations from a public interest group that it illegally destroys the original versions of its internal communications and draft documents once they’re edited, according to an agency spokesman."

"Three common neonicotinoid insecticides were ruled "likely to adversely affect" thousands of endangered species and critical habitats, according to draft biological evaluations released by EPA on Thursday, Aug. 26."

"Harmful indoor air quality has been listed as one of the top five environmental risks to public health, according to Environmental Protection Agency comparative risk studies. Yet there’s no comprehensive regulation that addresses those harms outside of a patchwork of protections and standards of care."

"President Biden has made a push to remove the nation’s lead pipelines a cornerstone of his infrastructure agenda, but a requirement to make that happen is noticeably MIA in EPA’s current rule. Advocates hope that changes."

"Efforts to expand production and exports of ethane—a natural gas byproduct used to make plastics—were criticized by groups that told the Department of Energy Tuesday that any job gains wouldn’t benefit regions bearing the brunt of environmental damage."