Chemicals

"The chair of stalled UN plastics treaty talks, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, is preparing to step down, after accounts of behind-the-scenes pressure from the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep)." "In August, global talks at the UN headquarters in Geneva to agree on a treaty to deal with accelerating plastic pollution collapsed after three years of negotiations. There is currently no deal and the future of the agreement is unclear."

"The European Commission on Friday announced restrictions on the use of so-called "forever chemicals" in firefighting foams."

"Public health advocates pushed back when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it planned to delay for two years a requirement that steel companies monitor air quality at the perimeters of their 11 coke plants in Western Pennsylvania and across the country. Two groups sued. Now, the EPA has reversed course."

"Exxon Mobil will postpone its plans for a large new plastics production plant on the Gulf Coast of Texas, according to the company. Construction was initially planned to begin next year on the $10 billion facility in rural Calhoun County."

"Three years after noticing discoloration and odors in their wells, residents in New Freeport are still fighting for clean water."

"On a rainy morning, Mike Frederick showed off the Belle Vernon Municipal Authority’s sewage treatment plant, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh."

"Alarmed by the first MAHA commission report, the agriculture industry mobilized to shape the next installment. Those efforts seemingly paid off."

"Tech companies’ use of PFAS gas at facilities may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought"

"Datacenters’ electricity demands have been accused of delaying the US’s transition to clean energy and requiring fossil fuel plants to stay online, while their high level of water consumption has also raised alarm. Now public health advocates fear another environmental problem could be linked to them – PFAS “forever chemical” pollution.