Environmental Health

New EPA Plan Could Free Coal Plants to Release More Mercury Into the Air

"The Trump administration proposed on Friday major changes to the way the federal government calculates the benefits, in human health and safety, of restricting mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants."

Source: NY Times, 12/31/2018

Climate Team, and Its Boss, Just Got Harder to Find at Top Health Agency

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has quietly folded its Climate and Health Program into a branch that studies asthma and expunged the word climate from the name of the newly consolidated office, the agency confirmed on Thursday."

Source: NY Times, 12/21/2018

Detroit School Leader’s Reaction To Lead In Water: Shut Off The Taps

"The results landed on Nikolai Vitti’s desk on a late summer afternoon, days before Detroit’s nearly 50,000 public school students would return to class. The findings were definitive and disturbing: In initial tests, two-thirds of schools showed alarming levels of lead in the water."

Source: Washington Post, 12/20/2018

"Air Pollution: Years-In-The-Making Ozone Litigation Hits D.C. Circuit"

"EPA offered a steady defense today [Tuesday] of Obama-era ozone standards the agency previously considered scrapping.

During long-awaited oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, government lawyers defended the agency's 2015 thresholds for the air pollutant as "forward progress" aimed at protecting vulnerable people.

"The revised ozone standards here represent notable forward progress in protecting the health of all Americans across this country," Justice Department attorney Justin Heminger told a three-judge panel this morning."

Source: Greenwire, 12/19/2018

Dust Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners as Regulators Fail To Stop It

"Greg Kelly's grandson, Caden, scampers to the tree-shaded creek behind his grandfather's house to catch crawdads, as Kelly shuffles along, trying to keep up. Kelly's small day pack holds an oxygen tank with a clear tube clipped to his nose. He has chairs spaced out on the short route so he can stop every few minutes, sit down and catch his breath, until he has enough wind and strength to start out again for the creek.

Source: NPR, 12/19/2018

"As PFAS Lawsuits Proliferate, Legal Tactics Emerge"

"Potentially billions of dollars in damages are at stake in more than a hundred lawsuits against chemical companies, manufacturers, the U.S. military, and others for contaminating water supplies with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of more than 4,000 man-made chemicals known collectively as PFASs."

Source: Circle of Blue, 12/18/2018

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Environmental Health