Pollution

"Drinking water supplies serving more than six million Americans contain unsafe levels of a widely used class of industrial chemicals linked to potentially serious health problems, according to a new study from Harvard University researchers."

"In an effort to halt the advance of the oil industry in Colorado, environmental activists said they submitted enough signatures on Monday to place on November’s ballot two initiatives aimed at severely limiting hydraulic fracturing."

"When a pipeline break in North Dakota spilled salty, toxic drilling wastewater into a tributary of the Missouri River last year, it was national news. But it was only one of more than 640 oil and gas spills that affected groundwater or surface water in some way in 2015, according to a review of state and federal records by EnergyWire. Such spills can contaminate water with oil, salt, metals and even radiation."

"One year ago — on Aug. 5, 2015 — an EPA crew at the Gold King Mine in southwest Colorado accidentally unleashed 3 million gallons of orange water filled with mercury and arsenic."

"The soup of bright-green algae that is currently blanketing Florida's Treasure Coast is a reminder for many residents of the re-plumbing of the lower half of the state over the past century, when hundreds of canals, reservoirs and other public works were built to control the flow of water as cities blossomed there."

"The City of Montreal is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to replace lead pipes that deliver water to homes."

"BP Plc said the wastewater sediment discharge from its Whiting, Indiana refinery returned to permitted levels on Thursday, after several days of exceeding allowed amounts due an upset at a wastewater treatment plant."

"NAVASSA, N.C. – Officials involved in cleaning up the contamination left here decades ago by a wood-treatment operation say the process will take years, but now that an initial investigation of the Superfund site is complete, a new phase in the effort is about to begin."

"A Husky Energy Inc oil spill into a major Canadian river on July 20 was the third in the same area in eight months, government records showed, and could put new pressure on the province of Saskatchewan's energy regulator to improve its monitoring of pipelines."

"When you live on what’s essentially a sandbar, pollution, septic systems, and political roadblocks add up to one tough challenge."