Plans are nearing for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate PFAS in drinking water — and the complexity around the effort will challenge environmental journalism. In the mix are questions of environmental persistence and health risks, plus thorny politics. Our Issue Backgrounder has guidance on these and more as PFAS regulation hits this critical juncture.
"From Ted Lasso to TED Talks, the theory of the “wood-wide web” is everywhere, and some scientists argue that it is overblown and unproven."
"Less than a week after Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, the tech billionaire became embroiled in a series of scandals on his own platform. ... The scandals have prompted dire warnings from disinformation experts and environmental advocates, who say the popular social media platform plays an outsized role in the spread of falsehoods that are muddying healthy public debate and sowing division ahead of the consequential U.S. midterm elections and COP27 global climate talks."
"Nearly a year after Google pledged to ban search ads pushing climate disinformation, researchers say they are still rife".
"At the DeFelice Marine Center, researchers and staff are living, working, and adapting to climate change in real time."
"Around the United States, middle school science standards have minimal references to climate change and teachers on average spend just a few hours a year teaching it."
"A UC Davis professor runs an academic center that was conceived by a trade group, according to records, and gets most of its funding from farming interests."
The lesser prairie-chicken is in dire need of protection, but a decision on listing it under the Endangered Species Act is months overdue. Environmental reporter Mike Smith looks at the causes and potential consequences of the bureaucratic delay and muses on whether this unique bird will go the way of its even more imperiled relative, the Attwater’s prairie-chicken.
"The EPA outlined new tools and technology it plans to use to review the risks of new chemicals, part of an effort to address criticism about slow assessments, lack of transparency, and deficient consideration of potential hazards."
"Chromium-6, known as the “Erin Brockovich” chemical, is “likely to be carcinogenic” if consumed in drinking water, an EPA draft review of the metal’s toxicity concludes."
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