Pollution
Air pollution in Utah may contribute to school absences
Health problems are a known contributor to absenteeism, and Wasatch Front students miss class at soaring rates when pollution levels are at their highest. That’s according to an analysis of attendance records by The Salt Lake Tribune in collaboration with Brigham Young University economist Arden Pope, one of the world’s leading pollution scientists. The Tribune…
Read MoreAir quality monitoring falls short at Eagle Ford oil and gas wells
An oil boom is underway at the Eagle Ford Shale in Karnes County, Texas, but the development is diminishing the quality of life of the inhabitants of the rural county and possibly endangering their health, according to reporting by the Center for Public Integrity, InsideClimate News and the Weather Channel. Residents’ complaints are going unaddressed and…
Read MorePCE contaminates costly problem in Colorado
Spills releasing PCE, the cancer-causing chemical used in dry cleaning and metal degreasing, have produced at least 86 underground plumes across Colorado that are poisoning soil and water and fouling air inside buildings. Cleaning up this chemical is a nightmare — a lesson in the limits of repairing environmental harm. The best that Colorado health…
Read MoreWest Virginia officials never reviewed pollution prevention plans from Freedom Industries
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection officials never reviewed two key pollution-prevention plans for the Freedom Industries tank farm before the Jan. 9 chemical leak that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 residents, according to interviews and documents obtained under the state’s public-records law.
Read MoreDEP never saw Freedom’s pollution control plans
“West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection officials never reviewed two key pollution-prevention plans for the Freedom Industries tank farm before the Jan. 9 chemical leak that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 residents, according to interviews and documents obtained under the state’s public-records law,” The Charleston Gazette reports. Read the full story here.
Read MoreExtra Extra Special Edition: Second chemical involved in W. Va. leak
There’s been a lot of great reporting coming out of West Virginia recently as reporters continue to cover a chemical spill that contaminated water for about 300,000 people. National publications investigated the lax government oversight and toothless regulations that applied – or, perhaps, failed to apply – to Freedom Industries. But let’s not forget the local…
Read MoreChemical spill site went largely unregulated for years
The Wall Street Journal reports that “the site of a West Virginia chemical spill that contaminated the water supply for 300,000 people operated largely outside government oversight, highlighting gaps in regulations and prompting questions on whether local communities have a firm grasp on potential threats to drinking water.”
Read MoreDuke Fracking Tests Reveal Dangers Driller’s Data Missed
“When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared that a group of Texas homes near a gas-drilling operation didn’t have dangerous levels of methane in their water, it relied on tests conducted by the driller itself,” Bloomberg Sustainability reports. Read the full story here.
Read MoreEven Small Amounts of Precipitation Dump Raw Sewage into Potomac River
Don’t believe the signs city officials have posted at the four outfall spots that dump raw sewage into the Potomac River. The truth is much worse.
Read MoreDrillers silence fracking claims with sealed settlements
In cases from Wyoming to Arkansas, Pennsylvania to Texas, drillers have agreed to cash settlements or property buyouts with people who say hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, ruined their water, according to a review by Bloomberg News of hundreds of regulatory and legal filings. In most cases, homeowners must agree to keep quiet.
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