Shannon Kelleher

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November 14, 2024

US EPA enables polluting plastics plants by failing to update wastewater limits, report says

By Shannon Kelleher

Federal regulators have enabled US plastics plants across the country to dump dangerous chemicals into waterways by failing to update wastewater limits for over 30 years, according to a new analysis by a watchdog group.

While the Clean Water Act requires the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review wastewater discharge limits every five years to keep up with advances in water treatment technologies, the agency has not updated its guidelines for the plastics sector since 1993.

“Most folks don’t know that the plastics industry is not required to use modern wastewater treatment controls to limit the amount of pollution they pour into our waterways,” Jen Duggan, the executive director of EIP, said in a press call Thursday. “It’s long past time these plants clean up.”

In its analysis, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) focused on 70 plants that make raw plastics called “nurdles,” tiny pellets later used to make products such as water bottles, food containers and toy

Over 80% of the plants violated pollution limits in their permits at least once between 2021 and 2023, according to the report, yet the EPA only issued financial penalties to 14% of violators, the report found. The Chemours Washington Works plant in West Virginia received 115 violations over this period – more than any other plant studied – but was not issued any penalties by regulators, the EIP analysis found.

Additionally, 40% of the plastics plants are operating on outdated water pollution control permits, the study found.

The EPA said it is reviewing the report and would “respond appropriately.”

November 4, 2024

Napa Valley landfill dumped toxic waste into waterways for decades, workers allege in federal lawsuit

By Shannon Kelleher

A California landfill has been illegally dumping toxic waste into the Napa River for years, polluting waters that feed a valley known around the world for the quality of its vineyards, according to a federal lawsuit filed by landfill employees.

Fifteen workers from Clover Flat Landfill and Upper Valley Disposal Service (UVDS) in Napa County, California, allege that operators of the landfill intentionally diverted what is called “leachate” – untreated liquid wastewater often containing heavy metals, nitrates, bacteria and pathogens – into the Napa River and other area waterways for decades. The actions were done to “avoid the costs of properly trucking out the toxic leachate” to facilities designated for safe disposal, the lawsuit alleges.

“Defendants’ deliberate pollution of the Napa River watershed with toxic wastewater is particularly disturbing because Napa Valley contains some of the most valuable agricultural land in the country, and water from the Napa River is used by local wineries to irrigate Napa’s famous vineyards, and is a significant community water resource,” the complaint said.

The workers say the practice not only endangered the public but created unsafe working conditions, exposing the employees to “toxic chemicals, pollution, and poisons” without providing employees proper protective gear.

The action, which was filed Oct. 28 in US District Court in San Francisco, seeks more than $500 million in damages and names as defendants both current owner Waste Connections, a nationwide waste management company, as well as the facilities’ former owners.

November 1, 2024

Proposed factory farm ban divides California county

By Shannon Kelleher

When voters head to the polls on Tuesday to decide the next US president, residents of Sonoma County, California, will be asked to decide another contentious issue – they will be voting on a measure that would make their county the first in the nation to ban factory farms.

Measure J would prohibit farm operations that meet the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s definition of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), requiring them to either close or downsize within three years. The measure would also prevent new CAFOs from coming into the county.

Proponents say that CAFOs, where large numbers of animals are crowded together generating massive amounts of manure, are “major polluters” that pose a threat to wildlife and “vital watersheds” and present a “serious risk to public health” by providing a breeding ground for disease and creating other hazards. They cite one Sonoma County poultry operation with more than 500,000 birds as well as “documented criminal animal cruelty” at some CAFOs.

The measure appears to have only a slim chance of passing, facing staunch opposition from powerful farming organizations as well as business groups and even sustainability groups. But backers of the measure say their effort contributes to a groundswell of support for action against CAFOs.

In July, a state court in Michigan ruled that state regulators could take stronger actions to manage manure waste from CAFOs there, and in June 2023, Oregon passed a bill to tighten CAFO permitting to help mitigate water pollution. Calls for moratoriums on new CAFOs have been heard in recent years by legislatures in Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

“There’s been a lot of attempts, but there’s nothing yet that has been an actual vote among the people on prohibiting factory farms,” said Cassie King, an organizer with the activist group Direct Action Everywhere and the Yes on J campaign. “I think there’s a latent desire across the country to stop factory farming. This measure would provide not only a blueprint but also the inspiration that’s needed to kick more action into gear.”

Measure J is modeled on the Farm System Reform Act, said King, which was introduced in 2023 by US Sen. Cory Booker but has yet to move forward. The bill proposes phasing out CAFOs on a national level by 2041.

Measure J supporters state that only 21 of the more than 700 animal farms in the county would be affected if it passes.

But opponents, including the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, maintain the measure will have a number of negative ripple effects, including jeopardizing the existence of even small farming operations and reducing the availability of local meat, dairy and eggs.

October 24, 2024

Pesticides found in 80% of air samples from California farm communities

By Shannon Kelleher

Almost 80% of air samples collected last year in California’s four most agriculture-intensive communities contained pesticide residues, though the concentrations were “unlikely to be harmful to human health,” according to a recently released state regulatory report.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) collected 207 air samples at stations in Oxnard, Santa Maria, Shafter and Watsonville once a week throughout 2023, finding at least one of the 40 pesticides they tested for in 163 of the samples, according to the results.

The monitoring stations detected a total of 19 different pesticides in the air samples, including the herbicide pendimethalin and the fumigant 1,3-dichloropronene (Telone), which have both been linked to cancer.

These chemicals and others detected by CDPR have also been linked to nausea, shortness of breath, and eye and respiratory irritation.

Despite being banned in 34 countries, Telone is the third-most heavily used pesticide in California, and CDPR has been criticized for failing to implement regulations that adequately protect mostly Latino farmworkers from the chemical.

The samples were all collected on school grounds, raising concerns among environmental and health advocates about safety risks for children and other vulnerable community members.

“The latest air sampling results continue to show pesticides sprayed on fields drift off site and contaminate the air nearby, a serious concern for those who live, go to school or work near farm fields,” Alexis Temkin, a senior toxicologist at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), said in a press release.

October 17, 2024

Progress seen on overall industry emissions, even as oil and gas emissions rise, EPA finds

By Shannon Kelleher

US power plants, the largest stationary sources of greenhouse gases in the nation, continue to show reduced emissions but the good news from that sector comes as oil and gas emissions rise, according to new regulatory data.

Power plant emissions totaled about 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide last year, down 7% from 2022, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported. The agency collects data from over 8,000 industrial facilities for its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, accounting for about half of total US emissions.

However, greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum and natural gas plants increased 1.4% in 2023 over 2022, and the 2023 tally was up 16.4% from 2016, the EPA said.

Nine coal-fired power plants were among the top ten greenhouse gas-emitting industrial facilities for 2023, along with a Texas-based ExxonMobil refinery.

The worst emitter – for the ninth year in a row – was the James H Miller power plant outside Birmingham, Alabama.

Altogether, large industrial facilities’ greenhouse gas emissions, the chemicals that are driving human-caused climate change, dropped by 4% last year, the EPA reported.

“The progress is largely driven by the power sector, [which] has seen steadily declining emissions,” Amanda Levin, director of policy analysis at the National Resources Defense Council, said in an email, noting that the change reflects a shift away from coal over time. “The power sector can, and must, continue to decarbonize,” she said.

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October 11, 2024

In Hurricane Milton’s wake, toxic “gypstacks” threaten Tampa Bay area

By Shannon Kelleher

As southwest Florida reels from the impact of Hurricane Milton this week, the first hurricane to directly hit the Tampa Bay area in a century, environmentalists are bracing for another possible impact – the contamination of local waterways from towering stacks of toxic industrial waste in the storm’s path.

When phosphate is processed into fertilizers for farmland, enormous quantities of phosphogypsum are left behind as heaps of concrete-like waste called “gypstacks,” which are topped with liquid waste ponds. Most US phosphate production takes place in Florida, with 25 of the 30 gypstacks located in the Sunshine State – a quantity totaling over a billion tons. The waste contains heavy metals as well as radium, which decays into a radioactive gas that causes lung cancer, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“We refer to [the stacks] as ‘Florida’s Mountains’,” said Ragan Whitlock, staff attorney for the environmental nonprofit the Center for Biological Diversity, noting that the heaps of toxic chemical waste are each hundreds of feet wide and hundreds of feet tall. “Lesser storms than hurricanes have created massive structural integrity problems at these stack systems,” he said.

Of Florida’s 25 gypstacks, 22 were “at least generally in Hurricane Milton’s track,” said Whitlock, with three located directly near the bay. Whitlock said he is worried about pollution from the stacks impacting both the bay and the Floridan aquifer, which almost 10 million people depend on for drinking water.

The largest US producer of phosphate fertilizer, The Mosaic Company, confirmed in an email Friday that stormwater at its Riverview site, where it stores toxic phosphogypsum waste from fertilizer production, made its way into Tampa Bay after a water collection system onsite became overwhelmed following the hurricane.

“At this time, we believe some of that impacted stormwater made its way to an outfall which discharges into Tampa Bay,” said the Mosaic spokesperson. “The issue was addressed yesterday and is not continuing. The volume may have been greater than the 17,500 gallon reporting standard. We expect water quality impacts, if any, to be modest.”

Mosaic said in a September 30 statement that early assessments showed “limited damage” to its facilities following Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm that hit Florida on September 27, although its Riverview facility “experienced water intrusion caused by the storm surge.” In an early June statement, Mosaic said it was “prepped and ready” for hurricane season.

October 8, 2024

PFAS levels increasing in Arctic animals, study finds

By Douglas Main

Concentrations of toxic pollutants known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are continuing to increase in Arctic animals such as polar bears despite efforts to rein in their use, according to a new study.

One type of PFAS known to be of particular harm, PFOS, was largely phased out starting 20 years ago. But average levels in several populations of polar bears and seals have continued to go up in recent years, according to the paper, published this month in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Exposure to some PFAS, also called “forever chemicals,” increases the risk of a wide range of health harms to humans and animals, scientists have found.

“There’s nothing in the Arctic that isn’t contaminated by PFAS,” says study co-author Rainer Lohmann, who studies persistent organic pollutants as an environmental chemist at the University of Rhode Island. “It’s just very sad.”

Of the animals looked at in the study, polar bears had the highest concentrations of various types of PFAS, approximately 10 times what has been found in people in the region.

Troubling findings were also seen for a type of PFAS called PFNA. Average concentrations of PFNA have steadily risen over the last couple decades in all populations of polar bears and seals studied, and appear to still be on the rise, according to the paper.

The latest published work adds to more than 200 studies that have turned up PFAS in well over 600 animal species, including those that are threatened or endangered.

October 3, 2024

EPA not protecting public from neonic exposure, analysis suggests

By Shannon Kelleher

Rodent studies given to US regulators by insecticide makers close to 20 years ago revealed the chemicals could be harmful to the animals’ brain development – data worrisome for humans exposed to the popular pesticides but not properly accounted for by regulators, according to a new research report published this week.

The analysis examined five studies that exposed pregnant rats’ to various types of insecticides known as neonicotinoids (commonly called neonics). The studies found that the offspring born to the exposed rats suffered shrunken brains and other problems.

Statistically significant shrinkage of brain tissue was seen in the offspring of rats exposed to high doses of five types of neonics – acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam, the paper states. The authors said the impacts on the brain appeared similar to the effects of nicotine, which they said is known to disrupt mammalian neurological development.

The animal studies also support the possibility of a link between neonic exposure and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the authors said.

In most cases, the companies submitting the studies did not submit data for all dosage levels, leading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assume negative effects were only seen at the high dose, according to the study.

“We found numerous deficiencies in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s regulatory oversight and data analyses,” the authors state in the paper, published in the journal Frontiers in Toxicology. The industry studies, which the EPA used to determine what neonic exposure levels are considered safe for humans, were not publicly available and were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

“Consistently, effects were found at the high dose and EPA did not demand data for the lower doses, therefore leaving it unclear how little of a substance it takes to actually cause adverse effects such as reduced size of certain brain regions,” said Bill Freese, the science director for the environmental advocacy group Center for Food Safety and an author of the study.

September 19, 2024

EPA inspector general says agency improperly retaliated against scientists

By Douglas Main

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s inspector general concluded in a report released this week that three government scientists who filed disquieting complaints about their work within the agency under the Trump administration were indeed improperly treated.

The report concluded that the EPA scientists experienced retaliation for speaking out and scientifically disagreeing with leadership and others in the agency.

Most of the scientists had spoken out, internally, about disagreements concerning the safety of various chemicals, which was part of their work within the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

Among their concerns, the scientists claimed that the EPA was not doing enough to protect the public from health risks of multiple substances, and that industry pressure was affecting the agency’s ability to do its job properly.

The report notes that one scientist sought to classify a certain unidentified chemical as having “reproductive toxicity,” only for a senior advisor to remove this wording.

In response to the scientists’ disagreeing and speaking out, the EPA reassigned them, skipped them over for promotion, and generally harassed them, calling them “piranhas,” “problematic,” or “pot-stirrers,” according to the complaints. A copy of the employees’ complaint that identified them by name was sent around to senior leaders and individuals mentioned in the complaint, including former coworkers, according to the inspector general’s report.

“The Inspector General’s findings point to ongoing scientific integrity problems in EPA that directly endanger public health,” Kyla Bennett, a former EPA attorney and scientist who is now the science policy director for the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which helped file three of the complaints, said in a statement.

September 19, 2024

Wide variety of pesticides found in baby foods sold at major retailer

By Douglas Main

Samples of puréed apple and pear baby food sold online and at Target stores in San Francisco, Washington, DC and Minneapolis were found to contain a wide variety of pesticides, according to a new report by an environmental group.

All eight samples of the baby food products, which are made by the popular retail store’s house brand, Good & Gather, contained a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids, according to the study published this week, which was conducted by the nonprofit Friends of the Earth and has not been peer-reviewed. These pesticides are widely used in agriculture and considered toxic to insects such as honeybees. Evidence is accumulating that they may also have various negative effects on human health.

The neonicotinoids detected include imidacloprid, present in half of the pear products, and thiacloprid, present in 75% of the apple purée samples. Both are considered “highly hazardous pesticides” by the Pesticide Action Network, and each are banned for outdoor use in the European Union due to their toxicity, including to pollinators like bees.

The European Food Safety authority has stated that thiacloprid “is likely to damage fertility and the unborn child.”

Target did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Nathan Donley, a scientist who studies pesticides with the Center for Biological Diversity but wasn’t involved in the report, said the results show the regulators are failing to keep food safe, especially for infants.

“To see neurotoxins in children’s food, at any level, is unacceptable in my opinion,” he said. “Every child has different susceptibilities and sensitivities – the idea that a certain level of a poison is safe for every individual is outdated thinking.”