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Close to 30 million Americans face limited water supplies, government report finds
By Carey Gillam
Nearly 30 million people are living in areas of the US with limited water supplies as the country faces growing concerns over both water availability and quality, according to a new assessment by government scientists.
The US Geological Survey (USGS), which is part of the Department of the Interior, issued what it said was a first-of-its-kind report last week, with USGS Director David Applegate warning of “increasing challenges to this vital resource.” The Jan. 16 report, based on data from 2010 to 2020, examines not only water supplies but also demand patterns and water quality. The report showed that most of the country had supplies that exceeded demand during the period examined, but worrisome trends were noted.
“Water availability is an issue everywhere in our country and beyond,” Lori Sprague, USGS national program manager for the water availability assessment, said in a webinar presenting the report. “It raises the question – do we have enough water to sustain our nation’s economy, ecosystems and drinking water supplies?”
Among the key findings from the new analysis was that people who are considered “socially vulnerable” have a higher risk of experiencing limited water supplies. Overall, about 27 million people lived in areas where the USGS found a “high degree of local water stress.” And a higher proportion of the people living in those areas were considered socially vulnerable compared with those living in areas of more local water availability, the USGS said.
The report also added to evidence of widespread pollution in waterways across the US Midwest and High Plains regions where worrisome levels of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations – tied in large part to large animal agriculture operations – can pose a threat to human health.
EPA moves to withdraw decision on paraquat, delays report on risks
By Carey Gillam
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to withdraw its interim regulatory decision on paraquat, announcing that it needs more time to examine the potential health effects of the weed killing chemical that has been widely used in agriculture for decades, but also linked for years to the incurable brain ailment known as Parkinson’s disease.
The EPA had promised to issue a report by Friday, January 17 updating its position on paraquat after a petition filed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and several other health advocacy organizations challenged the EPA’s 2021 interim registration review decision in which the agency concluded that there was “insufficient” evidence linking paraquat exposure to Parkinson’s.
That interim EPA decision did call for certain mitigation measures to reduce risks the agency said it found necessary to protect human health and the environment, and labels on paraquat products were amended in 2022 to reflect those measures. But critics have pressed the EPA to go further and ban the pesticide entirely.
The petition, filed in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, challenged not only the agency’s position on Parkinson’s risk, but also the EPA’s analysis of respiratory and dermal exposures, exposure risks from paraquat drift, and how to balance paraquat’s risks and benefits.
As part of the process of reexamining its interim decision, the agency said a year ago that it would spend 2024 analyzing new information about paraquat health effects and considering public comments about the issue. The agency said last year it would issue a final document and potential next steps for paraquat use by the mid-January 2025 date.
Instead, on Friday, the EPA said it is delaying any action. The agency issued a statement saying it had “determined that additional data are necessary to resolve the uncertainty” surrounding certain paraquat risks. The agency cited the “potential for paraquat to volatize,” and said it would be trying to determine potential “inhalation risks to bystanders from the volatilization of paraquat.” Such data “could change the underlying human health risk assessment,” and the regulatory decision based on that assessment, the EPA said.
And on Friday, the EPA asked the 9th Circuit to allow it to withdraw its interim decision on paraquat while it further investigates the concerns surrounding the chemical.
“EPA intends to withdraw the Interim Decision and will promptly do so once the Court rules on this motion,” the agency states in its court filing. If the court agrees, the case brought by the health advocacy groups will become moot, the EPA argues in the filing.
Scientists cite disease “epidemic” in launch of new “Center to End Corporate Harm”
By Carey Gillam
Citing an “industrial epidemic of disease,” a group of scientists have launched an organization aimed at tracking and preventing diseases tied to pollution and products pushed by influential companies.
The new “Center to End Corporate Harm” is based at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and will bring together scientists to develop strategies “to counter the destructive influence of polluters and poisoners,” according to a press release announcing the launch.
“Industries that produce health-harming products, including fossil fuels, plastics, petrochemicals, tobacco, and ultra-processed foods, have waged a decades-long assault on government regulatory agencies and policymaking to rig rules in their favor at the expense of public health. At the same time, these health harming products have contributed to a rise in chronic disease. We are working to change that,” the center states on its website.
Lee Zeldin, Trump’s EPA nominee, pledges independence from industry ties in senate hearing
By Douglas Main
Incoming President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appeared on track for confirmation after a Senate hearing Thursday in which he pledged independence from industry money and influence.
Senators with the Committee on Environment and Public Works quizzed nominee Lee Zeldin, a former Congressman from eastern Long Island, on a wide range of issues, including his associations with, and financial ties to, the fossil fuel industry, his stance on government inducements for electric vehicle expansion, and environmental justice issues.
In one line of questioning, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, pressed Zeldin on how he would “separate” his work at EPA from the demands of the fossil fuel industry, in particular.
Zeldin has numerous ties to what Whitehouse described as a “climate denial front group,” and has been the recipient of what Whitehouse said was nearly $300,000 from the oil and gas industry back to 2007, and “large campaign support” from the wealthy Koch family, which runs a variety of businesses involved in oil and gas exploration, pipelines, refining, and chemical production, among others.
Zeldin said the connections would have no role in how he leads the EPA.
“There is no dollar, large or small, that can influence the decisions that I make, who has access to me and how I am ruling in my obligations under the law,” he responded.
“Well good luck standing up to these guys cause they’re going to come at you,” Whitehouse said.