Shannon Kelleher

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June 27, 2024

Rain-fed streams lacking federal protections are vital for water quality, study finds

By Shannon Kelleher

New data supports environmental advocates’ long-held position that small, rain-fed streams make major contributions to water quality in rivers and lakes across the US.

So-called “ephemeral streams,” which only flow after precipitation falls and are not currently protected under the Clean Water Act, contribute more than half of the water discharged from US regional rivers, according to the study, which published on Thursday in the journal Science. These streams are likely a major pathway for downstream water pollution, the study concluded.

The findings back concerns that a 2023 US Supreme Court decision in the case titled Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may put many US waterways and communities living downstream at risk of exposure to pollutants. The ruling effectively removed federal protections for ephemeral streams and wetlands, narrowly defining “waters of the United States” as “relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water.”

The study provides “some scientific confirmation that pollution would flow significantly downstream from these smaller waterways,” said John Rumpler, clean water director and senior attorney for the organization Environment America.

“That’s a really important finding,” he said. “If polluters are allowed to dump into ephemeral streams with impunity and there’s no federal recourse, then downstream water quality can be dramatically impacted.”

The Supreme Court’s move to limit the Clean Water Act has been met with alarm by environmentalists and sharp criticism from the Biden administration, with President Joe Biden saying in a statement last May that it “upends the legal framework that has protected America’s waters for decades.”

A 2022 brief filed in the Supreme Court by 45 senators and 154 House members expressed support for more limited federal control in the Clean Water Act, siding with petitioners in the then-pending Sackett v. EPA case.

June 27, 2024

Plastics producers face potential wave of lawsuits, report suggests

By Dana Drugmand

As scientific understanding and public awareness of the health and environmental harms of plastics pollution continues to mount, plastics producers and plastic packaging manufacturers could face a rising tide of lawsuits from communities and states seeking to recover damage costs, a new report suggests.

The report, released on Wednesday from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), details the substantial impacts of plastic pollution and related burdens on local governments, and explains how the plastics industry could be held legally responsible for these quantifiable harms and costs.

“The plastics crisis is causing harm to individuals, to communities, and to ecosystems,” said Steven Feit, a senior attorney at CIEL and co-author of the report. “There is going to be a [rising] wave of litigation in the plastics context, particularly as the evidence and the understanding of those impacts accrues.”

States and municipalities are already pursuing litigation against major fossil fuel producers, aiming to hold them accountable for localized climate damages and costs and alleging that the oil and gas industry knew decades ago about the potential for their products to cause “catastrophic” climate consequences and yet hid those risks from the public.

Such litigation over previous other toxic harms demonstrates how states and municipalities can pursue legal avenues for redress for the impacts of plastics, according to CIEL.

The American Chemistry Council called the CIEL report a “misdirected distraction” in a statement. The industry association touted the plastics industry’s efforts to improve plastic recycling and cut waste.

June 25, 2024

California set to loan $400 million to controversial nuclear power plant

By Benjamin Purper

California will loan $400 million to utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to keep the state’s last nuclear power plant running, according to the final budget deal between the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The agreement authorizes a $400 million loan from the state’s general fund to help PG&E continue operating the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near San Luis Obispo, California, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

Diablo Canyon, which accounts for about 9% of the state’s total electricity supply, became California’s last operating nuclear power plant after the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in 2013. The plant has been controversial from the beginning, as some environmentalist and anti-nuclear organizations fear the plant could suffer a catastrophic failure and endanger nearby communities.

PG&E maintains that the plant is safe, citing the lack of any major accidents in its nearly 40-year history.

The loan was a point of contention in this year’s budget process. Gov. Newsom originally included it in his budget proposal to the legislature, which then cut it from their own counterproposal in June.

Legislators including Budget Committee Chair Scott Weiner raised concerns that the agreements with PG&E “do not provide the state with sufficient access to information to ensure fiscal accountability.” Weiner and other lawmakers worried that the state could never receive reimbursement for the loan, leaving taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The new loan adds to the $1.4 billion the state authorized to PG&E in 2022 to keep the plant running until 2030. The utility had planned to fully decommission the plant by next year, but the state intervened, citing projected energy shortages.

PG&E did not respond to request for comment on the new loan.

June 7, 2024

EPA enabled widespread contamination of farmland from PFAS in fertilizer, lawsuit alleges

By Shannon Kelleher

US regulators failed to prevent toxic PFAS in fertilizers from contaminating farmland across the country, alleges a lawsuit filed this week by a watchdog group on behalf of two Texas farm families who suffered health problems after their properties were polluted.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated the Clean Water Act by failing to identify at least 18 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in treated sewage sludge spread on farmland even though scientific evidence suggests the chemicals are present in the sludge, according to the complaint filed June 6 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia by the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

The EPA also neglected to develop regulations restricting several other PFAS chemicals the agency has previously recognized exist in sewage sludge, according to the complaint. As a result of its inaction, the EPA has enabled “millions of acres” of land to become contaminated with PFAS-laced sewage sludge, exposing many communities to the harmful chemicals, the lawsuit alleges.

“PFAS poisoning of farmlands is fast becoming a national agricultural emergency,” PEER attorney Laura Dumais said in a press release. “EPA needs to act immediately to protect farmers and our food supply from this toxic mess.”

The EPA declined to comment.

PFAS are a class of nearly 15,000 human-made chemicals that have been linked to many health problems, including certain cancers and reproductive issues. These highly persistent so-called “forever chemicals” have been used for decades in consumer products, including non-stick cookware, food packaging, and industrial products, and are widely present in the environment.

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May 31, 2024

“Taking on Big Oil”; Vermont enacts Climate Superfund Act

By Dana Drugmand

Vermont has enacted a first-in-the-nation law that holds major fossil fuel companies financially responsible for the climate pollution associated with their products, a move applauded by environmental advocates.

Following passage by the legislature earlier this month, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law on Thursday without his signature. He cited several concerns in a letter to the state senate secretary, warning that “Taking on Big Oil should not be taken lightly.”

The measure, dubbed the Climate Superfund Act, aims to recover climate-related costs incurred by the state from large oil and gas companies whose production of carbon-based fuels ultimately resulted in over a billion metric tons of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions between 1995 and 2024 – pollution that is wreaking havoc on communities across the country in the form of deadly heat waves, catastrophic flooding and storms, and other extreme weather events.

Vermont experienced its worst flooding in nearly a century last summer when heavy rains caused rivers to overflow their banks, wiping out floodplain crops, washing out roads and bridges, and damaging homes and small businesses throughout the state.

“In order to remedy the problems caused by washed out roads and houses, downed electrical wires, damaged crops, and repeated flooding, the largest fossil fuel entities that have contributed to climate change should also have to contribute to fixing the problem they caused,” Vermont state representative Amy Sheldon of Middlebury said from the House floor on May 3.

In passing the new law, Vermont is taking the first step in shifting some of the cost burden of responding and adapting to such climate-related disasters from taxpayers and onto the corporate polluters whose products are driving climate breakdown, according to environmental advocacy groups.

“The ‘polluter pays’ principle is the bedrock of the environmental movement,” said Johanna Miller, energy and climate program director at the Vermont Natural Resources Council. “With the enactment of the Climate Superfund Act, Vermont is demonstrating that it values Vermonters and their pocketbooks over Big Oil profits.”

May 23, 2024

Norfolk Southern agrees to $310 million settlement over Ohio train derailment

By Shannon Kelleher

Norfolk Southern Corp. on Thursday announced it will pay more than $300 million to resolve investigations by three US agencies in the aftermath of a catastrophic train derailment last year that contaminated the town of East Palestine, Ohio with toxic chemicals.

The settlement resolves “all claims and investigations” by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the US Department of Interior arising from the February 2023 derailment in which 38 train cars carrying vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals ran off the tracks in northeastern Ohio.

The EPA said the company had agreed to the following:

Spending $235 million on past and future cleanup costs
Paying a $15 million civil penalty for violations of the Clean Water Act
Paying $25 million for a 20-year community health program that includes medical monitoring and mental health services.
Spending approximately $15 million to implement long-term monitoring of groundwater and surface water for a period of 10 years.
Paying $15 million for a private drinking water monitoring fund that will continue the existing private drinking water well monitoring program for 10 years.
Paying an estimated $6 million to implement several environmental remediation projects.

Norfolk Southern additionally said it would repay the EPA $57 million for response expenses and will spend $244 million on safety initiatives. These will include new monitoring devices along its tracks and better alarms for detecting overheated wheel bearings, according to the EPA.

“We are very, very pleased that Norfolk Southern has agreed to settlement terms that hold them accountable for disrupting the lives of the people of East Palestine, and help to bring some justice and a path towards closure to those who were affected by this disaster,” Rebecca Chattin Lutzko, interim US Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said during a press conference on Thursday. “This settlement communicates to other, similar companies that they must take full responsibility for their actions.”

May 14, 2024

Senate Farm Bill draft raises hopes for PFAS-impacted farmers

By Shannon Kelleher

As US lawmakers haggle over the renewal of the massive Farm Bill, which funds programs ranging from food access for low-income families to crop insurance for farmers, one new issue sparking debate is a proposed safety net for farmers whose land has become contaminated with dreaded “forever chemicals.”

A recent Farm Bill draft released by the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, includes language from the proposed Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act, which would direct the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to designate $500 million in grants to states, territories, and Tribes to monitor and clean up per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on agricultural land and in farm products. The funds would partly offset financial losses a farmer can suffer due to PFAS contamination.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture has said it sees PFAS as an “emerging risk” that poses a “major hazard” to US farmers and ranchers.

And last year, the US Department of Defense said it had notified almost 4,000 farms across dozens of states to warn that they were at risk for PFAS contamination. Many farmers in Maine have learned that their land is contaminated, as have farmers in Texas, New Mexico and elsewhere.

The US House of Representatives will hold a “committee markup” on May 23, a process that will result in a final draft, but neither an early overview of the House committee’s draft nor a more detailed version released Friday mention funding for PFAS-impacted farmers.

“We can find all kinds of money for increasing our defense budget and a whole host of other things,” said US Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine. “It seems unfair to not find the money for farmers who are in need. I think in the long run we will find that money.”

April 30, 2024

Controversial California power plant set to stay online after court decision

By Shannon Kelleher

A federal court on Monday cleared the way for California’s last nuclear power plant to keep operating for five years after its licenses expire, rejecting arguments from environmental advocates that the facility poses ongoing risks that could prove catastrophic, including the potential for a “nuclear meltdown”.

The move by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision to exempt Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant from a rule that would require its two reactors to shut down in 2024 and 2025. The court rejected the environmental groups’ claims that the NRC did not properly account for safety and environmental concerns.

“We filed our lawsuit because NRC was playing fast and loose with decisions that could quite literally lead to a nuclear meltdown,” Hallie Templeton, legal director for the nonprofit Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. “We will keep fighting to ensure that all involved officials properly and thoroughly apply pertinent laws to Diablo’s attempted extension.”

The NRC’s decision to grant an exemption for Diablo Canyon, which has been operational since 1985, was not “arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law,” US Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan wrote in his opinion. “NRC adequately explained why California’s changing energy needs constituted a special circumstance, and why the record supported its findings of no undue risk to the public health and safety.”

The court decision comes on the heels of a lawsuit Friends of the Earth filed earlier this month against the US Department of Energy (DOE) over a more than $1 billion award the agency is granting PG&E to help keep Diablo Canyon up and running. The group alleges that the DOE’s assessment of Diablo Canyon’s environmental impact relies on an outdated analysis that fails to incorporate a range of safety risks posed by the plant, including an outdated cooling mechanism, dangerous wear and tear, potentially catastrophic risks from earthquakes, and increased flooding risks due to climate change.

Critics of the plant also say it will be costly for Californians. A 2023 analysis by the Environmental Working Group suggested Diablo Canyon could cost the public nearly $45 billion if it stays open through 2045.

April 22, 2024

EPA announces $7 billion to make solar more accessible

By Shannon Kelleher

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Monday that it will provide $7 billion to create or expand low-income residential solar programs across the country, a move the agency said will lower energy costs for roughly 900,000 households in communities that might otherwise struggle to access the alternative energy source.

The grants will be awarded to 60 recipients made up of the state agencies, Tribes and nonprofits selected through a grant competition funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. The program includes services to help communities overcome barriers to switching to solar, including assistance with siting and permitting solar projects and connecting to the grid. according to an EPA press release.

In at least 25 states and territories, the agency says the grants will launch new programs “where there has never been a substantial low-income solar program before.”

“The United States can and must lead the world in transforming our energy systems away from fossil fuels,” said US Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) said in a statement.

The “Solar for All”, which Sanders introduced, “will not only combat the existential threat of climate change by making solar energy available to working class families, it will also substantially lower the electric bills of Americans and create thousands of good-paying jobs,” Sanders said.

April 19, 2024

EPA moves to make polluters foot the bill for PFAS cleanup

By Shannon Kelleher

US regulators on Friday finalized a rule designating two widespread PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances, a step they say will ensure polluters pay to clean up contamination and reduce Americans’ exposure to the toxic chemicals.

Under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund law, the rule will require leaks and spills of these per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to be immediately reported and will enable investigation and cleanup of the chemicals.

The finalized rule “enables the agency to use one of its strongest enforcement tools to compel polluters to pay for or conduct investigations and cleanup, rather than taxpayers,” said the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a press release. “Designation is especially important as delay in addressing contamination allows PFOA and PFOS more time to migrate in water and soil, worsening existing contamination.”

“This is great news for the many communities grappling with PFAS contamination – many of which are also low income and communities of color,” said Tracey Woodruff, an environmental health researcher at the University of California, San Francisco and a former EPA senior scientist.

The move comes days after the EPA announced the nation’s first legally enforceable drinking water limits for the same chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), along with four other PFAS.

So-called “forever chemicals,” which do not break down naturally, have been used for decades in consumer products ranging from nonstick pans to waterproof clothes and stain resistant carpet. Exposure to PFAS has been linked to cancers, liver and heart problems, and immune and developmental damage in children, according to the EPA. The chemicals are found in the blood of almost all Americans.