Maryland residents search for answers as community struggles to overcome PFAS contamination
By Shannon Kelleher
Rick Wawrzeniak is tired of worrying about “forever chemicals.”
drinking water
Toxic Michigan site a “cautionary tale” as environmental funding is under threat
By Brian Bienkowski
The federal government has been working with state and local officials for decades to reverse the harm caused by the Michigan Chemical Corporation, later named the Velsicol Chemical Corporation, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on mitigation efforts after toxics generated at the plant spread through the community of 7,400 people and far beyond. The plant closed in 1978 but the pollution persisted.
Congress urged to address PFAS crisis threatening Great Lakes, public health
By Brian Bienkowski
A Wednesday congressional briefing, led by the nonprofit Northeast-Midwest Institute, was aimed at giving lawmakers and their staff a deeper understanding of the impacts of — and solutions for — PFAS in the Great Lakes region.
WOTUS: A narrowing EPA definition is reshaping the Clean Water Act
By Brian Bienkowski
Debra Shankland was a kid when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire in 1969. “I saw the dead fish, I smelled it,” the retired biologist and environmental educator told a room of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representatives on Wednesday. Shankland was one of many speakers at the latest listening session led by the EPA as the agency crafts a new definition for the long controversial language “waters of the United States” contained in the Clean Water Act.
EPA dropping drinking water limits on four toxic PFAS
By Shannon Kelleher
US regulators said Wednesday they will do away with limits on certain types of toxic chemicals in US drinking water, a move that critics warn could expose millions of Americans to dangerous contaminants.
Maryland residents demand Perdue stop discharging PFAS that pollutes their water
By Shannon Kelleher
Residents of a Maryland community afflicted with contamination from harmful chemicals are demanding that a local soybean processing plant immediately stop releasing toxic PFAS into their drinking and groundwater, violating a federal law that governs the disposal of hazardous waste.
Another PFAS-containing pesticide headed for US registration
By Brian Bienkowski
US regulators are poised to approve a pesticide made with a controversial class of toxic chemicals, stoking concerns of new risks for farms across the country.
EPA’s PFAS plans draw concern in public health circles
By Shannon Kelleher
Moves by the Trump administration to draw up a new regulatory framework for types of toxic chemicals has sparked suspicion among health advocates who fear the changes will protect polluters but not public health.
Amid EPA upheaval, states fear losing strong federal limits on PFAS in drinking water
By Shannon Kelleher
With the looming possibility that the Trump administration could reduce federal limits on toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water, public health advocates are warning that people across the country would suffer.
Utah becomes first state to ban water fluoridation
By Douglas Main
Utah has become the first US state to ban the decades-old practice of adding fluoride to public water supplies. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed the new law on Thursday, prohibiting fluoridation starting May 7.