A new bid to safeguard Mississippi River amid growing environmental concerns
By Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A proposal to create a federal funding program to protect the Mississippi River is back in front of Congress.
environment
For a second time, US court bans dicamba weed killers, finds EPA violated law
By Johnathan Hettinger
Dealing a blow to three of the world’s biggest agrochemical companies, a US court this week banned three weed killers widely used in American agriculture, finding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the law in allowing them to be on the market.
EPA rushed to issue 2020 dicamba approval despite scientific concerns, documents reveal
By Johnathan Hettinger
In December 2021, a small team of scientists working for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a stark report on a controversial weed killer that had been the subject of years of complaints from farmers and environmentalists.
Research ramps up but PFAS pollution remains tough to tackle
By Shannon Kelleher
As researchers rush to tackle global contamination from a class of toxic chemicals known as PFAS, a new study demonstrates a novel way to detect the substances in wastewater – but also underscores how far scientists are from figuring out how to effectively overcome this worldwide threat to human and environmental health.
Postcard from California: Idle oil wells threaten health, climate and will cost billions to plug
By Bill Walker
Last June, at commencement ceremonies in the small, heavily Latino town of Arvin, Calif., proud graduates threw their caps in the air. But those gathered at the Arvin High School football field didn’t know there was something else in the air: potentially explosive levels of noxious methane gas leaking from an idle oil well only 400 feet away.
Climate change bringing challenges for Superfund site cleanup
By Barbara Reina
US efforts to clean up toxins and protect communities from some of the nation’s most contaminated sites are getting more difficult as climate change brings increasingly abnormal weather events that make containing chemical waste more challenging, experts warn.
Monsanto’s ‘cancer index’, an alleged conspiracy, and new PCB-related complaints
By Dana Drugmand
The former Monsanto company – now owned by Bayer AG – illegally cut a secret deal with General Electric Co. decades ago to try to shield itself from liability related to PCB contamination in western Massachusetts, engaging in a conspiracy that continues to wreak harm on the region, according to new complaints from local officials.
A “grave concern” – fight building against Biden’s hydrogen hubs
By Dana Drugmand
When President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia in mid-October to announce a $7 billion federal investment in seven regional ‘clean’ hydrogen hubs proposed across the country, he touted the promise of “tens of thousands of jobs” and the potential for sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to “taking 5.5 million gas-powered vehicles off the road.”
New EPA plan for hormone-harming pesticides sparks hope, but also skepticism
By Johnathan Hettinger
A new US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan aimed at protecting the public from exposure to pesticides that harm reproductive health is sparking hope for advocates who have called for action for more than two decades, but skepticism remains high.
“We can’t sit back” – Amid climbing cancer rates, Iowa health officials eye farm chemicals
Faced with a startlingly high cancer rate in the key US farm state of Iowa, public health leaders are taking the politically precarious step of acknowledging that preventing disease necessitates cutting exposure to potentially cancer-causing chemicals, including those used in agriculture.