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By Shannon Kelleher
A landfill in California’s wine country that has drawn scrutiny for its management of toxic chemicals may be poised to close, Napa County officials confirmed this week.
PFAS
Debate grows over whether some PFAS chemicals have a place in clean energy
By Shannon Kelleher
As the planet warms at an alarming rate, culminating in the hottest summer on record, nations worldwide are rapidly scaling up so-called clean energy technologies that can replace the world’s dependence on climate change-inducing fossil fuels.
Microbes to the rescue? Companies probe PFAS cleanup solutions
By Lydia Larsen
Tim Repas was tired of hauling dirt to landfills. As an environmental consultant in Canada’s oil fields, where the soil is often laden with health-harming petroleum hydrocarbon chemicals, Repas felt he spent too much time moving contaminated soil around and not enough time trying to eliminate the dangers posed by the compounds.
EPA denies duty to regulate PFAS in sewage sludge spread on farmland
By Shannon Kelleher
US regulators claim they are not legally required to regulate toxic PFAS chemicals in sewage sludge spread on farmland across the country, according to a court filing the government made this week in response to a lawsuit from an environmental watchdog group.
As the world heats up, so does the debate around artificial turf
By Carmela Guaglianone
Artificial turf carpets athletic fields, playgrounds, and residential lawns across the US, offering a low-maintenance alternative to natural grass that always looks lush and doesn’t require heavy watering. But while this popular synthetic material is marketed as eco-friendly, it has also long attracted controversy – for decades, environmental and health advocates have expressed concern about the chemical byproducts of the turf’s plastic fibers.
Now, as climate change drives global temperatures to searing new records and cities scramble for ways to cool down, the old debate around artificial turf has taken on a new intensity. Along with concerns about toxic chemicals, some have begun to sound the alarm that artificial turf simply gets too hot in a world of ever-harsher heatwaves, exacerbating the health risks of the climate crisis.
Medical experts, like those at the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center, have begun to recommend against artificial turf installations, often citing several health concerns — including “a very real risk of burns, dehydration, heat stress, or heat stroke.”
And the safety risks of hot turf go beyond the immediate, said Genoa Warner, an environmental toxicologist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who has researched artificial turf and other plastics.
“You might have heard like not to microwave your plastics, not to leave your plastic water bottle in the car to heat up and be exposed to the sun because it’s more likely to leach chemicals into it,” she said. “It’s basically the same principle as applying with artificial turf.”
In part due to concerns that artificial turf is only adding to Los Angeles’ heat struggles, city councilmembers this spring proposed that the city begin to transition away from artificial installations, joining a growing list of cities around the country that have taken steps to ban the material.
In late June, the council’s Energy and Environment Committee approved the motion, which seeks to gather information on the impacts of turf and could ultimately lead to a ban.
Pressure grows to close controversial Napa Valley landfill
By Shannon Kelleher
A coalition of environmental groups are pushing California officials to close a Napa Valley-area landfill that has been the site of repeated regulatory violations and is suspected of sending toxic chemicals into local waterways, which drain into the river that irrigates the valley’s famous vineyards.
In a letter finalized Aug. 14, seven local nonprofit organizations called on officials overseeing waste management and water quality to shut down the Clover Flat Landfill and the related garbage collection recycling and composting operation called Upper Valley Disposal Services (UVDS).
The landfill is “long overdue to move its waste operations to a safer, less environmentally sensitive location,” the groups wrote.
The letter was signed by Sierra Club Redwood Chapter, Non-Toxic Neighborhoods, Napa Vision 2050, Institute for Conservation Advocacy Research & Education, Preserve Rural Sonoma County, the Save Napa Valley Foundation and the Suscol Intertribal Council, a group that works to preserve Native American culture in the Napa Valley area. The letter was also signed by Geoff Ellsworth, the former mayor of the St. Helena community, and local activist Anne Wheaton.
Last year, a group of more than 20 former and then-current employees of Clover Flat and UVDS filed a formal complaint to federal and state agencies, including the US Department of Justice, alleging “clearly negligent practices” in management of “toxic and hazardous materials at UVDS/CFL over decades”.
The employees cited “inadequate and compromised infrastructure and equipment” that they said was “affecting employees as well as the surrounding environment and community.”
Clover Flat Landfill and UVDS are owned by Waste Connections, a large national waste management company.
The Napa Valley wine industry has not publicly expressed concern about pollution from the landfill.
Deadline looms for California airports to stop using PFAS firefighting foams
By Benjamin Purper
A majority of California airports known to be contaminated with toxic PFAS chemicals are continuing to rely on PFAS-laden foams for firefighting, despite a looming state deadline to phase out the foams due to the risks they pose to human and environmental health.
Only four out of 30 contaminated airports in the state have confirmed that they have stopped using foams containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – also known as “forever chemicals” – and moved to a PFAS-free alternative. The majority are still struggling to transition, The New Lede has learned.
Though there is some indecision by state officials over the deadline for compliance, the airports could potentially face civil action against continued use of the PFAS-containing foams after September.
On Thursday, state Senator Ben Allen sent a letter to the California’s Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) stating that the airports should halt all use of the foams by Sept. 13 at the latest to be in compliance with state law.
“We can no longer delay our transition away from these dangerous forever chemicals,” Allen told The New Lede. “I look forward to working closely with the State Fire Marshal over the next month to ensure a smooth transition to a cleaner future.”
The OSFM has indicated, however, that an additional grace period may be allowed. The agency said in an emailed statement that it will provide airports with “expected” final compliance dates after it receives updated information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about new foam alternatives.
Exposure to PFAS has been linked to numerous health issues, including cancer, liver damage, developmental damage to infants, and other health problems. The federal government has said that “tackling PFAS” pollution is a “top priority.”
PFAS increasingly added to pesticides, study finds
By Shannon Kelleher
Despite widespread alarm about the health and environmental impacts of toxic PFAS, the chemicals are increasingly being added to pesticides applied in homes and crops across the US, according to a new study.
The findings, published July 24 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, add to growing concerns about PFAS contamination in the US food system and waterways and highlight pesticides’ “underappreciated” role in the problem, said David Andrews, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group and an author of the study
The study revealed that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) account for 14% of all active ingredients in pesticides used in the US, including almost one-third of active ingredients approved in the last decade. Even when PFAS are not intentionally added to these products, the fluorinated containers in which they are stored have been found to leach PFAS into their contents, the study concluded.
“This is truly frightening news, because pesticides are some of the most widely dispersed pollutants in the world,” Nathan Donley, the environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity and an author of the study, said in a statement. “Lacing pesticides with forever chemicals is likely burdening the next generation with more chronic diseases and impossible cleanup responsibilities.”
The authors reviewed pesticide data from the US EPA, the US Geological Survey, and the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency, as well as publicly available databases, finding that PFAS-laced pesticides are regularly used nationwide on staple crops including corn, wheat, kale, spinach, apples and strawberries. PFAS are also common ingredients in flea treatments for pets and sprays to kill insects, they found.
The study comes on the heels of a petition delivered to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday by the Center for Food Safety and other nonprofits, asking the agency to ban PFAS in pesticides.
Electric vehicle batteries adding to toxic PFAS pollution, study finds
By Shannon Kelleher
A type of toxic PFAS in lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and other electronics is polluting air, soil and water in the United States and Europe, adding to concerns that the growing clean energy sector could harm the environment even as it strives to combat climate change, according to a new study.
Researchers said they analyzed samples of soil, sediment and surface water collected in 2022 near manufacturing plants in Minnesota, Kentucky, Belgium, and France, finding they were commonly contaminated with a subtype of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) called bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides (bis-FASIs) at concentrations in the parts per billion.
The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Communications, also found that bis-FASI emitted into the air at these sites may travel long distances, potentially polluting areas far from the facilities where they are made and used.
“If we are not careful about the choices of materials and chemicals used in renewable energy technologies, then it is a concern that this may become a new source of PFAS pollution,” said Ariana Spentzos, a science and policy associate at the Green Science Policy Institute. Spentzos was not involved in the study.
“However, it is a false choice to choose between renewable energy and less PFAS pollution,” she added, noting that there are viable alternatives for many uses of PFAS in renewable energy.
Worries in wine country: Napa Valley wrestles with chemical contamination controversy
By Shannon Kelleher
Famous for its lush vineyards and cherished local wineries, Napa Valley is where people go to escape their problems.
“When you first get there, it’s really pretty,” said Geoff Ellsworth, former mayor of St. Helena, a small Napa Valley community nestled 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. “It mesmerizes people.”
What the more than 3 million annual tourists don’t see, however, is that California’s iconic wine country has a problem of its own – one that has spurred multiple ongoing government investigations and created deep divisions among residents and business owners, with some fearing the region’s reputation and way of life may be in peril.
At the heart of the fear is the decades-old Clover Flat Landfill (CFL), perched on the northern edge of the valley atop the edge of a rugged mountain range. Two streams run adjacent to the landfill as tributaries to the Napa River.
A growing body of evidence, including regulatory inspection reports and emails between regulators and CFL owners, suggests the landfill and a related garbage collection, recycling and composting business known as Upper Valley Disposal Services (UVDS) have routinely polluted those local waterways that drain into the Napa River with an assortment of dangerous toxins.
The river irrigates the valley’s beloved vineyards and is used recreationally for kayaking by over 10,000 people annually. The prospect that the water and wine flowing from the region may be at risk for contamination with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals has driven a wedge between those speaking out about the concerns and others who want the issue kept out of the spotlight, according to Ellsworth.
“The Napa Valley is amongst the most high-value agricultural land in the country,” said Ellsworth, a former employee of Clover Flat. “If there’s a contamination issue, the economic ripples are significant.”