Chemicals

"New Hampshire’s governor signed into law a bill Thursday that sets some of nation’s toughest drinking water standards for a group of toxic chemicals and provides tens of millions of dollars for cleanup cost."

"The world is on track to triple the amount of plastic we dump into the ocean in just two decades. But if civic and business leaders get their [act] together to curb the global plastics crisis, we could reduce that rate by 80%, according to two new reports on Thursday."

"New standards limiting how much toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS can be in Michigan’s public drinking water will take effect after a legislative committee adjourned without taking action to block or change them."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to remove hundreds of once-contaminated East Chicago properties from its National Priorities List to spur development in the northwestern Indiana city that could potentially qualify homes for interior lead abatement."

"A bipartisan bill extending the Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standards program cleared the U.S. House Monday and now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk."

"Nearly half a century after a Gold Rush-era quicksilver mining operation shut down in northern California, mercury continues to flow into a nearby creek, and federal officials blame the mine’s state landmark status for cleanup delays."

"Lisa Schulte Moore loves nature. To stand in an old-growth forest, she says, 'I can only describe it as healing.' When she moved to Iowa to teach ecology at Iowa State University, she didn't get that same feeling when she found herself amid acres of corn. She wasn't hearing birds or seeing many bugs. 'All I can hear are the leaves of the rustling corn,' she says. 'Not one biological noise. You know, they call it the green desert.'"

"Iraq is the rare country that imports gas but also burns natural gas from oil wells into the air. The wasted gas is enough to power 3 million homes. Burning it is making people sick."

"The EPA announced Wednesday it will allow pesticide producers to forego certain tests on live fish, which can indicate whether the chemicals accumulate in their bodies and enter the food chain."

"Tuomas Siilasjoki and Minna Näkkäläjärvi say they were taken by surprise when a mobile drill rig one day appeared in the horizon. Nobody had asked them about exploring for minerals inside their siida, a reindeer foraging area, in northern Finland. The Sámi families here in Tarvantovaara wilderness area fear the world's hunger for metals to ramp up the green economy will destroy their indigenous way of life."