Environmental Health

"Since November, 54 people in Wisconsin have one by one fallen ill with an obscure kind of bacteria called Elizabethkingia. Fifteen have died from the infection."

"Federal regulators are looking into whether Florida failed to properly investigate if farmworkers sickened in a crop-dusting accident were told not to report it to authorities."

"Eight years after a mercaptan spill in Eight Mile, its mostly black and working class residents still suffer from respiratory issues, rashes and headaches."

"The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality repeatedly gave assurances that water from the Flint River was safe, when in reality it had dangerous levels of lead, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says." CBS News/AP had the story March 17, 2016. The House Oversight Committee will hear testimony from Mich. Gov Rick Snyder and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Thursday, March 17, at 9 am ET. The hearing will be cablecast/livestreamed via CSPAN3.

"NORTH BENNINGTON, Vt. — Above the Walloomsac River, where ramshackle farmhouses sit just downhill from tidy homes with organic gardens out back, the old ChemFab plant was, for many, a respected local employer from the days when this village’s prosperity depended on industry."

"An environmental watchdog group analyzed a decade worth of water data in Texas, finding that 65 communities have exceeded federal limits on arsenic. The state has reassured residents that the water is still safe to drink."

"Members of a congressional oversight committee excoriated a former Environmental Protection Agency official on Tuesday for not responding more forcefully when she learned last year that Flint, Mich., was not adding a chemical to its new water supply that would have prevented the city’s pipes from corroding and leaching lead."

Renee Montagne interviews Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about EPA's role in the Flint water crisis. McCarthy says Michigan's slow-walking response to the problem made it hard for EPA to intervene. McCarthy is one of several key witnesses to testify this week before the House Oversight Committee. Resigned Regional Administrator Susan Hedman will testify today.

As the Flint water crisis was being discovered, Michigan environmental officials tried to manipulate exemptions in the state's freedom of information law to keep secret emails that should have been subject to disclosure.

"In a pair of hearings at the House Oversight Committee, top officials involved in the Flint, Mich., drinking water crisis are slated to discuss the causes and aftermath of the lead contamination." Witnesses include Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.