Chemicals

NEW ORLEANS -- Gen. Russell Honoré, the New Orleans hero who restored
order after Hurricane Katrina, is now inspiring and consolidating
grass-roots anti-pollution activism under the banner of a "Green
Army." One of their first missions is strengthening EPA's proposed
rule for toxic emissions from the refineries which pollute Southern
Louisiana neighborhoods. Among the places Honoré has sounded his call
to arms was the Society of Environmental Journalists' meeting October
3. Julie Dermansky report on the Green Army for DeSmogBlog August 20,
2014, before the SEJ meeting.

"A coalition of environmental and food-safety groups is asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to grant endangered species protection to the monarch butterfly, whose U.S. population, the groups say, last year fell to 90 percent below its 20-year average."

"Should you worry about the chemicals in your makeup, lotion, shaving cream, soap and shampoo? The answer is a clear maybe."

"The corn rows are high and tassled, pumpkins are gaining girth and, amid these signs the fall harvest is near, evidence is growing that farmers and others who live or work around pesticides are at greater risk for neurogenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease."

"Consumers nationwide are closer to being able to buy furniture made without toxic, ineffective flame retardants after a California judge on Friday threw out a legal challenge from the chemical industry."

"DuPont Co. has agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million in fines to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to resolve violations the EPA cited after a string of 2010 chemical leaks, including one that killed a worker at the company’s plant in Belle, EPA officials announced Wednesday."

"GENEVA -- U.N.-mandated human rights investigators said Wednesday that they believed the Syrian government dropped the chemical agent chlorine on civilian areas on eight different occasions in April."

"PITT MEADOWS, British Columbia – On an early spring morning the Pitt River flows so calmly that the peaks of the Coast Range seem to pause to admire themselves in its glassy waters. A motorboat lifts a wake, and the docks of the marina moan. Still tucked in for the winter, the pleasure boats stir then rock themselves back to sleep."

"Environmentalists and a South Florida community want to limit aerial spraying for mosquitoes — saying it's ineffective and harmful to wildlife. Two butterfly species were added to the endangered list."