Chemicals

"In the final days of the Trump administration, a political appointee at the EPA ordered a last-minute review of the hazards of a “forever chemical,” triggering delay, confusion, and significant changes to a nearly final work product, the agency’s inspector general found in a Friday report."

"More than seven years after Congress mandated that EPA swiftly alert the public to surges in lead contamination in drinking water, EPA’s inspector general has found the agency still isn’t ready to roll out an action plan."

"The number of companies weighing possible PFAS settlements in a nationwide case is likely to grow as a federal court moves into the next phases of litigation."

"Researchers using high-tech air monitoring equipment rolled through an industrialized stretch of southeast Louisiana in mobile labs and found levels of a carcinogen in concentrations as much as 20 times higher than previously estimated, according to a paper published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology."

"City officials are taking their first public step toward cleaning up hazardous waste in a popular park after a local graduate student last year called out a 45-year comedy of errors by federal, state and local agencies that allowed the dumped drums and chemicals to escape remediation."

"Every time you take a breath, you could be inhaling microplastics."

"Lobby groups representing water utilities, as well as the chemical and manufacturing industries, have filed court challenges to a Biden administration rule that seeks to limit the presence of toxic chemicals in drinking water."

"Famous for its lush vineyards and cherished local wineries, Napa Valley is where people go to escape their problems."

"New litigation from state AG offices raises the stakes in court battles focused on fighting greenwashing and misleading claims about recycling."

"A First Nation in northwestern Ontario that has faced decades of mercury poisoning is suing the provincial and federal governments, arguing they've failed to protect its treaty rights."