Pollution

"Environmental experts say there’s a strong possibility that a federal bill will be introduced in the U.S. that seeks to strengthen an industry known as “advanced recycling,” or “chemical recycling.” While proponents of advanced recycling tout it as a solution to the ever-growing plastic pollution issue, critics say that it’s not recycling at all, but a highly polluting incineration process that converts plastic into fuel."

"Hundreds of visitors to the Grand Canyon over the summer were sickened by a norovirus, which prompted the CDC to take a look at it."

"At military bases across the country, the Department of Defense (DoD) has for decades relied on a practice known as open burn/open detonation (OB/OD) to destroy excess, unserviceable, or obsolete military munitions, including small arms cartridges, rockets, mortars, missiles, and other items."

"Texas is a notably easy place to set up shop for industrial projects with lots of liquid waste and nowhere good to put it. The state’s waterways are open for business, an analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data shows, to send large volumes of discarded chemicals and industrial discharge downstream and out to sea."

"Hundreds of people are in the process of suing the government over illness and disruption to their lives they attribute to water contamination from Navy fuel spills in Hawaii last year, according their attorney."

"Smoke from wildfires has worsened over the past decade, potentially reversing decades of improvements in Western air quality made under the Clean Air Act, according to research published Thursday from Stanford University."

"One in 20 tap water tests performed for thousands of Chicago residents found lead, a neurotoxin, at or above US government limits, according to a Guardian analysis of a City of Chicago data trove."

"Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin released his long-promised permitting reform plan this evening."

"States are continuing to allow sewage sludge to be spread on cropland as fertilizer and in some cases increasing the amount spread, even as the PFAS-tainted substance has ruined farmers’ livelihoods, poisoned water supplies, contaminated food and put the public’s health at risk."

"The vast majority of Puerto Rican homes have been plunged into darkness after Hurricane Fiona wiped out the power grid, but people on the island are facing another devastating emergency: How to access clean water?"