"New York’s Suffolk County had a trash problem. Facing brimming landfills and public pressure, legislators took a first-in-the-nation step: They banned plastic bags. But what the county saw as part of the solution, the plastics industry took as a threat."
"A proposal pushed by Louisiana’s oil and gas industry to let refineries and other industrial plants keep some environmental violations secret fell a handful of votes short of House passage Thursday, amid fierce opposition that it could hide the impacts of the state’s petrochemical industry."
"House lawmakers on Wednesday reviewed over a dozen pieces of legislation regarding the spread of harmful nonstick chemicals in drinking water, exposing the lack of agreement on how to deal with the problem."
"Lawmakers have been laying the groundwork for months to come up with solutions to a growing headache for water providers in all corners of the U.S.
House members are meeting today to discuss a strategy for moving through Congress over a dozen bills on pollution from poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—chemicals linked to thyroid and liver problems, cancer, and immune system deficiencies.
The problem is enormous.
"A local company that once helped the West Virginia town of Minden thrive had for for decades dumped untold amounts of industrial chemicals nearby. Years after that coal-equipment manufacturer shuttered and the rest of the local coal economy fell into decline, those toxic chemicals remained."
EPA employees try to find and make safe the orphaned containers filled with industrial chemicals, pesticides, and diesel fuel left among the debris after flooding in Iowa.
"A jury in Oakland, Calif., ordered Monsanto on Monday to pay a couple more than $2 billion in damages after finding that its Roundup weed killer caused their cancer — the third jury to conclude that the company failed to warn consumers of its flagship product’s dangers."
"Chemours Co., 3M Co. and DuPont are taking a stand against what one company called an “unprecedented” New Jersey order, saying they won’t pay for a statewide investigation of fluorinated chemical contamination."
"From 1962 to 1971, the American military sprayed vast areas of Vietnam with Agent Orange, leaving dioxin contamination that has severely affected the health of three generations of Vietnamese. Now, the U.S. and Vietnamese governments have joined together in a massive cleanup project."
"Nearly every country in the world has agreed upon a legally binding framework to reduce the pollution from plastic waste except for the United States, U.N. environmental officials say."
