Contamination

U.S. Military World’s Largest Polluter – Hundreds Of Bases Gravely Contaminated

May 16, 2017 Whitney Webb, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Contamination, pollution, US Imperialism, US military

By Whitney Webb for Mint Press News - MINNEAPOLIS– Last week, mainstream media outlets gave minimal attention to the news that the U.S. Naval station in Virginia Beach had spilled an estimated 94,000 gallons of jet fuel into a nearby waterway, less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean. While the incident was by no means as catastrophic as some other pipeline spills, it underscores an important yet little-known fact – that the U.S. Department of Defense is both the nation’s and the world’s, largest polluter. Producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined, the U.S. Department of Defense has left its toxic legacy throughout the world in the form of depleted uranium, oil, jet fuel, pesticides, defoliants like Agent Orange and lead, among others. In 2014, the former head of the Pentagon’s environmental program told Newsweek that her office has to contend with 39,000 contaminated areas spread across 19 million acres just in the U.S. alone. U.S. military bases, both domestic and foreign, consistently rank among some of the most polluted places in the world, as perchlorate and other components of jet and rocket fuel contaminate sources of drinking water, aquifers, and soil.

Navajo Sues EPA For $160 Million Over Last Year’s Mining Waste Spill

December 9, 2016 Whitney Webb, www.nationofchange.org Resist! Coal Mining, Contamination, EPA, Navajo

By Whitney Webb for Mint Press News - Before Dakota Access, many Americans were unaware of the excessive damage and exploitation that Native Americans have endured and continue to suffer from massive corporations. However, last year, one of the worst environmental catastrophes was not caused by a corporation, but by the government itself. More specifically, the disaster was caused by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the very part of the federal government tasked with protecting the environment from such events. In August of 2015, a group of contractors hired by the EPA spilled massive amounts of waste from an abandoned gold mine into the Animas river and its tributaries.

How Environmental Contamination Targets People Of Color

August 30, 2016 Larry Buhl, www.desmogblog.com Educate! Contamination, Environmental racism

By Larry Buhl for Desmog - With about 42,000 active wells, Kern County, California is home to three-quarters of California's oil drilling and 95 percent of the state’s hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activity. This mainly rural region is the largest oil-producing county in the U.S. The influence of oil and gas is so great here that in late 2015 the county board of supervisors approved a new ordinance to allow drilling permits for tens of thousands of new wells to be fast tracked.

Victory!! Pesticide Contamination Prohibited From Organic Production

June 30, 2016 Staff, www.centerforfoodsafety.org Create! Contamination, Organic, Pesticides

By Staff of Center for Food Safety - SAN FRANCISCO— Synthetic pesticides are once again prohibited in compost used for organic production, thanks to a federal court in the Northern District of California. The court issued a decision in litigation brought by several nonprofits challenging the United States Department of Agriculture’s allowance of pesticide contamination in compost used in organic food production. Center for Food Safety, Center for Environmental Health and Beyond Pesticides filed the case in April 2015, arguing that USDA had unlawfully changed organic regulations to create a new pesticide loophole ...

Thousands Of Schools Contaminated With Cancer & Birth Defect Causing PCBs

June 22, 2016 Kit O'Connell, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Cancer, Contamination, PCB's, Schools

By Kit O'Connell for Mint Press News - AUSTIN, Texas — A toxic chemical that used to be prevalent in construction materials may still be hiding in the walls of thousands of American schools, and experts believe the EPA is doing too little to prevent it from poisoning a new generation of children. Polychlorinated biphenyls, a family of chemicals better known as PCBs, were commonly used in building materials until 1979, when they were finally banned due to the threat they pose to human health.

Contamination At 3,900 Fracking Spill Sites In N. Dakota Alone

May 4, 2016 Sami Grove, www.treehugger.com Educate! Contamination, Fracking, North Dakota

By Sami Grove for Tree Hugger - There's no doubt that fracking has provided a boost to the North Dakota economy in recent years, but at what cost? New research from Duke University scientists hasmapped 3,900 fracking spill sites in North Dakota, analyzing both water and soil around these locations and finding significant, persistent pollution levels that could have serious implications for human and environmental health alike. Researchers found high levels of ammonium, selenium, lead and other toxic contaminants as well as high salt levels and radium, a naturally occurring radioactive element.

Harmful Economic Policy Poisoned Flint Before Lead Did

February 23, 2016 Lori Hansen Riegle, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Contamination, Economics, Flint, Policy, Water

By Lori Hansen Riegle for The Huffington Post - The national spotlight is on Flint, Michigan as it struggles with a contaminated public water system that has been poisoning its people over the past two years. This happened because a state emergency manager appointed by Governor Rick Snyder ordered a change in the water supply to save money for the cash-strapped city. As the full scope of this avoidable human and economic crisis in Flint becomes clearer -- one must ask how such an iconic and historically vibrant American city -- could have been plunged into such extreme jeopardy?

Study Links Fracking To Water Contamination In Neighboring County

May 11, 2015 Steve Horn, www.desmogblog.com Resist! Contamination, Environment, Fracking, Water

A recent peer-reviewed study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has confirmed what many fracking critics have argued for years: hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas can contaminate groundwater. The study's release comes as a major class action lawsuit filed in the District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 2009 winds its way to a jury trial later this year. The lawsuit over fracking groundwater contamination pits plaintiffs based in Dimock, PA against Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation. For the study, researchers examined groundwater contamination incidents at three homes in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale basin in Bradford County. As The New York Times explained, the water samples showed “traces of a compound commonly found in Marcellus Shale drilling fluids.”

San Diego Sues Monsanto For Dumping PCB’s In Bay

March 18, 2015 Dorian Hargrove, www.sandiegoreader.com Resist! Contamination, Environment, Law, Monsanto, San Diego

The City of San Diego and San Diego Unified Port District want chemical agricultural giant Monsanto to pay for its role in polluting San Diego's bay and tidelands with polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as PCBs. On March 16, the municipal agencies sued Monsanto for concealing the hazards associated with PCBs, despite being aware of the health risks associated with ingesting and inhaling the chemical compounds since the 1930s. According to the lawsuit, the risks did not deter Monsanto from trying to protect profits and prolong the use of PCB compounds such as Aroclor, as shown in a report from an ad hoc committee that Monsanto formed in 1969.

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