pollution

EPA Is Unleashing Pollution That Makes Us Vulnerable To COVID-19

April 15, 2020 Sharon Zhang, Truthout. Educate! COVID-19, EPA, health, pollution

Past exposure to air pollution increases the risk that an individual will suffer critical illness after contracting COVID-19, according to a report released on April 8 by researchers at Harvard. In light of this finding, the recent decision of Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to indefinitely suspend environmental rule enforcement is tantamount to gross negligence. And, as waves of the virus come and go, the rule suspension could have consequences for months to come. The Harvard research has confirmed what scientists had already strongly suspected to be true: Exposure to air pollution exacerbates the worst effects of the virus. Just one unit more of long-term exposure to hazardous fine particulate matter, the researchers found, is correlated with an increase in COVID-19 mortality of 15 percent.

Oil Industry Exploits Pandemic As Excuse To Dodge Federal Regulations, Fees

April 3, 2020 Erik Molvar, Counterpunch. Educate! Environment, Oil and Gas, pollution, Regulation

In an act of appalling hubris, the oil and gas industry is asking the federal government to loosen enforcement of federal regulations on public lands in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance, one of the petroleum industry’s primary lobbying groups, was quoted in EnergyWire as seeking one-year extensions for two-year drilling permits and 10-year federal mineral leases, a change that would allow them to hold onto unused leases they are stockpiling. Sgamma also referenced changes to compliance requirements and “royalty and fee waivers” for the world’s wealthiest industry. Robert McEntyre of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association is quoted in the same story as seeking “commonsense flexibilities” when it comes to complying with federal regulations.

Air & Water Pollution Cause More Deaths Than War, Tobacco, Drugs Or Alcohol

January 1, 2020 By Michelle Chen, Progressive.org Educate! Environment, pollution

Pollution—whether it comes from a car’s tailpipe, a coal-fired power plant, or a toxic waste dump—claimed more than eight million lives around the world in 2017, fully 15 percent of all deaths. That’s according to a new report published by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, a coalition of environmental and health institutions and agencies. In fact, pollution is the world’s leading cause of death, ahead of tobacco use, drug and alcohol use, and even war. And the United States is one of the leading sources of pollution-induced death.

As Fracking Companies Face Bankruptcy, US Regulators Enable Firms To Duck Cleanup Costs

December 22, 2019 Justin Mikulka, DeSmogBlog. Educate! Environment, Fracking, Oil and Gas, pollution

In over their heads with debt, U.S. shale oil and gas firms are now moving from a boom in fracking to a boom in bankruptcies. This trend of failing finances has the potential for the U.S. public, both at the state and federal levels, to be left on the hook for paying to properly shut down and clean up even more drilling sites. Expect these companies to try reducing their debt through the process of bankruptcy and, like the coal industry, attempting to get out of environmental and employee-related financial obligations. In October, EP Energy — one of the largest oil producers in the Eagle Ford Shale region in Texas — filed for bankruptcy because the firm couldn't pay back almost $5 billion in debt, making it the largest oil and gas bankruptcy since 2016.

Firm Knew About Lead In Flint’s Water But Didn’t Warn Public, Emails Show

December 12, 2019 Emily Holden, Ron Fonger and Jessica Glenza, Mlive.com Educate! Corruption, Flint, pollution, Water

FLINT, MI -- Executives at Veolia knew that families in Flint might be at risk of being poisoned by lead in their tap water months before the city publicly admitted the problem in 2015, according to internal company emails. Email exchanges in February 2015 between executives at Veolia, one of the world’s largest utilities companies and a city contractor at the time, show some senior employees were aware that lead from the city’s pipes could be leeching into drinking water. They argued that city officials should be told to change Flint’s water supply to protect residents.

Natural Gas Rush Drives A Global Rise In Fossil Fuel Emissions

December 6, 2019 By Nicholas Kusnetz, Insideclimatenews.org Educate! emissions, Fossil Fuels, pollution

A surge in natural gas has helped drive down coal burning across the United States and Europe, but it isn't displacing other fossil fuels on a global scale. Instead, booming gas use is fueling the global growth in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University and other institutions. In fact, natural gas use is growing so fast, its carbon dioxide emissions over the past six years actually eclipsed the decline in emissions from the falling use of coal, the researchers found.

Under Cap & Trade California’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Increase

November 18, 2019 By Lisa Song, Propublica.org Educate! California, Climate Change, emissions, greenhouse gases, Oil, pollution

Gov. Jerry Brown took the podium at a July 2017 press conference to lingering applause after a steady stream of politicians praised him for helping to extend California’s signature climate policy for another decade. Brown, flanked by the U.S. and California flags, with a backdrop of the gleaming San Francisco Bay, credited the hard work of the VIPs seated in the crowd. “It’s people in industry, and they’re here!” he said. “Shall we mention them? People representing oil, agriculture, business, Chamber of Commerce, food processing. … Plus, we have environmentalists. ...”

Now Retired, Top U.S. Environmental Scientist Feels Free To Speak Her Mind

October 23, 2019 By Warren Cornwall, Sciencemag.org Educate! Environment, health, pollution, Science

As director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in Durham, North Carolina, toxicologist Linda Birnbaum had to navigate numerous controversies about pollution and human health. That’s because the $775 million institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), often funds or conducts studies that address hot regulatory issues, including where to set air pollution or chemical exposure limits.

Our Tax System Rewards Polluters

October 18, 2019 By Charlie Simmons, Otherwords.org Educate! Fossil Fuels, pollution, Taxes

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who sparked student protests across the globe, had this to tell the UN General Assembly in New York: “People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.” As a retired businessman and engineer, I can’t help but look at Greta with admiration. Yet I shudder to think that my generation has abdicated our duties to such an extent that we are leaving the mess of climate change on the shoulders of high schoolers.

Major Media Bury Groundbreaking Studies Of Pentagon’s Massive Carbon Bootprint

October 12, 2019 Joshua Cho, Fair.org Educate! Carbon, Pentagon, pollution

Almost a decade later, Project Censored’s observations are still applicable, with two major studies published in June remaining buried by most major media outlets. The first study, “Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change, and the Costs of War,” by Neta Crawford for Brown University’s Costs of War Project, confirmed previous findings that the US military is “the single-largest producer of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world,” and that the Pentagon is responsible for between “77% and 80% of all US government energy consumption” since 2001, and that from the beginning of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to 2017...

Fining Corporations That Pollute Carbon Is Quite Popular

October 3, 2019 Matt Bruenig, Peoplespolicyproject.org Create! Carbon, Corporations, New Economy, pollution

The Emerson results are not directly comparable to the YouGov results because Emerson asks people only if they “support” it, “oppose” it, or are unsure, while YouGov gives people the additional options of “somewhat support” it and “somewhat oppose” it. Allowing the “somewhats” in gets you fewer unsure responses and so the overall numbers are higher. Nonetheless, the Emerson figures show us that a “carbon fine” does better than a “carbon tax,” meaning that even DFP’s astonishingly good findings understate just how high those numbers could be driven if the program was described in a more positive (but still accurate) way.

$10 Million Defamation Lawsuit Filed Against Rockwool, Allies

August 29, 2019 Anne Meador, Dcmediagroup.us Resist! Courts, Lawsuit, pollution, West Virginia

A civil complaint was filed yesterday in Circuit Court in Jefferson County, W.Va., alleging that Rockwool Group, one of its employees and former members of the local development authority slandered a local resident. The lawsuit seeks $10 million in compensatory and $2.5 million in punitive damages. The attorney of plaintiff David Levine, a tech entrepreneur living in Shepherdstown, argues that Levine suffered harm to his reputation and business as a result of personal attacks on him, which began a year ago when he expressed opposition to the Rockwool mineral wool factory.

U.S. Government Reports: ‘It Is Raining Plastic’

August 20, 2019 By Andrew Emett, Nationofchange.org Educate! Climate Change, Environment, Plastic, pollution

After analyzing rainwater samples collected from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the U.S. Interior Department recently released a study concluding that microscopic plastic fibers have contaminated the air, soil, water, and even rainfall. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, plastic was found in over 90 percent of samples taken. In a recent report titled “It Is Raining Plastic,” the U.S. Geological Survey reported, “Atmospheric wet deposition samples were collected using the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN) at eight sites in the Colorado Front Range. Plastics were identified in more than 90 percent of the samples.”

As The Ocean Waters Rise, So Do The Islands Of Garbage

July 26, 2019 Vijay Prashad, TriContinental Institute for Social Research Educate! Plastic, pollution, Waste

On 12 July 2019, a twelve-year-old girl from Gresik (Indonesia), Aeshnina Azzahra, wrote a letter to US President Donald Trump. The letter was delivered to the US embassy in Jakarta and released to the press. ‘My country’, she wrote, ‘is the second largest contributor to waste. And some of that waste is your waste’. Then, she asked three powerful and sincere questions: ‘Why do you always export your waste to my country? Why don’t you take care of your own waste? Why do we have to feel the impact of your waste?’

Babies Born Near Oil And Gas Wells Have Congenital Heart Defects

July 24, 2019 Julie Conley, Commondreams. Educate! health, Oil and Gas, pollution, pregnancy

Proximity to oil and gas sites makes pregnant mothers up to 70 percent more likely to give birth to a baby with congenital heart defects, according to a new study. Led by Dr. Lisa McKenzie at the University of Colorado, researchers found that the chemicals released from oil and gas wells can have serious and potentially fatal effects on babies born to mothers who live within a mile of an active well site—as about 17 million Americans do. The researchers studied more than 3,000 newborns who were born in Colorado between 2005 and 2011. The state is home to about 60,000 fracking sites, according to the grassroots group Colorado Rising.

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