More than 200 Indigenous Nations demonstrated against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Canon Ball, ND on Sept. 2, 2016. Joe Brusky / Flickr
A federal judge ruled Monday that the controversial Dakota Access pipeline must be shut down and drained of oil until a full environmental review of the project is completed.
<p>The decision is a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/historic-day-for-standing-rock-as-pipeline-company-told-to-shut-down-remove-oil-KkDdhNzafUONvPvkmBc66A" target="_blank">Indian Country Today reported</a>. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fears the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a> will pollute their <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a> and sacred lands if it leaks from where it flows beneath the Missouri River, and the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation sits adjacent to the Standing Rock Sioux and the river.</p><p>"Today is a historic day for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the many people who have supported us in the fight against the pipeline," Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Mike Faith said in a <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/judge-orders-dakota-access-pipeline-to-shut-down" target="_blank">press release from Earthjustice</a>, the group that litigated the case. "This pipeline should have never been built here. We told them that from the beginning."</p>
<div id="348d2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="744af6e4e53916e3c963b0271aa1c6b3"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280155991833706497" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Breaking: Judge Orders Dakota Access Pipeline to be SHUT DOWN! #NoDAPL #ProtectTheSacred https://t.co/UxhUgdfA2Q</div> — Indigenous Environmental Network (@Indigenous Environmental Network)<a href="https://twitter.com/IENearth/statuses/1280155991833706497">1594047947.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The ruling is also a major blow to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> industry and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a>, which has pushed to keep major pipeline projects like the Dakota Access and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone-xl" target="_self">Keystone XL</a> afloat. It comes less than 24 hours after Dominion and Duke Energy <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-canceled-2646347475.html" target="_self">announced</a> they were cancelling their planned <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/atlantic-coast-pipeline" target="_self">Atlantic Coast Pipeline</a> because extensive legal challenges had led to delays and uncertainty. Together, the pipelines' fates bode ill for the future prospects of large-scale <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/energy" target="_self">energy</a> pipeline projects, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-06/demise-of-gas-project-shows-u-s-pipelines-becoming-unbuildable" target="_blank">Bloomberg pointed out</a>.</p><p>"I would expect this to be a turning point for new investment," Katie Bays, co-founder of Washington-based Sandhill Strategy LLC, told Bloomberg. "There is real investor fatigue around this parade of legal and regulatory headwinds to energy projects."</p>
<p>The decision by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to shut down the pipeline marks the first time that a judge has closed an operating pipeline for environmental reasons, Southern Methodist University energy law professor James W. Coleman told Bloomberg.</p><p>"The Court does not reach its decision with blithe disregard for the lives it will affect," Boasberg wrote Monday, as <a href="https://apnews.com/be393de49dae81a2198ef30976212290" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. "Yet, given the seriousness of the Corps' NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) error, the impossibility of a simple fix, the fact that Dakota Access did assume much of its economic risk knowingly, and the potential harm each day the pipeline operates, the Court is forced to conclude that the flow of oil must cease."</p>
<p>In its press release, Earthjustice pointed out that a full environmental review could take several years, and then additional permits would have to be issued, meaning the ultimate permitting decision might be made by another administration.</p><p>But the pipeline's owner Energy Transfer vowed to challenge Boasberg's decision.</p><p>"We believe that the ruling issued this morning from Judge Boasberg is not supported by the law or the facts of the case. Furthermore, we believe that Judge Boasberg has exceeded his authority in ordering the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been safely operating for more than three years," Energy Transfer spokesperson Lisa Coleman said in a statement to <a href="https://pgjonline.com/news/2020/07-july/energy-transfer-vows-to-keep-dakota-access-oil-flowing" target="_blank"><em>Pipeline & Gas Journal</em></a>. "We will be immediately pursuing all available legal and administrative processes and are confident that once the law and full record are fully considered Dakota Access Pipeline will not be shut down and that oil will continue to flow."</p><p>Earthjustice staff attorney Jan Hasselman, who represented the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, noted on Twitter that Energy Transfer had already filed an appeal.</p>
<div id="e2278" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="355c2287182da682e80cc16f070c3738"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280275895228305409" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Well, that didn't take long: DAPL just filed its appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal seeking to overturn th… https://t.co/lav9hmwlIU</div> — Jan Hasselman (@Jan Hasselman)<a href="https://twitter.com/JanHasselman/statuses/1280275895228305409">1594076534.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile pipeline currently carries 570,000 barrels of oil a day from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois, according to The Associated Press. It was the subject of high-profile <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a>-led <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/what-standing-rock-gave-world-2549906333.html" target="_self">protests</a> in 2016 and 2017.</p><p>In <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/army-corps-permit-dakota-access-pipeline-2128363393.html" target="_self">December 2016</a>, the Obama administration and the Army Corps of Engineers denied a key permit for the pipeline, and the Army Corps was set to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement to seek alternative routes. But when he came into office in January, President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dakota-access-pipeline-2211697835.html" target="_self">sped up</a> the pipeline approval process via executive order and the review was never completed. The pipeline began operating in June 2017, according to The Associated Press, but the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe continued to fight it in court.</p><p>Judge Boasberg <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/dakota-access-pipeline-environmental-review-2645577384.html" target="_self">ordered a full review</a> in late March of this year and asked both the Army Corps and the Standing Rock Sioux to submit briefs explaining why the pipeline should or should not continue to operate while the review was taking place. On Monday, he sided with the tribe.</p><p>"I applaud the actions of the US District Court in finding what we knew all along, that this pipeline, like many other actions taken by the US government, is in fact illegally operating," Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier said in a statement reported by Indian Country Today. "The fact that this operation had been operating illegally for three years before this conclusion was finally made shows you the power that money holds on the American government."</p>
<div id="ed115" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5ddb18e2f74bd9e197943aee19fd1cbd"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280288707585720321" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">I have been getting "congratulations" today. Today was about our planet and everything for which she provides life.… https://t.co/m3lwwbikhj</div> — CRSTChairman (@CRSTChairman)<a href="https://twitter.com/CRSTChairman/statuses/1280288707585720321">1594079589.0</a></blockquote></div>
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A customer walks into a Whole Foods in Longmont, Colorado on Dec. 15, 2016. RJ Sangosti / The Denver Post via Getty Images
A brand of bottled water manufactured and sold by grocery-store giant and Amazon subsidiary Whole Foods contains potentially harmful levels of arsenic, according to research conducted by Consumer Reports.
<p>Consumer Reports, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, said that tests of Starkey Spring Water label showed arsenic levels ranging from 9.49 to 9.56 parts per billion, which was three times higher than any other brand in their testing. Out of the 45 brands that Consumer Reports tested, only Starkey water registered an arsenic level above three parts per billion.</p><p>While the legal limit for arsenic in bottled water is 10 parts per billion, Consumer Reports wrote that its experts believe that the level present in Starkey Spring Water does not adequately protect public health.</p>
<p>Drinking a single bottle of Starkey probably will not harm you, said Dr. James Dickerson, CR's chief scientific officer. "But regular consumption of even small amounts of the heavy metal over extended periods increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and lower IQ scores in children, and poses other health issues as well," he said, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/24/whole-foods-bottled-water-arsenic-found" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>In an emailed statement, Whole Foods said the company's "highest priority is to provide customers with safe, high-quality and refreshing spring water," according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/whole-foods-bottled-water-arsenic/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>"Beyond the required annual testing by [a U.S. Food and Drug Administration] certified lab, we have an accredited third-party lab test every production run of water before it is sold," the statement said. "These products meet all FDA requirements and are fully compliant with FDA standards for heavy metals."</p><p>The new findings come as part of a joint investigation between Consumer Reports and The Guardian that covers how clean, fresh water is both inaccessible and unaffordable for many Americans as bills pile up during the coronavirus pandemic. The report also covers how the bottled water that Americans are consuming is often not safer or healthier than tap water, according to <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/bottled-water/whole-foods-starkey-spring-water-sold-on-amazon-contains-high-levels-of-arsenic/" target="_blank">Consumer Reports</a>.</p>
<p>"I think the average consumer would be stunned to learn that they're paying a lot of extra money for bottled water, thinking that it's significantly safer than tap, and unknowingly getting potentially dangerous levels of arsenic," said Erik Olson, senior strategic director of health and food at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy organization that has <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/resources/bottled-water-pure-drink-or-pure-hype" target="_blank">researched bottled water quality</a>, according to <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/bottled-water/whole-foods-starkey-spring-water-sold-on-amazon-contains-high-levels-of-arsenic/" target="_blank">Consumer Reports</a>.</p><p>Since Whole Foods introduced Starkey Spring Water in 2015, the brand has faced several problems. Whole Foods had to recall more than 2,000 cases of water after tests showed arsenic levels that approached or exceeded the federal limit of 10 parts per billion in late 2016 and early 2017, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/whole-foods-bottled-water-arsenic/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>The Food and Drug Administration, which enforces federal bottled water regulations, issued a statement after the report that said arsenic is a "naturally occurring element" that cannot be removed entirely from the environment or food supply, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/whole-foods-bottled-water-arsenic/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>"Based on the CR test results for arsenic, the three Starkey Spring Water products are in compliance with FDA's allowable level for arsenic under the quality standard regulations for bottled water," the statement said. "The FDA is committed to limiting consumer exposure to arsenic to the greatest extent feasible and we will announce updates to our guidances when available."</p>
<p>It's important to note that the FDA's guidance is only for bottled water adherence to federal guidelines. Some states, like New Jersey and New Hampshire, have seen the threat arsenic poses to child development and have lowered their legal limit to 5 parts per billion. However, that regulation only applies to tap water.</p><p>In other words, Starkey Spring Water is legal in a store, but illegal if it came out of the tap in certain states, according to <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/bottled-water/whole-foods-starkey-spring-water-sold-on-amazon-contains-high-levels-of-arsenic/" target="_blank">Consumer Reports</a>.</p>
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The Kobuk River in Alaska on Aug. 30, 2011. 16Terezka / CC BY-SA 3.0
Around 15,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled in a Native Alaskan village Saturday, threatening a nearby river and the local drinking water supply.
<p>The spill occurred during a routine fuel delivery to the Northwest Arctic village of Shungnak. The fuel spilled around 12:30 p.m. June 20, but was not discovered by the villagers until 1:06 p.m. They reported it to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) immediately thereafter, <a href="http://www.thearcticsounder.com/article/2026thousands_of_gallons_of_heating_oil_spill_in" target="_blank">The Arctic Sounder reported</a>.</p><p>"A response crew from Shungnak responded to the spill immediately, removing the spilled heating oil using sorbent material and also by pumping it into containers," ADEC said in a situation report.</p>
<p>There have been no injuries reported and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spill</a> has not harmed any wildlife so far. However, there are concerns that it could spread to sensitive areas.</p><p>"The extent of contamination has been reported by the incident commander to be approximately 160 feet from the Kobuk River and approximately 295 feet from the Shungnak drinking water source," ADEC said.</p><p>The spill occurred when fuel intended for the Shungnak Native Store was delivered to the school instead, <a href="https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/15000-gallon-oil-spill-reported-near-Kobuk-River-571436521.html" target="_blank">KTUU reported</a>. This caused fuel tank #1 to overflow. The fuel was being transferred from a barge on the Kobuk River. All transfers have now been stopped.</p>
<p>The cleanup efforts have been impacted by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic, <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/23/15000-gallon-heating-oil-spill-reported-in-kobuk-river-village-of-shungnak/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Radio reported</a>. Because of travel restrictions, officials from ADEC and the Environmental Protection Agency cannot travel to the spill site. Instead, both agencies are in contact with local responders.</p><p>"ADEC will continue to monitor the response actions and review plans being developed to clean up contaminated soils from the area and prevent heating oil migration to nearby resources," ADEC said, according to The Arctic Sounder.</p><p>The Kobuk River flows for 380 miles from the Endicott Mountains to Kotzebue Sound, according to the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gaar/kobukriver.htm" target="_blank">National Park Service</a>. It is one of the only two spawning grounds for the Kobuk/Selawik population of sheefish and also an important habitat for grayling, arctic char, whitefish, chum salmon and lake trout. It is also a subsistence fishing site for Native Alaskan communities and the wintering grounds for the Western Arctic caribou herd.</p>
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A small boy drinks from a public drinking fountain in the historic Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Robert Alexander / Getty Images
By Eoin Higgins
President Donald Trump's EPA on Thursday finalized a rule to roll back regulations of a chemical found in rocket fuel that can cause brain damage in infants.
<p>"Today's decision is illegal, unscientific, and unconscionable," Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) senior strategic director for Health Erik D. Olson <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/200618-0" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement. </p>
<p>The decision to deregulate perchlorate in public drinking water was a long time coming and the source of heavy pushback from environmental groups and Democrats. Regulation of the chemical was a carryover from former President Barack Obama's administration.</p>
<div id="f59f4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1b9b2e96a5ac76ace862531819898cf8"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1273692432237019136" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump administration finalizes a decision not to impose any limits on perchlorate, a toxic chemical found in rocket… https://t.co/cOgYbpyrW1</div> — Hiroko Tabuchi (@Hiroko Tabuchi)<a href="https://twitter.com/HirokoTabuchi/statuses/1273692432237019136">1592506914.0</a></blockquote></div><p>EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler made the announcement Thursday, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/epa-wont-regulate-rocket-fuel-additive-perchlorate-11592470801" target="_blank">saying</a> the move "fulfills President Trump's promise to pare back burdensome 'one-size-fits-all' overregulation for the American people."</p><p>But, as the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/66438a1121f70d85f324a0e3770a0078" target="_blank" style="">noted</a>, the chemical's danger should not be underestimated to the 16 million Americans under threat of having the contaminant in their drinking water.</p><p>According to AP:</p><blockquote>Perchlorate can damage the development of fetuses and children and cause measurable drops in IQ in newborns, the American Academy of Pediatrics said last August in urging the "strongest possible" federal limits. Studies cited by the doctors' group included one showing that 9 out of 13 breastfeeding infants were ingesting significant levels of the chemical.<br></blockquote><p>The decision came one day before the deadline for the EPA to issue a regulation on the chemical as <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/no-nationwide-drinking-water-standards-for-perchlorate-epa-says" target="_blank">instructed</a> in a 2016 consent decree with the NRDC. Olson expressed frustration with Wheeler's move to deregulate rather than increase controls on perchlorate.</p>
<p>"The Environmental Protection Agency is threatening the health of pregnant moms and young children with toxic chemicals in their drinking water at levels that literally can cause loss of IQ points," said Olson. "Is this what the Environmental Protection Agency has come to?"</p><p>The NRDC plans to challenge the order in court, claiming the consent decree did not allow for deregulating the chemical. </p>
<div id="f95b6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="00ec82f80518f1a4824585b655ce8b51"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1273702483416604672" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@EPA's decision to not set drinking water standards for perchlorate will land the agency in court, @NRDC warns the… https://t.co/B1vbHnF6np</div> — Amena H. Saiyid آمنہ سیّد (@Amena H. Saiyid آمنہ سیّد)<a href="https://twitter.com/amenasaiyid/statuses/1273702483416604672">1592509310.0</a></blockquote></div><p>In a statement Thursday, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, <a href="https://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?id=B5CA8F16-15D1-4724-AF89-D73D10CA3181" target="_blank">said</a> he agreed with the NRDC. </p><p>"EPA has abdicated its responsibility to set federal drinking water standards for a chemical long known to be unsafe, instead leaving it up to states to decide whether or not to protect people from it," said Carper. </p><p>"Even though EPA previously determined that this dangerous chemical needed to be regulated, the agency has now decided to ignore science that it finds inconvenient and reverse its earlier finding," Carper continued. "This is an all too common and disturbing pattern of action for this EPA."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/18/illegal-unscientific-and-unconscionable-despite-risk-brain-damage-infants-trump-epa" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The Sumas Pump Station on June 13, 2020, prior to clean-up. Transmountain
Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline spilled as many as 190,000 liters (approximately 50,193 gallons) of crude oil in Abbotsford, British Columbia (BC) Saturday, reinforcing concerns about the safety of the pipeline's planned expansion.
<p>Chief Dalton Silver of the Sumas First Nation told <a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/trans-mountain-oil-spill-released-roughly-150-000-litres-of-oil-company-says-1.4983835" target="_blank">CTV News</a> that the spill occurred on his reserve on fields over an aquifer that supplies his nation with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a>. It marks the fourth time in 15 years that the pipeline has spilled on his community's land.</p><p>"We cannot continue to have our land desecrated by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spills</a>," he said in a <a href="https://www.ubcic.bc.ca/stop_tmx_devastating_trans_mountain_pipeline_spill_reinforces_urgency_to_halt_further_expansion" target="_blank">statement</a> issued by the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) Sunday.</p>
<div id="82ac1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ac200d03077ca023966ba862e3cfdef5"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1272235491601989632" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Stop TMX: Devastating Trans Mountain Pipeline Spill Reinforces Urgency to Halt Further Expansion: “Trans Mountain p… https://t.co/ONHM3G30Ub</div> — UBCIC (@UBCIC)<a href="https://twitter.com/UBCIC/statuses/1272235491601989632">1592159552.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The spill occurred early Saturday morning at the pipeline's Sumas Pump Station, Trans Mountain told <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trans-mountain-pipeline-spill-abbotsford-150000-190000-litres-1.5611973" target="_blank">CBC News</a>. The company said no construction work related to the pipeline's expansion was being done at the time of the spill.</p><p>Instead, the spill appeared to have been connected to a fitting on a smaller piece of pipe attached to the main line, the company said in a <a href="https://www.transmountain.com/news/2020/statement-from-trans-mountain" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p>"The cause of the incident is under investigation and that will continue," company spokesperson Ali Hounsell told CTV News. "At this time, it's believed to be a failure of a small-diametre, one-inch piece of pipe."</p><p>The company estimated that between 940 to 1,195 barrels (or 150,000 to 190,000 liters) of oil was released and fully contained.</p>
<div id="3cd98" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="120d2d202c4507d1e916ba246dac3556"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1272267142516191234" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Update from Trans Mountain: Company estimates btwn 940 and 1195 barrels of oil was lost in spill at Sumas Pumping S… https://t.co/MU30LHnAEd</div> — Ben Miljure (@Ben Miljure)<a href="https://twitter.com/CTVNewsBen/statuses/1272267142516191234">1592167099.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"Clean-up is well underway with trucks and crews working around the clock," the company said in a Sunday afternoon statement. "The free-standing oil has been recovered and is being transported to an approved facility for disposal. The site has permanent groundwater monitoring in place and air monitoring continues. Monitoring has not identified any risk to the public or community."</p><p>The pipeline was initially shut off in response to the spill, but restarted around 2 p.m. local time Sunday.</p><p>The company said it was working with local authorities and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a> communities on the clean-up, but Silver told <a href="https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/06/14/trans-mountain-restart-surprises-sumas-chief/" target="_blank">CityNews 1130</a> he had not received timely, accurate updates about the amount spilled or the company's restarting plans.</p><p>"That they're up and running Sunday afternoon, my sister just read that to me off her phone. That was the first I heard of it, so there you go with the openness and transparency," Silver said. "I would really rather hear it from those at the incident command post."</p>
<p>Many Indigenous communities, environmental groups and the BC government oppose the expansion of the pipeline, which would <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-2645043384.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">triple</a> the oil it carries from Alberta's tar sands to the Pacific coast. They are <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-kinder-morgan-2570751996.html" target="_self">concerned</a> about its impact on the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, Indigenous sovereignty, local water supplies and endangered orcas that would be harmed by increased tanker traffic.</p><p>Oil spills have also remained a persistent worry for pipeline opponents.</p><p>"We conducted our own assessment of Trans Mountain using leading science and Tsleil-Waututh's Indigenous law that concluded that oil spills are inevitable, can't be fully cleaned up, and have devastating effects," Chief Leah George-Wilson of Tsleil-Waututh Nation said in the UBCIC statement. "This most recent spill is another reminder that the risk is too great to accept. The Trans Mountain pipeline has already spilled more than 80 times since it began operating. This is why we continue to fight the Trans Mountain Expansion in the courts."</p>
<p>The BC Ministry of Environment told CBC News that Saturday's spill was "deeply concerning."</p><p>"Our government maintains that the TMX project poses unacceptable risks to our environment, our coast and our economy," the ministry in a statement.</p><p>Meanwhile, BC Indigenous communities pledged continuing opposition.</p><p>"The price of oil has plummeted due to decreased demand caused by COVID-19, and yet another pipeline spill is like a nail in the coffin for investors," UBCIC Vice President Chief Don Tom said in a statement. "The ongoing demonstrations across Turtle Island right now show that people are ready to stand up and defend their beliefs including upholding Indigenous Title and Rights. I have no doubt this will extend to the widespread opposition that already exists to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion."</p>
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Since 2017, car manufacturers in Europe and the U.S. switched to a different coolant for air conditioning called HFO-1234yf, which breaks down into forever chemicals. hiphotos35 / iStock / Getty Images Plus
The Montreal Protocol of 1987 committed nations around the world to stop using the chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) that created a hole in the ozone layer. While it stands as one of the most effective environmental commitments the globe has seen, new research shows the side effects have been costly as chemicals dangerous to human health build up in the environment, as the BBC reported.
<p>New research published in the journal <em><a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020GL087535" target="_blank">Geographical Research Letters</a></em> analyzed Arctic ice and found an unintended consequence of the Montreal Protocol. The compounds that replaced CFCs have been transported and transformed in the atmosphere, depositing far from their sources. The new generation of chemicals that replaced Freon, but are used in refrigerators, air conditioners and new cars have been accumulating since 1990.</p><p>"Our results suggest that global regulation and replacement of other environmentally harmful chemicals contributed to the increase of these compounds in the Arctic, illustrating that regulations can have important unanticipated consequences," said Cora Young, a professor at York University in Canada, and an author of the paper, in a York University <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/yu-oca051120.php" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
<p>Scientists first discovered ozone depletion in the 1970s when they detailed the deterioration of the stratospheric ozone layer around the earth's poles. As the hole over Antarctica opened and expanded, scientists found that the depletion of ozone was responsible for <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ozone-layer-protection" target="_blank">a greater intensity of ultraviolet</a> radiation from the sun, causing an increase in the prevalence of skin cancer, eye cataract disease and other harmful effects on humans, as <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/ozone-friendly-chemical-alternatives-polluting-arctic/" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a> reported.</p><p>Scientists were soon able to pinpoint manufactured chemicals used in air conditioners and refrigerators, as well as solvents, propellants and chemical agents found in foam as the cause of the depleted ozone layer.</p><p>Now pollution from the chemicals that were created to replace the CFCs, known as short chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (scPFCAs), has proliferated around the world. The replacement chemicals are a class of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pfas">PFAS</a>, or forever chemicals, that have polluted waterways and made groundwater in certain areas toxic to drink.</p>
<p>"Our measurements provide the first long-term record of these chemicals, which have all increased dramatically over the past few decades," said Young in a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/yu-oca051120.php" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Our work also showed how these industrial sources contribute to the levels in the ice caps."</p><p>The York University statement added that the chemicals are able to "travel long distances in the atmosphere and often end up in lakes, rivers and wetlands causing irreversible contamination and affecting the health of freshwater invertebrates, including insects, crustaceans and worms."</p>
<p>"We're seeing much, much larger levels, on the order of 10 times higher now than we saw before the Montreal Protocol," said Young, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52663694" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported. "We don't know a lot about them and their potential toxicity, but we do know that we are committing the environment to a great deal of contamination."</p><p>As the globe heats up, our desire for air conditioning increases. That has spelled trouble for new cars. When car manufacturers stopped using CFCs in a car's air-conditioner, they switched to a chemical called HFC-134a. While it did not destroy the ozone layer, it turned out to be a powerful greenhouse gas, around 1,400 times more warming than CO2, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52663694" target="_blank">BBC</a>.</p>
<p>Since 2017, car manufacturers in Europe and the U.S. switched to a different coolant for air conditioning called HFO-1234yf, which breaks down into forever chemicals.</p><p>"It has a very low global warming potential, but has a much higher propensity to form these persistent products," said Young to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52663694" target="_blank">BBC</a>. "It will be again another shift, where we see an even more dramatic increase."</p><p>"They've been found in the bodies of people in China, so it is likely to be found in the bodies of people around the world," added Young. "We have done a good job in trying to save the ozone layer but the unintended consequences are the release of these other chemicals, which have some concerns. They're toxic, and then they don't get filtered out in various ways."</p>
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Trump EPA Won’t Regulate Toxic Drinking Water Chemical That Harms Children’s Development
15 May
Politics
In defiance of a court order, the Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will not regulate perchlorate, a toxic chemical used in rocket fuel that contaminates drinking water and harms the development of fetuses and small children.
<p>The move is in keeping with other Trump administration decisions not to impose recommended limits on toxic chemicals, such as its decision <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-pesticide-brain-damage-2639273468.html" target="_self">not to ban</a> child-harming pesticide <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chlorpyrifos" target="_self">chlorpyrifos</a> or <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-asbestos-ban-2636681458.html?rebelltitem=1" target="_self">known-carcinogen asbestos</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/trump-drinking-water-perchlorate.html" target="_blank">The New York Times pointed out</a>.</p><p>"This is all of a piece," University of Maryland law professor Rena Steinzor told The New York Times. "You can draw a line between denial of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/science/" target="_self">science</a> on climate change, denial of science on coronavirus, and denial of science in the drinking water context. It's all the same issue. They're saying 'We don't care what the research says.'"</p>
<p>High concentrations of perchlorate have been found in at least 26 states, usually near military sites because of its use in rocket fuel. It has been shown to hamper the development of fetuses and young children by blocking the thyroid gland's uptake of iodine and therefore interfering with hormone production. The EPA had been ordered by the courts to finalize regulations on the chemical by the end of June. Instead, administrator <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/andrew-wheeler" target="_self">Andrew Wheeler</a> will reverse a 2011 EPA finding that the chemical posed a health risk to between five and 16 million Americans and argue that it is "not in the public interest" to regulate it, two staff members familiar with the issue told The New York Times Thursday.</p><p>"The agency has determined that perchlorate does not occur with a frequency and at levels of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> concern, and that regulation of perchlorate does not present a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems," the draft policy reads, staff members told The New York Times.</p>
<p>Environmental and public health advocates condemned the decision.</p><p>"EPA's cynical decision to defy a court order and the law, and to ignore the science that, as the American Academy of Pediatrics has said, dictates a strong perchlorate standard to protect vulnerable kids, is a deeply disturbing violation of the agency's mission," <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> (NRDC) senior strategic director for health and food Erik Olson <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/erik-d-olson/epa-refuses-protect-children-perchlorate-contaminated-tap-water?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=DrinkWaterPolicy&fbclid=IwAR3NYh52apJk63OrN_zNrvSrrhBs7LSRnzI5eRqAkeCFK4VX-U8dBUzaQio" target="_blank">wrote</a>. "It must be reversed."</p><p>NRDC was behind the lawsuit that led to the court order the EPA is now violating.</p>
<div id="2c7ae" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f8af07123fc507733e36db1ce03cbc03"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1260977337878937602" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: @EPAAWheeler & Trump’s @EPA are choosing NOT to regulate #perchlorate, a dangerous chemical linked to fet… https://t.co/giSKPNIgpJ</div> — NRDC 🌎🏡 (@NRDC 🌎🏡)<a href="https://twitter.com/NRDC/statuses/1260977337878937602">1589475399.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In response, EPA spokeswoman Andrea Woods told The New York Times that a final decision had not been made and that the EPA would "shortly" send the final rule to the Office of Management and Budget.</p><p>"Any information that is shared or reported now would be premature, inappropriate and would be prejudging the formal rulemaking process," she said.</p><p>In a separate statement released after The New York Times story broke, Wheeler said that perchlorate levels had already been successfully reduced because of joint state and EPA efforts.</p><p>"Because of steps that EPA, states and public water systems have taken to identify, monitor and mitigate perchlorate, the levels have decreased in drinking water," Wheeler said, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/497794-epa-wont-regulate-rocket-fuel-chemical-tied-to-developmental-damage" target="_blank">The Hill reported</a>. "This success demonstrates that EPA and states are working together to lead the world in providing safe drinking water to all Americans."</p>
<p>Attempts to regulate perchlorate have been long delayed by opposition from the Department of Defense and the companies that supply it, and the NRDC suit was initially brought against Obama's EPA for dragging its heels on a regulation after determining in 2011 that perchlorate posed a health risk, according to The New York Times.</p><p>But the Trump EPA is going even further by reversing that 2011 decision. NRDC's Olson explained how it is justifying the reversal and why it is such a threat to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/childrens-health" target="_self">children's health</a>:</p><blockquote>To explain why it's revoking its previous finding, EPA now contends its 2008 <a href="https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/P1004X7Q.TXT?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=2006+Thru+2010&Docs=&Query=&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5Czyfiles%5CIndex%20Data%5C06thru10%5CTxt%5C00000010%5CP1004X7Q.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1&SeekPage=x&ZyPURL" target="_blank">health advisory</a> for perchlorate in drinking water—set at 15 parts per billion or ppb—is far more protective of health than needed. That 15 ppb health advisory was based on a 2005 <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/11202/health-implications-of-perchlorate-ingestion" target="_blank">National Academy of Sciences study</a>. Instead, Wheeler now finds a level of 56 ppb would be safe, and perhaps even 90 ppb would be fine. EPA admits that a standard of 56 ppb would allow those kids exposed to perchlorate in drinking water at above this level to have an <em>average</em> IQ loss of two points. People at the lower end of the IQ spectrum could lose far more IQ points. In concluding 56 ppb is safe, the agency would allow an unprecedented level of adverse impact on children's brain development.</blockquote>
<p>Other environmental groups have also spoken out against a 56 ppb standard.</p><p>"The science on perchlorate is very clear: It harms infants and the developing fetus," Olga Naidenko, senior science adviser for children's environmental health at the <a href="https://www.ewg.org/" target="_blank">Environmental Working Group</a>, said when such a standard was first floated in May of 2019, as The Hill reported. "Perchlorate can cause irreparable damage to both cognitive and physical development. Instead of taking action to lower the levels of this rocket fuel chemical in drinking water, the administration's plan will endanger the health of future generations of kids."</p>
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Examples (from left) of a lead pipe, a corroded steel pipe and a lead pipe treated with protective orthophosphate. U.S. EPA Region 5
Under an agreement negotiated by community groups — represented by NRDC and the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project — the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) will remove thousands of lead water pipes by 2026 in order to address the chronically high lead levels in the city's drinking water and protect residents' health.
<p>"During this global pandemic more than ever, it's critical that PWSA provide safe drinking water to all city residents, that residents in Pittsburgh continue to have significant say over how ratepayer dollars are spent, and that we do everything we can to take care of the most vulnerable people in our communities," said Jennifer Rafanan Kennedy, executive director of <a href="https://pittsburghunited.org/" target="_blank">Pittsburgh United</a>, a coalition of labor, faith and environmental groups that helped negotiate the settlement.</p><p>Under the settlement, which was recently approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, PWSA must prioritize replacement for residents in high-risk neighborhoods. It must also limit the practice of replacing only part of a lead service line, which can <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/cyndi-roper/hidden-costs-dangers-partial-lead-pipe-replacements" target="_blank">cause lead levels to substantially increase</a>.</p>
<p>PWSA will also expand its free tap water filter program to include low-income renters whose homes may have lead lines, homes with lead lines where PWSA replaces a water meter, and any customer whose tap water contains at least 10 parts per billion of lead.</p><p>"The aggressive steps to get the lead out of Pittsburgh outlined in the settlement are necessary to protect the health of children and families," said<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/pete-demarco" target="_blank"> NRDC attorney Pete DeMarco</a>. "The burdens of lead-contaminated water fall most heavily on low-income families and communities of color, which is why it is so important to prioritize lead service line replacements in those neighborhoods where residents are at greatest risk."</p>
<p>Pittsburgh's drinking water has been contaminated with lead since at least 2016, with levels above the federal action limit in five out of the last eight testing periods. <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/how-protect-yourself-lead-contaminated-water" target="_blank">There is no safe level of lead exposure</a>: The heavy metal can cause serious and irreversible damage to the body, affecting the nervous system, fertility and cognitive ability, among other functions, and posing a particularly high risk for children.</p><p>Pittsburgh is just the latest in a growing list of cities facing drinking water crises, such as <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/flint-water-crisis-everything-you-need-know" target="_blank">Flint</a>, Michigan, and <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/newark-drinking-water-crisis" target="_blank">Newark</a>, New Jersey. In 2016, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/whats-in-your-water-flint-beyond-report.pdf" target="_blank">NRDC analysis</a> indicated that more than 18 million people were being served by 5,363 community water systems that violated the Lead and Copper Rule. But Pittsburgh United said that the settlement could now provide a model for other cities with lead-contaminated drinking water. "Safe water is a right, not a luxury," Kennedy says. "Although work remains to be done to ensure all customers have access to safe and affordable service, this settlement puts PWSA on a path to replacing all residential lead service lines."</p><p>Pittsburgh residents who would like to know whether their home is serviced by a lead water line that is slated to be replaced or whether they are eligible for a free filter can contact PWSA's lead help desk at 412-255-8987 or <a href="mailto:leadhelp@pgh2o.com" target="_blank">leadhelp@pgh2o.com</a>.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/nrdc/pittsburgh-agrees-replace-thousands-lead-pipes-clean-its-drinking-water" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>.</em></p>
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A bushfire burns outside the Perth Cricket Stadium in Perth, Australia on Dec. 13, 2019. PETER PARKS / AFP via Getty Images
By Albert Van Dijk, Luigi Renzullo, Marta Yebra and Shoshana Rapley
2019 was the year Australians confronted the fact that a healthy environment is more than just a pretty waterfall in a national park; a nice extra we can do without. We do not survive without air to breathe, water to drink, soil to grow food and weather we can cope with.
<p>Every year, we collate a vast number of measurements on the state of our environment: weather, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">oceans</a>, fire, water, soils, vegetation, population pressure and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity">biodiversity</a>. The data is collected in many different ways: by satellites, field stations, surveys and so on.</p><p>We process this data into several indicators of environmental health at both national and regional levels.</p><p>The <a href="http://wenfo.org/ausenv/#/2018/Exposed_soil/Grid/Actual/States_and%20Territories/bar,options/-28.96/135.00/4/none/Roadmap/Opaque" target="_blank">report for 2019</a>, released Sunday, makes for grim reading. It reveals the worst environmental conditions in many decades, perhaps centuries, and confirms the devastating damage <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">global warming</a> and mismanagement are wreaking on our natural resources.</p><p>Immediate action is needed to put Australia's environment on a course to recovery.</p>
<h2>Environment Scores in the Red</h2><p>From the long list of environmental indicators we report on, we use seven to calculate an Environmental Condition Score (ECS) for each region, as well as nationally.</p><p>These seven indicators – high temperatures, river flows, wetlands, soil health, vegetation condition, growth conditions and tree cover – are chosen because they allow a comparison against previous years. In Australia's dry environment, they tend to move up and down together, which gives the score more robustness. See the <a href="http://wenfo.org/ausenv/#/2019/Environmental_Condition%20Score/Region/Actual/Local_Government%20Areas/bar,options/-28.96/135.00/4/none/Roadmap/Opaque" target="_blank">interactive graphic</a> below to find the score for your region.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkwMzk5MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzQwNzk1M30.IkyDdLm1_Fpnn50Ok-QL_vLrxX0EzZBRD3cqVJ5Cq-s/img.png?width=980" id="5c996" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c24126057fbfa67587df61475150932e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Environmental condition scores by local government area, and values for each of the seven indicators. See more data on www.ausenv.online.
<p>Nationally, Australia's environmental condition score fell by 2.3 points in 2019, to a very low 0.8 out of ten. This is the lowest score since at least 2000 – the start of the period for which we have detailed data.</p><p>Condition scores declined in every state and territory. The worst conditions were seen in the Northern Territory (0.2 points), New South Wales (0.3 points) and Western Australia (0.4 points), with the latter also recording the greatest decline from the previous year (-5.7 points).</p><p>What is most striking is that almost the entire nation suffered terrible environmental conditions in 2019. In each case, the changes can be traced back to dry, hot conditions. Only parts of Queensland escaped the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought">drought</a>.</p><p>Comparing local government areas, the worst conditions occurred in Armidale and Gwydir in northern NSW. In contrast, Winton and Townsville in Queensland escaped the overall poor conditions, thanks to the beneficial impact of high rainfall early in the year – although those same events also caused <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding">floods</a> killing around 600,000 livestock.</p>
<h2>Extreme Drought and Extreme Heat</h2><p>So what exactly happened in Australia in 2019 to cause such widespread environmental damage? There were several causes.</p><p>Across most of Australia, the environment was already reeling <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-2018-environmental-scorecard-a-dreadful-year-that-demands-action-114760" target="_blank">from poor conditions in 2018</a>. Also, cool temperatures in the Indian Ocean delayed the onset of the monsoon in northern Australia and reduced the flow of moisture to the rest of the continent, creating hot and dry conditions. Average rainfall was a mere 229 mm across the continent, the lowest in more than 119 years and probably longer than that.</p><p>The heat was also extraordinary. The average number of days above 35°C across the country was 36% more than the average for the 19 years prior.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkwMzc0NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzk5NDA0N30.qLZg3ddY7bSTd8MDSlbS2nllM69vAICE8VrWlta-xyQ/img.png?width=980" id="9f461" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cd196a1c269da7d42d028b580cb8ff47" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Values for 15 environmental indicators in 2015, expressed as the change from average 2000-2018 conditions. Similar to national economic indicators, they provide a summary but also hide regional variations, complex interactions and long-term context. ANU Centre for Water and Landscape Dynamics
<p>In eastern Australia, arid and hot conditions pushed farmers and ecosystems deeper into drought. In many regions, dryness and declining protection from wind erosion created the worst soil conditions in at least 20 years. Consequences included several dust storms and widespread dieback of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests">forests</a>, especially in NSW.</p><p>The severe drought also affected inland water systems, especially the Darling River and its tributaries. Town water supply reservoirs ran out of water, the rivers stopped flowing, and the heat turned the remaining pools into death traps for fish.</p><p>Other rivers in northwest Australia, southeast Queensland and northeast NSW also saw their worst flows in 20 years.</p>
<h3>Unprecedented Fires</h3><p>Of course, 2019 will be remembered as the year of unprecedented <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires">bushfires</a>. Nationally, the total area burnt was not unusual, not even when the fires of early 2020 are included. But this is only because fire activity was much below average in northern Australia, where ongoing dry conditions left little vegetation to burn.</p><p>The extent of forest fires last year was unprecedented, however. As <a href="https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/hazardnotes/63" target="_blank">predicted well in advance</a>, the tinder-dry forests in eastern Australia provided the fuel for a dramatic fire season that started in September. Between then and the first month of 2020, vast areas of forest in New South Wales, eastern Victoria, Kangaroo Island and the Australian Capital Territory went up in flames.</p><p>The fires destroyed more than 3,000 homes and directly killed 33 people. Indirectly, the most hazardous air quality in living memory created major but poorly known health impacts. The fires also damaged the reliability of <a href="https://theconversation.com/bushfires-threaten-drinking-water-safety-the-consequences-could-last-for-decades-129353" target="_blank">drinking water supplies</a>.</p><p>The ecological damage was also profound. Fires raged through ecosystems poorly adapted to fire, from rainforests in tropical Queensland to alpine vegetation in Tasmania and the Snowy Mountains of NSW. It remains to be seen whether they can recover. Across NSW, 35% of rainforests were turned to cinders.</p><p>About <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/bushfire-recovery/research-and-resources" target="_blank">191 species</a> of animals and plants saw more than one-third of their living area burnt, among them 52 species that were already threatened. Thankfully, the last remaining stands of the prehistoric Wollemi pine and the rare Nightcap Oak were saved.</p><p>Even before the fires, 40 plant and animal species were added to the threatened list in 2019, bringing the total to 1890. Following the fires, more species are likely to be added in 2020.</p>
<h3>We're Not Doomed Yet</h3><p>Last year was neither an outlier nor the "new normal" – it will get worse.</p><p>Greenhouse gas concentrations continued to increase rapidly in 2019, causing the temperature of the atmosphere and oceans to soar. Australia's population also continued to grow quickly and with it, greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution, and our demand for land to build, mine and farm on.</p><p>Whether we want to hear it or not, last year represented another step towards an ever-more dismal future, unless we take serious action.</p><p>The current coronavirus pandemic shows that as individuals, and collectively, we can take dramatic action once we acknowledge the urgency of a threat. By comparison, addressing environmental decline will cost less, whereas the long-term costs of not acting will be far greater.</p><p>There is much we can do. In the short term, we can help our natural ecosystems recover from the drought and fires. Government agencies and land owners can cull and manage invasive species in fire-affected areas – from weeds, to foxes, cats and feral horses – and stop damaging logging in fire-affected areas.</p><p>Individuals can do their bit. We can donate money or time to <a href="https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/news/2020/01/esa-bushfire-response" target="_blank">organizations committed to helping ecosystems recover</a>. <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/environment-recovery-project-australian-bushfires-2019-2020" target="_blank">Record what you see on bushwalks</a> to help environmental managers monitor and assist ecological recovery.</p><p>But the damage of climate change is not limited to natural environments. We must get serious about curbing greenhouse emissions. Humanity has the tools, technology and ingenuity to do it and Australia, one of the countries worst affected by climate change, should lead the world.</p><p>Beyond that, individuals can also make a contribution: recycle and reuse rather than buy new, choose low-emission and renewable energy technology and reduce waste – it can save money even now. Let governments and politicians hear your voice. Try to convince friends and family that things need to change.</p><p>In the long term, we must find a more balanced relationship with the natural world, understanding that our own survival will depend on it.</p><p><em>The full report and webinar are available <a href="http://www.ausenv.online/" target="_blank">here</a>.</em></p>
<p>
<em>Albert Van Dijk is a professor of water and landscape dynamics at the Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University.</em></p><p><em>Luigi Renzullo is a senior research fellow at Australian National University.<br/></em></p><p><em>Marta Yebra is a senior lecturer at Australian National University.<br/></em></p><p><em>Shoshana Rapley is a research assistant at Australian National University.</em></p><p>
<em>Disclosure statements: The Australia's Environment report is fully self-funded by ANU. Albert Van Dijk receives or has previously received funding from several government-funded agencies, grant schemes and programs.
</em></p><p><em>Luigi Renzullo receives receives or has previously received funding from several government-funded agencies, grant schemes and programs.
</em></p><p><em>Marta Yebra receives or has previously received funding from several government-funded agencies, grant schemes and programs.
</em></p><p><em>
Shoshana Rapley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-major-scorecard-gives-the-health-of-australias-environment-less-than-1-out-of-10-133444" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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A girl makes a water run with empty buckets on May 17, 2017 in New Delhi, India. Shams Qari / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Ever more of the world's population is living with water insecurity and is unable to consistently access safe, clean drinking water.
<p><br/></p>
<p>A number of factors, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a> and poor water management, are worsening water scarcity, which coupled with other social problems like rising inequality and ethnic tensions, are threatening conflict between states and within states.</p><p>Charles Iceland, director of global and national water initiatives at the <a href="https://www.waterpeacesecurity.org/map" target="_blank">World Resources Institute</a>, spoke to DW about disputes over the essential resource and how it can be avoided, as well as the new <a href="https://www.waterpeacesecurity.org/map" target="_blank">Water, Peace and Security (WPS)</a> tool that forecasts where water disputes are likely over the next 12 months, and how they might be avoided.<br></p>
<p><em>DW: What is a water conflict and what does it look like?</em></p><p>Charles Iceland: In many places throughout the world, there's just more and more demand for water with respect to what's available. Sometimes the conflicts are nonviolent — like in Australia or California where people go through the legal system or they work their issues out without violence. But in a lot of places, the problem is grave enough and the ability to resolve the problem is not well developed. So you can see the wrestling over these scarce resources develop in violent ways.</p>
<p><em>Where would you say are the regions and countries in which water, water scarcity, water quality are playing a role in conflict?</em></p><p>Populations are growing very quickly in sub-Saharan Africa — going up fourfold between 1960 and today. Resources have either stayed the same or you have a reduction in resources, because of climate change or because desertification is reducing arable land. So you have a lot of violent conflicts between these smallholder farmers and pastoralists wrestling over scarce land and water resources. We've seen over the past couple of years pastoralists massacring farming communities and retribution by farming communities.</p><p>We're also seeing a lot of violent conflict play out in the Middle East. So, for example, in Iraq, a lot of the demonstrations that led to the prime minister's resignation a few months ago. But part of the grievances entailed lack of services, which included lack of access to clean water and lack of access to electricity. They're getting sick. About a year and a half ago, 120,000 people in Basra had to be hospitalized because they were drinking contaminated water.</p><p>And it's [water scarcity] is also a problem in places like Iran, Afghanistan and India. So those are some of the hotspots.</p>
<p><em>So it could be an interstate conflict, but it could be intrastate as well between various stakeholders in society?</em></p><p>When you have violent conflict, it usually plays out at a subnational level. While you have international conflicts over water, those are rarely resolved through violence. So, for example, we have India and Pakistan wrestling over water in the Indus. We have Iraq and Turkey wrestling over water in the Tigris and Euphrates. We have Egypt and Ethiopia wrestling over water and in the Blue Nile Basin. The parties try as much as they can to resolve the issues in a nonviolent way through diplomacy.</p>
<p><em>Will we see a future of water wars and water as the new oil?</em></p><p>Both, like a lot of metaphors, are not really accurate. Wars are rarely fought over water as a single issue. Rather, we see the problem as a threat multiplier. So it's one issue in the background. If you have other issues leading to instability, maybe problems between ethnic groups or anything could trigger violence, the background of having water scarcity, has destabilized the society and made it less able to resolve problems amicably.</p>
<p><em>How much of a role does climate change play in water scarcity or water quality?</em></p><p>We have trouble attributing any particular <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought">drought</a> or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding">flood</a> to climate change, but we are seeing very dramatic increases in the incidence and severity of drought in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. So we're having a general decline in rainfall in some of these areas. In some of these areas the amount of rainfall stays the same but you have very large intermittent drought and flood periods. That's what's been predicted by climate change experts.</p>
<p><em>What other factors can lead to water scarcity?</em></p><p>The management of water resources is a critical factor. So people, in theory might have enough water in some places, but they're mismanaging it. They're losing water. They are polluting the water. And then there are upstream, downstream issues. There are many instances where the upstream users are accessing water, but downstream users suffer because they're getting less water.</p>
<p><em>What exactly is the Water Peace and Security tool?</em></p><p>We're a consortium of nine organizations in the U.S. and Europe that are working together to both try to identify hotspots of water insecurity and then try to help local people and the global community do something about this to either avoid conflict or minimize the impacts of conflict. So we've developed a machine learning-based model that tries to predict where conflict might break out in the next 12 months. We're using a number of factors — political, economic, social, demographic — that might point at imminent conflict. And to that group of indicators, we add water and food insecurity indicators. We try to identify these hotspots, whether they are water-related conflicts and what are the drivers of the conflict.</p>
<p><em>How can you resolve a water conflict?</em></p><p>There are lots of examples on the subnational and international levels where either global or national entities have brought competing [water] users together.</p><p>A very good example of this was in 1960 — the World Bank brought the governments of India and Pakistan together to develop a treaty that divided up the water in the Indus River Basin. That treaty has come under pressure recently but it's still been able to keep India and Pakistan from having problems boil over — at least to date.</p><p><em>Jennifer Collins conducted the interview, which has been shortened and edited for clarity.</em></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/tackling-the-growing-threat-of-water-conflict/a-52696755?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Oil and chemical refinery plants cover the landscape next to African American communities along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images
By Derrick Z. Jackson
The Trump administration is trying mightily to gut the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the law that mandates rigorous, science-based environmental impact reviews for major infrastructure and construction projects prior to federal permitting. NEPA also reserves significant time for the public to weigh in on the impact of projects to their communities.
The loss of public input in the administration's proposed changes to NEPA has environmental justice leaders up in arms. For them, the silencing amounts to regulatory racism.
<p>At a Feb. 25 public hearing on the proposal in Washington, DC, Hilton Kelley, a 2011 Goldman Environmental Prize <a href="https://www.goldmanprize.org/blog/environmental-racism-in-america-spotlight-on-the-gulf-coast/" target="_blank">winner</a> for his work in reducing emissions from petrochemical facilities and incinerators in Port Arthur, Texas, told the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) that, with at least six explosions and plant accidents in his city over the last year, the events had become so common that children play basketball right through the noise and plumes.</p><p>"When you're talking about weakening NEPA and expediting a process, this is what happens," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/25/us/politics/bc-us-trump-environmental-rollbacks.html" target="_blank">Kelley said,</a> as reported by The Associated Press. "Don't lessen the regulation. Don't silence our voices."</p><p>That is precisely what the Trump administration is trying to do in <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/kathleen-rest/how-the-trump-administration-plans-to-gut-our-nations-bedrock-environmental-law" target="_blank">rewriting</a> the implementation guidelines for this bipartisan act signed by President Nixon and designed to allow the public input needed to <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/nepapub/nepa_documents/RedDont/Req-NEPA.pdf" target="_blank">ensure</a> that "man and nature can exist in productive harmony."</p><p>Cheered on by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the <a href="https://www.unlockamericaninvestment.com/about/" target="_blank">nation's leading</a> fossil fuel, chemical, construction, manufacturing, airline, trucking and farming interests, the Trump administration is trying to cut the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200110FINAL-FACT-SHEET-v3.pdf" target="_blank">average</a> time for environmental reviews by more than half.</p><p>The Trump NEPA rewrite would <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2020/01/16/479454/5-ways-trumps-latest-anti-environmental-proposal-allow-fossil-fuel-companies-bulldoze-communities/" target="_blank">undermine</a> the act by allowing companies and contractors to write up their own environmental reviews. It would free builders of chemical and petrochemical factories, oil and gas pipelines, highways, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/climate/trump-nepa-climate-change.html" target="_blank">port terminals</a> and other infrastructure from accounting for the cumulative effects over time of pollution, <a href="https://ceq.doe.gov/docs/ceq-publications/ccenepa/sec1.pdf" target="_blank">land and wetland loss and erosion</a>.</p><p>Plant owners seeking federal approval would no longer need to fret about indirect effects of downstream and downwind <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_blank">pollution</a>, nor about a facility's contribution to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/climate/trump-nepa-climate-change.html" target="_blank">climate change</a>.</p>
<h3>More Harm to Communities Already Under Siege</h3><p>For communities long polluted by industry, which are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/11/702348935/study-finds-racial-gap-between-who-causes-air-pollution-and-who-breathes-it" target="_blank">disproportionately poor and of color</a>, the Trump administration's changes promise particular devastation. Such communities already suffer higher rates of illnesses from asthma to cancer, life-altering effects such as low birth weight and cognitive child development, and daily insults to quality of life in diesel exhaust, soot penetrating into homes and contaminated yards and playgrounds.</p><p>If the administration has its way, NEPA implementation guidelines would be rewritten so that even in neighborhoods already densely packed with toxic industries, a proposed facility need only assess its own pollutants, not how much they combine and compound those of nearby facilities to worsen the overall quality of air, water and land.</p><p>To make sure residents cannot complain about such compounded damage, the Trump administration is trying to severely limit the opportunity for mothers, fathers, seniors, teens and community leaders to speak directly to the government.</p><p>The rollout of the proposed changes is a case in point. Despite the sweeping environmental risks Americans currently face, with <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/derrick-jackson/let-the-children-breathe-particulate-matter-how-the-trump-administrations-polluted-policies-are-hurting-children" target="_blank">air pollution</a> that kills <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/116/18/8775.full.pdf" target="_blank">100,000 people per year</a> and 77 million Americans drinking tap water in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/04/us/tapwater-drinking-water-study.html" target="_blank">violation </a>of health regulations, the White House Council on Environmental Quality allowed only two hearings on the proposed changes to NEPA before the close of public comment period March 10, in Washington, DC, and in Denver. By way of comparison, The Washington Post reported that major issues involving NEPA usually get around nine hearings.</p><p>One community leader who did get into the Washington hearing called out the cynicism of the Trump administration for its scant public scheduling. Belinda Joyner of Northampton County, North Carolina, who has <a href="https://energynews.us/2017/12/01/southeast/critics-highlight-atlantic-coast-pipelines-environmental-justice-impact/" target="_blank">spoken out</a> against dumping in her lower-income African American community by a wood pellet facility, <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article237592194.html" target="_blank">industrial-scale hog farms</a> and a part of the proposed Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/25/us/politics/bc-us-trump-environmental-rollbacks.html" target="_blank">told the CEQ panel</a>, "You act like you're listening, and I'm not going to say you're not. But we see the results of these hearings."</p><p>In Denver, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples" target="_blank">indigenous Americans</a> spoke out strongly against the destruction of NEPA. Seventeen-year-old Navajo Najhozhoni Rain Ben drove seven and a half hours <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/02/11/nepa-review-denver-hearing/" target="_blank">to say</a> to the CEQ panel, "We shouldn't be talking about this. We should be implementing plans for the future. This is not for the future. This is for profit." Musician and spoken word artist Lyla June Johnston, also Navajo, drove six hours from Santa Fe to <a href="https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2020/02/11/nepa-hearing-denver/" target="_blank">tell</a> the panel that the proposed changes were "a slap in the face to our democracy — a slap in the face to the integrity of our mother earth."</p>
<h3>The Modern Need for NEPA</h3><p>NEPA originally was conceived amid growing public awareness and outrage in the 1960s over river and lake pollution, pesticide poisoning of birds, highway proposals that would blast communities apart, and tanker oil spills that fouled beaches and wiped out wildlife. There is no less need for it today as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_blank">climate change</a> is already slapping America and the world in the face with more devastating storms, chronic coastal flooding, deadly heat waves, western and Alaskan <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_blank">wildfires</a> and acceleration of species extinction.</p><p>There is arguably even more of an immediate need for NEPA in communities that were dumping grounds long before the concept of climate change, even before the signing of the act itself. It has been <a href="https://www.naacp.org/climate-justice-resources/fumes-across-fence-line/" target="_blank">proven beyond coincidence</a> that — similar to the tobacco industry marketing to vulnerable populations — toxic industries and builders of massive infrastructure projects <a href="https://comingcleaninc.org/assets/media/images/Reports/Who%27s%20in%20Danger%20Report%20FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">target locales</a> where they assume residents will offer the least political resistance.</p><p>That significantly explains the shameless shoehorning of petrochemical plants into Louisiana's <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/st-james-louisiana-plastic-petrochemicals-buy-out/" target="_blank">Cancer Alley</a> in predominantly African American areas. That explains the routing of the Keystone XL pipeline and the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/national-environmental-policy-act-nepa/" target="_blank">Dakota Access Pipeline</a> through lands and over waters indigenous Americans consider sacred, and the Atlantic Bridge pipeline protested by Joyner. It explains the <a href="https://prospect.org/greennewdeal/toxic-injustices-little-village-chicago/" target="_blank">concentration</a> of industry in heavily Latino and African American Southeast Chicago, which is dealing with an <a href="https://prospect.org/power/epa-rollbacks-hurting-americans-live/" target="_blank">endless siege</a> of dust and neurotoxic contamination from coal ash, lead, and manganese dust.</p><p>That explains the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/feb/21/roads-nowhere-infrastructure-american-inequality" target="_blank">ramrodding</a> of roads through redlined communities and why people of color drove or flew hundreds and thousands of miles for the only two hearings offered by this administration. They said the NEPA, especially in a White House that is also <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/images/2018/06/Catalyst-Spring-2018.pdf" target="_blank">hollowing out</a> the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is one of the last tools standing between them and a wholesale hostile invasion by industry.</p>
Hope in the Courts
<p>There is a glimmer of hope that the U.S. courts will determine that President Trump and his industrial partners are reaching <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1062092145" target="_blank">too far</a> in the rewrite of NEPA, as it relates to environmental racism. Take the Atlantic Bridge Pipeline, which is in the public eye for its upcoming Supreme Court case on whether it can transect the hallowed federal Appalachian Trail.</p><p>The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/fourth-circuit-delivers-another-blow-to-atlantic-coast-pipeline/" target="_blank">recently vacated</a> a Virginia state permit for a compressor station along the pipeline because developer Dominion Energy did not adequately assess its environmental impact on the historic African American host town of Union Hill. The town <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/federal-court-revokes-gas-project-permit-in-win-for-historic-african-american-community/2020/01/07/76bb3538-3170-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html" target="_blank">was founded</a> by free African Americans and formerly enslaved people. The federal courts have also sent other fossil fuel projects and Trump administration oil and gas leases back to the drawing board for their inadequate consideration of environmental and climate impacts.</p><p>"Five years ago, Dominion told us that there was going to be a compressor station in Union Hill and there was nothing we could do about it," Chad Oba, president of a Union Hill coalition protesting the Atlantic Coast Pipeline compressor, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/477199-atlantic-coast-pipeline-loses-permit-battle-with-historically-black" target="_blank">said in The Hill.</a> "That's not fair, and it's not American. This is a win for a group of citizens who were committed to protecting their community and never ever gave up."</p><p>Such victories give hope that this is one rollback the Trump administration may not ultimately get away with. The assault on NEPA is so sweeping and blatant in its turning control of the environment over to industry, it is sure to receive a massive court challenge from environmental groups and environmental justice advocates. If communities like Union Hill refused to give up, there is no reason for anyone opposed to the rewriting of NEPA to throw in the towel, either. There is still time before the March 10 deadline for <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/10/2019-28106/update-to-the-regulations-implementing-the-procedural-provisions-of-the-national-environmental" target="_blank">public comment.</a></p><p>Recently, Union of Concerned Scientists colleague Adrienne Hollis interviewed Mildred McClain, an <a href="https://www.savannahnow.com/news/20200218/savannah-heads-toward-clean-energy-goal" target="_blank">environmental justice leader</a> in Savannah, Georgia, about the importance of NEPA. McClain <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/adrienne-hollis/conversation-with-the-nepa-ninja" target="_blank">recalled</a> how the act gave her community a voice against the dumping of nuclear waste and unchecked widening of the Savannah River for container ships.</p><p>"If it had not been for NEPA," McClain said, "the community would not have been a part of the process."</p><p>It's important to recognize that taking communities of color out of the process is a major goal in the administration's efforts to gut NEPA. When President Trump announced the rewrite, he was — by no small coincidence — flanked by a <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/01/10/fossil-fuel-interests-applaud-trump-weakening-nepa-environmental-policy" target="_blank">nearly all-white</a> phalanx of supporters as he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-proposed-national-environmental-policy-act-regulations/" target="_blank">claimed</a> with a straight face, "We're maintaining America's world-class standards of environmental protection. We have some of the cleanest air and cleanest water on Earth. And for our country, the air is, right now, cleaner than it's been in 40 years."</p><p>For the past two generations, NEPA has offered a powerful tool for the protection of the nation's environment. If the Trump administration succeeds in ripping it apart and turning environmental reviews over to industry, we will risk the dirtiest air and water of any developed nation on Earth, cementing this nation as a hotbed of environmental racism.</p><p>The deadline for public comments on the proposed changes to NEPA closes this Tuesday. <a href="https://secure.ucsusa.org/onlineactions/5J0luZa4YkiUmcMR656c9g2?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tw&ms=twitter" target="_blank">Submit your comment today</a>.</p>From Your Site Articles
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