By Julia Conley A Greenpeace investigation revealed Monday that the Biden administration appears sympathetic to oil and chemical industry giants — not the public, scientists, and public health advocates — regarding a push in Europe to curb the use of microplastics in everyday products. According to a report by Unearthed, Greenpeace UK’s investigative journalism unit, […]
Less than 48 hours after an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee sent to the Virgin Islands to investigate the Limetree oil refinery told colleagues, “There is oil on my windshield,” the agency took the remarkable action to shut down the entire refinery citing an “imminent” threat to human health. This is not the first […]
By Reynard Loki A federal appeals court has ruled that unless the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can prove that the pesticide chlorpyrifos is safe, it must be banned. The chemical, which has been widely used on agricultural crops for more than 50 years, has been linked to neurological development issues in children, with mounting evidence […]
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot indefinitely delayed a permitting decision on the relocation of a highly polluting metal shredding and recycling facility after the U.S. EPA said doing so could violate the civil rights of Black and Latino people who live there. Research Management Group, which acquired the General Iron facility in 2019, is seeking to […]
By Jessica Corbett As the Biden administration faces pressure to step up its climate action, the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced its first rule to tackle the global emergency—a proposal to reduce planet-heating chemicals commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning by 85% over the next 15 years. The EPA’s proposed rule on hydrofluorocarbons […]
By Jenna McGuire Commonly used herbicides across the U.S. contain highly toxic undisclosed “inert” ingredients that are lethal to bumblebees, according to a new study published Friday in the Journal of Applied Ecology. The study reviewed several herbicide products and found that most contained glyphosate, an ingredient best recognized from Roundup products and the most […]
By Asher Rosinger Imagine seeing a news report about lead contamination in drinking water in a community that looks like yours. It might make you think twice about whether to drink your tap water or serve it to your kids – especially if you also have experienced tap water problems in the past. In a […]
Thousands of Superfund sites exist around the U.S., with toxic substances left open, mismanaged and dumped. Despite the high levels of toxicity at these sites, nearly 21 million people live within a mile of one of them, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Currently, more than 1,300 Superfund sites pose a serious health […]
By Quinn McVeigh About 2.3 million Americans are exposed to high natural strontium levels in their drinking water, a metal that can harm bone health in children, according to a United States Geological Survey study. The study, published in Applied Geochemistry, found that almost every groundwater sample across 32 U.S. aquifers had detectable strontium levels, […]