mercury

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    Arctic ‘Mercury Bomb’ Threatens Food Chain as Climate Warms

    Arctic ‘Mercury Bomb’ Threatens Food Chain as Climate Warms

    As global heating caused by the climate crisis warms the Arctic as much as four times faster than the worldwide average, Alaska’s Yukon River is eroding thawing permafrost and releasing mercury-laden sediment that has been sequestered for thousands of years into the surrounding environment. The toxic contaminant is putting the food chain and communities that […]

    Brazil and Colombia Destroy Illegal Gold Mines in Amazon Rainforest

    Brazil and Colombia Destroy Illegal Gold Mines in Amazon Rainforest

    Brazil and Colombia have blown up 19 illegal gold mining operations in the Amazon rainforest. Colombia’s armed forces said the mines were producing about $1.5 million worth of the rare metal every month and polluting the rainforest’s rivers with mercury, reported the BBC and Reuters. The unlawful activity was producing 50.71 pounds of gold a […]

    Biden’s EPA Restores Rule Protecting Vulnerable Communities From Mercury and Other Toxic Power Plant Emissions

    Biden’s EPA Restores Rule Protecting Vulnerable Communities From Mercury and Other Toxic Power Plant Emissions

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reaffirmed the legal, scientific and economic bases of the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) that require coal– and oil-fired power plants to implement “significant reductions” in emissions of mercury, acid gases and other toxic pollutants, a press release from the EPA said. The decision reverses the […]

    Seafood Consumption Linked to Increased Risk of Melanoma

    Seafood Consumption Linked to Increased Risk of Melanoma

    A new study has found that regular consumption of fish and other seafood is linked to an increased risk of developing melanoma. While sun exposure, especially when the skin gets sunburned, heightens the risk of melanoma, a new study from Brown University and published in the journal Cancer Causes and Control has also found that […]

    High Levels of Mercury Found in Greenland’s Glaciers

    High Levels of Mercury Found in Greenland’s Glaciers

    By Isabela Martel When British environmental geochemist Jon Hawkings arrived in Greenland for the first time in 2012, he was impressed. “It’s mind-blowing: You look onto the horizon and it’s just ice and it goes on for 150, 200 kilometers at least.” He went to the Arctic with a group of international scientists. Their goal […]

    Florida Wastewater Pond Leak Poses Major Flood Risk to Locals

    Florida Wastewater Pond Leak Poses Major Flood Risk to Locals

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Saturday after a leak at a wastewater pond posed a major flooding threat and prompted more than 300 homes to be evacuated. Officials said that water pouring out too quickly posed the greatest risk. The latest projection shows that 340 million gallons of wastewater could rush […]

    EPA to Adopt Big Tobacco’s ‘Secret Science’ Rule

    EPA to Adopt Big Tobacco’s ‘Secret Science’ Rule

    Former coal lobbyist and current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Andrew Wheeler is expected to announce on Tuesday a rule tobacco consultants devised as an “explicit procedural hurdle” to protecting public health. The rule — sometimes called the ‘Secret Science’ rule — will require EPA to give less credence to scientific studies that take […]