• Politics

Lawmakers Attach Environmental Provisions to “Must-Pass” DoD Bill

• #ForeverChemicals
• Department of Defense
• DOD
• drilling
• Florida
• leasing
• offshore oil and gas
• PFAS
• PFOA

The annual bill authorizing all activities and purchases by the Defense Department is a popular “vehicle” to advance environmental provisions on banning and cleaning up “PFAS” and “PFOA” toxic “forever chemicals” that have contaminated water all across the country, particularly on military bases.

Why This Matters:  These issues are not new, nor is using this DoD legislation to advance important DoD-related environmental objectives.

• Water

EPA Rule Unjustly Trumps State Clean Water Act Authority To Protect Rivers and Drinking Water

• clean water
• Clean Water Act
• drinking water
• Environmental Justice
• fossil fuel companies
• PFAS
• pipelines
• toxic chemicals

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday issued another rule dealing a blow to 40 years of settled law on the authority of states and tribes under the Clean Water Act to block fossil fuel projects such as natural gas pipelines and coal terminals that could pollute state waterways.

Why This Matters:  The EPA is turning the Clean Water Act on its head and undercutting states and tribes that are protecting the clean water and the health of their citizens.

• Water

DoD Admits It Will Take Decades To Clean PFAS From Water Supplies

• #ForeverChemicals
• Department of Defense
• drinking water
• Environmental Working Group
• installations
• PFAS
• safe drinking water

Last week the Defense Department (DoD) reported that 250 more installations had tested positive for PFAS contamination, and now they admit that it will take 30 years at least to test each site for PFAS, identify how the chemical has spread and then complete the cleanup. 

Why This Matters:  Many states are imposing limits well below the EPA’s 70 parts per trillion (ppt) guidance, but the DoD will only clean up drinking water that is above the EPA recommended level.

• Water

New DoD Study Shows that 250 More Military Installations Have PFAS Contamination

• #ForeverChemicals
• Department of Defense
• drinking water
• fire retardant
• ground water
• military bases
• PFAS
• PFOA

DoD’s PFAS Task Force issued a report in which it admitted that the number of military installations that could be contaminated with the “forever chemicals” is far greater than they previously thought — the number jumped from 401 to 651.

Why This Matters:  DoD is continuing to document its failures and is not acting with enough urgency to address the toxic contamination at its installations, large and small across the country.

• Water

Public Pressure Over PFAS Chemical Contamination Forces EPA to Regulate Them

• EPA
• Forever Chemicals
• PFAS
• PFOA
• safe drinking water

Late last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would soon set legal limits for two PFAS chemicals in drinking water. 

Why This Matters: This announcement is certainly progress — but no limits have been set yet and we would not be this close to having them if it were not for huge pressure on the EPA from lawmakers and the public.

• Politics

As Focus Shifts To NH, Climate Change and Clean Water Are Key Issues

• clean water
• climate change
• PFAS
• snow
• storm surge

Climate change and clean water are the two biggest environmental issues facing the Democratic Presidential candidates stumping in New Hampshire. 

Why This Matters:  Pollution and climate change were big issues in Iowa and they will be important in New Hampshire as well.  The recreation industry is poised to take a beating due to shortened ski seasons and PFAS contamination is pervasive and too expensive to clean up right now.

• Water

President Trump Promises to Veto any Legislation Mandating PFAS Regulation

• #Darkwaters
• Forever Chemicals
• PFAS
• safe drinking water

The White House said in a statement that the President would veto any PFAS legislation because it would  “bypass well-established processes, procedures, and legal requirements of the Nation’s most fundamental environmental laws….”

Why This Matters:  So much for crystal clear waters.  The administration had promised that EPA would issue new regulations creating limits on PFAS contamination in rivers and drinking water by the end of 2019, but they failed to do so.

• Water

Top Stories of 2019: PFAS Pollution Puts Drinking Water for Tens of Millions at Risk

• #Darkwaters
• clean water
• PFAS
• safe drinking water
• toxic pollution

The feature film “Dark Waters” exposed the scandal that Congress and the President are ignoring.  According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), PFAS contamination is now found at 1,361 locations in 49 states — and in a variety of sources including community water systems, groundwater sources, military bases, airports, and industrial sites. According to EWG’s analysis […]

• Health

New Study Finds Toxic PFAS in Rainwater Across the U.S.

• #Darkwaters
• Forever Chemicals
• PFAS
• toxic pollution
• water pollution

We have reported in ODP about widespread PFAS contamination in lakes, rivers and groundwater reserves across the country, but this study shows that PFAS is also found in rainwater, according to The Guardian, and the likely sources are direct industrial emissions and evaporation from PFAS-laden fire-fighting foams.

Why This Matters:  PFAS has been shown to cause serious health issues such as cancer, and the immune system and thyroid problems.

• Health

Mark Ruffalo Uses Star Power to Push For Passage of PFAS Legislation

• #Darkwaters
• #fightforeverchemicals
• Dupont
• Forever Chemicals
• PFAS

Yesterday, in a tour-de-force of star power, the actor and activist Mark Ruffalo crisscrossed Washington. D.C. — from a Washington Post Live event, to a Capitol Hill press conference, to testifying at a House hearing answering questions from Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, to a screening of his new film “Dark Waters” at the Motion Picture Association –– all to make the point that it is high time for the government to act to keep the public safe from a little-known but ubiquitous toxin called PFAS (also known as “Forever Chemicals” because they never break down) that can now be found in the bloodstream of 99% of all Americans

• Water

PFAS Found On Hundreds of Military Installations, With Numbers Likely To Rise

• Camp Lejeune
• clean water
• PFAS
• toxic

The problem of toxic fluorinated chemicals or “PFAS” is pervasive nationwide — and of the more than 1350 sites that have been identified by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) roughly half of them are on military installations, and the numbers are expected to rise once testing at Navy and Air Force installations is completed. 

Why This Matters:  Service members and their families did not sign up for this kind of preventable hazard when they joined the military — fighting in conflict is, of course, life-threatening, but simply living on a military installation should not be.  And the fact that President Trump has repeatedly threatened to veto any legislation that comes to his desk that requires the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate PFAS shows his callous disregard for the safety and well-being of our service members and their families.  

• Water

The Clean Water Act Has Been Drained

• clean water
• Clean Water Act
• PFAS
• WOTUS

By Monica Medina, Founder and Publisher, Our Daily Planet The fall of 2019 will be remembered for the Ukrainian scandal and the impeachment investigation.  But for many Americans, this should be remembered as the time when our nation’s clean water crisis became crystal clear.  This is not just a Flint problem.  It is a national […]