Category Archives: pollution

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Supreme Court to hear challenge to EPA ‘good neighbor’ rule that curbs pollution : NPR

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/21/1232513666/supreme-court-epa-good-neighbor-rule

“Lawyers representing three states, companies and industry groups will ask the justices to block a federal rule that’s intended to limit ozone air pollution. Experts said it’s only the third time in more than 50 years that the court has scheduled arguments on an emergency application like this one.

At the heart of the dispute is the part of the Clean Air Act known as the “good neighbor” provision. It’s designed to help protect people from severe health problems they face because of pollution that floats downwind from neighboring states.” NPR reporting

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Mississippi River saltwater intrusion threatens Louisiana drinking water – The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/09/29/saltwater-intrusion-louisiana-drinking-water/

“Pipes carrying sediment crisscross the Mississippi River where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is building an underwater sill with mud that should slow the flow of salt water up the river. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate/AP)

For weeks now, a mass of saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico has infiltrated the drought-stricken Mississippi River. The situation is threatening drinking water supplies, causing angst among farmers who rely on the river for irrigation and posing risks to infrastructure.”

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Researchers make disturbing discovery while analyzing samples taken from the Great Lakes: ‘We know we are being exposed’

https://news.yahoo.com/researchers-disturbing-discovery-while-analyzing-180000157.html The highest levels are found in tributaries leading to the lakes or around major cities like Chicago and Toronto.

“The Guardian reported that a recent peer-reviewed paper from the University of Toronto found that nearly 90% of water samples taken from the Great Lakes over the last 10 years contain levels of microplastics unsafe for wildlife.

What’s happening? 

Our planet is riddled with plastic pollution. Plastics take ages to break down, and as they do, they create microplastics — tiny particles less than five millimeters (about 0.2 inches) in length.

Of the samples taken and analyzed from the Great Lakes, about 20% are at the highest level of risk.” Keep reading…

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NYTimes: Judge Rules in Favor of Montana Youths in Landmark Climate Case

Judge Rules in Favor of Montana Youths in Landmark Climate Case https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/14/us/montana-youth-climate-ruling.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

“The court found in a landmark case that the state’s failure to consider climate change when evaluating new projects was causing harm.”

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Thank you Hyatt

“Hyatt is the latest international hotel brand to ditch travel-sized toiletries from its rooms, following Holiday Inn-owner InterContinental Group and Marriott International.

Portable tubes of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel will be replaced with bulk-sized toiletries across Hyatt’s global chain of 220,000 rooms beginning in June 2021. The changes will affect Hyatt’s 900 hotels worldwide, encompassing 20 brands, including Park Hyatt, Hyatt Place and the Andaz.

“Plastic pollution is a global issue, and we hope our efforts will motivate guests, customers and, indeed, ourselves to think more critically about our use of plastic,” Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO of Hyatt, said in a press release.”

It takes everybody working together to reduce plastics….why all the packaging? Ever since Tylenol scare back in the 1980s, companies have gone packaging crazy…time to ease up on Plastics. Buying local is a starting point…

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2 gallons of radioactive nuclear waste done; 56M gallons to go | The Columbian

http://www.columbian.com/news/2018/may/16/2-gallons-of-radioactive-nuclear-waste-done-56m-gallons-to-go/

“It’s a big deal,” said Dawn Wellman, sector manager for environmental health and remediation at the national lab in Richland. “At a scaled version we have done what they will do at full scale at Hanford.”

The vitrification plant — or Waste Treatment Plant — at the Hanford nuclear reservation has been under construction since 2002, with a court-ordered deadline of 2023 to start treating some of the 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in underground tanks.

Much of the waste, which is left from the past production of plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program, is planned to be vitrified, or turned into a solid glass form for disposal.”

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EPA orders extensive cleanup of radioactive waste site near St. Louis

https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/09/27/epa-orders-extensive-cleanup-radioactive-waste-site-near-st-louis/

“The West Lake Landfill contains thousands of tons of radioactive material from the World War II-era Manhattan Project that was dumped at the site in the 1970s, where it has languished ever since amid other waste. The latest plan calls for excavating 70 percent of the radioactive waste from the site — a far cry from a 2008 solution proposed by the George W. Bush administration to cover and monitor the waste.“

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Hanford waste, 9 year wait worth it

https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article213801829.html

The first shipment of highly radioactive sludge left an annex at the Hanford nuclear reservation’s K West Reactor Basin, which is near the Columbia River, at about 10:30 a.m. Monday. It was taken to central Hanford for storage away from the river.
Courtesy Department of Energy
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From stltoday.com

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/parson-signs-law-setting-up-funds-for-radioactive-waste-probe/article_5962ba0a-6ac9-5d82-941a-fdad2212d872.html

Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who was sworn in on June 1 after the resignation of Gov. Eric Greitens, approved the proposal championed by Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City.

The measure will allocate $150,000 annually to the Department of Natural Resources to probe sites like the West Lake Landfill in north St. Louis County, where radioactive material was dumped more than 40 years ago.

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What to do with nuclear waste-From forbes.com

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/06/19/stop-letting-your-ridiculous-fears-of-nuclear-waste-kill-the-planet/

“What is usually referred to as nuclear waste is used nuclear fuel in the shape of rods about 12 feet long. For four and a half years, the uranium atoms that comprise the fuel rods are split apart to give off the heat that turns water into steam to spin turbines to make electricity. After that, nuclear plant workers move the used fuel rods into pools of water to cool.”

Congress wants to ‘bury’ Nevada in nuclear waste?