The Trump administration on Monday declined to tighten controls on industrial soot emissions, disregarding an emerging scientific link between dirty air and Covid-19 death rates.
In one of the final policy moves of an administration that has spent the past four years weakening or rolling back more than 100 environmental regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency completed a regulation that keeps in place the current rules on tiny, lung-damaging industrial particles, known as PM 2.5, instead of strengthening them, even though the agency’s own scientists have warned of the links between the pollutants and respiratory illness. In April, researchers at Harvard released the first nationwide study linking long-term exposure to PM 2.5 and Covid-19 death rates.
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Photo credit: Dane Rhys/Bloomberg
Author: CHEJ Intern
By: Julia Weil, Organizing Intern
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have increasingly seen many social, economic, and environmental injustices in our society highlighted. One injustice that encapsulates all three is being demonstrated by the increasing pattern of oil and gas companies, struggling as the demand for their product decreases, paying out their executives just before filing for bankruptcy, making the rich richer, and exposing at-risk populations to higher quantities of dangerous chemicals than ever.
This practice of paying executives vast sums of money before going bankrupt is known as a “golden parachute.” One of these companies is Chesapeake, one of the first companies to popularize hydrofracking. Just before filing for bankruptcy, $25 million was given to 21 employees that ranked high in the company’s hierarchy in the form of “retention payments,” though typically this type of payment is intended to keep employees at the company for a designated amount of time.
Other recent examples of this practice have occurred with Whiting Petroleum, a shale drilling company that was able to secure $15 million for its top executives days before the bankruptcy filing, and Diamond offshore drilling, a company that was granted $9.1 million through a COVID-19 stimulus check, and that filed for bankruptcy just one month later.
This is not only an economic injustice, but, as they are frequently closely associated, it is also blatant environmental injustice. The workers are left out of the equation, and when the majority of the remaining money is funneled directly into the pockets of the most powerful company members, the financial planning frequently doesn’t account for the cost of well-closing — money isn’t left over to properly seal the wells.
When this happens, the already harmful fracking wells will leak greater quantities of methane and contaminated water. This is the case for MDC energy, who also paid their executives $8.5 million before filing for bankruptcy. One estimate showed that cleaning up, closing the wells and halting the consistent methane leakage for this particular company would cost $40 million; an amount which, after paying the executives, did not remain.
Though all of the instances discussed here happened more recently, in 2016, there was an estimation of 3.2 million orphaned (or inactive) oil and gas wells in the US, and over 2 million of these were not properly sealed. Although hydrofracking wells also leak while in operation, when they’re out of use and not monitored, they release even greater amounts of the toxic chemicals. Contaminated water from hydrofracking can contain benzene, toluene, arsenic, manganese, barium and strontium, many of which are carcinogenic.
Methane leakage is additionally dangerous because of its warming capabilities – it is an especially potent greenhouse gas; though it doesn’t last as long as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it is 25 times stronger of a warming agent. Additionally, atmospheric methane concentrations have more than doubled in the last couple centuries – the orphaned fracking wells will significantly accelerate this problem.
Since this bankruptcy boom is expected to continue – one estimate expects 250 oil and gas companies to file for bankruptcy protection before the end of next year – this puts more and more communities at an increased risk of the effects associated with methane and other toxic chemicals. Waste from gas and oil companies already disproportionately impacts Black and low income communities; this phenomenon further worsens this instance of environmental racism and injustice, while those who should be held responsible profit.
WASHINGTON (November 30, 2020) — Aggressively addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment continues to be an active and ongoing priority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Today, the agency is announcing two important steps to address PFAS. First, EPA issued a memorandum detailing an interim National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting strategy for addressing PFAS in EPA-issued wastewater permits. Second, EPA released information on progress in developing new analytical methods to test for PFAS compounds in wastewater and other environmental media. Together, these actions help ensure that federally enforceable wastewater monitoring for PFAS can begin as soon as validated analytical methods are finalized.
“Better understanding and addressing PFAS is a top priority for EPA, and the agency is continuing to develop needed research and policies,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “For the first time in EPA’s history, we are utilizing all of our program offices to address a singular, cross-cutting contaminant and the agency’s efforts are critical to supporting our state and local partners.”
“Managing and mitigating PFAS in water is a priority for the Office of Water as we continue our focus on meeting 21st century challenges,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water David Ross. “These actions mark important steps in developing the underlying science and permitting techniques to address PFAS in wastewater where the discharge of these chemicals may be of concern.”
EPA’s interim NPDES permitting strategy for PFAS provides recommendations from a cross-agency workgroup on an interim approach to include PFAS-related conditions in EPA-issued NPDES permits. EPA is the permitting authority for three states (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico), the District of Columbia, most U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, Indian Country, and certain federal facilities. The strategy advises EPA permit writers to consider including PFAS monitoring at facilities where these chemicals are expected to be present in wastewater discharges, including from municipal separate storm sewer systems and industrial stormwater permits. The PFAS that could be considered for monitoring are those that will have validated EPA analytical methods for wastewater testing, which the agency anticipates being available on a phased-in schedule as multi-lab validated wastewater analytical methods are finalized. The agency’s interim strategy also encourages the use of best management practices where appropriate to control or abate the discharge of PFAS and includes recommendations to facilitate information sharing to foster adoption of best practices across states and localities.
In coordination with the interim NPDES permitting strategy, EPA is also providing information on the status of analytical methods needed to test for PFAS in wastewater. EPA is developing analytical methods in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense to test for PFAS in wastewater and other environmental media, such as soils. The agency is releasing a list of 40 PFAS chemicals that are the subject of analytical method development. This method would be in addition to Method 533 and Method 537.1 that are already approved and can measure 29 PFAS chemicals in drinking water. EPA anticipates that multi-lab validated testing for PFAS will be finalized in 2021. For more information on testing method validation, see https://www.epa.gov/cwa-methods.
Background
EPA continues to make progress under its PFAS Action Plan to protect the environment and human health, including:
Highlighted Action: Drinking Water
- In December 2019, EPA accomplished a key milestone in the PFAS Action Plan by publishing a new validated method to accurately test for 11 additional PFAS in drinking water. Method 533 complements EPA Method 537.1, and the agency can now measure 29 chemicals.
- In February 2020, EPA took an important step in implementing the agency’s PFAS Action Plan by proposing to regulate PFOA and PFOS drinking water.
- EPA also asked for information and data on other PFAS substances, as well as sought comment on potential monitoring requirements and regulatory approaches.
- In November 2020, EPA issued a memo detailing an interim National Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NPDES) permitting strategy for PFAS. The agency also released information on progress in developing new analytical methods to test for PFAS compounds in wastewater and other environmental media.
Highlighted Action: Cleanup
- In December 2019, EPA issued Interim Recommendations for Addressing Groundwater Contaminated with PFOA and PFOS, which provides guidance for federal cleanup programs (e.g., CERCLA and RCRA) that will also be helpful to states and tribes.
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- The recommendations provide a starting point for making site-specific cleanup decisions and will help protect drinking water resources in communities across the country.
- In July 2020, EPA submitted the Interim Guidance on the Destruction and Disposal of PFAS and Materials Containing PFAS to OMB for interagency review. The guidance would:
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- Provide information on technologies that may be feasible and appropriate for the destruction or disposal of PFAS and PFAS-containing materials.
- Identify ongoing research and development activities related to destruction and disposal technologies, which may inform future guidance.
- EPA is working on the proposed rule to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA. In the absence of the rule, EPA has used its existing authorities to compel cleanups.
Highlighted Action: Monitoring
- In July 2020, EPA transmitted the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 5 (UCMR 5) proposal to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for interagency review. EPA anticipates proposing nationwide drinking water monitoring for PFAS that uses new methods that can detect PFAS at lower concentrations than previously possible.
Highlighted Action: Toxics
- In September 2019, EPA issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking that would allow the public to provide input on adding PFAS to the Toxics Release Inventory toxic chemical list.
- In June 2020, EPA issued a final regulation that added a list of 172 PFAS chemicals to Toxics Release Inventory reporting as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020.
- In July 2020, EPA issued a final regulation that can stop products containing PFAS from entering or reentering the marketplace without EPA’s explicit permission.
Highlighted Action: Scientific Leadership
- EPA continues to compile and assess human and ecological toxicity information on PFAS to support risk management decisions.
- EPA continues to develop new methods to test for additional PFAS in drinking water.
- The agency is also validating analytical methods for surface water, groundwater, wastewater, soils, sediments and biosolids; developing new methods to test for PFAS in air and emissions; and improving laboratory methods to discover unknown PFAS.
- EPA is developing exposure models to understand how PFAS moves through the environment to impact people and ecosystems.
- EPA is working to develop tools to assist officials with the cleanup of contaminated sites.
- In July 2020, EPA added new treatment information for removing PFAS from drinking water.
Highlighted Action: Technical Assistance
- Just as important as the progress on PFAS at the federal level are EPA efforts to form partnerships with states, tribes, and local communities across the country.
- EPA has provided assistance to more than 30 states to help address PFAS, and the agency is continuing to build on this support.
- These joint projects allow EPA to take the knowledge of its world-class scientists and apply it in a collaborative fashion where it counts most.
Highlighted Action: Enforcement
- EPA continues to use enforcement tools, when appropriate, to address PFAS exposure in the environment and assist states in enforcement activities.
- EPA has already taken actions to address PFAS, including issuing Safe Drinking Water Act orders and providing support to states. See examples in the PFAS Action Plan.
- To date, across the nation, EPA has addressed PFAS in 15 cases using a variety of enforcement tools under SDWA, TSCA, RCRA, and CERCLA (where appropriate), and will continue to do so to protect public health and the environment.
Highlighted Action: Grants and Funding
- Under this Administration, EPA’s Office of Research and Development has awarded over $15 million through dozens of grants for PFAS research.
- In May 2019, EPA awarded approximately $3.9 million through two grants for research that will improve the agency’s understanding of human and ecological exposure to PFAS in the environment. This research will also promote a greater awareness of how to restore water quality in PFAS-impacted communities.
- In September 2019, EPA awarded nearly $6 million to fund research by eight organizations to expand the agency’s understanding of the environmental risks posed by PFAS in waste streams and to identify practical approaches to manage potential impacts as PFAS enters the environment.
- In August 2020, EPA awarded $4.8 million in funding for federal research to help identify potential impacts of PFAS to farms, ranches, and rural communities.
Highlighted Action: Risk Communications
- EPA is working collaboratively to develop a risk communication toolbox that includes multimedia materials and messaging for federal, state, tribal, and local partners to use with the public.
Additional information about PFAS can be found at: www.epa.gov/pfas
President-elect Joe Biden is vetting three environmental justice leaders to head up the White House agency that will take the lead in coordinating efforts to safeguard communities disproportionately affected by pollution, according to sources familiar with the process.
The shortlist for head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) signals a focus by the incoming Biden administration on environmental policies that aim to ensure improved clean air and water for poor and minority communities that have historically taken the brunt of industrial pollution.
The Biden transition team is considering Mustafa Santiago Ali, Cecilia Martinez and Brenda Mallory to lead the CEQ, according to three sources familiar with the process. The position requires Senate confirmation.
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Photo Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman
From a distance, the inland marsh a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean in Brunswick, Georgia, looks like a broad, green mat broken by silvery threads of meandering rivers and creeks. There’s cordgrass four feet tall, and sea daisies that add a splash of starburst color.
The marsh is home to shrimp, blue crab and sea trout, and it’s the nesting site of Great Egrets. Bottlenose dolphins inhabit the nearby Turtle/Brunswick River Estuary in Glynn County.
But looks can be deceiving.
Beneath the bucolic green expanse, the water and sediment contain toxic mercury and PCBs from the now closed LCP Chemical plant, which produced chlorine gas, hydrogen gas, hydrochloric acid and other caustic chemicals from 1955 to 1994, at what has since been declared a Superfund hazardous waste site, managed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The shrimp, crab and sea trout are tainted by the contaminants, putting local residents who still fish in the waters at risk for cancer, liver and kidney damage, according to a federal health assessment of the site.
Back in 2010, a researcher found “extremely high concentrations” of persistent organochlorine contaminants (POCs) in the local bottlenose dolphin population, with LCP Chemical and other nearby Superfund sites considered potential sources of the contamination.
With climate change a leading issue in Georgia’s two closely watched Senate runoff elections on Jan. 5, the effects of a warming planet directly threaten LCP Chemical and 15 other Superfund sites in the state. They could be potentially affected by intensified hurricanes, flooding, sea level rise or wildfires.
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Photo Credit: NOAA
After a long year of environmental disasters across the globe and in the midst of a public health crisis that has killed well over a million people, six “environmental heroes” were announced on Monday as winners of the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize, an annual honor that recognizes grassroots activists from each of the world’s inhabited continental regions.
“These six environmental champions reflect the powerful impact that one person can have on many,” John Goldman, president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, said in a statement. “In today’s world, we witness the effects of an imbalance with nature: a global pandemic, climate change, wildfires, environmental injustices affecting those most at risk, and constant threats to a sustainable existence.”
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Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Foundation
By: Shaina Smith, Organizing Intern
The relationship between Native Americans and the United States has always involved genocide and theft. An estimated 5 to 15 million indigenous people already inhabited the land when European settlers first discovered America. By the late 1800s, only 237 thousand people remained. During this period of colonization, the United States took more than 1.5 billion acres of land from Native Americans. To force people onto land and then to contaminate the air, soil, and water of that land is environmental genocide. Environmental genocide by the United States government and corporate polluters is done through both legal and nonlegal methods.
The concept of environmental justice was created to acknowledge the disproportionate burden marginalized communities face from corporate polluters. Government and industry often ignore indigenous people, making it all the more important that they have a critical voice in the environmental justice movement.
Vi Waghiyi of Alaska Community Actions on Toxins (ACAT) faces what she calls “environmental violence” in her community because of contamination from a former US military base at Northeast Cape on St. Lawrence Island. Vi is a Yupik grandmother from Savoonga, a native village in St. Lawrence. Once abandoned in the early 1970s, the military left behind at least 220,000 gallons of spilt fuel, heavy metals, asbestos, solvents, and PCBs known to cause cancer. These pollutants contaminate the soil and groundwater, which especially harms the nearby Yupik community of Savoonga who have for generations relied on traditional subsistence agriculture. A 2002 study found that Native people who hunt and fish near Northeast Cape have almost 10 times as many PCBs in their blood compared to the average American. Many residents suffer from PCB-associated health problems, such as cancer, low birth weight, and miscarriages.
Rebecca Jim of Local Environmental Action Demanded (LEAD) Agency Inc, lives in a Cherokee community plagued by environmental and economic exploitation from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Over many years, US authorities forced tribes onto land in Northeast Oklahoma in Ottawa County. Once it was discovered the land was rich in lead and zinc, the BIA illegitimately leased land for mining and extraction starting in the early 1900s. The BIA claimed Native people were incompetent to manage their wealth and kept many from seeing their earnings. Though the mines were no longer in production, they contained debris contaminated with heavy metals. The BIA encouraged tribal land owners to make use of the waste, resulting in poison being spread throughout the county. By 1994 tests had found that 35% of children in the area had high concentration of lead in their blood. Prolonged lead exposure can damage the immune system, nervous system, blood system and kidneys. It can also potentially cause birth defects, learning disabilities, decreased mental ability, and reduced growth in children.
From the moment the first European settlers reached America, indigenous people have suffered physical and cultural genocide. Politicians who claim to empathize with indegenous people are still not doing enough to stop people from being poisoned. Kaniela Ing, a Native Hawaiian and former State Representative, noted during his time in office how even progressive politicians are pulled to the right by corporate lobbyists. “A system that relies on appealing to the good nature of politicians is never going to work,” Kaniela observed. “We never really learned how to do democracy right.” At best this violence results from negligence and inaction, and at worst it’s no more than the continuation of centuries of genocide. It’s imperative that the US government listen to Native voices, show greater urgency in clean-up efforts, and compensate those who’ve been harmed.
By: Ruth Rodriguez, Communications Intern
Jerry Ensminger, a U.S Marine Corps veteran who led the fight for justice at Camp Lejeune, a military base in North Carolina where severe water contamination went unaddressed and unresolved for over 30 years, shared his experience for CHEJ’s Living Room Leadership series.
Raised in Pennsylvania on a dairy farm, Ensminger joked that he joined the Marine Corps because he needed a break from the farm life. In actuality, he joined in 1969 after his brother, who had volunteered for the draft to obtain the GI Bill after service, was wounded 78 times in the front of his body and lost the top left corner of his brain.
Ensminger had two daughters, the second, named Janey, was conceived at Camp Lejeune. She was born in Parris Island and then the family moved back to Camp Lejeune. For a while, Janey had a severe case of strep throat. Ensminger then noticed she had red spots all over her torso. When she was taken to the hospital he found out that the spots were petechiae, caused by broken blood vessels below the skin. He then was informed that his daughter had leukemia after her bone marrow was tested. Janey Ensminger passed on September 24, 1985.
Ensminger retired in 1994. In 1997, while getting ready for dinner, he heard a report about the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s public health assessment for Camp Lejeune. It found that drinking water contamination took place in Camp Lejeune from 1968 to 1985 and was suspected to have caused different types of birth defects and childhood cancer, specifically leukemia. Ensminger said the dates were incorrect and the contamination went further back. When he initially heard the news he thought only of Janey, but then remembered all those who lived on the base and were now all over the world and did not hear the local news. The only reason Ensminger found out was because he stayed in the area after his retirement. He said he almost felt physically ill from what was going on. He faithfully served for 24 and a half years and was betrayed, but he turned his sense of betrayal into astounding work.
“There were hundreds of thousands if not over a million people out there that’s had that same nagging question, ‘what happened to me’, ‘what happened to my loved one’, and I made it my mission to give them a possible answer to that nagging question, and that set me in motion.”
Volatile organic compounds (VOC) trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PCE), vinyl chloride, and benzene were among the contaminants found in the drinking water. These sourced from leaking storage tanks, dumping into the ground, dry cleaning, and industrial activities. It took Ensminger from 1997 to 2004 to get a major news outlet to take the Camp Lejeune story. The story was finally published by The Washington Post in 2004 titled, “Tainted Water in the Land of Semper Fi.”
Ensminger testified 9 different times to Congress from that point until August 2012 when President Barack Obama signed the Janey Ensminger Act. The Act established a connection between the illnesses associated with the water contamination at Camp Lejeune and allowed dependents to apply for Veterans Affair health care in relation to exposure.
“It’s not easy and if you only go into it half hearted they’re gonna beat you.”
The Department of Defense holds that they will pay to clean up the contamination, because they are required to, but will not be held liable to pay any person for damages caused by the contamination. The Supreme Court upheld this notion. In response, Ensminger introduced the Camp Lejeune Justice Act to overturn the ruling.
“The only way you’re gonna punish them, whether it’s industry or the Department of Defense, any polluter…is in their pocket.”
To learn more about the toxic water at Camp Lejeune, visit The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten.
Read the story of William Sanjour, who blew the whistle on the EPA and throughout his career.
How long does it take to fight the good fight? How long can one stand in the arena and continue the battle? For some whistleblowers, it can be decades, and William Sanjour is a case in point. For half his life, he has been a whistleblower and a whistleblower advocate. He was the point man in a court case that reverberates to this day, and he outsmarted many people who tried desperately to silence him.
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When Joe Biden delivered his first speech as president-elect two weeks ago, he focused on his mandate to “marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time.” Climate change was high on that list. After another year of unprecedented climate disasters, Biden will enter office with the most ambitious plans of any incoming president to wean our country off fossil fuels.
To deliver on his promises of “getting climate under control,” Biden will need to follow the prevailing science that suggests the United States achieve about a 45 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas pollution by 2030. He can’t afford to wade through years of congressional gridlock to get there. Instead, he will have to exploit the broad powers of the executive branch, using existing law to get as close as possible to the target.
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Photo credit: C-Span, Zuma