Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the controversial fracking bill Sunday, July 1st the last day she had to act before it would have become law.
The governor said she supports hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking,” but believes additional safeguards are needed in the bill. Without those safeguards in place to protect drinking water and the health of North Carolina families, Perdue said she was forced to veto the bill. “If they improve the bill to strengthen the protections for North Carolina families, I will sign it into law.”
Then two days later, Representative Becky Carney solved the problem for the Governor when she accidentally voted to override her veto. That’s right accidentally pushed the wrong button. Unbelievable.
The most important job of an elected representative is the power of their vote based upon their constituencies needs. We elect people who Americans feel will pay attention and support their issues. Rep. Carney said she felt rotten but when you are responsible for the future of the states well being you don’t have the right to feel bad or rotten as she said. It is your job to pay attention no matter what time of day or night it is and responsibly vote.
She said it was late after 11 o’clock and she was tired. “I pushed the wrong button – the green one.” Even if you’re tired doesn’t green mean go? Oh she tried as best she could to change her vote but couldn’t – house rules. I certainly wonder about what really happened, despite her drama on the floor after her green not red voting exercise.
In any case this is the second time the Governor vetoed the bill from the legislators and sent them back to make a change. And today Carney’s vote has created the opportunity for the fracking industry to exploit North Carolina just as they have in PA, OH and so many western states.
Maybe voters in NC should ask tired Carney to take a break and let someone else take on the tiring effort of working past 11 o’clock in the evening and voting responsibly.
Last week I had the good fortune to visit the Big Sky state of Montana. I stayed at a cabin at Georgetown Lake in the western part of the state with family who live in nearby Deer Lodge. Not surprisingly, we spent a lot of our time outdoors, fishing, hiking, biking and sitting on the porch. The wilderness in western Montana is beautiful, but it is suffering a shocking loss of its signature tree – the lodgeple pine. Everywhere you travel, you see huge tracks of the tress cut as though the area had just been clear cut. It is stunning.
The culprit is not an aggressive logging effort, but an insect, an infestation of beetles – lodgepole beetles and it’s changing the landscape of this beautiful countryside, serving another lesson in the impacts of climate change.
A popular tree throughout the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies, the lodgepole pine is long, straight and lightweight and was a favorite for making log cabins and tee pees in earlier times. Now these trees are being devastated by a tiny beetle which according to the National Science Foundation, has infected more than six billion trees in the western United States and British Columbia since the 1990s.
The mountain pine beetle is a native insect that plays a natural role in regenerating pine forests in Western North America. This role is now in jeopardy because of changing weather patterns in Montana and other areas of the Pacific Northwest.
In the past, populations of this beetle were controlled naturally by the harsh winter weather in this rugged mountain area. Typically it takes 7 to 10 days of intense cold weather – 20 degree below zero or more – to kill the beetles. In past years, this was never an issue. Some beetles would survive, but many were killed off by the bitter cold winter weather.
Now the weather is changing. Winter is not as harsh in this part of the country as it used to be. It does not get as cold for as long as it had typically in past years. As a result, the beetles are thriving and continuing to wipe out huge tracks of lodgepole pine trees.
A study published in 2009 by a research group from several western universities found that the death rate of trees in western U.S. forests had doubled over the several decades driven in large part by higher temperatures and water scarcity brought on by climate change. One of the lead authors commented that longer and hotter summers in the west were subjecting trees to greater stress from droughts and insect infestation.
It’s hard to predict how these changes will transform the western landscape, but it’s not likely to be a pretty picture. I had no idea how climate change was impacting the western forests and I‘m glad I visited when I did. It It‘s not likely these forest will be regenerated in my lifetime.
Associated Press reports that many Native American communities are being negatively impacted by power plants. In a July 4th article, they reported serious health problems in Native American communities from coal plants.
A “coal-powered plant blamed for polluting the southern Nevada reservation’s air and water is visible from nearly every home. “Everybody is sick,” said Vicki Simmons, whose brother worked at the Reid Gardner Generating Station for 10 years before dying at age 31 with heart problems. Across the country, a disproportionate number of power plants operate near or on tribal lands. NV Energy maintains its plant near the Moapa Paiute reservation is safe and has been upgraded with the required clean emissions technologies.
Meanwhile, local, state and federal health agencies say they cannot conduct accurate health studies to verify the tribe’s complaints because the sample size would be too small. In all, about 10 percent of all power plants operate within 20 miles of reservation land, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Many of those 51 energy production centers are more than a half-century old and affect roughly 48 tribes living on 50 reservations. Fewer than 2 percent of all people in the United States identify as Native American and only a small portion live on tribal land.
In many cases, Native American leaders have long embraced energy development as an economic opportunity for communities battling widespread unemployment. But a growing backlash has some tribal leaders questioning whether the health and environmental risks associated with energy production has put their people in harm’s way. While it’s not conclusive that coal operations pose a direct danger to reservation residents, the Moapa Paiutes are one of several tribes demanding the closure of their neighborhood power plants.
Sherry Smith, a history professor who co-edited the book “Indians and Energy: Exploitation and Opportunity in the American Southwest,” said hardly anyone paid attention or were aware of potential environmental consequences when the power plants were built decades ago. “These are not simply people who have been duped by the government or the energy corporations,” said Smith, director of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University in Texas. “They are simply 21st century people who are coping with the same issues the rest of us are about economic development and the environmental consequences and having to weigh these things.”
When coal is burned, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury compounds are released into the air, according to the EPA. Research has shown those fine particles can be linked to serious health problems, including premature death. Children, who breathe more often, and senior citizens, who tend to have health problems agitated by pollution, are particularly vulnerable, said Colleen McKaughan, an associate director in the EPA’s air division.
A brand new report by the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse has documented elevated levels of toxic cadmium and lead in PVC packaging sold by dollar-store discount retailers. They found that:
This is the symbol of PVC packaging. Just remember Bad News Comes in 3’s – Don’t Buy PVC!
“Almost 40 percent of imported PVC packaging of products tested, sold by discount retail chains, was found to violate state toxics laws… These packages contained cadmium or lead, which are restricted by laws in 19 states due to toxicity.” – TPCH press release
“Packaging in violation of state laws is likely not one-time sourcing or production mistakes, but rather appears pervasive in imported PVC packaging,” – Kathleen Hennings of Iowa Department of Natural Resources.”
PVC packaging violates laws in 19 states.
No less than nineteen states have laws that prohibit the sale or distribution of packaging containing intentionally added cadmium, lead, mercury, and hexavalent chromium, and set limits on the incidental concentration of these materials in packaging. The purpose? To prevent the use of toxic heavy metals in packaging materials that enter landfills, incinerators, recycling streams, and ultimately, the environment. The Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse has been working to implement and enforce these laws.
In their latest report released this past Friday, a total of 61 flexible PVC packaging samples were screened using XRF technology. 39% of the packaging samples failed the screening test for cadmium and in one instance, also for lead. All the failed packaging samples were imported, mostly from China.
Packaging that failed the screening tests was used for children’s products, pet supplies, personal care, household items, home furnishings, hardware, and apparel. The products were purchased at eight retail chains across America. Six of the eight retail chains operate at least 500 locations each across 35 or more states.
Not the first time PVC packaging contaminated with toxic metals
This isn’t the first time the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse has documented PVC packaging laden with toxic heavy metals. In 2007, they published a report which found sixty-one percent of the PVC packages tested were not in compliance with state laws due to the use of cadmium and/or lead. In 2009 they published a follow up report which found that all packaging samples failing for cadmium content were flexible PVC, and over 90 percent of these were imported.
Other studies have documented other chemicals of concern in PVC packaging, including phthalates, organotins, bisphenol A (BPA), and adipates. Unfortunately, these were not tested for in the brand new study, and are also likely lurking in PVC packaging at retailers.
Is cadmium the new lead?
In recent years, the vinyl chemical industry has been moving away from lead as a stabilizer, but apparently has been replacing lead with cadmium and organotins.
There’s a body of evidence that cadmium may be the new lead. Like lead, cadmium has been linked to learning problems in school children, which are on the rise. A recent study by researchers from Harvard found children with higher cadmium levels are three times more likely to have learning disabilities and participate in special education.
Our friends at SAFER have compiled lots of great information on cadmium, including a summary of cadmium’s health concerns.
Just Remember – Bad News Comes in 3’s, Don’t Buy PVC
Thankfully, it’s not too hard for consumers to identify and avoid PVC/vinyl packaging, to help reduce your exposure to cadmium and the other toxic additives commonly found in vinyl.
One way to be sure if the packaging of a product is made from PVC is to look for the number “3” inside or the letter “V” underneath the universal recycling symbol. If it is, that means it’s made out of the poison plastic. That’s why we say Bad News Comes in 3’s – Don’t Buy PVC!
Not sure? Call the manufacturer or retailer and ask them directly.
Have some PVC packaging? Return it to the manufacturer or retailer and demand they go PVC-free!
In a pair of troubling scientific announcements this week, researchers presented findings suggesting that exposure to phthalates – the common, unlabeled chemical additives found in a wide range of consumer products, including many made of PVC/vinyl – may be linked to eczema and obesity in children. Previous studies have associated phthalate exposure with endocrine disruption and asthma,early puberty in girls, and learning disabilities.
The findings underscore the need to phase phthalates out of consumer products and construction materials like vinyl flooring, especially in schools, where they pose a particular threat to children and teachers of childbearing age. CHEJ’s annual Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies outlines ways parents can choose safer alternatives for their children.
The obesity study, presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Houston by South Korean pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Mi-Jung Par, found that children with the highest levels of the common phthalate di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in their blood were nearly five times as likely to be obese as children with the lowest levels.
The eczema study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives by researchers from the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health in New York, found that prenatal exposure to the phthalate butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP) – commonly found in vinyl flooring – can increase a child’s risk of developing eczema, a skin condition characterized by red, itchy swelling of the skin. This comes at a time when another study found the very same phthalate can be absorbed into children’s bodies.
The evidence is overwhelming that reducing phthalate exposure, especially among children and womenof child-bearing age, is smart public-health policy and follows the precautionary principle. Click here to learn more about CHEJ’s work to phase PVC, in which over 90% of all phthalates are used, out of the NYC school system.
A hydrology expert found clear evidence collected by the Environmental Protection Agency that hydraulic fracturing polluted a Wyoming aquifer according to a June report.
Tom Myers, a hydrologic consultant, reviewed a report of ground water contamination in Pavillion, WY commissioned by the National Resources Defense Council, the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Sierra Club and the Oil and Gas Accountability Project. The findings of Myers’ report is being submitted to the EPA as technical comments.
“After consideration of the evidence presented in the EPA report and in URS, it is clear that hydraulic fracturing has caused pollution of the Wind River formation and aquifer,” Myers wrote. “The entire formation is considered an underground source of drinking water, but 169 gas wells have been constructed into it; this is fracking fluid injection directly into an underground source of drinking water,” wrote Myers.
When most people think of zero waste, they think of a near impossible and impractical goal.
They think that zero waste means not generating any waste or that all the waste that is generated has to be recovered, reused or recycled. Zero waste is much more than these narrow views envision. A new report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, On the Road to Zero Waste: Successes and Lessons from Around the World, provides a realistic view of what zero waste is by providing examples of how it is being applied and offers great hope of what it can be.
The report makes clear that zero waste is both a goal and a plan of action. The goal is to ensure resource recovery and protect scarce natural resources by ending waste disposal practices that use incinerators, dumps and landfills. The plan incorporates waste reduction, composting, recycling and reuse, changes in consumption habits and industrial redesign. The report also points out that zero waste is a “revolution” between waste and people. “It is a new way of thinking that aims to safeguard the health, and improve the lives of everyone who produces, handles, works with, or is affected by waste – in other words all of us.”
Nine success stories from across the globe are profiled in the report. Each of the communities profiled used different zero waste practices that were unique to its culture, economy and political realities, yet each led successfully to the same goal. Each shared several key ingredients – intensive prevention and source separation policies and flexible and decentralized, low-tech waste treatment systems. Each was more cost-effective and generated more employment than systems built around big incinerators and landfills.
The introduction to the report describes a common philosophy behind a comprehensive zero waste plan driven by four core strategies: 1) Setting a new direction away from waste disposal; 2) Supporting comprehensive reuse, recycling and organics treatment programs; 3) Engaging Communities; and 4) Designing for the future.
The new direction moves society away from waste disposal by setting goals and target dates to reduce waste going to landfills, abolishing waste incineration, establishing or raising landfill fees, shifting subsidies away from waste disposal and into discard recovery, and banning disposable products, among other interventions.
Zero waste systems separate waste at its source to ensure high recovery quality and efficiency. Separate organics collection is critical to ensure a stream of clean, high quality material which in turn enables the creation of useful products (compost and biogas) from the largest fraction of municipal waste. It also improves the recycling rates because materials remain free of contamination.
A critical element of zero waste is involving the local community in determining the direction of the waste management program. The public needs to be involved in the very design of the plan for it to succeed. Residents must actively participate by consuming sustainably, minimizing waste, separating discards, and composting at home.
Once zero waste practices are in place, it becomes easier to identify materials or products that cannot be reused, composted or recycled. This creates opportunities to address industrial design mistakes or inefficiencies so that companies will produce cleaner and more sustainable products. If it cannot be reused, composted or recycled, it should not be produced in the first place.
Zero waste strategies can help societies produce and consume goods while respecting ecological limits and the rights of communities to self determination. It can also help ensure that all discarded materials are safely and sustainably returned to nature or manufacturing.
Mr. Mouton was an inspiration to me as a fighter for environmental justice.
A lifelong resident of Mossville, Louisiana, Mr. Mouton fought passionately and diligently against the PVC plastics and petrochemical industry in his community, which has been spewing poisonous chemicals into the air and water of his community. Cancer-causing chemicals like dioxin and vinyl chloride.
Words of an environmental justice hero.
Mr. Mouton was humble yet extremely persistent. He fought for his community for many, many years. He was outraged by the dioxin and vinyl chloride pollution that was getting into residents’ yards, chickens, homes, and their bodies. Portions of the community were relocated and demolished due to groundwater contamination from a nearby PVC plant.
He wouldn’t let them get away with this.
In 2000, Mr. Mouton and other leaders from Mossville traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to testify at a US EPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) meeting. At that meeting, he said:
“As I grew up in Mossville, I remember when the plants were built as a child. My father helped build a lot of those plants. It is terrible. We had beautiful green woods around us and we did all the fishing that we ever wanted. But they did not care anything about that. And that is the same thing today.
“People are sick and dying in our community because of the high levels of dioxins found in our blood…We have a lot of people sick. There’s a lot of people with some type of illness, lungs, or some with cancer that I know of. There’s a lot of sick people there that thedoctors don’t know what’s wrong with them.”
“They seem continually to stall, for some reason or another. They give us the impression that we do not know what our needs and wants are. They want to run the show; they want to take control.”
[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Mr. Mouton leading us on a toxic tour. Photo: Jay Burney
I met Mr. Mouton back in 2004 when PVC manufacturer CertainTeed was proposing to build a PVC plant on the Lake Erie waterfront in Buffalo, NY where I lived. We knew CertainTeed’s primary PVC plant was just outside Mossville, and that’s how I had the pleasure of working with and meeting Mr. Mouton.
I led a delegation of environmental health activists to travel from Buffalo to Mossville, to bear witness to the pollution the PVC plastics industry was leveling on this historic African American community. Mr. Mouton and other leaders of MEAN welcomed us into their community with open arms, introducing us to families, taking us on toxic tours, holding a joint press conference, and even throwing down with us at a crawfish boil. You can read about the trip in this newsletter article I wrote back in 2004 (see page 8).
I’ll never forget that trip visiting Mr. Mouton, Mossville and the Lake Charles area. It stays with me every day.
Broken promises, and the struggle continues.
“Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” – Mother Jones
I’ve always been inspired by these words of Mother Jones. And I like to think that Mr. Mouton would agree. He’d want to see the struggle continue, until justice is served.
“We’re being hit from the north, south, east, and west. Every time the wind changes, we get a lungful of pollution from some other plant. These chemicals end up in our water, our gardens, our children’s bodies. Each day we hear about someone in our community being diagnosed with cancer or another illness. We’re taking legal action so that we might live to see some improvements for ourselves and our community.” – Mr. Mouton, former President of Mossville Environmental Action Now (MEAN)
Over the past decade, MEAN, Earthjustice and other groups have taken EPA to court numerous times, and won! As a result of their work, the EPA agreed and promised to clamp down on pollution from PVC chemical plants like CertainTeed in Mossville.
Unfortunately, the EPA has now broken their promises to this community, which flies in the face of the EPA’s commitment to environmental justice. The EPA has set stronger emission standards for PVC plants in other communities, but weaker ones in Mossville, home to more than PVC plants than anywhere else in the country!
That’s why this week, MEAN, Earthjustice, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and other groups are fighting back once again. They’ve filed a petition and lawsuit demanding EPA reduce toxic pollution from the CertainTeed plant.
“After years of work to obtain the stronger air protection we need in Mossville, Louisiana, it was a shock to our community when EPA suddenly changed course and singled us out for weaker standards as compared to the rest of the nation. EPA should stay true to its commitment to environmental justice and correct this unfairness by setting stronger air pollution limits that will protect our health as we and all Americans deserve.”- Dorothy Felix, President of Mossville Environmental Action Now (MEAN)
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson owes this community justice. She owes it to Mr. Mouton’s family.
RIP Mr. Mouton. We will miss and never forget you. The struggle continues.
The future of our country will be the hands of our children. But what does that mean? We can raise our children with values and ethics and teach the basic lessons of life, encourage learning and education. Yet our children and our future children are at risk of not being able to lead our country. Our children risk not being able to succeed in business, in society because of the environmental chemicals that they are exposed to every single day. Chemicals are leaching from the floors that they crawl on as infants, beds that they sleep on nightly or the toys they play with and put into their mouths, all release dangerous chemicals. What will their future be like? How can our country grow and prosper or compete in the global economy?
Recently the Center for Disease our federal health agency reported that 1 out of every 88 American children is affected by autism. That is a 78% increase in autism since 2002 and 23% increase since 2006. As if that is not bad enough, the agency also reports that 14% of American children are affected by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Of course not all of these problems are the result of chemicals in a child’s environment but a good percentage are. Looking at the chemicals that are in every day products, ones that are linked to these particular diseases, it is clear society can prevent the harming of children. PCBs, for example are fond in our environment, in lighting and windows of schools built before 1980. Lead is found in toys imported from other countries; paint in older building, homes, play grounds and around various industrial sites. Brominated flame retardants are in mattresses, pillows, clothing and all types of furniture. Also there are Endocrine disruptors like phthalates found in PVC products that are all around us in flooring, toys, pipes, shower curtains and binds.
Not a single one of these chemicals in products are necessary for life or for comfort. Every one of them can be taken out of children’s environment today. We know how, and we know where to find and remove these threats. We are just lacking the political will.
Our politicians need to stop the madness and find the conviction and courage to stand up to Corporate America and say no more . . .”Our children will no longer be sacrificed.”
If I as a parent deliberately, knowing harmed my child I would go to jail, yet in America corporations are above the law and spend huge amount of money to keep their unsafe product from being eliminated in our marketplace and environment.
Just look at the statistics above or the rising cancer incidence in children across the country. This is an election year where we have a chance to ask the hard questions and vote out of office those that intend to harm our children to protect corporate interests. Everyone needs to get involved, today, so that we together can reverse the trend and protect our futures. For more information
CHEJ was sad to hear that Dr. Rosalie Bertell passed away this week. Dr. Bertell was an international leader in radiation health hazards and championed many campaigns to protect communities from radioactive waste sites and nuclear reactor releases.
Dr. Bertell was a nun whose life’s work at the International Institute of Concern for Public Health resulted in cutting-edge publications and research on the health effects of radiation. Her seminal book, “No Immediate Danger”, explains in layperson’s terms how radiation is harmful. Sister Bertell was often the only public health specialist who helped communities impacted by radioactive hazards, including the NL Industries uranium site in Albany, NY and the Uniontown IEL in Ohio. We commend Dr. Bertell for her compassionate dedication and her pioneering work on radiation health hazards.
