Pollution, much like wealth, is not distributed equally in the United States. Read more
Tag: children’s health
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More States Crack Down on Protesters
In anticipation of upcoming protests, the state of South Dakota has recently passed a bill threatening protesters. South Dakota also has a large population of Sioux tribal members culturally related to the Standing Rock tribe and the pipeline is planned to pass through South Dakota as well. Read more.
A massive fire at a fuels storage company along the Houston Ship Channel may burn for two more days, an official said on Monday as the blaze spread a plume of black smoke across the city, shutting schools in two nearby communities. Read more
An examination of monitoring data available for the first time concludes that 91 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants with monitoring data are contaminating groundwater with unsafe levels of toxic pollutants. Read more here
Leaders from fence line communities met with EPA representatives Tuesday, March 5th at EPA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to push for action at their Superfund sites.
“We need action in our communities where people are sick and dying because of exposures to chemicals in the environment,” was the resounding cry for help from community leaders.
The group met with Steven D. Cook, Deputy Assistance Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), Peter C. Wright, Assistant Administrator of OLEM, James E. Woolford with the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) and other EPA staff. The meeting was organized by the Center for Health, Environment & Justice as part of a commitment from EPA to meet quarterly with communities at risk from Superfund sites.
Relocation of families living among some of the most toxic chemicals was an overarching issue. How can communities trigger relocation as the policy is unclear? Leaders called for a committee or task force to find ways to clarify this section of the law.
Medical monitoring of victims at Superfund sites was another key issue that the law requires but the agency ignores. Testing only children up to six years of age is inadequate. Children live within many of these communities their entire lives. Fifteen-year-old adolescents need testing as well to determine their body burden from living in a poisoned community.
Technical Assistance Grants were also discussed as an overarching issue to simplify the program so that average lay people can complete the process and application rather than hiring a grant writer when families can barely afford food and housing due to their medical bills and economic status.
Contacts Community Leaders attended meeting.
Lois Gibbs, People’s Action/Center for Health, Environment & Justice
Charles Powell, PANIC, Birmingham, Alabama – 35th Street Superfund Site
Jackie Young, Texas Health & Environment Alliance, Houston, Texas – San Jacinto Waste Pits, Superfund Site
Olinka Green, Highland Hills Community Action Committee, Dallas, Texas – Lane Plating Works, Inc, Superfund Site
Akeeshea Daniels, East Chicago, Indiana – USS Lead Superfund Site
Brandon Richardson, Minden, West Virginia – Shafer Chemical Superfund Site
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MN Preventing Lead Poisoning
It would cost more than $4 billion to get the lead out of Minnesota’s drinking water, but it could bring a 2-for-1 return on the investment.”As we see in many other areas of public health, preventing a health problem is more cost effective than waiting for a health problem to develop and then treating it,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said. Read More.
Harvard alum, an accomplished entrepreneur, data scientist, and businesswoman, Doll Avant is now taking on America’s water crisis.
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The industrial PFAS chemicals dumped by Wolverine Worldwide decades ago are now in the blood of Kent County people at significantly high levels.
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Making America’s Waters Burn Again
The Trump administration’s new Dirty Water Rule seeks to strip the Clean Water Act’s protections from an overwhelming number of our waterways and return our water to levels of pollution we last saw before the Clean Water Act’s enactment in 1972.
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Sustainable Earth: Water
CLEAN WATER IS essential for life, but most people in the developed world don’t think much about the water they use for drinking, food preparation, and sanitation. In developing nations, however, the search for safe drinking water can be a daily crisis. Millions of people die each year, most of them children, from largely preventable diseases caused by a lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation.
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