Climate change has resulted in devastating flooding and natural disasters that have overwhelmed and greatly impacted communities. The Edenville dam along the Tittabawassee River in mid-Michigan collapsed due to large amounts of rainfall on May 19th, resulting in the collapse of another nearby dam. The resulting impacts of these events led to extreme flooding and the evacuation of nearly 10,000 residents in the surrounding areas. Communities with Superfund sites are in specific danger due to the potential mass movement of toxins into communities during flooding. Mary McKSchmidt, an author, photographer, and community member in Midland County, Michigan reflects on extreme flooding events that have put surrounding communities at risk for exposure to toxic chemicals from a Dow chemical complex and a large Superfund site. The Government Accountability Office has recommended that Superfund sites should be actively protected by planning for possible climate change events. However, the EPA has yet to address this issue. Read More
Tag: toxic chemicals
Midland, Michigan is still assessing the damages after torrential rain and dam failure flooded the area. The height of concern was the status of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Saginaw River Dredge Material Disposal Facility that houses dioxin contaminated sediments that could have spread from the storm water. The facility appears to have remained in tact; however, there is still concern that the flood could have spread river sediment already contaminated with dioxin from Dow towards residential properties. It may take some time to fully determine the extent of the damage in Midland as many properties are still under water. Read More.
Flooding from two breached dams on Wednesday, May 20, has created problems for the Dow chemical plant in Michigan. Downriver from the plastics plant is a Superfund site located on the Tittabawassee River. Allen Burton, a professor at the University of Michigan explains that the flooding water creates concern for the site cleanup because it can stir contaminated sediments with the river water and carry the contamination further downstream. Further concern is raised at how climate change could impact Superfund site cleanup efforts with increases in flooding, severe storms and wildfires. Read More.
The following story is reprinted on the CHEJ website from the New York Times and written by Hiroko Tabuchi.
Dam Failure Threatens a Dow Chemical Complex and Superfund Cleanup
By
Floodwaters from two breached dams in Michigan on Wednesday flowed into a sprawling Dow chemical complex and threatened a vast Superfund toxic-cleanup site downriver, raising concerns of wider environmental fallout from the dam disaster and historic flooding.
The compound, which also houses the chemical giant’s world headquarters, lies on the banks of the Tittabawassee River in Midland, where by late Wednesday rising water had encroached on some parts of downtown. Kyle Bandlow, a Dow spokesman, said that floodwaters had reached the Dow site’s outer boundaries and had flowed into retaining ponds designed to hold what he described as brine water used on the site.
The Superfund cleanup sites are downriver from the century-old plant, which for decades had released chemicals into the nearby waterways. The concern downriver, according to Allen Burton, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Michigan, is that contaminated sediments on the river floor could be stirred up by the floodwaters, spreading pollution downstream and over the riverbanks.
“You worry about the speed of the current, this wall of water coming down the river,” he said. “It just has a huge amount of power.”
Mr. Bandlow did not provide information on the status of the cleanup sites.
Over the years the Dow complex has manufactured a range of products including Saran Wrap, Styrofoam, Agent Orange and mustard gas. Over time, Dow released chemicals into the water, leading to dioxin contamination stretching more than 50 miles along the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron. Research has shown that dioxins can damage the immune system, cause reproductive or developmental problems, and cause cancer.
There is also a tiny nuclear research reactor on the site, used to create material that can be used in product experiments. Overnight, Dow filed an “unusual event” report with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission warning of potential flooding at the site. But the reactor had already been shut down because of the coronavirus crisis, and there were no indications of flood damage on Wednesday.
A federally funded Superfund cleanup of the Tittabawassee River began in 2007, and was slated for completion next year. Cleanup of other contaminated waterways is set to take longer.
“I would hate to see 13 years of work literally go down the drain if this flood wipes away the effort,” said Terry Miller, chairman of the local environmental group, Lone Tree Council, which has for years campaigned for a cleanup. “We were almost nearing the end.”
A former lawyer for Dow who oversaw the cleanup for more than a decade, Peter C. Wright, now runs the federal government’s Superfund cleanup program within the Environmental Protection Agency. A 2018 New York Times investigation found that while Mr. Wright led Dow’s legal strategy relating to the cleanup, the chemical giant was accused by regulators, and in one case a Dow whistle-blower, of submitting disputed data, misrepresenting scientific evidence and delaying cleanup.
Mr. Wright has pledged to recuse himself from cleanups related to his former employer, and was not involved in the government’s response to the flooding, said Francisco Arcaute, a Chicago-based spokesman for the E.P.A.
The agency was prepared to assist Michigan “in assessing and responding to any public health and environmental impacts from the Tittabawassee River Superfund Site and Dow’s Midland facility due to the ongoing flooding,” Mr. Arcaute said, including dispatching emergency personnel to the area.
Dow has not reported chemical releases into the river, Mr. Arcaute added. He said that the company’s Superfund agreement with the agency would require the company to survey for recontamination or any other effect on cleanup efforts after the flooding.
Dow agreed last year to pay another $77 million to fund projects that would attempt to restore nearby fish and wildlife habitats to compensate for decades of pollution from its plant. Signs along the river warn locals not to eat fish caught there, and to avoid contact with soil and river sediment.
The threat to the Dow complex highlights the risks to Superfund and other toxic cleanup sites posed by the effects of climate change, which include more frequent and severe flooding. A federal report published last year found that 60 percent of Superfund sites overseen by the E.P.A., or more than 900 toxic sites countrywide, are in areas that may be affected by flooding or wildfires, both hazards that may be exacerbated by climate change.
The Trump administration rejected the report’s recommendation that the federal government provide more clarity on how it intends to incorporate climate research into readying these sites to withstand a changing climate.
Hiroko Tabuchi is an investigative reporter on the climate desk. She was part of the Times team that received the 2013 Pulitzer for explanatory reporting.
Categories
Finding a Safe Replacement for PFAS
PFAS is a forever chemical that is commonly used in flame retardants and fire fighting foams. The toxic chemical is known to cause hormonal changes, decrease fertility, weaken immune systems, and increase risks of cancer. States across the country have worked to ban the use of the chemical that is now found in all major U.S. bodies of water. Companies are working to find suitable replacement for the chemical in fire fighting foams with concern of substituting one hazardous pollutant for another. Read More.
Categories
A Pandemic of Pollution
The death toll due to Covid-19 passed the 90,000 mark in the United States this week. This is a truly staggering if not sobering number that raises many questions about how we as a nation respond to this incredible loss of life. These are not just numbers, but people – someone’s mother, father, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunt, friend, lover, child… The daily news boils this down to statistics. Numbers of new cases and deaths are reported each day before the newscaster moves on to the next story. Are we normalizing this staggering loss of life? Even worse, are we accepting it?
Yet I look at the leadership of this country and I don’t see people who empathize with those who have lost someone to this deadly virus. I don’t see people who are taking steps to minimize the impact of this insidious virus.
There is still much that we don’t know about Covid-19 and its effects on people, but it is becoming quite clear that low income residents and people of color are disproportionately impacted by exposure to the coronavirus. It’s also become clear that underlying health conditions, such as respiratory problems like asthma and COPD; diabetes, high blood pressure, immune diseases like lupus multiple sclerosis make people more vulnerable to covid-19, not just among the elderly, but among people of color and others with these diseases.
Why then is the USEPA doing all that it can to dismantle (repeal or weaken) regulations that protect people’s health. A report released today by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee describes how specific actions taken by EPA to weaken or repeal air pollution rules and regulations will “harm public health and potentially add to COVID-19 risks.”
The report specifically points to seven rules that were initially designed to remove greenhouse gas, soot, mercury and other pollution from the air that the agency has targeted and proposed or finalized actions since March 1st that “will result in increased air pollution and could cause tens of thousands of premature deaths. EPA has, in short, unleashed a pandemic of pollution in the middle of an actual pandemic, the respiratory effects of which may be amplified by pollution exposure.”
The committee is clear that the agency should reverse its deregulating efforts and strengthened rather than weaken the country’s air pollution laws and regulations, and take steps to address the Covid-19 specific risks posed by air pollution. In the committee’s words:
“EPA should re-focus its enforcement, compliance and monitoring activities in a manner that prioritizes the early detection of high exposure to air pollutants in communities that have both historically experienced such exposures and those at greatest risk of adverse outcomes from COVID-19.”
This and other recommendations made by the Senate Committee offer hope that we will not accept 90,000 deaths and counting as the cost of doing business in the United States. There are steps we can take to reduce and minimize the impacts of Covid-19.
Read the full report here.
Many studies have examined the effect of long term exposure to air pollution outside and the impact it could have on COVID-19 severity. While we are all in our homes, it might be time to examine the toxic household products that affect our immune systems. Synthetic chemicals and “forever chemicals” can be found in products around the house that children could be exposed to or enter into drinking water. Although removing these items from the house today will not change our risks to the coronavirus now, it could change how we respond to viruses in the future. Read More.
Earlier this month, Harvard University released a preliminary study that examined a link between long term air pollution exposure and the severity of COVID-19 symptoms. Some of the most polluted areas in the United States are concentrated in regions with low-income and minority populations. As the virus has continued to spread, an alarming trend has been found between the ratio of death rates from the virus in predominately black neighborhoods with higher pollution and toxicity levels compared to predominantly white or less polluted neighborhoods. Read More.
A new screening tool is now available that identifies populations across the country that are most vulnerable to severe complications following exposure to the coronavirus and development of covid-19. This community vulnerability map which was developed by Jvion, a health care data firm, in collaboration with Microsoft. Jvion uses socioeconomic and environmental factors, such as lack of access to transportation, exposure to pollution, unemployment and mortality rates at the census block level to identify communities vulnerable to severe effects of covid-19.
In an article about his new mapping tool in Grist magazine, Jvion is described as using “machine learning to analyze block-level data from the U.S. Census to identify ‘environmental health hazards’ as one key socioeconomic factor that makes a population more vulnerable to severe covid-19 outcomes, based on the health effects of polluted air, contaminated water and extreme heat. They also factored in how chronic exposure to outdoor respiratory air pollutants such as fine particulate matter can increase the risk of cancer, respiratory illness and cardiovascular disease – preexisting conditions that make exposure to the novel corona virus more severe and fatal.”
This interactive and searchable map differs from others available on the internet in that it identifies the populations that once infected will likely experience severe outcomes ranging from hospitalization to death.
This vulnerability map can be used together with the USEPA’s EJScreen, an Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping tool. The EJScreen uses 11 environmental and health indicators and standard demographic data to identify communities most susceptible to air quality pollution. The EJ screen specifically includes a cancer risk and respiratory hazard index that is provided as a percentile in the state or nationally.
When the vulnerability mapping tool is matched with the EPA’s EJ Screen, the results are astounding. The relationship between a community’s proximity to industrial facilities and the projected risk of severe covid-19 outcomes is very clear and very strong. The areas of high vulnerability identified on the Community Vulnerability map match well with areas with high pollution from industrial facilities identified by the EJScreen, painting an all too familiar picture of communities suffering disproportionately from multiple and cumulative risks.
The preexisting respiratory and other health conditions that African Americans suffer from living in the shadows of industrial facilities in sacrifice zones across the country contribute significantly to their susceptibility to the lethal effects of covid-19. This reality isn’t an accident, but the result of economic and environmental conditions imposed on people of color over the long history of discrimination in this country.
In spite of these obvious disparities and the growing threat that people of color and African Americans in particular face from covid-19, EPA announced this month that it has stopped enforcing regulations that hold corporate polluters accountable for releasing toxic chemicals into the air we breathe. This is another outrage. Sign our petition to demand that the government reverse this disastrous decision.
The predominantly black and low-income communities living near the back-to-back petrochemical refineries of Louisiana’s “cancer alley” have long suffered compromised immune systems and high rates of disease. Now, the state’s fast-growing COVID-19 outbreak is poised to hit them especially hard. <Read more>
Recommendations for Equitable and Just Economic Stimulus Spending in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
As Congress considers legislation to address the growing public health and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the principles of justice and equity must be centered in the response. Environmental justice communities, Tribal communities, low income communities and communities of color are hit hardest by economic downturns and must be prioritized. Members of these communities are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 because they are often exposed to disproportionately high levels of pollution and have underlying health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes and cancer.
Congress must also ensure that the pathway for economic recovery works for everyone and that the benefits of a stimulus package are distributed equitably and justly. In addition, stimulus legislation must include safeguards to ensure that stimulus dollars are spent in ways that comply with environmental regulations to avoid increasing public health and safety risks. Projects supported by stimulus legislation should reduce locally harmful air pollution in communities coping with the cumulative impacts of multiple pollution sources. Companies receiving stimulus support with facilities located in or near low-income neighborhoods, tribal communities and communities must significantly reduce locally harmful pollution, such as airborne particulate matter, in these communities.
To safeguard environmental justice communities, Tribal communities, low-income communities, and communities of color, Congress must include in economic stimulus legislation the spending priorities recommended below.
WATER
Access to affordable clean water is critical, especially as households nationwide respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. We recommend the following specific actions and funding:
Immediately implement a national moratorium on water shutoffs for all households. Fund $100 million for the immediate restoration of all residential water services.
Include $25 million for immediate potable water distribution, filter installation and sanitation systems for homes without access to these necessities. Spending should prioritize urban, rural, and Tribal communities who currently lack access to safe drinking water and adequate water and sanitation systems.
Include $45 million in grants and technical assistance dollars for the replacement of both household plumbing and lead services lines. Spending should prioritize households’ whose plumbing systems have been corroded by municipal drinking water systems, such as in Flint, Michigan. This should also allow for home waters filters for contaminants including but not limited to lead and PFAS. Trust in municipal water systems must be rebuilt.
Include $150 million to establish three Community Water and Energy Resource Centers (CWERCs) in Michigan. CWERCs will resolve many ratepayer, infrastructure, and environmental issues to improve Michigan’s essential freshwater resources through a decentralized approach to water treatment and infrastructure.
Fund $30 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. These funds support investments in infrastructure and programs that are essential to providing safe and affordable drinking water to communities, protecting water systems, managing waste- and stormwater, building climate resilience and expanding economic opportunities for low-income communities and communities of color. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. drinking water and wastewater infrastructure “D” and “D+” grades, respectively, and estimates that the investment gap for these critical systems will reach $105 billion by 2025.
ENERGY
Households must have access to affordable, reliable and sustainable electricity to ensure public health and safety and to support an inclusive, just and pollution-free energy economy with high-quality jobs. We recommend funding for the following programs:
Fund $3.2 billion for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program. According to DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, “Through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program provided $3.2 billion in block grants to cities, communities, states, U.S. territories, and Indian tribes to develop, promote, implement, and manage energy efficiency and conservation projects that ultimately created jobs.” Economic stimulus legislation should provide $3.2 billion to the EECBG program. The EECBG program should prioritize spending in communities left behind by past and ongoing energy efficiency programs.
Fund $7 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. LIHEAP assists families with energy costs related to energy bills and weatherization and energy-related home minor repairs. Stimulus legislation should include $7 billion for LIHEAP.
Fund $7 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). WAP provides weatherization for low-income households, leading to $238 or more in average savings on energy costs. WAP lowers energy bills for mid- and low-income families by supporting home energy efficiency improvements and supports clean energy jobs. Every year the requests for WAP support far exceed the funds available, leaving many households without the support they need to improve their energy efficiency and reduce energy costs. Congress should include $7 billion for WAP in stimulus legislation and strengthen the program to better reach and serve low-income families.
POLLUTION FREE TRANSPORTATION AND GOODS MOVEMENT
Existing federal programs, with adequate funding, can substantially reduce air pollution from transportation and goods movement. These programs provide critical funds to shift fleets and equipment from diesel to zero emissions, while improving air quality and public health. We recommend that Congress supporting the following programs:
Fund $500 million annually for Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emissions Vehicle Program.
Fund $500 million annually for the Diesel Emissions Reductions Act (DERA) and prioritize zero emissions replacement equipment.
Prioritize programs for communities confronted with the cumulative impacts of disproportionately high levels of pollution.
SAFE, HEALTHY AND POLLUTION-FREE COMMUNITIES
To build safe and healthy communities and infrastructure, we recommend that Congress fund the following programs:
Fund $100 million for the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) Environmental Career Worker Training. The NIEHS Environmental Career Worker Training Program (ECWTP) provides job and safety training for disadvantaged and underrepresented members of communities of color and low-income communities to secure jobs in environmental restoration, construction, handling hazardous materials and waste, and emergency response. A 2015 report assessing the program found that “an annual federal investment of $3.5 million in the ECWTP generates a $100 million return.” The report found that the program increases the earning potential of those trained, increases tax revenue, lowers workplace injury and hiring costs, and reduces crime..
Fund $6 billion for the EPA Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program. This program provides small grants to communities to address environmental risks associated with high concentrations of pollution, to prepare for climate change effects, and to improve public health. In 2019, the EJSG program provided roughly $1.5 million for one-year grants of up to $30,000 each. Given the disproportionate exposure to high levels of pollution, climate change effects and other impacts of historic economic and racial inequality, these grants provide critical resources to low-income communities, tribal communities and communities of color to improve community health and support job creation. Congress should increase the annual funding for the EJSG program to $6 billion, increase the grant size to up to $500,000, and increase the grant period from one to two years.
Fund $20 billion for Superfund Site Cleanup to protect communities from toxic pollution. Hurricanes Harvey, Florence, and Maria spotlighted the elevated public health and safety risks that Superfund sites pose to communities. Superfund cleanup spending is crucial to protect the 53 million people living within three miles of the existing 1,836 Superfund sites. Stimulus legislation should increase Superfund site cleanup funding to $20 billion.
Fund $560 million for EPA to enforce environmental regulations. Industrial facilities and other companies must continue to comply with environmental regulations to avoid increasing public health and safety risks at a time when public health is already threatened by the corona virus pandemic. To protect public health and safety and hold companies accountable when they violate environmental regulations, Congress should provide $560 million for EPA to ensure compliance and enforcement with environmental regulations.
Fund $30 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). The CDBG program provides grants to states to support community development and address economic and public health challenges created by historic racial and economic inequality. CDBG grants support construction of affordable housing, programs to create economic opportunities and jobs, services for those in need, job creation, and improvement of community living conditions and quality of life. In light of current public health and safety risks, Congress should provide $30 billion for CDBG to support equitable and just community development and access to safe, affordable, resilient and energy efficient housing.
Fund $2 billion for Brownfields Redevelopment. EPA’s Brownfields Program supports economic redevelopment by helping states and communities safely clean up and sustainably reuse former industrial and contaminated sites. Congress should increase the FY 2019 annual appropriation of $250 million for EPA’s Brownfields redevelopment program to $2 billion to support economic development and sustainable approaches to local land use. This program should be implemented through community-driven planning that protects against community displacement.
CUMULATIVE IMPACTS
Environmental regulation does not necessarily mean healthy environments for all communities. Many communities suffer from the cumulative effects of multiple pollution sources. National climate legislation must not abandon or diminish the important goal of reducing toxic pollution in all its forms. The stimulus is an important opportunity for an innovative and comprehensive approach to reducing legacy environmental and economic impacts on communities and be designed intentionally to ensure that it does not impose further risks. Therefore all the items noted above, should integrate criteria and mechanisms for prioritizing those communities which are the most vulnerable economically and environmentally.
SIGN ON TO THIS LETTER URGING CONGRESS TO SUPPORT COMMUNITIES at this link.