Chemicals

"Nearly half a century after a Gold Rush-era quicksilver mining operation shut down in northern California, mercury continues to flow into a nearby creek, and federal officials blame the mine’s state landmark status for cleanup delays."

"Lisa Schulte Moore loves nature. To stand in an old-growth forest, she says, 'I can only describe it as healing.' When she moved to Iowa to teach ecology at Iowa State University, she didn't get that same feeling when she found herself amid acres of corn. She wasn't hearing birds or seeing many bugs. 'All I can hear are the leaves of the rustling corn,' she says. 'Not one biological noise. You know, they call it the green desert.'"

"Iraq is the rare country that imports gas but also burns natural gas from oil wells into the air. The wasted gas is enough to power 3 million homes. Burning it is making people sick."

"The EPA announced Wednesday it will allow pesticide producers to forego certain tests on live fish, which can indicate whether the chemicals accumulate in their bodies and enter the food chain."

"Tuomas Siilasjoki and Minna Näkkäläjärvi say they were taken by surprise when a mobile drill rig one day appeared in the horizon. Nobody had asked them about exploring for minerals inside their siida, a reindeer foraging area, in northern Finland. The Sámi families here in Tarvantovaara wilderness area fear the world's hunger for metals to ramp up the green economy will destroy their indigenous way of life."

"Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese plastics company, intends to build a complex St. James Parish, Louisiana, a region already known as "Cancer Alley." Environmental activist Anne Rolfes faces criminal charges for a protest action she took to call attention to the company's history of harm." "From Southeast Asia to the United States, activists have called attention in recent years to the harmful impact of chemical companies such as Formosa Plastics Corporation, a Taiwanese petrochemical company that operates throughout the world, including the US."

"The Senate on Thursday put off further action for weeks on its mammoth defense authorization bill that has become a battleground for efforts to address exposure to PFAS."

"DETROIT — Groundwater contamination at the former Electro-Plating services facility that was determined to be the source of a green ooze leak last year will be treated by injecting chemicals into the soil and treating the contaminants in place."

"The New Hampshire House passed a bill Tuesday that would put into law some of country’s toughest drinking water standards for a group of toxic chemicals and provides tens of millions of dollars to help communities in the state meet the rules."