Pollution

"Indigenous leaders are suing the Canadian government for not providing clean water – and ministers admit they have failed".

"California lawmakers are urging federal officials and Congress to act after researchers mapped what appeared to be more than 25,000 barrels dumped in an area off the coast of Los Angeles known for DDT contamination."

"An underground nuclear waste storage tank in Washington state that dates to World War II appears to be leaking contaminated liquid into the ground, the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday."

"For years, environmental advocates and neighborhoods close to Louisiana industrial plants have sought more monitoring of air pollution. But a state Senate committee on Tuesday rejected a bill that would have required 473 plants to install real-time air monitoring systems and pay for it."

"The EPA said Thursday that it’ll expand the scope of its toxics release inventory to include more chemicals and facilities releasing toxic chemicals while providing easier public access to the data."

"Lack of potable water drove high Covid-19 rates in Native American communities. That realization may help them gain better representation in upcoming negotiations about Colorado River water."

"The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a $35 billion measure to clean up the nation’s water systems, offering a brief moment of bipartisan cooperation amid deep divisions between the two parties over President Biden’s much larger ambitions for a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure package."

"Black, Latino and Asian Americans face higher levels of exposure to fine particulate matter from traffic, construction and other sources".

"Nearly every source of the nation’s most pervasive and deadly air pollutant disproportionately affects Americans of color, regardless of their state or income level, according to a study published Wednesday. The analysis of fine-particle matter, which includes soot, shows how decisions made decades ago about where to build highways and industrial plants continue to harm the health of Black, Latino and Asian Americans today.

"Key lawsuits that could define the reach of the Clean Water Act are working their way through federal courts — despite Biden administration attempts to stop them so it can craft its own regulations. The cases concern what waterways and wetlands qualify for federal protections, a question that has befuddled judges for two decades."

"Thirteen U.S. oil refineries released the cancer-causing chemical benzene in concentrations that exceeded federal limits last year, according to government data published by the green group Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) on Wednesday."