On August 29, the Environmental Protection Agency announced its final rule amending its definition of “waters of the United States.” This new definition was written to conform with the Supreme Court’s May 24, 2023 ruling in Sackett v. EPA 598 U.S. _____(2023) (discussed in a previous blog here).
The Sackett decision held in favor of the Sacketts, who wanted to build a home on an empty lot near a lake in Idaho. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the couple and held …
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A study published last week by the Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A journal — a journal that publishes on natural and man-made food additives and contaminants in food and the animal feed chain and is an affiliated journal of the International Society for Mycotoxicology — might make people think twice when selecting straws for their drinks.
The study — titled “Assessment of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in commercially available drinking straws using targeted and suspect screening approaches,” — makes some interesting findings on …
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Pop quiz: What is the naturally occurring gas that forms a life-sustaining, protective barrier when in the Earth’s stratosphere (15-30km above the surface), blocking harmful ultra-violet radiation reaching the planet from the sun?
Ozone!
Round two: What is the noxious gas that can cause wheezing, shortness of breath, and even permanent lung damage when produced by low-to-the ground industrial pollution?
Also, Ozone!
Yes, that same gas that we were all motivated and mobilized to restore into the sky back in the 80’s and 90’s has …
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In what could be the start of a national trend, a state court judge recently ruled that Montana’s government must do more to protect the state and its residents from climate change.
State District Judge Kathy Seeley, citing a state constitutional right to a clean environment, ruled in favor of a group of youth plaintiffs and invalidated a pair of laws prohibiting state agencies from considering the effects of greenhouse-gas emissions. According to Judge Seeley, “[t]he degradation to Montana’s environment, and the resulting harm to Plaintiffs, …
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In their purest form, natural wildfires, most commonly caused by lightning strikes or volcanic activity, are a necessary part of the lifecycle in most ecosystems. They provide a number of important ecological benefits, such as reducing dead vegetation, stimulating new growth, and improving wildlife habitat. Indeed, a variety of plant and animal species depend on wildfires for their very survival.
However, in recent years, numerous countries, including the United States, have experienced significant wildfires that have moved far beyond these ecological benefits, leaving entire communities …
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Microplastics have been detected in human lungs and placentas, stool and blood, and the latest finding: heart tissue. In a pilot study published in Environmental Science & Technology, researchers studied 15 patients, ranging in age from 41 to 75, who underwent heart surgery at the Beijing Anzhen Hospital in China. Through the use of laser-direct infrared chemical imaging, researchers discovered nine types of microplastics were found across five types of tissue, with the largest measuring 469 micrometers in diameter. These included polypropylene (used in food …
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With COVID diagnoses spiking across the United States this summer, we cannot yet claim that the pandemic is behind us. In fact, we are still experiencing residual medical device and equipment shortages, which has caused medical providers to spend billions on alternative sterile medical products and even implementing rations in some cases. Complicating the issue is the fact that, typically, only a handful of manufacturers and suppliers distribute these life-saving products, so alternatives can be difficult to procure. Shortages appear to be endangering other …
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Last week, the California Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous ruling, struck down a Monterey County voter-approved local initiative that would have banned oil and gas drilling and imposed severe restrictions on oil and gas development in the county. In the court’s view, the local ordinance is preempted by state law and was struck down. The decision came in the case of Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. County of Monterey, S271869.
By way of background, back in 2016, Project Monterey Club, a local environmental …
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On July 27, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a three sentence order that vacated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s orders staying the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The pipeline is being built through Virginia and West Virginia and is being constructed to provide additional natural gas for winter in the South and Mid-Atlantic. Several environmental groups oppose this pipeline because they allege that endangered fish species would be harmed by the construction.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, Pub.L.No. 118-5, 137 …
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Motivated by “the quality and sustainability of drinking-water” due to rising water demand concerns in the United States, as well as “increasing contamination of drinking-water resources, and a growing understanding of potential human-health consequences associated with exposures to contaminants,” the U.S. Geological Survey recently conducted a study on the prevalence of PFAS in tap water.
To better understand human exposure to PFAS at the point-of-use, the authors conducted a standardized analytical survey of PFAS nationally.
“The overall objectives of the study were to (1) directly …
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