Recent Developments
October 6, 2010
Test confirm dixon found at Strecker Forest residential development site in Wildwood, MO which was know to border a Superfund site. Find out more and what this means for development at the Strecker Forest site by reading the article.
“Strecker Farms” has been changed to “Strecker Forest” in the above article description. This was a mistake and we genuinely apologize for any confusion that this mistake may have caused.
September 14, 2010
As the EPA seeks comments on how to regulate toxic coal ash, the Sierra Club educates on the dangers with a new video and Facebook application. Click here to read the article
September 9, 2010
Researchers combine knowledge from two public databases to predict environmental effects on genes and related diseases. Click here to read the article
August 4, 2010
Seattle Weekly highlighted Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition’€™s program manager, Cari Simson, as Seattle’s 2010 €œBest Toxic Avenger.€ Click here to read the article
September 8, 2010
PCB testing reveals elevated levels of the contaminant in public schools in Lexington, MA and New York City. Click here to read MA article, Click here to read NYC article
August 30, 2010
Wired Magazine profiles Picher, Indiana, formerly a lead mining boomtown but now America’s most toxic city and an unlivable locale as determined by EPA standards. Click here to read the article
June 10, 2010
The EPA is banning endosulfan, one of the last organochlorine pesticides left in the United States. Like DDT, endosulfan accumulates in the environment and in the bodies of people and wildlife, and is transported around the world to remote places. EPA officials on Wednesday announced that “pesticide products containing endosulfan do not meet the standard for registration” and pose “unacceptable risks” to farm workers and wildlife. The decision reverses one made in 2002 that triggered a lawsuit from farm labor unions and environmental activists. To read the full article, click here
June 3, 2010
St. Louis Michigan is home to Pine River where the annual St. Louis Free Fishing Derby is set for June 12 where record attendance at the event may qualify it for the Guinness Book of World Records. ESC serves as the Technical Advisor to the Pine River Citizens Task Force for the cleanup of the Velsicol Superfund site in Gratiot County, Michigan along the Pine River. To read the article in the Morning Sun, click here
May 31, 2010
The wreckage of the economic downturn includes numerous abandoned business sites, or brownfields, that are in need of cleanup, but who will foot the bill? To read the story, click here
May 19, 2010
EPA has recommended to the Remedy Review Board to replace the St. Louis community drinking water, which may be impacted by the contamination from the Velsicol Superfund site, one of ESC’s projects. For the story, click here
May 14, 2010
GE’s appeal of a federal courts’ decision in favor of the EPA is returning to court next week. The law suit is over EPA’s authority to issue unilateral administrative orders to companies responsible for Superfund sites to ensure that the cleanups move forward. For the story, click here
California’s Environmental Protection Agency called together a group of experts and scientists this week to address the nation’s growing deficit of knowledge and studies on chemicals introduced to humans and the environment. For the story, click here
May 12, 2010
The University of Michigan published a study that found high levels of dioxins in residents who consumed food grown in the Tittabawassee floodplain, contaminated by the Dow Chemical Company. For the news article, click here
May 6, 2010
The President’s Cancer Panel has determined that cancers due to environmental toxins are far more prevalent than originally thought. For the ABC news story, click here
April 29, 2010
Forbes magazine online included an op/ed on preemptive Earth Day celebrations, given the vast amount of land designated as Superfund sites across the country. For the story, click here
April 22, 2010
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency recently released the largest study of its kind on pharmaceuticals in effluent from wastewater treatment plants, finding widespread contamination from human medications and antibiotics. Click here for the story
April 16, 2010
Camp Lejeune’s contaminated wells are now closed, but the adverse health effects have affected an estimated 500,000. Veterans and dependents continue to experience serious problems from exposure to organic solvents like trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and benzene. Unfortunately, this base in North Carolina is not unique – it is only one of 130 military bases on the National Priority List. For the article, click here
Two researchers are conducting studies to further identify the links, if any, between environmental contaminants and autism in children. For the story, click here
April 9, 2010
NJ Senator Frank Lautenberg has introduced a bill to reinstate the “polluter pays” tax that feeds the Superfund program for toxic waste cleanup. Click here for the story.
March 18, 2010
Rolling Stone magazine published an article on coal sludge and the EPA’s dilemma of how to classify it, mentioning TVA’s Kingston fly ash accident on which ESC has worked. For the article, click here
March 15, 2010
Bill Nelson, Senator of Florida, has called for a tax levied upon polluters, not taxpayers, for the cleanup of Superfund sites. For the story, click here
March 15, 2010
A settlement between Ford and children of residents of the Ringwood neighborhood in New Jersey has been reached. Ringwood and a nearby state par were contaminated when Ford dumped lead-based sludge on the property decades ago. Click here for the story
March 12, 2010
Concerned citizens, scientists, and other interested stakeholders gathered yesterday to learn more about the proposed uranium mining in Virginia. Click here for one analysis of the event
March 8, 2010
An 80-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan was declared a Superfund site in 1990 due to PCB contamination. Only last week did the chemical company responsible reach a settlement with the US government, which will provide $250 million for the clean up. Read the story here
March 8, 2010
GE recently proposed redesigning the cleanup of the Hudson River in order to meet the EPA’s goal of completing the dredging project in 5 years. Read the Post Star’s story here
March 6, 2010
Residents of the Acreage community are beginning to question a recycling company’s dumping practices in connection with a childhood cancer cluster that was recently identified by the Department of Health. For the story, click here
March 2, 2010
EPA added ten sites to the National Priorities List today, adding to the 1,269 contaminated sites already awaiting or undergoing cleanup throughout the United States. Click here to read the EPA press release
March 2, 2010
After much public discussion and debate, the EPA placed the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY on the National Priorities List today. Click here to read the New York Times article
March 2, 2010
The Port Angeles, Washington Harbor-Works Development Authority passed a resolution expressing its disappointment in the three-year timeline projected in the Agreed Order between Rayonier Mill and Ecology. For more, read the Peninsula Daily News article here
February 26, 2010
EPA recently requested public comment on new Preliminary Remediation Goals for Dioxin. EPA recommends setting the PRG at 72 ppt for non-cancer risks and 3.7ppt for cancer-based risks. Dr. deFur, who has worked with the EPA on dioxin issues since 1991, submitted comments on the proposal.
February 8, 2010
A recent study has found a link between the industrial solvent trichloroethylene and Parkinson’s disease – exposure can increase a person’s risk by sixfold. To read the article, click here
January 27, 2010
A toxic waste dump in California highlights Obama’s recent decision to make environmental justice a priority – there is a high rate of children born with facial deformities in the low-income community near the dump. To read the full story, click here
January 27, 2010
The waste disposal practices at a lead-contaminated Superfund site in Northern Idaho have become a point of controversy between the EPA and the community. Disposing of the polluted dirt in a hazardous waste dump within the same region has some questioning whether the community’s health is truly being protected. To read the full story, click here
January 22, 2010
The EPA has released its preliminary critique of the Lower Willamette Group’s Baseline Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments for the Portland Harbor, a site contaminated with numerous chemicals from years of industrial activity. For a summary of the critique and a link to the document, click here
January 20, 2010
The EPA has indefinitely postponed the release of draft regulations on coal ash disposal that were originally promised by the end of 2009. In response Iowa is urging federal officials to strengthen regulations concerning landfill liners and groundwater contamination. Living near unlined landfills containing coal ash poses a 1 in 2,000 cancer risk, a level 500 times higher than that which is considered safe. To read the full article, click here
January 12, 2010
For the first time since the Toxic Substances Control Act was passed in 1976, the EPA has decided to regulate the chemicals used by manufacturers. Large chain stores like Walmart and CostCo are already altering the products they offer in anticipation of any regulatory changes, which has huge implications for the safety of consumer products. For the story, click here