"Top aides at U.S. EPA's headquarters were discussing their options on the Flint, Mich., drinking water disaster long before the agency elevated its response in January this year."
An investigative team at InsideClimate News, including SEJ member Lisa Song, won for their series, "Exxon: The Road Not Taken," today (March 8, 2016). The series documented that Exxon's own research confirmed the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming decades ago — although the company's top execs went on to fund denial of climate science and lead efforts to block solutions.
"Senators are growing increasingly bullish on the prospects of returning to a major energy reform bill and a Flint, Mich., aid package."
"A lawsuit stemming from Flint's lead-contaminated water was filed Monday on behalf of the city's residents against Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder as well as other current and former government officials and corporations."
The sewage that flows from Southern California may contain deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Instead of removing them, the sewage collection and treatment system may offer a "luxury hotel" where the superbugs can proliferate before sewage is released to the Pacific.
"Using cosmetics and personal care products that don’t contain certain hormone-disrupting ingredients for only three days, women can significantly reduce their exposure to these chemicals, according to a study published today in Environmental Health Perspectives."
"Water utilities in some of the largest cities in the US that collectively serve some 12 million people have used tests that downplay the amount of lead contamination found in drinking water for more than a decade, a Guardian analysis of testing protocols reveals."
"When it comes to water, only about half of Americans are very confident in the safety of what's flowing from their tap, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll, which found that trust is even weaker among minorities and people with lower incomes."
"Hillary Clinton used Sunday's Democratic debate to for the first time directly call on Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to resign over the water crisis in Flint, Mich."
Some chemicals that are common in commercial products and processes are known to find their way into the environment and seriously (even fatally) harm human health. Yet current U.S. law makes it hard for EPA to keep companies from using them. Sometimes the chemicals used to replace them are just as bad, but the law does not even require those to be tested. A vast regime of secrecy based on unchallenged claims of "confidential business information" makes the danger to public health worse. Often, not even the EPA employees responsible for protecting people can access information about the toxic chemicals. The chemical reform bills now pending in Congress won't fix the problem.
Advertisement 
