Pollution

Alarm bells are being set off by a new study of the families of California farm workers exposed to pesticides. It finds much higher levels of pervasive developmental disorder among children of mothers exposed to higher levels of neurotoxicant organophosphate pesticides.

"HOUSTON — The feud between Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency reached a new level this week, with federal officials saying that they will take over the granting of permits for new power plants and refineries in the state because Texas refuses to regulate its emissions of greenhouse gases."

"The Environmental Protection Agency is suggesting that water utilities nationwide test their drinking water for hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen, after an independent survey released earlier this week found the chemical in tap water drawn from 31 cities."

Optimists think General Electric and the EPA may agree in January on the final phase of Superfund cleanup of PCBs that polluted the Hudson River.

"BP Monday pleaded not guilty to probation violations relating to its criminal conviction for a major North Slope oil spill in 2006."

"Canada said on Tuesday it will design a system to better monitor whether northern Alberta's huge oil sands projects are polluting waterways after an independent scientific panel found major flaws in the current monitoring system."

"The Obama administration is looking to the Cowboy State as a model for fracturing disclosure on federal lands in the West. Interior Department officials figure it would be hard to argue against an approach developed in petroleum-friendly Wyoming."

"An environmental group that analyzed the drinking water in 35 cities across the United States, including Bethesda and Washington, found that most contained hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen that was made famous by the film 'Erin Brockovich.'"

"A federal buyout of homes and businesses in the Tar Creek Superfund site is nearly complete and is expected to cost about $10 million less than original estimates."

"Two years after the disastrous coal ash spill in Kingston, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of enacting the first federal standards for the disposal of ash from coal-fired power plants."