toxic chemicals
The NC legislature’s irresponsibly undisciplined budgeting
Imagine yourself in the following situation: Your children lack decent clothing and shoes and depend on reduced-price school meals to meet their weekly nutrition requirements. Your house has become dilapidated, with a leaky roof and poorly functioning HVAC system, and the power company is threatening to turn off your electricity for nonpayment. The sole family […]
Legislature advances an anti-environment proposal that’s stunning in its sweep
You don’t have to be a scientist with a Ph.D. to grasp the state of crisis that afflicts our fragile natural environment these days. Sadly, the list of dire threats to the global biosphere and the species who call it home is as long as your arm and readily apparent to anyone willing to look […]
Lawyer fees draw scrutiny as Camp Lejeune claims stack up
David and Adair Keller started their married life together in 1977 at Camp Lejeune, a military training base on the Atlantic Coast in Jacksonville, North Carolina. David was a Marine Corps field artillery officer then, and they lived together on the base for about six months. But that sojourn had an outsize impact on their […]
NC fire departments stuck with 120,000 gallons of toxic foam; legislation has funds to buy it back
Fire departments across North Carolina have on hand more than 120,000 gallons of firefighting foam that contains toxic PFAS, according to state data, and have used it 51 times to extinguish blazes in eight months. For decades, PFAS-containing foam, known as AFFF, has been used to suppress fires involving petroleum products or other flammable liquids. […]
EPA sued over failure to set, update pollution limits
More than a dozen environmental groups are suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency over its failure to set water pollution limits for some industrial contaminants as well as its reluctance to update decades-old standards for others, arguing that the agency’s inaction amounts to a “free pass to pollute” for hundreds of chemical and fertilizer plants, […]
After years of delay EPA to commence clean-up of Superfund sites in Gastonia, Yadkinville, Charlotte and Jacksonville
The forest lay still, save for the rustling of leaves of bamboo. It was in a clearing on this 15 acres in rural Gastonia that Carl Hendrix, now deceased, scratched out a living. He took in old chemical drums from nearby industry, rinsed them, poured the toxic dregs on the ground, then flattened the metal for sale as scrap. Over the past 60 years the chemical TCE, found in solvents, has soaked through the earth, meandered through the subsurface rock, inched its way below Hemphill Road and contaminated at least eight private drinking water wells, plus another community well that served an entire neighborhood. TCE entered seeps that fed an unnamed creek where children used to play.,/p>
Biden signs landmark bill aiding veterans exposed to burn pits overseas
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed legislation into law Wednesday that will provide health care and benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq, achieving a long-term, personal goal. “I was in and out of Iraq over 20 times,” Biden said of prior trips to the war zone he took as both a U.S. senator and as vice president.
U.S. House passes bill expanding health care, benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits
Three North Carolina GOP reps vote 'no' on bipartisan measure WASHINGTON — The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill Wednesday to expand health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits overseas, sending the package back to the U.S. Senate after making a minor change.
“Outer Banks Strange”: Are unexploded bombs a threat to environmental safety?
SOUTHERN SHORES, NC – Standing before the town council in early March, Southern Shores Town Manager Cliff Ogburn began yet another presentation on the bombs potentially buried around town. It was strange, but it was "Outer Banks Strange." Strange like side-of-the-highway historical markers recounting German submarines sinking U.S. ships off the coast.
After years of neglect, four of NC’s most polluted Superfund sites funded for clean-up
With American Rescue Plan funds, EPA targets sites in Charlotte, Gastonia, Yadkinville and Jacksonville; here's what neighbors should know A blighted eyesore on Jacksonville's main drag. Contaminated former dry cleaners in suburban Gastonia and far east Charlotte. A vast and abandoned creosote treatment facility that has poisoned the soil, groundwater and nearby streams and a pond.
State officials investigating source of Cleveland County PFAS contamination
Tests show high PFAS levels at site that received contaminated soil from massive Colonial Pipeline spill, as well as nearby stream Julia Hughes was walking her dog near Shelby, in rural Cleveland County, last winter when she spotted a mysterious foam in a culvert by the side of the road.
U.S. House panel approves legislation to clean up toxic ‘forever chemicals’
WASHINGTON—The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved major bipartisan legislation that aims to reduce Americans’ exposure to toxic chemicals in air, water and consumer products. The bill, the PFAS Action Act of 2021, led by Michigan Reps. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat and Fred Upton, a Republican, was approved 33-20 late Wednesday.