"Lifelong Cleveland resident Steve Gove recalls when the Cuyahoga River symbolized shame — fetid, lifeless, notorious for catching fire when sparks from overhead rail cars ignited the oil-slicked surface."
Lead kills. With hunting and fishing seasons underway, lead ammo and tackle put a known neurotoxin into the ecosystem. And that renews a long-standing controversy, with a tug of war over rules limiting lead at the local and federal levels. The latest TipSheet examines why it matters to vulnerable species, like the bald eagle, as well as to humans. Plus, local story ideas and resources.
"Miles Hatfield was walking into his dining room when he felt the wooden floor give way. His legs dropped hip-deep into water that had pooled under his brick house in the green hills of eastern Kentucky where he had lived for the past 40 years, trapping him in his own floor."
"Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine (D) on Thursday announced a lawsuit against chemical manufacturer Velsicol, alleging the company contaminated waterways in the city and harmed the health of residents in predominantly minority neighborhoods."
"A loophole in the federal government’s procedures for reviewing new chemicals has allowed at least 600 so-called forever chemicals into American markets despite evidence they pose serious health risks, according to a petition filed Thursday."
"Could the [Fort Meyers] region have been spared some of the damage with more aggressive planning and zoning? “Yes,” planners and resilience experts say. Sound land use planning builds stronger communities — physically, socially and politically. Yet Florida lawmakers effectively killed the state’s ability to check urban sprawl a decade ago with the passage of a reform measure called the 2011 Community Planning Act."
"The crystal-clear waters of the oceans surrounding Panama hold wealth beyond the abundance of fish. Legal gaps and flexibility in some of the regulations governing fishing activity have become the ideal bait, attracting companies from all over the world that seek to benefit by keeping some of their business deals in the shadows."
"Chemical companies are dodging a federal law designed to track how many PFAS “forever chemicals” their plants are discharging into the environment by exploiting a loophole created in the Trump administration’s final months, a new analysis of federal records has found."
"Less than six months after rejecting a proposal for a major desalination plant in Huntington Beach, the California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved plans for a different, smaller project in Orange County that could serve as a model for future projects."
"The state Departments of Environmental Quality and Health may be violating federal civil rights laws and regulations by allowing Black people to suffer disproportionate impacts from air pollution in Louisiana's industrial corridor, including an increased risk of cancer, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday."
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