News Clips

Legal action could end use of toxic sewage sludge on US crops as fertilizer

by The Guardian | March 12, 2024
New legal action could put an end to the practice of spreading toxic sewage sludge on US cropland as a cheap alternative to fertilizer, and force America to rethink how it disposes of its industrial and human waste. A notice of intent to sue federal regulators charges they have failed to ...

Lawsuit Aims To Stop The EPA From Allowing Farmers To Keep Using Toxic Poop Water To Grow Your Food

by Above the Law | March 12, 2024
There’s usually a large disconnect between the food people eat and the process it took to get on their plate, but you’d think basic regulations would be preventing your broccoli from being raised on toilet water. The poop farmers are putting on our food isn’t just literally crappy ...

Is Nevada’s Wildlife Commission on the brink of extinction?

by News From the States | March 12, 2024
The Nevada Wildlife Commission’s endorsement Friday of a plan to remove 75% of wild horses and burros from the state’s public lands, along with its refusal to consider a ban on controversial coyote killing contests, are both out of step with the desires of residents and tourists and ...

Baltimore County company sued over PFAS in its fertilizer sold in Texas

by Baltimore Sun | March 5, 2024
A Baltimore County company that makes fertilizer using residual material from wastewater treatment plants has been sued by several Texas residents, who allege its products contaminated their farmland with dangerous “forever chemicals.” A Maryland-based nonprofit, called Public ...

Texas farmers claim company sold them PFAS-contaminated sludge that killed livestock

by The Guardian | March 1, 2024
A Texas county has launched a first-of-its-kind criminal investigation into the waste management giant Synagro over PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge it is selling to Texas farmers as a cheap alternative to fertilizer. Two small Texas ranches at the center of that case have also filed a ...

Colorado bill aims to plug holes in the state’s past “forever chemical” bans

by Colorado Sun | February 29, 2024
Colorado legislators want to close loopholes in a ban on “forever chemicals” in many consumer products that was passed in 2022, saying the cost to filter out PFAS is overwhelming water treatment agencies and other states have moved faster in regulation. About 21,000 industrial sites in ...

Federal employee whistleblower complaints to OSC fall by nearly half over 5 years

by Federal News Network | February 29, 2024
Federal employees are filing fewer whistleblower disclosures, and reporting fewer complaints of whistleblower retaliation. The Office of Special Counsel, according to recent data analyzed by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), saw a more than 48% decline in ...

Federal Whistleblower Disclosures Plunge in Recent Years: Analyzing the Underlying Causes

by BNN Breaking | February 29, 2024
Recent data analysis by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has unveiled a noticeable decline in whistleblower disclosures and complaints of whistleblower retaliation among federal employees from fiscal 2017 to 2022. This period saw the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) ...

PFAS in biosolids prompt lawsuits

by Chemical & Engineering News | February 28, 2024
Five farmers in Johnson County, Texas, are suing Synagro Technologies, a Baltimore-based biosolid management company, and its Texas affiliate over high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in fertilizers produced by Synagro. The firm makes fertilizers from sewage sludge, ...

Over 150 Scientists Urge Adoption of PFAS Definition that Includes F-Gases and TFA

by R744 | February 26, 2024
More than 150 scientists from around the world with expertise in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have co-signed a new statement urging governmental bodies to adopt a science-based “at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom” definition of PFAS that includes fluorinated (f)- ...

Toxics in Biosolids Fertilizer Prompt Texas Farmers’ Lawsuit

by Environment News Service | February 23, 2024
A product liability lawsuit has been filed against a major manufacturer of biosolids-based fertilizer produced from sewage sludge. The lawsuit seeks compensation for damages caused by exposure to the toxic chemicals the fertilizer contains. Fertilizers produced from sewage sludge contain ...

City officials believed a new South Philly turf field was PFAS-free. Not true, experts say.

by Philadelphia Inquirer | February 23, 2024
A new artificial turf playing field, the centerpiece of a $7.5 million upgrade of South Philadelphia’s Lawrence E. Murphy Recreation Center, is supposed to be free of PFAS, the chemicals that the EPA has linked to cancer, asthma, and a range of other health problems. Sprinturf, the turf ...

States weigh limiting ‘forever chemicals’ definition

by E&E News | February 22, 2024
State lawmakers are facing industry pressure to narrow the definition of “forever chemicals,” a move blasted by scientists for increasing exposure risks. “This is their playbook: Not all PFAS are dangerous,” said Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at Public ...

PEER Threatens To Sue EPA Over Failure To Regulate PFAS In Biosolids

by Inside EPA | February 22, 2024
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the watchdog group, and five Texas farmers are threatening to sue EPA for allegedly failing to comply with Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements to identify all PFAS that have been found in biosolids and promulgate limits for at least ...

Texas Farmers, Watchdog Group Demand EPA Act on PFAS in Farm Fertilizer

by The New Lede | February 22, 2024
In the wake of fresh evidence that US farms are being poisoned by PFAS-laden fertilizers, a watchdog group and two Texas farm families said Thursday they plan to sue regulators to try to force protective actions. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has violated the Clean Water Act by ...

Daybreak Feb. 21: Ethanol groups blast California plan

by Agri-Pulse | February 21, 2024
Five Texas farmers are suing a manufacturer of biosolid fertilizer, alleging that the product “contains high levels of PFAS that poisoned them, killed their livestock, polluted their water, and rendered their property worthless,” according to Public Employees for Environmental ...

Tackling the Turf: Unveiling the Hidden Dangers of Artificial Fields and the Cultural Clash in Philadelphia

by BNN Breaking | February 21, 2024
In an era where synthetic fields have become the norm, concerns are mounting over the safety of these man-made surfaces. Investigative reports, including those by David Gambacorta of the Philadelphia Inquirer, have highlighted alarming connections between the chemicals in artificial turf ...

Sears Island picked as the site of Maine’s new offshore wind port

by Bangor Daily News | February 20, 2024
Sears Island in Searsport will serve as the staging ground for Maine’s new offshore wind port, Gov. Janet Mills announced Tuesday. The decision to use about 100 acres of the 941-acre island after years of planning and public feedback was not surprising. The Maine Department of ...

Artificial turf has parents and coaches of cancer-stricken athletes concerned

by Philadelphia Inquirer | February 20, 2024
Across the United States, parents, youth coaches, and medical experts worry that a melange of dangerous chemicals, lurking unseen in an estimated 13,000 artificial turf fields, has made youth athletes sick. In November, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) reported ...

Suit Over Fertilizer PFAS Contamination Seen As First In ‘Tidal Wave’

by Inside EPA | February 20, 2024
Five Texas farmers are suing Synagro, the Maryland-based national biosolid fertilizer manufacturer, over alleged PFAS contamination from its product, in a suit that advocates for stricter PFAS regulations say is the first in a potential “tidal wave” of such lawsuits that they hope will ...
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