News Clips

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) ...

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, ...

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)- ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Two Texas farm families have seen their health decline, their pets and livestock sickened and killed, their water poisoned and and their property values wiped out due to high levels of chemical contamination linked to a company marketing treated sewage sludge as a fertilizer and soil ...

With regulation of sewage-sludge fertilizer mostly unsettled nationally, a pair of Texas farms are suing the waste recycling and biosolids company Synagro for selling fertilizer that the farmers allege has affected their health, contaminated their water supply and left their fields and ...

The Environmental Protection Agency has released a method for measuring PFAS contamination in high density polyethylene containers, a step the agency said will allow industries that use fluorinated plastic bottles and products to better… Read the PEER Story… ...

Congress in 2000 passed the National Parks Air Tour Management Act governing scenic flights over national parks outside Alaska and the Grand Canyon National Park, which obtained its own flight plan in 1987. It directed the National Park Service to work with the Federal Aviation ...

Two environmental groups are mounting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit to compel release of what they say is key “health and safety” data on PFAS contamination in fluorinated plastic containers at the heart of a sprawling legal fight over the agency’s authority to regulate ...

Biosolids containing “stunningly” high levels of toxins spread on a Grandview property pose significant hazard to neighboring properties and, potentially, to much of the rest of the county, county officials said. Kyla Bennett, director of science policy for Public Employees for ...

Two environmental groups on Feb. 15 sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a permanent injunction directing it to disclose under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) all “wrongfully withheld documents” ...