More concerning than the nanoplastics in water bottles are the chemicals on them

Los Angeles Times – January 18

In a new study, researchers from NYU, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Defend Our Health have estimated the costs of plastic exposure on the U.S. healthcare system. In 2018, several common endocrine disruptors, a class of additives that mimic and confuse hormone signaling in humans, cost the nation almost $250 billion. Using epidemiological and toxicity data, the researchers itemized the disease burden of a collection of fairly well-studied chemicals, including bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, a class of flame retardants known as PBDEs, and PFOAs, a class of compounds used to make nonstick cookware and which have been found in nearly half of U.S. tap water samples tested by the federal government.

News

California’s oil country faces an ‘existential’ threat. Kern County is betting on the carbon removal industry to save it.

KVPR – January 16

California Resources Corporation (CRC), a leading oil producer in California, is one of several companies developing plans to capture carbon from oil and gas plants and from the air and store it more than a mile underground, in the cracks and crevices of ancient rock formations at the foot of the San Joaquin Valley. Kern County is betting that those projects will make it the center of California’s nascent carbon removal and storage industry and make up for the hundreds of millions in tax revenue it anticipates losing by 2045, when California plans to phase out all oil drilling and eliminate most carbon emissions. In late December, the county and the federal government took steps that could allow CRC to begin capturing and storing carbon next year. The county published its draft environmental review of the company’s project, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it plans to approve permits to allow CRC to inject carbon under an oil field.

EPA proposes update to municipal solid waste combustor emissions standards for nine pollutants

WasteDive – January 12

EPA announced a proposed rule last Thursday that would tighten air emission standards for large municipal solid waste combustors. The update would apply to nine pollutants in the New Source Performance Standards and Emissions Guidelines which govern facilities that manage more than 250 tons of waste per day. The proposal comes after a lawsuit by environmental groups compelling the agency to update its incinerator standards for just the third time in more than 30 years. The agency typically reviews the rules on a five-year basis, and its last update was due in 2011, according to the complaint filed in the lawsuit.

Second seafloor survey completed at California coastal dumpsite

Hydro International – January 15

In a second seafloor survey off the Southern California coast, researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography uncovered 350 square kilometers of discarded military munitions. The April 2023 exploration, part of ongoing efforts to study the environmental consequences of industrial waste dumping, sheds light on the underwater landscape’s intricate tapestry. Between the 1930s and 1970s, the site was a known location for industrial dumping, including by-products from the manufacturing of the pesticide DDT, and was initially surveyed using robotic vehicles by the same team in April 2021.

They abducted a river in California. And it wasn’t even a crime.

The New York Times – January 18

During California’s most recent drought, officials went to great lengths to safeguard water supplies, issuing emergency regulations to curb use by thousands of farms, utilities, and irrigation districts. It still wasn’t enough to prevent growers in the state’s agricultural heartland from draining dry several miles of the Merced River for almost four months in 2022. The State Water Resources Control Board learned of the lower Merced’s bone-dry conditions in late October 2022, only after conditions had started to ease, according to Erik Ekdahl, the Board’s deputy director in charge of water rights.

EPA proposes new rules for methane emission fees

The Hill – January 12

An EPA rule issued last Friday would establish new fees for methane emissions, one of the most potent drivers of climate change, under the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. The Methane Emissions Reduction Program, an enforcement provision in the 2022 climate law, imposes fees on excess emissions. The fees will increase over the rest of the decade, from $900 per metric ton at the outset to $1,500 per metric ton starting in 2026. EPA projects the rule will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from methane by about 80 percent.