3M announced on Thursday that it has reached a $10.3 billion settlement with many U.S. public water systems to resolve water pollution claims tied to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as “PFAS.” The company said the settlement would provide the funds over a 13-year period to cities, towns, and other public water systems to test and treat PFAS. 3M had been scheduled to face a test trial in South Carolina federal court earlier this month in a lawsuit brought by Stuart, Florida, seeking more than $100 million for filtration and remediation. That was one of more than 4,000 lawsuits filed against 3M and other chemical companies relating to PFAS.
The railroad industry last Friday sued the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in federal court for the Eastern District of California to block new environmental rules adopted by CARB, arguing they would force the premature retirement of about 25,000 diesel-powered locomotives across the country long before their zero-emission counterparts are ready to take their place. Since 2020, California has approved a series of rules that would ban the sale of new gas-powered cars, lawn equipment, and trucks by the middle of the next decade. Those rules are designed to phase out gas- and diesel-powered products by banning the sale of most new combustible engines. The lawsuit asks the court to declare that only the federal government can regulate railroads because rail transport and the railroad network are part of interstate commerce.
The Biden administration announced a proposal Wednesday to strengthen the Endangered Species Act, including repealing Trump-era rules that loosened protections for vulnerable species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), along with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Maritime Fisheries Service, proposed clarifying the standards for how the agencies list and reclassify species to ensure that the economic impact of doing so will not be a factor in their process. The USFWS also proposed reinstating a “base level of protection” or a “safety net” for all threatened species – which was removed by the Trump administration – though the agency will keep the option of providing additional species-specific rules.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon on Wednesday announced charges against Atlas Iron & Metal Co. for alleged illegal disposal of hazardous wastes at its facility in Watts that have been found on the grounds of the neighboring Jordan High School. The company, which operates a metal recycling plant directly next to the school, allegedly contaminated the soil and groundwater, produced toxic fumes, and spewed shrapnel onto the school campus during dangerous explosions. An investigation by the D.A.’s environmental crime division found that lead concentration in the campus’s soil was 75 times higher than the level deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. After the investigation, 22 felonies and four misdemeanors were filed against the company and its two owners. The Los Angeles Unified School District is separately pursuing civil charges against the company.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against the Navajo Nation in its lawsuit claiming that the federal government has failed to properly assert the tribe’s need for water access in the arid West. In a 5-4 opinion, authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Court ruled that the case must be dismissed on the ground that an 1868 treaty with the Navajo Nation did not require the U.S. government to take active steps to secure water access, “[a]nd it is not the judiciary’s role to rewrite and update this 155-year-old treaty.” The lack of water and of infrastructure to pipe it across vast reaches of the more than 17 million-acre reservation — larger than the state of West Virginia — remains one of the biggest challenges facing Navajo leaders.
As sea level rises, it pushes shallow groundwater closer to the surface — a process that can release contaminants buried in the soil. According to a new study from UC Berkeley, groundwater rise, as the phenomenon is called, is an imminent threat to the Bay Area and could impact twice as much land as the rising seas themselves. The study, which is undergoing peer review, found that risks of inundation from rising groundwater could threaten over 5,200 hazardous sites in the Bay Area, from old gas stations to Superfund sites — locations prioritized by EPA for cleanup.
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