BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Campbell has joined about two dozen other Democrats in suing the Trump administration over its decision to pull the plug on a $7 billion solar energy program for low-income households.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleges that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated federal law and the Administrative Procedures Act when it terminated the Solar for All program, approved by Congress in 2023 as part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
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BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey is renewing calls for the Trump administration to release federal funding to remove underground lead pipes from drinking water systems after months of delays.
Healey blasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for continuing to hold back the money from Massachusetts and other states. She said the delays have forced the state to discontinue its lead line replacement program that provides zero-interest loans to communities to identify and remove contamination.
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BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Campbell is leading a group of Democrats demanding that the Trump administration scrap a controversial proposal to repeal a key scientific finding on climate pollution.
In comments submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Campbell and 22 other Democratic attorneys general criticized the federal agency for its “illegal” and “fundamentally flawed” plans to ax a 2009 “endangerment finding” that concluded the accumulation of greenhouse gases pose a “serious threat” to public health.
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DERRY — The future of school buses is electric, and thanks to a multimillion-dollar grant, the majority of the district’s diesel fleet will be replaced with new, battery-powered buses.
The Derry Cooperative School District and its transportation provider, First Student, celebrated a $8.6 million grant received from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program. The money will be used to purchase 25 zero-emission school buses for the district.
“It’s the movement forward,” said Superintendent Austin Garofalo. “We’re all looking at hybrids or looking at electric vehicles. The fact that they can do that with a bus, it’s just amazing.”
Local and state officials, school district staff, and representatives from the EPA and First Student gathered outside West Running Brook Intermediate School on Wednesday to celebrate the clean future of school buses.
Students from the school’s Kid’s Care Club, an organization devoted to community service, attended the event. Three of the students spoke about how excited they are to have the new buses.
“I think it’s really cool that our school is doing something to help the environment,” said Henry Fournier, a sixth-grader. “I’m proud to be part of a school that cares about the future.”
David Cash, the EPA’s New England regional administrator, said the new buses will be better for everyone.
“This is, again, all about your future and all about your health,” Cash told the students. “This new bus right here will help protect your health, be better for the bus drivers, be better for the teachers, and be better for the school district.”
In May, the EPA and First Student announced that Derry would receive the grant and 25 zero-emission school buses. The program has brought $31 million to New Hampshire for 110 new school buses.
Derry was awarded the most money out of any New Hampshire community that applied and tied with Pembroke for receiving the most school buses.
School Board Chairman David Clapp said this was one less worry for taxpayers in Derry.
“The education funding in New Hampshire is tough and when you get grants like this to help, every little bit counts,” Clapp said. “Usually, we’re trying to figure out how to mitigate issues. Now, we’ve got something that we won the lottery in and it’s awesome.”
Clifton Dancy, the school district’s director of information services and transportation coordinator, said he was proud to celebrate such a remarkable moment for the district.
“We are overjoyed to have received the largest grant in New Hampshire – more than $8.6 million from the EPA’s Clean Bus rebate program,” Dancy said. “This generous funding will enable us to acquire 25 zero-emission buses. To put that into context, we have 29 buses, 25 of them will be electric.”
First Student representatives said the goal is to have the electric buses on the road for the 2025-26 school year.
Ben Henry, First Student’s general manager for Northern New England, said the money will go toward updating the First Student bus station in Derry so it can accommodate the new buses, including adding charging ports for the vehicles.
The new buses were part of a bipartisan initiative championed by U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., who also spoke at the celebration.
“This is about making sure that we’re responding to the needs of our communities,” Pappas said. “The health benefits are there, the energy benefits are there, the cost benefits are there. So this is a huge win-win situation.”
Hassan said this was a moment where Derry residents did not have to decide between taking care of the environment and taking care of their wallets. She said this is one time where her constituents can have it both ways.
“This is one of those examples, too, where it isn’t just about choosing between costs and the environment. This both addresses climate change and lowers costs,” Hassan said. “This is about saving money and investing in the future. It’s a really, really good day for Derry and New Hampshire and our country.”
Milwaukee, Wisconsin – President Biden is set to announce $2.6 billion in funding to replace all lead pipes in the United States as part of a new EPA rule that will require lead pipes to be identified and replaced within 10 years using the new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
The EPA estimates that nine million homes in the U.S. have lead pipes.
The city of Milwaukee, where Mr. Biden will make the announcement, has 65,000 lead pipes, which the city says will cost an estimated $700 million to remove.
“The science has been clear for decades. There is no safe level of lead in drinking water,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters on Monday.
President Joe Biden speaks to the media before he departs the White House on Oct. 5, 2024, in Washington, DC.
Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
The final rule will require better lead testing requirements and mandating a complete inventory of lead water pipes. The $2.6 billion is the latest disbursement by the Biden administration for lead pipes in the $50 billion from the 2021 infrastructure law for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.
Legal challenges could arise but a senior administration official believes the ruling is within the EPA’s “statutory authority” and on solid legal footing.
Mr. Biden’s visit comes amid a flurry of stops to the swing state of Wisconsin by both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Mr. Biden’s last visit was nearly a month ago to Westly, Wisconsin for an announcement on providing electricity to rural America.
The political focus on Wisconsin by Mr. Biden reflects the hopes that Democrats can hold on to the state that they flipped in 2020 by a slim margin after losing it in 2016.
Wisconsin is one of six states where lead levels in the blood of children are more than double the national rate, according to a 2021 study published in JAMA pediatrics.
Even low lead levels can cause small amounts of intellectual impairment depending on the child, according to Dr. Adam Blumenberg, emergency medicine physician and toxicology expert at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
“If there’s any amount of concerning lead in the child, you really want to figure out where it’s coming from and remove the source of exposure. That’s always going to be one of the most important things to do,” says Blumenberg.
Deanna Branch, a mother and lead-poisoning awareness activist from Milwaukee, told CBS News that she is finally seeing the money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act being used to remove lead pipes in her community.
Branch’s son Aidan suffered from lead poisoning while they were living in a home with lead in the paint, windows, pipes and soil. Her son’s lead levels were so high they had to move out of the home and into a homeless shelter for almost three months while they searched for safe housing. Branch said the experience was terrifying for her son and left him with health issues he will have to face for the rest of his life.
The Branch’s live in a lead paint free home now, but they still have lead pipes.
“When I first started advocating there was a 50 year plan that went down to a 40 year plan, now there is a nine year plan to remove all the lead pipes in Milwaukee, Branch tells CBS News. “I should be alive to see the lead pipes being removed out of Milwaukee and that gives me hope for other places as well.”
There is still more the Milwaukee community needs to live in a lead-free safe environment: more housing and more clinics.
Branch says there is not enough safe housing available in the community. Her old home where her son was lead poisoned was still being rented out as recently as a few years ago according to Branch. As for the Next Door Pediatrics Clinic where her son was first tested for lead positioning, it has since shut down, creating a healthcare gap in the community. Branch credits the work of the clinic for her youngest daughter being lead free.
There is a sense of shame for parents whose children suffered from lead poisoning, but Branch wants to remove the shame from the equation of asking for help.
“I want them to know it’s not on you,” says Branch. “We’re not receiving justice, And it’s a human right to have clean drinking water.”
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $4.3 billion in grants to fund projects in 30 states to reduce climate pollution. The money will go to 25 projects targeting greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electric power, commercial and residential buildings, industry, agriculture and waste and materials management.
The grants are paid for by the 2022 climate law approved by congressional Democrats.
The law, officially known as the Inflation Reduction Act, includes nearly $400 billion in spending and tax credits to accelerate the expansion of clean energy such as wind and solar power, speeding the nation’s transition away from the oil, coal and natural gas that largely cause climate change.
The latest round of grants includes $396 million to Pennsylvania to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions from cement, asphalt and other material.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in Pittsburgh to announce grant recipients in his state, a political battleground in the 2024 election, and across the nation.
Senior EPA leaders also joined Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California on Monday to announce nearly $500 million for transportation and freight decarbonization at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The grants will provide incentives for electric charging equipment, zero-emission freight vehicles and conversion of cargo handling equipment to lower emissions.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine will get a total of $450 million to accelerate adoption of cold-climate heat pumps and water heaters.
“President Biden understands that America needs a strong EPA,’’ Regan told reporters, noting the Democratic administration “has made the largest climate investment in history, providing billions of dollars to state, local and tribal governments to tackle climate change with the urgency it demands.’’
The funds, to be delivered this fall, “will help implement community-driven solutions that reduce air pollution, advance environmental justice and help accelerate America’s clean energy transition,’’ Regan said.
Shapiro, a Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick now that Biden has stepped down from the presidential race, said his administration has taken action to address climate change while continuing to create energy jobs and expand the economy.
The grant “is one of the largest federal grants Pennsylvania has ever received,’’ Shapiro said in a statement ahead of Monday’s announcement. The state will work with RISE PA, a new initiative aimed at reducing industrial sector emissions in Pennsylvania.
The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy will receive $307 million to boost “climate-smart” agriculture and reduce agricultural waste from livestock, officials said. The grant also will fund projects to improve energy efficiency in commercial and industrial facilities and low-income households, as well as deploy solar panels and electrify irrigation wells.
Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird of Lincoln, Nebraska, said the grant will enhance energy efficiency of homes and commercial buildings in her city. A city analysis indicates that investing in energy efficiency and electrification could reduce Lincoln’s emissions by 77% by 2050, Baird said on a White House call Friday.
The grant also will ensure Lincoln residents have “equitable access to the clean energy transition’’ by providing assistance to low-income residents, she said.
Other grants include nearly $250 million to boost electric vehicle infrastructure along Interstate 95 from Maryland to Connecticut. The project will provide charging infrastructure for commercial zero-emission vehicles and provide technical assistance for workforce development along the I-95 corridor, one of the most heavily traveled in the nation.
Michigan will get $129 million to accelerate the siting, zoning and permitting of renewable energy. The grants will help Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, another potential vice presidential choice, achieve a goal of 60% renewable energy by 2035.
Schools in North of Boston and southern New Hampshire communities, including Newburyport, are among the largest recipients of grants in the latest round of Clean School Bus Program awards.
As part of its ongoing effort to replace diesel-fueled school buses, the Biden administration said this week it will provide about 530 school districts across nearly all states with an additional $1 billion to help them purchase clean school buses.
Massachusetts school districts are in line for more than $42 million to purchase electric buses as part of an effort to upgrade the state’s aging fleet and reduce emissions from diesel-powered vehicles.
Newburyport is receiving $3 million for 15 buses, according to the Biden administration.
The Derry Cooperative School District in New Hampshire is receiving one of the largest grants in the region – $8.6 million for 25 electric school buses, thanks to an application submitted by First Student Inc., the transportation contractor for the district.
Several North of Boston school districts are also sharing in the e-bus funding, according to a list provided by the White House. Andover is receiving $5 million for 25 e-buses, while Ipswich is getting $5 million for 15.
Salem is receiving $2.6 million for 13 e-buses, the Biden administration said. Other school districts, including Gloucester, Marblehead, Beverly and the Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, are also getting funding to buy new e-buses.
In addition to Derry, eight other New Hampshire districts such as Concord and Nashua will receive some of the funding, according to the White House. The money comes from the latest disbursements of grants through the Clean School Bus Program administered by the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection.
The rebates will help school districts purchase more than 3,400 clean school buses – 92% of them electric – to accelerate the nation’s transition to zero-emission vehicles and produce cleaner air in schools and communities, according to the Biden administration.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday that the funding will help “transform the nation’s school bus fleet to better protect our most precious cargo – our kids – saving school districts money, improving air quality, and bolstering American manufacturing all at the same time.”
The federal program has awarded nearly $3 billion for 8,500 electric and alternative fuel buses in more than 1,000 school districts, according to the Biden administration.
Low-income, rural and tribal communities – accounting for about 45% percent of the selected projects – are slated to receive roughly 67% of the total funding, per the administration.
Regan noted how “low-income communities and communities of color have long felt the disproportionate impacts of air pollution leading to severe health outcomes that continue to impact these populations.”
As for business and economic opportunities, Regan pointed to the development of well-paying manufacturing jobs and investment in local businesses stemming from the increasing demand for these clean school buses.
“As more and more schools make the switch to electric buses, there will be a need for American-made batteries, charging stations and service providers to maintain the buses supercharging and reinvigorating local economies,” he added.
The program was initially funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by Biden in November 2021, which includes $5 billion over five years to replace the country’s current school buses with “zero-emission and low-emission models.”
In January, the EPA announced more than $1 billion in funding for 2,700 clean school buses in 280 school districts in 37 states, including Massachusetts.
Federal health officials say exposure to diesel exhaust can lead to major health conditions such as asthma and respiratory illnesses, especially among children.
Despite the Biden administration’s efforts, e-buses still make up a tiny percentage of the buses on the roads nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The number of e-buses grew by 112% between 2018 and 2021. But with just 1,300 on the roadways in 2021, that represented just 2% of the transit buses in operation, according to DOT data. Of about 500,000 school buses nationwide, only 1,800 were electric in 2021, the federal agency said.
Material from States Newsroom reporter Shauneen Miranda was used in this report.
Much of the U.S. Northeast was smothered last summer by dense smoke from Canadian wildfires, leading to New York City’s worst air quality since the 1960s. Such episodes, once mostly isolated incidents, are increasingly common due to the impact of climate change, new research shows.
About 83 million Americans, or 1 in 4, are already exposed each year to air quality that is categorized as “unhealthy” by the Air Quality Index (AQI), a number that could grow to 125 million people within decades, according to First Street Foundation, which analyzes climate risks. The unhealthy AQI level, color-coded red, means that outdoor activities can result in lung impairment for some people, including respiratory ailments like chest pain and coughs.
The nation’s worsening air quality comes after decades of improvements thanks to regulations such as the 1970 Clean Air Act, which tightened federal rules on pollutants emitted by factories and automobiles. But the recent rise in poor air quality could be harder to battle because it’s linked to global warming, with higher temperatures and drought causing more smoke-spewing wildfires, First Street said.
“Additional heart attacks”
At the same time, the rise in poor air quality threatens to reverse the health benefits that followed stricter pollution regulations starting in the 1960s and to hurt the U.S. economy, said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at First Street.
“We’re essentially adding back additional premature deaths, adding back additional heart attacks,” Porter told CBS MoneyWatch. “We’re losing productivity in the economic markets by additionally losing outdoor job work days.”
Already, there’s some evidence that people are leaving parts of the country with lower air quality, contributing to what is effectively a redrawing of the nation’s map by wildfire, flood and other effects of climate change.
“We’ve seen very early statistical signals in our own analysis that people are moving away from the smoke that comes from wildfire,” Porter said. “The downstream effect of people moving away is that property values start to suffer because the area becomes less desirable. And then as the area becomes less desirable, tax revenues are directly impacted because the property values are decreasing.”
Residents of California, Oregon and Washington state are seeing the greatest decline in air quality, partially due to wildfires in those regions. In California, air quality today is often in the “purple” and “maroon” levels — considered very healthy to hazardous — something that was unheard of about 15 years ago, First Street’s analysis found. At the same time, the number of “green” days, considered healthy, have decreased by a third since 2010.
Yet the impact isn’t only being felt on the West Coast, First Street found.
“It’s become something that is impacting people’s daily lives east of the Mississippi River,” Porter noted. In 2022, fires in the Florida panhandle were “so bad that people were asked to evacuate from their neighborhoods, which is kind of unheard of.”
The number of unhealthy AQI days is likely to grow in the coming decades due to climate change, First Street projected. Worst hit could be the Western states, but Eastern states aren’t immune. Pockets of the Southwest, especially on the Florida-Georgia border, are already seeing an increase in the number of days with unhealthy AQI numbers.
Particulate matter and ozone
Poor air quality is linked to increases in particulate matter and ozone, which are rising due to changes in the environment including extreme heat, drought and wildfires. Particulate matter that’s less than 2.5 microns in diameter, also called PM2.5, is particularly concerning because these tiny flecks of pollution can get deep into your lungs, causing a range of health problems.
PM2.5 particulates are increasing because of wildfires, while 2022 research found that ground-level ozone is also being exacerbated by the increasingly devastating blazes. Ozone levels can inflame your airways and raise the risks of an asthma attack, among other health problems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Although reversing the amount air pollution linked to climate change is difficult, at least knowing the risks and how to mitigate them can help, Porter said. First Street has a site called RiskFactor.com where you can enter your address and see your risks for flooding, fire, wind and heat.
Individuals may also need to take steps to protect their health in the face of more poor air quality days, he added.
“Being able to keep smoke out of your house is really important,” Porter said. “Things like making sure your windows are sealed, and something as simple as changing the filter on your HVAC can make a big, big impact on how clean the air is inside your house.”
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
A proposed federal rule calls for forcing companies to disclose whether their products contain toxic “forever” chemicals, the government’s first attempt at cataloging the pervasiveness of PFAS across the United States.
The Environmental Protection Agency rule would require manufacturers to report many products that contain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They’re a family of chemicals that don’t degrade in nature and have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and hormone irregularities.
Companies would have to disclose any PFAS that have been manufactured or imported between 2011 and when the rule takes effect, with no exemptions for small businesses or for impurities or byproducts cross-contaminating goods with PFAS. Those disclosures would be available to the public, barring any trade secrets linked to the data. The EPA will finalize the rule in the coming months, agency spokesperson Catherine Milbourn said, then require companies to report back within 12 months.
The effort excludes pesticides, foods and food additives, drugs, cosmetics, or medical devices regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Milbourn said. It also is essentially a one-time reporting and record-keeping requirement — and companies wouldn’t need to provide updates.
Still, the chemical and semiconductor industries are grumbling about what the EPA estimated is a potential $1 billion cost to comply with the rule. The U.S. chemical industry says it generates more than $500 billion annually.
On the other side, environmental health activists say the data collection exercise would be flawed, as it accounts for only a tenth of the more than 12,000 PFAS chemicals, which are used in everything from nonstick cookware to kids’ school uniforms. Moreover, they say, it wouldn’t stop PFAS from making their way into the air, waste, or consumer products, nor would it clean up existing contamination.
Congress gave the EPA the power to track PFAS chemicals in 2016, when it revised the Toxic Substances Control Act. Then a bipartisan effort in 2019, which Republican President Donald Trump signed into law, called for the EPA to inventory PFAS. However, health activists warn that unless Congress overhauls U.S. chemical laws to give the EPA and other agencies more power, PFAS will continue to threaten humans and the environment.
These so-called forever chemicals went from marvel to bête noire in just 50 years. When PFAS debuted, they were revered for making Teflon pans nonstick and Gore-Tex jackets waterproof. They are effective at repelling water and oil yet so durable they don’t break down in the natural environment. That strength has become their downfall, as the chemicals accumulate in landfills, soil, drinking water supplies, and, ultimately, human bodies. As scientists learn more about PFAS’ toxic nature, governments around the world have set limits or imposed outright bans.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency collects samples of treated Lake Michigan water in a lab at the water treatment plant in Wilmette, Illinois, on July 3, 2021.
Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Because PFAS are found in thousands of products — contact lenses, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals such as Prozac, paper plates, clothing, and dental floss, to name just a few — regulators are scrambling to gather data on the scope of the PFAS threat. The EPA data collection proposal is a move in that direction.
Milbourn told KFF Health News that 1,364 types of PFAS may be covered by the rule, and EPA officials are reviewing public comments they received to determine whether they should modify its scope to capture additional substances.
By contrast, the European Union is discussing banning or limiting 10,000 PFAS chemicals, according to Hanna-Kaisa Torkkeli, a spokesperson for the European Chemicals Agency.
“In the U.S., chemicals are innocent until proven guilty,” said Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit based outside Washington, D.C. “In the EU and Japan, chemicals are guilty until proven safe — and that’s why they have fewer PFAS.”
That lack of regulation in the U.S. is driving states to take matters into their own hands, pursuing PFAS bans as gridlock and industry lobbying in Washington thwart tougher federal laws. Minnesota’s crackdown on PFAS limits the chemicals in menstrual products, cleaning ingredients, cookware, and dental floss. Maine’s law will ban all avoidable uses of PFAS by 2030. Vermont and California ban PFAS in food packaging.
“The states are acting because our federal system doesn’t currently allow the government to say ‘no more use of PFAS,’” said Liz Hitchcock, director of the federal policy program at Toxic-Free Future, a national advocacy group. “And even if it did, that wouldn’t clean up the mess already made.”
U.S. courts are also weighing in on PFAS contamination. On June 22, 3M agreed to pay up to $12.5 billion to settle lawsuits by communities around the country that argued their drinking water was contaminated by the company’s PFAS-containing products.
The 3M plant in Cordova, Illinois, on May 10, 2022. 3M is one of the chief manufacturers of PFAS.
Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Just cleaning up PFAS waste at U.S. military bases could cost at least $10 billion. Removing it from U.S. drinking water supplies could add more than $3.2 billion annually to the bill, according to a report commissioned by the American Water Works Association.
“The CDC estimates that 99% of Americans have PFAS in their blood,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that researches the ingredients in household and consumer products. “We estimate that 200 million Americans are exposed to PFAS in their drinking water right now.”
As ubiquitous as PFAS are, the reason they haven’t generated more outrage among the public may be that the damage from PFAS chemicals isn’t immediate. They affect health over time, with repeated exposure.
“People aren’t getting headaches or coughing from exposure to PFAS,” Bennett said. “But they are getting cancer a few years down the line — and they don’t understand why.”
Some environmental health advocates, such as Arthur Bowman III, policy director at the Center for Environmental Health, say the EPA’s data collection project could help. “It will be fairly straightforward for the EPA to gather PFAS information on cleaning products and other wet chemicals that contain PFAS,” Bowman said. “And this will lead to phaseouts of PFAS.”
Some retailers, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and REI, have recently announced plans to remove the chemicals from many of their products.
But Bowman said it will be more difficult for manufacturers to remove PFAS used in the production of semiconductor chips and printed circuit boards, since alternative products are still in the research phase.
The Semiconductor Industry Association has asked the EPA for an exemption to the proposed reporting requirements because, it maintains, semiconductor manufacturing is so complex that it would be “impossible, even with an unlimited amount of time and resources, to discern the presence (if any) of PFAS in such articles.” Other industries have also asked for waivers.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents large PFAS manufacturers such as 3M, disagrees with those calling for the entire class of PFAS chemicals to be banned. “Individual chemistries have their own unique properties and uses, as well as environmental and health profiles,” said Tom Flanagin, a spokesperson for the trade group.
While the council’s member companies “support strong, science-based regulations of PFAS chemistries that are protective of human health and the environment,” Flanagin said, the rules shouldn’t harm economic growth “or hamper businesses and consumers from accessing the products they need.”
For their part, some environmental advocates welcome the reporting proposal, expecting it to reveal new and surprising uses of PFAS. “However, it’s going to be a snapshot,” said Sonya Lunder, the senior toxics policy adviser for the Sierra Club.
Lunder said even if PFAS were found in, for example, brands of baby bibs, pesticide containers, or pet food bags, it isn’t clear which federal agency would regulate the products. She said Americans should demand that Congress add PFAS and other harmful chemicals to all major environmental statutes for water, air, food, and consumer products.
And another worry: If the data does make it into the mainstream, will consumers simply tune it out — just as many do with California’s multitudinous cancer warning signs? Lunder doesn’t think so, since “the audience is scientists, regulators, and — for better or for worse — tort attorneys.”
Benesh, of the Environmental Working Group, said the disclosures could reach further and “embolden consumers to demand even more market change.”
KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
A fire that broke out Tuesday at a former factory that was storing plastic material in Richmond, Indiana, was still burning Wednesday. The large fire forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 nearby residents. The EPA is investigating whether any of the burning items contained asbestos or other carcinogenic materials. Max Lewis has more.
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The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed strict new tailpipe pollution standards that would effectively force auto manufacturers to accelerate their production of electric vehicles. Under the EPA’s proposal, 67% of all vehicles manufactured in the U.S. would be electric by 2032. Ben Tracy has the details.
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At a local town hall meeting Thursday, residents of East Palestine, Ohio, expressed their frustrations to local and federal officials, along with a representative from Norfolk Southern, regarding the response to the toxic train derailment. CBS News correspondent Roxana Saberi reports from East Palestine on the latest on the unfolding crisis.
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