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Drinking Water Contaminated With PFAS Directly Linked to Dangerous Blood Toxin Levels
People in U.S. communities with higher PFAS in public drinking water also tend to carry more of these chemicals in their blood. The most important number is this: 7.1% of residents in high exposure areas had blood levels above 20 ng/mL, compared with 2.8% in low exposure areas.
The study drew on 1,599 deidentified blood samples from matched U.S. zip codes categorized by water system PFAS exposure. Those results were presented in Chicago at a national diagnostics meeting. The team examined how PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in local water relate to PFAS found in people’s blood. They paired areas with high and low water exposure and kept age and sex distributions similar across groups. Wen Dui of Quest
Diagnostics led the research team that analyzed the samples and interpreted the findings. That point matters because it shows a laboratory group connecting population exposure with clinical testing. “Drinking water is one of the most important routes for exposure to environmental contaminants, including PFAS,” said Dui.
Path to Turf Gets Bumpy
Night games. Outdoor assemblies. Alumni events — members of the CVU community are thrilled at the possibility of adding an artificial turf field on the high school grounds in Hinesburg, Vermont. But a group of residents tasked with protecting the town’s natural resources is coalescing in opposition to the project. Residents of the school district voted down a bond proposal to build a turf field at the high school about a decade ago. An Oct. 30 news release distributed by Lesser-Goldsmith says his plan revives “a long-held vision without burdening taxpayers.”
But it’s not the cost that Hinesburg environmentalists are wary of. It’s the material that the turf is made from and its potential impact on natural resources, particularly the watershed. During an Oct. 14 meeting of the Hinesburg Conservation Commission, members cast doubt on artificial turf manufacturers’ claims about the presence of what are known as “forever chemicals” — perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — in their product.
They expressed concern about the synthetic grass and underlying rubber pellets degrading over time and affecting groundwater, from which town residents and schools, including CVU, get drinking water.
Michigan Environmental Groups Want EPA to Test for Microplastics in Drinking Water
Several Michigan environmental groups called on Governor Gretchen Whitmer Monday to sign a petition demanding that the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitor drinking water for microplastics. Tami Renkoski is a retired certified industrial hygienist and a cofounder of the Michigan Microplastics Coalition. She said the group’s goal is to get seven governors across the country to sign the petition and persuade the EPA to monitor microplastics in every state.
She said Whitmer is an ideal candidate to sign the petition because of her past environmental stewardship and because of her responsibility to protect the Great Lakes surrounding Michigan. Renkoski said there are currently no laws in Michigan to monitor drinking water for microplastics, though there have been recent efforts to pass that legislation. But she said the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy has started monitoring some surface and drinking waters throughout the state.
“It would be more cost effective and consistent if we had help from the federal government,” Renkoski said. She said that would standardize the methods used to collect the drinking water samples.
Cleanup of PFAS Could Cost Wisconsin Billions, Regulators and Lawmakers Say
Wisconsin Public Radio reported:
Wisconsin environmental regulators and Republican lawmakers don’t agree on much when it comes to addressing PFAS contamination, but both acknowledge it will likely cost the state billions of dollars. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources produced a fiscal estimate this fall on one of two PFAS bills introduced by Republicans.
The agency’s estimate focused on potential costs of legislation that would exempt individuals and other parties from paying to clean up contamination they didn’t cause under the state’s spills law. The bill would exempt people who spread or received PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge under a state license or permit. WPR reported industrial and sewage sludge, along with septage, are spread across roughly 500,000 acres in Wisconsin each year.
The bill includes exemptions for fire departments, public airports or municipalities that used firefighting foam containing the chemicals for emergencies or training, as well as solid waste disposal facilities. That means the DNR would likely be on the hook for cleanup costs.
Data Centers’ Use of Diesel Generators for Backup Power Is Commonplace — and Problematic
“Five nines.” In the world of data centers, ensuring a facility will be online 99.999% of the time, is everything. Access to power is the number one priority when developers are trying to figure out where to build the warehouses storing supercomputers that in recent years have grown beyond what was previously imaginable.
In order to ensure five nines, data center developers secure power in various ways: They’ll seek to connect to the grid, build out or buy their own behind-the-meter power supply — typically in the form of gas-fired generation — and lastly, host multiple backup generators on site. These generators commonly run on diesel.
The refined crude oil has become the industry standard to ensure around-the-clock access to power as developers in Texas await a new state regulation that empowers the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operators, to disconnect large power users like data centers at times of peak demand.
Backup generators have also become vital to developers as slow supply chains delay onsite gas turbine installations. The preferred backup power source for data centers are big air polluters, which environmentalists and industry experts say could be highly problematic unless clear rules are established and enforced for limiting diesel generator use. Diesel emits harmful pollutants that the American Cancer Society links to heart and lung disease and cancer.
Another Giveaway to Big Oil as Trump Wrenches Open 13 Million Acres of Arctic for Drilling
The Trump administration on Thursday killed Biden-era rules that protected around 13 million acres of the western Arctic from fossil fuel drilling, another giveaway to the industry that helped bankroll the president’s campaign. The decision by the U.S. Interior Department, led by billionaire fossil fuel industry ally Doug Burgum, targets the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). Last year, the Biden administration finalized rules that shielded more than half of the 23-million-acre NPR-A from drilling.
Conservationists were quick to condemn the repeal of the rules as a move that prioritizes the profits of oil and gas corporations over wildlife, pristine land, and the climate.
Monica Scherer, senior director of campaigns at Alaska Wilderness League, ripped the administration for ignoring the hundreds of thousands of people who engaged in the public comment process and spoke out against the gutting of NPR-A protections.
