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Outrage in Iowa – Residents Demand Action to Clean up Dangerously Polluted Water
Several hundred Iowa residents gathered in the state capital this week, calling on public officials — and each other — to take swift action against dangerously polluted water supplies that are closely linked to the state’s powerful agricultural industry.
Some attendees drove for hours from rural farmsteads for the Aug. 4 event, squeezing into a packed auditorium on the campus of Drake University to listen to a team of scientists detail new research showing how multiple harmful pollutants flowing through Iowa watersheds are jeopardizing public and environmental health.
The crowd cheered and applauded loudly as speakers outlined a need for new regulations on farm pollution, while discussion of moves by public officials to slash funding for water quality monitoring devices drew a chorus of boos. Organizers counted more than 600 attending in person and said more than 230 participated online.
West Virginia Families Sue EQT Over Fracking Pollution
The families of four Wetzel County children have sued a Pittsburgh-based gas producer over health effects from fracking. The families filed their complaint Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against EQT, the largest gas producer in Appalachia.
The families say the operation of several gas wells and a compressor station in the Wetzel County community of Knob Fork released harmful pollutants that made the children sick. Those include volatile organic compounds, which can cause dizziness, headaches, confusion, tremors, anxiety, nerve pain and muscle fatigue. One VOC, benzene, can cause cancer.
The families have relocated from their homes near the gas wells and compressor station to nearby New Martinsville and Paden City.
Across Northern Minnesota’s Pristine Lake Country, Mercury Contamination Is Growing
Dave Setterholm steered his motorboat across Farm Lake then cut the engine along the Kawishiwi River near the edge of the Boundary Waters wilderness. Cross into the Boundary Waters and Setterholm said he’d still dip a cup over the side of a canoe to drink the pure water. But eating fish out of these lakes is another matter.
There’s mercury in the water. Anglers are warned against eating more than one fish a month. “And for my grandson, who was just here the other day, he shouldn’t eat anything until he’s at least 15. Or if you’re thinking about being pregnant, you shouldn’t be eating it,” said Setterholm, who directs water quality testing for the White Iron Chain of Lakes Association. “To me, that’s scary.”
Pollution doesn’t respect boundaries. Hundreds of lakes across the North Woods are contaminated with mercury, including those in protected areas like the Boundary Waters. That contamination is worsening now despite years of efforts to close coal-fired power plants and scrub industrial emissions.
Could the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reversal Help Factory Farms Pollute Even More?
On July 29, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency plans to rescind its 2009 finding that greenhouse gas emissions are harmful to human health. The agency relies on this finding to regulate climate emissions, and experts say that rescinding it will imperil public health and empower major polluting industries.
The decision isn’t final, and will likely be appealed. As efforts to regulate emissions from factory farms are already nonexistent, the reversal, if it goes through, will only further dampen efforts to reign in meat industry pollution.
“Once again, Lee Zeldin and the Trump administration are making it clear they have no care or concern for the health and wellbeing of the American people or future generations,” Food & Water Watch policy director Jim Walsh told Sentient in an email. “Zeldin and Trump are concerned only with maximizing short-term profits for polluting corporations and the CEOs funneling millions of dollars to their campaign coffers.”
Scientists Sound the Alarm After Discovering Disturbing Change in Worm Behavior: ‘This Will Pass Down the Food Chain’
Much like eating junk food makes you crave it more, scientists are finding that eating microplastics makes animals want them more. New Scientist summarized a study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, that found that over generations, small roundworms called nematodes began preferring having microplastics sprinkled into their usual diet of bacteria.
While the first generation preferred the microplastics-free choice, plastic-laced food became the preference over multiple generations. The researchers told the publication that this change may stem from smell.
Nematodes don’t have true vision, so they rely on their other senses to find food. After prolonged exposure, they may start to recognize plastics as more like food. However, the researchers added that this preference is more of an acquired taste than a genetic mutation and could potentially be reversed.
