A few months ago, we noted the efforts by a coalition of advocates to get the federal government to commit to a broad effort to more thoroughly study the health effects of C8 and related chemicals.

There’s been some progress on that front, with passage of a defense department funding bill that included language making at least $7 million available for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to “commence a study on the human health implications of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances … contamination in drinking water … and any other sources of water and relevant exposure pathways.” Under the bill, the study must include an “exposure assessment” that must include at least 8 current or former domestic military installations known to have PFAS exposure pathways.

What’s not clear is if this study is also going to include what advocates had requested in terms of study and testing of firefighters and emergency responders.

Rob Bilott, the crusading lawyer who has been working for so long on C8 issues, has been pressing the government on this, including in this letter dated Dec. 13. But so far, he’s gotten no answer.

Here’s the news out today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

There were a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2016, a 7 percent increase from the 4,836 fatal injuries reported in 2015 … This is the third consecutive increase in annual workplace fatalities and the first time more than 5,000 fatalities have been recorded by the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) since 2008. The fatal injury rate increased to 3.6 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers from 3.4 in 2015, the highest rate since 2010.

]]> http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/watchdog/2017/12/19/worker-deaths-up-again-in-u-s/feed/ 0 9478 http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/watchdog/2017/10/04/good-news-bad-news-for-imperiled-fish-species/ http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/watchdog/2017/10/04/good-news-bad-news-for-imperiled-fish-species/#respond Wed, 04 Oct 2017 14:34:23 +0000 http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/watchdog/?p=9467

Although darters in general make up 20 percent of freshwater fish species in North America, candy darters are found only in a portion of West Virginia and Virginia. Measuring 2-3 inches in length, this colorful fish prefers shallow, fast flowing stream reaches with rocky bottoms. Photo T. Travis Brown via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The announcement yesterday from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Administration sounded like good news at first:

Visit the fast-flowing streams of Virginia and West Virginia’s upper Kanawha River Basin, and you might be lucky enough to witness flashes of teal, red and orange from the minnow-like candy darter. But with the latest data indicating a declining trend for the species, this vibrant freshwater fish could soon be protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Following a review of the best available scientific information, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the candy darter as threatened under the ESA. Nearly half of the 35 candy darter populations known when the species was first described in 1932 have now disappeared.

Paul Phifer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional director, said:

The candy darter has been called one of our country’s most vivid freshwater fish, and all signs suggest its future is threatened. Federal, state, and university partners are already at work to conserve the species, and we look forward to collaborating with industry and local partners to explore additional conservation opportunities.

But then came the rest of the story, from the Center for Biological Diversity:

In response to a legal victory by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed protecting two colorful Southeast fish under the Endangered Species Act, but denied protection for two other fish.

The trispot darter in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee and the candy darter in Virginia and West Virginia will gain final protection one year from today’s proposal. The Service simultaneously denied protection for the holiday darter and the bridled darter, despite status reviews indicating they’re in poor condition.

Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center, said:

The Trump administration is such an enemy to the environment that we’re surprised and elated to see even two of these imperiled fish move closer to protection. The decision not to propose protection for the holiday darter and the bridled darter sure smells fishy, though, so we’ll carefully review the best available science and consider challenging those determinations in court.

There are six surviving populations of the bridled darter, all in poor condition. Of the seven surviving populations of holiday darter, six are ranked as being in poor condition.

Regarding the two species for which protections were denied, the Center explained:

The bridled darter is a small fish discovered in 2007, found only in northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee in the Conasauga and Etowah river watersheds. It is a slender, 3-inch fish with overlapping dark, circular blotches on its sides that form undulating stripes. The darter is very sensitive to water pollution and is threatened by runoff from development, logging and agriculture.

Holiday darters are 2 inches long and are found in the Coosa River watershed in Alabama and in the upper Conasauga, upper Coosawattee and upper Etowah watersheds in Georgia and southeastern Tennessee. The tiny fish are threatened by sprawl, dams, natural gas extraction and runoff from logging. Males turn bright red, blue and green during the breeding season. Populations of the holiday darter in different areas may actually be different species, and scientists are studying the different populations and writing new species descriptions.

In 2010, the Center petitioned for protections for all four fish, as well as for hundreds of other imperiled Southeast freshwater species. The group noted:

The rivers of the southeastern United States are a global hotspot of biodiversity that supports more kinds of freshwater mussels, crayfish and fish than any other region. Freshwater species are being lost to extinction at 1,000 times the natural rate. More than 50 species have already been wiped out from the Southeast’s waterways.

Under the Fish and Wildlife Service’s work plan, and in accordance with legal victories by the Center, the Service is slated to issue decisions on Endangered Species Act protection for 53 more species this fiscal year, meaning the findings should have been sent to the federal register last week and come out in the next week.

And in fact, this morning’s Federal Register filings for public inspection include an announcement in which the administration denies protections to 25 other species.

While the folks at DowDuPont were celebrating the successful completion of their mega-merger, there has been another interesting and important development in the long saga of C8 and other fluorinated chemicals.

Earlier this week, a collection of advocates — a doctor, a firefighter and a lawyer — urged the federal government to launch a new, comprehensive national health studies and testing for people exposed to these chemicals in their drinking water or in their work as emergency responders. They sent letters to the Centers for Disease Control and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to call for the study (see here and here) of the chemicals, known collectively as PFAS.

Among those calling for the study was Dr. Paul Brooks, who led the groundbreaking C8 Health Project in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Brooks said:

In order to protect the public health, it is critically important for ATSDR to move forward as soon as possible with work to assess the health impacts of this ever-expanding mix of PFAS chemicals in drinking water across our country, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with the agency to help shape such a national program, using our earlier C8 Health Project work on PFOA as a model.

Jeffrey Hermes, a prostate cancer survivor and firefighter/paramedic in Northern Kentucky, called on ATSDR to conduct a nationwide study of the thousands of firefighters and other emergency responders who were exposed to PFAS materials from firefighting foams and equipment:

My brothers and sisters in our country’s firefighting and emergency response community, particularly those of us now battling or having survived cancer, deserve to know whether the equipment we relied upon every day — the firefighting foams and our protective clothing and gear — actually exposed us to unsafe levels of these toxic PFAS chemicals or increased our risk of contracting a serious illness or disease.

Rob Bilott, a lawyer for Brooks and Hermes, sent the federal government the letters and notified the agencies that they could be subject to a citizen suit if the issue is not addressed:

ATSDR is uniquely empowered under federal law to pursue these national PFAS health studies and testing, and may be one of the only entities that have the ability to secure the funding necessary to get this important work accomplished, regardless of who is responsible.

The Arkema Inc. chemical plant is flooded from Tropical Storm Harvey, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, in Crosby, Texas. The plant, about 25 miles (40.23 kilometers) northeast of Houston, lost power and its backup generators amid Harvey’s dayslong deluge, leaving it without refrigeration for chemicals that become volatile as the temperature rises. (Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle via AP)

As if things weren’t bad enough for people living in the Houston area, there’s this happening:

A fire broke out at the Arkema plant in Crosby early Thursday, following chemical explosions overnight that sent plumes of black smoke into the air.

Arkema officials warned that more explosions should be expected because there are eight additional containers of the same product at the plant, which is 25 miles northeast of downtown Houston.

… Crosby officials had been bracing for days for explosions at the Arkema plant where floodwaters knocked out power and generators needed to keep chemicals stored at the facility cool.

What’s absolutely remarkable is this, from that Houston Chronicle story:

The Arkema facility was among the Houston-area sites with the highest potential for harm in an incident, according to a 2016 analysis by the O’Connor Process Safety Center and the Houston Chronicle. That analysis factored risks based on the amount and type of dangerous chemicals on site and their proximity to the public.

The volatile chemicals involved in the reaction are organic peroxides, according the company, which can become flammable at warm temperatures.

At a press news conference Wednesday, Rich Rowe, Arkema’s CEO, said that if the volatile organic peroxides stored at the plant get too warm, some sort of explosion will happen.

“There is no way to prevent an explosion or fire,” Rowe said. He refused to release the company’s federally mandated risk management plan or its chemical inventory to reporters.

Let’s be clear about that last part:

He refused to release the company’s federally mandated risk management plan or its chemical inventory to reporters.

Just a few hours before all of this, a federal appeals court in Washington was issuing this short ruling, in which it declined to temporarily block the Trump administration’s delay of an update of an important U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule on chemical plant safety. The temporary delay would have kept the EPA rule in place while the case was being litigated.

If you want to understand what this is all about, watch that U.S. Chemical Safety Board video about the terrible disaster at West, Texas.

Then, remember that the Obama administration stalled and delayed any real moves to try to prevent another such disaster until the final months of their second term. And then understand that even once the EPA finalized an updated chemical plant safety rule, it was far less than what safety advocates and experts said was really needed. Read this great account of the situation from the Houston paper.  Also remember that, along the way, President Obama got rid of then-U.S. Chemical Safety Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso, one of the few within the government who was advocating for a much broader and complete approach to improving chemical plant safety.

So really, it wasn’t too far of a jump for the Trump EPA to be moving to delay the Obama agency’s timid approach to the rulemaking. Or for the Trump administration to propose a budget that would get rid of the CSB altogether.

And for those reading this in West Virginia, you might be interested to know that Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is among those who filed to intervene in the lawsuit to help defend the Trump EPA’s delay of that rule.

There’s a new report out today from Downstream Strategies in Morgantown that outlines how Marcellus Shale gas production has become more common near “places essential for everyday life” in West Virginia. The report, also compiled by SkyTruth and San Francisco State University, says this proximity increases the potential for human exposure to toxic chemicals.

The report, “In Everyone’s Backyard: Assessing Proximity of Fracking to Communities At-Risk in West Virginia’s Marcellus Shale,” says that more than 7,000 homes were found to be located less than one-half mile from wellpads in 2014. From the press release:

As fracking progressed in West Virginia, wellpads have also encroached on schools. By 2014, seven schools had at least one wellpad within one-half mile, and 36 schools had at least one well located within one mile.

Wellpads must be more than 1,000 feet from public drinking water intakes; however, there are no restrictions on the construction of wellpads within drinking water protection areas upstream from intakes. In 2014, hundreds of wellpads and impoundments were in these protection areas.

Since 2007, more and more wellpads and impoundments have also been built in or near public lands and near health care facilities.

A systematic, screening-level evaluation of the toxicity of chemicals self-reported by operators in West Virginia revealed that several hazardous substances have been used to frack wells near schools and immediately upstream from surface public drinking water intakes.

West Virginia State Code does not require setbacks between Marcellus Shale development and several types of sensitive areas assessed in this report. Setback distances for schools, health care facilities, and public lands—and restrictions in zones of critical concern and zones of peripheral concern above drinking water intakes—would help protect vulnerable populations and recreational opportunities as fracking development continues.

In 2015:

— 4,836 workers were killed on the job in the United States.

— The fatal injury rate—3.4 per 100,000 workers—remained the same as the rate in 2014.

— An estimated 50,000 to 60,000 workers died from occupational diseases.

— 150 workers died each day from hazardous working conditions.

— Nearly 3.7 million work-related injuries and illnesses were reported.

— Underreporting is widespread—the true toll is 7.4 million to 11.1 million injuries each year.

Photo by Tom Hindman

Here’s a bit of interesting news announced yesterday by the Trump administration’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Pruitt took action today to reconsider the “Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: “Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air” (“RMP Rule”) and signed an administrative stay to delay the effective date of the rule regarding chemical accident preparedness and prevention, until June 19, 2017.

The 90-day extension will allow time for EPA to consider whether to further extend the effective date of the rule through a rulemaking action while the Agency reconsiders the rule in response to a petition the agency received in February 2017 from the RMP Coalition.

“As an agency, we need to be responsive to concerns raised by stakeholders regarding regulations so facility owners and operators know what is expected of them,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said as he directed the Agency to extend the comment period.

While enjoying fast food, many people feel some pangs of guilt at the calories and salt they are consuming.  Today researchers are pointing to yet another possible cause for concern. In a paper published in Environmental Science &Technology Letters, scientists found fluorinated chemicals in about a third of take-out food packaging samples tested.  Previous research has shown these chemicals can migrate from packaging into the food which people eat.

Fluorinated chemicals are used to give water-repellant, stain-resistant, and non-stick properties to consumer products such as furniture, carpets, outdoor gear, clothing, cosmetics, cookware, and even food packaging materials. The most studied of these substances has been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, elevated cholesterol, decreased fertility, thyroid problems and changes in hormone functioning in adults as well as adverse developmental effects and decreased immune response in children.

In this study, the scientists from Silent Spring Institute, Notre Dame, Environmental Working Group, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Green Science Policy Institute collected and analyzed fast food packaging for this family of chemicals. In 400 samples of take-out packaging from fast food restaurants across the U.S., they found that 46% of food contact papers and 20% of paperboard contained fluorinated chemicals.

Study co-author Arlene Blum of U.C. Berkeley and the Green Science Policy Institute, said:

We should question putting any fluorinated materials into contact with food. “Given the potential for harm, we must ask if the convenience of water and grease resistance is worth risking our health.

Another study co-author, Graham Peaslee of the University of Notre Dame, said:

I was very surprised to find these chemicals in food contact materials from so many of the samples we tested. These chemicals are persistent and some bioaccumulate in the body, and there are safer non-fluorinated alternatives available.

We’ve written about this issue before here, here, here and here.

There’s more from the Environmental Working Group here, and here’s the abstract of the study published today:

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are highly persistent synthetic chemicals, some of which have been associated with cancer, developmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, and other health effects. PFASs in grease-resistant food packaging can leach into food and increase dietary exposure. We collected ∼400 samples of food contact papers, paperboard containers, and beverage containers from fast food restaurants throughout the United States and measured total fluorine using particle-induced γ-ray emission (PIGE) spectroscopy. PIGE can rapidly and inexpensively measure total fluorine in solid-phase samples. We found that 46% of food contact papers and 20% of paperboard samples contained detectable fluorine (>16 nmol/cm²). Liquid chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis of a subset of 20 samples found perfluorocarboxylates, perfluorosulfonates, and other known PFASs and/or unidentified polyfluorinated compounds (based on nontargeted analysis). The total peak area for PFASs was higher in 70% of samples (10 of 14) with a total fluorine level of >200 nmol/cm² compared to six samples with a total fluorine level of <16 nmol/cm². Samples with high total fluorine levels but low levels of measured PFASs may contain volatile PFASs, PFAS polymers, newer replacement PFASs, or other fluorinated compounds. The prevalence of fluorinated chemicals in fast food packaging demonstrates their potentially significant contribution to dietary PFAS exposure and environmental contamination during production and disposal.

As the clock ticks away on the Obama administration, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are trying to set the record straight on the agency’s landmark effort to study the potential water quality impacts of the nation’s natural gas boom.

Here’s the announcement today from the EPA press office:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing its scientific report on the impacts from hydraulic fracturing activities on drinking water resources, which provides states and others the scientific foundation to better protect drinking water resources in areas where hydraulic fracturing is occurring or being considered. The report, done at the request of Congress, provides scientific evidence that hydraulic fracturing activities can impact drinking water resources in the United States under some circumstances. As part of the report, EPA identified conditions under which impacts from hydraulic fracturing activities can be more frequent or severe. The report also identifies uncertainties and data gaps. These uncertainties and data gaps limited EPA’s ability to fully assess impacts to drinking water resources both locally and nationally. These final conclusions are based upon review of over 1,200 cited scientific sources; feedback from an independent peer review conducted by EPA’s Science Advisory Board; input from engaged stakeholders; and new research conducted as part of the study. 

That’s quite different from the announcement EPA issued more than a year ago, when it published a draft version of this report:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing a draft assessment today on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing activities on drinking water resources in the United States. The assessment, done at the request of Congress, shows that while hydraulic fracturing activities  in the U.S. are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources, there are potential vulnerabilities in the water lifecycle that could impact drinking water. The assessment follows the water used for hydraulic fracturing from water acquisition, chemical mixing at the well pad site, well injection of fracking fluids, the collection of hydraulic fracturing wastewater (including flowback and produced water), and wastewater treatment and disposal.

Readers may recall that we reported at the time, in June 2015, that even the draft EPA report really indicated that the data just wasn’t there to make sweeping conclusions about the safety of this industrial activity, and at the time EPA scientists admitted as much to any reporter who bothered to ask. Today’s new, final report follows strong criticism of the draft by the EPA Science Advisory Board (read the final SAB review here), and a recent story by Marketplace that detailed some of the behind-the-scenes moves that led to the incorrect spin back in 2015.

Thomas A. Burke, EPA’s science adviser and deputy assistance administrator for research and development, said today:

The value of high quality science has never been more important in helping to guide decisions around our nation’s fragile water resources. EPA’s assessment provides the scientific foundation for local decision makers, industry, and communities that are looking to protect public health and drinking water resources and make more informed decisions about hydraulic fracturing activities. This assessment is the most complete compilation to date of national scientific data on the relationship of drinking water resources and hydraulic fracturing.