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NC hog farm buyout failure leaves vulnerable communities at risk
By: Makaelah Walters, Facing South July 21, 2022 Back in May, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) called on the Republican-controlled state legislature to include $18 million in the new state budget to fund the state’s Swine Floodplain Buyout Program. Created in 1999 in response to devastating floods from Hurricane Floyd that sent enormous amounts of hog farm pollution into communities and waterways, the program buys out owners of farms in low-lying areas prone to flooding. But the budget passed by the legislature — and signed into law by Cooper on July 1 — does not include funding for the program. "This is one of many examples of this industry wielding political power at the legislature," said Brooks Pearson, legislative counsel at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) in Chapel Hill. The nonprofit law firm has long fought to protect communities from hog farm pollution. The hog industry has been a mighty political force in North Carolina for decades now. Since 2000, hog farmers and other meat industry interests have contributed more than $5.6 million to North Carolina state candidates, as Vox recently reported. In addition, several legislators themselves are farmers who champion the industry’s interests. The buyout program's funds have also been used to close hog farms' notoriously smelly "lagoons" — massive, open pits used store animal waste, including feces, urine, and blood. When lagoons get full, the contents are typically sprayed onto nearby fields, risking runoff into waterways while making life miserable for nearby residents. And while the lagoons pose a particular risk during hurricane season, they can overflow at any time due to lack of maintenance coupled with weak regulatory oversight. In December 2020, for example, a lagoon failure at DC Mills Farm in Eastern North Carolina’s Jones County spilled 1 million gallons of hog waste into a tributary of the Trent River. The farm raised pigs for Smithfield Foods, a Virginia-based food-processing company that's owned by the Chinese conglomerate WH Group. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) had previously cited DC Mills Farm twice for lagoons being over capacity. "It's not necessarily a matter of if there will be another devastating hurricane in Eastern North Carolina," Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Jill Howell told Facing South. "We see climate change manifesting in smaller ways. When three or four inches of rain is dumped all at once — and that's not an event here in Eastern North Carolina, it happens all the time — it causes serious localized flooding." For a time, environmental advocates were encouraged by farmers’ interest in the Swine Floodplain Buyout. In all, the state has spent nearly $19 million to halt operations on 43 swine farms. But in 2007 — the same year the legislature made its 1997 moratorium on swine farms permanent — it stopped funding the program. More than 100 farmers who applied were sent away empty-handed. "There are very few things that environmental advocates and operators at CAFOs agree on, but it feels like a swine buyout may be one of them," Howell said. Though the state's hog farms remained under scrutiny after a series of hurricanes and lagoon breaches, the buyout program did not resume until 2018, when Hurricane Florence sent animal waste from 46 lagoons flowing into communities and waterways. Twenty-three farmers applied for the last round of buyout funding, but there was only enough money to close three to five facilities, according to the state Soil and Water Conservation Division. The number of farmers volunteering for the program consistently outpaced the funding, leaving the communities most impacted by the industry vulnerable to disaster. "Every time this program gets funded, there are more applications than there is money to cover it," Pearson said. "The wall we typically hit is Steve Troxler." Troxler, North Carolina’s elected Republican agriculture commissioner, campaigned on making agriculture a $100 billion industry in the state. At the same time, his campaign is heavily supported by agricultural interests, with the North Carolina Pork Council and Smithfield Foods among his top donors, according to FollowTheMoney.org. Given current political realities, Pearson thinks any policy proposal that reduces the number of hogs in North Carolina likely isn’t going to fly. The entire legislature is up for election this year, but it will be elected using GOP-drawn maps favorable to the GOP. For Republicans to retake the supermajority and override Cooper's veto, they need to gain three seats in the state House and two in the Senate. Meanwhile, new pressure is building to keep hog waste lagoons in operation thanks to the state’s energy companies. In 2020, Smithfield Foods and Virginia-based Dominion Energy proposed the largest swine waste-to-energy project in North Carolina. The $500 million project would involve capping waste lagoons to collect methane gas, which would then be processed and transported via pipeline and sold to Piedmont Natural Gas. "It's the poster child for greenwashing," said Blakely Hildebrand, a senior attorney with SELC. "Industry is holding up biogas as this silver bullet to the climate crisis for the agricultural industry. And it is far far from that." As powerful industries team up to continue polluting, the resulting pain is disproportionately borne by residents of North Carolina’s environmental justice communities. A growing body of public health research shows that people who live closer to industrial animal operations get sick more often, stay sick longer, and die more often than people who live further away. And census data shows between a quarter to a third of residents of the state’s major pork-producing counties are Black and around a quarter of are Latinx. In Robeson County, home to both hog and poultry farms, nearly 42% of residents are Native American and 23% are Black. Despite the environmental health risks, the DEQ issued permits to four farms to begin biogas operations at the beginning of this year — a move that many advocates saw as environmental racism. "There’s lots of talk about how covering lagoons will be good for odors and for flooding related things," said Howell. "But what nobody talks about is how building out natural gas infrastructure does nothing to reduce the number of open air lagoons in Eastern North Carolina." Read the article on Facing South
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Experts to Congress: Restore EPA enforcement staffing and funding for environmental justice
By: Julia Kane, Grist July 22, 2022 For the past three years, the Valero Houston Refinery hasn’t gone a single quarter without committing a significant violation of the Clean Air Act. Year after year, as toxic air pollution has wafted through Manchester — a predominantly Hispanic, low-income neighborhood across the street — the facility has racked up a long list of violation notices from state regulators, but that’s done little to actually stop the onslaught. “We always voice concerns about non-enforcement,” said Juan Parras, executive director of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services, who has advocated for Manchester and other communities along the Houston Ship Channel for more than 20 years. “Even when there is enforcement, the penalty is so ridiculously low that it doesn’t pressure the industry to clean up,” he said. To Parras, this is unconscionable. “We ought to be showing communities that are impacted like we are — throughout the nation — that the law is going to back them up,” he said. A mural in the park next to the Valero Houston Refinery shows Manchester, a neighborhood inundated by industrial pollution. Environmental Protection Agency The Valero Houston Refinery is just one of 485 facilities across the country with “high priority violations” of the Clean Air Act that have been left unaddressed through formal enforcement actions. Those violations could include operating without a permit or not using the best available technology to control emissions, among other infractions. At the federal level, EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is responsible for enforcing environmental laws. The division runs programs to assist companies with compliance, carries out investigations into suspected violations, issues penalties, and refers the more severe violations to the Department of Justice for prosecution. But for the past decade, Congress has steadily chipped away at the enforcement division’s funding and staffing levels. Since 2011, enforcement funding has fallen by nearly 30 percent once adjusted for inflation. The division currently has 713 fewer staffers than it did back then — a decrease of about 28 percent. As a result, the number of inspections, investigations, and civil and criminal cases the division initiates each year has plummeted, too. There’s a backlog of violations that the EPA hasn’t taken enforcement action on, and there are likely many more that the agency doesn’t even know about because investigators aren’t examining the data companies report or getting out into the field as often. Grist / Chad Small That has real-world consequences for neighborhoods inundated with industrial pollution, which tend to be communities of color or low-income communities. When it comes to enforcing the law, “if our state’s not going to do it and our EPA can’t because they don’t have the capacity, then now there’s nobody left, right? There’s nobody who can hold polluters accountable,” said Jennifer Hadayia, executive director of the environmental justice non-profit Air Alliance Houston. Environmental justice advocates hope Congress will soon reverse course and begin building the enforcement division back up. Last week Air Alliance Houston and 26 other environmental groups from across the country urged lawmakers to fund the EPA’s enforcement efforts at the levels proposed in the Biden administration’s budget. Any day now, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a spending bill outlining funding for the agency through the next fiscal year. Since his first day in office, President Biden has pledged to make environmental justice a cornerstone of his policy agenda. In May, EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Attorney General Merrick Garland unveiled a new enforcement strategy outlining how their agencies would work together to help fulfill that pledge and pursue environmental justice. “Communities of color, Indigenous communities, and low-income communities often bear the brunt of the harm caused by environmental crime, pollution, and climate change,” Garland said during a press conference. “We will prioritize the cases that will have the greatest impact on the communities most overburdened by environmental harm.” Grist / Chad Small But it isn’t enough to just better prioritize cases, says Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project and a former director of the EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement. “Many if not most EPA enforcement actions are already brought against polluters surrounded by lower-income neighborhoods or communities of color, since that’s where the biggest polluters are concentrated,” Schaeffer said. “The problem is that there aren’t nearly enough of them, they take longer than they should, and they sometimes aren’t significant enough to make a long-term difference.” “That won’t be solved by continually refining targeting strategies for an ever-shrinking number of cases,” he said. Instead, the enforcement division needs to conduct more investigations and bring more cases when they find violations. And to do that, they need adequate funding and staff. The Biden administration’s proposed budget allocates over $630 million for enforcement — an 11 percent increase from last year when adjusted for inflation, but still significantly less than in 2011, when enforcement expenditures were nearly $730 million. Biden also wants to boost the division’s staff by more than 130 — which would still leave the division about 600 shy of the nearly 3,300 employees it had a decade ago. “It’s a start,” said Schaeffer. He’d like to see a bigger investment, but “we live in the real world, and we’ve got a fifty-fifty Senate,” he said. Once the House passes legislation to fund the EPA, they will still have to iron out any differences between their version and the Senate’s version, which lawmakers say they’ll release before the end of the month. Then both chambers will need to pass the final version of the bill, which likely won’t happen until after the election in November. “The administration is trying to reorient its focus, but it needs the tools to do that,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and a former senior attorney for EPA’s enforcement division. “It needs the enforcement officers, it needs the inspectors, it needs the attorneys to make sure that there is environmental justice in this country.” But building the division back up won’t be easy. “Just on a human level, you know, it takes time,” Whitehouse said. “These are very complicated laws and regulations. And so EPA needs to make sure it has the best available people and the proper expertise to see these enforcement cases through from beginning to end.” For more than a decade, conservatives who see the EPA’s enforcement efforts as overreach have successfully whittled away funding and staffing for the enforcement division. That came to a head under the Trump administration. In 2017, the Washington Post wrote that former President Trump was planning “to take a sledgehammer” to the agency, attempting to cut enforcement funding by 60 percent. Whitehouse thinks it will take several years of sustained funding to get the enforcement division back to a place where it can adequately enforce the country’s environmental laws. “It’s pretty easy to break something,” he said. “It’s really hard to put it back together. Read the article on Grist
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Chemours says it will offer alternative water to more GenX-affected households, but is vague about future
By: Lisa Sorg, NC Policy Watch July 15, 2022 Chemours told the NC Department of Environmental Quality this week that it would offer replacement water supplies to more North Carolinians whose wells are contaminated with GenX, but was vague as to whether it would continue to do so if the company wins a federal court case. In a July 13 letter from Chemours plant manager Dawn Hughes to DEQ, she wrote that the company “reserves its rights to take appropriate actions … based upon the results of the pending federal litigation, including in the event EPA’s Final Advisory is found to be invalid.” Chemours, which operates its Fayetteville Works plant near the Cumberland/Bladen county line, is responsible for contaminating public and private drinking water supplies in the Lower Cape Fear River Basin with GenX. An estimated 800,000 people who live in the basin have been affected. Exposure to GenX has been linked to myriad health problems: including reproductive problems, low birth weight, high cholesterol and several types of cancers. The new EPA toxicity assessment said the liver “is particularly sensitive” to the effects of GenX. As part of a 2019 consent order between DEQ, the company and Cape Fear River Watch, Chemours must offer alternative water supplies to private well owners whose water tests either greater than 140 parts per trillion — the state’s health advisory goal at the time — or above EPA thresholds, even if they change. Last month, the EPA sharply reduced its goal to 10 ppt; it was originally 70 ppt. Chemours has challenged the EPA’s scientific basis for the new goal in a petition to a federal court. A health advisory goal is not legally enforceable, but it is among the steps toward a national drinking water standard, which is law. Nonetheless, the more stringent threshold legally forces Chemours to offer alternative water to more than 1,500 private well owners in North Carolina whose drinking water contains levels of GenX between 10 ppt and 140 ppt. In her remarks to the Environmental Management Commission yesterday, Assistant Secretary for the Environment Sushma Masemore said 1,545 well owners could be eligible, based on Chemours estimates. That number has since been updated to 1,697 residences or other properties in Cumberland, Bladen, and Robeson counties. Policy Watch reported yesterday that the cost of installing, operating and maintaining these replacement water systems could cost Chemours $200 million, based on the maximum amount per customer, as laid out in the consent order. Regardless of the federal court’s decision, which could be months away, Assistant Secretary Masemore reiterated to Chemours that it must immediately begin complying with the updated health advisory goals. In a letter dated July 14, Masemore responded to Chemours: .. the Department wishes to make clear its position that the Consent Order is unequivocal in requiring Chemours to provide replacement drinking water supplies in the form of public water or whole building filtration systems to parties with private drinking water wells impacted by EPA’s new health advisory, which is now in effect and applicable. This requirement is of real and immediate importance to parties whose wells have been contaminated by pollution from the Fayetteville Works Facility. Affected parties must be assured that the replacement drinking water supply provisions in the Consent Order will be fully and timely implemented.” Chemours itemized to DEQ the status of replacement systems. This does not include households downstream, such as in New Hanover and Brunswick counties, who are connected to public systems. 885 have reverse osmosis systems that were installed by Chemours and are operating; 124 already have public water connections, including 84 that were connected by Chemours to public water systems, and are receiving public water; 108 are under consideration for public water connections and in the interim are receiving bottled water or have reverse osmosis systems already installed; 3 have had new deeper wells constructed by Chemours, producing water tested to have below 10 ppt for HFPO-DA; 5 (all non-residential properties) have granulated activated carbon (“GAC”) systems that were installed by Chemours and are operating; 4 of the wells are no longer in use; 519 have not accepted Chemours’s offer for reverse osmosis systems and are receiving bottled water deliveries or vouchers; and 49 have declined Chemours’s offer for reverse osmosis systems, and are not currently receiving replacement drinking water. There are an additional seven wells in New Hanover County whose owners have been provided with bottled water deliveries or vouchers. DEQ is hosting a public meeting on Tuesday, July 26 about the impacts of the new EPA goals on private well owners. The meeting will be held at the Crown Theatre, 1960 Coliseum Drive in Fayetteville, at 6 p.m. Read the article on NC Policy Watch
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Preparing for an Active Atlantic Hurricane Season
The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts June 1st and lasts until November 30th, with the peak falling around September 10th. The effects of climate change have been felt more deeply in recent years, with wildfires and drought in the West, and rising sea levels and flooding on the East Coast and elsewhere. The climate crisis has also been linked to increased storm frequency and hurricane strength. Just last year, the Atlantic Hurricane Season produced 21 named storms (winds of 39 mph or greater), including seven hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or greater) of…
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Say NO to Duke’s Carbon Plan!
On May 16th, Duke Energy submitted a proposed Carbon Plan for public comment in compliance with NC HB 951 requiring the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) to develop a Carbon Plan by the end of 2022. The Commission is directed to achieve a reduction of 70% from 2005 levels by the year 2030 and carbon neutrality by the year 2050. Duke’s Plan doesn’t do enough to cut carbon emissions per HB 951 while lacking transparency and allowing for increased costs against ratepayers. Adding insult to injury, it does nothing to combat fracking and pipelines or animal waste digester and biogas activities, which directly impact drinking water resources in addition to climate and air quality. These practices disparately impact rural, low-income, and BIPOC communities. Below are some great resources including public hearings, rallies, talking points, report cards, and additional resources created by other fantastic organizations with whom we often collaborate or partner. *Two hearings will be held remotely via Webex, with members of the public participating by phone. People who would like to testify must register in advance by 5:00pm, August 16, 2022, by emailing the Commission at ncucpublichearing@ncuc.net or by calling 919-733-0837. People who want to register must provide their name, the docket number (E-100 Sub 179), the telephone number that they will use to participate in the hearing, and the topic of their testimony. Only the first 20 people registered for each remote hearing session will be allowed to testify. People who simply want to observe a remote hearing may do so via the live stream link on this website. Here is more information on how to participate in a remote hearing. Rallies People Power NC and other organizations are holding rallies and events before each meeting! These will have an art and community building focus outside each public hearing venue at the times provided below. Check back for more updates as information becomes available. • Durham rally at 5:30pm. Doors for the hearing will open at 7pm, folks will line up in advance and sign up to provide comments as soon as doors open. • Asheville rally at 5:30pm. • Charlotte rally at 3:00pm. Submitting Comments Any person or entity may submit written statements to inform the Commission of their positions on the Carbon Plan. Statements should be mailed to the address below, and reference Docket No. E 100, Sub 179. Persons may also electronically submit a position statement to the Commission about the Carbon Plan via the Commission’s website To send your comments via mail: 4325 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-4300 Reference Pages NCUC: Carbon Plan Page House Bill 951 (S.L. 2021-165) Duke Proposed Carbon Plan Fact Sheets, Resources, Analyses Stay updated on energy news in NC and surrounding areas: Sign up for NC Energy Digest Southern Alliance for Clean Energy: Overview of Duke's Proposed NC Carbon Plan Clean AIRE NC: Carbon Plan Talking Points (cleanairenc.org); NC Carbon Plan - CleanAIRE NC People Power & Fossil-Free NC: Fossil Free NC; Carbon-Plan-Report-Card * Note: Some environmental groups offer the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) as an alternative option, but Clean Water for NC and several community groups maintain reservations about RGGI due to EJ impacts, particularly hot-spotting and race-to-the-bottom impacts on low-income, rural, and BIPOC communities. These items would need to be adequately addressed to eliminate disparate and cumulative impacts on EJ communities.
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Much Work Remains for Meaningful Public Participation in North Carolina
On January 7, 2022, NC Gov. Roy Cooper signed Executive Order (EO) 246, “North Carolina’s Transformation to a Clean, Equitable Economy.” The EO 246 required, among many things, that each of the Governor’s agencies appoint an EJ Lead and updated Public Participation Plans for “meaningful, fair, and equitable public engagement in state agency decision-making.” In March, the Governor’s office began accepting comments via a “NC Access Survey” and similar efforts were conducted by the Andrea Harris Taskforce and DEQ Secretary’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board. Clean Water for NC, as well as numerous other environmental, social justice, and community members submitted comments and even met with Governor’s representatives to flesh out the details of our concerns regarding meaningful public participation in NC. Over the last several months, Governor’s agencies began appointing an EJ Lead and on June 1st, DEQ released its updated Public Participation Plan and Language Access Plan (Plan). We appreciate that DEQ took heed of some items we and numerous other folks raised, particularly efforts to reduce barriers to accessibility of hearings and meetings, as well as language barriers. However, DEQ’s draft Plan does not address a number of concerns we raised. Specifically, we are concerned with inadequate notification and comment periods, limited transparency with limited tools, and community disempowerment during decision-making processes. Meaningful Public Participation should mean that people: Have an opportunity to be heard AND That their concerns carry weight. Adequate Notice & Comment We applaud DEQ for recognizing that notification about permitting decisions need to go beyond a single newspaper notice. Flyers should be posted where the impacted community can see, such as grocery stores, post offices, or other local centers or information boards frequently used by the public. For rural areas with limited community centers, mailers would be used. The Plan also mentions potential use of social media and radio. We appreciate the acknowledgement that “current statutory requirements for disseminating information for public notice have not kept pace with evolving media communications.” This is an aspect in which DEQ recognizes an existing barrier with negative ramifications and goes beyond the explicit limitations and requirements of agency-authorizing statute in a manner that is equitable and fair for the needs of North Carolina’s residents. Yet, the way in which DEQ implemented its review and comment period for this Plan came across as a bit disingenuous and in opposition to DEQ’s claimed effort for enhancing public participation and engagement. The Plan itself was only open for 30 days for public review and comment, a standard DEQ applies to most of its actions. However, a 30-day review and comment period is simply not enough time, especially considering that agencies often spend months and years developing their rules as do polluting industries when they apply for permits—leaving the public scrambling to catch up and provide timely, thoughtful, and necessary comment to often highly technical matters. Statutorily, 30 days is only the floor and DEQ certainly has the authority to allow for more public review and comment time. A more appropriate timeframe is at least 60 days, even though the public is nonetheless at a disadvantage compared to the agency’s and permittee’s preparation time. Enhanced Public Engagement Another major concern is what the agency considers “enhanced” public engagement, which we deem to be the standard by which DEQ should apply all of its public outreach and engagement. According to DEQ’s Plan, enhanced engagement entails “project-specific and community-oriented communications methods” which may include, but does not require, (1) distributing flyers in locally-owned business, libraries, places of worship, and other community gathering places; (2) non-English language social media and other media outlets; (3) providing vital documents in non-English language; and (4) coordinate with community, faith-based, and other organizations to implement public engagement; among others. These “enhanced” approaches should be applied across the board, but the Plan would only allow DEQ to apply them if a community first qualifies to receive enhanced engagement. The systems used to determine whether enhanced approaches may be implemented include an EJ Report and the Community Mapping System (CMS). These are two helpful but flawed tools that ultimately do not provide for anticipated outcomes. For example, the EJ Report carries no bearing or weight on the decision of whether a permit will be approved. Rather, it is purely a tool to determine whether the enhanced engagement may be appropriate. According to the Plan, the CMS is to be used to identify community demographic, socioeconomic, and health data that may fit the definition of underserved communities, but it does not provide this data at the same scales for comparison, such as county-wide vs. the census block level vs. the extent of the map view in the tool. Our past two newsletters from Spring 2022 and Fall/Winter 2021 have discussed some of these CMS deficiencies and efforts at progress to better account for inequities. Equitable Outcomes or Continued Disempowerment? The Plan outright acknowledges the need for equity and claims to “strive to be transparent and accountable, to seek equitable outcomes through inclusive processes,” and uses the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) definition of meaningful involvement as one in which the “public’s contribution can influence the regulatory agency’s decision” and in which “community concerns will be considered in the decision-making process.” It even provides a process for distributing and posting Title VI material. However, DEQ has time and again stated that its authority is limited and cannot consider disparate, health, or cumulative impacts, nor can it consider the non-technical comments and concerns of community members. This means that DEQ will not consider or weigh community concerns about disparate, health, or cumulative impacts— that is, not without an explicit statutory framework. Ultimately, the purported limitation of authority begs the question of whether the Plan will have any efficacy or whether it simply checks a box for an “opportunity” to be heard where those voices ultimately fall on deaf ears. Conclusions & Next Steps With these pitfalls in mind, we do appreciate DEQ’s effort to provide for increased public engagement, opportunity to be heard, and make improvements to further build DEQ’s relationship with the public. We hope for continued opportunities to provide input on the Plan and look forward to continuing to communicate with DEQ officials. We will continue to work towards a robust and equitable Plan that ensures robust notification and comment periods, increased transparency and effective tools, and overall decreased barriers to hearing and meeting accessibility, language barriers, and community disempowerment during decision-making processes. We look forward to meaningful public participation where the people not only have an opportunity to be heard, but one in which their non-technical disparity/EJ, cumulative, and health impact concerns carry weight in decision-making processes. We reiterate: Meaningful participation should mean that people have an opportunity to be heard and that their concerns carry weight. Check out some additional talking points Clean Water for NC put together for better understanding meaningful public participation, as well as a joint-submission of comments to DEQ in response to their draft Public Participation Plan.
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Join us at our Durham Community Picnic!
You’re invited! Join Clean Water for North Carolina at our summer picnic and listening session! The event will be held on Saturday, July 23rd at 1pm at Hillside Park in Durham. We’re hosting this event to engage with the community, build relationships, and get to know you! We are also hoping to speak with folks on what social and environmental justice issues they’ve faced, and how they would best benefit from a Community Toolkit to assist with organizing, working with public agencies, and more. We are redeveloping our Community Toolkit “A North Carolina Toolkit for…
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EPA warns toxic ‘forever chemicals’ more dangerous than once thought
By: Gino Grandoni, The Washington Post June 15, 2022 The Environmental Protection Agency warned Wednesday that a group of human-made chemicals found in the drinking water, cosmetics and food packaging used by millions of Americans poses a greater danger to human health than regulators previously thought. The new health advisories for a ubiquitous class of compounds known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, underscore the risk facing dozens of communities across the country. Linked to infertility, thyroid problems and several types of cancer, these “forever chemicals” can persist in the environment for years without breaking down. “People on the front-lines of PFAS contamination have suffered for far too long,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “That’s why EPA is taking aggressive action.” The guidance aims to prompt local officials to install water filters or at least notify residents of contamination. But for now, the federal government does not regulate the chemicals. Health advocates have called on the Biden administration to act more quickly to address what officials from both parties describe as a contamination crisis that has touched every state. “Today’s announcement should set off alarm bells for consumers and regulators,” said Melanie Benesh, legislative attorney at the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization. “These proposed advisory levels demonstrate that we must move much faster to dramatically reduce exposures to these toxic chemicals.” Since the 1940s, chemical makers have used the highly durable compounds to make nonstick cookware, moisture-repellent fabrics and flame-retardant equipment. But that same toughness against water and fire, which made the chemicals profitable, allowed them to accumulate in nature and build up in the body — with long-term health effects. The sun sets behind the control tower of the former Loring Air Force Base on July 18, 2020, in Limestone, Maine, where the Air Force plans to test for contamination by “forever chemicals.” (David Sharp/AP) Agency officials assessed two of the most common ones, known as PFOA and PFOS, in recent human health studies and announced Wednesday that lifetime exposure at staggeringly low levels of 0.004 and 0.02 parts per trillion, respectively, can compromise the immune and cardiovascular systems and are linked to decreased birth weights. Those drinking-water concentrations represent “really sharp reductions” from previous health advisories set at 70 parts per trillion in 2016, said Erik Olson, a senior strategic director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. The announcement, he added, sends “an important signal to get this stuff out of our drinking water.” More significantly, the EPA is preparing to propose mandatory standards for the two chemicals this fall. Once finalized, water utilities will face penalties if they neglect to meet them. The advisories will remain in place until the rule comes out. The EPA also said Wednesday that it is offering $1 billion in grants to states and tribes through the bipartisan infrastructure law to address drinking-water contamination. The advisories’ levels are so low that they are difficult to detect with today’s technology. Some lawmakers, including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement that this meant the new guidance is impractical. “EPA’s announcement will only increase confusion for water systems’ compliance efforts and further complicate risk communication to the public,” she said. The American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry’s main trade group, said in a statement that it supports developing enforceable standards for these long-lasting compounds. But it faulted the EPA for issuing the advisories before outside experts on the agency’s Science Advisory Board had finished reviewing the underlying research, suggesting the process is “fundamentally flawed.” “Rather than wait for the outcome of this peer review, EPA has announced new Advisories that are 3,000 to 17,000 times lower than those released by the Obama Administration in 2016,” it said. Already in the United States, manufacturers have largely replaced PFOA and PFOS with other fluorinated compounds. The EPA determined that two of those alternatives — dubbed GenX and PFBS — also are dangerous to ingest even at relatively low levels, according to a review of recent research on mice. Among the communities hit hardest with contamination are those near military bases, where PFAS-laden foams were used for decades to fight jet-fuel fires. Many residents in Oscoda, Mich., for instance, have heeded warnings from state health officials and stopped drinking untreated well water and eating deer hunted near the now-shuttered Wurtsmith Air Force Base. “There still is no plan in place for the cleanup,” said Anthony Spaniola, an attorney and co-chair of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network whose family has a lakeside home in Oscoda. “The Department of Defense, quite frankly, has mismanaged this site, bordering on reckless.” Spaniola hopes the new health advisories mean the military will “change the scope of what they need to clean up.” In North Carolina, Emily Donovan’s family of four started carrying around bottled water and installed a filter under their sink after PFAS were discovered in and around Cape Fear River. Instead of asking parents to donate cookies and cupcakes, schools request bottles of water for dances and other events. “It’s a layer of stress that we all live with now,” said Donovan, now an activist who co-founded Clean Cape Fear and is on the leadership team of the National PFAS Contamination Coalition. “You’re constantly wondering,” she added, “is there something inside of me? Is there something inside of my children?” Regan, who served as North Carolina’s top environmental official before joining the EPA, ordered the chemical company Chemours to stop the compounds from trickling into the river. On Wednesday, the company took issue with the analysis the EPA used to craft its latest guidance. “We are already using state-of-the-art technologies at our sites to abate emissions and remediate historical releases,” Chemours said in a statement. “We are evaluating our next steps, including potential legal action, to address the EPA’s scientifically unsound action.” While the agency is planning to regulate two PFAS, thousands of distinct compounds have been discovered. Many health advocates say federal regulators need to crack down on the compounds as a group. “We can’t continue this whack-a-mole approach to regulating them,” Olson said. “We’ll never be finished in anyone’s lifetime.” Radhika Fox, who heads the Office of Water at the EPA, said the agency is considering more sweeping regulations of the class of compounds. “We are exploring options to propose a rule that is for groups, not just PFOA and PFOS,” she told reporters Tuesday in a Zoom call. Read the article on The Washington Post
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Climate-driven flooding poses well water contamination risks
By: Michael Phillis and John Flesher, Associated Press June 08, 2022 ST. LOUIS -- After a record-setting Midwestern rainstorm that damaged thousands of homes and businesses, Stefanie Johnson’s farmhouse in Blandinsville, Illinois, didn’t have safe drinking water for nearly two months. Flood water poured into her well, turning the water a muddy brown and forcing Johnson, her husband and their two young children to use store-bought supplies. Even after sediment cleared, testing found bacteria — including E. coli, which can cause diarrhea. The family boiled water for drinking and cooking. The YMCA was a refuge for showers. “I was pretty strict with the kids,” said Johnson, who works with a private well protection program at the local health department. “I’d pour bottled water on their toothbrushes.” Though estimates vary, roughly 53 million U.S. residents — about 17% of the population — rely on private wells, according to a study conducted in part by Environmental Protection Agency researchers. Most live in rural areas. But others are in subdivisions near fast-growing metro regions or otherwise beyond the reach of public water pipes. While many private wells provide safe water, the absence of regulation and treatment afforded by larger municipal systems may expose some users to health risks, from bacteria and viruses to chemicals and lead, studies have found. Risks are elevated after flooding or heavy rainfall, when animal and human feces, dirt, nutrients such as nitrogen and other contaminants can seep into wells. And experts say the threat is growing as the warming climate fuels more intense rainstorms and stronger and wetter hurricanes. “Areas that hadn't been impacted are now. New areas are getting flooded,” said Kelsey Pieper, a Northeastern University professor of environmental engineering. “We know the environment is shifting and we're playing catch-up, trying to increase awareness.” Pieper is among scientists conducting well testing and education programs in storm-prone areas. After Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding along the Texas coast in 2017, sampling of more than 8,800 wells in 44 counties found average E. coli levels nearly three times higher than normal, she said. Sampling of 108 wells in Mississippi following Hurricane Ida in 2021 produced a similar bump in E. coli readings. Other studies turned up higher levels in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018. The following year, above-average snowfall and a March storm unleashed flooding in Nebraska. Levees and dams were breached. Fremont, a city of more than 25,000, turned into an island when the nearby Platte and Elkhorn rivers overflowed. The municipal system continued to supply drinking water but some nearby private wells were damaged or contaminated. Julie Hindmarsh's farm was flooded for three days, and it took months to make the well water drinkable again. At times, the cleanup crew wore protective suits. “They didn’t know what was in that floodwater,” she said. CONTAMINATION RISK Groundwater is often a cleaner source than surface supplies because soil can provide a protective buffer, said Heather Murphy, an epidemiologist at the University of Guelph in Canada. But she said that can give well owners a false sense of security, leading them to forgo testing, maintenance and treatment. “There's a big misconception that it's underground, therefore it's safe,” said Murphy, who estimates 1.3 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness in the U.S. are caused annually by drinking untreated water from private wells. Old, poorly maintained wells are especially vulnerable to floodwaters entering through openings at the top. “It just runs right in and it’s full of bacteria,” said Steven Wilson, a well expert at the University of Illinois. It doesn’t always take a flood or hurricane to pollute wells. Industrial contamination can reach them by seeping into groundwater. Around 1,000 residential wells in Michigan’s Kent County were tainted for decades with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in landfill sludge from footwear company Wolverine World Wide. The pollution, discovered in 2017, spurred lawsuits and a $69.5 million settlement with the state that extended city water lines to affected houses. “We thought we were getting this pristine, straight-from-nature water and it would be much better for us,” said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, who has lived across from one of the dump sites since the early 1990s. She said tests detected high levels of PFAS chemicals in her water and blood, leaving her fearful to drink or even brush her teeth with well water. In a suit later settled, she blamed the contamination for her husband’s 2016 death from liver cancer. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer four years later. LITTLE REGULATION FOR WELL OWNERS While many well owners don’t have the option of hooking up to a public water system, others are happy with well water. They might favor the taste or want to avoid monthly bills and government regulation. “What I hear from people is freedom,” said Jesse Campbell, private well coordinator for the Midwest Assistance Program Inc., which addresses rural water needs. Private well owners are responsible for them. While public water systems must meet federal safety standards, those rules don’t apply to wells that have fewer than 15 connections or serve fewer than 25 people. State and local standards usually involve only construction and design, although some states set tougher rules. New Jersey requires water quality testing before sales of property with private wells. Rhode Island requires testing when new wells are built and when property with a well is sold. But many states rely on public outreach and voluntary action to protect private well users. “There’s an overall lack of education,” Campbell said. He meets with well owners from Montana to Missouri, providing free inspections and advice. A lot of harm can be prevented if owners make sure the well's top keeps out debris and that the pump is turned off before a storm to keep out floodwaters. Experts recommend testing after a flood and decontaminating wells with chlorine if a problem is found. “People aren’t regularly testing,” said Riley Mulhern, an environmental engineer at the research group RTI International. Indiana’s health department offers testing for bacteria, lead, copper, fluoride and other contaminants. Some land-grant universities and private labs provide similar services. While many owners know how to maintain their wells, others ignore problems even if the water isn’t sanitary. Water that tastes fine can still be contaminated. “I wish I had a nickel for everyone who's walked into a workshop and said, ‘I’ve been drinking this water forever and it's fine,'” said Jason Barrett, who directs a Mississippi State University program that educates well owners. It provides free testing. But where such assistance isn't available, costs can run to a few hundred dollars, according to experts. Some owners avoid testing because they are concerned it will reveal an expensive problem. Johnson, the Illinois resident whose well was fouled by the 2013 downpour that killed four people and caused $465 million in flood damage, paid about $3,500 for repairs and upgrades. “Luckily, none of us became ill,” she said. Even ordinary rainstorms can carry diseases into groundwater, said Mark Borchardt, a microbiologist formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “A lot of times people say, ‘Well, no one got sick,'” Borchardt said. “It's hard to see when people get sick unless it is a huge outbreak." Bea and Neil Jobe live in Primm Springs, Tennessee, an hour’s drive from Nashville. Several times a year, when there is heavy rain and a nearby creek floods, their well water turns “dingy," Bea Jobe said. The discoloration disappears after a few days but Jobe takes precautions such as keeping bottled water available. “I guess I’m used to it,” she said. Read the article on ABC
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Celebrate Freedom on Juneteenth: Community Events Near You!
Juneteenth, also called Emancipation Day, Freedom Day or Freedom Day or Jubilee Day commemorates June 19, 1865, as the day enslaved African Americans in Galveston, TX learned they were free. While the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863 and the 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, the news was slow to reach people in Texas. Finally on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger with Union troops landed in Galveston and read aloud General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” Read below to learn more about how you can celebrate Juneteenth near your community! 2022 North Carolina Juneteenth Festival Concord, NC June 18th, 1:00 - 5:00 PM ChenMed & Accellacare present The 2022 North Carolina Juneteenth Festival themed "Educating, Empowering, Entertaining" will feature 80 black owned companies. Crafts, culture, performances, art, kids games, information and more is some of what attendees can expect. Free giveaways, discounts, and coupons make the vendor shopping experience like no other. Come support black business and black excellence. Recommended for all ages; admission is free. Cabarrus Arena & Events Center, 4751 North Carolina 49, Concord. For more information, see https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-north-carolina-juneteenth-festival-tickets-216003511317. Capital City Juneteenth Celebration Raleigh, NC June 18th, 1:00 - 5:00 PM Juneteenth (June 19th) is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the United States. As part of the Capital City Juneteenth Celebration 2022, enjoy an afternoon of entertainment and food on Harvey Hill at Dix Park! The theme for this year's celebration is “Preserving the Past, Moving it Forward.” During this event, the mission is to “to celebrate the freedom of formerly enslaved African Americans by acknowledging their history and achievements through commemorative and historical services and activities.” Bring your lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy an afternoon of entertainment, family activities, vendors and food on Harvey Hill and the Chapel Event Center at Dix Park! Learn more today! Juneteenth Festival of the Carolinas Charlotte, NC June 16th - 19th Each year, the Juneteenth Festival of The Carolinas celebrates the end of slavery, and the African American community is taking the opportunity to come together to reflect and remember the historical event. Come join us for a peaceful celebration and learn more about the schedule and speakers at our website! www.juneteenthofthecarolinas.com Juneteenth of Asheville 2022 Freedom Festival Asheville, NC June 18th, 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM Celebrate freedom with the greater Community of Asheville. We will pay honor to our enslaved ancestors while enjoying awesome food and festivities. Join us as we travel to the past in solidarity to those we lost. There will be parade, vendors, food trucks, art, music, live performances, so much more. Visit the event website for more information! Juneteenth Jubilee Fayetteville, NC June 18th - 19th Organizers are pleased to announce the full performance schedule for the 2022 Juneteenth Jubilee, held on Saturday, June 18 from 12:00PM–9:30PM in Festival Park (335Ray Avenue). In addition to Grammy Award-nominated artists Amythyst Kiah and hometown rapper, Morray, the Jubilee stage will come alive with performances from Diali Cissokho and Kaira Ba, The Fatback Band, and Reggie Codrington. Diali Cissokho follows in the tradition of Senegalese musicians and storytellers known as griots. Together with his band, Kaira Ba–composed of Tarheel natives John Westmoreland, Jonathan Henderson, Austin McCall, and Will Ridenour–Cissokho weaves the traditions and rhythms of West African music with subtle notes of blues and folk sounds from the American South. NPR’s Frank Stasio described their sound as “at once unique and universal.” Learn more about the festivities here!
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