By Richard Denison

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.

Last year’s Lautenberg Act, which overhauled the badly broken Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), made fundamental changes intended to improve EPA’s review of new chemicals prior to their commercialization, by requiring more scrutiny of those chemicals to better ensure they are safe.  Until recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was on track in implementing the new requirements in a health-protective manner.  With the addition of more staff, EPA was also steadily reducing the temporary backlog in new chemical reviews that had developed – a result of the fact that the law’s new requirements took effect immediately upon passage.

In recent months, however, agency staff have faced relentless pressure from the chemical industry – and internally from new industry-friendly senior management – not only to speed up reviews, but to return the program to its pre-Lautenberg practices.  There were growing signs that EPA was considering changes that would circumvent the law’s requirements in the name of increasing program “throughput.”   The agency’s press release today makes clear that this is now happening.  

While many details of the shifts EPA is making remain murky, EDF is concerned that EPA is moving away from the law’s clear requirements that:

• EPA rigorously review both intended and reasonably foreseen uses of new chemicals and,
• where EPA identifies potential risks or lacks sufficient information, it issue an order imposing conditions on the manufacturer of the new chemical sufficient to mitigate the potential risk.

Among other concerns, EPA’s intent not to issue such orders and merely to promulgate so-called significant new use rules to require notification of reasonably foreseen uses – even assuming it can timely issue such rules – is squarely at odds with what the law requires.

EPA also appears to be seeking to re-create the infamous Catch-22 of old TSCA under which EPA could only require testing where it already had evidence of risk.  In today’s release, EPA signals that testing will only be required “to address risk concerns.”

Finally, apart from today’s release, EPA’s recent approach of sharing information on these anticipated changes only with new chemical submitters is highly disturbing, and further undercuts public confidence in EPA’s implementation of the reformed law.

 

By Richard Denison

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.

Last year’s Lautenberg Act, which overhauled the badly broken Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), made fundamental changes intended to improve EPA’s review of new chemicals prior to their commercialization, by requiring more scrutiny of those chemicals to better ensure they are safe.  Until recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was on track in implementing the new requirements in a health-protective manner.  With the addition of more staff, EPA was also steadily reducing the temporary backlog in new chemical reviews that had developed – a result of the fact that the law’s new requirements took effect immediately upon passage.

In recent months, however, agency staff have faced relentless pressure from the chemical industry – and internally from new industry-friendly senior management – not only to speed up reviews, but to return the program to its pre-Lautenberg practices.  There were growing signs that EPA was considering changes that would circumvent the law’s requirements in the name of increasing program “throughput.”   The agency’s press release today makes clear that this is now happening.  

While many details of the shifts EPA is making remain murky, EDF is concerned that EPA is moving away from the law’s clear requirements that:

• EPA rigorously review both intended and reasonably foreseen uses of new chemicals and,
• where EPA identifies potential risks or lacks sufficient information, it issue an order imposing conditions on the manufacturer of the new chemical sufficient to mitigate the potential risk.

Among other concerns, EPA’s intent not to issue such orders and merely to promulgate so-called significant new use rules to require notification of reasonably foreseen uses – even assuming it can timely issue such rules – is squarely at odds with what the law requires.

EPA also appears to be seeking to re-create the infamous Catch-22 of old TSCA under which EPA could only require testing where it already had evidence of risk.  In today’s release, EPA signals that testing will only be required “to address risk concerns.”

Finally, apart from today’s release, EPA’s recent approach of sharing information on these anticipated changes only with new chemical submitters is highly disturbing, and further undercuts public confidence in EPA’s implementation of the reformed law.

 

By Richard Denison

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.

Last year’s Lautenberg Act, which overhauled the badly broken Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), made fundamental changes intended to improve EPA’s review of new chemicals prior to their commercialization, by requiring more scrutiny of those chemicals to better ensure they are safe.  Until recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was on track in implementing the new requirements in a health-protective manner.  With the addition of more staff, EPA was also steadily reducing the temporary backlog in new chemical reviews that had developed – a result of the fact that the law’s new requirements took effect immediately upon passage.

In recent months, however, agency staff have faced relentless pressure from the chemical industry – and internally from new industry-friendly senior management – not only to speed up reviews, but to return the program to its pre-Lautenberg practices.  There were growing signs that EPA was considering changes that would circumvent the law’s requirements in the name of increasing program “throughput.”   The agency’s press release today makes clear that this is now happening.  

While many details of the shifts EPA is making remain murky, EDF is concerned that EPA is moving away from the law’s clear requirements that:

• EPA rigorously review both intended and reasonably foreseen uses of new chemicals and,
• where EPA identifies potential risks or lacks sufficient information, it issue an order imposing conditions on the manufacturer of the new chemical sufficient to mitigate the potential risk.

Among other concerns, EPA’s intent not to issue such orders and merely to promulgate so-called significant new use rules to require notification of reasonably foreseen uses – even assuming it can timely issue such rules – is squarely at odds with what the law requires.

EPA also appears to be seeking to re-create the infamous Catch-22 of old TSCA under which EPA could only require testing where it already had evidence of risk.  In today’s release, EPA signals that testing will only be required “to address risk concerns.”

Finally, apart from today’s release, EPA’s recent approach of sharing information on these anticipated changes only with new chemical submitters is highly disturbing, and further undercuts public confidence in EPA’s implementation of the reformed law.

 

On today’s show Mark Sickles from Weeks Marine joins the program to talk with Simone about all the wonderful work they are doing here in Louisiana and Dr. John Lopez, Director of Coastal Sustainability Program at Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation also joins the program to talk with Jacques about natural growth and plant development in the Louisiana marshes. Below is a transcript of this week's Delta Dispatches Podcast. Listen to the full recording here or subscribe to our feed in iTunes and ...

Read The Full Story

The post Delta Dispatches: Building Land in Coastal Louisiana appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

On today’s show Mark Sickles from Weeks Marine joins the program to talk with Simone about all the wonderful work they are doing here in Louisiana and Dr. John Lopez, Director of Coastal Sustainability Program at Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation also joins the program to talk with Jacques about natural growth and plant development in the Louisiana marshes. Below is a transcript of this week's Delta Dispatches Podcast. Listen to the full recording here or subscribe to our feed in iTunes and ...

Read The Full Story

The post Delta Dispatches: Building Land in Coastal Louisiana appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

On today’s show Mark Sickles from Weeks Marine joins the program to talk with Simone about all the wonderful work they are doing here in Louisiana and Dr. John Lopez, Director of Coastal Sustainability Program at Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation also joins the program to talk with Jacques about natural growth and plant development in the Louisiana marshes. Below is a transcript of this week's Delta Dispatches Podcast. Listen to the full recording here or subscribe to our feed in iTunes and ...

Read The Full Story

The post Delta Dispatches: Building Land in Coastal Louisiana appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

Tom Neltner, J.D., Chemicals Policy Director and Sam Lovell, Project Specialist An estimated 6 to 10 million homes in the US still get their water from aging lead service lines (LSLs) – the lead pipes connecting the water main under the street to homes and other buildings. As the primary source of lead in drinking water, eliminating LSLs is […]

By Tom Neltner

Tom Neltner, J.D., Chemicals Policy Director and Sam Lovell, Project Specialist

An estimated 6 to 10 million homes in the US still get their water from aging lead service lines (LSLs) – the lead pipes connecting the water main under the street to homes and other buildings. As the primary source of lead in drinking water, eliminating LSLs is essential to protecting public health and responding to community concerns.

Communities across the country are taking on the challenges posed by LSLs. EDF considers it important to recognize those leaders who are taking action. In a past blog, we highlighted the work of the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative and its 25 members, including EDF, in developing a toolkit to help communities accelerate replacement of LSLs. Additionally, the American Water Works Association – the main organization for drinking water professionals – deserves recognition for its declaration that LSLs need to be eliminated.

Through our review of publicly available information, EDF identified:

• 14 communities that have publicly set a goal of eliminating LSLs in their jurisdiction – which collectively represents more than 240,000 LSLs. Setting a goal of full replacement is a critical step in the process—while clearly much work remains to ensure that LSLs are safely replaced.
• 19 other communities that are taking important steps to replace LSLs, but may not yet be ready or willing to set a public goal of full replacement.

The tally of communities is likely not comprehensive; we anticipate adding to each as more communities take action. We encourage users to fill out this survey if they know of a community LSL replacement program we have missed or not adequately described.

LSL replacement programs vary dramatically; no town or city in the country is identical. We describe each of the programs using a framework to highlight progress in four areas:

1. Replacing the full pipe, rather than a partial replacement that can make matters worse;
2. Providing economical and equitable replacement options;
3. Developing a robust, public inventory; and
4. Providing guidance to property owners.

Developing and implementing an LSL replacement program is a complicated process, made challenging by many factors that include: service line ownership, the cost of replacement, and inconsistent recordkeeping of service line material. Many communities have found creative and innovative solutions to deal with these challenges and others are working to develop solutions.

By recognizing and describing the efforts of these communities, EDF hopes both to highlight progress made at the local level on LSL replacement and provide a resource for other communities interested in getting the lead out of their water systems.

Learn more about each community and additional background on LSL replacement.

It's now up to the Senate to make sure this bill stops dead in its tracks--and that only happens if you raise your voice. C4.

It's now up to the Senate to make sure this bill stops dead in its tracks--and that only happens if you raise your voice. C4.

It's now up to the Senate to make sure this bill stops dead in its tracks--and that only happens if you raise your voice. C4.

It's now up to the Senate to make sure this bill stops dead in its tracks--and that only happens if you raise your voice. C4.

By Katie Westfall

photo credit: Philippe Guillaume corrida via photopin (license)

Every year, Shark Week gives us a peek into the world of shark research and the amazing science and technology developing to study these captivating animals. This year, we were amazed by ultrasounds for pregnant hammerhead sharks and measuring a goblin shark’s bite.  The latest science and technology can also help fishermen seeking other species to avoid sharks, protecting them from a significant source of injury and death while saving fishermen money.

Globally, shark bycatch represents one of the greatest threats – maybe the greatest threat, — to shark populations. Worldwide, sharks caught as bycatch can make up nearly half of the total reported catch, and that’s not counting the large amount of catch that goes unreported. Often, fishermen want to catch more valuable species like swordfish and tuna using pelagic longlines, one of the most prevalent fishing gears on the high seas, and hate accidentally catching sharks instead. So how can science and technology help solve this problem?

On the West Coast, scientists are creating a new tool called EcoCast that will predict in near real-time where important highly migratory ocean species like swordfish, leatherback sea turtles and blue sharks are. Giving this high-resolution, timely information to fishermen will let them find more of their intended targets like swordfish, while avoiding non-target species including sharks, and will help regulators optimize management decisions to benefit the resources as well as the fishermen.

In the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf longline fishery, such a tool to help fishermen plan fishing trips could improve the performance of the fishery both ecologically and economically.

On the East Coast, a Nova Southeastern University researcher working with forward-thinking fishermen has proposed research that would use 100 percent electronic monitoring (on-board video cameras) to track every fish caught and use electronic logbooks to couple catch data with oceanographic information. If approved, analyzing these data could lead to the ability to predict what oceanic conditions correspond to which species and the development of a near real-time bycatch avoidance tool, allowing fishermen to maximize their target catch while protecting other species, such as sharks. By using these more precise tools rather than large closed areas that can span entire state coastlines, fishermen can catch more fish that are at healthy population sizes – like swordfish – and fewer sharks.

One challenge with using on-board video monitoring is the cost and time it takes to review the footage. Private companies, NGOs and researchers are developing software to automate the review process, which would reduce costs. Mote Marine Laboratory is pioneering new approaches to camera configuration (placement and types of cameras and lenses) on bottom longlining vessels to capture good imagery of sharks, which can be hard to see on video and to identify at the species level.

Cutting edge tools that predict where sharks will be could help fishermen to avoid them, which ultimately could help in the recovery of imperiled shark species like dusky, scalloped hammerhead, and oceanic whitetip sharks. These tools could be even more powerful when combined with increasing the flexibility for U.S. fishermen to fish when and where they want, as long as they stay within scientific limits. Such a management approach could also help U.S. fishermen catch more of our swordfish quota–they only caught a third of it last year largely due to lack of access to fishing grounds. Landing and selling more swordfish domestically could reduce U.S. reliance on imports, often from fisheries with far greater impacts on sharks and sea turtles, and decrease the overall seafood trade deficit.

I’d love to see a special on these new technologies next year on Shark Week!

 

 

Every year, Shark Week gives us a peek into the world of shark research and the amazing science and technology developing to study these captivating animals. This year, we were amazed by ultrasounds for pregnant hammerhead sharks and measuring a goblin shark’s bite. The latest science and technology can also help fishermen seeking other species […]

The post How science and technology can help save sharks appeared first on EDFish.

Every year, Shark Week gives us a peek into the world of shark research and the amazing science and technology developing to study these captivating animals. This year, we were amazed by ultrasounds for pregnant hammerhead sharks and measuring a goblin shark’s bite.  The latest science and technology can also help fishermen seeking other species […]

Every year, Shark Week gives us a peek into the world of shark research and the amazing science and technology developing to study these captivating animals. This year, we were amazed by ultrasounds for pregnant hammerhead sharks and measuring a goblin shark’s bite.  The latest science and technology can also help fishermen seeking other species […]

Written by Dominique Browning

Sometimes we need a reminder that what we do works. This week, we got just that.

After feeling the pressure from so many families and states—who ask simply for clean air to breathe—Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt withdrew an unlawful delay that would have postponed standards that protect us from dangerous smog pollution. Common sense won. Children, families, and those most vulnerable can breathe easier.

We’ve been unrelenting in letting this administration know that our right to clean air, clean water, and good health is never on the table. No one voted to Make America Dirty Again. (Tweet this)

We will continue to hold this administration accountable—and to let them know that they will not get away with rolling back protections that keep our families’ safe and healthy and preserve our world for generations to come. Your work has made a tremendous difference in making that message loud and clear.

Thank you, and I hope you are inspired to keep fighting.

TELL EPA: PROTECT OUR KIDS FROM METHANE POLLUTION

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been trying every trick in the book to suspend rules that require oil and gas companies to limit pollution from their operations as they look to expand drilling across the country. His attempted delay tactics follows a cozy relationship he’s had with the worst elements of the oil and gas […]

The post These charts show why communities are demanding common sense standards to protect them from oil and gas pollution appeared first on Energy Exchange.