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| Above the fold. News aggregated by www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org | Read today's editorials |
| Daily links to top stories in the news about environmental health. BP Texas refinery neighbors sue over toxic exposures. BP faces the first of almost 48,000 toxic exposure claims from neighbors of a Texas refinery who say they’ll give the billions of dollars in punitive damages they’re seeking to charity if they win at trial. Bloomberg News Illegal gold mining exposing Peru's indigenous tribes to mercury poisoning. Indigenous children in Peru's south eastern Amazon, an area where tens of thousands of illegal gold miners operate, have unsafe mercury concentrations over three times the level of their non-native counterparts, a study has found. The Guardian, United Kingdom. EPA assailed for withdrawing rules on chemical safety. The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to withdraw a pair of draft rules designed to expand oversight of dangerous chemicals is drawing fierce criticism from a prominent legal group. The Hill, District of Columbia. UK government rejects the science behind neonicotinoid ban. The UK government says it accepts the EU ban on the use of some pesticides linked to bee deaths, but it rejects the science behind the moratorium. BBC Greener beer: MillerCoors farm grows more barley with less water. An Idaho farm that grows about 2,500 acres of barley for MillerCoors, the United States' second-largest beer company, has put in place water-conservation efforts - including redesigning equipment, abandoning some fields and using more compost - and it's paid off big time, saving water, energy and money. The Guardian, United Kingdom. Improving respirator masks to put fresh air in reach. Many of the masks that were rushed to the site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were the wrong type, or had the wrong filters. Many workers were not properly trained to use them. As a result, thousands were exposed to highly contaminated air that is suspected of making them sick. New York Times [Registration Required] CDC: Smokers without legs, other graphic ads prompted 100,000 to quit. A hard-hitting, $54-million public health campaign designed to scare smokers into quitting appears to have prompted 100,000 people to give up cigarettes, according to a new report. That works out to a cost of $540 per quitter. Los Angeles Times [Registration Required] Massive starfish die-off baffles scientists. Earlier this summer, researchers noticed a massive die-off of a starfish species on the U.S. East Coast. Scientists first noticed the large numbers of deaths of Asterias species in 2011, and since then, dead starfish have been documented along the eastern seaboard from Maine to New Jersey. National Geographic News How tiny fish could reveal effects of chemical exposure. Researchers at a lab at Oregon State University are using zebrafish to assess the impacts of multiple chemical exposures. Their findings could help lead to a better understanding of how chemicals in the environment and in consumer products affect human health. Yale Environment 360 Aquarium boosts reproduction of California's state marine fish. In Southern California coastal waters, the garibaldi population remains stable, a result of special state protections and incremental improvements in water quality, the legacy of state and federal laws curbing pollution, and the closure of marinas, shipyards and canneries that for decades spewed toxic chemicals, human waste and fish guts into the water. Los Angeles Times [Registration Required] Environmentalists, tribe seek to halt General Electric megaloads. An American Indian tribe and environmentalists pleaded Monday with a federal judge, telling him he's the only thing standing between them and the next giant oil-field equipment shipment along a winding Idaho mountain highway toward Canada's tar sands. Associated Press GOP report cites ‘culture of secrecy and evasion’ at EPA under Jackson. Republican lawmakers on Monday issued a scathing report accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of flouting transparency regulations in pursuit of its policy goals. The Hill, District of Columbia. Gulf well secured after summer blow out. A natural gas well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico in July has been plugged, though it may be a long time before it is permanently killed, federal regulators confirmed Monday. Houston Chronicle Pilgrim Power Plant off grid again for pipe leak. A series of mechanical difficulties at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station has kept the plant from operating at peak for more than two weeks. Currently Pilgrim is completely off the electric grid, shut down Sunday evening because of a steam leak in a pipe supplying hot water to the nuclear reactor. Cape Cod Times, Massachusetts. Oil lobbyists seek environmental exemption ahead of California frack bill vote. Oil industry lobbyists sought to gain an exemption from the leading California environmental law as they pushed back against legislation mandating oversight of hydraulic fracturing, multiple people familiar with the activities said. EnergyWire Kauai's pesticide and GMO bill could cost millions. Hawaii has effectively foresaken its responsibility to ensure that biotech companies are not risking public and environmental health, several members of the Kauai County Council said Monday, so it was up to the county to pick up the slack. Honolulu Civil Beat, Hawaii. Environmental groups prepare to battle General Electric over PCB cleanup in Housatonic River. Local environmental groups are banding together to fight a possible PCB landfill by General Electric as part of an anticipated expanded PCB cleanup of the Housatonic River. Berkshire Eagle, Massachusetts. Chesapeake Energy drops fight to extend 200 NY gas leases. Chesapeake Energy has dropped its two-year legal battle to force an extension of 200 expired gas-drilling leases covering 13,000 acres in southern New York, the law firm representing the landowners said Monday. Associated Press Los Angeles County officials pledge to fight battery recycler. Elected officials from cities across southeast Los Angeles County pledged Monday evening to marshal their political power to sway regulators to shut down a Vernon battery recycler that residents fear is harming their health because of arsenic and lead emissions. Los Angeles Times [Registration Required] Mount Diablo wildfire triples in size. A wildfire that raced over the bone-dry summit of Mount Diablo threatened 100 homes near Clayton, Calif., on Monday and led some cities to cancel recreational sports because of smoke, but favorable winds gave firefighters hope they could isolate the inferno in unpopulated canyons. San Francisco Chronicle, California. California won't charge PG&E in blast deaths. State and local prosecutors will not seek charges against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in the deaths of eight people in the San Bruno pipeline blast - allowing the three-year statute of limitations to expire as of Monday and putting any case in the hands of federal authorities. San Francisco Chronicle, California. Chinese dairy firms in tie-ups to mend image. Companies in China, whose tainted milk powder scandal in 2008 left six dead and more than 300,000 sick, are vaunting tie-ups with French dairies to shore up their image but some fear this could backfire for Paris. Agence France-Presse More news from today Shortcuts to stories from today about The good news, Avian flu, Climate, Children's health, Air pollution, Cancer, Reproductive disorders, Endocrine disruption, Birth defects, Learning and developmental disabilities, Immune disorders, Environmental justice, Superfund, Water treatment/sewage, Food safety, Integrity of science, Green chemistry. 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