pollution

STATE ISSUES WARNING FOR PEOPLE AND PETS TO AVOID WATER CONTACT AT SALTON SEA DUE TO TOXIC ALGAE OUTBREAK

Recent death of a dog underscores potential consequences

 

East County News Service

 

April 23, 2021 (Salton Sea) – The California Water Boards has issued a warning for people and their dogs to avoid water contact in the Salton Sea, located in Imperial and Riverside Counties. The warning is due to multiple Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) detected at numerous sites in the Salton Sea after a dog died following a swimming excursion there.


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EARTHTALK®: BESIDES GENERATING SEASONAL ALLERGENS, DO ANY PLANTS ACTUALLY REDUCE AIR QUALITY OR CAUSE AIR POLLUTION?

By Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss

March 27, 2021 (San Diego) -  Dear EarthTalk: Besides generating seasonal allergens, do any plants actually reduce air quality or cause air pollution? -Mike T., San Juan, Puerto Rico


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LAWSUIT CHALLENGES COUNTY’S FAILURE TO ADDRESS CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE FROM VEHICLE TRAVEL

East County News Service
Photo cc via Bing
 
September 9, 2020 (San Diego) -- Cleveland National Forest Foundation (“CNFF”) and Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (“CERF”) filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court on September 4, 2020 challenging San Diego County’s plan for addressing the climate and environmental impacts of vehicle travel as required by Senate Bill 743 (“SB 743”). 
 
Instead of adopting a plan to reduce vehicle trips caused by new development, the County chose to exempt the vast majority of potential new developments under the County’s General Plan from even examining, much less addressing, driving-related impacts, the suit contends.
 
“San Diego County keeps doubling down on sprawling, car-centered development and thumbing its nose at the law. We need a paradigm shift that unites alternative transportation and affordable housing, not the same-old-same-old backcountry sprawl, ecological destruction, and endless, dangerous commutes,” said Duncan McFetridge, Director of CNFF.

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CORONAVIRUS SILVER LINING: POLLUTION DROPS AROUND THE WORLD

By Miriam Raftery

March 22, 2020 (San Diego) – With people around the world sequestered at home due to the COVID-19 virus, factories shut down and freeway traffic jams virtually gone, satellite images and photos are revealing sharp drops in pollution across the globe.

In Los Angeles, early data from the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-5P Satellite shows that levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air, mainly produced by vehicle emissions, dropped sharply in the first two weeks of March, the New York Times reports.


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TOXIC PFAS “FOREVER CHEMICALS” FOUND IN WATER SUPPLIES ACROSS U.S., BUT TRUMP THREATENS TO VETO REGULATORY BILL

PFAS chemicals have been used in some fire-fighting foams, cookware, carpets, clothing,  and fast-food wrappers

By Miriam Raftery and Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

Photo, left: Poster for 2019 Dark Waters movie

January 26, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – The 2019 movie “Dark Waters” alerted the public to health hazards posed by perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also know as PFOA and PFOS) that contaminated water and groundwater around manufacturer DuPont’s facility in Parksburg, West Virginia. The chemicals have been linked to deaths, cancer and more--and they are pervasive, found in 97% of Americans tested, PBS reports, citing a U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination study in 2015.

Pollution nationwide

Recent tests by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found PFAS in water supplies of major cities across the U.S. – far more than revealed in federal tests.  Yet the federal government has failed to take action to protect public health. A bill seeking to regulate PFAS has passed the House of Representatives and faces an uphill battle in the Senate. Even if it passes,  President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the measure.

California contamination

In California, a 2019 study found drinking water sources for 74 community water systems serving 7.5 million Californians are contaminated with PFAS, according to an EWG review of the latest state data, as the Los Angeles Times reported.

All PFAS found in California water systems’ sources exceeded 1 part per trillion, or ppt, the safe level recommended by the best independent studies.  At the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, a combined concentration of 820 ppt for seven different PFAS chemicals was measured in a single well in 2017.


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CALIFORNIA SUES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO PROTECT CLEAN AIR AND AUTO EMISSION STANDARDS

 

By Miriam Raftery

May 2, 2018 (Sacramento) – California announced Tuesday that it will join 16 other states in a lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Secretary Scott Pruitt from reversing fuel efficiency standards to protect clean air and reduce greenhouse gasses fueling climate change. 


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EIGHT WAYS YOU CAN CLEAR THE AIR - OF POLLUTION!

 

By Gig Connaughton, County of San Diego Communications Office

February 1, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - We can’t live without it. It literally surrounds us. But we can’t see it and most of us never think about it.

It’s our air. We all share it and we all need to protect it. Because pollution — from chemical vapors to tiny particles of matter — can make people sick and hurt the environment.


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TRUMP NAMES CLIMATE SKEPTICS, ENERGY LOBBYISTS TO KEY POSTS,TAKING AIM AT DISMANTLING CLIMATE ACCORD AND POLLUTION PROTECTIONS

 

By Miriam Raftery

November 11, 2016 (Washington D.C.)—President-Elect Donald Trump has wasted no time in appointing environmental and health experts’ worst nightmares to key cabinet posts, though oil energy executives are praising the moves.

Energy lobbyist Mike McKenna has been named to head Trump’s Department of Energy transition team; his recent clients include Dow Chemical and the oil tycoon Koch brothers,  Climate Wire and Scientific American report. Trump has also named infamous climate change denier Myron Ebell to lead the Environmental Protection Agency transition team. Ebell has said climate change is “nothing to worry about” in an interview with Vanity Fair


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EARTHTALK®: A FIERCE GREEN FIRE

 

September 19, 2013 (San Diego) – Dear EarthTalk: What is the new documentary film A Fierce Green Fire about and what does the title refer to?                                                                           

-- Gloria Howard, Washington, DC

A Fierce Green Fire is a new film documenting the rise of the modern environmental movement from the 1960s through the present day. It premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and will be playing at select theaters across the country beginning in September 2013. Educators, environmental groups and grassroots activists also will be showing the film at small and large events from coast to coast over the course of the fall. Written and directed by Mark Kitchell, Academy Award-nominated director of Berkeley in the Sixties, A Fierce Green Fire (the film) is based on the 1993 book of the same name by environmental journalist Philip Shabecoff.


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OCOTILLO RESIDENTS’ WOES CONTINUE AS NEW DUST STORM, FLOODING, WHITE SLUDGE FLOW STRIKES COMMUNITY

 

By Miriam Raftery

September 8, 2013 (Ocotillo) – A new dust storm, flooding and more white foam flowed through Ocotillo today, heightening residents’ concerns about impacts of Pattern Energy’s Ocotillo Express Wind Energy Facility on this desert community. 

At 4:40 p.m. a storm hit, sending massive amounts of dust into the air, this time coming directly from project access dirt roads created by Pattern Energy, according to Jim Pelley, who shot this video. Soon after, a storm brought flash flooding, which residents claim is worsened by drainage changes made by the wind developer.  The flood brought a repeat of an unknown white sludgy substance washing across the desert floor and into the town. 

“The white foam is back moving across the project. It was a bit eerie,” said Pelly, who took video of today’s white foam flood as well.


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OUTCRY ARISES OVER NATIVE PEOPLES LOSING LANDS AND WAY OF LIFE

 

 

Pollution of earth and water is driving indigenous peoples from their homelands

By Miriam Raftery

April 27, 2013 (San Diego)--Around the world, including here in the U.S.,  native people are losing lands they have occupied for countless generations.  The earth and water that sustained life in their communities is being destroyed –once-mighty rivers and wetlands reduced to barren, parched or even contaminated land.  The story is the same from tribes along the Colorado River to those deep in the Amazon, from the deserts of Southern California to the jungles of Mexico, from the coal fields of Appalachia to the copper mining pits of Arizona to indigenous people’s lands in Canada threatened by the Keystone Pipeline.

The culprit?  Growing demand for energy and water. 

Now, native people are speaking out.  They hope to educate the public to conserve precious resources, sharing knowledge of the heart-breaking price being paid by people who have been given no choice—and whose very cultural identity centers around the lands and waters being lost.


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EARTHTALK®: IS CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTING THE HEALTH OF RIVERS

E - The Environmental Magazine

Written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss

January 7, 2013 (San Diego)--Dear EarthTalk: How is it that climate change is negatively affecting the health of rivers and, by extension, the quality and availability of fresh water?                  -- Robert Elman, St. Louis, MO

Global warming is no doubt going to cause many kinds of problems (and, indeed, already is), and rivers may well be some of the hardest hit geographical features, given the likelihood of increased droughts, floods and the associated spread of waterborne diseases.


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EARTHTALK®: CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE

E - The Environmental Magazine 
Written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss 
 
August 28, 2012 (San Diego's East County) -- Dear EarthTalk: I read that CO2 in our atmosphere is now more than 300 parts per million. Doesn’t this mean that we’re too late to avoid the worst impacts of climate change?                                                                                                                          -- Karl Bren, Richmond, VA

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EARTHTALK®: AIR POLLUTION IN NATIONAL PARKS E - THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE

 
Written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss
 
July 26, 2012 (San Diego) -- Dear EarthTalk: I was appalled by the pollution haze I saw on a recent visit to Acadia National Park in Maine, and was told by a ranger that it was from smokestacks and tailpipes hundreds of miles away. Is anything being done to clear the air in Acadia and other natural areas where people go to breathe fresh air and enjoy distant unobstructed views?                 -- Betty Estason, via e-mail

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EARTHTALK®: E - THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE

 
 
By Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss
 
July 22, 2012 (San Diego’s East County)--This week’s topics include:

        1) Meat consumption, health and the environment
        2) Challenging Canada's Prime Minister's efforts to weaken environmental protections
 
Dear EarthTalk: We’ve been hearing for years how producing red meat is bad for the environment while consuming it is bad for our health. How do other types of meat, fish, dairy and vegetable proteins stack up in terms of environmental and health impacts?     -- Julia Saperstein, via e-mail

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EARTHTALK® E - THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE

 
Written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss

Dear EarthTalk: Who are the “Clean Air Ambassadors” and what are they trying to accomplish?
                                                                                          -- Brenda Coughlin, Pittsburgh, PA

June 29, 2012  -- Clean Air Ambassadors are everyday folks from across the U.S. who have committed to speaking up for everyone’s right to breathe clean, healthy air. The effort is part of the “50 States United for Healthy Air” campaign, a joint endeavor of Earthjustice, the American Nurses Association, the Hip Hop Caucus, the National Council of Churches and Physicians for Social Responsibility. In the spring of 2011 these Ambassadors—people from all 50 states and every walk of life—convened in Washington, D.C. to ask members of Congress, leaders at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and high-ranking officials in the Obama administration for stronger protections against air pollution.

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EARTHTALK® E - THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE

 
Written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss

June 11, 2012 (
 Norwalk, CT) --  Dear EarthTalk: I own a small business and would like to do what I can to minimize its impact on the environment. Can you help me? -- Jacob Levinson, New York, NY
 
There are many ways to green up any business, large or small—and an added benefit might just be saving money. Just like individuals, businesses can measure their carbon footprints to get a sense of where they are starting from and to get some initial ideas of areas to focus on to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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FDA WARNS CONSUMERS ABOUT SHELLFISH PRODUCTS FROM KOREA

 
Oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops from Korea should be removed from the market, including canned products
 
May 27, 2012 (Washington D.C.)  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed all Korean certified shippers of molluscan shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops) from the Interstate Certified Shellfish Shippers List (ICSSL), following a comprehensive FDA evaluation that determined that the Korean Shellfish Sanitation Program (KSSP) no longer meets the sanitation controls spelled out under the National Shellfish Sanitation Program. FDA’s evaluation of the KSSP found significant shellfish growing area deficiencies including:

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HUNDREDS TURN OUT TO ‘MOW DOWN POLLUTION’

 
Residents exchange old, gas guzzling lawn mowers for zero-emission models at County
 
May 20, 2012 (San Diego)--County residents began lining up early this morning at the County Administration Center for the chance to trade-in their old, gas powered lawn mowers for new, zero-emission models. The price? The Black & Decker mowers, which normally retail for $400 plus tax, cost just $99.99 at the 13th Annual “Mowing Down Pollution” Lawn Mower Trade-In Event.

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MAYORAL CANDIDATE FILNER URGES PLANNING COMMISSION TO OPPOSE ILL-CONCEIVED SANTEE POWER PLANT

 

April 26, 2012 (San Diego) -- U.S. Congressman and Mayoral candidate Bob Filner spoke in front of the San Diego Planning Commission today to oppose the “Quail Brush” Power Plant, slated for construction next to the San Diego Mission Trails Regional Park. The site is within the City of San Diego, but will have negative impacts in neighboring Santee. The Planning Commission was deliberating on the decision to re-zone the proposed location from “open space” to “industrial use.”

 


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CREEK TO BAY CLEANUP DAY APRIL 28

 
By Nadin Abbott
 
April 25, 2012 (San Diego's East County) -- The City of San Diego passed a resolution today declaring April 28th Creek to Bay cleanup day.  According to Council Member Sherri Leightner (District One) this “will encourage all residents of the City of San Diego to take care of the environment.” 

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