Legal action could end use of toxic sewage sludge on US crops as fertilizer
by The Guardian | March 12, 2024
New legal action could put an end to the practice of spreading toxic sewage sludge on US cropland as a cheap alternative to fertilizer, and force America to rethink how it disposes of its industrial and human waste. A notice of intent to sue federal regulators charges they have failed to ...
Texas farmers claim company sold them PFAS-contaminated sludge that killed livestock
by The Guardian | March 1, 2024
A Texas county has launched a first-of-its-kind criminal investigation into the waste management giant Synagro over PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge it is selling to Texas farmers as a cheap alternative to fertilizer. Two small Texas ranches at the center of that case have also filed a ...
EPA considers approving fruit pesticide despite risks to children, records show
by The Guardian | November 21, 2023
Kyla Bennett, a former EPA scientist who now works with the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the emails provide more evidence that the EPA needs an overhaul and that it is steeped in an “industry-beholden culture” that persists regardless of which ...
US industry disposed of at least 60m pounds of PFAS waste in last five years
by The Guardian | November 17, 2023
The 60m pounds estimate is likely to be a “dramatic” undercount because PFAS waste is unregulated in the US and companies are not required to record its disposal, the paper’s author, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), wrote. Still, the findings “depict a vast ...
Forever chemicals at former Nasa lab are leaking into LA River, say watchdogs
by The Guardian | September 28, 2023
“California’s pollution control agencies are not just asleep at the switch but appear to be in a coma,” said Jeff Ruch, Pacific director of the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), which has filed a lawsuit over the site’s cleanup. PFAS are a class ...