EnviroPolitics Blog

Feds OK Cleanup Plan For Polluted Site Near Passaic River In Newark

A cleanup plan is officially on the books for the 80-120 Lister Avenue portion of the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site in Newark, the EPA announced Friday.

NEWARK, NJ — A cleanup plan is officially on the books for part of a polluted Superfund site in Newark, federal officials announced Friday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it has finalized its cleanup plan for the 80-120 Lister Avenue portion of the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site. The plan will address the contaminated soil, debris and groundwater that was left behind by activities at the facility.

Need a refresher? Here’s some background on the case, according to the EPA:

“The Diamond Alkali Superfund site includes the former manufacturing facility at 80-120 Lister Avenue in Newark, New Jersey, the Lower Passaic River Study Area (LPRSA), and the Newark Bay Study Area. The LPRSA includes the 17-mile tidal stretch of the river from Dundee Dam to Newark Bay and tributaries. The Newark Bay Study Area includes Newark Bay and portions of the Hackensack River, Arthur Kill and Kill van Kull. The area surrounding the site is densely populated and heavily industrialized.”

Here’s what happened, the EPA says:

“Kolker Chemical Works Inc. produced Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and other chemicals at 80 Lister Avenue in the 1940s. The Diamond Alkali Company (later purchased by and merged into Occidental Chemical Corporation or OCC) owned and operated the facility in the 1950s and 1960s. The facility manufactured agricultural chemicals including herbicides used in ‘Agent Orange,’ a defoliant chemical that removes leaves from trees and plants. These manufacturing processes produced an extremely toxic chemical, 2,3,7,8-TCDD (dioxin).”

According to the EPA, the state of New Jersey and federal officials took samples at and near 80 Lister Avenue and in the river in 1983. The results? High levels of dioxin.

The EPA and New Jersey also found pesticides and other hazardous substances in the soil and groundwater at 80-120 Lister Avenue, as well as dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides in sediment in the Lower Passaic River.

The EPA listed the site on the Superfund National Priorities List in 1984, and cleanup at the site has been taking place ever since.

Due to its size and complexity, the EPA separated the Superfund site and project work into four phases known as Operable Units (OUs):

OU1 – the 80-120 Lister Avenue properties
OU2 – the lower 8.3 miles of the Lower Passaic River
OU3 – the Newark Bay Study Area
OU4 – the entire 17-mile Lower Passaic River Study Area

The final cleanup plan announced this week – known as a Record of Decision – focuses on “OU1,” the location of a former pesticide and herbicide manufacturing facility that contaminated the surrounding area, the Lower Passaic River and Newark Bay.

“The contamination stemming from the Lister Avenue facility has impacted Newark for decades, and this cleanup plan marks a significant milestone in addressing it,” EPA regional administrator Lisa Garcia said.

Read the full story here

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Cause of massive elephant die off finally disclosed

By Tessa Koumoundouros, Yahoo News

The first dead elephants were discovered in May 2020. By July of that year, over 350 of the endangered animals had been found strewn lifeless across a remote region of Botswana.

Global concern rose rapidly as veterinarians at the scenes eliminated the usual suspects. There were no signs of starvation, infections, or naturally occurring anthrax, and the giant mammals’ tusks were still intact, ruling out poaching. Some of the elephants were found face down, suggesting a sudden collapse.

That left one prime suspect, toxic cyanobacteria – also known as blue-green algae – which now, four years later, a new study led by King’s College London supports.

Geographer Davide Lomeo and colleagues’ analysis of satellite data reveals toxic algal blooms had exploded in water sources near the Okavango Delta during the same time period, all but certainly poisoning the African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana).

“We identified 20 waterholes near fresh carcasses that experienced increased algal bloom events in 2020 compared to the previous three years combined. These waterholes also exhibited the highest average algal biomass of the period 2015 – 2023,” explains Lomeo.

The researchers examined the spatial relationship between 3,389 waterholes in the Okavango Delta, and the locations of the dead elephants.

“Algal blooms are routinely monitored by satellite, but this data isn’t often used to investigate mass mortality events,” says Lomeo.

Read the full story here

Cause of massive elephant die off finally disclosed Read More »

Trump’s pick for EPA administrator talks PFAS, plastic and economy

By Megan Quinn, Waste Dive

U.S. EPA administrator nominee Lee Zeldin acknowledged industry concerns about how recent PFAS regulations could impact business operations during his first confirmation hearing this week.

Zeldin, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the top EPA role, appeared before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday. He noted that pollution from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances was a threat to the environment and said he would work within the EPA’s authority to help those affected by such pollution.

Zeldin was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2023, and the Republican nominee for governor of New York in 2022. During his time in office, he voted in favor of several bills related to regulating PFAS.

During the three-hour hearing, Zeldin fielded questions about ongoing pollution in U.S. waterways, including from plastic, as well as how he would handle overall agency spending, including from previous Inflation Reduction Act funding.

If confirmed, Zeldin said he would work with longtime EPA staff and with Republicans and Democrats to quickly get up to speed on numerous pressing environmental and health issues, especially as they impact the U.S. economy. He underscored his belief in the “rule of law” and said he would prioritize compliance.

“The EPA must also be better stewards of tax dollars, honor cooperative federalism and be transparent and accountable to Congress and the public,” Zeldin said in his opening statement.

He added that many Americans voted for Trump due to concerns about economic mobility and stretched family budgets.

“We can, and we must, protect our precious environment without suffocating the economy,” he said. “A big part of this will require building private sector collaboration to promote common sense, smart regulation that will allow American innovation to continue to lead the world.”

Read the full story here

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Probe: Key ‘weakness’ in L.A. wildfire strategy unaddressed for years

In a memo that has not been previously reported, chief told city fire commissioners that L.A. relied almost entirely on overburdened “hand crews” from other jurisdictions to handle its brush fire emergencies.

By Aaron C. Davis, Shawn Boburg, Brianna Sacks, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Joyce Sohyun Lee, Washington Post

Two years before wildfires incinerated swaths of Los Angeles, the city’s Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley identified “one significant area of weakness” in her department’s ability to contain wildfires. L.A. had no specialized wildland unit to respond to daily brush fires and scrape vegetation, dig ditches and do the other labor to ensure blazes did not spread or rekindle, she wrote on Jan. 5, 2023, asking for $7 million to assemble its own squad.

In a memo that has not been previously reported, she told city fire commissioners that L.A. relied almost entirely on overburdened “hand crews” from other jurisdictions to bring such muscle to its brush fire emergencies. Hand crews, the most elite of which are sometimes called “hotshots,” fight wildfires with chain saws, axes and shovels, setting containment lines and then sticking around to meticulously monitor smoldering fires, feeling by hand for heat and digging out live spots to make sure fires don’t relight.

The city staffed its own team — made up of unpaid, mostly teenage volunteers — only on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. Crowley warned the commission that there would inevitably come a day when L.A. would need the important grunt work of a “hand crew” and one would not be available, which could “mean the difference in containment or out of control spread.”

Read the full story here

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Supreme Court gives green light to Hawaii climate change lawsuit

The companies appealed after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that claims for damages could move forward

By Lawrence Hurley, NBC News

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals filed by various oil companies trying to shut down a lawsuit in Hawaii that seeks to hold them accountable for climate change.

The decision means that the municipality of Honolulu can move forward with a closely watched lawsuit against companies, including Sunoco and Shell, that raises claims under Hawaii state law.

The companies argue that climate change is inherently an issue of federal law that should not be addressed by state courts. Other companies that were sued include ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP.

The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in October 2023 that the case could move forward, focusing on allegedly deceptive marketing and public statements made by the oil companies rather than the physical impacts of climate change.

The state court concluded that the lawsuit was not displaced by federal law because it “does not seek to regulate emissions and does not seek damages for interstate emissions.”

The Biden administration had urged the Supreme Court not to take up the cases.

Read the full story here

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Judge kicks lawsuit alleging Big Oil greenwashing

By Rosemary Misdary, Gothamist

Jan 16, 2025 – A Manhattan judge has dismissed New York City’s lawsuit seeking to hold oil and gas companies accountable for misleading statements about the environmental benefits of their products.

The ruling issued by Justice Anar Rathod Patel on Tuesday amounts to yet another legal defeat in a nationwide effort by local and state governments to sue large polluters. In 2019, state Attorney General Letitia James’ office lost a case alleging ExxonMobil had misled shareholders about the cost of climate change to its business. In November, James’ office lost a lawsuit that sought to hold PepsiCo liable for litter accumulating on the banks of the Buffalo River.

The new ruling came in a case initiated by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. It centered on ExxonMobil, BP and Shell’s alleged “greenwashing” of the gasoline they sell by minimizing its harm to the environment. But Patel wrote in his ruling that there was a fundamental flaw to the city’s arguments about the harm caused by the alleged misleading statements about climate change.

“The city cannot have it both ways by, on one hand, asserting that consumers are aware of and commercially sensitive to the fact that fossil fuels cause climate change, and, on the other hand, that the same consumers are being duped by defendants’ failure to disclose that their fossil fuel products emit greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change,” Patel wrote.

Over the past year, large oil companies received favorable rulings on similar claims in Delaware and Maryland. About 30 climate cases are still pending in state courts, including in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

R ead the full story here

Judge kicks lawsuit alleging Big Oil greenwashing Read More »

Feds OK Cleanup Plan For Polluted Site Near Passaic River In Newark

A cleanup plan is officially on the books for the 80-120 Lister Avenue portion of the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site in Newark, the EPA announced Friday.

Cause of massive elephant die off finally disclosed

Trump’s pick for EPA administrator talks PFAS, plastic and economy

Probe: Key ‘weakness’ in L.A. wildfire strategy unaddressed for years

In a memo that has not been previously reported, chief told city fire commissioners that L.A. relied almost entirely on overburdened “hand crews” from other jurisdictions to handle its brush fire emergencies.

Supreme Court gives green light to Hawaii climate change lawsuit

The companies appealed after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that claims for damages could move forward

Judge kicks lawsuit alleging Big Oil greenwashing

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