Commentary: Biden must take action on PFAS
The Progressive (TNS)
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With a deadly pandemic, an economic downturn, the climate crisis and an urgent need for racial and economic justice, President Joe Biden already has plenty on his plate. But another cause demanding federal attention is turning up in people’s sinks and the nation’s waterways.
Toxic, fluorinated chemicals are present in as many as 1,500 drinking water systems across the country, affecting up to 110 million people. These hazardous, human-made compounds have a long and hard-to-pronounce name: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. They have been linked to cancers, immune system disorders and liver and thyroid disease. And the presence of these compounds can render vaccines less effective against diseases including tetanus and diphtheria.
Commentary: President Biden must take action on PFAS pollution capecodtimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from capecodtimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Whitmer invokes defense bill clause to force stricter PFAS cleanup
Updated Mar 31, 2021;
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LANSING, MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is attempting to use national defense policy legislation passed two years ago to force the U.S. Department of Defense into compliance with tough state pollution cleanup laws in Michigan.
In a March 31 letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Whitmer invoked a section of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that could force the Pentagon to meet the state’s new low PFAS standards while conducting cleanup at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda and other military contamination sites.
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Michigan Radio s Lester Graham and Bridge Michigan s Kelly House explain the economics behind Enbridge Energy s Line 5 tunnel proposal.
In the decade since Line 5 emerged as an issue of statewide concern, a debate about the pipeline s future that began with concerns about an oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac has morphed to include broad questions about how oil pipelines fit into the global energy transition.
Credit Lester Graham / Michigan Radio
As Canadian officials lobbied a Michigan Senate committee in March to keep the Line 5 pipeline open, Sen. Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) grew frustrated with a conversation that, up to that point, had focused mainly on the immediate economic and safety implications of a possible shutdown.
Is the Line 5 tunnel a bridge to Michigan s energy future or a bad deal? bridgemi.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bridgemi.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.