Advocates are making slow but steady progress to clean up a portion of the Columbia River named a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency. Toxic pollution dumped by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for more than 40 years at Bradford Island contaminated fish in the area, which are used as sustenance by the region s Indigenous people. .
The latest research reveals alarming levels of contamination in northeastern Tennessee waterways, by the chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS. Many communities and ecosystems are exposed to PFAS in soil, surface water, groundwater and air. Dan Firth, chair of the solid waste and mining committee for the Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club, said they collected 20 water samples from lakes and rivers around Kingsport and Johnson City, and about 60% tested positive for the substances, often known as "forever chemicals" because they do not degrade over time. .
A group of conservation, sporting and land-stewardship organizations calls the U.S. Forest Service s move to conserve old-growth forests a "good first step." The plan aims to use a science-based management plan to address climate change and other threats to forests, affecting millions of acres of trees in Montana. Frank Szollosi, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation, said in Montana, the old-growth management plan would be part of a broader effort to help trees sequester carbon, which he said they are losing the ability to do. .