Latest news with #AdrienneLee
Chicago Tribune
01-08-2025
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
JTWNI, GARD join EarthJustice, other groups in legal action against EPA
Two Northwest Indiana community groups have joined EarthJustice to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency's actions to delay air pollution compliance in steel mills. 'The 2024 air standards — hard-won safeguards for fenceline communities — are being stripped away, as the agency grants emissions exemptions to steel mills and eliminates public input,' Lisa Vallee, organizing director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana, said in a Wednesday news release. 'This is environmental injustice: they are sacrificing our communities, gutting our social safety nets, and taking away our future. We will not stay silent.' Earlier this month, the EPA issued a final rule delaying air pollution protections for communities near steel mills, according to the Federal Register. Current rules have required steel mills to reduce emissions since last April, but the agency's new action delays compliance until April 2027, allowing pollution to continue at current levels. According to EarthJustice, the EPA published the final rule without notice, which did not allow the public to object to the extension before it went into effect. EarthJustice is a San Francisco-based nonprofit public interest environmental law organization that works with community groups nationwide. EarthJustice Senior Attorney Adrienne Lee said in a Wednesday news release that it's alarming for the EPA to delay protections without first accepting public input. The action is also inconsistent with the agency's responsibility to human health and the environment, Lee said. 'Communities living near steel mills in states such as Indiana and Pennsylvania deserve better,' she said. 'Each year, steel mills expose these communities to hundreds of tons of toxic air pollution which places them at increased risk of developing cancer and a variety of chronic health conditions.' An October report from Industrious Labs found that most residents in Gary are in the top 10% nationally for being most at-risk for developing asthma and at-risk of low life expectancy. In 2020, Indiana had a lung cancer rate of 72.5 per 100,000 people, with Lake County as one of the state's counties with the highest cancer mortality rates, according to the American Lung Association. A 2016 JAMA Network report also found Gary as one of the top five U.S. cities with the lowest life expectancy at one point. The EPA declined to comment on the legal action, saying in an email that it's longstanding practice not to comment on current or pending litigation. Dorreen Carey, president of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, said in the news release that EPA's actions fail to protect Gary and surrounding Northwest Indiana communities' residents. Carey called out U.S. Steel's Gary Works facility specifically, saying pollutants have led to increased health issues in the city. 'The current outmoded and insufficient methods of hazardous air emission monitoring and control at Gary Works are not protective of human health and the environment,' Carey said. 'Residents must have a voice in EPA decisions and rulemaking and EPA must do its job to protect the residents and the natural resources of Gary…' A U.S. Steel spokesperson responded to the action in a statement Thursday. 'Environmental stewardship is a core value at U.S. Steel, and we remain committed to the safety of our communities as do our more than 3,400 Gary Works employees,' the statement said. JTNWI and GARD have previously expressed concerns with U.S. Steel's application for two-year exemptions from hazardous air pollutant rules for integrated iron and steel, coke and taconite iron ore process, according to Post-Tribune archives. U.S. Steel previously told the Post-Tribune in a statement that it challenged all three rules because they were not supported by science or law and would impose significant costs while setting technically unachievable standards. Seeking these exemptions doesn't mean U.S. Steel isn't 'supportive of revisions to regulations that are within (the EPA's) statutory authority, based on sound science and are technically feasible,' according to Post-Tribune archives. In March, the EPA announced corporations could apply for presidential exemptions to sections of the Clean Air Act. Exemption applications were due March 31, and if approved, can be extended for up to two additional years. 'Northwest Indiana is already home to some of the worst air pollution in this country,' a previous JTNWI statement said. 'In this region, we suffer from a cumulative, generational impact of exposure to industrial toxins in communities like Lake County, Indiana. These exemptions are a free pass for these polluters at the continued cost of our health and safety. We're adamantly opposed to this astonishing reversal of environmental law in no uncertain terms. Our communities and region are not expendable sacrifice zones for this administration or corporations.'
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Farmers and lawmakers hope to secure future of Maine's PFAS support program
Maine has been a leader in regulating perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — including being the first state to pass a rule requiring manufacturers to report intentionally added PFAS in products. (Photo by Getty Images) Adrienne Lee and her husband have been farming on their 94 acres of field and forest in the town of Knox for more than a decade. Three years ago, they found high levels of so-called forever chemicals in their land and water sources, as well as in their bodies. 'This discovery put us in a tailspin of trying to figure out if we could have a viable path forward in farming,' Lee told the Maine Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee Thursday morning. While her family's farm is still on 'shaky ground,' Lee said they can see a path forward thanks to support they have received from the state's efforts to address contaminated agricultural land. Lee shared her family's story during a public hearing for LD 130, a bill sponsored by Sen. Henry Ingwersen (D-York) on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. While the state already has a robust program to support farms with high levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, the proposal would codify those programs into state law with a few modifications to ensure the support for farmers and remediation can continue. The department was slated to provide a more detailed PFAS update to the agriculture committee Thursday, but it was postponed due to inclement weather closing state facilities early. Thanks to a $60 million allocation in the 2021 state budget, the department has developed a program to assist farmers and respond to high levels of PFAS in agricultural land. In the years since, the department has made significant progress on those efforts and learned that most contaminated farms can remain viable with the proper support, said Beth Valentine, director of the department's PFAS Fund. As Ingwersen told the committee, LD 130 would enshrine in statute Maine's existing response program for PFAS contamination on farmland, which has been touted as a national leader. The PFAS Response program currently has seven full-time staff members who provide technical and financial assistance to more than 80 farms with varying levels of contamination. There is also a three-person PFAS Fund team that provides direct financial support and access to health services, as well as further research to better inform farmers. The bill includes modest revisions to the fund to make it more efficient and effective, Valentine explained. 'The only reason that I can speak to you today and talk about our farm in the present tense is in large part due to the state's creation of the PFAS Fund and the work that DACF has done to support Maine farmers who are dealing with PFAS,' Lee said. The bill also includes new restrictions on PFAS — which have been linked to serious long-term health problems including cancer, weakened immune systems, developmental issues, and more — that advocates and members of the agricultural community praised during the public hearing. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), Maine Farmland Trust and the University of Maine System, including the Cooperative Extension were among those who testified in support of the bill. The proposed legislation would allow the department, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, to set maximum PFAS limits in farm products. Establishing these limits would provide relief to farmers who are unsure if their products are safe to sell, said Sarah Woodbury, vice president of policy and advocacy for the Portland-based public health nonprofit Defend Our Health. Heather Spalding, executive director of MOFGA, echoed the support, saying that farmers haven't received guidance on whether they should pull their products from the marketplace, so these limits would offer protections and a more level playing field. There was also support for other components of the bill that could be described as housekeeping measures, such as changing the required number of meetings each year for the fund's advisory committee and ensuring that health information handled by the response program is treated as confidential. Valentine clarified that the bill does not include a fiscal note because the original funding that established the program is sufficient to keep it running. No one testified in opposition to the bill during the hearing Thursday. While Maine has been a leader in establishing PFAS protections — including being the first state to pass a rule requiring manufacturers to report intentionally added PFAS in products — lawmakers have multiple proposals this session to continue addressing the prevalence of PFAS in the state. For example, Rep. Dan Ankeles (D-Brunswick) put forth a package of legislation seeking to remove and regulate PFAS-laden firefighting foam after 1,600 gallons of it spilled at the Brunswick Executive Airport last summer. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
