Month: November 2023

US Industry Disposed of at Least 60M Pounds of PFAS Waste in Last Five Years

The Guardian by Tom Perkins

US industry disposed of at least 60m pounds of PFAS “forever chemical” waste over the last five years, and did so with processes that probably pollute the environment around disposal sites, a new analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data finds.  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. For the full text, click here. 

One Resident Hospitalized After Ceiling Collapse, Mold Discovery at Hawthorne Home

NorthJersey.com  by Lucas Frau

Water leakage and a mold discovery in a Hawthorne residence led to one man being hospitalized and left the other residents questioning whether the three-family home is habitable, authorities said.Fire Department officials were dispatched to a house on Prescott Avenue on Sunday morning because water leaking from a boiler on the third floor caused the ceiling in the second-floor bathroom to collapse. For full text, click here. 

EPA Penalizes Home Renovators in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska for Lead-Based Paint Violations

EPA

LENEXA, KAN. (NOV. 14, 2023) – Five Midwest home renovation companies have agreed to pay over $38,000 collectively in penalties to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to resolve alleged violations of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

EPA has found that the following companies failed to comply with regulations that reduce the hazards of lead-based paint exposure during renovations:

  • Astoria Design Build LLC in Mission, Kansas
  • CAM Home Contracting LLC in St. Louis, Missouri
  • DRS Contracting LLC in Springfield, Missouri
  • Davis Contracting LLC in Omaha, Nebraska
  • Dynasty Restoration Inc. in Omaha, Nebraska

According to EPA, among other alleged violations, each of the companies performed renovations on properties built prior to 1978 without an EPA-certified renovator, as required by federal law. For the full text, click here.

A New Study Says the Global Toll of Lead Exposure is Even Worse Than We Thought

NPR  by Nicole Estvanik Taylor

International – On the World Health Organization’s list of 10 chemicals of major public health concern, lead is a familiar villain.  Its most widely publicized health impact is neurological damage in children, often measured in the loss of intelligence quotient (IQ) points. But lead’s pernicious effects don’t stop in childhood nor at the brain. According to a new study in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, an estimated 5.455 million adults worldwide died in 2019 from cardiovascular disease (CVD) attributable to lead exposure — a toll more than six times higher than a previous estimate. The study goes on to provide what its authors say are the first monetary estimates of the total global cost of these lead-attributable deaths, along with the magnitude and cost of IQ loss in children under 5 years old. For the full text, click here. 

Proposed Revisions to the Laboratory Quality Systems Requirements Under the National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program, Notice of Availability and Request for Comment

EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of and soliciting comment on proposed revisions to EPA’s document titled “Laboratory Quality System Requirements (LQSR) Revision 3.0” dated November 5, 2007, under the National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program (NLLAP). Proposed revisions reflected in the draft document titled, “Laboratory Quality Standards for Recognition” (LQSR 4.0),” are intended to update and streamline the guidance by referencing existing laboratory standards already in practice by NLLAP participating laboratories and directly related to laboratory lead analysis, and to update the test and sampling method standards to better complement EPA’s lead-based paint program activities. For the full text, click here. 

NM Environment Department Issues Guidance on Administrative Compliance Costs

NMED Santa Fe, NM

The New Mexico Environment Department issued Guidance on Administrative Compliance Costs to department managers on Tuesday, October 31, 2023. This document provides guidance for managers at NMED for the recovery of administrative costs necessary to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations governing NMED programs. Compliance is one of the key tenets by which NMED implements its mission. Compliance ensures NMED achieves the objectives and intent set forth in its statutory mandates. Compliance also ensures fair and equitable treatment of the regulated community. For full text of the guidance memo, click here. 

New Analytical Approach to Detecting and Characterizing Unknown Types of PFAS in the Environment

Phys.org by Bob Yirka

North Carolina – A combined team of chemists from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has developed a new approach to detecting and characterizing unknown types of PFAS in the environment. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their new approach. For the full text, click here.

EPA Proposes to Codify Changes to TSCA Risk Evaluations

JD Supra/EPA Washington, DC

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published proposed revisions of its procedural rule on risk evaluations under TSCA on October 30, 2023. The far-reaching changes are likely to affect all ongoing and future risk evaluations. Stakeholders likely to be affected by future TSCA risk management rules should comment by December 14, 2023. Comments must be received on or before December 14, 2023. For full text of the article, click here. To submit your comment through the Federal Register docket #HQ–OPPT–2023–0496 click here. 

PFAS in Groundwater: State-by-State Regulations – October 2023

JD Supra by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

National – In the absence of federal cleanup standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) in groundwater, several states have started the process of regulating PFAS in groundwater themselves. As a result, states have adopted a patchwork of regulations and guidance standards that present significant compliance challenges to impacted industries. This client alert explores the current landscape of state regulations regarding the advisory, notification, and cleanup levels for PFAS – typically perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (“PFOS”) and perfluorooctanoic acid (”PFOA”) – in groundwater. For the full text, click here. 

How Moldy is Missouri Marijuana? Local Company’s Tests Stir Up Controversy

St. Louis Today by Jack Suntrup

St. Louis, MO – A St. Charles County microbiologist’s test results for mold in marijuana, which he has shared on social media, are drawing questions from cannabis consumers and legal threats from members of the state’s cannabis industry. Kirk Hartwein, owner of Missouri Mold LLC of O’Fallon, has posted dozens of close-up photos of petri dishes, many covered in mold colonies, to his Facebook page this year. But while a growing audience is taking stock of Hartwein’s findings, critics have questioned his results. Three legal cultivators featured on his page have sent Hartwein cease-and-desist letters in recent months. For full text, click here.