Tag Archives: Pollution

First Decontaminated Water from Fukushima Released into Ocean

The first batches of water that have reportedly been decontaminated after being flooded with radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been released into the Pacific Ocean.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the owner and operator of Fukushima, said they released 850 tons of formerly radioactive water extracted from the ground near the plant into the ocean.  TEPCO says the filtering process used makes the water safe for the environment and aquatic life.

The release was part of a plan to ease the buildup of toxic water at the complex.  Around 300 tons of untainted groundwater is flowing daily into the complex and mixing with the radioactive water within the reactors.

The release comes after years of fishermen fighting the power company fearing that the water is still too dangerous and would harm their livelihood.

However, one member of a committee designed to make sure there is no repeat of the meltdown, says that real danger is contaminated water that is still being stored on the site.

“The risk that you run is that you have all these tanks full of water,” Dale Klein told AFP in an interview.  “The longer you store the water, the more likely you are going to have (an) uncontrolled release.”

At least 680,000 tons of highly radioactive water is still being stored on the site of the plant.

Environmental Protection Agency Admits Toxic Sludge Will Contaminate Water into Mexico

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is admitting the toxic sludge released into the Animas River by an EPA work crew is going to pollute rivers all the way into Mexico.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted waters will be polluted into Utah, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation reservation and into Mexico.  McCarthy said at a press conference they would use the “full breadth of the agency” to try and clean up their spill.

“We’re working around the clock,” McCarthy said. “It pains me to no end to see this happening.”

While they admitted they are the source of the leak, EPA official say they still don’t know exactly what happened to cause the toxic waste to reach the river.

“We’ve launched an independent investigation to see what happened, and we’ll be taking steps to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again,” Shaun McGrath, the EPA administrator in charge of the region, told reporters on Monday.

Officials said the Animas River and the San Jan River into which the Animas feeds will be closed to the public at least until August 17th because of the toxic metals in the water.   Durango, Colorado and the New Mexico cities of Aztec and Farmington have been forced to shut off their river intakes for resident water supplies.

The EPA workers also admitted that many of the heavy metals will sink into the sediment of the rivers and could be stirred up when a major storm hits the region causing flooding or increased water flow.

Claims are now being made against the EPA by local residents who have suffered hardship because of the spill.  Under federal law, the EPA is financially responsible for damaged caused by any mistakes made in clean up of toxic sites.

EPA Releases 3 Million Gallons of Toxic Sludge into Southern Colorado River

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is coming under fire after first releasing a toxic plume of contaminated mine water into the Animas River and then misleading the public about the size of the spill.

The EPA initially told the public last week the amount of toxic waste, which had turned the Animas River orange, was one million gallons.   The EPA admitted Sunday the spill was actually closer to three million gallons.

On Sunday, Shaun McGrath of the EPA told reporters in a teleconference that the mine is still spilling 500 gallons of toxic water a minute but that it’s being contained in four lakes near the site of the spill where it can be treated by EPA officials.

EPA tests showed the level of arsenic in the river topped out at 300 times the normal level and lead reached 3,500 times the normal level.  

“Yes, those numbers are high and they seem scary,” Deborah McKean, chief of the EPA Region 8 Toxicology and Human Health and Risk Assessment, told reporters. “But it’s not just a matter of toxicity of the chemicals, it’s a matter of exposure.”

Residents who have water wells near the river have been told not to use their water until they can have it tested for the toxic chemicals.  The toxic sludge has been moving downriver into parts of the Navajo Nation indian reservation and into northwest New Mexico.

The EPA has been criticized by state officials in Colorado and New Mexico for failing to report the incident to them.  New Mexico’s Governor, Susana Martinez, said that the New Mexico government only learned of the spill when local indian nation officials reported something was wrong with the river.

“It’s completely irresponsible for the EPA not to have informed New Mexico immediately,” she said after flying over the affected rivers.

Pipeline Burst Sends Over 50,000 Gallons Of Oil Into Yellowstone River

A Bridger Pipeline Company pipeline burst in Montana has sent oil rushing into the Yellowstone River.

Montana governor Steve Bullock has declared a state of emergency because of the 50,400 gallons of oil that rushed into the river.  The river is a source of drinking water for many communities downriver of the spill.

Residents were told to avoid contact with the water which one citizen described as “smelling like pure diesel fuel.”

Officials in Dawson and Richland counties are providing bottled water for residents to use for cooking, drinking and other necessities.  The Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services and multiple state agencies are on the scene to assist as necessary.

Yellowstone River is the longest undammed river in the U.S.  The last time a spill tainted the water was 2011, when 42,000 gallons poured from an ExxonMobil pipeline.

Environmental Toxins Increase Aging

A new study is showing that environmental toxins are leading to premature aging.

The study says a class of environmental toxins called gerontogens put humans at risk for accelerated again.  The toxins can be found in a wide range of items from second-hand cigarette smoke to UV rays and chemotherapy.

“Genetic studies have taught us only 30 percent of aging is genetic, meaning the other 70 percent comes from the environment,” Dr. Norman Sharpless told Fox News.  “Having a few [of these cells] is not a big deal.  But over the course of a lifetime, as they accumulate, they [contribute to] aging and many of the diseases we associate with aging.”

The study, published in Trends in Molecular Medicine, has allowed the doctors to create a test for substances to see their impact on aging.  The aging process begins when the body undergoes a process called senescence where healthy cells are damaged and are no longer able to divide.  The test will expose cells to substances until they cause the senescence process.

“Our work reasonably says cigarette smoking is the thing we could really do something about that would benefit the aging biology of a large number of people,” Dr. Sharpless said. “But we’re also reasonably certain there are other gerontogens we don’t know about yet.”

Major Chinese City Declares Tap Water Toxic

A major city in western China is in a panic after government officials said the tap water in the city is toxic.

Government officials in Lanzhou say that excessive levels of benzene have been found in the water system.  The amount of benzene is reportedly 20 times the acceptable limit to not be a toxic threat to someone who consumes it.

Benzene has been linked to leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“Consuming foods or fluids contaminated with high levels of benzene can cause vomiting, stomach irritation, dizziness, sleepiness, convulsions, and rapid heart rate. In extreme cases, inhaling or swallowing very high levels of benzene can be deadly,” the American Cancer Society said.

Lanzhou is a city of 2.5 million people and witnesses report panicked residents flooding into stores to stock up on bottled water.

Chinese officials would not name a source for the toxic levels of the chemical in the water but a source inside the government told the Daily Telegraph that there was a spill from an unnamed chemical plant.

A 2012 study found that 60 percent of the groundwater in China is “heavily polluted.”

Navy Troops Near Fukushima Showing Health Problems

Naval troops who rushed to Japan to help following the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant are now reporting multiple health issues including losing the ability to walk.

Lt. Steve Simmons, a first responder who served on the USS Ronald Reagan, was among the first troops to arrive as part of Operation Tomodachi.  The ship rushed into the disaster zone but was not told they were in the middle of a massive radiation plume released from the meltdown of the plant.

Simmons returned from his deployment and began to experience deterioration of his health.  Seven months after returning home, he was no longer able to walk.

Simmons and over 100 other soldiers are now suing Tokyo Electric Power Company, who operate the plant, saying they never told their government nor the U.S. government of the massive radiation release into the ocean and that rescue ships were sitting in the middle of it.

Congressional officials are now getting involved, asking the Department of Defense about the medical conditions of troops aboard the Ronald Reagan and what the DoD is doing to help them.

Chinese Pollution Impacting U.S. West Coast

A new scientific report says that the toxic pollutants causing massive levels of smog in China has the ability to cross the Pacific Ocean and create air quality problems for the western United States.

The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is the first time scientists have been able to quantify the amount of Chinese pollution making its way across the ocean.  The study said that anywhere from 12% to 24% of the daily sulfate concentrations around Los Angeles is directly attributed to Chinese pollution related to exports.

The researchers say one of the biggest hazards is “black carbon.”  Unlike other forms of air pollution, black carbon is not removed from the air by rain.  The carbon has been found in valleys and holes in California.  Black carbon is connected to asthma as well as cancer, emphysema and heart & lung disease.

Smog in China has reached levels that in parts of Beijing officials had to turn electronic billboards into replicas of the sun so that residents would know when dawn and sunset were happening around them.

Chemical Leak Puts 300,000 West Virginians At Risk

A chemical spill in West Virginia’s Elk River has put 300,000 area residents at risk.

Federal officials are descending into the Charleston area to investigate the leak.   The chemical release has poisoned the water supplies for nine counties.

Schools and restaurants were forced to close and residents ordered by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin to not drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes using tap water because of the chemicals in the water.

The extent of the damage has not been able to be determined.

The chemical is a foaming agent used in the preparation of coal.  The leak at Freedom Industries somehow broke through a containment area and rushed into the river.  A spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said that no more than 5,000 gallons of the chemical escaped into the water.

Officials could not say how long the advisory against using the water will be in effect.

American Troops Helping After Japan Tsunami Cancer Stricken

Soldiers from the USS Ronald Reagan quickly jumped in to help the victims of the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan.

The troops were simply fulfilling their long held mission of helping the poor and unfortunate throughout the world.

Now, months later, some of the troops involved in the rescue are finding themselves being diagnosed with cancers that could be connected to radiation exposure. At least 51 Navy sailors have been found to have diseases likely connected to radiation.

Two soldiers are speaking out about the situation.

Quartermaster Maurice Enis said that a few months after their deployment to the coastline a few miles from the stricken Fukushima Nuclear Plant, he found strange lumps on his body. He was diagnosed with radiation poisoning and told his illness would get worse. His fiancée, Jamie Plym, said she suffered gynecological symptoms and hemorrhaging so bad she needed to be hospitalized.

The soldiers are now suing Tokyo Electric Power Company claiming the company did not warn the Navy that the tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown and sent huge amounts of contaminated water into the sea. The troops ended up within two miles of the plant while the company ordered an evacuation of towns as far as 12 miles from the plant for safety reasons.

The soldiers say they don’t blame the Navy which acted in good faith.