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Groups Sue After E.P.A. Fails to Shift Ozone Rules
Health and environmental groups challenged the Obama administration’s rejection of stricter air quality standards.
My son Spencer had just turned three when, one day, I noticed he was coughing a lot. At first, I didn't think anything of it. Kids get sick. I told him to lie down, thinking he'd be fine -- it was just a cough. A short time later, I realized that his heart was pounding, as if it were trying to beat right out of his chest.
Terrified, my husband, Roger, and I rushed him to the hospital. We spent the next two nights in the ICU. The doctors told us he had something called reactive airways dysfunction syndrome -- a form of asthma. Neither my husband nor I had any family history of asthma, going back four generations. So we concluded that the cause was environmental.
It didn't take long to discover that the U.S. is in the midst of an asthma epidemic. The number of people diagnosed with asthma grew by 4.3 million in the last decade. About one in 10 American children currently suffer from asthma -- a nearly threefold increase from 3.6 percent in 1980. A suspected cause of these stunning changes?
At least six well-designed epidemiological studies have pointed to one answer: A strong link between the use of certain cleaning products and asthma. That stopped me cold. The cause of my son's asthma may have been me. I may have been poisoning my own son.
The good news is that this is one area where easy, affordable solutions are available. First and foremost, you should avoid what can be the strongest asthma triggering chemicals present in conventional cleaners such as bleach, hydrochloric acid and ammonia. And as we discussed last week, these chemicals are often mixed together to create an even more dangerous combination. Next go out and buy yourself non-toxic, biodegradable, green cleaning products.
1. Gather all your cleaning products and read the labels.
2. Notice how dangerous and toxic they are. Then, take a deep breath (but not near the cleaning products).
3. Take all the ones that say "danger," "poison" or contain chlorine bleach and ammonia and put them in a garbage bag.
4. Call your local sanitation department and ask them how to dispose of them safely.
5. Buy green cleaning products, and breathe deeply and safely.
By the way, my son is 11 and hasn't been to the emergency room in 1,825 days. But who's counting?
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Have you ever looked at the ingredient list of your favorite fragrance? I guarantee you cannot pronounce most of the words. That can't be good. And did you also know that the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found 14 secret ingredients not even listed on the label -- they call them trade secrets. I call them synthetic chemicals. To make matters really worse, it's totally legal to omit those ingredients from the label.
It's unusual to find a household or personal-care product made without synthetic fragrances. You practically can't escape it. Recently I was putting on lipstick and I noticed it was perfumed. Why would I possibly want my lipstick to smell good? I call this "involuntary aromatherapy," and we're all exposed to it every day.
Fragrances may seem benign, but they can irritate the eyes, nose and throat. Many of the individual chemicals in perfumes and other fragrances can also potentially cause damage to the liver, kidney, immune and reproductive systems.
And virtually all fragrances are stabilized with phthalates -- yes, we've heard about them before. They're plasticizers and fragrance carriers that are banned in children's toys, but still used in a wide array of consumer products, especially those containing PVC (polyvinyl chloride).
They're in nail polishes, where they keep polishes flexible; in hair sprays, where they keep your hair from stiffening too much; and -- more importantly -- in the vast majority of fragrances, where they help to stabilize, or "fix" perfumes in products to make fragrances last longer.Phthalates are especially dangerous to children. The Washington Toxic Coalition explains in no uncertain terms that a developing baby is extremely vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals. They develop at a breakneck pace in the womb, and that development is easily derailed by toxic chemicals. Unlike adults, babies also have a very limited ability to detoxify foreign chemicals.
Just last month, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that higher prenatal exposures to phthalates significantly increased the odds of motor and behavioral developmental delay during the preschool years. The Center for Health Environment and Justice summarizes the mounting evidence against phthalates in "This is Your Brain on PVC." The facts on trends in learning disabilities are startling:
• The incidence of learning and developmental disabilities appears to be rising, affecting about one in six children in the U.S.
• The number of children in special education programs classified with learning disabilities increased 191 percent from 1977 to 1994.
• Since the early 1990s, reported cases of autism spectrum disorder have increased tenfold. One in a hundred American children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed childhood psychiatric disorder in the United States. Recent evidence suggests the prevalence may be as high as 17 percent for all school children.
• The U.S. has seen a six-fold increase in ADHD between the years 1985 (0.7 million cases) and 2000 (4-5 million cases).
Many naysayers believe that these numbers are exaggerated -- that we are perhaps just better today at identifying these problems in children. I say that may be true in part, but the numbers speak for themselves and are way too staggering to dismiss.
But there is a silver lining to this dark cloud: Phthalates don't build up in our bodies. When the source of exposure is removed, levels decrease quickly.
You can begin making a difference for you and your family right now by skipping PVC plastic (vinyl) in products like shower curtains, food wrap and flooring, and checking ingredient lists to avoid "fragrance" and phthalates. You can find detailed information on thousands of products in the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.
On a personal note, I stopped wearing perfume when I gave birth to my first child 11 years ago. It just didn't feel right when my infant smelled like Chanel No. 5. I may no longer smell like jasmine or spice, but I'm a lot safer.
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follow my sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some environmental groups on Friday said Gov. Rick Scott's new Everglades restoration strategy attempts to push back restoration seven years or more.
The governor met Thursday with top Obama administration officials to outline a restoration strategy that calls for meeting a 10 parts per billion phosphorus limit by 2025 by creating new and expanded filter marshes.
Environmental groups said Friday the strategy would delay a 2016 deadline in state law for Everglades restoration.
"What Florida needs is Everglades restoration, not sugar industry profitability restoration; that's what this is," said David Guest, managing partner with the Earthjustice law firm in Tallahassee.
But a DEP spokeswoman said the plan is consistent with state law and court-imposed deadlines.
Other groups offered at least some praise for the governor and the federal agencies.
Audubon of Florida said in a statement that Florida and the federal agencies are working together on a strategy that can achieve restoration.
Everglades Foundation CEO Kirk Fordham said Scott appears to be focusing more on Everglades restoration. But he said shifting the cost burden from sugar farms to taxpayers is a nonstarter.
Fordham also said the initial presentation on the strategy is lacking data or details. And he expressed concerns that the plan would delay restoration beyond which the group believes is necessary.
"We're realistic enough know it is unlikely we will meet the 2016 deadline," Fordham said. "That is not to say these timelines need to be stretched out in a fashion that is unnecessary if the governor is willing to commit resources" towards restoration.
DEP Press Secretary Jennifer Diaz said the Everglades Forever Act set a 2016 deadline for initial implementation, consistent with the 10-year implementation strategy proposed by Florida consistent with court deadlines.
"All have the same goals of achieving water quality standards in the Everglades," Diaz said. She also said the cost and details of the plan still are being worked out.
Fordham also said environmental groups had concerns early about Scott but he is now paying close personal attention to the Everglades issue.
"I think it is still early enough in his term," Fordham said, "that this governor has the ability to build a legacy on Everglades issues that might surprise folks."
By Christine StapletonPalm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 8:00 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, 2011
Posted: 7:56 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott took Everglades restoration into his own hands this week, traveling to Washington and unveiling plans to build reservoirs, unblock flow ways, control seepage and expand man-made wetlands by 2022.
Scott made his plan public after meeting Thursday with Ken Salazar, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Lisa Jackson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and top officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The proposal calls for:
- Building two reservoirs to store water 32 billion gallons of water for maintaining healthy water levels in stormwater treatment areas - the man-made wetlands that use plants to clean nutrient laden water.
- Preventing clean water from seeping out of Everglades National Park through layers of porous underground rock and water conservation areas.
- Restoring the natural flow of water by removing dams and structures that restrict the natural flow of water.
"A strong Florida partnership will help usher in the next generation of projects that will improve water quality in South Florida, while still protecting jobs and the state's economy," Scott said in a prepared statement Thursday night.
The plan -- partly a response to an EPA demand for fast action -- would, however, require extending the deadline for restoration to 2022 -- two years beyond the EPA's most recent deadline. The original deadline, under a federal court settlement in 1992, called for restoration to be complete by 2006.
But the executive director of the South Florida Water Management District said the governor has been pushing hard to advance the plan. "I have been amazed the last couple of months at the work that has been done," said Executive Director Melissa Meeker, whose agency is responsible for the cleanup.
Meeker said she recently met with the governor and laid out an overall plan and what she thought it might cost over the next 10 years. She told him between $45 million and $50 million a year.
"He looked at me and said, 'That's not a problem,'" Meeker said.
Meeker, who accompanied Scott to Washington, said Salazar and Jackson seemed pleased after the 90 minute meeting, which Scott led.
Environmentalists spent Friday trying to decipher the motive, timing and science behind Scott's plan.
"Until we see details, we can't embrace the plan," said Kirk Fordham, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. "If the governor wants to expend some political capital on this issue and move this thing forward, we're willing to make him an Everglades champion, but we're only in the first year of his term."
Noticeably absent are any immediate plans for nearly 27,000 acres the water management district bought from U.S. Sugar for $197 million. At the time, in 2010, water managers assured taxpayers that the land was necessary for the clean-up.
Also missing from the plan are tougher rules on the use of phosphorus-laden fertilizers by farmers.
"I'm concerned that this entire effort is on treatment rather than on trying to get phosphorus out of the water before it leaves the land," said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida.
Audubon and other environmental groups have argued that taxpayers get stuck with the tab for cleaning phosphorus from water polluted by growers. "If you put the entire focus on treatment, you put the entire burden on the public pocketbook, rather than the landowners' pocketbook."
However, water managers say they intend to revamp rules on fertilizer use and management practices. As for the land purchased from U.S. Sugar, it will be used for restoration, said Ernie Barnett, the district's Everglades Policy Director. Barnett stressed that the governor's plan is "conceptual" and does not contain every project.
"This is the first time I've ever thought we would achieve water quality standards in the Everglades," said Barnett, who has worked on restoration for more than 20 years.
Another veteran of the restoration process was not impressed.
"This looks more like a plan to increase the profitability of the sugar industry than a plan to restore the Everglades," said David Guest, managing attorney for the Tallahassee office of Earthjustice, a public interest law firm that has been involved in Everglades litigation several decades. Guest said he is concerned that the reservoirs called for in the governor's plan will wind up being used by growers, to irrigate their fields. "This takes public money and provides them with water storage."
Still unknown is how much Scott will involve environmental groups in restoration plans. Draper said it wasn't until Wednesday that he received a call from Herschel Vinyard, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, informing him about Scott's trip to Washington. Fordham said he also received a call the day before, and after the meeting.
it's a start let's see the details!
Remember what your mom always told you? Scrub your hands before dinner, right? She certainly didn't say, "Make sure you slather on plenty of antibacterial gel." Well, she had it right, because washing with plain soap and water is just as effective as using antibacterial soaps and sanitizers.
I know, I know. It's almost impossible to turn around without bumping into anti-bacterial hand soaps, hand sanitizer gels, wipes, deodorants and toothpastes these days. The problem is that the most common ingredient in these products is Triclosan. Triclosan is an antimicrobial pesticide which has been shown to cause hormone disruption, allergies, asthma and eczema. If this weren't troubling enough, it breaks down rapidly in warm chlorinated water -- that's right, precisely what you use when washing your hands -- to form toxic chemicals, including chloroform. Just this year, the Physicians for Social Responsibility called on the EPA to ban Triclosan, stating that there are safer alternatives that are equally effective.
We're exposed to bacteria and viruses constantly -- in fact, trillions of them live in our bodies. Our immune system is designed to cope with these germs, to dispose of them. Research suggests that Triclosan creates resistance in bacteria. When we overuse antibacterial soap, the germs get smart and become resistant to the chemicals we use against them. Isn't that ironic? Here we are, trying to prevent the spread of disease by killing bacteria, and we're actually making it worse!
Keep in mind that understanding when to wash your hands is the most important key to reducing the spread of germs. My children know that the first thing they do when they walk in the house is wash their hands. It's the best way of keeping whatever they've touched or handled in the outside world on the other side of that door.
If you're like me, you'll be keeping germs at bay the old-fashioned way. Join me in telling the EPA we're tired of finding Triclosan in our household products by supporting the Citizens Petition for a Ban on Triclosan.
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By Christine StapletonPalm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 8:38 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011
Posted: 9:07 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011
On Monday - just three days into the dry season - the legal ink-slinging over West Palm Beach's critical water supply already had begun.
County utilities director Bevin Beaudet sent an 18-page letter to the South Florida Water Management District threatening to sue the district if it continued to allow the city to draw more water from the city's emergency well field than allowed by the city's permit - potentially threatening the county's nearby water supply.
In a separate legal maneuver, district executive director Melissa Meeker sent a single-page letter to West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio strongly suggesting that the city sign an order agreeing to settle the permit violations or face fines.
"While the city was able to meet demand during the past dry season, it was accomplished in violation of (its) permit," Meeker wrote. "The district has serious concerns regarding the city's ability to meet water supply demands during the upcoming dry season due to the critical nature of its existing water supply sources and the projected levels of regional water bodies."
While the county and other cities rely on water from aquifers below ground, West Palm Beach is especially vulnerable to drought because it relies on rainwater captured in a 20-square-mile area known as the Grassy Waters Preserve. During a drought, the preserve dries up, leaving the city to depend on water from its emergency well field.
The district issued the city a permit in 2006 after the county was assured that every gallon of water pumped from the emergency well field would be replaced with a gallon of water from the city's Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant, considered cutting edge when it opened in 2006, treats sewage water so it can be returned to the water supply.
However, the plant has been shut down for repairs and maintenance as often as it has operated in the past two years. In June, with just a three-week supply of surface water remaining, David Hanks, the city's utilities director, began tapping the emergency well field even though he knew the plant could not replenish the withdrawals.
In June, the city withdrew 607.7 million gallons from its well field but replaced only 58.1 million gallons. In July, the city drew 757 million gallons but replaced only 81 million gallons. In August, the district cited the city for violating its well field permit, but to date the city has not been fined. Under the conditions of the city's permit, the city could face fines of $10,000 a day.
Although the city has stopped pumping from its emergency well field, the county is concerned that its own well fields could be depleted if the city is allowed to pump without replenishing water from its well field during the upcoming dry season. According to Beaudet's letter, the city's pumping has already lowered water levels in regional aquifers below what would be expected based on recent rainfall. The depletion could harm wetlands and lakes, Beaudet said.
Hanks said the city is considering asking the district to remove the replenishment requirement from its permit, allowing the city to use water from other canals and to drill new wells.
County officials will meet with Hanks today to discuss the permit and the possibility of the county selling water to the city.
"The city cannot ignore our concerns," said Assistant County Administrator Shannon LaRocque. "The cumulative impacts need to be addressed."
As for the district, it sent a draft consent order to the city that outlines a strategy to address the problems.
"As of today, the District has not received a response from the city," according to an email from a district spokesman Wednesday. "The District shares the county's concerns, and their comments are duly noted."