"As first recommendations emerge from Energy panel, scientists seek ouster of the chairman, John Deutch - a former CIA chief and director of Energy companies"
While EPA oversees the Safe Drinking Water Act programs, much of the daily responsibility is delegated to state agencies. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office says the states are under-reporting violations and contamination to EPA. Moreover, EPA has fallen behind in setting standards for known contaminants that may cause health problems.
"Sewage routinely contaminates the Hudson River throughout the year, rendering the waterway unsuitable for swimming and other recreational activities for at least one and a half days a week, a report based on four years of water testing shows."
"Bangladesh's Supreme Court agreed on Monday to allow ship breaking yards more time to meet tougher safety and environmental rules, allowing them to operate until at least mid-October.
Judges backed a lower court's ruling two weeks ago that extended the deadline for the $1.5 billion ship scrap industry to implement strict government rules aimed at protecting workers and reducing the level of pollution.
"ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- In a legal settlement with the United States and an environmental foundation, The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District has agreed to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems and treatment plants, at an estimated cost of $4.7 billion over 23 years.
The improvements are intended to eliminate illegal overflows of untreated raw sewage and to reduce pollution levels in urban rivers and streams.
"The Ten Mile River, once polluted by the many jewelry factories that lined it decades ago, has bounced back, according to environmentalists, and is now home to a variety of wildlife."
Rick Foster reports for the Attleboro Sun Chronicle August 7, 2011.
"Environmentalists say the Environmental Protection Agency has shot down a request for new regulations to deal with the massive area of low oxygen that crops up every summer in the Gulf of Mexico due to the huge amount of nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizer, urban runoff and sewage systems that winds up in the Gulf."
"The Environmental Protection Agency should order companies such as Schlumberger Ltd. and Halliburton Co. to disclose the hydraulic fracturing chemicals used in U.S. oil and gas drilling, advocacy groups said."
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing an effort to determine the extent of contamination at a former uranium mining site on the Navajo Nation that marked a high priority for assessment."
Oil and gas executives have long claimed that there is no case in which hydraulic fracturing has contaminated a drinking water aquifer. But such a case exists. And one of the biggest bars to enumerating suspected additional cases is the oil and gas industry's refusal to allow disclosure of them -- a condition of court settlements with landowners.
