A new coalition of clothing retailers, manufacturers, environmental groups, and academics is developing a database which they hope will eventually allow them to give every garment a sustainability score.
Refinery workers and nearby communities are endangered by lax regulation and neglect of safety by companies that find it more profitable to buy political influence than repair or maintain equipment.
As gas companies race to drill more wells that produce gas with a technique known as hydrofracking, the dangers of the toxic wastewater they discharge turn out to be greater than previously understood.
"Thousands of people living within four miles of the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute could have been exposed to potentially harmful levels of methyl isocyanate if the contents of an MIC tank located near an August 2008 explosion had been released, according to a government study obtained by the Gazette."
"As [Maine] Gov. Paul LePage continued to weather national fallout for recently saying women could develop 'little beards' if exposed to bisphenol-A, or BPA, questions continue to mount about the motives behind the governor's proposal to reverse a ban on the substance."
"The pesticide industry is applying extra doses of lobbying in an effort to eradicate federal requirements it considers harmful."
The debate in Maine and the US at large over BPA, an estrogen-disrupting chemical common in plastics, may be shaped by a comment of Maine's newly elected, Tea Party-backed GOP governor, Paul LePage. "The worst case is some women may have little beards," he said.
Hydrofluoric acid is a deadly chemical used in many petroleum refinery operations. When it escapes, it becomes a gas that can race long distances and kill people who inhale it. Safer alternatives are available to refineries. At the urging of petrochemical companies, Congress and the executive branch have kept the dangers largely secret from the at-risk public, so there has been little pressure for refineries to make their operations safer. In a joint investigation the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News found that worst-case scenarios filed by just 50 refineries showed some 16 million Americans at risk from accidental or intentional hydrofluoric acid releases.
"Lawyers for Bayer CropScience are trying to convince a federal judge the company's Institute plant is safe, even as a federal agency that investigated the facility continues to call for more inspections before Bayer's controversial methyl isocyanate unit is allowed to resume production."
"U.S. EPA will issue its controversial rules for toxic air pollution from industrial boilers [Wednesday], an agency official said [Tuesday] morning, despite a court order that required the rules be done by Presidents Day."
