OCN 320 blog

This is where OCN320 will post news about aquatic pollution

[ocn320]

Jackson's water crisis is what happens when GOP legislators prioritize culture wars

Mississippi's capital city is facing yet another water crisis. It's a product of white power brokers steering critical funding away from largely Black areas.

[ocn320]

EPA unveils new office to place environmental justice at agency’s core

In creating a new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the administration hopes to enshrine a focus on equity that will “outlive all of us,” says administrator Michael Regan.

[ocn320]

The Heavy Toll of the Black Belt’s Wastewater Crisis

Many rural households in America don’t have access to safe sewage systems. In Alabama, entrenched poverty and unusual geology have created a public-health disaster.

[ocn320]

Rivers could generate thousands of nuclear power plants worth of energy, thanks to a new ‘blue’ membrane

Boron nitride nanotube membrane creates power by controlling the flow of electrically charged ions in water

[ocn320]

Judge throws out Trump rule limiting what science EPA can use

A federal judge on Monday vacated the Trump administration rule limiting which scientific studies the Environmental Protection Agency can us

[ocn320]

Hawaii’s ban on coral-harming sunscreens goes into effect New Year’s Day

On New Year’s Day, Hawaii’s ban on the sale of certain suncreens goes into effect.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ex.-Michigan Gov. Snyder charged in Flint water crisis

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged Wednesday with two counts of willful neglect of duty stemming from an investigation of the Flint water crisis.

David Eggert and Ed White at AP, via NewsNation Now:

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged Wednesday with two counts of willful neglect of duty stemming from an investigation of the Flint water crisis.

The charges, shown in an online court record, are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The indictment filed by the attorney general’s office is groundbreaking: No governor or former governor in Michigan’s 184-year history had been charged with crimes related to their time in that office, according to the state archivist.

Besides Snyder, a Republican who served until 2019, charges are expected against other people, including former officials who served as state health director, Michigan’s chief medical executive, Snyder’s communications chief and a senior adviser.

Flint was in chronic financial trouble in 2014 when a Snyder-appointed manager who was running the majority Black city carried out a money-saving decision to use the Flint River for water while a regional pipeline from Lake Huron was under construction. The corrosive water, however, wasn’t treated properly and released lead from old plumbing into homes in one of the worst manmade environmental disasters in U.S. history.

Despite desperate pleas from residents holding jugs of discolored, skunky water, the Snyder administration took no significant action until a doctor reported elevated lead levels in children about 18 months later.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Michigan plans to charge ex-Gov. Rick Snyder in Flint water scandal

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, his health director and other ex-officials have been told they’re being charged.

[ocn320]

In a parting gift, EPA finalizes rules to limit its use of science – Ars Technica

[typhlonectes]

Supreme Court will consider letting groundwater pollution escape regulation under Clean Water Act

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide if contamination of groundwater that seeps into rivers, lakes and oceans violates the Clean Water Act.

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide if contamination of groundwater that seeps into rivers, lakes and oceans violates the Clean Water Act.

Dumping pollutants directly into navigable bodies of water is prohibited by the 47-year-old law, but it is less clear about indirect sources.

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Hawaii’s Maui County violated the law by injecting treated sewage from a wastewater treatment plant into the groundwater, some of which enters the Pacific Ocean. The high court will hear the county’s appeal next fall…

WHAT FUN AND APOCALYPTIC TIMES WE LIVE IN :D

[ocn320]

How the waters off Catalina became a DDT dumping ground

A new generation of scientists have uncovered barrels containing DDT, a toxic pesticide banned decades ago, dumped into the deep ocean.

[ocn320]

Turtle decline prompts warning

With the newly expanded Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument taking center stage at the World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, a conservation group is warning of a “dangerous drop” in the number of nesting Hawaiian green sea turtles in the Northwest Hawaiian islands.

[ocn320]

Last Straw for Plastic Straws? Cities, Restaurants Move to Toss These Sippers

[todropscience]

“It has been estimated that 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste entered the ocean in 2010 from 192 coastal countries.”

Download this book here: Marine Debris Impacts on Coastal and Benthic Habitats

[ocn320]

Turtle decline prompts warning

[ocn320]

How U.S. laws trap foreign workers on Hawaii’s fishing boats

[ocn320]

Many foreign fishermen who man Hawaii’s fishing fleet are underpaid and virtual captives on their boats