Environmental Health and Safety


Scientist Develops Simple Way to Make Clean Water for Everyone

Nearly 80 percent of disease in developing countries is linked to bad water and sanitation. Now a scientist at Michigan Technological University has developed a simple, cheap way to make water safe to drink, even if it’s muddy.

El Paso Midstream Group to Resolve Clearn Air Act Violations in Utah

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached a settlement with El Paso Midstream Group, LLC resolving Clean Air Act violations at the Blue Bell Gas Plant near Roosevelt in Duchesne County, Utah.

NSF International Hosts GC3 Roundtable Focused on Developing Safer Consumer Products

More than 40 leading companies from the retail, footwear, auto, furniture, building, home, beauty and healthcare sectors convened at NSF International in Ann Arbor last week to discuss how to effectively produce safer products for consumers.

QEP Field Services Will Pay $4 Million and Install Pollution Controls After Violating Clean Air Act

QEP Services, a Colorado-based natural gas services company, has reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice to resolve Clean Air Act violations at five natural gas compressor stations on the Uinitah and Ouray reservations in Northeastern Utah.

DEP Announces May 30 Public Hearing on Ford City, Penn. Equipment Site Cleanup

The Department of Environmental Protection will host a public meeting and hearing on Wednesday, May 30, to discuss and take testimony about the agency’s proposed response to mercury contamination at the former Ford City Equipment Site in Armstrong County, Penn.

EPA Launches Competition for College Students to Design Stormwater Management Approaches

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a new design competition called the Campus RainWorks Challenge to encourage student teams on college and university campuses across the country to develop innovative approaches to stormwater management.

Humanmade Pollutants May Be Driving Earth's Tropical Belt Expansion

Black carbon aerosols and tropospheric ozone, both humanmade pollutants emitted predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere's low- to mid-latitudes, are most likely pushing the boundary of the tropics further poleward in that hemisphere, new research by a team of scientists shows.

NAS to Review EPA's IRIS Assessment Development Process

The National Academy of Sciences will conduct a comprehensive review of the Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program's assesment development process.



Report Says Tar Sands Industry Should Contribute to Liability Fund

A new report titled "Irrational Exemption: Tar Sands Pipeline Subsidies and Why They Must End" says there is a $375 million subsidy for tar sands oil because oil and gas industry lobbyists have exempted them from paying into a fund designed to help clean up oil spills.

EPA Reaches Settlement for Groundwater Cleanup at San Gabriel Valley Superfund Site

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency has entered into three settlements totaling $6,605,080 to help pay for groundwater cleanup at the South El Monte portion of the San Gabriel Valley Area 1 Superfund Site in Los Angeles, Calif.

Protecting Clean Water in the Potomac River

If you live and work in the Washington, DC area, this year’s number one Most Endangered River may hit closer to home than you might think. The Potomac River provides drinking water for more than five million people in Maryland, Virginia and the District.

Population Pressure Impacts World Wetlands

The area of the globe covered by wetlands (swamps, marshes, lakes, etc.) has dropped by 6 percent in 15 years. This decline is particularly severe in tropical and subtropical regions, and in areas that have experienced the largest increases in population in recent decades.

Veterans Hospitals Stay Safe With a Healthy Dose of Earthquake Monitoring

Being in a hospital is tough enough without having to worry about how the building will hold up during an earthquake. Now, veterans in Memphis, Tenn., can rest assured knowing that their medical center, even though it is located in the most active earthquake zone in the Eastern United States, has the most sophisticated seismic structural monitoring system in the country.

Fuel Economy Slipped as Gas Prices Dipped Throughout April

Average fuel economy (window-sticker values) of cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs purchased in April was 23.9 mpg, down from 24.1 in March, but the same as in February. Despite the drop, fuel economy is up 3.8 mpg (or 19 percent) from October 2007, the first month of monitoring by UMTRI researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle.

Push from Mississippi Kept Deepwater Horizon Oil Slick Off Shore

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, 2010, residents feared that their Gulf of Mexico shores would be inundated with oil. And while many wetland habitats and wildlife were oiled during the three-month leak, the environmental damage to coastal Louisiana was less than many expected, in part because much of the crude never made it to the coast.

Iowa Energy Center Supports Research Aimed at Biodiversity

Three research teams affiliated with Iowa State University’s Bioeconomy Institute have won Iowa Energy Center grants to help them combine biorenewable technologies for better production of fuels and chemicals.

City of Unalaska Agrees to Extensive Sewer System Upgrade in Federal Settlement

The city of Unalaska, Alaska, will undertake a major upgrade of its municipal sewage treatment plant under a settlement of a Clean Water Act enforcement action filed against the city and the state of Alaska by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Seeking Ideas to Strengthen Incentives for Wildlife Conservation

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced the extension of a public process exploring the expansion of incentives for voluntary partnerships with private landowners and other land stewards to help conserve imperiled wildlife.

How to Stop Summertime Sniffles and Other Allergic Reactions

Every spring and summer, millions of Americans dread the trip to the park or the playground and will do anything to avoid activities that trigger outdoor allergies.

Carnegie Mellon University Student Builds C02 Fence

Sculpted by chemistry graduate student Longzhu Shen (MCS'12), the latest installation at CMU's ArtPark Lab uses environmentally friendly lighting to illustrate the fluctuation of carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere over the past 800,000 years.