WolfeNotes.com

EPA found that the level of forever chemicals in drinking water should be ZERO

A friend just emailed me a question about EPA’s proposed drinking water standard (known as an “MCL” for “Maximum Contaminant Level”) for “forever chemicals” (e.g. PFOA, PFAS, et al).

He could not find it and asked me what was the cancer risk level that the EPA MCL was based upon.

EPA has an “acceptable cancer risk” range policy based on individual lifetime cancer risks. The risk range is one in 10,000 (10(-4)) to one in a million (10 (-6)). The federal law allows EPA to consider costs in setting an MCL.

This EPA policy can and likely would be weakened under a Trump 2.0 Project 2025 EPA. The EPA risk policy is applied across the board (air, water, drinking water, Superfund, RCRA, et al), so the rollback would have huge impacts on public health.

NJ has a more stringent cancer risk legislative standard of one in a million. The NJ law does not authorize consideration of costs in setting those standards. Trump’s EPA can’t touch that, only the NJ Legislature can.

Accordingly, for many chemicals, the NJ MCL is more stringent than the US EPA national MCL.

In the case of “forever chemicals”, the NJ DEP 13 – 14 ppt MCLs reversed this historical reality and is LESS stringent than the proposed EPA 4 ppt MCL. Therefore, DEP will need to revise their MCL to lower it to meet the EPA national MCL when (and if) that MCL becomes effective.

In addition to cancer risks, forever chemicals have a host of other negative health and developmental  impacts.

So, in answering my friends question, I found that the EPA MCL is NOT based on the acceptable cancer risk policy. The real basis has not been reported by the media and the public does not understand what is really going on.

Instead, it is based on the most sophisticated laboratory technology that can reliably quantify the level of forever chemicals in the drinking water.

This is important, because EPA found that the level of forever chemicals should be ZERO. That level is known as a “Maximum Contaminant Level Goal” (MCLG).

Here are the scientific and regulatory findings that form the basis of the EPA proposed 4 ppt MCL:

Just follow the logic of points 1 – 3 (verbatim excerpts from the EPA proposal, highlights mine):

1. “Based upon a consideration of the best available peer reviewed science and a consideration of an adequate margin of safety, EPA proposes a MCLG of zero for PFOA in drinking water.

2. “Under section 1412(b)(4)(B) of SDWA, EPA must generally establish an enforceable MCL as close to the MCLG as is feasible, taking costs into consideration. The Agency evaluates feasibility according to several factors including the availability of analytical methods capable of measuring the targeted compounds in drinking water and examining available treatment technologies capable of contaminant removal examined under laboratory and field conditions.

3. “In this evaluation, EPA determined that 4.0 ppt is the lowest concentration that PFOA and PFOS can be reliably quantified within specific limits of precision and accuracy during routine laboratory operating conditions. EPA has historically called this level the “practical quantitation level,” also known as a PQL (USEPA, 1987). Under UCMR5, EPA published MRLs of 4.0 ppt each for PFOA and PFOS (USEPA, 2022g). As described in the UCMR 5 rulemaking, this reporting level is the minimum quantitation level that, with 95 percent confidence, can be achieved by capable analysts at 75 percent or more of the laboratories using a specified analytical method (i.e., Method 533 and 537.1, discussed in more detail in section VIII of this preamble). Based on the multi-laboratory data acquired for the UCMR 5 rule, EPA has defined the PQL for PFOA and PFOS to be equal to the UCMR 5 MRL of 0.0000040 mg/L or 4.0 ppt. “

So there you have it. As usual, the reality is far worse than the press or environmental groups tell you it is.

Hope this helps.

“Drill Baby Drill” On Steroids

Endangered Species Act, NEPA, Alaska, & Western Lands On The Chopping Block

An Extractors Paradise

The Heritage Foundation’s radical Project 2025, designed as the policy, program and personnel Strategic Plan for a second Trump administration, is finally getting some attention by the media, Democrats, and advocacy groups.

For the most part, the Plan is being denounced by superficial slogans, with little substantive analysis of what’s actually in the plan. The primary focus of the media and criticism is on the culture wars.

Limited exceptions to this superficial coverage and culture war emphasis include a policy focus on:

1) the attack on the federal civil service system and its replacement by a Trump political loyalty program (AKA “Schedule F”); and

2) a recent NY Times story on attacks on EPA environmental and climate programs.

We initially wrote to warn about the threat of Project 2025 to EPA, science, climate, and environmental programs last July, and more recently here and here.

But I focused on EPA and did not read Chapter 16, on the Department of Interior until last week.

I was astounded.

The implications and impacts of the attacks on DoI could be worse than those at US EPA. So, here’s a first cut very cursory bulleted overview and verbatim excerpts of the recommendations (with page numbers) :

1. Promotes Mining

• Reduce the number of field coal-reclamation inspectors
• Reissue Trump’s Schedule F executive order
• Permit coal company employees to benefit from the OSM Training (p.535)

2. Eliminates Endangered Species Act Protections

• Delist the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems
• Delist the gray wolf in the lower 48 states
• Cede to western states jurisdiction over the greater sage-grouse
• Abolish the Biological Resources Division of USGS

3. Gut the Endangered Species Act

“reform of the Endangered Species Act requires that Congress take action to restore its original purpose and end its use to seize private property, prevent economic development, and interfere with the rights of states over their wildlife populations.

4. Gut the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

“DOI should reinstate the secretarial orders adopted by the Trump Administration, …. eliminate judicial review of the adequacy of NEPA documents or the rectitude of NEPA decisions.” (p.533)

5. Log and Destroy Oregon and California Forests

“the new Administration must immediately fulfill its responsibilities and manage the Oregon and California lands for “permanent forest production” to ensure that the timber is “sold, cut, and removed” (p.533)

6. The End Of National Monument Designation

“the new Administration must seek repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906” (p.532)

7. Destroy Unique Lands And Waters

• Issue a secretarial order declaring navigable waters in Alaska to be owned by the state
• Reinstate President Trump’s 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska
• Vacate The 30 by 30 Plan President Biden’s Ex. Order 14008

8. Kill Fish and Wildlife

• Revoke National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rules regarding predator control and bear baiting
• Recognize Alaska’s authority to manage fish and game on all federal lands (p.531)

9. Drill Alaska

• Approve the 2020 National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Integrated Activity Plan
• Reinstate the 2020 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Impact Statement
• Approve the 2020 Willow EIS, the largest pending oil and gas projection in the US (p.530)
• Reinstate President Trump’s plan for opening most of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska to leasing and development” (p.524)

10. Rollback Regulatory Protections

“Rollbacks. A new Administration must immediately roll back Biden’s orders, reinstate Trump-era Energy Dominance Agenda, rescind Secretarial Order (SO) 3398, and review all regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, & similar actions” p.521

Rulemaking. The following policy reversals require rulemaking: Rescind Biden rules, reinstate Trump rules:

• Endangered Species Act rules defining Critical Habitat and
• Critical Habitat Exclusions Migratory Bird Treaty Act
• CEQ reforms to NEPA p.524

11. Expedite Oil and Gas Leases And Drilling

“Require regional offices to complete right-of-way and drilling permits within the average time it takes states in the region to complete them.” p.523

Reinstate quarterly onshore lease sales in all producing states Conduct offshore oil/natural gas lease sales to the maximum extent establish leasing & development program in Coastal Plainof Alaska Conclude review of the coal leasing program

“the new Administration must immediately reinstate the following Trump DOI secretarial orders: (all coal, oil, gas extraction – see page 522 for specifics)

12. Block Protections Of Pristine Lands

“Abandon withdrawals of lands from leasing in Thompson Divide of the White River National Forest, Colorado; the 10-mile buffer around Chaco Cultural Historic National Park in New Mexico; and the Boundary Waters area in northern Minnesota p.523

13. Kill All Climate Programs

• DOI is abusing bureaucratic procedures to advance a radical climate agenda, ostensibly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, for which DOI has no statutory responsibility or authority.” (p.521)

• Given the dire adverse national impact of Biden’s war on fossil fuels, no other initiative is as important for the DOI under a conservative President than the restoration of the department’s historic role managing the nation’s vast store-house of hydrocarbons (p.520)

Liberal Hypocrisy Is Beyond The Pale

“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can’t take part! You’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears & upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, & you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!~~~ Mario Savio

See the above photo for some “Breaking” news (no pun intended). I cancelled my subscription to The NY Times long ago, so I’ve not read about Gov. Newsom’s plan.

But Yes, the news is “breaking”, like Heart breaking, ball breaking, family breaking, law breaking and soul crushing.

And its not just coming from the right wingers on the US Supreme Court:

• Right Wing US Supreme Court Considers Criminalization of Homelessness

My experience in traveling the west coast for the last 7 years – from San Diego to the Olympic Peninsula – where I lived among the homeless and saw many encampments, tells me that the most liberal towns were by far the absolute worst in terms of harassment of the homeless, see:

• A Labor Day Weekend In America

Does Newsom’s move open the door for the Kamala and the Democrats to campaign on a “tough on homelessness” platform?

They’ve already gone all in on the pro-war Ukrainian, pro-Genocide Israeli, pro-war criminal Netanyahu, and Cold War 2.0 anti-China fronts.

They’v also pretty much fully adopted the Trump anti-immigrant border policy, sans the Trump concentration camps and mass deportations, but the overall anti-immigrant xenophobia is the same.

And Biden has quietly gone beyond the Project 2025’s “Drill,Baby Drill!!!” slogan by setting records for US oil and gas (and logging), see:

• United States produces more crude oil than any country, ever

• National Forest Logging Increases by 24% Under Biden’s Watch

Kamala is already signaling a “tough on crime” stance.

So what’s next to get thrown under the fake progressive – liberal bus?

[Update: Wow. It sure didn’t take long for that bus to arrive. Following the Netanyahu attack line that protesters are “useful idiots”, see:

• Statement by Vice President Kamala Harris

So, again I’ll ask: who or what is NEXT?

Gov. Murphy’s DEP Just Approved Another Fossil Power Plant In Newark

DEP Seeking 9 Year Delay For Compliance With National Ozone Standards

Gov. Murphy & DEP Have A Poor Record On Clean Air And Environmental Justice

(Source: NJ DEP, 7/18/24)

According to the Murphy DEP’s own data, NJ has the some of the worst air quality in the region.

As of July 17, 2024, NJ had exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone 13 times, a number likely to rise to 15 or more in the next report this week.

Ozone is a serious threat to public health and has huge impacts on children and the elderly, leading to elevated hospitalization rates and deaths from asthma, respiratory distress, heart attacks, and stroke. Climate change driven extreme heat days will make this air pollution significantly worse.

Connecticut – a downwind State who’s poor air quality is impacted by air pollution from NJ – leads the tri-state region with just one more day.

Despite this seriously unhealthy air quality and violation of federal NAAQS, the Murphy administration is approving major new sources of air pollution, including huge expansions of capacity of the NJ Turnpike, Port Newark, and Newark Liberty airport and approval of new fossil power plant in Newark.

The Gov. also opposed the NYC congestion pricing program, which would have reduce air pollution from cars and trucks.

The Gov. also recently ended the electric vehicle tax incentives, which will slow the pace of EV conversion and has done almost nothing on building electrification, which also would slow the rate of growth of greenhouse gas emissions and ozone forming pollution from buildings.

According to environmental group EarthJustice, who recently submitted testimony that opposed the Murphy DEP’s request for a 9 year delay in compliance with the ozone NAAQS:

the State of New Jersey has been taking actions that would increase onroad emissions in the entire tri-state nonattainment area. This includes an expansion of the New Jersey Turnpike to the Holland Tunnel into New York City, which is expected to increase traffic on the roadway at least 22%, but with no corresponding expansion of the Holland Tunnel, so will likely result in an even higher emission increase given increased congestion as traffic from the widened New Jersey roadways waits to funnel into the narrow tunnel. The State has also filed a lawsuit to stop New York City’s congestion pricing program, which the federal government recognized would reduce VOC and NOx emissions in the nonattainment area, including in New Jersey counties.

New Jersey should not affirmatively take actions that increase NOx emissions, and then use that as an excuse to say that it needs a 6-year extension because NOx emission reductions are unattainable by the Clean Air Act deadline

Simply put, Governor Murphy and his DEP have a poor record on clean air and closely related climate and environmental justice issues.

Few people (and media and environmental groups) seem to recall that the Murphy DEP even went so far as to deny a formal petition for rulemaking that would have blocked the expansion of new fossil power plants, see:

• Murphy DEP Denial Of Climate Petition Exposes The Sham Of Murphy’s Climate Rhetoric And Executive Orders

That petition denial by DEP was a very clear signal that the Murphy administration is not serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The rhetoric of the administration is not matched by policy and regulatory action. The Gov. and has DEP Commissioner have a big hat and no cattle.

The same rhetorical gaslighting applies to the Murphy and DEP commitments to environmental justice, a fact exposed to plain view by the recent DEP approval of another fossil power plant in Newark, one of NJ’s leading environmental justice communities, see:

• The Murphy DEP’s Approval Of Newark Fossil Power Plant Exposes The Sham Of NJ’s Environmental Justice Law

As I’ve written many, many times, DEP Commissioner LaTourette has been gaslighting the community about the DEP’s environmental justice and climate programs for years.

Yet despite the poor record and obvious writing on the wall, remarkably, climate and environmental  justice groups have long aggressively supported the Gov. and his DEP Commissioner:

Kim Gaddy, Clean Water Action and Maria Lopez- Nuñez, Ironbound with First Lady Tammy Murphy

Yet, despite all this, they now somehow feel “betrayed” by Gov. Murphy.

Here’s Food and Water Watch’s recent rant:

Yesterday was an appalling and disgraceful day for the Murphy Administration.

The Governor’s DEP held a closed-door press conference to announce their approval of the inadequate, unjust and deceptive environmental justice review for the PVSC gas plant proposed in Newark…

Hours later the Governor’s Board of Public Utilities held a closed-door stakeholder meeting on their forthcoming new Energy Master Plan. In a Trumpian move, the Governor’s administration prohibited four of EmpowerNJ’s seven steering committee members from participating.  As you know, EmpowerNJ is our state’s largest climate coalition with over 140 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of collective members

So, what are they going to do about?

Don’t hold your breath waiting for real accountability, at least from the Trenton based groups who have backed and provided cover for the Gov. and his DEP Commissioner (e.g. Environment NJ, Clean Water Action, Sierra Club, NJ LCV, et al), non-existent legislative oversight, and a depleted and lazy press corps.

Next phase?