#wastewater — Public Fediverse posts

Hi, these are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots.

A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government.

Last week I highlighted really terrible SARS-CoV2 concentration numbers from the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant's 7 day running average for 8/25, but said, maybe this is a crazy outlier, let's see next week's numbers. Well, they're in, and the updated numbers are quite, quite bad. These calculations of the 7DRA were done on 8/30 and 9/1, and they are by far the worst numbers we've seen in a year (which is as far back as the dataset goes). :( :( :(

WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewershed results, and a breakdown of variants for the state wastewater surveillance program, along with other metrics like case counts and hospitalizations for Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, at https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater. If you go to the page and click "learn more" in the statewide view tab, you can find out lots of details about how these data are calculated and how to interpret them. The dashboard gets updated every Wednesday (generally). The Department of Health is here on the fediweb, at @WADeptHealth

Hi, these are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots.

A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government.

Last week I highlighted really terrible SARS-CoV2 concentration numbers from the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant's 7 day running average for 8/25, but said, maybe this is a crazy outlier, let's see next week's numbers. Well, they're in, and the updated numbers are quite, quite bad. These calculations of the 7DRA were done on 8/30 and 9/1, and they are by far the worst numbers we've seen in a year (which is as far back as the dataset goes). :( :( :(

WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewershed results, and a breakdown of variants for the state wastewater surveillance program, along with other metrics like case counts and hospitalizations for Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, at https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater. If you go to the page and click "learn more" in the statewide view tab, you can find out lots of details about how these data are calculated and how to interpret them. The dashboard gets updated every Wednesday (generally). The Department of Health is here on the fediweb, at @WADeptHealth

Hi, these are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots.

A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government.

Last week I highlighted really terrible SARS-CoV2 concentration numbers from the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant's 7 day running average for 8/25, but said, maybe this is a crazy outlier, let's see next week's numbers. Well, they're in, and the updated numbers are quite, quite bad. These calculations of the 7DRA were done on 8/30 and 9/1, and they are by far the worst numbers we've seen in a year (which is as far back as the dataset goes). :( :( :(

WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewershed results, and a breakdown of variants for the state wastewater surveillance program, along with other metrics like case counts and hospitalizations for Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, at https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater. If you go to the page and click "learn more" in the statewide view tab, you can find out lots of details about how these data are calculated and how to interpret them. The dashboard gets updated every Wednesday (generally). The Department of Health is here on the fediweb, at @WADeptHealth

Hi, these are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots.

A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government.

Last week I highlighted really terrible SARS-CoV2 concentration numbers from the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant's 7 day running average for 8/25, but said, maybe this is a crazy outlier, let's see next week's numbers. Well, they're in, and the updated numbers are quite, quite bad. These calculations of the 7DRA were done on 8/30 and 9/1, and they are by far the worst numbers we've seen in a year (which is as far back as the dataset goes). :( :( :(

WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewershed results, and a breakdown of variants for the state wastewater surveillance program, along with other metrics like case counts and hospitalizations for Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, at https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater. If you go to the page and click "learn more" in the statewide view tab, you can find out lots of details about how these data are calculated and how to interpret them. The dashboard gets updated every Wednesday (generally). The Department of Health is here on the fediweb, at @WADeptHealth

Hi, these are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots.

A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government.

Last week I highlighted really terrible SARS-CoV2 concentration numbers from the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant's 7 day running average for 8/25, but said, maybe this is a crazy outlier, let's see next week's numbers. Well, they're in, and the updated numbers are quite, quite bad. These calculations of the 7DRA were done on 8/30 and 9/1, and they are by far the worst numbers we've seen in a year (which is as far back as the dataset goes). :( :( :(

WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewershed results, and a breakdown of variants for the state wastewater surveillance program, along with other metrics like case counts and hospitalizations for Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, at https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater. If you go to the page and click "learn more" in the statewide view tab, you can find out lots of details about how these data are calculated and how to interpret them. The dashboard gets updated every Wednesday (generally). The Department of Health is here on the fediweb, at @WADeptHealth

#Ontario #wastewater graph updated with August 30 data
- Kingston, Peel, Toronto updated: https://wwater.ca/Ontario
- Also updated: AB, MB, NB, NL, PEI, QC, SK, YT

https://wwater.ca

Source: https://health-infobase.canada.ca/wastewater/

Divergent avian #strains drive an off-season #influenza A peak in municipal #wastewater, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2026/09/divergent-avian-strains-drive-off.html

Divergent avian #strains drive an off-season #influenza A peak in municipal #wastewater, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2026/09/divergent-avian-strains-drive-off.html

Divergent avian #strains drive an off-season #influenza A peak in municipal #wastewater, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2026/09/divergent-avian-strains-drive-off.html

Divergent avian #strains drive an off-season #influenza A peak in municipal #wastewater, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2026/09/divergent-avian-strains-drive-off.html

Divergent avian #strains drive an off-season #influenza A peak in municipal #wastewater, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2026/09/divergent-avian-strains-drive-off.html

#KyodoNews:
"
170,000 tons of Fukushima plant treated water released in 3 years
"
".. completed its third year of releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, with 172,700 tons released in 22 rounds so far."

https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/82954

24.8.2026

#AKW #Atomkraft #Atomkraftwerk #Atommüll #Dilution #Fukushima #Japan #Kernenergie #NPP #NuclearPower #NuclearWaste #Pollution #TEPCO #Umweltverschmutzung #Verdünnung #Wastewater

#KyodoNews:
"
170,000 tons of Fukushima plant treated water released in 3 years
"
".. completed its third year of releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, with 172,700 tons released in 22 rounds so far."

https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/82954

24.8.2026

#AKW #Atomkraft #Atomkraftwerk #Atommüll #Dilution #Fukushima #Japan #Kernenergie #NPP #NuclearPower #NuclearWaste #Pollution #TEPCO #Umweltverschmutzung #Verdünnung #Wastewater

#KyodoNews:
"
170,000 tons of Fukushima plant treated water released in 3 years
"
".. completed its third year of releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, with 172,700 tons released in 22 rounds so far."

https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/82954

24.8.2026

#AKW #Atomkraft #Atomkraftwerk #Atommüll #Dilution #Fukushima #Japan #Kernenergie #NPP #NuclearPower #NuclearWaste #Pollution #TEPCO #Umweltverschmutzung #Verdünnung #Wastewater

#KyodoNews:
"
170,000 tons of Fukushima plant treated water released in 3 years
"
".. completed its third year of releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, with 172,700 tons released in 22 rounds so far."

https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/82954

24.8.2026

#AKW #Atomkraft #Atomkraftwerk #Atommüll #Dilution #Fukushima #Japan #Kernenergie #NPP #NuclearPower #NuclearWaste #Pollution #TEPCO #Umweltverschmutzung #Verdünnung #Wastewater

#KyodoNews:
"
170,000 tons of Fukushima plant treated water released in 3 years
"
".. completed its third year of releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, with 172,700 tons released in 22 rounds so far."

https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/82954

24.8.2026

#AKW #Atomkraft #Atomkraftwerk #Atommüll #Dilution #Fukushima #Japan #Kernenergie #NPP #NuclearPower #NuclearWaste #Pollution #TEPCO #Umweltverschmutzung #Verdünnung #Wastewater

From 2024: Locals Say #SpaceX Is #Polluting #SacredLand. This Project Aims to Preserve It.

“This wasn’t just something we wanted to do,” said 35-year-old Monica Sosa, who grew up in #BrownsvilleTX, a short drive from #BocaChica Beach. “We felt like we needed to do it.”

by Cat Cardenas October 30, 2024

"Among the #CarrizoComecrudo people of Texas, it is said that the state’s rivers are like ancestors. As they flow toward the sea, they bring their abundance, their beauty, and their knowledge with them. In South Texas, the place where these rivers meet and empty into the Gulf of Mexico is a sacred life source — the location they believe to be the birthplace of the first woman. Today, most Brownsville locals know it as #BocaChicaBeach — a public stretch of sand located at the end of #Highway4, along the southernmost edge of the Texas coast. But to many people outside of the #RioGrandeValley, that land, its name, and its history have largely been swallowed up by the operation of the #RocketLaunch facility just up the road: SpaceX’s #Starbase.

"Growing up a short drive from Boca Chica Beach in Brownsville, 35-year-old Monica Sosa told The Barbed Wire she still remembers it as an escape: a piece of unspoiled coastline that was free for everyone to enjoy. On lazy summer weekends, she and her siblings would hop into her mom’s blue Chevrolet Astro van. The back seats pulled down to make room for more passengers as they stopped to pick up more family. Once there, they’d look forward to hours and hours of endless sunshine, and a cooler packed full of ham and cheese sandwiches, sodas, Cheetos, and fruit.

"As an adult, many of those happy memories have turned bittersweet. The beach, while still free to the public, is frequently plagued by the closure of Highway 4 each time there’s a rocket launch or other 'space flight activities.' And even when it’s open, the construction has fundamentally changed the landscape: There’s a tall metal SpaceX launch and catch pad towering over the once-untouched sand dunes.

" 'Boca Chica was bliss,' Sosa said earlier this month. 'I came from a working class family, and being out there was one of the only times we would come together and play. We’d be in the water, sitting in the sun, running through the lomas (hills), or burying each other in sandcastles. You could spend the whole day out there. But now there’s someone who has the right and the ability to privatize a beach that people have used for decades and decades.'

"SpaceX’s operation in the Rio Grande Valley has been far from smooth. In recent years, they’ve been cited by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for multiple violations of #wastewater regulations and been the subject of multiple legal complaints. The company has disputed these claims as 'factually inaccurate' and has been allowed to continue their operations.

"In April of this year, multiple Valley-based environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department over a proposed land swap that would grant 43 acres of #BocaChicaStatePark to #SpaceX in exchange for land near Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to their concerns about #pollution, the groups also argued that the land proposed in the swap was sacred to the #CarrizoComecrudoTribe.

" 'SpaceX has always been polluting,' Christopher Basaldú, a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe told the Texas Tribune, which first reported on the allegations. 'And I think people are kind of brainwashed into thinking that rockets — constructing rockets, testing rockets and blowing up rockets — that somehow that’s not causing pollution.' "

Read more:
https://thebarbedwire.com/2024/10/30/locals-say-spacex-is-polluting-sacred-land-this-project-aims-to-preserve-it/

#ProtectTheSacred #Colonialism
#CorporateColonialism #OccupySpaceX #TwoHeartedPeople #GarciaPasture #EndangeredSpecies #EnvironmentalRacism #AncestralLand #ElonSucks #StarbaseCity

Meanwhile, in #CamdenME...

#Midcoast town sues manufacturers over #PFASContamination in #wastewater

by AnnMarie Hilton
January 22, 2026

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/midcoast-town-sues-manufacturers-over-210937794.html

#ForeverChemicals #PFAS #Maine #Dow #3M #BigChem

High tide for #Holtec

#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report

"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."

by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024

"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.

"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.

"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.

"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.

"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.

"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.

"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.

“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.

"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.

"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.

"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'

But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'

"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'

"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'

"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.

"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.

"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.

"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.

"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.

"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.

"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'

"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.

"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.

"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.

"So far the governor has not taken action."

https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational

High tide for #Holtec

#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report

"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."

by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024

"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.

"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.

"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.

"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.

"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.

"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.

"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.

“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.

"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.

"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.

"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'

But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'

"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'

"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'

"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.

"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.

"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.

"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.

"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.

"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.

"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'

"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.

"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.

"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.

"So far the governor has not taken action."

https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational

High tide for #Holtec

#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report

"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."

by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024

"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.

"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.

"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.

"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.

"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.

"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.

"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.

“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.

"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.

"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.

"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'

But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'

"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'

"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'

"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.

"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.

"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.

"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.

"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.

"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.

"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'

"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.

"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.

"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.

"So far the governor has not taken action."

https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational

High tide for #Holtec

#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report

"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."

by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024

"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.

"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.

"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.

"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.

"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.

"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.

"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.

“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.

"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.

"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.

"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'

But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'

"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'

"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'

"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.

"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.

"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.

"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.

"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.

"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.

"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'

"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.

"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.

"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.

"So far the governor has not taken action."

https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational

High tide for #Holtec

#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report

"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."

by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024

"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.

"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.

"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.

"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.

"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.

"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.

"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.

“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.

"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.

"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.

"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'

But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'

"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'

"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'

"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.

"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.

"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.

"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.

"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.

"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.

"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'

"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.

"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.

"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.

"So far the governor has not taken action."

https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational

Research Offers Insights Into Permian Basin Earthquake Hazards
--
https://phys.org/news/2024-12-insights-permian-basin-earthquake-hazards.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1306/intro10012424106 <-- shared paper(s)
--
https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards <-- USGS earthquake record, including catalogue
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #model #modeling #3dmodeling #Texas #NewMexico #well #fracking #injection #oilandgas #petroleumindustry #wastewater #PermianBasin #subsurface #reservoirs #fault #faulting #earthquake #sesimicity #inducedseismicity #geology #basin #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #risk #hazard #reservoirengineering #geomechanics #WestTexas #oil #gas #production #Midland #MidlandBasin #regulations

#PlasticRain Is the New #AcidRain

Plastic rain could prove to be a more insidious problem than acid rain.

by Matt Simon
June 12, 2020

"Hoof it through the national parks of the western United States—Joshua Tree, the #GrandCanyon, Bryce Canyon—and breathe deep the pristine air. These are unspoiled lands, collectively a great American conservation story. Yet an invisible menace is actually blowing through the air and falling via raindrops: #Microplastic particles, tiny chunks (by definition, less than 5 millimeters long) of fragmented plastic bottles and microfibers that fray from clothes, all #pollutants that get caught up in Earth’s atmospheric systems and deposited in the #wilderness.

"Writing in the journal Science, researchers report a startling discovery: After collecting #rainwater and air samples for 14 months, they calculated that over 1,000 metric tons of microplastic particles fall into 11 protected areas in the western US each year. That’s the equivalent of over 120 million plastic water bottles.

"'We just did that for the area of protected areas in the West, which is only 6 percent of the total US area,' says lead author Janice Brahney, an environmental scientist at Utah State University. 'The number was just so large, it's shocking.'

"It further confirms an increasingly hellish scenario: Microplastics are blowing all over the world, landing in supposedly pure habitats, like the #Arctic and the remote #FrenchPyrenees. They’re flowing into the #oceans via #wastewater and tainting #deepsea #ecosystems, and they’re even ejecting out of the water and blowing onto land in sea breezes. And now in the American West, and presumably across the rest of the world given that these are fundamental atmospheric processes, they are falling in the form of plastic rain—the new acid rain.

"Plastic rain could prove to be a more insidious problem than acid rain, which is a consequence of #SulfurDioxide and #NitrogenOxide emissions. By deploying #scrubbers in power plants to control the former, and catalytic converters in cars to control the latter, the US and other countries have over the last several decades cut down on the #acidification problem. But microplastic has already corrupted even the most #RemoteEnvironments, and there’s no way to scrub water or land or air of the particles—the stuff is absolutely everywhere, and it’s not like there’s a plastic magnet we can drag through the oceans. What makes plastic so useful—its hardiness—is what also makes it an alarming pollutant: Plastic never really goes away, instead breaking into ever smaller bits that infiltrate ever smaller corners of the planet. Even worse, plastic waste is expected to skyrocket from 260 million tons a year to 460 million tons by 2030, according to the consultancy McKinsey. More people joining the middle class in #EconomicallyDeveloping countries means more #consumerism and more #PlasticPackaging. "

Read more:
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/plastic-rain-is-the-new-acid-rain?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

#Crapitalism #BanPlastics #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife

Tons of dead fish cover major river in #Brazil after alleged dumping of #industrial waste

By ANDRE PENNER and ELÉONORE HUGHES
Updated 3:01 PM EDT, July 18, 2024

TANQUA, Brazil (AP) — "Several tons of fish have died along one of the main rivers in Brazil’s #SaoPaulo state after an alleged #IllegalDumping of industrial waste from a #sugar and #ethanol plant, #environmental authorities and prosecutors said Wednesday.

A preliminary analysis estimates that between 10 and 20 tons of fish died on the Piracicaba River in southeastern Brazil, Sao Paulo’s prosecutors said in a statement.

"The initial investigation points to an 'irregular discharge of #wastewater' from the Sao Jose Sugar and Alcohol company plant in the community of #RioDasPedras and it reached a stream that flows into the #PiracicabaRiver, prosecutors said.

"#SaoJose denied any involvement in the deaths of the fish, and said it was cooperating fully with authorities."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-dead-fish-sao-paulo-pollution-5ecbe68b12e457cee242aebb5fdee509#

#FishKill #Pollution #WaterIsLife

#MaineTribes and Leading #Environmental Organizations Join Forces To Oppose Proposed #Mine in Shadow of #Katahdin

Proposed #ZincMine at #PickettMountain being pursued by virtually unknown Canadian company

June 28, 2023

"Two Tribes in Maine today joined forces with leading environmental groups and a national public interest environmental law organization to oppose a proposed mine that would be located in the shadow of #BaxterStatePark and the #KatahdinWoods & Waters National Monument.

"The proposed zinc mine at Pickett Mountain is being pursued by a virtually unknown Canadian company, #WolfdenResources, that has never operated a mine before. A previous version of Wolfden’s request was widely opposed because the region holds enormous cultural and natural significance to #Wabanaki Tribes, outdoor recreation businesses, and Maine people.

"The #HoultonBandOfMaliseets, the #PenobscotNation, and the #NaturalResourcesCouncilOfMaine [#NRCM], represented by #Earthjustice and #Brann&Isaacson, joined the #ConservationLawFoundation in petitioning to intervene in the review of Wolfden’s permit application to the Land Use Planning Commission (#LUPC) to rezone the area for #industrial uses.

"'The Penobscot Nation strongly opposes the rezoning of this #ecologically important area. We share significant concerns over impacts to the #water quality and f#isheries of the area, which our members rely upon,' said #ChiefKirkFrancis of the Penobscot Nation. 'The West Branch of the #MattawamkeagRiver contains abundant, high-quality, cold-water fish habitat and Designated #CriticalHabitat for #endangered #AtlanticSalmon, identified as necessary for the recovery of Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot River. This mine would impact our traditional territories and forever alter our ability to maintain our relationship to this place.'

"The area Wolfden wants to mine is next to three State Heritage Fish Waters and is a centerpiece of the region’s growing outdoor economy. It contains the headwaters of the West Branch of the Mattawamkeag River, which is sacred to the Penobscot Nation and provides key, federally designated critical habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon.

"'The Katahdin region’s wild beauty and clean water are extraordinary. One look at this landscape demonstrates that this is no place to put a mine,' said Nick Bennett, staff scientist at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. 'Wolfden’s claims that it will treat #wastewater more effectively than any mining company on earth are not credible. This is too big a risk for #Maine.'

"'The legacy of metallic mineral #mining in Maine is one of empty promises of economic development, acid mine drainage #polluting waters and killing fish, and multi-million dollar c#leanups funded by taxpayers and not the fly-by-night mining companies like Wolfden,' said #SeanMahoney, vice-president and senior counsel at the Conservation Law Foundation. 'Rezoning this area to allow mining would fail to recognize the cultural and spiritual importance of the land to the #WabanakiTribes and threaten the natural resources and experiences valued by generations of Maine citizens.'

"After withdrawing its initial request because it was riddled with errors, Wolfden submitted a second rezoning petition in January that sparked another review by the LUPC. Comments by Wolfden’s CEO disrespecting Maine tribes and #MininLlaws have prompted outrage from the Penobscot Nation, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, and #conservationists. The company has lost tens of millions of dollars over the past decade.

"'This is one of the absolute worst areas to rezone for a mine,' said Aaron Bloom, a senior attorney with Earthjustice. 'The region is known for its vast contiguous forest, pristine streams, high-quality lakes, and aquatic species like wild brook trout and landlocked salmon. Why would we risk that, along with the outdoor economy that depends on it, on a half-baked proposal from an unproven mining company? The Commission must put Maine’s unique natural resources, and the well-being of the people of Maine and Maine’s Wabanaki Tribes, before short-term industry profits.'

"More than 700 hundred Mainers and local businesses, including Bradford Camps, Chandler Lakes Camps and Lodge, and the #MaineWildernessGuidesOrganization, have spoken out against Wolfden’s plans. In May 2022, residents of #Pembroke voted overwhelmingly to ban industrial-scale metallic mineral mining in their town in response to Wolfden’s plans to develop a mine there."

Source:
https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/maine-tribes-and-leading-environmental-organizations-join-forces-to-oppose-proposed-mine-in-shadow-of-katahdin

#WaterIsLife #Maine #WabanakiNations #Environment #Mining #CorporateColonialism #NoMining

#Fukushima #Nuclear Power Plant starts 3rd round of #wastewater release, potentially impacting #seafood quality in U.S.

By Belle Lewis - November 14, 2023

"The #FukushimaDachii nuclear plant started its third release of nuclear wastewater on Nov. 2 as scientists warn that seafood products from the #PacificOcean could be #contaminated

"Although the International Atomic Energy Agency approved the 30-year water release plan, scientists and civilians in nations bordering the Pacific Ocean have questioned the safety of the plan, especially as it relates to seafood.

"In a press release approving of the plan, the IAEA stated, 'the discharges of the treated water would have a negligible radiological impact to people and the environment.'

"#PaulDorfman, member of the Irish Government Environmental Protection Agency Radiation Protection Advisory Committee and chair of Nuclear Consulting Group, explained that some scientists have questioned IAEA’s approval of the water release.

"'I and others are concerned by IAEA’s attitude,' Dorfman said. 'Normally even low levels of radioactive pollution will find its way into local seafood, one way or another.'

"In 2020, #Japan exported 332,926 kilograms of frozen scallops to the U.S. Japan exports many fish products to the U.S.

"Samantha Valeriano, a psychology student from Hawaii, said she eats seafood about once a week. She does not often think about where her food comes from but wants to be more cautious following the nuclear water release.

"'I think I would be a little more cautious of what I ate, checking labels a little bit more,' Valeriano said. 'I would be conscious of what I ate and where it came from.'

"As the People’s Republic of #China has imposed bans of Japanese fish exports, the #USA has supported the Japanese market by increasing fish purchases.

"In a press release, the #UnitedStates Embassy and Consulate in Japan explained that military bases in Japan will carry Japanese seafood as a way to buoy up seafood markets and undermine the PRC’s ban.

"'United States elected representatives and senior government officials have stood in solidarity with Japan during this baseless ban,' the statement said. 'Another step to help provide additional sales to counter the ban was to start selling Japanese seafood at the U.S. military facilities in Japan, both through the commissaries and mess halls.'

"According to the statement, government officials like former speaker #KevinMcCarthy ate seafood from Japan as a testament to Japan’s safety standards.
However, other U.S. agencies, like the National Association of #MarineLaboratories question whether accurate research was conducted by the IAEA and Japanese Government to determine safety of seafood products.

"They explain that the lack of data on potential health impacts is a cause for serious concern.

"'Many of the #radionuclides contained in the #accumulated waste cooling water have half-lives ranging from #decades to #centuries, and their deleterious effects range from #DNADamage and #cellular stress to elevated #cancer risks in people who eat affected marine organisms, such as #clams, #oysters, #crabs, #lobster, #shrimp and fish,' the statement reads. [Not to mention all the critters that feed off them! Bioaccumulation works up the food chain!]

"Eve Nagareda, medical laboratory science major from Hawaii, shared she wants to avoid seafood from dumping grounds even if levels are considered safe.

"'I think I would try to go as far as possible from it,' Nagareda said.

"Kylee Wasano, pre-communications disorders student from Oahu, agreed. She explained she feels that she might already be consuming contaminated seafood.

"'I feel like I already am eating that, and I just don’t know,' Wasano said. 'Anything that could expose you to (radiation) you should be considerate about.'

"As organizations weigh safety concerns, scientists turn to the water release process to determine potential effects."

https://universe.byu.edu/2023/11/14/fukushima-nuclear-power-plant-starts-third-round-of-wastewater-release-potentially-impacting-seafood-quality-in-u-s/

#WaterIsLife #NoDumping #Hormesis #TEPCOLies #Corruption #Bioaccumulation #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoNewNukes

Despite the war my amazing colleague Dr Kifle Woldearegay from #Mekelle #Tigray persisted with
research for the Towards Brown Gold Project. httpXs://www.ids.ac.uk/projects/towards-brown-gold-re-imagining-off-grid-sanitation-in-rapidly-urbanising-areas-in-asia-and-africa/

Read about the urban agriculture boom despite war, blockade & World Food Programme aid suspension & what this means for the circular economy.

https://medium.com/@TowardsBrownGold/how-war-and-crises-in-tigray-triggered-an-urban-agriculture-boom-b5964df16a56

#UrbanAgriculture #foodsecurity #wastewater #Tigray

"The Boring Company has applied to discharge 143,000 gallons of treated wastewater daily into the Colorado River near my home. I'm concerned they will not follow the terms of this permit.

They have already received multiple environmental violations and public records show that they are not working with regulators in good faith. "

#Texas #TCEQ #wastewater #Pollution #TheBoringCompany #Bastrop #DamnedBillionairesAgain #Organizing #SafetyViolations

https://www.keepbastropboring.com/