The coronavirus economic crash is tightening the financial vise on utilities that supply water and sanitation across the country, potentially putting water companies on the verge of financial insolvency while millions of Americans struggle to pay their utility bills.
Each of the differing $740-billion defense authorization bills that the House and Senate passed during the week of July 20 includes several provisions that would address pollution caused by per- and polyfluoralkyl substances at Dept.of Defense facilities. But neither would classify the chemicals as hazardous materials eligible for Superfund cleanup.
Democrats who control California’s Legislature on Monday proposed a $100 billion economic stimulus plan that relies on what they are calling “future tax vouchers” along with speeding up other spending during the coronavirus pandemic.
The plan would allow state Treasurer Fiona Ma to issue tax vouchers that proponents said could raise billions of dollars, though they said it was too soon to provide a more detailed estimate.
This year’s National Defense Authorization Act will almost certainly not carry broad chemical cleanup and drinking water mandates. Now lawmakers focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are looking for alternative vehicles as the election nears and the congressional calendar shrinks. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and her allies did not convince the Rules Committee this month to allow a vote on the “PFAS Action Act,” H.R. 535 as an amendment to the House NDAA.
The Justice Department will avoid pursuing Clean Water Act civil enforcement cases that overlap with state actions, the agency’s top environment lawyer announced Monday.
Populations of migratory river fish around the world have plunged by a “catastrophic” 76% since 1970, an analysis has found. The fall was even greater in Europe at 93%, and for some groups of fish, with sturgeon and eel populations both down by more than 90%.
The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Thursday warned that foreign hackers are attempting to target U.S. critical infrastructure.
Prospective bidders for the proposed Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Conveyance Project will now have until 11 August to submit qualification documents for the 25-year BOT project. In its initial phase, the facility will deliver 274,000 m3/d (72.4 MGD) of desalinated seawater and 82,000 m3/d (21.7 MGD) of abstracted groundwater 350km (220 mi) from Aqaba to Amman.
The water is too contaminated to safely drink, but residents of this farmworker community in the Central Valley pay $74 a month just to be able to turn on the tap at home.
Their bills are even higher if they use more than 50 gallons a day, a fraction of daily water consumption for the average California household. And when Fresno County completes a new well that has been planned for years, the price will increase again to cover the cost of treating manganese-laced water pumped from hundreds of feet below.
The National Toxicology Program for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released a Technical Report that found evidence of carcinogenic activity in laboratory rats exposed to perfluorooctanoic acid. The NTP Technical Report may result in the listing of PFOA under California’s Proposition 65 as a carcinogen. Private toxic tort plaintiffs may also attempt to rely on the Technical Report in PFAS contamination lawsuits.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
