Texas, U.S.A - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency relied on four highly questionable assumptions in 2009 to drastically inflate the health benefits from far-reaching new rules, according to a new report published by the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

“For the last three years, the EPA has justified a series of strict and incredibly expensive new air quality regulations on the assumption that even trace levels of particulate matter can accelerate death,” said the report’s author, Kathleen Hartnett White. “But the science behind the EPA’s new approach to assessing health risks is deeply flawed and misleads the public.”

Since 2009, the EPA has attributed risk of “early death” or shortened lifespan from fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) concentrations far below the health protective national standards and even below natural levels that would occur absent human activity. The EPA is justifying the many unprecedented new regulations commonly known as the EPA train wreck on the basis of the health benefits gained from reducing these new risks from already low levels of particulate matter – a substantial portion of which is airborne dust.

The new regulations, however, target other pollutants and not PM 2.5. In the recently finalized rule to reduce mercury emission from power plants, EPA estimated 99.9% of the health benefits derive from coincidental reduction of particulate matter at levels far below the already conservative federal standard. Without this methodology, the cost of reducing mercury would be far higher than the benefits of further reduction of mercury.

In the report, White challenged four key assumptions at the root of the EPA’s new risk-assessment methodology:

• PM 2.5 causes early death.
• There is no level of PM 2.5 below which risks of premature death cease.
• The EPA’s new rules are necessary to prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths.
• Coincidental reduction of PM 2.5 is sufficient justification for new regulations designed to control other pollutants.

“The EPA’s manipulation of cost-benefit analyses to project massive benefits at comparatively modest cost denies policy­makers and the public the information needed to weigh the many trade-offs involved in complex societal decisions about unacceptable risks,” White said. “Economic impact does matter, and it matters to human health. Life span and health are strongly correlated with the opportunity to work and make a good income.”

The report recommends amendment of the Clean Air Act to establish minimal criteria for rigorous scientific risk assessment of health effects.

The report, “EPA’s Pretense of Science: Regulating Phantom Risks,” is available for download from the Foundation’s website.

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A new study has raised fresh concerns about the safety of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, concluding that fracking chemicals injected into the ground could migrate toward drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously predicted.

More than 5,000 wells were drilled in the Marcellus between mid-2009 and mid-2010, according to the study, which was published in the journal Ground Water two weeks ago. Operators inject up to 4 million gallons of fluid, under more than 10,000 pounds of pressure, to drill and frack each well.

Scientists have theorized that impermeable layers of rock would keep the fluid, which contains benzene and other dangerous chemicals, safely locked nearly a mile below water supplies. This view of the earth’s underground geology is a cornerstone of the industry’s argument that fracking poses minimal threats to the environment.

But the study, using computer modeling, concluded that natural faults and fractures in the Marcellus, exacerbated by the effects of fracking itself, could allow chemicals to reach the surface in as little as “just a few years.”

“Simply put, [the rock layers] are not impermeable,” said the study’s author, Tom Myers, an independent hydrogeologist whose clients include the federal government and environmental groups.

“The Marcellus shale is being fracked into a very high permeability,” he said. “Fluids could move from most any injection process.”

The research for the study was paid for by Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Park Foundation, two upstate New York organizations that have opposed gas drilling and fracking in the Marcellus.

Much of the debate about the environmental risks of gas drilling has centered on the risk that spills could pollute surface water or that structural failures would cause wells to leak.

Though some scientists believed it was possible for fracking to contaminate underground water supplies, those risks have been considered secondary. The study in Ground Water is the first peer-reviewed research evaluating this possibility.

The study did not use sampling or case histories to assess contamination risks. Rather, it used software and computer modeling to predict how fracking fluids would move over time. The simulations sought to account for the natural fractures and faults in the underground rock formations and the effects of fracking.

The models predict that fracking will dramatically speed up the movement of chemicals injected into the ground. Fluids traveled distances within 100 years that would take tens of thousands of years under natural conditions. And when the models factored in the Marcellus’ natural faults and fractures, fluids could move 10 times as fast as that.

Where man-made fractures intersect with natural faults, or break out of the Marcellus layer into the stone layer above it, the study found, “contaminants could reach the surface areas in tens of years, or less.”

The study also concluded that the force that fracking exerts does not immediately let up when the process ends. It can take nearly a year to ease.

As a result, chemicals left underground are still being pushed away from the drill site long after drilling is finished. It can take five or six years before the natural balance of pressure in the underground system is fully restored, the study found.

Myers’ research focused exclusively on the Marcellus, but he said his findings may have broader relevance. Many regions where oil and gas is being drilled have more permeable underground environments than the one he analyzed, he said.

“One would have to say that the possible travel times for a similar thing in Arkansas or Northeast Texas is probably faster than what I’ve come up with,” Myers said.

Ground Water is the journal of the National Ground Water Association, a non-profit group that represents scientists, engineers and businesses in the groundwater industry.

Several scientists called Myers’ approach unsophisticated and said that the assumptions he used for his models didn’t reflect what they knew about the geology of the Marcellus Shale. If fluids could flow as quickly as Myers asserts, said Terry Engelder, a professor of geosciences at Penn State University who has been a proponent of shale development, fracking wouldn’t be necessary to open up the gas deposits.

“This would be a huge fracture porosity,” Engelder said. “So I read this and I say, ‘Golly, does this guy really understand anything about what these shales look like?’ The concern then arises from using a model rather than observations.”

Myers likened the shale to a cracked window, saying that samples showing it didn’t contain fractures were small in size and were akin to only examining an intact section of glass, while a broader, scaled out view would capture the faults and fractures that could leak.

Both scientists agreed that direct evidence of fluid migration is needed, but little sampling has been done to analyze where fracking fluids go after being injected underground.

Myers says monitoring systems could be installed around gas well sites to measure for changes in water quality, a measure required for some gold mines, for example. Until that happens, Myers said, theoretical modeling has to substitute for hard data.

“We were trying to use the basic concepts of groundwater and hydrology and geology and say can this happen?” he said. “And that had basically never been done.”

by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, May 1, 2012, 4:29 p.m.

Image Courtesy of    Adrian Kinloch

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The United States is once again under attack from an invasive species. The brown marmorated stinkbugs have been in the northeastern part for more than a decade. They were first spotted in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1998, and moved to other states such as New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Now, they have migrated to the South, where much of the country’s crops are grown.

This species of stinkbug, shaped like tiny shields with white-stranded antennae, is originally from China, Taiwan, and other East Asian countries. Entomologists believe that they may have hitched a ride with a cargo ship. They are agricultural pests in Asia, and love to chow down vegetables and fruits, notably soybeans, tomatoes, corn, apples, figs, peaches, and citrus fruits.

Since their arrival, the stinkbugs have become agricultural pests for the US. The Seattle Times and the Washington Post reported a couple of days ago that there have been sightings of these brown pests in Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and even Washington DC. A loss of $37 million in damaged crops has been estimated in 2010 alone.

Stinkbugs are bothersome indoors as well as outdoors – they like to dwell in residential homes and eat weeds and decorative household plants. They enter through cracks in doors, windows, pipes, etc.

“Chimneys, pipes, cable lines, electric junctions and other access points should be sealed with silicon or a silicon-latex mixture,” Miguel Saviroff, extension educator at the Penn State Cooperative Extension office in Pennsylvania, tells the Daily American. “Windows and screens should be properly fitted. They really only need a tiny space to get in.”

They are benign creatures for humans, though they are annoying when they are airborne, emitting a loud buzz. “They are a nuisance,” says Ivar Hansen, New York resident. “They disturb me.”

“I started seeing them two years ago,” an anonymous New Yorker states. “They fall in your food and in your hair, and there was one in my bed.”

It would be best for homeowners not to squish them, otherwise they would learn why stinkbugs have such an appellation the hard way: they’ll stink like rotten tomatoes. Entomologists in Pennsylvania recommend calling the exterminator instead of using insecticide and pesticides on your own. Household insecticides have been proven to be ineffective.

“We tried spraying with insecticide but it didn’t work. They didn’t die,” continues the anonymous New York resident, who once used Raid to clean a screen door coated with stink bugs.

“Smush them with a paper towel or a piece of toilet paper and flush them in the toilet,” she suggests.

The College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State is wary of the use of vacuums to rid of the stinkbugs: even though one can remove them without dirtying ones hands, from inside the vacuum, “the vacuum may acquire the smell of stink bugs for a period of time.”

The US contains native stinkbug species, but their populations are prevented from skyrocketing due to natural predators. Since there are no natural predators for the brown marmorated stinkbugs, their population has wildly increased.

Scientists in Florida (where there is much fear that the population of this invasive species will burst) are testing with a nonstinging parasitic species of wasp from Asia that is a natural predator to the brown marmorated stinkbug. If things for the South – or for the US in its entirety – become worse, the wasps will have to be released, possibly sometime in October. However, they may, too, turn out to be an invasive species.

For now, just flush the stink bugs down the toilet.

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The Bureau of Reclamation has received a proposed set of common-sense solutions to solve the imbalance between supply and demand for water in the Colorado River Basin, where the Bureau projects river flow will decrease by an average of about nine percent over the next 50 years due to climate change.

The proposal by Environmental Defense Fund — which includes ideas by other conservation groups and stakeholders — was in response to the deadline for public input of “options and strategies” for a study to define and solve future imbalances in water supply and demand in the basin through 2060.

“Our proposed solutions don’t include expensive new infrastructure and diversions that threaten the health of the Colorado River and the recreation and tourism economy of the region,” said Dan Grossman, Rocky Mountain regional director for Environmental Defense Fund and a former vice chairman of the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee in the Colorado Senate.

“Instead, we are focusing on common-sense ideas — including water banks, water re-use and municipal and agricultural efficiency — to solve the imbalance between supply and demand, while protecting the healthy flows of the river.”

Water banks are institutional mechanisms that can be set up in one state, or by multiple states, to use existing storage in a more flexible manner — particularly during drought — by holding “deposits” of water leased or purchased from existing users.  For example, they hold the potential to be a cost-effective way of preventing the chaotic effects of a ”call” on the river under the Colorado River Compact.

The compact stipulates that when river flows are insufficient to satisfy the Lower Basin states’ water entitlement on the river, the lower basin can place a call on the river water, forcing upper basin states to stop diverting water until the lower basin’s water entitlement is satisfied.

“Managing the Colorado River in a hotter and drier west requires bold and innovative thinking,” added Grossman.  “We can’t continue to adhere to the dogmas of the 19th and 20th centuries and expect to solve this impending crisis.”

The Colorado River Basin is one of the most critical sources of water in the western United States and Mexico, providing water to 30 million people in seven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.  The Colorado River Basin Water Supply & Demand Study – due to be completed in June by the Bureau of Reclamation and agencies from the seven basin states – is focusing on the needs of basin resources that are dependent upon a healthy river system.  They include:

• Water for municipal, industrial, and agricultural use;
• Hydroelectric power generation;
• Recreation;
• Fish and wildlife and their habitats;
• Water quality including salinity;
• Flow and water-dependent ecological systems; and
• Flood control, all under a range of conditions that could occur over the next 50 years.

“As we begin forging a new path forward for managing the Colorado River in the age of limits, we need to think about the impacts of our actions on future generations in the west,” concluded Grossman. “Current demands from residential development and agriculture are overtaxing a river that is diminishing because of a changing climate.  We need flexible, market-driven solutions that will protect the river and the ecosystems and western economies it supports.”

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The Plastic Packaging Market 2012-2022 is Visiongain ‘s new materials report for readers globally. Although the overall packaging industry was severely impacted by the economic recession, the plastic packaging market is gradually gaining significance through the latest technologies and enhanced products in the vast global packaging industry.

The global plastic packaging market is a steadily growing market which is expected to follow a modest growth rate in mature markets and a progressive above average growth rate in emerging markets. Visiongain calculates that the global plastic packaging market will reach $196.42bn in 2012.

Whilst the recession impacted demand for all types of packaging; upcoming environmental issues, changing consumer needs, high disposable incomes and improved packaging products, have resulted in sturdy growth for plastic packaging. Visiongain expects the global packaging market and in particular, the plastic packaging market to demonstrate solid growth in line with previously expected growth rates.

The emerging economies, which in total maintained positive growth during the crisis, will continue to register strong growth, driving demand for sustainable, lightweight, user-friendly and enhanced plastic packaging products in the coming decade. Plastics have increasingly replaced traditional materials in the packaging industry because of their lightweight and superior functionality. Although the consumption of flexible plastic packaging is growing at a rapid pace, rigid plastic packaging still holds the majority of the market.

A key trend that has been beneficial to growth has been a shift by the consumer to consumption at home. In an attempt to save money, many consumers are attempting to re-create the dining out experience at home, with intelligently packaged ready meals. As such plastic packaging applications are increasing in the food & beverage sectors. Also, the sub-markets of the consumer plastic packaging industry continue to rapidly develop, with stand out growth rates being witnessed in the personal care and healthcare sectors in particular.

The plastic packaging market stands immune to the recent economic downturn as technological advancements related to lightweight, convenient and sustainable packaging will retain its demand in the industry. Furthermore, key industry players and manufacturers are opting for better materials made from renewable sources for packaging purposes thus keeping them out of the landfills.

Environmental-friendliness and sustainability have become basic qualifying criterions for all packaging products. In this regard, the plastic packaging market is at a distinctive advantage since with the advent of biodegradable plastic and bio-plastic, the plastic packaging market has gained an edge over other packaging materials, which makes it easier to recycle, reduce and reuse and raise its eco-friendly profile.

The global plastic packaging industry is expected to exhibit solid growth, driven by three major drivers – escalating demand for lightweight and sustainable packaging solutions; healthier and better lifestyles worldwide; and rapidly developing emerging markets with improved disposable incomes and growing consumer demand for plastic packaging across all submarkets.

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Contaminated sites are increasing in major cities, as urban sprawls has overrun many pollution factories, pushing them to new locations, China Daily reports. This serious issue was given priority status at the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference (CPPCC), last week.

Jia Kang, a CPPCC National Committee member, called for a soil protection law immediately. Jia, who also heads the institute of fiscal science at the Ministry of Finance, said that land pollution is already threatening the sustainability of economic growth and social stability.

China is suffering direct economic losses caused by farm pollution, which leads to reduced grain production and public questions over food, Jia said. Land pollution will also take a toll on Chinese grain export and threaten the country’s ecological security, he added.

Last November, an affordable compound, with 2,400 apartments, was constructed in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, on the site of a previous chemical plant. Those who were qualified to purchase the property were considered lucky at the time.

The construction was almost finished when an environmental review by China University of Geoscience discovered that the site was contaminated with antimony, a metallic element that can cause heart and lung problems.

Plastic sheeting was spread over 21,000 squares meters to insulate the contaminated soil, and new soil was spread on the top of the plastic. The measures cost the developer 6.8 million Yuan (1.03 million dollars), according to The Beijing News.

“Pollution incidents associated with land contamination are becoming a growing concern In China”, said Jian Xie, a senior environmental specialist at the World Bank. “Many brownfields sites, if not managed well, will pose an environmental and health hazard in China`s most densely populated areas, as well as an obstacle to urban and economic development.”

A recent study conducted by World Bank shows that China’s rapid urbanization has resulted in the redevelopment of industrial land once occupied by old factories that were placed on the cities’ perimeters decades ago.

In Beijing, more than 100 polluting factories inside the Fourth Ring Road were relocated, leaving as much as 8 million square meters of industrial land to be redeveloped. Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou and other big cities are in a similar situation.

Soil contamination usually involves toxic heavy metals from steel, iron and smelting plants; persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from pesticide residues; organic chemical compounds from petrochemical industries; and electronic wastes.

Heavy metals and POPs rarely break down over time and can accumulate in the environment. They can be absorbed into the body through drinking water and food consumption, causing harm to organs or even cancer.

Experts estimate that contaminated industrial sites in the country number 300,000 to 600,000.

Remediation for such sites has become urgent as the country’s rapid urbanization creates an enormous demand for usable land. This procedure requires both funding and technical guidelines from the government.

In China, the most commonly used remediation practice is to remove the polluted soil, which is then deposited into a landfill or burned, and replace it with clean soil.

Some developers argue that they should not have to pay the costs of remediation since they were not the people who cause the pollution.

For Wang Shuyi, director of the Research Institute of Environmental Law at Wuhan University, the polluters should pay for the remediation. In cases where seems impossible to identify who is liable, the money could come from public funding, he said.

The existing laws and regulations, such as the Environmental Protection Law and the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, are not able to effectively tackle land pollution, Jia said.

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