GET WET! allows students to test their drinking water in the classroom.  For approximately $1000, each school can have a set of 6 test kits and sample bottles for 150 students ($6.67/student).

Subsequent year’s consumables are approximately $2/student.

In an effort to assist existing programs and develop new areas GET WET! is requesting supplies for schools.

The total test kit budget can be found here:http://getwetproject.org/Resources.html

If you are interested in initiating a program in your area please contact me directly:  Teresa.Thornton@getwetproject.org

Or, donate directly to this 501C3 here: http://getwetproject.org/Donate.html

https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/help-purchase-chemistry-testing-kits-for-schools

Lawmakers introduce bill to end EPA

The man that introduced the bill is a third generation politician making a name for himself by doing what is not right-what senior senators would not do.

I think Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation, Inc. said it best:

 READ MORE HERE: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-end-EPA-10910411.php#photo-12320300

Find your representative here:  http://www.whoismyrepresentative.com/

The house is changing the term pollutants.  Dangerous chemicals are simply no longer allowed be called as such by the EPA.

SEE HERE FOR DETAILS: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/637/text

https://waterclimate.wordpress.com/research/climate-change/

SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF FEDERAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY TO EXCLUDE GREENHOUSE GASES FROM REGULATION UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT(a) Repeal Of Federal Climate Change Regulation.—

(1) GREENHOUSE GAS REGULATION UNDER CLEAN AIR ACT.—Section 302(g) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7602(g)) is amended—

(A) by striking “(g) The term” and inserting the following:

“(g) Air Pollutant.—

“(1) IN GENERAL.—The term”; and

(B) by adding at the end the following:

“(2) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘air pollutant’ does not include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, or sulfur hexafluoride.”.

(2) NO REGULATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nothing in any of the following Acts or any other law authorizes or requires the regulation of climate change or global warming:

(A) The Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.).

(B) The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.).

(C) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).

(D) The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

(E) The Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.).

(b) Effect On Final Rules Of The EPA.—In accordance with this section, the following final rules (or any similar or successor rules) of the Environmental Protection Agency shall be void and have no force or effect:

(1) The final rule entitled “Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources” (published at 81 Fed. Reg. 35823 (June 3, 2016)).

(2) The final rule entitled “Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units” (published at 80 Fed. Reg. 64661 (October 23, 2015)).

SEC. 4. JOBS ANALYSIS FOR ALL EPA REGULATIONS.

(a) In General.—Before proposing or finalizing any regulation, rule, or policy, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall provide an analysis of the regulation, rule, or policy and describe the direct and indirect net and gross impact of the regulation, rule, or policy on employment in the United States.

(b) Limitation.—No regulation, rule, or policy described in subsection (a) shall take effect if the regulation, rule, or policy has a negative impact on employment in the United States unless the regulation, rule, or policy is approved by Congress and signed by the President.

FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE HERE: http://www.whoismyrepresentative.com/

Sarah Reese sarah.reese@nwi.com, 219-933-3351

Jonathan Miano, The Times

Isadora Rangel , isadora.rangel@tcpalm.com Published 5:42 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2017 

Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed state budget doesn’t include money to build a reservoir to curb Lake Okeechobee discharges, and instead focuses on eliminat
ing septic tanks to address toxic algae blooms that plague both coasts.

Scott’s priorities, unveiled Tuesday, don’t include buying 60,000 acres for the reservoir to store excess lake water that currently gets discharged east and west — a priority of Republican Senate President Joe Negron of Stuart.

Negron and supporters of the land purchase said they aren’t sweating it. Governors propose budgets and have veto power over them. But the Legislature writes and passes them, dropping or adding new items. So it will be up to lawmakers to square it off.

Negron pointed out Scott signed a law last year that gives priority to Everglades restoration projects that reduce discharges and declared a state of emergency because of last summer’s algae blooms.

“I don’t expect the governor to put the priorities of
the House and Senate in his initial budget,” Negron said. “I have the burden of proof to convince him and to convince my colleagues.”

Scott’s office said he’s focusing on $215 million to complete storage projects already on the books, according to a Q&A budget proposal sheet. Those planned and in-progress projects include the ongoing construction of the C-44 Canal reservoir to clean and store runoff that flows into the St. Lucie River.

Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper noted the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers still fared well in Scott’s proposal, mainly $40 million toward a 50/50 matching grant for local communities affected by algae blooms to connect to sewer lines.

Septic tanks, whether leaky or fully functioning, have been found to be a major cause of pollution in the St. Lucie River, according to a Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute study Martin County commissioned last year. That’s because Florida’s underground water is very close to the surface where the tanks are located. Advocates of the land buy say waste from septic tanks should be addressed, but they point out last summer’s algae blooms started in Lake Okeechobee and flowed into the St. Lucie River with discharges.

Scott also proposed these solutions to algae blooms:

• Removing muck from the Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee River;

• Finishing existing Everglades restoration projects with $250 million allocated for various projects;

• Buying land needed for reservoirs for the C-23 and C-24 canals, which flow into the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.

OBSTACLES

Scott hasn’t publicly opposed or supported Negron’s push to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee, but his appointees at the South Florida Water Management District have said the state already owns enough land.

Scott’s proposed budget is another obstacle to a bill Negron is pushing that mandates the district to look for willing sellers and the Legislature to borrow half of the $2.4 billion cost of the reservoir. The federal government would foot the other half.

The House isn’t “ready” to borrow money when Florida is losing revenue and dealing with soaring Medicaid and education costs, GOP Speaker Richard Corcoran said hours after the bill was filed Thursday.

Another point of contention in previous legislative sessions has been how much land the state should buy for preservation under the Florida Forever program. Scott proposed $25.5 million for the program this year, with just less than half of it going into land for parks. He didn’t recommend any money to pay agricultural landowners not to develop their land, a program that received $35 million last year.

Draper said he wishes Scott had asked for more for land purchases. The Legislature has been reluctant to buy more land because it costs money to manage it.

“There’s a lot of good things in the budget,” Draper said, “but land acquisition is where we wish (Scott) had done a little bit more.”

DEP assesses sewage spills on a case-by-case basis when determining whether to fine a utility or require other actions. The state agency considers how serious the violation was; was it a first-time violator or a chronic offender; was the sewage release inadvertent or beyond the utility’s “reasonable control,” Ashley Gardner, DEP spokeswoman, said via email. DEP also considers whether “any damage to the environment be undone or remediated quickly,” Gardner said.

“In this case, it was determined that the spill was caused by a split in the line that was out of the facility’s control, and they repaired it in a timely manner with minimal impact to the environment,” Gardner said. “The department is waiting on a few final pieces of information in order to complete its review of the incident and ensure that no further corrective actions will be needed.”

Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @JWayEnviro

By STEVE CARMODY

In Flint, experts are warning that one potential solution to the city’s lead-tainted tap water has some serious potential downsides.

Whole house filters cleanse water of impurities and chemicals. Groups have been promoting their use in Flint to screen out lead. A company gave a presentation to the city council just a few days ago.

But experts say the filters have a downside.

Dr. Mona Hanna Attisha helped raised the alarm about lead in Flint’s tap water. She says ‘whole-house’ filters don’t screen out lead that leaches from pipes and filters inside the home.

“You want a point of use filter. So the water flows through your entire distribution system … where your house can have lead in different parts of the plumbing fixtures…and finally gets cleared at that point,” says Dr. Mona Hanna Attisha.

She points out the state is giving filters away for free, while the whole house filters cost hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Another concern involves bacteria.

Whole house water filters screen out chlorine. Many Flint residents complain of high levels of chlorine which affects the taste of the filtered water and make bathing feel more like showering in water from a swimming pool.

But the presence of disinfectants like chlorine helps kill bacteria.  Not just in city pipes, but also in private homes.

Experts warn filtering out chlorine as it enters a home creates the possibility that harmful bacteria, like Legionella which causes Legionnaires Disease, could be an unwelcome side effect of whole house filters.

Virginia Tech’s Marc Edwards was another expert who helped sound the alarm about lead in Flint’s drinking water.

He understands why some Flint residents, tired of using bottled water for everything from drinking to bathing, might see whole house filters as a solution.

“No one is advising you to stop,” says Edwards, “But we want to be informed that there is a potential downside … there’s limits to the protection [a whole house filter] offers.”

It’s expected to take several more years before Flint’s tap water will be safe to drink unfiltered.

For more information:  http://michiganradio.org/post/experts-caution-flint-residents-whole-house-water-filters-have-downside

By Earl Rinehart
The Columbus Dispatch

There is no measurable amount of C8 flowing from taps in the six Ohio River water districts that settled a lawsuit with DuPont over the toxic chemical that the company used to make Teflon.

Along 75 miles of the Ohio River – from Parkersburg, West Virginia, to Pomeroy, Ohio – water from wells contaminated with C8, or perfluorooctanoic acid, is being filtered through granulated activated carbon before reaching taps in homes and businesses.

That’s good. The chemical has been tied to a number of cancers and health disorders.

But what about the homes and businesses downriver from DuPont’s Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg? For more than 50 years, the plant spewed tons of the chemical directly into the river or into the air through its smokestacks.

Some water-district managers along those 230 river miles say they will wait to see what regulations are added, or cut, by the Trump administration. Other managers say they don’t think their water is contaminated, or they have more important things to worry about.

But Dr. Paul Brooks said of those districts, “We believe they are in danger of C8 contamination.”

Brooks is a retired general practitioner who helped start a community health study to measure the level of C8 in the blood of Ohio and West Virginia residents living near the company’s Washington Works plant. The study found that, in general, area residents had a median level of 38 parts per billion of C8 in their blood – 7.6 times more than the average American.

The $70 million study, financed by a DuPont settlement in 2005, was the foundation of a science panel’s investigation that concluded a “probable link” existed between C8 and six diseases: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension and high cholesterol.

Brooks said of areas farther downriver: “We were strongly recommending that these local water districts test for contamination in their drinking water, not just based on its bio-persistence, but the logic that it would flow down.”

To read more about this story:  http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170122/testing-drinking-water-for-toxic-chemical-c8-urged-farther-down-ohio-river