Read the full story from Reuters.
The Biden administration on Thursday began a process to amend federal procurement rules to require the U.S. government – the world’s largest buyer of goods and services – to factor the risks of climate change into its contracts.
SEDAC’s fall webinar series will help water and wastewater plants to learn about new technologies and strategies to save energy and improve operations.
Introduction to the Illinois EPA Public Water Infrastructure Energy Efficiency Program for Water Treatment Plants
Introduction to Aeration & Energy in Wastewater Treatment
Oxygen Transfer Efficiency: Diffusers and Aerators
Register for upcoming webinars and view recordings of past events on the SEDAC website.
With assistance provided through the Public Water Infrastructure Plant Efficiency Program, the City of Henry Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) replaced their existing lagoon aeration system with Micro Bubble Diffusion (MBD) technology, resulting in significant energy cost savings and a reduction in the dissolved solids present in their treatment lagoons.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Betty Reid Soskin has fought to ensure that American history includes the stories that get overlooked. As she turns 100, few stories have been more remarkable than hers.
Read the full story at NBC News.
The reports from 23 federal agencies examine how climate change will disrupt nearly all aspects of life, including more traffic and disease.
The Intercept has a four part series about whistleblowers who are speaking out about the Environmental Protection Agency’s practice of routinely approving dangerous chemicals. Go read the whole thing:
Read the full story at National Law Review. See also the DoD fact sheet and full report.
As part of the Biden administration’s 100-day evaluation of U.S. supply chains, in June the Department of Defense (DoD) issued its review of certain “strategic and critical materials” that are key ingredients in electronics and green technologies. Supply chain resiliency is an increasingly important area of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) focus for companies and stakeholders alike, and the DoD’s review has implications for ESG reporting.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Hundreds of scientists and policy experts left the government during the Trump administration. The jobs remain unfilled six months into President Biden’s term.
Read the full story in Government Executive.
A group is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to scrap a directive that prohibits some scientists from discussing their work amongst themselves, saying the current system prevents workers from properly protecting the public from potentially hazardous materials.
Managers at EPA began instituting the policy in early 2020, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which wrote to the agency asking for its revocation. The ban affects the New Chemicals Division in EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which conducts reviews of new materials before they are cleared for use in commercial products as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Read the full story at The Hill.
A report from an internal watchdog says that a lack of action from the Defense Department may have led to people being exposed to “preventable” risks from toxic chemicals.
The department’s inspector general (IG) said in a report issued last week that in 2011, Defense officials issued an alert saying that firefighting foam that had a type of chemicals known as PFAS in it contained “chemicals that present human health and environmental risks and require special handling and disposal.”
