Toxic threats
It’s up to us to protect our ecosystems and communities from toxic chemicals.
Most of the 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States have been put into use without testing long-term consequences for the environment, or their impacts on our health. We should make sure that any chemical in use is safe, eliminate those we know are dangerous, and stop using any that are damaging healthy ecosystems. And if an industry makes a toxic mess, we should know right away, and they should be the ones to pay for cleaning it up.
The Latest on Toxic threats
EPA sets limits for toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water
STATEMENT: President Biden protects Grand Canyon from uranium mining
Updates
Two more states take action to limit lead in schools’ drinking water
What You Can Do
Featured Resources
Superfund Back on Track
Safe for Swimming?
The Threat of “Forever Chemicals”
Who are the top toxic water polluters in your state?
The Latest
Statement: Clean schools program means cleaner, healthier future
Vice President Kamala Harris will announce on Monday a clean schools infrastructure program, which features grant funding for public school energy upgrades, money for electric school buses, and investments in rural schools.
Thousands call on EPA to get the lead out of drinking water
Nearly 15,000 people are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to not only set a 10-year deadline for removing lead pipes but also take decisive action to ensure safe drinking water at schools and child care centers. Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund submitted comments Wednesday from these individuals on the EPA’s Draft Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities.
New report: Reinstated ‘polluter pays’ taxes should speed up lagging toxic waste cleanup
For more than 20 years, the federal government’s “Superfund” program aimed at cleaning up the nation’s most dangerous toxic waste sites, including 38 in North Carolina, has languished for lack of funding.
New report: Reinstated ‘polluter pays’ taxes should speed up lagging toxic waste cleanup
For more than 20 years, the federal government’s “Superfund” program aimed at cleaning up the nation’s most dangerous toxic waste sites, including 38 in North Carolina, has languished for lack of funding.
New report: Reinstated ‘polluter pays’ taxes should speed up lagging toxic waste cleanup
WASHINGTON -- For more than 20 years, the federal government’s “Superfund” program aimed at cleaning up toxic waste sites has languished for lack of funding. The program was originally funded by a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries, but those “polluter pays” taxes expired in 1995. When President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure package (BIF) into law last month, a polluter pays tax was finally reinstated on chemical industries.