The following post is cross-posted from our good friends at Michigan Clear Water Action. In mid-June, after months of pressure from Clean Water Action members and public health advocates, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) finally released their study on the health effects of PFAS contamination. Emails between Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials, the White House, and […]

His first week in office, Pr*sident Trump met with top CEOs from around America and told them the hob-nailed boot of regulation were going to be removed from their neck so they could finally start earning some profits. “We’re going to be cutting regulation massively,” he told them. “Now, we’re going to have regulation, and it’ll be just as strong […]

Four years ago in 2011, the city of Flint commissioned a report to investigate the use of the Flint River to supply water to the city. The report, which was sent to state officials in 2013 detailed the risk of lead leaching by the more corrosive river water and emphasized the need for phosphate corrosion control to prevent lead from […]

As the water crisis has unfolded in Flint over the past few months, there has been an enormous amount of finger pointing and blame shifting going around. Just this week, Darnell Earley wrote an op-ed piece for The Detroit News absolving himself of any of that blame, despite the fact that he or one of his predecessors was in charge […]

In April of 2014, under the direction of Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, the City changed the source of its drinking water from the Detroit water system (drawing from Lake Huron) to the Flint River. The move was touted as a cost-saving measure which would save $7 million annually. However, there were problems from the start. High levels of bacteria […]

The following post was co-authored by David Holtz, the Chair of the Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club, and Anne Woiwode, the chapter’s Conservation Director. As leaders of one of the primary watchdog groups in Michigan when it comes to water quality, I asked them to weigh in on the ongoing crisis with Flint’s water supply. In their essay, Holtz […]

Ensuring our energy policy doesn’t compromise our water supply

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (pdf) into law. This comprehensive law does everything from providing new subsidies and incentives for renewable energy production (like wind, solar, biomass, wave & tidal, and geothermal) and tax breaks for energy conservation improvements on homes to providing incentives for increased drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and exempting oil and gas producers from certain requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. It even extended Daylight Savings Time by a week. There’s a fine summary of this 551 page bill HERE.

One of the components of the Energy Policy Act was Section 979 which compelled Energy Secretary to study the interaction and interplay of water-related issues and energy-related issues. The intent was to ensure that we fully understand how our country’s energy policy impacts our water resources.

The study is eight years late and there’s a petition to sign to move it forward. Details are after the jump.

The Obama administration is moving toward bring disclosure into the sordid business of fracking so that people know what chemicals are being used and which may eventually end up in their water supply. But Republicans are aghast – aghast I say! – that this action may cut into corporate profits. In December, Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar held public […]