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| 2009-12-18 | |
| A widely used toxic chemical flame retardant, decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) will be largely phased out of the United States marketplace, according to an announcement today from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has obtained commitments from decaBDE's two U.S. manufacturers and largest U.S. importer to stop producing, using, and importing the chemical by 2013. | |
| 2007-03-22 | |
| SEATTLE—Exposure to dangerous toxic pollution from industrial facilities threatens communities in Washington and across the country, according to a new report released today by WashPIRG. | |
| 2007-02-17 | |
| OLYMPIA—In an important victory for both human health and the effort to clean up Puget Sound, the Washington State House of Representatives became the first legislative body in the nation to initiate a complete ban on a class of toxic flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). While several states have banned penta and octa, Washington is poised to become the first state, joining the European Union, in banning a third type of PBDE, deca. PBDEs are used in televisions, laptops and other electronics and are increasingly used in mattresses and other furniture. PBDEs, find their way from airborne dust, infiltrating human systems and running off into Puget Sound and other bodies of water. Even in small amounts, they can cause serious damage to reproductive and immune systems. These chemicals are building up in marine wildlife and turning up in humans in blood samples and in tests on human breast milk. | |
| 2006-03-17 | |
| OLYMPIA—Despite strong bipartisan support, the legislature failed for the second consecutive year to pass important legislation to phase out the use of toxic flame retardants called PBDEs that are rapidly building up in breast milk, our bodies, and in wildlife. PBDEs are chemical cousins of long-banned PCBs, and are known to impair learning, behavior, and development in lab animals. | |
| 2005-12-01 | |
| SEATTLE– A new WashPIRG analysis of a proposed Bush Administration rulereveals that residents of Washington would lose valuable information about the amounts and type of harmful chemicals discharged by industrial facilities in their neighborhoods if the rule is finalized. | |
| 2005-04-27 | |
| SEATTLE—In a letter sent to the Washington State Department of Health (Health) on April 15, the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which administers the National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) made it clear that it was unaware cruise ships have been discharging treated sewage in Puget Sound for several years. The letter stated that if discharges like the ones already happening were to occur, shellfish beds would need to be re-examined and possibly closed. | |
| 2005-03-16 | |
| In a 35 to 13 vote last night, the Senate passed legislation that will require auto makers to pay to remove mercury components from scrap vehicles. According to the EPA, mercury emissions from the melting of scrap cars is currently the largest source of unregulated mercury emissions in the United States. The measure will reduce those emissions by 90 percent , by requiring the automakers who installed the mercury components to fund a program for their removal. | |
| 2004-08-31 | |
| Results from a recent study show that several species of fish in Lake Washington are contaminated with high levels of PCBs, prompting the Department of Health to issue an interim fish advisory warning people, particularly pregnant women and children, to limit their consumption. The study found that concentrations of these toxic chemicals in large northern pike minnow are some of the highest levels recorded in Washington State. Other PCB-contaminated species include large yellow perch and cutthroat trout. | |
| 2004-06-23 | |
| Washington State—The Canadian mining-giant Teck Cominco continues to discharge high levels of toxic metals into the Columbia River, according to an analysis by the Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG). A comparison of Teck Cominco's discharges to new 2002 data just released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that the Teck Cominco smelter discharged more lead, mercury and arsenic into the Columbia River in 2002 than the total discharges to water of these metals from all Washington industries combined. | |
| 2004-06-03 | |
| JCI Jones Chemical, a chemical company with operations in Tacoma, is one of 12 companies that each endanger more than five million Americans in the event of accidents or terrorist attacks, according to a new report by the Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG) and it's affiliate U.S. PIRG. JCI Jones owns 12 facilities nationwide storing large amounts of chemicals that collectively put more than 20 million Americans at risk. WashPIRG called on JCI Jones and the other 11 companies to reduce the threat to communities near their facilities by using safer chemicals and processes where possible. | |
| 2004-03-16 | |
| Seattle, Wash.—The Washington chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, a national public health advocacy organization, and Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG), spoke out today against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed mercury rule that threatens the health of children in Washington state and across the country. | |
| 2004-03-04 | |
| Washington, D.C.—By a vote of 44 to 52, the U.S. Senate rejected an amendment last night that would have reinstated Superfund’s polluter pays fees. The amendment to the Budget Resolution would have reestablished a dedicated funding source for cleanups at more than 1,200 Superfund sites across the country, including 47 in Washington, thus protecting the health of millions of people while making polluters foot the bill for toxic waste site cleanups. The Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG) commended Sens. Murray and Cantwell for voting to make polluters pay. | |
| 2004-02-18 | |
| Seattle, Wash.—A commonly used flame retardant threatens public health, according to a new report released today by the Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG). In lab tests, scientists have linked decabrominated diphenyl ether (Deca)—a chemical closely related to two flame retardants recently banned in California—to health effects including neurological damage or permanent memory loss, and have detected the chemical in the breast milk of American women at higher levels than anywhere else in the world. | |
| 2004-02-06 | |
| Seattle, Wash.—The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is misleading the public about the Bush administration’s failure to clean up toxic waste sites and protect public health, according to a new analysis released by the Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG) and the Sierra Club. Superfund cleanups have slowed by 50 percent since 2001, with costs for those cleanups shifting from polluters to average taxpayers, according to the report. | |
| 2004-01-28 | |
| Olympia—Gov. Locke signed an Executive Order today directing the Department of Ecology (Ecology) to fully implement the state’s plan to phase out mercury pollution and start developing a new plan to phase out toxic flame retardants. Both directives are part of the state’s policy to stop persistent toxic pollution (or PBTs). The action was applauded by members of the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition, a broad based alliance of health, environmental and other groups working to prevent and cleanup persistent toxic pollution. | |
| 2003-12-18 | |
| Olympia—Gov. Locke today proposed to fully fund in the 2004 supplemental state budget a critical state program that will eliminate toxic pollution, such as mercury, dioxin, lead, and PCBs. Despite strong public support, the Legislature eliminated funding for the program in the last legislative session. The environmental community has designated restoring the funding as one of its top legislative priorities for the 2004 legislative session. | |
| 2003-11-13 | |
| Bellingham—The Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG) and the Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC) announced today that they have reached an agreement with the Bellingham-area wood treatment facility The Oeser Company over the company’s repeated violations of its Clean Water Act permit. The groups filed suit against Oeser in June 2002 for illegally discharging stormwater contaminated with highly toxic chemicals into Bellingham-area waterways. Under the agreement, Oeser must pay for the development and implementation of a comprehensive pollution prevention plan to ensure long-term compliance with environmental laws, and must pay penalties if it further violates its Clean Water Act discharge limits. | |
