Chemours is a major manufacturer of PFAS (aka toxic “forever chemicals”), and it is betting big on data centers.

New attention to trifluoracetic acid, or TFA, underscores the game of whack-a-mole that scientists and communities face with forever chemicals.

The EPA has quietly approved additional PFAS pesticides to spray crops despite scientific concerns over potential toxicity. Critics say industry influence is at play.

The EPA has quietly approved additional PFAS pesticides to spray crops despite scientific concerns over potential toxicity. Critics say industry influence is at play.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are present in drinking water consumed by ∼200 million United States (US) residents, but many are not detected by routine monitoring methods. Here, we aimed to better characterize the organofluorine mass budget in US drinking water samples from 19 sites in eastern Massachusetts. Extractable organofluorine (EOF) was detected at 16/17 sites served by community water systems (CWS) using conventional treatment techniques (coagulation, flocculation, clarification, and filtration). At these sites, a suite of 37 targeted PFAS accounted for 6–68% of the EOF and suspect screening identified fluorinated agrochemicals in almost all samples. High EOF concentrations in untreated source waters for two CWS that used granular activated carbon (GAC) and ion-exchange (IX) treatment, were reduced below detection in finished drinking water samples. Our EOF measurements were not selective for trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), so we measured concentrations in triplicate samples at one conventional treatment site and from the IX and GAC sites. At these sites, TFA concentrations were higher than those of EOF and were unaffected by the treatment type. Results of this pilot study show GAC and IX treatment removed virtually all organofluorine in drinking water other than TFA.

Contribute to jahredwithanh/EPA_PFAS_MCL_changes development by creating an account on GitHub.

If finalized, the proposal would end the Biden-era restritions for four toxic PFAS compounds and give utilities two more years to comply with limits on two other compounds.

The state Environmental Protection Division did little to confront the PFAS problem, even as scientists and regulators became concerned about the threat of forever chemicals.

The EPA rolled back a Biden-era regulation targeting power plants that burn lignite coal and emit significant amounts of toxic mercury. The agency said the high cost wasn’t worth the small gain in saf...

Past work shows exposures to drinking water contaminants can differ among regions with varying sociodemographic composition, in part due to disparities in siting of pollution sources. Drinking water treatment by reverse osmosis, ion exchange, or activated carbon has been recommended by United States (US) regulatory

Past work shows exposures to drinking water contaminants can differ among regions with varying sociodemographic composition, in part due to disparities in siting of pollution sources. Drinking water t...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Alt: a group of people are sitting in a theatre and one of them is screaming the word maha

The discovery of TFA in blood and water samples raises questions about Chemours’ role in adding to the pollution burden.

A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

The EPA proposed approving another pesticide containing forever chemicals for crops such as canola, corn, soybeans, and wheat.

Despite a federal hiring freeze, the Trump administration just appointed a scientist who calls Vance one of his “closest friends” to head the nation’s key environmental health research arm.

The remote village of Kipnuk planned to use the money to protect against flooding. On Sunday, it was inundated.

Federal cuts to research on environmental justice in the United States mean that addressing disparities in exposure to drinking water contaminants requires collaboration between academic, community, ...

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