Environmental Pollution

[indago]

From The Associated Press 19 December 2015:
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Beijing was enveloped in eye-watering, throat-irritating smog on Saturday as the second red alert of the month went into effect in the Chinese capital, forcing many cars off the roads and restricting factory production. ...Scientific studies attribute 1.4 million premature deaths per year to China's smog, or almost 4,000 per day.
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article (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_SMOG?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-19-09-00-27)

Our manufacturers have moved production overseas and no more have to deal with the pollution crisis, and environmental regulations. Let the Asians deal with it, and then blame them for the climate change crisis.

[sundaydriver]

Schools were also closed in Tehran due to smog last week.

[Drummond]

From The Associated Press 19 December 2015:
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Beijing was enveloped in eye-watering, throat-irritating smog on Saturday as the second red alert of the month went into effect in the Chinese capital, forcing many cars off the roads and restricting factory production. ...Scientific studies attribute 1.4 million premature deaths per year to China's smog, or almost 4,000 per day.

Some incautious sock-changing may have been involved, I suspect ... :eek:

[indago]

Flint Crisis


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwVO3mn5QR4



Latest Revelation (http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/let-it-rip/84687143-story)

[indago]

From The Associated Press 1 March 2016:
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A judge will hear arguments in two weeks on a request to stop Flint from charging people for water during the lead crisis. Attorneys representing Beatrice Boler and other residents are seeking an injunction. They say Flint is sending bills despite supplying "undrinkable" water.
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article (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FLINT_WATER_BILLS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-01-22-00-03)

[Perianne]

From The Associated Press 1 March 2016:
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A judge will hear arguments in two weeks on a request to stop Flint from charging people for water during the lead crisis. Attorneys representing Beatrice Boler and other residents are seeking an injunction. They say Flint is sending bills despite supplying "undrinkable" water.
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article (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FLINT_WATER_BILLS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-01-22-00-03)

This has been a very interesting situation. It seems the worst culprit is the big government EPA.

[indago]

Journalist Julie Bosman wrote for The New York Times 23 March 2016:
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An independent panel investigating the Flint water crisis laid blame directly on Gov. Rick Snyder’s office, concluding that inept state employees in charge of supervising water quality and state-appointed emergency managers ignored mounting problems with the city water supply and stubbornly disregarded signs of widespread contamination.

The task force, which described the effects of the crisis as “long-lasting,” also concluded that environmental injustice had contributed to the government’s slow-footed response to complaints from Flint residents about the foul and discolored water that was making them sick.

“Flint residents, who are majority black or African-American and among the most impoverished of any metropolitan area in the United States, did not enjoy the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards as that provided to other communities,” the report concluded.
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article (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/us/flint-water-crisis.html?_r=0)

[indago]

Journalist David Eggert wrote for The Associated Press 20 April 2016:
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For nearly 18 months after Flint's water source was switched while the city was under state financial management, residents drank and bathed with improperly treated water that coursed through aging pipes and fixtures, releasing toxic lead. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder announced in October that the city would return from the Flint River to its earlier source of treated water, the Detroit municipal system. But by that time, dangerously high levels of the toxic metal had been detected in the blood of some residents, including children, for whom it can cause lower IQs and behavioral problems.
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article (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FLINT_WATER_CHARGES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-20-02-27-49)

Criminal charges have been brought against three officials.

Criminal Charges (http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/flint-water-crisis/attorney-general-schuette-to-make-announcement-wednesday-in-flint-water-investigation)

[indago]

From The New York Times 30 April 2016:
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A Potent Side Effect to the Flint Water Crisis: Mental Health Problems — Health care workers are scrambling to help the people here cope with what many fear will be chronic consequences of the city’s water contamination crisis: profound stress, worry, depression and guilt. ...“I teach a fifth-grade class of little girls every Wednesday, and they’re from Flint,” Ms. Breckenridge said, “and I just get all kinds of questions because they’re terrified.”

...“Are we going to get cancer from this?" ...‘Did my kids deserve this?’ ...‘This thing will never be over.’
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article (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/us/flint-michigan-water-crisis-mental-health.html?ref=todayspaper)