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Trump administration considers rolling back chemical plant safeguards

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Thursday, March 6, 2025

The Trump administration will consider rolling back Biden-era regulations that increased safeguards for workers at chemical plants, it announced in a legal filing on Thursday. The Trump administration asked a court to pause legal challenges to the 2024 safety rules while it “undertakes a new rulemaking.” It said that as part of this rulemaking it will “reassess elements of the underlying rule challenged here.” It’s not entirely clear what exactly the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would rewrite — if anything. The agency declined to comment further. However, the last Trump administration significantly weakened safety standards at chemical plants. The standards in question apply to 12,000 industrial facilities, including chemical manufacturers and distributors, oil refineries, food and beverage manufacturers and agricultural supply distributors. Rules were initially tightened under the Obama administration after a 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in Texas killed 15 people When it rolled back the rule the first time, the Trump administration argued that there was “little data supporting the claimed benefits” of the safety regulation. However, in restoring the protections and adding new ones, the Biden administration said that it was implementing the “strongest safety requirements ever for industrial facilities.” And the latest news received pushback from environmental advocates, who argue that making changes could result in more chemical disasters. “It would mean a real disservice to communities, first responders and workers,” said Adam Kron, an attorney with Earthjustice. “It would put them in greater harm’s way from these chemical disasters.” Earthjustice is part of a coalition of environmental groups that tracks chemical disasters. This coalition has found that since January 2021, there have been more than 1,100 chemical incidents. The news of a potential rewrite comes days after Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, in which he vowed to take on toxic chemicals, saying, “our goal is to get toxins out of our environment, poisons out of our food supply and keep our children healthy and strong.” He has also repeatedly hammered the Biden administration for its response to a 2023 train derailment that released toxic substances into East Palestine, Ohio. Yet that rhetoric also comes as Trump has pledged broad deregulatory action, which could clash with upholding chemical safeguards. While the East Palestine disaster was related to a moving train rather than a chemical plant, Kron said there is “a hypocrisy in really acting concerned around the East Palestine disaster” while scaling back chemical safety rules.

The Trump administration will consider rolling back Biden-era regulations that increased safeguards for workers at chemical plants, it announced in a legal filing on Thursday.

The Trump administration asked a court to pause legal challenges to the 2024 safety rules while it “undertakes a new rulemaking.”

It said that as part of this rulemaking it will “reassess elements of the underlying rule challenged here.”

It’s not entirely clear what exactly the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would rewrite — if anything. The agency declined to comment further.

However, the last Trump administration significantly weakened safety standards at chemical plants.

The standards in question apply to 12,000 industrial facilities, including chemical manufacturers and distributors, oil refineries, food and beverage manufacturers and agricultural supply distributors.

Rules were initially tightened under the Obama administration after a 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in Texas killed 15 people

When it rolled back the rule the first time, the Trump administration argued that there was “little data supporting the claimed benefits” of the safety regulation.

However, in restoring the protections and adding new ones, the Biden administration said that it was implementing the “strongest safety requirements ever for industrial facilities.”

And the latest news received pushback from environmental advocates, who argue that making changes could result in more chemical disasters.

“It would mean a real disservice to communities, first responders and workers,” said Adam Kron, an attorney with Earthjustice. “It would put them in greater harm’s way from these chemical disasters.”

Earthjustice is part of a coalition of environmental groups that tracks chemical disasters. This coalition has found that since January 2021, there have been more than 1,100 chemical incidents.

The news of a potential rewrite comes days after Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, in which he vowed to take on toxic chemicals, saying, “our goal is to get toxins out of our environment, poisons out of our food supply and keep our children healthy and strong.”

He has also repeatedly hammered the Biden administration for its response to a 2023 train derailment that released toxic substances into East Palestine, Ohio.

Yet that rhetoric also comes as Trump has pledged broad deregulatory action, which could clash with upholding chemical safeguards.

While the East Palestine disaster was related to a moving train rather than a chemical plant, Kron said there is “a hypocrisy in really acting concerned around the East Palestine disaster” while scaling back chemical safety rules.

Read the full story here.

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Trump Administration Likely to Drop Chloroprene Lawsuit. Here’s What That Means

Trump could drop a federal lawsuit against a petrochemical plant that emits chloroprene. Here’s a look at the cancer-causing chemical

What Is Chloroprene, the Cancer-Causing Chemical at the Center of a Federal Lawsuit?Trump could drop a federal lawsuit against a petrochemical plant that emits chloroprene. Here’s a look at the cancer-causing chemicalBy Stephanie Pappas edited by Jeanna BrynerYoga mats can be made out of the synthetic rubber neoprene, natural rubber and other materials. The Trump administration may soon drop a federal lawsuit against a Louisiana petrochemical plant to reduce its emissions of chloroprene, a cancer-causing chemical that has been at the heart of a roughly decade-long environmental justice battle.Chloroprene is a volatile liquid made of chlorine and carbon atoms. When its molecules are linked together to form chains in a process called polymerization, they form polychloroprene—better known as neoprene, a common synthetic rubber that is widely used in wetsuits and other protective gear. Neoprene is relatively inert and resists degradation, and it is used in clothing, masks and accessories. But during neoprene’s production, the crucial ingredient chloroprene can enter the air because of its volatility. An early reported occurrence of high occupational exposure to chloroprene occurred in 1973, when airborne concentrations of the chemical reached up to 24,470 micrograms per cubic meter (24,470 µg/m3) within one manufacturing plant that was monitored by scientists.Chloroprene’s carcinogenic risk was first noted in the 1970s, when exposed workers started turning up with high rates of cancer. A 1978 study on 234 male neoprene plant workers in the U.S. found 12 deaths from cancer over a 15-year period, three deaths more than would be expected compared to the rate among the company’s workers as a whole. The rate of cancer of the urinary organs in particular raised red flags: Five of the exposed men died of such cancers over 15 years, far higher than the expected rate of one death every 30 years for a similar population that was not exposed to chloroprene. Research on exposed workers in shoe manufacturing factories in Russia linked chloroprene exposure to liver cancer, kidney cancer and leukemia.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Animal studies have also shown that either ingesting or inhaling chloroprene can cause cancer. In 2010 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified the chemical as a likely human carcinogen. According to the studies the EPA reviewed in that analysis, chloroprene is probably a mutagen—an agent that can damage DNA or trigger genetic mutations.The EPA set a maximum allowed chloroprene exposure level at 0.2 µg/m3 over 70 years in an attempt to keep the additional cancer risk from exposure below 100 cases per every million people. In 2023 the agency filed a lawsuit against the only plant that emits chloroprene in the U.S.: a former DuPont site that is now owned by the Japanese company Denka in Reserve, La. According to the lawsuit, monitoring found that this Denka Performance Elastomer plant consistently released up to 14 times the maximum allowed amount of chloroprene in the surrounding community. Now the New York Times has reported that the Department of Justice is likely to withdraw that lawsuit as part of its move to axe environmental justice programs. Census Tract 708, where the plant is located, is about 91 percent Black.“I’m upset, and I just cannot sleep at night,” says Robert Taylor, who was born in Reserve in 1940. Taylor is the founder of Concerned Citizens of St. John, an advocacy group he started in 2016 after learning about the health dangers of chloroprene. “I remember the suffering of my mother with the cancer. My wife got the cancer; my sister got the cancer; my brother [did]. I look around me, at my neighbors. It is a nightmare.”Reserve sits in “Cancer Alley,” a corridor of petrochemical plants where cancer rates are particularly high. While some advocates for industry blame residents’ health behaviors for these high rates, a 2022 study in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that after controlling for occupation, smoking and obesity, cancer incidence was higher in census tracts with more exposure to toxic compounds in air pollution. And these highly exposed populations were more likely to be predominantly Black.The U.S. national cancer rate is about 440 cases each year per 100,000 people in the same age range as Louisiana’s population, says Kimberly Terrell, the study’s lead author and a research scientist at the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. Louisiana averages higher than that, Terrell says— around 480 cases per 100,000 people per year. In Cancer Alley, though, the numbers look even worse.“The most polluted census tracts that we looked at had an average overall rate above 500,” Terrell says.There is also evidence tying the Denka plant, in particular, to cancer risk. In 2021 a study published in the journal Environmental Justice found higher cancer incidence closer to the plant. The study researchers surveyed households within a 1.5-kilometer radius of the plant and those located between 1.5 and 2.5 km from it. They then compared the reported cancer numbers in these zones with national averages of Americans, matched to age, race and sex. They found an unusually high cancer rate within the entire study area—9.7 percent of residents reported a cancer diagnosis within the past 23 years—and the rate worsened with closer proximity to the plant. “The levels of cancer in Zone 1 [near the plant] are much more unusual, compared to national cancer statistics, than the levels in Zone 2,” says Ruhan Nagra, an associate professor of law at the University of Utah, who led the study.Denka has argued that the EPA has set its limit for chloroprene exposure too low. A 2020 study partially funded by the company asserted that mice (which were used in the animal studies of the chemical) are more susceptible to cancer from chloroprene than humans and that the exposure limit should be more than 100 times higher than 0.2 µg/m3. (The lead author of that study did not respond to an interview request). In 2022 the EPA declined to change its exposure limit after an independent peer review of Denka’s toxicology claims, with reviewers finding that the company’s methodology did not support it assertions of reduced cancer risk.A lawyer for Denka declined to comment on the possible withdrawal of the lawsuit. Taylor says he and his fellow advocates have felt overwhelmed by the developments. “This country has abandoned us to the vagaries of the petrochemical industry,” he says.“Who decided to sacrifice us and to whom?” Taylor adds. “Who are the beneficiaries of my three-year-old great-grandson, who, at 2.5 years old, had already exceeded the 70-year level of exposure to these chemicals? ... Me and my board of directors, we’re in emergency mode. We know we have to come together and come up with some plans. We cannot lay down for this.”

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IACHR Warned of Rising Femicides and Judicial Stagnation in Costa Rica

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) assessed human rights conditions in Costa Rica through a public hearing, where several organizations shared their perspectives and concerns. The event, conducted in a regional context marked by the weakening of the rule of law and democratic institutions, highlighted the challenges facing the country. During the session, civil society organizations presented the main challenges confronting the nation, emphasizing the differential impact on vulnerable populations such as indigenous peoples, LGBTIQ+ individuals, women, children, adolescents, and people in situations of human mobility. The issues addressed included budget cuts in key sectors, setbacks in the protection of rights, and the lack of a state response to problems such as gender violence, discrimination, and the environmental crisis. The organizations denounced that the budget of the Ministry of Public Education had been reduced from 5.25% to 4.98%, directly affecting children and adolescents. This cut limits access to quality education and perpetuates socioeconomic inequalities, especially in marginalized communities. Additionally, the reduction of resources allocated to the National Child Welfare Agency (PANI) was reported, in a context where incidents of violence against minors have increased. This situation leaves thousands of children unprotected, violating their fundamental rights and exposing them to greater risks. Regarding the judiciary, the organizations pointed out the stagnation of the judiciary’s budget, despite the expansion of its competencies. The hearing also underscored setbacks in protecting women’s rights in Costa Rica. The organizations denounced the rise in femicides and the barriers women face in accessing justice, reflecting a lack of an effective state response to gender-based violence. Furthermore, it was noted that the rights of the LGBTIQ+ population are at risk due to the elimination of key protections, the threat of repealing anti-discrimination policies, and the dismantling of educational programs that promote inclusion and respect for diversity. On the issue of human mobility, the organizations denounced Costa Rica’s role in the detention and reception of individuals expelled by the United States and the historical debts in accessing the rights of migrants and refugees, highlighting the excessive time required to obtain recognition of refugee status. In environmental matters, the organizations warned of a water crisis exacerbated by agrochemical contamination and the lack of continuous access to drinking water, particularly in areas experiencing socioeconomic inequalities. They also raised concerns about the pressure on protected areas due to illegal logging and the expansion of real estate developments in coastal regions, which adversely affect fragile ecosystems and intensify conflicts in indigenous territories. The post IACHR Warned of Rising Femicides and Judicial Stagnation in Costa Rica appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

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Study: The ozone hole is healing, thanks to global reduction of CFCs

New results show with high statistical confidence that ozone recovery is going strong.

A new MIT-led study confirms that the Antarctic ozone layer is healing, as a direct result of global efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances.Scientists including the MIT team have observed signs of ozone recovery in the past. But the new study is the first to show, with high statistical confidence, that this recovery is due primarily to the reduction of ozone-depleting substances, versus other influences such as natural weather variability or increased greenhouse gas emissions to the stratosphere.“There’s been a lot of qualitative evidence showing that the Antarctic ozone hole is getting better. This is really the first study that has quantified confidence in the recovery of the ozone hole,” says study author Susan Solomon, the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Chemistry. “The conclusion is, with 95 percent confidence, it is recovering. Which is awesome. And it shows we can actually solve environmental problems.”The new study appears today in the journal Nature. Graduate student Peidong Wang from the Solomon group in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) is the lead author. His co-authors include Solomon and EAPS Research Scientist Kane Stone, along with collaborators from multiple other institutions.Roots of ozone recoveryWithin the Earth’s stratosphere, ozone is a naturally occurring gas that acts as a sort of sunscreen, protecting the planet from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. In 1985, scientists discovered a “hole” in the ozone layer over Antarctica that opened up during the austral spring, between September and December. This seasonal ozone depletion was suddenly allowing UV rays to filter down to the surface, leading to skin cancer and other adverse health effects.In 1986, Solomon, who was then working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), led expeditions to the Antarctic, where she and her colleagues gathered evidence that quickly confirmed the ozone hole’s cause: chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs — chemicals that were then used in refrigeration, air conditioning, insulation, and aerosol propellants. When CFCs drift up into the stratosphere, they can break down ozone under certain seasonal conditions.The following year, those relevations led to the drafting of the Montreal Protocol — an international treaty that aimed to phase out the production of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances, in hopes of healing the ozone hole.In 2016, Solomon led a study reporting key signs of ozone recovery. The ozone hole seemed to be shrinking with each year, especially in September, the time of year when it opens up. Still, these observations were qualitative. The study showed large uncertainties regarding how much of this recovery was due to concerted efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances, or if the shrinking ozone hole was a result of other “forcings,” such as year-to-year weather variability from El Niño, La Niña, and the polar vortex.“While detecting a statistically significant increase in ozone is relatively straightforward, attributing these changes to specific forcings is more challenging,” says Wang.Anthropogenic healingIn their new study, the MIT team took a quantitative approach to identify the cause of Antarctic ozone recovery. The researchers borrowed a method from the climate change community, known as “fingerprinting,” which was pioneered by Klaus Hasselmann, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021 for the technique. In the context of climate, fingerprinting refers to a method that isolates the influence of specific climate factors, apart from natural, meteorological noise. Hasselmann applied fingerprinting to identify, confirm, and quantify the anthropogenic fingerprint of climate change.Solomon and Wang looked to apply the fingerprinting method to identify another anthropogenic signal: the effect of human reductions in ozone-depleting substances on the recovery of the ozone hole.“The atmosphere has really chaotic variability within it,” Solomon says. “What we’re trying to detect is the emerging signal of ozone recovery against that kind of variability, which also occurs in the stratosphere.”The researchers started with simulations of the Earth’s atmosphere and generated multiple “parallel worlds,” or simulations of the same global atmosphere, under different starting conditions. For instance, they ran simulations under conditions that assumed no increase in greenhouse gases or ozone-depleting substances. Under these conditions, any changes in ozone should be the result of natural weather variability. They also ran simulations with only increasing greenhouse gases, as well as only decreasing ozone-depleting substances.They compared these simulations to observe how ozone in the Antarctic stratosphere changed, both with season, and across different altitudes, in response to different starting conditions. From these simulations, they mapped out the times and altitudes where ozone recovered from month to month, over several decades, and identified a key “fingerprint,” or pattern, of ozone recovery that was specifically due to conditions of declining ozone-depleting substances.The team then looked for this fingerprint in actual satellite observations of the Antarctic ozone hole from 2005 to the present day. They found that, over time, the fingerprint that they identified in simulations became clearer and clearer in observations. In 2018, the fingerprint was at its strongest, and the team could say with 95 percent confidence that ozone recovery was due mainly to reductions in ozone-depleting substances.“After 15 years of observational records, we see this signal to noise with 95 percent confidence, suggesting there’s only a very small chance that the observed pattern similarity can be explained by variability noise,” Wang says. “This gives us confidence in the fingerprint. It also gives us confidence that we can solve environmental problems. What we can learn from ozone studies is how different countries can swiftly follow these treaties to decrease emissions.”If the trend continues, and the fingerprint of ozone recovery grows stronger, Solomon anticipates that soon there will be a year, here and there, when the ozone layer stays entirely intact. And eventually, the ozone hole should stay shut for good.“By something like 2035, we might see a year when there’s no ozone hole depletion at all in the Antarctic. And that will be very exciting for me,” she says. “And some of you will see the ozone hole go away completely in your lifetimes. And people did that.”This research was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation and NASA.

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Video op-ed: Communities in a newly-revealed cancer cluster in Texas deserve justice

Highlands, Texas is a small community on the outskirts of Houston that sits beside the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site. The two pits, just shy of 34 acres combined, were originally built in the 1960s to house waste materials from a paper mill. Last month, based on a request from The Texas Health and Environment Alliance (THEA), the State of Texas released a cancer rate assessment that determined that a 250-square-mile area along the San Jacinto River, including the Superfund Site, is a cancer cluster. “Highlands, Texas, is on the banks next to the Superfund Site and has just been gutted by one environmental problem after another,” Ken Wells, an organizer with THEA, told EHN. The waste pits are contaminated with cancer-causing dioxins and furans, resulting in the areas becoming classified as a Superfund Site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2008. Former EPA Administrator Earthea Nance called the pits “one of the most complex Superfund sites in the nation.” In addition to the waste pits, the San Jacinto River is situated within the nation’s petrochemical corridor along the Houston Ship Channel. The 52-mile long channel hosts more than 600 petrochemical plants that produce products like plastics, fertilizers, and pesticides. Pollution from these industries pose numerous environmental health concerns, including increased exposure to other carcinogens like benzene. The Texas Health and Environment Alliance (THEA) was founded by former Highlands resident Jackie Medcalf to provide communities with the technical and regulatory expertise needed to make environmental laws work for them. THEA produced this video op-ed to highlight the cumulative impacts of multi-source pollution on environmental health in Highlands, Texas.

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Efforts to decrease wood burning in Portland not exactly catching fire

Efforts to decrease the use of wood stoves and wood-burning fireplaces in Portland seem to have had little effect, according to preliminary results from a new state survey.

Efforts to decrease wood burning in Portland not exactly catching fireThey produce more harmful particulate matter than diesel trucks and cigarette smoke. They release carbon dioxide and other toxic chemicals that can lead to dire health and climate outcomes. Yet efforts to decrease the use of wood stoves and wood-burning fireplaces in Portland seem to have had little effect. Preliminary results from a new state survey show more people across the state burned wood as compared to a 2021 survey. The wood-burning increase is especially pronounced in urban areas where people are using more wood fireplaces, fireplace inserts, wood stoves and pellet stoves in single-family detached homes. There’s also a smaller increase in the use of wood stoves in single-family detached homes in rural areas, according to the data, obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The reasons for the rise in burning could be many, state officials say, from the climbing costs of electricity and an increase in power outages to Oregon’s deep ties to the timber industry and easy-to-get and relatively cheap wood. Plus, people simply like the look and feel of fireplaces and wood stoves. The upturn is disheartening to public health officials in Multnomah County who for nearly six years have regulated wood burning, educated residents about its dangers and, more recently, have spent more than $1 million to help swap stoves and fireplaces for heat pumps. Wood burning is one of the leading sources of air pollution in Multnomah County during the winter heating season, said John Wasiutynski, the county’s Office of Sustainability director. “People don’t smell poison, they smell nostalgia,” Wasiutynski said. “But we can’t have clean air if we have wood burning.” Clearly, it’s hard to part people from the tradition, he said. An estimated 1% of Multnomah County’s 343,370 homes – or 3,434 households – use wood as their primary heat source, according to the DEQ.But that number doesn’t include the countless households that use wood as a secondary heat source or for pleasure, ambiance or aesthetic purposes, Wasiutynski said. The wood combustion survey, conducted every three years by Oregon State University in conjunction with the DEQ, offers a more complex picture of wood-burning trends. The survey asks a sampling of state residents whether they use wood-burning devices, what type and how much wood they burn. The data was collected last summer. Survey results are used to help develop a statewide emissions inventory of air pollutants, which the state submits to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a part of the National Emissions Inventory. WORSE THAN TRUCKS, CARS COMBINEDThere are compelling reasons to ditch heating with wood, public health officials say. The EPA says residential wood smoke emits more fine particulate matter – also called PM2.5 – than cars, diesel trucks, tractors and bulldozers combined and five times more than petroleum refineries, cement manufacturers and pulp and paper plants combined. The tiny airborne particles, which can be inhaled deep into the lungs, can cause or exacerbate serious health problems, including asthma, severe bronchitis, heart and lung disease and can lead to premature death, according to the American Lung Association. People over 65, children, pregnant women and those with existing lung or heart conditions are most at risk. Burning wood also releases volatile organic compounds – toxic gases that vaporize into the air – that can cause cancer and other adverse health effects, nitrogen oxides and cancer-causing benzene and formaldehyde, according to the EPA. The chemicals and the particulate matter degrade indoor air quality for the families that burn wood and also make the air outside sooty and stinky for countless neighbors. It’s especially dire on days with air stagnation and temperature inversions when warm air sits on top of cold air, causing pollution from the wood devices to stick close to the ground, Wasiutynski said.“If I had to choose, would I rather my neighbor idle a modern diesel truck in his yard or fire up his fireplace? I’m going to choose the diesel truck because it’s actually going to be less polluting,” he said. Though the EPA in 2018 declared that wood burning is “carbon neutral” – because trees die naturally and can be replanted to reabsorb carbon – that declaration was focused on the biomass industry that burns wood products for energy, including to produce wood pellets for stoves. Environmental groups have pushed back, saying wood smoke adds carbon dioxide, black carbon and methane to the air, pollutants that contribute significantly to climate change. Data from the state Department of Environmental Quality also shows that residential wood burning has a disproportionately harmful impact on Latino and Black residents in Oregon, Wasiutynski said. And newer or “eco-friendly” stoves, fireplaces and inserts certified to comply with higher emission standards aren’t necessarily that much cleaner. 10 states sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging its testing and certification program for home wood heaters is ineffective. APIn 2023, Oregon and nine other states sued the EPA, alleging both that the federal agency’s current standards aren’t good enough and that its wood-stove testing and certification program fails to ensure that new wood-burning stoves actually comply with the emission limits. In October, the EPA and the states reached a settlement, with the agency agreeing to reassess how it tests wood stoves and to propose new standards within a reasonable timeframe. Given the Trump administration’s priorities, it’s unlikely new standards will be proposed anytime soon, Wasiutynski said. RISE IN URBAN BURNINGThe increase in urban wood burning in the state survey indicates people may not know or care about the controversies over certified stoves. Chris Varley, a spokesperson with the DEQ’s air quality division, said the state agency is still analyzing the reasons behind the increase, including looking at whether the 2023-2024 winter just before data was collected was particularly cold and whether the rapid rise in electricity costs could have influenced the type of fuel people use to heat their homes. Varley said the state will continue to focus on educating residents about wood burning’s health impacts and helping them choose more efficient stoves or switching to heat pumps. “Awareness about the harms of wood burning is still just really slow to take hold in our consciousness,” he said. “We know wood smoke is bad and we want to do everything we can to help residents transition to cleaner alternatives.” Johnny Chen, the director of Oregon State’s Center for Marketing & Consumer Insights, said the survey has undergone some changes to make it more accurate and would need to be replicated in three years to more conclusively address whether Oregonians are burning more wood. Chen also said because the survey’s sampling procedure did a better job of capturing respondents from eastern Oregon than the previous survey, this could account for some of the rise in the number of people having a fireplace, a fireplace insert or a wood stove, as homes in that part of the state are more likely to have wood-burning heat sources. Additionally, said Chen, the 2021 survey was likely affected by COVID-19, as people spending more time at home may have altered their heating choices. The survey findings don’t come as a surprise to Wasiutynski, who attributes the rise in urban wood burning to more affluent people buying wood fireplaces and wood stoves. For some, the fire crackling and smell of wood burning seem to hold an almost primordial attraction. For others, it’s a way to recreate a cozy or romantic feel, he said.Then there’s also a new trend, driven by extreme weather – the ice storms in recent years – of wood burning increasingly used as an emergency backup, a way to keep the house warm during power outages, he said. For survey respondents who indicated they had an alternative heating option, wood was the most common source. That may not be a bad thing, Wasiutynski said, as long as people are using the wood-burning devices once or twice a year, that they’re using them properly and that they’re aware their fireplaces and stoves – no matter how modern or efficient – are still polluting and harmful to their and their neighbors’ health. “People have a perception that wood burning is green,” Wasiutynski said. “It’s not. That’s a bitter pill for Oregonians to swallow.” SPREADING THE WORDThe county has been trying to spread that message since 2018 when it passed an ordinance to prevent wood burning on the worst air quality days. Multnomah County issues mandatory wood burning restrictionsThe measure exempts low-income households and those using wood burning as their primary source of heat, for food preparation, for ceremonial reasons or for emergencies such as power outages.In November 2022, the county launched a wood-burning exchange pilot program to replace wood-burning devices with energy-efficient heat pumps. The program focused on neighborhoods most affected by wood smoke and residents with limited means to change their home heating systems.Over the past two years, the program replaced 127 wood-burning devices in 115 homes (some homes had more than one wood-burning source) at a cost of $1.4 million. A crew from Advance Design Build installs heat pump infrastructure at the home of a Southeast Portland family that has burned wood for heat for decades. The heat pump came courtesy of Multnomah County's wood stove exchange program. Austin De Dios The Oregonian/OregonLiveThe funding came via Oregon’s Community Heat Pump Deployment Program, a $500,000 federal grant through the American Rescue Plan Act and additional grants from the state Department of Environmental Quality. The county funded a position that administered the program. But the state and federal money are drying up. Given the county’s fiscal woes, it’s likely the wood stove exchange program will be discontinued, Wasiutynski said. Portland nonprofits may be able to continue the work, though the details are yet to be finalized and other cities in Multnomah County won’t be able to participate, he said. Wasiutynski said he hopes the county and the state will continue to educate residents about the harms of wood burning. “The climate crisis is making exposure to smoke from wood, due to forest fires, more common in the summer and fall, making reductions in wintertime emissions associated with residential wood burning all the more important,” he said. — Gosia Wozniacka covers environmental justice, climate change, the clean energy transition and other environmental issues. Reach her at gwozniacka@oregonian.com or 971-421-3154.Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com.

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The Story of Plastic

A searing expose uncovering the ugly truth behind the global plastic pollution crisis. Striking footage shot over three continents illustrates the ongoing catastrophe: fields full of garbage, veritable mountains of trash; rivers and seas clogged with waste; and skies choked with poisons from plastic production and recycling processes with no end in sight. Original animations, interviews with experts and activists, and never-before-filmed scenes reveal the disastrous consequences of the plastic flood around the world – and the global movement rising up in response.

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928 The Threat Continues...

Since the 1950s deadly nuclear fallout has threatened millions of Americans from nuclear fallout carried east in the atmosphere across the United States, from the Nevada Test Site. “928 The Threat Continues...” tells the story of massive contamination from concentrated nuclear fallout that rained down during heavy storms, on communities and major cities for 40 years. Hundreds of thousands of cancer cases and deaths were the result. The Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Energy knew the truth, but covered it up. Multiple generations may still face the long-term affects. Through current interviews with scientific experts and surviving victims across the country, plus footage from historic interviews with victims, whistle-blower scientists and journalists, we tell the devastating story of those affected by the deadly radioactive fallout. In Act 3, obscure government videos from US government websites reveal that the threat of cancer death to Americans from Nevada Test Site contamination continues even today! NTS has been renamed, the Nevada National Security Site or NNSS. Presidential administrations from Harry Truman to the present day have kept the highly contaminated former Nevada Test Site operating. Donald Trump while in office ordered the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to start testing newly designed battlefield nuclear weapons at the NNSS despite the existence of The Non-Proliferation Treaty – 1970. Not withstanding the treaty, the extremely reckless aboveground testing area at the NNSS called Big Explosives Experimental Facility or B.E.E.F. tests non-nuclear bombs that send tons of highly contaminated nuclear dirt 10,000 feet into the atmosphere where the winds carry it east. It needs to be stopped now! The film asks viewers to inform their congressman and vote.

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Toxic Business

A documentary on the profits international chemical companies are gaining in Africa at cost of the health of small-scaled-farmers and consumers.International chemical companies sell high toxic agro-chemicals in Kenya, which are banned since long in Europe. They are banned because their ingredients cause cancer and have a major negative impact on the nature and environment. Anyhow – in developing countries like Kenya those toxic chemicals are sold without any regulations through small agro-shops all over the country. The small scaled farmers do believe in the promises of better and safer harvest those companies give. Today, the use of pesticides even inside the villages is already a daily business. Furthermore many of them already depend on hybrid seeds, old and resistant seeds supplants. Most of the consumers do not have the knowledge, how dangerous those agro-chemicals are: the WHO announced that annually 346.000 people die, caused by accidentally poisoning with those chemicals, 2/3 of them within developing countries.In the face of world food, industry is trying to push its way into the markets. On the contrary, statistics and alternative farming methods in East Africa show that it no longer needs chemicals and hybrid seeds to feed the world, but a general rethinking.

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Business

Sprayed

An exploration of what happens when whole communities get exposed to toxins: Naled sprayed on Miami residents to fight Zika virus, Agent Orange sprayed on the Vietcong, and release of GMO mosquitoes in Brazil with pyriproxyfen added to drinking water to fight dengue. What are the results for nature and humanity? We meet Agent Orange survivors at Vietnamese detoxification and rehabilitation centers, parents of babies born with microcephaly from Zika virus, and Florida residents dealing with efforts to kill mosquitoes carrying Zika virus. Perspectives of doctors, scientists, and politicians are balanced with voices of ordinary citizens and victims to explore concerns about the potential impact on current and future generations.

Chemicals

Health

Science

Bag It

Bag It examines our society’s use and abuse of plastic. The theme of the film focuses on plastic as it relates to our society’s throw away mentality, our culture of convenience, and our over consumption of throwaway products and packaging—things that we use one time and then, without another thought, we throw them away. Bag It offers a candid view of the disturbing realities of our culture. And, it suggests concrete solutions to our plastic addiction. The film will raise public awareness on the many issues related to plastic and inspire change, both on the individual level and on the public policy level.

Chemicals

Waste

Culture

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Trump administration considers rolling back chemical plant safeguards

Related News

Trump Administration Likely to Drop Chloroprene Lawsuit. Here’s What That Means

IACHR Warned of Rising Femicides and Judicial Stagnation in Costa Rica

Study: The ozone hole is healing, thanks to global reduction of CFCs

Video op-ed: Communities in a newly-revealed cancer cluster in Texas deserve justice

Efforts to decrease wood burning in Portland not exactly catching fire

Suggested Viewing

The Story of Plastic

928 The Threat Continues...

Toxic Business

Sprayed

Bag It

Join us to forgea sustainable future

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Join us to forge
a sustainable future