environmental protection agency

A federal law blamed in part for slowing the response to the Flint water crisis is getting a major revision.

Andrew Wheeler is the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator.

During a press conference Tuesday, Wheeler says the updated Lead and Copper Rule, or LCR, will lower the lead contamination level requiring a response and require testing of drinking water in schools and child care facilities.

Muskegon Lake was designated an Area of Concern by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in 1985. For decades now, state and local groups have been completing a wide variety of projects in order to clean up the area and get it off the Areas of Concern list. One of the groups that’s been working on projects to restore the lake, the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Corporation, says that its goal is to have all of the projects completed by the end of 2021, and off the EPA’s list shortly thereafter.

Federal and state environmental agencies have agreed on a groundwater cleanup plan for a site in Madison Heights where a toxic green-ooze leaked onto I-696 last year.

The green ooze seeped from a former electroplating business.  

Since last December, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has collected more than a quarter million gallons of contaminated groundwater from the site.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) are in the Midland area to assess the damage from the flooding there.

Nick Assendelft is a spokesman for EGLE. He says one of the first priorities is helping people who are cleaning out their homes and businesses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is suspending enforcement of some environmental laws duing the COVID-19 outbreak.

The State of Michigan’s environmental agency will still provide regulatory oversight.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicates it will take years to regulate PFAS in drinking water, if it does at all. 

The USEPA has proposed to regulate two forms of the thousands of chemicals in the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances family. PFOA and PFOS were the most commonly used.

On December 20, a neon green slime was discovered leaking onto I-696 in Madison Heights. 

Michigan’s efforts to combat PFAS contamination could get a boost from a bill up for a vote on Friday in the U.S. House of Representatives.  

Gary Sayers, the owner of a Madison Heights electroplating company, has been sentenced to a year in prison. 

That's after he violated hazardous waste storage laws for more than two decades.

Environmental Protection Agency employees at a Grosse Ile facility will not be returning to work on Monday. The Large Lakes Research Station was closed on Wednesday, despite backlash from local, state, and federal politicians. The Grosse Ile workers were supposed to move to an emissions testing facility in Ann Arbor, but many are concerned about the safety of the facility, as they have yet to receive results from air quality testing.

Michigan is joining nearly two dozen other states and several cities suing the Trump Administration over its decision to relax rules on fossil fuels fueled power plants emissions.

U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin introduced a bill that aims to monitor PFAS in drinking water.

The Democratic congresswoman’s bill seeks to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act. If passed it would require public water systems to test for at least 30 types of PFAS.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has named the former McLouth Steel site in Trenton to its Superfund National Priorities List.

That list is reserved for sites with the most serious or uncontrolled legacy contamination. The contamination on the southern end of the property is from steel-making processes and an acid pickling line operation, according to the EPA.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently seeking public comment on an application for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) to set their own water quality standards. The KBIC is based out of L'Anse Township in the Upper Peninsula.

State and local officials updated some Grand Rapids residents about possible air pollution in the southwest area of the city on Wednesday night.

The company Viant Medical uses a chemical called ethylene oxide to sterilize medical equipment.

New data shows elevated levels of PFAS in sewers passing through the old Buick City site in Flint.

PFAS are a family of chemicals that have been linked to serious health concerns.   

The term PFAS refers specifically to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, (the term “PFCs,” or perfluorinated chemicals is also sometimes used).

Officials from the EPA, the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services met in Kalamazoo to discuss PFAS chemicals, but only a handful of selected speakers could ask questions and share their thoughts.

Many of the speakers, including officials from Ann Arbor, Parchment, and Oscoda, want the EPA and other federal agencies to move faster to solve the issue.

The EPA is keeping its promise to Michigan residents by holding a meeting in Kalamazoo on Friday to talk about PFAS contamination, but it’s not the meeting residents expected.

For starters, there won’t be a public comment period at the meeting, which will be held from 1-3 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Expo Center on Friday.

This post was updated August 13 at 9:45am with additional information from the MDEQ. 

Several Michigan members of Congress are sending a letter to the Trump administration requesting stronger safeguards for dangerous chemicals in drinking water.

A recent Harvard study found six million Americans are drinking water contaminated with a group of chemicals,  per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, better known as PFAS.

The chemicals have been linked to an increased risk of liver damage and pregnancy problems, among other health issues.

A report on the dangers of PFAS exposure that was suppressed by the EPA was released today.

The report details the health effects of PFAS and recommends the advisory level for these chemicals be made stricter.

Emails that surfaced last month found that the EPA feard a "public relations nightmare" would ensue once the report was made public. 

Water advocacy groups in Michigan concerned about PFAS contamination want Scott Pruitt to resign as head of EPA.

This week, emails surfaced detailing the EPA’s decision to hide a report on the danger of chemicals known as PFAS.

According to the emails, the report was kept under wraps to avoid a “public relations nightmare.”

Chris Coulon, a member of the group Need Our Water – or NOW – says Scott Pruitt should not be allowed to head the EPA after hiding this information from the public.

The Environmental Protection Agency is being pulled into a conflict between the city of Flint and Governor Snyder related to the end of bottled water distribution.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver has sent a letter to EPA Director Chris Korleski, informing him of a decision by state officials to cancel a multi-agency meeting on the city’s water crisis.

Michigan public health experts are calling on Lowe's Home Improvement to voluntarily pull chemical paint strippers containing methylene chloride from their shelves.

The chemical has been banned in Europe since 2012, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently abandoned plans to review the chemical for federal regulation.