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A fertilizer spill into the Nishnabotna River containing 1,500 tons of a liquid nitrogen solution is annihilating the aquatic wildlife in the river, including the portion in Missouri. According to Ecological Health Unit Science Supervisor with the Missouri Department of Conservation Matt Combes, the spill has affected 60 miles of the Nishnabotna River, including the 10 miles in Missouri. Combes said the spill has led to a near total fish kill, with an estimated 40,000 fish dying in the Missouri portion. "That included catfish of the size that anglers like to catch and shovelnose sturgeon... and blue suckers and other...

We’ve seen a few concerning train stories under the Biden administration and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, including the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio that caused environmental damage in the town. Despite Joe Biden making a bizarre comment and then saying he would go, he has yet to visit the town. The administration hasn’t exactly inspired a lot of confidence with the way they have been handling things and they’ve caught a lot of justifiable flak for their delayed and deficient reaction to the disaster. Now add to that a truly weird story on their watch. About 30 tons — or...

Residents in Philadelphia are flocking to local supermarket stores such as Target and Walmart to buy water after a major chemical spill occurred in the Delaware River. On Friday night over 8,000 gallons of latex-based solution spilled into the Delaware River from a chemical plant in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The massive spill caused Philadelphia city officials to send residents an emergency phone alert urging residents to buy bottled water and to not drink their tap water. ------- The emergency alert sent residents of Philadelphia in a frenzy and caused them to flock to local supermarket stores in the area to...

EAST PALESTINE, OH — Government officials are warning residents of East Palestine to protect themselves from deadly health risks by making sure they've received the latest COVID booster. "In light of the ongoing environmental and health crisis in rural Ohio, we are urging all citizens to make sure they are up to date on their vaccinations," said Ohio Health Department spokesperson Danze Pickleton. "The chemicals being spilled into the water and burned into the air are nothing compared to the deadly power of the latest variant XBB.1.5. Get your booster, East Palestinians!" The Ohio DOH reiterated that it's essential to...

Crude was no longer leaking from a Southern California pipeline believed to be the source of a massive oil spill that closed miles of popular beaches on Sunday, according to the head of the company that owns the facility. Divers were still trying to determine where and why the leak occurred, but the flow of oil was stopped late Saturday from the line that runs under the ocean off Huntington Beach, said Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher. At least 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of crude spilled into the waters off Orange County starting late Friday or early Saturday when boaters...

Many curse words heard. Much commotion and irritation ensue. Loud noises from the vacuum cleaner ... And the number that fell in the heating duct remains unknown.

Shortly after the EPA triggered the release, to obscure and limit its own liability, the EPA created the Bonita Peak Mining District—around the Gold King Mine—and made the Superfund designation. Past EPA studies found the area did not merit inclusion on the National Priorities List. ... EPA’s Attempt to Bury its Colorado Gold Mine Disaster is Illegal. ... Mountain States Legal Foundation for its clients ... advised the three-judge panel that the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund statute), designated what it erroneously called the Bonita Peak...

Officials in Southern California are crying foul after more than 140 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Tijuana River in Mexico and flowed north of the border for more than two weeks, according to a report. The spill was caused Feb. 2 during rehabilitation of a sewage collector pipe and wasn't contained until Thursday, the International Boundary and Water Commission said in its report released Friday. The river drains into the Pacific Ocean on the U.S. side. Serge Dedina, the mayor of Imperial Beach, California, said residents of his city and other coastal communities just north of the...

DENVER – The U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado has declined to prosecute an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency over a massive mine wastewater spill that fouled rivers in three states, federal investigators said Wednesday. The EPA's Office of Inspector General disclosed that it had found evidence the unnamed employee may have violated the Clean Water Act and given false statements. However, office spokesman Jeffrey Lagda says federal prosecutors declined to pursue the case. He says that in lieu of prosecution, the case will be sent to senior EPA management for review.

Shell Pipeline crews are still cleaning up from the most recent spill near Interstate 580 and the border between Alameda and San Joaquin counties four days after the 24-inch diameter line broke. Crews with the oil giant were able to complete repairs on the pipe on Monday, according to a Shell official. The San Pablo Bay Pipeline stretches from Coalinga in Fresno County to Martinez. The rupture on the line was first reported at 3 a.m. on Friday, said Lisa Medina, an environmental specialist at the San Joaquin County Environmental Health Department. Shell discovered a drop in pressure in the...

A site run by Denbury Onshore LLC in southwestern North Dakota has spilled more than 120,000 gallons of oil and wastewater into pastureland after a mechanical failure. Some estimated 17,000 gallons of oil and 105,000 gallons of drilling wastewater containing saltwater and chemicals leaked into pastureland near the city of Marmarth when a tank sensor failed, news agencies quoted state regulators as saying. The tank overflowed on Wednesday, and by Friday, workers were excavating the affected pastureland, which is being equated to the size of a football field.

Shell has said it has begun work to repair a fault in a flowline that has resulted in around 2,000 barrels worth of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. More than 88,000 gallons of oily-water mixture has been released from the Glider Field, a group of four underwater oil wells located around 97 miles south of Port Fourchon in Louisiana. The company said it suspects a line connecting these wells to a Shell platform leaked oil on Thursday, creating a 13 mile-wide slick on the surface of the water. Shell said the oil is not expected to reach the shoreline and...

More than 30 individuals, businesses seek damages from EPA. Financial damage claims for those affected by the Aug. 5 Gold King Mine blowout eclipsed $1.3 million just two months after the Environmental Protection Agency triggered the release of 3 million gallons of mine wastewater down the Animas River. ... more than 30 individuals and business owners filed Form 95, the claim process for financial reimbursements from economic loss caused by wrongful U.S. government actions. The combined claims total about $1.3 million in damages ... the hardest hit are rafting companies and their employees, who were forced to shut down for...

Colorado officials say they didn't endorse an Environmental Protection Agency cleanup operation that caused a massive spill of toxic wastewater from an inactive mine, disputing a key claim by federal agencies that state experts signed off on the plan. ... a blow to the EPA's contention that outside technical experts supported its plan ... also raises questions about an investigation of the spill by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which claimed two mining experts from the state approved of the project

It’s a banner day for thrift and spending control in the federal government. Earlier, Ed already talked about the cash bonanza at the VA, but that’s being followed up by breaking news from the Environmental Protection Agency. You probably recall that unpleasant little incident at the Gold King mine in Colorado where they spilled millions of gallons of toxic sludge into the local river system. Well, the contractor who was employed by the agency during that particular disaster has been identified and the EPA had a good, long talk with them. The result was to award them millions of...

The cleanup of a massive 2013 oil spill in northwestern North Dakota is being hampered by a lack of natural gas needed to power special equipment that cooks hydrocarbons from crude-soaked soil, a state regulator said. Crews have been working around-the-clock to deal with the Tesoro Corp. pipeline break that spilled more than 20,000 barrels of oil into a Tioga wheat field two years ago this month. Bill Suess, an environmental scientist with the state Health Department, said Wednesday that workers will be at the site at least another two years baking oil from the soil using a process called...

The Environmental Protection Agency was accused Wednesday of doctoring footage from the Gold King Mine spill, removing the audio of a worker saying, “What do we do now?” During a House committee hearing on the accident, Rep. Bill Johnson, Ohio Republican, showed what he said was an original on-site video taken the day of the Aug. 5 spill, which includes the audio, and then the same video posted on the EPA’s website that beeps out the audio. “The last few seconds of the audio has been removed to prevent the viewers from hearing the team on the ground saying, ‘What...

The “unfortunate accident” that the EPA had near Silverton, Colorado recently has raised all sorts of questions, not the least of which is why it took the agency 24 hours to tell anyone about it. (The folks who draw water off the river are particularly interested in that one.) But hey… accidents happen, right? I mean, it’s not like anyone could have seen it coming. Except that the EPA actually did see it coming. During a late Friday night document dump the Environmental Protection Agency lifted the mask just a bit and revealed that they knew what they were...

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy said Tuesday that the EPA is “taking responsibility” following the inadvertent release by an EPA cleanup team of millions of gallons of toxic chemicals from an abandoned gold mine in Colorado that flooded into the Animas and San Juan River valleys. A reporter pointed out to McCarthy that if this damage had been done by a “private polluter,” a public apology would have already been issued by the CEO or other leadership speaking for the offender.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said her agency is "accepting full responsibility" for a contractor that accidentally spilled millions of gallons of polluted water last week into western Colorado's Animas River, where cleanup efforts are ongoing as federal officials seek to maintain contamination. The Aug. 5 spill occurred when an agency contractor operating heavy machinery punctured a barrier holding back water containing mining tailings at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colo. Three million gallons of water polluted with heavy metals poured into the river and turned it orange, and the tainted water spread into New Mexico and Utah....