Clean Air, Water and Soil

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August 3, 2022 News

Winston-Salem Weaver fire air quality worse than reported by agencies

The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has released a report which shows that hazardous air quality during the Weaver Fertilizer Plant fire was downplayed.

The report Winston-Salem Weaver Fertilizer Plant Fire – Analysis of Publicly Disseminated Air Quality Information During Facility Fire Incident highlights instances when local officials told the public that the air quality was okay and pollutants were just “irritants” when, in fact, levels of Particulate Matter 2.5 were in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s hazardous and very unhealthy categories.

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June 25, 2022 News

At What Cost? Chapel Hill’s plan to house residents on coal ash dump

Concerned community members in partnership with ACT Against Coal Ash, Chapel Hill Organization for Clean Energy (CHOCE), Friends of Bolin Creek, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) and Climate…

August 11, 2021 Letters

BREDL sends letter to NC DEQ Secretary regarding June 30, 2021 discharge of 1,4 dioxane

Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League urges the Department to consider the enactment of emergency, temporary, or permanent rules that require the following:

  1. Testing and analysis be performed after a spill has been reported/detected, including the recommended time frame for such testing.
  2. That water providers notify their users of discharges/spills immediately.
  3. Additionally, that water providers notify users immediately of any detection of unregulated chemicals, as well as detection of other contaminants that exceed the regulatory limit.
  4. The Department should post the results on the DEQ website and send out notices to their media/interested parties lists.

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June 10, 2019 Comments

BREDL submits comments to EPA regarding Draft PFAS recommendations

The EPA interim recommendations for addressing groundwater contaminated with PFOA and PFOS needs to be expanded to include all PFAS as a class. Any talk of cleanup needs to examine previous industrial sites that probably emitted/discharged PFAS chemicals. All areas of PFAS contamination – soil, surface and ground water, air and food – need to be properly addressed. In addition to the class of PFAS, short-chain replacement chemicals that convey similar health impacts – such as GenX – also need to be included.

The federal government is hell-bent on fast tracking projects that harm the environment. For a change, how about fast tracking a plan that will clean up the entire class of PFAS contaminants and their short-chain replacements?

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