epa Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

City of Lynnwood pays $550k fine to EPA for Clean Air Act violations

By Lauren Gallup February 2, 2024

An aerial view of the City of Lynnwood's wastewater treatment plant. (Credit: City of Lynnwood)

Processing sewage — it’s a dirty job for any city. One way governments choose to process that waste is through incineration. However, the process of burning that waste has to adhere to strict standards, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act. An aging incinerator the City of Lynnwood uses to process waste has become less efficient and beginning in Read More

Big trouble on the Columbia: EPA studies river’s toxic algae spread

By Anna King October 12, 2023

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists Rochelle Labiosa (right) and Lil Herger examine the Columbia River for toxic algae as Jason Pappani leans over to reach into the water. (Credit: Rajah […]Read More

Bridge Industrial gets land use permits to develop warehouse in South Tacoma

By Lauren Gallup April 28, 2023

The site where Bridge Industrial has proposed building a warehouse in South Tacoma. Photo courtesy of Michelle Mood.

The City of Tacoma approved land use permits to develop a warehouse in South Tacoma. The decision came April 21 after over a year of feedback from residents and public agencies expressing environmental equity concerns over the development. Read More

Organización sin ánimo de lucro pide a EPA investigar a Agencia Regional de Aire Limpio de Yakima

By Johanna Bejarano March 30, 2023

Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency website

La organización sin ánimo de lucro Friends of Toppenish Creek está pidiendo a la Agencia de Protección del Medio Ambiente de EE.UU. (EPA por sus siglas en inglés) que reabra una queja contra la Agencia Regional de Aire Limpio de Yakima (YRCAA en inglés). Read More

Nonprofit asks EPA to investigate the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency

By Johanna Bejarano March 27, 2023

Yakima Clean Air Compliance website in Spanish. (Screenshot from the YRCAA website.) Listen (Runtime 1:33) Read A nonprofit organization, Friends of Toppenish Creek, is asking the U.S Environmental Protection Agency […]Read More

Tri-Cities A Hotpspot For Ozone Health Risk

By Dori Luzzo Gilmour July 8, 2022

BFT Transportation Solutions Listen (Runtime 2:03) Read The Tri-cities region is on notice by state and national environmental agencies over its ozone levels. The geography of the Columbia Basin traps […]Read More

Federal Report Says Radioactive Cleanup Work At Idaho Nuclear Site Is Working

By NWPB News March 30, 2021

Radioactive waste shipped to Idaho from a Midwestern nuclear weapons facility during the Cold War has been compacted and sent out of state for permanent disposal. A U.S. Department of Energy contractor on Wednesday said nearly 26,000 cubic yards of waste contaminated with plutonium-238 has been sent to a storage facility in New Mexico. CREDIT: KEITH RIDLER/AP

Ongoing Superfund cleanup work of radioactive and other contamination at the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho has been successful at protecting humans and the environment, U.S. and state officials say. The five-year review by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality also said that Read More

U.S. Implementing 1st-Ever Airplane Emission Rules; Critics Say They’re Ineffective

By NPR News December 28, 2020

A Southwest Airlines flight takes off as United Airlines planes sit parked on a runway at Denver International Airport in April. CREDIT: Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

The U.S. is regulating greenhouse gas emissions from commercial aircraft for the first time. But critics are saying the rules will be ineffective. The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday the rules are being finalized after first being made public in July.Read More

Popular Organic Farm Product ‘Agro Gold WS’ Banned In WA, OR, CA, Under Investigation In Idaho

By Anna King December 23, 2020

Washington, Oregon and California regulators have issued a "stop use" order for the agricultural product known as "Agro Gold WS." CREDIT: Alan Scheiber

“No legitimate organic grower would ever use Glyphosate or Diquat” says one farmer of a product that WA, OR and CA have said farmers should stop using. The company that makes “Agro Gold WS” says they’ll appeal.Read More

As EPA Steps Back, States Face Wave Of Requests For Environmental Leniency

By NPR News June 9, 2020

Companies across the country say the pandemic is interfering with their ability to comply with laws that protect the public from pollution. The federal government is not keeping track of requests for regulatory leniency during the pandemic. CREDIT: DKAR Images/Tetra images /Getty Images

The EPA does not require companies to notify federal regulators if the pandemic interferes with pollution monitoring or reporting. That leaves states alone on the front lines of pollution control.Read More

Federal Environmental Policies During Pandemic Raise Concerns Across Northwest

By NWPB News May 10, 2020

An elevated fish ladder designed to help migrating fish swim through the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Almota, Wash.

State agencies and advocates have been alarmed by federal environmental policy rollbacks that continue unabated by the global coronavirus pandemic.Read More

Washington State Steps In To Regulate Water Temps Behind Federal Dams To Help Salmon

By Courtney Flatt May 9, 2020

The Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River. CREDIT: BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION

Water temperatures are expected to increase as the climate warms. Rivers saw a glimpse of what the future could hold five summers ago, when low water flows and hot temperatures killed thousands of salmon.Read More

10 Years After BP Deepwater Horizon Spill: Oil Drilled Deeper; Rules Relaxed

By NWPB News April 20, 2020

Oil in the Gulf of Mexico as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns

Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling in deeper and deeper waters, where payoffs can be huge but risks are greater than ever.Read More

In Pushback Against Oversight, President Trump Removes Pandemic Inspector General Watchdog

By NPR News April 7, 2020

Glenn Fine, then the acting Inspector General at the Department of Defense, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on December 6, 2017. Fine was the defense department's acting inspector general until April 6, 2020, when President Trump replaced him. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President Trump removed the head of a group charged with overseeing the Coronavirus package passed by Congress. Trump has bristled at the oversight actions of several inspectors general. Read More

Clean Water Protection Businesses Could Dry Up As Trump Administration Rolls Back Regulations

By NPR News February 2, 2020

Water emerges from the headwaters of Nevada Spring Creek at around 44 degrees year-round. A mitigation bank provided private money to reconnect it to Montana's Blackfoot River and to restore a prized trout fishing habitat. CREDIT: Nick Mott/Montana Public Radio

The Trump administration is stripping clean water protections put in place by President Barack Obama, and some in the industry worry that the regulatory changes will threaten their business.Read More

Backlog Of Toxic Superfund Cleanup Sites Grows Under Trump Administration

By NWPB News January 3, 2020

The Newtown Creek is seen in the Queens Borough of New York. Newtown Creek is a waterway approximately 3.5 miles long between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Superfund designation will allow the Environmental Protection Agency to go after the polluters of the waterway forcing them to pay an estimated $500 million for the cleanup. CREDIT: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The Trump administration has built up the biggest backlog of unfunded toxic Superfund clean-up projects in at least 15 years, nearly triple the number that were stalled for lack of money in the Obama era, according to 2019 figures quietly released by the Environmental Protection Agency over the winter holidays.Read More

EPA Proposes Relaxing Obama-Era Rules On Waste From Coal Plants

By NPR News November 4, 2019

PacifiCorp's Carbon Plant in Utah is one of several coal-fired power plants in the company's fleet chosen for early retirement. CREDIT: Cassandra Profita/OPB

The Environmental Protection Agency would give coal plants more time to close unlined coal ash ponds, and ease rules on wastewater. Opponents say that prolongs the risk of toxic spills.Read More

Washington, Oregon, Yakama Nation Call For Superfund Listing At Bonneville Dam

By Cassandra Profita October 18, 2019

Bradford Island sits alongside Bonneville Dam in the middle of the Columbia River.

The Yakama Nation and the states of Oregon and Washington are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare a new Superfund site on the Columbia River at Bradford Island alongside Bonneville Dam.Read More

23 States, Including Washington And Oregon, Sue Trump Admin In Fight Over Vehicle Emissions

By NPR News September 21, 2019

Tailpipe emissions. CREDIT: FLICKR/EUTOPICATION AND HYPOXIA

The lawsuit comes two days after the Trump administration revoked California's ability to set its own rules for automobiles. The state's top prosecutor blasted the move as "arbitrary and capricious."Read More

Trump Administration Finalizes Plan To Repeal Obama-era Water Protections

By Monica Samayoa September 12, 2019

Sheri Tonn, with Citizens for a Healthy Bay, looks at the old Occidental Chemical Corporation site from a boat on the Hylebos Waterway. For decades the facility produced drycleaning solvents and other chemicals that have slowly leached underground. CREDIT: COURTNEY FLATT/NWPB

The move comes as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the repeal Thursday of the Waters of the United States rule — the first step in a two-step rule making process. Read More

Trump Administration Challenges California And Automakers On Fuel Economy

By NPR News September 7, 2019

Ford Motor Co., BMW, Honda and Volkswagen received letters from the Justice Department about a deal they entered with California earlier this year for reducing vehicle emissions. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Trump administration says only the federal government can set tailpipe emissions standards. It's the latest move in a months long standoff over efforts to weaken a key Obama-era climate rule.Read More

EPA Begins Removing Herbicide Barrels From Eastern Oregon’s Wallowa Lake

By Erin Ross June 18, 2019

Wallowa Lake in eastern Oregon, supplies drinking water to the city of Joseph. CREDIT: AARON SCOTT/OPB

The Environmental Protection Agency has begun removing potentially contaminated barrels from Wallowa Lake. Despite initial fears, the barrels seem to have been full of lake water, though the EPA is waiting for test results to confirm that the water and barrels are indeed clean.Read More

Scientists Dig Into Hard Questions About The Fluorinated Pollutants Known As PFAS

By NPR News April 25, 2019

Parts of the Cape Fear River near Fayetteville, N.C., are contaminated with a PFAS compound called GenX. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is surveying residents in the area about their health.

PFAS are a family of chemicals accumulating in the soil, rivers, drinking water and the human body. How much exposure to these substances in clothes, firefighting foam and food wrap is too much?Read More

Study Says Growing Corn Is A Major Contributor To Air Pollution

By NPR News April 1, 2019

An aerial view of a combine harvesting corn in a field near Jarrettsville, Md. A new study ties an estimated 4,300 premature deaths a year to the air pollution caused by corn production in the U.S. CREDIT: Edwin Remsburg/Getty Images

Researchers found that corn production accounts for 4,300 premature deaths related to air pollution every year. Ammonia from fertilizer application was by far the largest contributor to corn's air pollution footprint.Read More

Northwest Air Quality Agencies Oppose Possible Delay To Federal Wood Stove Compliance Rules

By Emily Schwing February 7, 2019

The federal EPA is giving wood stove manufacturers more time to comply with air quality standards. CREDIT: ANDY ZIEGLER/FLICKR/CREATIVE COMMONS

The Environmental Protection Agency set new clean-air standards four years ago for wood stove and hydronic heater manufacturers. These manufacturers were told that by 2020 they would have to sell off older models of stoves and heaters that did not meet the new standards that limit fine particulate matter. Now the EPA is proposing a two-year delay to that sell-by deadline.Read More

Seis Años de Trabajo Y Aún El Agua del Valle de Yakima Necesita Cambios

By Esmy Jimenez February 5, 2019

Martin Yanez and his sister Rosalinda Elsa Pina live in the Yakima Valley, near a large dairy. Their well water has high levels of nitrates, which can cause health problems. In the winter Elsa Pina uses extra gallons of water to make caldos, or stews. Boiling water with high levels of nitrates actually concentrates the contamination. CREDIT: ESMY JIMENEZ/NWPB

For six years, Yakima County has been dealing with a complicated problem – nitrates in the groundwater. This month, after missing two other deadlines, a group of citizens tasked with finding a solution finally came up with a plan. For about 2,000 people, that’s good news because they’re closer to clean water. But some critics aren’t so sure. Read More

Federal Hanford Cleanup Watchdog Put To Sleep During Government Shutdown

By Anna King January 15, 2019

A new sign graces the entrance onto the Hanford site near Richland, Washington. CREDIT: ANNA KING

The partial government shutdown is blocking some of important oversight at Hanford. In the past 10 years, the Environmental Protection Agency office in Richland has shrunk from nearly 10 experts working on Hanford issues to just three – including the top manager. Read More

Fallout Grows As Partial Government Shutdown Drags On

By NPR News December 29, 2018

A box of trash overflows near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., this week as some government services have been stopped during a partial government shutdown. CREDIT: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

There's no end in sight for the spending standoff that has forced the shutdown of about a quarter of the federal government. The longer the shutdown continues, the more services will be affected.Read More

Six Years, Two Missed Deadlines, And Still Yakima Valley’s Water Needs Cleanup

By NWPB News December 21, 2018

EPA Must Protect Northwest Salmon From Warming Waters, Judge Rules

By Courtney Flatt October 18, 2018

A federal court ruled Wednesday that the Environmental Protection Agency must come up with a plan to protect salmon from warm water temperatures.Read More

Washington’s Biggest Toxic Waste Polluter: A Mine (With Hanford Not Far Behind)

By Esmy Jimenez September 8, 2018

The Pend Oreille Mine operated by Teck is located in northeastern Washington near Metaline Falls. CREDIT: GOOGLE EARTH

Since the late 1980s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been keeping track of big polluters through their Toxic Waste Inventory or TRI. The EPA has released their latest data for 2017. We crunched some numbers for Washington, and here are the results. Read More