A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
Kentucky suing DuPont over years of chemical contamination from upstream West Virginia plant | By Connor Giffin, Louisville Courier Journal -- April 4, 2023 The filing by Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet takes aim at the 1,200-acre Washington Works facility a few miles outside Parkersburg, West Virginia, and its releases of PFAS. These chemicals are toxic and have been linked to various cancers, and once they enter the environment, they break down incredibly slowly, if at all. The site is about 120 miles upstream on the Ohio River from Kentucky, and was the focus of the 2019 film “Dark Waters.” It’s historically been both a central piece of the area’s economy and a notorious PFAS polluter, drawing thousands of lawsuits over the years.
The filing by Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet takes aim at the 1,200-acre Washington Works facility a few miles outside Parkersburg, West Virginia, and its releases of PFAS. These chemicals are toxic and have been linked to various cancers, and once they enter the environment, they break down incredibly slowly, if at all.
The site is about 120 miles upstream on the Ohio River from Kentucky, and was the focus of the 2019 film “Dark Waters.” It’s historically been both a central piece of the area’s economy and a notorious PFAS polluter, drawing thousands of lawsuits over the years.
The act, passed in August, has money for rural development and energy infrastructure, as well as electric vehicle infrastructure and incentives. There are incentives for homeowners to make energy efficient improvements to their houses. Communities with coal plants or natural gas plants can repurpose those into cleaner energy sources.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Inflation Reduction Act includes the largest investment in rural electrification since 1936, but the opportunities are quite competitive, and it’s harder on towns with fewer resources to go after the funding. They might not have the staff and funding to provide the data analysis and expertise needed.
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Photo credits, L-R from top | Glynis Board, Ohio Valley ReSource; Darrell Hoemann, Investigate Midwest; Justin Stevenson, USDA; The House Rabbit Society; Michael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune; Halle Parker, WWNO; Daily Memphian; Christopher Gannon, Iowa State University; WWNO; Kate Golden, Wisconsin Watch. Header: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
