What happened: Supervisors rescinded its declaration of disaster emergency for Leacock Township, effective immediately.
Background: Municipalities across Lancaster County entered a state of emergency during the pandemic to qualify for additional funds to help cover unforeseen coronavirus-related expenses. Last year, the township enacted a declaration to allow township officials to apply for county, state or federal aid, if needed. Because the governorâs stay-at-home order and other statewide pandemic restrictions have been lifted, the board saw no need to maintain its declaration, board Chairman Frank Howe said.
Water pollution control: Supervisors announced a stormwater survey and other educational resources are now available on the townshipâs website. The township, according to a board memo, posted materials about its municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) permit in compliance with the state Department of Environmental Protection to âraise stormwater awarenes
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. â Efforts to clean up a leaky reservoir that dumped tens of millions of gallons of potentially hazardous gypsum wastewater into Tampa Bay must be overseen by a federal judge to guard against continued mismanagement, environmental groups claimed in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
More than 215 million gallons (813 million liters) of wastewater was released earlier this year into the bay, blamed by some scientists and commercial fishermen for causing algae blooms, temporarily closing shellfish harvesting and worsening an outbreak of fish-killing toxic red tide along the Gulf coast.
âThe Piney Point disaster is exhibit A in a long list of Floridaâs failures to protect our water and wildlife from the harms of phosphogypsum,â said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail published this editorial on June 22:
There are many industrial sites in the rustbelt â especially in Appalachia â where the dark joke goes âYou get cancer just driving by that place.â
Data from two Union Carbide facilities in Kanawha County â one in Institute and one in South Charleston â show an increase in fugitive ethylene oxide emissions over the past decade. Overall, emissions of the chemical byproduct â which was declared a carcinogen in 2018 â are down since 2014, but the rise in âfugitiveâ emissions means more ethylene oxide is getting into the air through leaks or other malfunctions at the plants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And, overall, emissions at the South Charleston plant tripled from 2009 to 2019.