Environmental Geochemistry Issues Semi-Monthly

By Alex Proimos from Sydney, Australia - E-Waste Recycling , CC BY 2.0 , Link Selected Research Articles: An integrated analysis of source-exposure risks of heavy metals in agricultural soils near intense electronic waste recycling activities (YANG et al. , 2019) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019318562/pdfft?md5=6d53f0daae7e1e6047e1793399dda2ca&pid=1-s2.0-S0160412019318562- main.pdf Immutable heavy metal pollution before and after change in industrial waste treatment procedure (OZAKI et al. , 2019) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40634-2#Sec28 Vertical profile of soil/sediment pollution and microbial community change by e-waste recycling operation (WU et al. , 2019) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Qihang_Wu3/publication/331738922_Vertical_profile_of_soilsediment_pollution_and_microbial_community_change_by_e-waste_recycling_operation/links/5c91bc2a299bf11169397040/Vertical-profile-of-soil-sediment-pollution-and-microb...

Tribes Halt Major Copper Mine on Ancestral Lands in Arizona (Alison CAGLE, EarthJustice ; November 15, 2019) https://earthjustice.org/blog/2019-november/rosemont-mine-arizona-tribes-Tohono-Oodham In the 11th Court Halts Copper Mine From Desecrating Native American Tribes’ Ancestral Lands (Press Release, EarthJustice ; August 1, 2019) https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/court-halts-copper-mine-from-desecrating-native-american-tribes-ancestral-grounds After 11 years, legal, bureaucratic battles over Rosemont Mine continues (Sarabeth HENNE, CRONKITE News/Arizona PBS ; August 14, 2018) https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2018/08/14/after-11-years-legal-bureaucratic-battles-over-rosemont-mine-continue/ Geology of the Northern Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona (RASMUSSEN et al. , 2012) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan_Rasmussen2/publication/316363009_Geology_of_the_Northern_Santa_Rita_Mountains_Arizona/links/58fb93a64585152eded0fc30/Geology-of-the-Northern-Santa-R...

Cal EPA seeks input from Kern County on impact of reducing fossil fuels : BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The California Environmental Protection Agency is seeking input from residents across the state on two studies focused on the state’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality … (Joseph RUIZ, KGET 17 News ; November 11, 2019) Also... Glimpse of Kern’s oil-free future at EPA workshop Nov. 13 (Robert PRICE, Bakersfield Californian ; November 11, 2019) https://www.bakersfield.com/news/glimpse-of-kern-s-oil-free-future-at-epa-workshop/article_9354e0ca-035f-11ea-bd26-bb71a757d724.html

New Chevron Crude Spills Emerge in Kern County Oil Field (Ted GOLDBERG, KQED News ; October 15, 2019) https://www.kqed.org/news/11780057/new-chevron-crude-spills-emerge-in-kern-county-oil-field By Antandrus at the English Wikipedia , CC BY-SA 3.0 , Link N. B.:  More information on the Cymric Oil Field spills may be perused in my former blog posts under the following titles below: Update:  Chevron Cymric Oil Spill reaches over 1,000,000 gallons .     (Posted 7/25/2019) Cymric Oil Spill 35 miles west of Bakersfield spills nearly 800,000 gallons of oil, wastewater (Posted 7/13/2019)

State considers new restrictions on use of toxic pesticide widely used in Kern (John COX, Bakersfield Californian ; October 16, 2019) https://www.bakersfield.com/news/state-considers-new-restrictions-on-use-of-toxic-pesticide-widely/article_0c0f669a-f053-11e9-99a4-7b10879c5467.html 1, 3-Dichloropropene (1,3-D):  Volatile Nematicide and Soil Fumigant (E)-1,3-dichloropropene or Trans-1,3-dichloropropene ( PubChem CID No. 24726 ) https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/1_3-Dichloropropene By Jynto and Ben Mills - Derived from File:1,1,3-Trichloropropene-3D-balls.png ., Public Domain, Link __________________________ (Z)-1,3-dichloropropene or Cis-1,3-dichloropropene ( PubChem ID No. 5280970 ) https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/cis-1_3-DICHLOROPROPENE By Jynto and Ben Mills - Derived from File:1,1,3-Trichloropropene-3D-balls.png ., Public Domain, Link Selected Publications : Peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance (E...

Bay Area (USGS); Public Domain, Link Just posted on my personal website... San Francisco Bay Area Water Quality - Recent Scientific Studies https://cmeilinghamilton.com/2019/10/07/san-francisco-bay-water-quality-recent-scientific-studies/ “The earth is crying for people who make sound judgement and informed decisions.”                                                             - Sunday ADELAJA

Trump Bucks Protests, Opens 725,500 Acres of California’s Central Coast to Oil Drilling : Center for Biological Diversity: MARINA, Calif.— The Trump administration today dismissed protests and made a formal decision to open 725,500 acres of public lands and mineral estate across California’s Central Coast and the Bay Area to new oil and gas drilling and fracking. US government opens 725,000 acres in California to oil, gas drilling ( Associated Press ; October 4, 2019) https://www.apnews.com/22b2ffd26f6843f78182a169184a9663 Featured Publication: An Independent Scientific Assessment of Well Stimulation in California ( California Council on Science and Technology|Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ; July 2015) https://ccst.us/wp-content/uploads/2015SB4-v2ES.pdf Website: Well Stimulation in California (SB4) ( CCST Project ) https://ccst.us/reports/well-stimulation-in-california/publications/

Trump administration takes key step to open Alaskan wildlife refuge to drilling by end of the year (Miranda GREEN, The Hill ; September 12, 2019) https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/461161-trump-administration-to-open-alaskan-wildlife-refuge-to-drilling-by By U.S. Energy Information Administration - Northern Alaska National Wildlife Range (ANWR), Coastal Plain 1002 Area , Public Domain, Link Featured Documentation: Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program - Final Environmental Impact Statement (Volumes 1-3) ( DOI-BLM-AK-0000-2018-0002-EIS ; September 12, 2019) https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=dispatchToPatternPage&currentPageId=152110 Also... See the Scars That  Oil Exploration Cut Across Alaska’s Wilderness (Henry FOUNTAIN, New York Times ; August 3, 2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/climate/alaska-anwr-seismic-testing-tracks.html Sunset in Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, Alask...

New!   Definition of “Waters of the United States”:  Rule Status and Litigation Update ( U. S. EPA ; October 22, 2019) https://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule/definition-waters-united-states-rule-status-and-litigation-update N. B.:  Final Rule will take effect on December 23, 2019 . _________________________ EPA, U. S. Army Repeal 2015 Rule Defining "Water of the United States" Ending Regulatory Patchwork (News Release, U. S. EPA ; September 12, 2019) https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-us-army-repeal-2015-rule-defining-waters-united-states-ending-regulatory-patchwork ... and from my personal website... EPA Rollback of 2015 WOTUS Rule https://cmeilinghamilton.com/2019/09/13/epa-rollback-of-2015-wotus-rule/ Wetlands in Innuko Refuge By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Original uploader was  Mattisse  at  en.wikipedia  - Transferred from  en.wikipedia  (Original text :  http://www.fws.gov/digitalmedia/FullRes/natdiglib...

Excessive heavy-metal contamination found in groundwater at Duke plant  (Buster THOMPSON, Citrus County Chronicle ; August 12, 2019) https://www.chronicleonline.com/news/local/excessive-heavy-metal-contamination-found-in-groundwater-at-duke-plant/article_4ac2c09a-b948-11e9-84d0-0fc53c60c372.html Featured Documentation : CCR Assessment of Corrective Measures  Report (Project FR3319,  Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. ; June 2019) https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/chronicleonline.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/35/335d835c-b94a-11e9-acfb-4f25e718ed2d/5d4b27bc7e42f.pdf.pdf N. B. : Provided within the aforementioned Citrus County Chronicle Article! Back-Scattered Electron Micrograph of Coal Fly Ash (2012) By wabeggs - Own work , CC BY-SA 3.0 , Link

EPA Proposes Changes to Clean Water Act Rules (Timothy PUKO, Wall Street Journal ; August 9, 2019) https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/epa-proposes-changes-to-clean-water-act-rules-11565343001 EPA proposes rolling back states’ authority over pipeline projects (Rebecca BEITSCH, The Hill ; August 9, 2019) https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/456901-epa-proposes-rolling-back-states-authorities-over-pipeline-projects Administrator Wheeler Issues Proposed Rule on Clean Water Act Quality Certification In Charleston, North Carolina (News Release, U. S. EPA ; August 9, 2019) https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/administrator-wheeler-issues-proposed-rule-clean-water-act-quality-certification Documentation : Updating Regulations on Water Quality Certifications (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0405 ) https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-08/documents/cwa401certification_2060-af86_nprm_20190807_prepublication_version.pdf N. B.:  A 60-day Public Comment Period will ...

Dead Tree in Mud of an Ash Pond By  Ansh Mishra  -  Own work ,  CC BY-SA 4.0 ,  Link News :  New!   E. P. A. Weakens Rule Governing Toxic Water Pollution From Coal Plants (Lisa FRIEDMAN, New York Times ; November 4, 2019) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/climate/coal-ash-water-pollution-trump.html Coal Ash Rule Would Risk Putting Carcinogen in Water (Tim LUCAS-DUKE, Futurity ; October 7, 2019) https://www.futurity.org/coal-ash-rule-amendments-hexavalent-chromium-2178122-2/ N. B.:   A PDF link to the October 2, 2019 EPA Public Hearing testimony of Un-published new research discussing detrimental environmental impacts of Coal Ash by Dr. Avner VENGOSH, Duke University is available within the aforementioned Futurity article. EPA Moves to Scrap Rules for Coal Ash Pollution (Brandi BUCHMAN, Courthouse News ; July 30, 2019) https://www.courthousenews.com/epa-moves-to-scrap-rules-for-coal-ash-pollution/ Coal Ash Pre-Publi...

Reclamation seeks comment on proposed changes to its operations in California (Press Release, U. S. Department of the Interior-Bureau of Reclamation ; July 11, 2019) https://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/newsrelease/detail.cfm?RecordID=66903 Featured Publication: Reinitiation of Consultation on the Coordinated Long-Term Operation of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project (Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Mid-Pacific Region   Bureau of Reclamation ; July 2019) https://www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa/includes/documentShow.php?Doc_ID=39186 Appendices A - E; F; G -P; Q -Z (Draft Environmental Impact Statement; Mid-Pacific Region, Bureau of Reclamation ) https://www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa/nepa_project_details.php?Project_ID=39181 Earlier Documentation: Coordinated Long Term Operation of the CVP and the SWP  (2012 - 2015) ( Bay-Delta Region Bureau of Reclamation ) https://www.usbr.gov/mp/bdo/coordinated-long-term.html Website: Where Does California’s W...

Cymric Oilfield sire’s oil and water seepage has now reached over 1 million gallons ( 23ABC News Bakersfield ; July 25, 2019) https://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/cymric-oil-field-sites-oil-and-water-seepage-has-now-reached-over-1-million-gallons Chevron appeals state order on oil leak near McKittrick (John COX, Bakersfield Californian ; July 25, 2019) https://www.bakersfield.com/news/chevron-appeals-state-order-on-oil-leak-near-mckittrick/article_1dfa6e0c-af37-11e9-8a3c-7b78f06c3201.html _____________ New!   Chevron Completes Cleanup in California’s Cymric Oilfield (Richard NEMEC, NGI Shale Daily ; October 14, 2019) https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/119880-chevron-completes-cleanup-in-californias-cymric-oilfield State fines Chevron $2.7 million over oilfield leaks in McKittrick (John COX, Bakersfield Californian ; October 2, 2019) https://www.bakersfield.com/news/state-fines-chevron-million-over-oilfield-leaks-near-mckittrick/article_140e1af8-e568-11e9...

Drilling Deeper (Harrison TASOFF, The Current - UCSB Science + Technology News ; July 22, 2019) Featured Research Article: Deeper well drilling an unsustainable stopgap to groundwater depletion (PERRONE and JASECHKO, 2019) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0325-z N. B.:  Abstract only! By Harshitha Kay - Own work , CC BY-SA 4.0 , Link Also... Dry groundwater wells in the western United States (PERRONE and JASECHKO, 2017) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa8ac0/pdf Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900 - 2008) (KONIKOW, 2013) https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5079/ Dataset for KONIKOW, 2013 https://water.usgs.gov/GIS/metadata/usgswrd/XML/sir2013-5079_Groundwater_Depletion.xml

Public opinion wanted by BLM for 2019 oil and gas lease sale in NPR-A (Gilbert CORDOVA, KTUU Channel 2 ; June 20, 2019) https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Public-opinion-wanted-by-BLM-for-2019-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-in-NPR-A-511577991.html Website : National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska [ U. S. Department of the Interior - Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ] https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/oil-and-gas/about/alaska/NPR-A By Bureau of Land Management - BLM Summer Roadtrip: Wildlife in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska , Public Domain, Link

Spill 35 miles west of Bakersfield spills nearly 800,000 gallons of oil, wastewater : BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — California authorities are preparing to start cleanup on an oil spill that dumped nearly 800,000 gallons of oil and water on land about 35 miles west of Bakersfield... (KGET; July 12, 2019) Interim head of state oil and gas agency named; cleanup to start on 800,000 gallon spill in Kern County  ( The   Desert Sun ; July 12, 2019) https://amp.desertsun.com/amp/1719175001 Chevron steaming operation spills 13,515 barrels of oil near McKittrick (John COX,  Bakersfield Californian ; July 12, 2019) https://www.bakersfield.com/news/chevron-steaming-operation-spills-barrels-of-oil-near-mckittrick/article_c4850b30-a4e0-11e9-839b-87d356923109.html N. B.:   1 barrel = 42 US liquid gallons Video: Using Steam to Produce More Oil ( Chevron ; June 18, 2013)

'Bee friendly' pesticide cuts colonies by half, study finds (Sarah KNAPTON, The Telegraph UK ; August 15, 2018) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/08/15/pesticides-developed-replace-bee-killing-insecticides-also-damage / N. B.:   A complementary link to the featured Nature research article entitled "Sulfoxaflor exposure reduces bumblebee reproductive success" by SIVITER et al ., 2018 has been made available at the end of the aforementioned Telegraph UK news article. But just in case... Sulfoxaflor exposure reduces bumblebee reproductive success (SIVITER et al. , 2018) https://www.researchgate.net/journal/1476-4687_Nature/publication/327076594_Sulfoxaflor_exposure_reduces_bumblebee_reproductive_success/links/5c7902ec92851c695049ab43/Sulfoxaflor-exposure-reduces-bumblebee-reproductive-success.pdf?origin=publication_detail New generation of pesticides can reduce bumblebee reproduction (News Release,  Royal Holloway University of London ; August 14,...

Austrian parliament approves total glyphosate ban [ Agence France Presse (AFP) ; 02/07/2019] https://www.france24.com/en/20190702-austrian-parliament-approves-total-glyphosate-ban Austria becomes first EU country to ban glyphosate ( France 24 ; July 2, 2019)

Groundwater Pumping Has Significantly Reduced U. S. Streamflows (Mari N. JENSEN, UA News ; June 19, 2019) https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/groundwater-pumping-has-significantly-reduced-us-stream-flows Featured Research Article: Simulating the sensitivity of evapotranspiration and streamflow to large-scale groundwater depletion (CONDON and MAXWELL, 2019) https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/6/eaav4574 Relation between Streams and Underground Water (USGS)* * Description : Relation between streams and underground water.  A = Gaining Stream B = Losing Stream C = Losing stream that is disconnected from the water table.  1 = Water table 2 = Unsaturated zone 3 = Saturated zone 4 = Flow direction

Attorney General Becerra Denounces Misguided BLM Proposal to Open Central California to Fracking for Oil and Gas : SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today filed a comment letter opposing a U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to open up more than one million acres of public lands in Central California to oil and gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The comment letter responds to BLM’s deficient draft supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS), which fails to fully evaluate the project’s impact on the communities and environment of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura Counties. (Press Release, State of California Department of Justice ; June 10, 2019) By US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC - "The Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle" , Public Domain, Link

Rallies in Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara to Oppose Trump's Oil-leasing Plan for California : Environmental and community groups joined by elected officials will hold rallies this week to blast the Trump administration's draft plan to open more than a million acres of public land and mineral estate in central California to oil drilling and fracking. (Press Release, Center for Biological Diversity ; May 20, 2019) Activists speak out against fracking on federal land in California (John COX, Bakersfield Californian ; May 21, 2019) https://www.bakersfield.com/news/activists-speak-out-against-fracking-on-federal-land-in-california/article_580160a0-7bf3-11e9-a498-27e9de1f7df5.html Hundreds bash Trump’s oil fracking plan in SLO:  ‘This battle does not end tonight’ (Monica VAUGHAN, The Tribune ; May 23, 2019) https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/article230703244.html Santa Barbara crowd rallies against plan to open public lands to oil fracking...

UN chief concerned nuclear 'coffin' leaking in Pacific [ Agence France Presse (AFP) ; 16 May 2019] Runit or Cactus Dome - Runit Island, Enewetak Atoll Back to Bikini (Evan LUBOFSKY, Oceanus Magazine ; June 5, 2017) https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/back-to-bikini/ Selected Research Articles: Lingering radioactivity at the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls (BUESSELER et al. , 2018) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717328139/pdfft?isDTMRedir=true&download=true "The World, We Think She Start Over Again":  Nuclear Testing and the Marshall Islands, 1946 - 1958 (MEADE and MEADE, 2018) https://permalink.lanl.gov/object/tr?what=info:lanl-repo/lareport/LA-UR-18-30848 A Visual Description of the Concrete Exterior of Cactus Crater Containment Structure (Terry HAMILTON, 2013) https://marshallislands.llnl.gov/ccc/Hamilton_LLNL-TR-648143_final.pdf Frequency distribution, isotopic composition and physical characterization of...

Deepest submarine dive ever finds plastic waste in Mariana Trench : An American diver broke the record for deepest submarine dive ever and found something disheartening at the bottom of the ocean — a plastic bag. Victor Vescovo traveled seven miles down to the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench in the Pacific... (Karen GRAHAM, Digital Journal ; May 13, 2019) Also... Mariana Trench:  Deepest-ever sub dive finds plastic bag (Rebecca MORELLE, BBC News ; 13 May 2019) https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48230157 Video: Mariana Trench:  Record-breaking dive to the bottom of the ocean BBC News ( General News ; May 14, 2019) Deep Sea Challenge Expedition (March 26, 2012) A Dive to Challenger Deep (LUTZ and FALKOWSKI, 2012) https://marine.rutgers.edu/pubs/private/lutz%20falkowski.pdf James CAMERON's "DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D" ( National Geographic ) http://www.deepseachallenge.com/ 1960 Dive - "Man's Deepest Dive" ...

Notice of  Availability of the Central Coast Field Office Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Oil and Gas Leasing and Development, California [U. S. Federal Register,  Document No.   2019-09599,  Land Management Bureau (BLM) ; May 10, 2019] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/05/10/2019-09599/notice-of-availability-of-the-central-coast-field-office-proposed-resource-management-plan-amendment N. B.:  Public Comment Period for Document No. 2019-09599 will be available from May 10, 2019 until June 9, 2019 at 11:59 pm ET Featured Documentation: Proposed  Resource Management Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement ( BLM Central Coast Field Office ; May 2019) https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/lup/67003/172408/209581/Central_Coast_Field_Office_Proposed_RMPA_Final_EIS.pdf Websites : Central Coast Field Office Oil and Gas Leasing and Develo...

From my personal website on Environmental Geochemistry Issues at cmeilinghamilton.com: "Toxic Legacy" - Arsenic Pollution from Salsigne Gold Mine; Aude, FRANCE https://cmeilinghamilton.com/2019/04/28/toxic-legacy-arsenic-pollution-from-salsigne-gold-mine-waste-aude-france/ Puits Castan et village de Villanière  ( Image :  Raoul RIVES, 20 November 2014;   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 )

Interactive Map: Tracking Nonstick Chemical Pollution Across the U.S. : The latest update of an interactive map by EWG and the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern University documents publicly known PFAS pollution from 91 sites in 22 states. Update:  Mapping the Expanding PFAS Crisis [Bill WALKER, Environmental Working Group (EWG); April 18, 2019] https://www.ewg.org/research/update-mapping-expanding-pfas-crisis N. B.:   More information on PFAs may be perused within my former March 4, 2018 blog post under the following title: CEC Spotlight:  GenX and other Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAs) in the Environment

Draft Interim Recommendations for Addressing Groundwater Contaminated by PFAS and PFOS ( U. S. EPA;  April 25, 2019) https://www.epa.gov/pfas/draft-interim-recommendations-addressing-groundwater-contaminated-pfoa-and-pfos Draft Interim Recommendations for Addressing Groundwater Contaminated by PFAS and PFOS (Regulations.gov) https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EPA-HQ-OLEM-2019-0229 N. B.:   Public Comment link is available at the aforementioned Regulations.gov site. Public Comments on  EPA-HQ-OLEM-2019-0229  will be accepted from  April 25, 2019 - June 10, 2019 at 11:59 ET    Featured Documentation: Draft Interim Recommendation to Address Groundwater Contaminated with Perfluorooctanic Acid and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate ( EPA-HQ-OLEM-2019-0229 ,  U. S. EPA ; April 24, 2019) https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-04/documents/draft_interim_recommendations_for_addressing_groundwater_contaminated_with_pfoa_and_pfos...