Advice from experts on how to limit your exposure and your impact on the environment.
Category: Environment
Posted inEndocrine disruptors, Environment, Government, Health & Welfare
Experts avoid sounding alarm on chemicals — but adjust their own habits
“It’s hard not to make people too worried about a lot of things,” said UW-Madison pediatric endocrinologist Ellen Connor, after running through a plethora of hypothesized health effects — genital abnormalities, tumors, lower sperm counts, diabetes, early puberty — and an equally long list of worrisome chemicals.
Posted inEndocrine disruptors, Environment, Health & Welfare
Tainted fish
The four groups of chemicals that trigger consumption advisories — PCBs, mercury, dioxins and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfate) — have all been associated with endocrine disruption.
Posted inEndocrine disruptors, Environment, Government, Health & Welfare
Environmental agencies respond to questions about endocrine disruptors
Emails from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Posted inEndocrine disruptors, Environment, Health & Welfare
Minnow reveals wastewater’s toxic effects
Males exposed to chemicals managed to mate if other males were not around. But if they had to compete with the control males, however, they “suffered nearly total reproductive failure”: They had no game.
Posted inEndocrine disruptors, Environment, Health & Welfare
Profiles: Chemicals in the water
More about nonylphenol and BPA, two chemicals commonly found in Minnesota’s waters.
Posted inEndocrine disruptors, Environment, Government, Health & Welfare
Concerns grow about hormone-disrupting chemicals in Wisconsin water
Endocrine disruptors have been called a “global threat” to people and wildlife, but Wisconsin is lagging behind Minnesota in testing its waters for them.
Posted inEnvironment, Frac Sand Rush
New studies measure air, water impacts of frac sand mines
Competing studies are under way to assess air pollution from Wisconsin’s frac sand industry, and the author of one said current state law isn’t protecting people well enough. A separate study, meanwhile, will examine the impact of frac sand mines on water.
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Frac Sand Rush, Government, Health & Welfare
Frac sand industry faces DNR violations, warnings
Nearly a fifth of Wisconsin’s 70 active frac sand mines and processing plants were cited for environmental violations last year, as the industry continued to expand at a rapid clip.
Posted inEnvironment, Frac Sand Rush
Frac sand mining and processing permits
A brief run-down of the permits required to open a frac sand mine or processing plant.
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Frac Sand Rush
As supply meets demand, Wisconsin’s frac sand rush slows
The rapid growth in Wisconsin’s frac sand industry is slowing, thanks to lower prices and increased supply. The sand is still in demand, but people who expected that they could get rich quick on the state’s sandy soils may be disappointed.
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Frac Sand Rush, WisWatch Blog
Updated map: Frac sand rush slowing
The growth in Wisconsin’s frac sand industry appears to be slowing down, but the state now has 95 operating or permitted frac sand facilities.