These chemicals are now found on almost every part of the planet, including in the bodies of a large percentage of the American public. An environmental health scientist explains the risks.
Waterways and communities for miles around Idaho’s Bunker Hill mine were contaminated with lead after the 1973 fire.
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A fire and decades of silver and lead mining created the largest contiguous Superfund site in the nation in what today is one of the fastest-growing states. It includes popular Lake Coeur d’Alene.
PFAS, often used in water-resistant gear, also find their way into drinking water and human bodies.
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These chemicals are now present in water, soil and living organisms and can be found across almost every part of the planet – including 98% of the American public.
Small tankers unload along New York’s Newtown Creek in 2008.
Jim Henderson
Gentrification is not the only path for improving urban neighborhoods. A cleanup in Brooklyn and Queens offers another, more inclusive model that scholars have dubbed ‘just green enough.’
Cleanup at the GE Housatonic Superfund site in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 2007. Years of PCB and industrial chemical use at GE’s Pittsfield facility and improper disposal led to extensive contamination around the town and down the entire length of the Housatonic River.
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President Trump’s budget would cut funding for Superfund, which cleans up the nation’s most toxic sites, by nearly one-third. An economist explains how Superfund cleanups benefit local communities.