This week, President Joe Biden met with top executives from several investor-owned electric utilities to discuss vital clean energy tax credits as part of his Build Back Better agenda. Additionally, these executives are seeking new federal subsidies for existing nuclear power plants, which EWG urges the Biden administration to oppose.
“Nuclear power is a relic of the electricity sector, and a dangerous and extremely expensive one that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “The federal government must stop throwing away money propping up the nuclear industry and instead make critical investments to expand safe, clean renewable energy.”
Records obtained by the nonprofit Protect Our Communities Foundation show three major investor-owned California energy utilities contributed more than $1.7 million in 2020 to many of the groups in a coalition backing the plan to crush the state’s popular rooftop solar program.
EWG applauded the Department of Agriculture for dedicating $1 billion to “climate smart” pilot projects for measuring and verifying practices that may reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farming.
“Even if we stopped burning fossil fuels today, greenhouse gas emissions from food and farming could make a climate catastrophe unavoidable,” said EWG’s Legislative Director Colin O’Neil. “We need to do everything we can to reduce nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide emissions from agriculture.”
Finally, Valentine’s Day will soon be here, and EWG highlighted some nasty food chemicals to avoid in candies often enjoyed on February 14.
Here’s some news you can use going into the weekend.
Children’s health
Mashed: Cereal Lovers Need To Know About These 2 New Walmart Popcorns
Although cereal is clearly useful for all kinds of purposes, nutritionally-focused groups such as the Environmental Working Group continue to air concern about just how much sugar and artificial ingredients can go into a single bowl of products like Reese's Puffs or Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Ventura County pesticide map and report
First, the Environmental Working Group’s pesticide mapping tool for our country helps spread awareness about the use of toxic pesticides near neighborhoods, homes, and schools in a map-centered, easy-to-use format.
Ernestina Solorio, a Mexican immigrant, has worked in the fields of Watsonville picking vegetables and fruits for more than two decades. While pregnant in 2007 Solorio picked strawberries – the crop most likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues according to the Environmental Working Group.
Black farmers
The Hill: Fighting for relief for Black farmers
But data gathered by the Environmental Working Group showed less than 75 percent of farmers who sought claims saw adequate payment, and more than 50,000 were left out of that round of aid after making claims too late.
California solar net metering
The Hill: California rooftop solar proposal sparks firestorm
“I don't think the commission appreciated the firestorm that their proposal was going to ignite,” Ken Cook, president and co-founder of the Environmental Working Group, told The Hill…Cook, from the Environmental Working Group, emphasized the importance of democratizing clean electricity generation through policy that puts lower-income or working-class families “at the front of the line” for solar adoption.
The Hill: California utilities contributed $1.7M to coalition aiming to squash solar subsidies
The groups deem the proposed decision a “plot to hobble the solar program,” according to a joint statement from the Environmental Working Group and the Protect Our Communities Foundation — the group that compiled the utility contributions.
Consumer guides
Using websites like the EWG that provide consumer guides to food, water, cosmetics, household cleaners and more is a great place to start to build awareness of what is the food you’re eating and products your using; and learn about healthier and safer alternatives.
Skin Deep ® cosmetics database
The New York Times: The Types of Plastics Families Should Avoid
The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database is a useful resource for identifying phthalate-free products.
Teen Vogue: Ingredients in Cosmetics Are the Focus of Safer-Beauty Bill Package
The first thing to understand about why these ingredients proliferate, explains Carla Burns, senior director of cosmetic science at the Environmental Working Group, is that the regulatory process in the U.S. is not as stringent and rigorous as people might think.
The List: Are Dime Beauty Products Worth It?
Per Honest Brand Reviews, Dime Beauty is transparent about their ingredients lists graded according to Environmental Working Group (EWG) standards, and they also ship internationally.
Crop insurance report
Food & Environment Reporting Network: What should desert farmers grow?
From 2000 to 2020, crop insurance paid to Pinal farmers rose from $3.2 million to $24.6 million, according to data collected by the Environmental Working Group.
Circle of Blue: What’s Up With Water – February 8, 2022
The report analyzed federal data, and found that annual insurance payments made to farmers to cover their losses from droughts and floods tripled on average in the last 25 years. That time period includes unusually high crop losses in the Midwest due to drought in 2012 and flooding in 2019. The report was published by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research organization.
KSJD (Cortez, Colo.): Farm News & Views - February 8, 2022
Insurance payments to U.S. farmers for crops lost to droughts and flooding have risen more than threefold over the past 25 years, according to an analysis of federal data by the Environmental Working Group that was released recently.
Energy
Associated Press: Largest US public power company launches new nuclear program
Grant Smith, a senior energy policy adviser at the Environmental Working Group, said small reactors are going to be a “total financial debacle” because the cost of nuclear power never comes down, with costs and risks shifted to ratepayers.
EWG VERIFIED®: Cosmetics
BuzzFeed: 41 Splurge-Worthy Beauty Products You Won't Regret Spending The Money On
Follain is a Boston-based, woman-owned small business dedicated to making skincare products that "feel like a treat rather than a chore." Their offerings are EWG-verified, cruelty-free, Leaping Bunny-certified, synthetic fragrance-free, and dermatologist-tested.
The Beauty Milk: Top 10 Best organic hand lotion Reviews
Everyone Nourishing Lotion is EWG verified, GMO free, cruelty free, gluten free, paraben free, triclosan free, and synthetic fragrance free.
Farm subsidies
Progressive Farmer: Minnesota Farmer To Be Sentenced on Insurance Fraud
According to the Environmental Working Group's farm subsidy database, Nelson's farm has received $1.97 million in subsidies from USDA from 1995 to 2020. That includes $135,680 in 2018 and $125,015 in 2019.
FDA petition to ban BPA
Green Matters: American BPA Exposure Levels Are Too High — Here’s How to Avoid the Plastic Chemical
The coalition, made up of organizations including the Environmental Defense Fund, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), and Consumer Reports, conclude in the petition that BPA exposure levels in the U.S. are unsafe, and that the FDA must make some serious changes in order to protect public health.
Healthy Living: Home Guide
CNET: The best full mattress ever for 2022
The avocado green mattress is made of cotton, wool, and natural latex, which is the safest alternative recommended by the Environmental Working Group.
PFAS
Inside EPA: As EPA Weighs PFAS Human-Health Data, Groups Spar On Study Methods (subscription)
But even if EPA does win that fight and continues to rely on existing studies, Dave Andrews, a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group, tells Inside TSCA that it needs to provide better guidance to its partners on what it wants from such research, in order to ensure that data gleaned from them will ultimately be useful to the agency’s actions on toxic chemicals under TSCA and other laws.
PFAS in food
Grist: There are ‘forever chemicals’ in beef now
The chemicals are already found in thousands of drinking water systems around the country, according to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, as well as in most Americans’ bodies.
PFAS in water
In August 2019, the NC PFAST network, a group of scientists that monitor the compounds in drinking water, detected eight types of PFAS in Lumberton’s water that had yet to be treated by the city’s treatment plant. (The Environmental Working Group, which also monitors PFAS and other contaminants in drinking water, found similar results.)
According to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocacy group, PFAS is found in more than 2,300 locations across the country.
PFAS in firefighting foam
They’re often called “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment, and they have been known to contaminate water sources as well as build up in fish and wildlife, growing even more concentrated by the time they reach humans, according to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.
Critics of the Defense Department say it should be doing more, faster. Colin O’Neil is legislative director for the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization.
Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce ™
General Health: Top 7 Ways Carrots (and Carrot Juice!) Benefit Your Body
According to sources including the Organic Guides, residual levels of toxic pesticides are found at much higher levels in conventionally grown carrots than in organic varieties and out of the top 48 most popular fruits and vegetables, the Environmental Working Group lists carrots as the 22nd most contaminated.
Live Science: Spinach: Health benefits, nutrition facts (& Popeye)
Spinach ranks number two on the Environmental Working Group’s 2021 Dirty Dozen list. That means it may be exposed to high levels of pesticides. Reprinted by MSN; WDC TV
WFXT (Boston): As food prices spike, 6 ways to save on your groceries
That’s because some fruits like bananas and avocados that are organic don’t necessarily provide any additional protection against pesticides. She suggests looking through this list by the Environmental Working Group on which organic items to buy.