Sustainability Weekly

SUSTAINABILITY
Written By Dara Magagnoli

Fridays are for…

Chemical Bans, Native Land Wins, Community-Driven Decarbonization Solutions, and more!

by Alli DiGiacomo

Happy Friday! This week happening in NYC is the 3rd weekend of Summer Streets, an annual pedestrian and cycling haven where miles of NYC across the five boroughs are closed off to cars. This year, the DOT is expanding the program’s hours to 7 am to 3 pm on August 10th, 17th, and 24th. According to the DOT, more than half a million people take advantage of the open streets

The streets this week are:

  • Brooklyn Bridge to West 125 Street

  • Lafayette Street and Park Avenue between Brooklyn Bridge and East 109 Street

  • East 109 Street between Park Avenue and 5th Avenue

  • 5th Avenue between East 109 Street and Central Park North

  • Central Park North between 5th Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard

  • Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard between Central Park North and West 125 Street

Keep reading below for more sustainability news!

T H I S W E E K ’ S T O P S T O R I E S

EPA ISSUED AN EMERGENCY BAN ON A COMMON HERBICIDE, THE FIRST BAN IN FOUR DECADES

For the first time in 40 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken emergency action to suspend the use of a pesticide called dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA), also known as Dacthal. This pesticide has been found to cause irreversible damage to fetuses, leading to low birth weight, decreased IQ, and impaired brain development and motor skills in children exposed in utero.

DCPA, introduced in 1958 for controlling weeds in crops like broccoli, cabbage, and onions, has long been under scrutiny. The EPA first flagged it as a potential thyroid hazard in the 1990s, with widespread use on turf grass, including golf courses and private lawns. Despite these concerns, the pesticide remained in use. In 2023, the EPA released an assessment showing that DCPA posed significant health risks, particularly to pregnant women, even when personal protective equipment was used. The assessment found that pregnant women could be exposed to levels of DCPA up to 20 times higher than what is considered safe for fetuses. Despite proposed changes by the manufacturer, AMVAC Chemical Corporation, the EPA deemed these measures inadequate to mitigate the serious health risks.

The EPA's emergency suspension of DCPA was welcomed by advocacy groups, including the Center for Food Safety and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, which represent women farmworkers.

MARATHON OIL WILL PAY THE LARGEST EVER CIVIC PENALTY FOR POLLUTING NATIVE AMERICAN LAND

Marathon Oil will pay a record $64.5 million civil penalty, the largest ever for polluting Native American land, as part of a $241.5 million settlement with the federal government. The settlement addresses air quality violations at Marathon's oil and gas operations on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. This agreement, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice, is part of a broader effort to reduce harmful emissions from the oil and gas industry.

Marathon, the 22nd-largest U.S. oil producer and the seventh-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the industry, was found to have illegally released thousands of tons of pollutants, particularly from flaring practices that inadequately burned off methane—a potent contributor to climate change. The EPA’s assessment revealed that these emissions have significant health impacts on nearby communities, including the tribal population on the reservation.

As part of the settlement, Marathon will invest $177 million in compliance measures to reduce emissions across its 169 well pads in North Dakota, with the goal of eliminating over 2.25 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions and nearly 110,000 tons of volatile organic compounds, which contribute to respiratory illnesses. These reductions are equivalent to taking 487,000 cars off the road for a year.

$4.3 BILLION IN GRANTS ANNOUNCED FOR COMMUNITY-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS TO DECARBONIZATION

The Biden administration announced the 25 recipients of more than $4 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants to “implement community-driven solutions that tackle the climate crisis, reduce air pollution, advance environmental justice, and accelerate America’s clean energy transition.” The EPA estimates that the projects, when taken together, would have the greenhouse gas reduction potential equivalent to 971 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050. The grants will fund projects across 30 states and one Tribe. The largest grant, of $500 million, will go to California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District project to decarbonize transportation and goods movement in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Other large-sum recipients include:

  • The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection ($450 million to fund heat pump installations)

  • The Illinois EPA ($430 million for decarbonizing industry and buildings, freight electrification, agriculture, and renewables deployment)

  • The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources ($421 million for carbon sequestration through natural and working lands)

  • The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ($396 million for industrial decarbonization)

  • The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy ($300 million for climate-smart agriculture)

The CPGR program was created under the Inflation Reduction Act. EPA administrator Michael Regan said these funds would be allocated by the fall. As E&E News noted, this timeline “would make them virtually impossible for a new administration to rescind.”

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