NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD for Sunday, July 11, 2021
321st Weekly Edition
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7/11/2021 1:00pm EDT
Click here for Covid-19 data from Worldometer Real Time World Statistics.
USA
NC |
Total
Cases |
New
Cases |
Total
Deaths |
New
Deaths |
Total
Recovered |
Active
Cases |
1,017,435 |
|
13,483 |
|
992,472 |
6,480 |
Track NC Covid Data Track NC Vaccine Data
Following are stories and information I hope you find interesting and useful. Starting off are updated stories on the release of 1,4 dioxane from a Greensboro wastewater treatment facility. Click the titles for more. Please jump the fold, the floor is yours.
NORTH CAROLINA HEALTH NEWS, Greg Barnes, July 8, 2021
Another release of the likely carcinogen 1,4 dioxane was detected at a Greensboro wastewater treatment plant. Unlike a similar incident in 2019, this time the city quickly notified water utilities for Pittsboro, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Cary and other downstream municipalities.
On June 30, two samples taken from effluent at Greensboro’s T.Z. Osborne wastewater treatment plant contained levels of 1,4 dioxane that averaged 615 parts per billion, nearly 18 times higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory of 35 parts per billion.
As of Wednesday, a Greensboro official said the city was still awaiting additional sampling results to determine whether the contamination had stopped. It was also trying to identify the industry responsible for the discharge.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “exposure to very high levels of 1,4-dioxane can result in liver and kidney damage and death.”
The Fayetteville Observer, Abby Church, July 8, 2021
The Haw River connects to the Cape Fear River, Fayetteville's primary water source.
So far, the city's Public Works Commission hasn't detected a 1,4 dioxane increase in the area's water supply, a PWC official said Wednesday. Fayetteville was notified of the discharge by Greensboro officials on July 1, according to a five-day report on the incident from Greensboro's Water Resources Department.
The chemical in question, 1,4 dioxane, is a synthetic industrial material and a likely carcinogen, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Anna Gurney, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Quality's Water Resources Division, said in an email Tuesday that the chemical isn't usually found in water treatment facilities.
According to the EPA, 1,4 dioxane can be found in federal facilities due to its use as a stabilizer in some chlorinated solvents. It can also be found in paint strippers, greases and waxes.
Coastal Review, Staff Report, 07/02/2021
After Greensboro reported to the state Thursday afternoon that high levels of 1,4-dioxane had been detected in wastewater discharge, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority announced later that day plans to immediately begin more frequent water sampling.
Greensboro staff reported the discharge of 1,4 dioxane into the Haw River in the effluent from the TZ Osborne Wastewater Treatment Plant to the North Carolina Division of Water Resources.
Greensboro staff alerted the authority late Thursday afternoon that 1,4-dioxane had been detected at approximately 615 parts per billion in discharge sampled Wednesday. The discharge flows to the Cape Fear River, where it would be expected to undergo significant dilution before reaching the utility’s intakes at Kings Bluff.
The EPA has identified 1,4 dioxane, a clear liquid that is highly miscible in water, as a likely human carcinogen. It has been used as a solvent stabilizer and is currently used for a wide variety of industrial purposes. The Sweeney Plant, which treats water from the Cape Fear to produce drinking water for about 80% of utility customers, is among the few facilities equipped to treat 1,4-dioxane. Ozonation and biological filters at Sweeney typically achieve about two-thirds removal of 1,4-dioxane from raw water during treatment.
BlueNC, Fri, 07/09/2021
RICHARD BURR IS USING CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO DEFEND INSIDER TRADING CHARGES: The North Carolina Republican has used donations from his fellow senators’ leadership committees to pay mounting legal expenses throughout 2021 as his own campaign account has dwindled. Burr said in mid-January that the DOJ probe had been closed and no charges would be filed.
At least 25 current U.S. senators and one former member have contributed money since February to the Richard Burr Legal Expense Trust Fund, according to first-quarter documents filed with the Senate’s Office of Public Records and campaign finance reports. Fellow North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and two current U.S. representatives from the state have donated. It's obvious that Burr cares nothing about ethics, when it comes to money, anyway.
News&Observer 7/9/2021
WRAL, Laura Leslie, July 5, 2021
RALEIGH, N.C. — State Senate lawmakers could vote soon on whether to legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina. It would be allowed for conditions ranging from multiple sclerosis and ALS to nausea from cancer treatment and PTSD.
Senate Bill 711 passed a key committee last week. Thirty-eight other states have already legalized medical marijuana for at least some health conditions.
We asked you to tell us what you think of the idea. Our WRAL Your Voice tool is not a scientific survey, but those of you who responded said, by a margin of 43 to 1, that North Carolina should be next.
Some viewers spoke from personal experience with medical marijuana.
"I support medical cannabis because I'm a veteran of the Iraq war. And I was diagnosed with PTSD after I got out of military," said Thomas Baker in Wake County. "I was living in California at the time, and was able to access medical cannabis, and it truly helped save my life.
he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recommended that the Army Corps of Engineers not grant Mountain Valley Pipeline a critical permit to cross several hundred streams in Virginia and West Virginia.
“EPA has identified a number of substantial concerns with the project as currently proposed, including whether all feasible avoidance and minimization measures have been undertaken, deficient characterization of the aquatic resources to be impacted, insufficient assessment of secondary and cumulative impacts and potential for significant degradation, and the proposed mitigation,” EPA Wetlands Branch Chief Jeffrey Lapp wrote in a May 27 letter.
The letter was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by environmental law firm Appalachian Mountain Advocates.
Roy Seneca, a regional spokesperson for the agency, said in an email Thursday that “EPA’s recommendation in the letter still stands.”
randallt for DKos Asheville
Here is Madison at CPAC fretting on taking away your Bibles and your guns if you let Biden establish a certain “mechanism”.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced "door-to-door outreach" in communities that have low rates of vaccination.
"It's a year of hard-fought progress. We can't get complacent now. The best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family and the people you care about the most is get vaccinated," Biden said.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) panicked over the efforts to protect Americans from the pandemic during an interview conducted by Right Side Broadcast Network at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering in Texas.
Thanks for reading and contributing, I hope you have a safe week.