HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania has seen a lot more litter generated during the pandemic, and environmental advocates have launched a cleanup campaign this month to keep trash out of waterways.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the state Department of Environmental Protection, is asking volunteers to pick up garbage along streams, lakes and rivers, now through November 30.

It's estimated more than 502 million items litter Pennsylvania roadways alone, and a good portion end up in waterways. Michelle Dunn, who coordinates the "Pick Up Pennsylvania" campaign, said trash can be hazardous, both to water quality and wildlife.

"With all these rainstorms we're having, all the litter and even illegal dumping gets washed into the storm drains," said Dunn. "That clogs the storm drains, flooding local areas. It can be blocking our creeks, which then causes flooding and eventually gets into our rivers and to the ocean, adding to the marine pollution."

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 80% of the debris in the ocean started as trash on land. Pick Up Pennsylvania plans to kick off year-round litter clean-ups starting in January.

Due to the high costs of trash cleanup, Dunn says the DEP, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and PennDOT are preparing to release a state Litter Action Plan, focused on prevention, by the end of this month.

"Anything that you can keep out of the waterways is tremendous, and it doesn't have to be this big fanfare of an event," said Dunn. "It can be removing an illegal dumpsite. It can be educating students or just your family to not litter, to be conscious of what could be recycled."

Trash bags and gloves will be provided to Pick Up Pennsylvania volunteers. There's a schedule of upcoming cleanups by region on Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful's calendar of events, along with information about how to organize your own cleanup.

Lawmakers in the West Virginia Senate have passed a bill to remove mandated inspections for chemical storage tanks in the oil, coal and gas industries.

The measure is now pending before the House Energy and Public Works Committee.

Morgan King, climate and energy program manager for the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, said lawmakers have repeatedly tried to gut protections over the past decade but this time, they appear close to succeeding. She added up to 1,000 tanks scattered across the state would be removed from inspections.

"That just puts us at risk for future water crises if another leak occurs and it's not caught," King contended.

West Virginia passed strict regulations aimed at preventing water tank leaks after a 2014 chemical spill. The spill dumped around 10,000 gallons of chemicals into the Elk River, which supplies drinking water to around 300,000 people in the Charleston area.

According to the West Virginia Environmental Council, 38% of all confirmed tank leaks reported to the West Virginia Department of Environmental protection are located in zones of critical concern. King believes the move signals lawmakers are willing to put the bottom line of industries and their profits above the health and safety of Mountain State residents.

"We're seeing that they're putting the interests of the executives over that of public interest," King outlined. "Around our health, around economic growth, around our ability to have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink."

In the weeks following the 2014 chemical spill, the West Virginia Poison Center received thousands of phone calls from people reporting rashes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms, according to a state report, which also found an increase in emergency room visits.


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West Virginia environmental groups are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, arguing the agency failed to consider residents' health when it gave the stamp of approval for the creation of four valley fills on a thousand-acre surface mine in Raleigh County.

Vernon Halton, executive director of the nonprofit Coal River Mountain Watch says the region experienced severe flooding in the 1990s and early 2000s, and says more valley fills, which involve dumping rocks, minerals and waste into nearby waterways, will put their lives at risk.

"It's going to permanently endanger the people whose homes are in the valleys below, he explained."

According to Environment America, valley fills permanently bury headwater streams and reduce water quality. More than 2,000 miles of headwater streams have been buried due to mountaintop removal.

Haltom added that communities continue to grapple with health challenges unparalleled outside of the coalfields.

"Higher rates of cancer, higher rates of heart disease, higher rates of birth defects, higher rates of other diseases, and most of them can be linked to the airborne dust that people are forced to breathe," he continued.

Research has shown breathing in toxic dust promotes the growth of lung cancer cells in people living in communities near mountaintop removal. Coal is mined in 22 of West Virginia's 55 counties, according to federal data.

A Knoxville environmental group is raising concerns over federal budget cuts and their effects on jobs at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The Trump Administration briefly laid off workers at the complex but called them back the next day.

Tanvi Kardile, coordinator for the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, warned the cuts, including layoffs at the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration, are troubling. She advocated shifting jobs from weapons production to environmental cleanup, citing ongoing efforts to address groundwater contamination, though she pointed out cost overruns and major concerns remain unaddressed.

"One of these cuts we feel should be the uranium processing facility, which is being constructed to replace, all these old, deteriorating buildings at Y-12," Kardile explained. "The budget for that keeps skyrocketing.
And this is one of the largest construction projects in Tennessee history."

Kardile emphasized the uranium processing facility is estimated to cost $10.3 billion and will not be complete in 2031. Initially, the project was expected to cost $6.5 billion and be finished by this year.

Kardile added her group is hesitant about Trump's statement expressing his intention to initiate nuclear arms reduction negotiations with China and Russia. The future of the U.S. nuclear weapons program remains uncertain as a result.

"Who knows if reduction talks will happen or how successful they'll be, especially with some other energy initiatives that he supports, such as discrediting climate change, promoting fossil fuels and drilling," Kardile outlined. "It doesn't seem like the administration will take many initiatives to protect the environment."

Kardile argued it is crucial for Tennesseans to push for greater accountability from the Department of Energy on the rising cost of Y-12 and collaborate with lawmakers to find the best path to allocate their tax dollars and protect public health.