Public Left In Dark Over Toxic Spills Because Federal Officials Fail To Update Database
The Coast Guard and EPA have acknowledged the information gaps but have done little to fill them.
Center for Investigative Reporting:
US Government Fails To Track Toxic Spills In Nation’s Waterways
An examination of the database, funded by Marquette University’s O’Brien Fellowship for Public Service Journalism, found that the federal government routinely fails to list the amount of toxic chemicals spilled into the nation’s waterways, leaving the public in the dark about spills’ impacts on residents, neighborhoods and the environment. According to the federal database, there were 295 chemical spills from trains into the Mississippi River in 2015 alone, or nearly one every day. That total is actually down somewhat from recent years. Although many of the reported spills were small, the database failed to list the amount spilled in 188 incidents, or more than 60 percent of the spills. (Soley, 2/6)
In other public health news —
Orange County Register:
Joe Biden Offers Hope At Health Summit In Dana Point On His Late Son's Birthday
Speaking on what would have been his late son’s 48th birthday, former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday made an impassioned plea to hundreds of health care industry representatives to waste no time in preventing the loss of life resulting from medical errors and cancer. Biden addressed participants at the fifth annual World Patient Safety, Science and Technology Summit organized by The Patient Safety Movement. The Irvine-based nonprofit operates with the goal of reducing deaths caused by preventable medical errors to zero by 2020. (Bharath, 2/5)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Mendocino County Sheriff Vows To Reduce Deputy Response To Mental Health Crises
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman has vowed this year to stop sending deputies to nonviolent, emergency mental health calls. Having deputies respond to such crises is a poor use of law enforcement resources, he said, one resulting in the incarceration of people who need psychiatric help, not the frequent outcome of jail. Calling police to a mental health situation can trigger a crime that otherwise would not have occurred, such as resisting arrest, he said. It’s a nationwide issue, with more than half of people incarcerated in local jails estimated to have mental health problems. Two million people with mental illness, most of them nonviolent, are booked into jails each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. (Anderson, 2/5)