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Matt Gaetz Under Investigation for Sexual Relationship With 17-Year-Old
David Knowles, Yahoo! News
Knowles writes:
ep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is under investigation by the Department of Justice for a sexual relationship he allegedly had with a 17-year-old girl, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The investigation was started in the final months of the Trump administration under then-Attorney General William Barr, the Times reported. The agency is looking into whether Gaetz, a close ally of the former president, violated federal sex trafficking laws by paying for the young woman to travel with him outside of Florida.
Gaetz has yet to be charged with a crime.
Earlier Tuesday, Axios reported that Gaetz, who is 38, had told associates he was considering not seeking reelection so that he could pursue a job opportunity with the staunchly conservative network Newsmax. As other outlets picked up on that story, Gaetz chided one for incorrectly identifying him as a congressman from South Florida.
At a February speech he delivered at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., Gaetz declared, “Many days I’m a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state, but every day I’m a Florida man.”
Gaetz told the Times that while his lawyers have been in contact with the Justice Department, he had been told he is not the target of an investigation.
“I only know that it has to do with women,” Gaetz told the paper. “I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.”
In a telephone interview Tuesday evening with Axios reporter Johnathan Swan, Gaetz clarified that he was innocent.
"The allegations against me are as searing as they are false," Gaetz said. "I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct, you know when I was a single guy."
"I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I've dated," Gaetz added. "You know, I've paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I’ve been, you know, generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not."
As the story continued to gain traction Tuesday night, Gaetz tweeted that he and his family have been the target of an extortion plot under investigation by the FBI and that the story of his relationship with a minor was intended to "thwart that investigation."
Gaetz then appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox News program to repeat his denials that the story in the Times was true.
"It is a horrible allegation and it is a lie," Gaetz said. "The New York Times is running a story that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman and that is verifiably false. People can look at my travel records and see that that is not the case."
Yet Carlson maintained a measure of skepticism about Gaetz's claims that the allegations against him were part of an elaborate extortion plot.
"If you just saw our Matt Gaetz interview... that was one of the weirdest interviews I've ever conducted," Carlson said, adding, "I don't think that clarified much."
The fast-moving developments left more questions than answers about one of the most high-profile Republican politicians in the country. Not lost in the fray is the fact that, in December, Gaetz announced his engagement to 26-year-old Ginger Luckey.
Capitol police patrol Capitol Hill. (photo: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
Two Capitol Police Officers Sue Trump for Injuries Sustained During January 6 Riot
Kyle Cheney, POLITICO
Cheney writes: "Two Capitol Police officers injured in hand-to-hand combat during the Jan. 6 insurrection are suing former President Donald Trump for inciting his supporters, many of whom later stormed Congress and formed a mob that assaulted more than 100 officers protecting lawmakers."
Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby described a severe physical and emotional toll from the riot that continues to haunt them.
Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby described a severe physical and emotional toll from the riot that continues to haunt them. And in a 40-page lawsuit, they said Trump bears direct responsibility for unleashing violent followers upon the Capitol. Both officers are seeking unspecified compensation and damages greater than $75,000 apiece.
The lawsuit leans heavily on Trump’s own words to rioters on Jan. 6 — a public record that already resulted in his impeachment for incitement and public condemnations by lawmakers of both parties, as well as separate lawsuits by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).
But it’s the officer’s harrowing personal accounts that add new chapters to the growing collection of horrors unleashed that day. Blassingame said he was slammed into a stone column while rioters hurled the N-word at him. Hemby sayid he suffered hand and knee injuries that require continued medical care. Both said they suffer from ongoing emotional trauma that has upended their lives.
The officers’ description of the mob also serves as a stark counterpoint to Trump, who this week falsely portrayed the riot as a peaceful gathering, where his supporters posed “zero threat” and were “hugging and kissing” police. More than 100 officers were injured that day and one, Brian Sicknick, later died of as-yet-undetermined causes — though video footage shows he was maced by a rioter hours before he collapsed. Two other officers have since died by suicide, which their families attribute to the trauma of the attack and the toll it took in the aftermath.
In the suit, Blassingame described watching helplessly as the mob overtook officers pinned to the Capitol’s west front. Then, he watched as a “sea of people” charged toward him and a small band of officers inside the Capitol Crypt.
“The insurrectionists were throwing items, and striking Officer Blassingame and the other USCP officers with their fists and weapons,” according to the suit, led by D.C.-based attorney Patrick Malone. “Among the weapons Officer Blassingame could see were flagpoles like those he had seen on D Street early in the morning; water bottles; bottles of other unknown liquids; parts of signs they were ripping from the walls of the Crypt and hallway; and flags, flagpoles, and rope-line posts that had been taken from the Crypt and other parts of the Capitol building.”
“Then a forceful surge of insurrectionists pushed forward and slammed Officer Blassingame against a stone column. He struck his spine and the back of his head and was unable to move,” the suit continues. “For the first time in his life, people were yelling into his face, calling him a [n——] repeatedly and throughout the attack in the Crypt. He lost count of the many times the racial slur was hurled at him.”
After breaking free of the mob, Blassingame relocated to aid the evacuation of House members to a committee room where they could remain protected until the riot was dispersed. He noted that many in the room remained maskless despite the threat of Covid but that “he had no option but to remain in place” until 7:30 p.m. that night.
Blassingame was guarding lawmakers when he heard the officer’s gunshot that fatally wounded rioter Ashli Babbitt. In the moment, he said it was unclear whether it was the start of a new surge of violence that would require him to draw his gun.
“The weight on Officer Blassingame has been heavy and pervasive,” the suit continues. “He was not able to sleep and he could not talk about what happened, even with his wife and friends. He suffered from depression that he could not address because he was too consumed with a sense of obligation to continue on with his professional responsibilities.”
Hemby, stationed on the Capitol’s East Front, was positioned at the top of the steps outside the rotunda when the mob approached and challenged officers to join them or stand down.
“Officer Hemby was attacked relentlessly. He was bleeding from a cut located less than an inch from his eye. He had cuts and abrasions on his face and hands and his body was pinned against a large metal door, fending off attacks,” according to the suit. “His primary focus was to survive and simply get home.”
Hemby, per the suit, couldn’t get medical attention until 9 p.m. that night.
“As a result of the attack, Officer Hemby’s left hand and left knee became swollen and painful. He was sprayed in the face and body with chemical sprays. His back and neck ached, and his skin burned,” he alleges. “Officer Hemby is under the care or an orthopedic medical specialist and receives physical therapy two to three days per week for his neck and back. He continues to sleep poorly and feels hyper-aware and on high alert during his waking hours.”
In arguing for damages, Malone points to comments by lawmakers — including Republicans like Rep. Liz Cheney and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell — that squarely place the blame for the Jan. 6 insurrection upon Trump. McConnell in particular said in a floor speech that Trump could be held legally liable for inciting the riot.
“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run, still liable for everything he did while in office, didn't get away with anything yet — yet,” McConnell said at the time. “We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.”
G. Gordon Liddy in 1997. (photo: AP)
G. Gordon Liddy, Watergate Mastermind, Dead at 90
Will Lester, Associated Press
Lester writes: "G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host after emerging from prison, died Tuesday at age 90 at his daughter's home in Virginia."
His son, Thomas Liddy, confirmed the death but did not reveal the cause, other than to say it was not related to COVID-19.
Liddy, a former FBI agent and Army veteran, was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate burglary, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He spent four years and four months in prison, including more than 100 days in solitary confinement.
“I’d do it again for my president,” he said years later.
Liddy was outspoken and controversial as a political operative under Nixon. He recommended assassinating political enemies, bombing a left-leaning think tank and kidnapping war protesters. His White House colleagues ignored such suggestions.
One of his ventures — the break-in at Democratic headquarters at the Watergate building in June 1972 — was approved. The burglary went awry, which led to an investigation, a cover-up and Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
Liddy also was convicted of conspiracy in the September 1971 burglary of the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the defense analyst who leaked the secret history of the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers.
After his release from prison, Liddy became a popular, provocative and controversial radio talk show host. He also worked as a security consultant, writer and actor. His appearance — piercing dark eyes, bushy moustache and shaved head — made him a recognizable spokesman for products and TV guest.
On air, he offered tips on how to kill federal firearms agents, rode around with car tags saying “H20GATE” (Watergate) and scorned people who cooperated with prosecutors.
Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, George Gordon Battle Liddy was a frail boy who grew up in a neighborhood populated mostly by German-Americans. From friends and a maid who was a German national, Liddy developed a curiosity about German leader Adolf Hitler and was inspired by listening to Hitler’s radio speeches in the 1930s.
“If an entire nation could be changed, lifted out of weakness to extraordinary strength, so could one person,” Liddy wrote in “Will,” his autobiography. His personal story was intriguing enough that “Will” was the basis of a TV movie in 1982 starring Robert Conrad.
As a boy Liddy decided it was critical to face his fears and overcome them. At age 11, he roasted a rat and ate it to overcome his fear of rats. “From now on, rats could fear me as they feared cats,” he wrote.
After attending Fordham University and serving a stint in the Army, Liddy graduated from the Fordham University Law School and then joined the FBI. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress from New York in 1968 and helped organize Nixon’s presidential campaign in the state.
When Nixon took office, Liddy was named a special assistant to Treasury and served under Treasury Secretary David M. Kennedy. He later moved to the White House, then to Nixon’s reelection campaign, where his official title was general counsel.
Liddy was head of a team of Republican operatives known as “the plumbers,” whose mission was to find leakers of information embarrassing to the Nixon administration. Among Liddy’s specialties were gathering political intelligence and organizing activities to disrupt or discredit Nixon’s Democratic opponents.
While recruiting a woman to help carry out one of his schemes, Liddy tried to convince her that no one could force him to reveal her identity or anything else against his will. To convince her, He held his hand over a flaming cigarette lighter. His hand was badly burned. The woman turned down the job.
Liddy became known for such offbeat suggestions as kidnapping war protest organizers and taking them to Mexico during the Republican National Convention; assassinating investigative journalist Jack Anderson; and firebombing the Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank in Washington where classified documents leaked by Ellsberg were being stored.
Liddy and fellow operative Howard Hunt, along with the five arrested at Watergate, were indicted on federal charges three months after the June 1972 break-in. Hunt and his recruits pleaded guilty in January 1973, and James McCord and Liddy were found guilty. Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974.
After the failed break-in attempt, Liddy recalled telling White House counsel John Dean, “If someone wants to shoot me, just tell me what corner to stand on, and I’ll be there, OK?” Dean reportedly responded, “I don’t think we’ve gotten there yet, Gordon.”
Liddy claimed in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that Nixon was “insufficiently ruthless” and should have destroyed tape recordings of his conversations with top aides.
Liddy learned to market his reputation as a fearless, if sometimes overzealous, advocate of conservative causes. His syndicated radio talk show, broadcast from Virginia-based WJFK, was long one of the most popular in the country. He wrote best-selling books, acted in TV shows like “Miami Vice,” was a frequent guest lecturer on college campuses, started a private-eye franchise and worked as a security consultant. For a time, he teamed on the lecture circuit with an unlikely partner, 1960s LSD guru Timothy Leary.
In the mid-1990s, Liddy told gun-toting radio listeners to aim for the head when encountered by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “Head shots, head shots,” he stressed, explaining that most agents wear bullet-resistant vests under their jackets. Liddy said later he wasn’t encouraging people to hunt agents, but added that if an agent comes at someone with deadly force, “you should defend yourself and your rights with deadly force.”
Liddy always took pride in his role in Watergate. He once said: “I am proud of the fact that I am the guy who did not talk.”
College library. (photo: Manchan/Getty Images)
Michelle Goldberg | The Social Justice Purge at Idaho Colleges
Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times
Goldberg writes: "What's happening in Idaho is not unique. All over the country, state legislators are trying to curtail teaching about racism and sexism, in universities as well as elementary schools."
Republican lawmakers try to cancel diversity programs.
ast month, I wrote that right-wing legislatures trying to ban critical race theory from public schools and institutions were a far more direct threat to free speech than what’s often called cancel culture.
Some opponents of critical race theory responded that these bans aren’t meant to prohibit teaching about critical race theory; that they are, rather, meant to protect individuals, especially children, from coerced speech and indoctrination.
“C.R.T.’s critics aren’t arguing that no one has the right to talk and write about C.R.T. (particularly among adults on college campuses); they are resisting the implication that C.R.T. is a settled and acceptable dogma,” Christine Rosen wrote in Commentary. “They also take issue with the way this theory is being imposed on schoolchildren, many of whom have been forced to denounce immutable parts of themselves, such as their skin color and sex, in C.R.T. struggle sessions.”
Javier Ambler. (photo: Facebook)
Two Ex-Texas Sheriff Deputies Indicted in Javier Ambler's Death
Paul J. Weber and Jake Bleiberg, Yahoo! News
Excerpt: "Two former Texas sheriff's deputies were arrested Tuesday on manslaughter charges in the 2019 death of a man whom they shocked with stun guns after a police chase that was filmed by real-time police TV series 'Live PD,' authorities said."
The charges are the first directly tied to the death of Javier Ambler, a Black man whose car deputies chased for 22 minutes after trying to pull him over for allegedly failing to dim his headlights to oncoming traffic. Ambler, a former postal worker, died after deputies repeatedly used stun guns on him, despite his pleas that he was sick and couldn’t breathe. The stop in suburban Austin was caught on camera by “Live PD,” which was canceled by the A&E Network in June.
The indictments were announced as a former Minneapolis police officer is being tried in the death of George Floyd, a case that has again brought police brutality and racial injustice to the forefront in the U.S.
Former Williamson County Sheriff's Deputies James Johnson, 36, and Zachary Camden, 26, were both charged Monday with second-degree manslaughter, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said. They were booked into a Travis County jail on Tuesday and released on $150,000 bond each within an hour, according to a spokeswoman for the Travis County Sheriff's Office.
“We are very pleased to see that the Travis County District Attorney is serious about seeking justice for our family. Our goal has always been to hold these officers accountable so that there are no more families who have to suffer like ours has," said Javier Ambler Sr., Ambler's father, in a statement provided by attorneys for the family.
Defense attorneys for the former deputies dismissed the indictments as political and said Ambler's death was the result of heart disease and his “physical exertion in resisting” the deputies.
“Mr. Johnson and Mr. Camden are neither morally nor legally responsible for his death,” said attorneys Ken Ervin and Doug O’Connell. “We are requesting a trial as soon possible where we can ensure politics, campaign promises, and sensationalized media portrayals will not distort the truth of what occurred.”
Garza, a Democrat who was elected by a wide margin in November, said during his campaign for district attorney that he planned to prioritize Ambler's case.
Former Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody was also indicted last year on charges of destroying or concealing video in an investigation into Ambler's death.
Johnson, who initiated the traffic stop, is Black. Camden is white. Both deputies had “Live PD” crews with them at the time.
Police body camera video of Ambler’s death shows the gasping 400-pound (180-kilogram) man telling the deputies that he wants to comply with their demands but can’t because he has congestive heart failure.
“I am not resisting,” Ambler cries. “Sir, I can’t breathe. ... Please. ... Please.”
The body camera video was published by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV last year. A&E has said its video never aired because of a policy against showing a death.
The indictments accuse the deputies of acting "recklessly" by "continuing all described restraint and actions when (Ambler) stated on multiple occasions he could not breathe and had a health condition.”
A&E did not respond to a request for comment on the indictments.
Luis Cresencio Sandoval. (photo: newsbeezer.com)
Mexican Soldiers Detained by Angry Villagers After Shooting of Guatemalan Migrant
Reuters
Excerpt: "Fifteen Mexican soldiers were detained for hours by angry villagers at a remote stretch of Mexico's southern border with Guatemala after a soldier shot dead a Guatemalan migrant, Mexico's defense ministry said on Tuesday."
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said a soldier on Monday afternoon had opened fire on a car that fled in reverse to avoid a military checkpoint in the Motozintla municipality of the state of Chiapas, near the Guatemalan border.
The shots killed a man described by the Chiapas Attorney General’s office as a 30-year-old migrant from Guatemala. Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry identified him as Elvin Mazariegos.
Shortly after the shooting, about 300 people from the local border area, including Guatemalans, arrived at the checkpoint armed with sticks and stones and shouting insults, Sandoval said, speaking at a regular government news conference.
“Obviously, they demanded justice,” Sandoval said.
At about 3 p.m. the group detained 15 soldiers, three vehicles and 17 guns, saying they would take them to Guatemala. About three hours later, amid dialogue with government officials, the group let nine soldiers go, Sandoval said.
They released the remaining soldiers, cars and weapons around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, he added.
Sandoval said the group, which was still on Mexican soil, reached a deal with officials for “economic reparation” over the killing, which occurred two days after the death of a Salvadoran woman while in police custody in the Mexican city of Tulum.
Sandoval did not say how much was paid. The protesters also demanded the soldier responsible face justice.
Describing the soldier’s actions as “erroneous,” Sandoval said the man had not faced any kind of aggression and had been taken into custody for questioning.
The Chiapas Attorney General’s Office said Mazariegos suffered gunshot wounds to the neck and chest, and that it had opened an investigation into the killing.
Mexico’s foreign ministry offered condolences and said there would be a deal for reparations.
Jim Vaughn became concerned about the water in Pittsboro after testing found PFAS in the supply. (photo: Jeremy M Lange/Guardian UK)
We Sampled Tap Water Across the US - and Found Arsenic, Lead and Toxic Chemicals
Ryan Felton, Lisa Gill and Lewis Kendall, Guardian UK and Consumer Reports
Excerpt: "A nine-month investigation by the Guardian and Consumer Reports found forever chemicals, arsenic and lead in samples taken across the US."
n Connecticut, a condo had lead in its drinking water at levels more than double what the federal government deems acceptable. At a church in North Carolina, the water was contaminated with extremely high levels of potentially toxic PFAS chemicals ( a group of compounds found in hundreds of household products). The water flowing into a Texas home had both – and concerning amounts of arsenic too.
All three were among locations that had water tested as part of a nine-month investigation by Consumer Reports (CR) and the Guardian into the US’s drinking water.
Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, access to safe water for all Americans has been a US government goal. Yet millions of people continue to face serious water quality problems because of contamination, deteriorating infrastructure, and inadequate treatment at water plants.
CR and the Guardian selected 120 people from around the US, out of a pool of more than 6,000 volunteers, to test for arsenic, lead, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), and other contaminants. The samples came from water systems that together service more than 19 million people.
A total of 118 of the 120 samples had concerning levels of PFAS or arsenic above CR’s recommended maximum, or detectable amounts of lead. Testing of the samples showed:
- More than 35% of the samples had PFAS, potentially toxic “forever chemicals”, at levels above CR’s recommended maximum.
- About 8% of samples had arsenic, at levels above CR’s recommended maximum.
- In total, 118 out of 120 samples had detectable levels of lead.
The study has some limitations: the quality of the water at one location on a single day doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the water supplied by an entire system or at other times. But the ambitious undertaking, with community water systems chosen by CR’s statisticians from a representative mix of systems across the country, provides a unique view into some of the most significant challenges in America’s ongoing drinking water crisis.
Almost every sample tested had measurable levels of PFAS, a group of compounds found in hundreds of household products. These chemicals are linked to learning delays in children, cancer, and other health problems. More than 35 percent exceeded a safety threshold that CR scientists and other health experts believe should be the maximum.
Yet many consumers have never heard of PFAS.
Hung Ng, a resident of Florida, New York, says he has long used home water filters, in part to remove lead. But the 69-year-old says he didn’t know anything about PFAS until he had his water tested as part of this investigation, which found comparatively high levels of the chemicals in his water. “Now I’ve got to find something to filter out the PFAS,” Ng says.
The tests revealed other problems as well. About 8% of samples had levels of arsenic – which gets into drinking water through natural deposits or industrial or agricultural pollution – above CR’s recommended maximum for drinking water. And almost every sample had measurable amounts of lead, a heavy metal that leaches from corroding water lines and home plumbing fixtures. It is unsafe at any level.
In response to the findings, Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Andrea Drinkard says that 93% of the population supplied by community water systems gets water that meets “all health-based standards all of the time” and that the agency has set standards for more than 90 contaminants. That includes arsenic and lead but does not include PFAS.
America’s water crisis, while widespread, affects some communities more than others, according to an analysis of more than 140,000 public water systems published by the Guardian in February. It found that access to clean drinking water is highly unequal in the US, with water systems that service poorer and rural counties far more likely to have violations than those that provide water to wealthier or urban ones. Water systems in counties with large Latino populations were particularly likely to have violations, the Guardian found.
PFAS: the ‘forever chemical’ problem
The PFAS results from CR’s tests are particularly troubling.
Manufacturers use PFAS to make stain-resistant fabrics and carpets, water-repellent clothing, nonstick cookware, and hundreds of other common products. The compounds can seep into water from factories, landfills, and other sources. And because they don’t easily break down in the environment, they’re often called “forever chemicals”.
Investigation into the health effects of PFAS exposure is ongoing, but some of the strongest evidence about their potential risks comes from research of about 69,000 people in and around Parkersburg, W Va. The research – part of a settlement between DuPont, which makes some PFAS, and residents of the community – was depicted in the 2019 movie Dark Waters.
It found a “probable link” between exposure to a type of PFAS and six health problems: high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and testicular and kidney cancers. Research has also linked some PFAS to learning delays in children.
At least 2,337 communities in 49 states have drinking water known to be contaminated with PFAS, according to a January analysis by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an advocacy organization.
CR’s tests results confirm the ubiquity of the chemicals: We found PFAS in 117 of the 120 samples we tested, from locations across the country.
Despite mounting evidence of widespread contamination and health risks, the EPA has still not set an enforceable legal limit for PFAS in drinking water. Instead, it has established only voluntary limits, which apply to just two of the better-studied forever chemicals–PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, and PFOS, or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid–at 70 parts per trillion combined.
Harvard environmental health professor Philippe Grandjean has suggested that the limit should be just 1 ppt for PFOA and PFOS, citing his 2013 research– partly funded by the EPA – showing decreased vaccine response in children exposed to the chemicals.
CR’s scientists say the maximum allowed amount should be 5 ppt for a single PFAS chemical and 10 ppt for two or more.Among the 120 samples CR tested, more than a third had PFAS levels above 10 ppt, and more than a quarter exceeded 5 ppt for a single PFAS chemical.
Two samples had PFAS levels above the federal advisory level of 70 ppt, with the highest amount – 80.2 ppt–coming from a sample that Jim Vaughn, a 76-year-old retired electrical equipment salesman, collected at his church in Pittsboro, NC.
Vaughn wasn’t particularly surprised, he says. Places such as Pittsboro–a community of about 6,700 on the fringes of North Carolina’s Research Triangle, which is anchored by three universities and filled with industry and high-tech business – are used to getting “dumped on,” he says. “It’s that little feeling of helplessness. Is there something that the town will do about it? Or will we let it ride?”
Indeed, residents of Pittsboro have reason to worry, beyond the results of CR’s tests. In 2007, an EPA study found PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River Basin, a major source of drinking water for the eastern half of North Carolina. Some of the highest levels came from the Haw River in the basin’s north end – where Pittsboro gets its water.
Ongoing research out of Duke University, in nearby Durham, has also raised concerns. It found that levels of PFAS in a study of 49 Pittsboro residents’ blood are two to four times higher than that of the general US population. Heather Stapleton, the project’s lead investigator, says Vaughn’s test results align with her team’s findings.
“If you think about the number of communities that could be impacted, it’s close to a million people,” she says.
Chris Kennedy, town manager for Pittsboro, says the town was not a source of PFAS but that it was “diligently working towards removing PFAS from our potable water supply”. He adds that the town is installing filters at the water treatment plant to remove at least 90% of PFAS by the end of 2021 and is taking steps “to reduce contamination into the Haw River, which will provide the best results long term”.
Arsenic: a toxin in the water
More than 1,200 miles away from Pittsboro, Sandy and Scott Phillips sat around their kitchen table in Texas on a weekday in February reflecting on the test results for their water samples.
Last year, looking to downsize, they built the custom home of their dreams in a new development in Round Rock, 20 miles north of Austin.
But soon after moving in, they began to notice the water had an unusual odor, prompting them to invest thousands in a water softening and reverse osmosis water filtration system.
Not long after, the couple got their water tested as part of CR’s project, taking samples from water before it was filtered. The results were concerning: high not just in PFAS (32.8 ppt) but also in arsenic, at 3.3 parts per billion. “We get this gorgeous house,” Sandy Phillips says, “and then the water is terrible.”
Bill Brown, general manager of the Jonah Water Special Utility District, the couple’s water supplier, says it “has complied with all federal and state minimum contaminant level standards for arsenic and lead for many years”. He says that while CR’s results conflicted with its records, the water district will investigate. He did not comment on the PFAS found in the Phillipses’ water.
In the early 2000s, the EPA considered a drinking water limit for arsenic of 3 ppb, before settling on 10 ppb as an amount that balances the costs for water system operators while reducing health risks. CR scientists have long said the EPA should set a limit of 3 ppb or lower, in line with what other health experts and environmental advocacy groups, such as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), have called for.
Almost every sample CR tested had measurable levels of arsenic, including 10–or about 8 percent–with levels between 3 and 10 ppb. Previous tests from CR and others have shown elevated levels in juices and baby foods.
Research suggests that exposure to even low levels of arsenic can pose health risks over the long term. A 2014 study in the journal Environmental Health found an association between water with arsenic of 5 ppb or greater and a five- to six-point IQ reduction in children.
Two states–New Hampshire and New Jersey–have lowered their arsenic limit to 5 ppb, citing warnings from studies. The EPA itself even sets its “maximum contaminant level goal”–the level below which there is no known or expected risk to health–at zero for arsenic.
Lead: no safe amount
The Phillipses, in Texas, were especially fortunate to have installed a filtration system because the results of their unfiltered tap test showed high levels of not only arsenic but also lead, at 5.8 ppb. (CR’s follow-up tests of the couple’s filtered water showed trace amounts of lead and levels of arsenic and PFAS well within CR’s recommended limits.)
The risks of lead, and problems with how water utilities test for it, became a national concern when news of the water crisis in Flint, Mich., exploded in 2015. Scientists and the EPA agree that there’s no safe exposure level of lead. But taking into consideration the feasibility of achieving lower levels, the EPA says utilities have to take significant steps to lower lead levels – including replacing lead service lines – only when 10% of samples from homes in their service areas exceed 15 ppb.
Consumer advocates say those EPA regulations are problematic – a reality underscored by the testing results of water being piped into a condo owned by Stephen and Robin Newberg in New Britain, Connecticut.
Lead typically works its way into drinking water through lead pipes that feed people’s homes or in the home’s plumbing itself.
While New Britain’s annual water quality report for customers indicates that its average lead level is 6 ppb, the Newbergs’ results showed a concentration of 31.2 ppb, more than double the EPA’s action level of 15 ppb.
Stephen Newberg, a former postal worker, says he drinks filtered water and his wife drinks bottled water, so he’s not personally worried. But the 66-year-old sits on the board of his condo, and he’s concerned about the possibility of the heavy metal being in his neighbors’ water.
Ramon Esponda, New Britain’s deputy director of public works, says that the city complies with the EPA’s lead regulations, based on its 2020 tests, which found an average lead level of 2 ppb. Esponda says that results of a single sample may be thrown off by new fixtures, recent plumbing work, or other factors.
The installation of new lead service lines – pipes that connect a water main in a street to individual buildings – was banned in 1986. But an estimated 3 million to 6 million homes and businesses nationwide still get water through older lines that contain lead, according to EPA estimates. An untold number of homes have plumbing fixtures made of the heavy metal. Exposure can especially pose risks in children, such as reduced IQ and behavioral problems.
The Newbergs’ results were the only ones in CR’s tests to be above the EPA action level. But almost every sample had measurable levels of lead, and health experts emphasize that no amount of lead is safe.
Erik Olson, senior strategic director of health and food at the NRDC, says the Newbergs’ results illustrate several problems with how the EPA regulates lead. One is that water systems typically test for lead only once every three years, and larger systems can get waivers to test every nine years. Another is that the sample sizes are generally small.
“There’s very little oversight, and they may not be testing the highest-risk homes,” Olson says.
The EPA, in the waning days of the Trump administration, finalized changes to the lead regulation that would require testing in elementary schools and established new rules regarding the steps water systems must take when lead is detected.
But the NRDC, the NAACP, and other groups recently sued the EPA, saying those steps didn’t go far enough, and urged the Biden administration to improve on them.
Solutions
People seeking cleaner drinking water do have some options for reducing their exposure to dangerous contaminants. But consumer advocates say that fixing the problem shouldn’t be up to consumers.
“Americans shouldn’t have to navigate bureaucracy and be forced to make significant investments in order to access clean tap water,” says Brian Ronholm, CR’s director of food policy.
Legislation passed last year by the House of Representatives would have authorized $22.5bn to replace lead service lines across the US, according to the NRDC, but the bill died in the Senate. The NRDC called for the Biden administration and Congress to enact legislation requiring the expeditious removal and replacement of lead lines.
Congress is also focusing on PFAS. In January, a congressional taskforce urged the Biden administration to take immediate steps to address PFAS contamination by, among other things, directing the EPA to phase out any uses for the chemicals deemed “non-essential,” to finalize a standard for PFOA and PFOS, and to accelerate cleanup.
Democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell, a member of the taskforce, responded to the findings from CR’s tests, saying they show that “we do not have any time to waste as we battle these toxic chemicals.” She renewed her call for PFAS to be banned and designated as hazardous.
Pittsboro’s Jim Vaughn says that while government and industry debate, residents of his town are left with unsafe water. “The town that has the polluters in it, they’re getting their water from upstream, so what’s their impetus” to fix the problem, he says. “The ones downstream have no power over the ones upstream to force them to do that. I just don’t think it’s fair.”
Methodology: how consumers helped us test America’s tap water
Consumer Reports and the Guardian teamed up to ask our readers if they could help us investigate the nation’s drinking water. The response was overwhelming: more than 6,000 said “Yes!” From that pool, CR statisticians winnowed the group down to 120 volunteers representing a cross-section of the country and the water systems that service it. That included 12 samples from each of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 10 jursidictional regions. Within each region, testers were chosen to provide a mix of urban and rural locations as well as small and large water systems.
We were particularly interested in PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), chemicals notorious as much for their potential health risks as for their perseverance in the environment. Municipalities often don’t test PFAS, and when they do, only on a small scale. Each participant received test kits for PFAS as well as arsenic, lead, and other contaminants of concern, plus a detailed video showing how to collect the samples – precision really matters here!
When tests were complete, we sent the volunteers advice tailored to their specific results. While we can’t draw conclusions about any of the specific water systems, since only one sample came from each, together they provide powerful insights into problems faced by the nation as a whole. “While much of CR’s testing is done in our labs with our scientists, projects like these, need real-people,” says James Dickerson, CR’s chief scientific officer. “We are so grateful to the readers who made this possible, particularly those who shared their stories with us.”
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