Sophisticated criminal networks are dumping millions of tonnes of waste in the British countryside every year, costing the UK an estimated £1 billion annually, according to a House of Lords inquiry. The Environment and Climate Change Committee found that large-scale fly-tipping operations are increasingly linked to organised crime groups involved in money laundering, drug trafficking and modern slavery. The inquiry estimated that around 38 million tonnes of waste are illegally dumped each year.
The shutdown of the U.S. government could have ripple effects for human health and the environment as an already weakened Environmental Protection Agency will see nearly all of its staff furloughed and many of its operations paused. The first shutdown in six years went into effect late Tuesday and requires federal agencies to stop all nonessential work. Most EPA work is considered only partially essential under federal rules.
IN LOCAL NEWS: In 2002, when the city of Portland initially granted Zenith Energy permission to continue operating its fuel transport and storage facility in Northwest Portland, it did so with a number of conditions-in an attempt to limit further potential for local pollution. Environmental advocates who disagreed with the permit subsequently sued, and now a city attorney has admitted that the city does not believe it can enforce those compromise conditions at all. For the Mercury, Abe Asher has more.