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Japan Releases First Fukushima Wastewater Amid Protests
In response, China said it would ban the import of all Japanese ocean products, with one ministry spokesperson calling Japan's decision "selfish."
Aug 24, 2023
At around 1:00 pm local time Thursday, the Tokyo Electric Power Company began to discharge wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant, in keeping with the schedule Japan announced Tuesday.
In response, South Korean protestors attempted to enter the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, and China said it would ban the import of all Japanese ocean products.
"The ocean is the common property of all humankind, not a place for Japan to arbitrarily dump nuclear-contaminated water," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said ahead of the first release of water Thursday, as The Guardian reported.
Wang also called the decision "extremely selfish."
"The sea is not Japan's trash bin."
The Chinese customs agency said it would immediately and "completely suspend the import of aquatic products originating in Japan" to "prevent the risk of radioactive contamination of food safety." This means that, in addition to seafood, marine products like seaweed or sea salt would also be covered, CNN explained.
In South Korea, around 50 people gathered for a protest outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Reuters reported. A group of them entered the building and reached the eighth floor, where they unfurled banners.
"The sea is not Japan's trash bin," one banner read. "Stop releasing contaminated water at once."
Police arrested 16 people for trespassing, physically carrying and dragging some out of the building and on to a bus, a Reuters photographer said.
While South Korea's opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung calls the Fukushima release an "act of terror," the country's government under President Yoon Suk Yeol has backed Japan's decision, Deutsche Welle explained. However, the release is unpopular with the public, with more than 80% opposing the release and more than 60% vowing not to eat Japanese seafood afterward, The Associated Press reported. This has prompted the government to threaten Japan with a lawsuit if radiation levels surpass the safety limit, according to DW.
"I totally oppose the Japanese plan. The radioactive wastewater is truly a bad thing," Seoul resident Lee Jae-kyung told AP. "My feelings toward Japan have worsened because of the wastewater release."
The governments of Hong Kong and Macao have also placed a more limited ban on seafood from 10 Japanese prefectures including Fukushima. Hong Kong chief executive John Lee called Japan's decision to release the water "irresponsible," according to The Guardian. There, the release also drew protests, with demonstrators ripping up a sign with the Japanese flag and the words, "No trace of humanity. An enemy of the whole world," when they reached the consulate, as AP reported.
Domestically, too, the release has prompted opposition from fishers and environmental groups, as well as concern from citizens.
"I'm not going to buy fish from Fukushima again and I will ask the sushi restaurant where I usually go where they are buying their stocks from. And I definitely will not go to any of the beaches there with my children until I am absolutely sure that it is safe again," Kanako Hosomura, who lives less than 200 kilometers from the plant, told DW.
Around 400 protesters gathered outside the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) headquarters Thursday morning, Greenpeace Japan tweeted.
The protests continued even after the release began.
Japan insists that its plan for the release is safe, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded it is "consistent with relevant international safety standards." TEPCO is first treating the water in an advanced liquid processing system to remove everything except for the radioactive tritium, which is not possible to remove because it is an isotope of hydrogen, a key component of water, as NPR explained. The water containing the tritium is then further diluted with seawater to one-seventh of the World Health Organization's safety standard, according to DW. The government says some nuclear plants release tritium-contaminated wastewater at higher levels, NPR reported. And The Guardian observed that Chinese plants also release wastewater into the ocean.
TEPCO said it would release 7,800 tons of water over the next 17 days, and around 31,200 tons by April, according to DW. The entire process is expected to take around three decades.
Edwin Lyman, the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C., told NPR that Japan's plan was "the least bad of a bunch of bad options."
"The idea of deliberately discharging hazardous substances into the environment, into the ocean is repugnant," Lyman said. "But unfortunately, if you do look at it from the technical perspective, it's hard to argue that the impacts of this discharge would be worse than those that are occurring at nuclear power plants that are operating worldwide."
However, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute senior scientist Ken Buesseler said it would be better to keep the waste stored on land where it could be watched.
While he didn't think the waste posed a threat to the wider Pacific, "nearshore in Japan could be affected in the long term because of accumulation of non-tritium forms of radioactivity," Buesseler told NPR.
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Tribes to EPA: Ban Fish-Killing Tire Chemical 6PPD
"If EPA truly cares about protecting the environment and the tribe's treaty rights, not just industry's pocketbooks, it will act now," said one tribe's environmental scientist.
Aug 01, 2023
Three Western Indigenous tribes on Tuesday petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking a ban on a toxic chemical used in the manufacture of tires that poses a deadly risk to fish—including species listed as endangered or threatened—when it breaks down.
Acting on behalf of the Yurok Tribe of northern California and the Port Gamble S'Klallam and Puyallup tribes from the Puget Sound region of Washington state, the legal advocacy group Earthjustice filed a petition asking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan to invoke Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) "to establish regulations prohibiting the manufacturing, processing, use, and distribution of N-(1,3-Dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) for and in tires."
"Exposure to 6PPD-q can kill a coho salmon within hours, and the chemical... kills up to 100% of coho returning to spawn in urban streams."
Present in most if not all tires, 6PPD has been in use for over half a century. The highly reactive chemical breaks down into 6PPD-quinone (6PPD-q), which, according to Earthjustice, "is the second-most toxic chemical to aquatic species ever evaluated by EPA," behind the chemical warfare agent parathion.
"Exposure to 6PPD-q can kill a coho salmon within hours, and the chemical is responsible for 'urban runoff mortality syndrome,' which kills up to 100% of coho returning to spawn in urban streams," the petition notes. Numerous populations of coho salmon, steelhead trout, and Chinook salmon are listed as endangered or threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act.
The petition warns that the chemical byproduct "is present not only in stormwater runoff and urban watersheds at levels that can kill salmon, steelhead trout, and other aquatic organisms, but also in sediments and soils, road and household dust, and the urine of pregnant women, with emerging science pointing to toxicity in mammals and therefore potential risk to human health as well."
"There is no known safe level of 6PPD in tires, and no warning or label requirements will eliminate the unreasonable risk from the use of tires containing 6PPD because the formation and release of 6PPD-q is an intended, inherent, and foreseeable result of using 6PPD in tires," the petition stresses.
Josh Carter, the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe's environmental scientist, said in a statement that"to see 6PPD-q kill the salmon that are reared in the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe's own streams and from its own hatchery is an unconscionable slap in the face to a people who rely on salmon for their well-being, in addition to being a gross violation of the tribe's rights as enshrined in the 1855 Treaty of Point No Point."
"If EPA truly cares about protecting the environment and the tribe's treaty rights, not just industry's pocketbooks, it will act now," Carter added.
The Puyallup Tribal Council asserted:
Since time immemorial the Puyallup Tribe has fished and protected the water that flows through our homelands. We have witnessed first-hand the devastation to the salmon species we have always relied upon to nourish our people. We have watched as the species have declined to the point of almost certain extinction if nothing is done to protect them.
We have suffered years of reduced fishing, now only seeing hours of fishing where there used to be months of fishing. The discovery that 6PPD is killing the fish in these waters could be exactly what saves salmon for us and all of the country. That is why we have joined this petition to act upon the knowledge we now have, to save and protect our fish and other species impacted by this toxic chemical. We will always act to protect the fish, the water, and our lands.
Elizabeth Forsyth, the senior attorney at Earthjustice's Biodiversity Defense Program, noted that "tire companies have known for years that they need to move beyond 6PPD to find viable alternatives."
"EPA action is urgently needed to spur that change," she continued. "The extreme toxicity of this little-known chemical should be alarming to anyone who cares about our planet's biodiversity and waterways. It is time for the EPA to phase out this highly toxic chemical that is killing salmon."
As the Yurok Tribe prepares to hold its annual Salmon Festival later this month, the famed fair's namesake fish won't be on the menu this year. That's because tribal leaders say the Klamath River's salmon run is forecast to be one of the lowest ever recorded.
"In addition to not catching fish for the festival, we will not harvest any Klamath salmon this year to protect the fish population," Yurok Tribal Chair Joseph James said in a statement.
"During all but one of the last eight years, the tribe's extremely limited subsistence harvests also did not come close to satisfying the needs of the Yurok people," he added. "In many years, the subsistence quotas amounted to less than one fish per member of the tribe."
On a positive note, construction crews are hard at work dismantling four dams on the Klamath River in what the Yurok Tribe is calling "the largest salmon restoration project in world history."
"By the end of 2024, the Klamath will flow free for the first time in more than a century, and salmon will have access to approximately 400 miles of previously blocked salmon-spawning habitat," the tribe said.
The theme of this year's Salmon Festival—the 59th annual gathering—is "Celebrating Dam Removal and the Healing of the Klamath River."
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Biodiversity Group Wins Deal With Biden Admin to Protect Wildlife From Pesticides
"For over a decade, federal agencies have ignored how spraying pesticides into the water harms bull trout, pallid sturgeon, and dozens of other protected species," said one advocate. "That changes today."
Aug 01, 2023
The Center for Biological Diversity said Tuesday that a legal agreement it has reached with two federal agencies will help mitigate damage done to wildlife in United States waterways, where endangered species have been harmed over the past decade by the government's failure to assess the environmental impact of pesticide applications.
Under the deal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) must complete assessments under the Endangered Species Act to ensure wildlife is protected from the spraying of pesticides.
According to CBD, the FWS and EPA have both failed to conduct endangered species consultations in recent years before issuing a nationwide pesticide general permit, which the EPA issues every five years.
The permit establishes requirements for the spraying of pesticides directly into waterways to control mosquito populations, aquatic weeds, and forest canopy pests.
"This agreement is important progress for improving the health of our rivers and streams and the incredible critters that rely on them."
CBD filed a lawsuit in 2021 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, arguing that the EPA had failed to assess the impact on wildlife when it issued the permit that year and in 2016 when the previous permit was approved.
The group said Tuesday that the FWS has also failed to conduct assessments "in three previous instances... even when requested [to] by the EPA."
"For over a decade, federal agencies have ignored how spraying pesticides into the water harms bull trout, pallid sturgeon, and dozens of other protected species. That changes today," said Hannah Connor, an attorney at CBD. "This victory will help endangered species across the country, along with the rivers and streams we all depend on."
The U.S. Geological Survey showed in 2021 that on average, 17 pesticides were found at least once in 74 river and stream sites that were sampled 12-24 times per year between 2013 and 2017.
According to Beyond Pesticides, pesticide exposure is linked to cancer, hormonal disruption, reproductive problems, liver and kidney damage, and other health issues in a wide range of species. Reproductive deformations have been detected in frogs and fish in rivers throughout the U.S. after exposure to pesticides.
The agreement requires the FWS to complete consultations on the impact to endangered wildlife before the next permit is finalized, no later than 2025. The EPA will also be required to take additional steps to improve pollution monitoring under the Clean Water Act to protect freshwater species from pesticide applications prior to the next pesticide general permit.
"This agreement is important progress for improving the health of our rivers and streams and the incredible critters that rely on them," said Connor in a statement. "My hope is that it will be a wake-up call for the Fish and Wildlife Service to fully embrace its critical role in preventing harm from pesticides to protected species."
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