Word: toxically
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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LIKE THE POISON that spreads invisibly from underground toxic waste dumps into our drinking water, the various facets of the scandal surrounding the investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have seeped far from the source. It is these widespread consequences that have made the affair so shocking and so disturbing...
...were reports that the main subject of the investigation, the agency's "Superfund"--money designated to help clean up hazardous waste dumps--had been turned into a political weapon. One particularly glaring example is the convincing charge that Superfund dollars were diverted from a project to clean up a toxic waste site in California to damage former governor Jerry Brown's 1982 Senate attempt...
...acidifies lakes and streams, killing fish and other aquatic wildlife, and has been found to cause excessive root decay to forests and crops and to corrode man-made structures. The human dangers of acid rain are twofold: sulfur dioxide interferes with the respiratory system, and acidified water pulls toxic metals out of water supply piping. About one-half the acid rain which falls on Canada originates in the Eastern belt of the United States, which generates 221/2 tons of sulfur dioxide annually...
...Justice Department has censored these two Canadan films specifically because they deal with a sensitive issue which the Administration would like to ignore. The Clean Air Act, under its existing 1970-authorized form, contains no provisions for this highly toxic form of pollution. The Act expired in 1981 and is on Congress' agenda for reauthorization, but the Reagan Administration has so far postponed the inclusion of a clause to oversee these emissions...
While the White House worked to defuse the controversy, Congress was heading in a different direction. In an appearance before a House subcommittee, Rita Lavelle testified that regional offices of the EPA have been looking into charges that a "pattern" of organized-crime involvement in toxic-waste disposal exists. Lavelle also revealed that she had met with Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese and White House Cabinet Secretary Craig Fuller "ten or twelve" times to discuss specific toxic-waste issues, although she said neither tried to influence any of the agency's decisions. The White House subsequently said that its counsel...