In the previous mailing of this newsletter, one of the links could not be accessed, and the EPA, not UNC, is the defendant in the lawsuit.
Weekly John Locke Foundation research division newsletter focusing on environmental issues.
The newsletter highlights relevant analysis done by the JLF and other think tanks as well as items in the news.
1. NBC 17 covers Steve Milloy’s lawsuit against the EPA for illegal human testing at UNC
Back in July, Steve Milloy, statistician and publisher of JunkScience,com, spoke at a meeting of the JLF Shaftesbury Society regarding his lawsuit against the EPA for performing dangerous human testing at UNC. The testing involved having subjects inhale diesel emissions containing fine particles called PM2.5 that the EPA has labeled as deadly. UNC, in their communications with subjects, gave no hint of the EPA’s claimed dangers from inhaling these fumes.
Now NBC 17 has picked up on the story, giving it extensive coverage on its September 18 evening news broadcast. The story as reported, which included interviews with subjects of the tests, is quite revealing with strong suggestions that the researchers involved intentionally mislead participants in the program.
The story notes that, "the EPA parked a diesel truck next to a UNC building and pumped the diesel exhaust into a glass chamber,where patients unknowingly inhaled the lethal fumes for up to two hours."It goes on to tell the story of one of the subjects who was a UNC student at the time.
In 2006, Landon Huffman was a UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduate trying to pay for college when he saw an advertisement in the university’s campus newspaper.
"I was18 years old and just interested in making a little extra money. It seemed like a relatively easy and safe thing to do," said Huffman, who signed up for the trials and earned $3,000 dollars over the course of a year for his participation.
Huffman does not recall any mention of PM2.5 and says the EPA never informed him the air he was breathing was dangerous.
"They convinced me that what I was doing was harmless. That I was breathing air from outside… Why would they lie to me, why would they mislead me like that?"
2. In case you want to know why Obama’s green energy agenda will hurt the poor
This graph shows the percentage of income paid to energy costs by income quintile. The poorest among us pay by far the highest percentage of their income in energy costs. They will pay more for solar and wind while well-to-do enviros feel good about themselves and the planet is no better off.
Credit for the graph goes to Manhattan Institute fellow Diana Furchtgott-Roth, author of the new book "Regulating to Disaster: How Green Jobs Policies Are Damaging America’s Economy,"
3. Ozone Report
The 2012 ozone season began on April 1 and each week during the ozone season this newsletter reports how many, if any, high ozone days have been experienced throughout the state during the previous week, where they were experienced, and how many have been recorded during the entire season to date.The ozone season will end on October 31. All reported data is from the North Carolina Division of Air Quality, which is part of the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
During the period September 24 to September 30 there were no reported high ozone readings on North Carolina’s ozone monitors. Since the beginning of the ozone season there have been 111 high ozone readings over 16 days on North Carolina monitors.
