Environmental Protection Agency

The agency hopes the standards will prevent thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of serious illnesses.

Environmental groups worry an amendment to House Bill 1623 could prevent Indiana from doing what’s best to handle its coal ash — or at the very least, create confusion.

The bill would make it so no water samples could get taken from a city’s combined sewer overflow during or after heavy rains or flooding. That means the state couldn’t slap them with a violation.

The good news is, air pollution in Indiana — and around the country — has gone down in the past few decades. The bad news is, the fees that companies pay to pollute are what keeps the state’s air permitting program running. With less pollution, it’s struggling to stay afloat.

If you’re going into the woods, tall grass, your garden, or anywhere else ticks might be — here are some tips on how to keep yourself safe.

Kari Rhinehart, co-founder of the Franklin group If It Was Your Child, will speak at the event at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters.

The EPA is proposing to designate two chemicals from the PFAS group of more than 4,000 chemicals as hazardous substances. PFOS and PFOA are the most commonly found to be contaminating water.

The site of the old Cities Service Refinery now houses a CITGO oil storage facility and vacant property owned by Oxy USA. The EPA found groundwater in the center of the site had high levels of fuel chemicals — like benzene, which can cause blood cancers.

The utility plans to test for toxic heavy metals at about 400 homes and businesses where coal ash was used as “fill” in construction.

In the 1930s and 40s, the Beck’s Lake area on South Bend’s west side was used as an industrial dumping ground.