The Environmental Health News is reporting that a recent article in Chemical and Engineering News finds that, "When it comes to regulating chemicals, states increasingly are leaving the federal government behind and tackling this issue themselves. In recent years, California, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington have enacted laws establishing comprehensive regulatory programs to control substances in products. Now more states are considering this kind of legislation."

Some states, but not North Carolina. No, in our state the General Assembly is actually working to strip the power behind regulatory measures that could stand between our and the environment's health and corporate profits.

There is a move in the Republican-controlled legislature to downsize and make more business-friendly the state's leading environmental agency, a move that has set off alarms among environmentalists.

A measure moving through the Senate would strip the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of several of its functions. And Senate budget writers are considering further downsizing measures.

Lawmakers have also begun holding hearings across the state to review the state's rules and regulations, with environmental regulations a particular area of interest.

"I'd like to see DENR downsized," said Sen. Don East, a Republican from Pilot Mountain and co-chairman of the budget committee that controls DENR's purse strings. "I'd like to see them be a kinder, gentler agency. I'd like to see DENR be a help, not a hindrance to business and industry."

Read the rest of this News & Observer article, by Rob Christensen, here.

But it's fine, everything's fine; so don't worry your pretty little heads and go about your business as if this isn't real news, as if we shouldn't all be humming "It's a Small World After All." It's just a tiny bit of radiation; a "trace" is the word The Observer used. What's a trace? Nothing really. It's like a pinch or a dash; adds a hint of spice but it's barely noticeable. So, again, you probably shouldn't even be paying attention to this warning. No, go back to your regularly over-booked schedule.

(Everything's always fine, isn't it, when large corporations are in charge of messaging? Anyone else notice that phenomenon?)

You may be wondering how radiation ended up in Charlotte (wasn't it supposed to float to Southern California?) and how Duke Energy discovered it. Well, folks, Charlotte is sandwiched between two nuclear energy plants — one on Lake Norman and one on Lake Wylie — and, you'll be glad to know that companies that own such plants conduct regular tests for radiation. So, while conducting tests near those plants the "barely there" radiation was discovered in our area.

And, uh, word is the radiation has traveled all the way from Japan ... because it's a small world after all, and what one country does affects the rest (and everyone in them). See, we can divide ourselves behind boundaries all we want but the reality is that we all share the same planet and Mother Nature doesn't recognize arbitrary lines.

It will be interesting to watch the news as the nuclear disaster continues in Japan. For instance, are other nuclear plants across the nation and world also picking up on itty bitty bits of radiation in their surrounding communities? If you run across those news stories, please share them in the comments. I feel like I watch national and international environmental news pretty closely, and I'm not seeing similar stories elsewhere ... but maybe I'm simply missing them.

Further reading:

• Analysis: No easy fix for U.S. nuclear waste nightmare — Reuters
• Safety Concerns Often Amount to Status Quo at U.S. Nuclear Industry's Aging Reactors — Scientific American
• Scientists agree radiation poses long-term risk, but they are unsure how great — Philadelphia Inquirer

America, the Disney Land of the universe, where we pretend everything's perfect until it melts down:

• Thanks to Jon Curnow for the photo of this sexy high-speed train in Great Britain.

Well, here comes the money for the trail at least. And, not just any train but a high-speed train.

I'm telling you, Charlotte, once you get used to train travel, you'll wonder what the hell took us so long to embrace it ... because it rocks.

After months of wrangling with a reluctant freight railroad, the N.C. Department of Transportation says it has won the agreement it needed to secure $461 million in federal grants that will put faster, more frequent and more reliable passenger trains on the tracks between Charlotte and Raleigh.

Gene Conti, the state transportation secretary, said N.C. DOT will start seeking bids over the next two weeks for contracts to lay tracks, build bridges and buy trains.

The construction is expected to create 4,800 jobs over the next two years and cut the train time from Raleigh to Charlotte below three hours, including seven stops on the way.

• Thanks to Sean MacEntee for the photo.

In happy consumer news: People are getting rid of their crap! Now, if we can learn to stop buying it in the first place ...

Maybe it's the economy, or maybe it's the need to feel neat and cleansed. Maybe it's TV shows such as "Hoarders," where the accumulation of household goods gets trashy and downright embarrassing.

Whatever the reason, Americans are reevaluating their relationship with their stuff.

There's too much of it. It clutters our lives. And many of us are saying we've had enough.

Families such as the Bormans are moving toward decluttering for various reasons. They're feeling the continued pinch of the economy. They're prioritizing long-term financial goals above instant gratification. And even while consumers begin to loosen their purse strings just a little, they're just sick of having so much stuff cluttering their already busy lives.

Decluttering isn't new, of course. This yearning to simplify life rears its head at least once every decade - often in reaction to periods of excess. Americans in the past few decades have become defined by big homes, luxury cars and the other things they own.

"We have gone so big for so long. It gets to a point where you start to evaluate if the things you are adding to your life are bringing meaning," says Mary Carlomagno, a professional organizer and author of "Live More, Want Less: 52 Ways to Find Order in Your Life."

Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article, by Sue Stock and Andrea Weigl, here.

• Thanks to Phillip Torrone for the photo.

And, they've just begun to think this way now because ...? Oh, right: money.

Chemistry is all about sparks — bonds break, beakers bubble, reactions rule. But a growing number of researchers are obsessed with chemistry’s quieter side. Rather than vigor and vim, they seek a calm predictability.

These scientists are calling for a new approach to chemical design: They want compounds that do one job well — whether rubber that bounces back or nail polish that shines — but the action needs to end there. No multitasking, thank you very much.

Many of today’s chemicals — in packaging, cleaning products, furniture and elsewhere — go where they should not go and do more than they were designed to do. Bisphenol A, a common ingredient in polycarbonate plastics, has made headlines for getting into the body and interfering with tissue development and function (SN: 7/18/09, p. 5). Flame retardants new and old persist in the environment, contaminating soil, waterways and wildlife (SN: 4/24/10, p. 12). And a new analysis, reported online January 14 in Environmental Health Perspectives, finds that the blood and urine of 99 percent of pregnant American women tested contain a laundry list of chemical interlopers, including various PCBs, pesticides, PFCs, PBDEs, phthalates and the rocket-fuel ingredient perchlorate.

Unless there is a fundamental shift in the way that chemicals are created from the outset, the next generation of compounds will probably be just as meddlesome, says Michael Wilson, associate director of the green chemistry center at the University of California, Berkeley. Currently more than 30 million metric tons of chemicals are produced in or imported to the United States each day, a quantity that would fill a line of tanker trucks 10,000 miles long. And industrial chemical production is expected to double in the next quarter century, outpacing population growth.

Read the rest of this Science News article, by Rachel Ehrenberg, here.

I don't mean they're wearing hand-me-downs, I mean they're wearing that water bottle you recycled a while back.

And, by "some," I mean Duke University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Alright State, et al. ... your turn.

Check out this snip from GOOD Magazine:

Need another good reason to recycle your plastic bottles? They might end up as part of someone's graduation cap and gown outfit. The Virginia-based company Oak Hall Cap & Gown has long produced graduation gear, but in 2008, after realizing that schools are trying to become more environmentally responsible, it began developing a fabric called GreenWeaver that's spun from molten plastic pellets. Each gown uses an average of 23 post-consumer plastic bottles—even the bags the gowns come in are made out of recycled plastic.

Fashion designer Alexander Julian also teamed up with Oak Hall this year to create a "true Carolina blue" gown for his alma mater, the University of North Carolina's May commencement. UNC officials said that the time is right for recycled gowns since students only wear them once. And, not to be outdone by their rivals, Duke University is also using GreenWeaver's gowns this year.

Read the entire article, by Liz Dwyer, here.

I have to tell you, when I bought my Ford Fusion Hybrid, I insisted the seats be made out of recycled plastic. I'm glad I did, because they're great; comfortable, easy to clean, they don't get too hot or cold and they look nice. (P.S. On the cushions: The "seat foam (is) made of 85 percent post-consumer recycled material," too, according to U.S. News and World Reports.)

And, if you'll recall, the players in the last World Cup also wore recycled plastic jerseys. (Way to set a good example, guys.)

With that in mind, I'm thinkin' we'll be seeing a lot more fabric made out of recycled plastic in the near future.

Here's more about how bottles are repurposed into fabric:

Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.

• Thanks to Caitlin Swan for the photo.

Apparently it's tighter for women than men since we women, you know, care about humans — like the ones in our families — more than we care about technology, work and money.

Shocking revelation, I know.

The technological "leashes" to the workplace often take a toll on women, while men seem to skate by unscathed, according to a new study.

The results showed that women who experienced frequent work contact at home from cell phones, e-mail and other devices reported were twice as likely to report feelings of guilt compared with both men (regardless of work contact) and women who were never contacted at home.

Their analyses showed this guilt was responsible for increased levels of distress among women, but not men. It seems even though women's daily roles now encompass more than family- and home-based tasks, they still may feel the tug of this caregiving role.

"Initially, we thought women were more distressed by frequent work contact because it interfered with their family responsibilities more so than men," said lead researcher Paul Glavin, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Toronto. "However, this wasn't the case. We found that women are able to juggle their work and family lives just as well as men, but they feel more guilty as a result of being contacted. This guilt seems to be at the heart of their distress."

Read the entire MSNBC.com/ LiveScience article, by Natasha Allen, here.

• Thanks to Andy Ciordia for this photo of Charlotte traffic.

In case you haven't noticed, gas prices are up and everyone's predicting they're going to keep rising for the foreseeable future. Add that to the nonsense that passes for mass transportation around here, and you've filled your newspaper.

Here are a few of the transportation- and oil-related headlines in the news today:

Concord rail crossings are closing, a ramp on Brookshire Boulevard is closing, too, and the DOT's all up in Independence Boulevard's business. Oh, and I-77 still sucks near I-485 in south Charlotte ... but that's not really news, is it?

Experts: Gasoline could top $4 per gallon by April — The Gaston Gazette

Many issues spike fuel prices — News & Observer

Oil falls below $105 as OPEC mulls raising output — Yahoo! News/Associated Press

Yes, the world still has plenty of oil, but ... — MSNBC.com

Wall St flat as Libya turmoil continues, oil eases — Reuters

Race for better biofuels heats up — MSNBC.com

Only 100 gallons of wastewater were spilled near Lake Wylie by Carolina Water Service on March 1. What's the big deal? They don't even have to report it until they spill 500 gallons, even though they keep spilling the stuff. But, at least the company is making good on its promise to the Catawba Riverkeeper, David Merryman, to report all of their spills.

But, still. Gross. And, keep in mind: This company wants its permit renewed.

And, really? You can spill 499.9 gallons of wastewater in the watershed for our drinking water and that's cool?

No, it's not cool. It's foul and unfair to all of the water drinkers downstream. And, let me remind you: We're all downstream from somewhere.

From The Lake Wylie Pilot:

According to the same company report submitted to South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the incident occurred at about 4 a.m. March 1 at one of two company wastewater treatment facilities. An electrical malfunction caused a breaker to trip and overheat, which along with heavy rain caused a pump to overflow. It was “regulated manually until (the treatment plant’s) flow calmed down.”

By law, the company didn’t have to report the spill. South Carolina requires DHEC notification of wastewater spills, under normal circumstances, only if the spill is 500 or more gallons, or if any amount reaches a state waterway. However, Tega Cay Water Service currently finds itself in an appeal process in which DHEC will decide next month whether it can continue discharging from its treatment plants.

As part of that discharge permit appeal – requested originally by the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation – Tega Cay Water Service agreed to notify DHEC of any overflow regardless of size or location.

“We are reporting everything,” Flynn said. “We are committed to the language that we and DHEC agreed to.”

Lately, the company has been filing a fair number of reports to DHEC. Catawba Riverkeeper David Merryman said late last month that the company was responsible for six spills in Tega Cay just in 2011. The latest spill was the second since then.

• Thanks to InsurancePuppets.com for the photo.

This from the party that can't stand the idea of taxing the rich or regulating corporations — like insurance companies.

I mean, why pick on the people with money when you can kick the poor in the teeth ... repeatedly?

Go America!

From The Statesville Record and Landmark:

Reforming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is essential to eliminating the massive debt in this country.

That was part of the message Sen. Richard Burr delivered as he spoke to the Rotary Club of Statesville during its Thursday meeting at the Statesville Country Club.

Burr said the U.S. spent about $3.7 trillion and collected $2.2 trillion in the past year. Eliminating discretionary spending and the military, he said, would still leave a deficit of $200 billion. “What’s left?” he asked, rhetorically. “Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”

Burr, a Republican in his second term on Capitol Hill, said it will take a bi-partisan effort to reform those programs in order to solve some of the debt problems facing this country. The three programs account for 57 percent of the federal budget.

“We have to be bold enough to reform Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security,” he said. “If we do it right, there won’t be anybody in America that won’t feel the effects.”

Read the entire article, by Donna Swicegood, here.

In related news: GOP Aims to Tame Benefits Programs — The Wall Street Journal