The Federal Aviation Administration said it has called on airports to curtail their use of firefighting foam containing PFAS, also referred to as "forever chemicals." The FAA has been evaluating potential alternative products that do not contain PFAS and "expects a replacement product to be identified and eventually adopted."

Lead service line removal and replacement projects are picking up speed across the US, thanks to the allocation of federal funding under the American Rescue Plan Act. Bloomington, Ind., is using $700,000 in ARPA funds to inventory lead service lines, while Duluth, Minn., has authorized over $11 million for lead remediation.

Researchers have found evidence that a number of viruses, bacteria and pollutants may be hiding under Arctic permafrost, which is melting as global temperatures increase. "Everything from microbes and potential viruses, to nuclear waste, chemicals and mercury," long trapped in the permafrost, could be released, according to Kimberley Miner, lead author of the study in Nature Climate Change.

The Environmental Protection Agency has scrapped a 2020 rule that removed protections for some types of streams as it revises the definition of "waters of the United States," or waters protected by the Clean Water Act. Environmental groups want the EPA to protect streams and wetlands that contribute to the health of downstream waters, while Save the Illinois River's Ed Brocksmith hopes for groundwater protections as well.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality plans to restore environmental reviews of infrastructure projects through the National Environmental Policy Act, reversing reductions made during the Trump administration that were intended to speed up projects such as pipelines and highways. The Council on Environmental Quality will be taking comments through November, and the rule revision is expected to be finalized in early 2022.

Architect-developer Bruce Becker proclaims that his restoration of a historic building in New Haven, Conn., will result in the nation's first net-zero hotel. "You have to reuse, recycle and reinvent existing buildings to be truly sustainable," says Becker, whose company paid $1.2 million for the landmark completed in 1970 by noted Brutalist architect Marcel Breuer.