By Alex Formuzis: Vice President of Media Relations

A few days ago two California-based environmental reporters for the Associated Press who had made major contributions to the issue and their profession were taken off the beat. In the entire state of California, there is now only one AP reporter whose full time on the environment.

Lyndsey Layton, a journalist who covered the chemical industry for the Washington Post and often filed stories that likely produced some real heartburn among industry spin-doctors and lobbyists was reassigned to cover education - an important subject, but now no one at the paper regularly covers the doings of this major polluting industry.

Andrew Schneider, one of the best public health and environment reporters virtually vanished when two large news sites - on of which he worked for - merged.

But Snooki now has 4.4 million followers on Twitter.

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By Nils Bruzelius, EWG Executive Editor

People are messy. So is nature. And what people do when nature unleashes its fury often makes things worse.

The staff at Environmental Working Group took a look at the major environmental news stories of the year and came up with two lists: the Top 10 Good News storie and the Top 10 Bad News stories.

Since environmentalism is mostly about limiting or preventing the harms done to people's and the planet's health by careless human activity, it's hardly surprising that all but one of the "good news stories" involved doing something about problems that we humans created. The only exceptions involved contaminants that can come from both natural and man-made sources.

The message, once again, is that we are our own worst enemy. Good news comes when we do something to clean up our messes. Bad news comes when we create brand new environmental harms or risks, or just plain fail to address the ones already out there - even when we recognize the threat.

By a wide margin, EWG staffers said that the two top bad news stories of the year were President Obama's decision to kill the Environmental Protection Agency's latest effort to reduce the health threat from smog and the nuclear disaster that erupted in Japan when an unprecedented tsunami overwhelmed the defenses that were supposed to protect a complex of five reactors built at the very edge of the sea.

Trying not to get too depressed in the middle of holiday season, we'll go to the good news first.

Again by a wide margin, EWG staffers said the two top good news stories were the growing momentum to limit or ban BPA and (in the messy category), the emergence of evidence that the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing really can be a threat to drinking water supplies. Drilling companies have insisted for years that fracking poses no threat to water supplies, but we've been skeptical, and so have many property owners in the states where drilling is intensifying. We're glad to see some hard facts on the table.

First, the Good

Here's the full rundown of the top good news stories as chosen by EWG's researchers and other staff:

1. BPA Feels the Heat
Two months after trend-setting California banned the endocrine-disrupting chemical BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups (as of 2013), the federal Food and Drug Administration agreed under the pressure of a law suit to decide whether to eliminate BPA in all food packaging. Meanwhile, the American Chemistry Council, a trade group that has fought fiercely against the California bill and other legislative curbs on BPA, appeared to throw in the towel, at least part way, as it petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to "clarify for consumers" that it no longer uses the chemical in children's food containers.

2. Truth Will Out: Fracking Has Tainted Ground Water
Giving the lie to gas drillers' long-standing insistence that hydraulic fracturing to release shale oil and gas has never contaminated drinking water supplies, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had detected chemicals associated with fracking in groundwater in Wyoming. Earlier, EWG's own investigation uncovered a long-forgotten 1987 EPA report that found fracking-related contamination in water wells used by West Virginia residents. In the face of mounting public pressure, meanwhile, regulators decided to postpone action on rules that could open the door to widespread drilling and fracking in the vast Delaware River watershed.

3. New Reason for Caution on Cell Phone Radiation
In another case where bad news is seen as good news - because it indicates that important new information is coming to light - the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, for the first time listed radiation from cell phones as "possibly carcinogenic" to humans. The jury is still out on the possible health risks from these ubiquitous devices, but the decision was significant for those who live by the precautionary principle.

4. The Grand Canyon Gets Protection
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took an important step toward protecting the chief water source for California and the Southwest when he extended for 20 years a ban on new uranium mining on 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon. EWG called attention to this looming danger in its report, Conflict at the Canyon.

5. Getting Rocket Fuel out of Water
Reversing a decision made during the administration of former President George W. Bush, the EPA said it will begin the process of setting legal limits on perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel, and 16 other chemicals known as volatile organics that have contaminated water sources used by millions of Americans.

6. Blowing the Whistle on Sugar in Kids' Cereals
Bringing renewed attention to a problem that food makers have persistently refused to correct, a widely publicized EWG report pointed out that a number of heavily-marketed children's cereals contain unhealthy amounts of sugar, some of them more than popular desert items.

7. California Moves to Curb Chromium-6
California's state Environmental Protection Agency adopted a first-in-nation health-based standard (public health goal) for hexavalent chromium in drinking water, the initial step in establishing a legal limit in drinking water for this widely found carcinogen that gained public notoriety in the movie Erin Brockovich.

8. HHS Calls for Less Fluoride in Drinking Water
Citing potential health risks to children, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed in January that utilities a, which EWG and other public health advocates had long recommended. Three days later, the EPA granted a petition by EWG and two other environmental groups to end the use of sulfuryl fluoride, an insecticide and food fumigant that is also a source of fluoride exposure.

9. Sunscreen Rules - Too Little, Too Late
After deliberating for 33 years, the FDA finally got around to proposing rules governing the content and labeling of sunscreen products, but in EWG's view, they fall far short of the mark.

10. Brazilian Blowout Declared Unsafe
The FDA warned the makers of "Brazilian Blowout" in September that the company's hair straightening product, which contains carcinogenic formaldehyde, is "adulterated" and "misbranded." Earlier in the year, EWG's investigation found that a total of 16 companies used high levels of the chemical as an ingredient in similar products.

Now for the top Bad News. Take a deep breath.

1. President Obama Kills Tighter Smog Limits
As summer was winding down, Obama shocked EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and the environmental community by blocking plans to impose stricter national standards on ozone-containing smog. It was the strongest indication yet that the administration was approaching major environmental decisions with a cold eye on the 2012 election.

2. Fukushima Melts Down
By itself, the Japanese tsunami was a horrendous, almost unimaginable event, one that reminds us that even the most highly developed nations can be left all but helpless when the full forces of nature get unleashed. But what happened at Fukushima had a more profound lesson: that technological hubris, self-serving bureaucracy, lack of transparency and a host of other human failings always have the capacity to take a bad situation - and make it worse. Unfortunately, Japan will be reminded of this lesson every day for decades to come.

3. A Deadly Year for Foodborne Illness
Cantaloupes and sprouts. Record-setting outbreaks of foodborne disease in the United States and Europe underscored once again that assuring food safety is a critical priority. The U.S. listeriosis outbreak, which came just months after Congress passed major new food safety legislation, was linked to cantaloupes grown in Colorado. It killed 29 land sickened at least 139. In Europe, an outbreak ultimately linked to sprouts unleashed an unusually deadly strain of E. coli, killing at least 18 and sickening about 2,000.

4. House Republicans Target EPA and Environmental Regulation
Propelled by the anti-regulatory fervor of the Tea Party and Republicans' desire to blame unemployment on Obama and "job killing" regulation, GOP members of Congress took aim at the EPA and environmental regulations of all types, even voting to block a non-existent rule on rural dust. The cost in lives, illness and economic loss from environmental degradation didn't enter into the discussion.

5. Still No Reform for Outdated Toxics Law
Thirty-five years and counting. That's how long it's been since Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act, the only one of the 70s era environmental reforms that has never been updated. In public, there seems to be consensus that it's high time to update a law that allows new chemicals on the market with no meaningful safety testing. But when it comes to actually working out a reform bill in the halls of Congress, that consensus evaporates.

6. Emissions Up, Action Down on Climate Change
Recently released data shows that in 2010, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels jumped by the largest amount of any year since the industrial revolution. But in the United States, parts of Europe and much of the rest of the world, the prospects for concerted international action to curb climate change seemed to be fading away. Que sera, sera?

7. Fracking Wastewater Reaches Rivers, Water Treatment Plans
Wastewater from the natural gas drilling boom, laden with chemical contaminants and sometimes radioactivity, passed through sewage treatment plants that weren't designed for it and ended up in rivers that supply drinking water to cities in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the battle over whether and how to allow fracking in New York State neared a climax.

8. Federal Judge Blocks S.F. Cell Phone Right-to-Know Ordinance
The EWG-led campaign to require cell phone retailers to post information about cell radiation emissions suffered a setback when a federal judge struck down most of an ordinance passed by the San Francisco City Council, but the battle isn't over. A revised ordinance passed in 2011, but it, too, is being challenged.

9. Ballyhooed Solar Panel Company Goes Belly Up
President Obama's effort to promote a "green economy" alternative to fossil fuels and to help revive the economy took a hit when Solyndra, a California manufacturer of solar panels, declared bankruptcy. Critics used the scandal to attack subsidies for alternative energy programs, but the fact is, petroleum and other fossil fuels have fattened up on federal subsidies for decades.

10. Contaminated Chinese Dry Wall
The online news organization Pro Publica brought national attention to the growing scandal over contaminated Chinese dry wall that emits foul odors, causes appliances to fail and mades people sick. Thousands of homeowners and renters were affected, and the scandal is still unfolding.

By Nils J. Bruzelius, EWG Executive Editor

Ok, our list of the "worst" environmental stories of the year was a bit of a downer. So here are EWG's Top 10 good environmental news stories. Yes, good things happened, too. And on some issues, there was both bad news and good news. That's life.

1. Beginning to take a hard look at fracking
The growth of gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing has been, er, explosive, but it's no longer getting a free pass - from Congress and regulators, in particularly. EWG has been pointing to fracking's potential risk of groundwater contamination for some time, and this year Josh Fox's acclaimed documentary "Gasland" powerfully dramatized the reality of those risks. By year's end, Wyoming had passed a law requiring disclosure of what's in fracking fluids and some drilling companies began voluntarily providing that information. In New York, outgoing Gov. David Paterson extended that state's moratorium on gas drilling until the middle of 2011, at least.

2. Californians stand up for their climate change law
Texas-based oil companies poured millions into a referendum campaign to put the Golden State's path-breaking climate change law into cold storage until the unemployment rate drops to unrealistic levels. It was a hard-fought campaign, but in the end Californians voted overwhelmingly to reject climate change denial. The NO side got more votes than any other individual or issue on the ballot.

3. San Francisco says consumers have a right to know
The city became the first jurisdiction in the U.S. to require that cell phone retailers provide point-of-sale information on how much radiation each model releases, information shoppers can weigh on the spot as they make their buying decisions. EWG was the leading advocate for this ordinance. The cell phone industry fought it hard, and in the aftermath they moved their annual convention out of the city and filed suit to try to block it.

4. Finally, EPA will regulate perchlorate
An ingredient in rocket fuel, this toxic chemical contaminates water, food and milk and is known to disrupt thyroid hormones that are essential to brain development. Concern over its effects has been building for years, but industry and military interests long resisted any regulation, and EPA had declined to step in. But after revisiting the issue this year, EPA announced in October that it will move to set safety limits on the chemical in drinking water.

5. Safer, healthier food for everyone
In December, Congress passed and President Obama signed two hugely important pieces of legislation that should mean fewer cases of food-borne illness and healthier meals for school children. The Food and Drug Administration gained important new powers to monitor and inspect food producers and to order recalls of tainted food. Days earlier, the President signed a bill that renewed and greatly expanded the Child Nutrition Act, which will bring healthier school lunches and breakfasts to many more children from low-income families. It will also provide training on healthy food preparation to cafeteria workers and help schools link up with local farmers who grow fresh produce. These are big steps forward in the battles tainted food, hunger and obesity.

6. States and cities dump BPA
Even though lawmakers on Capitol Hill declined to vote on banning the endocrine-disrupting plastics chemical in baby bottles and sippy cups, a number of states and cities went to bat. Massachusetts is only the most recent state to restrict BPA's use. Ironically, industry has already responded to consumer concerns even when Congress won't. Everywhere you look, products are being labeled "BPA-free." And in response to the new evidence from EWG that cash register receipts can shed BPA, a number of retailers said they would switch to BPA-free paper. The power of the market strikes again.

7. Baby steps toward better controls on toxic chemicals
Legislators introduced long-awaited bills in the House and Senate to update and strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act, long a signature issue at EWG. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) filed one version and Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) submitted another. While industry and consumer/health groups remain far apart on major details, there may be enough consensus on the law's deficiencies to make action possible in 2011, even in a more conservative Congress.

8. Presidential advisors take a fresh look at cancer causes
The prestigious President's Cancer Panel released a 200-page report in April that concluded that the "true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated," bolstering the argument long made by EWG and others that the conventional medical view that focused mostly on the role of lifestyles and genetics in cancer was too narrow. The panel called for a big increase in funding for studies of environmental carcinogens, and EWG hopes to see action on that front in 2011.

9. Ditching plastic bags, coast to coast
Around the world and across the country, laws that ban or charge for the use of plastic grocery bags are gaining popularity. Once these laws take effect, the often vocal initial opposition tends to fade to a whisper very quickly. It's not a big adjustment for shoppers, and the payoff in reducing litter and the burden on landfills is almost immediate.

10. Some brands take the lid off cleaning ingredients
S.C. Johnson, the privately held maker of major brands including Windex, Nature's Source and Shout, announced around Thanksgiving that it would disclose the ingredients in its cleaning products, and then mounted a big marketing campaign to tout that pledge. In 2010, the cleaning products industry launched a voluntary initiative to begin disclosing more of what's in their products. There's still a long way to go before all products are similarly transparent, but EWG hopes that S.C. Johnson's competitors will respond to consumer demands and follow suit.

Got any positive stories to add?

[Thanks to Flickr CC & striatic for the appropriately positive hand gesture]

By Nils J. Bruzelius, EWG Executive Editor

We polled our staff to see what stories they thought had the biggest impact, for better or worse. Here are the results:

We'll start with the worst today, so we can end on a cheerier note by year's end:

1. BP's Gulf oil spill (includes: slow response, wholesale use of dispersants and secrecy about what's in them)
   No surprise that this one topped almost everyone's list. And as in Alaska's Prince William Sound, it will probably be years before we know the full extent of the damage to the Gulf ecosystem and its economy.
2. BPA, the notorious plastics chemical
   There was both bad news and good (see second list) about this ubiquitous endocrine-disrupting substance, which most of us have in our bodies. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) tried valiantly but couldn't get legislation to ban BPA in baby bottles and children's sippy cups through the U.S. Senate. Earlier in the year, research by EWG and others turned up yet another source of exposure - cash register receipts.
3. Brazilian Blowout
   We're not talking about soccer, though Brazil got the boot in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. This is about the hair-straightening product that, according to testing by health agencies in Oregon and Canada, contains high levels of toxic formaldehyde - despite the company's insistence that it's "formaldehyde free." Oregon tested the product after salon workers reported cases of hair loss and skin burns.


4. Climate change bill dies in the U.S. Senate
   In the toxic political climate of Washington, any kind of climate legislation - never mind a cap-and-trade system - >fell victim to a combination of climate skeptics and protectors of the energy status quo. Early hopes for a bipartisan push on measures to combat global warming withered away.
5. Carcinogenic chromium-6 in your water
   EWG tested tap water samples from 35 cities and found this cancer-causing chemical, the one made notorious in the film "Erin Brockovich," in 31 of them. In 25 cities, levels were above those being considered by California health officials for a public health goal, and as the eventual basis for a legal limit.
6. California's "Green Chemistry" rule is gutted
   When regulators announced their rules for implementing the state's pioneering law designed to reduce the use of toxic substances in consumer products and shift toward safer alternatives, the proposal was so weak that even the law's original sponsor renounced it - joining others who called it a Christmas gift to the chemical industry.
7. Reading, writing and fracking
   At a time when municipal budgets are stretched beyond the breaking point, it's not surprising that officials in Texas, Ohio and elsewhere would be the tempted by the revenue they could gain by leasing mineral rights to drilling companies that want to use hydraulic fracturing to pry natural gas from deep rock formations deep beneath school property. They should pay close attention to reports of dizziness, nausea and breathing troubles at schools that have already done it.



8. Here comes the sun - but no sunscreen rules
   It's been more than 32 years since the Food and Drug Administration began to work on rules that would ensure that sunscreens are safe, effective and don't make exaggerated claims. But what's the rush? That's only one full generation that has had to take its chances, if you don't count their parents and grandparents.
9. Slouching toward chemicals regulation reform
   Another bad news/good news story (see next list). Just about everyone agrees that the Toxic Substances Control Act, the 1976 environmental law that has never been updated, is broken. EPA has stepped up enforcement efforts, but the statute gives the agency too little power to protect the public from dangerous industrial chemicals that often get rushed onto the market with little safety testing. There was some hopeful movement in Congress this year, but nowhere near enough.
10. Feeding at the corn ethanol trough.
    Congress wasn't entirely impotent on energy issues. At the very last minute it kept alive the tax credit that pays gas refiners 45 cents a gallon to blend corn ethanol into gasoline, not to mention the excise tax that blocks imports of cheaper Brazilian (sugar cane) ethanol. This makes commodity corn growers happy - at the expense of the environment and consumers.

Check back Thursday, December 30th to see EWG's picks for the BEST environmental stories of the year (because we could all use a little something positive to kick off the new year).

[Thanks to Flickr CC & striatic for the appropriately negative hand gesture]

By Lee Ann Brown, Press Associate

We get called a lot of names at EWG -- it comes with the territory. Some more flattering than others, but there's one that sums it up -- "Game Changers."

So it's no surprise that our very own Ken Cook is up for Huffington Post's title of Ultimate Game Changer in Green for being one of the best at using new media. You know, the widgets, the gadgets, the websites, the microposting, and the consumer databases that EWG is known for.

Huffington Post published its reasons for making Ken one of the top ten; now we all need to do is vote him to the top of the green heap by rating him a "10". That's where YOU come in.

What's so special about EWG?
The concept of information-driven advocacy is straightforward but strangely hard to find here in D.C. Plain facts and basic principles fuel our work. The data does the talking; we just give it a good, solid microphone. As Ken himself said,

I often tell people that at EWG we are swayed by facts, not emotion. And the facts really piss us off.

Read more - AND GIVE KEN A TEN - on Huffington Post.

We're proud to change the game, but as always, we need you to change it with us. So go ahead, vote now by rating Ken a 10.

Winners will be announced on November 10th. Check back to see we can vote Ken to the top.