Farmworkers and their advocates from across the nation descended on Washington, DC this week to demand better protection from the pesticides they're exposed to while picking the nation's produce. Their specific target, the Center for Public Integrity reports, is the Worker Protection Standard, a set of EPA rules meant to reduce the risk of pesticide-related injuries for some 2.5 million agricultural workers and pesticide handlers at 600,000 agricultural establishments nationwide. Yet, even as the perils of pesticides have become better known, EPA protections have not been seriously updated in 20 years.
Map of U.S. and location of Quillayute (also known as La Push). The Airport servicing La Push is called the Quillayute Airport and where the weather observations are made. The village is set on a small peninsula that juts out into the frigid Pacific Ocean where the SST would be around 48° this time of year. One can imagine how unusual it is for this site to be one of the hottest in the country on any given day. Photo from AirPhotoNA.com
One of the hottest places in the country yesterday (May 5th) was Quillayute (La Push), Washington located near the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington where a record 88° was reported. This smashed their previous daily record by 15° (73° in 1994) and made it warmer than even Death Valley, California where it was 87° on Sunday.
