8/25/01
11:32:56 AM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
WORLD'S GREATEST ONLINE UNION FESTIVAL
Web site review by Al Paulson, Laborday.aflcio.org
-- Rejoice in the contributions you and fellow workers have made to this country with the second annual online Labor Day celebration courtesy of the AFL-CIO. The celebration features music, games, "online actions" and other attractions.
THE MAMA DILEMM
by Beth Lucht, Hip Mama
-- Though financially motivated, working also helped one mother regain a sense of self after being a stay-at-home mom.
YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?
by Patricia Chui, The Nation
-- Eric Schlosser, author of "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," talks about the societal and health-related impact of noshing at your local processed, ubiquitous, franchised restaurant.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
8/25/01
11:30:17 AM
WILD ALERT
"The Bush administration is trying to craft the nation's energy policy largely in secret and with input only from select, special interests ... oil and gas executives and local elected officials favorable to the industry."
--Denver Post editorial, 8/19/01
Operating quickly and quietly, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is developing key elements of a national energy policy that could result in more taxpayer subsidies for the oil and gas industry. But instead of soliciting input from a cross-section of citizens and industries, DOE has excluded all but oil industry interests from "public" hearings, and is directing other public comments with questions that appear to have pre-determined, pro-oil-subsidy answers.
Your comments are needed, because, as the Denver Post points out, "Bush needs to listen to more people than just his oil business buddies." Send your comments from
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=603
SECRETIVE PROCESS
In the period of just a few weeks, the Bush administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy, is developing critical energy policies that will impact the country and its taxpayers for decades. DOE is trying to determine if and by how much the government should increase subsidies to the oil and gas industry.
But DOE has designed the public comment process to minimize, if not exclude, comments from the general public. A schedule of so- called "public meetings" was announced 2 days before the first hearing in Denver on August 8th, which, conveniently, was scheduled at the end of a big oil industry conference in Denver.
But even if members of the public attended, they would not have been allowed to speak at the "public" hearings. Only oil and gas company executives and local politicians supportive of the industry were allowed to speak. The same format was applied in the other two hearings in Pittsburgh (Aug. 13) and Houston (Aug. 14). Ordinary citizens can only submit written comments (by Aug. 30), and only in response to specific questions.
As the Denver Post editorialized,
"These points deserve repeating: DOE held some of the most important energy policy meetings of the year, with very little advanced public notice and only a select crowd allowed to give meaningful comment."
MASSIVE SUBSIDIES POSSBILE
The oil, gas, and coal industries recently moved closer to getting more than $35 billion in subsidies because of the energy bill passed by the House of Representatives last month (HR 4). The Senate is expected to consider its version of energy legislation in the fall. Two years ago, energy industries received a $4 billion government bailout when gas prices were low (Petroleum Emergency Act of 1999). Now the Bush administration wants to hand them *more* subsidies, even though they're enjoying massive profits because of high oil prices.
Meanwhile, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced two days ago that it wants to expedite permitting for energy projects, like new oil wells and pipelines. While simplifying a permitting process is not in itself bad, it must not be at the expense of environmental protection and safety. Given the direction the Bush Administration has taken on energy, that's exactly what we fear will happen. (More on this in an upcoming WildAlert.)
ALTERNATIVES NEEDED
Investments for conservation and renewable energies contained in HR 4 and the Bush energy plan pale in comparison to what the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear industries would receive. Instead of pushing for yet another giveaway to the profit-rich energy industry, DOE needs to stimulate emerging markets in renewable energy, conservation, and energy efficiency.
TAKE ACTION
It's time to let the Department of Energy know that more subsidies to the oil and gas industry are unwarranted. Send your comments to DOE by AUGUST 30 from
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=603,
or tell DOE directly, in response to its questions:
** Is Federal financial support needed in all sectors of the oil and gas industry? ** No. There is no need to subsidize corporations that are raking in record profits. Those huge profits should allow them to invest in oil and gas research without a government handout.
** What actions should be taken to promote global competitiveness? ** Investing more in conservation and energy efficiency. For every dollar's worth of goods and services produced in the U.S., the U.S. consumes 40% more energy than other industrialized nations. If the U.S. economy operated as efficiently as those of Europe and Japan, American energy consumption would fall by about 30%, making us more competitive.
** Are there research areas not being addressed? ** Instead of propping up mature industries like oil and gas, investing in renewable energy, conservation, and energy efficiency research would help create and support emerging markets, and would be a more efficient use of tax dollars. Investing in this research will generate significant public benefits, including lower energy bills for families, less pollution and a cleaner environment, and less reliance on imported oil. Government investment in conservation and efficiency is warranted because oil and gas companies have little incentive to conduct this research themselves. Finally, research and monitoring of environmental impacts associated with past and future oil and gas exploration, including water issues, habitat fragmentation, erosion, etc., is needed.
Send your comments to:
EMAIL: OilGasReview@hq.doe.gov
MAIL: Office of Natural Gas and Petroleum Technology, FE-30 attn: Strategic Review, US Dept of Energy, Wash, DC 20585
MORE INFO
Dept. of Energy announcement of comment period and comment questions
http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases01/augpr/pr01134.htm
Full Denver Post Editorial
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,417%257E107956,00.html
Accompanying Denver Post cartoon from Mike O'Keefe
http://www.denverpost.com/media/paper36/August2001/PER19KEEFE.jpg
8/25/01
11:27:35 AM
Big Oil, Little Public
Denver Post Editorial
Sunday, August 19, 2001 - The Bush administration is trying to craft the nation's energy policy largely in secret and with input only from select, special interests. If the effort succeeds, the oil industry may get more taxpayer subsidies.
On the campaign trail, Bush frequently criticized then-President Clinton for ramming a narrow agenda into policy without getting enough comment from the industries and communities affected. But the insider game being played by the Bush team is even more egregious than the acts for which Bush berated Clinton.
The latest example surfaced very quietly at the U.S. Department of Energy. The department just held three "public meetings" at which the public was not allowed to speak. Instead, DOE took testimony only from oil and gas executives and local elected officials favorable to the industry.
At issue is whether and how much the government should increase subsidies to the oil and gas companies.
The meeting schedule was announced on Aug. 6, but the first hearing was only two days later in Denver - and it was set conveniently on the heels of a big oil industry conference here. The announcement didn't come out in time for people outside the industry to rearrange their schedules. But even if citizens could have attended, they would not have been allowed to have their say - the meeting time was reserved for industry speeches. DOE followed the same narrow format in public meetings in Pittsburgh on Aug. 13 and Houston on Aug. 14.
These points deserve repeating: DOE held some of the most important energy policy meetings of the year, with very little advance public notice and only a select crowd allowed to give meaningful comment.
Common citizens will be permitted to submit only written remarks, due by Aug. 30. Even then, they can only comment on a series of very leading questions pre-determined by DOE.
The wording of those questions makes it clear the administration contemplates advocating new subsidies for the oil business. For example, one asks: "Is federal financial support needed in all sectors of the oil and gas industry?"
Usually, federal subsidies are reserved for start-up industries. There seldom is any real economic justification for pouring tax money into mature, profitable businesses. The true explanations for such government give-aways always boil down to politics.
Based on the quick meetings and limited public comments, the DOE plans to announce its budget priorities in September. Thus the Bush team will take just a few weeks to craft a core policy that will affect the nation for generations.
Yet even in its press release and on its website, the DOE buried the real issues, reserving notice of the public meetings and the implications for the last few pages.
America does need a long-term national energy policy, but it should be based on input from a wide range of citizens and industries. Bush needs to listen to more people than just his oil business buddies. By the way, citizen comments may be e-mailed to the DOE at OilGasReview@hq.doe.gov or by snail mail to the Office of Natural Gas and Petroleum Technology, FE-30, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585; Attn: Strategic Review.
Source: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,417%257E107956,00.html
8/25/01
11:15:19 AM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
BALTIC SEA REGION CUTS TOXIC DISCHARGES BY HALF
HELSINKI, Finland, August 24, 2001 (ENS) - The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission says it has reached its goal of reducing by half the discharges, emissions, and losses of hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea area.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-24-04.html
HUGE INDIAN EARTHQUAKES CALLED UNAVOIDABLE
BOULDER, Colorado, August 24, 2001 (ENS) - India can expect one or more massive earthquakes in the near future, researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder predict. The research team said that the quakes are inevitable, and urged policymakers in India to take immediate steps to reduce the loss of human life from the disasters.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-24-06.html
WIND POWER CHEAPER THAN COAL
STANFORD, California, August 24, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. should make a large investment in wind farming to help meet the nation's electricity needs and address global warming, two energy experts from Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have concluded.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-24-07.html
CALIFORNIA DESERT TORTOISES AWAIT OUTCOME OF GRAZING CONSULTATIONS
WASHINGTON, DC, August 24, 2001 (ENS) - An Interior Department administrative judge ruled today that cattle grazing in the California desert harms the desert tortoise and its critical habitat, but he set aside final grazing decisions for more consultation with ranchers.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-24-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 24, 2001
Position Created for Watt Protégé at Interior
Water Thrown On Earthquake Prediction
California Water Agency Targets Hidden Water Waste
$50 Million in Grants to Benefit Wildlife Nationwide
Forest Service Violates Beetle Sale Injunction
Dredge Project Could Smother Florida Corals
California Developer Revises Blueprints to Protect Spineflower
Helicopter Deposits Environmental Laboratory on Mountain Peak
Scientists Dive Into Hudson Canyon Exploration
Zoo Conference Focuses on Conservation, Education
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-24-09.html
8/25/01
11:04:30 AM
Wind Power Cheaper Than Coal
STANFORD, California, August 24, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. should make a large investment in wind farming to help meet the nation's electricity needs and address global warming, two energy experts from Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have concluded.
Writing in today's issue of the journal "Science," associate professor Mark Jacobson and teaching professor Gilbert Masters conclude that wind power is an abundant, clean and affordable alternative to coal and other fossil fuels.
Last year, wind driven turbines produced less than 0.1 percent of America's electricity supply -compared to 52 percent generated from coal, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. One reason that wind energy has lagged so far behind is the perception is that wind farms are more expensive to build and operate than coal fired power plants - a notion that Jacobson and Masters dispute.
"Much of the recent U.S. energy debate has focused on increasing coal use," they note. "Since the 1980s, though, the direct cost of energy from large wind turbines has dropped to three to four cents per kilowatt-hour, comparable with that from new pulverized coal power plants. Given that health and environmental costs of coal are another two to 4.3 cents per kilowatt hour, wind energy is unequivocally less expensive than is coal energy."
ENVIRONMENTAL PROS AND CONS
A downside of wind turbines is that they have been linked to the accidental deaths of migratory birds that get caught inside fast moving propeller blades. Selecting sites out of migration paths can help solve this problem, observe Jacobson and Masters.
They also point out that the loss of birds from new wind farms would be small compared to the current loss of forests, birds, fish and other wildlife from acid discharge caused by coal combustion.
Concerns over the potential environmental costs of wind energy are far outweighed by the benefits of reducing coal consumption, the authors said. They point out the indirect costs of coal generated power plants, including the production of smog that causes asthma and other respiratory illnesses; carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming; and acid rain that destroys lakes and forests.
Jacobson and Masters also cite statistics from the Centers for Disease Control showing that coal dust kills some 2,000 U.S. mineworkers each year and has cost taxpayers about $35 billion in monetary and medical benefits to former miners since 1973.
"Shifting from coal to wind would address health, environmental and energy problems," note the authors. Wind is a clean source of energy, they add, and should be promoted and funded by federal and state governments.
A typical 1,500 kilowatt turbine costs about $1.5 million to install and about $18,000 to $30,000 a year to maintain - a bargain in the long haul, according to Jacobson and Masters.
"The U.S. could displace 10 percent of coal energy at no net federal cost by spending three to four percent of one year's budget on 36,000 to 40,000 large wind turbines and selling the electricity over 20 years, recouping all costs," they argue.
During windy summer periods in Northern California, wind energy produces as much as eight percent of the electricity used within the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's service area
The authors calculate that, by building about 250,000 new turbines, America could eliminate almost two-thirds of its coal generated electricity, reducing its 1999 greenhouse gas emissions to seven percent below 1990 levels. That was precisely the goal first proposed by the Clinton administration under the controversial 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
President George W. Bush has called the Kyoto Protocol "fatally flawed," and says the United States will never ratify the international accord in its current form. Bush, a strong proponent of fossil fuels, included millions of dollars of incentives for new coal, oil and natural gas development in his long range national energy plan, proposed in May.
WIND POWER HELP COULD SOLVE ENERGY, ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
"If you want to solve this country's energy problem, the U.S. needs to consider some type of large scale program," said Jacobson. "The federal government could either go into the energy business for itself, or it could foster wind energy through tax incentives that would catalyze private sector investment."
Lessons learned at a Green Mountain Energy pilot project in Vermont are expected to encourage utilities in cold, wet climates to embrace wind energy
State governments also should take the initiative, write Jacobson and Masters. They point out that energy strapped California could obtain 10 percent more electricity from wind by spending less than 10 percent of its state budget for one year on the construction of 5,000 new turbines, then selling the electricity over 20 years to recover all costs.
Some states are already taking taking steps to harness the inexpensive power of the wind. On Thursday, a more than 100 foot long wind power blade arrived by truck in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to mark the near completion of Mill Run, the largest wind farm in the East, which will help power Philadelphia area homes and businesses by this fall.
"Today, Philadelphia can see its future - and it is green," said John Hanger, spokesperson for the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition. "Blades just like these will be soon be turning with the wind, making clean and affordable energy for Philly customers. The Mill Run wind farm is the largest yet in the East, and is helping make Pennsylvania the wind power capital of the East."
The wind farm, composed of ten 1.5 megawatt turbines atop 210 foot high towers, will take advantage of high winds at the top of Laurel Mountain.
Lease revenues from this wind farm in western Texas are used to finance public education
Turbines are most efficient in fast winds, note Jacobson and Masters, and could provide needed revenue to farmers and ranchers in areas where mean annual wind speeds are highest -including the Dakotas, Texas, coastal regions and large portions of the West and Northeast.
The authors note that, last year, Germany produced nearly three times more wind generated electricity than the U.S., and Denmark - a country roughly half the size of Maine - produced almost as much turbine power as the entire United States. Denmark and Sweden also have developed wind parks offshore, where winds are faster than over land.
"Clearly, the U.S. has not maximized its wind potential," conclude Jacobson and Masters. "Doing so would address health, environmental and energy problems."
Source: http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-24-07.html
8/25/01
10:42:11 AM
FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTIVISM UPDATE: Yahoo! News agrees with FAIR criticisms "100 percent;" Boston Globe ombudsman apologizes-- sort of
August 24, 2001
In an August 9 alert (http://www.fair.org/activism/yahoo-opinions.html), FAIR noted that Yahoo!News Opinion/Editorial columnists are 67 percent male, 90 percent white, and only 24 percent liberal. Additionally, not one female artist is included among the 25 Yahoo!News Op/Ed contributing cartoonists. Scores of media activists, responding to FAIR's alert, asked Yahoo! News to broaden their range of editorial debate.
Commendably, Yahoo!News took FAIR activists' concerns seriously: In an August 16 letter to FAIR, Yahoo!News senior producer Kourosh Karimkhany thanked FAIR for suggesting increased balance in their contributors' race, gender and political perspectives: "To state it succinctly, we agree with you 100 percent. We have been trying to achieve exactly what you suggested."
Karimkhany said that Yahoo!News' mission is "to represent almost every perspective" without editorial bias. "We are negotiating with several more organizations to run material from the authors you suggested," he wrote, referring to a list of progressive columnists included in FAIR's alert. "Our only limitation is the time and business development resources it takes to procure this content."
Karimkhany closed his letter by welcoming continued monitoring: "We encourage Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting to watch our site over the next few months. We hope you will notice a broader journalistic range."
You can keep tabs on Yahoo!News' progress by checking in at: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cm/cm/?u
GLOBE OMBUDSMAN'S MEA CULPA
In June, FAIR activists wrote to Boston Globe ombudsman Jack Thomas about the apparent hypocrisy of the Globe's advertising policy (http://www.fair.org/activism/boston-globe-staples.html). While the Globe editorialized against college papers that had rejected a racially inflammatory ad, the paper itself refused to run an ad criticizing the office supply company Staples, an advertiser based in the Boston area.
After ignoring requests to deal with the issue for several weeks (http://www.fair.org/activism/boston-globe-iwf.html), Thomas finally responded to a second round of letters with a column that defended the paper. The column suggested that the letters Thomas had received were the result of a "PR campaign" by ForestEthics-- the environmental group that had tried to place the ad-- maligning that group and writing FAIR out of the story entirely. Thomas made no attempt to get any side of the story other than that of the Globe advertising department. He also attacked columnists Russell Mokhiber and Rob Weissman, who had called attention to the Globe's double standard (See http://www.fair.org/activism/globe-staples-update.html ).
But in a column announcing that he was stepping down as ombudsman to become a feature writer at the Globe, Jack Thomas acknowledged that the way he handled the Staples ad issue was a mistake. In the August 13 column, he wrote:
"In recent months, as a lame duck, I became less antagonistic and less effective. For example, in writing about an environmental group, Forest Ethics, whose ad the Globe refused to publish, I was not assertive in questioning the advertising department. Readers condemned me, and justly so."
Such self-criticism is not very common in journalism, though the column still falls short of the full apology that Thomas owed to Globe readers, and especially to Mokhiber and Weissman, two journalists who got the story right. Thomas also fails to answer the larger question: Did the Globe in fact act improperly in its handling of the Staples ad?
Still, the fact that Thomas' assessment upon stepping down is so different from his public response at the time is an indication that activists' criticisms may be getting through to major media outlets such as the Boston Globe.
You can see Jack Thomas' farewell column at: http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/225/oped/Farewell_dear_readers_and_mea_cul pa+.shtml
8/24/01
5:46:42 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
LET IT BLOW, LET IT BLOW, LET IT BLOW
Wind power is now cheaper than coal in the U.S., according to a study published in the journal Science. The study's researchers, two Stanford engineers, priced wind power at 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt hour, already competitive with the market price for coal power. After factoring in health and environmental costs, they put the true price for coal power at 5.5 to 8.3 cents per kilowatt hour. For wind power to take off, however, the researchers say that lawmakers will need to give the industry the same investment opportunities and tax breaks historically given to fossil fuel industries. The researchers propose this bargain-basement deal: eliminating nearly two-thirds of coal-generated electricity and single-handedly dropping the country's greenhouse gas emission levels below 1990 levels by building 225,000 wind turbines -- at an initial cost of $338 billion.
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 24 Aug 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/617631.asp>
WE'VE GOT MAIL
Whoa, writes a Grist reader, don't criticize Ford for making hybrid SUVs in lieu of more efficient cars. She says SUVs are the way to go in the Rocky Mountains in the winter, so they might as well be SUVs that burn less fuel. Another reader writes in with his own twist on the slogan "What Would Jesus Drive?" -- "Satan Drives an SUV." Elsewhere in the letters section, a Seattle city councilmember spanks Grist for suggesting that the city's dams kill salmon. Read more letters to the editor and send your own on the Grist Magazine website.
read it only in Grist Magazine: Give us hybrids, or give us death -- and other letters to the editor <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/letters/letters082201.asp?source=daily>
MAKING ARSENICS OF THEMSELVES
A new study released yesterday by an advisory panel to the U.S. EPA undercuts one of the Bush administration's main reasons for revoking a tougher standard for arsenic levels in drinking water. When EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman rejected the standard, she said the Clinton administration hadn't adequately considered costs when arriving at the standard. But the panel's report found that, to the contrary, the previous administration did a "credible job" of gauging the costs.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Elizabeth Shogren, 24 Aug 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000068559aug24.story?coll=la%2 Dnews%2Dscience>
AMY CARTER WEPT
Dubya's daughters enlist Zed to extend their popularity beyond fraternity row. Will Dad be sorry he gave them the car keys? Join Zed, last of his species, for a spin around the block in "First Twins in a Twist."
straight to the source: The comic adventures of Zed, last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed082401.asp?source=daily>
FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY FLEET
In a decision that could affect air pollution policy nationwide, a federal judge ruled yesterday that California officials can order public agencies to buy cleaner vehicles. Two industry associations challenged a rule by the South Coast Air Quality Management District that requires agencies to purchase low-emission or alternative-fuel cars, buses, and trucks, instead of diesel-powered vehicles. They argued that the new rule violated the U.S. Clean Air Act, which forbids states from putting emissions standards on new vehicles. But U.S. District Judge Florence Cooper said the rule was legit, because it regulated only the purchase of cleaner vehicles by public agencies, not the production or sale of the vehicles by auto manufacturers.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Reuters, 24 Aug 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54753-2001Aug23.html>
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, 24 Aug 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2001/08/23/ state2120EDT0198.DTL>
BAY OF PIGS' WASTE
The U.S. Congress should give farmers more than $6 billion a year to help them restore wetlands and prevent agricultural waste from polluting the nation's waterways, according to American Rivers and Environmental Defense. They said yesterday that nearly half of the country's bays are too polluted for fishing and swimming because of fertilizer and manure runoff from farms and ranches. The nation's most polluted bay areas include the Chesapeake Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the northern Gulf of Mexico.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 24 Aug 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12144/story.htm>
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, 24 Aug 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2001/08/24/ financial0335EDT0009.DTL>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
Parental guidance suggested -- Bush should listen to his inner dad on climate change -- in our Global Citizen section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen080301.asp?source=daily>
Canadians are thoroughly un-American -- a day in the life of Patricia Ross, city councilmember, Abbotsford, B.C <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/ross082301.asp?source=daily>
Land of a thousand water bottles -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha082001.asp?source=daily>
8/24/01
3:51:32 PM
Wasted Energy Means More Heat And Smog
by David Suzuki
It's interesting that within weeks of Canada agreeing to the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, temperatures soared and the country became gripped in what climatologists describe as the worst national drought in history. Of course, no one can say with certainty that the heat wave and drought were triggered by, or even exacerbated by global warming. But it is certain that this is the kind of weather that will become more common this century.
In a way, the weather served as an exclamation point after the climate talks: Get on with it! Indeed, some jurisdictions are getting on with it. The city of Toronto has plans to retrofit many of its buildings to make them more energy efficient. Already, Toronto's municipal operations have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 20 per cent below what they were in 1988. Other cities like Regina and Halifax are also reducing emissions and cutting costs by finding ways to be more energy efficient. Meanwhile, the federal government has been stalling and our emissions nationally have soared.
To meet our Kyoto commitments, Canada must find ways to encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy, and discourage waste and polluting fossil fuels. Right now, that isn't happening, and we can see the results hanging in the air in major Canadian cities.
Southern Ontario has been especially hard hit with record smog. Last year, according to the Ontario Medical Association, about 1,900 premature deaths associated with air pollution occurred in Ontario, along with 47 million minor illness days. Transportation is the largest single culprit, creating a vicious cycle. By building and driving millions of large, gas-guzzling vehicles, we release vast quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This causes global warming, which increases the frequency and duration of heat waves. Since sunlight and heat are precursors of smog, the hot weather makes air pollution worse. Then, to combat the heat, we crank up the air conditioning in our vehicles, which increases fuel consumption, which makes smog and global warming worse yet again.
Meanwhile, at home, the electricity used to power the air conditioner often comes from a fossil fuel-burning power plant, which further increases pollution and global warming. In fact, running all those air conditioners recently helped Ontario residents use a record 25,000 megawatts of power in a single day. To make matters worse, big cities can be several degrees warmer than surrounding areas because the asphalt and buildings that have replaced green space hold more heat, creating what is known as the "urban heat island" effect. A recent study in Los Angeles found that if the city planted new trees to cover five per cent of the land and used lighter-coloured materials for its roads and rooftops, overall air-conditioning requirements would drop by 18 per cent.
To cut our personal emissions, reducing the amount we drive and driving a fuel-efficient vehicle are two of the most important steps we can take. Consider this: Switching from driving an average car to driving an average SUV for one year will waste more energy than leaving a refrigerator door open for six years or a television turned on for 28 years! The average fuel efficiency of today's new vehicle fleet is actually the same as it was way back in 1980 in the days before cell phones, compact discs, email and the Internet.
Has fuel efficiency technology fallen that far behind? No, in fact a recent report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences found that using today's technology, vehicle manufacturers could increase fuel efficiency by 30 per cent. What are lacking are the incentives and regulations to do so. Vehicle manufacturers have vigorously fought new fuel-efficiency regulations especially for major moneymakers like SUVs, which don't have to meet passenger-vehicle emission requirements. Ironically, nature figures predominantly in most SUV advertising. One campaign actually shows trees gathering around a new SUV and the phrase, "Even nature can't contain its excitement." Try to remember that on another smoggy day.
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/08/08242001/energy_44711.asp
8/24/01
3:47:14 PM
RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS #728
8/24/01
1:58:36 PM
All Lost In The Supermarkets
Consumers are losing faith in supermarkets, with only one in six trusting them to sell safe food - and three in four people are more concerned than ever about the safety of the food they buy. A Good Housekeeping magazine survey found that although 97 per cent of those questioned buy most of their food from a supermarket, their faith in them has suffered.
The survey revealed 67 per cent trust supermarkets less than they used to and 16 per cent lack confidence in supermarkets to sell safe foods. This lack of trust is particularly apparent when buying meat, with 18 per cent admitting they have changed their shopping habits so they now buy meat only from a local butcher. The 1,000 people questioned in July said fears about food additives, changes in eating habits and organic produce were all causes for concern.
It found 81 per cent of those questioned "always or sometimes" buy organic food, but 19 per cent never have. The survey found 83 per cent of people would pay around an extra £9 a week on their food bills to ensure safety.
By New York University Medical Center And School Of Medicine
8/24/01
1:54:21 PM
"Hell's Grandmothers are walking through fire! If they can do it, why cant we all?"
by George Monbiot, The Guardian
Ariel Sharon's decision not to blast the Palestinians out of existence after last week's suicide bombings is, at first sight, mystifying. While jets blew up the Palestinians' police station in Ramallah and Israeli soldiers occupied their East Jerusalem headquarters, these reprisals were far less bloody than most people had predicted.
Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain this uncharacteristic restraint. Sharon is seeking to keep faith with his more conciliatory foreign minister, Shimon Peres. He is hoping to collect some moral credit, which he will use to defend much fiercer intervention at a later date. The seizure of Palestinian offices does more to hurt their cause than the murder of prominent figures. All these explanations are plausible, but there is another possible interpretation, overlooked by almost everyone. In killing Palestinians, Ariel Sharon can no longer be sure that he is killing only Palestinians.
For the past few weeks, foreign peace activists belonging to the international solidarity movement have been arriving in Jerusalem and the West Bank, joining demonstrations, staying in the homes of threatened Palestinians, turning themselves into human shields between the Israeli army and its targets. A few days ago they were joined by one of the most remarkable forces in British politics, a group of mostly middle-aged or elderly campaigners called Women in Black UK. These Hell's Grannies have moved straight into the front line, ensuring that the brutality with which the Palestinians are routinely treated now has international repercussions: Israel can't hurt local people without hurting them too.
For the past few nights, members of the solidarity movement have been sleeping in the homes of Palestinians in the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala. Eight hundred and fifty homes here have been shelled by soldiers stationed in the neighbouring Jewish settlement of Gilo, as the army seeks to expel the Palestinians in order to expand Israel's illegal plantation.
The foreigners have been standing at army checkpoints, photographing soldiers when they stop people trying to leave or enter their communities and recording the names of those they arrest. The soldiers hate this scrutiny, but whenever the monitors arrive at a checkpoint, there's a marked reduction in the violence there.
The Women in Black also helped to organise the demonstrations outside Orient House, the Palestinian headquarters seized by Israel on Friday. They established the physical and political space in which Palestinians could protest non-violently. Arrested and beaten up with the local people, the women witnessed the torture of Palestinian prisoners in the police station, which would otherwise have gone unrecorded.
In short, these volunteer peacekeepers are seeking to do precisely what foreign governments have promised but failed to do: to monitor and contest abuses of human rights, to defuse violence, and to challenge Israel's ethnic cleansing programme. Their actions put us all to shame.
As well as seeking to enforce peace, they are trying, hard as it is in the current atmosphere, to broker it. They have been suggesting to their Palestinian hosts some of the novel means by which injustice can be confronted without the use of violence. They have plenty of experience to draw on.
Some of these activists have been involved in the Trident Ploughshares campaign which, over the past fortnight, has been running rings round the marines guarding the nuclear submarines in Scotland. To the astonishment of the guards, the protesters there have managed to evade the tightest security in the UK, swimming into the docks in which the submarines are moored and spray-painting the words "useless" and "illegal" on their sides. They have launched canoes and home-made rafts into the paths of submarines trying to leave their berths. They have cut through the razor wire and roamed around the base, hoping to arrest its commander for crimes against humanity. A few days ago, they blocked the main gates of the nuclear warhead depot, their arms embedded in barrels of concrete, bringing work to a halt as the police tried to figure out how to extract them.
Two years ago, three of these women climbed into the Trident programme's floating research laboratory on Loch Goil and, as a delightful new video commissioned by the Quakers shows, threw all its computers into the sea. In Greenock court, they were acquitted of criminal damage, after the sherriff accepted their defence that the Trident programme infringes international law: rather than committing a crime, they were preventing one. Soon afterwards, the women "borrowed" a police boat from the Trident base in Coulport and drove it into the submarine docks at Faslane. Among them was one of the women who were also found not guilty in 1996 after smashing up a Hawk aircraft bound for East Timor. The subsequent publicity forced the government to stop exporting Hawks to Indonesia.
Though they're acquitted as often as they're convicted, Hell's Grannies have spent much of the past few years in jail. They take full responsibility for their actions. If the police fail to spot them, they ring them up and ask to be arrested. Their candour, clarity and humour have played well in court, but the risks of this accountable campaigning are enormous. The prosecution began yesterday of 17 British and American Greenpeace activists, who are being tried on terrorism charges after peacefully occupying the Californian launch pad being used for George Bush's missile defence tests. In the Middle East such tactics are likely to be still more dangerous, as Israeli soldiers have shown no hesitation in killing protesters in cold blood. But, as Gandhi recognised, the brutal treatment of non-violent campaigners can destroy the moral authority of the oppressor, generating inexorable pressure for change.
The Women in Black are clearly prepared not only to die for their cause, but also to make what Dostoevsky correctly identified as a far greater sacrifice: to live for their cause. They are ready to lose their homes, their comforts, their liberty, to be vilified, beaten up and imprisoned. Their accountable actions require a far greater courage than throwing bricks at the police.
Most importantly perhaps, these campaigners never cease to acknowledge the humanity of their opponents. They seek not to threaten but to persuade. The results can be astonishing. The MoD police who pulled the Trident swimmers out of the water ferried them back to their camp, rather than arresting them, while massaging their legs to stop cramp. When Angie Zelter, one of the coordinators of Women in Black, was on remand for her attempts to demolish the British military machine, she was visited in prison by a timber merchant whose business she had once tried to shut down. He had, as a result of her campaign, stopped importing mahogany stolen from indigenous reserves in Brazil, and started refashioning his business along ethical lines, and now he needed her advice.
All this is a long-winded way of saying something which, in the 21st century, sounds rather embarrassing: these people are my heroes. They confront us with our own cowardice, our failure to match our convictions with action. We talk about it, they do it. Hell's Grannies are walking through fire. If they can, why can't we all?
8/24/01
1:51:34 PM
THE GENOA PROTESTS
Democracy at the barricades
Heads of state were besieged in July in Genoa. They talked trade and money inside a guarded, if luxurious, compound, while outside the Italian carabinieri confronted demonstrators, only a few of whom were violent. Results: news footage of handshakes and governmental agreements, their details already forgotten - and of an unwarranted death, 600 injuries, beatings and frustration. The next talks will be in the safe enclave of Qatar. CLIP
See the rest at http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/08/02genoa
See also Presidents under pressure at:
http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/08/01leader
8/24/01
1:48:35 PM
The 2001 Summit on Spirituality and Sustainability in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Co-Creating A Spirit-Motivated Sustainable Future
During the week of September 15/22, The 2001 Summit on Spirituality and Sustainability brings together community leaders in business, politics, government, science, health, education, the arts and from major spiritual traditions from around the world. The Summit's mandate is to address spirituality and consciousness as issues underlying sustainability and all of our economic and social challenges. Above all, it is a celebration of accomplishments.
Summit week has been designed to bring communities together to establish unified intelligence. The Summit community intelligence will build a spirit-motivated momentum that leads participants into three distinct phases organized in themes: The Realities Phase covers The Best Of Who We Are and addresses what is working in our communities now. It is an opportunity for global community leaders to showcase and share their spirit-motivated sustainable successes, challenges, and opportunities within an eight sector model, such as: Youth and Education; Business; Health and Well Being; Spirituality; Law and Governance; Science and Technology; and Environment and Habitat.
The Potentials Phase covers What We Can Be; a segment that addresses where Summit participants will put their conscious intention and attention on exploring and working together in co-creative ways, and receive a fuller understanding of what the term "co-creative community" means.
The final phase is Co-Creativity, a collective think tank that determines What We Will Be. This is an opportunity to review the events experienced in the prior 2 phases. In this segment the Summit members take all that they have learned about through our "Realities" and "Potentials" phases and craft a sustainable model that could seed new ways to put this plan into action when they return to their communities.
The think tank for Summit Week will be held at the Roundhouse in Vancouver. There, a sustainable framework will be formed with local and non-local community leaders. The 8 day events have been book-ended by local and international collaborative partnerships with: Barbara Marx Hubbard and her Foundation For Conscious Evolution, Edgar Mitchell's Institute of Noetic Science (IONS) Foundation, The Institute for Ethical Leadership's "Connections II", Multi-Faith Action Group, and Clam Chowder For The Soul. Some examples of International representatives attending the 2001 Summit are members from the Earth Charter Initiative, and the Seattle's Peoples Web Coalition.
The Summit Week Exodus rally's for the Guinness Book of World Records at an "All Nations Drumming Circle" Event. Over 5,000 drummers from all over the world will be at the Plaza Of Nations, on September 22nd. One Earth Radio, an new internet radio station, will broadcast hi-lights of the Summit week during the daylong event. By Midday, a Peace Dove Release is scheduled to carry children's prayers of hope into the skies. Later the messages will be placed into a Community Peace Pole in the Lower Mainland.
The Summit's model inspires people to acknowledge their sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility. This would be a first step in connecting social innovators, multi-disciplinary learning communities and members of a global conscious community, to share "what's working", and to synergize ways of co-creating a more humane, ethical, compassionate and regenerative world.
To Register Online or For More Information Contact:
The 2001 Summit on Spirituality and Sustainability
Telephone: (604) 263-3119 Fax: (604) 872-3203
Web Site: http://www.2001summit.org
"Only those who can see the invisible, can do the impossible."
Thomas Jefferson
8/24/01
1:37:39 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE: WEALTH GAP CHALLENGES AMERICAN IDEALS
by Molly Lanzarotta, Impact Press
-- Is our outdated self-image of the U.S. as the land of equality and the "level playing field" keeping Americans in denial about the growing economic divide in this country?
CHANGING YOUR MIND FOR HEALTH: A GUIDE TO HEALING THE MIND
by Wendy Beall, ChangingYourMind.com
-- The subject of health seems to be on everyone's mind and all over the media. But have you ever wondered if health, especially ill health, was really all just in the mind?
THE CHANGING FACE OF SPORTS WRITING
by Glenn Stout, SportsJones
-- A generation ago, few female bylines graced the sports pages of major newspapers. Glenn Stout argues that more female sports writers will herald better media coverage of female athletics.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
8/24/01
1:31:02 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
U.S. COMBATS MAD COW DISEASE WITH NEW ACTION PLAN
WASHINGTON, DC, August 23, 2001 (ENS) - The United States will attempt to prevent mad cow disease with a new four part action plan announced today. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, outlined four areas of responsibility - surveillance, protection, research and oversight - within his department.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-23-04.html
SPANISH RURAL AREAS GET MILLIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 23, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission has approved over 200 million euros to improve environmental and economic conditions in rural Spain.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-23-02.html
SUDAN FLOODED OUT AFTER PARCHING DROUGHT
ROME, Italy, August 23, 2001 (ENS) - Widespread flooding in northern Sudan after two consecutive years of serious drought have displaced tens of thousands of people, destroyed crops and threatened food security, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-23-01.html
LEAKEY WARNS OF MASS EXTINCTIONS
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, August 23, 2001 (ENS) - The world is losing between 50,000 and 100,000 plant, insect and animal species a year, Kenyan conservationist Richard Leakey said Wednesday at a lecture. This is much higher than a similar estimate Leakey gave in 1997. "Human activities are causing between 10,000 and 40,000 species to become extinct each year," Leakey said then.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-23-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 23, 2001
Navy May Seek Exemptions from Environmental Laws
Wilderness Advocates to Greet Cheney in Utah
EPA Announces $2 Million For Brownfields Cleanup
$4 Million Project Will Cleanup Underground Storage Tanks
Conservationists Intervene to Save Frog Habitat
NOAA Reports First Observation of Undersea Volcanic Eruption
New Jersey Facility Cited Over Broken Exit Sign
Brittlestars Use Crystal Lenses to Spot Predators
Operation Trash Cam Targets Alabama Dumping
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-23-09.html
8/24/01
12:47:44 PM
TomPaine.com
UNEQUAL TREATMENT UNDER THE LAW
by Martina Gillis
August 22 marked the fifth anniversary of welfare reform. Martina Gillis, a former welfare recipient who now directs the Coalition for Ethical Welfare Reform, says women of color aren't receiving the same help as white women.
AUDIO and TEXT -- produded by Steven Rosenfeld.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/21/index.html
HERE WE GO AGAIN
The Mad Dash for Missile Defense
by Jennifer Bauduy
For the eighth time since the Johnson administration, missile defense fever has stricken the United States. A Star Wars opponent says the idea remains "compoundly stupid."
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/08/23/index.html
TomPaine.commentary
MAKING CONVENIENT, NOT SOLOMONIC, CHOICES
by M. W. Guzy
Nick Dupree dreads turning 21 because he'll lose his Medicaid home-nursing benefit when he becomes an adult. His rite of passage will either put his mother on the welfare rolls or land him in a nursing home.
AUDIO and TEXT -- produced by Sharon Basco.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/20/3.html
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Reactions from Our Readers: Such a Deal!... Limbalk... "Is the Corporation Obsolete?"... "Was Labor Duped?"... and more!
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/08/20/1.html
IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
We Scan the Internet for Tips, Leads and Links From PR WATCH: Organic Alert!... Scotchgard... Monsanto's Mystery DNA... Nevada Nuked Again... and Student Privacy.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/08/21/index.html
OP AD REDUX: This summer we're re-running your favorite TomPaine.com op ads from earlier this year. This week:
ATOMIC BILL: O'Reilly Spins for Nuclear Power
Fox News star Bill O'Reilly purports to defend the interests of ordinary Americans, but his blind advocacy for nuclear power shows his true colors.
Check out the op ad:
DON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN
Nuclear Power: Still Expensive, Still Dirty, Still Dangerous. A look at all the reasons why nuclear power always was and still is a bad idea for ratepayers, taxpayers, public health and the environment.
by Karen Charman
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/29/8.html
O'REILLY OUT OF TOUCH WITH PUBLIC OPINION
Polls Show Americans Oppose a Nuclear Revival. >From the Safe Energy Communication Council
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/29/4.html
8/24/01
12:42:38 PM
Back From the Brink Campaign needs your help to send an urgent message to Congress. Please click the "next" button (if you have HTML email) or go to
http://backfromthebrink.policy.net
to send an e-mail message to your Senator and Representative today.
Let your voice be heard!
To order your FREE "Toast Cards" click here: http://backfromthebrink.policy.net/toastcard.html. Together we can step Back From the Brink.
Ira Shorr and Esther Pank
Visit http://backfromthebrink.policy.net to take action now!
8/24/01
12:38:37 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Zimbabwe says will vaccinate against foot-and-mouth - ZIMBABWE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12141/story.htm
USDA asks China to clarify new biotech food policy - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12136/story.htm
Senate Democrats oppose nomination of EPA official - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12138/story.htm
Beachgoers' relief as eagle is landed - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12140/story.htm
Judge rejects extra protections for Alaska whales - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12142/story.htm
Court denies TWA insurance for cleanup, lawyers say - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12143/story.htm
US groups seek more conservation cash in farm bill - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12144/story.htm
Africa's forest elephants called separate species - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12146/story.htm
US researchers argue for harnessing wind power - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12147/story.htm
UPDATE - Coastguards scoop up half Baltic oil slick - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12139/story.htm
Activists says mining firm menaces Kenyan coast - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12145/story.htm
UPDATE - French minister says Mont Blanc tunnel will reopen - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12148/story.htm
Ontario opens North America's biggest windmill - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12137/story.htm
8/24/01
12:32:01 PM
Protecting The Tongass National Forest... Again
The Deadline For Comments Is September 10th
As director of NRDC's forests project, I've spent the last decade fighting for protection of the Tongass National Forest, the heart of the great Alaskan rainforest. I thought we could move on to other fights after our historic victory last January, when President Clinton announced a rule that would protect more than 58 million acres of wild areas in our national forests -- including the Tongass -- from logging, roadbuilding and other harmful development.
But now the Bush administration wants to abandon the new rule and dismantle this largest public land conservation effort in our nation's history.
We find ourselves back in the fight, and I am asking you and every other BioGems Defender to speak out to save the Tongass -- 500 miles of awe-inspiring Alaska coastline that supports the world's largest concentrations of grizzly bears, bald eagles and other rare wildlife. By law, the administration must accept public comments before it can change the rule. The deadline for these comments is September 10th, so please take a moment right now to visit
http://www.savebiogems.org/tongass/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=575
and send a message urging the Bush administration not to reverse or weaken these landmark protections for the Tongass and our other national forests.
Thank you for helping to save our Alaskan rainforest.
Sincerely,
Nathaniel Lawrence
Forest Protection Project Director
Natural Resources Defense Council
BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
8/24/01
12:15:17 PM
The Nation
"Let's Get Organized," exhorts The Nation's special Labor Day issue--in which prominent labor leaders, activists and scholars weigh in on the state of unions today.
In "The Six-Year Itch," David Moberg examines John Sweeney's six-year tenure at the AFL-CIO. Sweeney's record may be mixed, but his accomplishments, Moberg argues, far surpass the stagnation that preceded him.
Kate Bronfenbrenner, Adolph Reed Jr., Andrew L. Stern, Sherrod Brown and others participate in a rousing forum that discusses organizing in the labor movement. Unions know what has to be done--now they have to do it.
And Aram Roston investigates how trade unionists at Colombian work-sites--including several run by American companies like Coca-Cola--have become the target of right-wing violence, even murder. It's a situation causing increasing concern among activists in Colombia, as well as American labor leaders.
You can read these articles at:
DAVID MOBERG: The Six Year Itch
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010903&s=moberg
BRONFENBRENNER: 'Changing to Organize'
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010903&s=bronfenbrenner
FORUM: Replies to Bronfenbrenner
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010903&s=forum
ARAM ROSTON: It's the Real Thing: Murder
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010903&s=roston
Other new articles, editorials and columns from the September 3-10 issue of The Nation, are also available:
AL FRANKEN: CNN Rushes Rush
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010903&s=franken
EDITORS: More Democracy--Now!
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010903&s=editors2
ERIC ALTERMAN: West Bank Dreamin'
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010903&s=alterman
8/23/01
6:07:11 PM
Studies Decry EPA Enforcement Cuts Environment: Proposed $25-million shift from agency to states would allow violations to go undetected, one finds.
By ELIZABETH SHOGREN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Violations of federal environmental laws would more likely go undetected and unpunished under a Bush administration plan to shift money to the states and reduce its own staff, according to two new government reports.
A report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded that the Bush administration cannot prove that the states will make up for the loss of 8% of the EPA's enforcement staff.
"It cannot be demonstrated that it won't cause unwanted adverse effects," said Ed Kratzer, an author of the recently released GAO report, of the proposed staff cuts. As part of its proposed 2002 budget, the Bush administration asked Congress to shift $25 million from EPA enforcement staffing to a grant program to help the states improve their enforcement of federal environmental laws. EPA's own enforcement staff would be cut by 270 positions as a result. The House has embraced the administration's plan, but the Senate rejected it.
House and Senate members will form a conference committee, probably next month, to resolve their differences.
The studies--one requested by a Republican member of Congress, the other conducted by the EPA's Inspector General's Office--are expected to feed the ongoing debate over the shape of environmental policy between the administration and industry, on one side, and environmentalists and some lawmakers, mostly Democrats, on the other.
Even though the dollar amount is small, the agency's proposal has received a great deal of attention from the administration and its critics because it represents a significant shift in policy. It reflects the administration's philosophy that urging compliance with the law is more effective than cracking down on polluters and that states are better regulators than the federal government.
"Our new $25-million grant program will allow the states to enhance their enforcement efforts in ways that will increase accountability for results and will provide flexibility to address unique needs," EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said Wednesday in written answers to questions.
But environmentalists argue that companies will comply only if there are aggressive inspections and stiff fines for violations.
The EPA report looked at state efforts to enforce one aspect of the federal Clean Water Act: regulations designed to protect human health and the environment by setting limits on pollutants that can be discharged into rivers, streams and seas. It concluded that the three states it studied--California, North Carolina and Utah--had many weaknesses in their enforcement programs, including failing to report serious violations or impose fines high enough to deter companies from polluting waterways.
The EPA report also considered recent audits of five other states and found similar problems. The report used California to show how states should better align their enforcement resources with their biggest pollution problems. The state identified storm runoff as its most serious water quality problem, but most of its enforcement resources were focused on large plants that were complying with the laws.
The state last year more than doubled its staffing to focus on storm water and is hoping the new team will "get up and running" and successfully address that problem, said Robert Miller, spokesman for the California Water Resources Control Board.
"The inspector general's report confirms that our concerns are valid and why: The states are not doing their job, and what is needed is more oversight by the EPA," said Daniel Rosenberg of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
But EPA officials said shifting money to the states will result in better enforcement and will help fix some of the problems identified in the inspector general's report. The states already perform 95% of the inspections and 90% of the enforcement actions for federal environmental laws, they said.
In its report, the GAO said the EPA bases its enforcement staffing decisions on "outdated and incomplete" information. It recommended that the agency collect and update information on the demands facing its enforcement staff before considering shrinking its size.
"Without accurate work force planning information . . . EPA cannot demonstrate that the staff reductions will be absorbed without impairing its effectiveness," the report states. "Furthermore, in some states, particularly those states that may not receive additional grant funds, it is possible that the level of enforcement activity may actually be reduced."
States typically have been more restrained than the federal government in fining polluters, in part because the polluters often are businesses that are key to the local economy.
An EPA analysis shows that in recent years states were responsible for a relatively small percentage of the penalties assessed: 30% in 1998 and 15% in 1999.
"There is no doubt that unless the penalties are sufficient to deter crime, these companies are going to continue to break environmental laws," said John Coequyt of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based research and advocacy group.
For their part, state regulators say the job of enforcing an ever-growing list of EPA regulations is huge and that the states need more money to do it well.
"You can't say those funds wouldn't be put to pretty good use; they would be," said Linda Eichmiller of the Assn. of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators.
"It costs a lot of money to maintain a program to the level that the [inspector general] would like to see," she added.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000068297aug23.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dscience
8/23/01
5:43:36 PM
Military Chafes at Wildlife Rules Nature: The Pentagon may seek a revision of the Endangered Species Act to allow more defense training.
By KENNETH R. WEISS and DEBORAH SCHOCH, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
The Pentagon is moving toward asking Congress to rewrite the Endangered Species Act and other laws so military training exercises can be exempted from restrictions to protect sea turtles, desert tortoises, shorebirds and other rare creatures.
Military officials have said they would like more flexibility in environmental rules, in large part because of growing friction between those protections and training exercises on California's military bases, including Camp Pendleton, Ft. Irwin, Point Mugu and Coronado's Naval Amphibious Base.
Amid the vast urban sprawl, military reservations with expanses of open country have become de facto wildlife refuges for rare and endangered species. Yet officials contend that the armed forces are being penalized for being good stewards of their land. Laws to protect these last refuges are obstructing plans to drop live bombs, fire weapons, maneuver tanks and conduct exercises designed to keep troops ready for battle.
"We are definitely moving out with action plans," said Rear Adm. Larry Baucom, the Navy's director of environmental protection. "We are looking at the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act."
Baucom said these laws are "fairly vaguely written" and subject to widely differing interpretations. The Navy, designated the lead branch of the armed services on many such "encroachment" issues, would like to see definitions clarified to make them easier to follow and more compatible with the military's central mission: national defense.
"It's a matter of balance," Baucom said. "How do we balance our environmental stewardship with training and maintaining national security?"
The answer proposed in Defense Department documents, leaked by an environmental group made up of government employees, is to rewrite the Endangered Species Act so the secretary of defense could "grant exemptions for reasons of mission readiness."
A memo and slides from a presentation carrying the Department of Defense seal recommend that the agency work with Congress to reauthorize the act with changes that:
* Delete all references to "critical habitat."
* Allow increases in "incidental take," meaning harassment or death of endangered species, when federal agencies can demonstrate a rise in the species' population;
* Shorten the time allowed for environmental review and require consultation with wildlife agencies only when a military activity "may adversely affect" a protected species, rather than the current language, which requires a review when such activity "may likely affect" the wildlife.
Glenn Flood, a Pentagon spokesman, said Wednesday that he could find no one familiar with the documents.
"This document exists, but whether it's an official Department of Defense document, I'd have to say it's not, based on what I've heard," Flood said. "I haven't talked to the top people. But the worker bees, who are doing these things, aren't aware of it."
Yet Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the group that released the documents, said they were leaked by a military official helping to prepare the recommendations to be delivered to Congress this fall.
"Nobody should be surprised that this is happening," said Dan Meyer, the group's general counsel and a former Navy lieutenant. "It's entirely predictable to come out of the Bush administration as a way to weaken progressive environmental rules of the Clinton administration."
Hugh Vickery, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that although he has not seen the documents, his agency has a good track record dealing with military concerns.
"We've worked very successfully all over the country with the military to balance their need to train with the need to conserve threatened and endangered species," he said.
Congressional staff said that after Bush took office, the Pentagon started lobbying Congress to lift some of the restrictions of the Endangered Species Act.
"It's clear the Department of Defense is doing a serious lobbying effort to try and make the Endangered Species Act subservient to their needs," said one Democratic congressional staff member who asked not to be named.
Republican congressional leaders have been interested in changes too.
Earlier this year, Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, asked leaders from all three branches of the service to recommend ways to amend environmental laws that restrict military training.
He and 15 other House leaders formalized that request May 24 in a letter to President Bush to "initiate government reforms" of environmental laws, airspace restrictions and conflicts over radio waves that threaten national security and military readiness.
The leaked documents maintain that the Endangered Species Act, more than any other federal law, has the potential for obstructing the Defense Department's mission.
The documents say military lands nationwide provide habitat for more than 300 species listed by the federal government as threatened or endangered. The expense of conservation programs increases every year, they say.
In a series of congressional hearings earlier this year, military leaders complained of environmental laws, urban sprawl and other constraints hampering activities.
Major Gen. Edward Hanlon Jr., former commander of Camp Pendleton, said the base's number of endangered or threatened species has risen from three in 1977 to 17 today.
"The presence of these listed species on Camp Pendleton and required measures to avoid them have resulted in significant constraints on where we train, when we train and how we train," he testified.
Vice Adm. James F. Amerault echoed the frustration in his testimony about San Clemente Island, part of the only ship-to-shore live firing range left in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The site, he said, is home to the San Clemente Island loggerhead shrike, an endangered bird whose numbers have fallen as low as 13. Shore bombardment exercises must be curtailed during the bird's breeding season, he said, adding that the Navy is spending $2.5 million annually to protect 42 birds in the wild and 64 birds in a captive breeding program.
Amerault said that a rare bird known as the Western snowy plover is causing problems for Marine and Navy Seal exercises at the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base, reducing the training space by 40% during nesting season.
"At the rate these birds are proliferating, some training operations on the beach may have to be canceled to avoid violating [Endangered Species Act] requirements," Amerault said.
Environmentalists and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service predict that expanding Ft. Irwin in the Mojave Desert by 131,000 acres will nudge the rare desert tortoise toward extinction.
The Army hopes to expand the 633,000-acre base to provide more space for troops conducting live fire exercises in desert warfare.
Times staff writer Elizabeth Shogren in Washington contributed to this story.
8/23/01
5:27:57 PM
Mid August,
dry, dry, dry.
Leaves are brown
falling
crunching under feet.
Warm weather,
naked trees.
It could be Indian Summer,
but there has been no frost.
Could be White Man's Fall.
[ public domain ]
"The goals we pursue are the seeds from which our future grows."
http://www.SustainWellBeing.net
8/23/01
5:23:13 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
ISN'T IT GOOD, WE NEED MORE WOOD Feel good that the world's three biggest buyers of lumber -- Home Depot, Lowe's, and IKEA -- have promised to give preference to wood that meets eco-friendly certification standards. But feel un-good that very little such wood exists. Only about 200 patches of certified forests now exist across the globe. Rod Taylor of the World Wildlife Fund in Asia said, "If Home Depot came on board tomorrow, they'd exhaust the global supply of certified wood in about a day." Even if certification takes off, some environmentalists say it will only be a band-aid solution to the real problem: overconsumption.
straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Dan Murphy, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0823/p13s1-woap.html>
THE DAY THE EARTH DIDN'T STAND STILL
Water-hungry Los Angeles is pumping so much groundwater that the area is rising and falling each year in tune with the seasons, according to a report published today in the journal Nature. Using global positioning system satellites, a research team from the U.S. Geological Survey calculated that some parts of the L.A. area have been sinking half an inch a year, while others are rising a quarter-inch every year. In some parts, the seasonal difference can be more than 4 inches, rising in the fall and early spring, and falling in the summer.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Robert Lee Hotz and Kenneth Reich, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000068257aug23.story?coll=la%2 Dnews%2Dscience>
DEPARTMENT OF OFFENSE
The Pentagon may ask the U.S. Congress to rewrite the Endangered Species Act to exempt military training exercises from restrictions to protect sea turtles, desert tortoises, and other rare critters. Defense Department documents leaked to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility propose that the secretary of defense be able to "grant exemptions for reasons of mission readiness." PEER said a military official was the source of the documents. But a Pentagon spokesperson said yesterday that he couldn't find anyone at the DOD who was familiar with them.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Kenneth R. Weiss and Deborah Schoch, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000068320aug23.story?coll=la%2 Dnews%2Dscience>
read it only in Grist Magazine: A week in the life of Jeff Ruch, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/ruch121100.stm?source=daily>
THE KRATZER-JAMMIN' KID
Two new U.S. government reports raise big concerns about a Bush administration plan to cut federal environmental enforcement staff by 8 percent and shift resources to the states. A report by the U.S. EPA's inspector general found that states are doing a poor job of monitoring and punishing water polluters. A report by the General Accounting Office, the congressional watchdog agency, said the administration couldn't show that the states would make up for the cuts in federal enforcement staff. Ed Kratzer, an author of the GAO report, said, "It cannot be demonstrated that [the shift] won't cause unwanted adverse effects."
straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49330-2001Aug22.html>
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Elizabeth Shogren, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000068297aug23.story?coll=la%2 Dnews%2Dscience>
straight to the source: USA Today, Traci Watson, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010823/3569025s.htm>
THIS ROCKS, FISH!
Enviros scored a victory yesterday when a federal judge ordered the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service to do more to protect two species of rockfish, bocaccio and lingcod. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Larson of San Francisco said that the agency had failed to track the number of rockfish that die after they are inadvertently caught and tossed back -- and that current fishing limits for the fish were therefore skewed and not tough enough. The bocaccio population has declined 98 percent since 1969; lingcod, 85 percent.
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Glen Martin, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/0 8/23/MN116155.DTL>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
Rainforest bunch -- a review of "The Tapir's Morning Bath" -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books082201.asp?source=daily>
Environmentalist is not a four-letter word -- a day in the life of Patricia Ross, city councilmember, Abbotsford, B.C. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/ross082201.asp?source=daily>
More Internet smut -- a scientist fights back against exotics -- in our Out on a Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb041100.stm?source=daily>
8/23/01
3:08:22 PM
Nuclear Test Site Evaluated For Wind Farm
by Environmental News Network
The same wind that spread radioactive dust from nuclear explosions at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site during the 1990s may soon be generating electricity for Nevada and other Western states. A 1,069-acre wind farm on the Nevada Test Site about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is in the final planning stages.
The U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE, NNSA) took public comments during the past 30 days on the scope of a proposed environmental impact statement for the wind farm. The environmental impact statement will address potential environmental impacts of the construction, operation, and maintenance of the wind farm.
An agreement signed in January between the Energy Department and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid will result in the second largest wind-power farm in the United States. Reid played a key role in obtaining the easement on the property from the Nevada Test Site Development Corporation (NTSDC), a nonprofit corporation that works with the Department of Energy to promote the growth of science and technology in Nevada.
The deal allows the NTSDC, the designated community reuse organization for the Nevada Test Site, together with M&N Wind Power Inc. and Siemens to construct, operate, and maintain a wind farm at the test site.
Plans provide for up to 545 wind turbines generating up to 600 megawatts of electricity. A megawatt is enough electricity to power 1,000 typical American homes.
"The time is right to embrace new forms of clean energy, and Nevada is the right location to build a pollution-free wind farm that will serve as a source for that much needed power," said Sen. Reid.
The current power shortage in California has focused national attention on the need for more generation facilities in the Western United States. Several states have adopted renewable energy portfolio standards requiring utilities to purchase power from renewable energy sources. The proposed facilities would support the need for additional generation and provide utilities the opportunity to meet their requirements to purchase renewable energy.
According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the total wind energy potential of California and five other Western states — Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, and Oregon — is more than 600,000 MW. "There are limits to how much of this resource can be tapped in the near term, primarily because of limited transmission-line capacity," said AWEA executive director Randall Swisher. "But wind should be at the top of the list as California looks for new sources of electricity."
In November 2000, the National Nuclear Security Administration in Nevada (NNSA/NV) began preparing an environmental assessment for the proposed project. The draft assessment was provided for review and comment to Nevada state agencies, other federal agencies, affiliated American Indian tribes, and other interested parties in March 2001.
Several issues were raised by the commentors: land use on the surrounding Nevada Test Site, inadequacy of current power distribution systems, and the potential impacts on cultural and biological resources at the proposed sites.
Based upon its analysis, NNSA/NV has determined that an environmental assessment would not support a finding of no significant impact. Since a significant impact is expected, a formal environmental impact statement is being prepared.
The environmental impact statement will consider three locations, all on the Nevada Test Site: Pahute Mesa and the Shoshone Mountain area which is the preferred alternative, Skull Mountain, and Rainier Mesa. These locations have been suggested as suitable for wind-power development because they are located at high elevations near steep-sided ridges and have winds of sufficient velocity and duration to make wind power economically feasible.
Electrical power from the wind farms would be collected by cable systems and fed to one or two proposed substations on the Nevada Test Site.
Because the existing 138-kilovolt power loop on the test site can handle only 85 MW, a limited number of turbines could be interconnected to it at any given time.
A new transmission line to handle the full 600 megawatts the proposed wind farm would generate is proposed for construction along the existing Forty Mile Canyon power corridor.
Issues for analysis in the environmental impact statement include impacts to cultural resources with archeological significance on Shoshone Mountain and Pahute Mesa and impacts to resources and sites important to the 17 Native American tribes with cultural affiliation to the Nevada Test Site.
Impacts to plants, animals, and habitats, including threatened or endangered species and their habitats, associated with clearing, grading, and constructing roads and operating wind turbines in previously undisturbed areas will be considered.
The consumption of natural resources and energy associated with constructing and operating a wind turbine farm also will be evaluated. Any potential irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources associated with locating, constructing, and operating a wind farm on the Nevada Test Site will be assessed.
Comments on the proposed scope of the wind farm environmental impact statement are still welcome from the public. To ensure concerns are considered in the environmental impact statement, comments must be postmarked by Aug. 24. Late comments will be considered to the extent practical. Email Kevin Thornton at nepa@nv.doe.gov
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/08/08232001/nuclearwind_44720.asp
8/23/01
2:59:44 PM
Fungal Enemy Could Explain Worldwide Amphibian Die-Off
by Environmental News Network
A development of a new form of fungus could explain the mystery of amphibian die-offs throughout the world, a large group of scientists now believes. Amphibians on six continents — Africa, South America, Central America, North America, Europe, and Australia and Oceania — have been reported as infected by the amphibian chytrid fungus.
Amphibians, such as frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts, act as sentinels for global environmental degradation, and over the past 30 years, amphibian population declines have been reported around the world.
This is the first wildlife disease to emerge on a global scale that affects an entire class of vertebrates and is associated with mass mortalities, population declines, and species extinctions, according to Peter Daszak of the Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia.
An international effort is now underway to determine how extensive and virulent the chytrid fungus is.
The fungal disease chytridiomycosis was first described in 1998 from the study of adult amphibians collected at sites of mass deaths in Australia and Panama from 1993 to 1998.
Meanwhile, to protect remaining amphibians, countries and zones within countries should be classified as free of or infected with chytridiomycosis, an international group of amphibian experts recommended last August after a workshop in Australia.
A case detection and recovery is unfolding in Colorado as state wildlife biologists use tiny high-tech transmitter locators to help boreal toads fight the deadly fungus.
Colorado amphibian researchers have found that the chytrid fungus is responsible for the decline of boreal toads usually found around the state's beaver dams and meadows.
For decades, their disappearance mystified Colorado biologists. The devastating losses appear to have started in the late 1970s and continued through the early 1980s. During that period, Colorado Division of Wildlife biologists estimated that as much as 85 percent of the state's boreal toad population was wiped out.
Unlike many species whose decline could be related to the loss of habitat, there were no obvious changes in many of the places boreal toads inhabited. Yet from 1986 to 1988, the number of known boreal toad breeding sites fell from 59 to 10.
Then in 1999, while working with Dr. David Green at the National Wildlife Health Center, Colorado Division of Wildlife researcher Mark Jones discovered the existence of a chytrid in Colorado and linked it to the toads.
"Normally these chytrid fungi just live off of dead plant material and are fairly common," Jones said. "But apparently they have evolved into a new species of fungus that attacks living amphibian flesh. By the mid-80s it appeared that (the toads) were well on their way to extinction, but now we're finding a couple of new sites every year," Jones said. "Part of the reason is our intensified surveying efforts, so whether or not they will survive in the wild is still in question."
While the toads have not made much of a comeback, at least the populations may have stabilized, according to Jones. This spring and early summer, Jones was able to find toads at 56 sites, leading him to believe that their chances of long-term survival are improving.
In the meantime, Colorado biologists have established a breeding population of more than 1,000 toads at the John Mumma Endangered Species Hatchery in the San Luis Valley that will be used to repopulate areas that once supported boreal toad populations.
"We have captured toads from 18 different sites to guarantee genetic diversity," said Craig Fetkavich, a Colorado biologist who is overseeing the effort. Boreal toads don't reach sexual maturity for four-to-six years, Fetkavich said, so he is now in the process of artificially manipulating the hours of sunlight the toads receive to see if it is possible to speed up the age at which they can start producing young.
Once that happens, potential sites will first be tested for the presence of chytrid fungus. Those sites that are clean will be used to reintroduce the toads, who will be monitored to evaluate their recovery.
At this point it appears the fungus is not wiping out amphibian populations but only suppressing them. The ability of the toads to develop a natural defensive mechanism to combat the fungus remains to be seen.
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/08/08232001/fungal_44732.asp
8/23/01
2:29:24 PM
Biologists say that some South Florida coral reefs are being taken over by an accelerated growth of algae.
Brian LaPointe of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution told the Palm Beach Post that his early research is indicating that the algae are feeding on nitrogen from human waste that could be coming from sewage-treatment systems.
LaPointe says when invasive algae cover a reef they reduce space for corals to grow.
The researcher's work is funded by a $75,000 grant from Florida's Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force.
8/23/01
2:21:17 PM
Politics
A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is Politics?"
Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way:
I'm the head of the family, so call me The President.
Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government.
We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the People.
The nanny, we'll consider her the Working Class.
And your baby brother, we'll call him the Future.
Now think about that and see if it makes sense."
So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.
Later that night, he hears his baby brother so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parent's room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny.
He gives up and goes back to bed.
The next morning, the little boy say's to his father,
"Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now."
The father says,
"Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."
The little boy replies,
"The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in Deep Shit."
8/23/01
1:35:08 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
YUCCA MOUNTAIN CAN MEET EPA RADIATION STANDARDS, DOE REPORTS
WASHINGTON, DC, (ENS) - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has a new report assessing the performance of the proposed high level nuclear waste disposal site at Yucca Mountain against strict safety standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report concludes that the Yucca Mountain site "would likely meet" the agency's radiation protection standards.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-22-06.html
WILD ANTARCTIC WINDS TO BE HARNESSED FOR POWER
CANBERRA, Australia, August 22, 2001 (ENS) - Australia is embarking on an ambitious $US 2.3 million program to take wind power further than it has ever been, by harnessing Antarctic gales for full scale electricity generation.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-22-04.html
SELKIRKS APPEAL: PRIME, ROADLESS GRIZZLY HABITAT AT STAKE
SPOKANE, Washington, August 22, 2001 (ENS) - Conservation groups are appealing an access grant given to a logging company by the Colville National Forest near Spokane.
The Colville National Forest has issued a decision to grant Stimson Lumber Co. a cost-share easement that a regional conservation coalition says will lead to the degradation of critical endangered species habitat.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-22-03.html
MAINE RESIDENTS RAISE MILLIONS FOR LAND CONSERVATION
PORTLAND, Maine, August 22, 2001 (ENS) - With $50 million already in hand for its campaign to purchase coastal lands of environmental importance, the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization, has set a goal of $100 million.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-22-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 22, 2001
EPA Reaffirms Commitment to Environmental Justice
California Shifting Transportation Funding to Buses, Trains
Low Water Levels Kill Hanford Reach Salmon Fry
Reducing Phosphorus Fertilization Would Help Lake Okeechobee
Teak Plantations Lose SmartWood Certification
Unmanned Planes Offer Bird's Eye View of Storms
Commercial Buildings Get Energy Efficiency Checkup
Miss Maryland Urged to Refuse Fur Coat
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-22-09.html
8/23/01
11:53:10 AM
AlterNet Headlines
New Global Justice Protest Site
AlterNet has launched a new site to bring you breaking news and analysis about the upcoming large-scale protests against policies of the IMF/World Bank in Washington, D.C., during the last week of September. Let us know what kinds of information and analysis you need to keep involved.
http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=24
WHERE IS THE (BLACK) LOVE?
Angela Ards, Ms. Magazine
Isn't it ironic that after the Montgomery bus boycott, the sit-ins, Black Power, feminism, and "free love," gender relations between black men and women are worse than ever?
ANNOUNCING RETIREMENT, HELMS DESERVES SCRUTINY, NOT PRAISE
Tom Acitelli, Spectator Magazine Senator Jesse Helms' much-ballyhooed announcement that he would not seek a sixth term in 2002 should have provoked applause, not sympathy.
THE MOTHER TERESA OF ALL WEB SITES
Tamara Straus, AlterNet
Despite the dot-com bust, VolunteerMatch -- the Webby-winning site that helps people volunteer -- is enjoying wild success. What does it for mean corporate and community life in the tech age?
HOW BUSH AND CONGRESS ARE ADDING FUEL TO THE WESTERN WILDFIRES
Evan Woodward, AlterNet
As wildfires rage through woodlands in the West and Big Timber pours money into campaign coffers, critics are questioning the government's handling of National Forests.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11366
GIRL SCOUTS ON THE FIRING LINE
Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet
In stark contrast to the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts of America are getting bashed by the Religious Right. Why? Because they tolerate feminism and lesbians.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11341
COWS MUTILATED? WHO YA GONNA CALL?
Kate Silver, Las Vegas Weekly
The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) hit the trails in Montana to investigate some very strange murders.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11356
LUNCHBOX HEGEMONY? KIDS & THE MARKETPLACE, THEN & NOW
Dan Cook, LiP Magazine
Parents of all political persuasion are used to blaming corporate marketers for making childhood synonymous with consumerism. But perhaps they should blame themselves, too.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11370
BRIBING AT THE BORDER: CORRUPTION RAMPANT IN U.S. CUSTOMS
Al Giordano, NarcoNews.com
U.S. customs officials are allegedly charging drug traffickers hefty bribes for overlooking large shipments of cocaine that cross the U.S.-Mexican border.
* In DrugReporter: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=17
A BLOW(HARD) FOR THE RIGHT AT CNN?
David Corn, AlterNet
CNN has suggested giving Rush Limbaugh an on-air news position. If they do, what would Election Night 2004 look like? Take a trip into a conservative fantasy ...
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11359
CARRYING CASH? YOU MUST BE A CROOK!
Greg Land, Creative Loafing (Atlanta)
By air or by rail, if you carry cash the company that carries you may turn you in. Transportation services are being rewarded by the DEA for information on suspicious travelers with lots of currency.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11340
ENVIRONMENTALISM AND OTHER QUAINT IDEAS
Geov Parrish, Eat the State
Many environmentalists were sure they could defeat the oil-soaked White House in its bid to drill for oil in Alaska. But neither party seems to give a damn about the conservation anymore.
* In EnviroHealth: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=18
HEROIN HASSLES: OVERDOSE ANTIDOTE OUT OF REACH
Maia Szalavitz, Village Voice
Heroine use, and heroine overdoses, are on the rise. But the drug naloxone could save the life of an overdose victim with one harmless injection. Too bad users can't get access to it.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11354
CONSUMERS OF THE MONTH: GREENSPAN URGES PUBLIC TO SPEND MORE, SAVE LESS
Lisa Tozzi, PopPolitics.com
Alan Greenspan will award "Consumer of the Month" medals to citizens who demonstrate patriotism by spending lavishly -- despite market downturns and unemployment.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11351
THE GREAT DIVIDE: INDIA CONFRONTS GLOBALIZATION
Amitabh Pal, In These Times
The economic transformation India has experienced in the past decade -- and its population of more than 1 billion -- make the country an important test case for the impact of globalization.
* In Globalization: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=21
HARD TIME KIDS
Sasha Abramsky, The American Prospect
Almost every state requires that juveniles be tried in adult court for certain crimes. But the petty criminals, not the murderers, bear the brutal brunt of the law.
* In Human Rights USA: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=22
TECHSPLOITATION: SECRETS OF MS. GORF
Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
For people who suffer from acute video game nostalgia or who revel in arcane historical knowledge, there is almost no mystery greater than what exactly happened to the game Ms. Gorf.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11349
MEDIA LAYOFFS: "IT'S NOT THE SHIP THAT MAKES THE WAVES"
Danny Schechter, MediaChannel.org
The media industry is experiencing hard times, with more layoffs and firings. But there is also a vast restructuring going on in the business world that isn't being presented by the media in human terms.
* In MediaCulture: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=19
GARCIA: THE LATIN GRAMMYS AND THE POST-CASTRO GENERATION
James E. Garcia, PoliticoMagazine.com
The latest controversy in Florida is over the Latin Grammy awards being switched back to Los Angeles, for fear that anti-Castro Cubans would disrupt the show.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11360
8/23/01
11:45:56 AM
Planet Ark World Environment News
More wind power projects under way - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12123/story.htm
Eagle menaces US beach goers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12129/story.htm
Thousands rally to back Oregon farmers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12128/story.htm
UtiliCorp, FPL Energy power up wind farm in Kansas - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12125/story.htm
UPDATE - US DOE - Yucca Mountain would meet radiation limits - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12115/story.htm
Portland, Oregon, named most child-friendly US city - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12119/story.htm
Exxon charges Unocal with shady dealing in patent case - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12118/story.htm
California fires heat up, Northwest rains on way - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12117/story.htm
Shell studies energy brick for cooking in African villages - UGANDA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12122/story.htm
Greenpeace protests at Novartis "GMO baby food" - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12120/story.htm
Coastguards hope to scoop up Baltic oil slick - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12124/story.htm
South Africa blows up another stranded whale - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12130/story.htm
Nordic states ask Britain to cut nuclear pollution - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12133/story.htm
UPDATE - Chantal dumps heavy rain on Mexico but loses power - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12116/story.htm
Japan power industry seeks public support for MOX - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12126/story.htm
Italy wants own food safety agency, beside EU's - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12134/story.htm
Jumbo health camp opens beside ancient Indian fort - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12131/story.htm
German Biblis nuclear rods loaded for French trip - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12132/story.htm
UPDATE - China says to allow grace period for GMO trade - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12121/story.htm
Enbridge, Suncor start wind power production - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12127/story.htm
8/22/01
9:40:32 PM
A Brief Education On Crop Circles
by Freddy Silva
Crop Circles are not a modern phenomenon.
They are mentioned in academic texts of the late 17th Century