Earths.net

2/10/01
1:54:16 PM

WILD ALERT

For the past three years, the oil and gas industry has been fighting to open up nearly 370,000 acres of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, to oil and gas development. But the Forest Service has proposed setting aside that land because of its outstanding wildlife and recreation values. Now the Forest Service needs to hear from you. Take action today at

http://www.wilderness.org/ccc/northrockies/bt.htm .

WORLD FAMOUS HABITAT AT RISK The Bridger-Teton National Forest, bordering Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, is world famous for its blue ribbon trout streams winding through lush valleys, complete with vast herds of elk. These lands are home to some of the rarest and most vulnerable animals in the lower 48 states, including grizzly bear, gray wolf, and Canada lynx.

In a recent far-sighted move, the U.S. Forest Service has proposed putting one of the last unprotected wild places on the Bridger-Teton, covering 370,000 acres, off limits to oil and gas industrialization. The public overwhelmingly supports this proposal, known as the "No Lease" alternative in the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Oil and Gas Development. In fact, 98% of the more than 2,500 comments received during the "scoping" phase of this process supported the "No Lease" alternative.

BIG OIL MOVES IN For the last three years, the oil and gas industry has been fighting hard to open up those lands, larger than neighboring Grand Teton National Park, to oil and gas development. Drill rigs, accompanied by a maze of roads and power lines, already have fractured many of the last best places in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Now, emboldened by allies in the new Bush administration, Big Oil is working harder than ever to reverse this proposal. The oil and gas industry is putting immense pressure on Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY) to actively oppose the proposal, a role he has chosen not to take in the past.

WHAT'S AT STAKE? The wildlands that industry wants to industrialize include Moccasin Basin, just 35 miles from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which contains key grizzly bear habitat and crucial big game winter range. Also included are the Hoback Basin, south of Jackson Hole, and the Union Pass and Upper Green River areas, adjacent to both the Gros Ventre and Bridger Wilderness areas. This territory includes several blue ribbon trout streams and four rivers eligible for National Wild and Scenic River designation.

PROPOSAL DESERVES SUPPORT At the end of the last year, the Forest Service released the DEIS, listing several "alternatives," or management possibilities. A comment period runs through February 28th.

This decision -- which you can help shape -- will set a precedent for the future management of our national forests: Will our public lands be managed mainly for industrial-scale resource extraction and production? Or are some places simply more important for wildlife, clean water and recreation?

The Forest Service is trying to protect this last slice of wild country in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It needs and deserves your support.

TAKE ACTION Only through an emphatic show of support from citizens nationwide for the Forest Service proposal will the "No Lease" proposal hold. Send your comments *by February 28* from

http://www.wilderness.org/ccc/northrockies/bt.htm

or send them directly:

- Tell the Forest Service you support the "No Lease" Alternative #4 in the draft EIS for Oil & Gas Development on the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

- These wildlands are far too valuable as rich wildlife habitat, healthy fisheries, and recreation lands. They deserve to be protected for our children.

Send your comments to: Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton, Bridger-Teton National Forest Attn: Oil & Gas DEIS, P.O. Box 1888, Jackson, WY 83001 EMAIL: mailroom_r4_bridger_teton@fs.fed.us FAX: (307) 739-5010

Also send a copy of your comments to Wyoming Senator Craig Thomas, who needs to hear that the American people want this spectacular place protected: Senator Craig Thomas U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510 EMAIL: craig@thomas.senate.gov FAX: (202) 224-1724

FOR MORE INFORMATION Bridger-Teton National Forest web site: http://www.fs.fed.us/btnf/oilandgas/oil&gas.htm

SAMPLE LETTERS Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton, Bridger-Teton National Forest Attn: Oil & Gas DEIS, P.O. Box 1888, Jackson, WY 83001

Dear Supervisor Hamilton: I support the B-T's proposed "No Lease" alternative #4 in the draft EIS for Oil and Gas Development. These wildlands are far too valuable as rich wildlife habitat, healthy fisheries and recreation lands. Please continue your strong efforts to safeguard these lands for our children by issuing a "No Lease" final decision.

Thank you for your work.

Honorable Craig Thomas U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Thomas: I support the Bridger-Teton National Forest's proposed "No Lease" alternative #4 in the draft EIS for Oil and Gas Development. These wildlands are far too valuable as rich wildlife habitat, healthy fisheries and recreation lands. I urge you to support the B-T in its efforts to safeguard this land for future generations.

Sincerely,

For a full list of Action Items, visit http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm

An archive of past WildAlerts can be found at

http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm

2/10/01
1:50:53 PM

Environment Globalization Wiping Out Languages, Natural Links

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 8, 2001 (ENS) - Native farmers high in the Andean mountains grow abundant yields of potatoes and quinoa despite floods, frosts, and droughts. They use a system of terraces, canals and raised fields that evolved over 3,000 years ago.

The Turkana tribe of Kenya plans crop planting around knowledge of the behavior of frogs and birds, such as the ground hornbill, spotted eagle owl and nightjar, which are revered as "prophets of rain."

The Aka pygmies of the Central African Republic use plants to cure many of their most common illnesses. Several plants are known and used to treat the same disease. Because they grow in different types of forest, the pygmies can cure themselves when travelling.

A new report carried out on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that such indigenous systems for environmentally harmonious living may soon be lost forever as a result of growing globalization.

The study, based on work by hundreds of academics, claims many indigenous languages and cultures are already teetering on the brink of extinction in the face of globalization.

Entitled, "Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity: A Complementary Contribution to the Global Biodiversity Assessment," it was edited by Professor Darrell Addison Posey of the Federal University of Maranhao, Sao Luis, Brazil, and the Oxford Centre for the Environment, Ethics and Society at Mansfield College, University of Oxford, in Britain.

The study was presented Wednesday at the UNEP Governing Council meeting in Nairobi.

UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer said, "The freeing up of markets around the world may well be the key to economic growth in rich and poor countries alike. But this must not happen at the expense of the thousands of indigenous cultures and their traditions."

"Indigenous peoples not only have a right to preserve their way of life. But they also hold vital knowledge on the animals and plants with which they live. Enshrined in their cultures and customs are also secrets of how to manage habitats and the land in environmentally friendly, sustainable, ways," he said.

Much of this knowledge is not written down but is passed from generation to generation orally, in art works or in the designs of handicrafts such as baskets. Losing a language and its cultural context is like burning a unique reference book of the natural world.

New sources of medicines are being lost as a result of the decline of indigenous languages, cultures and traditions.

Many indigenous peoples have intimate, local, knowledge of herbs, trees and flowers and parts of animals, and their use as medicines which could give clues to new drugs for humanity. They know the right part of the plant to pick and the season in which to harvest these natural medicines to obtain the maximum amount of benefit.

This knowledge is expressed in ritual, ceremony and magic. Culture, language, religion, psychology and spiritual beliefs are inseparable from their understanding of the natural world.

But as indigenous languages disappear, the environmental wisdom they were used to articulate also disappears.

There are an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 spoken languages in the world with 4,000 to 5,000 of these classed as indigenous. More than 2,500 are in danger of immediate extinction and many more are losing their link with the natural world.

Over 1,000 languages are spoken by between 101 and 1,000 individuals. A further 553 are spoken by fewer than 100 people.

Some researchers estimate that over the next 100 years 90 percent of the world's languages will have become extinct or virtually extinct - 234 have already died out.

Toepfer believes that more urgent action is needed to safeguard indigenous cultures and their knowledge.

There are some international mechanisms in place that could be those safeguards. The World Trade Organization has provisions that allow countries to develop intellectual property rights which may give indigenous peoples new ways to protect plant species they have nurtured from exploitation by bioprospectors.

The Convention on Biological Diversity has recently developed a mechanism which allows signatory nations to address inadequacies in the area of intellectual property rights. It will help develop guidelines on how to create better laws to protect indigenous communities.

Professor Posey's report offers key reasons why the environment will benefit by conserving native cultures, a task he says should be "urgently addressed."

Indigenous peoples' traditional economic systems have a relatively low impact on biological diversity because they tend to utilize a great diversity of species, harvesting small numbers of each of them. "By comparison settlers and commercial harvesters target far fewer species and collect or breed them in vast numbers, changing the structure of ecosystems," the report finds.

This pattern is increasing the threat of crop failures across the globe as the world's major crops become more genetically uniform.

The report cites work by UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, England, and other researchers on the disappearance of diversity in common crops. For instance, there were 287 varieties of carrot in 1903, but just 21 varieties today - a fall of 92.7 per cent. Nearly 500 varieties of lettuce were catalogued in 1900, but only 36 remain today.

Indigenous peoples try to increase the biological diversity of the territories in which they live, the report documents. They leave a large margin of error in their seasonal forecasts for the abundance of plants and animals, deliberately underestimating the harvestable surplus of each target species.

"Since indigenous knowledge of ecosystems is learned and updated through direct observations on the land, removing the people from the land breaks the generation to generation cycle," the report says.

Publication of the study coincides with the beginning of the United Nations International Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations which aims to highlight the difficulties facing indigenous cultures.

2/10/01
1:49:07 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

UNEP AIMS FOR STRONGER GLOBAL ROLE

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 9, 2001 (ENS) - The Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has ended its latest biannual meeting Nairobi with agreement to strengthen the agency with a view to developing it into a global environmental governance body.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-09-02.html

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT FAILS TO PROTECT WILD SALMON

OTTAWA, Canada, February 9, 2001 (ENS) - In a review of British Columbia's salmon farming industry, Canada's auditor general has concluded that the federal government is not protecting the wild salmon population from farmed fish.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-09-10.html

BAJA TOWNS STRUGGLE AFTER SAVING WHALE SANCTUARY

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, February 9, 2001 (ENS) - Communities surrounding Laguna San Ignacio in Baja, Mexico, will receive money from environmental groups that helped stop a plan to convert the last undisturbed nursery for the Pacific gray whale into the world's largest industrial salt facility.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-09-12.html

RAPTORS BETTER PROTECTED IN UK's NORTH PENNINES

LONDON, United Kingdom, February 9, 2001 (ENS) - The United Kingdom has created its largest Special Protection Area to cover more than 147,000 hectares of internationally important bird habitats in the North Pennine Moors.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-09-11.html

ARGENTINA WILL POWER THE FUTURE WITH WIND

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, February 9, 2001 (ENS) - A wind energy production proposal has been presented to the Argentine government by the Spanish companies Endesa and Elecnor. If the proposal is accepted, within a decade, 15 percent of the total Argentine energy needs, some 3,000 megawatts, could be produced by wind power.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-09-01.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: FEBRUARY 9, 2001

Texas Citizen Suit Settled With Crown Central Petroleum

Scientists Discover New Keys to Arctic Ozone Loss

Energy Efficiency Could Decrease Demand by 40 Percent

California Logging Waste to Be Burned for Power

Los Angeles is Planting Trees to Save Energy

Landfill Gas To Energy Project Earns Award

Missouri Dam Reform Delay Ignores Endangered Species

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-09-09.html

HEALING OUR WORLD: WEEKLY COMMENT By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

Energy Crisis or Greed Crisis?

Whatever the cause of the current energy crisis, a major goal of the new conservative administration in Washington has been achieved. Air quality controls have been suspended and the stage has been set for massive industrial expansion.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-09g.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

TO FORESTRY AND ENVIRONMENT EDITORS:

Alliance Forest Products Inc. Receives Major National Forest Management Award

MONTREAL, Canada, Feb. 9 -/E-Wire/-- Alliance Forest Products Inc. is pleased to announce that it received the "Forest Stewardship Recognition Award", under the Eastern Canadian companies category, from Wildlife Habitat Canada. The Company earned this award for the extensive application since 1995 of an innovative forest harvesting method known as mosaic cutting.

/CONTACT: Georges Cabana, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources and Public Affairs,(514) 954-2101/

/Web site: http://www.alliance-forest.com /

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/09Feb0106.html

TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Without Bears and Wolves to Hunt Them, Yellowstone Moose Have Lost Some Spring in their Step, Study Says

BRONX, NY, Feb. 9 -/E-Wire/-- As people learn to live with grizzly bears and wolves that have recolonized areas around southern Yellowstone National Park after a 50-year absence, so too must moose, which apparently have forgotten to recognize predators, according to a study funded by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

/CONTACT: STEPHEN SAUTNER (718-220-3682; ssautner@wcs.org; JOHN DELANEY: (718-220-3275; jdelaney@wcs.org)/

/Web site: http://www.wcs.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/09Feb0105.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Experts Battle Over Global Warming Climate Change Policy Exposes Different Opinions, Approach

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 9 -/E-Wire/-- Sharp differences on the direction of climate change policy and the future of a controversial international treaty aimed reducing greenhouse gas emissions were hotly debated yesterday at a National Press Club forum sponsored by Freedom 21. Freedom 21 is a coalition of organizations aimed at advancing the principles of freedom in local communities, Washington, and throughout the world. (www.freedom21.org)

/CONTACT: Maureen O'Brien,(202) 466-7391 ext. 1106 or mobrien@pcgpr.com/

/Web site: http://www.freedom21.org http://www.pcgpr.com/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/09Feb0104.html

TO ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Global Survey Finds Wind Energy's Explosive Expansion Continuing Industry Added Enough Generation in 2000 To Supply 1.3 Million California Households

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 9 -/E-Wire/-- The worldwide boom in wind energy slowed a bit during the year 2000, but still remained strong, with some 3,500 megawatts (MW) being installed, or enough to supply roughly 1.3 million California households with 3.5 million people, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today.

/CONTACT: Tom Gray (802)649-2112, Christine Real de Azua (202) 383-2508/

/Web site: http://www.awea.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/09Feb0103.html

TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Conservation Lawsuit Files to Stop Potomac River Projects

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 9 -/E-Wire/-- The National Wilderness Institute (NWI), a Washington-based conservation organization filed suit this week against five Federal departments and agencies, charging that they have failed to enforce the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in approving Potomac River projects.

/CONTACT: Rob Gordon or Jim Streeter @ (703) 836-7404, Larry Hart (202) 547-1175/

/Web site: http://www.nwi.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/09Feb0102.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Advanced Communications Technologies to Acquire US Venture Capital Company -- Beneventure Capital

LOS ANGELES, CA, Feb. 9 -/E-Wire/-- Advanced Communications Technologies Inc. (OTCBB:ADVC - news; ACT-USA) today announced that it had entered into an agreement with Dr. Gil Amelio and Beneventure Capital, LLC to acquire 100% of the stock in Beneventure Capital, LLC.

/CONTACT: Advanced Communications Technologies, Roger May, 011.61.3.9672.8888, CEO (in Australia), Mobile: 011.61.411 189 931, actusa2000@aol.com; Jeremy Norton, 949/622-5566 or 949/500-6288,(Vice President of International Business Development), jeremyn@adcomtech.net/

/Web site: http://www.beneventure.com http://www.act-usa.net/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/09Feb0101.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

2/10/01
1:44:02 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

BRITISH COLUMBIA BANS GIZZLY HUNT FOR THREE YEARS

By Neville Judd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, February 8, 2001 (ENS) - British Columbia has announced a three year moratorium on grizzly bear hunting, to allow scientists to establish a definitive count of the grizzlies in the province.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-11.html

EUROPEAN UNION AGREES TO CLIMATE TALKS DELAY

BRUSSELS, Belgium, February 8, 2001 (ENS) - European Union countries have accepted a demand by the United States and allied countries to push back the date of the next formal attempt to finalize the 1997 UN Kyoto climate protocol from May to July.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-02.html

GLOBALIZATION WIPING OUT LANGUAGES, NATURAL LINKS

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 8, 2001 (ENS) - Native farmers high in the Andes mountains grow abundant yields of potatoes and quinoa despite floods, frosts, and droughts. They use a system of terraces, canals and raised fields that evolved over 3,000 years ago.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-01.html

IWC CONSIDERS RESUMING COMMERCIAL WHALE HUNT

MONACO, February 8, 2001 (ENS) - After a 15 year moratorium, commercial whaling could resume under a scheme being considered by the the International Whaling Commission at its inter-sessional meeting in Monaco this week.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-10.html

GUIDE RANKS GREENEST AND MEANEST VEHICLES OF 2001

By Brian Hansen

WASHINGTON, DC, February 8, 2001 (ENS) - Shopping for a new set of wheels? When it comes to cars and the environment, there are both "green" models" and "mean" models to chose from on dealer showroom floors this year, says a new consumer guidebook unveiled today.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-15.html

SOOT CALLED MAJOR CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING

STANFORD, California, February 8, 2001 (ENS) - Soot, the familiar black residue that coats fireplaces and darkens truck exhaust, may be a leading cause of global warming. A study in the current issue of the journal "Nature" indicates that soot may be the second biggest contributor to global warming - just behind the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-06.html

U.S. WILDLIFE REFUGES FACING MAJOR THREATS

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, February 8, 2001 (ENS) - The National Wildlife Refuge System is in a state of crisis, warns the National Audubon Society. In a new report, the group warns of dire problems facing refuges around the country, ranging from chemical pollutants to invasive species, and calls for immediate measures to protect these natural oases and the species that rely on them.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-07.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: FEBRUARY 8, 2001

Human Viruses Found in California Coastal Waters

Washington DC Commuter Bridge Challenged by Lawsuit

Energy Department Seeks Projects To Improve Power Plants

Air Quality Models Need Improvement

Rockies Ecosystem Bill Reintroduced

Turner Foundation Funds Water Protection Projects

Alexander Skutch Honored for Costa Rican Conservation

Website Answers Climate Questions

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

New Executive Appointment - Dr. Gilbert Amelio -Director/Management Consultant of Advanced Communications Technologies Inc.

New Director Appointed to ACT-Australia and Australon Limited (ASX: AUR)

IRVINE, CA, Feb. 8 -/E-Wire/-- Advanced Communications Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ADVC - news; ACT-US) today announced that the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL - news), Dr. Gilbert F. Amelio, has agreed to join the board of directors of Advanced Communications Technologies Inc.

/CONTACT: Jeremy Norton, 949-622-5566/

/Web site: http://www.act-usa.net/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0105.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

PDC Innovative Industries By Request Adds Larger Sterile Box to Product Mix

CORAL SPRINGS, FL, Feb. 8 -/E-Wire/-- PDC Innovative Industries Inc. (The Company) (OTCBB:PDCI - news) announced today it will start immediately to construct a prototype of a larger sterile box 2000 with tailored alternatives as requested by certain medical sites, based on reports from Clearlake Financial Corp., President Ron Epstein at a meeting last Thursday in Coral Springs.

/CONTACT: PDC Innovative Industries Inc., Coral Springs, David Sowers, 954/341-0092/

/Web site: http://www.pdcinnovative.com/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0104.html

TO BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY EDITORS:

Ionic Fuel Technology, Inc. Announces Fiscal Year 2001 Second Quarter and Six Months Results

Revenues Nearly Double From Comparable Periods of Fiscal Year 2000

Positive Contribution from All Revenue Activities Produces Gross Margin of 28 Percent in Fiscal Year 2001 Second Quarter

ESSEX, England, Feb. 8 -/E-Wire/-- Ionic Fuel Technology, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: IFTI) today announced that revenues in the second fiscal quarter ending December 31, 2000 were $332,645 as compared to $167,925 for the same period last year, an increase of 98 percent. The gross profit, defined as revenues less cost of revenues, for the second fiscal quarter of 2001 was $95,002 producing a 28 percent gross margin. This compares to a gross profit of $12,083 reported in the second fiscal quarter last year. All revenue activities, IFT Sales, IFT Rentals and Engineering, made positive gross margin contributions.

/CONTACT: Europe - Tony Garner of Ionic Fuel Technology, 011-44-1268-491409; or North America - Barry Morris of Morris Capital Markets Communications, LLC, 212-687-9707, for Ionic Fuel Technology/

/Web site: http://www.ionicfuel.co.uk/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0102.html

TO ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT EDITORS:

California Power Crisis: Impacting the Green Power Market

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA, Feb. 8 -/E-Wire/-- A national green power non-profit has pooled industry experts and resources to provide an accurate overview of the California energy crisis and its effect on green power choice in the state. The Center for Resources Solutions in San Francisco has put together a striking summary of facts that affected California's green power market and also has recruited leading energy authorities to document events leading to the California energy crisis.

/CONTACT: The Center for Resources Solutions, Keri Bolding, 415/561-2100, kbolding@resource-solutions.org/

/Web site: http://www.resources-solutions.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0103.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

John Turner Probable Interior Department Choice

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 8 -/E-Wire/-- Mr. John "Czar" Turner may be named today Deputy Secretary of the Interior, the department's #2 position and a post from which he is expected to effectively control the Interior Department's operations.

/CONTACT: michael hardiman, lobbyist, American Land Rights Association, 202-251-3473, mike@hardimanconsulting.com/

/Web site: http://www.landrights.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0101.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

2/10/01
1:40:53 PM

FAIR

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

Media analysis, critiques and news reports

ACTION ALERT: New York Times Covering for Colombian Death Squads

February 9, 2001

The human rights situation in Colombia is in a state of "alarming degradation," according to United Nations human rights observers (Associated Press, 1/20/01), but you won't learn about it in the New York Times.

According to a joint report from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), "political violence has markedly increased" since the first installment of the U.S.'s $1.3 billion Plan Colombia aid package was dispersed in August, with the average number of deaths from combat and political violence rising to 14 per day ("Colombia Human Rights Certification II", 1/01).

There were at least 27 massacres in the month of January alone, claiming the lives of as many as 200 civilians. The killings are overwhelmingly the work of right-wing paramilitaries with close ties to the Colombian military, such as the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Despite the dramatic nature of the attacks and the U.S.'s heavy financial involvement in the war, the New York Times did not report on a single massacre during the month of January. The findings of the human rights groups' "Certification" report, including its recommendation that the U.S. cease military funding to Colombia, also went unmentioned.

Far from documenting the recent wave of paramilitary terror, the Times has told precisely the opposite story. Juan Forero's January 22 dispatch from the city of Barrancabermeja, headlined "Paramilitaries Adjust Attack Strategies," gave a highly distorted version of events.

Forero claims that "the militia members are killing fewer people than the rebels, who have responded to the threat in neighborhoods they long controlled with a furious assault on those they accuse of supporting the paramilitaries," and that the New Granada battalion of the Colombian military "is sending specially trained urban commandos into the neighborhoods to restore order."

The notion that the rebels in Barrancabermeja have been responsible for more killings than the paramilitaries contradicts all available evidence. A recent dispatch from Inter Press Service (1/15/01) reported that "one of the top complaints of human rights groups in the [Barrancabermeja] area is that a leading cause of violence is the attitude of the armed forces, which have facilitated-- by inaction or omission-- the advance of the paramilitaries, who are responsible for 80 percent of the massacres perpetrated in and around the city, according to several reports."

In fact, less than a month before Forero's dispatch, an article (12/26/00) on the New York Times' own op-ed page by Senator Paul Wellstone, who had just returned from a visit to the town, reported that "this year so far, violence in Barranca has killed at least 410 people. According to local human rights groups, most of those killed were the victims of right-wing paramilitary death squads."

Nationwide, Human Rights Watch reported that "paramilitary groups are considered responsible for at least 78 percent of the human rights violations recorded in the six months from October 1999" (annual report, 2001).

Some historical perspective is needed, too: Members of the New Granada battalion were implicated in a grisly massacre in Barrancabermeja on May 16, 1998. It is alleged that nine soldiers waved paramilitary vehicles through an army checkpoint in advance of and after the attack on civilians (see Washington Post, 8/13/98; Amnesty International, 5/99). That sort of relationship between the military and paramilitaries is at the center of the objections raised by countless human rights groups to the U.S. aid to Colombia.

"Instead of mass killings," Forero's January 22 article reported, "the paramilitaries have, for the most part, been selectively killing rebels. Instead of terrorizing residents, the paramilitaries are paying handsomely to rent houses in battleground neighborhoods, as well as for supplies and information that can be used against the rebels."

The assertion that the paramilitaries are "selectively" killing rebels flies in the face of all credible evidence from journalists and human rights observers in Colombia. About two weeks before Forero's article was printed, paramilitaries were suspected of killing 20 civilians in northern Colombia in a matter of days, including eight in Barrancabermeja (Agence France Presse, 1/10/01).

Forero's claim that the death squads are renting houses instead of terrorizing residents is also dubious. In a January 26 action alert, Amnesty International reported a January 20 paramilitary raid in Barrancabermeja. The death squads "reportedly held the local population at gunpoint and told them: 'We have come to stay. We are creating employment... and anyone who doesn't want to work for us, simply won't be forced to, but will be killed.'" The reported raid took place one day before Forero wrote his article. Other human rights monitors have reported similar threats against trade unionists and other civilians.

The Times' distortions come in the midst of an almost surreal silence about Colombia from much of the mainstream press. None of the network news broadcasts did a single story on the war in the month of January, though ABC's Peter Jennings did find time for a light-hearted piece about the "crazy" hijinks of a British man who was kidnapped by guerrillas while visiting Colombia in search of rare orchids (ABC World News Tonight, 2/8/01).

Not all media outlets have done such a poor job of informing the public. The Washington Post, for instance, ran an excellent account (1/28/01) of the AUC's January 17 massacre of two dozen civillians at Chengue, interviewing survivors who had fled the village. The Post raised important questions the New York Times has chosen to ignore, such as why the Colombian security forces took no action to prevent a massacre they had been warned about, and why their intelligence apparatus was apparently unable to either intercept radio traffic in the area (a tactic they have used against the guerrillas) or respond to the massacre in a timely fashion.

Readers of the New York Times, however, would be hard-pressed to know that anything had happened at all.

ACTION: Call on the New York Times to investigate stories of paramilitary massacres. Encourage the Washington Post to print more of its in-depth reporting on the situation. Given the level of U.S. military aid dedicated to Colombia, American citizens deserve a full accounting of the human rights situation there.

CONTACT: New York Times 229 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036-3959 mailto:nytnews@nytimes.com Toll free comment line: 1-888-NYT-NEWS

Washington Post Foreign Desk mailto:foreign@washpost.com

Read the Washington Post's "Chronicle of a Massacre Foretold" at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56760-2001Jan27.html=

2/10/01
1:37:46 PM

The Nation

http://www.thenation.com

MARC COOPER: Chile and the End of Pinochet

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010226&s=cooper

FRANCES FOX PIVEN: Thompson's Easy Ride

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010226&s=piven

ERIC ALTERMAN: Sorry, Wrong President

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010226&s=alterman

MARK CROMER: Porn's Compassionate Conservatism

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010226&s=cromer

NATION EDITORS: Ashcroft's Brand of Justice

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010226&s=editors

BOB FILNER: Mexico's US Problem - WEB ONLY

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=filner20010207

And still available is Vincent Bugliosi's explosive report, "None Dare Call It Treason," published recently in the pages of The Nation and sparking controversy coast to coast. Available only at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010205&s=bugliosi

You can also take advantage of our online activist tools to make your voice heard against the practice of capital punishment and to help convince Nike to adhere to its own "Code of Conduct" in factories that manufacture its merchandise.

DEATH ROW ROLL CALL

http://www.thenation.com/deathrow/

ACTNOW! - Protest Nike

http://www.thenation.com/alert/actnow/

MAKING EVERY VOTE COUNT

As The New York Times reported recently, "In the shadow of...the inaugural celebration, a nascent movement began taking shape to seek ways to translate disgust with the election" into a concerted effort at electoral reform. To support, encourage and highlight these reform efforts, we've established an electoral reform page. You'll find links to many of the groups organizing around the issue, many of which offer significant springboards for activism; a collection of relevant Nation articles; a Reader's Forum and a constantly updated set of media resources. And we'll soon be adding calendar listings, among many other resources. So please let us know what you think should be included by emailing to info@thenation.com. And, of course, check the page out at:

http://www.thenation.com/special/2001electoralreform.mhtml

THE NATION DIRECTORY

The Nation Directory, a voluminous database of political material, is a growing collection of links to organizations, agencies, think-tanks, political parties, groups and individuals. It can be used as both a stand-alone research tool and as an activist resource, as well as a means to garner further information relating to each Nation article we post on the site. We need your help to make the Directory grow. So, please send your suggestions for new links to directory@thenation.com. You can find the directory at:

http://www.thenation.com/directory

2/10/01
1:34:41 PM

"There's nothing left in the world to prove. All that's worth doing is to love one another, using whatever means are available to serve."

http://www.wellnow.com

2/10/01
1:10:25 PM

WAYS TO GIVE

A Partial List of Relief Organizations Helping Indian Quake Victims

American Friends Service Committee 1501 Cheery St. Philadelphia 19102 Web Site: www.afsc.org Phone: (888) 588-2372, Ext. 1

American Jewish World Service 989 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10018 Web Site: www.ajws.org Phone: (800) 889-7146

American Red Cross P.O. Box 37243 Washington, DC 20013 Web Site: www.redcross.org Phone: (800) HELP NOW

CARE 151 Ellis St. N.E. Atlanta, GA 30303 Web Site: www.care.org Phone: (800) 521-CARE

Doctors Without Borders P.O. Box 2247 New York, NY 10116 Web Site: www.doctorswithoutborders.org Phone: (888) 392-0392

International Relief Teams 3547 Camino Del Rio South San Diego, CA 92108 Web Site: www.irteams.org Phone: (619) 284-7979

Relief International 11965 Venice Blvd., Suite 405 Los Angeles, CA 90066 Web Site: www.ri.org Phone: (310) 572-7770

Salvation Army World Service Office 615 Slaters Lane Alexandria, Va. 22313 Web Site: www.salvationarmy.org Phone: (703) 684-5528

Save the Children P.O. Box 975 Westport, Conn. 06881 Web Site: www.savethechildren.org Phone: (800) 728-3843

US Fund for UNICEF 333 E. 38th St. New York, NY 10016 Web Site: www.unicefusa.org Phone: (800) FOR-KIDS

United Way International 701 N. Fairfax St. Alexandria, Va. 22314 Web Site: www.uwint.org Phone: (703) 519-0092

World Relief P.O. Box WRC Wheaton, Ill., 60189 Web Site: www.worldrelief.org Phone: (800) 535-5433

2/10/01
1:01:39 PM

All life on Earth could be destroyed by genetically modified bacteria, a scientist has told the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification.

Four scientists gave evidence for the Green Party at the hearing this week via video link from the United States. Soil ecologist Elaine Ingham spoke about a plant-killing GM bacteria that her Oregon State University research team prevented from being released into the environment. Dr Ingham said the alcohol-producing bacteria had been approved for field trials when her team discovered its lethal effects.

She believed the widespread plant deaths caused by the bacteria would in turn affect all life on Earth. The GM klebsiella planticola produced alcohol from post-harvest crop residue. The leftover organic sludge, containing the bacteria, would be returned to fields as fertiliser.

Dr Ingham said she had independently tested the bacteria on plants, which the regulatory authority had failed to do. "After seven days, all wheat plants turned into slime." This example showed the need for better risk assessment of ecological impact.

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the risks of GM organisms to the environment were currently unknown. Outdoor field trials of GM crops should never be allowed under these circumstances.

http://www.egroups.com/group/terminatorseedwatch

2/10/01
12:48:50 PM

House the Homeless

"Homelessness and poverty are tightly linked. People who are living in poverty often must choose between food, shelter and other basic needs. For the poor, an accident, a medical crisis, a lost paycheck can all translate into not having a place to call home next week.

It has been said that every human being has a primary and fundamental right to adequate food and shelter. Yet so many people in our world are deprived of this basic right. This right of feeling a warm bed at night, in a place called home."

http://www.freedonation.com/homeless

2/10/01
12:46:18 PM

Homeless People's Network

The reports are coming in. From Canada. From the US. From Australia, Japan, India, the UK- A global portrait of increasing homelessness is emerging due to a combination of low-paying jobs and lack of affordable housing. Every day people are literally being sent out onto the streets. So many people are at the poverty level, that it doesn't take much to go that one step further into homelessness. Want an example?

http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

2/10/01
12:23:28 PM

Also for those of you who are concerned by the direction now taken by the Bush administration regarding the Executive Orders banning political assassination which are being lifted as mentioned in a recent compilation, you *must* review "Assassination to be Legalized by House Bill in process" posted at http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19541

Here is how it begins...

"House Bill on floor currently reverses three anti-assassination executive orders - theoretically opening you and I, brothers and sisters, to legally sanctioned govermental murder without trial."

And yet another article from the UK confirming that Bush lost: "Florida 'recounts' make Gore winner"

http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/US_election_race/Story/0,2763,430306,00.html

Any such news reports in the US?

2/10/01
12:14:01 PM

THE COURIER-JOURNAL Louisville, Kentucky

BUSINESS 2001 General Assembly

[Photo: Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Billy Ray Smith, left, and state Rep. Joe Barrows, D-Versailles, kicked off the latest attempt to move to legalize the growing of industrial hemp.]

Hemp bill passes House committee Commission would orchestrate research on marketability

By Al Cross

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The latest attempt to pave the way for legal growing of industrial hemp in Kentucky got under way yesterday, with more official encouragement than ever.

"There's no question we can successfully raise this product," Agriculture Commissioner Billy Ray Smith told the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee shortly before it approved House Bill 100.

"This is a mainstream issue now," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Joe Barrows, D-Versailles, told the committee, noting recent endorsements of hemp research by the Farm Bureau and legislatures of other states and the "active proselytizing" by former Gov. Louie B. Nunn for the crop.

The bill would authorize industrial-hemp research at one or more state universities under permits from the federal government, which currently makes no distinction between hemp and its hallucinogenic form, marijuana.

Making a distinction has been the big obstacle to legalization of industrial hemp. After police objections last year, the House largely gutted a committee-approved bill that would have set up a regulatory program for industrial hemp and replaced it with a research bill similar to the one approved yesterday.

That bill died in the Republican-controlled Senate late in the legislative session, but Barrows said it would have passed if the session had lasted two more days. Yesterday, four of the seven Republican members of the committee voted for the new bill.

"I'm convinced we don't even need to do the study," said Rep. Ken Upchurch, R-Monticello. "I'm convinced the markets are out there."

Upchurch said industrial hemp could hamper marijuana cultivation, which he said is heavy in his home Wayne County, by pollinating marijuana plants and making them less hallucinogenic. "It's high time we forget about . . . the backlash some fear back home," he said.

Voting against the bill were Democratic Rep. Phillip Childers of Garner in Knott County and Republican Reps. Sheldon Baugh of Russellville, Gary Tapp of Shelbyville and Tommy Turner of Somerset.

Turner said afterward that police say they have no way to distinguish between hemp and marijuana, and "we should respect what they say. I think we're sending the wrong message to our children."

State and local police and county sheriffs would each have a seat on a 17-member hemp commission to monitor research and make recommendations for "the proper legal growing, management, use and marketing" of hemp.

Barrows said the research should determine hemp's economic viability "or whether it's a law-enforcement issue."

The bill has no funding for research but would create a fund that could receive public and private grants.

http://www.courier-journal.com/business/news2001/02/09/biz_hemp.html

2/10/01
12:07:32 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. DUNG: CRY OUT LOUD North America and Europe lead the world in releasing greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution, but India and Southeast Asia are catching up, according to a study published today in the journal Science. Biofuels like dung, wood, and agricultural waste are one of the main reasons why. The study focuses on how the biofuels -- commonly used for heating homes and cooking -- are leading to pollution problems over the Indian Ocean.

2. BARTON FINK Republicans in the U.S. House have reconfigured the House Energy and Power Subcommittee into the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee so that power production issues receive more weight when environmental protections are being considered. The panel chair, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), hasn't been shy in showing his true colors. Yesterday, he urged President Bush to submit the Kyoto treaty on climate change to the Senate for ratification -- so that the treaty would be voted down and rejected by the U.S. once and for all. Meanwhile, a scientific report published today in the U.K. warns that global warming could increase gales and floods and even bring about the return of malaria as the country heats up this century.

straight to the source: USA Today, Jonathan Weisman, 09 Feb 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010209/3056778s.htm>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 09 Feb 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9770>

straight to the source: BBC News, 09 Feb 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1161000/1161895.stm>

3. SURVIVOR III Global warming may have snuffed Zed's species, but it's getting his TV career off to a great start. See how timing is everything in Hollywood with Zed, last of his species, in "Vast Wasteland to the Max."

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Zed, the comic adventures of the last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/>

4. THEM'S THE (TAX) BREAKS U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) will introduce legislation next week to increase domestic energy production dramatically and permit oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The bill will contain billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives for energy exploration. The nuclear power industry -- already in the midst of something of a renaissance -- would also get a boost from the bill. Meanwhile, the Energy Department is offering $95 million in matching grants to coal-powered electricity plants. The program aims to get more electricity from the plants and cut down on pollution per unit of electricity. The Clean Air Trust, an environmental group, has expressed skepticism about the program's environmental benefits.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin and Peter Behr, 09 Feb 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46971-2001Feb8.html>

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Terry McDermott, 09 Feb 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20010209/t000011929.html>

5. THERE'S A RAGE IN THE CAGE Plans are underway in the U.S. to test the first genetically engineered insect in the wild. Researchers are trying to manipulate the genes of the pink bollworm moth -- an insect known for destroying cotton crops around the world -- so that it eventually eradicates itself. U.S. regulators are expected to give the green light to field tests this summer in Arizona. Enviros will probably protest the experiment, but the researchers say they will take precautions to keep the moths in cages to prevent them from escaping and breeding with wild populations.

straight to the source: BBC News, Helen Briggs, 09 Feb 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1150000/1150796.stm>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

Something in the water -- a day in the life of Susan Davis, WaterPartners International <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/davis020801.stm>

Polar bare naked -- climate change threatens Arctic critters -- by Donella Meadows <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen020501.stm>

A snowblower's chance in hell -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha020501.stm>

2/9/01
11:35:22 AM

Fuel Cells May Redistribute Power

Fuel cells were invented in the 19th century. But most Americans had never heard of them until a faulty one blew a hole in Apollo 13 in 1970, scuttling what would have been the third moon landing and nearly costing three astronauts their lives. Fuel cells remain an essential part of the space program, reliably powering the space shuttle. Utilities, investors and government planners are now starting to pay close attention to some down-to-Earth uses for a technology that converts the most abundant element in the universe - hydrogen - into electricity and water.

Fuel cell technology was transformed during the last decade from a cottage industry into one of the most rapidly expanding high-tech businesses in the world, partly due to the automotive industry's suddenly keen interest in hybrid electric motors. As 2001 began, it was reported that Exxon Mobil Corp. planned to join Toyota and General Motors in an alliance to develop environmentally friendly fuel cell vehicles. Ford and Daimler-Chrysler also have fuel cell projects in the works.

In the 1960s and 1970s, utilities were interested in building big fuel cell plants capable of producing one to three megawatts as part of a central power supply. But the long-range goals have shifted to a smaller scale: putting a washing machine-sized fuel cell in every home, or smaller units in every car and truck. And that's attracted a broader range of companies and investors. Motorola, for example, is working with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to miniaturize fuel cells for handheld electronic devices like cell phones.

At the Portland sewage treatment plant on the peninsula formed by the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, the city is generating electricity from only the third commercial fuel cell of its kind in the nation to use waste "biogas." The fuel cell began operating in July 1999. It's such a success that the Environmental Protection Agency gave the city a "clean air excellence" award for converting waste gas from sewage into 200 kilowatts of electricity. David Tooze, energy program manager for Portland, said the city needed to pull together several grants to cover the $1.3 million cost of the fuel cell. But it has proved to be more than worth the investment by producing electricity at 8 cents per kilowatt hour, at a time when the deregulated spot market easily pushes the price to 20 cents per kilowatt hour.

Fuel cells could be a way to take the load off the central power grid and create a system of residential generators that could power homes and even provide a surplus to the grid. But fuel cells are still too expensive. For example, a Boise-based company called Idacorp has joined the BPA to test for home use fuel cells that are in the $25,000 range. The company hopes the cost per unit eventually will drop to the $5,000 to $7,000 range.

2/9/01
11:30:56 AM

In the California Energy Crisis, Conservation is the Obvious Answer!

The headlines continue to blaze in California about the energy mess. Politicians continue to posture with crazy ideas to create more power plants. The oil and gas industries continue to use this crisis as an excuse to drill in Alaska, to develop "clean coal" (an oxymoron if I ever heard one), and to bring nuclear power back on the table. But the answer is so simple! CONSERVATION and Solar Energy can easily save us. At Real Goods Renewables (1.800.919.2400) our phones continue to ring off the hook with new folks interested in solarizing every day. We've had over 4 media interviews every day over the past several weeks including CBS and NBC national news and the NY Times.

Fact: There are 1,000 power plants in California putting out 53 mW on average for a total combined output of 53,204 mW. With 24 hours in a day, thus, the average California power plant can put out 1.3 gWh (gigawatt is 1000 mW) per day.

There are 34 million people in California and 15 million households.

If every household in California replaced 4 (average 100 watt) incandescent light bulbs with 4 (equivalent 27 watt) compact fluorescent light bulbs, burning on average 5 hours per day, we would save 22 gWh per day - or enough energy saved to shut down 17 power plants.

If the State bought these lamps for every household at $2 each, total cost would be $120 million. Could we build the same 17 power plants for $120 million? Not by a long shot!

If every household in California replaced 1 average-flow showerhead with an energy saving showerhead we would save 1.3 kWh per day per household or 19.2 gWh per day - or enough energy saved to shut down another 15 power plants.

If the State bought these low flow showerheads for every household at $1 each, total cost would be $15 million. Could we build the same 15 power plants for $1 million each? Hardly!

If every household in California installed a solar hot water heater, which saves 5.8 kWh/day, we would cumulatively save 87 gWh/day - or enough energy saved to shut down another 67 power plants.

Conclusion: These very simple conservation measures would enable the State of California to shut down 100 average sized power plants out of the 1,000 we currently have, or better yet, leave them running and eliminate any need to construct new ones for years! For a mere cost of $135 million, the state could pretty much solve this "crisis!"

Fact: With over $250 million available in rebates for solar-electric (photovoltaic) systems in California (and much in other states as well), the payback time for an average home solar system is now only 10 years and falling rapidly as electric rates continue to skyrocket. Solar energy is now a GREAT investment!

WHEN WILL OUR GOVERNMENT COME TO ITS SENSES?

The time for Solar is now and Conservation will solve this energy crisis!

Energy facts were derived from California Energy Commission's website:

http://www.energy.ca.gov.

2/9/01
11:17:14 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

BRITISH COLUMBIA BANS GIZZLY HUNT FOR THREE YEARS

By Neville Judd

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-11.html

EUROPEAN UNION AGREES TO CLIMATE TALKS DELAY

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-02.html

GLOBALIZATION WIPING OUT LANGUAGES, NATURAL LINKS

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-01.html

IWC CONSIDERS RESUMING COMMERCIAL WHALE HUNT

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-10.html

GUIDE RANKS GREENEST AND MEANEST VEHICLES OF 2001

By Brian Hansen

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-15.html

SOOT CALLED MAJOR CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-06.html

U.S. WILDLIFE REFUGES FACING MAJOR THREATS

By Cat Lazaroff

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-07.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: FEBRUARY 8, 2001

Human Viruses Found in California Coastal Waters

Washington DC Commuter Bridge Challenged by Lawsuit

Energy Department Seeks Projects To Improve Power Plants

Air Quality Models Need Improvement

Rockies Ecosystem Bill Reintroduced

Turner Foundation Funds Water Protection Projects

Alexander Skutch Honored for Costa Rican Conservation

Website Answers Climate Questions

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-08-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

New Executive Appointment - Dr. Gilbert Amelio -Director/Management Consultant of Advanced Communications Technologies Inc.

New Director Appointed to ACT-Australia and Australon Limited (ASX: AUR)

/CONTACT: Jeremy Norton, 949-622-5566/

/Web site: http://www.act-usa.net/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0105.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

PDC Innovative Industries By Request Adds Larger Sterile Box to Product Mix

/CONTACT: PDC Innovative Industries Inc., Coral Springs, David Sowers, 954/341-0092/

/Web site: http://www.pdcinnovative.com/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0104.html

TO BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY EDITORS:

Ionic Fuel Technology, Inc. Announces Fiscal Year 2001 Second Quarter and Six Months Results

Revenues Nearly Double From Comparable Periods of Fiscal Year 2000

Positive Contribution from All Revenue Activities Produces Gross Margin of 28 Percent in Fiscal Year 2001 Second Quarter

/CONTACT: Europe - Tony Garner of Ionic Fuel Technology, 011-44-1268-491409; or North America - Barry Morris of Morris Capital Markets Communications, LLC, 212-687-9707, for Ionic Fuel Technology/

/Web site: http://www.ionicfuel.co.uk/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0102.html

TO ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT EDITORS:

California Power Crisis: Impacting the Green Power Market

/CONTACT: The Center for Resources Solutions, Keri Bolding, 415/561-2100,

kbolding@resource-solutions.org/

/Web site: http://www.resources-solutions.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0103.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

John Turner Probable Interior Department Choice

/CONTACT: michael hardiman, lobbyist, American Land Rights Association, 202-251-3473, mike@hardimanconsulting.com/

/Web site: http://www.landrights.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/08Feb0101.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

2/9/01
11:07:10 AM

World Environment News from Planet Ark

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

US lawmaker wants Senate vote on climate treaty - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9770

US states seek laws to limit new biotech wheat - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9758

StarLink protesters give US EPA chief a corny welcome - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9764

Los Angeles airports in noise/pollution pact with Inglewood - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9769

FEATURE - Stranded Alaska natural gas waits for buyers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9760

UPDATE - Noxious fumes force US Treasury Dept evacuation - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9771

Wolf-free moose relearn survival instincts - study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9766

They gave us the Bronze Age, the Industrial Revolution,... - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9753

Catalytic convertors contribute to pollution-magazine - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9772

Soot a big factor in global warming-US scientists - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9773

GM crops unlikey to turn into superweeds - study - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9762

EU proposes to meet US demand to delay climate talks - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9765

FEATURE - South Africa to weed out invasive plants - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9752

Mexico warns US over risks to Colorado river - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9751

UN warns global warming is melting Arctic soil - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9750

UPDATE - Two major Japanese companies in environmental JV - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9748

Italians will pay a little extra for quality coffee - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9763

Dazed cows wander aimlessly in quake-hit India - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9761

Poachers kill tiger in southern Indian reserve - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9749

Olympics - Nature groups blast Athens Games environment record - GREECE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9759

UPDATE - Frenchman Bove on trial for wrecking GM rice - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9756

EU says other sectors should face scrap take-back - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9757

EU vanguard may set pace on green tax-commissioner - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9767

Austrians warn of new Temelin N-plant border block - CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9754

Snows kill herders, threaten wildlife in NW China - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9768

Bulgaria to start new nuclear waste processing unit - BULGARIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9755

2/9/01
10:55:29 AM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, SOIL AND TROUBLE The Arctic's permafrost is melting in places, causing soil that is no longer frozen to release greenhouse gases and potentially speed global warming, according to U.N. scientists. The implications could be huge for the planet -- about 14 percent of the world's carbon is stored in the frozen soil. In light of all the recent scary reports about global warming, the silence from the Bush White House has been deafening. David Gergen, a former advisor to Bush the Elder and Bill Clinton, wrote this month, "The world is now looking to George W. Bush for personal leadership." Read more on the Grist Magazine website.

read it only in Grist Magazine: This Just In -- in our Heat Beat section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/thisjustin020801.stm>

2. HUNTERS STEW In a move enviros are cheering, British Columbia Premier Ujjal Dosanjh has decided to ban grizzly bear hunting in the province for the next three years while scientists determine just how many of the bears are left. Rick Smith of the International Fund for Animal Welfare gushed that "the government has stood up for good science and good conservation." But hunter groups are infuriated, saying the moratorium will hurt the ability of outfitters to make a living. Conservationists estimate the remaining grizzly population in B.C. to be as low as 4,000; hunters put the number at closer to 16,000.

straight to the source: Vancouver Sun, Nicholas Read, 08 Feb 2001 <http://www.vancouversun.com/newsite/news/010208/5139043.html>

straight to the source: Vancouver Province, Greg Middleton, 08 Feb 2001 <http://www.vancouverprovince.com/newsite/news/010208/5139814.html>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: The simple bear necessities -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha090800.stm>

3. KILLER TOMATOES UNLIKELY TO ATTACK Genetically modified crops aren't likely to harm the environment or turn into super-weeds that survive longer in the wild than conventional plants, according to a study published today in the journal Nature. The study, which was financed by biotech companies like Monsanto and conducted in Britain, looked at canola, potatoes, corn, and sugar beets that had been engineered to resist insects and herbicides. The study didn't examine whether the genetically engineered crops could transfer genes to conventional crops and wild relatives through cross-pollination, a possibility that concerns environmentalists.

straight to the source: BBC News, Ivan Noble, 07 Feb 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1158000/1158515.stm>

do good: Take action against unlabelled genetically engineered foods <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/food.stm>

4. CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY The greenest cars sold in the U.S. are both made by Honda, says the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy in its annual guide to cars and trucks. The groups ranked more than 1,000 vehicles in the model year 2001 and found that the Honda Civic GX, which runs on compressed natural gas, and the Honda Insight, a gas-electric hybrid, were the most environmental on the road. The hybrid Toyota Prius came in third. The GMC Sierra, Dodge Ram Pickup, and the Ford Excursion, as well as a Ferrari sports car, brought up the rear.

straight to the source: CNN.com, Natalie Pawelski, 08 Feb 200 <http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/02/08/green.cars/index.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: A troika of articles on what not to like about cars <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho012601.stm>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Drive the friendly skies -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha120800.stm>

5. REFUGE-NIX The National Wildlife Refuge System in the U.S. is in trouble, with an operations and maintenance backlog of $1.6 billion, says the National Audubon Society. In a press conference with friendly lawmakers yesterday, the group drew particular attention to 10 refuges threatened by water pollution and invasive species. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), an important player on the House Resources Committee, described the situation as a "crisis." The refuge system -- more than 500 refuges covering an overall area greater than Montana -- has usually gotten short shrift, competing with national parks and forests for money and attention.

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, John Heilprin, 07 Feb 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/02/ 07/national1818EST0800.DTL>

straight to the source: Washington Post, Michael Grunwald, 07 Feb 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15186-2001Feb1.html>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

The green house effect -- how to make your home an eco-friendly haven -- two reviews in Books Unbound <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books040700.stm>

Bottoms up or tops down? -- should locals be more involved in public lands decisions? -- by Rocky Barker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho011701.stm>

Oh, baby, baby, it's a dry world -- and other gems from assorted magazines in our Best of the Rest section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/best/best012601.stm#dry>

2/8/01
1:30:32 PM

The Prophets Conference

RIANE EISLER joins The Prophets Conference ~ New York City at the legendary Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (synod hall), May 18-20, 2001. She will be part of an unprecedented faculty made up of Ram Dass, Dr. Huston Smith, Gregg Braden, Gabrielle Roth, Dr. Ralph Metzner, Dr. Stanislav Grof, Dr. Michio Kaku, Dr. John Mack, Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Dr. Robert Anton Wilson, and Russell Targ.

http://www.greatmystery.org/nyconference.html

Riane Eisler is best known for her international bestseller The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future (Harper Row), hailed by novelist Isabel Allende as "one of those magnificent key books that can transform us" and by anthropologist Ashley Montagu as "the most important book since Darwin's Origin of Species."

As preview to her presentation at The Prophets Conference - New York City, Riane Eisler submitted the following significant and powerful article. . PARTNERSHIP SPIRITUALITY: REIMAGING AND RECONFIGURING REALITY

RIANE EISLER

When I think of spirituality I think of love, not in some abstract sense but in action. I think of the spiritual insight that what matters is our deep impulse to reach out to others, to help others, to challenge injustice - not out of hate, but out of love. When I think of the divine, I do not think of it as "out there" rather than here. I think of our own most evolved qualities: our profound human capacity for empathy, for love, our striving for justice, our hunger for beauty, our yearning to create. I think being spiritual means being ethical and, in the true sense of the word, moral.

At the core of all the major religious traditions - be they Hindu, Muslim, Hebrew, Christian, or Confucian - are the values of sensitivity, empathy, caring, and nonviolence. But overlaying this core are teachings of insensitivity, cruelty, violence, and oppression, all in the name of divine commands. Once we become aware of these two very different themes in religion, we can distinguish between two basic kinds of spirituality and morality.

One is appropriate for relations based on domination and control. It comes from a time when morality was used to maintain rigid rankings of domination -- whether man over woman, man over man, nation over nation, or man over nature. The other is a partnership spirituality and morality appropriate for relations based on reciprocity and caring. This is a spirituality with ancient prehistoric roots, a spirituality in which the power to give and nurture life was a major theme. It does not just direct us to an afterlife for better things or instills in us fear of angry deities, but recognizes the divine in that which makes us fully human: our great capacity to love and to create. It is a spirituality that inspires us with the courage to work for a better life for all here on earth.

It is not coincidental that during our time of strong partnership resurgence the image of the divine in female form should again come to the fore. Nor is it coincidental that this conception of the divine or spiritual as female again adds to love an immanent, erotic or bodily, element - that is, that in this "new" spirituality love is no longer abstract. And it is not judgmental love, but a love that is accepting and inclusive of all.

We urgently need to identify, and support, the partnership core of our world's religious traditions, at the same time that we identify, and reject, their dominator overlays. We can then more effectively counter those who continue to use religion to perpetuate cruelty, violence, and pain, as well as those who would indiscriminately discard all spiritual teachings, or accept anything and everything as the manifestation of a divine will. Once we trust our inner wisdom of caring and love, and have the spiritual courage to challenge traditions of domination in all spheres of life and thought, we will move toward a future guided by a partnership spirituality of love, caring, and oneness with all the best that we and our world can be.

COMMENTS ON RIANE EISLER AND THE CHALICE AND THE BLADE

"The Chalice and The Blade may be the most significant work published in all our lifetimes. Read The Chalice and The Blade...it may make the future possible." L.A. Weekly

"To read Eisler is to glimpse new vistas of human possibilities." New Woman

"Eisler's visionary, passionate scholarship is a revealing psychosexual exploration of love and power relations." Publisher's Weekly

Dr. Eisler was recently honored as the only woman among twenty great thinkers including Vico, Hegel, Spengler, Adam Smith, Marx, and Toynbee featured in Macrohistory and Macrohistorians, in recognition of the lasting importance of her work.

Call toll-free 1-888-777-5981 for information and registration for The Prophets Conference - New York City. Enjoy a significant early registration fee of $285 by registering now for this history making three days.

http://www.greatmystery.org/nyconference.html

For information about The Prophets Conference - Palm Springs Audio and Video Tapes, please visit

http://www.greatmystery.org/pstapes.html

2/8/01
1:18:33 PM

World Environment News from Planet Ark

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

Calif. seeks court order to keep power flowing - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9731

INTERVIEW - Colombia plans bumper year for oil contracts - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9746

Clinton panel makes no recommendations on bio-foods - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9738

StarLink, biotech to dominate US grain meeting - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9737

California power crisis hits Valentine's flower growers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9732

FEATURE - Stranded Alaska natural gas waits for buyers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9729

US Senate energy bill delayed until next week - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9726

Siemens opens plant in Los Angeles to make solar power systems - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9725

UK, Italy urge clear meat, animal foodstuff labels - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9735

BNFL says talking with EdF about nuclear contracts - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9745

Bring out the cat bells again, Mammal group says - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9719

Taiwan govt, cabinet deadlocked over nuclear plant - TAIWAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9723

Taiwan government under fire over oil spill delay - TAIWAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9739

Hopes to end Taiwan's political stand-off fade - TAIWAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9720

EU proposes to meet US demand to delay climate talks - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9728

FEATURE - South Africa to weed out invasive plants SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9717

Mexico warns US over risks to Colorado river - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9716

Jailed Mexico ecologist receives Sierra Club award - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9730

Rare salt-water camel may be separate species - UN - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9734

FEATURE - Kazakh eagles take flight as tradition returns - KAZAKHSTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9740

Italy environmentalists urge EU ban on GM soybeans - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9733

German farmers say mad cow controls above EU norms - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9747

German govt, energy industry set for new CHP talks - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9743

German Greens aim to heal split on nuke waste in March - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9744

Sunways IPO set for hot debut amid sector appeal - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9727

Bayer regrets France extended pesticide suspension - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9741

INTERVIEW - Danish cellphone study shows no cancer link - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9742

Scientists tell Canada to be more cautious on GM food - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9736

Bulgaria to start new nuclear waste processing unit - BULGARIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9721

Ford sees dawn of pollution-free hydrogen cars - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9718

Australian Victoria state eyes high-risk power day - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9722

Endesa, Elecnor to invest $2.25 bln in Argentine wind power - ARGENTINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9724

2/8/01
1:11:59 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

MELTING ARCTIC PERMAFROST MAY ACCELERATE GLOBAL WARMING

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 7, 2001 (ENS) - Global warming may be set to accelerate as rising temperatures in the Arctic melt the permafrost causing it to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, a United Nations scientist warned today. An estimated 14 per cent of the world's carbon is stored in Arctic lands.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-07-06.html

NEW CURBS ON GREAT LAKES WATER EXPORTS

OTTAWA, Canada, February 7, 2001 (ENS) - Governments on both sides of the Great Lakes are acting to prevent or limit bulk water removal from the cross border waterways.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-07-11.html

NORWAY LICENSES WOLF CULL

OSLO, Norway, February 7, 2001 (ENS) - Bowing to pressure from sheep farmers, the Norwegian government has approved a wolf cull amid a hail of protest from environmental groups.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-07-10.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: FEBRUARY 7, 2001

Delaware Bay Waters Closed to Horseshoe Crab Fishing

New EPA Head Finds Genetic Food Fight Waiting

Bear Protection Act Introduced in House

Tropical Forest Restoration: A Tall Order

Connecticut Plans Record Open Space Acquisition

California Governor Wins Conservation Award

Biocleansers a Hit with U.S. Navy

Northern Owls Heading South for the Winter

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-07-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS: THIS RELEASE IS NEW TO E-WIRE ON FEB. 7TH, FASC WANTED THE DATELINE TO READ JAN. 11TH.

First American Scientific Corp. receives pesticide device and establishment registration from Environmental Protection Agency

VANCOUVER, BC, Canada, Jan. 11 -/E-Wire/-- C.L. Kantonen, President of FASC (FASC-OTC, BB) is pleased to announce that the United States Environmental Protection Agency has registered the patented KDS MicronexT System as a pesticide device under establishment number 73753 CAN - 001. This allows for manufacturing and distribution of the KDS MicronexT for destroying any pests in compliance with EPA regulations.

/CONTACT: Investor Relations: Toll Free (800) 561- 8656/

/Web site: http://www.fasc.net/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/07Feb0101.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

2/8/01
1:05:47 PM

The prime goal of the NESARA bill - The National Economic Stabilization and Recovery Act - is to replace current monetary and fiscal policy with systems that benefit all, not just a favored few.

The proposers need at least one US representative to sponsor the bill in the new US Congress and *you* may be instrumental in helping make this happen...

http://www.nesara.com

2/8/01
12:49:09 PM

The Nation

As Mexican president Vicente Fox begins his historic administration, the most challenging issue that he'll be forced to confront in his developing relations with the US is the continuing flow of migration north of the Mexican border.

The issue is particularly difficult to address, insists California Congressman Bob Filner in an exclusive report just posted on The Nation's website, because of the rarely questioned assumption in this country that the US itself has played no part in creating the conditions that have led to the large flow of Mexican workers surging across the border.

As Filner writes, "There is something profoundly wrong with a US foreign policy that allows us to energetically recommend and endorse an economic strategy for Mexico that clearly creates powerful economic incentives for migration to the US and then turn around and refuse to accept any responsibility for the immigration that results." Read this stimulating special report in its entirety only at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=filner20010207

And don't miss recent articles from the pages of The Nation by Vincent Bugliosi, Gregory Palast, Ellen Willis, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Paul Wellstone, Christopher Hitchens, Katha Pollitt, Michael Eric Dyson, Gore Vidal and JoAnn Wypijewski, among many others. All available at:

http://www.thenation.com

2/8/01
12:40:22 PM

FAIR

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

Media analysis, critiques and news reports

ACTION ALERT:

Stossel's Shoddy Reporting on Government Waste:

ABC's Free-Market Booster Needs Some Competition

It was hard to miss the theme of John Stossel's January 27 ABC News special, "Mr. Stossel Goes to Washington." Taxes are too high, the government squanders much of the money, and the "free market" provides the best alternative to the "central planning" of Washington bureaucracy.

The report is produced by ABC's news division, but it would be a stretch to call it journalism. Instead, Stossel strings together a collection of anecdotes and interviews with conservative journalists to support his overarching theme of the horrors of government waste and taxation.

First, Stossel tries to establish the fact that Americans are overtaxed, using some of the most widely debunked "facts" about the tax code. His expert source, conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Amity Shlaes, explains that "Americans pay more in taxes than we do in food, clothing and shelter combined." Then Stossel himself adds that workers work until the month of May just to pay off their taxes.

These figures come from a famously debunked "study" by the conservative Tax Foundation, a Washington think tank (see Washington Post, 4/25/96, Extra!Update, 10/96). The foundation simply assumed that almost all federal, state and local taxes are paid by median-income families at the same rate as the national "average." So if the corporate profits tax equals 5% of national income, the foundation assumed it also takes up 5% of a median family's income-- even though families do not pay corporate profits taxes. The same was true of gift, estate, and business payroll taxes-- none of which are paid by most families.

If Stossel were trying to be fair, he could have cited measures that show a decline in the median federal tax payment over the past 20 years, with increases coming from a slim portion of the population paying more taxes on their sharply rising incomes (Washington Post, 2/21/99).

Stossel also makes this claim: "America now spends about $ 40,000 a year on every family of four below the poverty line.... You could just cut them a check for that and they'd be out of poverty." As with most of Stossel's "facts," the source for this claim is not mentioned. When FAIR called ABC on February 2 to get clarification on this fact, we were told that all the producers who worked on Stossel's special were on vacation for several weeks.

But it appears the statistic comes from Heritage Foundation welfare analyst Robert Rector, whose numbers Stossel has cited in previous specials. In a 1995 book, Rector calculated that the government spent $324 billion on "welfare." When that number was divided by the number of families then below the poverty line, the result was about $40,000. The problem is that Rector's welfare number included vast amounts of spending that go to non-poor families as well as poor ones-- things like Pell grants, reduced-price school lunches, and health benefits like Medicare and Medicaid-- yet it was only divided by the number of families *below* the poverty line.

Throughout the rest of the report, Stossel's method is simple: document examples of government waste and neglect, and demonstrate how privatized, market-based solutions are more efficient.

Glaringly absent from Stossel's report is any mention of one of the biggest regulation-related stories of the year-- California's deregulation-induced energy crisis. Citizens who live in California towns with publicly owned utilities have been largely unaffected by the rolling blackouts and soaring rates that have crippled the rest of the state. Stossel's selective attention to the details is nothing new-- a few years ago, two producers quit working with him after being pressured to ignore research findings that undermined Stossel's claims (Extra! Update, 6/94).

Stossel's examples sometimes border on the absurd, like his suggestion to alleviate delays at airports: "Look at the sky. Even over an airport, there's lots of room. Why can't they fly more planes in this empty space?" At one point, he laments that a woman running a private charity providing food to the needy was forced to abide by health codes in her kitchen. Protecting people from food-borne illnesses may sound reasonable, but not to Stossel, who complains that the government "wouldn't leave her alone."

Stossel closes with these thoughts: "As Thomas Jefferson warned, the natural progress of things is for government to gain and liberty to yield. The choice is up to you." For viewers of ABC News, however, there's very little choice: Stossel's reports are often distorted, one-sided attacks from a right-wing libertarian perspective. Stossel himself does not claim to be balanced: In an ABCNews.com on-line chat (1/29/01), Stossel responded to viewer questions with comments like "I clearly do have a point of view" and "I also admit my report was one-sided." Taking Stossel at his word, it sounds like his ABC News reports should be labeled as commentaries.

Which leaves one question for ABC News: If the competition of the marketplace is what makes things work better, why don't they apply that principle to their programming, and provide some competition for Stossel's one-sided, factually challenged reporting?

ACTION: Tell ABC to provide John Stossel with some of the competition that he professes to admire so much. If he is allowed to openly and consistently advocate for his laissez-faire point of view, ABC should also provide comparable airtime to a critic of laissez-faire policies-- preferably one who does not have Stossel's extensive record of inaccuracies.

CONTACT: David Westin, ABC News 47 W. 66th Street New York, NY 10023

Phone: 212-456-7777 (ABC News general number) Fax: 212-456-4297 mailto:netaudr@abc.com (ABC News)

John Stossel mailto:stossel@abc.com

As always, please remember that your comments will be more effective if you maintain a polite tone.

Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.

2/8/01
12:35:13 PM

Public Citizen

Irate Airline Passenger Can Keep Web Site Critical of Airline

Alitalia Drops Suit Against Man Whose Lost Luggage Prompted Him To Establish

www.alitaliasucks.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. ¯ In a victory for First Amendment rights on the Internet, Alitalia has dropped its lawsuit against an irate airline passenger whose lost luggage complaint prompted him to set up a Web site critical of the airline, www.alitaliasucks.com.

The airline sued in December, accusing the passenger of violating a 1999 anti- cybersquatting law.

The airline had asked the court to order passenger William Porta to dismantle his site and prohibit him from using the Alitalia name in any Internet domain name or registering such a domain name with any search engines. Public Citizen intervened in the case because of its long interest in defending people's First Amendment rights.

"Alitalia brought this case assuming that it could push an individual consumer around," said Paul Alan Levy, the attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group who defended the passenger. "This man initially felt intimidated and probably would have dropped the matter. Once we stepped in, though, the airline apparently realized it had no case and cut its losses. I'm pleased that we taught a very big company not to mess around with the First Amendment."

Added Porta, the New York state business owner who launched the Web site, "This great country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens like me could not be steam-rolled by a bunch of thugs with money and power. I will continue to examine the rules and assert myself vigorously until I am satisfied that enough people are aware of what Alitalia has done."

The case began when Porta, who runs a gift delivery business, traveled to India last year to be best man in a friend's wedding. When en route, however, Alitalia lost a bag containing his clothes. Porta attended a black tie event in the two-day old casual clothes he traveled in, and his hosts had to scramble right before their wedding to find suitable attire for him. Porta sent a letter of complaint to the airline in October, but the airline failed to live up to its promises for compensation, he said. In fact, to this day, Porta has not been paid for his lost luggage.

In December, Porta established "www.alitaliasucks.com," on which he posted a copy of his letter. The airline then sued Porta in U.S. District Court, the Southern District of New York, alleging that he was violating trademark law and the 1999 Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, passed in response to a rash of people snapping up Internet domain names using trademarked names of companies and organizations.

Trademark infringements occur when a company's name is used in a misleading way to profit from consumer confusion about whether the company has sponsored the message. This clearly didn't apply in this case, Public Citizen told the court. Porta's site carries no advertising, sells no goods and doesn't link to any commercial sites. And Alitalia's claim that Porta broke the anti-cybersquatting law also was misguided, Public Citizen said. When they wrote the law, congressional lawmakers specifically noted that they did not intend to enable companies to sue people who establish Web sites for the purpose of commenting on companies.

"The law is quite clear about the First Amendment rights of consumers," Levy said. "In fact, the law specifically protects the information Mr. Porta posted."

On a recent Minnesota Public Radio show, an Alitalia spokesperson admitted that the suit was brought to prevent customers from finding Porta's site through search engines. At a recent hearing, the judge indicated the company ought to consider settling. The company, however, made no settlement offer. Late last week, Judge Richard Berman told both sides he wanted them to return to court and demanded that a top company official, such as the president, show up and explain why the company brought the case. Late Tuesday, before the hearing could be held, Alitalia dismissed the suit.

Porta was also represented by Nina Morrison and John Cuti of Emery Cuti Brinckerhoff & Abady PC in New York City.

To read Public Citizen's brief in this case, please visit

http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/portapiopp.htm

Public Citizen has been involved in a number of other Internet privacy suits, including several in which companies have gone to court to learn the identities of people who anonymously post messages critical of companies on message boards. For more information about those suits, please visit

http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/internet.htm

2/7/01
4:10:53 PM

Public Citizen

Mexican Truck Inspection Program Sorely Lacking, Allows Trucks With Faulty Brakes, Leaky Fuel Lines to Stay on Road

Lack of Rules Is Worrisome in Light of NAFTA Panel Order for U.S. to Give Mexican Trucks Access to All U.S. Roads

WASHINGTON, D.C. ¯ Mexico's truck inspection system, instituted in response to the United States' concerns about dangerous rigs, is riddled with holes that allow vehicles with major safety defects to stay on the road, a Public Citizen analysis has found.

Mexico's program is particularly critical in light of a ruling issued Tuesday ordering the U.S. to permit Mexican trucks to have access to all U.S. roads. If the Bush administration as expected complies with the panel's order ¯ rather than pay trade sanctions ¯ U.S. highways may soon be flooded with trucks from Mexico.

Under Mexico's new program, which is voluntary for the first year, safety defects that merely incur a fine and a request that the problem be fixed within 20 days would cause a truck in the U.S. to be removed from the road. These defects include improperly stored hazardous materials, missing fuses, worn or exposed wires, a lack of windshield wipers, a shattered windshield, damaged tires, broken wheel rims, leaky fuel lines, worn or cracked load securement chains, loose steering wheels, cracked brake drums and inoperative brake linings. Public Citizen's analysis is available at

http://www.citzien.org/Press/truckregs.htm

"We can't afford to invite trucks with balding tires, slipshod brakes, leaky exhaust systems, and bad steering wheels to roam freely on our roads," said Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen president and former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "Mexico has made an effort to begin addressing these issues, but it falls way short of the mark. Until the country has a stringent set of standards that are enforced, we shouldn't allow these trucks to have unlimited access to our highways."

On Tuesday, a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tribunal found the U.S. has been violating NAFTA because it has limited access of Mexican trucks to a narrow 20-mile commercial zone along the border. NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, required the U.S. to allow Mexican trucks access to all border-state roads starting in 1995, and to drive anywhere in the country by January 2000. The Clinton administration recognized the danger the trucks posed and for seven years refused to expand their access beyond a 20-mile radius from the border.

According to the panel, the U.S. may enforce its own standards on any trucks traveling in the U.S. But doing so effectively would require a legion of federal and state inspectors, and the U.S. lacks personnel and facilities to check most Mexican trucks. In fact, data show fewer than 1 percent of the four million Mexican trucks entering the U.S. now are inspected (and 35 percent of those are taken out of service for safety failures).

In July, Mexico established a set of fledgling standards for commercial trucks, but they are greatly lacking, Public Citizen has found. The rules provide for roadside inspections only on Mexico's federal highways, which constitute only 10 percent of Mexico's roads. Most rules for critical items such as tires, headlights and hazardous materials are voluntary for the first year. Even once they become mandatory, the rules are far from comprehensive. Public Citizen also found that:

Industries that will profit from the lack of adequate safety rules for trucks crossing the border had a heavy hand in crafting Mexico's safety regulations;

Mexico's inspection rules set a maximum time limit of 30 minutes for an inspection of a general cargo carrier and limits inspection of a hazardous materials carrier to 20 minutes ¯ not nearly enough time for a thorough inspection. In contrast, the U.S. sets no time limit for inspections; and,

Mexico sets no limit on the hours a commercial driver may drive. Rather, the company sets the limit. The U.S., in contrast, has hours-of-service rules that play a critical role in reducing crashes caused by drowsy drivers (even though they should be shorter).

2/7/01
3:56:14 PM

Public Citizen

Boosting the Individual Contribution Limit From $1,000 to $3,000 Would Put Federal Candidates in Pockets of Wealthy Individuals

Proportion of Contributions from Donors Giving At Least $1,000 Could Rise from 46 Percent to 63 Percent, Public Citizen Analysis Warns

WASHINGTON, D.C. ¯ Raising the limit on the amount of money individuals are permitted to contribute to congressional and presidential candidates would make them beholden primarily to the wealthy, according to a Public Citizen analysis of 1999-2000 campaign contributions.

The analysis focuses on the impact of a proposal likely to be presented during this year's 7congressional debate on the McCain-Feingold-Cochran campaign finance reform bill, which would ban unlimited "soft money" contributions to political parties. The proposal calls for the current "hard money" limit on individual contributions to be raised from $1,000 to $3,000 per election.

In the 1999-2000 election cycle, nearly half -- 46 percent -- of individual contributions to federal candidates came from donors who gave at least $1,000. If the individual hard money limit were tripled, Public Citizen estimates this proportion would have risen to 63 percent -- on the conservative assumption that half of the large donors would have tripled their giving and half would have remained the same. The amount of hard money received by all House, Senate and presidential candidates from $1,000+ donors would have doubled from $391 million to $782 million.

"Increasing this contribution limit is a terrible idea that would further corrupt our already corrupted system," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "It would send a strong signal to large contributors that the price of access and influence has tripled, and they now must cough up more money to retain their status."

Because donors may contribute to both primaries and general elections, increasing the contribution limit would allow one person to give $6,000 per election cycle and a couple to give $12,000. Moreover, fundraisers could assemble "bundles" of $3,000-$6,000 checks from employees of a company or lobbying firm.

Proponents of increasing the limit argue it is needed because of the rising cost of living and escalating campaign costs. But they are overlooking the fact that the limit was designed to prevent corruption and the appearance of corruption, Claybrook said. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a $1,075 contribution limit for statewide races in Missouri on the grounds that state legislatures could determine that such limits were reasonable to combat corruption.

Public Citizen's analysis, available at

http://www.citizen.org/congress/reform/hard$increase.html

also found that:

Almost 232,000 people gave $1,000 or more to federal candidates in 1999-2000 ¯ just one-ninth of 1 percent of the voting-age population;

In 1999-2000, 47 percent of total individual contributions raised by Senate candidates came from donors who gave at least $1,000. If the contribution limit were raised to $3,000, the percentage would have risen to 64 percent -- on the conservative assumption that half of the large donors would have tripled their giving and half would have given the same;

In 1999-2000, 38 percent of total individual contributions raised by House candidates came from donors who gave at least $1,000. If the contribution limit were raised to $3,000, this percentage would have risen to 71 percent;

In 1999-2000, 55 percent of total individual contributions raised by all presidential candidates came from donors who gave at least $1,000. At a $3,000 limit this percentage would have risen to 71 percent; and

The proposal to raise limits wouldn't clearly favor either of the two major political parties.

While soft money (those unlimited contributions from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to political parties) is a huge problem in politics today, large hard money contributions are also of great concern on such issues as taxes and Social Security reform, the analysis noted. The current McCain-Feingold-Cochran bill banning soft money would have banned an estimated $500 million in national party soft money received in the 1999-2000 election cycle. But if the hard money contribution limit had been increased, it would have returned about $391 million of that, estimates show.

"We cannot overstate how greatly lawmakers in Congress are swayed by any kind of big money, whether it is hard or soft," said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. "Tripling the hard money limit represents three steps back in the effort to stop the legalized bribery that goes on in Washington today. Boosting the contribution limit would undermine congressional reformers' goal of cleaning up the system."

2/7/01
3:43:09 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. TAMAYO, TAMAYO, I LOVE YOU, TAMAYO Mexican President Vincente Fox met yesterday with supporters of two jailed environmental activists and asked his lawyers to review whether the activists had been framed. Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who led peasant farmers in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero in protests against rampant logging in their region, have been sentenced to seven and 10 years in prison, respectively, for drug and weapons charges. Their supporters say the two were tortured into confessing to the charges -- and their case has provoked an international outcry. Rodolfo Lacy Tamayo, a spokesperson for Fox's Environment Ministry, said, "For us, it is very significant that they don't remain jailed if it is because they were defending the environment."

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Jill Leovy, 07 Feb 2001

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010207/t000011284.html

do good: Take action to free the Mexican activists <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/politics.stm>

2. WHITMAN SAMPLER Word has it that Linda Fisher, a former vice president at biotech giant Monsanto, will be the number two official at the U.S. EPA under Christine Todd Whitman. Sounding off on Fisher and how the Whitman EPA is shaping up, Greenpeace's Rick Hind said, "Instead of just business as usual, this would be more business than usual." Don't look to the inner offices of the White House for any improvement. Enviros are fearful that an apologist for polluting industries has the inside track to head the Council on Environmental Quality. Read more in Muckraker on the Grist Magazine website.

read it only in Grist Magazine: Enviros look on warily as Bush's EPA head chooses staff -- in our Muckracker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck020701.stm>

3 SO MUCH FOR THE RULE OF LAW To the delight of the timber, energy, and mining industries, the Bush administration has delayed for at least two months former President Clinton's plan to ban road-building and logging on 58.5 million acres of national forest land. However, because the plan was published in the Federal Register before President Bush took office, enviros are saying Bush can't alter or block the rule much longer without going through an exhaustive new rule-making process. Western Republicans in Congress could try to block the ban under a 1996 law giving them the right to pull back rules within 60 days of publication in the register. But the law has never before been invoked, and proponents of the rollback might find it hard to muster enough support in a Congress so evenly divided.

straight to the source: Sacramento Bee, Associated Press, 05 Feb 2001 <http://www.sacbee.com/news/beelive/show_story.cgi?bush>

4. POLAR BARE At the current rate of global warming, parts of the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in 50 years, researchers say -- and that could be the end of polar bears. In fact, polar bears and fellow critters around the North Pole are already in big trouble. Ice now covers 15 percent less of the Arctic Ocean than it did 20 years ago. Ivory gulls are disappearing, mosquitoes are moving north, and caribou can no longer count on thick ice to support them. How can we get out of this mess? Read more on the Grist Magazine website.

read it only in Grist Magazine: Climate change threatens Arctic critters -- by Donella Meadows <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen020501.stm>

catch it in Grist Magazine: Watch a really sad cartoon about polar bears and get angry <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/land.stm>

5. KELP WANTED Seaweed Day in Japan was a bummer yesterday for environmentalists and fishers. They are in a tizzy over a project to reclaim land on what was the country's largest tidal wetland on Isahaya Bay in the Ariake Sea. The government closed flood-control dikes and ramped up its project to convert the wetland to solid ground in 1997. Enviros and fishers say the dikes have stopped the natural ebb and flow of the tide that was essential to the health of the Ariake Sea and seaweed production. Late last month, 6,000 angry fishers formed a flotilla of more than 1,000 boats in the bay to demand that the floodgates be opened.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Reuters, 06 Feb 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/527037.asp>

straight to the source: Japan Times, 05 Feb 2001 <http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ed20010205a1.htm>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

Agent organochlorine -- one class of chemicals is causing a cacophony of environmental problems -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books082400.stm>

Clearwater revival -- a day in the life of Susan Davis, WaterPartners International <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/davis020601.stm>

Tell us which sucks most -- Detroit automakers, the Bush administration, or enviro groups <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho012601.stm>

2/7/01
3:25:49 PM

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Most likely, George Dubya will be pushing legislation to open up this pristine land for oil exploration/exploitation within the next couple weeks. Please go to this site and pass this e-mail on to others who might feel that the preservation of our precious wildlife is more important than short term financial gain for his campaign contributors.... thanks for your help and support for our earth!!

http://www.savearcticrefuge.org/

2/7/01
3:24:03 PM

BUSH'S CAMPAIGN PROMISE

During the presidential election last fall, Bush said, "I think we ought to be forgiving Third World debt under certain conditions." Now, activists are calling on the President to make good on his campaign promise.

http://humanrights.about.com/library/weekly/aa020501a.htm

2/7/01
3:21:30 PM

Project HAARP:

The Pentagon's provocative plan to superheat the earth's ionosphere

The HAARP phased-array transmitter zaps the earth's ionosphere with high-frequency radio waves. In an Arctic compound 200 miles east of Anchorage, Alaska, the Pentagon has erected a powerful transmitter designed to beam more than a gigawatt of energy into the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Known as Project HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program), the $30 million experiment involves the world's largest "ionospheric heater," a prototype device designed to zap the skies hundreds of miles above the earth with high-frequency radio waves. Why irradiate the charged particles of the ionosphere (which when energized by natural processes make up the lovely and famous phenomenon known as the Northern Lights)? According to the U.S. Navy and Air Force, co-sponsors of the project, "to observe the complex natural variations of Alaska's ionosphere." That, says the Pentagon, and also to develop new forms of communications and surveillance technologies that will enable the military to send signals to nuclear submarines and to peer deep underground.

60 Greatest Conspiracies first reported on HAARP more than a year ago. Since then, inquiring Internauts have blamed the peculiar project for everything from UFO activity to major power outages in the Western United States, to, most recently, the downing of TWA Flight 800. (The Pentagon maintains that the HAARP array has been inactive since late last year.) Some have dubbed it the "Pentagon's doomsday death ray." Though many of these theories are, well, creatively amplified, an assortment of more grounded critics--environmentalists, Native Americans and Alaskan citizens among them--argue that the military does indeed have Strangelovian plans for this unusual hardware, applications ranging from "Star Wars" missile defense schemes to weather modification plots and perhaps even mind control experiments.

The HAARP complex is situated within a 23-acre lot in a relatively isolated region near the town of Gakona. When the final phase of the project was completed in 1997, the military had erected 180 towers, 72 feet in height, forming a "high-power, high frequency phased array radio transmitter" capable of beaming in the 2.5-10 megahertz frequency range, at more than 3 gigawatts of power (3 billion watts).

HAARP Hyperlinks -- Warm, Fuzzy HAARP The U.S. Navy's soothing, feel-good PR Web site devoted to HAARP reassures us that the project is entirely benign.

Angels Don't Play This HAARP Excerpts from the book that posits a connection between the work of suppressed scientist Nikola Tesla and Project HAARP.

Alternative HAARP Page Overview of facts and speculation swirling around the Gakona, Alaska, project.

The Eastlund-ARCO Patent Outlines Eastlund's vision for a HAARP-like project drawing upon the inspiration of Nikola Tesla.

According to the Navy and Air Force, HAARP "will be used to introduce a small, known amount of energy into a specific ionospheric layer" anywhere from several miles to several tens of miles in radius. Not surprisingly, Navy and Air Force PR (posted on the official HAARP World Wide Web Internet site, an effort to combat the bad press the project has generated), downplays both the environmental impacts of the project and purported offensive uses of the technology. However, a series of patents owned by the defense contractor managing the HAARP project suggests that the Pentagon might indeed have more ambitious designs. In fact, one of those patents was classified by the Navy for several years during the 1980s. The key document in the bunch is U.S. Patent number 4,686,605, considered by HAARP critics to be the "smoking raygun," so to speak. Held by ARCO Power Technologies, Inc. (APTI), the ARCO subsidiary contracted to build HAARP, this patent describes an ionospheric heater very similar to the HAARP heater invented by Bernard J. Eastlund, a Texas physicist. In the patent--subsequently published on the Internet by foes of HAARP--Eastlund describes a fantastic offensive and defensive weapon that would do any megalomaniacal James Bond super villain proud.

According to the patent, Eastlund's invention would heat plumes of charged particles in the ionosphere, making it possible to, for starters, selectively "disrupt microwave transmissions of satellites" and "cause interference with or even total disruption of communications over a large portion of the earth." But like his hopped up ions, Eastlund was just warming up.

Per the patent text, the physicist's "method and apparatus for altering a region in the earth's atmosphere" would also: "cause confusion of or interference with or even complete disruption of guidance systems employed by even the most sophisticated of airplanes and missiles"; "not only... interfere with third-party communications, but [also] take advantage of one or more such beams to carry out a communications network at the same time. Put another way, what is used to disrupt another's communications can be employed by one knowledgeable of this invention as a communications network at the same time"; "pick up communication signals of others for intelligence purposes"; facilitate "missile or aircraft destruction, deflection, or confusion" by lifting large regions of the atmosphere "to an unexpectedly high altitude so that missiles encounter unexpected and unplanned drag forces with resultant destruction or deflection of same." If Eastlund's brainchild sounds like a recipe for that onetime Cold War panacea, the Strategic Defense Initiative (AKA "Star Wars"), it's probably no coincidence. The APTI/Eastlund patent was filed during the final days of the Reagan administration, when plans for high-tech missile defense systems were still all the rage. But Eastlund's blue-sky vision went far beyond the usual Star Wars prescriptions of the day and suggested even more unusual uses for his patented ionospheric heater. "Weather modification," the patent states, "is possible by... altering upper atmospheric wind patterns or altering solar absorption patterns by constructing one or more plumes of particles which will act as a lens or focusing device." As a result, an artificially heated could focus a "vast amount of sunlight on selected portions of the earth."

HAARP officials deny any link to Eastlund's patents or plans. But several key details suggest otherwise. For starters, APTI, holder of the Eastlund patents, continues to manage the HAARP project. During the summer of 1994, ARCO sold APTI to E-Systems, a defense contractor known for counter-surveillance projects. E-Systems, in turn, is currently owned by Raytheon, one of the world's largest defense contractors and maker of the SCUD-busting Patriot missile. All of which suggests that more than just simple atmospheric science is going on in the HAARP compound.

What's more, one of the APTI/Eastlund patents singles out Alaska as the ideal site for a high-frequency ionospheric heater because "magnetic field lines... which extend to desirable altitudes for this invention, intersect the earth in Alaska." APTI also rates Alaska as an ideal location given its close proximity to an ample source of fuel to power the project: the vast reserves of natural gas in the North Slope region--reserves owned by APTI parent company ARCO.

Eastlund also contradicts the official military line. He told National Public Radio that a secret military project to develop his work was launched during the late 1980s. And in the May/June 1994 issue of Microwave News, Eastlund suggested that "The HAARP project obviously looks a lot like the first step" toward the designs outlined in his patents.

Eastlund's patent really trips into conspiratorial territory in its "References Cited" section. Two of the sources documented by Eastlund are New York Times articles from 1915 and 1940 profiling Nikola Tesla, a giant in the annals of Conspiratorial History. Tesla, a brilliant inventor and contemporary of Edison, developed hundreds of patents during his lifetime, and is often credited with developing radio before Marconi, among a host of other firsts. Of course, mainstream science has never fully acknowledged Tesla's contributions, and his later pronouncements (he vowed that he had developed a technology that could split the earth asunder) have left him straddling that familiar historical territory where genius meets crackpot. Not surprisingly, fringe science and conspiracy theory have made Tesla something of a patron saint. Whenever, talk radio buzz or Internet discussion turns to alleged government experiments to cause earthquakes or modify weather, references to government-suppressed "Tesla Technology" are sure to follow.

Judging from the APTI patent, Tesla was a major inspiration for Eastlund ionospheric heater. The first New York Times article, dated September 22, 1940, reports that Tesla, then 84 years old, "stands ready to divulge to the United States Government the secret of his 'teleforce,' with which, he said, airplane motors would be melted at a distance of 250 miles, so that an invisible Chinese Wall of Defense would be built around the country." Quoting Tesla, the Times story continues: "This new type of force, Mr. Tesla said, would operate through a beam one hundred-millionth of a square centimeter in diameter, and could be generated from a special plant that would cost no more than $2,000,000 and would take only about three months to construct."

The second New York Times story, dated December 8, 1915, describes one of Tesla's more well-known patents, a transmitter that would "project electrical energy in any amount to any distance and apply it for innumerable purposes, both in war and peace."

The similarity of Tesla's ideas to Eastlund's invention are remarkable, and by extension the overlap between Tesla and HAARP technology is downright intriguing. Apparently, APTI and the Pentagon are taking Eastlund's--and by extension, Tesla's--ideas seriously.

Eastlund seems to agree. As he told one journalist/conspiracy pathfinder: "HAARP is the perfect first step towards a plan like mine. ...The government will say it isn't so, but if it quacks like a duck and it looks like a duck, there's a good chance it is a duck."

2/7/01
3:15:34 PM

U.S. Bans Brazil Beef Imports on Mad Cow Fears

By Randy Fabi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday followed Canada's lead in temporarily suspending imports of Brazilian beef gravy, corned beef, gelatins and other processed beef products as a precaution against mad cow disease and its deadly human variation.

The U.S. ban came less than a week after the Food and Drug Administration quarantined a small Texas feed lot for violating strict rules that forbid using animal feed that contains ground-up bits of cattle.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said although there was no evidence of mad cow disease in Brazil, it was concerned that certain Brazilian beef products may have come into contact with beef from Europe, which has been hit with an outbreak of the brain-wasting disease.

``This decision is a temporary action pending the release of requested data to complete a bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk assessment,'' USDA said in a statement. Further action would be taken if needed to keep the disease out of the United States, which has never had a case.

BSE, better known to the world as mad cow disease, is believed to have spread from Britain to other countries when the bones, spinal cord and other remains of diseased cattle were ground up for use in livestock feed.

Nearly 90 people in Britain, France and Ireland have died from or been diagnosed with the human version, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010202/sc/madcow_brazil_dc_2.html

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/Health/Mad_Cow_Disease/

2/7/01
3:15:10 PM

Cover-up

Insecticide causes Mad Cow disease

by Fintan Dunne

Research Kathy Mc Mahon

Pharmaceutical interests in the UK are ignoring new scientific research that shows the insecticide used in the UK government's own warble-fly campaigns triggered the UK surge of 'Mad Cow' disease.

The new work shows that prions can bond with manganese in animal feeds or mineral licks. These manganese prions can cause the neurological degeneration seen in BSE. And other researchers unpublished work shows that prions in the bovine spine --along which insecticides are applied-- can be damaged by ICI's Phosmet organophosphate(OP) insecticide -causing the disease.

By a similar process, prions in human brains can be damaged by lice lotions containing organophosphate. Later in life, this can result in neurological diseases like CJD and Alzheimers.

British scientists have led the current theory that an infectious prion in bonemeal fed to cattle causes bovine spongiform disease (BSE). Infectious prions are also claimed to cause new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans -from ingesting beef. But the infectious prion theory serves to obscure a tragic chemical poisoning scandal behind the majority of BSE cases.

Latest experiments by Cambridge University prion specialist, David R. Brown, have shown that manganese bonds destructively with prions. Many might be surprised to hear that organophosphates were developed by Nazi chemists during the course World War Two, as a chemical weapon nerve agent.

The marginalised research has devastating financial implications for ICI. It would provide a firm basis for litigants -who could include CJD sufferers, farmers across the world and families of the many British farmers who committed suicide during this BSE debacle.

More details at http://www.cabi.org/whatsnew/bse/bse962.htm By Purdey, M. -- Are organophosphate pesticides involved in the causation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)?

http://eionews.addr.com/organop/organop.htm

2/7/01
3:10:41 PM

Mad Cow disease

Andreas recommends:

Are organophosphate pesticides involved in the causation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)?

http://www.cabi.org/whatsnew/bse/bse962.htm

Organophosphate Madness?

http://www.corporatewatch.org/magazine/issue12/cw12f5.html

BSE INQUIRY Statement of Mark Purdey (23 March 1998)

http://www2.prestel.co.uk/littleton/ek3_purdey_023.htm

The BSE Inquiry Press Office

http://www.bse.org.uk

2/7/01
2:11:51 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

CAMEROON ATTEMPTS TO AVERT NATURAL GAS DISASTER

YAOUNDE, Cameroon, February 6, 2001 (ENS) - Scientists in northwest Cameroon have begun siphoning a volcanic lake whose deadly gases killed 1,700 people in 1986. Lake Nyos is one of only three lakes in the world known to have high concentrations of dissolved gas in their bottom waters.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-06-10.html

STEEP THRILLS IN CANADA'S STORM WATCHING CAPITOL

By Neville Judd

UCLUELET, British Columbia, Canada, February 2, 2001 (ENS) - The subarctic current off Japan's east coast flows with a sense of purpose. Travelling at four to eight kilometers a day, through one low pressure system after another, water heads west for two to five years.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-06-11.html

ENERGY DEBATE HOT AND HEAVY IN WASHINGTON

By Brian Hansen

WASHINGTON, DC, February 6, 2001 (ENS) - An influential Republican lawmaker this week joined a renowned environmental group in calling for the enactment of a national energy policy far more comprehensive in scope than the Bush administration's oft-cited proposal of drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-06-15.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE WORLDSCAN: FEBRUARY 6, 2001

12 Nations Agree to Protect Endangered Seabirds

Danes Plan Door-to-Door Battery Collection

Galapagos Pelicans Oiled in Tanker Spill Released

California Energy Scare Inspires British Columbia

Sanctuary Sought for Last Adriatic Dolphins

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-06ws.html

NEW SPECIES OF CAMEL FOUND ON CHINESE NUCLEAR TEST SITE

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 6, 2001 (ENS) - A new species of camel that has adapted to survive on salt water has been discovered in a remote region of salty sand dunes on the edge of the Tibetan mountains. The wild camels were found in the middle of the inhospitable and dangerous Kum Tagh sand dunes in China's Xinjiang province, north of Tibet.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-06-02.html

TOUCHING WILD PLANTS MAY CHANGE THEIR FUTURE

WASHINGTON, DC, February 6, 2001 (ENS) - In the 1970s, people were fascinated by the thought that talking to houseplants could increase their growth. Now, a team of ecologists has discovered that touching plants in the field may alter the chance that insects will feed upon the plants' leaves.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-06-06.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: FEBRUARY 6, 2001

Environmentalists File Legal Support of Roadless Rule

Biologists Transform Leaves Into Petals

New York Waste to be Converted to Ethanol

Utility Turns Coal Wastes Into Fuel

New York Pays $2.5 Million for Open Spaces

Meigs Field Touted as Future Nature Preserve

Lobster Fishers Protect Right Whales

Diseases Could Make Chocolate an Endangered Species

Tax Checkoff Helps Restore Colorado's State Fish

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-06-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

DynaMotive Announces Engineering Partnership to Develop Commercial BioOil Energy Projects

VANCOUVER, BC, Canada, Feb. 6 -/E-Wire/-- DynaMotive Technologies Corporation (OTCBB: DYMTF) announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with TECNA S.A. of Argentina. Under terms of the MOU, TECNA would provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for commercial BioOil energy projects in Latin America and other markets on a non-exclusive basis.

/CONTACT: call Toll Free (in North America): 1-877-863-2268; Raymond McAllister Director, Corporate Communications, Telephone: (604) 267-6000, Fax: (604) 267-6005,

Email: investor@dynamotive.com,

/Web site: http://www.dynamotive.com/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/06Feb0101.html

TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Evac And ZENON Announce Co-Operation On Marine Waste Water Treatment

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO, Canada, Feb. 6 -/E-Wire/-- Evac, world leader in vacuum sewage technology, and ZENON Environmental Inc. (TSE:ZEN.A.TO - news), world leader in providing advanced technology products and services for water purification, waste water treatment and recycling, have decided to join forces in the field of marine waste water treatment.

/CONTACT: Evac Oy, Mr Olli Bjorkqvist, Managing Director, +358 9 5067 6201 or ZENON Environmental Inc, Dr Andrew Benedek, Chairman and CEO, 905/465-3030 or ZENON Environmental Inc, Ms Nazeli Seferian, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, 905/465-3030/

/Web site: http://www.zenonenv.com/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/06Feb0102.html

TO STATE, EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

South Carolina Colleges and Universities Receive Grants For Environmental Education

COLUMBIA, S.C., Feb. 6 -/E-Wire/-- The Sustainable Universities Initiative (SUI) today announced its most recent round of mini-grants. The following institutions received grants: Coastal Carolina University, College of Charleston, Francis Marion University, Midlands Technical College, and Tri-County Technical College.

/CONTACT: Katy Ruth of Newman Saylor & Gregory, 803-254-8158 or

kruth@nsandg.com , for Sustainable Universities Initiative/

/Web site: http://www.sc.edu/sustainableu/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/06Feb0103.html

TO NATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

A New Conservation Organization is Now Established to Fight for Wilderness Preservation

Pew Wilderness Center Works to Elevate Public Awareness of the Need To Protect the Nation's Remaining Wilderness

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 6 -/E-Wire/-- Established by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Pew Wilderness Center has been formed to collaborate with local, state and national environmental groups to prevent development from unnecessarily marring publicly owned parks and wilderness, or harming wildlife dependent on this habitat. Its mission is to rejuvenate the public's interest in the wilderness by educating a broader spectrum of the populace about the need for increased wild lands protection.

/CONTACT: Herma Percy-McDaniel of the Pew Wilderness Center,

202-544-3691, ext.132 or herma@pewwild.org/

/Web site: http://www.pewwildernesscenter.org/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/06Feb0104.html

TO STATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Legislation Introduced to Halt Proposed Trapping and Hunting Season On Pennsylvania's Bobcats

HARRISBURG, PA, Feb. 6 -/E-Wire/-- Today, Rep. Gaynor Cawley and 28 cosponsors introduced legislation to prohibit the bobcat hunting and trapping season for a period of three years.

/CONTACT: Heidi Prescott of The Fund for Animals, 301-585-2591, ext. 213; or Rep. Gaynor Cawley, 717-787-8980/

/Web site: http://www.fund.org/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/06Feb0105.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

2/7/01
2:02:33 PM

FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) presents:

"FEAR AND FAVOR: How Power Shapes the News"

Janine Jackson, FAIR Program Director and co-host of CounterSpin

Blake Fleetwood, freelance journalist

Frances Cerra Whittelsey, freelance journalist

Friday, February 16, 6:30 PM Housing Works Used Book Café 126 Crosby St (between Prince and Houston), New York *Free and Open to the Public*

A "serious" talk show turns itself into an infomercial for Campbell's Soup, complete with a veteran news anchor joining in a chorus of the "M'm, m'm! Good!" jingle. A Boston reporter is suspended without pay after writing critically about a bank which is a major advertiser in his paper. A network news show interviews a sock puppet-- a puppet which is the mascot for a company the network's owner has a stake in.

Welcome to the whimsical, frightening world of the corporate media, where the "fear and favor" of advertisers, owners and the government can shape-- and twist-- the news. Join FAIR for a presentation of our first annual "Fear and Favor" report, detailing the most egregious examples of owner/advertiser influence from 2000, plus first-hand accounts of influence in action from two former New York Times reporters.

Janine Jackson is FAIR's program director and co-host of CounterSpin, FAIR's weekly radio show, which is heard on over 130 stations. Freelance journalist Blake Fleetwood, a former New York Times and Daily News reporter, has written for many publications, including the Village Voice, The Atlantic, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. Frances Cerra Whittelsey is a former New York Times reporter who has written for publications such as In These Times, Columbia Journalism Review and Money magazine.

Keep an eye on the FAIR website http://www.fair.org for the release of the Fear & Favor 2000 report.

2/7/01
1:54:53 PM

World Environment News from Planet Ark

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

NY and Conn ask Canada to stop polluting their air - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9710

Lawmakers urge US to keep Fla. from drilling plan - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9711

Calif. seizes power contracts, federal aid to expire - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9712

Rule to ban road development in US forests hits snag - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9714

British oil, power output drops in 2000 - DTI - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9713

Japan marks Seaweed Day amid looming output crisis - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9715

Australia slaps $220,000 eco fine on Malaysian firm - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9709

2/7/01
1:51:51 PM

Public Citizen

California Legislature, Governor Davis Buy Nothing But Failure

$10 Billion to Be Spent Purchasing Overpriced Electricity From Profiteers

WASHINGTON, D.C. ¯ California's plan to spend up to $10 billion to address the state's electricity crisis will take the state down a path of debt that is almost certain to lead to higher electricity bills, higher taxes or both, Public Citizen said today.

The plan, which was signed into law late last week, calls for the state to assume utilities' financial risks by spending up to $10 billion to buy electricity on their behalf. It essentially uses public money to pad the profits of profiteering corporations and relieves California's utilities of all market risk.

The state's better option is to buy tangible assets, such as power plants and transmission lines, so California can regain control over sky-high prices and unreliable supply. But the legislation forbids the state from using any taxpayer money to "take ownership of transmission, generation, or distribution assets."

"This bailout is a recipe for taxpayer indebtedness for many years to come," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "It's a boon for the energy industry and a crying shame for taxpayers. Without addressing the inflated wholesale electricity market, the state's taxpayers will be buying a go-cart for the price of a Porsche. The state ought to buy power plants and regain complete control over the electricity market."

The plan will be a $10 billion-dollar bust because it will simply hand taxpayer money over to a few out-of-state power plant owners. The state will receive nothing in return but wildly overpriced wholesale electricity, Claybrook said. Under the bailout plan, taxpayers ¯ not California's utilities ¯ will assume all the financial risk, and the more than $10 billion in expenditures won't guarantee lower wholesale prices.

The bill signed by Governor Davis, ABX1 1, immediately appropriates nearly $476 million in cash from the general fund and up to $10 billion in revenue bonds over the next two years to purchase wholesale electricity from the handful of corporations that own power plants in and around California. California's utilities will be paid by the state to handle billing and other services, but the state will bear all financial risk of collecting outstanding consumer bills and purchasing wholesale electricity from power plant owners.

The agreement does not require the utilities to sell electricity produced at their own hydroelectric and nuclear facilities to the state at cost. Instead, the utilities can sell their power at market prices and use the proceeds to pay off their "debt." The state will sell the power it purchases at cost to the state's consumers. Finally, the legislation forbids the state from using any taxpayer money to "take ownership of transmission, generation, or distribution assets."

The Fallacy of Long-Term Contracts in an Overpriced Market The state apparently believes that by purchasing electricity through negotiated long-term contracts at between 5.5 cents and 7.0 cents a kilowatt hour, it will save more money than continuing to rely upon the day- and hour-ahead spot market.

But even the low end of the state's offer is a grossly inflated price, way above the cost of producing electricity (it is important to note that a week ago, the handful of power producers rejected a state offer to buy electricity at similar rates). The nearly $28 billion of electricity sold to California in 2000 was more than 276 percent higher than in 1999. Binding taxpayer money to purchase wildly overpriced electricity for many more years to come will only handcuff the state financially.

California need only look to the costly mistakes made through earlier over reliance on long-term energy contracts as a way to drive prices down. Expensive long-term contracts for renewable sources of energy were mandated by the federal government in 1986 and forced upon utilities by state regulators. Those contracts helped make California's consumer electricity rates among the highest in the nation ¯ something the 1996 deregulation law was supposed to address.

Taxpayers Will Have Nothing to Show, While Corporations Stand to Profit Even More For the same amount of money as it will spend in the bailout plan, California could force the utilities and power producers to sell their assets to the state. By temporarily taking control of electricity production until longer-term solutions are found, California could guarantee lower prices because it would sell electricity to households and businesses at cost.

But because the bailout legislation expressly forbids the state from acquiring such assets, California's taxpayers will continue spending billions to pad the profits of a handful of out-of-state power plant owners. The seven major out-of-state power producers and power marketers posted $6.5 billion in after-tax profits in 2000.

"These companies have the money to address this situation," Claybrook said. "Unfortunately, they'd rather use taxpayer money to bail them out, and the California legislature is setting consumers up to do just that."

www.Citizen.org

2/7/01
1:48:45 PM

Public Citizen

Grave Danger Posed by Unsafe Mexican Trucks; U.S. Should Maintain Limited Access to U.S. Highways

NAFTA Panel Expected This Week to Order U.S. to Open Its Highways to Mexican Trucks or Face Trade Sanctions

WASHINGTON, D.C. Although a trade panel is expected this week to order the United States to permit access to all U.S. roads by Mexican trucks, the U.S. should continue to limit access because of the grave dangers many Mexican trucks pose to motorists on U.S. highways, Public Citizen has concluded in a report released today.

A North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tribunal is expected to reject U.S. concerns about truck safety and order the U.S. to permit Mexican trucks to have full access to American highways. Currently, Mexican trucks are confined to a narrow, 20-mile commercial zone near the border.

The report, The Coming NAFTA Crash: The Deadly Impact of a Secret NAFTA Tribunal's Decision to Open U.S. Highways to Unsafe Mexican Trucks, documents that Mexico=s truck safety regulations are virtually non-existent, that Mexican trucks have far more safety deficiencies than U.S. trucks, that a disproportionate number of Mexican trucks crossing the border have been taken out of service for serious safety violations, and that the U.S. lacks enough inspectors to check incoming trucks. Further, Texas border communities within the commercial border zone in which Mexican trucks are permitted have seen a dramatic increase in highway fatalities and serious injuries from crashes involving trucks with Mexican registrations, the report found. The report is available at

http://www.tradewatch.org/nafta/naftapg.html.

AIt is imperative that we continue to limit access for these dangerous trucks even if it means paying trade sanctions, said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. AIt is impossible to inspect every truck, and we cannot knowingly put drivers at risk by inviting dangerous rigs onto U.S. highways.

Added Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizens Global Trade Watch, which produced the report, AThis ruling once again provides a dramatic example of how trade agreements such as NAFTA reach far beyond appropriate commercial issues and threaten vital domestic health and safety standards, even when these standards are applied equally to domestic and foreign commerce.

How the Bush administration handles the NAFTA truck issue will have a dramatic impact on public opinion about President Bush and NAFTA, the report concludes. Many in the corporate business lobby that financed Bushs campaign are eager to see Mexican trucks gain full access to U.S. highways. However, many other Americans C particularly in Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico are legitimately concerned that a flood of unsafe, unregulated freight trucks from Mexico would pose a significant threat.

The NAFTA truck issue has percolated for years. A provision in NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, required the United States to allow Mexican trucks to cross the border and access all border-state roads starting in 1995, and to drive anywhere in the country by January 2000. The Clinton administration for five years recognized the danger the trucks posed to the public safety and maintained their limited access to a narrow zone at the border.

Mexico challenged the U.S. governments action before a NAFTA enforcement tribunal. On Nov. 29, 2000, the panel issued a preliminary ruling declaring that the United States was violating NAFTA by refusing to allow Mexican trucks to cross the border and rejecting U.S. safety concerns raised as a defense. The ruling expected this week is final and is not expected to vary significantly from November=s ruling.

Mexican trucks that operate in the U.S. must apply for operating permits from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The preliminary NAFTA ruling noted that the U.S. could use this system to apply its safety standards but that the U.S. also must meet NAFTA's requirement for open access for Mexican trucks. The only way to ensure U.S. standards are being met would be to check every truck that crosses the border, and this is not practical. The report found that:

! Fewer than 1 percent of Mexican trucks entering the U.S. are inspected, but 35 percent of those are taken out of service for serious safety failures (46 percent higher than the out-of-service rate for U.S. trucks). The U.S. has neither the facilities nor the personnel to inspect every truck;

! Although Mexico pledged to institute a comprehensive truck safety program when NAFTA went into effect, seven years later, that country still has not instituted an effective system. The new rules now in effect are voluntary and are to be phased in over the next two years;

! Mexico does not limit the time drivers spend behind the wheel. Some drivers report being required to drive 36 hours straight with just a six-hour break before returning to the road;

! Mexicos hazardous materials control system is much laxer than the U.S. system. Many substances that must be identified in the U.S. need not be marked with an official placard in Mexico;

! Mexican truck carriers last year were more than three times as likely to have safety deficiencies as U.S. carriers, and Mexican trucks are twice as likely to be deficient in one safety category; and,

! When Mexican trucks are inspected at the border, the inspections are often not full inspections, but instead involve mere visual checks.

The report urges the U.S. to press Mexico to fulfill its promise to implement and enforce adequate truck safety standards. Mexico also needs a real inspection system, better safety standards for trucking companies, hours-of-service rules for drivers and more stringent regulatory oversight. Further, the U.S. must dramatically increase border inspections and should heavily fine Mexican motor carriers found operating outside permitted areas in the U.S.

www.Citizen.org

2/7/01
1:42:26 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. CHOP SHOO-EY More than 100 state-owned restaurants in Beijing promised this month to "go green" and start washing and reusing chopsticks. The federal government in China is considering a tax on disposable chopsticks, and Shanghai and other cities are considering a ban on them. Environmentalists say the changes indicate that Chinese citizens are beginning to realize that their consumer decisions affect the environment. China currently discards about 45 billion pairs of chopsticks every year, coming from as many as 25 million trees. Kang Dahu, a 22-year volunteer with green groups, said, "Just imagine, years from now, when my grandchildren ask me what happened to all of China's trees, I'll have to say, 'We made them into chopsticks.' Isn't that pitiful?"

straight to the source: Washington Post, Philip P. Pan, 06 Feb 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3296-2001Jan30.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: A week of environmental activism in China <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/ramanathan081400.stm>

2. I DO NOT LIKE GREEN ACHES AND DAMS, I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SALMON I AM Never mind consumers hit with big energy bills or utilities on the edge of bankruptcy -- salmon may be the ones most screwed by the power problems afflicting the Western U.S. For example, to avoid buying power from others at super high costs, the Bonneville Power Administration stepped up power production at federal dams last month and in so doing, drained reservoirs of water saved to boost spring river flows along the Columbia River for salmon. BPA officials say they had to take this step to remain economically viable. But enviros disagree and are fearful that low flows in the Columbia and Snake rivers this spring and summer will be lethal for the fish.

3. THAT'S ABOUT HOW MANY VOTED FOR GORE AND NADER Some 53 percent of Americans oppose drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, while 33 percent favor the idea, according to a poll taken at the end of January by the Associated Press. Former President Carter is continuing his campaign to protect the refuge, saying that drilling would provide only six months' worth of oil for the nation while destroying essential calving grounds for caribou. However, even if enviros wage a successful battle against President Bush's plan to open the refuge to drilling, other ecologically important areas all across Alaska aren't likely to be spared. How much, for instance, have you heard about the 700,000-acre Copper River Delta? The area is one of the most important shorebird resting points on the Pacific Coast -- and a target for drilling by the oil industry.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Associated Press, 01 Feb 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/525200.asp>

straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Joel Connelly and Mike Lewis, 03 Feb 2001 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/national/anwr03.shtml>

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Kim Murphy, 06 Feb 2001

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010206/t000010899.html

do good: Take action to save the Arctic Refuge <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/land.stm>

4. REMORSE COD Ozone layer depletion may be contributing to the decline of cod stocks in New England, according to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Using lab experiments, researchers at the University of New Hampshire found that ultraviolet radiation penetrating the atmosphere could be fatal or debilitating to cod embryos and larvae, which live close to the ocean surface. The greatest threat to juvenile cod are predators, which snap up 99 percent of the juveniles before they can reproduce. But the researchers cautioned that conservation efforts to restore the greatly overfished cod stocks may fail unless they take into account the problems of ultraviolet radiation.

5. GET A PIECE OF THE ROCK -- BEFORE IT GOES UNDER WATER An increase in natural disasters as a result of global warming could cost the world more than $300 billion a year by 2050, says a report to the U.N. by one of the world's largest reinsurers, Munich Re. The report says the losses would be the consequence of more tropical storms, loss of land due to rising sea levels, and damage to food crops and fishing stocks. Munich Re's Gerhard Berz wrote that "certain countries, especially small island states, could face losses far exceeding 10 percent" of their gross domestic product. In other climate news, the European Union's environment commissioner, Margot Wallstrom, said last week that the only way to wean consumers and industry from fossil fuels would be to steadily increase energy taxes.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 04 Feb 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9684>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 04 Feb 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9697>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

A snowblower's chance in hell -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha020501.stm>

Is the Internet sucking up too much energy? -- and other gems from assorted magazines in our Best of the Rest section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/best/best012601.stm#powerful>

Don't drink the water -- a day in the life of Susan Davis, WaterPartners International <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/davis020501.stm>

2/7/01
1:13:04 PM

BIOTECH--THE BASICS, PART 2

by Rachel Massey*

In the last issue, we looked at hazards associated with eating genetically engineered foods: unexpected allergic reactions; unexpected toxicity; and the development of antibiotic resistance.[1] It is increasingly clear that genetic engineering is neither precise nor predictable; "genetic engineers" are tampering with the instructions for basic cell functions, without understanding fully how those instructions work.

** One source of unpredictable effects is the use of "promoter" genes. As we saw in REHN #716, the aim of genetic engineering is to take a gene from one organism and insert it into another organism. However, organisms have elaborate defense mechanisms to prevent foreign genes from affecting them, so a gene moved from a bacterium to a plant will not automatically work in its new host. To overcome the target organism's defenses and make the new gene function, it is necessary to add a "promoter" gene -- a genetic switch that "turns on" the foreign gene.

The promoter of choice in most cases is derived from a plant virus called the cauliflower mosaic virus. Known as the CaMV 35S promoter, this genetic sequence causes hyperexpression of other genes. A gene is hyperexpressed when the proteins for which it contains instructions are produced in excessive amounts -- perhaps ten to a thousand times as great as normal levels. Because the CaMV 35S gene is so powerful, in addition to "turning on" the target gene, it may also "turn on" other genes near where it is inserted, causing the engineered cell to display unpredictable new features.[2]

** Plants can defend themselves against the intrusion of foreign genetic instructions through the phenomenon of "gene silencing," in which the cell blocks expression of the foreign DNA. Silencing may occur in unpredictable ways in genetically engineered plants. For example, a recent study found that infection with the cauliflower mosaic virus could trigger silencing of a newly inserted trait for herbicide tolerance, which was linked to the CaMV 35S promoter. Apparently, the plant defended itself against the infection through silencing of the viral genes. At the same time, it silenced other newly-inserted genes.[3]

** Genetically engineered foods may also produce unexplained health effects in laboratory animals. An article published in THE LANCET by Stanley Ewen and Arpad Pusztai reports on a study of laboratory rats fed genetically engineered potatoes.[4] The potatoes were designed to produce a substance known as GALANTHUS NIVALIS agglutinin (GNA), which is ordinarily found in snowdrops (a type of flower). The purpose of adding GNA to potatoes was to increase resistance to certain insects and other pests.

Ewen and Pusztai worked with three groups of rats. One received the genetically engineered potatoes designed to produce GNA; the second received ordinary, non-engineered potatoes, without GNA; and the third group received ordinary, non-engineered potatoes mixed with a dose of GNA. Ewen and Pusztai studied the changes that occurred in the digestive systems of the rats in each group.

The researchers found that eating engineered or non-engineered potatoes with GNA was associated with certain changes in the rats' stomachs. In addition, the engineered GNA potatoes were associated with certain intestinal changes NOT found in the rats fed ordinary potatoes laced with GNA. The researchers do not know the reason for these additional changes. They could be due to a "positioning effect" -- the foreign gene may have been inserted at a location in the existing genetic material that caused it to disrupt normal functioning of an existing gene. Or it could be due to the activity of other genetic material inserted along with the target gene, such as the promoter.

Pusztai was forced to retire from his research position at the Rowett Research Institute in Scotland after he spoke publicly about the results of his work. (See REHN #649.) His article in THE LANCET is one of only a few animal feeding studies that have been published on the altered foods that are now present, unlabeled, in our grocery stores.

** In some cases, genetically engineered crops can have altered nutritional content. One study found that glyphosate-tolerant soybeans had significantly altered levels of naturally occurring compounds known as isoflavones, which are thought to have some health benefits.[5] The consequences of changes like this could be minor in some cases and serious in others. The important lesson is that when we eat soy, corn, or other important foods that have been genetically altered, we may not be getting the nutrient mix we could expect in the past. As long as these altered foods are unlabeled, we do not have the information we need to make informed choices about the foods we eat.

Last fall, corn products in U.S. supermarkets were found to be contaminated with "StarLink" corn, a genetically engineered variety approved only for use as animal feed due to concerns about possible allergic reactions in humans.[6] The contamination was detected by a non-governmental organization, Friends of the Earth, working as part of a national collaborative effort, the Genetically Engineered Food Alert coalition. Had Friends of the Earth not taken responsibility for testing foods -- a function that should be performed by government -- we could have continued to consume unapproved StarLink corn with no way to trace the health consequences. We do not know what other errors may already have occurred; and since we do not know when we are eating genetically engineered foods, we have no way to watch for links between eating these foods and developing certain illnesses. Those who favor the rapid and unregulated introduction of genetically engineered foods into our food supply often say genetic engineering is really nothing new; it is simply an extension of conventional agricultural breeding techniques. In fact, as Michael Hansen of Consumers Union explains in a review article, there are some obvious differences.[2]

** Gene transfers across natural boundaries: Conventional breeding transfers genetic information among organisms that are related to one another -- members of the same species, or related species, or (rarely) of closely-related genera. (Genera is the plural of genus; a genus is a biological grouping that includes multiple species.) Genetic engineering, on the other hand, may transfer genes from any organism to any other organism (fish to fruit, bacteria to vegetables, etc.).

** Location of gene insertion: Variations of a gene are known as alleles. Genes are carried in chromosomes, and each gene has a specific place in a chromosome. Conventional breeding shuffles alleles of existing genes. In general, conventional breeding does not move genes from one place to another in a chromosome. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, inserts genes that were not in the original chromosome of the target organism. These genes may be inserted in unpredictable locations in the chromosome, producing unforseeable changes in the plant.

** Extra genetic material: Genetically engineered foods contain extra genetic material that is unrelated to the target characteristics. This extra genetic material can include vectors, which are added to move genes across natural barriers; promoters, added to "turn on" the foreign genes; marker genes, added to show the engineer whether the target gene has been successfully inserted; and random extra genetic material that the engineer inserts unintentionally. Here is a brief discussion of each of these categories:

a) Vectors: Genetic engineering often uses "vectors," genetic sequences derived from viruses or bacteria, to move genes into the target cell. One vector used frequently is derived from AGROBACTERIUM TUMEFACIENS, a bacterium that causes tumors in plants by inserting DNA from its own genetic code into the genetic code of the plant. A study published in PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES in January 2001 reported that AGROBACTERIUM may be able to insert DNA into human cells as well.[7]

When AGROBACTERIUM infects a plant under natural conditions, the genes are incorporated only into the infected part of the plant; they do not move throughout the plant and are not passed on to subsequent generations. In contrast, when AGROBACTERIUM genes are used as vectors in genetic engineering, the resulting plant includes AGROBACTERIUM genes in all its cells. Conventional breeding does not require the use of vectors.

b) Promoters: As we have seen, most genetically engineered crops include the CaMV 35S "promoter" gene to "turn on" the foreign gene and overcome normal cell defense mechanisms. Viral promoters are not necessary for conventional breeding.

c) Marker genes: As we saw in REHN #716, genetic engineering often involves the insertion of antibiotic resistance marker genes. This does not occur in conventional breeding.

d) Unintentional additions: Sometimes genetic engineers introduce additional genetic material into the target cell without knowing it. Last spring, for example, newspapers reported that Monsanto's Roundup Ready (glyphosate-tolerant) soybeans contained extra fragments of DNA that the company's genetic engineers were not aware of having introduced.[8]

On the basis of these points, some people would say that genetic engineering is "very different" from conventional breeding, whereas others would say that it is only "somewhat different." Either way, the differences have obvious implications for the ways in which governments should regulate genetically engineered foods. At a minimum, governments should require companies to conduct pre-market safety tests related to the special hazards associated with genetic engineering, and any altered foods allowed onto the market should be labeled.

2/6/01
3:02:04 PM

Russia Says U.S. Antimissile Plan Means an Arms Race

By PATRICK E. TYLER

OSCOW, Feb. 5 - Two days after American officials told their European counterparts that the United States intended to go ahead and develop a national missile shield - but only after extensive consultations - Russia responded today with a sober warning that it is ready to resort to a new arms race to ensure that its strategic rocket forces will not be undermined.

At the same time, President Vladimir V. Putin was said to be preparing a diplomatic offensive to meet the leaders of two of the so-called rogue nations whose ballistic missiles are of greatest concern to Washington.

President Mohammad Khatami of Iran is expected in Moscow next month for discussions about trade and military cooperation, and diplomats here and in Tehran said the two leaders would discuss ways to control the spread of ballistic missile technology. The United States has expressed longstanding concerns about Russian assistance to Iran's ballistic missile program.

Then, in late April, diplomats said, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, is expected to come to Moscow, which would be his longest-distance diplomatic visit to date. Mr. Putin made a surprise visit to the North Korean capital last summer and opened negotiations to persuade Mr. Kim to give up his quest to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that could threaten Japan and the United States.

Mr. Kim has offered to forgo further ballistic missile development in return for Western assistance in launching civilian satellites, but his statements have yet to be set down in any binding accord.

As Mr. Putin was preparing his diplomatic moves, Defense Minister Igor D. Sergeyev said today that Russia was making contingency plans to respond to the Bush administration's antimissile plans. He said Russia was not planning a new missile buildup, which it cannot afford, but "asymmetrical" technologies that would penetrate any missile shield.

"We had three mighty programs to counteract asymmetrically the national missile defense systems of the United States during the period of Reagan's Star Wars," he said.

He told the Interfax news agency that "a lot of money was invested in those programs" before they were abandoned at the end of the cold war. "But we still have them," he added, "and can take them up again."

Marshal Sergeyev, the former commander of Russian strategic rocket forces, labeled the American antimissile proposal "son of Star Wars," and predicted, in remarks to the visiting Swedish defense minister, Bjorn von Sydow, that the Bush administration would not be able to persuade its allies to abandon "the entire system of agreements, which has led to strategic stability in the world" and to support American actions that would cause "those agreements to be scrapped."

The defense minister's statements and Mr. Putin's diplomacy were another effort by Russia to play on the deep skepticism that already exists in Europe over the United States' determination to rearrange the strategic landscape. An American national missile shield would violate the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, which the Bush administration wants to amend and which Moscow now calls the "cornerstone of strategic stability."

Russia is promoting its own proposal to make further deep cuts in the nuclear arsenals, while cooperating with Europe and the United States to develop regional missile defenses that could be brought to bear against threatening states.

Russia Says U.S. Antimissile Plan Means an Arms Race Policy Team (Jan. 20, 2001) . White House Guide . Politics Home . International: Europe Home . International Home

The New York Times Magazine . W's World (Jan. 14, 2001)

Video . Russian Warns U.S. on Dangers of Planned Missile Defense (Feb. 5, 2001) . Rumsfield and Kissinger Speak in Germany (Feb. 4, 2001) . Europeans Express Concern for Missile Defense Plan (Feb. 4, 2001)

Forums . Can President-elect Bush win bipartisan support? . Join a Discussion on Putin and the Direction of Russia

(Page 2 of 2)

By signaling his plans to meet the leaders of two of the three nations about which Washington is most concerned, Mr. Putin was positioning himself to play a self-interested role in trying to address the post-cold- war security concerns on which the Bush administration has centered its national security strategy. Russia's diplomatic campaign will play out over several months in advance of the meeting of leaders of the largest industrial countries, in July in Genoa, where Mr. Bush will make a diplomatic debut.

Speaking in Munich on Sunday, Mr. Putin's national security assistant, Sergei B. Ivanov, argued that "restraining the so-called rogue nations - to use the American terminology - may be carried out more effectively from the standpoint of both cost and effectiveness by means of a common political effort." He added, "The situation in North Korean is the obvious example, which a year ago seemed much worse than it does today."

Mr. Ivanov's remarks followed those on Saturday by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who sought to allay European concerns by offering to help extend any antimissile shield to Europe. He also pledged that the Bush administration would undertake extensive consultations with its allies and with Russia before making any decision to pull out of the 1972 treaty.

Though Mr. Rumsfeld seemed satisfied that he had given European leaders a reasoned set of arguments that the United States is seeking no advantage in pursuing missile defenses and that it is determined to be the master of its own security, a number of senior Republican members of Congress worried aloud on the return flight to Washington that the United States was isolating itself while driving Europe and Russia closer together.

In Washington today, the former NATO secretary general, Javier Solana, who is now the foreign policy chief of the European Union, said that while the United States had the "right to deploy" an antimissile shield, doing so "has consequences that go far beyond" putting such a system in place.

Before meeting Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser to President Bush, Mr. Solana told reporters, "We have to start talking, and I hope whatever is done is beneficial to the alliance and to the stability of the world."

Russia has asserted that if the United States ultimately withdraws from the 1972 treaty, all of the strategic arms accords negotiated over the last 30 years will become invalid because they are based on the common principle of prohibiting an arms race in defensive weapons.

American officials have repeatedly asserted that an antimissile system of 100 interceptors initially would not be directed at or effective against Russia's arsenal of 3,000 or more strategic delivery systems. But the Russian military establishment continues to express doubt that any American antimissile shield would remain a limited system.

Konstantin V. Cherevkov, a senior missile scientist at the Russian Space Academy, wrote last week in a newspaper commentary that "Russia considers the American position deceptive."

"There is reason to believe that the fielding of national antiballistic missile infrastructure would allow for a subsequent increase in its capabilities, to a level that would fully block our retaliatory capability," he wrote.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/06/world/06RUSS.html

2/6/01
3:01:22 PM

Greetings fellow Greens,

Thanks and congratulations to all green party supporters, we are now a legal political entity in Sarasota County!

The exciting minutes from the last meeting can be read on our website

http://www.sarasotagreenparty.org.

Feel free to join us at one of the following upcoming events:

February 10 - Dr.Michio Kaku presentation at Falk theater in Tampa. we will be setting up a Sarasota Green Party table. All those who wish to attend, please meet at Sudikoff Center parking lot (New College campus) at 4:30pm to carpool up there. (Please note the meeting time has been changed from 4:00 to 4:30) Please be prompt.

February 10/11 Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Sarasota - About 30 Coalition members will be coming through Sarasota on February 10th -11th, where they will spend time on New College campus. They want to visit campuses all over Florida - teaching students about their situation and encouraging them to come out to an hour-long protest outside of a nearby Taco Bell. The Community meeting will start at 7:00 PM, Saturday, Feb. 10th and the following Taco Bell action is 12:00 PM, Sunday, Feb. 11th.

February 16, 2001 at 6:30 p.m.Welcome Governor Jeb Bush to Sarasota for the Republican Party of Sarasota County's annual Lincoln Day dinner - $60 per person to go inside and hob nob with local Republicans or FREE to bring signs, stand outside and introduce Governor Bush to the Sarasota Green Party.

February 22 - 15th Annual Mayor's Interfaith Interracial Breakfast - 7:30 am - Hyatt Hotel - $20 per person - To reserve a seat, please send check to IIC - Mayor's Breakfast PMB #205 5824 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, FL 34233-5065

February 21, 4 - 6 pm, Sarasota News & Books on Main St. - Joe Glazer, Labor's Troubadour - For over half a century, labor balladeer, Joe Glazer has worked as a labor advisor for the USIA and for the Textile Workers Union of America. He has recorded more than thirty albums and CDs of labor and political songs and songs of social commentary. His vivid memoir, Labor's Troubadour, now describes his encounters with Jacqueline Kennedy, Harry Truman, Adlai Stevenson and dozens of celebrities in his efforts to galvanize support for better wages and working conditions, for striking workers all over the world. Mr. Glazer will discuss his life and give a concert before his book signing.

Feel free to call Nick or Heidi 349-1547 if you have any questions.

Thank you all,

Sarasota Green Party

2/6/01
2:55:57 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

CLIMATE CHANGE COSTS COULD TOP $300 BILLION ANNUALLY

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 5, 2001 (ENS) - One of the world's largest re-insurance firms is warning that climate change could cost the world more than three hundred billion dollars each year.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-05-02.html

COMPUTER RELATED ELECTRICITY USE OVERESTIMATED

BERKELEY, California, February 5, 2001 (ENS) - A new study of the power consumed by office computers and Internet equipment by a group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found that this equipment uses about two percent of the total electricity use in the U.S.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-05-06.html

ENVIRONMENT A WEAPON IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

GAZA, February 5, 2001 (ENS) - Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are suspended until after the elections in Israel scheduled for February 6. But in the meantime, the Palestinians say the Israelis are destroying the environment of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to intimidate them.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-05-01.html

PUBLIC GAINS INFLUENCE UNDER EU's NEW GREEN LAW

BRUSSELS, Belgium, February 5, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission has adopted the proposal for a new law that will increase public participation in plans concerning the environment. Meanwhile, it is taking legal action against Austria and Germany for not enforcing a current environmental law.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-05-11.html

LONDON MAKES UP FOR LOST BIODIVERSITY

LONDON, United Kingdom, February 5, 2001 (ENS) - Under a biodiversity strategy launched last week, admission to leading nature attractions such as Kew Gardens and London Zoo will be free to children. The new Passport to Nature is part of a plan to awaken Londoners to the biodiversity thriving in the UK capital.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-05-10.html

INTERACTIVE MAP DOCUMENTS GLOBAL HOTSPOTS

WASHINGTON, DC, February 5, 2001 (ENS) - Seven of the largest environmental groups in the United States have collaborated to produce an interactive map of the world illustrating the realities of global climate change.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-05-03.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: FEBRUARY 5, 2001

New York City Council Passes Anti-Whaling Resolution

Annual Report Shows Less Overfishing

Record $800 Million Paid for Mineral Production

Dry Cleaning Chemicals Force California Cleanup

EPA Offering Free Toxics Workshops in Denver

Klamath Refuge Fights for Water Rights

Vanguard Joins Energy Star Partnership

Marine Life Artist Helps Students Visualize Science

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-05-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Kvaerner Joins Masada OxyNol(TM) Team To Build New York Garbage-to-Ethanol Plant

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Feb. 5 -/E-Wire/-- Masada OxyNol(TM) LLC (Birmingham) announced today an agreement with Kvaerner Process Services Inc. (KPSI) to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for a waste-to-ethanol conversion facility in Middletown, New York valued at over $100 million.

/CONTACT: Tim Judge of Masada OxyNol LLC, 845-341-1721, or 914-366-4218/

http://www.masada.com/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/05Feb0105.html

TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Startech Environmental Sells Plasma Converter for Rhode Island Installation

WILTON, CT, Feb. 5 -/E-Wire/-- Startech Environmental Corp. (Nasdaq: STHK), the world leader in plasma waste destruction and recycling technology, announced today it has contracted for the sale of a 10,000 pound per day commercial Plasma Converter(TM) system (PC(TM)) with Unistar/Peras, LLC. The system will be used to process hazardous and toxic waste. The Company received a significant down payment and the contract provides for scheduled manufacturing progress payments. Manufacturing is expected to commence within sixty (60) days.

/CONTACT: Robert L. DeRochie, VP of Investor Relations of Startech Environmental Corp., 203-762-2499, or fax, 203-761-0839, or email, starmail@startech.net/

http://www.startech.net/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/05Feb0104.html

TO BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND CITY EDITORS:

P-Series Motor Fuel a Success in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, PA, Feb. 5 -/E-Wire/-- The City of Philadelphia is pleased to report that Pure Energy's P-Series motor fuel has successfully completed a demonstration program in Ford Taurus FFV's. The fuel program launched in June of 1999 by former Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson and former Mayor of Philadelphia Edward G. Rendell proved the effectiveness of the P-Series motor fuel, a new alternative fuel which is made largely from ethanol and is essentially sulfur free.

/CONTACT: Scott Dunlop of Pure Energy Corporation, 949-888-8560/

http://www.pure-energy.com/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/05Feb0102.html

FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND POLITICAL EDITORS:

NRDC Proposes a Responsible Energy Policy for the 21st Century,Shows How Arctic Refuge Drilling Won't Bring Energy Independence

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 5 -/E-Wire/-- NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) will unveil an innovative new plan for U.S. energy policy that will meet the nation's needs and save consumers billions of dollars annually, without destroying pristine wilderness areas or rolling back environmental safeguards.

/CONTACT: Elliott Negin or Liz Heyd, NRDC, (202) 289-6868/

http://www.nrdc.org

http://www.ems.org/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/05Feb0103.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

EcologyFund.com Announces Two New Conservation Projects and Faster Web Design

ANN ARBOR, MI, Feb. 5 -/E-Wire/-- EcologyFund.com (a leading click-to-donate Web site, has announced the addition of two projects, one in Scotland and one in Eastern United States, and a new, faster site design. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has partnered with EcologyFund to present their project to purchase adjacent land to the existing 21,000 acre Forsinard blanket bog nature preserve in the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland, in northern Scotland.

/CONTACT: Jessica Frost, 734-213-7777, jfrost@ecologyfund.com/

http://www.ecologyfund.com//

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb01/05Feb0101.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

2/6/01
2:55:14 PM

World Environment News from Planet Ark

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

Pilots, hunters fined for illegal Alaska hunting - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9702

UK to miss emissions reduction target by 20 pct - study - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9703

Ill wind blows some good, boosts UK windpower - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9704

ANALYSIS - Lame marketing turns UK consumers off green power - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9705

Norway approves wolf hunt to howls of protest - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9706

German 2000 power output rose three percent yr/yr - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9700

FEATURE - Lonesome George faces own Galapagos tortoise curse - ECUADOR http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9708

Scientists start work on Cameroon's killer lakes - CAMEROON http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9707

Simsmetal moves into renewable energy - AUSTRALIA

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9701

2/6/01
2:54:48 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. THE WHOLE KITZ AND KABOODLE Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) told Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Friday that the Bush administration should focus on conservation rather than "drilling and digging and burning" as a way to solve energy problems. His comments came as Abraham met with Western governors about the California energy crisis and its effects on other states. California Gov. Gray Davis (D) talked up a conservation plan in his state to reduce energy demand by as much as 20 percent, and said he was doing his part to cut back on energy use: "My office is so dark you can almost develop film in the office."

straight to the source: New York Times, Sam Howe Verhovek, 03 Feb 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/03/national/03GOVS.html>

2. WILD HORSES COULDN'T KEEP THEM AWAY The fate of 600,000 acres of high desert in Wyoming now lies in the hands of President Bush. Just before leaving office, former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt ruled that conservation should be the top priority for the land, which is home to some of the continent's largest herds of desert elk, antelope, and wild horses. Wyoming is one of two states where a president cannot unilaterally designate a national monument -- otherwise, Babbitt might have recommended such protection for the area. Unfortunately for greenies, the land, known as the Jack Morrow Hills, is also thought to contain big supplies of natural gas. It seems likely that the Bush White House will give priority to energy development on the land.

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 04 Feb 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/04/politics/04LAND.html>

3. TAKING IT ON THE CHEN The debate over whether to continue construction of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant continues to roil the country. Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, a Democrat Progressive who swept the Nationalist Party out of power after 55 years of rule last March, stopped construction in October, saying the $5.5 billion plant was unnecessary and would create serious environmental and safety risks. Last week, however, the country's Nationalist-dominated legislature voted to reverse Chen's decision. Chen's government at first said that it was under no obligation to follow the vote. But the news today is that the Democrat Progressives have agreed to resume construction through this year, under the condition that a newly elected legislature will have the final say on the plant next year.

straight to the source: New York Times, Mark Landler, 31 Jan 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/31/world/31CND-TAIW.html>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

Monica who? -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha013001.stm>

The milky way -- are we losing touch with good, simple things? -- by Donella Meadows <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen013001.stm>

Desert storm -- Utah residents fight back against toxic contamination -- in our Books Unbound section

<http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books100400.stm>

2/6/01
2:54:18 PM

Global Village News & Resources

Issue # 8 - February 5, 2001

http://www.savesite.net/gvnr

Futurist Community Blooms in Least Likely Location COLUMBIA - You've head about the drug trade, the guerilla wars & the civil strife. What you haven't heard about are the many extraordinary efforts being made by ordinary Columbians to create model communities of the future. Take "Gaviotas" for example. http://savesite.net/gvnr/articles/020101_1.html

Depositors Decide Where Bank Invests Their Money USA - At the Vermont National Bank, the Socially Responsible Banking Fund allows its 11,000 depositors to decide the bank will use their money. http://savesite.net/gvnr/articles/020101_2.html

A Laughing Club? Just What The Doctor Ordered! INDIA - The healing benefits of humor are nothing new in the ancient traditions of the East. But like much ancient wisdom, it is only recently being rediscovered. Our story begins in Bombay, India, where a local doctor has instigated a trend for medicinal 'laughing clubs'. http://savesite.net/gvnr/articles/020101_3.html

Global Resources Websites devoted to Positive Planetary Transformation

Communities Ecovillage Network of the Americas ENA promotes and facilitates communities, rural or urban, which develop and implement technologies and practices living in community in a sustainable way - in peace with one another and in harmony with nature, considering the needs of future generations for a safe and healthy planet to inhabit. http://ena.ecovillage.org

Consciousness World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality The charge of the Commission is the urgent task of developing global wisdom, ethics and spirituality through deep dialogue to help guide the planet towards creative solutions of the great human, cultural and ecological problems. The Commission is co-chaired by Robert Muller & Karan Singh. www.globalspirit.org

Directories South African Wellnet A network of South African holistic practitioners. Website includes the latest wellness news, humor, advice, updates on workshops and information on wellness providers, plus lots more on the wellness front in South Africa. http://www.wellnet.co.za/

Earth Mysteries & Ancient Civilizations The Great Pyramid of Giza Research Association The largest International Association studying the Great Pyramid with over 750 members. Includes lots of interesting articles about the pyramids. http://gizapyramid.com

Relationships Relationship Skills Want to improve your relationship skills? This website will tell you how! http://www.communicationpractices.org/

Contact Addresses:

The Editor: Michael Lightweaver mailto:lightweave@aol.com

Network 2012: http://www.N2012.com

2/6/01
2:53:38 PM

Public Citizen

Feb. 5, 2001

Nuclear Plant Fire and Shutdown Contribute to California's Electricity Woes

Breaker Explosion Shows Flaws in NRC's Industry-Friendly Maintenance Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The emergency shutdown this weekend of San Onofre nuclear reactor No. 3 not only exacerbates California's energy crisis but provides a disturbing example of why the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) industry-friendly maintenance rules are inadequate to stave off catastrophic failures, Public Citizen said today.

The reactor, located on U.S. 5 between San Diego and Los Angeles, had been shut down for about a month for refueling and maintenance. It was in the process of being brought back into operation on Saturday when one of the electrical breakers in the plant "failed catastrophically," according to an NRC event report. The breaker exploded, causing a short and a fire that forced the reactor to be shut down. It will likely remain down for several weeks. The reactor generates approximately 1,100 megawatts, or enough to power 1.1 million homes, according to published reports.

The NRC's maintenance rule requires utilities to do preventive maintenance of "important equipment" to ensure there are no catastrophic failures. But the NRC and the nuclear industry have been cutting back on the amount of time a nuclear reactor is taken out of service for refueling and maintenance by narrowing the scope of work conducted and allowing more maintenance to be conducted while the reactor is operating. The idea is to increase the utility's profitability by decreasing the time reactors are down. The breaker that blew on Saturday is not considered "important equipment," so it is not covered by NRC's maintenance rule.

"The NRC and the nuclear industry have been skimping on maintenance during refueling to improve the profitability of nuclear reactors," said Jim Riccio, senior policy analyst for Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The nuclear industry's shortsightedness and greed may extend California's electricity woes for several more weeks as the nuclear plant recovers from the fire. Rather than providing relief to California's electricity crisis, the nuclear industry is contributing to it."

The utility declared Saturday's explosion and fire to be an "unusual event" -- the lowest level of the four emergency event classifications used by the NRC.

2/6/01
2:51:34 PM

20,000 Decibels Under the Sea

A new Navy underwater sonar system threatens whales and dolphins

By Leora Broydo, Utne Reader

Jacques Cousteau took us to the bottom of the ocean and back in his acclaimed 1953 book, Le Monde du Silence (The Silent World). His documentary film bearing the same title won an Oscar in 1957. Today, Cousteau might have chosen a different name for his works, perhaps 20,000 Decibels Under the Sea.

Cousteau's undersea world is getting to be a noisy place. You may not have heard the sounds of supertankers, cargo ships, military testing, or oil drilling on your Songs of the Humpback Whales CD, but they're out there in force. Environmentalists say the ever-increasing racket poses a serious threat to marine animals and that steps should be taken to protect them. At least one perpetrator of underwater noise, the U.S. Navy, is hearing the message loud and clear.

The Navy is drawing fire over its use of a new low-frequency active sonar (LFAF) system, which their experts say is essential for detecting superquiet enemy submarines developed for the post’ÄìCold War seascape. It works by generating blasts of sound at upwards of 230 decibels (a jet engine is about 120 decibels at the source) from massive transmitters that ships drag through the water; technicians then interpret the echoes. The Navy wants to use this technology in 80 percent of the world's oceans.

Herein lies the rub: Some marine mammals also use low-frequency sound to communicate, feed, and navigate. "Bottlenose dolphins can distinguish between a cube and a sphere of similar size just by listening to their echoes," writes Chris Clarke in Earth Island Journal (Summer 2000).

The question is, will the new sonar system harm these sound-sensitive creatures? The Navy claims its research shows LFA poses no significant threat to marine life. But an unusual coalition of animal activists,environmentalists, scientists, and politicians say the Navy doesn't have enough proof.

"We believe the research program on LFA sonar conducted by the Navy has been inadequate," states a letter signed by 26 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to Secretary of Defense William Cohen. "Because sound produced by the LFA sonar system is designed to travel over vast distances, and because the sound produced by the system is so powerful, there is a growing scientific concern that the use of LFA sonar will interfere with the natural behavior of many marine species, especially marine mammals."

In 1999 the Navy released a study of the effects of LFAS exposure on whales off the coasts of California and the Hawaiian Islands. Independent scientists working in conjunction with the Navy found the sound blasts did have an impact: Vocalizations of fin and blue whales decreased, gray whales deviated from their migration paths (the louder the sound, the greater the deviation), and about one-third of the humpback whales stopped singing.

The Navy's conclusion, that these changes have "no lasting biological significance," raised the ire of critics. "These experiments only tested immediate observable changes in behavior to an exposure level of around 150 decibels, a sound well below the 240 decibel level at which the technology will be deployed," writes marine researcher Leigh Calvez in The Ecologist (June 2000).

Indeed, it's what the report doesn't say that opponents find so compelling. During the tests off Hawaii, notes Earth Island Journal, members of the Hawai'i Ocean Mammal Institute found two abandoned whale calves and a baby dolphin in the test area. "We have never heard of anyone observing an abandoned calf in our nine years of research off the Hawaiian Islands," OMI's Marsha Green told Earth Island Journal. "The sonar tests may cause disorientation so the mother and calf become separated and then cannot find each other."

In May 1996, 12 Cuvier's beaked whales beached themselves and died on the Kyparissiakos Gulf coastline in Greece. The whales, a breed that rarely gets beached, were healthy and young and had no external signs of injury or disease. Writing in the journal Nature, A. Frantzis of the Department of Biology at the University of Athens, Greece, noted that a NATO vessel was conducting low-frequency sonar tests in the gulf at the same time as the whale deaths.

"We know that LFAS was used in the Kyparissiakos Gulf. We also know that no other LFAS tests or mass strandings have occurred in the Greek Ionian Sea since 1981. Taking the past 16.5 years into account, the probability of a mass stranding occurring for other reasons during the period of the LFAS tests is less than 0.07 percent," wrote Frantzis.

Most recently, in March 2000, 17 marine mammals of various species stranded at several locations in the Northern Bahamas islands; seven died, while others were pushed back into the sea. A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a government agency, concludes that "injuries to the six beaked whale heads were all consistent with an intense acoustic or pressure event . . . in particular all had some hemorrhages in or around the ears." The strandings occurred the same day five Navy ships were in the area using mid-frequency active sonar, which is far less powerful than their LFA sonar system.

"The lesson to be taken is be precautionary," says Michael Jasny, a policy consultant for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "There are too many uncertainties and risks to deploy a system of such wide geographic reach." Nonetheless, the Navy is sticking to its guns and plans to move forward with deployment.

Where's Jacques Cousteau when you need him?

http://www.utne.com

2/6/01
2:44:18 PM

2001 Montana Legislature

SENATE BILL NO. 261

INTRODUCED BY C. CHRISTIAENS

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE PRODUCTION OF INDUSTRIAL HEMP AS AN AGRICULTURAL CROP; REQUIRING THAT A LICENSE BE OBTAINED PRIOR TO GROWING INDUSTRIAL HEMP; REQUIRING THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BE NOTIFIED WHEN GROWING OR SELLING INDUSTRIAL HEMP; PROVIDING RULEMAKING AUTHORITY TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; PROVIDING FOR THE DISPOSITION OF FEES; PROVIDING AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE FOR THE POSSESSION OR CULTIVATION OF MARIJUANA; PROVIDING AN EXEMPTION TO CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF DANGEROUS DRUGS AND CRIMINAL PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF DANGEROUS DRUGS FOR INDUSTRIAL HEMP PRODUCTION AS AN AGRICULTURAL CROP; REQUIRING THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO REQUEST A CHANGE OR WAIVER IN FEDERAL LAW; AND AMENDING SECTION 45-9-108, MCA." BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

NEW SECTION. Section 1. Definitions. As used in [sections 1 through 7], the following definitions apply:

(1) "Industrial hemp" means all parts and varieties of the plant Cannabis sativa L. containing no greater than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol.

(2) "Marijuana" means all plant material from the genus cannabis containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or seeds of the genus capable of germination.

NEW SECTION. Section 2. Industrial hemp authorized as agricultural crop. Industrial hemp that has no more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol is considered an agricultural crop in this state. Upon meeting the requirements of [section 3], an individual in this state may plant, grow, harvest, possess, process, sell, or buy industrial hemp if the industrial hemp does not contain more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol.

NEW SECTION. Section 3. Industrial hemp -- licensing. (1) An individual growing industrial hemp for commercial purposes shall apply to the department for a license on a form prescribed by the department.

(2) The application for a license must include the name and address of the applicant and the legal description of the land area to be used for the production of industrial hemp.

(3) The department shall require each first-time applicant for a license to file a set of the applicant's fingerprints, taken by a law enforcement officer, and any other information necessary to complete a statewide and nationwide criminal history check with the criminal investigation bureau of the department of justice for state processing and with the federal bureau of investigation for federal processing. All costs associated with the criminal history check are the responsibility of the applicant. Criminal history records provided to the department under this section are confidential. The department may use the records only to determine if an applicant is eligible to receive a license for the production of industrial hemp. If the applicant has completed the application process to the satisfaction of the department, the department shall issue the license, which is valid until December of that year. An individual licensed under this section is presumed to be growing industrial hemp for commercial purposes.

(4) The licensing requirements of [sections 1 through 7] do not apply to employees of the agricultural experiment station or the Montana state university-Bozeman extension service involved in research and extension-related activities.

NEW SECTION. Section 4. Industrial hemp production -- notification requirements. (1) Each licensee shall file with the department:

(a) documentation showing that the seeds planted are of a type and variety certified to have no more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol; and

(b) a copy of any contract to grow industrial hemp.

(2) Each licensee shall notify the department of the sale or distribution of any industrial hemp grown by the licensee, including the name and address of the person receiving the industrial hemp.

NEW SECTION. Section 5. Rulemaking authority. The department shall adopt rules that include but are not limited to:

(1) testing of the industrial hemp during growth to determine tetrahydrocannabinol levels;

(2) supervision of the industrial hemp during its growth and harvest;

(3) assessment of a fee that is commensurate with the costs of the department's activities in licensing, testing, and supervising industrial hemp production; and

(4) any other rules and procedures necessary to carry out [sections 1 through 7].

NEW SECTION. Section 6. Disposition of fees. All fees assessed as provided in [section 5] must be deposited with the state treasurer to the credit of the state special revenue fund for the use of the department for administering and enforcing [sections 1 through 7].

NEW SECTION. Section 7. Affirmative defense for possession or cultivation of marijuana. (1) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution for the possession or cultivation of marijuana under 45-9-102, 45-9-103, and 45-9-110 that:

(a) the defendant was growing industrial hemp pursuant to [sections 1 through 7];

(b) the defendant had valid applicable controlled substances registrations from the United States department of justice, drug enforcement administration; and

(2) This section is not an affirmative defense to a charge of criminal sale or distribution of marijuana.

Section 8. Section 45-9-108, MCA, is amended to read:

"45-9-108. Exemptions. (1) The provisions of 45-9-107 do not apply to:

(a) a drug manufacturer licensed by the state;

(b) a person authorized by rules adopted by the board of pharmacy to possess the combination of substances;

(c) a person employed by or enrolled as a student in a college or university within the state who possesses any combination of substances listed in 45-9-107 for the purposes of teaching or research which that is authorized by the college or university.

(2) The board of pharmacy shall adopt, amend, or repeal rules in accordance with the Montana Administrative Procedure Act to authorize the processing of any combination of the substances listed in 45-9-107 whenever it determines that there is a legitimate need and that the substances will be used for a lawful purpose.

(3) The provisions of 45-9-102, 45-9-103, and 45-9-110 do not apply to [section 2]."

NEW SECTION. Section 9. Request for federal change or waiver. The department shall send a copy of [this act], along with a request for a change in federal law or a waiver that will allow [this act] to be effective without federal preemption, to the Montana congressional delegation and the director of the drug enforcement administration.

NEW SECTION. Section 10. Codification instruction. [Sections 1 through 7] are intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 80, and the provisions of Title 80 apply to [sections 1 through 7].

2/6/01
2:43:40 PM

CAPITOL PRESS AGRICULTURE WEEKLY

Serving California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and other western states.

EDITORIAL OPINIONS

Oregon Hemp Bill Careful Step in Right Direction

SALEM, OR - The hemp seed at last has been planted in the Oregon Legislature. That ought to be the first step to a profitable harvest on the farms and ranches of the state.

The bill for cautious legalization of growing industrial hemp contains the important lesson that hemp and its troublesome cousin, marijuana, are not one and the same.

How well is that lesson learned? It will be a good test of the Legislature to generate support among lawmakers from both parties, from both houses and from urban and rural constituencies.

The proposal ought to have that kind of broad support. It has found it in other states that have authorized experimentation with the plant.

More than 30 foreign countries that regularly produce hemp wonder what the concern is all about in the United States.

Americans should wonder, too. And certainly their farmers should. Why should they be deprived of a choice that puts money in the banks of their competitors abroad? Industrial hemp offers them the prospect of another crop, one with the potential of earning them about $300 an acre.

Northwest farmers, always looking for rotation and alternative crops, clearly would appreciate having such an option. And they should.

The problem is paranoia over marijuana. When hemp was first banned back in the '30s, marijuana was blamed, even though it's likely that competition from other fiber, such as wood, was the real culprit.

When there was a need for the tough fiber in World War II, the ban was easily jettisoned with barely a murmur, only to be reinstalled when the war was over. But the plant has grown wild throughout much of the country since then.

The close relationship between the plant that produces strong fiber and the one that produces an illegal drug is undeniable. But they are not identical. Hemp contains only trace amounts of the intoxicant found in marijuana. Indeed, researchers have found a quality in hemp that inhibits the intoxicant, thereby characterizing hemp as the anti-marijuana cousin.

An argument is advanced that the two are so alike hemp could be a cover crop for marijuana. But those who make that argument display a serious lack of knowledge about agriculture. Hemp is grown for its strong fiber. It's therefore tightly bunched, grown tall and spindly, and harvested early. Marijuana is grown for its flowers and leaves. Thus, it therefore spreads out like a bush. And it would be left bare for drug enforcement officers to spot when the taller hemp is harvested.

The bill before the Legislature is a careful step, as it should be when there's so much concern about an issue. It would place the plant under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The department would be responsible for issuing licenses and conducting tests.

That's a reasonable beginning.

So let's begin. Let's stop connecting hemp with drugs and start connecting it with profits for the farmer and therefore the state's economy.

It's a shame to lock away a plant with such a valuable product for something its naughty cousin is guilty of. (END)

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2/6/01
2:43:17 PM

World Environment News from Planet Ark

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2/6/01
2:42:48 PM

THE LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR Lincoln, Nebraska

Hemp bill advances out of committee

By Ken Hambleton

LINCOLN - Hemp grew out of the Agriculture Committee Thursday afternoon by a unanimous 7-0 vote.

Under the bill, industrial hemp - argued as a nonhallucinogenic cousin of the drug cannabis sativa - would be grown by licensed farmers under supervision of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and the state Department of Agriculture.

Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek introduced LB273 with the hopes of expanding markets for industrial hemp. He said that many other states -- and most other industrial countries, including Canada -- have developed their own markets for hemp, and the United States currently imports some for products ranging from clothes to house-building material.

"I really don't think this bill and the use of industrial hemp is as controversial as it might first look," Schrock said. He added that there is no chance of getting any more than a headache from smoking hemp.

The original bill was amended to help law enforcement agencies in regulating the growth of hemp. "We've done some things requested by the DEA and the State Patrol to make it so someone with hemp - a concentrate of 0.3 percent THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the hallucinogen in marijuana) - and a license, is different than a guy on the street with the drug in a baggie claiming he's growing hemp," said Rick Leonard, research analyst for the Agriculture Committee.

Even though the bill advanced out of committee, it appears unlikely to reach the floor of the Legislature for debate since there are so many bills ahead of it, Schrock said. If he determined to make the bill a priority or if the committee chose to do the same, there is a chance, he said.

A similar bill advanced out of committee last year but did not reach the first round of debates.

Email Ken Hambleton at: khambleton@journalstar.com

2/6/01
2:42:20 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

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GLOBAL WARMING PORTENDS WATER, POWER SHORTAGES IN AMERICAN WEST

By Cat Lazaroff

BERKELEY, California, February 2, 2001 (ENS) - California's current energy and water shortages may be a sign of things to come. Within the next 50 years, California and other western states will face serious water problems because of an increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, say scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-02-06.html

RENEWABLES THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE OF CALIFORNIA'S ENERGY CRUNCH

SACRAMENTO, California, February 2, 2001 (ENS) - Governor Gray Davis has signed legislation authorizing the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to enter into long term contracts to purchase and sell power for the next two years.

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CANADA INTRODUCES SPECIES AT RISK ACT - AGAIN

OTTAWA, Canada, February 2, 2001 (ENS) - For the third time in six years, Canada's environment minister has introduced species at risk legislation.

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-02-11.html

WORLD WETLANDS DAY FEATURES THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

GLAND, Switzerland, February 2, 2001 (ENS) - Albanians and Indonesians are planting trees, in Eritrea, they are counting birds and in Greece children are painting posters. From Panama to Pakistan and Trinidad to Thailand, people are celebrating World Wetlands Day on this, the 30th anniversary of the signing of Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-02-10.html

ALEUTIAN CANADA GEESE: A CONSERVATION SUCCESS STORY

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, February 2, 2001 (ENS) - Thanks to recovery efforts spanning more than three decades, world populations of the Aleutian Canada goose have increased from perhaps as few as 300 birds to an estimated 37,000. In the mid-1970s, the subspecies of small Canada goose, found only on a few of Alaska's Aleutian Islands and in areas of California and Oregon, numbered only in the hundreds.

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-02-07.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN

Roadless Policy Challenged in Alaska Lawsuit

Religious Groups Campaign to Save America's Forests

Study Proclaims Farm Raised Fish Safe

Website Helps Consumers Recycle Used Electronics

Drug Lab Crackdown Involves Environmental Cleanup

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Groundhogs Make Poor Weather Predictors

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President Bush Urged to Keep National Parks Campaign Promise by Members of Congress, Park Advocates

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 2 -/E-Wire/-- The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) was joined by key Republicans and Democrats this week in urging President Bush to substantially increase national parks funding in his fiscal year 2002 budget, expected to be submitted to Congress later this month.

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