9/8/01
2:42:57 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
CLEANUP SLOW, ERRATIC AT CLOSED U.S. MILITARY SITES
WASHINGTON, DC, September 7, 2001 (ENS) - The United States is making poor progress at cleaning up contaminated former military sites, a new Congressional report reveals. The year long study, requested by two Democratic Representatives, found that the Army Corps of Engineers' goal of cleaning up contaminated munitions sites by 2014 will fall short by more than 50 years.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-07-06.html
NEW TEST MAKES SPOTTING DEADLY BERYLLIUM DUST EASIER
LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, September 7, 2001 (ENS) - Detecting hazardous beryllium on surfaces is now as simple as testing the acidity of a swimming pool, due to the work of scientists at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-07-03.html
TIGER-LEOPARD RESERVE SET ASIDE ON CHINESE-RUSSIAN BORDER
NEW YORK, New York, September 7, 2001 (ENS) - American, Chinese and Russian wildlife experts and several Chinese government agencies have joined forces to save endangered Siberian tigers and Far Eastern leopards.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-07-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: SEPTEMBER 7, 2001
West Nile Virus Strikes Maryland Man
White House Refuses to Release Energy Documents
NAFTA Used to Challenge Environmental Laws
California Crop Producing Human Protein
Snake, Columbia River Management Earns an F
Celebrity Cruises Settles Air Quality Charges
Nematode Worm Can Detoxify Heavy Metals
Hogarth Named NMFS Director
BLM Counters Environmental Claims on Energy Exploration
Digital Photojournalists Document Pacific Salmon Runs
For full text and graphics, please visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-07-09.html
9/8/01
2:32:27 PM
Wellstone Expresses Concern Over Shrinking Surplus Unbalanced Bush Tax Cuts Paint Bleak Fiscal Future, Crowd Out Investments in Education, Medicare Prescription Drugs
St. Paul, MN -- 08.22.01 | U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) expressed concern today over new budget figures released by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) showing that the previously projected non-Medicare, non-Social Security surplus for 2001 of $90 billion is gone. OMB's new revised surplus figures also show that for the longer term, only $575 billion of non-Social Security surpluses are projected over the next 10 years. In April, those estimates were $2.745 trillion.
The two major reasons for the dramatic decline in budget surplus estimates are a slowing economy and the Bush taxcuts. Wellstone described the Bush tax cuts as fiscally irresponsible, and said they will harshly affect future investments in national priorities such as education and establishment of a Medicare prescription drug benefit.
"Today's headlines are ominous for the fiscal health of our nation. But they are merely harbingers of the economic disaster that lurks in out future if we don't change course. It is 2002 and future fiscal years where we really need to worry about the massive drain of the Bush cuts on the treasury. This year the cost of the tax cuts is relatively modest and yet we are already being forced to tighten our belts and talk about forgoing important new investments in education, and healthcare," Wellstone said. "The new budget surplus estimates released today by OMB are a glimpse of what's to come: the surpluses celebrated at the beginning of this year have all but been eroded by a combination of the slowing economy and the Bush tax cuts."
"The President's reckless tax cuts were a Robin Hood-in-reverse raid on the federal Treasury with 40% of the benefit going to richest 1% of Americans. They also leave very little surplus left for education, for reforming Social Security, for a prescription drug benefit, or for environmental conservation. I supported the economic stimulus portion of the tax cuts - the rebate checks that many Americans have already begun to receive - to address the slowing economy. In fact, it was Congressional Democrats who insisted on including a stimulus this year in the first place - it wasn't in the President's proposal," Wellstone said.
Wellstone said a successful amendment he offered earlier this year with Senator Harkin (D-IA) to assure full funding of special education (IDEA) programs - bringing approximately $169 million per year in additional funding for special education students in Minnesota -- would now be endangered by the Bush management of the economy.
Source: http://www.truthout.com/0584.Wellstone.Surplus.htm
9/7/01
6:40:54 PM
Where were you on the day the world was born?
The Big Myth is a new experimental learning module designed for use in school classrooms. It is a fantastic introductory reference for the comparative study of world creation mythology. The myths are told using flash animation and are accompanied by an overview of the culture, the pantheon of the gods, and a series of exercises based on that culture. Highly recommended; it deserves its many design awards. Go to:
*Tour the Fantastic Forest
National Geographic lets you take a multimedia tour of the Fantastic Forest. Get your safari on at:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/96/forest/
*All the news that's fit to haiku
The fact that this site presents the day's news as haiku poetry is strange enough. The fact that the poems are computer-generated is eerie, particularly when you see how clever some of them can be. Go to:
http://www.headlinehaikus.com/
*Check out your phobias
Most people know about claustrophobia, agoraphobia, and xenophobia. But do you know what people fear when they suffer from ephebiphobia, logizomechanophobia, or homichlophobia? (Teenagers, computers, and fog.) Learn about hundreds of phobias at this site. Go to:
9/7/01
6:38:54 PM
Where were you on the day the world was born?
The Big Myth is a new experimental learning module designed for use in school classrooms. It is a fantastic introductory reference for the comparative study of world creation mythology. The myths are told using flash animation and are accompanied by an overview of the culture, the pantheon of the gods, and a series of exercises based on that culture. Highly recommended; it deserves its many design awards. Go to:
9/7/01
6:37:42 PM
When free trade is too much of a good thing
A senior World Bank official said that developing countries could gain $200 billion more a year to combat poverty if industrialized nations lowered trade barriers and increased foreign aid, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The WTO has scheduled a ministerial meeting in Qatar for November in an effort to revive progress on the next round of tariff reductions. But many difficulties remain unresolved. The WTO has made a number of appeals recently in an effort to stimulate interest in lowering trade barriers before the Qatar meeting. In a speech last spring at the London Business School, the WTO director-general affirmed that "the economic case for a new WTO round is compelling." Cutting barriers to trade in agriculture, manufacturing, and services by one-third would boost the world economy by $613 billion, he said.
9/7/01
6:35:21 PM
Home alone - a new U.S. standard
For the first time, the number of households with Americans living alone surpassed the number of married-couple households with children. Here's a few trends from the most recent U.S. census:
*The number of Americans living alone comprise 26% of all households.
*The percentage of married-couple households with children under 18 has declined to 23.5% of all households in 2000 from 25.6% in 1990.
*Households headed by single mothers account for 7% of all households
*The number of unmarried couples in the U.S. nearly doubled in the 1990s, to 5.5 million from 3.2 million in 1990.
*The median age of first marriage for men: 27 The median age of first marriage for women: 25 In 1960, it was 20 years old for men, 22 for women.
*The median age of the country's population: 35.3
Source: U.S. Census and The New York Times
9/7/01
6:33:22 PM
CONFERENCE ON RELIGION, CRIME & PUNISHMENT
The International Conference on Religion, Crime, & Punishment, September 24-25, 2001, Rosen Centre Hotel, Orlando, Fla. Theologians, philosophers, criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, legal scholars, historians, clergy, and professionals from the social service and government sectors will examine the following topics: Crime and Religion; Punishment and Religion; Church and State Relationships; Philosophy of Science and Religion. Registration fee is $165. For additional conference and registration information visit
or contact Dr. Karol Lucken at (407) 823-6487.
9/7/01
6:32:07 PM
September 29th and 30th, Washington, D.C.
Thousands of protesters will gather on the streets of D.C. the last weekend in September. Sojourners is actively organizing to make sure these demonstrations are peaceful and nonviolent. We invite you to join us.
Sojourners is part of the "Religious Working Group on the IMF and World Bank," whose agenda is to call to accountability the economic policies of these two institutions. We do this through regular dialogue with influential members within the IMF and World Bank and through on-the-ground resistance to policies that hurt poor people here in the United States and around the world. Our word to them is simple and clear: Put the poor first.
Sojourners invites you to be involved in four activities:
1. "A Fast for Justice and Life: Resisting Violence in the Global Economy." During the recent G-8 meetings the European religious community organized a "rolling prayer fast." In the U.S. (and around the world) we would like to do the same for the September 29-30 meetings in Washington, D.C. We'll write more about this in upcoming SojoMails, but to get a comprehensive outreach kit sooner call Witness for Peace at (202) 588-1471 or the Religous Working Group at http://www.religiouswg.org.
2. "The Interfaith Service of Commitment to Restoration and Justice in the Global Economy." Yikes! What a name! On Saturday, September 29, 8:30 p.m., at St. Aloyisius Church in D.C., the people of God will come together to worship, pray, praise, and plead with God to bring a reign of justice right down on the heads of the rich, the IMF, the Bank, and the poor. This will be followed by an all-night candlelight prayer vigil in front of the World Bank. For more information on this call the Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns at (202) 832-1780. If you are not able to join us here in D.C., consider a vigil or service at your place of worship, home, shopping mall, or federal building, or other creative location.
3. Sign the "Call to Communities of Faith: Global Arrogance or Planetary Community?" Rabbi Arthur Waskow and the Shalom Center have invited people to join them during Yom Kippur (September 26) to reflect and act on issues of power, care for the earth, the rights of the worker, and responsibility toward the common good. Sojourners has signed on to this and we hope you will too. For more on this contact Rabbi Arthur Waskow at awaskow@aol.com.
4. Last, but not least, is the September 30 presence on the Ellipse (south side of the White House) for everyone to come together in a day of celebration, teaching, and community. This gathering will have a three-platform political agenda: a) Opposing "Fast Track" trade negotiating authority and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas; b) Supporting cancellation of poor countries' debt and socially and environmentally harmful World Bank and IMF policies; c) Full funding for the Global AIDS Fund.
Source: http://www.sojo.net
9/7/01
6:12:51 PM
The Nation
A new counteroffensive has been launched in the drug war: Financiers have begun to retaliate against allegations of money laundering and drug trafficking with a series of unprecedented lawsuits. If successful, the suits could hinder future investigations into the G spot of the drug trade, where billions of dollars in illicit profits meet the highest precincts of international finance.
For the full story read investigative reporter Mark Schapiro's "Drug War On Trial," from the September 17 issue of The Nation. Currently available at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010917&s=schapiro
THE IMF AND WORLD BANK PROTESTS
Tens of thousands of people plan to be in Washington, DC at the end of this month to protest the unfettered free-market policies pushed by the IMF and the World Bank. To help cover and encourage these activities, The Nation has created an IMF/World Bank Protest Page. We'll be collecting a variety of online information in this space, including media resources; activist info; links to the main protest groups and relevant archival articles. So check it out at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/2001imf.mhtml
AL DON'T RUN
Now that Al Gore has returned to the stage, it's an appropriate time to issue a heartfelt plea: Al, don't do it! Spare us another Gore campaign. Please, don't run. David Corn reports:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010917&s=corn
NEEDED: FRESH CONTENDERS
At a moment when George W. Bush is doing everything in his power to illustrate the inability of conservatives to manage the affairs of state, there is a dramatic opening for progressives. This is a rare circumstance--following a contested election, with a bizarrely divided government--and it calls for bold approaches. John Nichols explains:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010917&s=nichols
JEB VS. JANET IN FLORIDA
Janet Reno's announcement that she'll challenge presidential brother Jeb Bush in next year's Florida gubernatorial race sets the stage for the marquee melee of the midterm elections. Read Miami-based reporter John Lantigua's recent Nation editorial for more:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010702&s=lantigua
THE DISHONEST DEBATE
Bush lied. About the cost of his tax cut. About who benefits. About his budget. He lied when he claimed he could throw money at the military, fund a prescription drug benefit, pass his tax cut and still not touch the Social Security surplus. Robert Borosage on Dubya's mendaciousness:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010917&s=borosage
RECENT NATION ARTICLES
You can still read recent articles of interest on The Nation's site, on the U.N. Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa; on the Palestinian intifada; on former Teamster boss Ron Carey's prosecution and on John Sweeney's six-year tenure as head of the AFL-CIO. All this and more at:
9/7/01
6:09:53 PM
LET THE BAN ROLL ON
Democrats in the U.S. Congress and environmentalists pressed the Bush administration yesterday to uphold the policy approved by former President Clinton to ban road-building and logging on a third of the country's national forests. They say that more than 2 million Americans have told the government they favor the ban, a record number of comments regarding a federal rule. The Bush administration disapproves of the ban and has been struggling to find a way to alter it since taking office. President Bush reopened a public-comment period on the ban in July; that period ends on Monday. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said, "We're here to urge [Bush] to turn a deaf ear to the siren song of special interests and to follow the will of the American people."
straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Charles Pope, 07 Sep 2001 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/national/37988_roadless07.shtml>
straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Associated Press, Katherine Pfleger, 07 Sep 2001 <http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/681399p-723561c.html>
9/7/01
6:05:46 PM
HEMP NEWS FLASH
A representative of the mainstream media has produced a story about the Oglala hemp cultivation project that is actually balanced, fair and a pretty complete representation of the issues.
It's on MSNBC.com today and you can go right to it at this site:
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/616149.asp>.
At the website you will also have the ability to see a good graphic that highlights the innumerable uses of hemp (big reason the Oglalas want to plant it), as well as contribute to a non-scientific poll about whether industrial hemp should be legalized.
9/7/01
6:03:16 PM
Majority Of Life Diversity Yet To Be Discovered
by David Suzuki
One realizes just how little we know about life on Earth when the largest animals currently walking the face of the planet are found to actually be two quite distinct species.
For more than 100 years it had been assumed that there were two species of elephants: Asian and African. But recently, using DNA analyses, researchers found that African elephants are really comprised of two genetically separate groups, as distinct as lions and tigers.
On one hand there are African forest elephants, and on the other, African savanna elephants. The two actually look quite different, but it was generally believed that one might, at most, be a subspecies of the other. However, new evidence indicates that their DNA patterns are genetically isolated.
African elephants are massive, charismatic mammals that immediately intrigue people. They have been studied extensively and figure prominently in human culture and mythology. Yet here they are, two separate species, and we never knew.
If we know so little about Earth's giants like elephants, how much could we possibly know about the myriad of tiny creatures that help create the backbone of life on Earth: the insects and arachnids, fungi and bacteria?
Our catalogue of Earth's diversity seems impressive, boasting some 250,000 described plant species, 750,000 insect species and 280,000 other animals. But incredibly, we have yet to discover most of the Earth's species. Scientists have documented maybe 10 or 20 percent of living things, and new species are discovered all the time.
Last year, for example, researchers in the Brazilian Amazon found two species of brightly colored monkeys that had never before been recorded. Earlier this year, a new owl was discovered in Sri Lanka. And an unusual form of antelope, the saola, was found in Vietnam a few years ago.
Even more is yet to be discovered underwater. Anyone who has ever snorkeled over a healthy coral reef knows what it's like when you first put your head in the water. It's shocking. The sheer numbers of fish and the amazing diversity is almost frightening at first.
But even areas that appear relatively empty can house a surprising diversity of life. A study of the muddy sea floor off North America's East Coast, for example, found nearly 800 species in a 25-square-meter area.
Sea-dwelling creatures may be some of the most fascinating on the planet. Creatures living around hydrothermal vents, for example, must endure incredible temperatures and toxic gases, yet many species have been found thriving in these harsh environments.
On average, a new species of large mammal is found every three years, and a new large vertebrate is found in the open ocean every five years. But the vast majority of discoveries are of much smaller creatures, such as fungi and insects. And while scientists are hard at work cataloguing some 300 new species every day, we know the life-cycle details of a tiny fraction of those we have identified.
In his book, Something New Under the Sun, historian J. R. McNeill says that humanity's most important change of the 20th century wasn't sending a person to the moon, splitting the atom, the rise and fall of communism, the advent of human rights or the feminist movement, or either of the World Wars. McNeill says that, from a historical perspective, the single biggest change of the last century was the change humans have made to the environment.
It's hard to disagree. We've fundamentally altered not only the surface of the Earth with agriculture, cities, roads, and dams, but we've actually altered the hydrologic cycle, the carbon cycle, and the climate. Because of continued population pressures, deforestation, pollution, and other problems, thousands of species become extinct every year.
That's why it's so uplifting to find a new species. They remind us of how much we still have to learn about the planet's biodiversity and about how it all works to keep the Earth liveable. Maintaining that diversity is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/09/09072001/s_44847.asp
9/7/01
4:16:12 PM
Public Citizen
Companies Vying for New Orleans' Water and Sewer Systems Linked to Criminal Behavior, Corruption, Poor Service
Records Collectively Include Bribery, Environmental Violations, Substandard Maintenance, Broken Promises and Questionable Ties to Government Officials
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The top three corporations competing to take over the city of New Orleans' water and sewer systems have tarnished records that, combined, include connections to criminal wrongdoing, suspect relationships with government officials, infliction of environmental damage, failures to maintain equipment, and the delivery of substandard customer service, a Public Citizen report reveals.
The report, The Big Greedy, details the unseemly histories of three multinational corporations likely to submit bids to operate the water and sewage systems for nearly half a million people in New Orleans, in what would be the largest public works privatization in U.S. history. The winning company, expected to be chosen next spring, will run the system for up to 20 years and take in an estimated $1 billion in revenues. All three corporations are either subsidiaries of or maintain intimate business relationships with foreign-based conglomerates that are aggressively acquiring water and other utility services throughout the world.
"Giving a precious public resource to private interests is distasteful to begin with, but handing over New Orleans' entire water system to one of these companies would set a new standard for governmental negligence," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "City officials need to seriously reevaluate their actions - particularly because multinational corporations hold the interests of their overseas shareholders above the interests of local communities."
Public Citizen does not believe that New Orleans residents would benefit from privatization of their water and wastewater systems. Evidence indicates that private operation or ownership of such systems fosters corruption and often results in rate hikes, poor customer service and a loss of local control and accountability.
Following an emerging trend among local governments, the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board (S&WB) decided last year to hire a private company to operate the city's water and sewage systems. A team of financial analysts concluded that a corporation could do a better job than the city of minimizing rate increases that will result from $1.3 billion worth of necessary repairs to the systems. The S&WB will continue to set water and sewer rates, but the system otherwise will be privatized.
Though no formal bids have been submitted to run the systems - which include 1,610 miles of water pipes, 1,450 miles of sewer pipes, 105 pumping stations and two treatment plants - representatives from three corporations, including U.S. Filter, which already operates the city's sewer system, have toured the facilities. The track records of all three corporations have been sullied by various misdeeds:
· OMI Inc. of Greenwood, Colo. - Last year, the City Council of Biddeford, Maine, withheld payment from OMI until the company fixed a chronic odor problem at the city's sewage treatment plant. This year, the county executive of Bergen County, N.J., was accused of trying to privatize the county's wastewater system to pay back his campaign contributors, which included OMI, its parent company and its law firm. OMI is planning to submit its bid with Thames Water, a British water giant recently acquired by German energy giant RWE.
· United Water Resources of Harrington Park, N. J. - In 1996, a top executive of United Water's parent company, Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux of France, was sent to prison, along with government officials in Grenoble, for bribery in connection with a contract award. Last year, United Water executives from several states donated more than $10,000 to the brother of Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, who was running for state auditor of North Carolina. It was just two years earlier that United Water won a $21 million contract in Atlanta, where local officials and residents have since complained about broken fire hydrants, slow service and brown water with flecks of debris.
· U.S. Filter of Warrendale, Penn. - In 1997, executives of U.S. Filter's parent company, Vivendi Environnement of France, were convicted of bribing the mayor of St-Denis to obtain a water concession. Last year, U.S. Filter shareholders took Vivendi to court over allegedly illegal payments made to U.S Filter executives to win support for Vivendi's takeover of the company. Last month, an electrical fire at one of the sewage treatment plants that U.S. Filter operates in New Orleans caused raw sewage to be dumped into the Mississippi River for two hours. According to a City Council member, the company was aware of the problems that led to the fire but didn't address them.
"If these shenanigans don't make elected officials in New Orleans run as fast as they can in the opposite direction, they aren't thinking straight," Hauter said. "The water supply of New Orleans should not be entrusted to these companies."
The conduct of these corporations aside, the privatization process itself has been questioned by local civic organizations and leaders. Among the criticisms, the S&WB gave local residents just 10 days to file comments on the bidding documents when they were released in February. In response to a public outcry, the board eventually extended the comment period to four months.
Additionally, the New Orleans Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) said the bidding documents were flawed because certain protocols were missing, bidders were not required to disclose campaign contributions or reveal potential conflicts of interest, and certain provisions encouraged patronage. Some of the disputed provisions made their way into the final draft of the bidding documents. The BGR also expressed concern that the city's financial advisors did not conduct apples-to-apples comparisons between the New Orleans situation and privatization cases elsewhere. And, the BGR found that analysts provided no specific evidence that the city would really save money through privatization. ### NOTE: If you no longer wish to receive press releases from Public Citizen, please send an email to the above address and type "unsubscribe" in the subject field.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, and to read The Big Greedy report, visit
www.citizen.org/press/newsroom.htm
9/7/01
4:11:37 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
ANGRY NEVADANS PACK YUCCA MOUNTAIN HEARING
By Sunny Lewis
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, September 6, 2001 (ENS) - Nevadans will not accept the nation's high-level nuclear waste being dumped at Yucca Mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Hundreds of angry people showed up at a Department of Energy public hearing in Las Vegas last night to express their objections. Simultaneous hearings were held in Carson City, Elko and Reno.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-06-01.html
KRUGER NATIONAL PARK FIRE CLAIMS 23 LIVES
PRETORIA, South Africa, September 6, 2001 (ENS) - A deadly fire that devastated the Pretoriuskop area of the Kruger National Park over the past two days has been brought under control, South African National Parks officials have announced.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-06-03.html
GROUPS MAKE LAST DITCH PUSH FOR FOREST PROTECTION
WASHINGTON, DC, September 6, 2001 (ENS) - With only a few days remaining before the U.S. Forest Service stops taking comments on a proposal to protect millions of forest acres, conservationists are stepping up their efforts to persuade the agency that the public supports the rule. At stake is the preservation of the last 30 percent of the nation's forest lands which have not already been marred by roads, logging or mines.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-06-06.html
EU LAWMAKERS VOTE BROAD FIRE RETARDANT BAN
STRASBOURG, France, September 6, 2001 (ENS) - The European Parliament Wednesday took an unexpectedly tough stance on the future of three brominated flame retardants. Members of the European Parliament approved a European Commission proposal to ban penta-BDE. They voted to extend it to cover two other substances, octa-BDE and deca-BDE, against the Commission's advice and furious opposition from industry.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-06-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: SEPTEMBER 6, 2001
Reptiles Make Dangerous Pets, HSUS Warns
Clinton Honored for Ocean Protection Work
More Water Headed For Parched Klamath Refuge
Urban Areas Running Out of Trees
Newspaper Ads Target Congressional Pork
Third Animal Species Cloned at Texas A&M
Critical Habitat Designated for Kootenai River White Sturgeon
Delaware Companies Reimburse EPA for Superfund Cleanup
Scientists Developing Self Assembling Solar Cells
Duke Professor Receives 2001 Volvo Environment Prize
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-06-09.html
9/7/01
4:08:54 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
PR NATION: ANTI-SPIN ACTIVIST JOHN STAUBER PENETRATES AMERICA'S LIE MACHINE= . by Michael Manekin, The Valley Advocate
-- When you turn on the evening news or pick up the morning paper, you may not realize that the news has already been spun by the public relations industry. Enter John Stauber, the corporate spinner's worst nightmare.
SEEDS OF PEACE: CAMPING WITH THE ENEMY
by Julie Joy, WireTap
-- At Seeds of Peace, youth from war-torn countries are learning how to empathize with their "enemies" and become the seeds of peace in their own countries.
STREET DOGS
produced by Matt Perry & Jake Warga, Transom.org -- Two young Seattle radio producers are offering a new perspective on local homeless kids by focusing on the bond between these street kids and their dogs. Combining interviews, background noise, music, and narration, Street Dogs is a captivating look at why so many of Seattle=B9s homeless residents choose to be dog owners despite the added strain on their already difficult lives.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
9/7/01
3:35:29 PM
U.S. Balks On Plan To Take Plutonium Out Of Warheads
by Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times
Washington D. C. - A program conceived by the Clinton administration to rid the world of 100 tons of American and Russian weapons-grade plutonium is likely to be abandoned by the Bush administration, according to people who have been briefed about the project.
Under the plan, which was first proposed in the mid-90's, 50 tons of American plutonium and 50 tons of Russian plutonium would be taken out of nuclear weapons and either converted into fuel for nuclear reactors or rendered useless for weapons by mixing it with with highly radioactive nuclear waste, a process known as immobilization.
When the plan was drafted, Clinton administration officials said the program would reduce the risk that the plutonium would fall into the wrong hands, where it could easily be turned into weapons.
By reducing the availability of weapons-grade plutonium, the project had the added benefit of bolstering treaties between the United States and Russia to cut the number of nuclear warheads deployed by each side, by making it harder to turn plutonium from decommissioned weapons back into warheads.
Bush administration officials deny that the program is dead, but acknowledge that it has difficulties, primarily financial ones.
"The issue is under review," said an administration official who would speak only if not identified. "We've made no secret of that. But no decisions have been made."
But the official continued, "It's no secret that there are a lot of equities to balance here."
One major equity, he said, is money. Early this year the Energy Department predicted a cost of $6.6 billion, about triple the initial estimates, to convert the American stocks to fuel for civilian nuclear reactors. It put Russia's cost at $1.76 billion, which is money Russia does not have.
The expectation under the Clinton administration was that the United States and other rich countries would help pay, but no concrete pledges were ever made.
In 1999 the Clinton administration did agree to pay a consortium of power companies $130 million to use plutonium that the government would convert into fuel. But the conversion factories are not yet built, and the conversion itself was contingent on an agreement with the Russians to take similar steps to dispose of plutonium from their weapons.
Despite the program's expected benefits, the Bush administration's proposed Energy Department budget this spring did not include the money needed to mix some of the plutonium with nuclear waste.
The second path - converting it to fuel for American nuclear reactors, the strategy the Clinton administration hoped would induce the Russians to do the same - also appears likely to be dropped soon.
"There is no enthusiasm for it whatsoever," said a Congressional aide who was briefed by officials of the National Security Council, referring both to the current strategy of immobilization and to conversion to reactor fuel.
The issue of what to do with plutonium from decommissioned nuclear weapons has haunted policy makers for years.
One particular fear is that the material from Russian weapons would be bought or stolen by terrorists or a "rogue" government who could construct a nuclear bomb. In recent years, the security of bomb materials in Russia has been improved markedly by joint Russian-American efforts, administration experts say.
Bush administration officials insist that they share the goal of disposing of American and Russian plutonium.
"There's no philosphical shift that says suddenly we're perfectly fine with surplus plutonium laying around - we're not," said an administration official familiar with the Clinton-era program. But, he added, conversion to fuel for existing reactors or mixing with waste are "not the only options for disposing of it safely."
As an alternative, the Bush administration appears to be considering a variety of untested technical options, including a new generation of nuclear reactors that could burn plutonium more thoroughly.
"They're trying to improve on it by giving up on getting started any time soon," said Matthew G. Bunn, a nuclear expert at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, who was an adviser to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Clinton administration. He and other experts are skeptical that a new generation of reactors, which was also mentioned in President Bush's energy plan as a way to dispose of nuclear waste, would ever be built. Construction on the last nuclear plants built in the United States country was begun more than 25 years ago.
"We're back at Square 1 with the program, and they're looking at imaginary options, like advanced reactors," said Tom Clements, executive director the Nuclear Control Institute, a nonprofit group that opposes the use of plutonium for reactor fuel. "For financial reasons, it's not going to be viable."
Though the administration is considering dropping the program to convert or immobilize weapons- grade plutonium, a separate Russian-American program to reduce the inventory of another Russian bomb fuel, highly enriched uranium, is continuing. In fact, uranium that was intended for Russian bombs now meets more than half the needs of American power reactors.
But diluting uranium to the type used in power plants is technically far simpler and cheaper than the process required for plutonium, which must be converted from the metal form used in weapons to a plutonium-uranium ceramic used in American power plants.
In fact, enriched uranium has economic value as reactor fuel, while converting plutonium appears to be a money-losing proposition.
Even so, Russian officials have said repeatedly that they view plutonium as an asset and would like to build new breeder reactors, so named because they produce plutonium faster than they consume the other main reactor fuel, uranium.
The end of the plutonium program would be mixed news for groups concerned with proliferation.
For example, the Nuclear Control Institute has pushed vigorously for immobilization and against converting plutonium to reactor fuel, which is known as mixed oxide, or MOx.
Officials of the institute say conversion to MOx is very expensive and would encourage international commerce in weapons material.
"We think their assessment of MOx is correct," said Mr. Clements, referring to the administration. "The problem is, it appears they've also rejected the cheaper alternative, which is immobilization."
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/21/international/21NUKE.html
9/7/01
3:27:13 PM
Decision Nears On Navy Sonar
BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) - Eighteen months ago, the Navy deployed a powerful mid-range sonar during a submarine detection exercise in the deep water canyons of the Bahamas.
Within hours, at least 16 whales and two dolphins beached themselves on the islands of Abaco, Grand Bahama and North Eleuthera. Scientists found hemorrhaging around the brain and ear bones - injuries consistent with exposure to extremely loud sounds. Eight whales died.
Now, the March 2000 strandings are being used as a battle cry for opponents of an even stronger low-frequency sonar the Navy wants to use to detect a new generation of quiet submarines.
A growing number of environmentalists and lawmakers want to stop deployment of the system because they fear it will harm whales, dolphins and loggerhead turtles. The state of Maine is particularly concerned about the impact on endangered northern right whales.
``I appreciate the nation's needs for national security, but I also believe that the evidence shows (this new) sonar is harmful to the marine environment,'' said Rep. John Baldacci, D-Maine.
The Navy, which has spent $300 million developing the system, is awaiting a review of its plan for a five-year deployment. A final decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service is expected this fall.
The Navy contends the sonar is imperative to national security because other nations, including Russia, Germany and China, are already developing super-quiet submarines that can avoid traditional detection.
It says it will protect whales with a 1,100-yard buffer zone backed up with traditional sonar and lookouts to determine the presence of whales.
Still, critics say the risk to whales and other marine life under those guidelines far outweighs any advances in submarine detection.
``Sonar is a very important defense, but it's like practicing dropping nuclear bombs - it will have a very important environmental impact,'' said Ken Balcomb, a marine biologist who witnessed the Bahama stranding in front of his house.
Whales are more susceptible to sonar interference than many mammals because they rely on sound for communication, feeding, mating and migration.
The proposed sonar is a type of low-frequency active sonar called the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System, or Surtass LFA. The Navy wants to use it on four warships capable of sweeping 80 percent of the world's oceans.
According to the Navy's proposal, the sonar would transmit signals as loud as 215 decibels - the underwater equivalent of standing next to a twin-engine F-15 fighter jet at takeoff.
But the Navy contends the loudest noise a whale would encounter is 180 decibels because of the safety zone, said Joe Johnson, the Navy official in charge of managing the environmental tests.
The Navy's tests on four species were able to attain only an estimated level of 150 decibels. At that level, the sonar affected the length of humpback whale songs but didn't lead to other extreme behaviors, said Roger Gentry, an acoustics expert from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
But some biologists believe whales are irritated by sounds louder than 110 decibels. At 180 decibels, they contend, a whale's ear drums could explode - similar to how an opera singer shatters glass.
The Navy admits the Bahamas stranding was likely caused by mid-range sonar but contends the low-frequency active sonar wouldn't harm whales.
Mid-range sonar, used in the Bahamas can be heard over shorter distances by many marine animals. Low-frequency sonar can travel several hundred miles but is audible to fewer animals; the downside is the transmissions are on the same frequency used for communication by many large whales, including humpbacks.
Critics believe there have been other strandings linked to sonar, but the whales in the Bahamas were the only ones to be fully examined.
In 1996, 12 Cuvier beaked whales beached themselves in Greece during NATO (news - web sites) exercises involving the same low-frequency sonar the Navy wants to use. But those whales decomposed before scientists could conduct an investigation.
Marsha Green, an animal behaviorist with the Ocean Mammal Institute in Reading, Pa., fears the worst if the sonar is deployed.
``Can you imagine a world without whales?'' she said. ``It would be like a world without songbirds. We would all regret it.''
9/7/01
3:20:14 PM
World Coral Reefs To Die By 2050
GLASGOW, Scotland -- The world's coral reefs will be dead within 50 years because of global warming, and there is nothing we can do to save them, a scientist warned Wednesday.
"It is hard to avoid the conclusion that most coral in most areas will be lost," Rupert Ormond, a marine biologist from Glasgow University, told a science conference. "We are looking at a loss which is equivalent to the tropical rain forests."
Only the coral reefs in nontropical regions such as Egypt stand any chance of lasting beyond 2050, Ormond said, but even the days of the stunning marine parks of the Red Sea are numbered as sea temperatures continue to creep up.
In the past, reefs have suffered from sediment buildup and the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, whose numbers have exploded due to the over-fishing of their predators.
Now the main threat to the delicate structures that harbor some of nature's most stunning creations comes from warmer seas, which cause coral bleaching.
Microscopic algae that support the coral polyps cannot live in the warmer water, and the polyps, the tiny creatures who actually create the reefs, die off within weeks.
Scientists agree the world's oceans are now warming at a rate of between one and two degrees Celsius every 100 years due to the increased amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which trap the sun's rays.
But even if humans stopped pumping out greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide tomorrow in a bid to halt the process, it would still be too late to save the reefs, Ormond said. "I don't know what can be done, given that there's a 50-year time lag between trying to limit carbon dioxide levels and any effect on ocean temperature," he told the conference, held by the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
The implications stretch far beyond the death of the colorful coral structures themselves. The weird and wonderful eels and fish which inhabit the nooks and crannies will become homeless, and many species will die out. "We are looking at a gradual running down of the whole system. Over time, the diversity of coral fish will die," Ormond said.
Humankind will also suffer directly as the dead reefs are eroded and shorelines that have been protected for the last 10,000 years face the wrath of the oceans without their natural defenses.
In an age of relatively cheap scuba-diving holidays, this also means many developing countries in the tropics, such as Kenya or those in the Caribbean, face losing a major source of revenue.
The only cause for optimism was that new coral reefs could start to emerge in colder waters such as the north Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
9/7/01
3:16:31 PM
Greenpeace Executive Director Accuses Bush Of Putting The World's Future At Risk
LONDON,16 August 2001 - Greenpeace's recently appointed Executive Director, Gerd Leipold, today criticised President George W Bush for putting the world's future at risk with a "truly astonishing policy path that could undo so much progress in environmental protection and world peace".
Speaking at the launch of the organisation's Annual Report, Dr. Gerd Leipold said that in pursuing the Star Wars programme details at
rejecting the Kyoto climate change agreement and threatening to open the Alaskan Arctic Wildlife Reserve to oil exploitation, President Bush was failing to protect the environment to satisfy his corporate supporters.
Leipold was particularly critical of the harsh conspiracy charges brought by the US against 15 Greenpeace activists and 2 journalists. Details at http://www.stopstarwars.org/html/press.html
"The charges have a strong political motivation to them." All face up to six years in jail if convicted, unprecedented for peaceful protest and more usual for violent assault and drug dealing.
Previous charges against protesters at Vandenberg have not been of a criminal nature. Their arrest followed a protest at sea off the Vandenberg Airbase at the start of a Star Wars missile test. "All our activists are prepared to go to trial to defend what they believe in. It is Star Wars that should be on trial. Our activists were there because Greenpeacers care. No one else can do what Greenpeace is doing in opposing Star Wars. With our reach we can take the message globally. Our supporters, old and young, are committed to mobilise at short notice.
>From the Arctic to tiny Pacific Islands we are unique in being able to challenge President George W Bush in every area of the Star Wars programme. This is the kind of "globalisation"- people working together to make the world a better place "that should be seen as the way ahead for us all." Gerd Leipold said Greenpeace had started in 1971 with a protest against US nuclear weapons testing and had for the last 30 years, challenged all those threatening to damage the planet. With 25 National Offices
http://www.greenpeace.org/contactsnew.shtml
and a presence in 39 countries Greenpeace has continued to grow. "We now have 2.65 million paying supporters and with every additional supporter, we increase the strength of our voice." Gross income rose by 14 percent to 146 million Euros (1999, 126m Euros) and net income rose for the sixth year in succession to 103m Euro (a 7 percent rise from 1999).
Greenpeace said its commitment to the developing world had continued with two offices - India and South-East Asia - beginning to campaign last year. Greenpeace China (which more than doubled its income) and Greenpeace Argentina (whose income rose by 87 percent) showed there is rapid growth of interest in Greenpeace and concern for environmental issues. The offices in both China and Argentina are now financially "self sufficient".
More information
Download a summary version of the 2001 Annual Report from
http://www.greenpeace.org/annualreport.shtml
Greenpeace International's campaign achievements 2000-2001 at
http://www.greenpeace.org/campaign_achievements.shtml
9/7/01
3:10:36 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
UPDATE - US urges Mexico to allow foreign energy investment - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12307/story.htm
Cruise line pays $55,000 to settle smoke claims - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12311/story.htm
Report details biotech plants, animals on horizon - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12312/story.htm
Energy Dept seeks comment on US - Mexico power line - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12315/story.htm
Animal rights group blocks road near Shell plant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12309/story.htm
World coral reefs to die by 2050, scientist warns - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12317/story.htm
Tiny Opel best, big BMW worst in exhaust fume test - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12319/story.htm
UPDATE - Bush fires kill 28 people in South Africa - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12320/story.htm
Russians flee raising of "radioactive" sub Kursk - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12321/story.htm
Kashmir plans probe into Tibetan antelope deaths - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12318/story.htm
EU report calls for close look at Czech nuke plant - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12316/story.htm
FEATURE - Beetles threaten huge swath of Canadian forest - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12313/story.htm
Developers win first round in Brazil Amazon battle - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12314/story.htm
Shell sees viable Australia refinery future -AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12308/story.htm
Australia welcomes Sri Lanka suspending GM food ban - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12310/story.htm
9/6/01
5:51:38 PM
Public Citizen issued the following press release and statement today:
Sept. 6, 2001
Excuses for Opposing Campaign Finance Reform
Statement of Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen
Note: Joan Claybrook made the following comments during a press conference today in Washington, D.C., about campaign finance reform.
Let me tell you how members of Congress will have to explain a refusal to sign the discharge petition for campaign finance reform when they face constituents in the next election:
· "Sure I opposed the discharge petition and the Shays-Meehan bill, but I believed wholeheartedly that it was good for democracy to let America's most powerful corporations, unions and wealthy people triple their soft money contributions in the first six months of this year compared to four years ago. What the heck, the economy was raging the last few years wasn't it?"
· "I don't believe that the soft money system is sapping our democracy and alienating millions of people. In America, you can buy anything!"
· "The public really doesn't overwhelmingly support reform, despite what the polls say. I know people love legalized bribery and want the people who pay the piper to call the tune."
· "My colleagues warned me not to buck the Speaker of the House on this issue. They begged me to support devious tactics and unfair procedures that stifle debate and block misguided reform."
· "So what if the parties managed to get out more votes before the soft money explosion of the past 12 years? The real achievement of our political parties is that we now depend on big chunks of special interest money, making our fund-raising efforts a lot easier!"
I ask you, will this get politicians re-elected?
Sept. 6, 2001
Public Input Squelched at Yucca Mountain Hearing
DOE Tactics Effectively Deny Nevada Residents Opportunity to Speak
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The federal government's handling of a Wednesday night public hearing in Nevada effectively prevented hundreds of Nevada residents from publicly testifying on a critical matter: the proposed storage of 77,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste near their community.
"Democracy lost today when citizens were denied the right to speak by the Department of Energy's strong-arm tactics," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The DOE is ramming this dangerous, ill-conceived plan through, against the will of the Nevada people."
The poor process and choice of location were evident even before the hearing began, when the auditorium at DOE's Nevada Operations Office was packed to capacity with 250 people. Many were forced to cram into a nearby cafeteria to watch the proceedings by video, and the cafeteria soon was standing room only. The forbidding DOE facility is surrounded by a tall chain-link fence and lies on an industrial road outside Las Vegas, far from public transportation. In Las Vegas, though, there are a number of auditoriums that would have been more accessible and could have handled the crowd.
The hearing was required by law for the project to move forward. Those present who wished to speak were told by DOE officials that if they had not registered by phone ahead of time, they would have to wait hours to speak. This last-minute change effectively denied hundreds of Nevada residents an opportunity to air their views; many left before speaking because it was so late. Meanwhile, pro-dump people - many from other states - had signed up to speak first.
"Nowhere in the Federal Register or other public notices were Nevada citizens informed they had to register ahead of time," Hauter said. "This is after the DOE gave only nine business days notice for a hearing 20 years in the making, then abruptly changed the location and listed an incorrect address on public notices of the new hearing location. This pattern of Machiavellian tactics cannot, will not, and must not be accepted in America."
Former Nevada Sen. Richard H. Bryan, Nevada's GOP Governor Kenny Guinn, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman joined Public Citizen in denouncing the DOE's underhanded tactics. Public Citizen also rejected the DOE's 15-day public comment extension as inadequate.
"The DOE should not strong-arm Nevadans," Hauter said. "An issue of this magnitude - the storage of America's high-level nuclear waste - demands rigorous scrutiny and transparent deliberations. The DOE is denying the American people their right to have a say in how dangerous nuclear waste will be stored for hundreds of thousands of years."
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.Citizen.org
9/6/01
5:47:50 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
CHEESED OFF
A growing number of children are giving the thumbs down to meat, but public schools haven't been quick to provide alternative options at lunch, according to vegetarian advocates. Recent surveys indicate that about 2 percent of children under age 18 consider themselves veggies, about the same percentage as adults. Marcia Smith, president of the American School Food Service Association, says that most schools have begun serving a vegetarian item every day. Some parents of veggies dispute that -- and point out that many of the non-meat items offered don't stand out as being especially healthful (think deep-fried cheese sticks, macaroni and cheese, and grilled cheese -- notice a pattern?). Vegetarian cookbook author Suzanne Havala says tofu is particularly hard to find in the lunch line.
straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, 05 Sep 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB999737085815317003.htm>
AT THE HEAD OF THE CLASS
Lawyers from top environmental groups in the U.S. are considering such new legal strategies as broad-based class-action lawsuits to force the U.S. and corporations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Whether in federal courts or international tribunals, the lawyers would sue on behalf of people or whole countries suffering from the effects of global warming. For example, the lawyers might represent the nine-island nation of Tuvalu, which is home to 10,000 people. Scientists say that Tuvalu could disappear within 50 years because of rising sea levels caused by warmer temperatures. Overall, the U.N. estimates the cost of global warming at more than $300 billion a year.
straight to the source: New York Times, Katharine Q. Seelye, 06 Sep 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/06/national/06WARM.html>
SLIM SHADY
Tree cover has diminished significantly in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas over the last 25 years, as roads, parking lots, and more buildings have taken root, according to a study released yesterday by American Forests. The enviro group says the loss is a shame -- because trees not only look swell, but they also provide financial benefits to cities. For example, American Forests says that a well-shaded building costs between 20 and 50 percent less to cool each summer. A separate report by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggests that tree cover may be linked to public safety. The two-year study of 98 buildings in a housing project in Chicago found that buildings with lots of vegetation nearby had 52 percent fewer total crimes, 48 percent fewer property crimes, and 56 percent fewer violent crimes than buildings with little vegetation.
straight to the source: Seattle Times, Newhouse News Service, Dru Sefton, 06 Sep 2001 <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134337905_trees06.html>
THE MILITARY IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH
The Pentagon isn't cleaning up thousands of former military sites as quickly as it claims, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. In its own review of the $200 million-a-year cleanup program, the Pentagon said that work at more than of half of the thousands of sites contaminated by hazardous waste had been completed. The GAO report found that only a third of the work had been done -- and the Pentagon had cherry-picked the easy sites first, leaving the more difficult cleanups for later.
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 05 Sep 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/624285.asp>
9/6/01
1:43:54 PM
The Web site www.shopzoo.com (sponsored by the San Diego Zoo) claims to have the largest on-line selection of collectibles dealing with the animal kingdom. In true zoo fashion, the site refers to its shopping experiences as being a "shopping safari."
The online store's selection of stuffed animals, for example, runs the gamut from A to Z -- armadillos to zebras.
The San Diego facility says that money from all of the purchases goes to help preserve endangered species and natural habitats around the world.
9/6/01
1:41:51 PM
The nation of Pakistan has apparently offered Russia more than $130 million to launch a satellite into orbit so it can spy on its "neighbor," India.
The Hindustan Times is reporting that the Russian press describes the offer as one that would let Pakistan "keep an eye on India and other neighboring countries."
If the deal goes through, the Pakistani eye-in-the-sky would be launched aboard a Russian-built Zenit booster rocket.
Russia had rejected Pakistan's appeals earlier because of Moscow's long-standing ties with India. But, recently, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov cleared the way for the launch.
9/6/01
1:32:56 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
GREENING EARTH MOPS UP CARBON DIOXIDE
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, September 5, 2001 (ENS) - Over the past 21 years, parts of the northern hemisphere have become much greener than they used to be. Researchers using satellite data have confirmed that plant life above 40 degrees north latitude - in areas like New York, Madrid, Ankara and Beijing - has been growing more vigorously since 1981 due to rising temperatures and the buildup of greenhouse gases.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-05-06.html
LOGGING APPROVAL IN BRITISH COLUMBIA OWL TERRITORY TRIGGERS LAWSUIT
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, September 5, 2001 (ENS) - A decision by the British Columbia Ministry of Forests to allow logging in one of the last stretches of forest known to be inhabited by Northern spotted owls will be immediately challenged in court.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-05-02.html
CREOSOTE CONTAMINATES LOUISIANA COMMUNITY FOR GENERATIONS
By Marie Marzi
BOSSIER CITY, Louisiana, September 5, 2001 (ENS) - A cancer scientist calls it a gold mine for research, a former resident calls it death row, and lawyers have made millions off of it.
A small neighborhood in Bossier City, Louisiana has some of the highest levels of chemical contamination, cancers and birth defects ever documented in the United States, according to National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-05-01.html
UNIQUE LAND PRESERVED IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
CANBERRA, Australia, September 5, 2001 (ENS) - Western Australia's native plants and animals, some as yet unnamed by scientists, are being protected by a joint Commonwealth and state initiative announced Tuesday. The two governments will set aside more than 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres) in Western Australia's conservation reserve system.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-05-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: SEPTEMBER 5, 2001
U.S. Guilty of Environmental Racism, Groups Charge
Deregulation Could Mean Safety Risks for Nuclear Plants
EPA Ordered to Identify Hawaii's Polluted Waters
Millions Needed to Protect Sea Turtle Beaches
Prototype Fuel Cell Runs on Liquid Diesel
EPA Program Will Fail to Clear Park Vistas
Critical Habitat for Kangaroo Rat Could Cost Millions
Underground Water Sweeps Debris to the Sea
Scientific Team Examines Pacific Climate
Fall Foliage Hotline Highlights Peak Colors
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-05-09.html
9/6/01
1:27:29 PM
AlterNet Headlines
Brief summaries of leading stories
WANTED: ENEMY TO JUSTIFY $344 BILLION WAR BUDGET
Ben Cohen, AlterNet
As America's roster of international enemies shrinks, the co-founder of Ben and Jerry's is worried -- how can we justify a Pentagon budget increase? Time to look for a new villain!
COERCED TREATMENT: TOO MANY STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Maia Szalavitz, AlterNet The drug reform movement is celebrating a few states' transition from incarceration to treatment for non-violent drug offenders, but the new programs may not help those who want it most.
REFLECTIONS ON ZIONISM FROM A DISSIDENT JEW
Tim Wise, Znet
A "dissident Jew" reflects on the U.S.'s withdrawal from the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, going back to the roots of Zionism. (Also see "Dispatch from Durban," by Lillian Galedo.)
BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO SEX
Chris Harris, Hartford Advocate
Sex on campus is more casual than ever, say many college students ... and more alienating and dangerous, too.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11451
LIVING IN BLACK AND WHITE: THE REAL REASON WE TALK ABOUT RACE
Jasper Short, Jr., The Black World Today
Much of white American fails to comprehend: race is in everything we do. It isn't just about black and white, it is about the haves versus the have-nots and justice versus injustice.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11444
BUSH'S SHARK WARS: THE IMBECILE STRIKES BACK
Roger Naylor, Las Vegas CityLife
Enraged by a spate of recent shark attacks in U.S. waters, President Bush announced the national dorsal defense shield to protect Americans from more unprovoked attacks.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11421
WAL-MART GUILT
Coy Barefoot, AlterNet
The guilt hits me as soon as I pull into the Wal-Mart parking lot. What am I doing? I hate all that these mega-stores represent -- and yet still I shop here.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11449
WHY WE NEED TO STAY IN THE STREETS
Starhawk, AlterNet
After surviving the violence in Genoa, this leading activist is more convinced than ever that anti-corporate protesters need to stay in the streets, mounting large, global actions.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11446
HOW TO SOLVE THE ELECTRICITY CRISIS
David Morris, AlterNet
Debates about our electricity system have reached an intensity not seen in a hundred years. Here's how the controversy can result in genuine, lasting progress.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11452
THE GREAT SMITHSONIAN SELL-OUT
Jennifer Rockne, Pacific News Service
We're used to the Jiffy-Lube Double Play and Geico Direct Call to the Bullpen. But are we ready for the General Motors Hall of Transportation at the Smithsonian Institution?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11424
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMBLE HOME PAGE?
Adam Druckman, Detroit Metro Times
The personal home page was the Web's first rallying call for mass social change. "On the Internet," the pundits claimed, "everyone will be a publisher!" What happened?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11410
GLOBALIZATION'S DIVERSE FOES
Manny Fernandez, Washington Post
In further proof that the national press is changing its view of the anti-globalization movement, the Washington Post reports on a wide range of protesters who are uniting against the IMF and World Bank.
* In D.C. Protests: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=24
GET THOSE ANTIBIOTICS OUT OF MY HAMBURGER!
Tamar F. Barlam, TomPaine.com Pigs, chickens and cattle are eating the antibiotics you might one day need to treat your children.
* In EnviroHealth: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=18
THE PEOPLE'S PROZAC
Carla Spartos, Village Voice
Dissident scientists are questioning the ban on Ecstasy, given its chemical similarity to medication used by two million kids with Attention Deficit Disorder.
* In DrugReporter: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=17
RACE: TIME TO GIVE UP ON THE FOUR-LETTER WORD
Silja J.A. Talvi, LiP Magazine
Ostensibly, race is a key, crucial definer of who and what we are. But the idea of race, scientifically unfounded and rooted in supremacy, is becoming increasingly dated and meaningless.
* In HumanRights USA: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=22
TELECOM FOR DUMMIES
Cynthia Cotts, Village Voice
>From Michael Powell to Robert McChesney and the 1996 Telecommunications Act, here are some names and landmarks of the media industrial complex.
* In MediaCulture: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=19
TECHSPLOITATION: The Dotsex Swindle
Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
For an annual fee of just 59 bucks, you can own a domain name with .sex at the end of it, says dotsex.com, and get yourself tons and tons of traffic. Is it a bogus offer?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11438
GARCIA: Amnesty and the American Way
James E. Garcia, AlterNet
Most Americans oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants, even though most immigrants come to the States to preserve the American way of life.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11453
GONSALVES: White Supremacists Take Note -- Abuse at Groton
Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet
A large percentage of Americans still believe that blacks are less intelligent, lazier and more prone to violence. But what about allegations of abuse in the elite, lily-white Groton boarding school?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11445
SOLOMON: Denial and the Ravaging of Cyberspace
Norman Solomon, AlterNet
Just a handful of large corporations control the vast majority of Internet traffic, putting the Web's democratic aspirations in jeopardy.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11422
9/6/01
1:06:59 PM
World Environment News Planet Ark
EPA warns Ohio on air pollution program - report - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12300/story.htm
Satellites see a greener northern hemisphere - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12301/story.htm
Green group - 1999 survey showed StarLink in US food - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12302/story.htm
US animal rights group pulls be-kind-to-sharks ad - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12304/story.htm
Leisure centre gets UK's first fuel cell system - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12291/story.htm
UPDATE - Britain faces heavy reliance on gas imports - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12292/story.htm
UK minister mulls allowing new nuclear power plants - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12298/story.htm
Botswana sends first of 300 elephants to Angola - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12296/story.htm
UPDATE - Norway suspends oil exploration in Barents Sea - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12305/story.htm
FEATURE - Land quarrels shatter calm of Malaysia's Sarawak - MALAYSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12297/story.htm
Bacteria killing tonnes of fish in Kuwait - KUWAIT http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12299/story.htm
Japan power firm cancels hydro power plant plan - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12294/story.htm
UPDATE - Kashmir landmine near school kills two children - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12293/story.htm
EU seeks public input on new biotech strategy - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12303/story.htm
Australia rules out barring ships from Barrier Reef - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12295/story.htm
9/6/01
12:26:25 PM
Air Wars: The Fight To Reclaim Public Broadcasting
by Jerold M. Starr
( adapted from Dr. Starr's book by the same title )
The American people need and deserve space in our system of communications that is not government controlled and is truly non-commercial. This would be space in which issues can be explored without censorship; space in which scripts are not designed around product placements and commercial interruptions; space in which program ideas are not driven by selling audiences to advertisers; space in which minorities can be served without concern for ratings.
This age of increasing concentration of media ownership into fewer and larger corporate giants makes the need for alternative perspectives and sources of information even more crucial. Liberated from political and commercial constraints, a truly public broadcasting would be able to serve the public interest. It could act as a watchdog on government and corporate abuses, create space for public discussion and make it possible for publics to form around the issues of the day.
I have been a friend of public broadcasting all my adult life. I love its mission and cherish many of the programs it has brought me over the years. I believe our ability to support an independent, noncommercial forum for public debate and artistic experimentation is a measure of our maturity as a democracy.
So it has been with a great deal of sadness and regret that I have watched this wonderful service attacked by government forces hostile to editorial independence and forced over time to become increasingly beholden to corporate sponsorship in order to survive. At times, it has seemed like the Tories were taking back the commons and replacing the speakers’ stands with video billboards.
Over the years I found myself watching less and less as the pursuit of great ideas devolved into the pursuit of big bucks. There were fewer programs that challenged the mind and more shows on business, investing and collecting. There were fewer performances of original drama or serious music and more imports, reruns and overproduced pop. There were more and longer commercials. The several recent books published on the subject tell the story. Public broadcasting has been characterized as "for sale," a "vanishing vision," even dead.
Then something happened to change my grumbling into activism. There was an invitation from an editor friend to write a feature piece on local media for her paper. There was an invitation from Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) to testify at a hearing on PBS programming. The financial troubles of my local station became front-page news.
I began to ask questions, talk to friends, and think seriously about whether the institution that I cared so much about could be taken off the block, brought back to life and restored to its original vision.
My commitment grew one step at a time. My interest aroused, I began to read widely in the relevant literature. As I developed insights into the subject, I started presenting papers to colleagues and publishing opinion editorials and short articles. Originally, I did not intend to write a book. A few years into the project, however, it seemed inevitable.
I have spent the past seven years with other citizen activists fighting for a more democratic and pluralistic public broadcasting service. With limited material resources, my colleagues and I took on WQED, a $32 million a year public broadcasting complex, and stopped it from cashing in its second station, WQEX, for $52 million to cover debts incurred from mismanagement and possible embezzlement.
Because of the precedent-setting potential of the case, we saved up to 70 other public television stations from being sold off, maybe one in your town. We opened up spaces for labor and public interest groups on the station’s board of directors and community advisory board. We got programming for workers on the station’s schedule where it didn’t exist. We even produced a program on domestic violence. And we’re not done yet.
While much of my book concentrates on our effort to save and improve public service broadcasting in Pittsburgh, I also tell the stories of activists fighting for accountable public broadcasting across the nation. In the process, I map out the terrain of the U.S. commercial media system and the public broadcasting system and introduce you to weapons you may use to represent the public interest where it is not being served.
I hope you will support the efforts of public interest organizations gearing up for the major battles over national media policy that loom ahead. This includes an exciting new plan to restructure public broadcasting as an independent public trust, free from government and corporate censorship pressures.
Jerold M. Starr is Executive Director of Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting and Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University. Starr's latest book is Air Wars: the Fight to Reclaim Public Broadcasting, published by Beacon Press, 2000, and in paperback by Temple University Press, 2001. Please contact CIPB at 412 563.4150 for more information visit:
9/5/01
8:55:44 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
CHEMICAL WEAPONS DESTRUCTION FACES TECHNICAL HURDLES
WASHINGTON, DC, September 4, 2001 (ENS) - Alternatives to the Army's incineration system for destroying chemical weapons at Colorado's Pueblo Chemical Depot must overcome technical hurdles before becoming operational, say two new reports from the National Academies' National Research Council.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-04-06.html
OHIO REVIEW SUPPORTS BUSH NOMINEE FOR TOP EPA ENFORCER
CHICAGO, Illinois, September 4, 2001 (ENS) - A review of Ohio's administration and implementation of eight environmental programs based on federal laws was released today by the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5. It finds that the state is doing its job in enforcing those laws and there are no grounds to revoke its authority to carry out the eight programs.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-04-02.html
SEA SHEPHERD OFFICER RELEASED
PUERTO AYORA, Galapagos, Ecuador, September 4, 2001 (ENS) – Ecuadorian police in Puerto Ayora released Sea Shepherd marine liaison officer Sean O'Hearn Gimenez on his own recognizance Saturday night. He was held in custody for one night and was not charged with any crime.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-04-01.html
GERMAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY BLASTS WASTE LAW
BERLIN, Germany, September 4, 2001 (ENS) - German construction companies have criticized a draft law that aims to regulate the recovery of trade wastes, including construction and demolition waste.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-04-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: SEPTEMBER 4, 2001
Fire Scorches Glacier National Park
Sharks Kill Two Over Labor Day Weekend
Petition Seeks Protection for White Marlin
Rare Plant Wins Critical Habitat Protection
Judge Stops Herbicide Use in Tahoe National Forest
Cleaner Lake Erie Loses Fish Diversity
$1 Million Grant Funds Trace Metals Research
Brown Pelicans Hooked in Record Numbers
Tsunami Could Sweep Over Florida, Caribbean
Sarah McLachlan Pleads for Polar Bears' Release
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-04-09.html
9/5/01
8:40:20 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
A CIVIC ACTION
Honda unveiled a gas-electric hybrid Civic yesterday that the automaker says gets more than 68 miles per gallon, about 20 miles more than current models of gas-powered Civics. The new car will go on sale in Japan this fall and next spring in the U.S. Honda also said it would put a fuel-cell car on the market by 2003.
straight to the source: Detroit News, Associated Press, 04 Sep 2001 <http://detnews.com/2001/autos/0109/05/-285452.htm>
catch it only in Grist Magazine: Another alternative vehicle -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha120800.stm?source=daily>
THE GREEN PLANET
The Northern Hemisphere is greener now than it was 20 years ago, possibly because the Earth's temperatures are rising, according to a NASA-funded study. The scientists found that the growing season has lengthened and vegetation density has increased above 40 degrees north latitude. In North America, the growing season is now as much as 12 days longer; in Europe and Asia, the season has extended almost 18 days, with spring arriving earlier and fall later.
straight to the source: CNN.com, Janis Winogradsky, 04 Sep 2001 <http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/09/04/greener.earth/index.html>
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Reuters, 04 Sep 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/624087.asp>
do good: Take action and win friends and influence people about global warming <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily#letter>
THE OHIO PLAYER
Drawing unfavorable attention to President Bush's choice to head the U.S. EPA's enforcement program, a preliminary report released yesterday by the agency found that Ohio has done a poor job enforcing air-pollution rules. Bush's nominee, Donald Schregardus, led the Ohio EPA during most the 1990s. The report said that air inspections, investigations of complaints, and amounts of penalties collected have all declined in Ohio in recent years. In addition, the Ohio EPA employed fewer people than it had said would be necessary to enforce clean-air standards. The federal agency said it would move to take control of Ohio's environmental enforcement authority, unless the state's record improved. Several Democratic senators said the report strengthened their case that Schregardus should not be approved for the U.S. EPA job.
straight to the source: New York Times, Katharine Q. Seelye, 05 Sep 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/05/politics/05POLL.html>
straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, John J. Fialka, 05 Sep 2001 (access isn't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB999643470926308506.htm>
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POORS
Poor people in the U.K. are among those worst affected by environmental problems in the country, according to a recent study published in Britain. The researchers conducted a series of focus groups in four different areas -- a poor neighborhood in Glasgow, another in London, a former mining village in North Wales, and a rural area in a national park in Derbyshire. One study author, Kate Burningham of the University of Surrey, said the focus group participants felt that environmental groups had tended to ignore them and had not spent time on issues that concerned their daily lives. One participant said, "Rainforests are a long way from here. They're not affecting me at the moment..."
straight to the source: BBC News, Alex Kirby, 05 Sep 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1518000/1518822.stm>
CLEAN UP YOUR VROOM
The German army is developing "green" weaponry meant to reduce the pollution coming from guns and military rockets. In place of missiles and space rockets whose emissions contribute to acid rain and ozone-layer depletion, German scientists hope to produce explosives and missile fuels that emit nothing more than a puff of hot air. Thomas Klapotke, a chemistry professor at the University of Munich, said two greener explosives have already been patented. He added that cost could be an initial obstacle: Greener fuels are now 100 times more expensive than conventional fuels.
straight to the source: BBC News, Helen Briggs, 04 Sep 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/sci_tech/2001/glasgow_2001/ newsid_1525000/1525496.stm>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
How to push Dick Cheney's buttons -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha090401.asp?source=daily>
A computer recycling challenge -- a day in the life of Betty Patton, environmental consultant in Oregon <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/patton090401.asp?source=daily>
9/5/01
8:35:47 PM
The Nation
With the United States having already walked out, talks between African and European Union countries on the subject of slavery and reparations have run into severe difficulties at the UN Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. African countries, led by Namibia and Zimbabwe and supported by African-American groups, want an explicit apology for slavery, debt cancellation, increased aid and reparations. But the Europeans don't want any mention of reparations in documents or pronouncements coming out of the conference.
On the conference's other contentious issue - the Middle East - French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said today that France and the EU would follow in the footsteps of the US and Israel and quit the conference if delegates were determined to equate Zionism with racism.
The United States and Israel walked out of the conference on Monday over what they called "offensive language" in the declaration on Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
For background on the conference itself, the divisive issues, youth organizing against global racism and what's going on in South Africa today, check out The Nation's continuing web coverage of this historic event. All articles exclusively available currently at the following addresses:
CHARLES TANZER: Dispatch From Durban
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=tanzer20010904
MARK GEVISSER: The Cosatu Strike
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=gevisser20010830
BOJANA STOPARIC: Young Activists Unite
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=stoparic20010816
ALAN JENKINS: Race Matters
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=jenkins20010809
Readers Reply to "Race Matters"
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=webletters20010823
JEB VS. JANET IN FLORIDA
Janet Reno's announcement yesterday that she'll challenge presidential brother Jeb Bush in next year's Florida gubernatorial race sets the stage for the marquee melee of the midterm elections. Read Miami-based reporter John Lantigua's recent Nation editorial for more:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010702&s=lantigua
RON CAREY'S PROSECUTION
With ex-Teamster boss Ron Carey currently being tried in federal court on corruption charges, we've dug up a relevant article from The Nation's archive by the magazine's Washington editor David Corn, from April 8, 1998, examining an earlier stage of Carey's troubles. Click below for the full story:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=corn19980406
9/5/01
4:56:30 PM
SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY CHROMOSOME LOCATION OF GENES ASSOCIATED WITH LONG LIFE
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Childrens Hospital Boston and other institutions have pinpointed a region on human Chromosome 4 that is likely to contain a gene or genes associated with extraordinary life expectancy. Their findings, reported in the Aug. 28 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may lead to a better understanding of the aging process.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075445.htm
PERMIAN EXTRATERRESTRIAL IMPACT CAUSED LARGEST MASS EXTINCTION ON EARTH
What actually ended the Permian Period some 251 million years ago? Most Earth scientists think gradual sea fall, climate change, oceanic anoxia, and volcanism were the causes. But that's not so. A group of geologists working in southern China found evidence that it was an asteroid or a comet that smacked our planet, exploded, and then caused the most severe biotic crisis in the history of life on Earth.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075843.htm
BIOCOMPOSITES PUT THE PLANT INTO THE AUTO PLANT - AND MORE
The gateway to widespread use of environmentally friendly materials won' be through the conscience as much as through the pocketbook. Michigan State University researchers are finding ways to make tough, lightweight and versatile materials that can be fabricated into items ranging from automotive parts to tennis rackets to housing panels to furniture to bridges - all from plants and agricultural products.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075555.htm
CATNIP REPELS MOSQUITOES MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN DEET
Researchers report that nepetalactone, the essential oil in catnip that gives the plant its characteristic odor, is about ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than DEET the compound used in most commercial insect repellents.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm
DUST FROM AFRICA LEADS TO LARGE TOXIC ALGAE BLOOMS IN GULF OF MEXICO, STUDY FINDS
Saharan dust clouds travel thousands of miles and fertilize the water off the West Florida coast with iron, which kicks off blooms of toxic algae, according to a new study. The research was partially funded by a NASA grant as part of ECOHAB: Florida (Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms), a multi-disciplinary research project designed to study harmful algae.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010829082907.htm
NEWLY DESIGNED CARBON TUBES COULD REPLACE SILICON IN MICROCHIPS
Researchers have created the first functional logic circuit within a single molecule, an achievement that could one day help to replace silicon in microchips. This is a significant step toward smaller, faster and less power-consuming computers, according to the researchers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010829083422.htm
9/5/01
4:09:19 PM
Missile-Defense System Critic Ted Postol Says He's A Target
by Matt Crenson, Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- On Ted Postol's desk, behind stacks of paper and scale models of Iraqi missile launchers, is a coffee mug emblazoned with a warning: "Back off, man! I'm a scientist!"
Maybe Postol should try a T-shirt or a bumper sticker, because the mug doesn't seem to be working. The Pentagon is all over him like medals on a four-star general.
"What they're trying to do is maneuver me into a situation where I can no longer talk," Postol says. "I intend to continue talking." The subject is national missile defense, a complex system of radar-guided rockets designed to shoot incoming missiles out of the sky. The Bush administration wants to build the system to protect America from rogue states such as North Korea or Iraq.
"The technology to do so is within our grasp," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in July, two days after one missile intercepted another in a test over the Pacific Ocean.
Postol claims that test was rigged. He says the Pentagon knows it can't field an effective missile shield and plans to build one anyway, concealing the system's ineffectiveness with unnecessary secrecy.
Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, the spokesman for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, says Postol's charges are unfounded and outdated because they involve a component of the system that has been replaced.
Yet the Pentagon has taken the trouble of sending security agents to Postol's office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, classifying his correspondence and demanding that the university confiscate documents from him and investigate his actions.
It seems mighty strange, this lone professor proclaiming that the Pentagon, the president of the United States and several giant defense contractors are all wrong and that he, Ted Postol, is right. "They hate me for this. Of course they hate me," he says, brandishing one of his thick technical papers. "I'm shoving it in their face."
Colleagues and foes alike call Postol a brilliant, tenacious and egotistical man who never gives up. His adversaries often try to dismiss him as a crank or a charlatan, but they cannot deny one fact: Last time Ted Postol took on the Pentagon, he was right.
Postol is most famous for suggesting after the 1991 Gulf War that the Patriot air defense system might not have been the smashing success that the Army claimed--and then spending years proving it.
Working with George Lewis, another MIT professor, Postol analyzed news footage of more than 40 Patriot-Scud engagements frame-by-frame, about half of the Gulf War total. They concluded that not one Patriot appeared to have stopped a Scud from reaching the ground.
The Army and Raytheon, the company that built Patriot, responded with a barrage of criticism: News footage was too coarse-grained to show anything, the camera's shutter speed was too slow, the flashes didn't correspond with the exploding Patriots.
But soon, government investigators also began finding fault with Patriot. Both the General Accounting Office and Congressional Research Service found that Patriot's success rate was far lower than the 96% claimed by the Army.
In a new review, the Army revised its own estimate of Patriot effectiveness down to 60%. But almost everybody who was involved in the debate agrees the real number is closer to zero.
It appears Postol knew what he was talking about. Whether that's true this time is nearly impossible to tell, because he and his Pentagon adversaries argue more about each other's alleged misdeeds than the facts.
Postol's most recent fracas with the Pentagon started last year when he learned of a whistle-blower named Nira Schwartz who had sued her former employer, the defense contractor TRW. Schwartz charged TRW had faked test results performed for the national missile defense program.
Postol invited Schwartz to MIT, where she made her case to experts from the university and the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group opposed to the missile defense plan and dedicated to reducing nuclear arms.
"We actually were very impressed by her," says David Wright, a physicist with the group. "It looked like [her case] really held up."
Schwartz's central claim was that TRW's kill vehicle, designed to identify and destroy an incoming missile, could not tell the difference between a real warhead and a decoy. Both the company and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization had declared a 1998 test of that capability a success.
The issue is important because any country technologically capable of launching an intercontinental ballistic missile could easily launch decoys. In an April 2000 study, a group of missile defense critics--including Postol--argued that simple decoys could render almost any missile defense system useless.
Lehner disputes that assertion. Furthermore, he says, TRW's kill vehicle has been dropped in favor of one built by Raytheon, which can distinguish warheads from decoys and "is going to get even better as time goes by."
At the meeting with Schwartz, Postol focused on a study the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization had commissioned to refute her claim--the "Independent Review of TRW Discrimination Techniques."
The report's summary said that TRW could distinguish a warhead from a decoy. But in the pages of charts and tables and impenetrable prose, Postol says, he found abundant evidence to the contrary. It looked to him as if the report's authors had ignored their own evidence to reach the conclusion the Pentagon wanted.
In April 2000, Postol wrote the Clinton administration about his discovery and attached supporting documents, including the report.
"I . . . have discovered that the BMDO's own data shows that the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) will be defeated by the simplest of balloon decoys. I also have documentation that shows that the BMDO, in coordination with its contractors, attempted to hide this fact," Postol wrote to White House chief of staff John Podesta.
Podesta passed the letter on to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, which promptly classified it.
Postol was livid. As far as he knew, nothing he had sent to Podesta was classified. In fact, the report Postol had gotten from Schwartz had the words "Unclassified Draft" all over it.
In a second missive to Podesta, Postol complained that the BMDO had no reason to classify the report or his letter except to silence him.
Five weeks later, three Defense Security Service investigators showed up in Postol's office. The four men adjourned to a conference room, where the investigators produced a folder labeled "Secret" and asked Postol to read its contents.
It was a bizarre cloak-and-dagger moment. If these men were investigators, Postol thought, why were they giving him information instead of trying to get it? Postol assumed it was a trick designed to shut him up. He held a security clearance through a defense contractor he did consulting work for. If this "secret" folder contained information from the report that he needed to make his case, he would be obliged by that security clearance not to talk about it.
According to a government report of the incident, Postol refused to look inside the folder. After some unpleasantness, the agents gave up and left.
The next day, Postol wrote Podesta a third time to complain that instead of responding to his first two letters, the government had sent agents to harass him.
"It cannot be ruled out that this unannounced meeting was an attempt at intimidation," Postol wrote. "I would therefore appreciate it if you would have this matter fully investigated." Podesta responded in a handwritten note:
"I must say that the overall impression you leave from your correspondence is that your brilliance is only exceeded by your arrogance. Rest assured that we are taking the issues you raised seriously and reviewing them at the highest levels."
The General Accounting Office did investigate the agents' unexpected visit. It concluded that the Defense Security Service had acted properly in classifying Postol's letter and the attached report, because a Pentagon lawyer had failed to blacken a few sensitive parts before passing the study on to Schwartz. The FBI also investigated and determined that TRW was not guilty of fraud.
Things might have ended there. But two months before the GAO cleared the Pentagon of harassing Postol, the professor wrote yet another letter.
Postol explains that when he wrote the White House last year, he had good evidence that the report on missile decoys was phony. But this spring, after hours of analysis, he says he finally deciphered the instructions TRW used to tell its kill vehicle how to distinguish between a real warhead and a decoy.
Those instructions, he concluded, were useless--in some situations they might even guarantee that the kill vehicle missed its target.
Postol wrote the General Accounting Office, which was already investigating Schwartz's claims against TRW. Again, his letter reached the missile defense office and was classified.
This time the Pentagon took its case to Postol's employer. Valerie Heil of the Defense Security Service wrote two letters to MIT demanding the university confiscate the missile decoy report from Postol and investigate how he obtained it.
MIT has not done that. President Charles Vest responded with a public statement defending his professor's right to criticize missile defense and expressing concern over the Pentagon's attempt to reclassify public information. Postol, who has never had warm feelings for Vest, considers that a weak effort.
"I'm surprised that he hasn't added that his favorite flavor is vanilla and his favorite color is blue, since being in favor of free speech as a university president is not a very controversial position to take," Postol says. "He's more intimidated by me than by the U.S. government."
And that is where it stands. At this point, the "secret" report has been bopping around the Internet for at least a year. Any North Korean or Iraqi who cares to see it almost certainly has already, though it wouldn't do any potential adversary much good because the Pentagon has abandoned the TRW kill vehicle in favor of the one made by Raytheon.
To people who pay attention to such things, the situation with Postol has become a joke. But thanks to the classified status of the report and his letters, nobody with a security clearance can talk publicly about it.
And there's the rub. Those who are best qualified to evaluate Postol's claims have either security clearances, strong opinions about missile defense, or both.
The rest of us can only gaze at the mysterious charts and tables and weigh the accusations of a brilliant and fractious man against the Pentagon's denials.
Source: Sunday, September 2, 2001 AP story in Los Angeles Times
9/5/01
3:55:35 PM
U.S Air Force and NASA Work Closer on Strategic Space Control
By Leonard David
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO -- The United States Air Force and NASA are beefing up their cooperative efforts to develop reusable launch vehicle technologies in an effort to assure the American military's dominance and control of space for national security purposes.
A just completed review of NASA and Air Force cooperation in space urges for a closer affiliation with the civilian space agency on reusable space launch technologies, and other technology work now underway.
For full Story see:
http://www.space.com/news/military_space_010829-1.html
9/5/01
3:53:30 PM
U.S. Restates Its Stand on Missiles in China
By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - The Bush administration issued a new set of statements today about how it views the buildup of C