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Natural Disasters Claimed 295,000 Lives Last Year

Mon, 3 Jan 2011 12:38:32 -0800

MUNICH, Germany, January 3, 2011 (ENS) - Natural disasters killed some 295,000 people around the world last year, "an exceptionally high number of fatalities," according to one of the world's largest insurers.

Munich Re said in a report today, "The high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing climate change."

This assessment is confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization, which said in December that "2010 is almost certain to rank in the top three warmest years since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850."

A total of 950 natural disasters were recorded last year, nine-tenths of them weather-related events such as storms and floods. This made 2010 the year with the second-highest number of natural catastrophes in the past 30 years, the company said.

"2010 showed the major risks we have to cope with. There were a number of severe earthquakes. The hurricane season was also eventful - it was just fortunate that the tracks of most of the storms remained over the open sea. But things could have turned out very differently," said Torsten Jeworrek, Munich Re's Reinsurance CEO.

Residents of Port-au-Prince view burning rubble after earthquake, January 16, 2010. (Photo by Moises Saman/Panos Pictures/ActionAid)

The overall picture last year was dominated by severe earthquakes to an extent seldom experienced in recent decades, the company reported.

"The severe earthquakes and the hurricane season with so many storms demonstrate once again that there must be no slackening of our efforts to analyze these risks in detail and provide the necessary insurance covers at adequate prices," Jeworrek said. "These prices calculated by the insurance industry make it possible to assess the economic consequences of these otherwise difficult-to-evaluate risks."

The overall losses last year amounted to around US$130 billion, of which approximately US$37 billion was insured. This puts 2010 among the six most loss-intensive years for the insurance industry since 1980, said Jeworrek.

The level of overall losses was slightly above the high average of the past 10 years.

Most catastrophes occurred on the American continent, which recorded 365, and in Asia, which counted 310. Just 120 natural catastrophes were recorded in Europe, 90 in Africa and 65 in Australia/Oceania. North and South America accounted for the largest portion of insured losses, around two-thirds.

Munich Re assigned five of the 2010 catastrophes to the top category of "great natural catastrophes" based on the definition criteria of the United Nations - the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, the earthquake in Chile on February 27, and the earthquake in central China on April 13, the heatwave in Russia, which lasted from July to September, and the floods in Pakistan which also continued from July to September.

These accounted for the major share of fatalities in 2010 and just under half the overall losses caused by natural catastrophes, said the insurance company.

One of the most devastating earthquakes in the history of the past 100 years, the quake in Haiti on January 12 killed more than 220,000 people. Only the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China claimed more lives, 242,000.

"While the earthquake in Haiti resulted in human tragedy on a staggering scale, it gave rise to only negligible losses for the insurance industry, as is so often the case in developing countries," says the Munich Re report.

Five hundred times more energy than in the Haiti quake was released by the earthquake that hit Chile just over a month later - the fifth-strongest earthquake ever measured. With overall losses of US$30 billion and insured losses of US$8 billion, this quake was last year's most expensive natural catastrophe.

In the summer, floods following extreme monsoon rainfall had devastating consequences in Pakistan. For weeks, up to one-quarter of the country was flooded. The floods affected an estimated 20 million people, many of whom lost all their worldly possessions. The overall loss totalled US$9.5 billion, said Munich Re, an extremely high amount for Pakistan's emerging economy.

Millions of Pakistanis are still in need of assistance, two senior United Nations officials said Thursday.

"With an estimated 20 million people affected by devastating floods, the country faced its biggest ever humanitarian crisis," Rauf-Engin Soysal, the secretary-general's special envoy for assistance to Pakistan, and UN Resident Coordinator Timo Pakkala said in a joint message.

The $2 billion appeal for aid for Pakistani flood victims made in September, the largest-ever launched by the UN for a natural disaster, is currently 51 percent funded.

The heatwave in Russia and neighboring countries between July and September brought record high temperatures to Moscow. In some regions of central Russia, temperatures exceeded 30 degrees Celsius for two months.

Russian forests burned, with the fires threatening nuclear facilities and areas where the ground had been contaminated by radioactive fallout from Chernobyl. At least 56,000 people died as a result of heat and air pollution, making it the most deadly natural disaster in Russia's history.

Munich Re calls the Atlantic hurricane season a "lucky escape." Favorable weather patterns meant that the U.S. coast was not hit by a single hurricane, but in Mexico a few storms caused substantial damage.

Otherwise, hurricanes moved away from land in a northeasterly direction, only grazing some islands in the Caribbean.

But in terms of the number and intensity of the storms, it was one of the severest hurricane seasons of the past 100 years, according to the Munich Re report.

There were 19 named tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic last year, equaling the number recorded in 1995 and putting 2010 in joint third place after 2005, which had 28 named storms and 1933, which had 21.

Twelve of last year's Atlantic storms attained hurricane strength, with five of these falling into the top hurricane categories with wind speeds over 178 km/h (110 mph).

"This means the forecasts of various institutes about the number of storms turned out to be very accurate," said Munich Re.

"The number of storms was indeed well above average. It is just that it is impossible to forecast whether and where such storms will make landfall," said Professor Peter Höppe, who heads Munich Re's Geo Risks Research.

Right at the start of the 2010 hurricane season, the water temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic were up to two degrees Celsius above the long-term mean - and thus significantly higher than the level to be expected for the cyclical warm phase in the North Atlantic that has persisted since 1995, he said.

"That is in line with the trend of the past 30 years, in which all ocean basins show an increase in water temperatures. This long-term trend can no longer be explained by natural climate oscillations alone," said Höppe. "The probability is that climate change is contributing to some of the warming of the world's oceans."

Höppe predicted, "This influence will increase further and, together with the continuing natural warm phase in the North Atlantic, is likely to mean a further high level of hurricane activity in the coming years."

Lawsuit Threatened to Spur Wolf Recovery Plan

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:50:18 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 21, 2010 (ENS) - The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity today filed notice of intent to sue the Department of the Interior for failing to write a recovery plan for wolves in the lower 48 states.

In July the Center submitted a scientific petition to Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service asking that a national recovery plan be developed, but never received a response.

"Wolves are an integral part of this county's natural history and need a national recovery plan now," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center.

Once widespread throughout North America, gray wolves now number about 5,000 in the lower 48 states, inhabiting the northern Rockies and northern Great Lakes regions.

Greenwald says a national plan would provide a roadmap for recovering existing wolf populations and returning wolves to some of their historic range around the country. Suitable wolf habitat exists in the Pacific Northwest, California, Great Basin, southern Rocky Mountains, Great Plains and New England.

Such a plan is required by the Endangered Species Act, says Greenwald, and according to today's notice of intent to sue should have been developed 30 years ago.

"Although wolves have made important strides toward recovery in parts of the northern Rockies and Great Lakes, these areas represent less than five percent of their historic range," said Greenwald. "We call on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to stop playing politics and use his legal authority to do right by the wolf."

Wolf at Idaho's Wolf Education and Research Center (Photo by Rick Hobson)

In March 2009, Secretary Salazar approved removal of wolves from the Endangered Species List. Idaho and Montana scheduled hunting seasons, and 350 wolves, nearly 20 percent of the total population in both states, were killed.

A coalition of 13 groups seeking to put wolves back on the Endangered Species list challenged Salazar's wolf delisting decision.

A federal court in Montana overturned Salazar's decision August 5. Federal District Judge Donald Molloy ruled that wolf populations must be managed as a whole, and not by arbitrary political boundaries.

In October, Idaho Governor Butch Otter called a halt to the state's wolf management program. On October 18, the governor notified Secretary Salazar that Idaho no longer will act as the federal government's "designated agent, managing wolves imposed on the state under the Endangered Species Act."

That means the Idaho Fish and Game agency will no longer perform statewide monitoring of wolves, conduct investigations into "allegedly illegal" killings of wolves, provide law enforcement in response to "allegedly illegal" takings of wolves, or implement the livestock depredation response program, Governor Otter said.

Instead, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission has refocused its efforts on protecting Idaho's deer, elk and moose, and the Department of Fish and Game will apply to the Interior Department for additional flexibility in addressing wolf depredation issues so Idaho can exercise its "sovereign right to protect our wildlife," said the governor.

With the August federal court decision that reinstated Endangered Species Act protection for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains, federal law now guides Montana's management of the state's wolf population.

As a result of the decision, which Montana has appealed, the line that once divided Montana's wolf population as a "nonessential experimental" population in the southern half of the state, and an "endangered" population to the north, has been reinstated by the court. Different federal regulations apply in the two areas.

Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks called the recovery of the wolf in the northern Rockies "one of the fastest endangered species comebacks on record."

In the mid 1990s, to hasten the overall pace of wolf recovery in the Northern Rockies, more than 60 wolves were released into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho.

The minimum recovery goal for wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains was set at a minimum of 30 breeding pairs and a minimum of 300 individual wolves for at least three consecutive years. This goal was achieved in 2002, and the wolf population has increased every year since.

Another federal judge ruled in November that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was not justified in rejecting Wyoming's wolf management plan.

U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson ruled that the federal agency's insistence that Wyoming list wolves as a protected "trophy game" species throughout the state was "arbitrary and capricious" and should be set aside.

Judge Johnson directed the federal agency to revisit whether Wyoming's proposed trophy game management area in the state's northwest corner is adequate to maintain a healthy wolf population, or whether the state's proposed boundaries should be expanded.

The state's plan would allow unregulated killing of wolves in all but the northwest corner of the state. Currently, all of Wyoming's wolves are listed as a federally endangered species, so it is illegal to kill wolves anywhere in the state.

Last year at this time, the wolf population in the Northern Rocky Mountain Recovery Area, which encompasses parts of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, was estimated to be at least 1,706, with 242 packs, and 115 breeding pairs. About 525 wolves were estimated to inhabit Montana, in 100 packs and 34 breeding pairs.

Nevertheless, the nonprofit Republicans for Environmental Protection said Thursday that it is too early to remove the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List.

Referring to both wolves and grizzly bears, Jim DiPeso, REP America's policy director, said, "Northern Rockies states have not demonstrated their willingness to manage these species post-removal to ensure their continued health. On the contrary, both wolves and grizzlies face irrational animosity from officials in those states. In 2007, for example, Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter told a rowdy rally that wolves should be hunted down to an unviable remnant population of 100 animals."

"Wildlife managers must strive for science-based, ecologically oriented goals," said DiPeso. "Wolves and grizzly bears play vital roles regulating ecosystems within their historic ranges."

With that, Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity agrees.

Wolves are a keystone species that benefit prey populations by culling sick animals and preventing overpopulation, he points out. Studies of wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park show that they also benefit other species, including pronghorn antelope and foxes by controlling coyote populations, and songbirds and beavers by dispersing browsing elk and allowing recovery of streamside vegetation.

"The Department of the Interior's failure to develop a national recovery strategy for the wolf, as it has for other species like the bald eagle, has led to tremendous confusion and hampered true wolf recovery," said Greenwald. "Wolves have been an integral part of North American landscapes for millions of years and are cherished, iconic animals that deserve a certain future in this country."

DuPont Fined $3.3 Million for Toxic Chemical Reporting Violations

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:53:12 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 21, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that DuPont has agreed to pay a penalty of $3.3 million to resolve 57 reporting violations under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

DuPont failed to immediately notify the EPA of research indicating substantial risk found during testing chemicals for possible use as surface protection, masonry protection, water repellants, sealants and paints.

Dupont scientist John O'Brient working on a project that was not part of the reporting violations. (Photo courtesy DuPont)

The Toxic Substances Control Act requires companies to inform EPA right away when they have research demonstrating that a chemical could pose a substantial risk to human health and the environment.

"DuPont failed to comply with the law and notify EPA that it had information on chemicals that could pose a risk to human health and the environment," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

"EPA is serious about making companies follow our nation's laws and protecting public health," she said.

On May 5, 2006, DuPont notified EPA that it had failed to submit chemical toxicity studies on rats as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act.

On July 12, 2006, DuPont submitted studies that contained information on chemical toxicity when certain chemicals are inhaled.

EPA determined that 57 of the studies contained information on chemicals that could present a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment and were therefore subject to the Act.

Full compliance with TSCA reporting requirements allows the environmental agency to understand and limit, when necessary, potential hazards associated with manufacturing, use, and disposal of chemical substances, said Giles.

Based in Wilmington Delaware, DuPont is a chemical manufacturer that provides products and services for agriculture, nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, transportation and apparel markets. The company operates in 90 countries.

UN Green-Lights New Biodiversity Science Policy Platform

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:51:25 -0800

NEW YORK, New York, December 21, 2010 (ENS) - The United Nations has capped its Biodiversity Year 2010 on a high note by creating a new science policy platform to counsel governments on reversing the steep decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The new body, to be known as the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES, was approved by governments in June at a meeting in Busan, South Korea, but final approval was required from the UN General Assembly. That approval came Monday at UN headquarters in New York.

"IPBES represents a major breakthrough in terms of organizing a global response to the loss of living organisms and forests, freshwaters, coral reefs and other ecosystems that underpin all life - including economic life - on Earth," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme.

It underlines a further success of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity and should provide a boost to the International Year of Forests which begins in January 2011, and the international decade of biodiversity, also beginning in January 2011, Steiner said.

Endangered Rothschild giraffes in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda (Photo by Zoe Muller, Giraffe Conservation Organization courtesy IUCN)

"2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, began on a mute note after it emerged that no single country had achieved the target of substantially reversing the rate of loss of biodiversity," Steiner said. "But it has ended on a far more positive one that underlines a new determination to act on the challenges and deliver the opportunities possible from a far more intelligent management of the planet's nature-based assets."

The independent platform will mirror the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, which fosters understanding and governmental action on global warming, with in-depth reviews of climate change science by thousands of experts worldwide.

Dr. Robert Watson, who chaired the IPCC from 1997 to 2002, headed the first two formative meetings of the new body.

"All governments have agreed that there is a need to strengthen the science-policy interface, so the only question is how, and what role can the IPBES play," Watson said in June.

That role has now been decided.

There has been no global ongoing mechanism recognized by the scientific and policy communities, that pulls together, synthesizes and analyzes for decision making the great variety of reports and assessments on biodiversity and ecosystems conducted by United Nations bodies, research centers, universities and others.

The IPBES will fill that gap. The new body will carry out peer reviews of scientific research on the state, status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystems and will outline policy options and responses to improve their health.

Steiner said the formal go-ahead for an IPBES means that much of what was viewed possible in 2010 has been transformed into a reality. The General Assembly's approval triggers a series of steps needed to get the work of the new body up and running.

Acting as the interim Secretariat for the new platform, UNEP will now organize a meeting of governments in 2011 that will decide issues such as which country will house the IPBES and which institutions will host it.

A myriad of global, regional and national assessments that relate to biodiversity and ecosystem services currently exist and are updated year after year. These include:

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development
UNEP's Global Environment Outlook
Global Biodiversity Outlook
Global Forest Resources Assessment
State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
IUCN Red List of threatened and endangered species

Steiner says many of the important findings of these assessments are not being translated into meaningful and decisive action by governments due, in part, to different methods and standards used in each assessment.

IPBES can coordinate the findings of these and other assessments to provide governments with greater clarity and confidence on conclusions they can base their decisions and actions on, he said.

IPBES also can direct the attention of governments to new topics identified by science that otherwise might remain within the corridors of research institutes and universities for years before they reach the wider world.

From the identification of new life forms to the fast disappearance of others, from deoxygenated dead zones in the world's oceans to the pros and cons of biofuels - IPBES will put scientific discoveries on the political radar.

IPBES will also be able to assemble funding to help developing country scientists perform assessments, harnessing funding through UN agencies, foundations and other sources.

Total Lunar Eclipse Marks Winter Solstice: First in 372 Years

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:45:06 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 20, 2010 (ENS) - On the night of December 20 to 21, a total lunar eclipse will be visible to sky watchers across North America and Central America, Greenland and Iceland, western Europe and western Asia.

It is the first time a lunar eclipse and winter solstice have occurred on the same day in 372 years.

While it is a coincidence that the eclipse falls on the same date as the shortest day of the year - the winter solstice - for eclipse watchers this means that the Moon will appear very high in the night sky, as the solstice marks the time when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the Sun.

Total lunar eclipse January 20-21, 2000. (Photo by Mr. Eclipse/Fred Espenak courtesy NASA)

From beginning to end, the eclipse will last about three hours and 28 minutes.

North America and Central America will have the best view of the lunar eclipse, which will begin at 06:33 UTC. The stage of total eclipse will last for 72 minutes beginning at 07:41 UTC.

For observers on the east coast of the United States, the eclipse lasts from 1:33 am EST through 5:01 am EST.

For viewers on the west coast of the United States the eclipse begins at 10:33 pm PST on December 20 and lasts until 2:01 am PST on December 21.

Viewers in western Europe will be able to see the beginning stages of the eclipse before moonset, and in western Asia the later stages of the eclipse will be visible after moonrise.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth lines up directly between the Sun and the Moon, blocking the Sun's rays and casting a shadow on the Moon. As the Moon moves deeper and deeper into the Earth's shadow, the Moon changes color, turning from gray to an orange or deep shade of red.

The Moon takes on this new color because indirect sunlight is still able to pass through Earth's atmosphere and cast a glow on the Moon. The atmosphere filters out most of the blue colored light, leaving the red and orange hues that we see during a lunar eclipse.

Extra particles in the atmosphere, perhaps from a recent volcanic eruption, will cause the Moon to appear a darker shade of red.

"Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are perfectly safe to view without any special glasses or equipment," according to the National Atmospheric and Space Administration, NASA. "All you need is you own two eyes. So take this opportunity to stay up late and watch this stunning celestial phenomenon high in the night sky. It will be the last chance for sky watchers in the continental U.S. to see a total lunar eclipse until April 15, 2014."

NASA has planned several activities to help the public enjoy the total lunar eclipse.

Astronomers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will host a pair of live web chats to answer questions and help make the rare celestial experience one to remember. Marshall Center astronomer Rob Suggs will hold the first chat from 3 to 4 pm EST today and discuss the best ways to view the eclipse.

From 12 am to 5 am, Marshall researcher Mitzi Adams will answer questions as the eclipse passes across the continental United States. A live video feed of the eclipse will be available on the chat site at: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/lunar_eclipse.html

To learn about the science behind eclipses, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/eclipse

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has set up a lunar eclipse Flickr group for those who want to share or view photos of the eclipsed Moon. NASA will choose one photographer to have his or her work featured as official JPL wallpaper on their website. To learn more, visit: http://www.flickr.com/groups/imthere/

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory also is hosting the "I'm There: Lunar Eclipse" text campaign to connect people who are watching the eclipse in the same area and to provide them with tips on viewing the phenomenon. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/imthere/map.php

In Germany, the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg will cover the lunar eclipse live on December, 21 from 7:15 am CET. Their scientsts will provide information about the eclipse and live pictures from different places of the Earth until around 12 am. The university will produce live in HD-quality for the first time, so that sharp pictures will be available.

Viewers can upload their own images, call the university or send an email. Find out more at: http://www.eclipse-live.com/?lang=en

Afghan Saffron Venture Hit by Taliban

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:02:29 -0800

By Sadeq Behnam

HERAT, Afghanistan, December 17, 2010 (ENS) - Farmers taking part in an internationally-backed saffron-growing project in Herat province in western Afghanistan say they are being targeted by Taliban militants who want them to cultivate opium poppies instead.

Insurgents in areas north of Herat city have destroyed fields planted with saffron, and last month attacked two trucks carrying bulbs for planting. Both drivers were killed and their vehicles torched.

Bashir Ahmad Ahmadi of Herat's agriculture department described what happened. "The Italian Provincial Reconstruction Team had promised to provide farmers in Kushk-e Kohna and Rabat-e Sangi districts with seven tons of saffron bulbs," he said. "When the bulbs were being transported out to these districts, the armed opposition set fire to the trucks and killed the drivers."

Ahmadi said everyone had been shocked by the incident.

"The farmers had complained in the past that the armed opposition was threatening them over poppy cultivation, but no one ever expected an incident like this to happen," he said. "The information we've received indicates that farmers don't dare cultivate saffron in the province's more remote and unstable districts because of Taliban influence."

Saffron crocus in Afghanistan (Photo courtesy Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees)

Mohammad Musa, a farmer in the village of Darz in Kushk district - believed to be second only to Shindand district for its Taliban presence - described his failed attempt to make money out of saffron.

He and other farmers were given some training and issued with saffron bulbs by agriculture officials in Herat city, as part of efforts to wean them off poppies. But six months later, the Taliban began threatening them, and finally destroyed their saffron crops.

"They destroyed three hectares of land where I'd planted saffron," he said. "My life is ruined - one year's effort has gone to waste. I don't know how to pay to sustain my family."

Mohammad Musa explained why the insurgents disliked saffron. "The Taliban are the main buyers of opium, so they try to force farmers to cultivate poppy, because they can't sell saffron."

For farmers who have committed themselves to saffron, the Taliban attack has been disastrous.

Another farmer in Kushk, Shah Mohammad, said he had prepared most of his land for planting saffron and feared he would be left destitute after the two truckloads of bulbs were destroyed.

"Not only have I been unable to plant wheat this year, but the saffron bulbs haven't reached us. I do not know how I'm going to get through the coming winter," he said.

Security officials in Herat acknowledge that the Taliban presence is significant in remoter parts of the province, but insist they are working to extend the reach of government and prevent armed groups from disrupting farming.

Nur Khan Nikzad, Herat police headquarters spokesman, said the insurgents were actively encouraging farmers in several districts to grow the opium poppy, but insisted, "The only districts where opium is probably still being cultivated are the Shindand and Kushk. Our intelligence indicates that the level of opium production [province-wide] has fallen by 90 percent."

Nikzad said police would take action to protect people if they received complaints.

Farmers like Mohammad Musa have little faith in such promises. "Officials do nothing but bluff. The opposition moves around freely in our area," he said.

Mullah Sayed Zaher, the head of a parallel administration the Taliban have created in Kushk, admitted responsibility for the attack on the truck.

"We will burn everything the infidels bring into the district. And it's obligatory to kill those who work with the foreigners," he said. "As long as my men and I live, I will not allow any resident to receive donations from foreigners, whether it be saffron or anything else."

Abdullah Halim, an expert on agricultural affairs in Herat, believes the Taliban want to display their power by showing they can make people grow poppy, and also to profit from the lucrative drugs trade.

"It's the job of government to extend its reach into areas where it currently has little access; it should try to maintain control of this region," he added.

The saffron crocus plant, whose stamens are harvested mostly for culinary use but also for medicinal purposes, needs little irrigation, is resistant to disease and can be harvested over several successive years.

Herat region has become an important producer, generating 1.5 tons a year. That might not seem much, but the stamens fetch US$2,000 a kilogram on the Afghan market, and twice that when exported.

Dealers in saffron say the authorities need to do more to protect the crop.

"There have been many obstacles standing in the way of growing and trading in saffron," Mohammad Jalil, a leading trader, said "Another major problem has now been added on - hostility to the plan's cultivation on the part of some in the armed opposition."

All the investment made to date is now at risk, he said, noting that the attack in Kushk meant a contract with a Danish aid group to supply saffron bulbs to neighboring Faryab province had to be canceled.

Afghanistan's counter-narcotics minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel says poppy cultivation in Herat fell by 50 percent last year, thanks to the efforts of his staff and other government agencies, and also because of a disease that blighted poppy plants.

However, he warned that higher prices and increasing demand for opium might now be encouraging farmers to turn back to poppy growing, which would reverse the downward trend.

Meanwhile, farmers like Mohammad Musa feel they are caught between two very different agricultural policies.

"We don't know what to grow - if we cultivate poppy, the government destroys our lands, and if we grow saffron, the opposition destroys it. We're the ones who lose," he said. "If the government can't protect farmers, it can't tell us what to grow and what not to grow."

{This article originally appeared December 10, 2010 in Afghanistan Report, produced by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting}

Green Groups Jump the Gun on Europe's Million Signature Law

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:58:49 -0800

BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 16, 2010 (ENS) - European Union citizens will now be able to ask the European Commission to introduce new legislation, provided they can muster one million signatures. The European Parliament approved the European Citizens' Initiative, ECI, on Wednesday by 628 votes to 15, with 24 abstentions.

"Today the European Union is opening itself up to participatory democracy," said rapporteur Alain Lamassoure of France, representing the European Peoples' Party, the largest political group in the European Parliament.

"The citizens now have the same right of political initiative as we have here in Parliament and in Council," Lamassoure said. "Now it is up to our citizens to act."

Environmental groups Greenpeace Europe and Avaaz were the first to give the European Commission a petition with a million signatures, asking for a ban on genetically engineered crops until a new scientific body is set up to assess their impact.

The environmental groups handed the petition to EU Health Commissioner John Dalli on December 9, six days before Parliament approved the new citizens initiative, casting the legitimacy of their petition into doubt.

Greenpeace EU director Jorgo Riss said, "The ECI rules make Europeans jump through flaming hoops. On an issue as sensitive as food safety, it should really be about what the European Commission is obliged to do once a million citizens have clearly expressed their concerns."

Avaaz Executive Director Ricken Patel said, "With the ECI regulations now agreed, the Commission has no excuse not to act on this urgent initiative."

The required million signatures must be collected within 12 months from amongst the 500 million citizens in the 27 EU member states. The Greenpeace/Avaaz petition carries over a million signatures, from all 27 member states, collected well within a year, and reaching country quotas in 12 countries - five more than the minimum. All signatures are verifiable, the groups say.

Health Commissioner John Dalli accepts the first ever European Citizens Initiative from Greenpeace and Avaaz. (Photo by John Novis courtesy Greenpeace)

The citizens' initiative should be in use by the beginning of 2012, now that Parliament has approved the ground rules for the initiative, which was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty on moderizing European government, which took effect last December.

Co-rapporteur Zita Gurmai of Hungary, representing the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, said, "This is a new layer to our European democracy, our Christmas present to European citizens."

"It has been reached thanks to consistent cooperation between all the institutions involved: Commissioner Sefcovic, the Belgian presidency and before them the Spanish presidency, and the European Parliament," she said.

As the member states have 12 months to put the new rules into effect in their national laws, the first citizens' initiatives could be launched by the beginning of 2012. European Commission officials suggest that the environmental groups might have to redo their petition, gathering all their signatures again.

But the environmental groups point to a legal opinion from professor Ludwig Kramer finding that the terms of the Lisbon Treaty are sufficiently clear for the ECI to be directly applicable from the moment of ratification in December 2009.

MEPs said after Wednesday's vote that they have made the procedure much more user-friendly than initially proposed.

Once the legislation is in place, a citizens' committee consisting of people from at least one fourth of the member states - currently seven states - can register an initiative with the European Commission. After the commission has made an initial admissibility check, they can start collecting signatures, either on paper or online.

A minimum number of signatures needs to be gathered in each member state for them to count towards the required seven, ranging from 3,750 signatures in the tiny state of Malta to 74,250 in Germany.

Member states will verify the signatories' details. For this purpose, each state will decide which information is needed and most will require an ID card number. All signatories must be citizens of the European Union and old enough to vote in European elections.

At the end of the process, the Commission will decide within three months if a new law can be proposed, and it will have to make its reasons public.

Gurmai, president of Party of European Socialist Women, said, "In times where only 42 percent of EU citizens vote in European elections, political leaders should not be afraid of, but rather welcome, citizens' engagement in EU affairs."

"The argument of those who are concerned that the EU will be now overwhelmed by loads of unserious initiatives is a false argument," she said. "All the initiatives proposed will have to meet some necessary criteria, such as falling within the competences of the EU, respecting its fundamental values and not being manifestly frivolous. Besides, they will have to be endorsed by one million EU citizens."

The European Commission will help the organizers of an initiative by providing a user-friendly guide, by setting up a point of contact and by providing online collection software free of charge. Forms have been harmonized to the maximum.

"Every kind of support will be made available: political, financial, local, national, European, foreign, etc. On one condition: total transparency. Europeans called on to sign an initiative must know who is behind it," Lamassoure explained.

"Parliament pushed hard to protect citizens from the risk of a lack of political follow-up if the commission assessment is that additional legislation would be inappropriate," said Lamassoure. "Hence the creation of two new rights for authors of 'successful' initiatives: the right to be received by the commission to present their motion and the right to a public debate before the European Parliament."

"The citizens' initiative is a unique opportunity. For the first time citizens can now get together and let us know if we are doing our job properly," said Gurmai. "We need this badly."

Solar Energy Zones Identified in Six Western States

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:00:16 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 16, 2010 (ENS) - The Obama administration today proposed guidelines for solar development on public lands in the West, to accelerate projects in six western states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

The detailed study, known as a Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, names 24 "solar energy zones" that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said are "best suited for large-scale solar development."

"We think it provides a common sense and flexible framework through which to grow our nation's renewable energy economy," Salazar told reporters on a teleconference.

"Our early, Smart from the Start, planning will help us site solar projects in the right places, and reduce conflicts and delays at later stages of the development process," Salazar said.

"Our country has incredible renewable resources, innovative entrepreneurs, a skilled workforce, and manufacturing know-how," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "It's time to harness these resources and lead in the global clean energy economy."

The public is encouraged to provide comment on the draft plan during the next 90 days. The Notice of Availability for the Draft Solar PEIS will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, December 17 and is available today in the Reading Room. The 90-day public comment period will include 14 open meetings, beginning in Washington, DC on February 2, 2011.

"Today's announcement is part of an integrated strategy to cultivate the entire innovation chain to create the jobs of the 21st century economy and to put America on a sustainable energy path," said Chu.

"This proposal lays out the next phase of President Obama's strategy for rapid and responsible development of renewable energy on America's public lands," Salazar said.

Under the proposal, the Bureau of Land Management would establish Solar Energy Zones within the lands available for solar development right of way applications. These are areas that have been identified as most appropriate for development, containing the highest solar energy potential and fewest environmental and resource conflicts.

Amonix high concentration photovoltaic system, Las Vegas, Nevada (Photo courtesy Amonix)

The Solar Energy Zones would provide directed, landscape-scale planning for future solar projects and allow for a more efficient permitting and siting process.

The initiative stems from Salazar's June 2009 announcement that tracts of BLM land in the six western states, known as Solar Energy Study Areas, would be fully evaluated for their environmental and resource suitability for large-scale solar energy production.

Also today, Energy Secretary Chu announced the Department of Energy's intent to fund up to $50 million to test and demonstrate innovative technologies that will lead to cost-competitive solar energy technologies.

The demonstration program will be a critical link between the Department of Energy's advanced technology development programs and full-scale commercialization efforts.

The Nevada National Security Site, previously the Nevada Nuclear Test Site, will serve as a proving ground for cutting-edge solar technologies, such as concentrating solar thermal power and concentrating photovoltaic energy. These technologies can be used for utility applications in the Southwest where there is an abundance of solar energy.

"This funding will allow the Department to further test advanced and innovative solar energy technologies in real-world conditions, providing critical data for companies and communities looking to invest in large-scale solar projects," said Chu.

"The Solar Demonstration Zone in Nevada is part of an integrated effort to expand the solar energy industry, helping to put America on a path to a sustainable energy future and create the jobs of the 21st century economy," he said.

Potential technology applications include concentrated solar power systems that use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight on a heat absorbing fluid, convert it to steam, and ultimately generate electricity, as well as concentrated photovoltaic power that uses lenses to concentrate sunlight to improve the efficiency of conventional photovoltaics.

The demonstration projects as part of the Solar Demonstration Zone will be deployed at a large enough scale to provide useful operating and economic data for the eventual deployment of solar energy projects at utility-scale, which are typically grid-connected projects larger than 20 megawatts.

The Solar Demonstration Zone at the Nevada National Security Site will complement the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management's 24 Solar Energy Study Areas on public lands across the Southwest by providing essential data about the commercial viability of the most advanced solar technologies.

As part of DOE and the Department of Interior's continuing collaboration, the departments are working together to implement this project, including conducting environmental reviews and coordinating necessary infrastructure planning for the site.

The DOE's Funding Opportunity Announcement is slated for early next year, but funding for the project is dependent upon congressional appropriations.

U.S. Government Sues BP for Gulf Oil Spill

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:55:26 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 15, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. Justice Department today filed suit against BP Exploration and Production Inc. and eight other companies in an effort to recover billions of dollars in damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill earlier this year.

BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig on fire in the Gulf of Mexico, April 21, 2010 (Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

Filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the civil lawsuit seeks damages from BP, Transocean Holdings and Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc., Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Anadarko Exploration & Production LP, Mitsui & Co Ltd.'s MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, Triton Asset Leasing GMBH, and BP's insurer Lloyds of London for their actions associated with the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The lawsuit asks that the companies be held liable for unlimited damages, beyond the $75 million cap under the U.S. Oil Pollution Act. The lawsuit also seeks civil penalties under the Clean Water Act.

"We intend to prove that these violations caused or contributed to this massive oil spill, and that the defendants are therefore responsible - under the Oil Pollution Act - for government removal costs, economic losses, and environmental damages," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference today at Justice Department headquarters in Washington.

"While today's civil action marks a critical step forward, it is not a final step," said Holder. "Both our criminal and civil investigations are continuing. And our work to ensure that the American taxpayers are not forced to bear the costs of restoring the gulf area - and its economy - goes on."

"Over the past year, I have visited the gulf region multiple times," Holder said. "I have seen the devastation that this oil spill caused throughout the region - to individuals and families; to communities and businesses; to coastlines, wetlands, and wildlife."

An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig leased by BP from Transocean killed 11 workers and injured 17 others last April 20.

Oil gushed from BP's undersea Macondo well amounting to 4.1 million barrels, according to U.S. government data before the well was finally capped on July 19. The well was permanently sealed in September.

Oil from the well, located about 50 miles from the Mississippi Delta, polluted the Gulf of Mexico and shorelines from Florida to Texas.

Anadarko and MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC were in a partnership with BP for drilling the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the complaint, the United States alleges violations of federal safety and operational regulations, including:

Failure to take necessary precautions to secure the Macondo Well prior to the April 20th explosion
Failure to utilize the safest drilling technology to monitor the well's condition
Failure to maintain continuous surveillance of the well
Failure to utilize and maintain equipment and materials that were available and necessary to ensure the safety and protection of personnel, property, natural resources, and the environment

"As our investigations continue," Holder said, "we will not hesitate to take whatever steps are necessary to hold accountable those responsible for this spill."

Shell Oil Pledges $1.5 Million to Restore Fish Habitat

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:57:21 -0800

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, December 15, 2010 (ENS) - Independence Island in Louisiana's Barataria Bay was once a popular fishing destination, but due to coastal erosion and subsidence, the island has sunk so low it is no longer a viable fisheries habitat.

Then this spring and summer, low-lying islands in the bay were heavily oiled by BP's Deepwater Horizon spill.

But the island will be restored this spring, Governor Bobby Jindal announced Tuesday, as the result of a new partnership between the recreational angling community, private businesses and the state.

Governor Jindal joined the nonprofit Coastal Conservation Association and Shell Oil Company to announce that the partners will fund CCA's ongoing Building Conservation Habitat Program, and one of the first projects will be building reefs to provide fish habitat at Independence Island.

Shell has committed 1.5 million dollars to CCA's Building Conservation Habitat Program. The nonprofit organization has 15 coastal state chapters spanning the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic seaboard.

The Independence Island Reef will be funded by a $250,000 donation from the CCA Building Conservation Habitat Program and matching funds from the state.

Boom laid to keep BP's oil spill off a low-lying island in Barataria Bay, June 20, 2010. (Photo by KevinV916)

Governor Jindal said, "CCA's Building Conservation Habitat Program is a long-term commitment from the angling community to the incredible natural resources of Louisiana. Partnerships like the one announced today are a critical component for helping our citizens get back on their feet after the oil spill and preserving the beauty of coastal Louisiana for generations to come."

An explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April and the resulting 4.1 million barrel oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico happened just 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. Finally capped in July, the worst offshore oil spill in American history fouled hundreds of miles of shoreline from Texas to Florida. Louisiana's Barataria Bay was heavily oiled.

Patrick Murray, president of CCA National said building habitat for fish in the Gulf will benefit generations of anglers. "This partnership combines the grassroots strength of CCA with the resources of Shell to allow our members to take the Building Conservation Habitat Program to new levels. It is an exciting time in marine conservation, and the restoration projects that will come from this initiative will play a key role in the enhancement of Gulf resources for both today's anglers and for generations of anglers to come."

Coastal Conservation Association worked with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to permit a 55-acre site for future reef development that includes the original footprint of Independence Island.

The Independence Island project will install two reefs covering four acres at Independence Island this spring, each reef consisting of 3,500 tons of limestone to provide hard-structure habitat for marine fisheries.

Almost immediately after installation, these reefs are expected to start attracting marine organisms and forage fish, which will draw recreational species and provide new opportunities for anglers in Grand Isle.

After the massive BP oil spill, petroleum companies are eager to show their greener side.

John Hollowell, executive vice president, Deep Water, Upstream Americas, Shell Energy Resources, said, "Shell has a long history of support for environment and habitat projects, and our thousands of employees in Louisiana are excited about the possibilities of this partnership."

"CCA members have an amazing track record of conservation work that sets them apart. We believe in the organization and are committed to doing our part to ensure that the Building Conservation Habitat Program has the tools to bring significant marine habitat restoration projects from concept to reality," said Hollowell.

CCA has constructed reefs in Lake Pelto, Vermilion Bay, Calcasieu Lake, and Lake Ponchartrain. For in-shore coastal areas, this program has used crushed limestone to construct low-relief "shell-pad" type structures to enhance habitats and fisheries resources.

David Cresson, executive director and CEO of Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana said, "This reef will create new habitat for a large variety of marine species and will provide recreational fishing opportunities in an area that had been heavily affected by coastal erosion and other factors. I applaud Shell and Governor Jindal for working with CCA to spearhead this project, and I look forward to our continued work in conserving and enhancing our coastal fisheries."

New York Governor Calls Timeout on Fracking for Environmental Review

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:20:08 -0800

ALBANY, New York, December 13, 2010 (ENS) - On Saturday, New York Governor David Paterson made New York the first state to place a moratorium on natural gas drilling that uses hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to release the gas trapped in shale rock.

Responding to public concern that fracturing chemicals pumped underground to crack rock seams and increase gas production can contaminate drinking water, the governor issued an Executive Order directing the Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct a comprehensive environmental review of fracking in the Marcellus Shale.

The Executive Order requires that high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing would not be permitted until July 1, 2011, at the earliest.

"We in government must always focus on protecting the well-being of those whom we represent and serve, but we also have an obligation to look to the future and protect the long-term interests for our state and its residents," Governor Paterson said. "Therefore, I am proud to issue this Executive Order, which will guarantee that before any high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing is permitted, the Department of Environmental Conversation will complete its studies and certify that such operations are safe."

New Yorkers demonstrate against fracking, September 13, 2010. (Photo by Marcellus Protest)

One concern is the release of underground naturally occurring radioactive material through the drilling fluids and equipment. The hydraulic fracturing process also uses large quantities of surface water.

The governor said the moratorium should allay any fears that high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling under study by the Department of Environmental Conservation will commence without assurances of safety.

Environmental and public health groups said the moratorium makes New York the first state to insist on protecting the health and safety of its citizens and drinking water, before allowing drilling to proceed.

But they are concerned that Governor Paterson issued this order while simultaneously vetoing a stronger bill passed by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in the New York State Senate and Assembly.

The bill would have suspended the issuance of new oil and gas drilling permits through May 15, 2011. All conventional, low-volume, vertical oil and gas wells would have been blocked in addition to high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing wells.

The governor said he could not suspend all drilling permits in these tough economic times.

"Enacting this legislation would put people out of work - work that is permitted by the Department of Environmental Conservation and causes no demonstrated environmental harm, in order to effectuate a moratorium that is principally symbolic," Governor Paterson said.

"Symbols can have great importance, but particularly in our current terrible economic straits, I cannot agree to put individuals out of work for a symbolic act," he said.

With a $315 million budget gap in the current fiscal year, and a projected gap of over $9 billion in the 2011-12 State fiscal year, the governor said, "New York cannot afford to send hundreds and perhaps thousands of jobs, and millions of dollars in capital investment to Pennsylvania and other states to our south."

But without the legislation in place, environmental, community and public health organizations say the Executive Order creates a loophole that oil and gas corporations are poised to exploit.

Like horizontal wells, vertical wells have been linked to drinking water contamination and other health and environmental dangers across the country.

"Gas companies have already threatened to drill vertically into the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations during the moratorium and then convert those wells into horizontal wells as soon as the moratorium sunsets," a coalition of groups said Saturday.

"Governor Paterson has signaled that he understands fracking is a dangerous process that poses serious health and environmental threats," said the groups, including: Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, EARTHWORKS Oil and Gas Accountability Project, Earthjustice, Environmental Advocates of New York, Frack Action, Hudson Riverkeeper, Natural Resources Defense Council, Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, and Sierra Club-Atlantic Chapter

"Unlike the moratorium bill, the Executive Order does not protect against the dangers of all fracking wells, but allows so-called vertical wells - exactly the kind of wells that were responsible for ruining nine square miles of aquifer and poisoning the drinking water of more than a dozen families in Dimock, Pennsylvania, along with many other pollution incidents in Pennsylvania - to move forward. This loophole still leaves New Yorkers at risk and gas corporations are already threatening to exploit it," the groups said in a joint statement.

The groups are hopeful that when incoming governor Andrew Cuomo takes office in January, he will close the loophole.

"Governor-elect Cuomo has already said 'existing watersheds are sacrosanct' and he 'would not support any drilling that would threaten the State's major sources of drinking water.' He has said 'any drilling in the Marcellus Shale must be environmentally sensitive and safe.'"

The groups said, "We're looking to him to make good on his word."

Named for a distinctive outcrop near the village of Marcellus, New York, the Marcellus Shale is a layer of rock that extends 600 miles throughout much of the Appalachian Basin. The shale contains natural gas reserves, estimated in 2008 by Terry Engelder, a Pennsylvania State University geosciences professor, at 363 trillion cubic feet of recoverable resource - enough to supply U.S. consumption for at least 14 years.

Its proximity to the high-demand markets along the U.S. East Coast make the Marcellus Shale an attractive target for energy development.

Court Allows EPA's Regulation of Greenhouse Gases to Proceed

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:21:43 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 10, 2010 (ENS) - A federal appeals court today rejected a motion by several industry groups and states opposed to climate regulation for a partial stay of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's planned regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied all the pending motions to stay EPA's regulations of greenhouse gases, some of which are scheduled to take effect on January 2, 2011.

The order by Judges Douglas Ginsburg, David Tatel and Janice Rogers Brown declared that the petitioners "have not shown that the harms they allege are 'certain,' rather than speculative, or that the 'alleged harm[s] will directly result from the action[s] which the movant[s] seeks to enjoin.'"

The case, Coalition for Responsible Regulation Inc., et al., v. EPA, pits the U.S. EPA, 16 states and environmental groups against industries, global warming skeptics and 14 other states.

Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, was pleased with the court's decision, saying, "NACAA applauds the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals denying the stay of EPA's greenhouse gas rules. The doors of state and local permitting agencies will be open for business come January 2, 2011."

Sunrise illuminates greenhouse gases emitted by NRG's W.A. Parish power plant at Thompsons, Texas, the 59th largest power plant in the world with four gas and four coal-fired units. (Photo by Joe A.)

This decision is by no means the end of the legal action. The court also said that, as the petitioners had requested, they would hear oral arguments in the case.

The National Association of Manufacturers, one of the petitioning groups, was "disappointed" in the ruling.

NAM Vice President of Litigation and Deputy General Counsel Quentin Riegel said, "Manufacturers are disappointed in the court's decision today to deny our motion of stay against EPA."

"We continue to believe that our arguments presented a compelling case for an issuance of stay. he EPA's agenda places unnecessary burdens on manufacturers, drives up energy costs and imposes even more uncertainty on the nation's job creators," Riegel said.

"We will continue our efforts to stop the EPA from pursuing its job-destroying agenda. We are confident that the merits of the litigation are strong and we will move forward aggressively," he said.

But environmental groups were hopeful that the court's ruling is the start of reduction in climate-warming greenhouse gases.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said, "Today's ruling is a victory for both the American people and the American economy. EPA's rules protect the public and the economy by requiring careful measures to control climate-disruption pollution from the biggest smokestack industries and by working with automakers to increase fuel efficiency and to cut vehicle emissions."

"Doing nothing to confront the climate crisis is not an option. According to a large consensus of scientists, our planet is heating up to increasingly dangerous levels. Doing nothing threatens our air, our water, our food, and our health. EPA's action to regulate and limit this pollution is an important step toward protecting people," Brune said.

"Although litigation will continue," he said, "today's victory is an important rebuke to big polluters who want to avoid complying with standards put in place to protect people and the American economy."

Cancun Climate Deal Puts UN Process Back on Track

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 12:22:57 -0800

CANCUN, Mexico, December 11, 2010 (ENS) - The United Nations climate change conference in Cancun wrapped up two weeks of negotiations at dawn this morning with agreement on a package of decisions that UN officials are hailing as a victory.

The outcome is an "important success for a world much in need of it," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today. "Governments came together in common cause, for the common good, and agreed on a way forward to meet the defining challenge of our time."

Christiana Figueres, the UN's top climate official, said, "Cancun has done its job. The beacon of hope has been reignited and faith in the multilateral climate change process to deliver results has been restored."

"Governments have given a clear signal that they are headed towards a low-emissions future together," said Figueres. "They have agreed to be accountable to each other for the actions they take to get there, and they have set it out in a way which encourages countries to be more ambitious over time."

The Cancun Agreements recognize the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from rich countries by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels within the next 10 years. Current pledges amount to about 16 percent; the United States has pledged a 17 percent reduction by 2020.

Delegates from 194 countries agreed to seek "deep cuts" in greenhouse gas emissions, but they put off the essential question of how much all nations will cut emissions to next year's talks in Durban, South Africa.

They agreed that there should be no gap between the first and second commitment periods of the Kyoto Protocol, an addition to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC, that contains legally binding measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 37 developed countries. The protocol's first commitment period will expire at the end of 2012.

Japan and Russia, now bound by the protocol, announced in Cancun that they would not enter a second commitment period.

Delegates agreed that carbon dioxide capture and storage in geological formations will be included as an eligible project activity under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism. This flexible mechanism allows the 37 countries to fulfill their greenhouse gas emission obligations by investing in projects that reduce emissions in developing countries.

Delegates also agreed to establish a Green Climate Fund of US$30 billion of new contributions for the period 2010-?2012 to help the most vulnerable developing countries adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change and reduce their carbon footprints.

In the longer term, developed countries committed to a goal of mobilizing jointly US$100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of poorer countries. A "significant share" of new multilateral funding for adaptation should flow through the Green Climate Fund, which will be managed by the World Bank for the first three years, delegates agreed.

The Cancun Agreements include action to protect the world's forests, important because deforestation accounts for nearly one-fifth of all global carbon dioxide emissions.

Delegates decided to establish a three-phase process for tropical countries to reduce deforestation and receive compensation from developed countries in an agreement that includes protections for forest peoples and biodiversity.

They also created a mechanism to share clean technologies to help developing countries move away from fossil fuels.

Delegates give Conference President Patricia Espinosa a standing ovation. (Photo courtesy ENB)

After last year's contentious negotiations in Copenhagen, delegates in Cancun showed a more cooperative spirit, greeting the outcome with a standing ovation for conference president Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa.

Espinosa brought delegates to agreement without the approval of Bolivia, which objected that the Cancun Agreements amount to a blank check for developed nations because the documents specifying their commitments have not yet been published.

"The texts on the table represent the work of many delegations that carry the hope of delivering what our societies expect. I take note of your opinion, but if there are no other objections, this text is approved," Espinosa told Bolivian delegate Pablo Solon.

"Consensus does not mean that one nation can choose to apply a veto on a process that other nations have been working on for years. I cannot ignore the opinion of another 193 states that are parties," Espinosa said.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon praised the delegates for reaching agreement to fight global warming.

"In doing so we are thinking of our brothers in the most vulnerable states," Calderon said. "But no one has renounced the goal of binding treaties."

"Cancun has been a success for all because it has taken a big step in convincing the international community of the value of multilateralism," Calderon said. "This has been a success for humanity and reason."

Today, President Barack Obama telephoned President Calderon to congratulate him on the conference's outcome.

"Obama congratulated President Calderon for his leadership and Mexico's excellent work chairing the Cancun conference to a successful conclusion that ... advances the effort to address the challenge of climate change," the White House said in a statement.

Most observers called the Cancun Agreements a modest achievement that puts climate negotiations back on track after the disappointing talks in Copenhagen.

"We have moved away from the post-Copenhagen paralysis," said Claire Parker, senior climate change policy advisor with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. "Developing countries can now see new money on the table which they can draw on to adapt to the impacts they're already facing and reduce emissions."

"The real bright spot was moving forward with REDD+, the program to eliminate tropical deforestation," said Doug Boucher, director of climate research and analysis with the Union of Concerned Scientists, based in Washington, DC. "Historic changes are happening in conference halls and in the Amazon that can end thousands of years of deforestation in our lifetime."

But others blamed the balance of power in the U.S. Congress for hampering the world's ability to deal with damaging climate change.

Joe Mendelson, global warming policy director with the National Wildlife Federation, said today, "Progress was made on a number of important issues, but it's clear the Senate's failure to pass clean energy legislation tied the hands of negotiators to come to a full global deal. Formally recognizing the Copenhagen reduction targets, including the U.S. 17 percent reductions by 2020, still leaves the world woefully short of what needs to be done to tackle the climate crisis."

Melting Glaciers Cause Droughts, Floods; Norway Helps Himalayas

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 23:48:02 -0800

CANCUN, Mexico, December 7, 2010 (ENS) - Climate change is causing mass loss of glaciers in high mountains worldwide. Within a few decades, melting glaciers could leave arid areas such as Central Asia and parts of the Andes even drier as the ice melts into water and flows downhill, causing disastrous floods in the lowlands, finds a new report by the UN Environment Programme presented today at the UN climate talks in Cancun.

Compiled by UNEP's Polar Research Centre GRID-Arendal and experts from research centers in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America, the report says the larger glaciers may take centuries to disappear but many low-lying, smaller glaciers, which are often crucial water sources in dry lands, are melting much faster.

Glacial melt will change the lives of millions as over half of the world's population lives in watersheds of major rivers originating in mountains with glaciers and snow.

The valley of Chitral has always looked to the glaciers of Tirich Mir for water. Rising above 25,000 feet, Tirich Mir is the highest mountain in the Hindu Kush range. (Photo by Amina Tariq)

Glaciers in Argentina and Chile, followed by those in Alaska and its coastal mountain ranges, have been losing mass faster and for longer than glaciers in other parts of the world, finds the report, "High Mountain Glaciers and Climate Change - Challenges to Human Livelihoods and Adaptation."

The third fastest rate of loss is among glaciers in the northwest United States and southwest Canada.

Melting more slowly are glaciers in the high mountains of Asia, including the Hindu Kush region of the Himalayas, the Arctic and the Andes.

Europe's glaciers had been growing since the mid-1970s, but they began to lose mass around the year 2000, the report shows.

"These alarming findings on melting glaciers underline the importance of combating climate change globally. It sends a strong message to us as politicians and climate negotiators in Cancun," said Norway's Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim.

Solheim announced today that Norway will fully fund, with more than US$12 million, the five-year Hindu-Kush-Himalayas Climate Impact Adaptation and Assessment Programme from 2011.

"People in the Himalayas must prepare for a tough and unpredictable future. They need our committed support," said Solheim. "Therefore, Norway will fully fund the brand new five-year program. We see this program as a potent mix of solid climate science, promising intra-regional cooperation and concrete adaptation projects on the ground."

The initiative will be carried out by the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and UNEP-Grid Arendal.

Overall, the trend is shrinking glaciers, but greater precipitation in some places has increased the mass and the size of glaciers in western Norway, New Zealand's South Island and parts of the Tierra del Fuego in South America.

"Accumulation of science shows us a clear general trend of melting glaciers linked to a warming climate and perhaps other impacts, such as the deposit of soot, reducing the reflection of heat back into space," UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said today.

"This report underlines a global trend, observed over many decades now in some parts of the globe, which has short and long-term implications for considerable numbers of people in terms of water supplies and vulnerability," he said.

In dry regions of Central Asia, Chile, Argentina and Peru, where there is little rainfall and precipitation, receding glaciers will have much more impact on the seasonal water availability than in Europe or in parts of Asia, where monsoon rains play a much more prominent role in the water cycle, the report finds.

Some areas are experiencing contradictory effects, according to the report. In smaller areas of Asia's Karakoram range, for example, advancing glaciers have crept over areas that have been free of ice for 50 years. But in Asia's Tianshan and Himalayan mountain ranges, glaciers are receding, and some are shrinking rapidly, causing glacial lakes to burst.

"Without doubt the main driving force behind the rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers and formation of the catastrophic Glacial Lake Outburst Floods is warming due to climate change," said Madhav Karki, deputy director general of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

"The risk to lives and livelihoods in the fragile Hindu Kush Himalayan region is high and getting higher," said Dr. Karki, expressing thanks to the Norwegian government for its funding of the new adaptation program. "Immediate action by the global community on launching long-term adaptation and resilience-building programs is urgently needed."

In the last 40 years, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods, often called GLOFs, have been increasing, not only in China, Nepal and Bhutan, but also more recently in Patagonia and the Andes.

Five major GLOFs took place in April, October and December 2008 and again in March and September 2009 in the Northern Patagonia Icefield in Chile. On each occasion, the Cachet 2 Lake, dammed by the Colonia Glacier, released around 200 million tonnes of water into the Colonia River. The lake has since rapidly refilled, suggesting high risk of further GLOFs.

There has been a near doubling in the frequency of GLOFs in the Yarkant region of Karakoram, China since 1959, attributed to the warming climate.

In the Lunana region of Bhutan on October 7, 1994, the glacial lake Luggye Tsho burst. The ensuing GLOF, which contained an estimated 18 million cubic meters of water, debris and trees, swept downstream killing more than 20 people, and travelled over 204 kilometers.

"When glaciers disappear, people, livestock, birds and animals will be forced to move," says one of the report's editors, Christian Nellemann of the UNEP/GRID-Arendal research center in Norway. "But ironically, a lot of people die in deserts also from drowning, when increasingly unpredictable rains cause flash floods."

"The impact of floods was brought into sharp relief in Pakistan in August 2010. As of November 2010, over six million people were still being affected by this disaster, with many displaced and housing, livelihoods, crops and livestock lost," said Steiner in his introduction to the report.

Siphoning off the water from overflowing lakes is one adaptive action, successfully carried out at lakes in Peru's Cordillera Blanca. Similar projects have been carried out in the Tsho and Thorthormi Glaciers in Nepal and Bhutan but the cost and technical challenges in remote locations can be high.

The report recommends:

Strengthening glacial research and trans-national collaboration with emphasis on mass calculation, monitoring and particularly the effects of glacial recession on water resources, biodiversity and availability downstream.

Improved modeling on precipitation patterns and effects on water availability in particular in mountain regions of Asia and Latin America.

Prioritizing support to and development of adaptation to water-related disasters.

Prioritizing programs and support to development and implementation of adaptation strategies for too much and too little water including strengthening the role of women.

Urgently supporting the implementation and improvement of both small and large-scale water capture and storage systems and improving efficiency of current irrigation systems through the use of green technology and agricultural knowledge.

"If the world is to decisively deal with climate change, we must also address the need for programmes targeted towards adaptation strategies to build long-term resilience. Local people are already having to make tough decisions and choices as the climate around them changes," said Steiner. "It is time for and governments and the international to step up action on cutting emissions and supporting adaptation. This meeting in Cancun is the next opportunity to fast track a response."

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 50th Anniversary Reopens Drilling Issue

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 23:45:53 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 7, 2010 (ENS) - The 50th Anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, marked Monday with a Presidential Proclamation, opened again the controversy over oil and gas drilling in the vast refuge that encompasses 19.6 million acres of pristine wilderness and wildlife habitat along the North Slope of Alaska.

"In the decades since its establishment, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has continued to be one of our Nation's most pristine and cherished areas," proclaimed President Obama. "In the decades to come, it should remain a place where wildlife populations, from roaming herds of caribou to grizzly bears and wolf packs, continue to thrive."

While Obama and the Democrats as well as conservationists want to permanently protect the refuge from drilling, the newly named chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Republican Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan, is urging the President to allow drilling rigs into the refuge.

"I understand the politics of ANWR very well, and acknowledge that the base of your party is uncomfortable with lifting the moratorium on exploration and production in ANWR," Congressman Upton wrote Monday in a letter to the President. "Nevertheless, I urge you to put our nation's needs ahead of politics, and implore you not to make it impossible to ever explore for natural resources in ANWR."

The Porcupine Caribou herd migrates across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by The Wilderness Society)

Upton continued, "Of course, I do not need to remind you that the unemployment rate is too high and our fiscal situation is dire. Opening up ANWR would help alleviate these economic problems, as detailed in an ICF International Study prepared for the American Petroleum Institute published in December of 2008. That study concluded that allowing exploration of ANWR would lead to approximately 62,000 additional jobs in the year 2030 alone.

"Over the lifetime of an open ANWR, the government revenue would be in excess of $164 billion," Upton wrote. "Those are real jobs and real revenues, neither of which would be created by increasing the size and scope of the federal government or by further taxing our already over-taxed citizens."

During the presidency of George W. Bush, Republicans repeatedly attempted to open the refuge to oil and gas drilling, although the refuge was created by a Republican president.

The Arctic National Wildlife Range was created in 1960 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower "for the purpose of preserving unique wildlife, wilderness, and recreational values."

In 1980, under President Jimmy Carter, the area was renamed the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and expanded to further recognize and protect the variety of wildlife in the area. For 50 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has managed the area, now the largest wildlife refuge in the United States.

Today, President of the League of Conservation Voters Gene Karpinski called for President Obama to permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by declaring it to be a national monument.

"President Obama has the power to provide additional safeguards to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - and its millions of vital wildlife - from exploitation," Karpinsky wrote. "The creation of a National Monument is the quickest way to protect this national treasure from drilling and other threats. As the Refuge celebrates its 50th anniversary, a National Monument designation would be a fitting celebration of the past, present, and future of this extraordinary American wilderness."

Audubon President David Yarnold also called for permanent protection for the refuge. In a statement Monday, Yarnold said, "The combination of climate change and oil and gas development poses a double threat to America's Arctic wildlife and wildlands. Warming temperatures are already causing significant ecological disruption, while industrial oil and gas development imperil species like the polar bear and migratory caribou."

"At risk is the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge, the 1.5 million acre Coastal Plain. Even though it includes some of the best polar bear denning and caribou calving habitat on the entire North Slope, this vital area lacks permanent protection," Yarnold said.

"Audubon and our grassroots supporters, along with many other dedicated conservationists, have worked long and hard to keep the Refuge safe from oil and gas drilling," said Yarnold. "Now, we call on our nation's leaders to continue the work their predecessors began five decades ago, by extending permanent protection to the Coastal Plain."

In response to a Sierra Club campaign, more than 45,000 people have contacted President Obama and asked him to protect this rare and precious wild place by naming it a national monument.

"For decades, we've had to fend off attempts by the oil and gas industries to drill the Arctic Refuge. Now, those efforts are mounting again," said Sierra Club Arctic Campaign Director Dan Ritzman. "By designating the Arctic Refuge a national monument, President Obama can give the refuge the protection it deserves."

Throughout December, the Sierra Club will continue its "I Heart the Arctic" campaign to celebrate the anniversary and call for a national monument. In addition to reaching out to millions of activists, the campaign has included anniversary parties in every state, a new website, online ads, a rally with members of Congress in Washington, and most recently, a video featuring young Arctic wildlife.

On December 1, scientists and natural resource managers from the United States and Canada sent a letter to President Obama urging him to safeguard the the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's Coastal Plain. The 170 scientists encouraged the President to act this year to ensure permanent protections for the Arctic Refuge from oil and gas development and exploration.

"No region more effectively encapsulates the biological diversity and ecosystem complexity of the entire Arctic than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Dave Klein, professor emeritus at University of Alaska Fairbanks. "The unique adaptations to the extreme seasonality of the Arctic found in the plants and animals that inhabit the Arctic are brought together in the Arctic Refuge." "The Arctic Refuge has played an essential role in sustaining the health of the Earth's biosphere," said Klein, "and with continued protection, it should continue to do so in the future."

Obama Administration Promotes Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Exports

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 23:35:48 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 7, 2010 (ENS) - The Obama administration today launched an all-out effort to export American renewable energy and energy efficiency products and services.

The heads of eight federal government agencies jointly introduced the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export Initiative to meet President Barack Obama's challenge to become the world's leading exporter of clean energy technologies.

Energy is a $6 trillion global market, and clean energy is the fastest growing sector, said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

"Expanding U.S. clean technology exports is a critical step to ensuring America's economic competitiveness in the years ahead," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "The initiatives we are announcing today will provide us with a better understanding of the global clean energy marketplace and help boost U.S. exports."

Advanced thin-film solar panel made by San Jose, California-based Stion. (Photo courtesy Stion)

The federal government will support renewable energy and energy efficiency exporters by offering new financing products, enhancing market access, increasing trade promotion and improving the delivery of export promotion services to current and future RE&EE companies.

The federal government is also launching a new online portal as part of the initiative to provide renewable energy companies easy access to government export resources.

In addition, the Commerce Department is committing to an increased number of renewable energy and energy efficiency trade and trade-policy missions.

The initiative is the federal government's first coordinated effort to support renewable energy and energy efficiency exports. Through the implementation of 23 interagency actions, the initiative aims to facilitate an increase of renewable energy and energy efficiency exports during the next five years.

The prospects for U.S. technology exports focusing on this industry are vast, said Secretary Chu. "More than 100 countries now have policies to encourage the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. Many of these countries have substantial deployment targets that will drive demand for renewable energy and energy efficiency for years to come."

The initiative was developed through the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee Working Group on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, which includes representatives from the departments of Commerce, Energy, State, and Agriculture, as well as the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred Hochberg said today, "The bank has significantly increased its support of renewable energy, energy efficiency and other environmentally beneficial exports. Over the past two years, our financing in these sectors has more than doubled to approximately $500 million in fiscal year 2010, and we look forward to continuing this growth."

A top priority of Ex-Im Bank is to increase its support for renewable energy and energy efficient exports by offering enhanced financing under its Environmental Exports Program, said Hochberg. The bank can provide repayment terms up to 18 years for renewable energy projects, offer capitalization of interest during construction, and support local costs up to 30 percent of the U.S. scope of supply.

The bank also provides streamlined financing for U.S. exporters of solar energy equipment for small solar energy projects.

"In addition to increasing the role that exports of American products and services can play in strengthening our economy and creating U.S. jobs," Hochberg said, "the RE&EE initiative promotes environmentally responsible development throughout the world."

Indigenous Peruvians Win Right to Sue Occidental Petroleum in U.S. Court

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 23:34:01 -0800

LOS ANGELES, California, December 7, 2010 (ENS) - Indigenous plaintiffs from the Peruvian Amazon won their appeal Monday in a human rights and environmental contamination lawsuit against U.S. oil giant Occidental Petroleum, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the case should be heard in Los Angeles, where the oil company is headquartered.

A district court judge had previously ruled that the case should be litigated in Peru, but the Ninth Circuit disagreed, allowing the plaintiffs to proceed in U.S. federal court.

"This is a major victory for the rights of indigenous peoples," said Marco Simons, legal director of EarthRights International, who argued the appeal before the Ninth Circuit.

"Oxy will now face justice in the U.S. federal courts, rather than in a Peruvian legal system that has never compensated indigenous groups for environmental contamination," he said.

The lawsuit claims that Occidental Peruana, an indirect subsidiary of defendant Occidental Petroleum Corporation, harmed the plaintiffs, 25 members of the Achuar indigenous group living along the Rio Corrientes in northern Peru, by their petroleum and oil exploration operations.

The Achuar say this old Occidental Petroleum spill in the community of Pucacuro is one of many that was never cleaned up. (Photo by Adam Goldstein courtesy FECONACO)

The Achuar and Amazon Watch, a California nonprofit, sued Occidental in Los Angeles County Superior Court for environmental contamination and release of hazardous waste.

The appeals court ruled that "Because Occidental failed to meet its burden of demonstrating that Peru is a more convenient forum, and the district court gave insufficient weight to the strong presumption in favor of a domestic plaintiff's choice of forum, the district court abused its discretion by dismissing the lawsuit without imposing mitigating conditions for the dismissal."

The Ninth Circuit's opinion indicates that it was not convinced of "the ability of the Peruvian courts to satisfactorily handle this case," citing "disorder in the Peruvian judiciary."

The Ninth Circuit cited "special barriers confronting indigenous plaintiffs and general corruption in the Peruvian judicial system."

"In assessing whether Peru afforded Plaintiffs a satisfactory remedy, the district court erroneously failed to weigh Plaintiffs' expert testimony, which unequivocally asserts that Peru provides no practical remedy at all for Plaintiffs," wrote Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw in the majority opinion.

The plaintiffs allege that Occidental Petroleum caused them severe injuries by knowingly dumping a daily average of 850,000 barrels of toxic wastewater into the rainforest and waterways over a 30-year period, as well as inducing acid rain from gas flaring, and improperly storing waste in unlined pits.

The plaintiffs allege that these practices caused widespread lead and cadmium poisoning, among other serious health impacts.

Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, said, "The Achuar people continue to suffer the devastating health impacts caused by Oxy's damaging practices, which were illegal in the U.S. at the time. This ruling means that the Achuar will finally get their day in U.S. court and signals the end of the era when companies could destroy indigenous communities and their environment with impunity."

The Achuar case, Maynas Carijano v. Occidental Petroleum, was filed in May 2007 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

In April 2008, the district court ruled that the case should be heard in Peru under the legal doctrine of forum non conveniens.

The plaintiffs and their counsel, including Washington, DC-based EarthRights International, the Venice, California firm Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris Hoffman & Harrison LLP, and San Francisco lawyer Natalie Bridgeman, appealed that ruling.

According to "A Legacy of Harm," a 2007 report issued by EarthRights International, Amazon Watch, and the Peruvian legal nonprofit Racimos de Ungurahui, Occidental's operations discharged billions of barrels of untreated wastewater into local streams, caused numerous spills and resulted in many unremediated toxic waste sites in Achuar territory.

Marine World Heritage Managers' First Gathering Celebrates Hawaiian Islands

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 17:06:43 -0800

HONOLULU, Hawaii, December 6, 2010 (ENS) - Managers of the 43 marine sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List met for the first time last week in Honolulu to explore ways of conserving these unique areas jeopardized by industrialization, acidification and overfishing.

"World Heritage - the very words evoke the global mission to protect the most exceptional and iconic places in the world," said Francesco Bandarin of Italy, UNESCO's assistant director general of culture.

"Out of nearly 6,000 marine protected areas now designated worldwide, only 43 have the highest internationally recognized status for conservation, UNESCO World Heritage Listing," he said.

Schools of pennantfish, pyramid and milletseed butterflyfish on a healthy coral reef in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (Photo courtesy NOAA)

Marine World Heritage was first recognized by UNESCO in 1981 with the inscription of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park on the World Heritage List.

Today, 1.4 million square kilometers of ocean - about 0.4 percent of the world's oceans or an area about the size of the Gulf of Mexico - are protected under the World Heritage Convention, including five of the world's 10 largest marine protected areas. World Heritage status can provide governments and conservationists with the leverage to halt damaging economic development.

Highlighting the event was Friday's commemoration of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument's inscription on the World Heritage List.

The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a string of tiny islands, atolls, shoals, and banks stretching across 1,200 miles of the Pacific Ocean northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands, was created by former President George W. Bush on June 15, 2006.

The name Papahānaumokuākea (pronounced Pa-pa-hah-now-mo-koo-ah-keh-ah) comes from an ancient Hawaiian tradition concerning the genealogy and formation of the Hawaiian Islands.

Papahānaumoku is a mother figure personified by the Earth and Wākea is a father figure personified in the expansive sky; the two are honored ancestors of Native Hawaiian people. Their union resulted in the creation, or birthing, of the Hawaiian archipelago.

On July 30, 2010, Papahānaumokuākea was designated as the first mixed UNESCO World Heritage site in the United States. It is the world's first cultural seascape recognized for its continuing connections to living indigenous people.

On Friday at the Hawaii Convention Center, hundreds of conservation managers, marine scientists, conservation activists, government officials, political leaders and policy makers joined in celebrating the inscription.

"The inscription of Papahānaumokuākea reflects U.S. efforts to strengthen our engagement at the United Nations and at UNESCO," said Esther Brimmer, assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs. "It is also an opportunity to recognize the important role of the World Heritage Convention, which, four decades after its adoption by the General Conference of UNESCO, remains a crucial international instrument for the protection and promotion of cultural and natural heritage."

"It is fitting that our nation's first inscription in 15 years recognizes a place with such unique cultural and natural heritage," said Tom Strickland, assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks. "The addition of Papahānaumokuākea to the network of World Heritage Sites demonstrates the commitment of the United States and the state of Hawaii to conserve and protect our important marine sites."

Larry Robinson, assistant secretary of commerce for conservation and management, said, "As one of the crown jewels of the National Marine Sanctuary System, Papahānaumokuākea is a remarkable treasure trove of biodiversity, a sentinel site for helping measure the impacts of global climate change, and as the UNESCO World Heritage Committee acknowledged four months ago, a place that is truly deserving of global recognition for its universally outstanding natural and cultural features."

"As a World Heritage site, Papahānaumokuākea will give people from across the globe a greater appreciation of the importance of protecting our natural and cultural resources - values that native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawaii hold dear," said outgoing Governor Linda Lingle on her last working day in office.

"The inscription of Papahānaumokuākea on the World Heritage List is the culmination of the hard work, dedication and love for these special islands by countless individuals throughout Hawaii and our nation," said Lingle, a Republican.

In 2005 Governor Lingle signed regulations establishing a state marine refuge in the near-shore waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that excluded all extractive uses, except those permitted for research or management. She advocated for the creation of the marine national monument with the Bush administration, and guided the process of applying for UNESCO World Heritage status.

The far-flung archipelago with its healthy coral reefs provides safe haven for fish, threatened green sea turtles, endangered monk seals and millions of central Pacific seabirds.

More than 99 percent of the world's Laysan albatrosses and 98 percent of the world's black-footed albatrosses return to these islands each year to reproduce. For species such as Bonin petrels and Tristram's storm-petrels, the predator-free islands provide the last safe nesting places since islands in other parts of the Pacific are becoming infested with rats.

For land birds, the islands have provided less secure habitat, but four of the seven original species still remain. Three endangered passerines - the Nihoa finch, Nihoa millerbird, and Laysan finch - and the world's rarest duck, the Laysan duck, are found on these islands.

Most of the threats to the ecosystems of marine World Heritage sites are posed by human activities, such as dumping of wastewater from vessels and the proliferation of marine debris that entangles birds and animals or that they ingest.

Current uses of the Papahānaumokuākea World Heritage site are limited to management activities by the three agencies that jointly manage the site, research, education, Native Hawaiian practices, a small scale commercial bottomfishing and pelagic trolling operation, as well as recreational trips and visits to historical sites at Midway Atoll.

Also celebrated was the 10th anniversary of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, established by former President Bill Clinton on December 4, 2000. At that time, the reserve became the single largest nature preserve ever established in the United States.

Chairman of the Reserve Advisory Council Tim Johns said, "I think it's one of the last great places left on Earth. It's been protected for a lot of years just by its distance from man, but when you get up there you realize that there are still places on this Earth, where the hand of God still touches the Earth. And so just knowing that a place like that is still existing, and is now going to be protected in perpetuity is just a really great thing."

Parking Lot Sealcoat Runoff Turns Urban Lakes Toxic

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 15:04:13 -0800

AUSTIN, Texas, December 6, 2010 (ENS) - Coal tar pavement sealant - the black, shiny substance sprayed or painted on parking lots, driveways, and playgrounds - is the largest source of cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, found in 40 urban lakes studied by the U.S. Geological Survey.

"These findings represent a significant advance in our understanding of the sources of these contaminants in streams and lakes," said USGS scientist Peter Van Metre, who works in Austin. "Identifying where contaminants are coming from is the first step in designing effective management strategies."

PAHs are a group of organic compounds that occur naturally in crude oil, coal, and tar, and are produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, wood, grass, tobacco. They are widely distributed in the environment and are of concern because they are toxic, mutagenic, and can disturb the growth and development of an embryo or fetus.

Van Metre says PAHs are an environmental health concern because several are probable human carcinogens, they are toxic to fish and other aquatic life, and their concentrations have been increasing in urban lakes since at least the 1960s.

For this study, Van Metre and his USGS colleague Barbara Mahler evaluated the contribution of PAHs from many different sources to 40 lakes in cities from Anchorage, Alaska to Orlando, Florida.

The USGS scientists collected sediment cores from the lakes, analyzed the cores for PAHs, and determined the contribution of PAHs from the different sources using a chemical mass-balance model.

Residential driveways coated with coal tar based sealant (Photo courtesy USGS)

Coal tar is made up of at least 50 percent PAHs. Pavement sealants that contain coal tar have high levels of PAHs compared to other PAH sources such as vehicle emissions, used motor oil, and tire particles. The USGS scientists also tested for other PAH sources such as wood combustion and fuel-oil combustion.

They found that on average, coal tar sealcoat accounted for one-half of all PAHs in the lakes, while vehicle-related sources accounted for about one-quarter.

Lakes with a large contribution of PAHs from sealcoat tended to have high PAH concentrations, in many cases at levels that can be harmful to aquatic life, the study showed.

Analysis of historical trends in PAH sources to a subset of the lakes indicates that sealcoat use since the 1960s is the primary cause of increases in PAH concentrations, said Van Metre.

"Small particles of sealcoat are worn off of the surface relatively rapidly, especially in areas of high traffic, and are transported from parking lots and driveways to streams and lakes by storm runoff," said Van Metre.

The City of Austin banned the sale and use of coal tar containing pavement sealants in the city as of January 1, 2006. The ban came after City of Austin and USGS scientists identified coal tar pavement sealants as a significant source of PAH contamination in Austin area stream sediments.

The City of Austin estimates that before a ban on use of coal tar sealcoat, about 600,000 gallons of sealcoat were applied every year in the city.

A limited ban on the use of coal tar sealcoat products by state agencies in Minnesota went into effect July 1, 2010

Sealcoat products are widely used across the United States, both commercially and by homeowners. The products are commonly applied to commercial parking lots in strip malls, schools, churches and shopping centers, residential driveways, apartment complexes and playgrounds. Manufacturers recommend resealing surfaces every three to five years.

Runoff is not the only path by which PAHs are leaving parking lots. Another USGS study published earlier this year found that use of coal tar sealcoat on parking lots was associated with elevated concentrations of PAHs in house dust.

Two kinds of sealcoat products are widely used - one based on a coal tar emulsion and the other based on an asphalt emulsion. The coal tar products have PAH levels about 1,000 times higher than the asphalt products.

Dust from pavement with coal tar sealcoat has PAH concentrations "hundreds to thousands of times higher" than dust from pavement with no sealcoat or with asphalt-based sealcoat, the study found.

Consumers can determine whether a product contains coal tar by reading the label or asking the company hired to do the pavement application.

Van Metre points to previous research suggesting that asphalt sealcoat is more commonly used on the West Coast and coal tar sealcoat is more commonly used in the Midwest, the South, and the East.

The results of the lake study reflect this east-west difference. For example, sealcoat contributes over 80 percent of PAHs in Lake Anne, Virginia, and PAH concentrations there are about 20 times higher than in Decker Lake, Utah, even though the areas have similar population density and level of urban development.

PAH levels in pavement dust from sealcoated parking lots in Virginia are about 1,000 times higher than those from sealed parking lots in Utah, the USGS researchers found.

The USGS study of PAHs in 40 urban lakes can be found in the December 15, 2010 issue of the journal "Science of the Total Environment."

Israel's Mt. Carmel Forest Fire Extinguished

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 08:02:12 -0800

HAIFA, Israel, December 6, 2010 (ENS) - The fires on Mt. Carmel near Haifa in northern Israel have been extinguished as of Sunday night. Israel's worst-ever forest fire started Thursday in a neglected trash heap and spread quickly across tinder-dry forestland on Mt. Carmel. Nearly five million trees on 10,000 acres were burned; experts say the forests will take years to recover.

Fanned by strong winds, the initial blaze became a complex of dozens of fires that destroyed 250 homes, and caused over NIS 200 million (US$55 million) in damage, according to initial estimates.

There were 42 casualties, mostly Israel Prison Service officer cadets who were on their way to rescue prisoners in Damon Prison when their bus was engulfed by flames on Thursday. All the casualties will be buried with full honors in military ceremonies.

Blackened by flames, Mt. Carmel sits in the unrelenting sun. (Photo courtesy Jewish National Fund)

At least 17,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Israel mobilized thousands of soldiers, hundreds of vehicles, dozens of engineering machines and military firefighter vehicles.

With the help of aircraft and firefighters from a dozen countries, Israel Air Force, Israel Defense ground forces and Israel Police began to gain control of the fires on Saturday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he asked some 30 heads of state and government, presidents and prime ministers for their help in fighting the fires. "I must tell you," he said at a special cabinet meeting Sunday, "that their mobilization, the warmth of their remarks, their willingness, the desire to help immediately, sometimes even before we have managed to request it, must warm the heart of all Israelis."

The Israeli government chartered a U.S. 747 supertanker from a private company that began dumping water and chemicals on the flames on Saturday. The U.S. government transported nearly 70 metric tonnes of fire suppressant and 3,800 gallons of fire retardant concentrate to Israel, which arrived on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team, with fire management experts from the U.S. Forest Service, arrived in Haifa Sunday to help combat the blaze.

"We are relieved to learn from the government of Israel that the fires are contained and commend them for leading and coordinating an extraordinary international effort to suppress the deadly wildfires," Nancy Lindborg, USAID assistant administrator for democracy, conflict and humanitarian assistance, said Sunday.

"The United States immediately mobilized when Israel needed our firefighting assistance, and we will continue to stand by our friends as they begin to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of the fires," Lindborg said.

As of Saturday evening, three firefighting helicopters, 12 firefighting planes and six transport helicopters from Greece, Bulgaria, Cypress, Britain, Turkey, France, Italy and Switzerland had arrived in Israel, including a giant IL76 plane from Russia capable of dumping 42 tons of water on a fire site in a single pass.

By Sunday, 35 firefighting planes were flying over areas that continued to burn.

Major efforts were directed toward containing the fire in the Carmel Hai Bar nature reserve, and a breeding nucleus of raptors was transferred to the Ramat Hanadiv park, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection. As firefighters brought the flames under control, the raptors were returned to the Carmel Hai Bar reserve. The animals in the reserve, which serves as a breeding core for the reintroduction of animals present in historical times but no longer found within modern Israel, were reported safe.

At the Cabinet meeting in Tirat Hacarmel on Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "We must help the evacuees, rebuild their homes and rehabilitate the infrastructures and do so as quickly as possible. I do not want delays. I do not want bureaucracy. I want processes to be shortened. I want quick solutions. I want all of the people - within days - to be able to return to their homes or to alternative housing, until the reconstruction work is finished."

Under intense criticism for not having an aerial firefighting force capable of extinguishing the Mt. Carmel fires, the Prime Minister said, "Even if we had such a force, and we are working on it, it will not always free us of the need to mobilize international support, but it would give us the possibility of bringing an aerial cup of water to fires."

"In a massive wildfire in California a few years ago, the U.S. received assistance from eight countries; it neither hesitated nor was ashamed to request this assistance, including from countries from which we have made similar requests," said Netanyahu. "In last summer's massive wildfire in Russia, Russia neither hesitated nor was ashamed to request assistance from Ukraine and from other countries. We also did not hesitate, nor were we ashamed, in requesting such assistance."

Netanyahu also promised to "launch the action that will lead to a plan to rehabilitate the Carmel forests."

The nonprofit Jewish National Fund says people in Israel and throughout the world have already launched a spontaneous initiative to rehabilitate the forests.

"People have begun to donate funds for both future planting and for the extensive restoration work that will be necessary before planting can start," said Yisrael Tauber, director of the Jewish National Fund's Afforestation Department.

But he said the organization will not rush to replant the scorched areas.

"During the first year there will quite definitely be no planting in the extensive areas that have been burned," Tauber said. "Planting will take place in those areas that are used mainly for recreation - around picnic spots or tourist sites, for example - so that the public will get at least some of the landscape back in a few years' time, rather than in another 50 years, as would be the case if we waited solely for nature to take its course."

Tauber said that because no vegetation will be present to stem the flow of water, his organization will prevent erosion in the burned woodlands by piling scorched tree stumps and branches along contour lines.

Damaged trees that present a danger must be removed along with fallen trees downed by the bulldozers that cleared paths and created firebreaks to prevent the flames from spreading.

Firebreaks must be created to prevent the spread of future fires, and, even more importantly, said Tauber, woodland must be thinned and burned vegetation removed.

While unseasonal lack of rain was one of the reasons for the swift spread of the destructive fire, there is now a 20 to 30 percent chance of rain in the Haifa area, forecasters say.

Tauber says light rain would be welcome, but heavy rain would cause further damage to the woodland. "This is because, although the earth appears scorched, it still contains banks of undamaged seeds, together with organic material vital to the regeneration of the ground," he said. "If this material is swept away by rain before the restoration process gets underway, the damage will be even greater than at present."

Israeli Fire 'An Unprecedented Disaster'

Fri, 3 Dec 2010 15:59:45 -0800

HAIFA, Israel, December 3, 2010 (ENS) - Firefighting aircraft have rushed from across Europe to help Israel extinguish the largest wildfire in the country's history, which broke out Thursday on Mt. Carmel, near the northern port city of Haifa. But the planes are grounded for the night, leaving firefighters on the ground alone to battle the spreading blaze.

The fire has claimed 41 lives, and four other people - two police and two firefighters - are missing. Hundreds of houses have been burned to the ground and authorities have evacuated some 15,000 people from areas near the fire.

Fire threatens the city of Haifa (Photo by Frida Lis)

More evacuations may be necessary, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived in Haifa Thursday.

"At this hour a terrible fire is ravaging Mt. Carmel; there are many casualties," Netanyahu said. "We are mobilizing all of our forces to deal with this disaster, to rescue the injured and to stop the fire. This is an unprecedented disaster."

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told reporters that most of those who lost their lives were Israeli prison guards traveling by bus in an attempt to rescue Palestinian inmates at a nearby prison.

The bus caught fire after a tree fell across the road, blocking its path, police said. Many of the guards died inside the bus, while others died trying to flee. The prisoners survived.

Rosenfeld said 16 people remain in hospital, including Haifa Police Chief Ahuva Tomer, who is in critical condition.

The wildfire spread on Friday night, burning several houses in the town of Ein Hod and the religious community of Nir Etzion.

The flames are near Haifa University and the university and dorms have been evacuated.

The blaze has reached the Carmel Forest Hotel and engulfed the Hai-Bar nature reserve, from which the wild animals were released, according to a "Haaretz" newspaper report.

The fire started in brush left tinder-dry by lack of rain. Fire investigators say their preliminary probe showed no signs of arson. Instead, they believe the fire started at a location west of Ussifiya village where household trash and tires caught fire due to a cause yet to be determined.

After a Security Cabinet meeting today Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "Our firefighting measures cannot provide an answer to forest fires of this magnitude, especially in the face of such winds. We do not have such equipment."

The European Commission activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism Thursday night in response to Israel's request for help.

"Alongside my condolences to the victims' families and friends, I want to express solidarity with the people affected by the fire, and to reiterate to the authorities of Israel that Europe stands ready to work closely with them in combating this catastrophe," said European Commission President Jose Barroso.

Netanyahu said today that four aircraft have arrived from Greece and Cyprus has sent a plane and a helicopter. UK Prime Minister David Cameron sent two British helicopters from Cyprus. Some 100 firefighters have arrived from Bulgaria.

Further aid is on the way from Egypt, Jordan, Spain, Azerbaijan, Romania and Turkey, which apparently has dropped its hostility over Israel's deadly raid on a Turkish Gaza-bound flotilla in May.

Prime Minister Netanyahu called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to thank him, saying, "We very much appreciate this mobilization and I am certain that it will be an opening toward improving relations between our two countries, Turkey and Israel." The Turkish leader expressed his willingness to help and Turkey's condolences to the families of the victims.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sent a large Russian firefighting plane, the largest of its kind in the world, which arrived this afternoon and will go to work in the morning.

Netanyahu said his government has hired an American plane from a private company, a "supertanker" that will arrive Saturday afternoon.

On his way home from visiting U.S. troops in Afghanistan today, President Barack Obama called Netanyahu, expressing his "deepest condolences on behalf of the American people for the tragic loss of life."

President Obama said that USAID and the Department of Defense will deliver large procurements of fire-retardant chemicals this weekend. The President said the first U.S. specialized technical team will arrive Saturday, with other teams to arrive shortly thereafter, and said he is pursuing a "full court press" to help Israel in this emergency.

Netanyahu said that at Sunday's Cabinet meeting, he will submit a national plan to deal with all of the needs of those who were injured and are in distress.

Under criticism for leaving Israel unprepared to handle such a fire, Netanyahu said next week he will "submit for Cabinet decision and implementation a plan to purchase aircraft."

Cancun's Parallel World: Solar Boat, Business, Mayors, Youth

Fri, 3 Dec 2010 08:57:05 -0800

CANCUN, Mexico, December 3, 2010 (ENS) - Somewhere in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, the world's largest solar-powered boat, Turanor PlanetSolar, is slicing through the waves on its way to Cancun to visit the UN climate negotiations as part of its circumnavigation of the globe.

Sailing under the Swiss flag, the 102-foot-long, 50-foot-wide catamaran left Miami November 30 and is scheduled to arrive in Cancun on December 6.

The world's largest solar boat leaves Miami for Cancun. November 30, 2010 (Photo courtesy PlanetSolar)

"We are going to Cancun to show our support for the UN, its member states and all the delegates who are working together to find sustainable solutions for future generations," says Swiss engineer Raphael Domjan, founder of the PlanetSolar project. "We want to show that we can change, that we have the technology, the knowledge and the means. It is possible for each one of us to make a difference; and it depends on both our individual and collective responsibility."

The surface of the Turanor PlanetSolar, measuring more than 5,700 square feet, is designed to act as a solar generator. This ensures that the catamaran can keep going for long periods (up to three full days), even without direct insolation. The solar energy yielded by the generator is stored in a lithium-ion battery (this technology offers the maximum output and energy density).

Solar energy is collected on the catamaran by photovoltaic panels made by Solon AG of Berlin, The panels use high-efficiency solar cells from the California-based SunPower Corporation that achieve conversion rates of up to 23 percent, twice as efficient as conventional solar and up to four times more efficient than thin-film solar.

"We believe that our goal - a better future for our planet through the promotion of solar energy, eco-mobility and energy efficiency - has a strong tie with what the conference is all about," Domjan said. "We hope everyone involved will come to visit our boat." The US$17.5 million Turanor PlanetSolar will be docked at La Amada Marina just north of Cancun.

While government officials from 194 countries hammer out the complex components of a climate treaty to govern human responses to global warming after the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period expires at the end of 2013, civil society groups are creating their own climate events in Cancun.

Natural Refrigerants to Replace HFCs

Consumer Goods Forum, a consortium of over 400 companies, announced Monday that its members will implement climate-friendly refrigeration using natural refrigerants beginning in 2015.

The multi-company team charged with delivering the pledge is co-chaired by Unilever and Tesco and includes Coca-Cola, Carrefour, Ahold, Nestle, Pepsico, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, General Mills, L'Oreal and Walmart among others.

The natural refrigerants will replace hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, now being used by many companies for refrigeration. While HFCs do not destroy the ozone layer, they are greenhouse gases that are far more potent than carbon dioxide, CO2.

Natural refrigeration solutions that exist today use hydrocarbons, ammonia and carbon dioxide. In 1992, Greenpeace developed GreenFreeze, the first hydrocarbon refrigerator as a solution to avoid HFCs - 400 million have sold globally.

The natural refrigerant initiative follows Greenpeace's participation at the Consumer Goods Forum Sustainable Refrigeration Summit meeting last month, where Greenpeace Solutions Director Amy Larkin challenged the companies to come together and commit to a solution on refrigeration by 2015.

"This is an extremely important first step, and will pave the way for major changes across the industry. We expect each of these companies to set forth a timeline by 2015 for complete phase out of HFCs," said Larkin. "Now national and international policy makers must match these corporations' targets by outlawing HFCs and making the transition to climate-friendly alternatives both cheap and easy."

Cities Register Emissions, Build Climate Action Plans

The carbonn Cities Climate Registry, or cCCR, launched November 21 at the World Mayors Summit on Climate hosted by Mexico City's Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, allows cities around the world to report their local climate action to a central platform, run by local governments for local governments.

The cCCR is the official reporting mechanism of the Global Cities Covenant on Climate, also called the Mexico City Pact, signed by 138 cities at the World Mayors Summit. Among them are: Barcelona, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Kyoto, Los Angeles, Nagoya, Nantes, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo.

Five cities from five continents have already registered their data with the cCCR prior to its official launch and the signing of the Pact: Calgary, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Nagpur and Mexico City.

The cCCR will be operated by the "Bonn Center for Local Climate Action and Reporting - carbonn," which was launched by ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and the UN Environment Programme at Copenhagen climate talks in December 2009.

ICLEI is an association of over 1,200 local government members committed to sustainable development. Members come from 70 different countries and represent nearly 570 million people.

User registration, climate data reporting and searchable information about cities and their climate commitments will all be available through the carbonn website.

Martin Chavez, ICLEI USA executive director, said, "Through the success of well-developed, well-implemented climate action plans, local governments continue to demonstrate their profound commitment to addressing climate change on a local level and they are looking to the international community to show a similar level of commitment during these climate negotiations in Cancun."

Business Leaders Gather at Parallel World Climate Summit

The World Climate Summit is the business and finance conference accelerating solutions to climate change to be held in Cancun on December 4-5 parallel to the UN's formal negotiations.

Under the leadership of The UNEP Finance Initiative organizers are convening "the largest coalition of financiers tackling climate change ever assembled - representing more than $20 trillions of assets under management."

Business, investment and government figures will collaborate, implement and develop "bottom-up solutions" to climate change to help reach regional and global 2020 targets.

Participants include Sir Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group; Ted Turner, Chairman, UN Foundation; Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE & Special Adviser to HSBC; Emilio Azcarraga, president and CEO of Grupo Televisa, and more than 100 high-level speakers confirmed from more than 20 industries.

World Climate Summit will launch the Carbon War Room Gigaton Awards, celebrating cities, companies and leaders that are tackling climate change with sustainable business actions.

Aimee Christensen, World Climate Summit program chair, said, "The global climate challenge provides an urgent imperative to build a global clean economy that can deliver greater prosperity, health, and security, and be the engine of our economic recovery.

"At the World Climate Summit," said Christensen, "participants will get down to the practical work of making this more sound future a reality."

On Monday, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon gave the opening address at a side event, Business Action for Climate 2010, organized by the World Climate Summit. A press conference and panel discussion presented the business case for combating climate change, the role of business leadership, and the importance of governmental action.

In summary, participants said that global prosperity, health, security, and safety depend upon a sustainable energy future. The building of the global clean economy can be the engine of economic recovery by reducing energy expenditures through energy efficiency, by retooling manufacturing facilities to produce clean energy technologies, and by launching new industries.

Global Aviation Industry Tackles Its Climate Impact

In October, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations body charged with setting standards and recommended practices for international aviation, adopted a global framework for addressing emissions from aviation fuels.

Approved by 190 governments, the framework includes emissions targets, measures, rules of engagement on market-based measures, means to consider special needs of developing countries and acknowledgment of government and industry roles. While some aspects were tagged for further work, the framework is solid.

At an aviation industry side event in Cancun Tuesday hosted by the International Air Transport Association, policy specialists explored what that will mean in the sky and on the ground.

On December 6, at another aviation industry event, to be hosted by Paul Steele, executive director of the Air Transport Action Group, aviation specialists will present case studies from across the industry illustrating innovative projects now underway or under development aimed at reducing aviation CO2 emissions.

The Air Transport Action Group has launched a new website that uses aims to demonstrate that aviation is serious about the environment and is taking practical measures to limit emissions.

The website is a global cross-industry iniative. Supporters include airlines, airports, air navigation services providers, manufacturers among others.

Nancy Young, vice president for environmental affairs of the Air Transport Association of America, who is with the aviation team in Cancun, said today, "Perhaps the tremendous progress we have made in international aviation can suggest a way forward."

Women in REDD

A new gender initiative introduced in Cancun aims to ensure that women are an integral part of negotiations on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degredation, which everyone calls REDD. This international process is targeted at reduction of climate change impacts due to the logging and mismanagement of forests.

The Global Initiative on REDD+ and Gender Equality was jointly launched Monday by the International Union of Conservation of Nature, IUCN, Women's Economic Development Outreach, WEDO, and Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management, WOMEN.

Delegates attending the launch event, hosted by the Government of Norway and entitled "The missing link to success: Women in REDD" wore red to show their solidarity for the Women in REDD campaign. Jeannette Gurung, director of Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture, WOCAN, moderated the dialogue.

Pilot REDD projects in 40 developing countries are already underway, and as a result of last year's climate change talks in Copenhagen, the international community started working towards a global REDD deal. But women again are the missing link despite their critical role in climate action, the groups stressed.

"Political will for REDD exists, but donors sponsoring REDD initiatives still do not mainstream gender in projects on the ground even though they have mandate - and hence obligation - to do so," said Lorena Aguilar, global senior advisor on gender for IUCN.

Current REDD+ initiatives state the need to engage indigenous peoples and local communities, but do not recognize the differentiated needs of women and men within communities, the groups explained.

"A typical village in the countries we work with is composed of men with rights to land and women who have 'courtesy' land and forest access through their husbands, but no rights," said Consuelo Espinosa, IUCN's senior forests and climate change officer."

Because women do not necessarily own forest lands, they are often excluded from discussions about how forest should be managed at community level. What worries us is that there is a risk that women would also be excluded from REDD payment schemes for the same reason, " she said.

The IUCN's Carole Saint-Laurent said that immediate and long-term benefits can be achieved by involving women in strategy, decision making, the distribution of benefits, and capacity building.

Manohara Khadka of the Himalayan Grassroots Women's Natural Resource Management Association, or HIMWANTI, said that in Nepal there is work to do to elevate women from their traditional roles as users and managers forest resources to making policy decisions.

Vicky Tauli-Corpuz of the Asian Indigenous Women's Network highlighted the important role of indigenous women in forest management and said that traditional knowledge of indigenous people must be protected and integrated into REDD+ policymaking.

In the Pacific, women often have the right to utilize breadfruit even though the tree itself is the province of men, who use it as a source of wood for furniture and canoes. In Nigeria, women may have rights to the kernel but not to the oil of the palm which is often sold as a cash crop.

"We know that community leaders often neglect women's issues, and that women leaders are either not offered a seat at the decision-making table or are ill-prepared to participate effectively if given the opportunity," said Aguilar. "So if REDD+ is to impact positively on the forest-dependent poor, governments should make sure that women, whose livelihoods depend mostly on forest resources, get an equal share of benefits from REDD."

China-US Youth Climate Exchange

Young people in Cancun are trancending the traditional rivalries among governments to create collaborations that will lead to climate solutions.

The China-US Youth Climate Exchange, a project spearheaded by about 30 college-age climate activists from seven Chinese and U.S.-based organizations, met for the first time Sunday in Cancun.

They, like a multitude of other climate activists the world over, are using the Internet to shape a global movement. The young activists have spent the last six weeks coordinating their effort from opposite sides of the Pacific, designing a plan for their work in Cancun without ever having met face to face.

They are conducting a series of workshops on cross-cultural collaboration and organizing strategies. They plan a shared action designed to focus the attention that urges U.S. and Chinese negotiators to agree on a strong climate treaty, and a bi-lingual blog that tracks the progress of the exchange.

Each activity is focused on enhancing international collaboration between youth organizers, and finding ways for the world's two biggest carbon emitters to work together constructively on climate change. The youth say the U.S. and China should stop blaming one another and begin working together to solve climate problems.

"In the midst of the greatest challenge facing our generation," said Jared Schy, part of the U.S. youth delegation and member of the Northwest-based Cascade Climate Network, "we believe it is our responsibility as future leaders to establish this dialogue now."

Wang Yiting, a member of the Chinese delegation to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen last year, said the youths are demonstrating "an innovative model of cooperation on climate change" to the two governments.

Wang, who majors in environmental science and international relations at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, said, "We hope to induce more cooperation among our governments and more aggressive action in creating and taking leadership on climate and energy solutions."

And Much, Much More...

There are 250 side events and some 200 exhibits that have been scheduled by governments, UN agencies and admitted observer organizations during the Cancun negotiations.

To see a full schedule of side events and exhibits visit: http://regserver.unfccc.int/seors/reports/events_list.html?session_id=COP16/CMP6

EPA Celebrates Turning 40 with Events Across the Country

Thu, 2 Dec 2010 11:55:02 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 2, 2010 (ENS) - Today marked the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an event commemorated by EPA staff and by other groups and individuals.

EPA was officially created by President Richard Nixon on December 2, 1970, the result of a growing grassroots movement for clean air, clean water and clean land.

At an event with EPA staff at EPA headquarters that was broadcast to the regional offices, Administrator Lisa Jackson said this anniversary celebration is very special to her personally.

"I started my career at this agency," Jackson told her staff. "I came to EPA because of my love of science, and because I wanted to use that love of science to help people. I came to EPA because of the value I placed on the natural environment, after growing up on the Gulf Coast in New Orleans, living by the water and studying in the wetlands."

"As it is for so many of you, the protection of our health and the environment is not just my job - it's my lifelong passion," Jackson said.

Looking back over the EPA's accomplishments since she took over as administrator in January 2009, Jackson said, "We have built a strong foundation for the seven priorities that will shape EPA's future in the next 40 years." She defined these seven priorities early in her term and recounted for staff today what actions the agency has taken to make them a reality.

Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of EPA and Earth Day on the National Mall, April 2010. (Photo courtesy EPA)

"We are Taking Action on Climate Change through the Endangerment Finding and the clean cars program.

We are Improving Air Quality with tough new standards for smog, the first national limits to reduce mercury from cement plants and the first new standards for NO2 in 35 years.

"We are Assuring the Safety of Chemicals with specific action plans for managing widely-used chemicals.

"We are Cleaning Up Communities, primarily through swift implementation of the Recovery Act. That effort funded numerous Superfund and Brownfields cleanups, along with investments in water infrastructure, clean diesel technology, and repairs to leaking underground storage tanks.

"We are Protecting America's Waters with new levels of engagement in the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, Puget Sound and the Gulf of Mexico.

"We are Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism and Working for Environmental Justice by welcoming new voices to these discussions and issuing guidance on how every office can incorporate EJ into their decision making.

And last but certainly not least," Jackson said, "Building Strong State and Tribal Partnerships by working closely with our partners at the state level and relocating our Tribal initiatives into the Office of International and Tribal Affairs."

Administrator Jackson was joined in expressing thanks to the EPA staff for their work by Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to EPA employees via satellite upon being presented with the EPA Climate Change Champion Award.

"This is very meaningful to me, because I think taking care of the environment was really one of my main agendas when I became governor," said Schwarzenegger, a Republican who hands the California helm to Democrat Jerry Brown in January.

"Seven years ago when I ran for governor I had a lot of the environmentalists protest me wherever I went because I was a Hummer driver," Schwarzenegger said. "And the worst of all for them was that I had an "R" in front of me. I was a Republican, so they said, 'What is he talking about, he's going to protect the environment? He's a Republican. He's not going to do anything. We don't believe him, we don't trust him.'"

Schwarzenegger said he was inspired by the environmental accomplishments of Republicans from President Teddy Roosevelt to President Nixon who created the EPA 40 years ago, to Ronald Reagan, who as governor of California signed the landmark California Environmental Quality Act and as President presided over U.S. ratification of the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, to President H.W. Bush who approved the cap and trade system for sulfur dioxide that causes acid rain.

During his seven years as governor Schwarzenegger has championed reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and approved AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, which was the first law in the world to reduce emissions and have a target of 80 percent reduction by 2050. He also established the precent-setting Low-Carbon Fuel Standard in California; and then escalated the California Renewable Portfolio Standard up to 33 percent.

In 2009, Administrator Jackson, after eight years of inaction on climate change, signed California's waiver request that led to new, strict national standards for the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide for the whole country, but it would not have come if California had not acted first.

All this week, Jackson has participated in events to celebrate the agency's 40th anniversary.

One of the highlights took place Monday, when the Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue, unveiled a list of 10 ways the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has strengthened America over the past 40 years. Administrator Jackson joined Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson to discuss the list at event in Washington.

The EPA's Top 10 List, with brief comments from Jackson:

Removing Lead from Gasoline and from the Air - a change that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Removing the Acid from Rain - an innovative, cost-effective effort EPA undertook to handle a complex challenge.

Clearing Secondhand Smoke - which helped children and families and everyone else live healthier lives.

Vehicle Efficiency and Emissions Control - thanks to EPA, cars today are far cleaner than they were a generation ago.

Controlling Toxic Substances - a critical children's health issue.

Banning Widespread Use of DDT - the subject of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring; a chemical that was reported to be in nearly every meal in America; a toxin that almost wiped out our national symbol, the bald eagle; banned because of EPA's efforts.

Rethinking Waste as Materials - an effort that continues to grow in both utility and importance, especially as we deal more and more with electronic wastes.

A Clean Environment for All/Environmental Justice - an issue that ensures we are reaching every single community, helping them see their stake in a clean environment, and empowering them to get there.

Cleaner Water - something every American holds dear and one of the places where EPA touches our daily lives the most.

The "Community Right to Know" Act - an essential part of the work we do.

Finally, tomorrow, December 3, Harvard University will hold a daylong conference in honor of EPA's 40th anniversary with panel discussions featuring speakers from academia and the nonprofit and private sectors as well as EPA officials past and present. Speakers include founding EPA administrator William Ruckelshaus who served from 1970 to 1973 and again from 1983 to 1985.

Great Lakes Mayors Sound Alarm Over Radioactive Shipment

Thu, 2 Dec 2010 12:53:07 -0800

CHICAGO, Illinois, December 2, 2010 (ENS) - A binational coalition of over 70 mayors from Quebec, Ontario and the eight Great Lake States fear that the proposed maritime shipment of 16 giant radioactive steam generators from Ontario's Bruce Power to Sweden for recycling could release radioactivity into the water in the event of an accident during shipment.

The generators, each the size of school bus and weighing 100 metric tonnes, would be shipped from Owen Sound, through Georgian Bay, across three of the lakes, up the St. Lawrence Seaway and across the Atlantic Ocean to Sweden.

Organized as the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, the mayors have expressed concern over the potential environmental impacts to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence if a shipping accident occurs.

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence form the largest body of fresh water in the world. Over 20 million Canadians and Americans live close to the shoreline of this vast basin, and over 40 million people rely on them for safe drinking water.

"As mayors, we are responsible for providing safe drinking water to our communities," said Brian McMullan, mayor of St. Catharines, Ontario, and vice chair of the Cities Initiative. "Our analysis shows that federal standards for drinking water safety could be exceeded in the event of a serious accident during shipment of the radioactive waste."

One of the 16 obsolete generators proposed for shipment to Sweden for recycling (Photo courtesy Bruce Power)

Bruce Power says the company is trying to reduce its environmental footprint by recycling the 16 steam generators removed from its Bruce A facility instead of placing them into long term storage. The generator recycling effort is part of work now underway to restart Units 1 and 2 of Bruce A nuclear generating station, and the obsolete generators are now held at Western Waste Management Facility.

"By recycling these 100 tonne steam generators, which basically act as large kettles to make steam as part of the electricity generating process, we can reduce the amount of material going into long-term storage by approximately 90 percent. Much of the metal can be decontaminated, melted down and sold back into the scrap metal market," the company says. "The rest will be returned to the Bruce site for long-term storage."

The Bruce site is located 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Toronto, Ontario on the shores of Lake Huron between the towns of Kincardine and Saugeen Shores.

Canada's first private nuclear generator, Bruce Power is owned by a group that includes two corporations, the Cameco Corporation and the TransCanada Corporation, as well as the Power Workers' Union, the Society of Energy Professionals, and BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust, a trust established by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.

Bruce Power argues that transportation of the steam generators will be performed by qualified companies with proven experience in moving heavy components, and says the generators are considered low level radioactive waste and are well within regulatory limits to ship.

"The only difference between this shipment and the thousands of other shipments made each year is the size of these components," Bruce Power says. Because they do not fit into the containers traditionally used for shipping low level radioactive material, Bruce Power requires a special license from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which has the power to grant or withhold a license for the shipment, states that "the steam generators do not present a risk to the public or environment."

"The level of contamination is very low and confined to the inner parts of the generators," the commission says on its website.

"No licence will be issued unless the CNSC is convinced that the shipment will be completed safely, without risk to the health, safety or security of Canadians or the environment," the commission says.

But the mayors of the Cities Initiative are concerned about the formal review process now taking place under the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, including "information gaps" about the proposed shipment.

Following public hearings in late September, the commission requested a supplemental report from its staff to address information gaps that were brought to its attention by the Cities Initiative and others.

In its analysis of the supplemental report, the Cities Initiative found that an accidental spill of radioactive material during its shipment in the Great Lakes nearshore area or in Owen Sound harbor could exceed federal standards for radioactivity in drinking water that could trigger emergency intervention.

The Cities Initiative remains "seriously concerned with the flawed environmental review conducted by the proponent, Bruce Power, and the CNSC staff," the mayors said in a statement November 23.

"Safety scenarios do not consider more serious accidents, rely on a series of assumptions, and lack an assessment of ecological risk," the mayors warned.

"The CSNS revised staff report confirms many of our concerns," said George Heartwell, mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and past chair of the Cities Initiative.

"However," he said, "we disagree with the conclusions of the revised report, and feel that an accident involving this shipment does pose a significant environmental and public health risk."

In addition, the mayors are concerned about the potentially precedent-setting nature of the shipment. They warn that the amount of radioactive waste to be shipped exceeds by 50 times the international allowable limit for a single shipment in inland waters.

The commission says the public is encouraged to address any questions or concerns to the CNSC by email at info@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca, or by phone at 1-800-668-5284.

Japanese Whalers, Sea Shepherd Whale Defenders Head for Whale Wars

Thu, 2 Dec 2010 10:51:03 -0800

TOKYO, Japan, December 2, 2010 (ENS) - Japan's whaling fleet has been scaled back and today departed late for the Southern Ocean aiming to catch hundreds of minke whales and 50 fin whales.

The Japanese whaling fleet traditionally departs by November 19 and returns in April but this year will conduct a shortened hunt with fewer vessels. The whaling fleet has not delayed its departure into December for over 20 years.

During the 2009-10 season, the Japanese fleet included a factory ship, three harpoon ships, a supply ship and two security patrol vessels.

But the support vessel Hiyo Maru No. 2, which fueled the fleet and transported frozen whale meat back to Japan, was scrapped in September according to Lloyd's Seaweb.

Two ships that previously did whale sightings have been sold or scrapped, and one former harpoon vessel, the Yushin Maru 3, will be used only for sighting whales.

In the Southern Ocean the smaller Japanese whaling fleet will face a larger conservation fleet determined to prevent the whalers from killing whales.

In Hobart, Australia today the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society officially set sail for their 2010-11 Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign, Operation No Compromise.

"This year's fleet is the strongest to date including veteran vessels the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, with the addition of the newly-acquired trimaran Gojira, Japanese for Godzilla, with the necessary speed and power to outrun the whalers and put an end to their shameful activities," said Sea Shepherd Founder and President Captain Paul Watson. Sea Shepherd also will deploy a more capable helicopter this year, he said.

Sea Shepherd's new intercepter vessel, the Gojira (Photo by Eye in the Sky magazine courtesy Sea Shepherd)

Gojira is expected to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet this weekend. With a Sea Shepherd crew of 10, the Australian-registered trimaran is currently en route from Western Australia with Captain Locky MacLean at its helm.

The 115-foot stabilized monohull vessel was the current record holder for successfully circumnavigating the globe in 1998 in just 74 days, a record to later be broken by the trimaran Ady Gil, which was lost at sea during last year's campaign after a collision with Japanese harpoon ship the Shonan Maru No. 2.

Animal Planet videographers are onboard all three vessels to document Sea Shepherd's conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean for the fourth season of their television series "Whale Wars."

In Tokyo, Greenpeace Japan said today that the reduced size of the Japanese whaling fleet means they will be unable to catch more than half of their quota.

"This year, the Japanese whaling program will not have enough catchers to kill its usual number of whales and will not have enough onboard freezer space to store the resulting meat," said Greenpeace Japan oceans campaigner Wakao Hanaoka.

Conducted since 1987 under the guise of scientific research to circumvent a worldwide commercial whaling moratorium that took effect in 1986, Japan's whaling takes place in the North Pacific and in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary near Antarctica.

But few Japanese people eat whale and much of last year's take is still unsold.

"As of August 2010, there were over 5,700 tons of whale meat in frozen storage, over a year's supply, said Hanaoka. "This wasteful taxpayer-backed programme produces products that no one in Japan wants. This reckless whaling must end once and for all."

Forty-four percent "neither agree nor disagree," with resumption of commercial whaling, 31 percent "agree," and 25 percent "disagree," according to a 2008 public opinion poll commissioned by Greenpeace Japan and conducted by the Nippon Research Center, a member of Gallup International Association.

A majority of all respondents said, "Japan should conduct whaling along the Japanese coast but not on the high seas."

"Sales of whale meat are so poor that Japan's fraudulent whaling programme can no longer afford the cost of at-sea refueling, so they are shortening their season," said Hanaoka.

"We are witnessing the further collapse of the already dying whaling industry - unable to retain crew or maintain public support," Hanaoka said. "We will see them back in Japan much earlier than in previous years."

Obama Closes Parts of Outer Continental Shelf to Oil and Gas Leasing

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 10:49:31 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, December 1, 2010 (ENS) - The Obama administration has removed an area in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico that remains under a congressional moratorium, and parts of the Mid and South Atlantic from consideration for potential oil and gas development through 2017.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the updated oil and gas leasing strategy for the Outer Continental Shelf.

The Western Gulf of Mexico, Central Gulf of Mexico, the Cook Inlet, and the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the Arctic will continue to be considered for potential leasing before 2017.

Based on lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the department has "raised the bar" in the drilling and production stages for equipment, safety, environmental safeguards, and oversight, Salazar said.

"As a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill we learned a number of lessons, most importantly that we need to proceed with caution and focus on creating a more stringent regulatory regime," said Secretary Salazar.

"As that regime continues to be developed and implemented, we have revised our initial March leasing strategy to focus and expend our critical resources on areas with leases that are currently active. Our revised strategy lays out a careful, responsible path for meeting our nation's energy needs while protecting our oceans and coastal communities," he said.

Oil rigs off the coast of California (Photo by K.K. Condon)

Consistent with President Barack Obama's Executive Order on National Ocean Policy, today's modified plan confirms many actions announced in March, including environmental analysis to determine whether seismic studies should be conducted in the Mid and South Atlantic, and rigorous scientific analysis of the Arctic to determine if future oil and gas development could be conducted safely there.

Lease sales in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico under the 2007-2012 program are currently scheduled to begin in approximately 12 months, after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement, BOEMRE, completes appropriate environmental analyses that take into account effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Analyses and public meetings will be held to help determine if additional lease sales in these areas should proceed as part of the 2012-2017 program.

American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard warned that the move could result in the loss of tens of thousands of American jobs, billions less in government revenues and an increasing dependence on foreign energy sources.

"The oil and natural gas industry is a reliable vehicle for growing the economy and creating good-paying jobs," said Gerard, whose organization represents more than 400 oil and natural gas companies. "This decision shuts the door on new development off our nation's coasts and effectively ensures that new American jobs will not be realized. It will stifle investment, deny billions in revenue for critical government services and increase our dependence on foreign energy sources."

"The oil and natural gas industry is committed to safe and environmentally responsible operations, and both the industry and regulators have added new safeguards to ensure such operations," Gerard said. "This reversal on new lease sales off America's coasts comes on top of a de facto moratorium, which has all but stopped new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico."

In connection with today's announcement, BOEMRE Director Michael Bromwich said that he is in the process of completing an agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through which NOAA will collaborate with BOEMRE in the environmental analyses for planning for development on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Japan Turns Its Back on Kyoto Protocol

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 06:46:52 -0800

CANCUN, Mexico, December 1, 2010 (ENS) - Japan rocked the UN climate talks in Cancun Monday with the declaration that the Japanese government would not agree to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.

Jun Arima, an official with Japan's Economics Trade and Industry Department, said that his country would not inscribe its greenhouse gas emissions target under the Kyoto Protocol on any conditions or under any circumstances.

Japanese negotiator Jun Arima, center, and the Japanese delegation at UN climate change talks in Bonn, Germany, June 2009. (Photo courtesy Earth Negotiations Bulletin)

"Even if the Kyoto Protocol's extension becomes a major item on the agenda at Cancun and Japan finds itself isolated over it, Japan will not agree to it," said Hideki Minamikawa, vice minister for global environmental affairs at the Environment Ministry.

Japan's move surprised many delegations although Prime Minister Naoto Kan, said as early as October that he was opposed to simply extending the Kyoto Protocol beyond its expiry date of 2012 if a replacement agreement is not reached in time.

Japan has taken this position even though the country is legally bound to limit its greenhouse gas emissions under the protocol, which was initially adopted in December 1997 in the Japanese city of Kyoto and entered into force on February 16, 2005.

As of July 2010, 191 nations had ratified the protocol, which commits 37 industrialized countries to limit their emissions to an average of 5.2 percent above 1990 levels. But the two countries with the highest emissions rates - China and the United States - are not bound by the protocol.

"The biggest problem is that an agreement has not been reached on a framework in which all major emitters will participate," Minamikawa told the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

In Cancun, the 16th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, opened Monday and will continue through December 10 with representatives of 194 governments and hundreds of civil society groups in attendance.

Negotiators are attempting to agree on a treaty to limit the greenhouse gas emissions reponsible for global warming that will take effect when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period expires at the end of 2012.

At last year's UN climate talks in Copenhagen, many major emitting countries agreed to take voluntary, rather than legally-binding actions to limit greenhouse gas emissions by approving the Copenhagen Accord.

But many developing countries are clinging to the Kyoto Protocol, saying there will be no progress on long-term cooperative climate action without concrete progress on extending the Kyoto Protocol.

Environmental groups are appalled at Japan's position, which they warn could derail the negotiations.

Yuri Onodera with Friends of the Earth Japan said, "Japan's move to drop out of the Kyoto treaty shows a severe lack of recognition of its own historical and moral responsibility. With this position, Japan isolates itself from the rest of the world. Even worse, this step undermines the ongoing talks and is a serious threat to the progress needed here in Cancun."

The climate conference opened on Monday with a speech from Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who cited last year'?s hurricane in Mexico, this year'?s floods in Pakistan and fires in Russia as examples of increasing incidences of natural disasters brought about by climate change and already affecting the world's poorest and most vulnerable people.

Calling on negotiators in Cancun to make progress in the interest of their children and grandchildren, President Calderon said climate change is an issue that "affects life on a planetary scale."

"What this means is that you will not be here alone negotiating in Cancun," he said. "By your side, there will be billions of human beings, expecting you to work for all of humanity."

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, who is presiding over the conference, said, "?It is time to make a concerted effort before it is too late. We can only achieve the results if we commit to making progress.?"

Espinosa believes negotiators in Cancun can reach a deal to launch action on adaptation, technology transfer and forests and can create a new fund for long-term climate finance.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said in her opening address that governments had revealed a growing convergence that a balanced set of decisions under both the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol could be an achievable outcome in Cancun.

She called continuation of the Kyoto Protocol a "politically charged issue" and said the world needs to avoid "a gap" after the first commitment period expires at the end of 2012.

Figueres said that during the past year, developed countries had shown a commitment to live up to the fast start fund of $100 billion pledged in Copenhagen to help developing countries cope with the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

She said developed countries have announced pledges totaling US$28 billion and many of them are now making information available on the disbursement of these funds.

U.S. negotiator Jonathan Pershing, the State Department's deputy special envoy for climate change, said the United States is committed to the Copenhagen Accord.

"The United States is standing behind the commitments we made in Copenhagen," Pershing told a news conference Monday. "We remain committed to President Obama's pledge announced in Copenhagen last year, for a working reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in a range of 17 percent below the 2005 levels by 2020."

"We are also aggressively working to deliver on our fast start commitment, beginning with our 2010 financing," Pershing said. "We have worked to secure a large package of funding with a total contribution in 2010 fiscal year of about $1.7 billion. This represents an enormous increase of climate finance to help developing countries with projects ranging from adaptation activities in small island states to helping Andean nations address the impacts of tropical glacier retreat, to clean energy programs in Africa."

By contrast, China, the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, will continue to "stick to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Roadmap," the chief Chinese negotiator said in Cancun Monday.

Su Wei, head of the climate change department of China's National Development and Reform Commission, told the Xinhua news agency that Beijing expects the conference to "bear real fruit" on the key issues of mitigation, adaptation, financial support and technology transfer and thus to "lay a solid foundation for future negotiations and the final achievement of a legally binding treaty."

Brazil Protects Climate With Record Low Amazon Deforestation

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 02:43:33 -0800

BRASILIA, Brazil, December 1, 2010 (ENS) - Brazil has reduced destruction of its Amazon rainforest to the lowest rate since satellite observations began in 1988, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced today in Brasilia. The achievement helps protect the global climate as deforestation causes greenhouse gases to increase in the atmosphere.

Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, INPE, said in its annual report that deforestation reached a record low of 2,490 square miles (6,450 square kilometers) between August 2009 and July 2010.

This is the second consecutive year Amazon deforestation has reached a record low, dropping 13.6 percent below last year's record low rate, President Lula said. Last year, Brazil slowed the rate of Amazon deforestation by 45.7 percent from August 2008 to July 2009.

Deforestation fell in seven of the nine Amazonian states, even in Para State, which has historically experienced the greatest rate of deforestation, said President Lula.

These data will be presented at the UN climate conference now underway in Cancun, Mexico and President Lula says Brazil will attempt "to raise the tone of the international negotiations towards the reduction of emissions."

President Lula said Brazil has transformed its position in international negotiations. At first, the country was blamed for contributing to global warming by clearing vast swaths of the Amazon rainforest. Now Brazil is leading the way in terms of rates of deforestation and reduction of emissions, while the developed countries are not presenting emissions reductions.

"We are fulfilling the commitment we have made in Brazil. We will fulfill it because it's our obligation to do so," said the President.

President Lula also announced new integrated policies to promote sustainable development in the Amazon region, as well as the first results from Brazil's deforestation monitoring of the Atlantic Forest along Brazil's east coast.

In 2009, Brazil passed into law a commitment to cut its projected greenhouse gas emissions between 36.1 and 38.9 percent by 2020.

The Jurua River in Acre State, the westernmost part of the Brazilian Amazon (Photo by Vihh)

Deforestation reduction is a critical part of Brazil's strategy to reduce national emissions; official calculations estimate that meeting deforestation reduction targets could reduce Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions by up to 24.7 percent.

In October 2010, President Lula announced that Brazil's 80 percent Amazon deforestation reduction target would be met by 2016, four years earlier than promised.

"We are committed to advancing the reduction in deforestation, improving monitoring and creating the conditions for sustainable development in the region," said Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira, who joined President Lula for the announcement in Brasilia. "We are doing our homework, and the world needs to respond accordingly."

"We are proud to deliver such an impressive rate of deforestation," she said. "These are absolutely fantastic numbers."

Teixeira said the new drop in the rate of deforestation is the result of the Lula administration's environmental policies. Over the past eight years the government has increased the percentage of protected areas in the Amazon, she said.

She said the slowing deforestation levels are a result of the Action Plan for Deforestation Control and Prevention in the Amazon, a set of cross-government policies and measures launched in 2004 and suppported by 14 government agencies.

The policies cover improved monitoring, strengthened enforcement, and encouragement of sustainable activities in the region.

Satellite images analyzed by INPE's near-real time deforestation detection system have enabled the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, with support from the Federal Police, to set up precise and effective enforcement operations to halt illegal deforestation as it happens.

The engagement of state governments, civil society and the private sector has played a major role in curbing deforestation, including efforts to renew sectoral pacts to halt the conversion of forests for soybean production in the Amazon. In July 2010, Brazil's ban on the commercialization of soy grown in the Amazon was extended for the fourth consecutive year.

In addition, seven of the nine Amazon states have already developed and approved their own action plans to fight deforestation at the local level.

Pablo Adario, director of Greenpeace Brazil Amazonia campaign said today, "6,450 square kilometers still is much deforestation. It has caused great loss of biodiversity and enormous CO2 emissions."

"The good news is that the numbers confirm a falling deforestation trend continued since 2005," said Adario. "This expressive and drawn out fall at a time of expansion of the Brazilian economy is an eloquent signal that the country is close to winning the war against the deforestation and zeroing it up to 2015 while generating foods, job and income."

Part of the government's strategy to prevent deforestation and conserve Brazil's biodiversity is the creation of protected areas. According to the Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 by the UN Environment Programme, nearly 75 percent of the 700,000 square kilometers of protected areas created around the world since 2003 are located in Brazil.

During today's event in Brasilia, President Lula signed a decree establishing the Amazon Ecological-Economic Macrozoning initiative, a set of strategies to guide and stimulate sustainable development in the Amazon region.

The document divides the Legal Amazon region into 10 zones and specifies the nature of economic activity that can be carried out in each of them, in accordance with sustainability criteria.

Deforestation will be avoided by halting the expansion of agriculture and cattle ranching into areas of native vegetation, and fostering the use and recovery of degraded lands for agribusiness.

The decree establishes that the National Monetary Committee shall define new rules restricting finance for rural and agro-industrial activities in the Amazon, according to the criteria included in the Macrozoning initiative. Fiscal and economic incentives will encourage the expansion of sustainable activities in the region.

Within hours, the Bank of Brazil announced that it will veto agricultural credit for soy farmers who want to plant in newly cleared areas of the forest. This decision by the main financier of the agricultural production in the country strengthens conservation moves by government and nongovernmental organizations alike, said Adario.

Environmental preservation "is not just the prerogative of the Ministry of the Environment, but for all," Environment Minister Teixeira said today.

In Washington, Doug Boucher, director of climate research and analysis at the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, agrees that the world must now follow Brazil down the path of greenhouse gas emissions control.

"Brazil has done more than any other country over the past five years to cut global warming emissions by dramatically reducing its deforestation," said Boucher. "Destroying tropical forests is responsible for about 15 percent of global warming pollution, and Brazil had been the biggest source of deforestation pollution. Its reduction is a stunning turnaround."

"Some of the credit needs to go to Norway, which agreed to give Brazil as much as $1 billion over five years if it reduced deforestation," Boucher explained. "That funding has compensated farmers, ranchers and other Brazilians whose livelihoods depend on clearing trees. Norway's contribution amounted to about $100 a year for each of its citizens. By contrast, the amount of aid the United States has pledged to protect tropical forests amounts to only about $1 a year for each American."

"Brazil's accomplishment is a ray of hope in an otherwise gloomy picture due to the failure of wealthy countries to seriously address global warming," he said. "It's past time for the rest of the world to step up and follow Brazil's lead."

America Faces a New 'Sputnik Moment'

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:40:39 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 30, 2010 (ENS) - The success of China and other countries in clean energy industries has created a new "Sputnik Moment" for the United States, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Monday in a speech at the National Press Club.

Secretary Chu was referring to Russia's 1957 launch of Sputnik, the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. The United States, taken by surprise, was motivated the United States to accelerate its own space exploration program.

Today's clean energy challenges require "a similar mobilization of America's innovation machine so that we can compete in the global race for the jobs of the future," Chu said. "When it comes to innovation, Americans don't take a back seat to anyone - and we certainly won't start now."

Wind turbines in Xinjiang, China (Photo by Chris Lim)

"From wind power to nuclear reactors to high speed rail, China and other countries are moving aggressively to capture the lead," said Chu. "Given that challenge, and given the enormous economic opportunities in clean energy, it's time for America to do what we do best: innovate. As President Obama has said, we should not, cannot, and will not play for second place."

With 17 national laboratories and world-leading scientific and computing resources, the Department of Energy is on the front lines of America's effort to lead in clean energy innovation, said Chu, adding that "America cannot afford to take our scientific leadership for granted."

In the United States, scientists are developing electric vehicle batteries that can power 500 miles of driving on a single charge, said Chu. The Nissan Leaf can travel 73 miles on a single charge, according to its U.S. EPA new vehicle sticker, while the Chevy Volt can travel 35 miles on battery power alone.

With Recovery Act funding, Arizona-based Fluidic Energy is working with Arizona State University to develop a new generation of "metal-air" batteries that can store many times more energy than standard lithium-ion batteries, Chu said.

A separate group of scientists at a new Energy Innovation Hub led by the California Institute of Technology in partnership with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is creating an integrated system modeled after photosynthesis that can convert sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into usable fuels such as gasoline.

Called the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, the effort has been awarded $122 million of Recovery Act funding over five years. Chu said this development could pave the way for a major expansion of America's biofuel industry.

The Obama administration has awarded more than $10 billion in loans and grants to boost electric vehicles, batteries and other advanced vehicle production. It will award another $16 billion in loans for advanced vehicles.

While these technologies are cutting edge, Secretary Chu said there are seven crucial technologies where the United States must innovate or risk falling far behind:

Alternative Energy Vehicles. China has developed a draft plan to invest $17 billion in central government funds in fuel economy, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric and fuel cell vehicles, with the goal of producing five million new energy vehicles and 15 million fuel-efficient conventional vehicles by 2020.

Renewable Energy. China is installing wind power at a faster rate than any nation in the world, and manufactures 40 percent of the world's solar photovoltaic systems. China is home to three of the world's top 10 wind turbine manufacturers and five of the top 10 silicon based PV manufacturers.

High Voltage Transmission. China has deployed the world's first Ultra High Voltage AC and DC lines - including one capable of delivering 6.4 gigawatts to Shanghai from a hydroelectric plant nearly 1,300 miles away in southwestern China. These lines are more efficient and carry much more power over longer distances than those in the United States.

High Speed Rail. In the span of six years, China has gone from importing this technology to exporting it, with the world's fastest train and the world's largest high speed rail network, which will become larger than the rest of the world combined by the end of the decade. Some short distance plane routes have already been canceled, and train travel from Beijing to Shanghai - a distance roughly equivalent to New York to Chicago - has been cut from 11 hours to four hours.

Advanced Coal Technologies. China is rapidly deploying supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal combustion plants, which have fewer emissions and are more efficient than conventional coal plants because they burn coal at much higher temperatures and pressures. Last month, Secretary Chu toured an ultra-supercritical plant in Shanghai which claims to be 45 to 48 percent efficient. The most efficient U.S. plants are about 40 percent efficient. China is also moving quickly to design and deploy technologies for Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle plants as well as carbon capture and storage.

Nuclear Power. China has more than 30 nuclear power plants under construction, more than any other country in the world, and is researching fourth generation nuclear power technologies.

Supercomputing. Last month, the Tianhe-1A, developed by China's National University of Defense Technology, became the world's fastest supercomputer. While Chu says the United States, and the Department of Energy in particular, still has unrivalled expertise in the useful application of high performance computers to advance scientific research and develop technology, the energy secretary warned that America must continue to improve the speed and capacity of its advanced supercomputers.

Today, Chu announced the largest ever awards of the Energy Department's supercomputing time to 57 innovative research projects, both academic and commercial research. Scientists will use computer simulations to perform virtual experiments that in most cases would be impossible or impractical in the natural world.

The Department is awarding time on two of the world's fastest and most powerful supercomputers - the Cray XT5 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory known as Jaguar, with capacity equivalent to 109,000 laptops all working together to solve the same problem - andthe IBM Blue Gene/P at Argonne National Laboratory, called Intrepid, with capacity equivalent to 26,000 laptops.

The research could help speed the development of more efficient solar cells, improvements in biofuel production, and include partnerships with companies such as GE and Boeing to use sophisticated computer modeling in the development of better wind turbines and jet engines.

"The Department of Energy's supercomputers provide an enormous competitive advantage for the United States," said Secretary Chu. "This is a great example of how investments in innovation can help lead the way to new industries, new jobs, and new opportunities for America to succeed in the global marketplace."

Court Orders Uprooting of Monsanto Biotech Sugar Beets

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:38:09 -0800

SAN FRANCISCO, California, November 30, 2010 (ENS) - A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction ordering the immediate destruction of 256 acres of genetically engineered sugar beet seedlings planted in Oregon and Arizona in September.

Judge Jeffrey White determined that the seedlings had been planted in violation of federal law and regardless of his previous ruling that made planting of GE sugar beets illegal until the U.S. Department of Agriculture completes an Environmental Impact Statement, EIS.

Judge White isssued the injunction in a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety on behalf of a coalition of farmers and conservation groups.

The lawsuit was filed on September 9, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed it had permitted the seedlings to be planted although a court ruling in August vacated the USDA's deregulation of biotech sugar beets, based on the agency's failure to prepare an EIS.

The plaintiffs - The Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds, and the Sierra Club - had immediately sought a court order to halt the planting.

Monsanto genetically engineered sugar beets (Photo courtesy Monsanto)

Center for Food Safety attorney George Kimbrell said, "Today's decision is a seminal victory for farmers and the environment and a vindication of the rule of law. The public interest has prevailed over USDA's repeated efforts to implement the unlawful demands of the biotech industry."

Half of the nation's sugar comes from sugar beets, and 95 percent of them are grown using Monsanto's Genuity® Roundup Ready® sugar beets, which are genetically engineered for tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in the Monsanto pesticide Roundup.

Judge White ruled today that GE sugar beets could harm the environment and consumers, noting that containment efforts were insufficient and past contamination incidents were "too numerous" to allow the illegal crop to remain in the ground.

In his court order, Judge White noted, "farmers and consumers would likely suffer harm from cross-contamination" between GE sugar beets and non-GE crops. "The likely environmental harm established by Plaintiffs is irreparable," the judge wrote.

On September 28 Judge White ruled that USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, APHIS, had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by allowing the plantings without analyzing the potential environmental, health, and socioeconomic impacts of growing GE sugar beets.

"The legality of Defendants' conduct does not even appear to be a close question," wrote the judge in today's ruling, noting that the government and Monsanto had tried to circumvent his earlier ruling.

"Failing to conduct the required environmental review and depriving Plaintiffs and the public 'of the opportunity to participate in the NEPA process at a time when such participation is required and is calculated to matter' constitutes irreparable harm," ruled Judge White.

Paul Achitoff of Earthjustice, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said, "USDA thumbed its nose at the judicial system and the public by allowing this crop to be grown without any environmental review."

"Herbicide resistant crops just like this have been shown to result in more toxic chemicals in our soil and water," said Achitoff. "USDA has shown no regard for the environmental laws, and we're pleased that Judge White ordered the appropriate response."

Judge White heard testimony from the parties during a three-day hearing in November before issuing today's ruling.

USDA lawyers argued that the seedlings were separate from the rest of the sugar beet crop cycle and had no impact by themselves, but the judge rejected this argument.

He found that the law requires USDA to analyze the impacts of not only the seedlings, but the rest of the Roundup Ready® sugar beet production process as well, before any part of that process can begin.

In 2004, Monsanto Company and plantbreeding company KWS SAAT AG had requested that APHIS deregulate the biotech sugar beets. Their petition states that the GE beets should not be regulated because they are "unlikely to pose a plant pest risk."

After completing an Environmental Assessment, APHIS deregulated the GE sugar beets as requested, effective March 4, 2005.

Five years later, 95 percent of the 2010 U.S. sugar beet crop was genetically modified Genuity® Roundup Ready® sugar beets, Monsanto says.

But in September of 2009 Judge White found APHIS had unlawfully deregulated GE sugar beets.

On August 13, 2010, the court vacated the deregulation determination, ruling that APHIS' Environmental Assessment failed to consider certain environmental and interrelated economic impacts.

The judge sent the issue back to APHIS for an Environmental Impact Statement, a more extensive examination of the impacts of GE sugar beets. The EIS process is ongoing and the agency says it should be complete by spring 2012.

The August ruling made any future planting and sale of the GE sugar beets illegal until APHIS complies with federal law.

But almost immediately after the ruling, the agency issued permits allowing companies to plant seedlings to produce seed for future Roundup Ready sugar beet crops, even though the crops are still illegal to grow, and no EIS has been completed.

Growers rushed to plant the seed crop in Oregon and Arizona, and these are the crops that must be uprooted.

In October, Monsanto and KWS submitted a request to APHIS for "partial deregulation" of Roundup Ready® sugar beets. Their accompanying "Environmental Report," argues that they should be allowed to conduct the future planting, harvesting, and interstate movement of GE sugar beet crops, both seed and root, "under conditions designed to ensure any risks posed by the introduction of these sugar beets into the environment are thoroughly mitigated."

APHIS is now in the process of evaluating the partial deregulation request, and the agency would have to issue special guidelines to authorize any interim planting of the GE sugar beets while it completes the court-ordered environmental impact statement and then makes a final decision.

Stakes High, Expectations Low as Climate Talks Open in Cancun

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:35:42 -0800

CANCUN, Mexico, November 29, 2010 (ENS) - The annual United Nations climate change conference begins today in Cancun with delegates from 191 governments negotiating long-term climate change cooperation.

The stakes are high and time is short, according to the UN body tasked with managing the world's response to global warming - a treaty known as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC.

"The world has this year been confronted with a series of disasters that have illustrated the vulnerability of all humanity to extreme climate events. These include the devastating floods in Pakistan and in Niger, the wildfires in Russia, and the mudslides in China," the UNFCCC Secretariat says in a statement on the importance of these negotiations. "It is not possible to say with utmost scientific certainty that each of these are a direct climate change impact. But if they are anything to go by, then they give us a taste of the magnitude of what could come - and of what could come more frequently, and more intensely."

Talks in Cancun are proceeding on two separate tracks - the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol to that convention, which limits 36 signatory industrialized nations to an average of 5.2 percent reduction below 1990 levels in the emission of six greenhouse gases.

The original deadline for completing negotiations on both these tracks was to have been last year's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, but many issues remained unresolved - most stemming from differences between industrialized and developing countries on emissions limits and funding. As a result, the two working groups - one for each track - were given another year to finish their work and report to delegates at the Cancun conference.

The Copenhagen Accord, a voluntary agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, is all that emerged from last year's conference instead of a legally-binding set of emissions reductions to carry on after the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period expires at the end of 2012.

Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, third from right, examines the preparations for the UN climate talks at the Moon Palace Hotel/Cancun Messe, November 28, 2010. (Photo courtesy Government of Mexico)

This year's goals are even more modest, and legally-binding emissions limits are not expected to come out of the Cancun conference.

Patricia Espinosa, Mexican foreign minister and president-designate of the Cancun conference, said that no country is stepping back from the voluntary emission reduction or limitation pledges it made at the Copenhagen conference. "?Each country has recognized that it will do what it can," she said.

But even if current pledges and plans to cut or limit emissions are implemented completely and on time, global emissions would still keep growing in the next 10 years.

"?In Mexico, we will show the world we are committed to take the next essential steps on climate change and that we are committed to the multilateral path as the only fair and effective route to resolve global problems,?" Espinosa said in October at the conclusion of preparatory climate talks in China.

The UN'?s top climate change official, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, says the climate change action that can be agreed in Cancun is about "turning ?small climate keys to unlock very big doors?" into a new level of climate action among rich and poor, business and consumers, governments and citizens.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon inaugurates Cancun wind turbine. (Photo courtesy Office of the President)

?"If climate financing and technology transfer make it possible to give thousands of villages efficient solar cookers and lights, not only do a nation?s entire carbon emissions drop, but children grow healthier, women work easier and families can talk, read and write into the evening," said Figueres. "?In the end, this is about real people being given the opportunity to take control of their future stability, security and sustainability."

Today, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon led the inauguration of the Cancun wind turbine in the municipality of Benito Juarez. The turbine will provide 3,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy during the UN climate conference and will prevent the annual production of 2,000 tons of CO2, equivalent to the annual emissions of hundreds of automobiles.

During the climate talks, there will be a waste recycling program and the greenhouse gases emitted as a result of the Mexican delegation's trips will be offset. A broad energy reconversion will be carried out, with hydroelectric and wind infrastructure and alternative energies such as biodiesel. Calderon said that as a result of these and other actions, by 2012, Mexico will be able to mitigate 50 million tons of CO2.

Ahead of the Cancun conference the World Bank approved a package of three initiatives totaling US$713 million to fund Mexico's efforts to green its economy. The initiatives focus on climate change public policies, efficient lighting and appliances, and a Gulf of Mexico coastal wetlands climate adaptation project

Led by the Federated States of Micronesia, low-lying island nations and other vulnerable countries are calling for governments to take fast action on the 50 percent of global warming that is caused by gases other than carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas.

Micronesia submitted a proposal last year to address these climate warmers – black carbon, methane, and tropospheric ozone – under the UN climate treaty. Micronesia re-submitted its proposal this year and it will be considered by at the Cancun meeting.

Micronesia also proposes phasing down hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs, the current substitute for substances that deplete the ozone layer. HFCs do not contribute to ozone depletion although they are potent greenhouse gases.

The scientific case for this strategy was set forth Saturday by Professor Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a professor of atmospheric physics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleague, Professor David Victor, author of the soon to be published book, "Global Warming Gridlock."

Writing in the "New York Times," Ramanathan and Victor acknowledge the importance of reducing CO2 emissions, but say the road ahead will be long, difficult, and expensive, and that "in the meantime, a fast-action plan is needed."

"The opportunity to make progress arises from the fact that global warming is caused by two separate types of pollution," write Ramanathan and Victor. "One is the long-term buildup of carbon dioxide, which can remain in the atmosphere for centuries."

"But carbon dioxide is not the only kind of pollution that contributes to global warming," write Ramanathan and Victor. "Other potent warming agents include three short-lived gases - methane, some hydrofluorocarbons and lower atmospheric ozone - and dark soot particles. The warming effect of these pollutants, which stay in the atmosphere for several days to about a decade, is already about 80 percent of the amount that carbon dioxide causes. The world could easily and quickly reduce these pollutants; the technology and regulatory systems needed to do so are already in place."

Currently HFC emissions are controlled by the Kyoto Protocol. Micronesia proposes to shift their control to the Montreal Protocol ozone treaty. The United States, Canada, and Mexico support this strategy through a separate, but similar, North American proposal.

The Washington, DC-based nonprofit Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development said today, "The Parties in Cancun can ensure success with this effort - and win a major climate prize of up to 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent in mitigation - by directing the Montreal Protocol to take responsibility for production and use of HFCs."

"Fast action on HFCs and the other near-term climate warmers is essential for the survival of low-lying islands and other vulnerable states," said Andrew Yatilman, director of Micronesia's Office of Environment and Emergency Management. "This is the time for action and we can do it now, right here in Cancun."

U.S. Designates Critical Habitat for Threatened Polar Bears

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:34:05 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 29, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated more than 187,000 square miles of on-shore barrier islands, denning areas and offshore sea-ice as critical habitat for the threatened polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.

The designation identifies geographic areas containing features considered essential for the conservation of the bear that require special management or protection.

"This critical habitat designation enables us to work with federal partners to ensure their actions within its boundaries do not harm polar bear populations," said Tom Strickland, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks. "Nevertheless, the greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of its sea ice habitat caused by human-induced climate change. We will continue to work toward comprehensive strategies for the long-term survival of this iconic species."

"The critical habitat designation clearly identifies the areas that need to be protected if the polar bear is to survive in a rapidly melting Arctic," said Brendan Cummings, senior counsel with the Center for Biological Diversity. "However, unless the Interior Department starts to take seriously its mandate to actually protect the polar bear's critical habitat, we will be writing the species' obituary rather than its recovery plan."

A large male polar bear walks on the Arctic coast near Barrow, Alaska. November 10, 2010. (Photo by Steve Amstrup courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)

Federal agencies are prohibited from taking any actions that may harm or damage critical habitat. Species that have critical habitat designated are more than twice as likely to be recovering, and less than half as likely to be declining, as those without it, say conservationists.

The designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve, or other conservation area. It does not allow government or the public access to private lands. A critical habitat designation does not affect private lands unless federal funds, permits, or activities are involved.

"Polar bears are slipping away," said Andrew Wetzler, director of Natural Resources Defense Council's Land and Wildlife Program. "But we know that there are crucial protections that can keep them around. Today's designation is a start, especially in warding off ill-considered oil and gas development in America's most important polar bear habitat."

The final designation, contained in a final rule that was submitted on November 23, 2010 to the Federal Register, encompasses three areas or units: barrier island habitat, sea ice habitat and terrestrial denning habitat.

Barrier island habitat includes coastal barrier islands and spits along Alaska's coast, and is used for denning, refuge from human disturbances, access to maternal dens and feeding habitat and travel along the coast.

About 96 percent of the area designated as critical habitat is sea ice habitat. Sea ice habitat is located over the continental shelf, and includes ice over water up to 984 feet in depth extending to the outer limits of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, 200 miles from shore.

Terrestrial denning habitat includes lands within 20 miles of the northern coast of Alaska between the Canadian border and the Kavik River and within five miles between the Kavik River and Barrow, Alaska.

On October 29, 2009, the Service proposed to designate 200,541 square miles as critical habitat for the polar bear. The final rule reduces this designation to 187,157 square miles, a reduction due mostly to corrections designed to accurately reflect the U.S. boundary for proposed sea ice habitat.

In addition, the critical habitat designated in the final rule differs from that originally proposed in several ways.

five U.S. Air Force radar sites are exempt from the final rule based on their Integrated Natural Resource Management Plans, which include measures to protect polar bears occurring in habitats within or adjacent to these facilities

the Native communities of Barrow and Kaktovik were excluded from the final designation

all existing manmade structures, regardless of land ownership status, are not included in the final critical habitat designation

The polar bear was protected under the Endangered Species Act as threatened, range-wide, on May 15, 2008, due to loss of sea ice habitat caused by climate change. Other threats evaluated at that time included impacts from activities such as oil and gas operations, subsistence harvest, shipping, and tourism. No other impacts were considered as significant in the decline, but minimizing effects from these activities could become increasingly important for polar bears as their numbers decline.

"Designating polar bear critical habitat is a good first step toward protecting this species," said Melanie Duchin, a Greenpeace campaigner in Anchorage, Alaska. "However, as long as the secretary of the interior maintains that he can do nothing about greenhouse emissions and global warming, protections for the polar bear will ultimately be ineffective."

'Smart from the Start' Plan Speeds Atlantic Offshore Wind Development

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:32:01 -0800

BALTIMORE, Maryland, November 29, 2010 (ENS) - A new wind energy program to facilitate siting, leasing and construction of projects along the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf is now underway and will spin up to speed starting in January 2011.

The accelerated leasing process, called "Smart from the Start," is being simplified through a proposed regulatory change that would enable the issuance of leases on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf in 2011 and 2012.

"To fully harness the economic and energy benefits of our nation's vast Atlantic wind potential we need to implement a smart permitting process that is efficient, thorough, and unburdened by needless red tape," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, launching the program Tuesday.

"Our Smart from the Start Initiative for Atlantic wind will allow us to identify priority Wind Energy Areas for potential development, improve our coordination with local, state, and federal partners, and accelerate the leasing process," Salazar said. "If we are wise with our planning, we can help build a robust and environmentally responsible offshore renewable energy program that creates jobs here at home."

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar launches Smart From the Start. Back row from left: Congressman John Sarbanes, Senator Tom Carper, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, November 23, 2010. (Photo by Tami Heilemann courtesy DOI)

"This coordinated initiative will help to capture the great potential that offshore wind power offers our country and our economy," said Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes. "Smart planning and early environmental reviews will pay great dividends in spurring responsible renewable wind energy development."

"This accelerated and focused approach to developing the nation's Atlantic wind resources will encourage investment while ensuring projects are built in the right way and in the right places," said Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

Bromwich said BOEMRE is proposing a revision to its regulations that will simplify the leasing process for offshore wind in situations where there is only one qualified and interested developer.

The revision eliminates a redundant step, and could save up to six to 12 months in the leasing process.

"We believe the regulatory change we are proposing, along with our efforts to identify priority Wind Energy Areas offshore, will result in a more efficient and coordinated permitting process for offshore wind," said Bromwich.

The wind energy industry supports the new federal program. American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode said, "AWEA applauds Secretary Salazar for his leadership in offshore wind. Efforts to rationalize the multi-step permitting process for offshore wind projects are essential for Eastern states to be able to take advantage of this excellent resource."

"As the pipeline of projects begin to move forward more rapidly, the environmental and economic benefits of offshore wind, including manufacturing facilities and associated jobs, can be realized," said Bode.

Maryland hopes to create thousands of those jobs. On November 8, the federal government accepted the planning recommendations of the Maryland Offshore Wind Task Force and issued both a Request for Interest and a map of an offshore wind leasing area in federal waters adjacent to Maryland's Atlantic Coast. They announcement makes Maryland the second state in the nation, after Massachusetts, to reach this point in the process.

Governor Martin O'Malley said, "By harnessing the outstanding wind resources off of Maryland's coast, we can create thousands of green collar jobs, reduce harmful air pollution, and bring much needed, additional clean energy to Maryland."

Governor O'Malley has made offshore wind a priority in Maryland's efforts to generate 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2022. According to state figures, a one gigawatt wind farm off of the Maryland coast could create as many as 4,000 jobs in manufacturing and construction during the five year development period, with an additional 800 permanent jobs once the turbines are spinning.

Wind Energy Areas are offshore locations that appear most suitable for wind energy development. Data would continue to be collected for these high priority areas to inform government and industry assessments and planning.

Salazar established the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium with 11 coastal state governors earlier this year.

Interior officials have been working with Atlantic states to identify Wind Energy Areas. The state-federal task forces set up in eight of these states are identifying areas with generally bountiful wind energy and relatively fewer potential environmental and use conflicts than other offshore areas.

Under the Smart from the Start initiative, BOEMRE will work with states to identify Wind Energy Areas off the coasts of a number of Atlantic states, including Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, Rhode Island and Massachusetts within the next 60 days.

By January 2011, Requests for Interest and Calls for Information will be issued for these Wind Energy Areas to support lease sale environmental assessments.

Maryland's Request for Information has already been issued and those for New Jersey, Virginia, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts are being developed.

Additional Wind Energy Areas will be identified in 2011 for other Atlantic states, which may include areas offshore New York, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

BOEMRE will assist in developing site assessment data and evaluating potential wind energy area leasing.

In January 2011, BOEMRE will initiate regional environmental assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act to evaluate the potential impacts associated with site assessment activities in identified Wind Energy Areas in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

This effort will be supported by the extensive environmental studies and outreach already conducted by several of these states. Examples include the New Jersey Ecosystem Baseline Study, the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium Offshore Wind Studies Report, Rhode Island's Ocean Special Area Management Plan, and the Maryland DNR Open House outreach program.

In addition, says Bromwich, there will be rapid and close coordination with other federal agencies to compile existing site assessment data.

If no significant environmental impacts are identified in Wind Energy Areas, BOEMRE would offer leases in these areas by the end of 2011/early 2012.

Developers will still need appropriate and comprehensive site-specific NEPA review of individual projects.

BOEMRE will work directly with project proponents to ensure that those reviews take place on "aggressive schedules with frequent interagency communications and dedicated staff," Bromwich says.

There will be a public scoping period during which all interested parties may submit comments on alternatives and issues to be addressed in the regional environmental assessments. There will be additional opportunities for public comment throughout the leasing process. A full Environmental Impact Statement is likely to be required in connection with the review and approval of a wind farm construction and operations plan.

To address the need for transmission infrastructure to bring this offshore power ashore, BOEMRE will move forward on a parallel track to process applications to build offshore transmission lines.

This offshore wind initiative is the latest in a series of Obama Administration actions to spur renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf.

In early 2009, Salazar expedited the long-delayed process for approving the final rules for offshore wind development, establishing a regulatory framework that encourages responsible development. He then established the Atlantic Wind Consortium and announced the creation of an offshore wind coordinating office to expedite Interior's collaborative efforts with the states.

Key aspects of the Atlantic Wind Smart from the Start initiative are modeled on the permitting of major solar energy projects on U.S. public lands in the West, including a Smart from the Start approach that designated solar energy study areas, conducted early environmental reviews, and is coordinating state and federal permitting processes for large-scale solar projects.

Fishing Nations Fail to Safeguard Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 14:28:47 -0800

PARIS, France, November 27, 2010 (ENS) - Government delegates from 48 fishing nations today failed to protect the spawning grounds of the vanishing Atlantic bluefin tuna, either in the Gulf of Mexico or the Mediterranean, although they did approve some protections for whitetip and hammerhead sharks.

Gathering in Paris for the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, ICCAT, delegates emerged from days of closed-door negotiations with a decision to drop the 2011 bluefin fishing quota by just 600 metric tonnes, from 13,500 to 12,900 tonnes for the Mediterranean fishery and 1,750 tonnes for the Gulf of Mexico.

Bluefin tuna (Photo courtesy Greenpeace)

Conservation groups, ICCAT's own scientists, the European Union and the United States had been urging a 2011 quota of 6,000 tonnes for the Mediterranean bluefin population to enable recovery of the overexploited fish stocks. They say the ICCAT decision does little to help the species recover, despite documented evidence of a multi-billion black market in bluefin tuna.

Dr. Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group, said the governments are "incapable" of managing the large tuna, whose soft, red flesh is highly prized in sushi restaurants around the world.

"Despite sound science to show how threatened these species are - and all the recent evidence of fraud, laundering and illegal fishing - Atlantic bluefin tuna once again were denied the protection they desperately need," Dr. Lieberman said. "ICCAT member governments had more than enough information to act decisively. They failed to do so."

"Greed and mismanagement have taken priority over sustainability and common sense at this ICCAT meeting when it comes to Atlantic bluefin. This measly quota reduction is insufficient to ensure the recovery of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea," said Dr. Sergi Tudela, head of WWF Mediterrean's Fisheries Programme.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, as Data Deficient, saying population numbers have not been assessed since 1996. Atlantic bluefin have become extinct in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea.

"Bluefin tuna will be wiped out unless drastic action is taken to stop overfishing at the world summit going on right now. Without these magnificent fish, oceanic ecosystems could collapse," warned the international nonprofit Avaaz, which submitted a petition signed by more than 319,000 people to European Union negotiators at ICCAT, urging bluefin protection.

In October, the European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki proposed dropping the Mediterranean quota of bluefin tuna to 6,000 tons, which would have given the population a greater chance to recover. This proposal was overturned, with the EU saying it was now "taking into consideration the interests of the tuna fishermen."

A week ahead of the meeting, EU member states agreed to a negotiating mandate at ICCAT which was not based on the recommendation of the European Commission.

At the meeting, the EU tabled proposals for two new recommendations prohibiting fishing for porbeagle sharks, which have declined by half in much of the Atlantic, as well as thresher and hammerhead sharks.

Voting today, ICCAT members approved new protections for seven species of sharks: oceanic whitetip sharks and six types of hammerheads: great, scalloped, scoophead, smalleye, smooth and whitefin. The fishing, retention and sale of these sharks will be banned.

But Canada, which has a targeted porbeagle shark fishery, helped block that proposed ban.

The EU also worked with the United States and other members of ICCAT on a third proposal which would set precautionary catch limits for shortfin mako sharks, but that proposal failed after Japan, South Korea and China all opposed shortfin mako quotas.

A U.S. proposal to prohibit the removal of shark fins at sea, a practice known as shark-finning, failed on Japan's objection.

"The United States pushed hard for parties to adopt science-based management measures for bluefin tuna and other species, applying a precautionary approach where needed and taking into account impacts to the ecosystem," said Jane Lubchenco, PhD, the U.S. under secretary for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.

"While we met with mixed success at this meeting, we will continue to push for sustainable management to support the long-term stability of jobs associated with the recreational and commercial fishing industries," Lubchenco said.

In her comment after the meeting, the EU's Damanaki tried to sound positive, calling the outcome, "a step in the right direction for sustainable management of bluefin tuna and other species."

"ICCAT has agreed on a reduction of the catches of bluefin tuna for the next year," Damanaki said. "Moreover, the new allocation key agreed has allowed the EU to maintain its share in the fishery, which is good news for our fishermen and industry, and reflects the leading role the EU has played towards the recovery of this stock."

"This year, ICCAT has also emphasized the importance of control and compliance procedures, which are crucial to our long-term success," Damanaki said. "The EU will continue to work with those countries that are not fully compliant to ensure that they fulfil their obligations."

But conservation groups point to a huge black market in bluefin tuna uncovered by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ, in a report resulting from a seven-month inquiry into ICCAT member nations' management of bluefin stocks in the Mediterranean.

The ICIJ revealed waste, fraud, and rampant mismanagement in the reporting of bluefin catch totals between 1998 and 2007.

"Behind the plummeting stocks of Eastern Atlantic bluefin stock is a massive black market," the ICIJ report states. "At its peak, between 1998 and 2007, more than one in three bluefin was caught illegally, creating an off-the-books trade conservatively valued at $4 billion."

"Fishermen blatantly violated official quotas and engaged in an array of illegal practices, including misreporting catch size, hiring banned spotter planes, catching undersized fish, trading fishing quotas, and plundering tuna from North African waters where EU inspectors are refused entry," the ICIJ reported.

"Sea ranches, where bluefin are fattened to increase their value, became the epicenter for 'laundering' tuna in the Mediterranean and North Africa," according to the ICIJ. "Many ranches grossly underreported the fish they had in their pens and faked releases when forced by authorities to let go of illegally-caught bluefin."

"A widespread, off-the-books trade in bluefin tuna has existed in Japan since at least the mid-1980s," the report states. ICIJ obtained a confidential 2006 investigative report commissioned by Australia and Japan that exposed widespread overfishing and laundering into Japan of southern bluefin tuna, a sister species of the Atlantic bluefin tuna.

"While there are signs that EU officials have started to crack down," the ICIJ report said, "illegalities remain a serious problem."

Dr. Tudela of WWF Mediterrean's Fisheries Programme said this year's ICCAT meeting did nothing to remedy this situation.

"After years of observing ICCAT and countless opportunities to do the right thing, it is clear to us that the commission's interests lie not in the sustainable harvesting of bluefin tuna but in pandering to short-term business interests," said Tudela. "There have been no effective measures implemented here to deal with widespread illegal and unreported fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean."

Indigenous Peoples in Latin America Unite Against Mining

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:26:25 -0800

LIMA, Peru, November 26, 2010 (ENS) - Indigenous Peoples from across Latin America have issued a unified declaration demanding an end to large-scale surface mining by transnational companies on indigenous peoples' lands. "We state emphatically: no to mining, yes to life," they declared.

The Lima Declaration calls for governments to revoke mining titles and concessions granted without proper consultation of Indigenous Peoples.

"This is a significant step forward in the process of building proposals from Indigenous Peoples and social movements against mining impacts, extraction by transnational companies, and the climate crisis," said indigenous leader Miguel Palacin Quispe, general coordinator of the Andean Coordinating Committee of Indigenous Organizations.

Indigenous Peoples' representatives at the Lima Forum on Mining, Climate Change and Well-being (Photo by Earthworks Action)

Indigenous representatives from the Andes, the Amazon, and Central America drafted the Lima Declaration at the three-day Forum on Mining, Climate Change and Well-being at the Museum of the Nation from November 18 through 20. It was attended by 376 indigenous and allied participants from 17 countries.

"Our territories full of life and harmony have been converted into territories of contamination and toxicity, territories of militarization and criminalization of struggles, territories of plunder and poverty because of pro-extractive policies guided by governments," the declaration states.

The declaration demands the approval of laws to determine zones prohibited for mining in indigenous territories, as the peoples of Costa Rica have achieved.

But in countries such as Peru, governments have criminalized and repressed protests against mining.

As the indigenous representatives issued the Lima Declaration, tensions intensified in Peru's southern province of Islay, where community members sought to block roads in protest of the Southern Copper Corporation's Tia Maria mine project, which they fear will impact water quality and agriculture.

About 10 protesters were injured by police using batons and tear gas at those protests earlier in the week.

But Thursday, talks between government officials and community members achieved a 10-day truce.

Work at Tia Maria has been suspended since April when, following earlier protests, the government set up a technical roundtable to discuss the project. But discussions have been boycotted by community leaders.

On Thursday, the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines once again invited representatives of indigenous organizations to discuss the Draft Regulations for Consultation with Indigenous Peoples for the mining and energy activities, published October 25 in compliance with a Constitutional Court order.

This process seeks dialogue between the state and Indigenous Peoples, through their representative institutions, the ministry said in a statement, "with the aim of arriving at agreements on the scope of draft regulation in question, in order to build consensus among the sector Energy and Mines and indigenous peoples and improve their relationship for the sake of sustainable development projects, mining and energy investment in our country, respecting the rights of these peoples."

But today the Peruvian indigenous association AIDESEP, representing elders from 10 indigenous groups, objected that the consultation process "is not compatible with our right to cultural identity enshrined in Article 2, paragraph 19 of our Constitution." The elders say the process "is not harmonious with our distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional in the way of how agreements are made in our people, so that set only 10 days to agree or consent to the consultation process is inadequate and contrary to our cultural identity."

The Lima Declaration makes clear the extent of Indigenous Peoples' suffering as industrialization overtakes their formerly harmonious way of life.

"The exponentially growing Western consumption, the looting of our natural goods and the industrialization of the developed countries have generated a global climate crisis to which is joined a food crisis. The effects of global warming have increased the risks of vulnerability of our rights and are modifying our way of life that for millennia has depended on Mother Earth," the document states.

"Indigenous Peoples are those who contribute the least to global warming," the declaration states, "we are those who suffer its worst consequences and are excluded from the international negotiation processes and processes for defining national policies."

Palacin Quispe said this inequality shows itself in international negotiations, in which the rich countries, responsible for 75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, impose their conditions on poor countries in the international climate change negotiations.

The Lima Declaration calls for establishment of a "continental platform of struggle in the face of extractive policies" and calls for another forum in the near future within the setting of the Fifth Summit of the Indigenous Peoples and Nations of the Abya Ayala, in Bolivia in 2011.

The signatory groups say they will carry out a Continental Mobilization on June 21, 2011 "in defense of life, for the reconstitution of Well-being (Buen Vivir), and for the full exercise of our rights in the face of mining impacts, the climate crisis and transnational corporations."

"We declare that Indigenous Peoples are the legitimate owners from ancestral times of the ground, subsoil and natural resources that our territories harbor. We demand of the institutions of the United Nations that natural goods be declared heritage of the Indigenous Peoples who harbor them," the Lima Declaration states. "We position ourselves to change the extractivist model in favor of the Well-being of the peoples of the world."

Giant Earth Art Displays Dramatize Climate Urgency

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:20:49 -0800

CANCUN, Mexico, November 26, 2010 (ENS) - Events this weekend will cap 350 EARTH, a week-long series of giant public art displays around the planet to help raise awareness of the climate crisis before the United Nations annual climate summit begins in Cancun Monday.

Each art installation is visible from space and most of the projects are being photographed by satellites 400 miles above the Earth operated by a Colorado-based company, Digital Globe.

350 EARTH is organized by international climate campaign 350.org, whose name points to goal of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from its current level of 390 parts per million to below 350 ppm.

The majority of scientists say this atmospheric concentration is the maximum that can accumulate if the planetary temperature increase is to be kept to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

"Art can convey in a different way than science the threat that climate change poses to our planet," said 350.org founder and environmental author Bill McKibben, who organized 350 EARTH art project.

While the Cancun talks are not expected to result in a legally-binding agreement limiting greenhouse gas emissions to carry on when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period expires at the end of 2012, they are expected to result in a shared vision for long-term cooperative action.

This vision addresses mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, and capacity-building for developing countries.

"The world's best scientists have tried to wake up politicians to the climate crisis, now we're counting on artists to help," said McKibben, who is in Cancun with several of the 350 EARTH artists.

Scarab and Sun in the Egyptian desert, part of the 350 EARTH art project. (Photo by Ahmed Hayman courtesy 350 EARTH)

Today, in Cairo, Egypt, hundreds of students formed the image of a traditional scarab beetle, a traditional symbol of rebirth and regeneration often depicted on temple walls pushing the ball of the Sun across the sky. The creation of artist Sarah Rifaat, the image represents a call to re-examine humans' relationship to this perpetual source of clean energy, the Sun.

In the Australian Outback, hundreds of people with torches worked with photographer Peter Solness and fire artist Keith Chidzey to create an image of a burning number 350 symbolizing the inevitable increase in wildfires if the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not reduced.

Also today, more than 1,000 Brazilian children from public schools in Tupa, western Sao Paulo state, formed a Sun in the middle of Brazil's flag. Tica Minami said the point was "to remind our leaders the huge potential our country has to generate energy from clean and renewable sources." Solar panels from Brazilian company Blue Sol Solar Energy were also used to form the design.

The 350 EARTH project began on November 20 with what McKibben calls a "human flash flood" in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Diane Karp, director of the Santa Fe Art Institute, said the event showcased the potential bridge between communities of art and politics. "The purpose of our action is not to fix the river because art will not do that," Karp said, "but art does have the power to reach the hearts and minds of the people who come into contact with it and inspire them into political action."

Citizens from the Delta del Ebro area in Catalunya, Spain joined artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada to form a giant representation of the face of a young girl who wants to see the Delta survive the threat of climate change.

In Mexico City, people created a human hurricane surrounding a 350 in the safe "eye of the storm" to represent the increase in extreme weather that Mexico has been experiencing, as well as the hurricane of citizen action necessary to solve the climate crisis.

In Los Angeles, international aerial art innovator John Quigley created a mixed media installation at The Cornfields in Los Angeles Historic State Park. People with solar photovoltaic film sheets formed the image of a solar eagle taking flight to represent clean, renewable, energy independence and global climate solutions from Earth to sky.

In New York City, artist Molly Dilworth created a "Cool Roof" for a school by painting a lightly colored representation of the New York and New Jersey coastline after a seven meter (23 foot) rise in sea levels. The painting was produced with NYC CoolRoofs, a program launched in September 2009 to mitigate the heat island effect and reduce energy needs as part of New York City's sustainable energy plan. Dilworth is famous for painting the temporary environmental mural, "Cool Water, Hot Island," in the plazas on Broadway from 42nd to 47th Streets in Times Square.

350 EARTH's May Boeve says, "I was particularly impressed to see a new set of pictures from Manhattan, which round out the set of EARTH images from the U.S. We intentionally worked with more artists in the U.S. than in any other country, because the most work is needed here to motivate the public to build a movement strong enough to confront the opponents of climate action."

"We saw a winter garden 350 in Texas, home to oil companies and massive wind power potential alike; a re-created river bed where drought currently plagues the Santa Fe River in New Mexico; a solar eagle taking flight in Los Angeles, air pollution and solar power potential unite; and the rooftop mural in Manhattan depicting sea level rise," said Boeve.

On November 21, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, young people joined with other community members to form the image of a house being submerged by the rising seas that threaten all island nations.

In Vancouver, Canada, people gathered to make two giant footprints large enough to be seen from space to represent humanity's ecological footprint on the planet.

On November 23 in New Delhi, India, 3,000 students from the Ryan International School joined aerial artist Daniel Dancer to form the image of an elephant to remind their leaders that they cannot afford to ignore the elephant in the living room - climate change.

The 350 EARTH events continue this weekend. In Cancun, artist Jason deCaires Taylor will unveil a coral reef sculpture made of 400 concrete statues.

In Iceland, artists will form a giant polar bear on a glacier, while in Cape Town, South Africa residents will assemble solar cookers into an enormous Sun.

Thousands of people will gather on the coast in Brighton-Hove, UK on Saturday to form an image of the legendary Norse ruler King Canute, who unsuccessfully tried to control the ocean waves.

"The plan is to make images visible from the skies to remind those in Cancun that we are running out of time," said Yorke. "We can't keep putting this off."

Hope for Wild Tigers Rises on Political, Financial Pledges

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:17:09 -0800

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, November 26, 2010 (ENS) - At the International Tiger Conservation Forum this week in St. Petersburg, government leaders and ministerial officials of the 13 countries where wild tigers remain endorsed a wide-ranging plan to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.

Tiger populations have fallen by 97 percent over the past century and just 3,200 wild tigers survive in populations scattered across Asia due to poaching, conflict with people and habitat destruction.

Tiger playing in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh, India (Photo by Samaj Kalyan Evam Vikas Adhyayan Kendra)

Hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, governments capped a year-long political process with about US$127 million in new funding to support the plan, known as the Global Tiger Recovery Programme.

In addition, the World Bank has offered a US$100 million loan package to three tiger range countries for conservation work, and the Global Environment Facility offered to provide up to US$50 million in grant funding for tiger habitat conservation.

"While our discussion today is about the fate of the tiger, we are in fact touching on issues that are critical for the entire planet, humanity and its future," Putin told forum participants on Tuesday.

"Using the example of the tiger, we are speaking about how to preserve nature," Putin said. "We are saying that human civilization can only develop sustainably if we take a responsible attitude to nature, our common home. We all have to work hard and join forces to ensure that this attitude becomes widespread."

The Global Tiger Recovery Programme will enable the 13 governments to coordinate their efforts, attract financial, administrative and technical resources, and stimulate collaborative research, Putin said.

"I'd like to emphasize that by approving this program, our countries commit themselves to complying with environmental requirements. But the most important task will be to integrate our tiger conservation targets into long-term socioeconomic development plans," said Putin. "Achieving these objectives will require firm political will and heavy investment, financial or otherwise. But I'm sure that the motivation for such efforts is there."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told the International Tiger Forum, "The increase of human population, the expansion of human activities and the deterioration of ecological environment have driven wild tigers across the world to the brink of extinction."

"The first priority to solve the issue is to actively curb excessive human activities and work for harmony between human development and natural ecological systems," Wen said.

Addressing forum participants, Putin quoted, "the great humanist Mahatma Gandhi," as saying, 'In a country where tigers live well, everyone lives well.'"

"This is a true and profound remark," said Putin. "If people are capable of taking care of Mother Nature, of our splendid big cats, they can take care of their fellow human beings as well."

Radhika Lokesh, India's Consul General in St. Petersburg, announced on behalf of Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, that India has allocated a budget of 10 million rubles for the Global Tiger Forum, and pledges to allocate US$1 billion for village relocation away from tiger habitat.

"With a long tradition of tiger conservation, India currently has 39 tiger reserves, and plans to add eight more," said Lokesh. "The government is now committed to securing inviolate areas for tigers and possible expansion of areas on a priority basis."

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the world community to help her country to protect the Sundarban and the Royal Bengal tigers. "The international community can join in our efforts to save this natural green wonder, the Sundarban," she said.

"Too often, conservation efforts languish for lack of political will," said WWF Director General Jim Leape. "At the forum here in St. Petersburg we have seen political will at the highest level - heads of government committing themselves to saving the tiger, and laying out concrete plans to turn those commitments into action on the ground."

Leape warned that wild tigers could become extinct in the wild by 2022, the next Chinese calendar year of the tiger if they are not protected. Three of the nine tiger subspecies - the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers - have gone extinct in the past 70 years.

"We have never before seen this kind of political support to save a single species," Leape said. "We now have the strategy needed to double tiger numbers and real political momentum. Initial funding commitments offered here will help get action underway. Much more funding must be mobilized in the months ahead."

In St. Petersburg, American actor Leonardo DiCaprio pledged $1 million to WWF to benefit wild tigers. DiCaprio is a member of the board of the nonprofit conservation organization. His difficult first trip to Russia involved a commercial jet plane that caught fire on November 21 and turned back to New York, and a smaller plane, rocked by Atlantic storms that ran out of fuel and had to land in Finland's capital Helsinki for refueling before eventually making it to St. Petersburg.

In a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Putin in St. Petersburg, DiCaprio, who is half-Russian, said he first became interested in tiger conservation when tiger experts had addressed him.

"Mr. DiCaprio has not just come to us, but simply burst through the frontline. Excuse me if you may, but in our country people usually say - that's what we call a real man," Putin said. "And I think that if people with such character would be responsible for defending nature or a tiger in this particular case, we're destined for success."

World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick, who has backed the tiger forum during the organizing period, told participants the World Bank is working with tiger range countries and nongovernmental organizations to save wild tigers.

"First, the World Bank is working with Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan, and we hope India, to finance a South Asia regional Wildlife project of approximately $100 million," Zoellick told the gathering.

Zoellick said the bank's cooperating partners include WWF, the wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC, the the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW, and the Wildlife Conservation Society, among others.

"Second, we will work on a similar project with tiger range countries in Southeast Asia," said Zoellick.

Additional partners include the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the international policing agency INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Customs Organization, and, regional institutions, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Wildlife Enforcement Network to stop the illegal trade and trafficking in tiger body parts.

"This could include additional finance," said Zoellick.

While delegates in St. Petersburg were pledging their commitment to sustain tigers in the wild, in Ussuriysk, Russia, a magistrate in the Primorsky Krai, a Russian South Far Eastern territory, found Sergey Burtsev guilty of killing a female tiger in June 2010.

The court imposed a fine of 150 thousand rubles ($4,800) as punishment and additional fine of 575,125 rubles ($18,400) as a compensation for environmental damage to the state. Burtsev ahd already paid $1,600, and the court confiscated two guns illegally in his possession.

Poaching is a major threat to tiger conservation. Reinforcement of environmental control and punishment for illegal trade, keeping and trafficking in tiger skins and other parts was one of the proposals that WWF submitted to the Russian government this year.

"We are planning to toughen punishment for tiger poaching and for the criminal business on these animals," Prime Minister Putin told tiger forum participants.

Yet within the past two weeks, a tiger was poached in the Russian Far East, another was found poisoned in north India, and Tuesday IFAW reported that a third wild tiger was killed in the northeast Indian state of Assam.

"These tiger deaths highlight how critical it is to translate talk into action," IFAW head Fred O'Regan told forum participants. "IFAW is committed to providing enforcement training and capacity-building support to range countries dealing with the challenge of protecting tigers and the people living near tiger reserves."

"The tiger summit delivered what we hoped - the turning point in our efforts to save one of the world's best-loved species," said Ginette Hemley, senior vice-president at WWF. "Never before have we seen the world rally together to save a single species and now we all need to put in the hard work necessary to get wild tigers from the current point of crisis to healthy recovery."

The 13 tiger range countries will meet during the next six months to secure additional funding for the recovery plan, and will finalize the long-term financing of the plan in July. They will meet again in December 2011 to monitor how well the 12-year plan to save tigers is working.

At a news conference following the forum, Prime Minister Putin said, "The goals set forth in the Global Programme for Tiger Conservation cannot be achieved without the active participation of ordinary citizens. Broad public support and understanding of the process are extremely important for the success of the programme."

Massachusetts OKs Power Purchase Agreement for First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:14:49 -0800

BOSTON, Massachusetts, November 22, 2010 (ENS) - Cape Wind passed another major milestone today with the approval by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities of the 15-year Power Purchase Agreement with National Grid to buy Cape Wind's energy, capacity and renewable energy credits.

Cape Wind President Jim Gordon said, "Massachusetts is now in a position to become a global leader in offshore wind power creating thousands of new jobs and a more secure, hopeful energy future. Today's approval validates that Cape Wind is a good value delivering clean energy without all of the associated costs of fossil fuels. This long-term contract not only secures an abundant, inexhaustible clean energy resource but protects consumers from rising fossil fuel and environmental compliance costs."

Cape Wind, America's first offshore wind farm, is proposed for Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, 5.2 miles from the nearest point of land. If built as designed, 130 wind turbines will produce up to 420 megawatts of power. In average winds, Cape Wind is expected to provide three-quarters of the Cape and Islands electricity needs.

The DPU decision culminates a comprehensive six-month review of unprecedented scope, including 13 days of evidentiary hearings with testimony from 15 witnesses, 1,362 exhibits and nearly 3,000 transcript pages. Participation in the case was wide-ranging and extensive.

The DPU concluded that the contract is cost-effective because its benefits well exceed its costs.

It found as well that approving it is in the public interest, because no other renewable resource in the region matches Cape Wind in terms of size, proximity to large electricity load, capacity factor, and advanced stage of permitting; and because its bill impacts are in the range of one to two percent.

"This contract fulfills a statutory mandate under the Green Communities Act to facilitate the development of renewable energy generation, and it does so with strong protections for ratepayers," said DPU Chair Ann Berwick.

"It is abundantly clear that the Cape Wind facility offers significant benefits that are not currently available from any other renewable resource, and that these benefits outweigh the costs of the project," Berwick said.

Massachusetts supports Cape Wind for its economic promise. Here, Governor Deval Patrick spoke at a new wind turbine blade testing facility in Charlestown built by Middleboro's Mass Tank Sales Corp. and the German firm EEW Steel. Behind him, from left: Cape Wind President Jim Gordon, Mass Tank CEO Carl Horstmann, Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles, Timothy Mack, head of EEW business development for offshore wind. October 13, 2010. (Photo by Rachel Offerdahl courtesy MassDEP)

"Not only does the contract support the largest renewable energy project proposed in New England, it provides protection for consumers against the volatility of fossil fuel prices for a portion of electricity purchases," she said. "We are fully persuaded that if Massachusetts is to meet its statutory renewables and greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements, offshore wind, and Cape Wind in particular, will have to be part of the mix."

The contract, which is for 50 percent of the output of the Cape Wind offshore wind facility, sets the initial price - for electricity, capacity, and renewable energy attributes - at 18.7 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2013, and rising 3.5 percent annually for 15 years. After that, National Grid would have the right to a one-time extension of the contract for another 10 years on terms that could be below market rates.

The contract allows for upward and downward price adjustments based on a variety of contingencies. If Cape Wind is unable to tap certain federal subsidies, the price would go up, but under other circumstances the prices could go down, to the benefit of ratepayers.

Should debt financing costs be reduced as a result of a U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee, 75 percent of the savings would be passed along to customers in lower rates. Similarly, if actual project costs, as verified by an independent audit, fall to such an extent that the developer's rate of return on debt and equity exceeds 10.75 percent, the contract price of electricity will be reduced to give ratepayers 60 percent of the benefit of the lower costs; if actual project costs are higher than anticipated and reduce this rate of return, the developer absorbs those losses without impact on rates paid by consumers. This mechanism in the contract assures that the developers of the project will not reap windfall profits.

The 300-plus page order approving the contract was issued today, following three public hearings in the National Grid service territory held in June and 13 days of evidentiary testimony in September. The evidentiary record consists of 838 exhibits, 20 responses to record requests, and a 2,800-page transcript.

The order concluded that the contract met the DPU's standard for long-term contracts under Section 83 of the Green Communities Act, as well as the Department's standard for the public interest.

Cape Wind opponents called the ruling "political." Audra Parker, president and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, said the DPU "ignored testimony from energy experts, economists and ratepayers who voiced concern over National Grid's refusal to consider cheaper renewable energy alternatives to the $2 billion cost of Cape Wind's power."

"Unfortunately for Massachusetts ratepayers, the DPU has become nothing more than a rubber stamp on Governor Patrick's misguided support of Cape Wind," said Parker today. "This decision ignores a mountain of evidence that shows National Grid has failed to justify this $2 billion cost increase for consumers and refused to consider other less expensive renewable alternatives."

In terms of cost-effectiveness, the DPU concluded that the costs would be outweighed by the benefits provided by the contract, namely assisting National Grid and the Commonwealth to comply with the state's renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements; providing National Grid the option to extend the contract beyond 15 years at a price that covers the remaining costs of operating the facility plus a reasonable rate of return; enhancing electricity reliability in the state; moderating system peak load; and creating additional employment.

The DPU found that the contract and the Cape Wind project will moderate electricity peak load in the region. In that regard, the DPU observed that wind data show that Cape Wind's capacity factor would have averaged an impressive 76 percent during the region's top ten historic peak hours. It concluded further that the project will create an average of 162 jobs per year for the 15 years of the contract - but many more than that during the two-plus year construction period.

In terms of the public interest, the DPU found that the Cape Wind project offers "unique benefits relative to the other renewable resources available." In addition, the DPU found that the contract price was reasonable for offshore wind, which the Department determined to be needed to meet state renewable energy and greenhouse gas requirements. The DPU also found that the bill impacts that could occur as a result of the contract "are small relative to the volatility that electric customers regularly experience due to the fluctuations in wholesale electricity prices, and that the contract will mitigate that volatility."

Nevertheless, Parker said the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound will appeal the DPU's ruling. "It is obvious that the DPU made its decision based on politics rather than facts," said Parker. "We will appeal this misguided and politically-motivated ruling to protect Massachusetts households and businesses from paying an exorbitant and unnecessary Cape Wind tax."

A second power purchase contract for the other half of Cape Wind's power output, which did not specify a contracting party, was rejected by the DPU, but Chair Berwick said that any contract between other regulated utilities and Cape Wind on the same terms could be reviewed on a more expedited basis.

"The issues underlying this contract have been fully adjudicated in this proceeding," said Chair Berwick. "If an identical contract comes before us, not all of the issues would require the same level of review."

Rich Nations Fail to Keep Copenhagen Climate Funding Promise

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:12:08 -0800

LONDON, UK, November 22, 2020 (ENS) - Rich countries are failing to keep the $30 billion promise they made last year to provide "fast-start climate finance" to help the world's poorest countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, says the International Institute for Environment and Development in a new report published ahead of the United Nations climate change negotiations, opening November 29 in Cancun, Mexico.

"In last December's climate summit in Copenhagen the developed countries committed to provide developing nations with US$30 billion between 2010 and 2012, with the money balanced between funding for mitigation and adaptation projects," says Achala Chandani of IIED. "Our research shows that the developed countries have failed to meet their responsibility to help poorer nations."

In Pakistan, unprecedented floods displaced hundreds of thousands this monsoon season. (Photo by Joel Thomas)

Climate change impacts the supply, quantity, and quality of drinking water. Adaptation funding can help ensure consistent water supplies. Restoring degraded land promotes carbon dioxide uptake by forests and builds resilience against climate change.

Funding pledges made since the Copenhagen meeting are far from balanced, with very little earmarked for projects that would enable developing nations to enhance their resilience to climate change impacts on agriculture, infrastructure, health and livelihoods, the study finds.

"Only US$3 billion has been formally allocated for adaptation," says Dr. Saleemul Huq of IIED. "There is also a danger that some of this could come in the form of loans which would further indebt already poor nations and force them to pay to fix a problem that the developed nations created."

It is unclear how the money will be disbursed, what type of projects it will support, and how the global community will be able to track adherence to pledges and ensure that the funding is truly new and additional to existing aid budgets, the IIED researchers warn.

"Currently there is no common framework to oversee, account for and enforce the delivery of the money that rich nations promised to support adaptation to climate change in developing nations," says Dr. J. Timmons Roberts, director of the Center for Environmental Studies at Brown University and co-director of the AidData project.

"Industrialized nations seem to think they can get away with an anything goes approach where whatever they describe as adaptation funding counts," said Roberts. "The danger is that existing development projects that are not specific responses to the threat of climate change will simply be relabeled as climate adaptation projects."

But a senior UN official said today that the Cancun talks could yield real results although he was cautious to keep expectations realistic.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning Robert Orr told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York that he does not expect the conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, to deliver a "final answer" on solving climate change but remained positive about the possibilities.

"Significant progress is possible in Cancun," he said. "That is not to say that we expect all issues to be resolved. We need a package of decisions and outcomes. One or two [agreements] won't an outcome create."

The UNFCCC is an international treaty which addresses global warming and attempts to cope with global temperature increases. Some 36 countries and the European Union have approved an addition to the treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, which includes more powerful and legally binding measures.

The IIED researchers say that to rebuild trust on both sides of the North-South divide, industrialized countries should support an independent registry of climate adaptation funding measures under the UNFCCC and then provide it with detailed and timely data.

"We have technology now that would allow recipient governments and civil society groups of all types to add their own information about the progress and effectiveness of every adaptation project planned and underway," said Roberts.

"By tracking funds all the way from taxpayers in developed nations to each expenditure in the developing countries, this system could create a new era in global cooperation, avoiding many of the pitfalls of past foreign aid," he said.

David Ciplet, a researcher at Brown University who worked on the study, said, "The big promises for adaptation funding made at Copenhagen are not being met. Rather, a fragmented non-system for deciding what counts as adaptation funding is forming, and there is no way to truly measure whether the promises are being met."

"Adaptation funding is absolutely crucial for the billions of people who face the rising intensity of climate disasters, but making promises is only the first step," said Ciplet.

"What matters now is that developed countries make good on their promises and provide the funding needed to enable vulnerable countries and communities to increase their resilience to climatic threats such as droughts and floods, rising sea levels and new risks from diseases and crop pests."

At UN headquarters, Orr said the longer countries put off funding climate solutions, the more expensive it will be, but he held out hope for progress in Cancun.

"There are enough issues that are close to resolution that give us hope that an important outcome could be achieved in Cancun," Orr said. "Negotiators need to remind themselves that the longer we delay, the more we will pay; both in terms of lives and in terms of money."

Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions Climb as Economy Recovers

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:09:39 -0800

EXETER, UK, November 22, 2010 (ENS) - Global emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide are likely to reach record levels in 2010, according to research led by the University of Exeter, published today in the journal "Nature Geoscience." The 2009 drop in emissions due to the global financial crisis will be more than offset by renewed growth in fossil fuel burning in 2010.

The study, which also involved the University of East Anglia, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO, and other institutions, is part of the annual carbon budget update by the Global Carbon Project.

Global CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels in 2009 were only 1.3 percent below the record 2008 figures, despite the financial crisis that hit the world last year, the scientists calculated. This is less than half the reduction predicted a year ago.

Coal-fired power plant in China's northeastern Liaoning province. (Photo courtesy China Guodian Corp.)

The global financial crisis affected western economies, leading to large reductions in CO2 emissions. Emissions in the United Kingdom were 8.6 percent lower in 2009 than in 2008. Similar figures apply to the United States, Japan, France, Germany, and most other industrialized nations.

But the economic performance of emerging economies was strong despite the financial crisis, and they recorded substantial increases in CO2 emissions - China's emissions rose eight percent, for instance, and India's rose 6.2 percent.

Professor Pierre Friedlingstein, lead author of the study, said, "The 2009 drop in CO2 emissions is less than half that anticipated a year ago. This is because the drop in world Gross Domestic Product was less than anticipated."

"And the carbon intensity of world GDP, which is the amount of CO2 released per unit of GDP, improved by only 0.7 percent in 2009 - well below its long-term average of 1.7 percent per year," he said.

An increased share of fossil fuel CO2 emissions produced by emerging economies with a relatively high carbon intensity, and an increasing reliance on coal caused the lack of improvements in carbon intensity, the scientists said.

The study projects that if the global economy grows as expected, global fossil fuel emissions will increase by more than three percent in 2010, approaching the high emissions growth rates observed through 2000 to 2008.

"There is some good news, however," says Dr. Pep Canadell of CSIRO, executive director of the Global Carbon Project and a co-author to the study.

"We found global emissions from deforestation have decreased through the last decade by more than 25 percent compared to the 1990s and account now for about a tenth of the emissions from all human activity."

This decrease is due to reduced CO2 emissions from tropical deforestation, the study found.

"For the first time, forest expansion in temperate latitudes has overcompensated deforestation emissions and caused a small net sink of CO2 outside the tropics," says Professor Corinne Le Quere, from the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey, and co-author of the study.

"We could be seeing the first signs of net CO2 sequestration in the forest sector outside the tropics," she said.

Another co-author of the paper, CSIRO's Dr. Michael Raupach, said that despite the estimates of carbon emissions having some uncertainties, climate scientists agree that CO2 generated by human activity is the main contributor to human-induced climate change.

"The carbon intensity of world Gross Domestic Product, that is the amount of emissions emitted to produce one dollar of wealth, improved by only 0.7 percent in 2009, and we attribute this to emerging economies that are reliant on coal producing a higher share of fossil-fuel CO2 emissions," he said.

"Both globally and for emerging economies, the fraction of fossil fuel emissions from coal continued to increase last year," said Dr. Raupach. "The world GDP is projected to increase by 4.8 percent in 2010 as the global economy recovers."

Accumulation of atmospheric CO2 is the most accurately measured quantity in the global carbon budget with an uncertainty of about four percent, according to the Global Carbon Project.

The estimated uncertainty in the global annual mean growth rate is 0.07 parts per million over the course of a year. The data is provided by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory.

Over 10,000 Ground Zero Plaintiffs Settle for $817 Million

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:06:55 -0800

NEW YORK, New York, November 19, 2010 (ENS) - Attorneys representing the 10,043 eligible plaintiffs who were injured by exposure to toxics while working in rescue, recovery and debris removal operations at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks confirmed today that they have met the 95 percent opt-in threshold required in their agreement with the City of New York and its contractors.

As a result, the $712.5 million settlement is officially effective, Matthew Garrettson announced today. Garrettson served as the Settlement Allocated Claims Neutral - an independent, neutral third-party agreed upon by plaintiffs' attorneys and the WTC Captive Insurance Company. He oversaw the process to determine each plaintiff's illness or injury and each plaintiff's resulting payment under the settlement.

"We are extremely happy to be able to confirm that we have met and, in fact, exceeded the 95 percent threshold set forth in the Settlement Process Agreement with the City of New York and its Contractors," said Paul Napoli, senior partner of Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern, LLP, who was appointed in 2004 as plaintiffs' co-liaison counsel in the federal litigation before the Judge Alvin Hellerstein in the United States District Court in lower Manhattan.

Workers at Ground Zero, October 5, 2001 (Photo by Andrea Booher courtesy FEMA)

Following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, many people, especially security and rescue personnel, were exposed to a dense cloud of toxic and irritant dust and smoke. In the five months following the attacks, dust from the pulverized buildings continued to fill the air of the World Trade Center site. Medical tests have shown resultant lung disease and cancers in some respondants.

Of those most severely injured, the so-called Tier 4 plaintiffs, 5,308 of 5,411, or 98.1 percent opted in to the settlement, attorneys said today.

"Now we can move forward and see that our clients, who have suffered far too long without compensation for their serious illnesses and injuries, receive the help and closure they so desperately need," Napoli said.

The original Settlement Process Agreement with the city is worth $625 to $712.5 million, depending on the percentage of overall plaintiffs opting in to the settlement.

Napoli said that settlement has been made "sweeter" by a group of additional settlements negotiated with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ($47.5 million), two of the three contractors responsible for work performed at the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island with WTC debris ($24.3 million), the insurers for the Marine defendants responsible for the barges transporting WTC debris ($28 million), respirator manufacturer Survivair ($4.15 million) and Tishman ($1.4 million).

Bill Groner, another senior partner in the Worby firm, echoed Napoli's satisfaction with the result of the months-long efforts to contact each of their 10,000-plus clients and obtain their executed settlement papers.

"We are thrilled to successfully conclude on behalf of the settling plaintiffs what is believed to be one of the most complex mass torts in history arising out of a horrific event that has forever changed our country. Our clients sacrificed their safety and health to come to the urgent need of their fellow citizens, their city and our nation and providing them with compensation for their resulting injuries and suffering is long overdue. We are so happy to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel for these deserving clients," said Groner.

But while the settlement is a step forward, federal lawmakers who authored a bill to provide guaranteed health care and medical monitoring for those exposed to toxins released by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers say the battle is not over yet.

U.S. Representatives from New York Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, both Democrats, and Peter King, a Republican, authored H.R. 847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, passed by the House in September.

"The agreement reached today on the 9/11 settlement is a positive step for many ailing first responders - but the problem isn't over," they said today in a joint statement. "Nearly everyone agrees that the settlement does not provide adequate funding to fully compensate those who are injured among the more than 10,500 plaintiffs in this case, nor does it cover the tens of thousands of 9/11 responders and survivors who are injured but have not filed lawsuits."

In June 2009, the Senate companion measure, S. 1334, was introduced by Senators Kristen Gillibrand and Charles Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey - all Democrats. It is still pending.

Last year, Congressman Jerrold Nadler criticized WTC Captive for spending $103,700,734 on legal fees while paying out only $320,936 in medical claims. On June 10, 2010, the new settlement was announced, giving plaintiffs $712.5 million and reducing payouts to lawyers.

Russia Bans Korean Pine Logging Ahead of Tiger Summit

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:04:27 -0800

MOSCOW, Russia, November 19, 2010 (ENS) - Days before the opening of its historic International Tiger Conservation Forum, the Russian government has moved to preserve key Amur tiger habitats by banning the logging of Korean pine. The tree species is included in a new version of the list of tree and shrub species prohibited for timber logging.

"A ban on Korean pine logging is the best gift for the Amur tiger in the Year of the Tiger," says Igor Chestin, CEO of WWF-Russia. "Korean pine has a crucial importance for tiger conservation: its cones are fodder for wild boars, and wild boars are tiger's prey."

The endangered Amur tiger, numbering fewer than 500 in the wild, lives in southeastern Russia and northern China.

WWF-Russia included the Korean pine ban in the list of top eight measures that must be taken in Russia for tiger conservation, which were presented to the Ministry of natural resources and environment of Russia in the summer.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with forestry and wildlife scientists at the Ussuri Reserve, which has been carrying out a program to protect the Amur tiger. This tiger was tranquillized and fitted with a tracking collar. August 2008. (Photo courtesy Office of the Prime Minister)

The International Tiger Conservation Forum is the first global conservation meeting to focus on a single species. The four-day forum opens Sunday in St. Petersburg, hosted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has taken a personal interest in tiger conservation, and backed by head of the World Bank Group Robert Zoellick.

Tiger conservation meetings have already begun at the International Tiger Youth Forum in Vladivostok, a city in the south of the Russian Far East

The inauguration event was held today at the Vladivostok State University of Economy and Service. Thirty young Tiger Ambassadors were met by students of Primorsky Agriculture Academy and other universities, young environmentalists from local towns, and Primorsky region vice-governor Viktor Myasnik, as well as consular-generals of India and Vietnam.

The young delegates will share ideas by videoconference with delegates from tiger range countries in St. Petersburg.

Tiger Youth Forum participants today opened the Tiger Trail on Sportivnaya queue in Vladivostok.

Constructed by Vladstroiservis Company for WWF, the trial consists of 13 black and rose granite stones, laid out in chess order, each with a tiger track and name of one of the countries, still inhabited by tigers: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Russia.

The governments of these countries have been at work for two years in advance of the St. Petersburg Tiger Conservation Forum, defining their national positions on tiger conservation. Their representatives will sign the St. Petersburg Declaration, affirming their resolve to save wild tigers from extinction.

Tiger conservation groups have high hopes that the actions taken and financial pledges made in St. Petersburg will begin to reverse the steep decline of the global tiger populations to about 3,200 from about 100,000 at the turn of the 20th century.

Prime Minister Putin will attend in person on the last day of forum. Other heads of state who are scheduled to be there include: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.

All 13 tiger range states will be represented by their ministers of environment, natural resources, forestry or foreign affairs.

U.S. Conservation groups were urging U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to attend, but instead, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero leads the U.S. delegation in St. Petersburg. Under Secretary Otero will also be meeting with civil society groups and Russian government officials.

The U.S.-based conservation group Panthera is actually boycotting the tiger summit. Instead of the big picture and landscape-scale conservation the international summit will address, Panthera wants to focus on a small group of 42 protected areas where most tiger breeding occurs, and make sure they are protected from poachers.

Panthera Executive Vice President Dr. Luke Hunter explains, "At Panthera, we are concerned that, instead of maintaining a blowtorch focus on the fundamental problem of tiger-killing, the St. Petersburg summit offers up a long shopping list of activities with no clear measureable mandates that actually save tigers right here and now."

"While we agree that disparate issues such as educating local people about tigers and employing carbon emission allowances to preserve tiger habitats may help in the future when tiger populations are stabilized, Panthera fundamentally disagrees that there are many pieces of the puzzle when dealing with the immediate reversal of tiger decline," Hunter said.

Barney Long, Tiger Programme manager for WWF US, has been organizing the forum for the past two years. He understands Panthera's position. "What they are saying about these core areas is absolutely correct," Long told ENS in an interview.

"But most of the other conservation organizations and governments think tigers are part of a bigger picture - not just isolated. "Tigers need large areas of forests for genetically viable populations. They need landscape scale conservation, watershed services and protection. Carbon issues and poverty alleviation are part of the picture. So the governments are interested in that scale."

Republicans Threaten to Block Nuclear Treaty with Russia

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:46:42 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 18, 2010 (ENS) - President Barack Obama is determined to win Senate ratification this year for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, START, which reduces the number of nuclear weapons the U.S. and Russia have pointed at each other.

"It is a national security imperative that the United States ratify the New START treaty this year. There is no higher national security priority for the lame duck session of Congress," President Barack Obama said today at a White House meeting of Cabinet and military officials, U.S. senators and secretaries of state and defense in previous administrations.

The Senate must ratify all treaties with foreign governments by a two-thirds vote of 66 senators. But Senate Republicans have said they may not even support consideration of a ratification vote in the current lame duck session.

Currently the Democrats hold 57 seats, the Republicans 41 seats and Independents hold two seats.

"The stakes for American national security are clear, and they are high," said President Obama. "The New START treaty responsibly reduces the number of nuclear weapons and launchers that the United States and Russia deploy, while fully maintaining America's nuclear deterrent."

"If we ratify this treaty, we're going to have a verification regime in place to track Russia's strategic nuclear weapons, including U.S. inspectors on the ground. If we don't, then we don't have a verification regime - no inspectors, no insights into Russia's strategic arsenal, no framework for cooperation between the world's two nuclear superpowers," Obama warned.

He quoted Republican President Ronald Reagan, who said, "'We have to trust, but we also have to verify.' In order for us to verify, we've got to have a treaty," Obama said.

Obama said the New START treaty is "a cornerstone of our relations with Russia" that goes beyond nuclear security to the suppport of sanctions that put pressure on Iran to deal with its nuclear program.

Russia has been critical in supporting American troops in Afghanistan through the Northern Distribution Network. Russia has been critical in working with the United States to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world, and to enhance European security.

"We cannot afford to gamble on our ability to verify Russia's strategic nuclear arms. And we can't jeopardize the progress that we've made in securing vulnerable nuclear materials, or in maintaining a strong sanctions regime against Iran," said the President. "These are all national interests of the highest order."

Obama stressed that the New START treaty is completely in line with a tradition of bipartisan cooperation on this issue. "This is not a Democratic concept; this is not a Republican concept. This is a concept of American national security that has been promoted by Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and now my administration," he said.

But Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona proved obstinate Wednesday, saying, "When Majority Leader Harry Reid asked me if I thought the treaty could be considered in the lame duck session, I replied I did not think so given the combination of other work Congress must do and the complex and unresolved issues related to START and modernization."

Senate Majority Senator Harry Reid said Wednesday that there is time on the Senate calendar to get the New START treaty ratified this year.

President Obama has asked Vice President Joe Biden "to focus on this issue day and night until it gets done." Before becoming vice president, Biden was a long-time member and former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

United StatesTrident II (D-5) missile underwater launch (Photo courtesy U.S. Navy)

The first START Treaty of 1991 limited each party to 6,000 strategic warheads attributed to 1,600 deployed delivery vehicles. The Moscow Treaty of 2002 limited each Party to between 1,700 and 2,200 deployed strategic nuclear warheads.

The New START Treaty, which would supersede the Moscow Treaty, contains lower limits of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads and 700 deployed delivery vehicles.

To ensure that the New START treaty got a fair hearing, it was submitted to the Senate last spring. There have been 18 hearings on this subject, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported it out favorably in October on a bipartisan vote of 14 to four.

"It has been fully and carefully vetted, and has the full endorsement of our nation's military leadership," said President Obama today. "Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hoss Cartwright is here and will confirm that this is in our national security interests."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters Wednesday, "I want to stress this because I'm not sure that everybody really understands that when the prior treaty expired we lost the ability to have inspectors on the ground. We need to get our inspectors back into Russia after a gap of nearly a year."

"As our intelligence and defense colleagues have repeatedly noted, we are much better off with New START than without it. Jim Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, said yesterday, the earlier, the sooner, the better. We need the stability, transparency, and predictability that New START will provide by giving us insight into Russia's strategic nuclear arsenal," Clinton said.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said, "Here we have a treaty that for the first time provides additional ability to count warheads on both sides. Here we have a treaty that allows us to have a spot random inspection to find out what the other side is doing. But for one year now we have had no inspections, no American boots on the ground in Russia able to protect American interests. And we will not have them on the ground protecting American interests until this treaty is ratified."

Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was noncommittal on the critical issue of bringing ratification to a vote in the lame duck session.

"At this point, it is a voice of the American people that has to inform senators that this treaty must be ratified and must be ratified in this session of the Congress," Lugar told reporters.

"I've supported all the efforts of the President, Senator Kerry, and to work with others in the Republican Party essentially, but we are at a point where we are unlikely to have either the treaty or modernization unless we get real," he said.

President Obama said his administration is "prepared to go the extra mile to ensure that our remaining stockpile and nuclear infrastructure is modernized - which I know is a key concern of many around this table and also many on Capitol Hill."

The White House today released plans to invest more than $85 billion over the next decade to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex that supports the American nuclear deterrent.

This represents a $4.1 billion increase over the next five years relative to the plan provided to Congress in May, a level of funding unprecedented since the end of the Cold War.

The administration's plans add nearly $600 million in funding for FY 2012, resulting in a total planned FY 2012 budget request of $7.6 billion for National Nuclear Security Administration weapons activities.

President Obama said, "Based on our consultations with Senator Kyl, we've agreed to request an additional $4.1 billion over the next five years," relative to the plan provided to Congress in May.

This increase includes an additional $340 million for a Uranium Processing Facility in Tennessee and a Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility in New Mexico.

The Obama plan proposes spending more than $85 billion for NNSA weapons activities over the next decade.

"This is not about politics - it's about national security," said President Obama. "This is not a matter that can be delayed. Every month that goes by without a treaty means that we are not able to verify what's going on on the ground in Russia. And if we delay indefinitely, American leadership on nonproliferation and America's national security will be weakened."

At the White House New START meeting today were a bipartisan group of foreign relations experts: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator John Kerry; Senator Richard Lugar; former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, James Baker, and Henry Kissinger; former Secretaries of Defense William Cohen and William Perry; former National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft; Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright; and Senator Sam Nunn.

Asked afterwards if the treaty would get the votes necessary to pass the Senate despite some in the minority calling for delay, the President replied "I'm confident that we should be able to get the votes."

Areas Violating Lead Standards Host Smelters, Battery Recyclers

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:45:27 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 17, 2010 (ENS) - Sixteen areas in 11 states have concentrations of toxic lead in the air that are too high to meet national air quality standards for lead, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The designated areas must develop and implement plans to reduce pollution to meet the lead standards by December 31, 2015, the EPA said.

Exposure to lead, even at low levels, may impair children's intelligence, learning capabilities and behavior, and contribute to high blood pressure and heart disease in adults, scientists have determined.

These 16 areas were classed as "nonattainment" areas because air quality monitoring data from 2007 to 2009 showed that they did not meet the agency's new health-based standard.

In October 2008, during the Bush administration, the EPA strengthened the nation's air quality standards for lead tenfold to 0.15 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air.

The agency also finalized requirements for new monitors to be located near large sources of lead emissions.

EPA is designating areas as meeting or not meeting the new standards in two rounds. In the first round announced Tuesday, EPA designated areas that fail to meet the standards based on air quality monitoring data from the existing lead monitoring network.

EPA is currently collecting data from new monitors that began operation in January 2010.

In October 2011, EPA will use data from the new monitors to complete a second round of designations that will classify the remaining areas as either in attainment, unclassifiable or nonattainment.

Lead has been eliminated from gasoline, and as a result, national average concentrations of lead in the air have dropped almost 92 percent nationwide since 1980, the agency said.

The Exide battery manufacture and recycling facility north of Reading, Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy EPA)

But the toxic metal is still released by many factories, including smelters, battery manufacturers and recyclers, utilities waste incinerators, iron and steel foundries and general aviation gasoline.

Five of the 16 nonattaiment areas host facilities of one company - Exide Technologies, one of the world's largest producers, distributors and recyclers of lead-acid batteries.

Frisco, Texas made the nonattaiment list, for example, due to emissions from Exide Technologies's battery recycling plant located in a Collin County community. The recycled lead is smelted and cast into lead-alloy bars to make new battery plates. Last year, the plant emitted about 1.67 tons of lead into the air.

On November 4, Exide Technologies announced that testing for blood lead concentration is available for all residents of the City of Frisco, at the company's expense.

"We are offering this testing to all residents of the City of Frisco in order to provide peace of mind regarding blood lead levels," said Don Barar, plant manager for Exide's Frisco recycling facility. "I encourage any citizen who has a question about blood lead levels to take advantage of this testing."

Another Exide automotive battery recycling center landed the city of Muncie, Indiana on the nonattainment list. This facility recycles five to seven million spent lead-acid automotive batteries per year.

A third Exide facility located just northeast of Reading, Pennsylvania that manufactures and recycles lead batteries contributed to the designation of North Reading as a nonattaiment area. The company has also paid for blood lead testing in this area.

A fourth Exide battery recycler is partly responsible for the inclusion of Los Angeles County in California's South Coast Air Basin on the nonattainment list.

On November 9, the South Coast Air Quality Management District adopted regulations that will bring Exide Technologies in the City of Industry and Quemetco, in Vernon into compliance with the new national lead standards by January 1, 2012.

"The region will benefit from these landmark actions to improve local air quality and protect public health," said William Burke, who chairs the AQMD's Governing Board.

A fifth Exide facility is located in the nonattament area of Bristol, Tennessee. The world's largest battery production and distribution center, located a few miles from Bristol Motor Speedway, this Exide plant will manufacture advanced lead-acid batteries for electric vehicles. The company won $34.3 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to manufacture the new batteries with advanced carbon technology.

Troy, Alabama is on the nonattaiment list due to the presence of Sanders Lead Company, a facility that recycles lead-acid batteries, scrap metal and lead bearing by-products into refined lead alloys.

Tampa, Florida is in nonattainment due to emissions from Enviro Focus Technologies, formerly, Gulf Coast Lead Co.; and Tampa Lead Industries.

Jefferson, Missouri also is on the nonattainment list. A lead smelter has been in operation in nearby Herculaneum for over 100 years and is currently operated by the Doe Run Company. The smelter has repeatedly violated the clean air standard for lead, and over the last 20 years, the EPA, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources have taken multiple actions to bring the smelter into compliance. Doe Run has announced it will be closing the smelter in 2013.

Cleveland, Bellefontaine, and Delta, Ohio; Iron, Missouri; Eagan, Minnesota; Granite City, Illinois; and Lower Beaver Valley and Lyons, Pennsylvania are also on the nonattainment list.

No areas in Indian Country were designated as nonattainment.

Lead emitted into the air can be inhaled or can be ingested after it settles. Ingestion is the primary route of human exposure. Children are the most susceptible because they are more likely to ingest lead and their bodies are developing rapidly. There is no known safe level of lead in the body.

EPA Will Test 134 More Chemicals for Endocrine Disruption

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:43:47 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 17, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified a list of 134 chemicals that will be screened for their potential to disrupt the endocrine system.

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interact with and possibly disrupt the hormones produced or secreted by the human or animal endocrine system, which regulates growth, metabolism and reproduction.

"Endocrine disruptors represent a serious health concern for the American people, especially children. Americans today are exposed to more chemicals in our products, our environment and our bodies than ever before, and it is essential that EPA takes every step to gather information and prevent risks," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

"We are using the best available science to examine a larger list of chemicals and ensure that they are not contaminating the water we drink and exposing adults and children to potential harm," she said.

EPA is already screening an initial group of 67 pesticide chemicals. In October 2009, the agency issued orders to companies requiring endocrine disruptor screening program data for these chemicals.

Tanks of benzene near the East River in New York City (Photo by Shara Shisheboran)

The agency will begin issuing orders requiring data for the second group of 134 chemicals beginning in 2011.

The chemicals listed include those used in products such as solvents, gasoline, plastics, personal care products, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals.

On the list for testing is benzene, a known carcinogen used as an industrial solvent and in the production of drugs, plastics, synthetic rubber, and dyes.

Perchlorate, used in fireworks and rocket fuel, is on the list and so is ethylene glycol, an organic compound widely used as an automotive antifreeze.

The list includes chemicals that have been identified as priorities under the Safe Drinking Water Act and may be found in sources of drinking water where a substantial number of people may be exposed, the EPA said today.

The pharmaceutical chemicals to be screened include two of the best known and most widely used drugs in the United States - erythromycin and nitroglycerin.

Erythromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bronchitis; diphtheria; Legionnaires' disease; whooping cough; pneumonia; rheumatic fever; and venereal disease; as well as ear, intestine, lung, urinary tract, and skin infections.

Nitroglycerin spray and tablets are used to treat episodes of angina, or chest pain, in people who have coronary artery disease, narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart.

The list also includes pesticide active ingredients that are being evaluated under EPA’s registration review program to ensure they meet current scientific and regulatory standards.

The data generated from the screens will provide systematic scientific information to help EPA identify whether additional testing is necessary, or whether other steps are necessary to address potential endocrine disrupting chemicals.

EPA also announced today draft policies and procedures the agency will follow to order testing, minimize duplicative testing, promote equitable cost-sharing, and to address issues that are unique to chemicals regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

After public comment and review, EPA will issue test orders to pesticide registrants and the manufacturers of these chemicals to compel them to generate data to determine whether their chemicals may disrupt the estrogen, androgen and thyroid pathways of the endocrine system.

Hawaiian False Killer Whale Proposed for Endangered Status

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:42:31 -0800

HONOLULU, Hawaii, November 17, 2010 (ENS) - Fewer than 170 Hawaiian false killer whales remain in the wild and today the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed to list the marine mammal as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The agency made the proposal in response to an October 2009 petition to list the population from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"The whales are losing their food, getting hooked on fishing lines and accumulating toxins at a rate that threatens their survival," said Michael Jasny, senior policy analyst of NRDC's Marine Mammal Project. "Protecting them will go a long way towards protecting the extraordinary marine environment of the Hawaiian Islands."

Hawaiian false killer whales, Pseudorca crassidens, are large members of the dolphin family. Females can grow up to 15 feet and males can reach 20 feet and weigh up to 1,500 pounds.

They are pelagic animals that tend to prefer deep, open water. They are found in all tropical and warm-temperate oceans of the world, but the Hawaiian inshore population is the only one of the entire species known to make its home near land. "This indicates not only the uniqueness of the population, but also the biological importance of Hawaiian waters as an oasis for marine mammals," the NRDC said today.

An analysis published by the National Marine Fisheries Service in August, concludes that the small and genetically distinct Hawaiian population has declined over the last 25 years and now stands "at a high risk of extinction as a result of either small scale incremental impacts over time or a single catastrophic event."

The range of the Hawaiian false killer whale population range extends 87 miles from the main Hawaiian Islands, with its core in the area from shore to 25 miles out.

Research shows that Hawaiian false killer whales establish long-term bonds within their species, sometimes mating for up to 20 years, says the NRDC.

But only 46 of the Hawaiian false killer whales are capable of breeding, the Fisheries Service said today. "Animals' offspring can be prone to genetic defects when their breeding population size falls to about 50 individuals," the agency said in its listing proposal.

Top predators, feeding off fish and squid, these false killer whales display unique feeding habits that promote trust among members of their pod by passing prey back and forth with fellow hunting partners before consuming the catch, said the NRDC.

The Fisheries Service said its peer-reviewed analysis has identified 29 threats to the species' survival, such as their small numbers as well as hooking and entanglement of false killer whales in fisheries.

False killer whales in Hawaiian waters (Photo by Aliza Milett courtesy National Marine Fisheries Service)

Under the endangered species listing, the government would have to identify critical habitat for the population, ensure that government activities do not jeopardize its survival, and prepare a recovery plan to bring the population back from the brink of extinction.

"Today's announcement recognizes the serious situation the Hawaiian false killer whales face due to a series of manmade threats," said Sylvia Fallon, wildlife biologist with NRDC. "Toxic chemicals, reduced food sources and interactions with fishing vessels continue to harm this unique mammal. Endangered species status will give the population a chance to recover."

In January, a take reduction team, with members from the Hawaii longline fishing community, conservation organizations, researchers and government agencies, reached consensus agreement on a draft plan intended to reduce false killer whale interactions in the Hawaii-based longline fleet.

Their recommendations included gear modifications, disentanglement training for the captain and crew and the establishment of a year round Northern exclusion zone.

The Fisheries Service is currently evaluating the draft plan and will soon publish the plan, any proposed changes, and a proposed rule for public comment in the Federal Register.

The Fisheries Service is accepting public comments on the proposed listing through February 15, 2011. A public hearing will be held January 20, 2011 at the McCoy Pavilion at Ala Moana Park in Honolulu.

Submit comments online via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. The Fisheries Service will review comments and issue a final rule, expected by October 2011.

Should the agency decide to finalize the listing, the Hawaiian false killer whale would become only the fourth U.S. whale or dolphin population to appear on the endangered species list since its inception in 1970.

White House Staffers Rewrote Report to Justify Deepwater Drilling Ban

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:52:11 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 11, 2010 (ENS) - Staffers in energy advisor Carol Browner's office at the White House rewrote a report on the Obama's administration's six-month deepwater drilling moratorium to give the impression it was peer-reviewed and approved by experts when it was not, according to an official assessment released Wednesday.

An investigation by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General, begun at the request of Republicans in Congress, determined that it was not department officials but staffers in Browner's office who revised the report.

The staffers re-ordered paragraphs of the report in an attempt to help justify the administration's decision to impose a temporary ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as millions of barrels of crude oil gushed into the gulf from BP's Macondo oil well off the coast of Louisiana.

The staffers "misrepresented that the moratorium was reviewed and supported by a group of scientists and industry experts," states the report by Inspector General Mary Kendall.

"The Executive Summary to the 30-Day Report was worded in a manner that implied that the experts peer reviewed and supported this policy decision, when in fact they had neither reviewed nor supported such a policy decision and had never been asked to do so," states the OIG's report.

BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns before sinking into the Gulf of Mexico, April 21, 2010 (Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

Kendall wrote in a November 9 memo to Salazar, "All DOI officials interviewed stated that it was never their intention to imply the moratorium was peer reviewed by the experts, but rather rushed editing of the Executive Summary by DOI and the White House resulted in this implication."

"After reviewing different drafts of the Executive Summary that were exchanged between DOI and the White House prior to its final issuance, the OIG determined that the White House edit of the original DOI draft Executive Summary led to the implication that the moratorium recommendation had been peer reviewed by the experts," Kendall wrote.

U.S. Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican who called for the investigation after the scientists and industry experts expressed to him their concern about misrepresentation, said, "This report reveals exactly what I suspected all along - Obama administration officials appear to have deliberately disregarded the Information Quality Act to push their destructive moratorium that has crushed job growth along the Gulf Coast."

"I initially requested this investigation on June 16 because I wanted to make sure that the federal government was basing policy decisions that would directly impact so many Louisianians on science - not politics," said Vitter. "Unfortunately, this report reveals the contrary."

In June, Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar offered the experts three separate apologies for any perceived misrepresentation in a letter, a conference call and a face-to-face meeting.

Steve Black is the counselor to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and was placed in charge of a a team responsible for producing a report that would review current industry practices and standards for deepwater oil drilling and make recommendations to President Barack Obama as to how those practices and standards could be improved.

It was this set of recommendations that the experts peer-reviewed, but not the policy decision to impose a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium, which was made by President Obama and Secretary Salazar.

The OIG's report states, "At 2:13 a.m. on May 27, 2010, Browner's staff member sent an email back to Black that contained two edited versions of the Executive Summary. Both versions sent by the staff member contained significant edits to DOI's draft Executive Summary but were very similar to each other. Both versions, however, revised and re-ordered the Executive Summary, placing the peer review language immediately following the moratorium recommendation causing the distinction between the Secretary's moratorium recommendation - which had not been peer reviewed - and the recommendations contained in the 30-Day Report - which had been peer reviewed - to become effectively lost."

General Electric Will Buy 25,000 Electric Vehicles by 2015

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:53:04 -0800

FAIRFIELD, Connecticut, November 11, 2010 (ENS) - GE today announced the world's largest-ever single electric vehicle commitment. The company will purchase 25,000 electric vehicles by 2015 for its own fleet and through its Capital Fleet Services business.

GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said the company will convert at least half of its 30,000 global fleet to electrics and will partner with fleet customers to deploy a total of 25,000 electric vehicles by 2015.

"Electric vehicle technology is real and ready for deployment and we are embracing the transformation with partners like GM and our fleet customers," said Immelt. "By electrifying our own fleet, we will accelerate the adoption curve, drive scale, and move electric vehicles from anticipation to action."

GE and its partners will use a mix of electric vehicle technologies.

GE will initially purchase 12,000 General Motors vehicles, beginning with the Chevrolet Volt in 2011, and will add other vehicles as manufacturers expand their electric vehicle portfolios.

2011 Chevrolet Volt (Photo courtesy GM)

Chevrolet Volts will roll off production lines this month and other automakers are bringing electric vehicles to market. Immelt said this purchase will enable GE to lead wide-scale electric vehicle adoption and generate growth for its businesses.

"We make technology that touches every point of the electric vehicle infrastructure and are leading the transformation to a smarter electrical grid," Immelt said.

GE manufactures an electric vehicle charger, the GE WattStation, which is designed to cut the time needed for vehicle charging from 12-18 hours to as little as 4-8 hours compared to standard charging, assuming a 24 kWh battery and a full-cycle charge. The WattStation uses smart grid technology to allow utility companies to manage the impact EVs have on the local and regional grids.

"This transformation will be good for our businesses and for our shareowners," said Immelt. "Wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles will also drive clean energy innovation, strengthen energy security and deliver economic value."

GE businesses including Capital Fleet Services, Energy and Licensing and Trading will benefit from an emerging electric vehicle market that could deliver up to $500 million in GE revenue over the next three years. This includes rapidly developing markets for the WattStation.

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said, "GE's commitment reflects confidence that electric vehicles are a real-world technology that can reduce both emissions and our dependence on oil. It is also a vote of confidence in the Chevrolet Volt, which we will begin delivering to retail customers by the end of this year."

Fred Smith, FedEx chairman, president and CEO, and Electrification Coalition member, said, "With more than 16.3 million vehicles in operation in 2009, the nation's fleet can drive initial ramp-up scale in the battery industry and OEM supply chains."

"By buying these vehicles, GE is helping ramp up production which will help lower the price of vehicles and their components and make electric vehicles more visible and acceptable to the public at large," said Smith. "This is good for GE, good for our economy, and good for our nation."

GE also announced today two electric vehicle customer experience and learning centers to provide customers, employees and researchers first-hand access to electric vehicles and developing technologies.

One center will be located outside of Detroit, in Van Buren Township, Michigan, as part of GE's Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center.

The other center will be located at GE Capital's Fleet Services business headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, with several other centers to be announced in 2011.

The centers will monitor and evaluate vehicle performance and charging behaviors, driver experiences, service requirements, and operational efficiencies, while also affording the opportunity to experience a variety of manufacturers and models, and gain insights on electric vehicle deployment.

In support of GE's purchase, an electric vehicle readiness toolkit has been launched on www.ecomagination.com to help municipalities, customers, and individuals prepare for wide-scale electric vehicle deployment.

In April, GE and Nissan signed a three-year agreement to explore new technologies that are needed to build a reliable, dynamic smart-charging infrastructure.

The Japanese automaker will roll out its all-electric Leaf vehicle next month in Japan, the United States and Europe.

"Nissan's vision is to realize zero-emission mobility through a holistic approach by collaborating with various partners in a broad range of industries," said Shunichi Toyomasu, corporate vice president, Nissan Motor Co. "Working with GE, we expect this joint research project will provide insight for the home/building and electric grid connections which supports electric vehicles."

Marine Sanctuaries Recommended for Half Australia's South West Oceans

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:24:14 -0800

BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia, November 11, 2010 (ENS) - Half of the marine region to the south west of Australia will need to be protected in a network of marine sanctuaries to minimize risks to marine life, fish stocks and ecosystems, finds the first science-based plan for managing Australia's oceans, unveiled today.

Currently, less than one percent of Australia's South West Marine Region is protected from threats such as overfishing and oil spills.

The result of two years of analysis by the Ecology Centre at the University of Queensland and the involvement of 44 of the country's marine and social scientists, the plan has been developed to safeguard marine life and at the same time protect economic and social interests.

Shark Bay, Western Australia is the westernmost limit of the South West Marine Region. (Photo by Stark Mevins)

The report was commissioned by the Pew Charitable Trusts but was prepared independently by Professor Hugh Possingham and four other scientists from the Ecology Centre. Dated October 21, 2009, the plan was released today.

The federal government is expected to rely on the study to make decisions for new marine sanctuaries in Australia's South West Marine Region later this year.

"This blueprint for the South West represents best scientific practice to achieve high quality cost-effective marine sanctuaries and conservation outcomes in the face of vast uncertainties and ever-growing pressures for economic development," said Professor Possingham.

"The extensive analysis and research conducted in the South West will plug a hole in our knowledge of our oceans and help government planners make much more accurate decisions when designing protected areas," Professor Possingham said.

The University of Queensland plan represents a historic opportunity for Australia to become a world leader in marine conservation, said an alliance of 11 environment groups.

The Save Our Marine Life alliance said today that the scientific study will provide the federal government with the information it needs to make accurate decisions about establishing a network of marine sanctuaries in the South West Marine Region.

"The scientific evidence in support of a network of large marine sanctuaries in the south west is compelling," said Dr. Gilly Llewellyn from WWF Australia.

"The University of Queensland's blueprint for Australia's southwest oceans shows us that we can protect our unique marine life and ensure that we can continue to fish and benefit economically from our oceans," said Chris Smyth from the Australian Conservation Foundation.

In the early 1990s, the Australian government identified the need for a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas, which led to an agreement between federal and state governments to establish such a system.

The South West Marine Region encompasses Commonwealth waters from near Kangaroo Island in South Australia extending to waters near Shark Bay, a World Heritage Area in Western Australia. The region covers about 1.2 million square kilometers of coastal waters, continental shelf and deepwater ecosystems, and contains many endemic species and unique features.

There is a far greater level of unique marine life found in the south west than on the Great Barrier Reef, according to the report.

The 50 percent level of protection recommended by the Ecology Centre would afford safeguards to a total of 1,465 species from mammals, fish and birds to invertebrates.

Safeguards would cover 57 species of fish and marine life listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The plan also would protect 486 underwater features supporting marine life, such as depth zones, seascape types, geomorphic structures, and fish assemblages.

A blueprint for protection of fish stocks and marine life in sanctuaries does not equate to a 50 percent loss to socio-economic activities, according to the Ecology Centre.

The report, "Systematic Conservation Planning - A Network of Marine Sanctuaries for the South West Marine Region," details ways to safeguard marine life and protect economic and social interests by maximizing the compactness of good sanctuary solutions.

The University of Queensland also released Scientific Principles for Design of Marine Protected Areas in Australia written by the 44 consulting scientists, which provides peer-level guidance on the selection, design, and implementation of marine protected areas.

Using the Marxan software, researchers were able to identify the location of a network of marine sanctuaries in the south west that meet the Scientific Principles and also have the smallest impact on existing ocean uses such as shipping, petroleum development, and commercial and recreational fishing.

"The federal government now has the scientific evidence it needs to confidently make important decisions about the future health of the oceans and marine life in Australia's south west," said Tim Nicol from the Conservation Council of Western Australia.

Professor Possingham sees the principles behind the plan as extendable to all of Australia's marine areas, saying, "What we have designed here for the oceans of south west of Australia can now be rolled out to help make more accurate decisions for managing and conserving the north west, north and east marine regions of the country."

EPA Subpoenas Halliburton, Seeking Fracking Secrets

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:22:50 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 10, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. EPA has issued a subpoena to Halliburton, requiring information about the chemicals used by the energy and engineering company to fracture shale rocks, releasing the natural gas they contain.

Halliburton was subpoenaed after failing to voluntarily meet EPA's requests for information needed for a congressionally mandated hydraulic fracturing study to investigate the potential adverse impacts of the practice on drinking water and public health.

EPA's Office of Research and Development will conduct the scientific study to examine the possible relationships between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and drinking water quality.

Halliburton has been given until December 1 to submit the requested information.

The agency is under a tight deadline to provide initial results by the end of 2012 and the thoroughness of its study depends on timely access to detailed information about the methods used for fracturing. EPA expects to begin the study in early 2011.

Fracking operation in Pennsylvania (Photo courtesy Hudson Riverkeeper)

On September 9, EPA asked nine national and regional hydraulic fracturing service providers - BJ Services, Complete Production Services, Halliburton, Key Energy Services, Patterson-UTI, RPC, Inc., Schlumberger, Superior Well Services, and Weatherford - for information.

The agency is seeking information on the chemical composition of fluids used in the fracking process, data on the impacts of the chemicals on human health and the environment, standard operating procedures at their hydraulic fracturing sites and the locations of sites where fracturing has been conducted.

Except for Halliburton, the companies have either fully complied with the September 9 request or made unconditional commitments to provide all the information on an expeditious schedule, the EPA said.

Halliburton responded only that it would use its "best efforts" and "endeavor to complete its response" by the end of January 2011, according to a letter written by Peter Silva, the EPA's assistant administrator for water to Halliburton Chairman and CEO David Lesar accompanying the subpoena.

"EPA believes that Halliburton's response is inadequate and inconsistent with the cooperation shown to date by the other eight companies," Silva wrote.

EPA announced back in March that it would conduct this study and solicit input from the public through a series of public meetings in major oil and gas production regions.

The agency has completed the public meetings and thousands of Americans from across the country shared their views on the study and expressed support for this effort, the EPA said.

The information provided by the companies will also be considered for "possible guidance assessment and rulemaking," Silva said in his letter.

A 2005 vote in Congress exempted the practice of fracking from regulation by the Clean Water Act after a 2004 federal government study determined that the practice poses little threat to human health.

But fracking has polluted drinking water sources in Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and New York, according to state and federal regulators in a September survey of more than 100 cases compiled by the nonprofit Hudson Riverkeeper.

The Riverkeeper report is based on the investigations, findings, and statements of state and federal regulators in areas where fracking is common - the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia; the Barnett Shale of Texas; and the Fayetteville Shale of Louisiana and Arkansas; as well as regulators in the western states of Wyoming and Colorado.

While the exact components of each fracking fluid mix are closely held industry secrets, previous studies and a congressional investigation have shown they may contain barium, strontium, benzene, toluene, ethanol, and nonylphenols, diesel fuel, acetone, boric acid, ethelyene glycol, isopropanol, hydrochloric acid and/or formic acid.

The oil and gas drillers can keep secret the chemicals they inject underground because, unlike most other industries, they enjoy waivers under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Superfund, the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

Gulf Oil Spill Commission: Safety not Sacrificed to Save Money

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:21:13 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 10, 2010 (ENS) - The BP oil rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico were caused by a "suite of bad decisions" and a "culture of complacency" rather than deliberate cutting of corners to save money, the presidential commission investigating the disaster said Tuesday.

In its preliminary technical conclusions the commission said, "No evidence at this time to suggest that there was a conscious decision to sacrifice safety concerns to save money."

Response vessels spray water on BP's burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig, April 21, 2010. (Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

"Presentations and examinations yesterday uncovered a suite of bad decisions," said the commission's co-chairman, William Reilly, "failed cement tests, premature removal of muds underbalancing the well, a negative pressure test that failed but was adjudged a success, apparent inattention, distraction or misreading of a key indicator that gas was rising toward the rig."

"Our investigative team did not ascribe motive to any of those decisions and reported that they found no evidence that those flawed decisions were made to save money," said Reilly, who headed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President George H.W. Bush.

Yet, testimony before a joint U.S. Coast Guard-Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement panel, showed that the Macondo well was nearly $60 million over budget just a few days before the explosion.

"They didn't rule out cost, just said they weren't prepared to attribute mercenary motives to men who cannot speak for themselves because they are not alive," said Reilly of the panel's investigators. "But the story they told is ghastly: one bad call after another."

These bad calls led to the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon that killed 11 crewmembers and injured 17 others. Before the damaged wellhead was finally capped on July 19 and sealed in September, more than 4.9 million barrels of oil gushed out a mile below the surface of the gulf, the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

BP leased the Deepwater Horizon oil rig from Transocean and had completed but not sealed its test well, called the Macondo well, about 41 miles offshore Louisiana on Mississippi Canyon block 252, when the explosion occurred.

Halliburton had pumped a cement mixture down the well to seal it, but a report by the commission's lead counsel and chief investigator, attorney Fred H. Bartlit, Jr., last month showed that Halliburton's cement mixture was unstable. Bartlit said his job is not to lay blame, but to report what happened aboard the Deepwater Horizon.

During the commission's hearing Monday, BP Vice President Mark Bly said Halliburton officials were slow about testing the cement and providing test results to BP.

Reilly said, "BP, Halliburton and Transocean are major respected companies operating throughout the Gulf and the evidence is they are in need of top-to-bottom reform."

"We are aware of what appeared to be a rush to completion at Macondo, and one must ask whether the drive came from that made people determine they couldn't wait for sound cement, or the right centralizers. We know a safety culture must be led from the top, and permeate a company," Reilly said.

Commission co-chairman Bob Graham, a former U.S. senator and governor of Florida, agreed. "The problem here is that there was a culture that did not promote safety and that culture failed," he said. "Leaders did not take serious risks seriously enough and did not identify a risk that proved to be fatal."

Graham said "a series of almost inexplicable failures" took place in the hours, days and weeks leading up to the disaster.

"To just select one," said Graham, "the fact that there were three different temporary abandonment plans adopted in the week before the final execution of the plan is illustrative of the fact that the lack of consistent planning for safety."

Graham said he worries about one question that is still unanswered, "Why was the date April 20 such a committed date?"

The commission still has not heard the results of a forensic examination being conducted on the blowout preventer, a complex stack of valves at the wellhead that failed to prevent the explosion.

At Monday's hearing to present the preliminary findings of the commission's investigation, Bartlit expressed his dismay that the commission has not been granted subpoena power by Congress.

U.S. Representatives Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Lois Capps of California, both Democrats, urged Senate Republicans to stop blocking legislation giving subpoena power to the commission from coming to the Senate floor for a vote. The House passed Capps' bill granting subpoena power back in June.

"It is clear after hearing Mr. Bartlit's testimony that without subpoena power the oil spill commission is operating without all of the tools it needs to conduct a thorough investigation of BP's disaster," said Capps. "It's really astonishing that Senate Republicans have not allowed a bill that passed the House nearly unanimously to even come to the floor for the vote. They need to stop defending Big Oil and allow this bill to come to the floor when Congress returns to Washington next week," she said.

"Every day that Senate Republicans block subpoena power for the independent commission is another day BP, Halliburton and Transocean can duck and dodge the panel's hardest questions," said Markey. "The commission has already shown its value, and Senate Republicans should stop protecting the companies responsible for the spill by preventing the pursuit of the truth in this disaster."

Reilly said the commission is looking "beyond the rig to the months and years before."

"BP has been notoriously challenged on matters of process safety," he said.

In two separate oil disasters before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, 30 BP workers have been killed, and more than 200 others injured.

In the past five years, BP has admitted to breaking U.S. environmental and safety laws and committing fraud. The company has paid $373 million in fines to the U.S. government.

In 2007, a BP pipeline spill poured 200,000 gallons of crude oil into the Alaska wilderness. Investigators determined that BP was aware of corrosion along the pipeline where the leak occurred but did not act to prevent a spill. The company paid $12 million in criminal fines for the spill, as well as $4 million to the state of Alaska.

After a 2005 BP refinery explosion in Texas City, Texas that killed 15 people and injured 170, a Justice Department investigation found that the explosion was caused by "improperly released vapor and liquid." Safety procedures required by the Clean Air Act to guard against such an explosion either were not followed, or had not been established at the refinery.

And BP did not correct the problems at the Texas City refinery. Last October, the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the company $87 million because it failed to correct the safety problems - the largest fine in OSHA history.

BP said November 2 that the company is again in the black after a total charge of $39.9 billion for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to the end of the third quarter.

The costs reflected "a delay in completing the relief well that finally sealed the Macondo well in September, additional mandated costs for decontaminating and demobilising vessels involved in the response, claims centre administration costs and additional legal costs," the company said in a statement.

"These results demonstrate that BP is well on track for recovery after the tragic accident on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent oil spill," commented BP Group chief executive Bob Dudley. "We have made good progress during the quarter. This strong operating performance shows the determination of everyone at BP to move the company forward and rebuild confidence after the terrible events of the past six months."

Dudley, who took over as BP CEO in October, said the company is upgrading its safety practices, "creating a powerful Safety and Operational Risk function and restructuring the upstream segment - to ensure that safety and risk management are embedded as the absolute priority for every operation, for every person, throughout BP."

Environment Central to New U.S.-Indonesian 'Comprehensive Partnership'

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:45:41 -0800

JAKARTA, Indonesia, November 9, 2010 (ENS) - Cooperation on climate change and the environment is a central pillar of a new Comprehensive Partnership announced tonight by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and U.S. President Barack Obama.

"America has a stake in an Indonesia that pursues sustainable development, because the way we grow will determine the quality of our lives and the health of our planet," said President Obama at a joint news conference with the Indonesian leader. "That is why we are developing clean energy technologies that can power industry and preserve Indonesia's precious natural resources - and America welcomes your country's strong leadership in the global effort to combat climate change."

From left: First Lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, First Lady Ani Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia November 9, 2010 (Photo courtesy Office of President Yudhoyono)

President Yudhoyono said the new partnership will encompass the areas of trade and investment, education, energy, climate change and the environment, security and democracy, and also civil society.

The Indonesian President said he hopes "this partnership may build upon people-to-people relations between our two great nations."

Today for the first time, President Obama returned to Jakarta, the city where he spent four years as a boy while his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, worked as a government relations consultant with the American oil company Mobil. Dunham married Indonesian geologist Lolo Soetoro, Obama's stepfather, with whom Obama lived with as a child.

While "the landscape has changed completely" since then, President Obama said today, "the sights and the sounds and the memories all feel very familiar. And it's wonderful to be able to come back as President and hopefully contribute to further understanding between the United States and Indonesia."

Tonight at a state dinner in Jakarta, President Yudhoyono presented the late Dunham with the highest state award, a gesture which "deeply moved" President Obama.

In his toast, President Obama quoted an Indonesian proverb, "Bagai aur dengan tebing - like bamboo and the river bank, we rely on each other."

"In the spirit of friendship between our two countries, we are reminded of the truth that no nation is an island, not even when you're made up of thousands of islands," said President Obama, toasting his hosts. "We all rely on each other together, like bamboo and the river bank."

"We're forging new ties between our people to address common challenges," President Obama at the news conference earlier this evening. He recognized Indonesia as, "one of the world's largest democracies, as the largest economy in Southeast Asia and as a member of the G20, as a regional leader, as a vast archipelago on the front lines of climate change."

"To strengthen cooperation in science and technology that fuels growth, we are going to be pursuing joint research in areas like energy and biodiversity conservation," said President Obama.

The two leaders agreed to enhance cooperation in the area of clean energy, and President Yudhoyono invited the United States to participate in the development of geothermal energy, one of Indonesia's great sources of renewable energy.

"We also discussed the opportunity to cooperate in the area of climate change, environment, and also management of the forest," said President Yudhoyono. "Indonesia possesses the responsibility to manage our forests, to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gas effects from the forest. We also have a target to reduce 26 percent of our emissions by 2020, with the cooperation of the international community, the United States and Indonesia, as developing country and developed country."

"We're proud to support Indonesia's leadership under President Yudhoyono in confronting climate change," Obama said. "I understand there's been a lot of rain this year, and obviously we can't look at one year as indicative of the future but I think there's no doubt that as an archipelago, Indonesia will be on the front lines when it comes to the potential impacts of climate change. So we're glad to work with President Yudhoyono on this issue, and we welcome and will support the new partnership between Indonesia and Norway to slow emissions from deforestation and degradation of peat land."

Greenpeace today challenged the United States to increase the financial support it gives Indonesia to reduce deforestation. The funding, part of the US-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, includes US$7 million for the establishment of a Climate Change Center and $10 million initial funding for projects to protect peatlands.

The U.S.-Indonesia agreement includes $119 million for the Science, Oceans, Land Use, Society and Innovation partnership, which encompasses a second Tropical Forest Conservation Act agreement, and the Forestry and Climate Support Project.

"While we welcome greater cooperation between the U.S. and Indonesia to tackle deforestation, these funds are inadequate when compared with the scale and impact of deforestation in Indonesia," said Rolf Skar, senior campaigner for Greenpeace USA.

"In addition to increasing this funding, the U.S. must ensure the money is spent wisely, prioritizing protection of natural forests, peatlands and the welfare of communities that depend on them," Sklar said.

At the upcoming United Nations climate talks in Cancun, Indonesia is expected to announce details of the agreement it is negotiating with Norway, which offered US$1 billion in forest protection funds earlier this year.

Central to the deal is a two-year moratorium on new concessions to destroy forests and peatlands, expected to start January 1, 2011.

"To be effective, the upcoming two-year moratorium must be extended include the millions of hectares of forests already slated for destruction by palm oil and paper companies and in addition, full protection must be given to carbon-rich peatlands," said Bustar Maitar, forest campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

"As a result companies would have to significantly increase their productivity and only grow plantations on land that has already been deforested," said Maitar. "This would be good for the Indonesian economy, its people and the environment."

Foundations for the Comprehensive Partnership between Indonesia and the United States were laid earlier this year.

In March, the two nations signed a Science and Technology Agreement providing a legal framework for expanded bilateral cooperation and collaboration on science-based decision making, health sciences, energy, marine research, and the environment. Once it enters into force, the agreement will allow for the creation of a Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation.

In June, the United States announced it would support Indonesia in establishing a Climate Change Center that will link science to policy on strategic priorities. While the design of the Center is still under discussion, the United States is moving forward to implement cooperation, as well as discuss new forms of technical assistance that will assist Indonesia to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government foreign aid agency, is negotiating a large, multi-year compact to promote economic growth and poverty reduction, for submission to its Board of Directors in 2011. The negotiations are focused on "green prosperity, access to economic opportunities, and governance," according to a statement from the White House today.

"Green Prosperity investments are expected to enhance livelihoods consistent with a low carbon, environmentally and socially sustainable growth strategy," said the White House statement. "Programs under the compact will look to leverage and complement climate change and development programs under the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership as well as support the Norway-Indonesia initiative."

NASA is finalizing negotiations on a Statement of Intent addressing future cooperation with Indonesia on capacity building and education, Earth science applications for societal benefits, scientific data exchange, space weather monitoring and research, and measuring and monitoring emissions and the impacts of climate change.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, together with the Jakarta Provincial Government, has launched Breathe Easy, Jakarta, a program designed to reduce the harmful effects of air pollution in the city.

On November 10, local time, President Obama flew to Seoul, South Korea, where he will attend a meeting of the G-20 heads of government to discuss the global financial system and the world economy November 11 and 12.

Green Goals Motivate Organizers of Global Sports Events

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:50:08 -0800

NAIROBI, Kenya, November 9, 2010 (ENS) - Shooting for a common goal, organizers of major sporting events, from the FIFA World Cup to the Winter Olympic Games, met this week in Nairobi to green up their games.

During their biennial two-day conference at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme, some 200 participants at the Global Forum for Sport and Environment, G-ForSE, reviewed the impact of environmental projects from the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and discussed sustainability measures for future sports events.

At G-ForSE, organizers shared expertise and experiences that can benefit the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

At the finish line of the Men's 800m final, Beijing Olympic Games August 2008. Wilfred Bungei of Kenya claimed the gold, Ismail Ahmed from Sudan the silver, Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya the bronze.

With a 16-year history in integrating environment and sport, UNEP advises host countries and organizing committees on how to integrate environmental considerations into the staging of major sports events. UNEP carries out environmental impact assessments both before the games start and after the final whistle.

The environment of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, includes diverse habitats such as the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains and Alpine meadows.

UNEP said today that organizers of the Sochi Games are "already working on ways to minimize and to offset the event's impact on the local environment by focusing on four key areas: protection of nature, climate neutrality, waste management and environmental communications."

Following the recommendations of an expert assessment released by UNEP in 2008, the Sochi Olympics organizing committee relocated the proposed sliding center for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events and mountain village away from its initial location to a less environmentally-sensitive site.

But environmentalists in the Caucasus region say many once pristine ecosystems around Sochi are being destroyed to accomodate the 2014 Winter Olympics.

For instance, the state corporation Olimpstroy, responsible for construction of Sochi venues, declared November 2 that it carried out relocation of "rare wildlife" from construction sites in Sochi's Imeretinskaya lowland as part of its program of minimizing environmental impact of the Sochi Games.

The relocation was announced in late October during UNEP's monitoring mission to Sochi. Environmentalists called it "a PR stunt" conducted without a promised public discussion and without project documentation.

Russian environmentalists and the European Green Party warn that unique ecosystems along the River Mzymta have been been almost completely eradicated as a result of preparations for the Olympics. They point out that despite numerous complaints, Olimpstroy allowed the new Dzhubga-Sochi gas pipeline to leak drilling fluid into Sochi National Park during construction in July.

On the other hand, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee says it is taking, "A new conscientious approach to the treatment of nature in Sochi, the preservation and augmentation of biodiversity in the region of the Games."

During the building of Olympic venues, the LEED green standards and eco-friendly materials are being applied; for a "zero-waste" games, waste is being collected, processed and reused; energy-efficient equipment is being purchased; and satellite observation systems are set up for constant ecological monitoring, the Sochi organizers say.

In late October, the Sochi organizing committee held a four-day Green Carnation ecological film festival in October as the first event of a four-year Green Art cultural-ecological festival - part of the Cultural Olympiad in Sochi.

In Nairobi today, G-ForSE delegates said a lot has been done to green up sport events this year.

They pointed to UNEP's engagement with the Indian Premier League, the work of the alternative energy commissions of the motor sports federations, and the UNEP-Puma® Play for Life Campaign on football and the International Year of Biodiversity 2010. This global initiative has been about raising awareness of biodiversity conservation among sports fans.

At the close of the G-ForSE meeting, three African-based conservation projects that work with elephants, gorillas and lions were awarded a shared prize of US$800,000 as part of the Play for Life campaign.

The three projects - in Nigeria, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Liberia - were the winners of a Play for Life online poll held during the World Cup, where football fans were asked to select their favorite conservation project.

The winning trio includes UNEP's Great Apes Survival Project, which works to save gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo and orangutan populations from extinction in Africa and South East Asia. GRASP will use the donation to employ and train forest guards and help develop alternative livelihoods for forest communities in equatorial Africa.

The African Lion: King without a Kingdom project will channel the prize money into a survey of Zambia's lion population and the development of a national management plan for lion conservation.

The Support for the Elephants project will use the award to help create biodiversity corridors supporting endangered elephants in the forests of Ivory Coast and Liberia.

The award funds were raised through the sales of replica Unity Kits, the world's first continental football kit. These outfits were designed for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and worn by international stars such as Cameroon's captain Samuel Eto'o and Emmanuel Eboue of Ivory Coast.

Eto'o commented, "The new Africa Unity Kit has inspired me and my teammates. Not only are we very proud to wear a shirt that helps bring the continent of Africa together but to do so for such an important cause is truly an honor. Supporting the Africa Unity Kit sends out a positive message for Africa - we are a uniting as a continent to help life and the planet."

G-ForSE participants also discussed new environmental measures being taken by smaller sports organizations. For instance, the international governing body for power boating, the Union Internationale Motonautique, UIM, is reducing polluting emissions and greenhouse gases.

A UIM clean fuel task force is promoting the use of environmentally-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels such as bio-ethanol, which produces fewer carbon dioxide emissions and results in less water pollution during races.

UIM has signed a cooperation agreement with UNEP to further its range of environmental initiatives and to share information and expertise.

G-ForSE was preceded by the African Seminar on Sports and the Environment held at UNEP headquarters on the weekend. National Olympic Committees from 40 African countries agreed to adopt a series of resolutions to develop sport as a vehicle to promote peace and the environment on the continent.

The resolutions include a commitment from National Olympic Committees to place environment and sustainability as priority issues on their national developmental agendas and to invest in education programs for young people on the environment.

The sporting goods industry also has played a part in integrating environmental considerations into their operations. Several sporting goods companies have developed environmentally friendly sports apparels and kits for teams that participated in the World Cup.

As part of the Green Goal initiative for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, UNEP partnered with organizers on sustainable public lighting projects in six host cities across South Africa.

The UNEP-PUMA collaboration resulted in 11 national teams offsetting their World Cup emissions, while the Green Passport, distributed to 100,000 football fans, encouraged World Cup visitors to make sustainable travel choices while in South Africa.

Green Passports, packed full of local, eco-friendly tips and advice for travelers, have been introduced in Brazil and Ecuador and new campaigns are about to begin in Costa Rica and Israel.

An initiative of the UNEP-backed International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development, the Green Passport Campaign helps tourists minimize their footprint by choosing the least polluting form of transport, finding low-impact accommodation options, improving their energy efficiency at destinations, offsetting the inevitable carbon emissions of their trips, and acting to help improve livelihoods in host communities.

Army Corps May Permit Green Power Developers to Fill Wetlands

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:49:02 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 9, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to propose new rules that allow the filling of wetlands and streams without environmental review to make way for renewable energy facilities, according to a draft discussion document posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER.

The Corps' draft discusses proposed new Nationwide Permits, NWP, for land-based renewable power generators such as wind, solar and geothermal power; offshore wind and solar arrays; and tidal, wave or other hydrokinetic energy generation devices.

"This would enable green power to gratuitously create brown consequences," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch.

"The Corps is using a regulatory device designed for actions that have minimal cumulative adverse effects on the environment, but the scope of its draft permits could permit massive losses of freshwater swamps, streams, and ocean habitat," Ruch said.

This wind farm in Atlantic City, New Jersey is located across a wetland from the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife refuge. (Photo by jdloadtest)

The Army Corps' draft states, "We are proposing to issue a new NWP to authorize the discharges of dredged or fill material into non-tidal waters of the United States, excluding non-tidal wetlands adjacent to tidal waters, for the construction, expansion, modification or improvement of land-based renewable energy production facilities."

The Corps' draft discussion document proposes a one acre limit for the Nationwide Permits, "including the loss of no more than 300 linear feet of stream bed," saying, "We believe the one acre limit, as well as the 300 foot limit for stream impacts, will authorize only those activities that have minimal adverse effects on the aquatic environment, individually and cumulatively."

The draft proposed Nationwide Permits also cover parking lots, roads, power lines and other "attendant facilities."

The purpose of the Nationwide Permit Program is to streamline the evaluation and approval process throughout the nation for certain types of activities that have only minimal impacts to the aquatic environment, the Corps states on its website.

In practice, this means that Nationwide Permits limit or eliminate review by other federal agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service.

These Corps proposals are still in draft form but are written for submission to the Federal Register for a 60-day public comment period. The Corps has made no public announcements about its timetable to actually propose these Nationwide Permits.

"This is all about paving over places that are needed for our ecological health," said New England PEER Director Kyla Bennett, a former regional wetlands coordinator with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"These exemptions are not narrowly constructed. They are written to create open-ended blanket exemptions that are not subject to further review," Bennett said. "The need to move from carbon-based power should not become a pretext for trashing habitat."

California Air Quality Plans Inadequate

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:47:36 -0800

SAN FRANCISCO, California, November 9, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has turned down parts of California's air quality plans to clear the air of fine particles that measure 2.5 microns, or PM2.5. These particles, 20 times smaller than the diameter of the finest human hair, can penetrate deep into the lungs and worsen asthma and heart disease.

The plans that drew the agency's disapproval fail to achieve adequate emissions reductions in the South Coast and San Joaquin Valley air basins. These areas have the highest annual levels of PM2.5 particles in the country.

Primary sources contributing to PM2.5 and its precursors are diesel trucks, other diesel engines, wood burning, agricultural burning, and in the South Coast, ship engines.

The EPA says reducing people's exposure of particulate matter will decrease emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and premature death. In September, the state reported that more than 9,000 people die prematurely in California each year due to PM2.5 pollution.

All states are required to submit plans to the EPA that identify how health-based air quality standards will be attained in areas not meeting federal air quality standards.

The plans submitted by the California Air Resources Board, CARB, aim to bring these areas into attainment with the national health based standards for particulate matter by 2015.

These State Implementation Plans, or SIPs, are the roadmaps to meeting the 1997 PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards set by the U.S. EPA to protect public health.

Haze of fine particulates hangs over the San Joaquin Valley (Photo by J.T. Diego)

The San Joaquin Valley and South Coast areas both violate the 1997 PM2.5 air quality standards.

The EPA said Monday it cannot approve the plans since they rely on emissions reductions from rules including CARB's In-Use Truck and Bus rule and Cleaner In-Use Off-Road Equipment rule that are currently being revised and have not been submitted to EPA.

Without these rules, the plans' attainment demonstrations are missing about a fifth of the emissions reductions needed for the areas to achieve the PM2.5 air quality standards.

"California has a history of adopting aggressive rules to tackle some of the worst air quality in the nation, but we need to redouble our efforts," said Jared Blumenfeld, regional administrator for EPA's Pacific Southwest Region.

"EPA will continue to work with California to strengthen measures to improve air quality for the millions of residents in the South Coast and San Joaquin Valley," he said.

EPA is proposing to sign off on those portions of the plans that have been submitted to EPA and approved. Some of the locally adopted and EPA-approved rules include residential wood-burning programs for both South Coast and San Joaquin Valley, and South Coast's rules controlling emissions from some industrial processes.

Blumenfeld said the EPA intends to make a final decision on the plans in 2011, after reviewing public comments.

In the event the agency finalizes these proposed disapprovals and the state fails to correct the deficiencies in a timely manner, sanctions would apply. More stringent facility permitting requirements may be imposed after 18 months and highway funding restrictions may be imposed after 24 months from the date of final disapproval.

Transportation projects scheduled for the first four years of the areas' transportation plans would not be affected, and should be able to continue as planned.

"Should our proposal be finalized, planning restrictions will be imposed," said Blumenfeld, "however, no transportation dollars will be withheld or lost. New funds must be spent on a more limited set of projects that improve air quality, such as mass transit, until the issues are resolved."

The majority of the emission reductions needed to demonstrate attainment of the PM2.5 standards have already been adopted by the California Air Resources Baord and the San Joaquin Valley and South Coast air pollution districts.

Given the state's commitment to public health, Blumenfeld said the EPA expects the state and local agencies will adopt creditable emissions reductions to meet the Clean Air Act requirements for PM2.5 standards.

'India and America Are Indispensable Partners'

Mon, 8 Nov 2010 20:54:03 -0800

NEW DELHI, India, November 8, 2010 (ENS) - As leader of the world's oldest democracy, President Barack Obama today capped his three-day visit to India by delivering a message to the Parliament of the world's largest democracy.

"We are two strong democracies whose constitutions begin with the same revolutionary words - the same revolutionary words - 'We the people.' We are two great republics dedicated to the liberty and justice and equality of all people. And we are two free market economies where people have the freedom to pursue ideas and innovation that can change the world. And that's why I believe that India and America are indispensable partners in meeting the challenges of our time," President Obama said to applause.

"As the world's two largest democracies, we must never forget that the price of our own freedom is standing up for the freedom of others," said President Obama.

During this, the President's first state visit to India, agreements were reached or affirmed in many environmental arenas: clean energy, climate change, food and agriculture, nuclear weapons and civil nuclear power, weather forecasting, Earth observation and space exploration.

On the margins of the President's trip, trade transactions were announced or showcased, exceeding $14.9 billion in total value with $9.5 billion in U.S. export content, supporting an estimated 53,670 U.S. jobs, according to a statement from the White House.

At a joint news conference in New Delhi this morning, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said, "We have announced specific initiatives in the areas of clean energy, health and agriculture. These include a Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre, the establishment of a Global Disease Detection Centre in India and an agreement for cooperation in weather and crop forecasting."

Clean Energy and Climate Change

The concept of a joint clean energy R&D center to be located in India was first agreed during Prime Minister Singh's state visit to Washington in November 2009. During this visit a Memoradum of Understanding was signed, establishing the center.

The priority areas of focus for the U.S.-India clean energy center are likely to include: solar energy, energy efficiency, biofuels, clean coal technology and an integrated gasification combined cycle project that turns coal into synthesis gas.

It is the U.S. government's second joint clean energy R&D agreement, after that reached with China during President Obama's state visit to Beijing last November.

To further their rapidly growing clean energy cooperation, today, the United States and India signed an agreement of cooperation in the field of shale gas that will include a shale gas resource assessment in India to be conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, technical studies on shale gas exploration in India and training of Indian personnel in shale gas exploration and development.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with President Barack Obama at their joint press conference, New Delhi, November 8, 2010. (Photo courtesy Office of the Prime Minister)

At a joint news conference in New Delhi, President Obama summarized the scope of the environmental agreements reached over the past three days. "As a result of this visit," Obama said, "we agreed to deepen our cooperation in pursuit of clean energy technologies, and this includes the creation of a new clean energy research center here in India, and continuing our joint research into solar, biofuels, shale gas, and building efficiency. And we agreed to new partnerships including forestry and sustainable development of land to help meet the commitments we made at Copenhagen to combat climate change."

President Obama told India's legislators in his address to Parliament, "We valued India's important role at Copenhagen, where, for the first time, all major economies committed to take action to confront climate change - and to stand by those actions."

"We can pursue joint research and development to create green jobs; give India more access to cleaner, affordable energy; meet the commitments we made at Copenhagen; and show the possibilities of low-carbon growth," the President said.

In their Joint Declaration issued today, Prime Minister Singh and President Obama "reaffirmed their countries' strong commitment to taking vigorous action to address climate change, ensure mutual energy security, and build a clean energy economy that will drive investment, job creation, and economic growth throughout the 21st century."

The two leaders "reiterated the importance of a positive result for the current climate change negotiations at the forthcoming conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Mexico and affirmed their support for the Copenhagen Accord, which should contribute positively to a successful outcome in Cancun."

To that end, the leaders welcomed enhanced cooperation in the area of climate adaptation and sustainable land use, and welcomed the new partnership between the United States and India on forestry programs and in weather forecasting.

The weather forecasting partnership features a new agreement to study seasonal prediction of Indian summer monsoon rainfall. India's Ministry of Earth Sciences and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will cooperate to deliver a coupled ocean-atmospheric general circulation model to enhance current understanding of the monsoon system over India that floods vast parts of the country each year.

A jointly funded "Monsoon Desk" is being set up at NOAA's National Center for Environmental Prediction that will coordinate numerical model simulations and diagnostics with the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and India Meteorological Department during the next five years.

The enhanced monsoon forecasting is expected to enable the transmission of detailed forecasts to farmers beginning with the 2011 monsoon rainy season.

Food Security

Prime Minister Singh and President Obama agreed to work together to develop, test, and replicate transformative technologies to extend food security in India as part of what they called an "Evergreen Revolution," extending the idea of cooperation between the two countries during the Green Revolution that improved yields in India from 1967 to 1978.

Efforts will focus on providing farmers the means to improve agricultural productivity. Collaboration also will enhance agricultural value chain and strengthen market institutions to reduce post-harvest crop losses.

President Obama told the Indian Parliament, "Together, we can strengthen agriculture. Cooperation between Indian and American researchers and scientists sparked the Green Revolution. Today, India is a leader in using technology to empower farmers, like those I met yesterday who get free updates on market and weather conditions on their cell phones. And the United States is a leader in agricultural productivity and research. Now, as farmers and rural areas face the effects of climate change and drought, we'll work together to spark a second, more sustainable Evergreen Revolution."

"Together, we're improving Indian weather forecasting systems before the next monsoon season," said the President. "We aim to help millions of Indian farmers - farming households save water and increase productivity, improve food processing so crops don't spoil on the way to market, and enhance climate and crop forecasting to avoid losses that cripple communities and drive up food prices."

"And as part of our food security initiative, we're going to share India's expertise with farmers in Africa," said Obama. "And this is an indication of India's rise - that we can now export hard-earned expertise to countries that see India as a model for agricultural development. It's another powerful example of how American and Indian partnership can address an urgent global challenge."

Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons

Addressing nuclear issues, Prime Minister Singh said today at the news conference, "As States possessing nuclear weapons, we have today put forth a common vision of a world without nuclear weapons, and decided to lead global efforts for non-proliferation and universal and non-discriminatory global nuclear disarmament. This is a historic and bold bilateral initiative."

"We have also decided to strengthen cooperation to tackle nuclear terrorism, and we welcome U.S. participation in the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership which will be set up in India," the Prime Minister said.

In addition, said President Obama, India and the United States will now start cooperating on civil nuclear power.

"With my visit, we are now ready to begin implementing our civil nuclear agreement," President Obama told the Indian Parliament. "This will help meet India's growing energy needs and create thousands of jobs in both of our countries."

The United States and India signed a memorandum of understanding that provides a general framework for cooperative activities in working with India's Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, which India announced at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington, DC in April. The Summit focused on how to better safeguard weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to prevent nuclear terrorism.

In working with India's Centre, the United States will give priority to best practices on the security of nuclear material and facilities, development of international nuclear security training curricula and programs and joint outreach on security issues to their respective nuclear industries.

In their Joint Declaration, the two leaders "reiterated their commitment to build strong India - U.S. civil nuclear energy cooperation through the participation of the U.S. nuclear energy firms in India on the basis of mutually acceptable technical and commercial terms and conditions that enable a viable tariff regime for electricity generated."

India will continue to work with U.S. companies seeking to enter the Indian nuclear energy sector. The two leaders "welcomed the commencement of negotiations and dialogue between the Indian operator and U.S. nuclear energy companies, and expressed hope for early commencement of commercial cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector in India, which will stimulate economic growth and sustainable development and generate employment in both countries."

Out in Space

President Obama and Prime Minister Singh agreed to scale-up joint U.S.-India civil space collaboration, including space exploration, Earth observation, and scientific education, declaring, "The possibility of cooperation between the two nations in space, to advance scientific knowledge and human welfare, are without boundaries and limits."

They agreed to continue seeking ways to collaborate on future lunar missions, the International Space Station, human space flight and data sharing, and to reconvene the Civil Space Joint Working Group in early 2011.

In the morning, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will travel to Jakarta, Indonesia, departing from Palam Air Force Base in New Delhi, and arriving at Halim International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Chemicals in Fast Food Wrappers Show Up in Human Blood

Mon, 8 Nov 2010 20:48:33 -0800

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, November 8, 2010 (ENS) - Chemicals used to keep grease from leaking through fast food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags are migrating into food, being ingested by people and showing up as contaminants in blood, according to new research at the University of Toronto.

The contaminants are perfluoroalkyls, stable, synthetic chemicals that repel oil, grease, and water. They are used in surface protection products such as carpet and clothing treatments and coating for paper and cardboard packaging.

Earlier research by University of Toronto environmental chemists Scott Mabury and Jessica D'eon, established in 2007 that the wrappers are a source of these chemicals in human blood. Their new study shows that perfluorinated chemicals can migrate from wrappers into food.

Chemicals that form the greaseproof coating on food wrappers migrate to the bloodstream. (Photo by Pearlie)

The specific chemicals studied are polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters, or PAPs, breakdown products of the perfluorinated carboxylic acids, or PFCAs, which are used in coating the food wrappers.

"We suspected that a major source of human PFCA exposure may be the consumption and metabolism of polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters, or PAPs," said D'eon, a graduate student in the University of Toronto's Department of Chemistry.

"PAPs are applied as greaseproofing agents to paper food contact packaging such as fast food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags," she explained.

In their latest study, D'eon and Mabury exposed rats to PAPs either orally or by injection and monitored for a three-week period to track the concentrations of the PAPs and PFCA metabolites in their blood.

The researchers used the PAP concentrations previously observed in human blood together with the PAP and PFCA concentrations observed in the rats to calculate human exposure to the chemical perflurooctanoic acid, PFOA.

"In this study we clearly demonstrate that the current use of PAPs in food contact applications does result in human exposure to PFCAs, including PFOA," said Mabury, the lead researcher and a professor in the university's Department of Chemistry.

Elevated levels of PFOA in blood have been associated with changes in sex hormones and cholesterol, according to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances. Exposure to PFOA also has resulted in early death and delayed development in mice and rat pups, the agency says.

Rats that ingested PFOA for a long time developed tumors. However, based on differences between rats and humans, scientists have not determined for certain whether this could also occur in humans, the agency says.

"We found the concentrations of PFOA from PAP metabolism to be significant and concluded that the metabolism of PAPs could be a major source of human exposure to PFOA, as well as other PFCAs," said Mabury.

"This discovery is important because we would like to control human chemical exposure, but this is only possible if we understand the source of this exposure," Mabury said.

"In addition," he said, "some try to locate the blame for human exposure on environmental contamination that resulted from past chemical use rather than the chemicals that are currently in production."

The study is published today in the journal "Environmental Health Perspectives," published by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

"We cannot tell whether PAPs are the sole source of human PFOA exposure or even the most important, but we can say unequivocally that PAPs are a source and the evidence from this study suggests this could be significant," Mabury said.

The researchers concluded that due to the long time that PFOA remains in human blood, even low-level PAP exposure could, over time, result in significant exposure to PFOA.

Although humans are exposed directly to PFCAs in food and dust, the University of Toronto researchers said that because of the way the human body processes these chemicals, "PAP exposure should be considered as a significant indirect source of human PFCA contamination."

Regulatory interest in human exposure to PAPs has been growing. Governments in Canada, the United States and Europe have signaled their intentions to begin extensive and longer-term monitoring programs for these chemicals.

Regulators have made three assumptions, said Mabury, releasing the results of his 2007 study. "That the chemicals wouldn't move off paper into food, they wouldn't become available to the body and the body wouldn't process them. They were wrong on all three counts."

States Use Stimulus Funds to Fit Workers for Clean Energy Jobs

Mon, 8 Nov 2010 20:52:41 -0800

WASHINGTON, DC, November 8, 2010 (ENS) - States are facing a shortage of clean energy workers, but many are working toward closing the gap with the help of federal funding, according to a new briefing paper from the National Governors Association.

To help states train and retrain workers for clean energy jobs, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices is offering a look at strategies that states are using to meet the growing demand for clean energy.

"Several factors - including regulations, high costs of traditional fuels and consumer choice - have boosted the demand for clean energy technologies. At the same time, the demand for workers trained to install and service these technologies also has grown," said John Thomasian, director of the NGA Center.

The briefing paper, "Enhancing State Clean Energy Workforce Training to Meet Demand," was released Thursday. It showcases state efforts that have emerged with the help of billions in workforce development dollars provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA, the economic stimulus law enacted in February 2009.

The infusion of over $32 billion from ARRA has "increased the deployment of clean energy in all states," states the NGA's Issue Brief.

"This brief describes how states are working with their higher education systems, training institutions and private industry to equip workers to fill these existing and emerging positions," said Thomasian.

Joe Spreer with Veterans Green Jobs drills holes to blow cellulose insulation into the interior walls of this Lakewood, Colorado home. October 5, 2010. (Photo by Dennis Schroeder courtesy NREL)

Some states are developing statewide curricula and certification programs with community colleges. For example, the Colorado Governor's Energy Office, in partnership with its community colleges, is developing eight weatherization certificate programs to be delivered through a combination of online, classroom, and field teaching methods.

To coordinate state, local, and private sector workforce training efforts, Arkansas has created the Energy Sector Partnership, made up of representatives from several state agencies, workforce development nonprofits, and clean energy industries to help implement a statewide energy sector strategy for workforce development projects. The partnership will create a standardized curricula and set of training practices that replace a current patchwork of local and regional workforce standards.

Many states are improving access to available training. Wyoming, for instance, has simplified access to training by incorporating mobile labs equipped with computers, software, diagnostic equipment, and tool kits to provide weatherization and energy efficiency training to people living in remote or rural areas.

Using data to assist clean energy workforce development is working for some states. For example, seven states: Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming, have formed the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountain Consortium to jointly survey employers in the clean energy industry about what they need and share the findings with employers and job-seekers.

States are leveraging private sector funding to build larger, longer-term training programs. For example, California's Clean Energy Workforce Training Program is leveraging over $23 million in private sector funding to create a $75 million investment program that will train more than 20,000 workers in the clean energy sector.

The California program combines funding from the ARRA State Energy Program and existing state resources, including the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program established by state legislation, and the governor's discretionary funds under the Workforce Investment Act.

Renewable electricity generation from the 31 states with binding renewable energy portfolio standards will grow from 137 terawatt-hours in 2010 to 479 TWh by 2025, an increase of 250 percent, according to a May 2010 study by the research firm Emerging Energy Research, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Surging power prices, state renewable portfolio standard policies, federal incentives, and a growing national desire to address the causes of climate change have all helped to create a strongly favorable climate for renewables," the EER study states.

But EER expects "low power demand in the near term" that could weaken the clean energy job market. Also, the research firm expects several states to weaken renewable portfolio standards "through increased flexibility for compliance, with a few stepping back from overly ambitious targets, particularly those with weak in-state renewable resources."

Still, in five years, EER projects, existing renewable portfolio targets will require an 80 percent increase in renewable power generation.

"While utilities in a very few states, led by Washington, Maine, Colorado, and New Hampshire, are already well on their way toward meeting their 2015 targets, the majority of states require rapid renewables growth if they are to meet near-term objectives," says the EER study.

Thomasian is confident that states are on the right path toward meeting the demand for clean energy workers.

"Many of the elements necessary for states to build robust clean energy workforces already exist," he said. "ARRA provided a stream of funding that enabled states to invest in clean energy workforce training programs. The challenge for states as ARRA funding winds down will be to develop strategies to carry these efforts into the future."

$100 Billion a Year Climate Change Financing 'Feasible'

Mon, 8 Nov 2010 20:49:57 -0800

NEW YORK, New York, November 8, 2010 (ENS) - Funding of $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing nations deal with climate change is "challenging but feasible" a high-level advisory group convened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday.

At the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen last December, developed nations pledged $30 billion of fast-track funding for developing countries through 2012 and committed to jointly raise $100 billion annually by 2020.

The new report by the High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing comes three weeks before the opening of this year's UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico.

Co-chaired by Prime Ministers Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, the 21-member advisory group was established by the UN secretary-general in February.

Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway and Co-chair of the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, addresses reporters with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. (Photo by Paulo Filgueiras courtesy UN)

"Without an agreement on finance we won't reach an agreement on climate," Prime Minister Stoltenberg told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

Prime Minister Meles said further progress would depend on the political will of leaders everywhere, but particularly in developed countries. The report "can be used to create an ambitious deal or a weak and miserly deal, or it can be left to languish in the desks of government bureaucrats," he said.

The $100 billion annual fund must come from a wide range of sources - public and private, bilateral and multilateral, the group advised.

"There is no silver bullet - no 'one size fits all' solution for raising these funds," said Ban at the news conference.

"It will need sustained political will, appropriate public policy signals for the markets, and financial ingenuity," Ban told reporters.

"This report can help governments in their discussions on climate finance, which is one of the most difficult areas in the negotiations," the secretary-general said. "I hope it will help them move forward."

In its report, the Advisory Group said grants and highly concessional loans are essential for adapting to climate change in the world's most vulnerable countries, particularly small island developing states, which are threatened by rising sea levels as glaciers and ice caps melt.

Afelee Falema Pita, representing the low-lying Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, told the UN General Assembly in September that his country would like to see three key commitments made at Cancun.

"First, we would like to see all amendments and rules for the Kyoto Protocol agreed, so that such amendments are ready for ratification to avoid a gap in the commitments period," said Pita.

"Second, we should decide on a mandate to start negotiations on a new legally binding agreement based on elements of the Bali Action Plan," Pita said.

"And third, we should agree on a set of decisions that will provide interim steps to implement measures to be incorporated in the new legally binding agreement," he said.

But some say negotiators at Cancun should ditch attempts to secure legally binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. On Thursday, the UK's Lord John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, said on Radio 4's the Today Programme that the aim of binding emissions targets would not fly in this round of negotiations.

"We are threatening to destroy our own world, as we shamelessly squabble over dollars and degrees," said Camillo Gonsalves, representing Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea.

"Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has no interest in fiddling merrily while the Earth drowns, suffocates or burns," Gonsalves said. "Climate change is the global challenge of out time, and failure and delay can no longer be a viable option."

The Advisory Group report stresses the importance of rapid and decisive actions.

"Now is the time to take decisions," it said, adding that mobilizing financing will require strong commitments to the goals set by nations to mitigate climate change and the introduction of new public instruments on carbon financing.

The Advisory Group said that the careful and wise use of public funds, combined with private funds, can generate "truly transformational investments."

In the lead-up to the November 29 opening of the Cancun summit, the United Nations Environment Programme is showcasing one solution each day - demonstrating how burning less fossil fuels and planting more trees will lower global greenhouse gas emissions.

From creating mass markets for solar water heaters, improving vehicle efficiency, using waste for energy, installing energy-efficient cooking stoves or planting trees and protecting forests, UNEP aims to prove that solutions to combat climate change are available, accessible and replicable.

One of the featured case studies is UNEP's Solar Loans for Solar Homes in India where more than 60 percent of Indian households have no access to reliable electricity supplies and depend on kerosene for light and on burning dung and wood for heat.

The solar loan program, a partnership involving the UN Foundation, Shell Foundation and two of India's largest banking groups, has accelerated market penetration of solar lights in the Indian countryside and inspired several similar initiatives in India and elsewhere.

Other projects to be featured include Green Passports for sustainable tourism, the greening of East African tea plantations, the massive potential of carbon financing in Africa and successful reforestation in Panama.

Elections Usher in Divided Congress, Environment, Energy Issues Remain

Wed, 3 Nov 2010 16:06:29 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, November 3, 2010 (ENS) - Some environmental measures fared better than Democratic candidates in Tuesday's election. California voters defeated Proposition 23, deciding by a decisive margin of 61.3 percent to keep the state's greenhouse gas reduction law, the Global Warming Solutions Act, AB32, the strongest clean energy law in the nation.

Nationally, Republicans seized control of the House and shaved the Democrats' advantage in the Senate, although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada was re-elected, beating Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle.

Election returns this morning show the Republicans have so far gained 60 seats in the House. With 11 elections not yet called, the GOP has 239 seats and the Democrats have 185.

At a White House news conference today President Barack Obama gestures his hope that Democrats and Republicans can work together. (Photo courtesy The White House)

In the Senate, Democrats hold 51 seats and the Republicans have 46, with three elections not yet called.

President Barack Obama, who now must share government with a Republican-controlled House for the balance of his term, told reporters in a news conference this morning that he takes responsibility for the Democrats' losses.

"It feels bad," said the President, but he calmly said he would look for areas of agreement with Republicans to create jobs and help heal the economy. "When I took office, the economy was in freefall," Obama said. "Now we have had nine consecutive quarters of private sector job growth."

But Obama acknowledged the economy is still "in neutral" and he pledged to sit down sometime within the next few weeks with House and Senate majority and minority leaders to seek mutually acceptable solutions.

Obama said in the absence of any hope of getting an energy and climate bill passed in the Senate to match the bill passed by the House in 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will continue to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases. "The EPA wants help from the Congress," he said, but pointed out that the agency is under a court order to deal with greenhouse gas emissions as a pollutant.

While President Obama defended his clean energy and environment agenda as one of the best ways to create jobs in the United States and keep the country competitive on world markets, environment means something different to Republican Congressman John Boehner of Ohio who will replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.

"It's pretty clear the American people want us to do something about cutting spending here in Washington and helping to create an environment where we get jobs back in our country," Boehner said today. "We've got a big job ahead of us."

"Last night, the President was kind enough to call me," said Boehner. "We discussed working together on the American people's priorities: creating jobs and cutting spending. We hope that he will continue to be willing to work with us on those priorities."

Republicans for Environmental Protection, REP, a national grassroots organization of stewardship-minded Republicans, said, "Divided government will give Republicans in Congress a chance to move beyond the extreme and partisan rhetoric of this campaign season and show they can work constructively towards real solutions to our energy security and environmental challenges. It is our hope that they will do so; otherwise, their gains will be short-lived."

REP President Rob Sisson said, "Now that Republicans and Democrats will share control of the 112th Congress, both parties will have to work together in good faith to restore the country's economy, strengthen national security, and protect America's natural heritage and quality of life. We urge that Republicans lead the way forward with pragmatic ideas based on the traditional conservative ethic of stewardship."

"Good stewardship of our natural resources, like good stewardship of our financial resources, is central to true conservatism," Sisson said.

David Jenkins, REP vice president for government and political affairs, said, "Republicans can build a lasting majority if they govern pragmatically, avoid extremist posturing, and work in good faith across the aisle to get things done for the American people. Voters will be watching closely."

The Union of Concerned Scientists says regardless of the election results, climate change is still with us.

"This election changed the political reality in Washington, but it didn't change the scientific reality of global warming," said UCS President Kevin Knobloch. "Congress still has a duty to move our country forward on clean energy and climate change. The scientific community stands ready to defend its colleagues against possible attacks from newly empowered members of Congress."

"Given the incontrovertible evidence that human activities are radically altering the climate," the Union of Concerned Scientists recommends that the incoming 112th Congress set aside the provocative oratory and focus on reality.

"Harassing climate scientists, confusing the public about the state of climate science, or attempting to block public health-based EPA rules would be counterproductive," said the scientists' organization.

"Instead," said the UCS, "the new Congress should embrace an energy policy that would expand renewable energy production, increase energy efficiency in every sector of the economy, and improve public health by reducing pollution."

At the Natural Resources Defense Council, Peter Lehner says voters supported clean energy choices where they could.

"There is no mandate for GOP climate positions in this election. Quite the contrary: a series of recent polls shows that a commanding majority of the public continues to support clean energy and climate legislation," Lehner blogged today.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, conducted October 13-18 among 2,251 adults reached on landlines and cell phones, finds that 32 percent say global warming is a very serious problem while 31 percent think it is somewhat serious. A year ago, 35 percent described global warming as a very serious problem and 30 percent said it was somewhat serious.

League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski observed what he called "a disturbing trend" in which "nearly every Republican candidate for Senate rejected the sound and settled science that man-made carbon pollution contributes to climate change."

"Fortunately," he said, "voters this cycle rejected ‘flat earthers’ like Carly Fiorina, Christine O’Donnell, Sharron Angle and Ken Buck, choosing instead to return to Washington clean energy champions like Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid and Michael Bennet."

Elsewhere, voters elected new clean energy leaders to the Senate, such as Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut and Chris Coons in Delaware.

As failures, Karpinski counts the loss of environmental leader Senator Russ Feingold in Wisconsin, and unsuccessful efforts to elect Senate Democratic candidates Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania, Paul Hodes in New Hampshire, and Robin Carnahan in Missouri.

"Big Oil and their allies in Congress will claim that last night’s results are a rejection of clean energy policies. That is simply not the case," said Karpinski.

Yesterday, League of Conservation Voters conducted an election night voter poll and found that a majority of voters back environmental policies. The LCV pollsters found:

Members’ support for the American Clean Energy and Security Act did not contribute to their defeat.
A majority supports comprehensive energy reform. When presented with a comprehensive clean energy plan, battleground voters back the plan by a 16 percent margin.
By a 22 percent margin, battleground voters believe the Environmental Protection Agency should regulate emissions of greenhouse gases.
By a 41 percent margin, voters believe we need to hold corporations accountable for their pollution, rejecting the argument that we should not impose new regulations that will hurt businesses.

California Votes In Democrats, Rejects Proposition 23

Wed, 3 Nov 2010 16:08:44 -0700

SACRAMENTO, California, November 3, 2010 (ENS) - In California, voters elected Democrat Jerry Brown as governor, a post he held in the 1970s. Brown has been serving as California's attorney general in the administration of the current governor, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has promoted a clean energy agenda.

In his victory speech last night in Oakland, Brown outlined his vision for a greener California. "I see a California once again leading on renewable energy, leading on education. We are all God's children and while I understand politics, I will always carry with me my sense of that missionary zeal to transform the world - that's always been my calling. That's what it's all about - the vision."

Governor-elect Jerry Brown at a rally in Salinas, California, November 1, 2010 (Photo by JT Gus)

Brown has promised to implement a 33 percent renewable energy portfolio standard and facilitate the installaiton of 20,000 megawatts of new renewable energy - 12,000 in distributed generation and 8,000 megawatts in large scale renewable projects like solar and wind farms.

San Francisco's environmentally supportive Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has been elected California's lieutenant governor.

California voters returned Democrat Barbara Boxer to her seat in the U.S. Senate. She has been chairing the Environment and Public Works Committee, promoting bills to address climate change, protect people from lead in drinking water, and from contaminants resulting in "clusters" of cancer and birth defects. She has supported legislation to lift the cap on corporate liability for oil spill damages.

In the 53 House races, California voters backed Democrats in all but 19 districts. One race is still hanging by a thread. In Congressional District 11, all precincts have reported but the votes are still being counted - two-term Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney is ahead of Republican San Ramon attorney David Harmer by a mere 121 votes.

The California electorate defeated Proposition 23, voting 61.3 percent in favor of keeping the state's greenhouse gas reduction law, the Global Warming Solutions Act, AB32, the strongest clean energy law in the nation.

A "yes" vote on Proposition 23, funded by Texas oil money, would have suspended the law until the state' unemployment rate stayed at or below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters.

Wade Crowfoot, political director of the Environmental Defense Fund said, "By rejecting Prop. 23, Californians voiced their support for economic expansion in the booming clean tech sector and improved air quality and public health. By supporting the implementation of the landmark AB 32 clean energy law, California will be able to pioneer a range of pollution reduction measures that spur cleaner energy technology."

"It's a true win-win situation for a state with 12.5 percent unemployment and in which 91 percent of residents live in a county with substandard air quality," Crowfoot said.

Gabe Elsner, campaign cirector for the Power Vote California, credited the defeat of Proposition 23 to the youth vote. "The California Student Sustainability Coalition's Power Vote Campaign united thousands of young Californians behind a creative grassroots campaign that exposed Big Oil's dirty ploy, and mobilized thousands of voters to defeat it," he said.

Power Vote California's "No on 23" campaign, in partnership with CALPIRG and Environment California, organized on over 50 campuses and collected over 160,000 pledges from young people to vote "No" on Proposition 23.

"The campaign partnered with student networks across the state to turn out the youth vote, worked with a community coalition to launch the Clean Energy Tour, a music tour merging arts and activism, and confronted oil interests bank-rolling the intitative, like the Koch Brothers," said Elsner.

A company owned by oil billionaires Charles and David Koch contributed $1 million to advocate Proposition 23. The contribution came from Flint Hills Resources LP, based in Wichita, Kansas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Industries.

Another $4 million was contributed by Valero Energy of San Antonio, Texas, a manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, petrochemical products and power, while petroleum refiner and marketer Tesoro also based in San Antonio, contributed $1.525 million to support Proposition 23.

While turning down Proposition 23, California voters approved Proposition 26, which expands the definition of a "tax" under California law. As a result of this expansion, some fees and other charges imposed by the state or by cities or counties could no longer be enacted by a simple majority vote of the Legislature. Instead, a two-thirds supermajority vote would be required - the same vote now required to pass a budget or a new tax.

UCLA Law professors Cara Horowitz, Sean Hecht and M. Rhead Enion conclude in an October 26 report that Proposition 26 will "undercut the principle that polluters should pay for harms they cause."

They conclude that approval of Proposition 26 will erect barriers to funding many environmental and public health programs in California, including the Global Warming Solutions Act, and the Green Chemistry Initiative that have already been enacted but that are not yet well funded.

The lead paint fee and oil spill response fee are just two of many similar fees that Proposition 26 would convert into taxes, the law professors.

Starting in 1991, owners of petroleum products received at marine terminals, marine pipeline operators, oil refineries, marine pipelines in California have paid a $.25 per barrel fee for response to and cleanup of marine oil spills, related wildlife care and spill-related damages.

In 1997, the State Supreme Court ruled that the lead industries, whose products are the major causes of childhood lead poisoning, can be required to pay fees to mitigate the harm their products created in the community.

Both these fees could be affected by approval of Proposition 26. Under the measure, the UCLA law professors say the California legislature also will likely repeal at least two product sustainability laws that fund product stewardship programs to prevent bulky products and harmful chemicals from entering landfills.

The professors say the measure creates a new barrier to ensuring that existing environmental and public health fees keep up with changing needs or with inflation.

Canada Rejects Gold-Copper Mine Over Environmental Concerns

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 18:23:05 -0700

OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, November 2, 2010 (ENS) - The Canadian government today turned down a proposal for a gold-copper mine in central British Columbia due to environmental concerns, while authorizing a second gold-copper mine on B.C.'s northwest coast to proceed.

Taseko Mines' Prosperity mine project 125 kilometers from the city of Williams Lake was denied federal authorization because mine development would convert two natural fish-bearing lakes and a creek into a mine waste impoundment area.

However, Thompson Creek Metals' proposal for the Mount Milligan mine, north of the coastal city of Prince George, has been granted federal authorization.

"The government has considered both projects carefully, particularly their environmental impacts," said Environment Minister Jim Prentice. "We believe in balancing resource stewardship with economic development."

"The Mount Milligan project has been designed in a way that minimizes impacts to the environment, while the significant adverse environmental effects of the Prosperity project cannot be justified as it is currently proposed," said Prentice.

The proposed Prosperity open-pit mine is on the traditional lands of the Xeni Gwet'in First Nation, a member of the Tsilhqot'in National Government, which won a court case recognizing its rights to the area.

Under Taseko's Prosperity mine proposal Fish Lake would become a mine waste impoundment. (Photo courtesy Environment Canada)

One of Canada's largest undeveloped gold-copper deposits, the Prosperity deposit contains 5.3 billion pounds of copper and 13.3 million ounces of gold, according to Taseko, which estimates the project has a pre-tax net present value of C$3 billion.

In June, the British Columbia government issued a 25-year mining lease to Taseko, following a provincial environmental assessment which environmental groups and First Nations say failed to consider all the potential impacts identified by the federal process.

Prentice appointed a federal review panel in January to assess the impacts of the Prosperity Mine. Hearings were held from March 22 to May 3 and were attended by 2,700 attendees who made 320 different presentations.

The federal panel released its report on July 2, 2010, concluding that, "The project would result in significant adverse environmental effects on fish and fish habitat, on navigation, on the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes by First Nations and on cultural heritage, and on certain potential or established Aboriginal rights or title."

"The panel also concludes that the project, in combination with past, present and reasonably foreseeable future projects would result in a significant adverse cumulative effect on grizzly bears in the South Chilcotin region and on fish and fish habitat."

The panel said damage from the Prosperity mine would be "high magnitude, long-term and irreversible."

Prentice said today that the federal government "agreed with the panel's conclusions about the environmental impacts of the project."

Sierra Club B.C. Executive Director George Heyman said today, "Today's decision illustrates why devolving environmental assessment to B.C. to 'streamline' the process would be a disaster. B.C. gave the green light to this project, putting short-term economic interests ahead of species, ecosystems and First Nations rights."

"It boggles my mind that the B.C. government would have even considered destroying a huge, well-stocked fishing lake that is of great significance to an indigenous community, and is surrounded by cultural sites including First Nations burial grounds," said Heyman. "Today's decision points to serious flaws in the B.C. environmental assessment process."

Construction is proceeding on Thompson Creek Metals' Mount Milligan mine. (Photo courtesy Thompson Creek Metals)

Environmentalists are calling on the Canadian government to close a loophole in the federal Fisheries Act that allows metal mining corporations to use Canadian lakes to dispose of the millions of tonnes of toxic waste rock and tailings they generate.

Fish Lake would have been Canada's fifth pristine natural water body authorized for destruction under this loophole, which was originally introduced solely to allow mines already approved and in existence to complete their economic life cycle.

The Mount Milligan mining project, which was approved today, went through both provincial and federal environmental assessments. Both determined that, with appropriate mitigation measures, the project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

Located 155 km (96 miles) north of Prince George between the communities of Mackenzie and Fort St. James, the Mount Milligan project will consist of an open pit mine, processing plant and infrastructure, a tailings impoundment area, explosives factory, a 29 kilometer (20 mile) access road and a 92 km (57 mile) transmission line.

The mine will produce about 60,000 tonnes of ore per day over a projected 15-year mine life, employ 600 people during construction and create about 300 permanent positions during operations. The mine will produce an estimated 52 million tonnes of acid generating waste rock and tailings, requiring a tailings impoundment area.

A fish habitat compensation plan has been developed including construction of spawning and rearing channels in a nearby creek. The project will recycle effluent to reduce use of freshwater and minimize the creation of mining effluent, minimizing the environmental footprint of the mining project.

The Canadian government will monitor and oversee the development and implementation of the fish habitat compensation plan, and has authority under the Fisheries Act to take corrective measures.

Thompson Creek is in the process of constructing the Mount Milligan mine, which is expected to be in production in 2013.

Parkinson's Disease Linked to Pollutants in Urban Areas

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 18:18:38 -0700

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, November 2, 2010 (ENS) - High levels of manganese and copper pollution in urban areas are linked to increased risk of Parkinson's disease, according to an analysis of 35,000 Parkinson's patients by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The research team found that people living in areas with higher levels of manganese pollution had a 78 percent greater risk of Parkinson's disease than those living in areas free of such pollution.

High levels of copper in the environment increased the risk of Parkinson's disease by 11 percent.

"We're following up with individual patients, examining exposure histories, disease progression and responses to treatments, and if those studies confirm this correlation, we may need to reevaluate the limits we place on environmental discharges of these pollutants," said lead author Allison Wright Willis, MD, assistant professor of neurology at the Washington University School of Medicine.

The comparison, published in "American Journal of Epidemiology," was conducted using Medicare data and industrial discharge reports to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Every year since 1988, any factory or other industry that releases more than a predefined amount of any of 650 chemicals into the environment has to report those discharges to the EPA," Dr. Willis says. "We used that data to construct a comparison of areas with high levels of manganese, copper and lead pollution versus areas where there were few or no releases of those elements."

Train rolls past U. S. Steel Corporation’s East Chicago steel plant. (Photo by Mark LLanuza)

Many different industries produced the pollutant emissions in the geographic areas studied.

"There's no one group to blame," says Dr. Willis. "Manganese, copper and lead emissions were reported by industries ranging from food, tobacco and beverages to wood products, furniture, apparel and stone work. Others included producers of electrical and computer equipment, metalworking and chemical facilities and metal mining."

The researchers were surprised when they looked at the socioeconomic status of areas with higher pollutant levels. Instead of being uniformly poor and economically depressed, many are middle-class and upper-income areas.

"These pollutants are everywhere, and I think that strongly emphasizes the need to look into their effects in greater detail," Willis says.

In the United States, at least 500,000 people are believed to suffer from Parkinson's disease, and about 50,000 new cases are reported annually, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Parkinson's Disease is a neurological illness named after Dr. James Parkinson, a London physician who was the first to describe it in 1817.

The gradual loss of cells in a small part of the brain creates a deficiency of the brain signaling chemical dopamine, producing symptoms that may include shaking of hands, slowing down of movement, stiffness, and loss of balance. Other symptoms may include loss of facial expression, reduction in speech volume and clarity, difficulty swallowing, dry skin, constipation, urinary difficulties, and depression.

Because Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder, these symptoms worsen with time.

Parkinson disease associated with farming and exposure to agricultural chemicals has been reported in numerous studies; but little is known about Parkinson disease risk factors for those living in urban areas.

In their research, Willis and her colleagues focused only on urban areas to avoid pesticides, another group of compounds whose presence in the environment is believed to increase the risk of Parkinson's disease.

Willis and her colleagues then used Medicare data to identify 35,000 Parkinson's patients who were living in the area in which they were diagnosed eight years or more before diagnosis.

When adjusted for age, race, sex, there were 274 new cases of Parkinson's disease per 100,000 people in areas with little or no reported manganese, copper or lead pollution.

In areas with high manganese pollution, that number rose to 489.4, and in areas with high copper levels, it increased to 304.2.

Manganese is a trace element and eating a small amount from food or water is needed to stay healthy. Exposure to excess levels of manganese may occur from breathing air, particularly where manganese is used in manufacturing, and from drinking water and eating food. At high levels, it can cause damage to the brain, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances.

Certain occupations like welding or working in a factory where steel is made may increase the chances of being exposed to high levels of manganese, the agency says.

Areas with high lead emissions were not associated with a significant increase in Parkinson's disease. Several earlier studies have associated lead exposure with Parkinson's risk, Willis says, including research that has found increased lead levels in the bones of Parkinson's patients.

Willis speculates that other sources of lead exposure besides industrial emissions - water contamination, for example, or contaminated paint - may have a stronger influence on Parkinson's disease risk.

This study received funding from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institutes of Health, the St. Louis chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association, the American Parkinson Disease Association, Walter and Connie Donius, and the Robert Renschen Fund.

Judge Voids Coal Mine Expansion Permit on Navajo Tribal Land

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 18:21:38 -0700

DENVER, Colorado, November 2, 2010 (ENS) - A federal judge has voided a permit for the expansion of one of two operating coal mines on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and ordered the federal government to review potential effects of the proposed expansion on cultural resources and the environment.

In a ruling handed down Friday, Judge John Kane of U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado ordered the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to reassess a 2005 permit granted for the expansion after an environmental assessment found "no significant impact."

The Navajo Mine, an open pit mine located in located in Fruitland, New Mexico, is operated by the Australian firm BHP Billiton. It supplies coal to the Four Corners Power Plant, also located on the Navajo Nation near Farmington.

Judge Kane's decision came in a lawsuit filed by two conservation groups, the San Juan Citizens Alliance and Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment.

Extracting coal at the Navajo Mine circa 1973 (Photo courtesy U.S. National Archives)

The two groups sued the federal government in July 2007, claiming that the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act when renewing the mine's permit in 2004 and approving a revised permit for the expansion in 2005. They claimed failure to provide adequate public notice and failure to fully analyze the impacts of expanded operations at the Navajo Mine.

In his ruling Judge Kane agreed with the plaintiff groups' claim that the Office of Surface Mining failed to comply with NEPA requirements

To ensure public participation in decisions regarding the mine permit, the judge ordered "meaningful public notice," of public hearings, including radio ads in both English and Navajo.

Lori Goodman of the Navajo group Dine CARE told the Associated Press that she is grateful that the judge is making the Office of Surface Mining review the permit.

"This mine expansion would have a huge impact on many people, on our water, our health and our way of life," she said.

All of the mine's discharge outfalls are to receiving waters located on the Navajo Nation tribal lands. Coal combustion byproducts generated at Arizona Public Service Company Four Corners electric power plant are transported back to the mine and backfilled into the coal pit.

BHP Billiton spokesman Pat Risner says that the company is reviewing the ruling and has temporarily suspended operations in the section of the mine governed by the permit.

Christopher Holmes, a spokesman for the federal Office of Surface Mining, said the agency's legal staff is reviewing the decision.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the power plant supplied by the Navajo Mine is the nation's largest source of nitrogen oxide emissions. The privately owned Four Corners Power Plant operated by Arizona Public Service Co. is in the Four Corners region where the state lines of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet.

One of the largest coal-fired generating stations in the United States, the plant provides power to about 300,000 households in New Mexico, Arizona, California and Texas.

On October 6, EPA proposed to require the Four Corners Power Plant to reduce NoX emissions by 80 percent "to achieve cleaner, healthier air while improving the visibility at sixteen of our most pristine national parks and wilderness areas."

EPA's proposal can be achieved by installing and operating selective catalytic reduction on all five units at the power plant.

EPA is also proposing a particulate emission limit for the three smaller units that will require additional controls for fine particles that may help reduce the visible secondary plume that often emanates from these three units.

EPA is requesting comment on the proposed action in a comment period that ends December 20, 2010. EPA will be holding two public hearings in the Four Corners area. Additional details for the public hearings will be provided in a separate notice at least 30 days prior to the hearings.

23 States Get $2.4 Billion for High-Speed Rail, California Accountability in Doubt

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 18:19:49 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, November 2, 2010 (ENS) - Fifty-four high-speed rail projects in 23 states will share in $2.4 billion to continue developing America's first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Thursday.

While $2.3 billion is a substantial chunk of cash, the demand for funding was even greater. The Federal Railroad Administration received 132 grant applications from 32 states totaling $8.8 billion, more than three times the amount available.

"Demand for high-speed rail dollars is intense and it demonstrates just how important this historic initiative is," said Secretary LaHood. "States understand that high-speed rail represents a unique opportunity to create jobs, revitalize our manufacturing base, spur economic development and provide people with an environmentally friendly transportation option."

During the first round of awards in the fall of 2009, applicants submitted more than $55 billion in project proposals for the initial $8 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

More than 30 rail manufacturers and suppliers, both domestic and foreign, have agreed to establish or expand their bases of operations in the United States if they are hired to build America's next generation high-speed lines, a commitment the Obama administration secured to help ensure new jobs are created in the United States.

"In the 20th century, our vision led to the interstate highway system," said Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Joe Szabo. "In the 21st century, our vision will give us a world-class network of high-speed passenger rail corridors."

California High-Speed train zooms along beside a highway (Artist's image courtesy California High Speed Rail Authority)

California received the largest amount in this latest outlay of federal funds, more than $901 million, including $715 million for the construction of new high-speed rail lines in the Central Valley. In January, California received $2.25 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for high-speed intercity rail systems - also the largest award for high-speed train funding of any state in that distribution - for a total of more than $3 billion.

"The state has made significant investments in passenger rail that have led to remarkable ridership growth," said LaHood.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "These additional funds are a tremendous vote of confidence for California's high-speed rail project. As the nation's largest infrastructure project, California's high-speed rail system will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, reduce pollution, boost economic growth and link Californians from one end of this great state to the other."

However, the California High Speed Rail Authority "is not fully prepared" to distribute and monitor American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA, funds, according to an October 27 report from the State of California Office of Inspector General.

IG Laura Chick wrote in her report, "Currently, the Authority does not have funding plans approved by the Director of Finance as required by Proposition lA, which would be used to match ARRA." Proposition 1A is a bond funding measure for high-speed rail approved by California voters in November 2008.

"Additionally," wrote Chick, "the criteria to select a corridor or segment for funding has been drafted, but not approved by the High Speed Rail Authority's Board. Furthermore, policies and procedures to ensure the appropriate expenditure of ARRA funds have not been detailed, and required language is not included in contracts."

These lacks have caused the Authority to pay out $3.44 million (38 percent) in expenditures, out of $8.94 million reviewed, "without obtaining adequate supporting documents," Chick wrote.

Yet, Chick gave the Authority credit for making "significant progress" on the majority of the recommendations included in a Bureau of State Audits April 2010 report, in a relatively short period of time.

Roelof van Ark, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, who requested the IG's report, said, "I'm pleased that these efforts have already begun to pay dividends, saving taxpayers up to $2.6 million and establishing robust oversight of the project."

"We've done even more since then - but we still have some work to do," said van Ark. "The state's budget delay has made that work more challenging, but Californians should be confident that we will have proper controls in place and use these funds wisely as we build the nation's first high-speed rail system, creating jobs and economic opportunity throughout the state."

Florida received $800 million for the Tampa to Orlando high-speed rail corridor. The state's long-term vision is for a high-speed rail line that connects Tampa, Orlando, Miami and other communities. The $800 million will underwrite construction of 84 miles of dedicated high-speed rail tracks and purchase of new train sets that will make 16 daily roundtrips at speeds reaching 168 miles per hour.

Iowa received $230 million to create a new intercity passenger rail service between Iowa City and Chicago through the Quad Cities. When completed, the service will form an integral part of the existing efforts to develop the Chicago Hub intercity rail system in the Midwest; and

Iowa Governor Chet Culver said, "These grants make it possible for states to continue building the infrastructure that will bring high-speed and intercity passenger rail to more areas of the country, and work toward [our] goal of making Iowa the best-connected state in America."

The Chicago-to-Iowa City GreenLine passenger rail route - with service to commence in 2015 - will provide two daily round trips and carry trains traveling at speeds up to 79 mph, with an expected trip time of less than five hours on the 219.5-mile route.

Michigan received $161 million for a high-speed rail corridor connecting Detroit and Chicago, the two largest cities in the Midwest. The long-term vision for this corridor includes doubling the number of daily round trips between Detroit and Chicago.

The money is being awarded for a range of activities, such as construction of track and stations, purchase of new passenger equipment, and planning studies to develop new high-speed rail service.

In addition to the $8 billion down payment from the Recovery Act, additional funding for high-speed rail has come from several sources.

These include $95 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation's FY 2009 appropriations and remaining money from a related FY 2008 appropriations program. In addition, money has come from the Department's FY 2010 appropriations, which included at least $2.125 billion for high-speed rail service development programs, $245 million for individual projects and $50 million for planning and multi-state proposal activities.

Click here for a complete high-speed rail project list.

Biodiversity Pacts Signed on Genetic Resources, Global Conservation

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:07:36 -0700

NAGOYA, Aichi, Japan, October 29, 2010 (ENS) - Governments today agreed to a new treaty on how nations cooperate in commercializing genetic resources from living organisms, as for example, when a plant's genetic material is turned into a pharmaceutical product.

The deal that establishes an International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources comes on the last day of the Convention on Biodiversity meeting in Nagoya, following intense all-night negotiations and 18 years of discussion and debate.

Representatives of the 193 governments meeting Nagoya also agreed on a global action plan to prevent the extinction of threatened animals and plants and conserve intact habitats over the next decade.

"This is a day to celebrate in terms of a new and innovative response to the alarming loss of biodiversity and ecosystems," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, which administers the Convention on Biological Diversity. "I would like to congratulate all governments concerned for bringing a fresh vision to the more intelligent management of life on Earth."

"It is also an important moment for the United Nations and the ability of countries to put aside the narrow differences that all too often divide in favor of the broader, shared issues that can unite peoples and nations," said Steiner.

Framed as a Protocol to the main Convention on Biodiversity, the agreement on genetic resources outlines how the benefits flowing from conversion of genetic material into a commercial product are shared with the countries and communities who have conserved and managed that resource, often for millennia. The agreement is expected to help those communities overcome poverty and achieve sustainable development.

Rauvolfia serpentina, or Indian snakeroot contains a number of bioactive chemicals and is declining in the wild due to collection for its medicinal uses. (Photo by Pieria)

The global action plan consists of 20 targets designed to tackle the extinction crisis and restore the Earth's natural capital.

Under the new plan, governments agreed to increase the extent of land-based protected areas and national parks to 17 percent of the Earth's surface up from around 12.5 percent now, and to extend marine protected areas to 10 percent, up from under one percent currently.

Other elements of the extensive plan include, by 2020, lifting the extinction risk from known threatened species.

The governments agreed to study resource mobilization to help developing countries meet the new targets in the plan based on a methodology that relates support to needs and gaps.

The host country, Japan Wednesday announced a fund of US$2 billion for developing countries to use over the next three years to protect plants and animals from extinction.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, "Our generation must resist the ongoing extinction and bequeath to future generations our rich and abundant Earth."

The governments also decided to take a precautionary approach in terms of emerging areas such as geo-engineering in order to combat climate change and the development of synthetic biofuels.

"This conference must be viewed as a success and a major global achievement," said Russ Mittermeier, president of the U.S. based nonprofit Conservation International. "We were able to solve the key issues that were blocking the negotiations and ended up with a strategic plan with 20 targets to protect biodiversity over the next decade."

"Countries were able to come together as a global community and look beyond their national agendas to focus on the future of life on Earth and its essential role in human development and poverty alleviation," Mittermeier said. "We were optimistic from the beginning and are happy with the end result."

Harrison Ford, actor, conservationist and vice chair of Conservation International, told conference delegates that both developed and developing countries must look beyond their national interests and form a global alliance to stop the current environmental crisis.

"This is a critical moment for environmental ministers to work together to set bold ambitious targets to protect nature and the services it provides," Ford said Thursday. "Decisions made here will not only impact our planet's environmental health, but the well-being of every person, family, and nation."

"We've seen history in the making here in Nagoya with a landmark agreement now in place that defines the future for life on Earth," said Julia Marton-Lefevre, director general of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which maintains the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

"Here in Japan the international community have moved closer to the realization that it's time we stopped considering nature as expendable, and any related expenditure a write-off," she said. "It's time we valued and conserved nature."

CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon, also representing the Ramsar Convention on wetlands, the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and the World Heritage Convention, emphasized the strong ties between biodiversity loss, climate change, desertification and poverty reduction, and suggested joint implementation as a strategy for collaboration.

Prince Albert of Monaco called for a new beginning on biodiversity and the courage to shoulder collective responsibilities by pursuing a new development path that recognizes the value of nature.

The stakes have indeed been high at the Nagoya conference.

The latest IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, released two days ago, showed that nature's very backbone is at risk – with a third of species assessed seriously threatened and many among them facing the risk of extinction, said Marton-Lefevre.

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study, known as TEEB, released at the conference last week, warns that many of the benefits of nature that we have been taking for granted and enjoyed for free are at risk of running out.

The UNEP Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 showed that we are on the verge of catastrophic and irreversible tipping points.

Environmental leaders hope that the cooperative attitude that forged the agreements reached in Nagoya will carry over to the climate change negotiations set to begin November 29 in Cancun, Mexico.

Jim Leape, Director General of WWF International, said, "The ministers have worked hard over the last three days to forge this agreement. We hope their spirit and determination will be carried into other fora, including the upcoming climate talks in Cancun."

Conservation Internation's leader Mittermeier said, "This agreement comes at a critical time as the pressures on the environment are growing fast and the responses have been too weak. It is especially timely in light of the UN climate talks in Cancun coming up in a month, and many of the countries at the CBD highlighted the needed for greater collaboration between these two conventions."

Halliburton May Have Pumped Unstable Cement Down BP Oil Well

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:09:35 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, October 29, 2010 (ENS) - The cement mixture used by Halliburton to close off BP's Deepwater Horizon oil well was too "unstable" to stop the blowout and Halliburton knew it from tests conducted before the April 20 explosion, according to a report to the national commission investigating causes of the disastrous oil spill.

On April 20, BP had finished its test well, known as the Macondo well, 18,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico and about 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. Halliburton was contracted to seal the well with cement to prevent the escape of oil and gas until BP was ready to proceed with drilling and extraction.

To seal the well, "Halliburton generated the nitrogen foam cement by injecting high pressure nitrogen into a base cement slurry as it pumped that slurry into the well," wrote Fred H. Bartlit Jr., chief counsel to the National Commisson on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, in letter to the commission dated October 28.

"Halliburton and BP both had results in March showing that a very similar foam slurry design to the one actually pumped at the Macondo well would be unstable, but neither acted upon that data," wrote Bartlit.

"That cement should have prevented hydrocarbons from entering the well," wrote Bartlit.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig leased by BP on fire in the Gulf of Mexico, April 22, 2010 (Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

But instead, about 10:30 on the night of April 20, the Macondo well exploded, killing 11 Deepwater Horizon crewmembers, injuring 17 others and unleashing the largest oil spill in history. About 4.1 million barrels entered gulf waters, while another 800,000 barrels was retrieved for refining. Over 1,000 miles of shoreline were impacted along with wildlife, from whales, turtles and birds to microscopic organisms.

To investigate issues surrounding cement failure, Bartlit and his legal team asked Halliburton to supply them with samples of materials "like those actually used at the Macondo well."

On April 19 and 20, Halliburton generated the nitrogen foam cement by injecting high pressure nitrogen into a base cement slurry as it pumped that slurry into the well.

Bartlit received from Halliburton "off-the-shelf cement and additive materials used at the Macondo well from their stock." He told the Commission that he was satisfied that although these materials did not come from the specific batches used at the Deepwater Horizon well, "they are in all other ways identical in composition to the slurry used there."

Chevron agreed "as a public service" to test the cement slurry on behalf of the Commission, Bartlit wrote, saying that Chevron employs some of the industry's most respected cement experts, and maintains a state-of-the art cement testing facility in Houston, Texas.

Halliburton agreed that the Chevron lab was highly qualified for this work, Bartlit stated.

Chevron reported that its lab personnel were unable to generate stable foam cement in the laboratory using the materials provided by Halliburton and available design information regarding the slurry used at the Macondo well.

"Although laboratory foam stability tests cannot replicate field conditions perfectly, these data strongly suggest that the foam cement used at Macondo was unstable," Bartlit wrote. "This may have contributed to the blowout."

Halliburton has stated publicly that it tested the Macondo cement before pumping it on April 19 and 20, and that its tests indicated the cement would be stable, Bartlit pointed out.

When the preliminary test results from the Chevron lab showed the cement slurry was not stable, Barlit and his legal team requested the results of Halliburton's own tests.

Documents provided by Halliburton showed that four tests of the cement slurry were conducted - two in February and two in April. Only the last one, conducted sometime after April 13, produced a stable mixture.

Bartlit details these four tests in his letter to the Commission. After reviewing the test results and emails between the two companies, the legal team concludes:

Only one of the four tests discussed above that Halliburton ran on the various slurry designs for the final cement job at the Macondo well indicated that the slurry design would be stable

Halliburton may not have had - and BP did not have - the results of that test before the evening of April 19, meaning that the cement job may have been pumped without any lab results indicating that the foam cement slurry would be stable

Halliburton and BP both had results in March showing that a very similar foam slurry design to the one actually pumped at the Macondo well would be unstable, but neither acted upon that data

Halliburton (and perhaps BP) should have considered redesigning the foam slurry before pumping it at the Macondo well

In a statement responding to Bartlit's letter, Halliburton Thursday defended its actions, saying, "Halliburton believes that significant differences between its internal cement tests and the Commission's test results may be due to differences in the cement materials tested. The Commission tested off-the-shelf cement and additives, whereas Halliburton tested the unique blend of cement and additives that existed on the rig at the time Halliburton's tests were conducted."

Halliburton also noted that "it has been unable to provide the Commission with cement, additives and water from the rig because it is subject to a Federal Court preservation order but that these materials will soon be released to the Marine Board of Investigation.

Now, a New Orleans federal judge overseeing Deepwater Horizon litigation has ordered Halliburton to turn over cement to federal investigators.

"No destructive testing on the cementing components will be conducted without further order of the court," Judge Carl Barbier wrote in his October 27 order, issued today.

Bartlit takes care to point out to the Commission that "even if our concerns regarding the foam slurry design at Macondo are well founded, the story of the blowout does not turn solely on the quality of the Macondo cement job. Cementing wells is a complex endeavor and industry experts inform us that cementing failures are not uncommon even in the best of circumstances."

"Because it may be anticipated that a particular cement job may be faulty, the oil industry has developed tests, such as the negative pressure test and cement evaluation logs, to identify cementing failures. It has also developed methods to remedy deficient cement jobs," Bartlit explained. "BP and/or Transocean personnel misinterpreted or chose not to conduct such tests at the Macondo well."

President Barack Obama established the Commission on May 22, 2010 to examine the facts and circumstances to determine the cause of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, develop options for guarding against future oil spills from offshore drilling, and submit a final public report to the President with its findings within six months of the Commission's first meeting, which opened July 12, 2010.

The Commission is co-chaired by Bob Graham, a former two-term governor of Florida who served for 18 years in the U.S. Senate, and William Reilly, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1989-1993) and presently founding partner of Aqua International Partners, LP, a private equity fund investing in water and renewable energy companies.

Commission members are:

Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council
Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, professor of marine science
Terry Garcia, executive vice president for Mission Programs for the National Geographic Society
Cherry Murray, dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Frances Ulmer, chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage and member on the Special Committee on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Claims Settlement

Landowners in Eight States Shelter Migrating Birds From Oil-Tainted Gulf

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:12:51 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, October 29, 2010 (ENS) - A coordinated effort between landowners and the U.S. Agriculture Department to protect and feed birds migrating toward the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill zone in the Gulf of Mexico has more than tripled expectations, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday.

The Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative mobilized private landowners to help create alternative and additional habitats to provide healthy food and resting areas for shorebirds, waterfowl and other birds headed for the gulf.

More than 50 million birds migrate through the Mississippi, Central, and Eastern Flyways each fall and spring.

The unprecedented effort was created by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service on June 28, when oil was still spilling from the damaged Deepwater Horizon well. Before it was capped July 19, more than four million barrels of crude oil gushed into the gulf.

Migratory water birds in the Mississippi Flyway (Photo by Gretchen Steele)

To date, the initiative has enrolled more than 470,000 acres across eight states, more than tripling its initial goal of 150,000 acres.

After landowners expressed strong interest in the program, funding was doubled to $40 million.

Secretary Vilsack said, "Private landowners play a critically important role in protecting wildlife every single day, and I am proud that so many landowners in these eight states stepped up to be a part of this unprecedented effort to increase migratory bird habitat and protect wildlife from any lingering effects from the oil spill."

"The outpouring of support for this effort far exceeded our expectations, and it will have an impact on countless migratory bird populations for years to come," he said.

The Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been conducting similar work on federal lands adjacent to the spill impact zone to minimize potential bird contact with contaminated areas and help address long term objectives for habitat conservation along the entire Gulf Coast.

Much of the work has been funded through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Recovered Oil Fund, as well as other privately donated funds.

"Providing additional food and nesting opportunities for migrating waterfowl and songbirds heading south during the fall migration is an important part of our collective effort to minimize injury to migrating birds by creating alternative habitats north of the impacted wintering and stopover habitats along the coast," said Secretary Salazar.

The 470,000 acres under contract with this initiative are within the three flyways that pass through the Gulf of Mexico.

These lands in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas are being flooded carefully with varying water levels and planted with a variety of vegetation to provide food and habitat for the wide range of bird species that might stop during their long migrations.

Early feedback from participants shows that many bird species are using the enhanced habitat, including sandpipers, blue-winged teal, mottled ducks.

Although the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative was initially created in response to the BP oil spill, landowners are providing food when birds need it most, whether or not they are impacted by the oil.

Current drought conditions in the gulf region combined with decades of wetland losses are resulting in fewer food resources and habitat compared with previous years. In Louisiana, where the most oil came ashore, water levels in marshes are way below average.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service has started working on a three-year effort with other entities, including Mississippi State University, to determine the initiative's effectiveness through monitoring the number and species of birds which utilize the habitat created. The first progress report will be available in spring 2011.

U. North Carolina Dormitory Wins Biggest Energy Loser Title

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:10:59 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, October 28, 2010 (ENS) - The Morrison Residence Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has won first prize in the U.S. EPA's first-ever National Building Competition, reducing its energy use by 35.7 percent in one year.

The competition, launched on April 27, 2010, challenged teams from 14 buildings across the country to measure their building's energy use and reduce waste with help from the Energy Star program.

In an event playing off the TV show "The Biggest Loser," Morrison Residence Hall was named the winner. Cheered on by a mascot wearing a skyscraper costume cinched with a tape measure, Chris Martin, the university's director of Energy Management, stepped on a doctor's scale as a display counted down Morrison's energy reduction.

Chris Martin, Jr., right, director of UNC Energy Management, celebrates Morrison's win. At left is Maura Beard, representing the U.S. EPA. (Photo courtesy UNC)

"Do you think that's enough to win?" EPA Director of Strategic Communications Maura Beard asked the students and staff members gathered in the light drizzle on the Morrison basketball court.

Then "Biggest Loser" host Bob Harper appeared on the video display to announce the news that Morrison had won. The crowd waved white foam No. 1 fingers and cheered. In the crowd were representatives from North Carolina State University, which also had a building in the contest.

The National Building Competition measured energy performance from September 1, 2009, through August 31, 2010. The energy use of each of the 14 buildings was monitored through EPA's Energy Star online energy measurement and tracking tool, Portfolio Manager.

Buildings were evaluated on the greatest percentage-based reduction in energy consumed by a building relative to its size and adjusted to account for changes in weather. Third-party utility statements were required at the conclusion of the competition to verify the energy performance of each competitor.

Energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion per year.

On average, 30 percent of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted, the EPA said today.

Morrison Residence Hall is a 10 story, 200,000 square foot residence hall constructed in 1965. Housing 800 students, it is also home to the campus' Sustainability Living Learning Community.

The UNC team, the Watt-Busters, saved more than $250,000 on energy bills, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equal to the electricity use of nearly 90 homes for a year.

Morrison reduced its energy use through a combination of energy efficiency strategies, including improved operations and maintenance as well as outreach to dormitory residents.

A computer touch-screen monitor in the dormitory's lobby helped residents keep track of energy consumption. Competitions between dorm floors encouraged students to turn off lights and computers, and reminders were posted in elevators, bathrooms, and common areas.

Improvements to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, as well as lighting improvements, helped to increase the building's energy efficiency and maximize savings.

"We are honored to win EPA's first National Building Competition," said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp. "Carolina is a recognized national leader in sustainability and energy and carbon reduction. At UNC, sustainability is not just an academic topic. It's part of our culture. It's reflected in everything from our construction program to how we conduct business every day."

In the past year alone, UNC reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, and the UNC Energy Conservation Measure project, which Morrison was part of, resulted in a reduction of nearly $4 million in utility costs.

A Sears store in Glen Burnie, Maryland, came in second place with a 31.7 percent energy reduction.

The JCPenney Store located at 2200 North Tustin in Orange, California came in third, achieving an energy reduction of 28.4 percent. The winning store is part of a group of 63 JCPenney stores that participate in the company's Advanced Energy Management Program, which stresses a focus on energy awareness on both the facility maintenance and store associate level.

Together, the 14 competitors reduced their energy use by more than 44 million kBtu, saved $950,000 in utility bills, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to those from the electricity use of approximately 600 homes for a year.

"The amazing results of the first-ever National Building Competition prove that any building can take simple steps to slash energy use, save thousands of dollars and protect the environment," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "We look forward to seeing even greater savings and energy innovations in the years ahead."

EPA selected the 14 contestants out of a pool of nearly 200 applications from ENERGY STAR partners. The final group represented a variety of commercial buildings of different types, sizes, ages, and locations - including a building constructed in 1896 and another in 2006 as well as one representing 60,000 square feet and another covering nearly one million square feet.

Some were using a great deal of energy at the start of the competition while others were already making progress and performing better than the average building. The final group of contestants reflected the philosophy of the competition - that everyone could set a goal and improve energy efficiency.

Thousands of businesses and organizations work with the EPA's Energy Star program and are saving billions of dollars and preventing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere each year.

Jackson said that many of the methods used by each of these facilities to reduce their energy usage can be adopted easily by all types of facilities across the nation.

Giant Solar Projects Shape U.S. Clean Energy Frontier

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:21:17 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, October 27, 2010 (ENS) - The Obama administration is moving quickly to develop solar power on public lands, particularly in California. Today federal and California state officials joined executives from BrightSource Energy in the Mojave Desert for a groundbreaking ceremony for the world's largest solar power facility.

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, three solar power towers surrounded by thousands of mirrors, was approved earlier this month for a 3,500 acre site on public land in the Ivanpah Valley in southeastern California's San Bernardino County. The site is 50 miles northwest of Needles, California, and about five miles from the California-Nevada border.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar joined with members of the BrightSource Energy team, project partners, and local, state and federal officials to commemorate the historic event.

In California's Ivanpah Valley, thousands of mirrors will surround three solar power towers to create the world's largest solar generating facility. (Photo courtesy BrightSource Energy)

"Today we are breaking ground on the largest solar project in the world, right here in California," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "The construction of this renewable energy plant is great news for our state, and further proof that it is possible to both protect the environment and grow the economy."

"Projects like this one are helping us meet our long-term energy and environmental goals, while creating jobs and moving us toward a cleaner, more sustainable future," said the governor, "a future where California leads the nation and the world in a clean energy revolution."

"Ivanpah is an outstanding example of the progress we are making in building a renewable energy economy," said Secretary Salazar at the groundbreaking event. "With private sector initiative and government coordination and encouragement, we are helping to meet the President's goals for stimulating local economies, creating new jobs for American workers, reducing carbon emissions, promoting energy independence and strengthening our national security."

"Today's groundbreaking of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System represents a historical moment in our nation's move to a clean energy economy," said John Woolard, president and CEO of BrightSource Energy. "At Ivanpah, we're demonstrating that the U.S. can lead in the clean energy race by building the largest solar plant in the world."

BrightSource announced today that power generation company NRG Energy has purchased the largest ownership stake in the project with an investment of up to $300 million. In February, BrightSource received a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy for $1.37 billion in loan guarantees to support the financing of the Ivanpah project.

The complex is comprised of three separate plants to be built in phases between 2010 and 2013. Once completed, the 392 megawatt project will nearly double the amount of solar thermal electricity produced in the United States today.

The power generated at Ivanpah will be sold under separate contracts with Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison. Ivanpah will produce enough clean energy to power 140,000 homes, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 400,000 tons annually, the equivalent of taking more than 70,000 cars off the road.

Constructing the Invanpah project will create more than 1,000 local union jobs at the peak of construction.

Bob Balgenorth, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, said, "The first of many expected utility-scale solar projects to break ground, Ivanpah is having a transformative effect on the High Desert Region's workforce and economy. President [Barack] Obama's stimulus and Senator [Barbara] Boxer's tireless efforts helped make this project a reality. It is already starting to employ union labor and putting local people back to work."

To generate power at the Ivanpah power tower, thousands of mirrors will track the Sun and reflect the sunlight to a boiler that sits atop a tower. When the concentrated sunlight strikes the boiler's pipes, it heats the water inside to more than 1,000 degrees F. This creates superheated steam, which is piped from the boiler to a standard turbine where electricity is generated. From here, transmission lines carry the power to homes and businesses.

Nothing is wasted in this process. In order to conserve precious desert water, the steam is air-cooled and piped back into the system in a closed-loop, environmentally-friendly process. The project will use only 100 acre feet of water per year, about 95 percent less water than competing solar thermal technologies that use wet-cooling.

The low-impact environmental design uses mirrors mounted on individual poles that are placed directly into the ground, allowing the solar field to be built around the natural contours of the land and avoid areas of sensitive vegetation. This design also allows for vegetation to co-exist within the solar field.

Just 187 miles to the north, Secretary Salazar Tuesday approved another big solar energy project - not the largest in the world, but the largest ever to be built on U.S. public lands.

When constructed, the Blythe Solar Power Project will produce up to 1,000 megawatts of solar power, or enough to power up to 750,000 homes.

The project, proposed by Palo Verde Solar I, a subsidiary of Solar Millennium, LLC, will cover 7,025 acres of public lands eight miles west of Blythe in Riverside County, California near the Nevada border. It will be developed jointly by Solar Millennium and Chevron Energy Solutions.

"The Blythe Solar Power Project is a major milestone in our nation's renewable energy economy and shows that the United States intends to compete and lead in the technologies of the future," Secretary Salazar said in signing the Record of Decision.

The Blythe project is expected to create 1,066 jobs at the peak of construction and 295 permanent jobs.

"This project shows in a real way how harnessing our own renewable resources can create good jobs here at home," said Salazar.

The Blythe Solar Power Project uses parabolic trough technology with rows of parabolic mirrors focusing solar energy on collector tubes. The tubes carry heated oil to a boiler, which sends live steam to a turbine to produce electricity.

A new 230 kilovolt transmission line will be constructed to connect the Blythe Solar Project to the Devers-Palo Verde #2 500 kV line at the Colorado River substation.

With the approval of the Blythe project, the six solar projects approved on BLM public lands since the first such approval on October 1 have the potential to generate up to 2800 megawatts of renewable energy.

"That's enough to power up to two million homes," said Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey. "We have truly arrived at America's new energy frontier."