AmeriScan: April 12, 2001

NEW FOREST SERVICE CHIEF NAMED

WASHINGTON, DC, April 12, 2001 (ENS) - Long time U.S. Forest Service employee Dale Bosworth was appointed today as the new chief of the Forest Service.

"Dale Bosworth is a veteran forester who has devoted his career to the Forest Service," said Agriculture Department Secretary Ann Veneman. "His background and experience will make him a great addition to our team. I am pleased to announce his selection as the 15th chief of USDA's Forest Service."

Bosworth now serves as regional forester for the Forest Service's Northern Region, which encompasses 25 million acres in 12 national forests and four grasslands in northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and northwestern South Dakota. As Forest Service chief, Bosworth will oversee an organization of over 30,000 employees and a budget of $4.6 billion.

"I'm deeply honored to be asked to be chief of the Forest Service," Bosworth said. "It will be a pleasure to lead an organization whose employees are recognized for their dedication, professionalism, and leadership in natural resource management."

The appointment, "leaves us hopeful that the American people will continue to have a voice in the fate of our national forests," commented William Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. As northern regional forester, Bosworth "demonstrated a willingness to meet with conservationists," Meadows said.

"It is our hope that inclusiveness will also characterize his tenure as Chief of the Forest Service, and that the strong land conservation values of the majority of Americans will be represented in decisions about our national forests," added Meadows.

The Heritage Forest Campaign expressed caution. "The only way to know whether Dale Bosworth¹s selection for Forest Service Chief is a good choice will be if he recommends that the Bush Administration upholds the Roadless Area Conservation Rule," said Jane Danowitz, the Campaign's director. "We¹ll know that on May 4th, when the Bush Administration will announce its position on this historic forest conservation policy."

Prior to his current assignment, Bosworth was the regional forester in the Intermountain Region and deputy regional forester in the Pacific Southwest Region of the Forest Service. He also has worked as a forest supervisor and district ranger.

BUSH ADMINISTRATION LETS APPLIANCE EFFICIENCY RULE STAND

WASHINGTON, DC, April 12, 2001 (ENS) - The Bush administration has decided to let stand proposed energy efficiency standards for water heaters and clothes washers.

The proposed air conditioner standard, which was approved during the Clinton administration, requires new models to be 30 percent more efficient than the current minimum standard. The rule was one of dozens suspended by the incoming Bush administration for further review.

Environmental Defense praised the Bush administration's decision and urged new efficiency standards for other appliances be approved as well.

"Increased energy efficiency protects the environment and saves people money by reducing their electricity bills," said Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp. "A matching effort on air conditioners will help clean air, save money and slow global warming. The administration's decision on higher efficiency standards for water heaters and clothes washers is a good one."

Conservation groups feared the Bush administration would opt to overturn the proposed rule under pressure from the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, the industry's trade association, which favored a smaller, 20 percent boost in efficiency.

"At a time when concerns about the U.S. economy and rising energy costs are growing, the administration should move swiftly to improve the energy efficiency of air conditioners as well. Increasing energy efficiency is one of the best way to protect our nation's environment and economy," added Krupp. "These programs can keep the lights on as concerns about rolling blackouts increase, while reducing the use of polluting technologies that warm the globe and fill the lungs with dangerous particulates."

NEW JERSEY LAB SENTENCED FOR FAKING GASOLINE TESTS

WASHINGTON, DC, April 12, 2001 (ENS) - A New Jersey testing laboratory was sentenced today to a $1 million dollar fine and three years of probation for its part in a conspiracy to falsify tests of hundreds of millions of gallons of reformulated gasoline.

The testing laboratory, Caleb Brett USA, Inc., pleaded guilty in September 2000 to one count of conspiracy to make false statements to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, based on the conduct of certain managers.

The managers were involved in covering up a scheme in which lab testing data on samples of reformulated gasoline (RFG) was changed to make it appear that the gasoline complied with EPA standards for the cleaner burning fuel. As a result, an estimated 200 million to 300 million gallons of gasoline distributed in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area from 1995 through 1997 were certified to meet RFG pollution standards when in fact they did not.

The case is part of government's ongoing investigation into a long running scheme to falsify laboratory reports on multimillion gallon batches of petroleum products, including RFG.

In January, a federal grand jury in Newark handed down an 11 count indictment in connection with the conspiracy to falsify lab results, charging Richard Kaminski, the former president of Caleb Brett, USA; Inc.; Blending, Marketing and Services, Inc., a Houston based gasoline blending company; and Blending's president, Waldo Schroeder, and its operations manager, Mark Schroeder.

In September 1999 and September 2000, six supervisors from Caleb Brett's Linden, New Jersey facility pleaded guilty to their involvement in either the coverup or the underlying falsification scheme.

Caleb Brett is an independent testing laboratory for the petroleum industry. It samples petroleum products and provides analyses to meet commercial and regulatory specifications. Its customers include petroleum suppliers and blenders.

RUTGERS PHYSICISTS TACKLE PLUTONIUM COMPLEXITIES

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey, April 12, 2001 (ENS) - Three physicists have devised the first reliable method to predict the physical properties of plutonium, an important step towards the safe long term storage of plutonium.

As stockpiles of plutonium based nuclear weapons age, their reliability and safety come into question.

In a paper appearing in today's issue of the journal "Nature," the three researchers, all from Rutgers University, present a novel electronic structure method for predicting stability changes in plutonium. The physicists include Sergej Savrasov, a postdoctoral associate; Gabriel Kotliar, professor of physics; and Elihu Abrahams, director of the Center for Materials Theory.

Plutonium is regarded even by scientists as a complex and mysterious element, rare in nature, and made by humans for the first time in 1940.

"Just as water has phases - liquid, solid and gaseous - so does plutonium," explained Kotliar. "In plutonium, there are many more solid phases, ranging from a dense and unstable alpha phase to a much more extended and stable delta phase. The potential decomposition into the unstable phase over time is a matter of concern in old, stored nuclear warheads, where this could ultimately result in changes in the mass that could lead to a chain reaction."

"We employed analytical and computer calculations to predict changes in the structure of the solid states of plutonium," said Kotliar. "We felt a strong need for theoretical methods that are accurate. This element is far too toxic for extensive experimental procedures in the laboratory, and the use of theoretical methods is mandatory if we are to deal with problems over long time scales. Experimental methods do not work for predicting changes 100 years into the future."

In developing its new method, the team employed Rutgers' High Performance Computing Cluster and a Department of Energy supercomputer. The researchers can now predict volume and stability changes in plutonium while gaining insights into where and when the transition between the alpha and delta phases occurs and under what conditions.

"We are dealing with an extremely delicate balance between the two phases, and which one wins and when this happens is information that is necessary to assure the safe storage of this important material," added Kotliar.

SYNTHETIC CLAY REMOVES RADIUM FROM WATER, SOIL

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania, April 12, 2001 (ENS) - An inexpensive, synthetic clay may one day help provide radium free drinking water and clean up radium contaminated mine and mill tailings, says a Penn State researcher.

Radium, a natural decay product of uranium, is often found in the southwestern U.S. where large deposits of uranium are mined, but is also present in many other areas in rocks and soils. Coal and phosphate processing also produce tailings that contain radium.

Federal regulations limit the amount of radium in drinking water to five pico Curies per liter of water. A pico Curie is a trillionth of a Curie and is a million times less than the radiation produced by the radium on a wristwatch face.

Current methods to remove radium are complicated and expensive.

Dr. Sridhar Komarneni, professor of clay mineralogy both with Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and Materials Research Institute, worked with Naofumi Kozai, a visiting scientist from the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute and William Paulus, master's degree recipient, now at General Motors Corporation, to test a variety of synthetic micas for radium removal. The team found that sodium-4 mica was the best synthetic clay for this purpose.

Their work appears in today's issue of the journal "Nature."

The synthetic mica contains tiny spaces that can capture water and radium. When the mica is filled with radium, a shift in the layers occurs and the atoms of radium are trapped between the layered structure.

"Once the radium is trapped, it will not leave the mica," said Komarneni. "Disposal and storage requirements would then depend only on the radioactivity of the material and not whether radium could leach out of the clay. Very low level radioactive clay could simply be buried."

"Clays are already being synthesized for cosmetics, pigments and catalyst substrates," Komarneni said. "The cost of manufacture is probably around $2 per pound."

To immobilize radium from mine or mill tailings, simply mixing the clay with the tailings is sufficient. The clay could also line ponds that receive radium containing tailing water to prevent migration from the pond, or clay curtains around tailings could keep the radium inside.

GULF WAR VETERANS REPORT MORE ILL HEALTH

ALBERTA, Canada, April 12, 2001 (ENS) - Gulf war veterans are twice as likely to report ill health as other service men and women, finds research in the current issue of "Occupational and Environmental Medicine."

The numbers of inoculations and days spent handling pesticides were linked to specific symptoms in these veterans, said Dr. Nicola Cherry of the University of Alberta, Canada.

Seven years after the war, more than 14,000 service men and women, almost 5,000 of whom had not been deployed in the Gulf, completed questionnaires about recent health. The questionnaires requested information on 95 symptoms and included two mannequins on which respondents were asked to indicate areas of pain, numbness and tingling.

Every symptom, from tiredness to convulsions, was reported more often by the Gulf war veterans. Psychological, peripheral, respiratory, digestive symptoms and difficulties with concentration were significantly worse in the veterans. Symptoms suggestive of nerve damage and widespread pain were about twice as common.

Disproportionate numbers of veterans were found among the three clusters with the most severe symptoms; fewer than one in 10 of those who had not been to the Gulf were in these groups. There was no evidence that the veterans smoked or drank more than other service personnel, factors which might have accounted for subsequent ill health.

The authors also assessed levels of exposure to a number of substances, including preventive drugs and vaccines, pesticides and smoke from oil burning fires in almost 8,000 service men and women deployed in the Gulf.

The results showed that severity of symptoms was linked to numbers of inoculations, time spent handling pesticides, and the days exposed to smoke from oil burning fires. Inoculations were associated with higher scores for skin and musculoskeletal complaints, while pesticide handling was associated with higher scores for neurological problems and symptoms of toxic nerve damage.

There have been no excess deaths or hospital admissions among the veterans, Dr. Cherry said, but symptoms in a substantial group of veterans suggest a "significant decline in health."

AIR FORCE BASE BECOMES FIRST TO USE BIODIESEL

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, April 12, 2001 (ENS) - Scott Air Force Base announced this week it will become the first U.S. Air Force base to use biodiesel in all of its diesel vehicles.

The program at Scott, located in Illinois about 30 miles east of St. Louis, will serve as a model for other military bases to begin using the alternative fuel next year.

Biodiesel is a clean burning fuel made from soybean and other oils. Although biodiesel contains no petroleum products, it can be blended with conventional diesel at any level.

This May, Scott is scheduled to begin using B20, a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel, in 270 ground vehicles. It will not be used in planes.

"One of the main reasons we're using biodiesel is to meet the government's goals of reducing emissions and reducing dependence on foreign oil," said Master Sergeant Ron Guay. "We like biodiesel because there's no need to make modifications to our vehicles or infrastructure, and our mechanics need no additional training."

Biodiesel offers similar performance to diesel, with similar cetane and BTU content. It offers excellent lubricity and is the safest of all fuels to use, handle and store.

"I don't anticipate any problems whatsoever," Guay said. "Millions of gallons of biodiesel have already been tested and used in the real world by real fleets."

Biodiesel is registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a fuel and fuel additive. It is the only alternative fuel to have passed the rigorous Health Effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act.

Those test results show biodiesel reduces carcinogenic air toxics by 75 percent to 90 percent compared to petroleum diesel. The results, submitted to the EPA in 2000, also show biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable and free of sulfur.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CALLS FOR CONSERVATION

LOS ANGELES, California, April 12, 2001 (ENS) - Conservation of all natural resources, including water and power, is the key to helping get through this summer with fewer energy rolling blackouts, California officials say.

That message - along with a long list of conservation tips - is being delivered to southern California businesses and consumers on local cable stations airing as this week through a program offered by the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

This latest episode of the Metropolitan produced video news magazine, "Straight From the Tap," features interviews with Thomas Decker, Chamber acting president, and MWD general manager Ronald Gastelum.

"We are pleased to partner with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and bring businesses and consumers this important conservation message," said Adan Ortega Jr., senior executive assistant to the general manager at MWD. "Reducing energy and water use is the key to helping the supply/demand balance, especially this summer. By combining our efforts, we can make a difference."

The episode, titled "Doing More About Using Less," also spotlights Stephen Frank, chair and chief executive officer of Southern California Edison, and Edwin Guiles, chair of the Southern California Gas Co.

"People don't realize how much power it takes to move water through the hundreds of miles of aqueducts and dams that bring supplies to Southern California," Ortega said. "Good water conservation practices can translate into significant energy savings for the entire region."

Over the last decade, MWD has invested more than $220 million in regional conservation programs, including incentives for businesses, industries and institutions to install water saving fixtures and systems, and replace water guzzling equipment like toilets and washing machines.