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Army Delays Alabama Chemical Weapons Incineration ANNISTON, Alabama, August 6, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Army agreed Tuesday to delay incineration of chemical weapons stocks at its Anniston, Alabama facility until Friday. The move comes as environmentalists are seeking a restraining order to prevent the Army from firing up the incinerator.The depot in Anniston contains more than 2,000 tons of weapons, some of which contain sarin, VX and other nerve agents. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson had first proposed that the hearing on the restraining order take place Friday, but the Army rejected that request and the hearing was set for Tuesday. The motion for a restraining order was filed by the Chemical Weapons Working Group and others on the basis that citizens in and around Anniston will suffer irreparable harm if the incinerator is allowed to operate. This is supported by the affidavits of several local residents who say they have not received sufficient protective equipment from the government as promised, and who are already suffering ill health from previous exposure to PCBs and chemical agents. At the hearing a Department of Justice attorney, representing the Army, interrupted plaintiff attorney Richard Condit's opening argument and stated to the Judge that he had just received authorization to agree to a Friday hearing. In addition, the Army has agreed to refrain from moving forward with any disposal operations or associated activities until Friday after the Judge has ruled on the motion. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management issued its final approval late last month to allow the Army to burn the 2,253 tons of chemical warfare agent stored in Anniston. More than 100, 000 people live within 30 miles of the Army facility and many are fearful of possible exposure to chemical agents from the incineration. The plaintiffs in the case say the Army should use safer, non-incineration technologies that can prevent uncontrolled release of chemical agent into the environment. Those safer methods will be used to destroy chemical weapons at four other U.S. stockpile sites. "The dangers associated with incineration are clear, and the Anniston community should not be expected to bear that burden when there is a safer, faster alternative," said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group. "All we have heard from the Army this past week, is how the risk of stockpile storage is so great that they can not wait to start burning, even though much of the community is completely unprepared in the event of a chemical agent incident," said Anniston resident David Christian. "That argument simply does not hold any water, and we look forward to present all the evidence to the judge on Friday."
Critical Habitat Proposed for Peirson's Milkvetch ALGODONES DUNES, California, August 6, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed that 52,870 acres of the 160,000 Algodones Dunes be designated critical habitat for the survival and recovery of the Peirson's milkvetch. The species, which is found only in the Algodones Dunes, is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.Primary habitat components that provide for the conservation of the plant and its seed bank include intact, active sand dune systems, soils that discourage the growth of creosote bush, and wind-formed slopes of less than 30 degrees. The Fish and Wildlife Service will accept comments on the proposed rule through October 6, 2003 and is expected to finalize the rule and designate critical habitat within a year. "The Service is actively soliciting public comments on the proposal," said Steve Thompson, manager of the agency's California/Nevada Operations Office. "In addition, we will also be submitting the proposal for independent peer review in accordance with our commitment to ensuring the best science is used in designating critical habitat." Conservationists welcomed the announcement but remain concerned about a Recreation Area Management Plan (RAMP) due to be finalized this summer by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees the Algodones Dunes. "It has been shown that species with critical habitat less likely to decline and twice as likely to be recovering as those without." said Daniel R. Patterson, desert ecologist with Center for Biological Diversity. "This proposal is a fair start and should be expanded." Located in the Sonoran desert of southeastern California's Imperial County, the Algodones Dunes is the largest dune ecosystem in the United States. It harbors at least 160 different animal and plant species, many of which are endemic, but the Algodones Dunes is one of the nation's most popular off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation in the United States. As many as 240,000 off-roaders use the Dunes on some weekends. When the Peirson's milkvetch was listed under the ESA in 1998, the primary threat cited in the listing was the impact of OHV use. The BLM's plan would open some 50,000 acres of the currently protected dunes habitat - conservation groups are already challenging parts of the plan in court and the Fish and Wildlife acknowledged that the BLM's plan does not address the specific management needs and measures for the Peirson's milkvetch. "We generally support the proposal because of its firm basis in all of the best available science and current conservation biology tenets," said Ileene Anderson, botanist with the California Native Plant Society. "We still have concerns about fragmentation of habitat in the south dunes, the lack of connectivity between critical habitat areas, and a failure to include habitat for recovery purposes."
Banks Postpones Votes on Public Funding for Camisea Gas Project WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2003 (ENS) - For the second time in two weeks, the Board of Executive Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have delayed scheduled votes on the controversial $2.6 billion Camisea Gas Project in Peru. Votes at both banks were expected today but were cancelled due to no consensus.The Export Import Bank is considering more than $200 million in financing for the project, which seeks to develop two natural gas deposits in the Peruvian Amazon and to construct two pipelines to deliver the gas to Lim and Callao, Peru. Whereas the U.S. Export Import Bank is a federal department, the IDB is a multilateral organization with some 27 member countries from the North and South America as well as the Caribbean. It is expected to decide this week whether to provide a $75 million loan for pipeline construction and whether to syndicate an additional $320 million in loans from private banks. The project seeks to tap into reserves of some 13,000 billion cubic feet of gas, but two major investors, Citigroup and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, have turned down funding and financing. Environmental and human rights groups have mounted strong opposition to the natural gas project. A statement from several groups opposed to the Camisea Gas Project said "these decisions send a clear message that the Camisea project as it currently stands is fundamentally flawed." They contend the development shifts the burden and opportunity for leadership to Peru's President Alejandro Toledo. "President Toledo has the opportunity to lead discussions between the concerned organizations and the companies and public banks in order to implement Peruvian civil society's demands and avoid even more devastation for indigenous communities, rainforests and a world-class marine reserve," the groups say. " This will require President Toledo to hear the voices of Peruvian civil society and push back deadlines for project completion." There does appearing to be growing concern about the project in the United States and some opposition to providing any public financing for the project. According to an internal report by the US Export Import Bank, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, proposals to mitigate the environmental impacts of the project are "woefully inadequate" and the project will likely lead to landslides, destroy critical natural habitats, and spread diseases among indigenous peoples. Critics say the project is already scarring the Peruvian Amazon and affecting the Nahua-Kugapakori Reserve - home to previously uncontacted and isolated indigenous populations. Groups are also concerned about an export terminal for Camisea will also be built in the Buffer Zone of the Paracas National Marine Reserve, Peru's only marine sanctuary for endangered birds and mammals.
USDA Tightens Regulations for Biotech Industrial Crops WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture amended its biotechnology regulations Tuesday to require permits for plants that have been genetically modified to produce industrial compounds. USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) says the new permit process reflects the growing complexity of new biotech crops and is designed to prevent accidental contamination of food crops.Previously, APHIS allowed companies and institutions to field test, move or import plants genetically engineered to produce industrial compounds under its notification process. Now anyone wishing to move, field test or import these types of engineered plants must apply for a permit from APHIS. Environmentalists and food groups support the rule, but are keen for the government to enact stricter regulation of crops genetically modified for industrial or medicinal use. The agency now says that recent requests involving biotech industrial plants "have utilized new, less familiar processes and non-food, non-feed traits that no longer qualify for the notification process." The rule covers plants modified for industrial uses, which the USDA says include but are not limited to, detergent manufacturing, paper production, and mineral recovery. "This interim rule strengthens APHIS' regulations for field testing of genetically engineered industrial plants in anticipation of an increase in requests to move, import or field test these types of plants," according to the agency. APHIS reports that since 1993, only five companies and two public sector organizations have submitted notifications or applied for permits to introduce plants producing industrial compounds. From 1993 to 2001, nine notifications of introductions of plant-made industrials were accepted by APHIS - in 2003 five permit applications for introductions of plant-made industrials have been received by the agency. The agency acknowledged that it now could take entities up to four months for each plant made industrial compound introduction to be approved. The interim rule, which is effective as of today, is open for public comment through October 6, 2003.
Enviros Criticize Interior Solicitor's Ethics WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2003 (ENS) - Two environmental groups filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics Tuesday alleging that Interior Department Solicitor William Myers met with former clients in violation of an ethics agreement.Prior to his appointment as the Department of the Interior's top lawyer, Myers was the executive director of Public Lands Council and represented the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the American Sheep Industry Association and the American Farm Bureau. All of these groups have dealings with the Interior Department - in particular in regards to grazing issues. Myers executed a recusal agreement effective July 2001 barring him from participating in any matters involving his former clients or former employer for one year. Friends of the Earth and PEER say Myers "met several times during the recusal period" with a number of his former clients and with representatives of his former law firm. "With Mr. Myers running the Solicitor's Office, not only is the fox guarding the henhouse, the fox is also in charge of counting the eggs," said PEER General Counsel Dan Meyer who prepared the complaint. "Federal range managers are reporting to PEER repeated instances when the Office of the Solicitor under Myers is preventing them from enforcing range conservation protections." Interior Department Press Secretary Mark Pfeifle told ENS that the environmentalists are shooting in the dark. Only nine of the 27 meetings mentioned in the complaint occurred during the recusal period, Pfeifle says, and none of them violated the agreement. The complaint has "no facts, no basis," Pfeifle said, "and there is no story." But environmentalists are convinced that there is more than just the appearance of conflict of interest in the case of Myers. "Apparently recusal agreements do not mean very much at the Department of the Interior," said Kristen Sykes, who oversees the Interior Department for Friends of the Earth. "Myers is one of a string of political appointees at the Interior Department who seem to put the financial well-being of their former clients above the protection of our public lands." The complaint has been filed with the OGE, which will determine whether Myers violated his recusal agreement and report to the Secretary of Interior. If OGE finds a breach, Interior Secretary Norton will determine the punishment for her top lawyer, with sanctions ranging from a warning to dismissal. Friends of the Earth has also lodged a similar complaint against Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles.
Manatees Afforded Additional Federal Protection WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2003 (ENS) - Three new federal manatee protection areas have been established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The federal agency designated areas in the Florida counties of Lee, Duval, Clay, St. Johns and Volusia as manatee refuges and issued regulations for waterborne activities.Watercraft in the three areas are required to operate at either slow speed or not more than 25 miles per hour in accordance with agency rules. The West Indian manatee, which is the species found in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Caribbean, has been considered endangered since 1967. The species is protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, the 1973 Endangered Species Act and the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978. Estimates find some 3,000 of the animals remaining within the United States. Although habitat loss is the most serious threat to the species, these large, slow moving mammals are susceptible to fast moving boats. A record 95 manatee deaths were linked to boating accidents in 2002. The agency says its decision took into account the dramatic increase in human use of the waters in Florida. The human population of Florida has grown by 146 percent since 1970, from 6.8 million to 16.7 million residents and is expected to exceed 18 million by 2010, and 20 million by 2020. According to a report by the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research (2000), it is expected that, by 2010, 13.7 million people will reside in the 35 coastal counties of Florida. It is also expected that Florida will have 83 million visitors annually by 2020, up from 48.7 million visitors in 1998. The number of registered watercraft has increased 59 percent since 1993. "Because the manatee has a low reproductive rate, a decrease in adult survivorship due to any cause, including watercraft collisions, could contribute to a long-term population decline," according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. "It is believed that a one percent change in adult survival likely results in a corresponding change in the rate of population growth or decline."
Scientists Repeating 80 Year Old Yosemite Wildlife Survey BERKELEY, California, August 6, 2003 (ENS) - Biologists from the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) are reprising a survey of wildlife within Yosemite National Park that was first conducted more than 80 years ago by an earlier generation of scientists from the university.The survey by members of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology follows the same transect - from Yosemite Valley to Mono Lake - as Joseph Grinnell and Tracey Storer in their landmark survey of Sierra Nevada birds and mammals between 1914 and 1920. At the time, Grinnell was director of the museum and a zoology professor at UC Berkeley. The National Park Service last year asked the museum scientists to conduct a new survey, since no complete assessment of park wildlife had been done since Grinnell's day. The team began its work in May. "With this survey, we are hoping to get new baseline data to compare to the Grinnell and Storer surveys early in the 20th century and see if there have been any changes in the abundance or distribution of species in the park," said Yosemite's lead wildlife biologist, Steve Thompson. The park service is committing $41,000 to the survey, Thompson said, while museum staff will donate about twice that amount in time and effort. The survey is part of a National Park Service initiative to inventory and monitor wildlife in the national parks, but it coincides with the museum's wish to commemorate its 100th anniversary with a major project of value to California. By the museum's centennial in 2008, scientists there hope to have resurveyed many of Grinnell's original transects around the state. The survey of over 20 sites in Yosemite will take about three years and involve most museum scientists and several students. Though the study is designed to assess the status of all vertebrates, there are some animals the park is specifically interested in because their status is currently unknown. This list includes a pocket mouse, two species of grasshopper mouse, six species of shrews, six species of chipmunks, and reptiles like the Western fence lizard, Western skink, sagebrush lizard, night snake and sharptailed snake. "We are learning there have been ecological changes within the park that until now we have not been able to document adequately," said Leslie Chow, a UC Berkeley graduate now serving in Yosemite as a research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. "We view the park as relatively pristine because we do not allow logging, but other actions - things like suppressing fires for a hundred years - have had an impact."
EPA-Approved Insect Repellent Clothing Unveiled GREENVILLE, North Carolina, August 6, 2003 (ENS) - Individuals keen to fend off mosquitos may now be able to let their clothing do more of the work. Armed with recent approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), North Carolina based Buzz Off Insect Shield LLC has partnered with catalog giant Orvis to launch a line of insect repellant clothing."We compare the launch of Buzz Off to the revolutionary impact Gore-Tex had when it was first introduced," said Buzz Off Brand Manager Ryan Shadrin. "It is that kind of a seismic change in the way we think of performance clothing." The company says its clothing provides effective protection against mosquitos, ticks, chiggers, spiders, ants, midges, and flies, because of its active ingredient, permethrin. Permethrin is a non-toxic synthetic form of the all-natural insect repellent derived from the chrysanthemum plant but is not effective when applied directly to the skin, because it deactivates and dissipates quickly. The process used by the company tightly binds repellent to the garment, creating an invisible and odorless protective barrier around the wearer. Buzz Off apparel is designed to be effective through more than 25 washings. The technology came from a partnership with the U.S. military - after seven years of joint research and testing, the company found it to be highly effective in repelling mosquitoes and ticks. In addition to the EPA approval, it has been given approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Orvis will sell the apparel through its catalog and retail stores, including its Seattle owned Ex Officio company.
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