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Fish Agency Must Analyze Longline Impact on Turtles, Birds SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 22, 2003 (ENS) - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act by authorizing longline fishing off California without analyzing the fishery's impacts on endangered sea turtles and seabirds.The appeals court ruling, filed Thursday, reversed a previous decision by a district court judge that no such analysis was required. All six species of sea turtles in U.S. waters are listed as either endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by the nonprofit, public interest law firm Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network, two environmental groups working to protect endangered marine life from destructive and wasteful fishing practices. The lawsuit was the first ever regarding the High Seas Fishing Compliance Act of 1995, a law that requires U.S. fishermen to comply with international treaties when fishing on the high seas. After previous litigation shut down the Hawaii based longline fishery for swordfish in November 1999, some three dozen longline vessels relocated from Hawaii to southern California. The California longline fleet fishes for swordfish using monofilament lines up to 30 miles long that carry thousands of hooks. In addition to the fish they target, the longlines ensnare the critically endangered leatherback turtle, as well as loggerhead, olive ridley, and green sea turtles. Each year the longliners entangle marine mammals, seabirds such as albatross, and thousands of sharks. This case presents the question of whether the issuance of fishing permits by the Fisheries Service pursuant to the High Seas Fishing Compliance Act invokes the consultation requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the court wrote. The Compliance Act entrusts the Fisheries Service with "substantial discretion" to condition permits for the benefit of listed species, the judges wrote. The question is not whether the service "must" place conditions on permits to the benefit of federally listed endangered species, but whether the Compliance Act gives "sufficient discretion" so that the agency "could" condition permits to benefit listed species, they explained in their ruling. "We hold that the statute confers such discretion and because it does so, the ESA requires that the Fisheries Service conduct consultation to assess the potential impact to protected species," the appeals court ruled. Deborah Sivas of Earthjustice said that the agency should move "quickly" to come into compliance with the Compliance Act which prohibits permitting of activity that "undermines the effectiveness of international conservation and management measures." "Rather than comply with the Hawaiian injunction, the longliners chose to move their operations to California, where state and federal regulators turned a blind eye to their violations of the ESA," said Brendan Cummings, an attorney who argued the case on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity. "The time has finally come for this illegal and highly destructive fishery to be closed." "The giant, Pacific leatherback is on the verge of extinction due to commercial fishing operations," said Peter Fugazzotto, communications director, Turtle Island Restoration Network. "If we don't modify our fishing activities, the ancient leatherback, which out-survived the dinosaurs, may be the first of many species to disappear forever, including the many overfished species of fish on which we depend on for food." In 1980 it was estimated that there were 126,000 adult female leatherbacks in the eastern Pacific alone, scientists now estimate that there are less than 3,000 leatherbacks of both genders left in the eastern Pacific. Western Pacific nesting populations of leatherbacks have also been devastated, and are near extinction. The Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network, along with over 100 environmental and sportfishing organizations and over 400 leading scientists from 50 nations have called upon the United Nations to ban longlining in the Pacific to prevent the extinction of the leatherback sea turtle and numerous species of albatross. View the decision online here: http://www.earthjustice.org/news/documents/8-03/seaturtleopinion.pdf
Coast Guard Boards Illegal Longliner Vessel JACKSONVILLE, Florida, August 22, 2003 (ENS) - The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kingfisher boarded a 50 foot longliner fishing vessel Wednesday night after observing the crew allegedly fishing inside an area off the coast of Florida that is closed to fishing.The crew of the cutter Kingfisher and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries agents seized more than 900 pounds of golden tilefish from the suspect vessel. "Fisheries stocks are a finite resource that are placed in jeopardy by illegal fishing," said Lt. Cmdr. Scott Rogers, chief of fisheries enforcement for the Seventh Coast Guard District. "With our interagency partnerships and regular monitoring of these sensitive areas, we will continue to provide protection to our national resources." The vessel - called the Christopher Joe and home ported in Ft. Pierce, Florida - was spotted in the Oculina Bank, a sanctuary closed to fisheries since 1984. Oculina Bank supports a diverse ecosystem comparable to tropical reefs, and with many species of commercial and recreational fish found in its waters, it is a tempting spot for fishers. But intense fishing from the 1960s through the mid-1980s took a heavy toll on the area, and fishing gear that is dragged along the bottom has devastated some of its coral. The 35 square mile area is now closed to trawling, dredging, longlining and trapping. The Kingfisher crew escorted the Christopher Joe and its crew to Port Canaveral, Florida, where the evidence was turned over to the NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement. The master of the vessel has been cited for fishing violations, and the evidence package obtained in this seizure has been forwarded to NOAA Fisheries, who will determine if a formal Notice of Violation will be issued.
U.S. Importing Old Growth Indonesian Hardwood SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 22, 2003 (ENS) - Forest activists say a new shipment of old growth, tropical hardwood from Indonesia slipped into the United States on August 5 through the port of Hampton Roads in Norfolk, Virginia.According to the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the wood arrived as part of a reduced impact logging (RIL) pilot program, which the U.S. government describes as a timber harvesting method that limits residual damage and degradation of forest sites. But RAN says the program benefits U.S. corporate interests and Indonesian timber barons. The conservation group contends that the shipment is the latest marketing ploy to greenwash the sale of lauan, an endangered Indonesian hardwood also marketed as meranti. The RIL certification program is "little more than an elaborate means by which to systematically document the destruction of Earth's remaining old growth rainforests," said Jennifer Krill, old growth campaign director for RAN. Documents released by the RIL pilot program partnership indicate that the August 5 shipment was logged from PT Suka Jaya Makmur, a cut block nearly twice the size permitted under a 1999 Indonesian law. The holding company, Alas Kusuma Group, has documented ties with the former dictator's regime and his timber cartel, many of which remain major players in the country's corrupt timber trade. The RIL program does not require PT Suka Jaya Makmur to either protect endangered forests within its concession, or to ensure prior and informed consent of local communities before logging their ancestral land. "You can not save endangered rainforests by logging them, selectively or otherwise," said Krill. In October, the RIL pilot program is scheduled to begin its second phase by attempting to convince retailers to sell American consumers tropical hardwood from old growth forests that conservationists say should be permanently protected. RAN has called on American purchasers such as Home Depot and Georgia-Pacific to stop buying wood products from Indonesia until both endangered forests and human rights there are protected. And the environmental group and its allies want to rally support for Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's May 13, 2002 call for a moratorium on logging in Indonesia until processes are put in place to protect endangered rainforests and secure the rights of indigenous people to their ancestral homelands. "U.S. ports should be closed to Indonesian wood until their rainforests are protected and human rights are respected," said Krill said.
Army Corps' Mississippi River Economic Models Blasted WASHINGTON, DC, August 22, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published a preliminary evaluation of a massive public works project using economic models that have not been peer reviewed and must be withdrawn, according to a complaint filed Thursday with the Department of Defense (DOD) by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).The watchdog group says that contrary to new Data Quality Act standards, the Corps is relying upon proprietary economic models to support its plans to construct new, expanded locks throughout the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System. The Data Quality Act requires each federal agency to develop "administrative mechanisms" for "ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity and integrity of information" it disseminates to the public. Under DQA guidelines, scientific material and economic models lacking independent peer review are not objective. PEER says the Corps has not taken steps to comply with the Data Quality Act, despite an October 1, 2002 deadline for all federal agencies to finalize their own guidelines in compliance with the law. In its latest study status update published August 7, the Corps announced a preliminary evaluation of infrastructure "improvements" prior to its plans to engage the National Academy of Sciences for peer review of its economic models, which will not be completed until mid-2004. Data Quality Act regulations require independent review before public release of any such information. "Under the Data Quality Act, the Corps should not be disseminating, let alone relying on, these economic models until they have been independently reviewed and their results can be substantiated and replicated," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, an attorney. "Given its checkered history, the Corps should be bending over backwards to get the Upper Mississippi plan right instead of, once again, rushing to reach a political conclusion that does not match economic reality," Ruch said. The Pentagon has 60 days to make its determination regarding Corps compliance with the Data Quality Act.
Feds and Kentucky Agree on Uranium Fuel Plant Cleanup WASHINGTON, DC, August 22, 2003 (ENS) – The federal Energy Department and the state of Kentucky have signed an agreement to accelerate cleanup at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Kentucky.The only operating uranium enrichment facility in the United States, the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It is leased and operated by the United States Enrichment Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of USEC Inc. The plant employs about 1,400 people and produces low-enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants in the United States and around the world. Under the agreement, sources of groundwater contamination at the plant that are contributing to off-site contamination will be removed. Inactive facilities at the site will decommissioned and decontaminated. Any necessary mitigating actions at the on-site burial grounds will be investigated, and contaminated soils at the plant will be characterized and removed. As outlined in the letter of intent (LOI) signed Wednesday, the parties will work to complete cleanup activities at the plant by 2019 and have identified strategic initiatives to accelerate this date. The DOE has agreed to pay a $1 million penalty for Notices of Violations issued by the state for hazardous waste infractions. The DOE has also agreed to spend $200,000 for environmental improvement projects near the plant. Kentucky Governor Paul Patton, who signed the letter of intent, said, “I believe that we have now achieved the progress necessary for the environmental cleanup of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The LOI and the Agreed Orders to follow set the projects and the timetables in place so that accelerated cleanup can now move forward.” The cleanup will follow a two phase approach with the first phase focused on the highest priorities at the plant. The letter of intent provides for enforceable deadlines for the Energy Department to complete the cleanup work in the first phase, ranging from 2010 to 2019. The second phase will address the balance of work necessary to protect human health and the environment. Some cleanup during this phase may not begin until after the plant ceases operation. The state and DOE have agreed to begin negotiations for the second phase six months prior to the plant shutdown to establish enforceable deadlines. “This agreement provides the framework necessary to accelerate cleanup and it is a major step to effectively reduce health risks and expedite the environmental cleanup of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant,” said Jessie Roberson, DOE assistant secretary of environmental management. “Working with the states and regulatory agencies, DOE is proposing a new way of doing business, leading to greater accountability, responsibility, and opportunities for both the department and the state.” The letter of intent calls for the state and federal agencies to negotiate and sign an agreed order by September 15, to completely resolve the enforcement and compliance issues. After the agreed orders are reached, the DOE will notify Congress that the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant should be considered eligible for additional cleanup funding. “This accelerated cleanup agreement will accomplish results in a manner that is safe, protective of human health and the environment, and in compliance with state and federal environmental laws,” Roberson said. The parties have agreed to seek the Environmental Protection Agency’s agreement and cooperation with respect to implementation of the cleanup measures. This letter of intent was developed under the DOE's Environmental Cleanup Reform Initiative to resolve all outstanding violations and compliance issues, whereby DOE works with states and regulators to address health and environmental cleanup issues. This initiative is designed to accelerate the pace of cleanup to reduce the greatest health and environmental risks at national laboratories, nuclear weapons production sites and research and test facilities. COLLEGE PARK, Maryland, August 22, 2003 (ENS) - While croplands may provide more food than forests, a new study finds they do not offer much relief from hot tropical climes. U.S. scientists used National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellites and computer models to study Santa Cruz, Bolivia and determined that cutting down tropical forests and converting grasslands to crops may inadvertently warm those local areas. According to the research, forest canopies create wind turbulence that cools the air, and native grasslands are better adapted to the tropics than crops, in ways that also have a cooling effect. Used a computer model, University of Maryland researcher Lahouari Bounoua, showed that temperatures in January may have warmed on average by about one degree Fahrenheit in the last 25 years, solely because native forests and grasslands in Santa Cruz were replaced with crops. "It is important to understand the effects of changing land cover in the tropics, because unlike the past, future deforestation is likely to occur in tropical and sub-tropical regions," said Bounoua. The Santa Cruz region has one of the highest rates of concentrated deforestation in the world over the last 20 years, according to a recent study by the study's coauthor and NASA researcher Marc Steininger. According to the computer model, in places where tropical forest species were replaced by crops, nighttime temperatures dropped slightly, while daytime local temperatures rose by 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or two degrees Celsius. Forests have high canopies with varied surfaces, and the movement of winds over these rough surfaces creates turbulence and cools the air. Low, even croplands on the other hand create less turbulence from winds and do not cool the air as much, the researchers found. When grasslands were replaced by crops in the model, warming occurred because crops were only about half as efficient with water as the drought-adapted local grasses and therefore transpired less. Transpiration is a daytime process where water evaporates from the leaves during photosynthesis and cools the air. Bounoua's simulated one degree Fahreneheit rise in average monthly temperature agreed with historical records acquired from a weather station in Santa Cruz over the same time period. The researchers' paper appeared in the current issue of the "Journal of Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics."
Alaska's First Known Active Undersea Volcano Mapped ANCHORAGE, Alaska, August 22, 2003 (ENS) - An ocean engineering, surveying and mapping company has successfully mapped Alaska's first known active undersea volcano. The volcano lies in the northwest portion of Amchitka Pass, southeast of Semisopochnoi Island in the Aleutians.First discovered in 2002 by biologists with the National Marine Fisheries Service, the unnamed volcano was found to be geologically active. The fisheries service says its presence in an area traversed by fishing vessels and ships makes monitoring the volcano important. If the volcano did erupt, it could produce a new island in the Aleutian chain, which arcs from southwestern Alaska to Siberia. An eruption could also affect local fisheries, either from lava or ash breaking the sea surface or from gaseous waters creating conditions that could sink vessels. The federal agency contracted Thales GeoSolutions to help with the mapping of the area. The company worked with federal and academic scientists to conduct the mapping from the research vessel. A combination of multibeam echo sounders were used to produce maps of the volcano and surrounding sea floor, which are more detailed than existing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) charts. Scientists have long suspected that undersea volcanoes exist along the Aleutian Island chain. This latest mapping expedition was the first civilian use of modern undersea mapping systems and navigation for research purposes in this vast region of the Aleutians. Scientists believe there may be as many as one million mostly extinct volcanoes on the Pacific Ocean floor, roughly 750 times the number on dry land. Underwater volcanoes, called seamounts, occur throughout the ocean wherever magma, melted rock inside the Earth, rises to the sea floor and erupts. When eruptions occur along cracks in the sea floor, lava flows away from the cracks, building up the sea bottom. Some 80 percent of all active volcanoes in the United States and eight percent of all active volcanoes above water are in Alaska.
Boulder to Spray, not Fog, for Mosquitoes BOULDER, Colorado, August 22, 2003 (ENS) - To date, 293 human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain state leads the nation in virus infections in humans, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. There have been 772 cases of the virus reported across the country.Today in Boulder County alone, 10 new cases of the disease were reported, and so far this summer eight Coloradans have died from the disease. The CDC, the Colorado Public Health and Environment Department, and the Boulder County Public Health Department have requested that the City of Boulder spray pesticide for adult mosquitoes throughout the city. But the city, a center for environmentally concerned people who oppose widespread pesticide spraying, announced a plan today to spray only targeted areas to control the vector species specifically, not the entire mosquito population. Permanone, with the active ingredient permethrin, and Prentox, with the active ingredient resmethrin, will be used. To limit the harmful effects of pesticides on human health and the environment, the city has a policy of making pesticides an option of last resort. This summer, the nearby cities of Louisville and Longmont have conducted widespread spraying, known as fogging, at night when mosquitoes are prevalent. "We appreciate the ongoing assistance from local, state and federal health officials and the level of concern with this life threatening disease," said City Manager Frank Bruno. "We believe the approach we are taking by implementing a spray program in targeted areas is the responsible thing to do given the circumstances. We'll be monitoring the situation closely over the next three weeks or until health officials tell us the West Nile season has passed." Within the city limits, traps will be set to monitor for the vector species, Culex tarsalis and Culex pipiens, the city said in a statement. Targeted spraying will take place in those areas where high concentrations of the vector species are found. These areas will receive phone notifications 48 hours before the planned spray. As with the Boulder County spraying program, residents will be given a number they can call to request that the area in front of their house not be sprayed. Monitoring will begin Saturday evening and spraying is expected to begin as soon as Tuesday. In addition, the city of Boulder has decided to allow the annual Labor Day weekend Rez Fest at the Boulder Reservoir to take place during morning and evening hours as planned. City officials were concerned about the threat of West Nile Virus to festival goers during dusk and dawn when mosquitoes feed. Instead of closing the festival during those hours, the city recommends that participants take personal precautions such as wearing long sleeved shirts, pants and socks, and using insect repellent. Prior to the event, the city will continue with larval control in the area, mow and conduct targeted insecticide spraying on city lands around the reservoir. "We've decided to allow the festival to go as scheduled, but will provide participants with insect repellent products and very clear warnings that West Nile Virus is present in mosquitoes," said Bruno. "We strongly encourage everyone, especially those with an immunodeficiency problem, to protect themselves." Health officials advise people to wear long sleeved shirts and long pants when outside at dawn and dusk. Use insect repellent containing DEET, they say, and advise that people spray clothing if they do not want to spray their skin. |
