• Recordbreaking Alex the Most Northerly Major Hurricane
  
• Motorcycles, Cattle Must Yield to Desert Tortoises
  
• Conservationists Will Sue to Protect Pacific Fisher
  
• Sunny, Windy Arizona Would Win With 20 Percent Renewables
  
• Changes Afoot in Gulf of Maine Marine Ecosystem
  
• Double Hull Oil Tanker Port Calls Up Over Four Years
  
• Army Engineers to Help Restore Iraq Marshlands
  
• Innovative International Solutions Shared Online
  

Recordbreaking Alex the Most Northerly Major Hurricane

Alex, the first hurricane of the 2004 season, blew 120 miles per hour along the North Carolina coast Tuesday, grazing the Outer Banks, but steering clear of the mainland coast as it traveled north.

The nearest large coastal city to 38N latitude is Norfolk, Virginia, but the storm blew out to sea at the last minute late Tuesday without damage to Norfolk at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

Currently, Alex is moving north-northeast out into the Atlantic Ocean, picking up speed. Now located about 800 miles southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland, the storm is packing maximum sustained winds of 120 mph with higher gusts. This makes Alex a Category Three or major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricame Scale, the Hurricane Center says.

North Carolina Governor Mike Easley said, "Hurricane Alex is now headed out to sea after coming perilously close to the North Carolina coast. It appears that damage associated with Alex will be minimal and mostly confined to Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. We currently have no reports of injuries."

Some roads were flooded out and power lines downed especially along the Outer Banks, and the utility companies and road crews are working to restore these services.

As a result of the storm, the Coast Guard warns that aids to navigation should be considered unreliable, as they may have been damaged, moved or may be missing.

"Mariners should use extreme caution when transiting near the Outer Banks and be aware of possible shoaling and shifting of bottom topography," the Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard crews are working throughout the Outer Banks to assess and repair damage caused by the hurricane. Coast Guard assessment and reconstruction teams are evaluating the damage to Coast Guard housing so that over 100 active duty personnel and dependents may return to their homes, after Group Cape Hatteras called for the evacuation of the families Tuesday morning.

A helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City is conducting an aerial survey of the inlets and waterways, and a Coast Guard emergency response team from Elizabeth City is repairing wind and water damage to Coast Guard facilities.

Motorcycles, Cattle Must Yield to Desert Tortoises

In U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Susan Illston struck down biological opinions issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that authorized extensive cattle grazing and off-road vehicle use within the 4.1 million acres of critical desert tortoise habitat located within the larger California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA).

The Service wrote its formal biological opinions in response to management plans issued by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the Conservation Area, a 25 million acre area roughly the size of the state of Virginia.

In two related cases, Judge Illston ruled that the Service had failed to consider the negative effects of the BLM plans on the recovery of endangered species, instead looking only at their survival.

One case brought by the American Motorcycle Association against Interior Secretary Gale Norton, and the other brought by the Center for Biological Diversity against the BLM and the Desert Vipers Motorcycle Club each sought to invalidate the biological opinions - on opposite grounds.

In deciding both cases, Judge Illston ruled that Congressional intent in enacting the Endangered Species Act was clear. "Critical habitat exists to promote the recovery and survival of listed species..."

"Conservation means more than survival; it means recovery," she wrote. "The Court finds that formulating a biological opinion of 'no adverse modification' only where an action affects the value of critical habitat to both the recovery and survival of a species imposes a higher threshold than the statutory language permits."

"The biological opinion itself suggests, and the administrative record confirms, that had the Service considered the impact of the CDCA Plan on recovery alone, it might have made a different finding regarding adverse modification," the judge wrote.

"This is a very important ruling which upholds the recovery intent of the Endangered Species Act, America's most important wildlife conservation law," said Daniel Patterson, ecologist with the plaintiff Center for Biological Diversity, who formerly worked with BLM in the California Desert Conservation Area.

"Critical habitat works," Patterson said, and he believes that now the Fish and Wildlife Service and the BLM "will have to follow the law and the public interest in protecting critical habitat for endangered species recovery, not just survival."

"Recovery means increasing the size of key desert tortoise populations to the point that the species can eventually be removed from the endangered and threatened species list," Patterson explains. "In contrast, survival does not necessarily include any improvement to the health of an endangered species."

"The Court's decision is a critical step in stopping habitat degradation and the killing and crushing of tortoises and their dens by cattle and off-road vehicles," explained Center attorney Brendan Cummings.

By invalidating the biological opinion issued for the CDCA management plans, the remaining question is what activities within desert tortoise critical habitat must be stopped or limited.

"Recovering the desert tortoise will take a maximum effort," said Elden Hughes of the Sierra Club. "Unfortunately, the Bush Administration seems determined to do something less than minimum, but this important ruling will force them to change and follow the law."

The Bush administration's critical habitat policy has been "a self-fulfilling prophecy," the conservation groups say, "refuse to protect critical habitat, then claim critical habitat is not protective." But that policy must now change in view of Judge Illston's ruling, they believe.

Earthjustice attorney Michael Lozeau said, "The federal court's ruling restores Congress' intent that critical habitat, including the desert tortoise critical habitat located in the CDCA, be managed to restore tortoises, not to subsidize grazing cows in the desert or serve as off-road vehicle highways."

Read the ruling online at: http://www.earthjustice.org/news/documents/8-04/CBDvBLMOrder.pdf

Conservationists Will Sue to Protect Pacific Fisher

Sunny, Windy Arizona Would Win With 20 Percent Renewables

The scientific organization says that enacting a national renewable electricity standard requiring that 20 percent of the nation's electricity be produced by renewables by 2020 would create 3,900 jobs in Arizona alone.

The 20 percent standard would generate $1.6 billion in new capital investment and $1.6 billion in savings on energy bills in Arizona, the analysis shows.

"Arizona can use renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy, to produce jobs, save consumers money on their electricity bills and enhance public health, said Jeff Deyette, energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Arizona can harness its tremendous renewable energy potential to benefit the entire state."

Deyette will present the findings of his report at the Southwest Renewable Energy Conference in Flagstaff today.

He found that the 20 percent renewable electricity standard would produce $115 million in property tax revenues for rural communities and $20 million in income for ranchers and rural landowners.

The renewables policy would create 2.6 times more jobs than new natural gas and coal power plants.

"Arizona should be a national leader on renewable energy. The state is currently producing less than one-half of one percent of its electricity from non-hydro renewable energy when much more is possible," said Craig Cox, executive director of the Western Business Coalition for New Energy Technologies.

A national renewable electricity standard of 20 percent by 2020 has been adopted by Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry. If it were enacted into law, Deyette's analysis shows, the annual consumer savings across the country would be nearly $13.8 billion.

U.S. power plant carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming, would be 15 percent lower in 2025 under a national renewable electricity standard of 20 percent by 2020.

The same policy would reduce other pollutants from burning fossil fuels such as nitrogen oxides that produce smog and mercury that harms human health, Deyette says. Increasing renewable energy use would also reduce the environmental impacts of extracting and transporting fossil fuels.

A national renewable electricity standard is a similar policy goal to the one adopted last month by the Western Governors' Association of developing 30,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2015.

Changes Afoot in Gulf of Maine Marine Ecosystem

Cod have given way to the Jonah crab and this shift comes with potential long-term consequences for coastal fisheries, according to a University of Maine research report published in the journal "Ecosystems."

These findings could signal the likelihood of significant biological changes in other heavily fished parts of the world's oceans as well, the researchers said.

"To understand how these changes are accelerating, we looked at archaeological data for coastal Maine over the past 4,500 year," said study coauthor Robert Steneck, professor of marine sciences at the University of Maine. "The long dominance of predators has given way to many species playing 'king of the hill.’"

They found the dramatic reduction in the number of cod and other top predators – largely due to fishing - has overturned the established order of the ecosystem.

"Entire sections of the food web have become so rare that they no longer perform critical ecological functions in the marine community," Steneck said.

When such species as cod were no longer able to perform their function of keeping their prey species in check, the ecosystem entered a new phase marked by abundant sea urchins and a lack of kelp beds.

Urchins ate so much kelp that they created areas known as "urchin barrens" where only low growing algae could survive.

In turn, the harvesting of urchins during the 1990s has led to the re-emergence of kelp beds and the dominance of crabs and lobsters.

The report cites an experiment in which adult urchins were stocked in an area to see if they would survive and reproduce crabs ate most of the urchins.

The concern, Steneck said, is that this food web, or "trophic level," dysfunction is accelerating.

"Ecosystem changes persist for shorter and shorter periods of time because the 'driver' species increasingly fall below functional population densities," he said. "When a threshold is reached, the system changes fundamentally. Everything that came before it is thrown out the window. What this does in the long run is make the system unpredictable."

Double Hull Oil Tanker Port Calls Up Over Four Years

In its statistical report, "Vessel Calls at U.S. Ports, 2003," MARAD states that 64 percent of the tanker calls at U.S. ports in 2003 were by double hull tankers, up from 40 percent four years earlier.

For the period 1999 to 2003, double hull tanker calls increased by 72 percent.

A single hull tanker has only one layer of steel between the oil it is carrying and the water on which it floats. If an accident ruptures the ship's single hull, the oil cargo spills into the water.

A double hull tanker has two layers of steel - an outer hull and an inner hull, separated by several feet of empty space. An impact that ruptures the outer hull might not rupture the inner one, which holds the oil, making a spill less likely.

In the wake of the 11 million gallon Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska in 1989, efforts to hold the oil shipping industry to higher standards resulted in a new law.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 mandated the use of double hulls for new tanker construction and a phase-out period for existing tankers.

Under the law, tankers must meet or exceed double hull specifications by the year 2015. Vessels are being refit to comply, changed to transport non-petroleum products such as grain, or scrapped.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, there have been no spills over one million gallons in the United States since 1990.

Army Engineers to Help Restore Iraq Marshlands

The Corps' Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC), expert in modeling water management in large watershed systems, is developing a reservoir simulation model for Iraq. It will provide real-time simulation of dam management to help U.S. officials and the new Iraqi leadership make the right operational decisions to maintain and update the country's complex system of dams and canals.

"After the invasion, Iraq's dam and infrastructure system was intact, but the institution was in disarray," said HEC Director Darryl Davis. "The Ministry of Water's headquarters building was burned and their ability to manage the complex system of dams and barrages was significantly compromised. This model will provide modern technology for use in both day-to-day operation decisions, and long-term water resource management studies."

The simulation model will provide Ministry of Water officials with the information to make detailed assessments of the consequence of alternative reservoir releases before issuing operation instructions to dam operators.

"Also, other Iraqi agencies, such as the Ministry of Environment, and nongovernmental agencies interested in Marsh restoration, such as the U.S. based Iraq Foundation, will be able to use the model in support of their studies and activities," Davis said.

Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the marshes were once among the world's largest wetlands. Within this 8,000 square mile area, the 5,000 year old culture of the Madan, or Marsh Arabs, developed the first alphabet.

After putting down a rebellion by the Marsh Arabs at the end of the First Gulf War, the Iraqi government made drainage of the marshlands a top priority. An estimated 150,000 people were displaced during this time.

By 1999, the marshlands had been reduced to seven percent of their original size. Many endemic species were lost, and the natural filter system for waste and pollutants into rivers and the Persian Gulf was destroyed.

Now, the American project will complement an international project announced in July. Funded by the government of Japan, this US$11 million effort will support the sustainable development and restoration of the marshlands through implementation of environmentally sound technologies. Drinking water and sanitation systems will be installed in key communities and pilot wetlands restoration undertaken for the benefit of people and wildlife.

The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) will coordinate these various efforts to ensure maximum benefit for the people and wildlife. This coordinated approach will be applied to the future development of a wider Marshlands strategy in the region.

Innovative International Solutions Shared Online

The online global library hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides links to journals, databases, guidelines, programs and case studies involving innovations in air, toxics, waste and water issues, as well as multi-media approaches such as environmental management systems, sustainable transport, smart growth and industrial ecology.

In 1993 Portland, Oregon was the first U.S. city to adopt a local action plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This plan arose from Portland's relations with Stockholm, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark, through the International Council for Local Environmental Initiative's Cities for Climate Protection Campaign.

Communication among city council members, planners and practitioners in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Portland inspired the Oregon city officials to adopt green fleets and inventory measures for greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result, Portland's 1997 per capita greenhouse gas emissions were three percent below 1990 baseline levels, transit ridership increased by 30 percent, auto commutes to the central business district were cut by 15 percent, and solid waste disposal per household was reduced 13 percent.

This is one of the website's examples of state and local partnerships with other countries and regions that have resulted in creative environmental solutions in the United States.

Other innovations feature green buildings and renewable energy to address climate and air pollution, and constructed wetlands to treat wastewater, as well as industrial ecology to support pollution prevention and brownfields revitalization.

The site lists fellowships for group and individual exchanges, and resources for evaluating international initiatives.

The library is intended to help state and local governments, federal agencies, and nongovernmental organizations in the United States as well as in other countries learn from these experiments.

Explore the website at: http://www.epa.gov/innovation/international