• Hawaii First in the Nation to Impose Gas Price Cap
  
• Computer Breaking Exposed Prison Staff, Inmates to Toxics
  
• Overharvesting of Depleted Pacific Rockfish Stopped in Court
  
• Citizen Suit Seeks Cleanup of Nuclear Waste Near Lake Erie
  
• USDA Reverses Withdrawal of Organic Certification for Cosmetics
  
• Water Near Pennsylvania's Bear Creek Chemical Site Still Unsafe
  
• New York State Mandates Green Cleaning Products in Schools
  

Hawaii First in the Nation to Impose Gas Price Cap

Computer Breaking Exposed Prison Staff, Inmates to Toxics

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) Office of Internal Affairs conduced an investigation and prepared the report in response to a whistleblower disclosure filed last year with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel by Leroy Smith, safety manager at California’s Atwater Federal Prison, where the problems were first reported.

Smith alleged that inmates were releasing dust containing lead, cadmium, barium and beryllium when breaking apart computer monitors for recycling as part of a prison industry operation.

One component of the recycling process involves dismantling cathode ray tubes (CRTs) by manually breaking the glass CRTs in a specially designed glass breaking booth.

The investigators concluded that violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) limits for exposure to these heavy metals "did occur at the USP Atwater FPI CRT recycling factory during the initial months of its activation beginning in April 2002. Production stopped after the first series of test results indicated exposures," the report states.

"Additional exposures occurred on some subsequent occasions from July 2002 tthrough February 2003 during a period of reengineering, intermittant operation resumption and testing. One additional exposure occurred in February 2004 as a result of an unauthorized system modification by an inmate worker."

"The evidence also indicates," the Internal Affairs report states, "that local and national FPI and safety staff actively engaged in corrective action efforts after becoming aware, as a result of Mr. Smith's initiation of testing in June 2002, of problems in this regard. Unfortunately, staff responsible for making and monitoring various corrective actions, including Mr. Smith himself, did not always do so with a level of caution or strict adherence to applicable BOP police and OSHA regulations which was, at least in hindsight, clearly in order."

The Office of Internal Affairs also found “it is reasonable to conclude” that contamination occurred at two other prisons, Elkton, Ohio, and Texarkana, Texas, but said "there is insufficent evidence to establish this."

The investigators concluded that all appropriate steps to contain the contamination from breaking old computers for recycle had been taken.

But the report admits that prison officials repeatedly re-started recycling operations over Smith's objections. The Office of Internal Affairs said no one retaliated against Smith for making the allegations of contamination, but the report promises to institute disciplinary action against unnamed prison managers for "unrelated unprofessional behavior."

“Leroy Smith deserves a medal for risking his career to bring these problems to light but instead he is blackballed from going back to work,” said San Francisco attorney Mary Dryovage, who is representing Smith in a whistleblower action that seeks transfer out of Atwater and restoration of a lost promotion.

“While it is a good sign that the Federal Bureau of Prisons claims that it will discipline responsible officials, a slap on the wrist will not restore the health or the peace of mind of scores of affected employees and inmates," Dryovage said.

“In this report, the Federal Bureau of Prisons insists that the problems it initially had vehemently denied now have been magically resolved by the same managers who created them in the first place,” said attorney Jeff Ruch, who heads Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the organization that released the Office of Internal Affairs' report.

“Tellingly," Ruch says, "the Bureau admits that there are probably similar safety problems at the other prison computer recycling plants but has decided not to investigate further.”

Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin signed the report, dated June 13, 2005, and submitted it to Special Counsel Scott Bloch, but Bloch’s office held the report for more than two months before transmitting it to the whistleblower.

Smith is allowed to comment on the report before the Special Counsel decides whether the agency response is adequate or requires additional work.

Read the Federal Bureau of Prisons report to the Office of Special Counsel here.

Overharvesting of Depleted Pacific Rockfish Stopped in Court

Citizen Suit Seeks Cleanup of Nuclear Waste Near Lake Erie

The West Valley Nuclear Site reprocessed irradiated nuclear weapons and power fuel from 1966-1972 and operated two burial grounds totaling 27 acres. The DOE is laying the legal groundwork now to abandon the site and leave wastes in the ground that will be dangerous for over 100,000 years, the Coalition claims.

In a Record of Decision (ROD) issued in June, the Energy Department stated that it will be able to rename dangerous high level radioactive wastes as “Waste Incidental to Reprocessing” which will allow them to bypass decades of nuclear regulatory safety standards.

"This declassification is not supported in the accompanying Environmental Impact Statement. It is not in the Demonstration Project Act, which governs the cleanup, and it is not allowable under U.S. law," the Coalition states.

The Coalition views the declassification as part of a campaign by the Bush administration to promote nuclear power and reprocessing by allowing the Department of Energy to force "less costly, but indefinite storage of High-Level Reprocessing Wastes on unsafe sites across the country."

The complaint asks the courts to strike the latest Record of Decision and enforce a 1987 agreement between the two parties in which the DOE agreed to complete an Environmental Impact Study.

A draft version of that study, released in 1996, calculated high erosion and exposure rates from the West Valley Site. The public called for exhumation of the wastes as the only safe course. The DOE has since abandoned that study.

Nuclear and hazardous wastes are buried in unlined trenches on two sites at a former nuclear fuels reprocessing facility located alongside the Cattaraugus Creek north of the village of West Valley in Cattaraugus County.

Radioactive and hazardous chemical wastes are leaching from the West Valley site into the Cattaraugus Creek, which flows 18 miles along the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians before emptying into Lake Erie, the Coalition says.

Airborne radioactive elements have been released over the past 40 years due to accidents at the site and also to natural decomposition of nuclear wastes mixed with other waste. Although trenches containing buried nuclear waste are now capped with plastic, methane gas carrying radioactive tritium continues to be released through the caps.

Among the hazardous conditions remaining at West Valley are 125 spent nuclear fuel rods that remain in a large indoor concrete pool and 42 fuel rods in ruptured concrete casings that remain buried in one trench.

Seth Wochensky, spokesperson for The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes, said, "For the health and safety of Western New York and Canada, the Coalition is forced to challenge the DOE decision because it sets the stage for abandoning nuclear weapons and power wastes in ground that is destined to erode into the Great Lakes. DOE has done great cleanup work at the site thus far but must not stop."

“The Department of Energy is cutting jobs at the site, jeopardizing the public’s safety now and threatening the drinking water supply for millions of Canadians and Americans for hundreds of generations,” Wochensky warned.

Wochensky says West Valley is not suitable place for permanent disposal of radioactive waste because the site is eroding in a manner that will affect the waste within 500 years. The plan of burying the radioactive waste in concrete is unrealistic, he says. "It will be irreversible and will amount to abandonment of our responsibility to future generations."

Wochensky says, "Burial grounds and high-level waste tanks should be dug up so they can be effectively monitored." In fact, the Coalition calls its campaign "Dig It Up."

USDA Reverses Withdrawal of Organic Certification for Cosmetics

The non-food items may display the USDA organic seal, so long as such products are certified to meet the National Organic Program (NOP) standards for organic agricultural products, according to the memo issued by Barbara Robinson, deputy administrator for transportation and marketing programs for the U.S. Agricultural Marketing Service.

The memo comes just before the deadline requiring the National Organic Program to respond to a federal court complaint filed in June by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), representing more than 500,000 members, and Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps/Dr. Bronner's & Sun Dog's Magic http://www.drbronnersundog.com.

The memo puts to rest the USDA's attempt earlier this year to prevent certified organic non-food products from accessing the NOP program and displaying the USDA organic seal. After that attempt Robinson wrote, the USDA received "numerous inquiries" about the removal of organic certification for non-food products.

Organizations and businesses that expressed opposition to the USDA's attempted change in policy include - the Organic Trade Association, California Certified Organic Farmers, Friends of the Earth, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Bath & Body Works, and the American Herbal Products Association.

The withdrawal of access to organic certification for cosmetics and soaps would have reversed the USDA's longstanding policy that invites companies to certify non-food products to NOP standards and earn the USDA organic seal.

The OCA and Dr. Bronner's claimed that such a reversal would have destroyed good faith investments while depriving consumers of the ability to tell the difference between a mislabeled or misbranded "organic" personal care product from a bona fide NOP certified organic product. People with allergies to chemical ingredients in some non-organic products benefit from the organic labels.

"We are pleased that USDA has decided to follow the law and promote the interests of consumers by recognizing that certified organic producers are indeed able to access the NOP program and display the USDA organic seal," said Joe Sandler, the lead attorney handling the complaint.

Sandler says the complaint "will likely be withdrawn by OCA/Dr. Bronner's following settlement talks over the next 30 days."

"This is a major victory for organic consumers who rely on NOP certification to ensure that their personal care and other non-food consumable products like pet foods contain real organic ingredients free from unnecessary synthetic ingredients," said Ronnie Cummins, OCA founder and national director.

The complaint was part of OCA's Coming Clean Campaign for strong organic standards, which Cummins says drew thousands of consumers and hundreds of businesses,

David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's/Sun Dog that manufactures certified organic lotions, balms and soaps made with organic oils, says he and his team are "thrilled" to have played a part in retaining access to the NOP standards and label for certified non-food products.

"Thanks to USDA's wise decision, brands such as Dr. Bronner's & Sun Dog's Magic that support organic agriculture and farmers with all the integrity the National Organic Program intends, can continue to display the USDA organic seal," Bronner said.

Lynn Betz, founder and president of Sensibility Soaps that produces over 20 certified organic personal care products, applauded the decision. "I commend NOP Administrator Barbara Robinson and USDA's change of heart in regards to certifying personal care products under the National Organic Program. Supporting the integrity of certified organic claims in the marketplace is of immeasurable benefit to organic consumers, farmers and suppliers as well as organic personal care manufacturers."

Congresswoman Melissa Hart, a Pennsylvania Republican in whose district Sensibility Soaps is located, took up the cause of organic consumers and industry in Congress to ensure that access to the National Organic Program would be preserved for qualified non-food products.

In a letter Hart said, "In addition to business concerns it is important for consumers to see the USDA organic seal when selecting personal care products because many individuals who purchase organic products do so because they are allergic to certain processed ingredients that are often in non-organic products."

Water Near Pennsylvania's Bear Creek Chemical Site Still Unsafe

ATLANTA, Georgia, August 26, 2005 (ENS) - People living or working in the Bear Creek Chemical Area Site in Butler and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania, should continue drinking and cooking with only bottled water, according to a public health assessment released by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances. In this case, investigators from the agency assessed the 26 known or suspected industrial waste disposal areas in the Bear Creek Chemical Area Site.

Since mid-2001, community members with contaminated water supplies have received bottled drinking water from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the lead agency involved with environmental sampling and investigation at the site. The agency currently provides bottled water to more than 900 households and businesses.

The ATSDR report states that at current levels, exposure to groundwater contaminants from showering and bathing are not likely to result in adverse health effects. Residents may use groundwater for these and other household uses.

From as early as the 1930s until the 1970s, waste was hauled from three nearby industrial facilities to several private properties in the Bear Creek area for disposal. In many cases, the waste was disposed of on land that had been mined for coal. The disposal areas include a landfill, waste lagoons and drum sites.

Groundwater near the site has been affected by several chemicals, including resorcinol - a substance used in tire manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

Also found in the area's groundwater are byproducts of mineral oil manufacturing, including several sulfonic acids and calcium petronates.

Regarding past exposure to contaminants in drinking water, ATSDR finds that not enough data exists to determine whether drinking water from area groundwater supplies was a health hazard.

The amounts of surface contaminants at the Bear Creek Chemical Area Site are too low to make people sick, the ATSDR concludes.

ATSDR earlier issued the health assessment for public comment. The current report contains comments made to ATSDR and the agency's responses.

The current report also includes results of a review of the Pennsylvania cancer registry for Bear Creek area ZIP codes. ATSDR conducted the cancer data review in response to community member's concerns about cancer but found no pattern of elevated cancer rates within the Bear Creek Chemical Area Site.

The public health assessment can be reviewed at:

Butler Area Public Library, 218 North McKean St., Butler, Pennsylvania or the Johan A. Beck Jr. Library, Butler Community College, Butler, Pennsylvania.

Community members seeking information about the procedures or the content of the public health assessment may contact Environmental Health Scientist Annmarie DePasquale toll-free at 1-888-422-8737. ATSDR Regional Representative Lora Werner also may be contacted at 215-814-3141. Callers should refer to the Bear Creek site in Pennsylvania.

New York State Mandates Green Cleaning Products in Schools

ALBANY, New York, August 26, 2005 (ENS) - Governor George Pataki signed legislation Wednesday that protects children, teachers and all school personnel from toxic cleaning products used by many schools.

New York state schools will now use healthy and green cleaning products.

Said Healthy Schools Network Executive Director Claire Barnett, “This is a clean, green sweep that will eliminate hundreds of out-dated toxic products, reduce the risk of poisonous chemical spills, improve indoor air quality, and boost environmental businesses. These products are also kinder to the custodians who work with them daily. This is a quadruple win: for children, for personnel, for schools, and for business.”

Jeff Jones, director of communications for Environmental Advocates and Chair of the Healthy Schools Network NYS Policy Committee said, “The environmental community joins in celebrating this important victory and thanking Governor Pataki for his environmental health leadership.”

Stephen Boese, New York state director for the Healthy Schools Network, observed, “The use of toxic cleaning chemicals is clearly a strong health, environment, and education issue that has won support from the state leadership."

This legislation was promised by the Governor in his 2005 State of the State address, released by the Governor in coordination with the observance of National Healthy Schools Day in April 2005, and passed by both Houses of the Legislature in June.

The Healthy Schools Network supports policy reforms and funds to address school environments in New York and federally with state and national partner organizations. The group won The Healthy Schools Network supports policy reforms and funds to address school environments in New York and federally with state and national partner organizations. U.S. EPA Children’s Health Protection Award in 2005.