• Tropical Storm Ernesto Goes Easy on Florida
  
• Hazmat Fire in Detroit
  
• New Microchip Test Allows Quick Diagnosis of Flu Strains
  
• Lawsuit Seeks to End Alaska's Aerial Killing of Wolves, Bears
  
• New Jersey Tightens Flood Control Rules After 100 Year Floods
  
• Pennsylvania Doubles Green Electricity Purchase
  
• Columbia River Panel Assembled to Help Manage Water
  

Tropical Storm Ernesto Goes Easy on Florida

MIAMI, Florida, August 29, 2006 (ENS) - Tropical Storm Ernesto dumped widespread rain on south Florida this evening but it did not strengthen into a hurricane and no severe damage was done. No widespread power outages were reported.

The region remains under a hurricane watch, a tropical storm warning, a flood watch and a tornado watch.

But the hurricane watch is likely to be called off tonight. ''The window for it to strengthen into a hurricane is diminishing,'' said National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield.

In the Florida Keys, strong winds and heavy rain are making driving conditions dangerous. But Monroe County Emergency Management officials announced the end of all official evacuations associated with Tropical Storm Ernesto Tuesday afternoon.

There was no general resident evacuation ordered, but visitors were asked to leave the Keys, about 40 special needs patients were transported to Florida International University and mobile home and boat live-aboard residents were advised to relocate to four hurricane shelters throughout the Keys.

Officials ask residents to be patient and to provide them an opportunity to do any necessary damage assessments, before venturing outside after the storm passes. Treat all downed powerlines as "live" and do not touch them. They can be extremely dangerous, say emergency officials. Report downed powerlines to local utility companies including Keys Energy Services and the Florida Keys Electric Cooperative.

In addition, practice extreme caution when driving on local roads after the storm. Be careful for downed limbs and especially careful about driving on flooded roads.

“If you can’t see the road, turn around and don’t drown,” said Mayfield.

Key West City Manager Julio Avael expects city offices to open Wednesday, contingent on acceptable weather conditions. Monroe County will keep offices closed Wednesday.

Hazmat Fire in Detroit

PetroChem Processing Group is a Detroit-based company with approximately 50 employees.

Officials said the cause of the fire is unknown but that it started in a section of the plant where industrial aerosol cans are stabilized for disposal. One of the aerosol decompression units exploded and triggered a chemical fire, they said.

Hazardous materials released are acetone, potassium hydroxide, potassium iodide and toulene. The Detroit Fire Department is monitoring the air surrounding the plant.

The PetroChem Processing facility is a local, state and federally permitted processing and transfer facility for hazardous and nonhazardous waste and has been operating in the Detroit area since the 1970s.

The main activity at this site is the production of supplemental fuel from hazardous waste for energy recovery in industrial furnaces, primarily cement kilns. PetroChem Processing Group produces the supplemental fuel from liquid and processable solid hazardous waste.

The other main activity at the site is solvent reclamation. The reclaimable liquids are passed to one of two day tanks, through one of three thin film evaporators and the fractionation column, and then pumped to product storage tankage. The reclaimed solvent is returned to generators or sold to distributors.

New Microchip Test Allows Quick Diagnosis of Flu Strains

The FluChip successfully distinguished among 72 influenza strains - including the H5N1 avian influenza strain - in less than 12 hours.

The research was led by University of Colorado scientist Kathy Rowlen, Ph.D., and was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It appears in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Laboratories across the United States can do basic tests to determine the type and subtype of an influenza virus within several hours. However, only the CDC and a handful of other labs internationally have the high-level biosafety facilities needed to perform specialized tests that reveal critical details about the virus's geographic origin and other features.

Because the FluChip technology could be used in lower level biosafety facilities, it could expand influenza diagnostic capacity by allowing more labs to determine the geographic origin of a newly emergent virus and whether its source is human or nonhuman. Labs can learn how closely related a new virus is to ones that circulated previously and detect genetic changes that may signal the virus is becoming more virulent.

"The ability to quickly and accurately identify strains of influenza would be invaluable to international flu surveillance efforts," says NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, M.D. "This is an encouraging advance."

"This state-of-the-art research is vital to our efforts to protect the nation's health, and it may provide a new tool in our toolbox in the fight against influenza," says CDC Director Julie Gerberding, M.D.

The FluChip is a type of microarray, commonly called a gene chip.

Although there are numerous variations, microarrays can be made by using a robotic arm to drop hundreds or thousands of spots of genetic material - DNA or RNA - of known sequence onto a microscope slide. The spots, called probes, are then exposed to a sample of unknown composition: for instance, material taken from a person with an undiagnosed illness.

Probes that match gene sequences of bacteria or viruses present in the sample result in capture of the target gene. By analyzing the pattern of captured targets, doctors can diagnose the cause of infection.

Lawsuit Seeks to End Alaska's Aerial Killing of Wolves, Bears

In a lawsuit filed Friday, Defenders of Wildlife and the Alaska Wildlife Alliance asked the court to block the programs, which cover more than 40 million acres of Alaska's interior and which could result in the killing of more than 75 percent of the wolves in several areas.

"The Board of Game ignored well-established, solid science when they set up the aerial wolf killing and bear killing plans," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president, Defenders of Wildlife.

"The Board essentially went into this blindly, lacking accurate and up-to-date information on caribou and moose populations that would allow them to craft sustainable, science-based programs for management of all Alaska's game. The plan also flies in the face of basic fair chase hunting traditions," he said.

The lawsuit alleges that the Board of Game adopted regulations that are inconsistent with Alaska statutes governing game management. It says that the Board of Game failed to obtain accurate population estimates for caribou and moose so they could determine how many animals were available for hunting or "human harvest" as it is referred to in state law.

State law requires the Board of Game to consider this information before setting new population and harvest objectives and embarking upon any predator control program. The law also requires that any predator control program be part of a comprehensive game management plan which the Board of Game has failed to adopt.

"Alaska's aerial killing programs represent the worst in wildlife control practices," said John Toppenberg, director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. "They rely on decisions made by individuals who have no regard for sound science and the will of the public and who have no long-term vision for the management of Alaska's natural heritage."

Under the predator control implementation plans the Board has adopted, private individuals may obtain permits to hunt wolves using aircraft. Permittees may chase wolves to exhaustion using airplanes and then land and shoot them, or shoot them from the air.

The use of aircraft to kill wolves was banned by Alaskans in statewide ballot measures in 1996 and 2000, but the Alaska Legislature overturned those bans.

In the three years since Alaska has begun issuing permits to pilots and gunners to conduct aerial-based wolf killing more than 550 wolves have been killed. In 2006 alone, more than 150 wolves were killed.

The Board has expanded its predator control plans to include the reduction of bears in some game management units (GMUs). Many of the GMUs where the aerial gunning programs have been authorized are adjacent to federal lands such as the Denali Park and Preserve. The conservationists fear that these killing programs could affect predator populations living on a national park or wildlife refuge.

New Jersey Tightens Flood Control Rules After 100 Year Floods

Rain fell over the Delaware River Basin every day from June 23 to June 28, 2006. Total rainfall ranged from three to 6.5 inches across the New Jersey part of the basin and seven to 15 inches in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Most flooding in New Jersey occurred along the mainstem of the Delaware River. Gages along the Delaware recorded peak flow consistent with 70 year to greater than 100 year recurrence interval floods, which has only a 1.0 percent probability of occurrence in any given year.

To limit the damage in flood years, the government announced changes to the rules of the Flood Hazard Area Control Act that restricts new development in flood plains, as recommended by New Jersey’s Flood Mitigation Task Force report.

“We won’t ever stop floods from happening but we can mitigate their impact,” Governor Corzine said. “By implementing a number of new regulations, preventing development in flood-prone areas, and improving drainage all along the Delaware Valley, we’re taking steps that provide both immediate and long-term impact.”

The new rules will clarify and reorganize New Jersey’s regulations to discourage or mitigate new development in flood plains.

Current buffer zones of 25 to 50 feet will increase to 50, 150 or 300 feet, depending on the category of the waterway.

To provide additional buffer protection, the administration will support the inclusion of funding within the Garden State Preservation Trust for the purchase of low-lying properties, known as Blue Acres, which are prone to flooding.

“We believe these are substantive recommendations for averting destruction of property and for protecting lives in communities repeatedly ravaged by flooding,” said Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Lisa Jackson.

“The regulations being proposed today are among the nation's strongest for providing stream corridor protections and for imposing limitations on development in a flood plain," she said.

Increased access to general permits will streamline activities as complicated as using machinery to remove major obstructions from waterways or elevating buildings above flood hazard areas, as well as activities as simple as building a fence or a patio, Jackson said.

The new permits-by-rule will give property owners authorization to undertake specific regulated activities without the need to obtain prior written approval from the DEP.

To handle the first of the top three immediate local problem spots, the state Department of Transportation will evaluate possible drainage improvements along the Route 29 corridor.

The DEP and the federal Natural Resource Conservation Service are exploring preventative measures to keep Swan Creek from backing up into Lambertville. And the New Jersey Water Supply Authority has hired an engineering firm to address breach concerns in the Stockton Canal, and is also clearing debris to improve drainage and make repairs all along the Delaware Canal.

Pennsylvania Doubles Green Electricity Purchase

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, August 29, 2006 (ENS) - Coal-rich Pennsylvania has redoubled its green electricity purchase to 20 percent from 10 percent, Governor Edward Rendell announced today.

“By leading the way to clean, renewable sources of energy produced from indigenous resources, Pennsylvania is providing solutions to some of our nation’s most compelling problems," Rendell said, "creating reliable sources of affordable energy; cleaning our air and waterways and cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions; improving our homeland security; and putting thousands of our citizens to work in family-supporting jobs."

By modifying its existing contract with Community Energy Inc., Pennsylvania will purchase 200,000 megawatt hours a year, or 20 percent of state government’s electricity, from renewable sources such as wind and hydroelectric energy, all at a premium rate of only 0.34 cents per kilowatt hour.

The contract calls for electricity that is generated 40 percent from wind power and 60 percent from hydroelectric sources. Both produce electricity with zero emissions of air pollution.

The enhanced purchase makes Pennsylvania the largest state purchaser of green electricity and ranks Pennsylvania number 12 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Top 25 Green Power Partners list.

“Pennsylvania is taking the initiative to develop an energy management plan that will help to save taxpayers money,” said Department of General Services Secretary James Creedon, who serves as co-chairman of the Governor’s Green Government Council.

“By increasing our investment in green power," said Creedom, "we can broaden the market for clean energy providers and work to reduce energy costs for the commonwealth, rather than increasing our reliance on traditional energy sources and narrowing our options for competitive rates.”

“Pennsylvania’s leadership on energy is unmatched,” said Community Energy CEO Brent Alderfer. “The latest purchase of clean energy continues to drive progress and sets the benchmark for other states. Pennsylvania’s commitment to action points the way to a secure, clean energy future nationally.”

The 200,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy represent avoided emissions of 951 tons of sulfur dioxide, 271 tons of nitrogen oxide and 123,410 tons of carbon dioxide. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide contribute to acid rain, fine particulate pollution and regional haze, and nitrogen oxide is also a key component of smog. Carbon dioxide is the most pervasive greenhouse gas linked to climate change.

Columbia River Panel Assembled to Help Manage Water

YAKIMA, Washington, August 29, 2006 (ENS) - A diverse panel of stakeholders will help the state of Washington launch a new water management program for the Columbia River. The panel aims to help move competing entities away from the area's long-standing water wars and into cooperative water allocation.

Farmers, local government officials, tribes and environmental groups, joined with water, fish and power managers in Ellensburg last week to inaugurate the Columbia River Policy Advisory Group.

"Success on the Columbia River can only be had through collaboration," said Jay Manning, director of the Washington Department of Ecology. "Each of these members brings an important perspective to the table that will serve us well as we implement this plan."

"For too long we were locked in water wars," Manning said. "As vested partners, we're ready to design a program where both the environment and the economy win."

The panel will provide advice as state agencies move forward to implement the Columbia River Water Management Program, passed this last legislative session with overwhelming support and a commitment of $216 million from the Legislature.

The historic water bill calls for the Department of Ecology to develop new water supplies and improve water management on the Columbia River to support stream flows for fish and new out-of-stream uses, such as farming, industry and municipal growth. It also allows for creativity and flexibility in achieving water resource solutions through voluntary regional agreements.

One of the panel's first tasks will be to help agencies develop priorities and criteria for funding conservation and storage projects. In addition the group will play a key role in identifying "preferred alternatives" through the current Columbia River Water Management Program environmental impact statement (EIS) process. A draft EIS will be available for comment this fall.

"We've got some looming deadlines," Manning said. "Supply and demand forecasts are due to the Legislature, projects need to be identified, and mechanisms for implementing innovative management tools - such as voluntary regional water agreements - need to be in place. These leaders are going to help us decide how to get the work done."

Find out more online at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/cwp/crwmp.html