• EPA's Enforcement Stats Improve over 2002
  
• Chicago Climate Exchange Expands to Include IBM
  
• American Shad to Get Passage Through Susquehanna Dam
  
• Federal Grants Fund Wines, Foods, Energy, Forest Products
  
• Not All Fishing Gears Equally Damaging
  
• Hawaii Considers Partial Ban on Lay Gillnets
  
• Monkeys Survive Ebola With Aid of New Drug
  
• GEM Electric Cars Escape Recall
  

EPA's Enforcement Stats Improve over 2002

John Peter Suarez, EPA's Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said the numbers show commitment to a vigorous enforcement program. "Through collaboration with states, tribes local governments and private citizens, we've been able to build a program that maximizes environmental and public health results," he said.

But environmental organizations from coast to coast criticize the Bush administration's EPA for allowing industry sectors to get away with whatever boosts their bottom line.

Still, the EPA today trumpeted its record as excellent. As a result of enforcement settlements, the agency said, almost $2.9 billion in injunctive relief will go toward the cleanup of polluted sites and protection against further environmental harm.

A settlement in another case, with Virginia Electric and Power Company, filed three days after the fiscal year deadline of September 30, includes a commitment to spend $1.2 billion to install new pollution control equipment and upgrade existing controls. Had that settlement been added to EPA's 2003 total, the cleanup numbers would be more than $4 billion, said Suarez.

In addition, the value of Supplemental Environmental Projects, which are undertaken voluntarily as a result of an enforcement settlement action, were up 12 percent to $65 million this year.

In the Superfund program, EPA secured private party commitments for cleanup and cost recovery that exceeded $1.1 billion. More than 87 percent of new remedial action starts at non-federal Superfund sites were initiated by private parties.

When Caterpillar failed to conform to a settlement it had agreed to in 1999 by selling diesel engines that exceeded one or more of the set emission limits. In 2003, they were ordered to pay $128 million in stipulated penalties for the engines that did not meet the test.

In FY 2003, EPA enforcement resulted in the treatment of over 3.7 million tons of contaminated soil, a new category of evaluation for the agency, Suarez said.

Last year, EPA began estimating the gallons of contaminated groundwater treated, which amount to 6.5 billion. The agency says 1,050 acres of wetlands were restored in that year, and two million people were served by drinking water systems brought into compliance as a result of EPA enforcement activity.

The number of businesses provided with compliance assistance increased 22 percent in 2003; more than 700,000 entities were assisted. The Web-based Compliance Assistance Centers registered more than 800,000 visits last year.

"This assistance activity heads off pollution before it starts," Suarez said, "and helps business run their environmental programs more efficiently and effectively."

The agency says its enforcement and compliance efforts in FY 2003 resulted in more than 98 million pounds of sulfur dioxide removed from the air. Nearly $2.9 billion was committed by violators to correct violations, restore the environment and prevent future damage.

But a poll of EPA employees released Wednesday found unprecedented political pressure, with Bush administration initiatives such as the energy plan taking precedence over pollution control, according to the survey by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Chicago Climate Exchange Expands to Include IBM

IBM, the world's largest information technology company, engaged in everything from designing and building semiconductor circuits to manufacturing computer systems large and small. IBM has committed to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by four percent below the average of its 1998-2001 baseline by 2006. Between 1990 and 2002, IBM has reduced greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy consumption by a total of 61.3 percent, a third of that reduction due to energy conservation measures.

“Successfully addressing climate change will require a variety of tools, including conservation, technological advances and market-based programs," says Wayne Balta, IBM’s vice president for corporate environmental affairs.

"IBM is joining this pilot program because it is consistent with the company’s belief in supporting market based solutions and participating in voluntary efforts to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Balta said.

“IBM has shown great leadership and vision by becoming a member of CCX,” says Dr. Richard Sandor, the group's chairman and CEO. "As a company, it will play a critical role in shaping the emerging carbon market and its institutions."

The exchange, which did its first trade in September, includes American Electric Power, Baxter International, the City of Chicago, DuPont, Equity Office Properties Trust, Ford Motor Company, International Paper, Manitoba Hydro, MeadWestvaco Corporation, Motorola, STMicroelectronics, Stora Enso North America, Temple-Inland, and Waste Management.

Through the CCX public and private sectors enter into a legally binding commitment to use a rules based market for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. CCX allows participants to receive credit for such reductions and to buy and sell those credits.

CCX administers what it calls its "pilot program" for emission sources, farm and forest carbon sinks, offset projects and liquidity providers in North America. To foster international emissions trading, offset providers in Brazil can also participate.

Also on Tuesday, Tradition Financial Services Ltd of London joined the Chicago Climate Exchange as a liquidity provider.

Members of the exchange generally trade to comply with the emission reduction requirements they have accepted under the CCX. Liquidity providers trade on the exchange for reasons other than compliance purposes such as serving as counterparties to CCX members that seek to engage in transactions.

John Molloy, head of Tradition Financial Services environmental products in London believes the company will have a key role to play in the development of CCX .“Our extensive European customer base is only too aware of the CCX concept and appreciates the diverse options being provided to them in order to transact in a manner that best suits their individual business approach," he said.

American Shad to Get Passage Through Susquehanna Dam

Shad once migrated as far north as Cooperstown, New York, on the North Branch of the river, and Chest Creek, Blair County, on the West Branch, before dams blocked their path.

Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources Michael DiBerardinis said today that the funds will be used to build a fish passage in the inflatable Conowingo dam at Shikellamy State Park on the on the Main Branch of the Susquehanna.

DiBerardinis announced the project at the Chesapeake Bay Program Executive Council meeting in Virginia. The new fish passage will open 270 miles of the Susquehanna River and allow Pennsylvania to meet its Chesapeake Bay Program fish passage goal.

As a partner in the Bay Program, Pennsylvania agreed in 1993 to a fish passage goal of reopening 1,357 tributary miles to migratory fish by 2003. That goal has been extended to 2004, and counts on the Shikellamy project to meet the target.

In 1991, Philadelphia Electric Co., owner of the Conowingo Dam, built a new lift capable of carrying 750,000 adult shad over the dam each year. Since then, passages have been installed at the three dams upriver from Conowingo, a total investment in the Susquehanna River shad restoration program of more than $70 million.

The number of shad returning to the Conowingo dam has grown to more than 100,000 a year since 2000 from a few hundred in the early 1980s. The program goal is to restore a spawning population of two million shad each year above the dams by the year 2025. Of those fish, 500,000 are expected to use the river above Shikellamy.

“Ensuring American shad will have access north of Shikellamy State Park is critical to the future of the restoration effort, and we are pleased to see this project move forward,” said Dennis Guise, deputy executive director of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

In addition to stocking millions of juvenile shad into the Susquehanna River and its tributaries since 1976, the commission has been monitoring shad returns to the base of the existing dam and has verified the presence of returning adult American shad.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has spent $750,000 on the design of the passage, which will be constructed so shad and other species of fish enter the opening to the fish passageway structure, immediately downstream of the Shikellamy dam.

Through a series of gradually increasing elevated pools connected by slotted openings through the interior walls of the structure, fish swim upstream through the structure and eventually re-enter the river upstream of the dam.

With the release of the funds, the Department of General Services will begin the construction bidding process. The fish passage is expected to be completed in time for the spring 2005 migration of shad.

The Fish and Boat Commission estimates the recreational value of a restored shad population in the Susquehanna to be $25 million to $35 million a year in to Pennsylvania.

Federal Grants Fund Wines, Foods, Energy, Forest Products

"The grants will foster the development of value-added projects to help create the opportunity for economic development and job creation in rural areas," said Veneman.

Authorized as part of the 2002 Farm Bill, the Value-Added Agricultural Product Market Development Grants program provides an opportunity to refine agricultural commodities and products to increase their value in the marketplace.

One application selected for funding is from Planters Cotton Oil Mill, an Arkansas company that will receive $497,000 to develop a feasibility analysis and business plan for marketing and manufacturing of an oilseed processing product, neutralized dried soap stock.

Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative has been selected to receive $499,253 to expand markets that focus on forest stewardship, green certified materials and other value-added forest products.

Twenty-nine applications focusing on biomass and renewable energy were selected to receive $4.3 million in grant funds. For example, in Illinois, the Central Illinois Energy Cooperative will utilize $250,000 to assist with the construction of an ethanol processing and co-generation facility. When completed, the plant will process nearly 11 million bushels of corn into 30 million gallons of ethanol and 96,000 tons of distillers dried grains with solubles each year.

In Vermont, $101,920 goes to a greenhouse gas emissions reduction project that the Agriculture Department says has "industry wide national impact potential." The Agricultural Producers Green Attributes Maximization Steering Committee will use the funds to assess the revenue potential from the sale of renewable energy green tags and greenhouse gas emissions reduction credits, independent of the sale of electricity produced by the renewable energy project.

Other grants will go to help American products in the marketplace. The California Olive Growers will receive $500,000 to "introduce Pizza Rings topping to compete against cheap imported products," the grants list states.

California's Napa Valley Vintner's Association gets $328,500 to "hold marketing events to increase consumer base of Napa Valley wines to younger wine consumers."

Other wineries will get funding too. In New York, the Appleton Creek Winery gets $114,425 to develop brand awareness, and the Windgrowers Association of Georgia receives $19,000 to expand the marketing of wines made in that state. Iowa, New Jersey, Nebraska, and South Dakota are developing wines, and Washington state is developing a wine from its apples.

In Iowa, a pork producers group, the Neiman Ranch Pork Company, has been granted $350,000 to "target emerging markets in mainstream grocery stores for natural and organic pork."

Another Iowa company, Small Farm Produce, LLC. is an organic dairy processing facility owned by 83 independent Amish dairy farmers. They will get $302,000 as working capital during the initial start up.

A different type of faith based industry in Iowa, the Maharishi World Peace Vedic, is being granted $144,700 to market organic sunflower oil and fresh organic salad mix directly to consumers.

And frozen tofu might be manufactured in Ohio if a $150,000 grant to the Ohio Soybean Council to evaluate the technical and commercial feasibility of making frozen tofu gives the idea a positive report.

The grants will cover some new non-food products. Texas Organic Essentials, Inc. will get $450,000 develop new products and new markets of organic cotton feminine hygiene products.

A complete list of the selected grant recipients can be found at the USDA Rural Development website at: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.

Not All Fishing Gears Equally Damaging

New research by a team of scientists from the U.S. and Canada shows that certain types of fishing gear kill more non-target marine life and damage more marine ecosystems than others.

"Shifting Gears: assessing collateral impacts of fishing methods in US waters," ranks the 10 most commonly used fishing gears in the United States by their ecological impacts.

Bottom gears such as dredges and trawls, as well as midwater gillnets, inflict the highest level of damage to habitat and marine vertebrates and invertebrates, the scientists found.

Published in this month's issue of the Ecological Society of America's journal "Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment," the report was prepared by the Redmond based Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI), and initiated and supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

To gather information from a wide variety of stakeholders, randomly selected participants chosen from the fishing industry, fisheries scientists and managers, and those representing the marine conservation communities completed a survey designed by the researchers.

The results of the survey demonstrate that "people with diverse interests and experiences agree on the relative severity of ecological damage caused by different fishing gears," the authors write. "This consensus ranking demonstrates that common ground exists for better management of the collateral impacts of fishing gears."

Survey respondents said that pots, traps, and pelagic and bottom longlines caused moderate ecological damage.

Midwater trawls, purse seines, and hook and line gears had the lowest bycatch and habitat impacts, those questioned agreed.

"Our analysis suggests that because of their severe impact, mobile bottom gears and midwater gillnets should not be used at all, or only minimally in ecologically sensitive areas," say the authors.

The severity ranking of the different fishing gears could form the basis for a change in fisheries policies, the scientists suggest. They recommend the urgent introduction of strict policies for high impact gears to less stringent controls for methods causing relatively little damage.

The article also highlights how shifting to low impact gears can be linked to incentives, allowing fishermen to maintain high economic returns.

"As fisheries managers grapple with ecosystem based management, this report offers them a consensus view on gear impacts and suggests that addressing these ecological impacts is one avenue towards achieving this goal," say the researchers.

"This report is a ray of hope for the health and wellbeing of our oceans," said MCBI Chief Scientist Dr. Lance Morgan, who co-authored the report with Virginia Institute of Marine Science Assistant Professor Dr. Ratana Chuenpagdee and Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia.

"It demonstrates that common ground exists for improving the way we catch fish in America."

Read "Shifting Gears" online at: http://www.mcbi.org/ShiftingGears/SG_download.htm

Hawaii Considers Partial Ban on Lay Gillnets

The public meetings will discuss a proposal for a general statewide ban on lay nets, with options for exemptions for specific areas where they could be used and for cultural and traditional use.

In 1997, a new type of gillnet appeared along the Waianae coast of Oahu, according to the state Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR). This monofilament net was set on the bottom in depths 200 feet or greater with a hydraulically operated drum on the bow of a boat and longer than a mile in length.

The lay gillnet is a passive gear because the net is set in one location and left more or less unattended. The fish are caught as they run into it and become entangled.

Supporters say these gillnets are an efficient, appropriate way to feed their families. Critics warn that the nets catch too much marine life indiscriminately, including endangered species such as turtles or monk seals.

Concerns about the use of this type of gillnet prompted the formation of a Gillnet Task Force composed of various fishermen from all the Hawaiian islands concerned about gillnets with DAR staff in support. In 1999, the task force presented a list of recommendations on managing gillnets to the agency. A series of public hearings took place in 2002 to consider stricter regulations for lay gillnets, but did not consider a ban.

The current regulations on lay nets set a maximum soak time of four hours, with a requirement to inspect the net every two hours. The partial ban would impose a requirement that lay net use be a part of active fishing with continuous attendance and monitoring.

In the event a threatened and/or endangered species such as a turtle, dolphin, or seal, or unintended bycatch such as a seabird is caught in the lay net, the fisher shall immediately remove the animal from the net, following state and federal handling and release guidelines.

If the partial ban is imposed the lay nets would be no longer than 250 feet and no higher than six feet. No joining of individual nets if two or more fishers work together would be allowed, a practice that today leads to longer, wider net surfaces.

A 300 foot abandoned gillnet found in Kauai waters last week had caught a green sea turtle, a shark, lobsters and dozens of coral boulders by the time officials pulled it from the sea. No owner could be identified.

The partial lay gillnet ban would require that each nets must be individually registered by the owner and tagged.

The ban does not apply to throw nets, cast nets, fence/bag nets, aquarium nets, or lobster nets, nor does it apply to lobster traps or fish traps.

Monkeys Survive Ebola With Aid of New Drug

The disease has broken out again this month in the Republic of the Congo. The Congo Ministry of Health has reported a total of 31 probable cases, including 29 deaths in the past week, and close to 100 cases in the past month.

The new research, published in the December 13 issue of the British medical journal "The Lancet," was conducted by Thomas Geisbert and colleagues from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).

The scientists injected 12 rhesus macaques with Ebola virus. Nine of the monkeys received a drug called recombinant nematode anticoagulant protein c2 (rNAPC2), while the remaining three were untreated.

In the treatment group, monkeys received rNAPC2 either immediately after Ebola infection, or 24 hours later, and continued to receive it daily for up to 14 days. Three of the nine monkeys survived, and death was slowed by several days in the remaining six. All three untreated animals died.

Previous attempts to use antiviral drugs to treat Ebola have been successful in mice and guinea pigs, but not in primates. Geisbert's team approached the problem a different way - by focusing on the symptoms triggered by the virus, rather than the virus itself.

Ebola causes abnormal blood clotting, which leads to massive hemorrhage and death. Studies at USAMRIID suggest that macrophages, a type of white blood cell, play an important role in this process.

When a host is infected with Ebola virus, the macrophages express a clotting protein, called tissue factor, on their surfaces. These cells are then attracted to the blood as it flows through the body, forming localized clots that pave the way for abnormal bleeding.

Geisbert says that rNAPC2 essentially blocks the harmful effects of the a clotting protein, tissue factor. The drug is already being evaluated to treat coronary problems.

Originally isolated from a hookworm, rNAPc2 is an 85 amino acid protein with potent anticoagulant properties.

"Our results have potentially important clinical implications, since our treatment approach targets the disease process rather than replication of the Ebola virus," Geisbert said. "Moreover, our findings raise the possibility that rNAPC2 could be useful in the treatment of other viral hemorrhagic fevers."

Researchers now intend to test the treatment in persons at risk for the disease, Geisbert said.

Erik Henchal, commander of USAMRIID, commented that Institute scientists continually develop and evaluate a full spectrum of medical products to counter highly hazardous diseases.

"This promising research demonstrates our commitment to efficiently leverage products developed in the pharmaceutical industry and apply them to military and public health problems with our federal partners in the Department of Health and Human Services," he said.

Study collaborators were Lisa Hensley, Peter Jahrling, Tom Larsen, Joan Geisbert, and Jason Paragas of USAMRIID; Howard Young of the National Cancer Institute; Terry Fredeking of Antibody Systems; and William Rote and George Vlasuk of Corvas International.

GEM Electric Cars Escape Recall

In taking this decision the NHTSA made North Dakota Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad and Congressman Earl Pomeroy very happy.

Earlier this year NHTSA said it planned to classify the low speed, electric utility cars as “trucks” which would have subjected them to a wide range of safety regulations that apply to trucks but not to low speed cars.

Had it gone through, NHTSA’s plan would have resulted in a recall of much of GEM’s prior production, because the company did not comply with truck safety regulations.

North Dakota’s congressional delegation contacted NHTSA and argued the “truck” designation was inaccurate, an argument NHTSA now affirms.

“This is great news for GEM, its workers and the Fargo area economy,” Senator Conrad said. “When we heard about NHTSA’s decision in January to recall thousands of GEM’s environmentally friendly, quality vehicles, we knew that we had to do something. I’m glad that NHTSA has finally made this rule change. While it’s a long time coming, it’s the right decision, both for consumers and for GEM.”

“GEM cars represent an important step forward in developing more energy efficient vehicles and a more technologically advanced way to think about the traditional car engine,” Senator Dorgan said.

The GEM cars are called neighborhood electric vehicles, and are engineered for both street and grass. They look like taller golf carts and are intended for running errands and getting around job sites, airports, hotels, parks and industrial complexes.

The vehicles attain speeds of up to 25 miles per hour, powered with batteries that plug into ordinary 110 volt sockets.

Under NHTSA rules, vehicles in the GEM class are required to have seat belts, headlights, windshield wipers and other safety devices before they can be used for street travel. The GEM vehicle has these features plus four-wheel hydraulic brakes, rack and pinion steering, safety-glass windshield, front-wheel drive, tail lamps, front and rear turn signals and stop lamps.

Congressman Pomeroy said, “I’m pleased the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has made this rule change that eliminates the threat of recall for these GEM car models. NHTSA understands that they had to take a look at their rules and adapt them to the changing world,” Pomeroy said.