• 2004 Atlantic Hurricane Season a Recordbreaker
  
• Hawaiians, Sierra Club Sue to Reverse Telescope Permit
  
• Hydrogen Produced With Nuclear Power
  
• EPA Releases Public Comments on Limiting Mercury Emissions
  
• Conservation Easements Proposed for Montana Front Range
  
• Virus Discovered That Infects Red Imported Fire Ants
  
• Christmas Bird Counters Contribute to State of the Birds Report
  
• Pregnant Endangered Right Whale Killed by Ship Strike
  

2004 Atlantic Hurricane Season a Recordbreaker

This is the first time since recordkeeping began in 1851 that four hurricanes have impacted Florida in one year. The only other state to have experienced this level of activity was Texas in 1886.

Nine named storms affected the United States during the six month hurricane season. Three were tropical storms - Bonnie, Hermine and Matthew - and six were hurricanes - Alex, Charley, Frances, Gaston, Ivan and Jeanne.

Fifty-nine people died as a direct result of the 2004 hurricanes.

Florida bore the brunt of U.S. property damage, with damage estimates - adjusted to year 2000 dollars expected to eclipse the $34.9 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

The Insurance Information Institute estimates that one in every five Florida homes was impacted by a hurricane to some degree this year. Some 9.4 million Florida residents were evacuated from their homes this season.

"The 2004 season was one to tell your grandchildren about," said Max Mayfield, NOAA's National Hurricane Center director. "I believe, and stress at every opportunity, that residents should have a plan, stay informed and act when told to do so by their local officials. We should mark November 30th not as the end of the 2004 hurricane season but the beginning of the six months we have to prepare for next season."

NOAA scientsts said that during 2004, the hurricane landfalls were related to a strong region of high pressure over the western Atlantic in the middle levels of the atmosphere, which helped to steer hurricanes toward the United States rather than out to sea.

Hawaiians, Sierra Club Sue to Reverse Telescope Permit

In October, the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a permit adding six small telescopes, nicknamed outriggers, to the larger twin Keck telescopes already in operation in a scientific reserve on Mauna Kea.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of battles over the Keck expansion, which has upset many islanders, particularly Native Hawaiians who say the observatories violate the sacred mountaintop.

The twin 10-meter Keck telescopes are owned by the University of California and Caltech with funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The Land Board approved the outriggers despite the appellants’ pleas to wait until NASA could complete a court initiated environmental impact study of the project.

Comments at public hearings on the outrigger scopes revealed concerns about threats to unique plants and animals, including an endemic insect - the wekiu bug. Others voiced their concern over toxic waste spills, sewage disposal, disturbance of native burial sites, and damage to the summit’s sacred ambience.

Past state environmental assessments have claimed the observatories would have "no significant impact.” But NASA’s preliminary draft impact study concluded that decades of observatory construction and operation have had a "significant adverse impact” on the mountain.

The NASA draft also identified an alternative site in the Canary Islands that would meet the agency's science goals for the outrigger scopes without cultural and environmental damage.

The suit was filed by Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, Sierra Club’s Hawaii Chapter and a Native Hawaiian with genealogical ties to Mauna Kea. It alleges that the Board’s outrigger decision continues a long history of abdicating its statutory and constitutional responsibilities to protect Mauna Kea’s conservation lands.

"The state has a strict legal obligation to protect Hawaii and its people. They failed to do that,” said Kealoha Pisciotta, a former observatory employee and president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, a Hawaiian cultural group.

"It’s clear the Land Board ignored the hundreds of hours of public testimony, as well as our own presentations,” said Paul Neves of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I. "We had no choice but to appeal.”

Appellants are asking the state’s Third Circuit Court to vacate the Land Board’s permit decision and declare that the Board abused its discretionary authority and violated Hawaii’s statutes and constitution.

The appellants are asking the court to require that the Board approve a comprehensive management plan before considering any future summit development, including the outriggers.

They are also asking the court to find that the outrigger project is not allowed under any management plan previously approved by the Land Board. The most recent approved plan limited the number of telescopes to 13.

Hydrogen Produced With Nuclear Power

EPA Releases Public Comments on Limiting Mercury Emissions

Currently, nationwide mercury emissions from coal fired power plants are about 48 tons per year. The mercury emitted into the air falls upon waterways where it is absorbed by fish. Consumption of contaminated fish is harmful to children as well as to pregnant women and their fetuses.

According to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, "Mercury's harmful effects that may be passed from the mother to the fetus include brain damage, mental retardation, incoordination, blindness, seizures, and inability to speak. Children poisoned by mercury may develop problems of their nervous and digestive systems, and kidney damage."

In December 2003, the EPA proposed two alternatives for controlling mercury emitted into the air by coal fired power plants. One approach would require power plants to install controls known as "maximum achievable control technology” under the Clean Air Act. If implemented, this proposal would reduce nationwide mercury by 14 tons or about 30 percent by early 2008.

A second approach would create a market based "cap and trade" program that, if implemented, would reduce nationwide power plant emissions of mercury in two phases.

Beginning in 2010, the first phase would reduce power plant mercury emissions by taking advantage of what the EPA calls "co-benefit” controls – mercury reductions achieved by reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions under the Clean Air Interstate Rule.

In 2018, the second phase of the mercury program sets a cap of 15 tons. When fully implemented, mercury emissions would be reduced by 33 tons - nearly 70 percent of current levels.

Many environmental groups have observed that by simply enforcing the Clean Air Act as written, mercury emissions would be reduced more quickly than by implementing either of these alternatives.

The EPA received over 680,000 letters, emails and postcards, including about 5,000 unique messages, commenting on the Proposed Clean Air Mercury Rule and the Supplemental Clean Air Mercury Rule by the time the public comment period ended on June 29, 2004.

The EPA also received comments concerning the forms or "species” of mercury present in coal fired power plant emissions. The degree of mercury emissions control depends on the form of mercury at issue.

The three species of mercury in the emissions gases of coal fired power plants consist of elemental, ionic or oxidized, and particulate. The agency is seeking additional input on the forms of mercury emitted by coal fired power plants.

Release of these public comments is part of the EPA process toward delivering a final mercury rule by March 15, 2005.

EPA will take comment on this action for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

For more information on this Notice of Data Availability, visit: http://www.epa.gov/mercury/control_emissions/noda.htm
On the Clean Air Mercury Rule, visit: http://www.epa.gov/air/mercuryrule/
For the Clean Air Interstate Rule, visit: http://www.epa.gov/interstateairquality/.

Conservation Easements Proposed for Montana Front Range

The agency has announced its intention to purchase conservation easements from willing sellers along the Front whose lands provide important habitat for fish and wildlife resources. The Montana Front holds grizzly bears, bighorn sheep, elk, deer and other wildlife, and beneath the surface lie reserves of oil and gas.

A conservation easement is a restriction placed on real estate that limits or prohibits development. The proposed expansion of the program would not authorize any fee title acquisition or outright purchase of private land.

"Using conservation easements, the Service and private landowners have worked cooperatively to conserve nearly 60,000 acres of wildlife habitat in western Montana," said Gary Sullivan, state coordinator for the Service's realty program.

"Conservation easements are proven, effective tools for maintaining the rural character and agricultural land base vital to wildlife habitat conservation in this state," Sullivan said.

The Service is starting an environmental assessment to analyze the potential impacts of a conservation easement program on the Rocky Mountain Front.

During the scoping phase, the Service will work with county commissioners, the state of Montana, conservation organizations, landowners, and other individuals to collect additional information about the Front, wildlife and wildlife habitat, and the potential impacts of a conservation easement program.

Following scoping, the Service will complete the assessment, the outcome of which will determine whether the Service should proceed with the proposed conservation easement program.

As part of the scoping phase, the Service is holding three open house meetings to give members of the public an opportunity to learn more about the Service's proposal and express their views.

Service staff will share information, answer questions and take public comments about the easement program:

• Tuesday, December 14, in Augusta, Montana, at the Augusta Community Center, 314 Main Street, from 4 pm to 7 pm.
  
• Wednesday, December 15, in Choteau, Montana, at the Stage Stop Inn, 1005 Main Avenue North, from 4 pm to 7 pm.
  
• Thursday, December 16, in Great Falls, Montana at the La Quinta Inn, 600 River Drive South, from 4 pm to 7 pm.

Virus Discovered That Infects Red Imported Fire Ants

Native to South America, red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta, currently infest about 300 million acres in the United States. They thrive here because of a lack of natural enemies.

A team at the ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Florida led by entomologist Steven Valles, working with colleagues at the ARS Horticulture and Breeding Research Laboratory in Fort Pierce, Florida, has identified the viral enemy of the destructive and costly ants.

Tentatively named Solenopsis invicta virus-1 (SINV-1), the virus may be an excellent biological control agent for the fire ants, Valles says.

This virus is related to a well known group of picorna-like viruses, Valles said. The entire genome has been sequenced, and studies suggest SINV-1 may be effective as a way to control the fire ants without the use of pesticides.

A survey in Florida locations found that 23 percent of red imported fire ant nests examined were infected with SINV-1. The virus infects all fire ant castes and stages of development, and Valles was able to transmit the viral infection to uninfected fire ant nests.

Ants in infected colonies died within three months during laboratory studies, but the effect of the virus on ants in the field is still being evaluated, said Valles., who is a research entomologist with the ARS Imported Fire Ant and Household Insects Research Unit.

Red imported fire ants can invade home lawns, school yards, athletic fields, golf courses and parks. They live in home gardens, compost piles, mulched flowerbeds, under patio slabs, in lawns, under edges of sidewalks, foundations, and concrete driveways.

Red imported fire ants are attracted by electrical currents and have damaged heat pumps, air conditioners, telephone junction boxes, transformers, traffic lights, and gasoline pumps.

Fire ants both bite and sting, but only the sting is responsible for the pain and a pustule that forms the following day. The ants occasionally kill young, unprotected livestock and wildlife. People who are allergic to insect stings should seek medical attention immediately. Stings have been known to cause chest pains, nausea, dizziness, and shock in sensitive individuals, who, in rare cases, may lapse into a coma. Some deaths have been documented as having been caused by fire ant stings, but these cases are extremely rare.

One of four species of fire ants in the United States, the red imported fire ant was first introduced from Brazil into either Mobile, Alabama or Pensacola, Florida between 1933 and 1945, insect historians say. They have now spread to 11 southeastern states from North Carolina and Texas to Florida, and have infested Puerto Rico, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California.

Red imported fire ants can reduce the number of birds and mammals in an area and have been identified as damaging 57 species of cultivated plants. Damage to plants is worse during periods of drought as fire ants seek alternate water sources.

Fire ants cost Americans hundreds of millions of dollars annually in lost produce and in attempts to control them. Still, control over large areas with chemicals is considered impractical, so Valles and other researchers are concentrating on developing biological controls. In addition to the SINV-1 virus, they have found three flies that are being evaluated for release as fire ant biocontrol agents.

Christmas Bird Counters Contribute to State of the Birds Report

Counts are open to birders of all skill levels, and this year, about 2,000 individual counts are scheduled to take place throughout the Western Hemisphere from December 14, 2004 to January 5, 2005.

This year, contributors' findings will be included in a comprehensive study of Christmas Bird Count results from the past 39 years.

In 2005, Audubon's next "State of the Birds Report" will be issued, detailing the decline and rise of bird populations nationally over the past 39 years of the Count. This will incorporate both the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and Breeding Bird Surveys conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey since 1966.

"Birding for the Christmas Bird Count allows you to have fun while generating important information that will be used in our bird conservation effort," says Geoff LeBaron, Audubon's Christmas Bird Count director.

"Audubon and our partners at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and the Boreal Songbird Initiative have analyzed information collected by CBC participants over the last four decades. For the first time, we have good estimates of population trends for a number of species that spend their winter with us but breed far to the north."

These species include Northern Shrike and Harris's Sparrow which have each declined 1.8 percent per year.

Lebaron says Audubon's new analyses confirm population trends from the Breeding Bird Survey, such as an annual decline of 5.2 percent in populations of Rusty blackbirds - a total decline of 86 percent over 39 years, a loss of nearly 13 million birds of this species since the winter of 1965-66.

There have been increases as well as declines. The hermit thrush has shown an increase of 2.2 percent a year, and the merlin has shown an annual increase of 3.3 percent.

"These important results will be reflected in our State of the Birds 2004 report, and inform the Audubon Watchlist, which is used to prioritize Audubon's bird conservation activities," said LeBaron.

The Christmas Bird Count began over a century ago when 27 Audubon conservationists in 25 localities, led by scientist and writer Frank Chapman of the New York Audubon Society, changed the course of ornithological history.

On December 25, 1900, the small group posed an alternative to the "side hunt," a Christmas-day activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals. Instead, Chapman proposed to identify, count, and record all the birds they saw.

CBC compilers enter their count data via Audubon's website www.audubon.org/bird/cbc or Bird Studies Canada's homepage www.bsc-eoc.org, where the 105th Count results will be viewable in near real-time.

Count results from 1900 to the present are available at: www.audubon.org/bird/cbc.

Pregnant Endangered Right Whale Killed by Ship Strike

According to internal email correspondence released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), marine mammal experts from the Virginia Marine Science Museum and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say "there is reason to believe that this could be the same whale."

If so, this is the second pregnant right whale to be killed by ships in this immediate vicinity this year, says PEER, a national organization of federal, state and local natural resources employees.

On November 17, a Navy Amphibious Assault Ship reported a whale strike about 10 miles outside the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. The whale appeared to have a fresh wound to the fluke with a large portion missing and was seen moving slowly in a southeasterly direction.

On November 24, a 35 foot right whale came ashore along the Northern Outer Banks in Ocean Sands, North Carolina. The whale was a pregnant female with part of its fluke missing.

The Navy did not report the strike to NOAA Fisheries until November 22, five days after it occurred. While the Navy admits that its ship hit a whale, it has not publicly admitted it was the same female right whale found at Ocean Sands.

"This accident is a direct outgrowth of the Navy’s official indifference,” said New England PEER Director Kyla Bennett, a former federal biologist.

She observed that the Navy refuses to consult with NOAA on the impact of naval operations on right whale recovery. "The loss of a pregnant female is devastating to a population teetering on the brink of extinction.”

There are only 300 North Atlantic right whales left in existence. Ship strikes are the largest known cause of their deaths. Calves, which have undeveloped diving capability, are particularly vulnerable.

Navy vessel traffic dwarfs commercial ship traffic in right whale habitat and naval vessels tend to travel at higher speeds, which increases the likelihood of a whale strike and the physical harm done to the whale.

"Both NOAA and the Navy seem content to fiddle while Rome burns,” said Bennett. "The U.S. Senate should pin the next Secretary of Commerce down as to whether he plans to preside over the extinction of the North Atlantic right whale.” NOAA is an agency within the Department of Commerce. Commerce Secretary Don Evans has resigned from the Cabinet as of January 20, 2005 when President George W. Bush begins his second term.

In 2002, PEER revealed the Navy was conducting aerial bombing exercises off the coast of Maine directly in the migratory path of right whales. Shortly thereafter, the decapitated carcass of a calf was found but was too decomposed to establish cause of death. As with this latest incident, the Navy did not admit fault.

This spring, NOAA announced it would consider adopting ship speed limits, rerouting and channel restrictions to avoid or minimize ship traffic in sensitive right whale calving, mating and migratory areas.