• Closed by Delaware River Oil Spill, Nuclear Reactors Restart
  
• Seven Power Companies Pledge to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  
• First U.S. SARS Vaccine Trial Opens
  
• Vaccinating Mice Appears to Cut Lyme Disease Risk to Humans
  
• EPA Settles with 276 Dumpers at Beede Superfund Site
  
• Pennsylvania Steel Company Fined $1.2 Million for Air Violations
  
• Spirit of the Sage Council Wins Small Victory for Species
  
• Himalayan Ice Dams Created Huge Lakes, Floods
  

Closed by Delaware River Oil Spill, Nuclear Reactors Restart

Seven Power Companies Pledge to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The American Public Power Association, Edison Electric Institute, Electric Power Supply Association, Large Public Power Council, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Nuclear Energy Institute, and Tennessee Valley Authority together signed the MOU under the name Power Partners.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham welcomed the agreement, saying, "The voluntary commitment and activities set out in this MOU will go a long way toward meeting the President's ambitious emissions intensity objective."

"The power generation sector is responsible for about a third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, so getting reductions from this sector is obviously important. This agreement - the first of its kind with the power sector-lays a foundation for progress and demonstrates the value of strong public-private partnerships in reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Power Partners is one of 13 trade associations or business groups taking part in the Climate VISION (Voluntary Innovative Sector Initiatives: Opportunities Now) program, a Presidential initiative established on February 12, 2003, support the President's goal of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of the United States' economy by 18 percent between 2002 and 2012.

Greenhouse gas emissions intensity is measured as carbon-equivalent emissions per unit of economic output.

Power Partners have pledged to reduce collectively the power sector's greenhouse gas emissions intensity by an equivalent of three to five percent - measured as emissions per unit of electricity produced - below 2000-2002 baseline levels, as measured over the 2010-2012 period.

The MOU was signed at the same time as governments that are Parties to the Kyoto climate protocol are meeting in Buenos Aires to prepare for February 16, 2005 when it becomes legally binding. At that time, industrialized countries will be bound to cut their emissions of six greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2 percent over the 2008 to 2012 commitment period.

The United States signed the protocol during Clinton administration, but President George W. Bush pulled out, saying it would be bad for the nation's economy. In Buenos Aires, the U.S. negotiators have spent much time defending the Bush climate policies as the United States emits roughly 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.

The MOU signed Monday establishes goals for the public-private partnership, sets out general principles, and proposes actions to further the partnership's objectives. The MOU also recognizes the importance of developing and deploying new technologies.

Under the MOU, the Energy Department and Power Partners will work together to develop a process for identifying high priority areas for the research, development, demonstration and deployment of technologies that could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking on behalf of Power Partners, Edison Electric Institute President Thomas Kuhn said, "All of the Power Partners believe this is a critical step in reducing greenhouse gas intensity in the United States. The seven power groups will collectively work toward achieving the goal for the sector, setting the stage for significant progress in addressing greenhouse gases."

First U.S. SARS Vaccine Trial Opens

The disease killed hundreds of people around the world in late 2002 and 2003 before it was brought under control with classic public health techniques - epidemiological investigations, patient isolations, quarantines of exposed people and stringent restrictions on travel.

The vaccine trials will be conducted by researchers at the Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The experimental vaccine against SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, will be tested on 10 healthy volunteers at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda. The clinic will do periodic follow-up exams on each volunteer for 32 weeks.

The primary goal of the study is to determine if the experimental vaccine is safe in people.

A secondary goal is to assess how well the vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies and cellular immunity, in this case, focusing on the SARS spike protein. The spike protein protrudes from the virus' outer envelope and helps it bind to cells it infects.

Instead of using weakened or inactivated virus, which is typical for vaccine development, the new vaccine is composed of a small circular piece of DNA that encodes the viral spike protein. Scientists modified the DNA to minimize the risk of it combining with the SARS virus or other viruses of the SARS type, called coronaviruses.

"This experimental vaccine is an outstanding achievement by NIAID researchers," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. "It is a model for research that could greatly shorten the time needed to create vaccines to be tested against other diseases."

"The Vaccine Research Center, a cutting edge facility established here at NIH just five years ago, encompasses the entire spectrum of vaccine development from basic research to clinical testing," says NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D.

"This is why our team at NIAID has been able to develop this vaccine at an unprecedented pace, using technological discoveries that were not available just a few short years ago."

Chinese researchers began human testing of a SARS vaccine in May of this year. The Chinese vaccine trial uses an inactivated SARS virus vaccine developed through conventional vaccine technology.

SARS first appeared in China in November 2002. Worldwide, the virus sickened 8,096 people and killed 774 of them by July 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Vaccinating Mice Appears to Cut Lyme Disease Risk to Humans

Some 23,000 cases of Lyme disease were reported in the United States in 2002, making it the leading cause of vector borne illness in the United States.

The disease is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a spiral shaped bacterium spread through the bite of a blacklegged tick. Symptoms can include a characteristic "bull's-eye" rash known as erythema migrans, as well as fatigue, chills and fever, headache, muscle aches and joint pain. Early treatment prevents the development of symptoms that are even worse.

Lyme disease is found most often in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic and upper north-central regions of the United States, as well as parts of northwestern California.

The research, scheduled to be published online this week in "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," demonstrates that vaccination of wildlife hosts may be a promising ecologically based strategy to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases to humans by vectors such as insects and ticks.

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, M.D. said, "When integrated with other protective measures, this strategy could have significant implications, not only for preventing Lyme disease, but for preventing other vector-borne diseases as well, including plague and West Nile virus."

"The targeted vaccination of wildlife carriers could offer more far reaching protection against vector-borne diseases than vaccinating humans," says Alan Barbour, M.D., professor of microbiology and molecular genetics and medicine with the University of California, Irvine, and senior author on the paper.

"When the vaccine is targeted to humans, only those who experienced a satisfactory immune response to the vaccine are protected; however, when the vaccine is targeted to wildlife carriers, the risk of infection is lowered for everyone in the community."

The researchers targeted the larval form of the blacklegged tick, the stage when a tick becomes infected with B. burgdorferi.

Normally, uninfected tick larvae pick up the bacterium the first summer of their two year life cycle while taking their first blood meal from infected small animals, such as the white-footed mouse. One year later, after the larva develops into a nymph, it feeds on a second animal host, possibly a human, infecting that host. Roughly 90 percent of human infections are contracted from nymphal ticks.

The researchers' goal was to reduce the level of B. burgdorferi infection in nymphal ticks. By vaccinating a large sample of white-footed mice, the researchers thought, fewer tick larvae would become infected the first summer and, in turn, fewer nymphs would be capable of transmitting the disease to humans the following summer.

Throughout the summers of 1998 and 2001, researchers trapped and vaccinated more than 900 mice in 12 Connecticut sites. In half of the sites, mice received injections of active vaccine; in the other six sites, mice received a placebo.

The vaccine is based on one previously used in humans and currently used in dogs. When an infected tick nymph feeds on an immunized mouse, the animal's antibodies kill the bacterium inside the nymph, preventing it from transmitting the disease.

After immunizing roughly 55 percent of the mouse population over the course of the two studies, researchers saw an overall reduction of 16 percent in the prevalence of nymphal infection at locations in which mice had been given vaccine versus placebo.

This translates to a possible reduction of 27 percent in nymphal infection had all the mice been vaccinated.

Chipmunks and shrews, too, may play a larger role in the spread of Lyme disease than scientists believed. Which animals help spread Lyme disease, and which ones transmit the more virulent strains, needs further study, the researchers say, to determine how best to implement a broad vaccination program.

Such a vaccination program would be environmentally beneficial, say the researchers, because it would not detrimentally affect the ecology of a region.

EPA Settles with 276 Dumpers at Beede Superfund Site

This is the fourth settlement at the 40 acre toxic waste site. The Beede site, located in a residential Plaistow neighborhood, was a waste oil storage and recycling facility from the 1920s through August 1994.

Waste oil seeped out of Beede’s storage facilities which included an unlined lagoon, and above and underground storage tanks. The Beede site was listed as a federal Superfund site in 1996. the EPA, under a cooperative agreement with the NH DES has been addressing the most threatening contamination at the site such as above and below ground waste storage tanks as well as free floating waste oil in groundwater.

This fourth settlement brings the total number of parties who have settled with EPA and NH DES to 1,199, and it brings the total amount of money raised in all four settlements to more than $17.3 million.

Settlement funds are currently being held in a special EPA site-specific account, for future application to costs associated with the cleanup of the site.

EPA offered to settle with individual small volume contributors based on the amount of hazardous waste each party contributed to Beede. The settlement includes parties who contributed up to 20,000 gallons of hazardous waste to the site, and offers ranged between $2,000 and $140,000.

Of the 775 parties given an opportunity to settle their liability in this fourth settlement round, 276 parties chose to accept the offer. By accepting the offer to settle, the parties are released from all EPA and state of New Hampshire. They are protected from potential contribution lawsuits for the cost of cleanup by other liable parties.

The offers were issued in May 2004, and closed on August 9, 2004. The settlement was made effective on December 6, 2004, following a legally required notice and public comment period.

"EPA has used every creative tool possible to provide fair, equitable, and early settlement opportunities to small contributors," said Ira Leighton, deputy regional administrator of EPA’s New England Office. "With nearly 1,200 parties settled, EPA and NH DES can now focus our efforts on reaching an agreement with the remaining major parties to conduct the final phase of cleanup at the site."

The EPA now will begin final negotiations for performance of the cleanup with parties identified by EPA as "major" parties, "transporters," "owners/operators," and other generators who have yet to settle with EPA.

Forty-two parties responsible for roughly half of the hazardous wastes brought to the site will be required to pay the largest portion of the cleanup costs and/or perform the cleanup itself.

In January 2004, EPA announced a $48 million comprehensive cleanup plan for completing the final phase of cleanup of the site. The plan, called a Record of Decision, addresses soil, sediment, groundwater and surface water contamination at the site. Soil at the site is contaminated with various chemicals, most notably polychlorinated biphenyls, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and lead. Groundwater is contaminated primarily with volatile organic compounds.

To date, the federal and state agencies have spent a combined $22 million for cleanup and investigation work at the site.

Pennsylvania Steel Company Fined $1.2 Million for Air Violations

In a proposed consent decree lodged in federal court earlier this month, AK Steel has agreed to a $1.2 million settlement consisting of a $300,000 penalty and $900,000 in projects which will reduce smog in Pennsylvania.

EPA Regional Administrator Donald Welsh said the settlement will contribute to improved air quality in Pennsylvania and reduced emissions of chlorofluorocarbons which deplete the stratospheric ozone layer.

AK Steel, a subsidiary of AK Steel Holding Corp. of Middletown, Ohio, manufactures specialty steel products by melting scrap steel in electric arc furnaces at its plant in western Pennsylvania. In the summer of 2000, EPA inspectors documented several violations of federal and state environmental laws at the AK Steel mill.

The government’s judicial complaint, alleged that AK Steel:

• Violated federal and state hazardous waste regulations through improper storage and disposal of baghouse dust generated at the plant. The baghouse dust, containing high concentrations of the known human carcinogen hexavalent chromium, was stored on the ground at the facility.

  AK Steel was also cited for failing to conduct inspections of hazardous waste storage tanks, and failing to train employees on hazardous waste management.

• Violated the Clean Water Act with an unpermitted discharge of process waters and storm water to the Sawmill Run Reservoir, a tributary of the Connoquenessing River. In September 2000, EPA ordered AK Steel to cease this unpermitted discharge. The company subsequently obtained a Clean Water Act permit for this discharge.

• Violated Clean Air Act safeguards designed to prevent equipment leaks of ozone depleting refrigerants containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on 145 separate occasions from mid-1998 through the fall of 2002.

In addition to the $300,000 penalty, AK Steel has agreed to implement three supplemental environmental projects, at an estimated cost of $900,000. These projects go beyond the requirements of federal and state environmental regulations.

First, the company will fund a refrigerant recycling program for the residents of Butler County. The $30,000 program will be funded entirely by AK Steel and coordinated through Butler County to collect and recycle refrigerators, air conditioners and other refrigerant-containing appliances. After properly removing the ozone depleting substances, like freon, the appliances will be disposed of properly.

Second, AK Steel will remove and destroy the CFC based refrigerants in at least 17 refrigeration units, replacing these refrigerants, like freon, with less harmful substances.

Third, the company will retire 159 tons of nitrogen oxide pollution credits - with a current market value of about $225,000 - which it now owns as part of the Clean Air Act’s pollution reduction system. Retiring 159 tons of nitrogen oxide pollution credits will reduce AK Steel’s Butler Works emissions, resulting in less smog.

The proposed consent decree is subject to a 30 day public comment period and court approval. As part of the settlement, the company has neither admitted nor denied liability for the alleged violations.

Spirit of the Sage Council Wins Small Victory for Species

The lawsuit was brought by Spirit of the Sage Council against Interior Secretary Gale Norton as a challenge to the so-called No Surprises policy. The Fish and Wildlife Service is under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department.

No Surprises gives non-federal landowners guaranteed permits to kill or take endangered plants and wildlife on their lands in order to continue logging or other development. The policy offers a guarantee that the government will not require any additional habitat lands or waters for endangered species whether or not a Habitat Conservation Plan was providing adequate conservation measures.

Conservationists believe that in adopting this policy, the government was taking away assurances guaranteed to endangered plants and wildlife in the Endangered Species Act.

In its first lawsuit against the "No Surprises" policy the Sage Council forced the Interior Department to allow public comment on policy changes to the Endangered Species Act. In response, over 800 scientists wrote to then Secretary Bruce Babbitt expressing their concerns that the No Surprises rule would limit the ability and need for species recovery.

Regardless, the Service ruled in 1999 that because landowners wanted certainty, a No Surprises assurance clause would be granted.

So, Spirit of the Sage Council sued again with the legal counsel of the law office of Meyer & Glitzenstein, Washington, DC.

Again, the Sage Council won in court, and the Fish and Wildlife Service was ordered to make a new decision on how to implement the Endangered Species Act. The Service appealed the order back to Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia, who denied the appeal request. The Service then filed a second appeal, requesting a stay, so that No Surprises could continue to be used while the court was going to be deciding on the appeal request not to have any further public comment. On December 10, the court denied the stay on the temporary use of No Surprises in take permits.

"This has been a long hard fight for our nation’s wildlife and their recovery," said Leeona Klippstein, executive director of the Sage Council. "The Endangered Species Act is meant to provide assurances for the conservation of plants and wildlife. The Bush administration appears set on making the law toothless. There’s no point placing an endangered species in an emergency room if they are never going to see the Doctor to receive care. The Fish and Wildlife Service goes straight from listing a species as endangered to issuing "take permits" to kill them.

"There are [Habitat Conservation] Plans approved and in process that allow take permits to be issued to over 800 different species on 135 million acres. This is a biodiversity time-bomb that has been lit by the Bush administration for industry benefactors."

The Service Friday published in the Federal Register new regulations covering incidental take permits issued under the Endangered Species Act. The regulations describe circumstances in which the Service may revoke these permits.

While the Service has not revoked an incidental take permit associated with an HCP to date, these regulations clarify the limited circumstances when this could happen. This rule allows the Service to revoke an incidental take permit only if take of listed species caused by the permitted activity will reduce the likelihood of survival and recovery in the wild of one or more of the covered species and the Service cannot find a remedy to prevent this situation.

Eric Glitzenstein, the Sage Council's attorney said, "We still believe that No Surprises is and always will be an awful, scientifically bankrupt policy that should be eliminated, it is clear that our lawsuit has been extremely valuable. When we started this effort seven years ago, the government did not even acknowledge that it could revoke take permits in species jeopardy situations, nor had it committed to adaptive management, monitoring, and similar clauses in permits."

Himalayan Ice Dams Created Huge Lakes, Floods

The most recent of these lakes, in the Himalaya Mountains of Tibet, broke through its ice barrier somewhere between 600 and 900 AD, causing massive torrents of water to pour through the Himalayas into India, Montgomery said.

Geological evidence points to the existence of at least three lakes, and probably four, at various times in history when glacial ice from the Himalayas blocked the flow of the Tsangpo River in Tibet, he said .

Carbon dating shows the most recent lake, about 780 feet deep, burst through the ice dam between 1,100 and 1,400 years ago, rapidly draining some 50 cubic miles of water.

The second lake, more than 2,200 feet deep, dates from about 10,000 years ago, and likely held more than 500 cubic miles of water. When that ice dam broke, it caused one of the greatest floods on Earth since the last ice age.

The Tsangpo is the world's highest river, with an average elevation of 13,000 feet, about 500 feet higher than South America's Lake Titicaca, the highest lake. The Tsangpo flows to the eastern edge of Tibet before it turns south and plunges through a deep gorge into India, where it eventually becomes the Brahmaputra River and flows into the Bay of Bengal.

The new evidence indicates that several times in the Tsangpo's history, moisture from strengthening monsoons built Himalayan glaciers into huge ice dams, stopping the river before it could leave Tibet. A group of researchers led by Montgomery found evidence of the resulting lakes in ledges carved into the sides of the Tsangpo gorge.

"It is possible that there would have been water close to the crest of the Himalayas," Montgomery said. "Not the high peaks but the passes, and they were probably blocked by ice too. It probably was like an ice-dammed ocean up there."

The group will present evidence of repeated damming and flooding of the Tsangpo gorge on Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco.

The UW team conducted their research in tandem with Liu Yuping of the Chengdu Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources in Chengdu, China.

The smaller lake appears to have coincided with China's Tang Dynasty and appears to have been the border between China and Tibet, Montgomery said. When the lake suddenly drained, it opened a large amount of rich farmland on the valley floor, farmland that today serves as the Tibetan breadbasket.

The Tsangpo River Gorge is considered some of the most spectacular terrain on Earth, as the river drops 7,800 feet (about 1.3 miles) in elevation over the course of about 125 miles. Parts of the gorge still have not been mapped because they are so rugged, possible evidence of the repeated sudden barrages of vast amounts of water unleashed by broken ice dams.