• Union of Concerned Scientists Wants Biopharm Crops Banned
  
• Holes Pinpointed in U.S. Readiness to Counteract Bioweapons
  
• Largest Pipeline Operator Charged for Failing Safety Drills
  
• Nuclear Regulator Can Bypass Full Hearings for Reactor Licensing
  
• Push to Drill off Florida Coast Part of Larger Strategy
  
• Fired U.S. Park Police Chief Appeals Citing 40 Judicial Errors
  
• American Pika Losing Ground to Global Warming
  
• Hawks Invited Back to Nest on Fifth Avenue Co-op
  

Union of Concerned Scientists Wants Biopharm Crops Banned

Find the Union of Concerned Scientists' report online at: http://www.ucsusa.org/

Holes Pinpointed in U.S. Readiness to Counteract Bioweapons

In addition, the survey found that nearly one-third of states cut their public health budgets between Fiscal Year 2003 and 2004.

"This report found that more than three years after 9/11 and the anthrax tragedies, we've only made baby steps toward better bioterrorism preparedness, rather than the giant leaps required to adequately protect the American people," said Lowell Weicker, Jr., board president of the Trust for America's Health. Weicker served former three terms a Republican U.S. senator and served one term as governor of Connecticut as an Independent from 1990.

"Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health in the Age of Bioterrorism - 2004" found that despite "incremental progress," preparedness is still lagging behind goals and expectations for dealing with these agents.

Although direct comparison with last year's study are difficult because the indicators were modified to reflect the changed expectations of additional time and funding, in this year's report, 34 states and D.C. obtained higher scores, nine scores remained the same, and seven scores declined as compared to 2003..

Biological agents are organisms or toxins that can kill or incapacitate people, livestock, and crops. The three basic groups of biological agents which would likely be used as weapons are bacteria, viruses, and toxins.

With most states still in the middle range of the preparedness scale and no states meeting all of the indictors, there are still major areas of vulnerability. Overall, the report found that many basic bioterrorism detection, diagnosis, and response capabilities are still not in place, and the TFAH says the federal government's efforts to release performance measures have "stalled."

Over two-thirds of states and D.C. achieved a score of six or less. Florida and North Carolina scored the highest, achieving nine out of the possible 10 indicators, and Alaska and Massachusetts scored the lowest, at three out of 10.

Although direct comparisons are difficult because the indicators were modified to reflect the changed expectations of additional time and funding, in this year's report, 34 states and D.C. obtained higher scores, nine scores remained the same, and seven scores declined.

The scores demonstrate continued incremental progress, however, preparedness is still lagging behind goals and expectations. With most states still in the middle range of the scale and no states meeting all of the indicators, there are still major areas of vulnerability. Overall, the report found that many basic bioterrorism detection, diagnosis, and response capabilities are still not in place.

The TFAH survey found that only five public health labs report sufficient facilities, technology, and equipment to fully respond to a chemical terrorism threat, and only one-third of states report sufficient bioterrorism lab response capabilities.

Nearly 60 percent of states do not have adequate numbers of laboratory scientists to test for anthrax or the plague if an outbreak is suspected, the survey found.

Two-thirds of states do not electronically track disease outbreak information by national standards, causing delays in reporting, which makes early warning of disease threats difficult, TFAH says.

The public health workforce is on the brink of a "brain drain" as the baby boomers retire and next-generation recruitment efforts suffer, and concerns remain that states are "unprepared to implement a quarantine, although every state except Alaska has adequate statutory authority to quarantine in response to a hypothetical bioterrorism attack scenario," the organization says.

Largest Pipeline Operator Charged for Failing Safety Drills

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, LP was charged December 8 with alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act for failing to conduct the drills at its oil storage and terminal facility in Sparks, Nevada.

The EPA is seeking up to $157,500 in penalties from the company, which is the largest transporter of gasoline and petroleum products in the nation. The company's west coast headquarters office is located in Orange, California.

The facility did not conduct at least 10 emergency notification drills, which are required quarterly, over the past five years. Kinder Morgan also failed to conduct two oil spill response drills that require the use of emergency equipment. These drills must be conducted annually.

The EPA cited the company for failing to conduct emergency response drills at its facility at 301 Nugget Ave. The facility, which is located about one mile from the Truckee River, has the capacity to store more than one million gallons of oil.

"Kinder Morgan is jeopardizing the environment by violating the Clean Water Act," said Keith Takata, director of the EPA’s superfund program for the Pacific Southwest region from his office in San Francisco. "Exercising emergency response measures is a crucial component of oil spill response planning."

Over the past two years several oil spills have occurred at Kinder Morgan’s facilities in Arizona and California. Last month, a pipeline near Baker, California was shutdown after the discovery of a gasoline leak. Last April, more than 100,000 gallons of oil spilled into a marsh near Suisun, California from a ruptured pipeline. In 2003, roughly 32,000 gallons of oil was released near Tucson, from a corroded pipeline.

The EPA discovered the alleged violations following an unannounced inspection of the facility’s response capability conducted last July. The inspection required the facility to respond to a simulation of an oil spill into the Truckee River.

Kinder Morgan and its subsidiaries operate more than 25,000 miles of oil pipelines nationwide. The company transports more than two million barrels per day of gasoline and petroleum products per day.

The EPA's spill prevention regulations require non-transportation related facilities that store large amounts of oil to maintain a plan for responding to a worst-case scenario spill. Facilities must train all personnel to properly respond to an oil spill by conducting drills and training sessions. Facilities must also have a plan that outlines steps to contain, clean up, and mitigate any effects that an oil spill may have on waterways.

Nuclear Regulator Can Bypass Full Hearings for Reactor Licensing

In a case filed by Public Citizen and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), the court handed down a decision Monday that allows the NRC to dispense with full on the record hearings in reactor licensing proceedings.

But the court said that parties can file case-by-case challenges where such procedures fall short of ensuring a fair hearing.

According to the court’s decision, “Should the agency’s administration of the new rules contradict its present representations or otherwise flout this principle [of full and true disclosure of the facts], nothing in this opinion will inoculate the rules against future challenges.”

Until the NRC modified its 10 C.F.R. Part 2 regulations last February 13, the public had the right to hearings in all reactor licensing proceedings that were similar to federal court trials, and included discovery and cross-examination of witnesses.

On February 20, Public Citizen and NIRS challenged these new Part 2 regulations, charging that they violate the Atomic Energy Act by eliminating the right to formal hearings in most agency adjudicatory proceedings.

Other petitioners in this case include Citizens Awareness Network and the National Whistleblower Center. Attorneys general from Massachusetts, New York, California, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Connecticut filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioners.

“The court does not say that the NRC can scuttle the process required by federal law,” said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. “In fact, the decision makes it clear that NRC must permit the necessary procedures, including cross-examination, for a fair hearing decision.”

The court upheld the NRC’s ability to limit discovery and cross-examination, but rejected the idea that those can be eliminated, saying that “the Commission’s new rules may approach the outer bounds of what is permissible” under the Administrative Procedures Act.

“It is extremely unfortunate that the court agrees that the new rules could result in less information available to the public and that the NRC’s explanation for limiting discovery is ‘thin,’ yet chose to give such a high degree of deference to the NRC,” said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS.

“At the same time," he said, "the decision draws a line in the sand and prevents the NRC from distorting the public hearing process any further.”

The court stated that “the NRC came perilously close to violating [the Administrative Procedures Act] here. “There is a victory here for the NRC," the ruling says, "but it should be a cause for self-examination rather than jubilation.”

Push to Drill off Florida Coast Part of Larger Strategy

In a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton last week, Domenici and two other members of the committee, claimed that drilling off Florida’s coast iss necessary to reduce natural gas prices and protect American jobs.

Every few years, offshore drilling proposals are made, and so far they have been defeated. Environmentalists and businesses worry that spills or pollution would harm the state's waters and beaches - and its multi-billion dollar tourism industry.

“These are the same false promises we’ve heard a thousand times before,” said Manley Fuller, president of the Florida Wildlife Federation. “Now as ever, threatening Florida’s beaches with pollution is the wrong way to meet America’s energy needs.”

Offshore drilling, which has fouled beaches in Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, has often been proposed for Florida. In 1999, Chevron has asked then U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley to open oil leases, but the oil interests did not prevail.

The plan was floated again by the administration of President George W. Bush in 2001.

This time, opposition from Floridians and state officials, including the President's brother Governor Jeb Bush, a Republican, gave rise to a 2002 agreement in which Florida and the federal government paid Chevron and two other lease holders $115 million not to drill.

Domenici’s renewed drive for drilling the outer continental shelf, including the Gulf of Mexico near Florida, comes a few weeks after the renewal of the Republican proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

“It’s the same short-sighted thinking in both cases,” said Kristen Cummings, Senior Alaska Lands Advocate for the National Wildlife Federation. “We shouldn’t let the prospect of some marginal energy supply override the value of conserving and protecting the nation’s most treasured places.”

The United States, which consumes about a quarter of the world’s energy supply but only holds three percent of its energy reserves, “cannot drill its way to energy independence,” Cummings said. “Americans want an energy future based on cleaner, cheaper and safer sources of fuel, not a drilling frenzy that sacrifices our finest wildlife and recreational landscapes.”

Newly elected Senator Mel Martinez, who will take his seat in January, is a Florida Republican who supports the moratorium on offshore Florida drilling. He is being lobbied by Florida conservationists to oppose drilling in the Arctic refuge as well.

“It’s crucial that Senator Martinez recognize that opening the Arctic refuge to drilling will embolden the same people and interests who are trying to pry open the Florida coast,” Fuller said. “If it can happen in the Arctic refuge, it can happen here.”

Fired U.S. Park Police Chief Appeals Citing 40 Judicial Errors

Lawyers associated with the resources employees association are acting as her legal counsel.

In an October 6 ruling, Judge Elizabeth Bogle, an administrative judge for the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, issued “an initial decision” that Chief Chambers’ firing was justified due to statements she made in an interview with "The Washington Post." Judge Bogle did throw out two of the six administrative charges that the Department of Interior had leveled against Chambers.

The "Washington Post" published an article on December 2, 2003 quoting Chief Chambers concerning staffing needs of the Park Police.

On December 5, 2003 Deputy Parks Director Donald Murphy ordered Chief Chambers to surrender her badge, gun and law enforcement credentials. She was placed on administrative leave and prohibited from speaking any further with the media. On December 17, Murphy proposed to terminate Chief Chambers on the grounds of alleged misconduct.

By today’s petition, Chambers places the remaining administrative charges before the full Merit Systems Protection Board, a three member review panel. The Board may reinstate Chambers, remand the matter back for further hearings, or uphold the termination.

“The wheels of justice turn slowly but with each passing week Teresa Chambers’ case grows stronger,” said PEER General Counsel Richard Condit. “We will not rest until Teresa Chambers is restored as Chief of the United States Park Police,” said Condit.

The legal issues on appeal include whether a federal employee can be fired for telling the truth in the absence of explicit rules barring disclosure.

The case marks the first time that a new category of “law enforcement sensitive” information has been used as a basis for discipline.

In addition, since the case involves First Amendment rights and the right of federal employees to communicate with Congress, there will be separate federal court challenges available as soon as her Merit Systems Protection Board remedies are exhausted.

The Chambers appeal raises new matters that arose out of her hearing in September, including:

• Paul Hoffman, a former Dick Cheney aide, conducted a secret investigation within the Department of the Interior, in violation of due process. Hoffman never sought to question Chambers.

• National Park Service Director Fran Mainella testified that she would reinstate Chambers. Contrary to usual practice, Mainella was prohibited from deciding the matter.

• Murphy prepared but never delivered a performance evaluation for Chief Chambers that omitted mention of the issues he later raised as the basis for her termination.

Read the Chambers’ appeal petition http://www.peer.org/Chiefchambers/ChambersMSPBappeal.pdf

American Pika Losing Ground to Global Warming

A smaller relative of rabbits and hares, the American pika, Ochotona princeps, has short, round ears and usually makes a home among the broken rocks at high elevations in the mountains of the western United States and southwestern Canada.

"Population by population, we're witnessing some of the first contemporary examples of global warming apparently contributing to the local extinction of an American mammal at sites across an entire ecoregion," said Dr. Beever, an ecologist at the USGS.

His findings are based on a re-survey of sites in the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains where he counted pikas in the 1990s.

Beever's original research, published in the February 2003 "Journal of Mammalogy," documented local extinctions at seven of 25 sites in the Great Basin. The recent re-sampling found pikas at only five sites.

His research was funded by the World Wildlife Fund, the U.S. branch of the global conservation organization WWF. "With clean energy solutions readily at hand, our leaders are responsible for either protecting or failing to protect our rich natural heritage from global warming," said Brooks Yeager, vice president, Global Threats, World Wildlife Fund.

"Extinction of a species, even on a local scale, is a red flag that cannot be ignored - we must limit heat-trapping emissions from the burning of dirty fossil fuels for energy now."

Previous research results suggested that American pikas are particularly vulnerable to global warming because they reside in areas with cool, relatively moist climates and are unable to survive even six hours in temperatures as low as 77 degrees Fahrenheit when not allowed to behaviorally regulate their temperatures.

As temperatures rise due to increasing emissions of CO2 and other heat-trapping gases, many alpine animals are predicted to seek higher elevations or migrate northward in an attempt to find suitable habitat.

American pikas living in these high elevations have few options for refuge from the pressures of climate change because migration across low-elevation valleys are risky for them.

Beever has learned that climate change is just one of the risks pikas face. Roads are being built into their shrinking habitat, leaving the small rodents increasingly vulnerable.

Hikers in the western mountains can hear the call of the American pika, often heard when human visitors approach or travel on pika-occupied taluses. Some hikers catch glimpses of them darting among the rocks or gathering alpine wildflowers and grasses for their winter food supply.

WWF says that pikas may act as "ecosystem engineers" at talus margins because of their extensive haying activities. Since food is difficult to obtain in winter in the alpine environment, pikas cut, sun-dry, and later store vegetation for winter use in characteristic haypiles above a rock in talus areas.

Hawks Invited Back to Nest on Fifth Avenue Co-op

The Audubon Society and the 927 Fifth Avenue co-op board have reached an agreement to restore the pigeon spikes that held in place the nest of red-tailed hawks Pale Male and his mate Lola, Audubon said Wednesday.

The building intends to erect a guardrail around the 12th floor window cornice, the original location of the nest, in order to stabilize the area and make it more secure.

The decision follows a meeting on Monday held by building management, park officials and members of the Audubon Society.

The 927 Fifth Avenue board had raised safety and cleanliness issues with regard to the hawks' nest.

"This was a successful agreement that continues to convey the safety issues raised by the board, and the need for the birds to restore their nest and remain a part of the natural environment of the community. All parties were pleased with the outcome," said 927 Fifth Avenue co-op board Chairman Richard Cohen.

Audubon will cooperate with the building to ensure both the safety of the birds and the safety and cleanliness of the area surrounding the building through ongoing monitoring.

Dan Ionescu Architects has been retained to work with the co-op board and the Audubon Society to consult on the design and construction of the guardrail around the spikes.

"We are pleased by the board's decision to engage an architect to help create a secure and stable environment that should enable the birds to return to their home of more than a decade," said National Audubon Society President John Flicker.

"This is not only a great victory for Pale Male, but a victory for the spirit of New York," said David Miller, executive director of Audubon New York - the state program of the National Audubon Society. "We thank the building's board and residents for helping resolve this issue and look forward to working with them in the future so that Pale Male and the residents can coexist."

The birds have not returned to their accustomed nesting area on the 12th floor, but Audubon supporters are going to conduct a quiet vigil until they return, in contrast to the noisier vigils they held while attempting to convince the co-op board to allow the birds to stay.

"New York City Audubon wants to thank Pale Male's friends for their dedicated support," said E.J. McAdams, executive director of the city's Audubon chapter. "We're all waiting for Pale Male and Lola to come home for the holidays."