• Spending Bill Riders Threaten Forests
  
• Forest Fragmentation Called Pervasive
  
• Hidden Clouds May Help Shape Climate
  
• Climate Mitigators Must Consider All Gases
  
• Reactor Licensees Told to Step Up Inspections
  
• California Refinery Phasing Out Toxic Chemical
  
• Fuel Spilled at Midway Atoll
  
• Species Find No Refuge at USFWS
  

Spending Bill Riders Threaten Forests

The rider is one of more than a half dozen that conservation groups say threaten to erode decades of important environmental protections. Only a coalition of moderate Representatives in the House now stands between the funding bill and President George W. Bush's signature enacting the measure.

"Congress is once again turning to the appalling tactic of tacking anti-environmental riders on crucial legislation," said Debbie Sease, Sierra Club legislative director. "Some Members of Congress have taken a must pass bill and loaded it down with controversial riders that will cause serious damage to our natural treasures and undermine the trust that citizens have in Congress. This is not only damaging to America's special places but an affront to democracy."

The provisions were added to the bill in closed door conference meetings without any debate on the House or Senate floors. One of the riders seeks to undermine protection of the nation's largest rainforests - Alaska's Tongass and Chugach National Forests by exempting them from the roadless protection rule.

Another rider seeks to increase logging operations in the all of national forests and other public lands under a so called "stewardship" logging program. This new program would create broad new power for the Forest Service to design, fund and implement road clearing or forest thinning projects with little consideration for how Congress or the American public wants forests managed.

"Any measure with such far reaching implications deserves public scrutiny and debate but will be shortchanged by this backdoor process," said Sease. "Americans treasure their National Forests as special places to hike, hunt and fish, and they want them protected. Places like Alaska's Tongass National Forests are of great public interest and issues affecting them should, at the very least, receive full debate and examination."

Robert Vandermark, co-director of the Heritage Forests Campaign, called the riders a "sweetheart deal" for the timber industry.

"The new language would open up more than 15 million acres of wild forests in Alaska to Big Timber - paving the way for unlimited logging," Vandermark said. "Exempting Alaska from the Roadless Rule - a rule banning most roadbuilding and logging - would cut the heart out of the rule. One-fourth of all roadless areas in the U.S. are in Alaska's Chugach and Tongass National Forests."

"Close to 50 timber sales in Alaska's Tongass National Forest alone will be given a green light if language exempting the state from the Roadless Rule is passed - serving the timber industry their best Valentine present ever," he added.

The Heritage Forests Campaign has a launched a national "Don't Kiss Off the Roadless Rule Campaign," calling on the Bush administration to end its preferential treatment of the timber industry. The campaign includes television and print ads, events across the country at Forest Service offices, and a new website.

For more information on the campaign and on the roadless rule, visit: http://www.loveroadless.org

Other riders attached to the omnibus spending bill would decrease endangered species protections in the Missouri River, fund a project to drain 200,000 acres of wetlands, and could impair states' ability to establish stronger environmental protections. Another measure would authorize pre-leasing activities for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"The American people have already spoken in favor of protecting these special places, and sneaky maneuvering by a few in Congress should not forever change that," said Sease. "These proposals weaken important environmental protections, undermine democratic principles and contradict the will of the American public."

Forest Fragmentation Called Pervasive

In an article in the December issue of the journal "Ecosystems," U.S. Forest Service researcher Kurt Riitters and fellow researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used high resolution land cover maps derived from satellite images to model forest fragmentation across the continental U.S.

"Fragmentation refers to both the amount of forest and its spatial pattern," said Riitters, who is deputy project leader for the Southern Research Station (SRS) Forest Health Monitoring program. "Although the actual extent of forest has increased in some areas of the U.S., the spatial patterns indicate extensive fragmentation."

The study found that overall, 43.5 percent of U.S. forest was within 90 meters (295 feet) of forest edge, and almost 62 percent was within 150 meters (492 feet) of the edge. Less than one percent was more than 1230 meters (4036 feet) from the forest edge.

Yet the study also found that where forest existed, it was dominant: 73 percent of all forest was in landscapes that were at least 60 percent forested. About half the fragmentation consisted of small, less than 7.29 hectare perforations in interior forest areas.

"Our findings show that forest fragmentation is pervasive and extensive, with three-fourths of all forest found in or near the edges of large, heavily fragmented regional forests," said Riitters. "Most of the large interior forests in the U.S. are publicly owned, or unsuitable for agriculture or urban development. Historic patterns of forest clearing have left relatively little interior forest along many of the major rivers, near urban areas, or in fertile agricultural areas."

Fragmentation affects habitat quality for the mammal, reptile, bird and amphibian species found in forests. Some species are adapted to edge or other disturbed habitats, but changes in forest spatial patterns more often result in negative effects on habitat suitability and the ability of wildlife to move through the landscape - and in the spread of invasive species from disturbed edges.

Even small perforations, such as logging roads, can introduce these impacts deeper into the forest.

Hidden Clouds May Help Shape Climate

An instrument package developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has detected layers of moisture, indicative of high level cirrus clouds, that were missed by standard weather balloons and other instruments. The findings were presented on Tuesday by NCAR scientist Junhong Wang at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in Long Beach, California.

The undetected moisture and clouds, located between about five and nine miles high (8-14 kilometers), probably have little effect on daily weather forecasts, but their omission may be corrupting scientists' view of long term climate, Wang said. On average, cirrus clouds tend to warm the planet, as they allow sunlight to enter the atmosphere while trapping radiation emitted from the ground.

"Even small amounts of water vapor and cirrus clouds at these heights are extremely important for climate, as they strongly affect Earth's radiation budget," added Richard Anthes, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which operates NCAR.

Anthes notes that radiosonde data are often used in computer models to predict the weather, and that the resulting weather analyses are then used for analyzing climate, including the calibration of models that simulate previous and future climates.

"It is possible that decades of climate records have underestimated the amount of cirrus clouds in the global atmosphere," Anthes said.

Wang's study analyzes humidity data collected from the lowest few miles of the atmosphere by radiosondes, or weather balloons. More than 1,500 radiosondes are launched each day around the world, forming the backbone of the planet's weather observing system.

Wang and colleagues compared readings from the two inexpensive humidity sensors commonly used on radiosondes with data from Snow White, a high quality sensor developed by the Swiss firm Meteolabor AG.

Snow White is part of a reference radiosonde package developed at NCAR and deployed in the International H20 Project (IHOP2002), a collaborative study led by NCAR last spring.

In the cold air from about 26,000 to 42,000 feet high, the team found that standard sensors nearly always showed relative humidities ranging from about 10 percent to 30 percent. In contrast, more than half of the Snow White deployments showed areas of moisture at these altitudes with relative humidities from 90 percent to 100 percent - a strong sign of clouds.

In one of these cases, a NASA ground based lidar - laser based radar - taking part in IHOP2002 analyzed air near the track of a Snow White deployment. The lidar confirmed that high clouds were present.

"Both ground based observers and space based satellites have trouble distinguishing these clouds," according to David Carlson, head of the NCAR Atmospheric Technology Division.

Wang and colleagues hope that their reference radiosonde system, which includes Snow White, will help improve the quality of radiosondes used for day to day observing. It may also help scientists correct the data from years past.

"If developed and deployed soon," Wang said, "a reference radiosonde could help repair and improve data records over time and space."

Climate Mitigators Must Consider All Gases

Although CO2 is the principal greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, other gases - including methane, nitrous oxide, and a number of manmade, industrial process gases - such as hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride - are also important contributors to climate change, the study says.

"The non-CO2 gases contribute a great deal to climate change, yet there is currently little or no incentive to control these emissions," explained Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "Curbing emissions of these greenhouse gases is both environmentally important and cost-effective."

The report, "Multi-Gas Contributors to Global Climate Change: Climate Impacts and Mitigation Costs of Non-CO2 Gases," discusses the sources and amounts of these emissions, the atmospheric interactions of the various gases, and the relative costs of reducing them. Report authors John Reilly, Henry Jacoby, and Ronald Prinn of Massachusetts Institute of Technology use a general equilibrium modeling framework to analyze the costs and climate impacts of controlling various greenhouse gas emissions.

Their report discusses opportunities and difficulties associated with incorporating non-CO2 greenhouse gases into a climate policy framework.

The authors demonstrate that including all greenhouse gases in a moderate emissions reduction strategy not only increases the overall amount of emissions reductions, but also reduces the overall cost of mitigation. If, for example, total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States were held at year 2000 levels through 2010, many of the most cost effective reduction opportunities would come from the non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft of its annual Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2001 for a 30-day public comment period. The major finding in this year's report is that overall emissions declined by 1.6 percent from 2000 to 2001, the first such decline since 1990.

This decline was due primarily to a reduction in CO2 emissions associated with fuel and electricity consumption in the industrial sector of the economy, and also coincided with a drop in industrial output. Secondary contributors include a warm winter, which reduced demand for heating fuel, and targeted measures to reduce non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in industries such as aluminum smelting.

Overall, total U.S. emissions have risen by 13 percent from 1990 to 2001, with fossil fuel combustion accounting for 80 percent of total emissions.

In developing countries like India and Brazil, non-CO2 gases now account for more than half of total greenhouse gas emissions. Any cost effective effort to engage developing countries in climate change mitigation should also include these other gases, the Pew Center says.

"The reduction of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions is a critical component of a cost effective climate policy, so any efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide should proceed hand in hand with reductions of the other gases," Claussen said.

The full text of the Pew Center report is available at: http://www.pewclimate.org

The EPA draft report on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions is available at: http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/publications/emissions

Reactor Licensees Told to Step Up Inspections

The order establishes a minimum set of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) head inspection requirements. The NRC took the action as part of its efforts to improve safety at such reactors following the discovery of degradation in the RPV head at the Davis-Besse reactor in Oak Harbor, Ohio.

In February 2002, workers at Davis-Besse found a hole six inches deep and four to five inches wide in the reactor lid. Boric acid from a leaking nozzle had eaten through the vessel until it reached a 3/8 inch stainless steel liner that the acid could not penetrate.

The power company that manages the reactor, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, discovered the damage during a routing maintenance shut down, but the NRC said the utility should have found the problem much earlier, perhaps as much as four years earlier.

The new NRC order requires that licensees conduct bare metal visual examinations of the entire vessel head surface and non-visual examinations of each place where equipment penetrates the RPV head. These enhanced inspection requirements maintain the graded approach described in a bulletin that the NRC issued on August 9, 2002, in that licensees must increase the frequency of inspections as the head's susceptibility to degradation increases.

The order is considered an interim measure until enhanced inspection requirements acceptable to the NRC are incorporated into the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and related NRC regulations.

A copy of the entire Order will be posted on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/vessel-head-degradation/news.html, under News and Correspondence.

California Refinery Phasing Out Toxic Chemical

The enforceable agreement was reached by the Valero facility, also known as the Ultramar refinery, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

"Once this refinery stops using concentrated hydrogen fluoride, we will have virtually eliminated the potential for a catastrophic accidental release of this compound in our region," said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the AQMD.

"We commend Valero for voluntarily phasing out this chemical, which will significantly increase the safety of thousands of residents living near this refinery," Wallerstein added.

Hydrogen fluoride is a pungent, highly corrosive acid used at oil refineries in a process called alkylation that boosts gasoline octane. The chemical also is used at chemical plants to manufacture compounds including refrigerants.

Hydrogen fluoride poses a risk to nearby residents and businesses because in the event of an accidental release, it can form a dense cloud capable of etching glass and causing severe damage to human skin and lung tissue.

In 1987, an accidental release of hydrogen fluoride resulted from an explosion at the Mobil refinery in Torrance, California. The same year, there was an accidental hydrogen fluoride release at the Marathon Oil refinery in Texas City, Texas.

In the late 1980s, four oil refineries and one chemical plant in the region used hydrogen fluoride. Following the 1987 accidental release of hydrogen fluoride in Torrance, the AQMD formed a task force and the agency's Governing Board adopted a rule to phase out the use of hydrogen fluoride by 1998.

The rule was challenged in court by industry and a Superior Court judge suspended the rule on a technicality in 1992. Since then, two of the refineries using hydrogen fluoride have shut down, one has voluntarily switched to modified hydrogen fluoride and the chemical plant has phased out its hydrogen fluoride use, leaving the Valero refinery as the only facility in the region still using the hazardous chemical.

Under terms of the agreement, the Valero facility will:

• Replace its use of hydrogen fluoride by December 31, 2005, with modified hydrogen fluoride, which contains additives that reduce the chemical's ability to form a vapor cloud in the event of an accidental release;
• Enhance its existing safety systems to minimize the impact of an accidental hydrogen fluoride release; and
• Pay a penalty of $1 million if it fails to meet the deadline for phasing out hydrogen fluoride, barring unforeseen circumstances.

If for any reason Valero does not phase out its use of hydrogen fluoride, the AQMD will seek to adopt a rule requiring them to do so.

The Valero facility will need to undergo a variety of upgrades to switch to modified hydrogen fluoride. The AQMD has pledged to expedite the processing of air quality permits needed for the construction.

Switching to modified hydrogen fluoride will minimize the possibility of a catastrophic accidental release not only at the refinery, but along Southland transportation corridors, as the additive is added to the chemical before shipping.

Fuel Spilled at Midway Atoll

Officials from the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), GeoEngineers Inc., and Pacific Environmental Corporation flew to Midway last Friday to oversee the clean up project.

Dropping fuel levels in the fuel tank were noted early last week and all valves to pipelines leading from the tank were closed. Using a process of elimination, the faulty pipeline was identified and isolated.

Officials believe that a cap on an underground fitting once used to collect fuel samples corroded over the years and caused the release. The faulty cap was replaced and no further leaks have been detected.

The USFWS and GeoEngineers officials are analyzing records to determine the actual number of gallons released into the subsurface environment. Preliminary estimates are that between 75,000 and 100,000 gallons may have been lost.

No fuel has escaped into the marine environment at this time, and absorbent booms have been placed around the sea wall as a precaution. The fuel appears to be floating on top of the water table, about eight feet below the surface of the ground. Two pits have been excavated, and fuel is being pumped out as it flows into the pits.

The JP-5 fuel appears to be mixing with water and old heavy black oil. This contaminated fuel is being pumped into an empty tank to allow sand to settle out, then into an empty fuel farm tank for storage until a barge can be arranged to remove it from the refuge.

As of Monday, about 10,000 gallons of the fuel mixture had been recovered.

Since almost all of the spill is underground, impact to wildlife has been minimal to date, the USFWS said. One oiled bird has been cleaned and appears to be recovering. One albatross adult and chick were moved to a safe location to make room for excavating one of the recovery pits.

Midway Atoll is located about 1,250 miles west-northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. It was established as an overlay National Wildlife Refuge in 1988, and was transferred from the U.S. Navy to the USFWS in 1996.

The atoll provides nesting and resting habitat for almost two million seabirds, as well as important habitat for migratory shorebirds, threatened green sea turtles, and endangered Hawaiian monk seals. The three small islets, totaling 1,549 acres are surrounded by almost 86,000 acres of coral reefs and 211,000 acres of deeper waters within the refuge boundary.

Midway's historical resources are managed by the USFWS as the National Memorial to the Battle of Midway.

Species Find No Refuge at USFWS

On Monday, the USFWS announced that the owl, a native bird found in forests of the Sierra Nevada, the central coast range, and major mountain ranges of southern California, does not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) at this time. The agency's action came in response to a petition filed in April 2000 by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Nevada Protection Campaign, and a subsequent federal court order to finish the determination by February 10, 2003.

After a 12 month review as required by the Endangered Species Act, USFWS biologists concluded that "the overall magnitude of current threats to the California spotted owl does not rise to a level requiring federal protection."

Conservation groups disagree, saying the USFWS disregarded the concerns raised in the 2000 petition, as well as comprehensive studies on owl population trends.

"We believe the Fish and Wildlife Service finding is arbitrary and not supported by evidence in the record," said Craig Thomas, director of the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign. "There is no scientific information in the record to suggest a lessening of concern for the owl population in the Sierra Nevada. Ten years of population tracking studies suggest the owl is declining, and the concern for the stability of the population is still high."

The USFWS said it believes that new planning efforts by the U.S. Forest Service within the owl's range will benefit the birds. The environment groups said proposals released by the Forest Service last week suggest that the agency is considering reducing canopy cover requirements and increasing the harvest of large trees.

"Last week's proposal by the Forest Service to change management in the Sierra Nevada will result in the immediate loss of habitat quality and puts owl survival in jeopardy," said Susan Britting, science and policy analyst for the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign.

The groups are considering filing a lawsuit charging the USFWS and the Bush administration with compromising the listing process and prejudicing the outcome of its reviews.

"In the Bush administration's first two years in office it listed 22 species, compared to 199 during first two years of the Clinton administration. This is a clear demonstration of the Bush administration's disregard for the environment and species at risk across the nation and in California in particular," said Noah Greenwald, ecologist for the Center for Biological Diversity, co-author of the listing petition.

In the last three weeks, the USFWS has denied protection for six species including the California spotted owl; two rare plants native to southern Oregon, the Mount Ashland lupine and Henderson's horkelia; the western subspecies of sage grouse; the tri-state flock of trumpeter swans near Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho; and the mountain quail.

On January 15, the agency concluded that listing the Sierra Nevada population of the mountain yellow legged frog was "warranted but precluded," meaning that the species warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act, but that the USFWS does not have the funds or personnel needed to list the species at this time.

Last Friday, the USFWS issued $3.9 million in grants for new docking facilities at marinas in six states that serve large pleasure boats such as yachts and houseboats.