• Bill Would Reauthorize Superfund Tax
  
• Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools Pose Serious Risks
  
• Groups Seek Revisions to Missouri River Operations
  
• Comment Time Extended for New Source Revisions
  
• Lawsuit Challenges Metro Air Park Project
  
• Census Shows Recycling Up, Hog Farms Down
  
• Crawfish Farmers Win Right to Sue Pesticide Maker
  
• Island Added to Connecticut Wildlife Refuge
  

Bill Would Reauthorize Superfund Tax

Senators Jim Jeffords, a Vermont Independent; Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat; and Lincoln Chafee, a Rhode Island Republican, said their bill is designed to hold polluters, not taxpayers, accountable for the toxic waste sites they create.

"One in four Americans live within four miles of a toxic Superfund site," noted Jeffords. "Americans deserve clean soil and water. They expect that toxic waste sites will be cleaned up quickly and completely. Yet the President's proposal would allow the Superfund Trust Fund to run dry."

"This Fund, which once contained over $3.8 billion, is now expected to be exhausted within the next two years. We must reauthorize the Superfund taxes," Jeffords added.

The 1980 Superfund law is the federal program responsible for the clean up of hazardous waste sites. The program has made it possible to cleanup 840 of the worst toxic waste sites in the country and has forced companies and industries to better manage pollution and waste.

At the heart of the law is the commitment to ensure that the polluters responsible for the contamination, and not the general public, pay for the cleanup. In the past, most of the money for Superfund site cleanups came from a tax on polluting industries, but that tax has not been collected since it expired in 1995.

Congress has refused to renew the tax, forcing general taxpayer funds to be used for ongoing cleanups.

In the mid and late 1990s, Superfund cleaned up an average of 86 sites per year, but this number has since fallen by more than 50 percent in the last two years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed cleanups of just 42 sites in fiscal year 2002, less than the 75 it had projected and far less than the 87 achieved in fiscal year 2000.

More than 1,200 toxic waste sites on the Superfund National Priority List still await cleanup, while more wait to even be listed for Superfund cleanup.

President George W. Bush has proposed a 2004 budget that would boost funding for Superfund cleanups by some $150 million over current funding levels. But that figure is deceiving, noted Boxer, because of previous cuts and inflation.

"This is more smoke and mirrors by an administration that has dangerously weakened this successful program," said Boxer. "Taking into account inflation, the so called 'increase' is closer to $90 million over last year. And taking into account that EPA funded only 65 percent of site requests last year, the bottom line is that there will be even fewer sites adequately funded in 2004's budget."

"What makes this announcement even more egregious is what the Administrator forgot to mention - this so called 'new' money is not coming from polluters, but from taxpayers," she added.

Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools Pose Serious Risks

Terrorists targeting the high density storage systems used at nuclear power plants throughout the nation could cause contamination problems "significantly worse than those from Chernobyl," study found.

The study's authors, a multi-institutional team of researchers led by Frank von Hippel of Princeton, are calling on Congress to mandate the construction of new facilities to house spent fuel in less risky configurations, at an estimated total cost of $3.5 billion to $7 billion.

Their paper is scheduled to be published this spring in the journal "Science and Global Security."

Strapped for long term storage options, the nation's 103 nuclear power plants now pack four to five times the number of spent fuel rods into water cooled tanks than the tanks were designed to hold, the authors reported. This high density configuration is safe when cooled by water, but would likely cause a fire - with catastrophic results - if the cooling water leaked. The tanks could be ruptured by a hijacked jet or sabotage, the study contends.

Such a fire would release a radiation plume that could contaminate eight to 70 times more land than the area affected by the 1986 accident in Chernobyl. The cost of such a disaster would run into the hundreds of billions of dollars, the researchers reported.

The study builds on analyses completed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), pulling together a variety of sources and adding new calculations to put the issues in sharper focus, said von Hippel.

"The NRC has been chewing on this for 20 years," said von Hippel. "That's one of the reasons why we did this paper - because they never seem to do anything about it."

At issue in the study is how nuclear power plant operators deal with the narrow, 12 foot long rods of uranium that, after three or four years of use, no longer contain enough chain reacting material to sustain a nuclear reaction. For the first few years after they are taken from the reactor, the fuel rods continue to generate a lot of heat due to their intense radioactivity.

Without cooling, the rods would burst and ignite the zirconium alloy sheaths in which they are encased.

The water filled cooling tanks were designed to protect about 100 metric tons of the hottest rods, while the cooler ones would be moved to a nuclear fuel recycling plant, which was never built. The U.S. also has not yet built a long term storage facility for nuclear waste, so the pools have been packed with 400 tons or more of spent fuel rods.

In its low density configuration, a cooling tank could be cooled by air in the event of a loss of water, while the high density system could not, the study notes.

The authors recommended returning the water tanks to their low density configurations and building onsite storage facilities, which would use air cooling, for the older fuel. Some of the cost of this work already is budgeted as part of a plan to build a national storage facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the authors noted.

That project, however, is not scheduled to be built for another 10 years and would then take another 20 or 30 years to take enough waste to relieve the water tank density.

The decision whether to reconfigure the spent fuel storage systems comes down to a cost benefit analysis, von Hippel said. Even without the possibility of terrorism, the opportunity to reduce the risk of more conventional mishaps would justify the expense under most circumstances, he said.

The chances of a successful terrorist attack are hard to quantify, he acknowledged, but if the odds were at least one percent over 30 years, then the expense would be justified.

Groups Seek Revisions to Missouri River Operations

The lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service charges that the status quo violates three federal laws: the Endangered Species Act, the Flood Control Act of 1944, and the Administrative Procedures Act.

"For years, the Corps' control of the Missouri River has defied science, economics, and the rule of law," said former deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, now a partner at the Washington, DC office of the law firm Latham & Watkins, which represents nine regional and national organizations filing the petition. "The agency must now be held accountable for failing to be a good steward of the public's river."

"Through this legal action we have the wonderful opportunity to save endangered species, improve the health of the Missouri River and produce more economic benefit as well," added Tim Searchinger, senior attorney representing Environmental Defense, who helped write the complaint.

The lawsuit marks a new phase in the conservation organizations' efforts to bring about a change for the Missouri and its riverfront communities. It comes after years of working to build consensus for change by highlighting the ecological and economic benefits of new dam operations.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now releases water from its dams on a schedule intended to maximize the length of the commercial shipping season for the barge industry on the lower third of the river. These unnatural flows have driven three species - the pallid sturgeon, piping plover, and interior least tern - to the brink of extinction.

The region also forgoes the economic activity associated with "nearly one million recreation-based days of hunting, fishing, sightseeing and boating annually," according to one Corps study.

During the most recent public comment period on dam operations, 55,000 Americans filed comments with the Corps, 54,000 of them urging the agency to adopt river friendly dam operations. Those sentiments have been echoed to various degrees by six of the eight governors in the Missouri River basin, the National Academy of Sciences, the professional association of state fish and wildlife biologists in the Missouri River basin, and the majority of the editorial boards of newspapers along the river.

"We regret that it has come to this, but the political climate is such that public opinion, scientific consensus, and the prospect of more jobs along the river have proven insufficient to break the Corps' stranglehold on the Missouri River," said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers. "Let's hope the courts can help us move Missouri River management into the 21st century so that the river and the people that depend on it can prosper."

Comment Time Extended for New Source Revisions

The comment period was scheduled to end March 3; the public will now have another 60 days, until May 2, to file comments on the EPA's proposal to redefine "routine maintenance, repair and replacement" under the new source review (NSR) provisions. Over the next two months, the agency will hold five public hearings across the country.

The EPA says its proposed rule would offer facilities greater flexibility to improve and modernize their operations in ways that will reduce energy use and air pollution.

"We are taking this action today to provide additional opportunity for comment and participation," said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. " I believe that full public participation is key to our review of the NSR program."

The NSR provisions of the Clean Air Act require aging power plants and factories to install modern pollution control technology when they increase their output or make other major changes. The EPA has estimated that as many as 50 percent fewer facilities would be required to install modern air pollution controls under the new rules.

Critics of the proposal say the planned revisions would increase air pollution and make it harder to police polluting industries.

"This is the most significant rollback of clean air standards ever," Mark Wenzler, environmental counsel for the National Environmental Trust, told ENS.

Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner, who served under the Clinton administration, said the proposed revisions would undermine the intent of the Clean Air Act: "fresh and healthy air for all Americans."

"This rollback in the law will permit thousands of the oldest, dirtiest smokestacks to continue spewing out pollution rather than installing state of the art pollution controls," Browner said. "It is nothing but a special deal for the special interests. It comes at the expense of all who breathe and most particularly our children."

More information and copies of the proposed rule are available at: http://www.epa.gov/nsr/

Lawsuit Challenges Metro Air Park Project

The proposed development would include 1,893 acres of commercial development and 123 acres of infrastructure in the Basin. The same environmental coalition won its suit against the USFWS's approval of inadequate environmental safeguards just three years ago.

At issue is the Metro Air Park project, which would develop 2,016 acres of habitat important to a variety of protected species, including giant garter snakes and Swainson's hawks. Federal and state Endangered Species Acts protect the giant garter snake as a threatened species. California state law protects the Swainson's hawk as threatened.

The site was farmed for rice and row crops until after the county approved the development project in 1997. The area is now occupied by the snake and hawk, species that have been impacted by rampant urban development in California's Central Valley.

The USFWS approved the Metro Air Park project despite the fact that it suffers many of the same serious inadequacies pointed out by a federal district court judge in 2000. Judge David Levi invalidated the prior environmental plan for the area, called the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, because it did not adequately minimize and mitigate the killing of protected species and destruction of their habitat.

Lawyers for Earthjustice and the National Wildlife Federation are challenging the agency's decision to approve the new Metro Air Park Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), saying it once again fails to protect endangered wildlife.

"Unfortunately, instead of cooperating with the city of Sacramento and other entities that are revising the Natomas Basin HCP, the Metro Air Park developers have chosen to push ahead with a project that includes a mitigation scheme already invalidated by a federal court," said Laura Robb, an attorney with Earthjustice.

The environmental coalition, which includes the Environmental Council of Sacramento, Friends of the Swainson's Hawk, the Planning and Conservation League, and the Sierra Club, charges that the 0.5 to one mitigation ratio adopted from the rejected Natomas Basin HCP is insufficient to meet Endangered Species Act requirements for preservation of species.

The plan does not consider the relative value of the habitat destroyed and the habitat acquired, nor does it consider whether the species will survive on the acquired land, let alone recover from the losses suffered from the Metro Air Park development. Because all the land within the Metro Air Park site will be developed, mitigation reserve lands will be purchased away from the Metro Air Park site at unknown locations and for an unknown price after development has occurred.

Impacts of other development in the Basin, which the plan ignores, could cause the mitigation plan to fail.

"This plan lacks the common sense requirement that an ensured source of funding be in place to guarantee it will work for wildlife. It is guaranteed that the plan will work for developers, but there is no guarantee for wildlife," said John Kostyack, a National Wildlife Federation attorney. "A federal court has already ruled that a one sided approach, guaranteeing that habitat will be lost to imperiled wildlife but providing only good intentions that other suitable habitat will be acquired, is not acceptable. We're simply asking that the Fish and Wildlife Service comply with the law and the court's ruling."

Census Shows Recycling Up, Hog Farms Down

According to the Commerce Department's Census Bureau, Americans nearly doubled their recycling of trash over the past decade, while the number of hog farms plummeted by more than half over a six year period.

"Thirty percent of the residential and commercial waste generated in municipal collections was recovered in 2000, compared to 16 percent 10 years earlier," said Lars Johanson, technical coordinator of the "Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2002."

Recycling rates have risen for almost all materials, with the biggest gains seen in recovery of metals and yard wastes. However, aluminum recycling fell from 1990 to 2000, from more than 35 percent to below 30 percent.

As for livestock operations with hogs and pigs, Johanson said there were 81,000 in 2001, down from 168,000 in 1995. "Almost all of the decline occurred among operations with fewer than 500 head," Johanson said.

The Abstract, published every year since 1878, features 30 new tables with Census 2000 data. Another 49 new tables cover a variety of topics, including carpooling, Internet use and voluntarism.

The new edition has more than 1,400 tables and charts with statistics from the most recent year or period available.

The data shows that of the 25 largest metro areas in Census 2000, the Phoenix-Mesa area in Arizona had the highest percentage of workers who make the environmentally friendly choice of carpooling to work, at 15.3 percent. Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, California came in second at 15.2 percent.

The states with the highest percentage of federally owned land in 2000 were Nevada at 83 percent, Utah at 65 percent; and Idaho at 63 percent. Alaska had the most federally owned acres at 221 million.

Texas has the most rural, non-federal land, at 155,530 acres or 90.9 percent of its total non-federal lands. But Nebraska has the highest percentage of rural land in state or private hands: 95.3 percent, or 47,187 acres of the state's 49,510 acre total.

The report shows that the nation's wetlands continue to decline, with 536,500 acres lost from 1986 to 1997. The biggest losses were to freshwater wetlands, with deepwater habitats such as lakes, rivers and estuaries making small gains.

The report also includes information on other countries. According to the report, the most densely populated country in the world was Monaco, with 41,235 people per square mile in 2001. Next was Singapore, with 17,849 per square mile. Greenland had less than one person per square mile, and the least densely populated country was Mongolia, with four.

The 2002 Statistical Abstract can be accessed online at: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/02statab/abstract-02.htm

Crawfish Farmers Win Right to Sue Pesticide Maker

For three years, the crawfish farmers have been trying to press a class action lawsuit against Aventis and seed distributors who coated ICON on rice seed. A trial court ruled in favor of class certification in 2001, and in September 2002, a federal appeals ruled that the crawfish farmers could proceed with their suit.

Last week, the state Supreme Court reaffirmed the class action certification. The ruling allows the crawfish farmers to proceed as a class against the pesticide manufacturer and distributors.

Opelousas attorney Pat Morrow, one of the lawyers representing the farmers, said the ruling by the Supreme Court is another tremendous victory for hundreds of Louisiana's crawfish farmers whose crops were damaged by ICON.

"Now that the original class certification has been reaffirmed by the highest court in the state, the crawfish farmers can proceed as a class against those parties responsible for the damages," said Morrow. "This final ruling validates the farmers' right to proceed on a level, legal playing field against Aventis, a well financed, multinational corporation. Now these rural, individual farmers can join together to present evidence of legal and factual issues that are common to all crawfish farmers."

The crawfish farmers allege that the pesticide ICON (Fipronil) devastated Louisiana's 2000 and 2001 crawfish crop after its introduction on the rice seed in 1999. In 2000, Louisiana's crawfish production dropped from 41 million pounds to 16 million pounds.

Although ICON's purpose is to kill the water weevil, the enemy of the rice crop, farmers and experts testified at trial that it also kills crawfish. The crawfish farmers testified that once their fields were contaminated by ICON, there was a widespread crawfish kill.

Although Aventis and the seed distributor defendants contend that ICON is safe, studies conducted by aquaculture experts and the LSU AgCenter suggest otherwise. Once ICON coated rice seeds are planted in the fields, ICON contaminates the water and sediment in which the crawfish feed.

Scientists say ICON and the compounds it degrades into will remain in the sediment and may continue to cause damage to crawfish production for many years to come.

"Now that the defendants' writ has been denied by the Louisiana Supreme Court, the crawfish farmers will at last get their day in court. The steering committee for the class will be requesting a trial date from Judge Genovese, which will hopefully be set on his docket for later this year," said Hunter Lundy, of Lundy & Davis Law Firm in Lake Charles, co-counsel representing crawfish farmers.

Island Added to Connecticut Wildlife Refuge

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) purchased Calves Island from the Greenwich Family YMCA for $6 million, with the help of the nonprofit Trust for Public Land. At the request of the YMCA, a "friendly taking" process cleared the title because deed restrictions limited the property to residential use.

"This purchase will protect the natural state of the island with its habitat for a diversity of wading birds, waterfowl, and shorebirds, as well as marine mammals and other marine life," said USFWS northeast regional director Dr. Mamie Parker. "The island will be available to the community as an open space resource, strengthening the connection between wildlife and people through partnerships with community organizations to develop activities and programs."

The $6 million purchase price came from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The Trust for Public Land plans to work with local organizations to raise a stewardship endowment fund for Calves Island. The endowment will be used to supplement available federal funds for developing and maintaining island facilities such as docks, nature trails and interpretive signs.

It will also support community based programming for wildlife related uses including recreation, environmental education and special events.

"We are delighted to have helped permanently protect Calves Island from development," said Whitney Hatch, acting Connecticut director of the Trust for Public Land. "After years of very little use, Calves Island will now be incorporated into the McKinney refuge for the permanent benefit of both wildlife and community residents. We're looking forward to working with local organizations and residents to establish an endowment fund for the island."

Calves Island lies about 3,000 feet offshore of Greenwich, south of Byram Harbor. It is one of several islands near the western edge of the McKinney refuge. The USFWS's primary purpose for protecting the island will be for managing and preserving migratory birds and other wildlife.

The YMCA has owned the island since 1954 and at one time operated a children's day camp that was discontinued due to high operational costs and complicated logistics. In 1999, the YMCA decided to sell the 28.8 acre island. They expressed a preference to sell the island to an organization that would preserve it as an undeveloped public resource forever.

"We are pleased with the sale of Calves Island to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," said YMCA CEO John Eikrem. "Their charter mandates public activities at a level much greater than could ever be achieved under YMCA ownership. The agreed upon use plan with the Service will allow public access 12 months of the year from sunup to sunset, and it includes recreation and environmental activities, picnicking, boating, overnight groups and the like."