• Leaked Pentagon Report Warns of Coming Climate Wars
  
• Nader Jumps Into the Presidential Race
  
• Mad Cow Animal Testing Program to Be Expanded
  
• Lake Erie's Last Large Island Sold to Ohio
  
• Princeton Gamma-Tech to Pay $21.5 Million for Cleanups
  
• Occidental Chemical Will Investigate Dioxins in Newark Bay
  
• Pittsburgh Sewer, Storm Water Overflow Addressed
  
• High-Tech Devices Map Virgin Islands Marine Ecology
  

Leaked Pentagon Report Warns of Coming Climate Wars

The threat of a suddenly warming climate to global stability is far greater than that posed by terrorism, the newspaper quotes the Pentagon as warning.

Global warming "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern," according to the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California based Global Business Network.

The report was commissioned by Pentagon defense adviser Andrew Marshall, who heads the little known office of Net Assessment within the Pentagon. The office was created and Marshall was named its first director in 1973, and he has been reappointed by every administration and Secretary of Defense since then.

The report embarasses the Bush administration, which while acknowledging the existence of climate change, has said it would be too costly to the American economy to join the world's 37 other industrialized nations in limiting global warming.

"The Observer" published key findings of the report, which confirm what some of the world's top climate scientists and environmental organizations have been saying for at least the past five years.

In the future, wars will erupt over survival issues such as water and food, rather than religion or ideology. The Nile, Danube and Amazon are at risk of becoming battlegrounds over access to water.

A "significant drop" in the planet's ability to sustain its present population will occur by 2025. Deaths from war and starvation mount into the millions until the planet's overpopulation burden is reduced.

The proliferation of nuclear weapons is inevitable, the report warns. Nuclear nations will expand to include Japan, South Korea, and Germany Iran, Egypt and North Korea in addition to the present nuclear powers - Israel, China, India and Pakistan.

Sea level rise will inundate low-lying European cities such as Amsterdam and The Hague, and Britain will be locked in a "Siberian" climate, the report says.

Rich regions like the United States and Europe would become "virtual fortresses" to keep out millions of environmental refugees arriving by boat, fleeing barren or inundated lands.

Droughts parch the world's major breadbaskets, including America's Midwest, where strong winds blow the fertile topsoil away. In California, the delta island levees in the Sacramento river area are breached, disrupting the aqueduct system transporting water from north to south.

In just six years, the United States and Europe will experience a third more days with peak temperatures above 90 Fahrenheit.

China's more than one billion people and food demand make it particularly vulnerable. Bangladesh becomes nearly uninhabitable because of a rising sea levels, which contaminate the inland water supplies. Riots and internal wars tear apart India, South Africa and Indonesia, the report predicts.

The Pentagon report states, "By 2005 the climatic impact of the shift is felt more intensely in certain regions around the world. More severe storms and typhoons bring about higher storm surges and floods in low-lying islands such as Tarawa and Tuvalu [near New Zealand]. In 2007, a particularly severe storm causes the ocean to break through levees in the Netherlands making a few key coastal cities such as The Hague unlivable."

"Failures of the delta island levees in the Sacramento River region in the Central Valley of California creates an inland sea and disrupts the aqueduct system transporting water from northern to southern California because salt water can no longer be kept out of the area during the dry season... As glacial ice melts, sea levels rise and as wintertime sea extent decreases, ocean waves increase in intensity, damaging coastal cities."

"Additionally millions of people are put at risk of flooding around the globe (roughly 4 times 2003 levels), and fisheries are disrupted as water temperature changes cause fish to migrate to new locations and habitats, increasing tensions over fishing rights."

The unveiling of this suppressed report may help the presidential candidacy of Senator John Kerry, the Democratic frontrunner. In his environmental policy statement, Kerry says, the Bush administration "has stubbornly refused to confront the serious consequences of rising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence. It has rejected modest and responsible legislative proposals to curb the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and instead has pursued half-hearted voluntary measures that have simply maintained the status quo."

Kerry promises to "take the aggressive action required to reshape the carbon profile of our economy and put us on a long term path toward meaningful reductions in emissions and, ultimately, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at levels that will prevent harmful changes in the Earth’s climate."

Greenpeace, one of the environmental groups that has been warning of global warming for years, said the Pentagon report shows that President George W. Bush is out of touch with the facts of climate change. "Actually, Mr. Bush, the jury's been in for some time, and now even your own Pentagon is saying you're wrong," the organization said in a statement.

"Perhaps it's time you focused on the real terrorist threat to our planet," said Greenpeace, "the oil companies like Exxon which continue to fund your re-election, and whose interests you continue to defend at the expense of our future."

Nader Jumps Into the Presidential Race

Appearing on NBC News program "Meet the Press," Nader said, "After careful thought and my desire to retire our supremely selected president, I've decided to run as an Independent candidate for president."

Running as a Green Party presidential candidate in 2000, Nader was accused of tipping the balance away from Al Gore, which helped elect George W. Bush.

In 2000 in Florida, Bush won by 537 votes, and you got 97,488, "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert told Nader on air. "In New Hampshire, Bush won by 7,211, you got 22,000 votes."

In response, Nader said he did not cost Gore the election, because Gore won the election. Nader called his detrators the "liberal intelligentsia" and said, "what they're doing is basically saying that third parties are a second class citizenship."

Nader said there is a "civil liberties crisis affecting third parties and Independent candidates, in the United States. "Historically," he said, "that's where our reform has come from, in the 19th century, against slavery, women's right to vote, trade union, farmer, populist, progressive."

Nader said both Republicans and Democrats are basically reading from the same playbook. "They're taking our country apart: massive poverty, massive child poverty, massive consumer debt, environmental devastation. That didn't occur, that didn't get worse under the Democrats? So, basically, it's a question between both parties flunking, one with a D-, the Republicans; one with a D+, the Democrats."

"There are 100 million people in this country who do not vote. There are plenty of nonvoters for all candidates to attract," Nader has repeatedly said. To attract voters, Nader's first priority now is to get on the ballot in all 50 states.

The Green Party of the United States "welcomed" Nader's entry into the presidential race as an independent, saying that he will "take positions and raise issues of vital urgency" in the 2004 race for the White House.

But the Green Party and its 43 affiliate state parties are preparing to back a Green nominee, not an independent or another party's candidate.

"In running a presidential ticket this year, we're keeping our eyes on the prize. Our mid-term goal is the creation of a multi-party political system, and the participation of a strong Green Party in that system," said Ben Manski, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "To move closer to achieving our goal, we run and support Green candidates."

Some Greens have launched a Redraft Nader campaign to persuade Nader to to reverse his earlier decision to not seek the Green Party nomination and instead accept a nomination at the party's national convention in Milwaukee in the last week of June. There is also a campaign among some Green Party members to urge the party not to run a national candidate in 2004.

"We wish Ralph well and thank him for working with us and supporting us all these years," said Jo Chamberlain, also a co-chair of the national Green Party. "Our candidates - and our eventual nominee - are campaigning on a platform similar to his, so we don't consider ourselves in any kind of public competition with him."

But Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen called Nader's candidacy "monumentally irresponsible" and urged Nader to "reconsider his decision."

"The Bush administration's environmental policy has been a boon for the big oil, gas, and timber industries. Clean air and clean water laws have been rolled back. National forests have been opened to increased logging and public lands to more oil drilling. The framework of laws protecting our wildlife and habitat have been all but dismantled. Time and again, the President has placed the needs of corporate special interests ahead of the needs of our environment.

"The damage the President has done to the environment far outweighs the gains Mr. Nader made in this area during his career. Free from the threat of electoral defeat, a second term for the President could spell disaster on many of the issues Mr. Nader claims to hold dear," said Schlickeisen.

Mad Cow Animal Testing Program to Be Expanded

Briefing reporters Thursday after a speech at USDA's Agricultural Outlook Forum near Washington, Veneman said she expects soon to announce the "comprehensive nature" of the enhanced testing program. It is likely that the USDA will increase the number and expand characteristics of the animals tested for BSE, known as mad cow disease.

Veneman said the expanded testing program likely would include the testing of older healthy cows for BSE, as well as the younger, sick or injured animals that have been the focus of the department's testing program. Older cows are those over 30 months of age.

In addition, the department likely will test more than 40,000 cows for BSE in 2004, as recommended by the review panel, Veneman said. The department initially said it would test 40,000 cows in 2004, or twice the amount of animals tested in 2003, and 40,000 cows was the number mentioned in the 2005 budget request sent to Congress earlier this month.

Veneman said representatives of Japan and Mexico are currently in Washington to learn more about the United States' ongoing efforts to upgrade its animal testing and health protection programs.

Those efforts include the accelerated development of a verifiable, permanent national animal identification system and helping other countries understand the importance of basing international trade rules on sound science, she said. Veneman announced December 30 that the USDA would begin immediate implementation of a national animal identification plan, which would aid efforts to track animals and their origins.

Japan and Mexico, which currently ban U.S. beef imports, are the two largest U.S. beef export markets.

The United States hopes its open approach to informing the public about its efforts to strengthen its animal testing and surveillance programs will provide an example to other countries dealing with food safety and consumer confidence issues, said J.B. Penn, under secretary of agriculture for foreign affairs. Addressing conference attendees, Penn said U.S. officials continue to work to inform foreign officials and public about the safety of North American beef.

Penn said that Canada and the Philippines remain open for U.S. beef and said he expects other markets to reopen in 2004.

The USDA's labeling of the BSE infected cow as a "downer" has been questioned by the two highest ranking members of the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform. In a joint letter to Veneman on February 17, committee Chairman Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, and Congressman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, presented evidence from three people who handled, transported and slaughtered the BSE cow that it was ambulatory at the time of death.

"If the information we have received is true," the congressmen wrote, "a key premise of the USDA BSE testing program is subverted. It is self-evident that if the only BSE-infected cow in the United States was able to walk and had no symptoms of nervous system disease, USDA should not assume that all infected cattle will be either downer cows or cows that exhibt symptoms of nervous system disease."

The two congressmen said the evidence means that the USDA should follow the international panel's recommendations and test not just 40,000 cows, but "all downer cows over 30 months" and conduct "a random sampling of among healthy cattle."

The congressmen said the USDA should "either follow the recommendations of these independent experts and expand mad cow testing substantially or provide a compelling reason for not doing so."

While Waxman said Sunday that the committee has not received a reply to its letter from the Agriculture Secretary, her announcement of an expanded testing program appears to address some of their concerns.

Lake Erie's Last Large Island Sold to Ohio

The grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund is the largest single site grant to a state in the history of the program, said Interior Secretary Gale Norton Friday as she announced approval of the grant.

The state plans to purchase land to create parkland and outdoor recreation opportunities on the island. Located in Ottawa County, North Bass Island is owned by one distillery and once was in use for vineyards.

The Paramount Distillers, Inc., through its Meier's Wine Cellars subsidiary, has negotiated a selling price below appraised value. Although grapes have been grown on the island since the mid-1800s, less than a quarter of the tillable acreage remains in grape cultivation and there are no wineries on the island.

Norton said the grant illustrates the Bush administration's commitment to supporting conservation and recreational opportunities in park areas. "These awards of LWCF funds to state and locally sponsored projects will improve recreational opportunities for Americans," she said.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources will use the LWCF grant to acquire 357 acres on North Bass Island. Future development will include campgrounds, picnic areas, swimming, boating and fishing facilities, trails, hunting and natural areas.

An additional 234 acres of island property are being acquired - including 68 acres from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds, 127 acres from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 39 acres from the state of Ohio.

A total of approximately 591 acres of the island's 676 acres will be acquired. protecting 2.5 miles of undeveloped shoreline and important coastal wetland habitat. The nonprofit Conservation Fund is helping to facilitate the land's protection.

Congress enacted the Land and Water Conservation Fund in 1964 to provide conservation funds derived from receipts from oil and gas drilling on the nation's Outer Continental Shelf. The law authorizes up to $900 million a year in LWCF funding.

Since its inception, federal grant obligations totaling $3.4 billion have been matched by state and local contributions, for a total LWCF grant investment of $6.8 billion.

The Bush administration proposed Fiscal Year '05 budget provides full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund including $660.6 million to the Department of the Interior.

The Department's request, combined with the request for the U.S. Forest Service, would bring total government-wide LWCF funding to $900.2 million. Interior's $660.6 million would include $153.3 million for land acquisition and $507.3 million specifically for cooperative conservation partnership programs, of which $93.8 million is provided for the state grant program.

"Conservation today depends increasingly on partnerships across a mosaic of land ownerships," Norton said. "Interior cannot manage federal lands successfully unless it works with adjacent landowners, states, tribes, communities and nonprofit partners."

Princeton Gamma-Tech to Pay $21.5 Million for Cleanups

Princeton Gamma-Tech is a supplier of microanalysis systems for X-ray and gamma-ray spectroscopy, and the company produces semiconductor radiation detectors and imaging equipment for nuclear physics research laboratories.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Department of Justice said that the settlement with Princeton Gamma-Tech provides that the EPA and the state of New Jersey will receive $21.5 million for past and future cleanups at the Montgomery Township Housing Development and the Rocky Hill Municipal Well Superfund sites.

The 72 acre Montgomery Township Housing Development site and the adjacent two acre Rocky Hill Municipal Well site are located in the southern part of Somerset County. Because they are near one another and are both primarily contaminated by TCE in the groundwater, they are being addressed together.

Drinking large amounts of trichloroethylene may cause nausea, liver damage, unconsciousness, impaired heart function, or death, according to the federal agency responsible for toxics, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry (ATSDR).

Drinking small amounts of trichloroethylene for long periods may cause liver and kidney damage, impaired immune system function, and impaired fetal development in pregnant women, says the ATSDR, although the extent of some of these effects is not yet clear.

Originally, 71 affected residences in the Montgomery housing development were connected to the Elizabethtown municipal water supply because private well water was contaminated.

The area surrounding the site is wooded and mostly residential. Beden Brook skirts the northwestern corner of the site, and the Millstone River bounds it on the east.

The EPA’s cleanup plan for the sites includes extracting and treating contaminated groundwater at the site. In addition, the agency will seal private wells within the contaminant plume. The EPA will begin building the ground water treatment plant at the sites this spring.

“This settlement is very good news for Montgomery Township and Rocky Hill Borough residents,” said EPA Regional Administrator Jane Kenny. “ We continue our resolve to pursue those who contaminate our environment – they should pay for their past actions. This settlement benefits taxpayers and the residents in the neighborhoods that need to be cleaned up.”

Under the umbrella settlement, EPA will receive $14,204,000 to be split between the Montgomery Township Housing Development and Rocky Hill Municipal Well sites to fund future long term cleanup work at the sites. New Jersey, which is also a party to the settlement, will receive $7,296,000 to reimburse its past and futures costs at these sites.

Occidental Chemical Will Investigate Dioxins in Newark Bay

The study will be undertaken with oversight by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency said.

Occidental Chemical is a successor corporation to the former Diamond Alkali Company, which owned and operated a pesticides manufacturing plant on Lister Avenue in Newark from 1951 through 1969.

Operations at the site caused dioxin and other pesticide contamination in the soil and groundwater, which migrated to the Passaic River. Contamination has been found in the sediment of the Passaic River over a 17 mile stretch, as well as in Newark Bay.

EPA is involved in ongoing investigations of this portion of the river. Numerous potentially responsible parties connected with industrial sites along the entire length of the river are working toward an agreement to fund these and future project activities.

"This agreement allows us to move forward immediately with the investigation of contaminated sediment in Newark Bay," said Jane Kenny, EPA regional administrator.

"We are already working with the state of New Jersey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a study of sediment in more than 17 miles of the Passaic River north of the Bay. This investigation will provide a critical piece of information necessary to move forward in the cleanup process," she said.

In addition to funding the study, Occidental Chemical will reimburse the EPA for the costs of conducting a human health and ecological risk assessment of the bay, and its oversight expenses. The agreement is embodied in an Administrative Order on Consent signed February 13 by the chemical company and the EPA.

Pittsburgh Sewer, Storm Water Overflow Addressed

High-Tech Devices Map Virgin Islands Marine Ecology