• Idaho National Lab to be Nuclear R&D Center
  
• Faster Cleanup of Savannah Nuclear Site Funded
  
• Bush Sends U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Pact to Senate
  
• ARCO Hit with $2 Million Superfund Lawsuit
  
• Diazinon Found in Boise Wastewater
  
• Boaters Encouraged to Buy Low Polluting Outboards
  
• Boston Buses Busted for Idling
  
• Enviros Seek to Speak for the Oregon Trees
  

Idaho National Lab to be Nuclear R&D Center

In a speech to employees today at INEEL, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the lab's mission realignment. It will become a center of nuclear energy research and development involved with project such as Generation IV nuclear energy systems and advanced, proliferation resistant fuel cycle technology and transmutation technologies.

"INEEL will be the epicenter of our efforts to expand nuclear energy as a reliable, affordable and clean energy source for our nation's energy future," said Abraham.

"While environmental cleanup remains a priority for us at Idaho, the importance of advanced, safe nuclear energy for the future demands that we return the Idaho labs to their core mission of nuclear technology research, development and demonstration," Abraham said.

INEEL will receive an additional $5 million in funding to "jump-start" the transition.

Over the past 50 years, INEEL and Argonne National Laboratory-West have designed, constructed and operated more than 50 reactors at the site. Now, the Idaho labs will provide key support to the expanding international Generation IV initiative to develop technologies that "achieve safety performance, waste reduction, and proliferation resistance while providing a nuclear energy option that is economically competitive and ready for deployment before 2030," according to an INEEL statement.

Over the next decade, the most promising technologies will be explored until preferred concepts are ready for testing. Argonne and INEEL plan to have one or more reactor designs certified by 2030, in time to replace reactors built in this country during the 1970s and 1980s.

Internationally, the two labs have organized meetings of the Generation IV International Forum. Eight countries have so far joined the United States: the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Canada, Argentina, Republic of Korea, Republic of South Africa, and Brazil.

Generation IV nuclear energy systems would follow three other distinct periods of reactor development. Generation I experimental reactors were developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Generation II large, central-station nuclear power reactors, such as the 104 plants still operating in the United States, were built in the 1970s and 1980s. Generation III advanced light-water reactors were built in the 1990s primarily in East Asia to meet that region's expanding electricity needs.

Faster Cleanup of Savannah Nuclear Site Funded

The Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and state of South Carolina officials have agreed to explore alternatives for material managed as high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel and have earmarked $216 million in additional funds to clean the site more quickly than previously planned.

Established in 1950 by the Atomic Energy Commission, Savannah River Site has been involved in the production of tritium and plutonium for nuclear weapons. The site occupies about 310 square miles 12 miles south of Aiken, South Carolina on the Savannah River which forms the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia.

The site’s 515 waste units range in size from a few cubic feet of soil to tens of acres, and waste types include solid waste, radioactive waste, hazardous waste, and mixed waste - a mixture of hazardous and radioactive waste. An assessment of the human health and environmental risks associated with the waste site is a factor in determining its cleanup priority.

Among the hazardous radioactive materials at the Savannah River Site are 38 million gallons of high-level liquid radioactive waste generated from weapons material production during the Cold War stored in 49 underground carbon-steel waste tanks.

The agencies will work towards identification of "innovative approaches" and technologies that will "address environmental risk in a more effective manner than traditional approaches, using regulatory flexibility where appropriate to facilitate success," according to a statement by the Department of Energy Friday.

They will accelerate shipments of transuranic waste from Savannah River to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a government permanent repository in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Transuranic waste consists of clothing, tools, rags, residues, and debris contaminated with radioactive elements with atomic numbers greater than uranium - mostly trace amounts of plutonium. About 11,000 cubic meters of this waste is stored in culverts, drums and large containers at Savannah River.

SRS made four shipments to WIPP in fiscal year 2001. The numbers of shipments were planned to increase to 12 per year in fiscal year 2002 and peak out at 120 per year in 2023. That schedule will now be accelerated.

The agreement will allow for "innovative treatment of groundwater" where new approaches can be demonstrated to be more effective than conventional remedies.

This agreement was reached under the Department's Environmental Management Accelerated Cleanup Program whose goal is to streamline operations by working with states and regulators to clearly target and reduce the greatest health and environmental cleanup risks at the country's nuclear weapons production facilities.

The Energy Department has already signed similar Letters of Intent with the Hanford and Oak Ridge Nuclear Sites, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Nevada Test Site, and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

Bush Sends U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Pact to Senate

The commission would function as the bilateral managing authority to make scientific determinations, establish how many bears may be taken by subsistence and other hunters. For example, the U.S.-Russia Agreement provides a definition of "sustainable harvest" that "will help the two countries to implement polar bear conservation measures while safeguarding the interests of native people," the President said in his letter to the Senate on Friday.

The U.S.-Russia pact provides legal protections for this population of polar bears in addition to those in the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears signed at Oslo, Norway in 1973. The original agreement was signed by the five nations with polar bear populations, Canada, Denmark, which governed Greenland, Norway, the United States, and Russia.

In his letter to the Senate, Bush said ratification of the bilateral agreement would encourage similar conservation action by other countries.

Biologists estimate that there are about 25,000 polar bears in the world. Half of the entire polar bear population is in the region between western Alaska and the Chukotka in northeastern Russia's high Arctic.

The Alaska-Chukotka region is the most important denning area for the bear, with 80 percent of the females arriving there each year to den. The habitat provides excellent foraging grounds for the bears and ideal snow cover.

Environmental groups claim that this population of bears may be declining because of poaching in remote areas of Russia. Since 1956, polar bear hunting in Russia has been illegal.

In recent years poaching numbers have remained high, especially in Russia where economic factors have contributed to the problem. According to Andrei Boltunov of the Russian Research Institute for Nature Conservation, "The only region where people frequently meet bears is the coastal area of Chukotka along the Bering Seas. That is a place where polar bear poaching may be of a high level."

The exact numbers of bears taken from this area is unknown. Estimates vary from "hundreds" to less than 100.

According to Scott Schliebe, polar bear project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Alaska region, "Poaching is essentially a non-issue in Alaska. The illegal sale of polar bear parts is minor and not driving the harvest."

ARCO Hit with $2 Million Superfund Lawsuit

The suit filed in Federal Court in Buffalo, seeks to recover approximately $2 million in costs for cleanup work at the Sinclair Refinery site in Wellsville, New York. ARCO is the successor to the Sinclair Refining Company, which owned and operated the site during the time that the contamination occurred.

Between 1919 and 1958, the Sinclair Refining Company owned the 100 acre property and operated a petroleum refining and petroleum product manufacturing business. The suit contends that, as a result of Sinclair's operations, the soil and ground water at the site became contaminated with numerous hazardous substances, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, arsenic, and lead.

Since the early 1980s, the EPA, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and ARCO have undertaken numerous investigation and cleanup actions at the Sinclair Refinery site.

The cleanup work to date includes relocation of Wellsville's drinking water intake on the Genesee River to a place upstream of the contaminated site, stabilization of the river bank to prevent erosion and contamination of the Genesee River, consolidation and capping of landfill wastes at the site, removal of contaminated waste material from the site, and excavation and treatment of contaminated soil.

EPA Regional Adminstrator Jane Kenny said the agency needs to get its $2 million back to spend it again at other Superfund sites. "These recovered cleanup costs will allow us to help pay for hazardous waste cleanups at Superfund sites in other communities where those responsible for the contamination are not viable or cannot be found."

Diazinon Found in Boise Wastewater

Due to its toxicity to children and the risks it poses to workers, drinking water supplies, birds and other wildlife, the producers of diazinon products have agreed to completely eliminate diazinon for residential use by December 31, 2004.

Between 1994 and 1998, diazinon was responsible for more bird kill incidents in the United States than any other pesticide. Residential use of diazinon accounted for over half of these incidents.

Diazinon can enter the wastewater system through illegal dumping into toilets or drains. Boise's treatment plants are not designed to remove substances such as pesticides. Improperly used or discharged pesticides eventually flow into the Boise River and threaten aquatic life.

It is also illegal to discharge pesticides or other toxic materials into storm drains which are designed solely for the conveyance of natural storm water and lead directly to the Boise River or underground water supplies. Lawn irrigation water, for example, should not be allowed to flow into storm drains because it conveys any pesticides on the lawn through the drain system.

Labels on pesticides containers explain the requirements for their legal use and disposal. Diazinon is currently sold under the Ortho, Spectracide, and Real-Kill brand names. Package labels provide information on the environmental risks of improper use or disposal.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is urging consumers to investigate alternatives to diazinon. Pyrethroids are currently being used for most of the bug problems for which diazinon has been used, as they degrade faster than diazinon when exposed to air and sunlight. Look for permethrin as the active ingredient on the chemical label. For more information on alternatives, Boise consumers can call the Ada County Master Gardeners at 208-377-2107.

Boaters Encouraged to Buy Low Polluting Outboards

The Get On Board initiative is designed to accelerate the sale of low pollution two stroke and four stroke marine engines which emit less pollution than conventional marine engines.

Conventional boat and watercraft engines discharge up to 30 percent of their fuel directly into the water and air as pollution. This produces airborne hydrocarbon emissions which contribute to the formation of ground level ozone or smog. Gasoline discharged to the water elevates concentrations of benzene, MTBE and other toxics in lakes, ponds, and coastal waters.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, the Empire State Marine Trade Association, the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Marine Retailers Association of America Thursday announced a voluntary initiative to encourage their in Vermont and parts of New York.

"With more than 12,000 boats on Lake Champlain, most of them being outboards and personal watercraft, these clean engines represent a great opportunity for boaters to take a big collective bite out of pollution entering this pristine water body," Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office, told reporters Thursday at the Community Boathouse in Burlington, Vermont.

Vermont has about 29,000 registered personal watercraft and boats with outboard motors.

"Six years ago engine manufacturers thought they would never be able to build a four stroke outboard engine over 100 horsepower that was light enough or small enough to fit on a standard boat," said Kelly Rote Bobek, director of federal government relations at the National Marine Manufacturers Association. "Today, as you know, we have four stroke outboard engines reaching 200 to 250 hp. We have also seen the development of cleaner running direct-injection two-stroke engines. Achieving this has been nothing short of incredible in such a short timetable."

All groups, including retailers who are members of the marine trade associations, will work to achieve a goal of selling 75 percent clean engines this year across all of Vermont as well as the New York Lake Champlain region, 80 percent in 2003, and 95 percent by 2004.

The program in Vermont and New York is modeled after a successful program by the state of New Hampshire, which has three dozen participating dealers, all of which reached 2001's goal of selling 75 percent clean engines.

EPA New England announced a similar program earlier this year in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine.

EPA regulations require that by 2006, all manufacturers' average emissions for new outboard and personal watercraft engines meet low pollution standards.

Boston Buses Busted for Idling

The agency announced it has issued a Notice of Violation to the Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority (MBTA) for excessive bus idling discovered during EPA inspections last February at four MBTA bus yards.

The inspections, which took place at bus yards in Lynn, Medford, Roxbury and the Boston Medical Center areas, found numerous instances where MBTA buses were idling in violation of the state's five minute limit. Many of the buses were found to be idling for more than an hour and, in one instance, at the Roxbury yard on Bartlett Street, a bus was seen idling for two hours and 30 minutes.

"Given the high asthma rates in Boston, it's unacceptable that diesel buses are left idling for more than an hour at a time, as we found in our MBTA inspections," said Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office.

"Excessive idling of diesel bus engines creates harmful pollution, especially for sensitive populations such as the young, elderly and asthmatics. By cutting down on idling, Boston-area residents, passengers and drivers will be breathing cleaner air," Varney said.

MBTA is working cooperatively with EPA to negotiate a resolution to the idling violations. Last month the transit authority sent out a Special Order to employees reminding them of anti-idling requirements. Signs will be posted at all MBTA diesel bus facilities reminding employees to shut down engines when they are not being used.

The EPA is working with the six New England states to implement anti-idling programs, especially on school buses. In May, EPA New England and the New England Asthma Regional Council issued idling guidelines for school bus operators.

Diesel exhaust contains fine particles that can cause lung damage and aggravate respiratory conditions, such as asthma and bronchitis.

In New England, diesel engines are the third largest human-made source of fine particles, contributing more than 20 percent of fine particle emissions.

Children are more sensitive to air pollution because they breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than adults. Recent studies have found a strong correlation between exposure to diesel exhaust and impaired lung growth in children.

For more information on diesel exhaust and anti-idling guidelines, visit EPA's website at: http://www.epa.gov/ne/eco/diesel.

Enviros Seek to Speak for the Oregon Trees

The lawsuits, brought by a timber industry coalition, challenge the protected status of the owls and murrelets and the designation of their critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed northern spotted owls as a threatened species in 1988 and marbled murrelets in 1992. Both birds require old-growth forests for their habitat.

The groups say they fear "another sweetheart deal between the Bush administration and the timber industry." Earlier this month, they point out, a government memo called for less stream protection, more logging, and weakening of species' survey and monitoring rules in areas protected by the Northwest Forest Plan. The Northwest Forest Plan was adopted in the Clinton era to protect owls, murrelets, salmon, and other forest species.

"Our region has moved beyond the logging battles of the 1980s, but the timber industry continues to live in the past," said Bob Freimark, director of the Pacific Northwest office of The Wilderness Society. "Instead of moving forward with environmentally responsible forest management, the timber industry wants to return to cutting ancient forests."

"This is part of a broader attack on the Northwest Forest Plan," said Susan Jane Brown, executive director of the Gifford Pinchot Task Force. "Next, we'll be hearing timber industry proposals to clearcut more mature and old-growth forests, regardless of the impacts to owls, murrelets, salmon, clean water, and hiking trails."

In recent cases where industry coalitions have brought challenges to environmental protections, the federal government has either failed to defend the lawsuits or settled on terms that benefit special interests and harm the environment. "It's been a pattern of sue and settle between the Bush Administration and industry," said Kristen Boyles, an attorney with Earthjustice, a public interest environmental law firm that represents the nine groups.

"We need to be in these lawsuits to speak for the owls, murrelets, and people of the Northwest - the Bush administration has made clear it won't."

The groups seeking to intervene are Audubon Society of Portland, Biodiversity Northwest, Environmental Protection Information Center, Gifford Pinchot Task Force, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Seattle Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and The Wilderness Society.