• Mad Cow Animal Feed Protections Postponed
  
• Salmon Advocates Move to Block Summer Spill Reduction
  
• Judge Halts Mine Waste Dumping in West Virginia Streams
  
• Stryker Brigade Set for Hawaii Despite Air, Water, Land Impacts
  
• California Can-Do Operation Backfires
  
• Las Vegas Monorail Makes Connections in Glitter City
  
• Los Angeles Offers Free Parking to Hybrid Vehicles
  
• Washington Good Guys Start Nation's First Retail TV Recycling
  

Mad Cow Animal Feed Protections Postponed

But the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) is postponing actions announced last January to keep animal feed free of materials that could cause mad cow disease, a fatal brain wasting illness, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The agency is seeking public comments before it moves ahead with the actions regulating animal feed.

In human foods, the FDA's interim final rule prohibits the use of cattle-derived materials that can carry the BSE infectious agent. These high-risk materials include the brain, skull, eyes, and spinal cord of cattle 30 months of age or older, and a portion of the small intestine and tonsils from all cattle, regardless of their age.

Prohibited high risk bovine materials in human food also include material from non-ambulatory disabled cattle, the small intestine of all cattle, material from cattle not inspected and passed for human consumption, and mechanically separated beef.

This action is consistent with the recent interim final rule issued by USDA declaring these materials to be unfit for human food and prohibiting their use as human food.

Mad cow disease is transmitted when materials from infected cattle are made into cattle feed and fed to healthy animals. The composition of animal feed is under scrutiny as U.S. officials try to create public confidence in the U.S. beef supply after a Washington cow was found infected with BSE last December.

In 1997, the FDA prohibited the feeding of most mammalian protein to cattle and other ruminant animals. USDA implemented additional measures in January to ensure that no cattle tissues known to be high risk for carrying the BSE agent are included in USDA regulated products.

On Friday, the Agriculture Department and the FDA announced an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to seek public comments on:

• Mandating dedicated equipment or facilities for handling and storing animal feed and ingredients to prevent cross contamination
  
• Prohibiting the use of all mammalian and poultry protein in ruminant feed
  
• Prohibiting materials from non-ambulatory cattle and dead stock from use in all animal feed
  
• The details and circumstances of moving from a voluntary to a mandatory animal identification plan

But on January 26, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced an interim final rule that would:

• require equipment, facilities or production lines to be dedicated to non-ruminant animal feeds if they use protein that is prohibited in ruminant feed.
  
• eliminate the present exemption in the feed rule that allows mammalian blood and blood products to be fed to other ruminants as a protein source.
  
• ban the use of poultry litter as a feed ingredient for ruminant animals. Poultry litter consists of bedding, spilled feed, feathers, and fecal matter that are collected from living quarters where poultry is raised. This material is then used in cattle feed in some areas of the country where cattle and large poultry raising operations are located near each other.

Salmon Advocates Move to Block Summer Spill Reduction

The “summer spill” over the dams helps young salmon migrate to the sea, but it cuts the output of hydroelectric facilities and utility executives have lobbied long and hard against the practice.

The coalition of fishing groups, conservationists and Indian tribes say the decision to cut summer spill was made in spite of repeated scientific recommendations by state, tribal and their own fishery agencies to continue spilling this water.

"The scheme to cut summer spill has been a series of federal deceptions, miscalculations, and misrepresentations to our tribes,” said Charles Hudson, spokesman for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, which represents the four Native American tribes with treaty fishing rights in the Basin. “The scientific community did painstaking work showing the inadequacies of the proposal, yet they were ignored. It was evident to us early on that the federal courts would be the only place to put this thing to rest."

In past years, summer spill continued through August 31 at the four dams.

The new plan will end spill operations at the Snake River’s Bonneville dam and the Columbia River’s The Dalles dam at the end of July.

Spill operations at Ice Harbor and John Day dams – both on the Columbia River – will end on August 22.

Federal officials estimate the reductions will cut summer spill at the four dams some 39 percent and will save Northwest ratepayers some $18 million to $28 million this year.

In its final decision, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said new mitigation measures will offset any harm caused to the fish by the reduced spill, citing the approval of the plan by NOAA Fisheries.

Salmon advocates are far from convinced and contend the proposal does little for salmon or ratepayers. They argue the cuts violate the Endangered Species Act and gut the faltering federal salmon plan.

U.S. District Court Judge James Redden ruled in May 2003 the plan violated the Endangered Species Act because there was no certainty that the recommended actions in the plan would be carried out.

Fear over the court’s reaction to reducing summer spills kept federal managers from approving the policy for the BPA in summer 2003.

Redden originally ordered the Bush administration to revise the entire plan by June 2004 – in May he gave them an extension until November, but called for a draft to be released by the end of August.

Salmon advocates say summer spill is essential and that the cuts come against an expectation of low water flows and high river temperatures, conditions that do not bode well for migrating salmon.

In addition, the groups say the federal government rejected a proposal from energy and salmon advocates that would have saved Northwest ratepayers more money while providing salmon the spill to pass dams safely.

“We are literally talking about saving pennies a month while putting tens of thousands of fish and an enormous fishing and recreational industry at risk,” said Sara Patton, executive director of the NW Energy Coalition. “This proposal would further imperil a mainstay of the Northwest's culture and economy."

Judge Halts Mine Waste Dumping in West Virginia Streams

Stryker Brigade Set for Hawaii Despite Air, Water, Land Impacts

Because of its speed and maneuverability, the Stryker can transport Soldiers more quickly and closer to the areas where they are needed. Soldiers are able to obtain time sensitive critical information from their commanders, and they can remain in constant communication with each other, their commanders or other units via satellite links and Internet connections in the Stryker vehicle. This is a radical departure from the way soldiers fight today and the Army says it requires new ranges, training facilities, high tech communication facilities, and new training protocol.

The reconfigured 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) based at at Schofield Barracks is expected to be operational by 2007.

The Army says the Strykers will be part of a "multi-year, phased and synchronized program of transformation over a 30-year period." The future force would come out of the development and refinement of weapons, equipment, communications, and training that will occur during the interim phase over the next 30 years when the entire Army would be transformed.

The Strykers will affect the environment on Oahu and on the Big Island of Hawaii in many ways. Another firing range, battle area, and motor-pool maintenance and vehicle wash facility will be built at Schofield in central Oahu.

A combined arms training facility will be built in Kahuku at the northern tip of Oahu. The project includes 49 miles of private trails on Oahu and the Big Island for Stryker use, six new firing ranges, two airfield upgrades and support facilities including a virtual war-fighting trainer.

Acquisition of 1,400 acres of additional training lands on Oahu and 23,000 acres on the Big Island is planned.

The project was approved after release of a 3,000 page environmental review, which includes 2,000 community comments. The review states that 1,736 tons of dust would be generated from increased vehicle use, an increase of 81 percent.

The Army said there would be significant effects on cultural and biological resources, air and water quality, dust, erosion and noise but that mitigation efforts could reduce them.

"Significant impacts from wind erosion of areas disturbed by military vehicle use would occur" at Pohakuloa Training Area on the island of Hawaii, the environmental impact statement says. "Mitigation measures will substantially reduce the severity of the impact but not to less than significant levels."

The construction of a trail from Kawaihae to Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, and a trail from Schofield to Dillingham Airfield, will not begin start until 2009 or later, so the Stryker vehicles will have to share public roads until then.

While the Army says it provided "a means for open communication between the Army and the public," about a half-dozen opponents of the Stryker brigade in Hawaii were prevented from entering the press conference at Fort Shafter announcing the decision. Previous public meetings were held on private property, such as country clubs, and protesters were kept out of these meetings.

There are two other Stryker Brigade Combat Teams on the Pacific coast of the continental United States in Alaska and Washington "to support deployment to the critically important Pacific Rim," the Army says, while others will be in the eastern United States to support deployment "to other geographic regions."

Read the Stryker Environmental Impact Statement online at: http://www.sbcteis.com/

California Can-Do Operation Backfires

A 72 count indictment outlines a scheme centered around Active Recycling and its owner, Errol Segal.

The indictment details two related but separate schemes to defraud the California Department of Conservation's recycling program - the statewide effort to recycle cans and bottles returned by consumers in exchange for California Redemption Value (CRV) refunds - out of more than $3 million.

California consumers pay into the state's beverage container recycling system every time they purchase beverages in glass, plastic and aluminum containers. This money is refunded to the consumer when containers are redeemed at privately owned recycling centers, which then reclaim the CRV payments from the state Department of Conservation. Only cans and bottles sold in California are eligible for the CRV refund.

According to the indictment, Segal and his co-conspirators processed cans and bottles that were transported into California from other states and from Mexico, and then submitted falsified paperwork seeking reimbursement from California for processing those ineligible cans and bottles. California paid more than $2.5 million to Segal and Active Recycling between February 1999 and May 2000, the indictment alleges.

In the second scheme, Segal and others defrauded California out of more than $635,000 in less than a year for non-existent bottles and cans that were never processed. Segal and his employees allegedly made up customer names and created paperwork for the non-existent material.

"While reviewing business records, California Department of Conservation staff detected a pattern of suspected fraud, which we referred to law enforcement authorities for criminal prosecution," said California Department of Conservation Director Darryl Young. "We take fraud seriously. Those who engage in fraud not only cheat the recycling system, they cheat California businesses and consumers who pay CRV."

Law enforcement officials allege that six of the defendants have attempted to hinder the investigation by trying to get witnesses to lie to law enforcement agents and to the grand jury about their illegal activities.

The indictment alleges conspiracy, mail fraud, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, money laundering, and witness tampering. The indictment also contains two asset forfeiture counts.

The indictment is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation and the California Department of Conservation.

Las Vegas Monorail Makes Connections in Glitter City

The driverless $650 million transportation system will run along the Las Vegas resort corridor on a four mile route. The system is electric and will help expand transit without impacting air quality.

It will take more than 4.4 million automobile trips off the major roadways and reduce carbon monoxide by 135 tons per year, according to owner Las Vegas Monorail Company, a non-profit corporation whose board is appointed by the Governor of Nevada.

The monorail will take 14 minutes to travel from end to end, stopping at seven stations: MGM Grand; Bally’s/Paris; Flamingo/Caesars Palace; Harrah’s/Imperial Palace; Las Vegas Convention Center; Las Vegas Hilton; and the Sahara - connecting more than 25,000 hotel rooms.

“We’re eager to start carrying passengers on the Las Vegas Monorail,” said James Gibson, chairman and CEO of Transit Systems Management, the management firm for the Las Vegas Monorail. “This is a very rewarding day for all of us who have devoted years to this project. It’s the culmination of years of hard work led by the late Robert N. Broadbent, whose vision will become a reality on July 15.”

“We’re extremely proud of this project and the role it will play in our community. Besides carrying an estimated 20 million riders per year, the monorail is expected to ease traffic in and around the Las Vegas Strip and improve local air quality. It will also be a unique Las Vegas attraction in its own right,” Gibson said.

There are nine trains consisting of four cars each. The monorail systems and vehicles are being built and operated by Bombardier, Inc of Montreal. The monorail guideway and stations are being built by Granite Construction Company.

On Wednesday, the first passengers will ride the Monorail during media and VIP events. Passengers will include local and state dignitaries, community leaders, and Nevada media.

“The Las Vegas Monorail will be a source of civic pride, and a tremendous service to the roughly 36 million people who visit Las Vegas each year,” said John Haycock, chairman of the board of Las Vegas Monorail Company. “Completing a project of this magnitude entirely with private money and coming in under budget is a tremendous accomplishment, especially since this is a unique system that is the most advanced of its kind in the world.”

For the first 60 days, the Las Vegas Monorail will operate daily from 8 a.m. to midnight. The cost to ride the system will be $3 each way, or less. Daily, multi-day and multi-ride passes will be available. After the first 60 days, the monorail will operate daily from 6 am to 2 am.

Extensions are already in the planning stages. The Las Vegas Monorail Company is working with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada to extend the monorail to downtown Fremont Street. Plans are in the works to extend the system to McCarran Airport.

Bombardier will operate the system for an initial five years with two renewable five year options. Bombardier will be responsible for all of the electrical and mechanical systems for the fully automated Downtown Extension, including 20 additional driverless monorail cars.

Los Angeles Offers Free Parking to Hybrid Vehicles

“We want people to have just one more incentive – besides helping to reduce air pollution – to drive a hybrid vehicle,” Mayor Hahn said at a press conference along a busy stretch of Hollywood Boulevard.

Over 4,700 hybrid vehicles were registered in Los Angeles in 2003, more than in any other city.

“This pilot program would mean the end of fishing for quarters beneath the seats of your car, the end of digging in the bottom of your bag, and the end of paying a quarter to park for seven minutes, but only if you drive a hybrid,” the mayor said, speaking against a backdrop of hybrid vehicles parked at city parking meters.

"This motion says to L.A. drivers - Don't worry locally, be happy globally,” said Garcetti. “At the same that you can be happy you're polluting 90 percent less than other drivers, you don't have to worry about whether you just put your last quarter in a tip jar when you're parking on city streets.”

The city of Los Angeles currently provides free parking at city meters for electric and natural gas cars and trucks designated as “clean air vehicles” by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). In an effort to promote cleaner air, Mayor Hahn developed a plan to extend this program to owners of hybrid vehicles for a six month trial period.

Garcetti will introduce the motion in the City Council that will direct the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) to begin implementation of the program.

Initially, hybrid owners would not need to do anything different to take advantage of the policy. Parking enforcement officers would be trained to recognize hybrid vehicles and would simply not cite owners of such vehicles for not paying at parking meters.

But vehicle owners would still be required to comply with posted time limits. If the state of California and the DMV decide to include hybrids as clean air vehicles, then hybrid owners would need to get a sticker from the DMV to qualify for free parking, just as electric and natural gas vehicle owners do.

The free hybrid parking pilot program will last for six months. At the end of that period, LADOT will analyze the program and make a determination of whether or not to continue the program.

The City of Los Angeles is currently converting its fleet to hybrid and electric vehicles and also maintains a small fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Washington Good Guys Start Nation's First Retail TV Recycling

Through August 7, area residents can bring their old televisions to Good Guys stores in Bellevue, Tukwila, Lynnwood and Puyallup for recycling. People who bring in their old TVs will pay a $10 recycling fee, $25 for consoles.

Recycling televisions through current local government and business programs costs up to $50 per unit.

Consumers who recycle their televisions will receive a 10 percent discount on the purchase of any television sold by participating manufacturers - JVC, Phillips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp and Sony.

The program is made possible by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, King County, Snohomish County, Pierce County, the City of Seattle, and the City of Tacoma, Good Guys and the participating electronics manufacturers.

Northwest Washington residents will generate more than one million units of obsolete electronics in 2005, including 463,000 televisions. Televisions contain hazardous materials like lead, cadmium and mercury, which can contaminate air, land and water if not properly disposed. Recycling televisions also reclaims valuable resources like copper and lead for reuse reducing the need for further mining of raw materials.

"The Good Guys are showing themselves as leaders in electronics recycling," said John Iani, Pacific Northwest administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, who is going to recycle his own old TV.

"This partnership is a fantastic step toward reducing toxics in our landfills and giving people another opportunity to choose to be environmental stewards," he said.

"Recycling old electronics can help us conserve valuable resources and protect our environment," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "Disposing properly of the hazardous materials in electronics is crucial to protecting our air, land and water and reusing the valuable resources inside helps conserve resources."

Earlier this year, the state legislature passed a bill requiring the Department of Ecology to conduct research and develop recommendations for implementing and financing a collection, recycling, and reuse program for electronic products. Reports are due to the legislature in December 2004 and December 2005.

"Ecology will be looking at the results from this pilot project as they craft their recommendations for a long term recycling program," said Representative Mike Cooper, sponsor of the legislation. "It is fortunate that we have the opportunity to test a program like this locally and to get relevant feedback from the public about what they like and don't like. It will make for a much better statewide electronics recycling program."