• Earth Observing Satellite Launch Scrubbed Again
  
• EPA Sues for $2.8 Million in Arizona Superfund Cleanup
  
• New York Law Bans Mercury-Added Toys Like Spidey-Signal
  
• Lead Prompts Recall of Metal Toy Jewelry From Vending Machines
  
• Long Island Auto Shops Dumping Waste Over Aquifer
  
• Frozen Crab Tainted With Antibiotic Seized in Louisiana
  
• Eastern Beaches Sampled for Pollution
  
• New Texas Wildlife Refuge in the Planning Stages
  

Earth Observing Satellite Launch Scrubbed Again

Just three minutes before the scheduled lift-off as they were transferring the satellite power source from batteries to internal power, the battery current level dropped too low, forcing the mission scrub, according to Alan Buis of the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab.

Engineers and mission managers will meet today to decide when another launch attempt will be made. Buis said it could be as early as tomorrow morning or it could be later in the week. The mission could stand down until Saturday to allow conflicting uses of the missile range to be cleared, he said.

Aura will help scientists understand how atmospheric composition affects and responds to Earth's changing climate.

The satellite will help reveal the processes that connect local and global air quality. It will also track the extent to which Earth's protective ozone layer is recovering from decades of ozone depleting chemicals.

Aura will carry four instruments each designed to survey different aspects of Earth's atmosphere. The instruments will provide an unprecedented picture of the composition of the atmosphere.

Aura will survey the atmosphere from the troposphere, where humankind lives, through the stratosphere, the location of the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the Sun.

"Aura, the first comprehensive laboratory in space to help us better understand the chemistry and composition of the Earth's atmosphere, is fundamentally a mission to understand and protect the very air we breathe," said NASA Associate Administrator for Earth Science Dr. Ghassem Asrar.

"It is also a perfect complement to our other Earth Observing System satellites that, together, will aid our nation and our neighbors by determining the extent, causes, and regional consequences of global change," he said.

Aura's space-based view of the atmosphere and its chemistry will complete the first series of NASA's Earth Observing System satellites. The other satellites are, Terra, which monitors land, and Aqua, which observes Earth's water cycle.

The Aura mission climaxes NASA's 15 year long international effort to establish the world's most comprehensive Earth Observing Syste. The goal is to determine the extent, causes, and regional consequences of global change.

"Gaining this global view of Earth will certainly reap new scientific discoveries that will serve as essential stepping stones to our further exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond, the basis of the Vision for Space Exploration," NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said.

Aura data may prove useful determining the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement that banned ozone depleting chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), refrigerants that have been replaced by substances that do not harm the ozone layer.

Aura will accurately detect global levels of CFCs, and their byproducts, chlorine and bromine, which destroy ozone.

Aura will also track the sources and processes controlling global and regional air quality. It will help distinguish between natural and human caused sources of these gases. When ozone exists in the troposphere, it acts as an air pollutant. Tropospheric ozone is linked to high levels of precursors such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and volatile hydrocarbons.

EPA Sues for $2.8 Million in Arizona Superfund Cleanup

The site was listed on the federal Superfund list in 1983 after the Arizona Department of Health Services discovered hazardous substances - including trichloroethylene - in local water supply wells.

Following investigation throughout the late 1980s, the EPA in 1989 selected the remedy to clean up soil and ground water contamination. Cleanup has been underway at the site for over a decade, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now working to confirm the full extent of contamination and adapt the cleanup to address it.

The EPA issued two orders against Unidynamics Phoenix, Inc. requiring the company to design and conduct cleanup at the site. The company continues some cleanup activities required in the orders, but violated the orders when it failed to conduct certain portions of the cleanup - forcing the EPA to expend funds and conduct the work in its place.

This week the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Arizona on behalf of the EPA seeking to establish the liability of both Unidynamics/Phoenix, Inc. and Crane Co. for past and future costs for oversight and work the EPA conducted at the PGA-North site. The Phoenix-Goodyear Airport site is comprised of a northern and southern area - Unidynamics and Crane Co. are the potentially responsible parties only for the northern portion.

The EPA is also seeking penalties from Unidynamics/Phoenix Inc. of up to $27,500 to $32,500 for each day that the company failed to conduct work required under the two EPA orders issued in 1990 and 2003.

In 1993 Unidynamics Phoenix was acquired by Pacific Scientific, the largest supplier of energetic devices for aerospace and defense programs in the United States. Pacific Scientific is a division of the Danaher Corporation, an aerospace and defense industry company.

The Justice Department is seeking $2.8 million in costs, and penalties and punitive damages for violation of EPA orders regarding cleanup of soil and ground water contamination at the Superfund Site.

"The EPA is seeking to recover Superfund money, and to ensure prompt cleanup of soil and ground water contamination at the site, which continue to threaten valuable drinking water resources," said Wayne Nastri, the EPA's regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest region. "We are conserving the Superfund by ensuring that those who contributed to the contamination pay for the cleanup."

New York Law Bans Mercury-Added Toys Like Spidey-Signal

Lead Prompts Recall of Metal Toy Jewelry From Vending Machines

Lead poisoning in children is associated with behavioral problems, learning disabilities, hearing problems and growth retardation. Young children sometimes mouth or swallow items like these, and lead can leach from the jewelry into the child’s body, the Commission said.

Only about half of the 150 million pieces of toy jewelry actually contains lead, but, because it is difficult to distinguish the lead jewelry from the non-lead jewelry, the industry decided to recall all of it. All the jewelry was manufactured in India.

The four firms are A & A Global Industries, Inc., of Cockeysville, Maryland; Brand Imports, LLC, of Scottsdale, Arizona; Cardinal Distributing Co. Inc., of Baltimore, Maryland; and L. M. Becker & Co., Inc., of Kimberly, Wisconsin. They have advised the Commission that they have stopped importing toy jewelry with lead and are committed to working with the CPSC staff on eliminating hazardous levels of lead in future importations of toy jewelry.

“With millions of pieces of jewelry involved in this recall, I urge parents to search their children’s toys for this jewelry,” said CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton. “Throw away this recalled toy jewelry.”

The Commission has received one report of lead poisoning when a child swallowed a piece of toy jewelry containing lead that was previously recalled. No reports of injury or illness have been received for the recalled products covered by the current announcement.

After collecting and analyzing some samples of toy metal jewelry sold in vending machines, the Commission found that 10 of those products had lead that could be accessible to children.

This toy jewelry recall involves various styles of rings, necklaces and bracelets. The rings are gold or silver colored with different designs and paint finishes with various shaped center stones. The necklaces have black cord or rope or gold or silver colored chains. The necklaces have pendants, crosses or various geometrical designs or shapes, and can include gemstones. The various styles of bracelets include charm bracelets, bracelets with medallion links, and bracelets with faux stones.

The toy jewelry was sold in vending machines located in malls, discount, department and grocery stores nationwide from January 2002 through June 2004 for between $0.25 and $0.75. The industry estimates that this toy jewelry is kept in homes for a short period of time, but parents should look for these items in their homes.

Consumers can contact the Toy Jewelry Recall Hotline for more information about this recall. Visit the Toy Jewelry Recall Hotline at 800-441-4234 between 9 am and 5 pm Eastern Time Monday through Friday, or visit the firms’ website at www.toyjewelryrecall.com.

Long Island Auto Shops Dumping Waste Over Aquifer

The property is located over the Long Island Aquifer which supplies most of the drinking water for the population of Long Island, and is within one mile of a public water system well.

Martin Ain is charged with violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The waste alleged to have been discharged down these wells contains contaminants that may pollute the public drinking water sources if they migrated into the Long Island Aquifer or the public water system well.

In 1999, the complaint alleges, Ain started to carry out the closure of the wells but then discontinued the process without properly testing and disposing of the waste. In addition, authorities believe that the businesses on Ain's property have continued to use the wells for the disposal of their waste.

In its complaint, the government seeks to require Ain to clean up and close the wells and in addition is seeking fines of up to $32,500 for each day of violation, a penalty that could run into millions of dollars.

"It will take many years to undo the damage caused by the illegal dumping of automotive wastes down the wells on the defendant's property," said EPA Regional Administrator Jane Kenny. "We expect the defendant will be forced to clean up the hazards he created and pay stiff penalties for imperiling the environment of the Hempstead community and the health of its residents."

Frozen Crab Tainted With Antibiotic Seized in Louisiana

On July 2, U.S. Marshals seized approximately 1,144 cases of the crabmeat at Southern Cold Storage Company in Baton Rouge. The lawsuit filed by the U. S. Attorney David Dugas alleges that the crabmeat is adulterated with an unapproved food additive, chloramphenicol.

The U.S. Marshals seized approximately 304 cases of pasteurized special white crabmeat; 200 cases of pasteurized special claw crabmeat; and 640 cases pasteurized jumbo lump crabmeat. Imported from China, and sold as Bernard's brand, the frozen crabmeat has an estimated value of $86,944.

In accordance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, food products that contain chloramphenicol are adulterated and are not permitted to be sold in or imported into this country.

Chloramphenicol is a broad spectrum antibiotic drug used to treat life threatening infections in humans, usually when other alternatives are not available.

The use of this antibiotic is limited because of its potentially life threatening side effect, idiosyncratic aplastic anemia. For the very small number of people susceptible to this side effect, exposure to chloramphenicol could be serious or life threatening.

"Because of the current uncertainty regarding the dose-response relationship between chloramphenicol ingestion and aplastic anemia, it is not possible to define a safe level for the presence of this antibiotic in food products," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In June 2002, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced increased sampling of imported seafood for the presence of chloramphenicol. This action was taken because some states and other countries detected low levels of chloramphenicol in imported shrimp and crawfish.

The FDA says it will continue to detain or seize any food imports that contain chloramphenicol to ensure that this product is not released for human or animal consumption in the United States.

Eastern Beaches Sampled for Pollution

Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England Office, made the announcement Tuesday at Carson Beach, one of more than 500 coastal beaches in Massachusetts sampled regularly by the state’s beach monitoring program to ensure that swimming conditions are safe.

More than 7,000 water samples were collected and analyzed last summer, up from 325 sampled locations six years ago.

Across New England last summer, about one fifth of the region’s 1,300 coastal beaches were closed at least one day due to pollution, for a total of about 1,100 missed beach days. That record shows improvement over 2001, when the region’s saltwater beaches had nearly 1,400 beach closure days.

In Massachusetts last summer, the number of beach day closures at saltwater beaches fell from 647 in 2001 to 559 last year. Among the beaches that have seen water quality improvements is Carson Beach, where six percent of the samples last summer exceeded bacteria-based pollution standards, compared to 11 percent in 2001.

“We’ve made progress cleaning our waters in Boston Harbor and across New England, but there are still too many days in the summer when families cannot swim due to poor water quality,” said Varney, speaking at today’s news conference. “Especially in heavily urbanized areas like Carson Beach, we must work to eliminate dirty storm water runoff and other pollution that leads to unhealthy swimming conditions.”

“Swimming in water with microbial contamination can have real health consequences,” added Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Christine Ferguson. “Beach water quality is regulated to protect public health and we welcome EPA's support and partnership with us in this overall effort to protect the health of Massachusetts residents.”

New Jersey beachgoers will be aware of the EPA's beach surveillance helicopter, the Coastal Crusader, which scans the coastal water, gathering water samples for EPA's annual beach monitoring program as it has for the past 28 summers.

In addition to taking water samples, EPA uses the Coastal Crusader to search for floating debris that can wash up on area beaches. EPA then shares its results with federal, state and local agencies to help local authorities decide whether there is any need to close the beaches.

Data is also given to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which uses skimmer vessels to scrape debris from the surface water and ensure that no floating debris is washed ashore.

EPA uses the chopper throughout the beach season to test for dissolved oxygen as far as nine miles off the coastline. Ocean waters must meet certain levels of dissolved oxygen to ensure their health. In addition, EPA conducts semi-monthly sampling for phytoplankton. The samples provide an early warning of noxious algae blooms that threaten water quality and the sea life it supports.

"Statistics show that Americans take 910 million trips a year to coastal areas and spend around $44 million at these locations," said EPA Regional Administrator Jane Kenny. "It is important to make sure that these areas are well protected and safe for adults and children."

Since 2001, New Jersey has received $627,000 to monitor beach water quality and to inform the public when there is a problem. These funds are allocated to New Jersey under the Beach Act and are subcontracted out to the counties to be used in the monitoring.

The EPA has awarded Massachusetts $834,000 since 2001 to support and expand the state’s beach monitoring programs. The funding was made possible by the Federal Beach Act approved by Congress in 2000.

New Texas Wildlife Refuge in the Planning Stages

The refuge would be limited to about 25,000 acres and would conserve bottomland hardwood wetland forests in the floodplain of the Neches River, the Service says.

The area is important habitat for migratory waterfowl, other migratory birds, and resident wildlife that are dependent on riverine wetlands.

These workshops are in an open house format so interested people are invited to drop in at their convenience.

The purpose of the workshops is to exchange information and answer any questions that people may have as well as listen to the community's ideas, issues, and concerns about the proposed refuge.

Those issues and concerns will be addressed in an environmental assessment that the Service will prepare as a result of the study. The public will be able to comment on that environmental assessment when it is released in a few months. The Service will consider those comments in determining whether to create a new national wildlife refuge on the Neches River.

At the workshops the Service will describe the proposal and discuss issues such as the Service's planning process and schedule; the Service's policy of purchasing lands from willing sellers at market value; the Refuge Revenue Sharing Act and annual payments in lieu of taxes to county governments for lands owned by the Service.

The Service will also discuss its land conservation process, including the availability of alternatives to land acquisition, such as cooperative agreements and cost-sharing partnership programs on private lands.

Landowners who have property within the study area are assured that being within either a study area, or an approved refuge boundary, does not affect their ownership or their right to use their land in any way. Neither does it affect a landowner's decision to sell to an entity other than the Service.

"If the Service were to establish a wildlife refuge in this area, we would only seek lands or conservation easements or cooperative partnerships with willing sellers," said Dom Ciccone, Chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System for the Service's Southwest Region.

The Neches River begins about two miles above Rhine Lake between the cities of Canton and Van and flows on its 416 mile journey southward to the Sabine River just above the gulf at Port Arthur. The Neches feeds two major lakes, B.A. Stienhagen and Palestine, and is fed by numerous navigable creeks, creating many fishing opportunities.

One workshop will be held in Jacksonville on Tuesday, July 20, at the Summers Norman Activity Center, 526 East Commerce from 3 to 9 pm. The second will be held the next day in Palestine on Wednesday July 21, from 3 to 9 pm at the Civic Center, corner of Loop 256 and Highway 287.

For those who cannot attend a workshop, or would rather communicate with the Service in another way, they may contact Jeannie Wagner-Greven, Refuge Planner, at 505-248-6633, or by electronic mail at jeannie_wagnergreven@fws.gov, or by fax at 505-248-6874.

The Service manages 20 national wildlife refuges in Texas ranging from high plains grassland habitats in the panhandle, to the subtropical lands along the Rio Grande to the coastal marshes and bayous on the Gulf of Mexico.