• California Fires Force Thousands to Flee
  
• EPA Offers $15 Million in Watershed Restoration Grants
  
• National Animal ID System Starts With Premises Registration
  
• Land Use Planning Role Handed to States, Counties, Tribes
  
• New Hampshire Republicans Slam Bush Environmental Policies
  
• Three Fuel Pieces Missing at Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant
  
• Guilty Plea: Furniture Stripping Chemicals Burn Sewer Worker
  
• ORVs Could Drive 16 Native California Insects to Extinction
  

California Fires Force Thousands to Flee

About 1,600 homes in Santa Clarita have been evacuated since the fire started on Saturday. Mandatory evacuations remain in effect for the Placerita Canyon and Sand Canyon subdivisions as 100 foot walls of flame sweep across the land.

Some area residents chose to stay at home even though mandatory evacuation orders are in force. On Monday, smarter evacuees passed the time at valley restaurants, camped out in parking lots, and at the Red Cross evacuation center at College of the Canyons.

Firefighters numbering 2,086 are on the scene and they are supported by 11 helicopters and 164 fire engines. Fire officials said this morning that the blaze is roughly 45 percent contained.

Four of the Foothills firefighters have suffered injuries.

Officials say the fire was started just after noon on Saturday when a red-tailed hawk electrocuted itself on a power line and its burning body fell into the dry grass below.

Elsewhere in California, crews are making progress in containing the 17,000 acre Pine Fire that required evacuations last week. Burning in heavy brush 14 southeast of Lebec, this blaze is now considered 90 percent contained, but it has cost $14 million to control. The fire burned right up to the back doors of several houses, but no one was hurt.

Officials are calling the Pine Fire an arson fire and are seeking information leading to the arrest of those responsible. "We're looking for anyone who may have seen anything suspicious on Monday, July 12 around 12:30 pm, at the Pacific Crest Trail and Pine Canyon Road," said Forest Service spokeswoman Dee Dechert.

The Melton Fire near Hemet in Riverside County is now 95 percent contained. All road closures have been lifted and fireline rehabilitation efforts have begun.

EPA Offers $15 Million in Watershed Restoration Grants

Announcing the program in the Des Moines area on Monday, EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt said that while the selected watersheds extend into 17 states, special consideration was given to watersheds along the Mississippi River Basin where nutrient overload has been scientifically linked to the seasonal hypoxic – or oxygen starved – dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Through this program, EPA lends a hand to local groups working to protect and restore our nation’s watersheds," said Leavitt from the banks of Gray’s Lake, part of the Upper Mississippi watershed. "With these watershed projects, we take a critical step forward in providing clean and safe water for every American."

The selected areas represent more than 20,000 square miles of rivers, lakes and streams across the United States.

Watersheds qualifying for the program stretch from Cape Fear on the Atlantic Coast, through much of the Mississippi River Basin, to Dungeness River in Washington State and the Kenai River in Alaska.

Three tribes, several local governments, and nongovernmental organizations such as the Arkansas Audubon have been selected to compete for the grant funding. Grants will range from $700,00 to $1,300,000, with an additional 25 percent leveraged from other sources.

Money will be used to stabilize stream banks, demonstrate innovative nutrient management schemes, establish pollutant credits, and work with local governments and private citizens to promote sustainable practices and strategies.

National Animal ID System Starts With Premises Registration

While such a system is not ready for rollout yet, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Monday announced that it has selected a premises registration system as an interim solution, or first step.

The system, developed by the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium, will record locations where animals reside or will reside.

"Before animals can be tracked during a disease outbreak, we need to know where the animals are located," said APHIS Administrator Ron DeHaven, a veterinarian. "Registering animal premises is a key component of a national animal identification system and will help trace animal movements during any future outbreaks."

The interim system was selected based on the results of a review conducted by SI International of Reston, Virginia, DeHaven said.

Currently, the USDA is preparing the system for use in multiple states and will provide it to a limited number of states in early August. It will be phased in to ensure that any problems can be addressed before it is available nationally, DeHaven said.

The USDA says it is committed to designing a comprehensive animal identification system that will trace all animals and premises potentially exposed to a foreign animal disease within 48 hours. This will ensure that the disease is quickly contained and eradicated.

The agency will provide the interim standardized premises registration system that states or tribes can elect to use. States and tribes also can use other premises registration systems, as long as these systems meet national data standards.

By early August, the USDA plans to have evaluated other premises registration systems to ensure compliance with the national data standards.

In April, more than $18 million was transferred from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation to APHIS to begin implementing a national system. Of this amount, more than $11 million is available for state and tribal governments to focus chiefly on premises identification. The remainder of the funds will be used to support the development of the national animal identification program, including carrying out outreach activities and building database architecture.

The implementation of a national animal identification system will be conducted in three main phases, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said in April. Under Phase I, the USDA will evaluate current federally funded animal identification systems and determine which system or systems should be used. The ag agency will further the dialogue with producers and other stakeholders on the operation of a national animal identification system, identify staffing needs, and develop any regulatory and legislative proposals needed for implementing the system.

Phase II would involve the implementation of the selected animal identification system at regional levels for one or more selected species, continuation of the communication and education effort, addressing regulatory needs and working with Congress on any needed legislation.

In Phase III, the selected animal identification system or systems would be scaled up to the national level. No firm date has been given for achieving full implementation.

Land Use Planning Role Handed to States, Counties, Tribes

Speaking Sunday in Phoenix to the annual meeting of the National Association of Counties Norton said, "States, counties and tribes all have a tremendous stake in land management issues. They should be at the table when these issues are being addressed and share a strong role in the process when these planning decisions are made."

The proposed change will formally recognize and define the Cooperating Agency status that may be granted to local, state, tribal and other federal agencies during the land use planning process.

Cooperating Agency status permits entities to collaborate with lead land management agencies, such as the BLM, in the environmental analyses required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

"This is the first change to NEPA in 30 years and it was done to increase public participation," Norton said.

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages 261 million acres of public lands, primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, and 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.

"When this process is complete, the Bureau of Land Management will be the first federal agency to make cooperating agency policy the rule," Norton told the county representatives.

"Cooperating Agency status will promote broader public participation in resource management decisions and will ultimately generate more effective on the ground solutions," Norton said. "It will also promote the principle of shared community stewardship of our public lands."

In the past, the BLM has worked with governmental partners in planning and NEPA activities, but the practice has never formally been recognized in BLM regulations.

The proposed Land Use Planning Rule is published in the Federal Register today, and may be read on the BLM website at www.blm.gov. The proposed rule contains information on how to submit comments, which will be accepted for the next 60 days.

New Hampshire Republicans Slam Bush Environmental Policies

Environment2004's report is available at http://www.environment2004.org/bushrecordnh

Three Fuel Pieces Missing at Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant

While saying the location of the spent fuel pieces has "no impact on the health and safety of the public," the company is scrambling to find them. The amount of fuel in question consists of three, half-inch diameter by 18 inch long segments, weighing a total of about four pounds, which were cut from a single, seven foot fuel rod in 1968.

The Humboldt Bay Power Plant is no longer in operation. Since late 2003, PG&E plant personnel have been in the process of conducting a search of the plant’s records, and verifying and characterizing the contents of the used fuel pool, in preparation for the upcoming decommissioning of the plant and movement of the used fuel pool contents to dry cask storage.

Plant records indicate that these segments may have been shipped offsite in 1969, as part of a larger shipment of used fuel sent for reprocessing. However, recently reviewed documents indicate the fuel may have remained stored underwater since 1968, in the plant’s used fuel pool, where other used nuclear fuel is stored.

Plant employees are now in the process of retrieving and examining additional records, as well as searching the contents of the used fuel pool, to determine which document is accurate.

"The fuel rod segments remain in the used fuel pool, or were shipped offsite to an appropriate, controlled facility – either for analysis or reprocessing," said Greg Rueger, senior vice president for generation and chief nuclear officer for the utility. "However, we must ensure we have accurate records, and that entails a meticulous search of the pool itself, to confirm the location of these three used fuel segments."

In the late 1960s up to the mid-1970s, nuclear power plants were permitted to ship used nuclear fuel offsite for reprocessing to be used again. The fuel in question would have gone to the Nuclear Fuel Services reprocessing facility, located in West Valley, New York. The Humboldt power plant, which opened in 1963, ceased operations in 1976. No fuel has been shipped offsite since 1974.

The investigation could take several more weeks to complete, largely because of the difficulty associated with physically searching the used fuel pool.

Inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have been onsite during the week of July 12 and are aware of the status of these inspections. In addition, PG&E is continuing its review of plant records as well as interviewing plant personnel who were onsite during the 1968-1969 period to find further evidence that may expedite location of the three fuel rod segments.

Guilty Plea: Furniture Stripping Chemicals Burn Sewer Worker

Michael Miller of Santa Monica, the owner of a business known as Stripper Herk, pleaded guilty Monday in United States District Court to one misdemeanor violation of the federal Clean Water Act for negligently discharging toxic wastewater.

Miller also pleaded guilty to a felony count of unlawfully storing twenty 55 gallon drums of toxic and flammable hazardous wastes on the premises of the business. These waste drums had accumulated on defendant’s premises for approximately six months without a permit.

Stripper Herk is a small furniture stripping and refinishing shop that generates wastewaters containing the solvents methylene chloride and oxalic acid. Some of the wastewaters were allowed to discharge into a sump and drain, which were connected to the Santa Monica municipal sewer system.

In 1992, Santa Monica issued Miller a notice of violation directing him to stop discharging solvent-laden wastewaters into the sewer. Miller was also directed to seal the sump’s connection to the sewer. At that point, Miller was issued a permit which, among other things, prohibited the discharge of solvents such as methylene chloride.

On March 26, 2003 Vincente Valenzuela, an employee of a contractor repairing a sewer line in front of Miller’s shop, noticed a chemical discharging into the sewer. The substance soaked Valenzuela’s clothing and caused him to lose consciousness from the fumes.

When finally rescued from the sewer line, Valenzuela was in full cardiac arrest and had no pulse. Valenzuela was revived by fire paramedics and transported to UCLA for treatment. At UCLA, medical staff treating Valenzuela became ill from the fumes emitting from his clothing. Valenzuela was ultimately treated at the Grossman Burn Center for third-degree chemical burns that covered more than half of his body.

During an inspection of Stripper Herk on March 26, as well as during the execution of a federal search warrant on April 10, inspectors and investigators found that the seal from the sump had been removed. They found the drums of hazardous wastes in the rear of the shop.

This case was investigated by members of the Los Angeles Federal Environmental Task Force, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the City of Santa Monica, Industrial Waste Services; the Santa Monica City Fire Department; the Santa Monica Police Department; the Los Angeles Fire Department, Health Hazardous Materials Division; the California Department of Toxic Substances Control; and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Miller pleaded guilty before United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner, who is scheduled to sentence Miller on October 18. The maximum punishment for the unlawful sewer discharge is one year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine. The maximum punishment for the unlawful storage of hazardous waste is five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

ORVs Could Drive 16 Native California Insects to Extinction

The Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and Sierra Club are seeking protection for two sand wasps, two species of bees, one vespid, two species of velvet ants, three jewel beetles, two species of scarab beetles, and four subspecies of Roth's dune weevil.

Conservationists also want critical habitat designated for the species concurrent with listing, as, they point out, is required by law.

As many as 240,000 ORV users may drive over the Algodones Dunes on a single weekend, the conservationists say. ORVs at the Algodones Dunes include sand rails, motorcycles, trucks, and ATVs whose tires cut deeply into the sand even when accelerating on level ground.

"We have to move for protection of these endemic species because the Bush administration’s plan to sacrifice the Algodones Dunes to the off-road industry could cause their extinction," said Daniel Patterson, desert ecologist with the Center. "BLM hasn’t even considered these unique and interesting desert animals, which clearly need Endangered Species Act protection now."

The dunes are currently managed under a 2000 agreement between the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), off-roaders, and conservationists that keeps over 106 square miles open to ORVs, while the other roughly half of the dunes are protected for wildlife, and scenic non-motorized recreation.

But Patterson warns that "the Bush BLM wants to scrap this balanced multiple-use management and open all available dunes habitat to intensive, destructive off-roading."

The preferred alternative in the BLM’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Recreation Area Management Plan for the Algodones Dunes would permit ORVs in 198,220 acres and protect only 25,800 acres which are already designated wilderness by act of Congress.

The conservationists say that information on the 16 native insect species is readily found in the scientific literature, so it is "disturbing" that the BLM made no acknowledgement of these species in its management plan.

The BLM plan to remove the protected areas would be "devastating to dozens of imperiled species," the conservationists say, "including the Peirson’s milkvetch, desert tortoise, flat-tailed horned lizard, and Andrew’s dunes scarab beetle - worsen air pollution, and run off hikers, birdwatchers, photographers, Native Americans and others."

The ORV community, however, views access to the dunes for their vehicles as a right that they have every intention of exercising.

In addition to allowing intense environmental harm, opening conservation areas to off-road vehicles will displace non-motorized visitors, costing nearby communities in the Imperial Valley and Yuma at least $3.3 million annually in sustainable recreation related spending.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently rejected a petition by the off-road industry to remove Endangered Species Act protection for the Peirson’s milkvetch, finding that the rare flowering plant is harmed by ORV’s and in need of continued legal protection.

But the American Sand Association, an ORV organization, filed formal notice in June that it intends to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to challenge the Peirson’s milkvetch decision. Their lawyer, David Hubbard, will argue that the decision was "not based on the best scientific and commercial evidence available."