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Five Word Definition Could Keep Oil Out of U.S. Waters WASHINGTON, DC, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - Attorneys for the oil industry filed a motion Wednesday seeking to narrow the scope of the federal Clean Water Act as it applies to preventing oil spills in many streams, ponds, wetlands and other waters.At issue is the definition of the words "waters of the United States" under the Clean Water Act. In two related lawsuits against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the American Petroleum Institute and Marathon Oil are challenging revisions to the spill prevention rules for large oil storage facilities imposed by the EPA in July 2002. The revisions - the first significant change to the rule since it was adopted in 1973 - updated the definition of "waters of the United States" to match the definition the EPA had adopted for other rules under the Clean Water Act decades ago. Conservation groups that have intervened in the litigation warned that more than half the nation's waters - from neighborhood creeks and fishing holes to drinking water supplies - could lose federal protection if the oil industry's argument is successful. At the center of the lawsuits is the EPA's oil spill prevention program, which is designed to prevent discharges of oil into the waters of the United States, and to contain those discharges if they occur. The oil industry claims that it should only have to take steps to prevent oil spills in certain waters that meet a narrow, 100 year old concept of navigability. The industry argues that it can legally spill oil into many of the nation's streams, creeks, and wetlands. Earthjustice, on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Sierra Club, has intervened in American Petroleum Institute (API) v. EPA and Marathon Oil v. EPA, the two related lawsuits. "The stakes are very high," said Jennifer Kefer, an Earthjustice attorney representing the groups. "If the oil industry gets its way, more than half the places where we fish and swim could be fair game for anyone who doesn't want to take basic steps to prevent oil spills." If this industry motion is successful, it could have an immediate effect on the implementation of the spill prevention program nationwide, Kefer warned. The EPA estimates that 24,000 oil spills occur each year in the United States. More than 70 spills are recorded on an average day, according to the agency. Even though oil spills into the ocean are more publicized, freshwater spills are more frequent and often more destructive to the environment. In 2000, the EPA estimated in testimony before Congress that "On average, one spill of greater than 100,000 gallons occurs every month from oil storage facilities and the entire transportation network." "This administration has repeatedly weakened federal water quality protections," said NRDC attorney Daniel Rosenberg. "Now, it has an opportunity to defend the Clean Water Act for a change." If the industry cases are successful, the damage could extend beyond the oil spill program, the conservationist attorneys warn. The EPA could be required to cut back the scope of the Clean Water Act's protections in other Clean Water Act programs as well, to reach only "traditionally navigable waters" and their adjacent wetlands. Such a result could leave most of the nation's creeks, wetlands, streams, lakes and ponds without protection under the federal Clean Water Act. "For 30 years, the Clean Water Act has provided the foundation for cleaning up pollution in the streams, ponds, lakes and wetlands that nourish our river systems," said Robin Mann, chair of Sierra Club's Clean Water Campaign Committee. "The oil industry's effort is a serious threat to the progress that has been achieved under the Clean Water Act, and an insult to all Americans."
Arctic Petroleum Leases Disregard Alaskan Wildlife ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - The Bureau of Land Management Wednesday announced its intent to amend the 1998 drilling plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), offering a new plan that would spare only four percent of the Northeastern NPR-A for wildlife habitat and subsistence hunting grounds for Native Alaskans.The Bureau plans to make available 96 percent of the Northeast Plan Area for oil and gas leases. While the existing plan provides for the potential of 600 million barrels of economically recoverable oil, the BLM’s preferred alternative recommends making available as much as 2.1 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil. The National Audubon Society, dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them, has expressed "grave concern" over the plan. The society warns that oil development in the sensitive wildlife habitats around Teshekpuk Lake would irrevocably harm the migratory birds, particularly molting geese, and caribou. "We are very disappointed with the administration's decision to open such a vast amount of sensitive wildlife habitat to oil and gas drilling," said Dr. John Schoen, senior scientist with Audubon Alaska. "The so-called protections in this plan are not scientifically defensible." “The energy resources of the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska are essential to meeting our nation’s energy demands," said BLM Alaska State Director Henri Bisson. "The National Petroleum Reserve is estimated to contain 5.9 billion to 13.2 billion barrels of oil," Bisson said. "These resources will enhance domestic energy production and decrease dependence on foreign oil sources." Audubon contends that the Bush administration's approach in the American Arctic is "extremist and unbalanced." The administration heavily favors the oil industry at the expense of the environment, said the conservation group on Wednesday, "first, by renewing calls to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and today, moving to lease virtually the entire northeast quarter of the Reserve, which contains some of its most vital and important migratory waterbird bird habitat in Arctic Alaska." “Environmentally responsible energy development on public lands in the U.S. is a component of President Bush’s National Energy Policy, crucial to our future and essential to our way of life," said Bisson. "In addition to providing jobs to tens of thousands of workers, energy development from public lands provides one-third of our nation’s oil and gas production." "Today's move represents yet another significant assault on Alaska's Wildlife and the integrity of the Arctic ecosystem," warned Schoen. "The current administration's rationale for this weak environmental plan is based on disingenuous and misleading premises; their statements don't square with what they are really proposing. They are weakening, not strengthening, environmental protection."
Otero Mesa Drilling Plan Closed to Electronic Comments SANTA FE, New Mexico, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - On behalf of four conservation groups, the law firm Earthjustice has notified the Bureau of Land Management that the agency's refusal to accept electronic public comments on Otero Mesa oil and gas drilling is inconsistent with federal law and with the government's standard practices.On May 19, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a supplement to the proposed oil and natural gas development plan for Sierra and Otero Counties, New Mexico, and informed the public that it will accept only comments on the plan delivered by U.S. postal mail. The agency has refused to accept comments via e-mail or fax. In a postal letter addressed to Linda Rundell, director of the New Mexico BLM, Earthjustice, The Wilderness Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, and the Southwest Environmental Center complained about the Otero Mesa comments policy. The letter demands that the agency post a revised proposed rulemaking by Friday to open up the plan to broader public participation. The groups warn that refusal to allow electronic comments on the Otero Mesa drilling plan interferes with the public's rights under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the E-Government Act of 2002. "Once again our basic rights as Americans are being subjugated to the greed of the oil and gas industry," said Stephen Capra, executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. "The BLM in New Mexico remains under intense pressure from the Bush administration to open Otero Mesa to full-scale development. As a result, the agency is creating ways to cut the public out, while opening the door to drilling," he said. Otero Mesa is a fragile desert ecosystem in southern New Mexico that includes wild land on Otero Mesa and in the Nutt desert grasslands. Environmentalists and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat who was energy secretary in the Clinton administration, have denounced plans to open the area to oil and gas development. "BLM's motive here is utterly transparent," said Earthjustice attorney Mike Harris. The decision "is tantamount to denying tens of thousands of New Mexicans and other Americans the right to openly express their opinions, views, and arguments about the Bush administration's decision to open up the precious Otero Mesa grasslands to oil and gas development." "It's undemocratic and the people shouldn't stand for it," Harris said. The U.S. Forest Service last year became the target of an uproar when it proposed a rule that would allow officials to ignore all public comments submitted through activism websites. Public outrage forced the Service to abandon its plan. "Submissions of comments by electronic means provide a more efficient way to communicate with the government and promotes the widest possible public participation. The Internet has become a powerful tool in educating and empowering the public," said Harris. "We should be encouraging more people to pursue these avenues to make their voices heard, not making changes so that participation in government is more difficult."
ORVs Run Into Petition on Cape Hatteras Seashore WASHINGTON, DC, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - Conservationists have filed a formal petition to compel the National Park Service to study and regulate the use of off-road vehicles (ORVs) in North Carolina's Cape Hatteras National Seashore.The petitioners seek "to protect the wild nature of the park, the threatened and endangered species that live in the park, and to provide certainty to park visitors about where and when ORV use is permitted." "Because the park has not yet created a management plan based on scientific study of the effects on the area, visitors aren't always aware of what is and isn't permissible," said Elizabeth Fayad, counsel for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), one of the petitioning groups. The other petitioners are The Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, and The Audubon Society. "Until the park has a formal plan, and all visitors receive information about the regulations, some visitors will be confused, and that can result in direct harm to the park's rich wildlife, which damages the quality of other visitors' experiences." Birdwatching and wildlife viewing are popular activities at the seashore. Rare species are found there such as the threatened piping plover, the endangered leatherback turtle, which is the world's largest turtle, the threatened loggerhead and green sea turtles, and the seabeach amaranth, a threatened plant found only in North Carolina, South Carolina, and New York. ORV use inside areas clearly designated as closed has resulted in several shorebird deaths at the park, the groups point out, calling for the park service to study ORV use in the park and develop and implement a management plan. The park currently manages ORV use by employing portions of a 1978 interim plan in which wildlife nesting areas are restricted to ORV use, but feeding areas are not. "As a result," conservationists say, "ORVs have crushed shorebirds, and flightless chicks have become trapped in tire ruts. Turtle hatchlings also risk being crushed when they move from the nest to the ocean. And ORV traffic can destroy nests and the vegetation that shelters animals, and also reduce food supplies because use has been shown to damage and destroy coastal vegetation." The petition is based on a 1972 Executive Order from President Richard Nixon which directed the Department of Interior to issue regulations within six months on the specific areas and trails in which ORVs may be permitted on public lands in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. But 32 years later, no ORV regulations are in place for Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Covering 70 miles of barrier islands, Cape Hatteras National Seashore was visited by 3.3 million people last year.
Certified Sustainable Products Alliance Markets Food, Wood NEW YORK, New York, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - The Rainforest Alliance has entered into a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to promote and sell sustainably produced certified timber, banana and coffee from Central America and Mexico.Known as the Certified Sustainable Products Alliance, the three year program, announced late last month, is funded with an $8.6 million grant from USAID. The Certified Sustainable Products Alliance project is focusing on areas of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, especially on the outskirts of parks, in priority watersheds and as part of biological corridors. During the three year activity period, over 300,000 acres of forest and farmland are expected to be certified as sustainably managed. International manufacturers and retailers such as IKEA, Gibson Musical Instruments, Kraft Foods, Millstone and Chiquita Brands International have signed up as partners. They will increase the amount of certified sustainable products in the supply stream, and in certain cases, to providing technical assistance to farms. Based on partner purchases, over four million board feet of certified timber, 90 million boxes of certified bananas and 30,000 metric tons of sustainable coffee are expected to be sold through sourcing contracts. In the words of Glenn Anders, USAID's mission director for Guatemala and Central American Programs, "By linking responsible buyers for certified products with responsible suppliers in these global markets, the Alliance constructs and seals a circuit in which all players - producers, purchasers, distributors and consumers - are winners." The goal of the partnership is to transform the way that participating companies source products, establishing alternative ways of doing business that the companies can replicate after the completion of the three year effort. Communities and cooperatives involved in the Certified Sustainable Products Alliance will see an increase in income that will provide them with an added incentive to practice sustainable agriculture and forestry," said Rainforest Alliance Executive Director Tensie Whelan. The Rainforest Alliance's sustainable agriculture certification program has certified almost 1,000 farms and has benefited over 95,000 farm families in the tropics. Over 30 million forested acres are now managed according to the highest standards through the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood program. The USAID Guatemala and Central American Programs Mission is located in Guatemala and manages programs in the six Central America region countries. USAID/G-CAP will manage the grant to Rainforest Alliance to implement the new Certified Sustainable Products Alliance. By strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of agriculture and timber operations, this partnership intends to bring new investment and trade to the region while supporting practices that benefit the environment and protecting the rights and resources of workers and local communities, both organizations said.
August 2003 Blackout Cleared the Air COLLEGE PARK, Maryland, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - Skies were bluer and the air was healthier over much of the eastern United States during the blackout that hit the northeast and southeastern Canada last August, researchers at the University of Maryland report.Atmospheric measurements taken by the scientists on August 15, 24 hours after many power plants had shut down, found a 90 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide, a gas that leads to haze and acid rain, and a 50 percent reduction in smog, or ground-level ozone. The amount of light scattering particles in the air dropped by 70 percent and visibility increased by some 20 miles. Researchers Lackson Marufu, Bryan Bloomer, Charles Piety, Bruce Doddridge, Jeffrey Stehr, and Russell Dickerson of the Meteorology Department and Brett Taubman of the Chemistry Department reported their findings in "The 2003 North American Electrical Blackout: An Accidental Experiment in Atmospheric Chemistry," which will be published in the next issue of "Geophysical Research Letters." Dickerson, professor and chair of the Meteorology Department, said, "Scientists long have speculated about what would happen to air quality if all the power plants suddenly disappeared. The blackout performed for us an experiment that would have otherwise been impossible. The resulting clean air that we observed over large areas of rural Pennsylvania was headed toward the Mid-Atlantic, so cities from Washington to New York reaped the benefits of bluer skies, at least for a few days." "What surprised us was not so much the observation of improved air quality during the blackout, but the magnitude of the observed improvement," says Marufu. "The improvement in air quality was so great that you could not only measure it, but could actually see it as a much clearer less hazy sky." Fossil fuel fired power plants account for more than half of electrical energy production in the United States, and for about 22 percent of the nitrogen oxides and about 69 percent of the sulfur dioxide emissions, the scientists said. In summertime, under a high pressure front, westerly winds carry power plant emissions from Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to form severe smog and haze in the northeastern U.S. composed of ground-level ozone, or smog, and sulfate-dominated fine particles. Both pollutants have been linked to adverse health effects, degradation of the environment, and global climate change.
California Watchdog Would Green State Budget OAKLAND, California, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - California vehicle owners would pay $6 per year and one cent per gallon of gas, and some landowners would pay a fee for fire protection under a new plan proposed by the Green Watchdog coalition. The fees would go to fund state environmental programs.More than 40 environmental, taxpayer, public health, and consumer interest organizations released the fourth annual Green Watchdog report Wednesday to counteract budget cuts at the state level. “With threatened budget cuts undermining basic environmental protections, it is especially critical that everyone pay their fair share. We can’t afford to sacrifice our air and water just because Sacramento can’t balance the budget,” said Doug Linney, program director of Green Capitol. “Those who create the environmental problems should pay for the required regulation and clean up. " Programs responsible for keeping air and water clean and the public healthy are being starved of the dollars necessary to effectively fulfill their mandate, Green Watchdog growled. According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, General Fund expenditures for resources and environmental protection programs are at their lowest point in relation to overall expenditures since 1998. When total expenditures are taken into account - which includes special funds from fees, federal funds, and bond funds - natural resource agencies will suffer a 40 percent reduction from 2003-04 expenditures, and a moderately lower funding level on average compared to other recent budget years, the watchdog warns. “Each year the budget is cut, we fall farther behind in enforcing the environmental laws that are already on the books.” said Dan Jacobson, Legislative Director for Environment California. “When you cut the budget for pollution prevention, people pay for it through their hospital bills instead.” “We need a consistent and reliable funding source for California’s resource protection agencies,” said Pete Price, Legislative Advocate for the California League of Conservation Voters “The cost of pollution prevention should be treated as the cost of doing business in California for those that put a burden on our natural resources and the agencies charged with keeping our air and water clean.” “Governor [Arnold] Schwarzenegger was elected on a promise to 'open the books' and end waste in California government. The Green Watchdog is one 'book' he should open right away and eliminate unfair subsidies,” commented Lenny Goldberg, executive director of the California Tax Reform Association. The coalition proposes 10 ways that California could improve and reform the way in which environmental programs are funded and eliminate environmentally wasteful subsidies and tax loopholes. The message of this year’s Green Watchdog report is, “Everybody should pay their fair share.” By that, the watchdog means that the mortgage interest deduction for second homes would be eliminated, saving taxpayers $55 million a year. In addition, fees on developers would be increased to fully fund the California's Department of Fish and Game’s work protecting fish and wildlife, saving taxpayers approximately $11 million a year. Read the 2004 Green Watchdog Report at: www.greencap.org
Logging of Amazon Rainforest Reshapes Regional Climate GREENBELT, Maryland, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - Massive deforestation in the Amazon Basin is affecting regional climate, scientists studying satellite data have learned. During the Amazon dry season last August, there was a pattern of higher rainfall and warmer temperatures over deforested regions, according to research meteorologists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.Researchers analyzed multiple years of data from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). They also used data from the Department of Defense Special Sensor Microwave Imager and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites. The study is in a recent "American Meteorological Society Journal of Climate." Lead authors, Andrew Negri and Robert Adler, are research meteorologists at the Goddard Space Flight Center. "In deforested areas, the land heats up faster and reaches a higher temperature, leading to localized upward motions that enhance the formation of clouds and ultimately produce more rainfall," Negri said. While the study focused on climate changes in the deforested areas, large increases in cloud cover and rainfall were also observed in the naturally unforested savanna region and surrounding the urban area of Port Velho, Brazil, particularly in August and September. Recent studies by Dr. Marshall Shepherd, another Goddard research meteorologist, cited similar findings, including an average rain-rate increase of 28 percent downwind of urban areas and associated changes in the daily timing of cloud formation and precipitation. This research confirmed the Amazon savanna region experienced a shift in the onset of cloudiness and rainfall toward the morning hours. The shift was likely initiated by the contrast in surface heating across the deforested and savanna region. The varied heights of plants and trees in the region change the aerodynamics of the atmosphere, creating more circulation and rising air. When the rising air reaches the dew point in the cooler, upper atmosphere, it condenses into water droplets and forms clouds. This research is in agreement with the recent sophisticated computer models developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These models concluded small-scale circulations, including the mixing and rising of air induced by local land surfaces, could enhance cloudiness and rainfall. Many earlier studies that relied on models developed in the 1990s or earlier concluded widespread deforestation of the Amazon Basin would lead to decreased rainfall. "The effects here are rather subtle and appear to be limited to the dry season. The overall effect of this deforestation on annual and daily rainfall cycles is probably small and requires more study," Negri said.
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