• Green Party Convention Could Support Nader for President
  
• Toxic Releases Rose in 2002, Critics Claim Underreporting
  
• Pacifc Salmon Sheltered From Pesticides While Court Deliberates
  
• Fewer Than 100 Salmon Return to Eight Maine Rivers
  
• Puerto Rico Power Authority Must Use Low Sulfur Fuel
  
• Research Misconduct Appeals Could Lose Scientific Input
  
• Supercomputer Finds Climate Likely to Heat Up Fast
  
• Bush Watchdogs Keep Track of Creeping Secrecy
  

Green Party Convention Could Support Nader for President

In the 2000 election, Nader was the official Green Party candidate and polled some 2.8 million votes. Nader won four to five percent of the vote in some critical battleground states, which Democrats say handed the Presidency to George W. Bush.

Nader is running again this year, but has said he will not accept the Green Party nomination. Instead, he is requesting their endorsement. An official Green endorsement could give Nader a spot on the Presidential ballot representing the Green Party in up to 35 states.

Nader has chosen Green Peter Camejo as his vice presidential running mate. The Green candidate for governor of California in 2003, Camejo has stated that he would prefer to see Nader as the Green nominee in 2004. Camejo is standing for the Green Presidential nomination, but it is unclear whether Camejo would accept the nomination if he were to win it.

David Cobb, also seeking the Green Party nomination for president this week in Milwaukee, was the General Counsel for the Green Party of the United States until declaring his candidacy and was the Green Party of Texas candidate for Attorney General in 2002.

On Wednesday, the Green Party's National Coordinating Committee voted to accredit the party's Black Caucus, taking a step to strengthen its diversity and support for its African-American members. Accreditation gives the Black Caucus a voting seat on the Coordinating Committee, on which 44 state Green Parties are also represented.

The Green Party requires a threshold of 100 members from 15 states for identity caucuses to be accredited.

The Lavender Caucus, representing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex Greens, which had earlier held provisional accreditation status, has received full accreditation by the Coordinating Committee. The Women's Caucus is currently under review for accreditation.

The Green Party of the United States was formed in 2001 as a reincarnation of the older Association of State Green Parties (1996-2001), and devotes its time and attention to establishing a national Green presence in politics and policy debate.

Green Party national membership is nearly 300,000. State Party membership has more than doubled since 2001 with 44 accredited U.S. Green Parties in existence, 23 of which have of?ial ballot status. There are Green Parties in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Delegates from 48 states are expected at the convention.

There are more than 200 elected Greens in 27 states, including San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzales and Jason West, mayor of New Paltz, New York. More than 300 Green candidates are running for of?ce this year.

Toxic Releases Rose in 2002, Critics Claim Underreporting

By comparison, the total volume of toxic releases in 2001 declined by 13 percent from the previous year. Almost 25,000 facilities reported on nearly 650 chemicals, the EPA said.

While the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) shows a 15 percent decrease from 2001 to 2002, the EPA attributes that figure to a court decision that affected reporting by the metal mining sector. "Without metal mining, there was a five percent increase from 2001 to 2002, primarily due to increases reported by one facility," the EPA said.

An EPA official cited the 1999 shutdown of BHP Copper Company's San Manuel plant in Tucson, Arizona, as the reason for the increase. The closing of a facility results in the reporting of components as waste releases, the agency explained.

Two environmental groups objected that the figures do not accurately reflect the level of toxic releases in the United States. They said EPA is allowing industry to underreport the amount of air pollution by 330 million pounds a year.

Analysis by the Washington based Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and the Galveston Houston-Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP) finds that the presence of the carcinogens benzene and butadiene in the air may be four to five times higher than the level the EPA reports to the public.

The two groups based their analysis on findings by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on the underreporting of certain toxic emissions nationwide. The Commission concludes that at least 16 percent of toxic air emissions from all sources "have been kept off the books."

Environmental Integrity Project Counsel and Equal Justice Works Fellow Kelly Haragan said, "The public is being exposed to far more toxic air pollution than the EPA acknowledges for the record."

"Systematic underreporting happens today because most air pollution is now estimated - not monitored," said Haragan. "To make matters worse, the guesswork is being done by the polluters who have the incentives to keep the numbers as low as possible."

Refineries and chemical plants report their toxic emissions under an honor system that is based on calculations that are outdated and inaccurate, Haragan said. "Instead of cleaning up this problem, the EPA has further weakened monitoring rules and continues to knowingly feed the public inaccurate data regarding toxic air emissions."

GHASP Director John Wilson said, "We are tired of industry accounting tricks that always seem to show pollution releases dropping rapidly, while air quality improvements seem so slow. It is time for EPA and the states to require real measurements from industry, and take forthright action to protect the public from chemicals that cause cancer, respiratory, cardiovascular and reproductive disease."

Louisiana Bucket Brigade Director Anne Rolfes of New Orleans, said, "Communities living around chemical plants and refineries have a right to know what they are breathing. The chemicals released around them are known to be toxic and cancer causing. For EPA to knowingly report inaccurate toxic pollution estimates is shocking."

The EPA says that since the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) was established in 1988, "trends analysis shows chemical releases decreased 49 percent."

The agency says data quality and the ability to make data publicly available sooner has been made possible by increased electronic reporting by industry.

The TRI data and background information are available at: http://www.epa.gov/tri. Communities can find local facilities and chemical releases by using the TRI explorer mapping tool, available at: http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer.

Pacifc Salmon Sheltered From Pesticides While Court Deliberates

Fewer Than 100 Salmon Return to Eight Maine Rivers

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission are seeking public comments on a draft plan to recover endangered Atlantic salmon in the eight rivers.

Wild Atlantic salmon in the Sheepscot, Dennys, Machias, East Machias, Narraguagus, Ducktrap and Pleasant rivers, and Cove Brook were identified as an endangered distinct population segment and were officially protected in 2000 under the federal Endangered Species Act.

But the population has continued to decline, and the goal of the recovery plan is to halt this decline into extinction.

Initial recovery efforts will focus on reducing the most severe threats to the population's continued survival - acidified water, mixing of wild and farmed fish, take of adults and juvenile fish by anglers, predation and competition, and excessive or unregulated water withdrawals that may affect salmon habitat.

According to the plan, fisheries officials will work towards protecting and restoring freshwater and estuarine habitat, supplementing naturally spawning fish with hatchery reared salmon from the same rivers, conserving the population's genetic integrity, assessing the fish during key stages in their lives, and promoting salmon recovery through outreach and education.

The original range of Atlantic salmon in the United States was from the Housatonic River in Connecticut, north to U.S. tributaries of the St. John River in New Brunswick, Canada. The historic Atlantic salmon run in the United States has been estimated at 500,000 fish.

The plan, online at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/species/fish/Atlantic_salmon.html complements Maine's Atlantic Salmon Conservation Plan.

All comments received from the public during the 90 day comment period will be considered by the agencies during preparation of the final Atlantic salmon recovery plan. The agencies will hold two public meetings in Maine to discuss the plan with the public and to accept comments. A panel of independent experts will also review the plan.

Puerto Rico Power Authority Must Use Low Sulfur Fuel

The agreement between PREPA and the U.S. Justice Department, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will modify a 1999 consent decree reached with the participation of Comunidaes Unidas Contras La Contamination (CUCCo), a prominent citizens’ environmental organization.

PREPA will pay a penalty of $300,000 for past violations and provide $200,000 to supplement two environmental projects agreed upon in the 1999 Consent Decree. The authority has agreed to tougher penalties for future violations.

In 1999, the federal government and PREPA entered into a consent decree under which PREPA agreed to take actions to come into compliance with environmental laws at a cost of about $200 million; pay a $1.5 million penalty; implement $3.5 million worth of additional projects to benefit the environmencosting t, and spend $1 million to hire an environmental contractor to oversee compliance with the consent decree.

On Wednesday PREPA agreed to switch to fuel with a very low sulfur content at the largest units at the South Coast and Aguirre plants. It must use fuel with a sulfur content of no more than 0.75 percent sulfur by March 2005 and no more than 0.50 percent by March 2007.

In addition, PREPA has agreed to continue burning fuel with a sulfur content of 0.50 percent at its Palo Seco plant until July 18, 2009. PREPA is already required, by permit, to burn fuel with 0.50 percent sulfur at its San Juan plant.

PREPA may choose to install pollution controls in lieu of using fuel with 0.50 percent sulfur, but only if the equipment reduces sulfur dioxide emissions as much as they would have been reduced using the cleaner fuel.

PREPA agreed to conduct a nitrogen oxide emissions reduction program that includes testing its generating units to determine current emissions of nitrogen oxides and reducing these emissions by optimizing operating conditions or, if necessary, by making modifications at its plants.

The power authority will notify the public and allow community representatives to be present when optimum operating ranges for the plants are discussed. PREPA will arrange for meetings between the community and the environmental review contractor to share documents and discuss matters related to PREPA’s compliance.

PREPA also agreed to spend an additional $100,000 to acquire valuable wetlands in Las Cucharillas and pay the environmental contractor who oversees compliance with the 1999 consent decree an additional $100,000.

Research Misconduct Appeals Could Lose Scientific Input

Top officials at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) sent a letter to Chris Pascal, director of the Office of Research Integrity on Friday in protest of the proposed disbanding of the current appeals board in favor of a single judge for hearing and deciding all alleged research violations.

AAAS Chief Executive Officer Alan Leshner said scientists contribute a critical level of objectivity, balance and technical expertise to research misconduct proceedings. This attitude prevents damage to the public's trust in the scientific process, he said.

"Under the current process, scientists play an important role in hearing and assessing allegations of research misconduct, and AAAS believes that this input is imperative," wrote Leshner, executive editor of the journal "Science."

"Eliminating the Departmental Appeals Board in favor of a single administrative law judge disenfranchises scientists from the appeals process," said Mark Frankel, director of the program on Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law at AAAS. "By doing so, the proposed regulations risk losing credibility within the research community."

Keeping scientists in the loop would ensure that judges hearing cases would have access to scientific information at the core of the misconduct findings, the AAAS says.

The association is urging the Bush administration to require the judge to appoint a scientific expert with no ties to the case under review to help evaluate the technical matters that may be presented on appeal.

Through its five year old Court Appointed Science Experts project, AAAS identifies scientists to help federal judges understand evidence presented in court. Use of a single administrative law judge would likely function more effectively with the assistance of a scientist working as a court expert, the association says.

"In the federal court system, independent court appointed experts, who have no loyalties to either side of the dispute, are in a position to offer an opinion that is more balanced than the parties' experts," Leshner wrote to the Office of Research Integrity.

"AAAS has assisted numerous federal judges with identifying qualified experts, and their use has demonstrated the added value they bring to the judicial proceedings."

The association has convened meetings on research misconduct and research integrity, simulated sessions with research administrators that offered insights for responding to allegations of misconduct, and educated hundreds of scientists with a series of videos on integrity in scientific research.

Supercomputer Finds Climate Likely to Heat Up Fast

The system, known as the Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3) was unveiled Wednesday in Boulder.

CCSM3 shows that global temperatures could rise by 2.6 degrees Celsius (4.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in a hypothetical scenario in which atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are suddenly doubled.

That is greater than the two degree Celsius (3.6 degree Fahrenheit) increase that had been indicated by the previous version of the model.

William Collins, a NCAR scientist who oversaw the development of the new system, says researchers have yet to pin down exactly what is making the model more sensitive to an increased level of carbon dioxide. But he says the model overall is "significantly more accurate" than its predecessor.

"This model makes substantial improvements in simulating atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial processes," Collins said. "It has done remarkably well in reproducing the climate of the last century, and we're now ready to begin using it to study the climate of the next century."

CCSM3 is one of the world's leading general circulation climate models, sophisticated computer tools that incorporate phenomena ranging from the effect that volcanic eruptions have on temperature patterns to the impact of shifting sea ice on sunlight absorbed by the oceans.

Climate models work by solving mathematical formulas, which represent the chemical and physical processes that drive Earth's climate, for thousands of points in the atmosphere, oceans, sea ice, and land surface.

CCSM3 is so complex that it requires about three trillion computer calculations to simulate a single day of global climate, NCAR explains.

NCAR developed the model in collaboration with researchers at universities and laboratories across the country, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NCAR is sharing the model results and the underlying computer codes with atmospheric researchers and other users worldwide.

As scientists learn more about the atmosphere, the world's most powerful climate models are in general agreement over the climatic effects of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas, which is emitted by burning of fossil fuels in motor vehicles and industrial plants.

Observations show that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have increased from 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv) in preindustrial times to more than 370 ppmv today, and the increase is continuing.

A doubling of carbon dioxide over present-day levels would significantly increase global temperatures, according to all the major models.

The models do not always agree, however, on the complex impacts of clouds, sea ice, and other pieces of the climate system.

Scientists will contribute findings from CCSM3 to the next assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an international research body that advises policymakers on the likely impacts of climate change.

Bush Watchdogs Keep Track of Creeping Secrecy

Environmental Media Services, a nonprofit communications clearinghouse, with support from MoveOn.org, the online advocacy group, has started Bush Greenwatch to keep an eye on what the Bush administration might try to sweep under the rug.

Bush Greenwatch is not the only watchdog, but works in tandem with the Working Group on Community Right-to-Know. Both groups are based in Washington, DC.

The two groups warn that more than 6,000 public documents have been removed from the websites of a dozen government agencies since the fall of 2001.

Early in the Bush administration, in March 2001, U.S. Geological Survey employee Ian Thomas posted a map on his agency's website of the caribou calving areas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an area the Bush administration wants to open up for oil exploration. He was immediately fired and the map was removed from the USGS website.

In another example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed parts of Risk Management Plans from the web, formerly public documents that helped communities identify nearby chemical hazards.

The Department of Energy has taken down environmental impact statements related to nuclear power plants, and hazardous materials transport information.

The Department of Transportation removed from its website much of the national pipeline mapping data that allowed communities to find hazardous pipeline routes.

"The Bush administration is hostile to the idea that citizens need to watchdog the government, " says Paul Orum, director of the Working Group on Community Right-to-Know. He says that subtle secrecy is pervading the government since the Bush administration took office.

The groups point to a 2003 case in Maryland, in which the Aberdeen Proving Ground Citizens Superfund Coalition took the Department of Defense to court to regain access to detailed maps sites contaminated with perchlorate on and near the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Perchlorate is a toxic ingredient of rocket fuel that damages thyroid function.

When the coalition received the maps, the Defense Department had removed details such as streets, road names, and the extent and location of contamination, rendering them useless.

President George W. Bush has issued executive orders that broaden the authority of agencies to withhold information from the public, the watchdogs warn. May 2002's Executive Order 12958 gave the EPA Administrator authority to designate documents "Secret" or "Confidential," two of the three highest possible security classifications and to delegate classification authority to senior EPA officials.

Once classified, a person can gain access to information only when an agency head or their designee reviews the request, the person signs a non-disclosure agreement, and the person can establish a "need-to-know" to the satisfaction of agency officials.

The Bush administration has also reduced the public's access to unclassified information. 2002's Homeland Security Act allows agencies to withhold "sensitive but unclassified" information from the public. Information can be restricted with no review, even if public under other laws.

"The new climate of secrecy is having a chilling effect as it trickles down to the state level," says the Working Group's George Sorvalis. "Agencies are confused as to what environmental information they can make available to citizens, even with a Freedom of Information Act request."