Lawsuit Prompts Withdrawal of Montana Mine Approval

The agency's action, taken in the face of a lawsuit filed by a coalition of conservation groups, puts the proposed Rock Creek Mine on hold while federal biologists reevaluate the project's threat to imperiled grizzly bears and bull trout.

The Rock Creek Mine would create a major industrial facility - including the mine itself, a railroad station, pipelines, a power line, a tailings treatment plant and associated infrastructure - operating 24 hours a day for an estimated 35 years next to and beneath below the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area.

The wilderness and adjacent national forest lands provide the last available habitat for imperiled Cabinet Mountains grizzly bears and bull trout. Biologists estimate that there may be as few as 11 grizzly bears remaining in the Cabinet Mountains and nearby Yaak River area.

"The approval for the Rock Creek Mine amounted to a death warrant for the tiny grizzly population in the Cabinet Mountains," said Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso, who represents the conservation groups challenging the mining plan. "This decision pushes back the imminent threat of extinction, but only temporarily. The Cabinet Mountains grizzly remains on death row as long as the Rock Creek Mine remains in the works."

The decision withdrawn today is the USFWS's biological opinion for the Rock Creek Mine. The Endangered Species Act required the USFWS to prepare a biological opinion to determine whether the Rock Creek Mine would jeopardize the continued existence of the Cabinet Mountains grizzly bear and bull trout. Projects that jeopardize the existence of a species are prohibited.

The conservation groups charge that in this case, the agency's first priority in crafting its biological opinion was not to protect grizzly bears and bull trout, but to accommodate a politically driven schedule for approval of the mine. Internal agency correspondence establishes that federal biologists rushed their biological opinion to meet a deadline agreed upon by USFWS regional director Ralph Morgenweck and then Montana Governor Mark Racicot, the groups charge.

In one internal memo, Morgenweck told his staff, "this time we will meet the schedule - I won't go back to the Governor again with a missed deadline."

"We hope that the Service will give science priority over politics this time around," said David Bayles of Pacific Rivers Council. "The biological opinion withdrawn today is just one of many examples where the Fish and Wildlife Service would have allowed an important fish population to go extinct. It is the Service's job to do something for these imperiled species, not to turn its back on them."

Texaco Penalized for Utah Oil Spills

The settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice includes a $369,922 penalty and two environmental projects totaling $478,700. The environmental projects were recommended by the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency (NNEPA) and the local community.

Texaco is also required to spend about $1.2 million over three years to improve its operational practices at the oil field.

One of the environmental projects under the settlement will construct a potable water extension to provide drinking water and sanitation facilities to a number of local Navajo Nation residents. Other local residents will be served by a water supply station that Texaco will construct as the second environmental project.

Some local residents now drive 50 miles to get drinking water, the NNEPA said.

"Companies not in compliance with environmental regulations not only pollute the environment, but gain an unfair competitive advantage," said Wayne Nastri, the EPA's regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest office. "This settlement levels the playing field, ensures that Texaco will operate its field in an environmentally responsible manner, and also provides clean, accessible drinking water for families who have gone for much too long without."

The EPA claimed that between December 1991 and January 1998 there were about 88 spills at the Aneth oil field that reached tributaries of the San Juan River including Montezuma Creek, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

Texaco also failed to prepare and implement an adequate spill prevention and control plan, and discharged oil and oil and water mixtures without notifying the EPA.

The EPA and NNEPA began investigating the spills in 1995, and the EPA took administrative enforcement in 1996. The EPA sued Texaco in March 1998.

Texaco's oil field is located on lands leased from the Navajo Nation. The oil production fields lay adjacent and north of the San Juan River in southeast Utah. Montezuma Creek, a tributary to the San Juan River, runs through Texaco's oil fields from north to south.

Fire Protection Industry to Reduce Emissions

In partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the groups are initiating a program to monitor emissions of HFCs from the fire protection sector. The program launch was announced at the 13th Annual Earth Technologies Forum in Washington DC.

"HFCs are essential substitutes for ozone depleting halons, especially where space, weight, and speed of extinguishment are important," said Stephen Summerill, vice president for business development of Kidde plc, a major fire equipment manufacturer that led the effort to develop the industry code of practice.

"The fire protection industry is committed to the responsible use of these critical agents and to developing practices that minimize emissions," Summerhill added.

The Fire Equipment Manufacturers' Association (FEMA), Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA), Halon Alternatives Research Corporation (HARC), and National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors (NAFED) worked together with the EPA to develop the voluntary code and will encourage each of their members to follow the emission reduction strategies it contains.

The emission reduction strategies focus on following government regulations and industry standards, limiting use for testing and training, and minimizing emissions from false discharges and during storage, handling and transport.

The halons used for fire protection were phased out of production two years before any other ozone depleting substance, and programs were instituted by the fire protection industry prior to the phaseout to eliminate their use for testing and training.

"The fire protection industry played a leading role in the U.S. transition from ozone depleting chemicals," noted Jeff Cohen, chief of the alternatives and emissions reduction branch of the EPA's global programs division. "They are demonstrating continued leadership by minimizing emissions of those newer substitutes that are greenhouse gases."

The HFC Emissions Estimating Program (HEEP) is a data collection effort intended to estimate emissions of HFCs from fire protection applications. It provides a format to help industry minimize emissions by setting benchmarks, by providing the incentives to make improvements to current standards and practices, by documenting the industry's commitment to safety and responsible use, and by providing data to support these substitutes for halon systems.

Citizens, Green Groups Call for Monument Protection

The conservation groups have sent a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton urging her bar plans to open the monuments up to oil and gas drilling, mining and off road vehicles. The groups, which include the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and the National Wildlife Federation, also delivered more than 30,000 comments from citizens across the country expressing support for protecting national monuments.

"Americans appreciate the value of national monuments as special places for our families and future generations to enjoy, not to strip mine or punch holes in at the behest of oil companies, political supporters and other narrow interests," said Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope.

One year ago, Secretary Norton wrote a letter asking local politicians and Western governors for suggestions on ways to change the management of America's newest national monuments to allow for more development. Norton asked local lawmakers for their views on boundary adjustments, vehicle use, access to private inholdings, rights of way, grazing and water rights, "as well as the wide spectrum of other traditional multiple uses that might be appropriately applied to these lands."

Since then, thousands of Americans have responded told the Interior Department that they favor full protection for all of the new national monuments.

"The wild and rugged landscapes that are our national monuments and the national landscape conservation system define the American west," said William Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society. "Landscapes like Arizona's Grand Canyon-Parashant, Montana's Upper Missouri River Breaks and California's Carrizo Plain National Monuments are part of our history, and we want to ensure that they are part of our future. Secretary Norton must not endanger that future."

Fuel Cell Turbine Power Plant Passes Tests

Linked together in a mini power plant the size of a small house trailer, the world's first combination of a fuel cell and microturbine is being tested at the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the university.

"This new technology has the potential to alter the landscape of tomorrow's power industry," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "It offers a preview of the day when more of our electricity will be generated by super clean, high efficiency power units sited near the consumer. Distributed generation could play a key role in strengthening the security and reliability of our power supply, and fuel cell turbine hybrids could help make distributed power a reality."

Abraham joined Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation and Southern California Edison in announcing that the advanced generator has passed a key site acceptance test, and the major endurance phase of its test program is underway.

The hybrid generator is the latest innovation to emerge from the Energy Department's fossil energy fuel cell program. The system combines a Siemens Westinghouse solid oxide fuel cell with an Ingersoll Rand microturbine.

Solid oxide fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert energy in a fuel cell into electricity, much like a battery. Microturbines are small, high speed gas turbines.

In the California unit, the two technologies combine to produce about 190 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power about 200 homes.

The combination is pushing power efficiencies to unprecedented levels, the research team says. Test data show electrical efficiencies of about 53 percent, believed to be a world record for the operation of any fuel cell system on natural gas.

Improvements in the technology could raise efficiencies to 60 percent for smaller systems and 70 percent or higher for larger systems, the team believes.

"In the power industry, efficiency gains of even a few percentage points can make a major economic difference over the life of a generating system," said Richard Rosenblum, senior vice president for transmission and distribution at Southern California Edison, the system's owner and operator.

Because it operates on an electrochemical process, rather than combustion, the system emits almost none of the air pollutants released by conventional power plants. Its emissions of nitrogen oxide, which can contribute to urban smog, are almost 50 times less than today's average natural gas turbine.

Huge Marine Sanctuary Proposed in Hawaii

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will hold the public meetings to discuss a proposal to create a sanctuary in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem to help protect the region's unique marine environment.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is a chain of smaller islands, atolls, submerged banks and reefs located about 100 nautical miles west of the main Hawaiian Islands.

This is the largest geographic area ever designated for conservation purposes in the United States. It contains 2.7 million acres of coral reef, 14 million nesting seabirds, and 250 fish species, many of which are only found in Hawaiian waters.

The scoping meetings slated for the second and third week of April in Hawaii and Washington DC are part of the designation procedures established by the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. The roundtable format of the meetings is designed to gather comments using small group facilitators and note takers.

Comments will be posted on NOAA's website at: http://hawaiireef.noaa.gov within 48 hours so that participants may be assured that their input is accurately reflected.

"Public input matters a great deal and is the key to determining what a national marine sanctuary will represent in this special Hawaiian ecosystem," said Robert Smith, NOAA's coordinator for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Reserve.

People who are interested in commenting but are unable to attend the scoping meetings may submit written comments via the website, or by mail.

NOAA's Ocean Service manages the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Reserve. The Ocean Service is dedicated to exploring, understanding, conserving and restoring the nation's coasts and oceans.

NOAA's Ocean Service is also charged with balancing environmental protection with economic prosperity, promoting safe navigation, supporting coastal communities, sustaining coastal habitats and mitigating coastal hazards.

The scoping meetings schedule is available at: http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2002/mar02/noaa02034.html

For more information about the National Ocean Service, visit: http://www.nos.noaa.gov

Fish Passage Restored on Alaska's Chatanika River

The Davidson Ditch Diversion Dam, located on the Chatanika River east of Fairbanks, was used to support industrial activity from the mid-1920s until the 1950s.

The dam became inoperable during a 1967 flood and, 12 years later, the federal license was surrendered to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association, working in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and contractor Sandstrom and Sons, Inc. of Anchorage, has removed the dam.

"The Chatanika Dam project is the most ambitious fish passage restoration project yet undertaken in Alaska," said Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Dave Allen.

"It was completed in a collaborative, cost effective manner by a broad public-private partnership for the benefit of the Chatanika's fishery resources and the public that enjoys this accessible river."

Using $109,000 of Congressionally appropriated funds from the Fish and Wildlife Service budget, $35,000 from the BLM and support from NOAA and Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association oversaw the contracted removal of 75 feet of double-wall sheet pile located in the active river channel. The project was completed on January 21.

The dam removal creates new opportunities for recreation on the waterway. Recreational gold panning is popular in the area.

The nearby Poker Flat Rocket Facility, off-limits to the general public, is the only university owned rocket range in the world. It is operated by the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute.