• Fires Rage Across Southern States
  
• Mad Cow Testing Worth $70 Million Authorized
  
• South Carolina's Santee Cooper Settles Clean Air Case
  
• Doctors, Nurses, Labor, Faith Groups Slam EPA Mercury Plan
  
• Sustainable Enterprise Summit Highlights Corporate Solutions
  
• Public Support Strong for New Jersey Highlands Preservation
  
• Horses Slaughtered in America for European Tables
  
• Montana Landowner Loses Wilderness Development Bid
  

Fires Rage Across Southern States

Mad Cow Testing Worth $70 Million Authorized

“The objective for the new surveillance program is to obtain increased samples from the targeted high-risk adult cattle population and obtain a small random sample of apparently normal aged animals. This intensive effort will allow USDA to more accurately estimate the possible prevalence of BSE in the U.S. cattle population, Veneman told reporters Monday.

Until this announcement, Veneman said the USDA would not increase its proposed testing program from the 40,000 animals per year covered by the Bush administration's fiscal year 2005 budget request to Congress.

But an international expert panel appointed by Veneman recommended increased testing, so the administration has found the funds for it, Veneman said.

“To pay for this system we will transfer approximately $70 million from the Commodity Credit Corporation," she said. The federal government will work with state and university diagnostic laboratories to collect and analyze tests. Suspect test results will be sent to USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa for confirmation.

BSE testing can only be conducted on the tissues of dead animals; there is no live animal test for the disease.

The primary motivation for the wider testing program is to restart the flow of American beef exports to the more than 40 countries that imposed a ban on beef to keep their food supplies BSE free.

Veneman said she hopes the test plan will help U.S. trading partners understand that the United States is "strongly committed to preventing the occurrence and spread of BSE."

But Japanese officials said they will keep their borders closed to U.S. beef. Japanense Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying the USDA's proposal does not go far enough to warrant lifting the trade barrier.

Japan says it still wants the United States to test all of the 35 million head of cattle it slaughters each year before agreeing to restart beef shipments. Japan tests every one of the cattle it turns into meat, about 500,000 animals per year.

Under the U.S. enhanced testing plan, the government hopes to test as many cows as possible for BSE during the 12 to 18 months after June 1, according to Ron DeHaven, USDA's chief veterinarian.

DeHaven said tests will be geographically dispersed around the United States and proportional to the number of cows in each state. Samples will be collected from farms, slaughterhouses, rendering plants, veterinary clinics and livestock auction houses, he said.

Although USDA has set no specific goal for the number of tests to be conducted, DeHaven said that if 268,000 tests were conducted, the department would have a 99 percent confidence level in determining whether the United States has a BSE problem and, if so, with what prevalence.

The "intensive" surveillance program will cover all high-risk animals, which are those that are non-ambulatory, have a nervous disorder or exhibit signs of a disease, as well as those that die of unexplained causes. The program also will include random testing of cows considered normal, he said.

Following the 12-18 month testing period, USDA will review the results of the program and decide on plans for future testing, DeHaven said.

South Carolina's Santee Cooper Settles Clean Air Case

The settlement resolves the federal government’s claims that Santee Cooper violated the Clean Air Act New Source Review program at several of its plants by undertaking construction activities and increasing emissions of air pollution without installing required pollution controls.

The New Source Review (NSR) section of the Clean Air Act requires that when power companies install equipment to increase generating capacity - providing a new source of power - they must obtain permits based on an environmental review, or they must use the best available control technology to limit their emissions.

The settlement is expected to eliminate almost 70,000 tons of harmful air pollutants annually from four of Santee Cooper’s coal fired generating plants in South Carolina.

The agreement requires Santee Cooper to install state-of-the-art controls on more than 83 percent of its existing total coal fired megawatt generating capacity.

“This settlement, which resolves an ongoing investigation by our agency, will ensure that South Carolina’s good air quality will be even better,” said Earl Hunter, commissioner of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Representatives of the two federal agencies praised Santee Cooper for taking responsibility for limiting its emissions by settling the lawsuit against it.

In addition to requiring Santee Cooper to reduce 37,500 tons per year of SO2 and 29,500 tons per year of NOx from its existing coal-fired units, the settlement requires Santee Cooper to improve its control of particulate matter (PM).

Santee Cooper is a quasi-public South Carolina utility that operates four coal fired power plants, a hydro plant, a nuclear plant, and several natural gas plants.

The proposed settlement encompasses Santee Cooper’s 10 existing units at the coal fired power plants and two proposed coal fired units. The existing units emitted more than 130,000 tons of SO2 and NOx in 2002.

Sulfur dioxide and NOx are significant contributors to acid rain; NOx also increases low-level ozone, which causes smog; fine PM causes haze. All these pollutants cause severe respiratory problems and exacerbate cases of childhood asthma.

The company will also pay a $2 million civil penalty, $700,000 of which will go to the State of South Carolina, and will spend at least $4.5 million to finance projects that are environmentally beneficial.

The company will spend $1.25 million for a South Carolina land conservation project, $1 million for an energy efficient technologies project, $1 million for a demand side management project, $1 million for a clean diesel school bus project, and $250,000 to implement an environmental management system.

Each year coal fired power plants account for nearly 70 percent of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and 30 percent of nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions nationwide.

The settlement was lodged today for a 30-day public comment period in the U. S. District Court for South Carolina.

Doctors, Nurses, Labor, Faith Groups Slam EPA Mercury Plan

The Washington news conference coincided with local news events in at least eight cities across the country, as part of a formal kickoff to nationwide opposition to the EPA's mercury proposal. Coalition member organizations include the American Nurses Association, the National Council of Churches, and the Service Employees International Union.

Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner, who served in the Clinton administration, joined the coalition in criticizing the proposed mercury rule. "The public has a right to know about the health impacts of EPA's pollution proposals. There is increasing evidence that EPA failed to honor this right when it proposed the mercury rule," said Browner.

Browner and the coalition called for the EPA's mercury rule to be withdrawn until a full analysis of all the mercury reduction alternatives is completed and made public. "The public deserves a mercury rule that fully protects children's health," Browner said.

The EPA's proposed Utility Mercury Reductions Rule would permanently cap mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants as part of a wider cap-and-trade plan to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and mercury from utilities.

Under the cap-and-trade approach proposed in its December 15, 2003, rule, the EPA would allocate to each state specified amounts of emission allowances for mercury, which essentially caps mercury emissions. The states would allocate those allowances to utilities.

A utility must hold sufficient allowances to cover its emissions each year, so the limited number of allowances is intended to ensure that the required reductions are achieved. Utilities may sell or bank their excess emission allowances, providing them with an incentive to reduce mercury emissions.

The mandatory emissions caps, coupled with significant automatic penalties for noncompliance, would ensure that human health and environmental goals would be achieved and sustained, the EPA states.

In addition, part of the proposed rule requires utilities to install maximum achievable control technologies under the Clean Air Act. If implemented, this alternative would reduce nationwide emissions of mercury by 14 tons, 29 percent, by the end of 2007, from 48 tons to 34 tons annually, according to the EPA.

See the EPA's proposal, learn about public hearings and submit comments online at: http://www.epa.gov/mercury/actions.htm. Public comments are due by April 30.

But the coalition says that just implementing the Clean Air Act would drop mercury emissions 90 percent by 2008, while the EPA's proposal would delay reductions of mercury emissions from power plants for 15 years or longer.

"The shocking negligence of EPA's mercury rule is why organizations representing millions of Americans are coming out against the rule today," said Susan West Marmagas, M.P.H., director of environmental and health programs with Physicians for Social Responsibility.

"Studies show that more than 60,000 children a year may suffer from learning disabilities caused by mercury exposures before birth. This is a travesty that can be prevented with proper action by our government. We must make our children's health a priority," said Barbara Blakeney, president of theAmerican Nurses Association.

"EPA should drop its proposed rule, and instead, comply with the Clean Air Act by requiring a 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions by 2008," Marmagas said.

Marmagas was appointed by the Bush administration to serve on the EPA's Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee. In January 2004, the committee sent a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt stating that the proposal "does not sufficiently protect our nation's children," and urged Leavitt to strengthen it.

Despite this unprecedented opposition by its own advisors, EPA last week sent the committee a letter indicating that the cap-and-trade proposal will move forward.

According to EPA's 1999 National Emissions Inventory, coal fired electric power plants are the largest source of human caused mercury air emissions in the United States, accounting for about 40 percent of the total. Other large sources are industrial boilers, about 10 percent, the burning of hazardous waste about five percent, and chlorine production, about five percent.

The Natural Resources Defense Council website now offers detailed state maps indicating major sources of mercury pollution and specific state fish consumption advisories due to mercury contamination. Find it online at: http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/states.asp

Sustainable Enterprise Summit Highlights Corporate Solutions

There will be panels on serving the needs of the poor, providing healthy food to deal with malnutrition and obesity, responding to water scarcity, harvesting natural resources in sustainable ways, integrating carbon value into strategic business decisions, and overcoming barriers to renewable energy.

“In a rapidly globalizing economy, businesses that wish to survive and thrive must respond to major social and environmental trends that are reshaping markets,” said Elizabeth Cook, director of WRI’s Sustainable Enterprise Program.

“The successful enterprises of the future will align their growth strategies with providing solutions to society’s most pressing problems,” she said.

The keynote address will be given by Citigroup Executive Vice President Finance, Operations & Strategy, and Chief Financial Officer, Todd Thomson, who is also a member of the World Resources Institute (WRI) Board of Directors.

The keynote address will be preceded by a plenary session on the role of financial markets in supporting sustainable enterprise. It will feature James Harmon, chairman, Harmon and Co.; Barbara Krumsiek, president, Calvert Group, Ltd.; Preston Miller, partner, Tremont Group; and WRI president Jonathan Lash.

Other speakers include representatives of some of the world's largest corporations - Sam Smolik, vice president for environmental health of The Dow Chemical Company; Madeleine Jacobs, senior vice president of ABN AMRO; Claire Broido, chief operation officer of SunEdison LLC; Mario Rodenstein, senior coordinator of nutritional programs, Unilever Bestfoods; and Vince Van Son, manager of environmental finance and development, Alcoa Inc., a company that this month issued its first sustainability report.

Public Support Strong for New Jersey Highlands Preservation

The task force recommends that a Preservation Area be identified in the Highlands to protect a core area of the most sensitive land, which the Legislature should then officially designate by statute. Scientific data indicates the area covers between 350,000 and 390,000 acres.

The Legislature should authorize and direct the state Department of Environmental Protection to develop regulatory standards and limits for land and natural resource uses, including impervious cover, steep slopes, wastewater treatment extensions, water allocations and buffers on freshwater wetlands, the task force said.

And the governor should create a Highlands drinking water protection and regional planning council, which would be comprised of elected local and county officials and citizens and develop a regional master plan for the entire Highlands region that preserves natural resources and enhances sustainable growth and quality of life in the area.

The Council would have independent, mandatory authorities for planning, zoning and enforcement in the Preservation Area, with advisory authorities outside the designated core area.

"The Task Force has hit a home run in protecting the critical land that provides clean and plentiful water to half the state's residents,” said McGreevey. “The recommendations break the decade long logjam to move forward a comprehensive bold protection plan that is reasonable and is tailored to the Highlands."

The New Jersey Highlands extends from Phillipsburg in the South to Ringwood in the North and lies within portions of seven counties - Hunterdon, Somerset, Sussex, Warren, Morris, Passaic and Bergen - and 90 municipalities.

The Task Force’s recommendations reflect its analysis of technical reports by Rutgers University, the U.S. Forest Service, state agencies and public input.

The Task Force sought public input by soliciting comments from the website www.savethehighlands.org, conducting a Save the Highlands public opinion survey, and taking comments at hearings in Morristown and Mahwah from the general public and planning representatives from Highlands counties and municipalities.

The results of the Save the Highlands survey demonstrate the public’s overwhelming support for regional planning for the preservation of the Highlands. Ninety-five percent of respondents answered “yes” when asked if the state should pass legislation to require regional planning in the Highlands.

“The public has told us that this is what they want,” said Task Force member and Morris County Freeholder Director Jack Schrier. “As one of their elected representatives, I trust it is what they will get. Our recommendations, when implemented, will have powerful, lasting, and vitally needed benefits for all New Jerseyans.”

McGreevey said that saving the Highlands has become a bipartisan effort. “I am particularly proud to have the bi-partisan support, including Freeholder Directors from Morris and Somerset Counties, to push forward this important endeavor. I am committed to making the Task Force's recommendations a reality."

The Highlands Task Force Action Plan is online at: http://www.savethehighlands.org.

Horses Slaughtered in America for European Tables

"Americans don't raise horses for food and we don't eat them," she said in support of the National Horse Protection Coalition's campaign of support for the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 857), a bill currently before the House of Representatives that would ban the practice.

Derek told legislators and government workers, "Tens of thousands of horses are cruelly slaughtered in this country every year, just so someone in Europe can have a fancy dinner. It's just plain wrong."

Derek, a horsewoman who keeps five Iberians at her home in California, traveled to Washington to meet and discuss the issue with legislators.

More than 49,000 horses were slaughtered in the United States last year at two foreign owned slaughterhouses and those horses became dinner in Europe and Asia - a 16 percent increase on the previous year's figure, according to the National Horse Protection Coalition. Tens of thousands more of America's horses were exported and slaughtered abroad.

Derek is not alone in wanting to end horse slaughter. A May 2003 survey of Texas voters commissioned by Blue Horse Charities and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. It found that an overwhelming majority (89%) of those polled are unaware that horses are being slaughtered in the state for human consumption.

A substantial majority (72%) are opposed to the slaughter of horses for human consumption. A greater majority (77%) are opposed to changing Texas law to permit the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

Recent public opinion polls from Kentucky and Utah respectively show that 82 percent and 69 percent of those questioned oppose the practice.

Derek is working on the horse protection issue with trainer Nick Zito, who trained Kentucky Derby winners in 1991 and 1994. Spokesman for the National Horse Protection Coalition, Zito said, "We are thrilled that Bo has joined us and countless other horse lovers in calling for an end to the slaughter of America's horses for human consumption in Asia and Europe."

The National Horse Protection Coalition was established in 2003 to ensure swift passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 857).

Introduced by Congressman John Sweeney, a New York Republican who is co-chair of the Congressional Horse Caucus, and Congressman John Spratt, a South Carolina Democrat, the bill has more than 180 cosponsors in the House of Representatives.

It is supported by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Churchill Downs Incorporated, the Society for Animal Protective Legislation, the Doris Day Animal League, The Humane Society of the United States, and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. A companion Senate bill is expected shortly.

Montana Landowner Loses Wilderness Development Bid

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Friday agreed with a lower court ruling that found existing trail and helicopter access was adequate to permit Livingston, Montana resident James Sievers to use his property while preserving “the pristine and primitive nature of the wilderness.”

The court ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed in December 2000 by the Absaroka Trust, which was established by Sievers to advance his interests.

The trust sought to overturn a decision by the U.S. Forest Service denying its request to build a 20 foot wide gravel road 8.6 miles long through the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area to access a 120 acre private inholding consisting of former mining claims.

The trust sought the proposed road to log and mine the inholding and to construct and operate a hunting and fishing lodge. In its lawsuit, the trust asked the court to order the Forest Service to permit road construction and to require the taxpayers to pay all construction costs.

The district court’s ruling rejected that request, finding that existing non-motorized access to the property was adequate under federal law. The appeals court agreed with the district court’s ruling.

“This ruling protects one of our nation’s most outstanding wilderness areas from a misguided road proposal. It represents a victory for the entire wilderness system,” said Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso, who represented The Wilderness Society, Montana Wilderness Association, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Park County Environmental Council and Wilderness Watch in opposing the landowner’s lawsuit.

Several of the conservation groups that opposed the landowner’s lawsuit played critical roles in the campaign to obtain federal wilderness protection for the Absaroka and Beartooth Mountain ranges in the 1970s.

“The law does not require destruction of the public’s wilderness every time somebody buys property within a wilderness area and wants to drive to it,” said Preso.

The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, which adjoins the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park, is a 943,600 acre expanse of alpine lakes, tundra, steep canyons, and dense forests. Elk, moose, and grizzly bears range the wilderness, and its 700 miles of trails can be used for hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, and hunting.