• EPA Brokers Phase Out of Some Flame Retardants
  
• No New Restrictions for Atrazine
  
• Controversial Ozone Amendment Kept in Energy Bill
  
• Sewage Plant Proposal Relaxes Wastewater Treatment Rules
  
• Enviros Aim to Close California Longline Fishery
  
• Conservationists Sue to Protect Flat Tailed Horned Lizard
  
• Emerging Life May Have Stabilized Earth's Climate
  
• New Clues to Ancient Extinctions
  

EPA Brokers Phase Out of Some Flame Retardants

The chemicals in question are members of a group of chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are added to plastics, electronics, textiles, and construction materials as components of a common fire retardant.

The agency announced today Great Lakes Chemical Corporation of West Lafayette, Indiana has agreed to end the manufacture and sale of penta and octa PBDE.

Penta is primarily used in furniture foam and octa in plastics for personal computers and small appliances.

Great Lakes Chemical is the only U.S. manufacturer of penta and one of a small number of octa manufacturers. The EPA says it will work with the other U.S. manufacturers of octa to seek their support for a complete phase out.

"This is a responsible action that is likely to result in reduced amounts of these chemicals in the environment," said Stephen Johnson, EPA's acting deputy administrator.

Recent research indicates that the chemicals - developed in the 1960s - could cause neurological and development disorders in children.

PBDEs accumulate in the body, much like mercury, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls and a recent study found that North American women with the highest level of PBDEs ever recorded.

How the chemicals get into the environment is still uncertain, but PBDEs are being found worldwide in house dust, indoor and outdoor air as well as in the water and sediments of rivers, estuaries and oceans.

Both penta and octa will be banned in the European Union starting next year. In August, California passed a law to phase out the two chemicals by 2008.

Environmentalists hailed the news, but cautioned that the agency has yet to act on a third form of the chemical also used to protect electronics - deca PBDE.

No New Restrictions for Atrazine

EPA officials said they did not find "any studies that would lead the agency to conclude that potential cancer risk is likely from exposure to atrazine."

Environmentalists are furious with the decision, which they contend will continue to expose Americans to a dangerous and unnecessary chemical.

"The Bush administration's decision to leave this toxic weed killer on the market despite widespread contamination of drinking water and streams across the country is political not scientific," said Erik Olson, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In the United States, 60 million to 70 million pounds of atrazine are applied annually to fields, golf courses and lawns, and EPA has found widespread atrazine contamination in U.S. waterways.

The most recent data indicate that more than 1 million Americans drink from water supplies contaminated with atrazine at potentially harmful levels.

Studies of people exposed to atrazine indicate that the chemical may be linked to a number of cancers, including prostate cancer and non Hodgkin's lymphoma. Animal lab studies also have linked it to certain cancers and hormonal problems that could disrupt reproductive and developmental processes.

The EPA made its announcement - called an "interim reregistration eligibility decision" (IRED) - as part of a court approved consent decree that it reached with the NRDC in 2001.

The agency says it is requiring atrazine manufacturers to monitor residue levels in 40 indicator watersheds that are representative of watersheds that may be vulnerable to contamination where atrazine is regularly used.

In addition, manufacturers will do further studies on the health impacts on atrazine, in particular to amphibians.

Recent studies show that atrazine seriously disrupts frogs' hormone systems and ability to reproduce.

Environmentalists believe the agency has abdicated its responsibility to protect human health and note that the EPA is not requiring manufacturers to monitor 96 percent of watersheds at highest risk from atrazine.

"The devil is in the details, and we expect to find a lot of demons in this decision," said Jennifer Sass, an NRDC senior scientist. "There is mounting scientific evidence that atrazine poses a threat, but EPA is acting more like the Polluter Protection Agency than the Environmental Protection Agency."

The EPA's announcement decision comes on the heels of a decision by the European Union to ban atrazine over the next 18 months.

Controversial Ozone Amendment Kept in Energy Bill

The motion failed by a vote of 182 to 232 on Thursday.

The language would amend the Clean Air Act to allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to extend cleanup deadlines for large metropolitan areas with serious ozone pollution, a key ingredient in smog.

Inserted into the final bill by Texas Republican Representative Joe Barton, the provision seeks to make law a Clinton administration policy that granted downwind cities additional time to these deadlines.

The policy exempts a provision of the Clean Air Act that calls on cities who miss clean up deadlines to be reclassified as the next higher category of nonattainment and then be held to those stricter pollution standards.

Based on the Clinton administration policy, the EPA has approved attainment date extensions for seven areas: Beaumont-Port Arthur and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; Atlanta, Georgia; Washington, DC; Hartford, Connecticut; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Five of these exemptions have been challenged in federal court by environmentalists and found to be illegal.

Barton says the law should be amended so that courts will not reject the exemptions. The Texas Republican contends the "bump up" provision is unfair and imposes economic burdens on metropolitan areas for pollution that "is beyond their ability to control."

"We have criticized the Clinton administration on this side many times for its action," said Louisiana Republican Representative Billy Tauzin, cochair of the joint energy bill conference committee. " In this case they were right."

"This is not about changing the goal post at all," Barton added. "The same standard is in effect."

Critics say the Barton amendment comes at the request of industry groups and needlessly undermines public health and environmental protections.

"The Clean Air Act should not, in my opinion, be amended in secret meetings of the energy bill conference committee," said Representative Tom Allen, a Maine Democrat.

The provision is not about "jobs versus clean air," said Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat, who sponsored the motion to instruct conferees to reject the provision. "This is about a small set of areas seeking to avoid their responsibility under the Clean Air Act, thereby gaining a competitive advantage over other industries in other areas that have complied."

Johnson says the argument that "ozone transport jeopardizes attainment for smoggy cities is false.

"To further delay necessary emissions reductions in ozone nonattainment areas is unacceptable and a betrayal of the public's trust," Johnson said.

Sewage Plant Proposal Relaxes Wastewater Treatment Rules

The draft guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) focuses on the practice of blending, which occurs when large volumes of wastewater, caused by heavy rainfall or snowmelt, exceed the capacity of secondary treatment units at a sewage treatment facility.

At most sewage treatment plants, incoming wastewater is treated by the primary units, which separate and remove solids, and then sent to secondary - biological - treatment units where the remaining solids are broken down and most of the pathogenic organisms and other pollutants are removed.

The wastewater is then disinfected before it is discharged into waterways.

But during heavy storms the capacity of the secondary treatment units is often exceeded at many plants and the excess is diverted around these units, then later recombined or blended with the wastewater that has been treated by the secondary units.

These blended flows are disinfected and discharged - the practice is allowed under the Clean Water Act only when there is no feasible alternative.

Under the proposal released today, blending would be permitted regardless of this language. EPA officials note that the blended waste must still meet discharge standards, but environmentalists say those standards do not cover viruses or parasites.

"The EPA had a clear choice, either continue to require treatment plants to clean up sewage, or allow them to dump it virtually untreated into our drinking water supplies," said Nancy Stoner, director of Natural Resources Defense Council's Clean Water Project. "It made the wrong choice. More Americans would get sick from waterborne illnesses because of this indefensible - and illegal - policy change."

Upgrading sewage treatment plants to handle peak flows would cost billions of dollars, say industry officials, who call blending a "longstanding, sensible practice."

The agency will accept comments on the proposal through January 9, 2004.

Enviros Aim to Close California Longline Fishery

The practice is driving Pacific leatherback sea turtles " to the brink of extinction," said Brendan Cummings, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the motion along with the Turtle Island Restoration Network.

In August, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to analyze the impacts on endangered sea turtles and sea birds of the California based longline fishery for swordfish.

The organizations, represented by the non profit environmental law firm Earthjustice, have requested a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction from the United States District Court, Northern District of California.

If the motion is successful, it will halt all California based longline fishing activity while the NOAA Fisheries makes a final determination on the environmental impact of the practice.

The California longline fleet, based largely out of San Pedro, fishes primarily for swordfish using nearly invisible lines up to 60 miles long and carrying thousands of baited hooks.

In addition to the fish they target, these longlines are known to ensnare the critically endangered leatherback turtle, as well as other sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals and sharks.

The California fleet has grown rapidly over the past four years, after litigation by Turtle Island Restoration Network shut down the Hawaii based longline fishery for swordfish in November 1999.

Some three dozen longline vessels relocated from Hawaii to southern California.

"These fishermen are acting like pirates," said Todd Steiner of Turtle Island Restoration Network. "Rather than figuring out a more sustainable way of fishing, they make us chase them through the courts to close the loopholes."

Scientific data show that the leatherback sea turtle is in imminent danger of extinction in the Pacific. A scientific report published in June 2000 in the journal "Nature" predicts the species will go extinct in 10 to 30 years without reductions in adult mortality from fishing activities.

Conservationists Sue to Protect Flat Tailed Horned Lizard

The species inhabits portions of the Sonoran Desert in southern California, Arizona and northwestern Mexico. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the species as "threatened" under the ESA in 1993, but withdrew its proposal in 1997 - a decision challenged in court by conservationists.

An October 2001 ruling in court ordered the agency to reinstate the 1993 proposed rule and to make a new final listing determination for the species.

But in January 2003, the agency again withdrew that rule. Administration officials, who have criticized the working of the ESA, said that voluntary conservation agreements will protect and recover the species.

The main cause for the decline of the flat-tailed horned lizard is conversion of habitat to urban sprawl and agriculture - threats include crops, cities, off road vehicles, geothermal leases, border patrol activities, gravel pits and highways.

In its decision announced in January, the Fish and Wildlife Service said that "available data concerning population abundance, trends, and threats do not indicate that because of this habitat loss and degradation the species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range."

The plaintiffs disagree and say the Bush administration is determined to undermine the ESA by not listing species or designating critical habitat.

"Once again, this Interior Department refuses to follow the law and protect wildlife, even in the face of a federal court appellate decision rejecting the current rationale not to list," said Cynthia Wilkerson, California Species Associate with Defenders of Wildlife, one of the organizations filing suit. "The Bush administration must be held accountable to avoid the loss of this lizard species and the continued degradation of California's last wild places."

Emerging Life May Have Stabilized Earth's Climate

In a paper published on Friday in the journal "Science," researchers suggest early life helped temper the harshness of some ancient ice ages, resulting in today's moderate climate.

"The catastrophic ice ages that characterized Earth's early record and challenged animal evolution were seemingly brought under control by the animals themselves" said study coauthor Martin Kennedy, an associate professor of sedimentary geology and geochemistry at the University of California at Riverside. "Ultimately we owe our comparatively moderate climate to the production of calcium carbonate skeletons and shells."

Kennedy and his colleagues used a computer model to assess the differences in how carbon is cycled between the atmosphere, ocean, and sedimentary rocks between modern and Precambrian times.

The results suggest that the microscopic marine plants and animals that make protective shells and skeletons out of the mineral calcium carbonate - the material that forms chalk and limestone rocks - are critical.

The researchers say the presence of carbonate secreting organisms in the oceans help regulate the aquatic chemistry, which ultimately controls the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The production of useful calcium carbonate structures like shells and skeletons would have originally been driven by a need for protection and to provide body support for the animals to grow larger, the researchers explain, but this evolutionary innovation also had a profound effect on moderating climate.

The researchers concluded that the consequential improvement in the regulation of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is why the Earth has not 'snowballed' at any point in the last 600 million years.

Such organisms, however, are almost unknown until after the end of the geological ages known as the Precambrian, which lasted until 544 million years ago.

Ancient rocks from the end of the Precambrian age indicate that glaciers were eroding the landscape and depositing layers of crushed rock debris thousands of meters thick.

Although the Earth has experienced numerous cold periods since then, with glaciers leaving their telltale marks each time, these Precambrian rocks are special because some of them appear to have been deposited in tropical latitudes.

If the land was frozen near to the equator then most of the surface of the planet must have been covered in ice and conditions would have been extremely inhospitable to evolving life.

Wine and Global Warming

A study of the world's top 27 wine regions' temperatures and wine quality over the past 50 years reveals that rising temperatures have impacted vintage quality. And climate modeling for these same wine regions predicts a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius that is likely to make cool growing regions better producers of some grape varieties, and already warm wine regions less hospitable.

Gregory Jones, a Southern Oregon University professor, presented the results of the study today at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting, which is being held in Seattle.

Jones and his colleagues used records of Sotheby's 100 point vintage rating scale data - where wines scoring over 90 are "excellent to superb" and under 40 are "disastrous" - along with climate records dating back to 1950 to look for trends in wine quality or growing season temperatures.

They found an average temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius rise over the past 50 years and higher vintage ratings.

"There were no negative impacts," Jones said of the apparent temperature rise in the world's most renowned wine producing regions.

Included in the study were five southern hemisphere wine regions, including three in Australia, one in South Africa and one in Chile.

Based on the modeling, the same top wine-growing regions can expect another 2 degrees Celsius over the next 50 years

Warmer temperatures could mean that cool growing regions should ripen fruit more consistently and should experience less year to year wine quality variability.

In addition, already warm wine growing regions could experience challenges in terms of overripe fruit, added water stress, and increases in diseases and pests.

While it is clear that improvements in grape growing and wine making technology have produced better wines, climate will always be the wild card in determining year to year variations in quality, said Jones.

"If the climate is more conducive in general or less variable, then higher quality should be easier to obtain," he said.

Jones added that because wine grapes are grown in temperate climates and wines are almost obsessively tasted and rated for quality, wine grapes are a particularly good indicator of changes that are probably effecting other crops in the same areas.

Along with the climate and grape growing changes, there are also bound to be some big shifts in thinking for people of the wine growing regions, Jones said.

"There is a huge historical and cultural identity associated with wine producing regions," he said.