• Bush Official Explains Climate Change Policy
  
• EPA Water Administrator Resigns
  
• Watchdog Group Blasts Massachusetts Pollution Enforcement
  
• Enviros Praise Schwarzenegger Resources Agency Nominee
  
• Lead Warning for Plants Grown in Chicago Gardens
  
• Soil Carbon Sequestration Tied to Roots
  
• Nuclear Fuel Produces Poorly Understood Minerals
  
• Study Warns of Health Risks From Diesel School Buses
  

Bush Official Explains Climate Change Policy

Speaking to the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, Dobriansky said the Bush administration is taking steps to "both to better understand the problem, and to put into place an approach that is measured, cost effective and sustainable."

But the White House does not share the belief of many of the world's scientists that global warming is largely the result of manmade greenhouse gas emissions, Dobriansky explained.

"The extent to which the man made portion of greenhouse gases is causing temperatures to rise is still unknown, as are the long term effects of this trend," Dobriansky said. "Predicting what will happen fifty or one hundred years in the future is difficult.

She defended the Bush administration's decision to withdraw U.S. support for the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 international accord to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The move has caused friction with Europe, which supports the treaty and has little time for White House lectures on the uncertainty of global warming.

Dobriansky says the Kyoto Protocol would have harmed the U.S. economy and calls the administration's approach "more realistic and effective."

The Bush policy rests on improved science and understanding of climate change, according to Dobriansky, and is "an approach that views economic growth as part of the solution, not part of the problem."

She hailed the administration's hydrogen initiative, its expanded research into carbon sequestration and clean coal technologies and its summit on a new Earth observation system as integral parts of its climate change policy.

"There is a misperception held by some that things will only get worse over time: more pollution, more climate change, more disease, more famine, and this list goes on," Dobriansky said. "What this fails to appreciate is the ability of technological breakthroughs to solve our environmental problems or render them moot - as recent history amply demonstrates."

She cited the a 1972 report that predicted supplies of precious metals - such as gold, silver, mercury and zinc - would be exhausted by the 1990.

"Now before you rush out and start hoarding zinc, you can rest easy knowing that we did not run out, nor will we in the next several hundred years," Dobriansky said. "Technology consistently makes it easier to locate and extract resources or utilize substitutes - the solution was not rationing, but scientific breakthrough."

Critics have less faith in technology and say the problem of global warming calls for immediate action, including mandatory emissions cuts. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose some 14 percent from 1990 to 2000.

EPA Water Administrator Resigns

Mehan expressed "sincere gratitude and appreciation to the President for the honor of serving my country, and the administration, in the protection of the waters of the Unite States and the people who depend upon them. With the President's support."

He cited the contribution of the Office of Water under his leadership, including the creation of a water security program, the distribution of $80 million in grants for vulnerability assessments and the launch of a new water quality trading policy.

"We are also well on the way to developing a national-scale ambient water monitoring program which, while it will take time, it will allow the National Water Program to thrive in the next 30 years since the passage of the Clean Water Act," said Mehan, who was selected by former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman to head the agency's Office of Water.

The agency offered no comment from the new administrator - former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt - on Mehan's decision.

But Jim Lyon, the senior director of congressional and federal affairs with the National Wildlife Federation, expressed hope that Mehan's resignation "does not signal an end to voices of moderation" at the agency under Leavitt.

"Assistant Administrator Mehan's integrity and extensive background on water issues enabled him to masterfully moderate an all too frequently politically driven policy process at the Environmental Protection Agency," said Lyon. "We hope that his departure is not an indication that science is once again taking a back seat to partisan politics at the beleaguered agency."

Watchdog Group Blasts Massachusetts Pollution Enforcement

The survey, released today by New England Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), finds that moving the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Northeastern Regional Office to Boston has dramatically reduced anti pollution enforcement, disrupted agency operations and destroyed staff morale.

In June, the Romney administration closed the DEP Northeastern Regional Office (NERO) located in Wilmington, Massachusetts and moved the entire office to Boston.

Officials said the move was made to cut costs and increase efficiency, but critics say it put agency inspectors, engineers and other environmental specialists miles and potentially hours in traffic away from the industries that they are regulating.

The survey released by New England PEER was sent to all NERO employees in mid-October.

Of the 148 surveys mailed, some 40 percent - 57 - were returned.

New England PEER says that some 95 percent of respondents say that the move has hindered the agency from fulfilling its "environmental mission."

More than nine out of ten say that morale is now poor or extremely poor. Nearly all respondents - 98 percent - dispute agency management claims that NERO employees like the move.

In addition, more than four out of five employees doubt that "DEP senior management is trying to correct morale problems."

Eight nine percent say it weakened environmental enforcement and 88 percent agree it hampered DEP effectiveness. And 93 percent report fewer unscheduled inspections, with 83 percent saying the decreased anti-pollution presence in affected communities.

"Having a regional office is instrumental to the success of DEP from not only an enforcement perspective but also a public outreach perspective," one employee told New England PEER.

"When we were located in the region - one could do an inspection in the am and then return to the office," said another respondent. "Presently an inspection will book entire days out of the office."

The New England PEER survey on the NERO move comes amid plans by state officials to explore closing and moving the Southeastern Regional Office to Boston.

"According to those who should know, the people of Northeastern Massachusetts are less protected from pollution today because the cop on the beat has been moved to Boston," said New England PEER Director Kyla Bennett who worked with DEP employees to develop the survey questionnaire. "Centralizing the regional staff in Boston may be dramatically decreasing the Commonwealth's ability to respond to urgent environmental problems, provide an enforcement presence and work with businesses trying to comply with complex environmental regulations."

Enviros Praise Schwarzenegger Resources Agency Nominee

Schwarzenegger nominated Mike Chrisman, a California ranch owner, electric utility executive and member of the California Fish and Game Commission, for the post.

If confirmed by the state legislature, Chrisman will oversee a 15,000 employee agency with a budget of more than $5 billion. The Resources Agency is responsible for the management of California's natural and cultural heritage and has jurisdiction over the California Departments of Parks, Forestry, Water Resources, Conservation and Fish and Game, as does the California Energy Commission and CALFED Bay-Delta Authority, an environmental and water management agency.

"Michael's vast experience and high level of expertise in environmental resource management and environmental issues is invaluable to my Administration," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "I look forward to working with such a well qualified individual on issues as important as the use of the vast resources of this state."

That sentiment was echoed by California environmentalists, including Warner Chabot, vice president of regional offices for The Ocean Conservancy.

"Mike Chrisman is smart, honest and fair to all interests on California resource issues," Chabot said.

Chabot says Chrisman played an important role in improving California's fisheries by supporting the implementation of the Marine Life Management Act and acted to protect sea otters and other threatened marine wildlife by voting to stop destructive fishing practices and regulating transgenic fish species.

Chrisman, who owns a family ranching and farming operation in Tulare County, California, has served as the region manager for Southern California Edison since 1996. He was appointed to the Fish and Game Commission on March 4, 1997 by then California Governor Pete Wilson. He was reappointed to a full six year term on January 26, 1998.

From 1994 to 1996 Chrisman served as Undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture; prior to that, from 1991 to 1994, he as the Deputy Secretary for Operations/Legislation in The Resources Agency.

He serves on the California Conservation Council of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the boards of directors of the Great Valley Center, Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks Foundation, and Self Help Enterprises.

Chrisman is affiliated with the following organizations: The Nature Conservancy, California Waterfowl Association, Ducks Unlimited, and the California Farm Bureau Federation.

"It is an honor to be asked to serve in Governor Schwarzenegger's administration," he said. "I am eager to use my experience in resource management, environmental policy and agriculture to serve the people of California."

Mike Chrisman has "earned our respect," said Kate Wing, an ocean policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "He believes the key ingredients to natural resources management are strong science, public participation and consideration for differing points of view. If he brings these qualities to the Resources Agency, then Californians can be optimistic about the future of our parks, forests, water and wildlife."

Lead Warning for Plants Grown in Chicago Gardens

Chicago has one of the highest rates of lead poisoning in the United States - the research team tested a variety of plants cultivated in Chicago residential gardens rich with lead contaminated soil.

Much of the soil's lead contamination comes from deteriorated paint, past use of lead containing gasoline and industrial air pollution. Lead in soil does not biodegrade or decay.

The researchers harvested fruiting plants, leafy greens, herbs and root vegetables from 17 gardens, washed and dried the plants, and then separated root, shoot and fruit before analyzing them for lead content.

While the majority of the lead was concentrated in the roots, some lead was detected in shoots, which is often the portion of the plant that people eat.

The study reports that leafy vegetables and herbs were highly likely to also be contaminated with lead.

The lead concentration in the fruit of other plants, such as strawberries and tomatoes, was not found to be hazardous.

Root vegetables, such as carrots and onions, are likely to have high levels of lead, but the very small sample size did not allow the researchers to draw a conclusion about this group.

Root vegetables, such as carrots and onions, are likely to have high levels of lead, but the very small sample size did not allow the researchers to draw a conclusion about this group.

"We are concerned about the edible portions of leafy vegetables and herbs that were found to contain lead," said study leader Kimberly Gray, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University. "It is important that urban gardeners locate fruit and vegetable gardens away from buildings, test the lead levels in their soils and develop strategies to ensure safety for them and their children."

The findings were published online by "The Science of the Total Environment" and will appear in an upcoming print issue of the journal.

Soil Carbon Sequestration Tied to Roots

The study finds that large differences in root replacement rates between forest types might alter current predictions of how carbon absorption by soil will act to ameliorate global warming from excess human caused carbon dioxide.

"The major implication for greenhouse management strategies is that some forests will not transfer carbon from the atmosphere to soils at the speed we need them to do it to reduce global warming," said coauthor Miquel Gonzalez-Meler at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Coauthor William Schlesinger, dean of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, called the root study results "a huge change from dogma, which says that these roots turn over all the time."

"This really says the roots can last quite a while," Schlesinger said.

Researchers used a novel technique to measure the longevity of roots in trees growing in forest plots infused with a computer controlled flow of CO2.

The flow was metered to maintain the higher atmospheric CO2 levels predicted to occur in the middle of this century.

The scientists' measurements revealed that the roots of loblolly pine but not sweetgum trees growing in simulated mid century air at two experimental sites remained intact far longer and transferred less carbon into soils than scientists had expected.

"Our data showed that fine root replacement varied from 1.2 to 9 years depending on root diameter and forest type," said Argonne environmental scientist Roser Matamala, lead author of the Science article. "Some forests would do a better job than others in taking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and placing it into the soil."

"Pine forests have slow root replacement which decreases the potential to accumulate carbon in the soil in the short term, while the fast root replacement coupled with increased root production in the sweetgum forest led to a rapid and significant increase in soil carbon," according to Matamala.

The study, by researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, Duke University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

Nuclear Fuel Produces Poorly Understood Minerals

Published recently in the journal " Science," the study hones in on the stability of two minerals - studtite and metastudtite - that contain both uranium and peroxide.

The researchers found that studtite and metastudtite may be readily formed on the surface of nuclear waste under long term storage. This formation comes possibly at the expense of other minerals, such as uranyl oxides and silicates, which have been more thoroughly studied and are better understood, the researchers report.

They explain that studtites most likely form when radioactivity from uranium rich rocks or nuclear fuel converts water to peroxide, which reacts with the minerals.

Nuclear fuel waste under long term storage, for example in the proposed Yucca Mountain depository in Nevada, would remain sufficiently radioactive to form studtite and metastudtite at the surface for thousands of years.

Not enough is known about these minerals to know if they will make radioactive wastes more stable or less, said study coauthor Alexandra Navrotsky of UC Davis.

"It means that the models used to assess fuel corrosion are incomplete," said Navrotsky. "Whether the end result will be more or less corrosion than without studtite is a combination of thermodynamics and kinetics which needs to be explored further."

Studtite also has been found on the surface of spent nuclear fuel stored at Hanford, Washington nuclear site and on material at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in Ukraine.

Uranyl peroxides must be considered, the researchers write, in assessing the impact of uranyl materials on the release of radioactivity from nuclear waste in a depository, the researchers said.

Study Warns of Health Risks From Diesel School Buses

School bus riders are "often exposed to a high level of diesel exhaust," says Dr. Edward Naureckas, assistant professor at the University of Chicago, and a board member of the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. "Diesel fumes are known to be harmful to humans and are probably carcinogenic, so we need to do everything we can to reduce the amount of diesel emissions inhaled by children."

The study measured the diesel exhaust students are exposed to on a conventional school bus compared to a bus using ultra low sulfur fuel and retrofitted with emission reduction equipment.

On a typical bus ride, researchers found schoolchildren are exposed to up to five times as many diesel emissions as they would encounter on a retrofit bus.

The conventional school bus generated up to 200,000 diesel particles per cubic centimeter inside the cabin compared to a maximum of 40,000 in a retrofit bus.

The researchers found that in a typical bus stop scenario, diesel exhaust levels exceeded 500,000 particles per cubic centimeter as the accelerating bus passed a departing student.

By contrast, they say, the retrofit bus never exceeded 40,000 particles.

The health risk from diesel is increased on school buses because idling buses produce a build up of high concentrations of particles inside the bus cabin. In addition, diesel exhaust accumulates in the area surrounding an idling bus and can seep into school buildings, or waft over student activity areas.

Particulate matter - a major component of diesel exhaust - has been linked to a variety of serious health issues from upper and lower respiratory infections, asthma attacks and possible asthma onset, to heart attacks and premature death. More than 60 percent of airborne particulate matter from mobile sources comes from diesel exhaust. Children with asthma and respiratory illnesses are particularly sensitive to diesel fumes.

"This report is an important first step in our initiative to clean up diesel school buses and reduce the amount of emissions inhaled by Illinois children," said Joel Africk, CEO, American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. "The next step is for Illinois to pass a no idling bill that can reduce emissions significantly at virtually no cost."