|
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
MTBE Contaminates 700 Drinking Water Systems Nationwide WASHINGTON, DC, October 2, 2003 (ENS) - Drinking water supplies for more than 15 million Americans are contaminated with MTBE, a carcinogenic gasoline additive that at makes water undrinkable at trace levels, according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis of data from state environmental agencies.It is the most extensive inventory to date of MTBE contamination in source waters for community tap water systems, and also in finished drinking water delivered to consumers. MTBE is a gasoline oxygenate added to make gasoline burn cleaner, and it is mandated as an additive in cities that do not meet Clean Air Act air quality targets. According to EWG's analysis, over 700 water systems nationwide have reported contamination above two parts per billion. Cleanup costs for large cities alone could eventually reach $29 billion, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Contamination as low as two parts per billion of MTBE causes a harsh chemical odor and taste that renders tap water undrinkable. Water utilities either blend MTBE contaminated water with clean sources to dilute the chemical, install costly systems to remove it, or abandon affected wells and find new water sources. The Washington, DC based research and advocacy organization warns that Republican leaders are pushing to include in energy legislation working its way through Congress a plan to shield MTBE manufacturers from pollution liability claims. The provision would shift MTBE cleanup costs to consumers and taxpayers. The measure is backed by big oil companies and oil state politicians. Water utilities, mayors, state attorneys general and environmentalists are fighting the proposal. "In the vast majority of the communities with problems, consumers are unaffected by the contamination because their water utilities have protected them, often with costly remedial action, as soon as MTBE is detected," said EWG president Ken Cook. "The simple question in the energy bill is who will Congress protect - their constituents who drink the water or the oil companies that polluted it?" Today EWG posted on its website, http://www.ewg.org, the first public listing of over 1,300 community water systems in 27 states where MTBE has been detected to date. The new data come from a series of Freedom of Information Act requests EWG filed with state agencies responsible for collecting tap water test results from the community water systems they regulate. EWG analysis shows that the number of communities reporting MTBE contamination in tap water supplies increased more than five-fold between 1996 and 2002, and the number of states reporting problems doubled, from nine to 18. Oil companies claim that they were forced by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air pollution rules to add MTBE to gasoline, and that they were unaware that the chemical contaminates water supplies. But EWG has posted sworn court testimony that refutes these claims. A top ARCO executive admitted under oath, “The EPA did not initiate reformulated gasoline....” He told the court, “the oil industry... brought this [MTBE] forward as an alternative to what the EPA had initially proposed.” Republican Congressmen Tom DeLay and Joe Barton of Texas, and Billy Tauzin of Louisiana are leading efforts to prohibit MTBE lawsuits against oil companies. Cook said, "If Tom DeLay, Billy Tauzin and Joe Barton have their way, thousands of cities, local water districts, businesses, schools and hospitals will be powerless to force oil companies to pay for MTBE cleanup. Most gas stations are small, mom-and-pop businesses unable to pay the millions of dollars often required to remedy MTBE pollution, so consumers will be stuck with most of the tab of cleaning up the oil industry's mess."
Lawsuit Threatened to Protect Cape Cod Water from Military WASHINGTON, DC, October 2, 2003 (ENS) - Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has put the Pentagon on notice that the organization will file suit against the Department of Defense and seek a temporary restraining order to prevent the extension of its lease at the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) to 2051. At issue is military contamination of Cape Cod's sole source of drinking water.In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Wednesday, PEER said that the U.S. Air Force and the U. S. Army, which lease land on Cape Cod from the people of Massachusetts to train military personnel, have failed to comply with federal environmental planning laws. Among the environmental issues requiring public review are the Department of the Army's refusal to obey state water cleanup orders and possible construction on buffer zones protecting Cape Cod's sole source of drinking water. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires environmental study for any significant federal action. "Between 1974 and the present date, the condition of the aquifer beneath the MMR has declined to the point where a change in existing conditions now requires full review under the National Environmental Policy Act," PEER wrote. But the Pentagon has failed to conduct the required environmental review of the MMR lease extension, apparently considering it to be excluded from NEPA provisions as “a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment," PEER wrote. But perchlorate pollution has been found in water at the MMR. This component of rocket fuel and explosives is a possible carcinogen that affects thyroid function. Perchlorate contamination of groundwater by military operations has become a national problem, affecting hundreds of locations in 20 states, including California, which this week passed two laws to limit perchlorate contamination. The perchlorate levels reported at MMR are 1.75 parts per billion (ppb), a level above the state advisory of 1 ppb - a standard that means consuming even one glass of contaminated water could be harmful to a pregnant woman or a small child. PEER warns that perchlorate levels found at the MMR have more than doubled in the past year, suggesting that the chemical plume is migrating farther into residential areas surrounding the base. Despite a Notice of Responsibility issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Army informed the department on July 21 that due to unspecified "constraints upon our ability to comply" the Army would not obey the state cleanup order. "This lease should be subjected to a full environmental review before the state signs away the land through the middle of the century," said New England PEER Director Kyla Bennett, a biologist who formerly worked in EPA's New England regional office. "The purpose of the environmental review is to ensure that critical pollution problems such as perchlorate are addressed at the outset and not put off indefinitely while conditions worsen," Bennett said. On September 24, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed the 25 year extension to the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) Army and Air Force Leases from 2026 to 2051. According to Romney, the leases contain tough environmental protections that guard the Cape’s water supply. He said the extension also ensures the military continues to play a role in the economic vitality of the region and in the state’s homeland defense efforts. Massachusetts has extended the unprecedented environmental protections codified in the terms of a 2001 memorandum of agreement between the Commonwealth and the Army into the lease agreement until 2051, Romney said. These protections safeguard the 15,000 acre Upper Cape Water Supply Reserve by precluding development and ensuring that all activities in this area, including the limited military training, do not threaten the drinking water supplies and wildlife habitat, said the governor. The administration has worked with the four neighboring communities - Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee and Sandwich - to resolve outstanding water problems that have resulted from contamination emanating from MMR. Over the past few months, agreements were reached between the military and those four communities on federal reimbursements for water supply resources impaired by MMR pollution. Governor Romney says that efforts to clean up MMR and to protect the drinking water of the Upper Cape will continue to be a central focus of federal, state and regional resources over the coming decades, with or without the lease extension. Securing federal base modernization funds could help in this effort by ensuring an active and invested tenant, he said.
Forest Service Loses $35 Million a Year on Logging the Tongass JUNEAU, Alaska, October 2, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Forest Service loses up to $35 million per year underwriting roadbuilding and clearcut logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, according to a new report by the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC) and released by the Alaska Coalition and U.S. Public Interest Research Group.SEACC is a coalition of 18 volunteer conservation groups in 14 Alaskan communities surrounded by the Tongass National Forest. The Tongass is found in Alaska’s Inside Passage. The Tongass is the largest intact temperate rainforest remaining on Earth. Based on Forest Service calculations, the report finds that the Forest Service continues to promote logging in the Tongass despite weak demand for timber. In 2002, the Forest Service spent more than $36 million dollars preparing Tongass logging projects and logging roads, but took in just $1.2 million for the right to log in this old growth rainforest. More than half of the timber contracts offered in the Tongass have only one bidder, while close to a third receive no bids at all, the SEACC report shows. "The American taxpayer simply can not put up enough money to reverse global markets," said Dave Katz of the Alaska Coalition. "Meanwhile, the Forest Service continues to waste millions of dollars punching roads through Tongass wilderness to money-losing timber sales." "Timber corporations are allowed to pay the government a fraction of what it costs taxpayers to prepare logging projects. In fact, the U.S. Forest Service is paying private corporations to build logging roads into pristine areas. These roads are used to haul away public timber at dirt cheap prices. The Forest Service is also wasting millions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing timber sales for which there is no demand. Many logging projects go unsold," according to the SEACC report. Employment in Alaska's timber industry has declined dramatically because of increased competition in world timber prices while Tongass timber subsidies continue to mount. The report finds that in 2002, U.S. taxpayers spent more than $170,000 for every direct Tongass timber job. Many of the trees logged in the Tongass are exported directly to Asia without producing a single American or Alaskan manufacturing job. "The Forest Service is moving ahead with money losing, clearcut timber sales literally in the back yards of prospering lodges and tourism businesses putting millions of dollars of private investment at risk," noted Aurah Landau of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. "It just makes no sense to ask taxpayers to fund this waste." Several U.S. Representatives are supporting the council's call to stop subsidizing logging in the Tongass. Congressman Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican said, "Not only are we harming land in Alaska, but we are wasting taxpayers' money in the process. This is a lose-lose scenario for all parties and I support SEACC's actions to end this irresponsible practice." Representative Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat, said, "Having recently visited the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in Alaska, I have seen one of America's greatest national treasures of undisturbed and undeveloped pristine lands. I believe that it is time to stop building more unnecessary logging roads for surplus timber and instead make wiser investments in growing sectors of the economy." The report, "Taxpayer Losses and Missed Opportunities: How Tongass Rainforest Logging Costs Taxpayers Millions," is online at: http://www.seacc.org.
New Hampshire Water Contaminated with Arsenic, Mercury PEMBROKE, New Hampshire, October 2, 2003 (ENS) - Some 41,000 people in three southeast New Hampshire counties are using private wells that contain arsenic in concentrations exceeding federal safety standards for public water supplies, finds a new joint federal-state study released today in Pembroke."We were surprised at the results, especially for Hillsborough and Strafford counties," said U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hydrologist Joseph Ayotte. "We knew from previous studies that arsenic was a problem regionally in eastern New Hampshire. What this study has done is allow us to better identify the extent of arsenic problems at a local level and provide useful information to citizens and state health authorities." The USGS study, conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Environmental Services, and the New Hampshire Estuaries Project, concluded that 20 percent of the homes across Hillsborough, Rockingham and Strafford counties are using private wells with arsenic concentrations above 10 micrograms per liter, which will be the state and federal standard in January 2004. In some parts of the counties, the incidence is more than 30 percent of homes. Ninety percent of those who participated in the study use their wells for drinking water. Private wells are a major supply of drinking water in New England and are not regulated by state and federal agencies. Officials recommend that all private well users test their wells for arsenic. Ayotte said recent studies suggest that the arsenic is predominantly naturally occurring and related to the geology of the area. Human sources may also have contributed to the problem, he said, but that no studies have been done to determine just how much. "Studies conducted mostly in other countries indicate that health effects of long term exposure to arsenic include increased risks of cancer of the bladder, lung and skin, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure," said Dennis Pinski, supervisor, Health Risk Assessment Section, New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. All of New Hampshire’s surface freshwater is contaminated with mercury, according to another new report issued today by the Center for Environment and Population (CEP) and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). It documents the impacts of human population on New Hampshire's land use, natural resources, wildlife and habitat. New Hampshire is the fastest growing state in New England, and tenth fastest in the nation, and 85 percent of New Hampshire's growth occurs in the southern third of its land area, the two environmental groups report. By 2100, New Hampshire could become as warm as Pennsylvania or North Carolina, due to climate change, the groups predict. This would affect key economic activities including ski tourism, fall foliage viewing and maple sugaring. Over one-third of the state’s wildlife habitat and several animal species, including the purple finch, New Hampshire’s state bird, are at risk from global warming, they report. The 32-page New Hampshire State Report on Population and the Environment shows how the state's population factors impact its land use, forests, water, biodiversity, wildlife, fisheries, agriculture, energy, climate change and solid waste. With this report the two environmental groups launch a new series - U.S. State Reports on Population and the Environment. The New Hampshire State Report is online at: http://www.nwf.org/population and http://www.cepnet.org.
Wisconsin Paper Mills to Clean Up Fox River PCBs MENASHA, Wisconsin, October 2, 2003 (ENS) - Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle Wednesday announced the largest environmental settlement agreement ever reached by the state of Wisconsin - a settlement that will provide at least $60 million to clean up polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated sediment of the Little Lake Butte des Morts segment of the Lower Fox River deposited by paper mill operations.The agreement has been signed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and two paper mills - the P.H. Glatfelter Company, and WTM 1, formerly Wisconsin Tissue Mills. "We must repair the damage of 150 years of heavy wear and tear on the river and surrounding lands, and we must clean up the PCBs that have contaminated the river," said the governor. "After years of study, discussion, and debate, we will finally clean up the dangerous toxic chemicals that have polluted the Fox River." The Clean Water Action Council expressed both relief and concerns over the settlement. “We’re grateful funds are being provided without a legal battle, and that the lake cleanup may be more rapid than previously thought,” said Rebecca Katers, executive director of Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin. The project on Little Lake Butte des Morts may require only two to three years now, rather than the seven years originally projected. “On the other hand, we’re very concerned that the cleanup standard is too weak and will not provide even minimal public health and wildlife protection downstream,” said Katers. Local fish will still be unsafe to eat, even after the “cleanup,” Katers said. "If they would dig just a little deeper and wider in each hotspot, the fish consumption warnings could be lifted decades earlier. Removal of more PCBs would also prevent PCBs from escaping downstream in the future to continually contaminate the lower river and Green Bay." The Little Lake Buttes des Morts cleanup plan calls for dredging 784,000 cubic yards of PCB contaminated sediment, according to Greg Hill, who has been named cleanup project administrator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The sediment will be dewatered, the water treated and returned to the river. The dewatered sediment will be transported by truck to an engineered landfill for permanent disposal. Detailed engineering work for the cleanup has already begun under an agreement with WTM 1 announced this summer. But the Clean Water Action Council said the lake project would require the companies to dredge down only to a one part per million (ppm) PCB cleanup target, when the EPA and the DNR both acknowledged that 0.25 ppm PCB target is the “most cost-effective PCB action level that meets protective thresholds.” The council warns that the agreement specifies only an average concentration of PCBs must be attained by the cleanup, which could leave deep pockets of PCB contaminated sediment that could erode in years to come, releasing more of the toxic pollutant into the water. The estimated cost of the cleanup for the Lower Fox River and Green Bay is $61.7 million, plus $4.5 million for long term monitoring. A dedicated fund for the cleanup work will hold $25 million each from WTM 1 and Glatfelter, plus $10 million available under a prior settlement with Appleton Paper and NCR, plus interest earned on the money placed in the fund. In the "unlikely" event that the fund is not sufficient to finance completion of the cleanup, the agreement reserves the right of state and federal agencies to require WTM 1 and Glatfelter to perform or pay for the continuation and completion of the work, said DNR Secretary Scott Hassett. In 1954, the NCR Corporation and Appleton Paper Company began dumping PCBs into the Fox River, as a by-product of their joint production of PCB coated carbonless copy paper. Shortly, five other paper companies started recycling the PCB contaminated trimmings and wastepaper originating from Appleton Paper Company, and they also began dumping PCBs into the Fox River with their wastewater. P.H. Glatfelter, formerly the Bergstrom Paper Company, released 27 percent of the PCBs now contaminating the Fox River and Green Bay, through recycling trimmings and wastepaper including carbonless copy paper originating from the mills of Appleton Papers, Inc. and NCR Corporation, according to Fox River Watch, an environmental watchdog organization. Because the Glatfelter plant had poor wastewater treatment, large quantities of PCBs were dumped directly into Little Lake Buttes des Mort at the head of the lower Fox River. The terms of the agreement are contained in a proposed consent decree that was filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Milwaukee. A 30 day public comment period will begin once notice of the agreement is published in the Federal Register. A public meeting on the consent decree will be held at the Neenah Public Library, 240 E. Wisconsin St. in Neenah, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Wednesday, October 29. This agreement does not address cleanup work for the remaining portions of the Lower Fox River and Green Bay. The DNR, the EPA and the paper companies are engaged in ongoing discussions regarding that cleanup work.
Alaskan Arctic Shows Little Damage from Offshore Drilling MELBOURNE, Florida, October 2, 2003 (ENS) - A Florida oceanographer researching the impact of offshore oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic has found little lasting damage during a four year study.When the U.S. Department of Interior contracted with oceanographer John Trefry from the Florida Institute of Technology to study the impact of recent offshore oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, the Florida Academy of Sciences gold medallist thought he would find a damaged ecosystem. But Trefry and his team of Florida Tech scientists found few environmental problems. "We found early in the process that impacts to the environment from offshore drilling were minimal," Trefry said. "In fact, the entire offshore area was near pristine. During the past four years we've continued to monitor the area and still have no evidence of significant impacts." Trefry and his Florida Tech team, Steven Wood, assistant professor of oceanography, Bob Trocine, senior research associate, Robert Rember, research scientist, and three graduate students were funded by the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service to learn if offshore drilling was causing negative impacts on the environment. They worked with colleagues from Battelle Ocean Sciences, Kinnetics Laboratories, Applied Marine Sciences and the University of Texas Marine Lab. "We analyzed several species of fish, clams and amphipods," said Trefry. "We also studied the water, ice and mud to check for potential pollution." After the first year, Trefry reoriented the program from being solely an impact study to one that would investigate the natural oceanographic system of the Alaskan Arctic. Trefry spent the next three springs and summers in the area, studying how the summer ice melt on the mainland affected the surrounding ocean. "Starting in late May of 2001 and 2002 we began intensive daily sampling at three rivers, trying to understand the input of dissolved chemicals and suspended sediments into the ocean," said Trefry. "What we found was that more than 80 percent of the sediment that enters the ocean over the course of the year comes in a single two week period." This late May meltdown arrives early enough in the year to meet unusual resistance. The Arctic Ocean at that time of year is topped with a six foot layer of ice. As a result, the freshwater runoff has no way to merge into the saltwater ocean. Trefry said that the team is no longer surprised by their first-year results. "What we came to realize is that extreme caution by industry, combined with movement of water and sediment offshore, help keep the coastal system clean," he said. Trefry was a member of the first scientific team to photograph and sample active hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in 1985. His research has identified the importance of high-temperature venting on the cycling of trace metals through the oceans and in creating metal-rich deposits on the seafloor. Today, Trefry’s research activities focus on the concentrations and cycling of trace metals in the oceans, estuaries and rivers. He has studied trace metals in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River and Indian River Lagoon, Florida.
Watching Building Demolitions Can Be Hazardous to Your Health BALTIMORE, Maryland, October 2, 2003 (ENS) - To avoid concentrations of airborne dust thousands of times higher than normal levels, spectators should be discouraged from attending building demolitions, a new study has found, or if they must attend, they should position themselves at an upwind, distant location.In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers from researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Hospital responded to community concerns about the impact of demolitions on community air quality. Lead investigator Tim Buckley, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Public Health's Department of Environmental Health Sciences, said, "Building implosions have become common within the urban environment, yet we know little of the hazard posed to surrounding communities or spectators. With this study, we can begin to answer some of the fundamental questions asked by communities about the impact of such events on air quality." The researchers studied the quality of air within a four block radius immediately after the August 19, 2000 implosion of a 22 story building in east Baltimore. Samples were taken at seven indoor locations and four outdoor sites. They found that immediately after the implosion, concentrations of airborne dust particles were as much as 3,000 times higher than they had been prior to the demolition. Sites nearest to the implosion had a more dramatic and earlier peak when compared to sites further away. Even at the furthest site, seven and a half blocks from the implosion, there was a 20 fold increase in particulate matter. The good news, according to the researchers, is that the dust peaks lasted only 15 to 20 minutes. No measurable effect was found upwind of the implosion, nor in the indoor sample sites. The researchers suggest that remaining upwind of a building demolition and staying indoors offers protection from high outdoor concentrations of dust particles. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Ambient Air Quality Standard for particulate matter was not exceeded, the study still found that particle levels were elevated and were a risk to public health. The dust particles can irritate or damage tissues deep within the lungs, especially for the very young, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems or underlying heart or lung disease. Dr. Buckley said, "The spectator hazard can be avoided easily and completely by simply staying at home and watching the event on television. The fix is not so easy for the surrounding community. Our results suggest that staying indoors with the doors and windows closed will offer some protection." "The Impact of a Building Implosion on Airborne Particulate Matter in an Urban Community" is published in the October 2003 issue of the "Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association."
Absorbent Polymer Can Restore Books Ruined by Water BELTSVILLE, Maryland, October 2, 2003 (ENS) - A new starch based polymer, Super Slurper is a nondescript powder until you add water. Then Super Slurper absorbs the liquid, and the powder becomes a gel capable of retaining nearly 2,000 times its weight in moisture.Librarians and archivists are looking at this new substance for its ability to mop up after floods. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Artifex Equipment, Inc., of Penngrove, California, are collaborating on tests of the polymer's ability to dry books, papers, photographs and other materials soaked by water from flooding, and leaks. Kathleen Hayes, coordinator for the Technology Transfer Information Center at ARS' National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, thought of the idea while attending a March 2002 workshop hosted by the National Archives and Records Administration. She envisioned using the Super Slurper powder as a way to salvage water damaged materials, rather than air drying them, a laborious and expensive process. The powder is an alternative to vacuum freeze-drying, a recovery process that can take months and cause damage to the precious archival materials. Artifex president Nicholas Yeager conducted preliminary tests in which Super Slurper dried several wet books in about 10 minutes. Air drying methods, by comparison, take weeks, and mold growth can begin within 48 hours. J.L. Willett, a chemical engineer at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois where Super Slurper was first discovered, is on hand to technically advise Yeager, who may opt to market the polymer commercially. In August, Yeager signed a cooperative agreement with the National Agricultural Library to continue testing. Besides checking for mold inhibition, his tests aim to gauge Super Slurper's ability to minimize other types of water damage, including wrinkled pages and swollen book bindings that take up 20 percent more shelf space. |
