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Supreme Court to Hear Landmark Clean Air Case WASHINGTON, DC, October 7, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in a Clean Air Act case that many believe has far reaching implications for the power of the federal government to regulate air pollution from industrial sources.The case centers on Alaska's challenge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) authority to make large new air pollution sources install the best available pollution control technology when a state fails to do so. Alaska issued a construction permit for a large diesel generator at a zinc mine that required pollution controls only a third as effective as technologies the state determined were feasible and affordable. In 1999, the EPA brought an enforcement action to prohibit construction until a permit that called for use of "best available control technology" was obtained. These permits are required under the Clean Air Act. The state is appealing a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld a ruling in favor of the EPA. Some 11 states have filed in support of Alaska's view, but some 14 have filed in opposition. Environmentalists fear a decision in favor of Alaska would allow states to put in place weak pollution controls for new power plants and industrial sources, even though more cost effective control technology may be available. "Safe, breathable air and a clean, healthy environment is the right of every American, and this case is pivotal in ensuring that the federal government has adequate power to protect that right," said Vickie Patton, a senior attorney with Environmental Defense, which supports the EPA's view. "If the court denies the EPA's power to protect public health and the environment from industrial air pollution, America's clean air standards could deteriorate into a patchwork of weak, widely varying state laws."
Enviros Hold Out Hope for Yellowstone Snowmobile Ban WASHINGTON, DC, October 7, 2003 (ENS) - A federal judge overseeing a lawsuit to block the use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park says he will issue a ruling before the start of the winter snowmobile season. The legal challenge has been filed by animal rights and environmental groups, who believe the Bush administration's regulations to allow snowmobiles violates the law and a prior settlement in another case."For over thirty years, the Park Service has ignored its legal mandate to let nature dictate the management of Yellowstone by packing roads to allow snowmobiles to harass the wildlife, pollute the air, and disturb the solitude," said D.J. Schubert, a wildlife biologist with The Fund for Animals, a plaintiff in the suit. "It is time for this thirty year reign of recreational abuse to end and for natural regulation to prevail in Yellowstone for the benefit of the park and its wildlife." The suit targets the Bush administration's reversal of a Clinton administration ban on snowmobiling in Yellowstone. The Bush plan does curtail snowmobile use - it sets daily limits for the number of snowmobiles allowed in the parks, bans most old, two stroke snowmobiles in favor of quieter and less polluting models, and requires most snowmobile users to travel with guides in order to protect wildlife. But critics say the plan, issued by the National Park Service, fails to consider the agency's findings on the effects of snowmobile use and to evaluate the environmental impact on the park wildlife - a violation of its 1997 settlement with The Fund For Animals. Over the past decade the Park Service has studied the impacts of snowmobile use on park wildlife, air quality, human health and visitor experience. The agency's research, which included 375 scientific studies and 22 public hearings, revealed that snowmobile use was negatively affecting each of these factors. Studies by the Park Service's Air Resource Division have found that snowmobiles contribute up to 68 percent of the park's annual carbon monoxide emissions, and up to 90 percent of its hydrocarbon pollution. Recent studies by the U.S. Occupational and Safety Hazard Administration, the federal government agency charged with safeguarding the health of American workers, found that Yellowstone employees were exposed to dangerous levels of noise, carbon monoxide and benzene. In the past few winters, the government provided Park Service employees with respirators and earplugs to safeguard against the pollution and noise of the snowmobiles. The lawsuit would allow road packing and oversnow motorized winter use to continue in Grand Teton National Park, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, and from the south entrance of Yellowstone to Old Faithful. The road between Mammoth and Cooke City traversing the Lamar Valley would also remain open to public use. The suit also asks the court to force the government to respond to a 1999 petition submitted by the Bluewater Network asking that snowmobiling be banned in all national parks.
New Hampshire Sues 22 Companies Over MTBE Pollution CONCORD, New Hampshire, October 7, 2003 (ENS) - New Hampshire has filed a lawsuit in state court against 22 oil companies for water pollution caused by the gasoline additive MTBE.The state alleges that the oil companies added increasing amounts of the additive to New Hampshire's gasoline even though they have known for some time that it would contaminate water supplies. New Hampshire claims the manufacturers and refiners produced a defective product, created a public nuisance and violated state environmental and consumer protection laws. The state has asked the court to hold the companies responsible for all costs associated with addressing the problem, including investigative and cleanup costs, and to assess monetary penalties. The suit includes petroleum giants ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, Shell and ExxonMobil "MTBE has become a significant and costly threat, especially to the underground aquifers that most of us rely upon for drinking water," said New Hampshire Attorney General Peter Heed. "These companies knew of the dangers that adding MTBE to gasoline posed to water resources. They, and not the state or its citizens, should pay the bill to fully address this unprecedented environmental problem." Some 60 percent of the state's population relies on groundwater wells for drinking water. The state's lawsuit cites several statistics on contamination of those supplies. For example, as of 2002, MTBE was detected in more than 15 percent of the public water supplies tested statewide. MTBE was first used in gasoline in the late 1970s in small amounts as an octane enhancer. In the 1990s, major oil companies - and states - found significantly increasing MTBE levels in gasoline was an inexpensive way to comply with the fuel oxygenate mandate under the Clean Air Act. But there is growing concern about MTBE contamination - last week Sacramento County and 10 water utilities filed suit last week against major companies over potential MTBE contamination. New Hampshire has chosen to remove itself from the oxygenated fuels program in the absence of Congressional action on MTBE, but is still awaiting federal approval.
Senators Rally Support for Renewables in Energy Bill WASHINGTON, DC, October 7, 2003 (ENS) - A group of 45 Democrats and eight Republicans have urged the conference committee tasked with writing the energy bill to include a strong renewable electricity standard that would guarantee the growth of wind, solar and other clean, renewable energy supplies.The standard would require major electric companies to gradually increase sales of electricity from wind, solar, and other renewable sources from two percent today to about 10 percent by 2020. It exempts small utilities and publicly owned utilities. Supporters say the provision would increase renewable energy from about 15,000 megawatts today to 74,000 megawatts by 2020, enough to power about 53 million homes. Environmentalists hailed the effort by the 53 Senators to lobby support for the proposal. The standard has "broad bipartisan support and is a priority for the majority of the Senate," said Alan Nogee, director of the Clean Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The renewable standard is one of the only major pro environment provisions in an overall energy bill that reads like a polluter's wish list." "If conference committee members drop renewables, they would be turning their back not only on the environment and Americans who want cleaner air, but on the majority of the Senate itself," Nogee said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has done a series of studies on the costs and benefits of the renewable electricity standard RES, under both the Clinton and Bush administrations, at the request of both Republican and Democratic members. The studies find that the cost of the standard runs from negligible to scenarios producing lower rates for both electricity and natural gas customers. The conference committee hopes to have negotiations over the provisions within the massive energy bill by mid October.
Vets Win Court Battle Over Military Experiments WASHINGTON, DC, October 7, 2003 (ENS) - A federal judge last week denied a request by government officials to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks damages for military veterans who were potentially harmed by exposure to chemical and biological agents and stimulants. The case involved military veterans who were used as unwitting test subjects in chemical and biological warfare experiments by the U.S. government in the 1960s.U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled that the law and "common sense" supported her jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit, which can now proceed. The lead plaintiff in the case is Vietnam Veterans of America, which called the decision "a truly significant victory for veterans." "The impact of this decision for veterans seeking to hold government officials accountable for their actions is hard to overestimate," added David Cynamon, the lead attorney on the case. "The court found clear jurisdiction to hold government officials liable for the harm that they cause by deliberately misinforming the public." The class action lawsuit alleges that government officials, including former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, covered up medical information without which veterans of biological and chemical warfare testing cannot receive medical treatment. The plaintiffs include veterans, their families, and Vietnam Veterans of America. They claim a deliberate and ongoing cover up by federal officials to conceal and ignore relevant documents, many of which contain personal medical information that would allow veterans to seek benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Cynamon says the case now shifts to determining whether the named officials are immune from liability for having knowingly misled veterans of a military project that was part of a series of operational chemical and biological warfare vulnerability tests.
Agreement Forged to Build First Integrated Biorefinery GOLDEN, Colorado, October 7, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Department of Energy and DuPont have signed a joint research agreement to research development of a biorefinery to make fuels and chemicals from corn.The $7.7 million agreement calls for Dupont and the department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to collaboratively develop, build, and test a biorefinery pilot process that uses the entire corn plant -including the fibrous material in the stalks, husks, leaves, and the starchy material in the kernels. The biorefinery is expected to be capable of producing a range of products from a variety of plant-material feedstocks. Several biorefineries currently produce a range of products mainly from starch rich or protein rich biomass, while other biorefineries start with a variety of vegetable oils. Energy Department officials say the facility will operate like a conventional refinery. The process will center on purified sugars from the corn kernel - this will be the primary source of value added chemicals. The remainder of the corn plant, often called "the stover," will be converted into fuel grade ethanol and electrical power. Dupont already has an eye on the value added chemicals for the process. The company has a new polymer platform that can be used in applications such as textile apparel, carpeting, and packaging and it has developed a fermentation based process as the basis for the manufacturing of a key building block for the platform. This process earned the 2003 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Presidential Green Chemistry award. The agreement is part of the larger $38 million DuPont led consortium known as the Integrated Corn-Based Bioproducts Refinery (ICBR) project. The ICBR project - which includes DuPont, NREL, Diversa Corporation, Michigan State, and Deere & Co. - was awarded $19 million in matching funds from the Energy Department in 2002 to design and demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of alternative energy and renewable resource technology.
Study Warns North Carolina of Climate Change Impacts RALEIGH, North Carolina, October 7, 2003 (ENS) - Unchecked greenhouse gas pollution would significantly impact North Carolina's economy and natural environment, according to a study released today by North Carolina Environmental Defense. The study warns that global warming would worsen the state's air quality and threaten public health.It notes that low estimates indicate that annual temperatures in the Southeast, including North Carolina, will increase by 4.1 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century - unless actions are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Potential climate impacts in North Carolina include an array of health threats, sea level rise and increased coastal erosion, more extreme summer heat, water shortages, rainfall variability impacting agriculture, and loss of species in forests, wetlands and other ecosystems, according to Michael Shore, southeast air quality manager for Environmental Defense. "Recognizing the threats that climate change poses to North Carolina, state leaders should commit to taking responsibility for North Carolina's greenhouse gas emissions," Shore said. The study recommends that state officials launch a stewardship awareness campaign to outline for state residents the potential impacts of climate change and the options available to the state for mitigating those impacts. The state should develop a comprehensive, multiyear plan to address climate change, the study suggests, including a registry of greenhouse gas emissions and incentives that allow farming and forestry operations to sequester carbon. The environmental group is keen to generate support for a bipartisan bill in the Senate - known as the "Climate Stewardship Act of 2003" - that proposes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through an emissions trading system. "This bill - which is modest, doable, and relies upon proven approaches, not utopian wishes - moves America beyond cliches and evasiveness, and challenges every member of the Senate to clearly state what they think this country should do about global warming: ignore the problem or take prudent action," added Peter Goldmark, director of the Environmental Defense global and regional air program.
Conservationists Secure Oregon Estuary TILLAMOOK COUNTY, Oregon, October 7, 2003 (ENS) - A national land conservation organization has finalized a transaction to protect tidal and freshwater wetlands on Oregon's Tillamook Bay. The deal protects an additional 142 acres of the Tillamook Bay ecosystem and transfers ownership of the land to Tillamook County for permanent stewardship.The county is planning restoration work that will help reestablish vital wetland habitat and reduce flooding in the city of Tillamook. This latest transaction marks the final phase in an effort spearheaded by the Trust for Public Land to protect 370 acres of wetlands between the Wilson and Trask Rivers on Tillamook Bay. Biologists consider the area one of the country's most significant estuarine ecosystems. "The wetlands in the river deltas at the south end of Tillamook Bay are some of the most important on the Oregon coast," said Bruce Taylor of the Oregon Habitat Joint Venture, a coalition of groups and agencies that includes many of the partners in the land acquisition project. "Protection and restoration of this entire 370 acre area was one of the top priorities of the Tillamook Bay National Estuary Project." More than 85 percent of Tillamook Bay's historic wetlands have been destroyed as a result of human settlement and development. The bay sits along the north coast of Oregon, with a watershed that covers some 365,000 acres. Heavy rainfalls wash sediment from the forested upper watershed and a variety of pollutants from the lowlands through the rivers and into the bay. The loss of natural habitats has significantly impacted populations of salmon, migratory birds, and other native fish and wildlife. Federal funding for the project came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through its Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program. |
