• States, Feds Ink Colorado River Allocation Deal
  
• Chevron Agrees to $275 Million Clean Air Act Settlement
  
• U.S. Army Urged to Accelerate Chemical Weapons Destruction
  
• Judge Holds Logging Operations to Clean Water Act
  
• Pollution Control Officials Battle Bush Air Rule Changes
  
• Kerry Outlines Environmental Plan
  
• Researchers Warn of Accelerating Southern Ice Melt
  
• Green Group Debuts Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
  

States, Feds Ink Colorado River Allocation Deal

"With California's agreement to take specific steps to reduce its over reliance on Colorado River water, each of the Basin States is now able to use its share of the river's water knowing this conflict has been resolved." Norton said at a news conference Thursday. "This is a great day for all of the states that benefit from the bounty of the Colorado River and have worked for years to secure their authorized shares."

Controversy over the allocation of the Colorado River to thirsty Western states reaches back to the early 20th century. Under the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the river's estimated 15 million acre feet of annual water is divided among seven states - Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and California.

Under the terms of the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement that Norton signed, California will limit its use of Colorado River water to the state's authorized limit of 4.4 million acre feet a year, fulfilling a 1929 promise.

California had been using up to 800,000 acre feet a year above its authorized share, causing major concerns in the other six states that unless that over reliance was curbed, California might someday seek a permanent right to the extra water it has been using.

The reduction will take place over the next 14 years.

The deal centers on a commitment by agricultural interests in California's Imperial Valley to divert as much as 90 billion gallons a year to San Diego.

It also addresses environmental concerns with the Salton Sea, an inland lake that depends on runoff from Imperial Valley farms.

The signing of the deal reinstates the Interim Surplus Guidelines, which provides California access to extra Colorado water over 14 years to ease its gradual reduction and lessen pressure on Northern California to send more water south.

Norton had revoked that access early this year when California missed a December 31, 2002 deadline to strike a deal.

The reinstated Guidelines also will allow Nevada, which lost access to extra water from the Colorado River along with California, to again have access to this water.

Chevron Agrees to $275 Million Clean Air Act Settlement

"The settlements benefit not only the environment, but the communities that were directly affected by the pollutants," said John Peter Suarez, EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "It goes a long way in leveling the playing field for all companies that are good neighbors in the places where they do business."

The settlement will require Chevron to install and implement innovative control technologies at its refineries to reduce its annual emissions of nitrogen oxide by more than 3,300 tons and sulfur dioxide by nearly 6,300 tons.

In addition, under the negotiated settlement, Chevron will upgrade its leak detection and repair practices, implement programs to minimize flaring of hazardous gases, reduce emissions from its sulfur recovery plants and adopt strategies to ensure the proper handling of hazardous benzene wastes at each refinery.

Chevron also will pay a $3.5 million civil penalty and spend more than $4 million on further emissions controls and other environmental projects in communities around the company's refineries.

The affected Chevron refineries are located in Richmond and El Segundo, California, Pascagoula, Mississippi, Salt Lake City, Utah and Kapolei, Hawaii.

The states of Hawaii, Mississippi, and Utah and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in California are joining the settlement, which is part of EPA's national effort to reduce air emissions from refineries.

The proposed consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

U.S. Army Urged to Accelerate Chemical Weapons Destruction

These rockets take about 30 times longer to destroy than rockets containing liquid nerve agents, according to the panel, and destroying them safely and quickly would allow the Army to reduce risks to the public resulting from their extended storage, said the committee that wrote the report.

"Because there is a small chance that stored sarin and VX filled rockets might self ignite at any time and release toxic agents and metals, these rockets need to be destroyed as soon as possible," said James F. Mathis, a retired engineer from Exxon Corporation and chair of the committee.

The Army believes that gelled rockets can be destroyed at a rate as high as 9.2 rockets per hour, but this has not been proved.

The committee agrees with the Army's estimate and recommends that, in coordination with local and state governments and regulatory agencies, the Army should act promptly to demonstrate that the higher rate can be achieved safely at the Anniston facility.

The panel recommends that the Army assesses the risks associated with emissions resulting from destruction of gelled rockets as rapidly as possible, and communicate the results to workers, the public, and elected officials, the committee said.

The report urges the Army to monitor emissions more frequently than it is doing now.

In addition to increasing the disposal rate for gelled rockets, the Army is considering changing the order in which rockets and other munitions are processed. In its new plan, the Army envisions a different order for processing the sarin and VX weapons - sarin rockets and munitions first, and then VX rockets and munitions. This schedule, according to the Army, would cut about 10 months from the original 7.2 year timeline for destroying the Anniston stockpile.

The panel says that because quicker disposal could reduce health risks to workers and the public, the Army should seek immediate approval from local regulatory authorities and implement the new plan without delay after approval is granted, the committee said.

More than 100, 000 people live within 30 miles of the Army facility and many are fearful of possible exposure to chemical agents from the incineration. The Army's incineration plan was delayed temporarily delayed this summer due to local concerns, but has since proceeded forward.

The new plan should be communicated clearly to stakeholders for input and feedback, according to the committee.

"The Army's plans for weapons disposal at Anniston have also been delayed because of troubled relations among the various stakeholders," Mathis said. "It continues to be important that the Army improve communications with local communities, both to promote a better understanding of the risk issues and to address any valid public concerns."

Judge Holds Logging Operations to Clean Water Act

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should not have exempted logging companies from storm water runoff pollution permits required under the Clean Water Act.

She ruled that logging companies are required to get permits for pollution emitted from "ditches, culverts, channels, and gullies".

Environmentalists hailed the ruling, which is the first in the nation to apply the Clean Water Act to this type of logging pollution.

"It is time the logging industry faced up to the fact that they are serious polluters of our nation's waters, causing massive erosion that is smothering critical fish habitat and spoiling people's water supplies - and that pollution is illegal," said Earthjustice attorney Mike Lozeau.

The opinion allows the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) to proceed with it case against the Pacific Lumber Company. The suit targets years of pollution in Bear Creek, a tributary of the Eel River in Humboldt County California.

EPIC, which is being represented by Earthjustice, charges that Pacific Lumber Company is discharging massive amounts of pollution through ditches, channels, and other "point sources" without necessary pollution control permits in violation of the Clean Water Act.

Bear Creek is a tributary of the Eel River basin located between Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's headquarter town of Scotia.

It is essential habitat for protected salmon species, but the California Department of Fish and Game discovered this habitat had been "essentially erased" in the late 1990s after extensive logging was completed.

Some 75 percent of the watershed has been logged and sprayed with herbicides in the last fifteen years, and 39 miles of dirt roads now cross its eight-square miles of hillsides.

The lawsuit contends that investigations by Pacific Lumber's own consultants show that hundreds of Pacific Lumber drainpipes, culverts and ditches are dumping thousands of tons of pollution from areas that were recently clearcut or otherwise logged.

"Nobody wants our majestic salmon and steelhead trout to disappear from California's waters. No one wants to see people forced to have drinking water trucked in to their communities because a logging company has silted up their river," said EPIC's Cynthia Elkins. "The Clean Water Act simply instructs the logging industry that when they build roads and log hillsides, they have to make sure that they do not dump sediments, herbicides and other pollutants into our rivers and streams."

Pollution Control Officials Battle Bush Air Rule Changes

These officials have long supported changes to the New Source Review program that would reduce its complexity and make it easier to implement and enforce. The Bush administration has said its changes to the program are designed to achieve these goals, but state and local air officials are far from convinced.

The dissatisfaction of these officials - represented by the State and Territorial Air Pollution Administrators (STAPPA) and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials (ALAPCO) - has manifested in a detailed list of more protective alternatives for implementation of the New Source Review program.

"Our members' primary concern is that EPA's revisions allow many sources of pollution previously subject to New Source Review to simply escape emission control requirements," said Bill Becker, executive director of STAPPA and ALAPCO. "We are worried that these exemptions could seriously undermine the ability of states and localities to achieve and sustain our nation's clean air and public health goals."

Becker says many states and localities intend to pursue New Source Review rules that differ from the EPA's, or to retain all or part of their existing rules. STAPPA and ALAPCO have spent the last 10 months developing a range of regulatory alternatives for state and local officials to continue enforcement of the program.

The document released last week by the air pollution organizations is designed to assist states and localities as they consider the effects of the rule revisions. Becker said stakeholders are encouraged to comment on the draft document and expects to release a final document by early 2004.

There has been widespread criticism of the Bush administration's revisions to the New Source Review program - more than a dozen states are engaged in legal action to overturn the rule changes.

Kerry Outlines Environmental Plan

In a speech Monday at the University of New Hampshire, Kerry laid out what he deemed a "comprehensive vision" for how the nation can restore and protect the environment.

"Under President Bush, America's environment has become threatened, endangered, and imperiled," Kerry said. "I am running to keep clean the water we drink, the air we breathe, the yards and parks in which children play and laugh, and the communities in which we live."

Bush has "set back the cause of environmental protection," said Kerry, who criticized the President for abandoning the Kyoto Protocol and allowing enforcement of environmental laws to fall under his administration.

"The difference between us and George Bush is one of vision," Kerry said. "Where we see a pristine wilderness or a scenic coast, George Bush sees an oil field. Where we see a beautiful mountaintop, George Bush sees a strip mine."

"Where we see a pristine old growth forest, George Bush sees toothpicks. And where we see an opportunity to join the global community to fight global warming, George Bush sees a chance to curry favor with his buddies in the oil business."

Kerry says that as President he would jumpstart the Superfund clean up program and would reverse the administration's changes to federal clean air laws.

The Massachusetts Democrat says he would establish a task force to coordinate development policies that can help control traffic congestion and sprawl. He would reinstate the roadless rule, tighten protection of public lands and strictly enforce the Clean Water Act.

The United States should act as a leader on efforts to curb global warming, Kerry said, and needs to take aggressive action to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

"As President, I will put environmental justice center stage," Kerry added. "For too long, poor and minority communities have been overlooked when it came to the environment. And for too long, polluters thought they could get away with breaking the law as long as it was in someone else's back yard. Those days need to end."

Kerry told the New Hampshire University crowd that the nation "faces a choice."

"Do we wish to be remembered as the last generation of the foolish - those who believed that the earth could be stripped without conscience - or as the first generation of the wise?" Kerry asked.

"George Bush has offered his answer - time and again," he said. "We need to offer a better answer."

Researchers Warn of Accelerating Southern Ice Melt

The study measured changes in the volumes of the 63 largest glaciers in the Patagonia Icefields of Chile and Argentina, which cover some 13,000 and 4,200 square kilometers (5,019 and 1,622 square miles), respectively.

The scientists, from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Chile's Centro de Estudios Cientificos, compared conventional topographic data from the 1970s and 1990s with data from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, flown in February 2000.

Results of the study, published last week in the journal "Science," conclude the Patagonia Icefields lost ice at a rate equivalent to a sea level rise of 0.04 millimeters per year during the period 1975 through 2000. This is equal to 9 percent of the total annual global sea level rise from mountain glaciers, according to the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Scientific Assessment.

From 1995 through 2000, however, that rate of ice loss from the icefields more than doubled, to an equivalent sea level rise of 0.1 millimeters per year.

In comparison, Alaska's glaciers, which cover an area five times larger, account for about 30 percent of total annual global sea level rise from mountain glaciers.

The researchers determined that climate change is largely the cause of the accelerating ice melt in the Patagonia Icefields, as evidenced by increased air temperatures and decreased precipitation over time.

"The Patagonia Icefields are dominated by so-called 'calving' glaciers," said Dr. Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Such glaciers spawn icebergs into the ocean or lakes and have different dynamics from glaciers that end on land and melt at their front ends. Calving glaciers are more sensitive to climate change once pushed out of equilibrium, and make this region the fastest area of glacial retreat on Earth."

Rignot added that scientists are in particular interested in studying how climate interacts with glaciers because it may be a good barometer of how the large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica will respond to future climate change.

"We know the Antarctic peninsula has been warming for the past four decades, with ice shelves disappearing rapidly and glaciers behind them speeding up and raising sea level," Rignot said. "Our Patagonia research is providing unique insights into how these larger ice masses may evolve over time in a warmer climate."

Green Group Debuts Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

The environmental research organization says that consumers who are concerned about eating pesticides can either buy organic produce or use the its shoppers guide to choose conventional foods that contain the least pesticide residues. Using this tool can reduce the number of pesticides in produce a person eats by up to 90 percent, according to the organization.

Stonyfield Farm, the nation's leading organic yogurt manufacturer, has partnered with the EWG to create a wallet size guide to deliver this information to consumers. It lists the 12 produce items that are consistently most and least contaminated with pesticides.

"When consumers 'vote with their wallets' they are helping to solve a global problem with a local solution," said Gary Hirshberg, president and CEO of Stonyfield Farm

The environmental group created a ranking system for pesticide contamination based on a variety of factors - including the overall levels of pesticides found on each food as well as the number of pesticides found on each item.

For example, the analysis found that more than 97 percent of all peaches tested positive for the presence of pesticide residues. In total 45 pesticides were found on fresh peaches, with one peach sample containing over nine pesticides. The relatively large amount of residues and the number of pesticides found on the peaches made them one of the most contaminated of all fresh fruits and vegetables.

There is a growing body of scientific literature points to the benefits of eating pesticide free food, according to the EWG. In 2002, a University of Washington study found that children who ate mostly organic produce had far lower levels of pesticide byproducts in their bodies.

Over the past six years, the federal government has banned or restricted the use of more than a dozen pesticides because of their health risks.

Hirshberg says his organization supported the venture because consumers are demanding healthier choices in the supermarket. Organic products are one of the fastest growing segments of the food industry, with compounded sales of organic products having grown at a rate of 22 percent annually for more than 10 years.

"Corporate America sees that the demand for pesticide free foods is driving the growth of the market," Hirshberg said. "This fact should send a clear message that consumers want healthier food for their families, not the proliferation of pesticides."

The shopper's guide can be found at http://www.stonyfield.com.