• Energy Department Must Produce More Yucca Mountain Documents
  
• Abandoned Mine Cleanup Fees Set to Expire
  
• Timber Sale Halted in North Carolina National Forest
  
• Demand for Th!nk Electric Cars Keeps 400 Out of the Crusher
  
• Water Pollution Whistleblower Wins Michigan Jury Hearing
  
• Appalachian Trail Vulnerable to Repeal of Roadless Rule
  
• Satellites See Clues to Florida's Black Water Patches
  
• Alaska's Wild Salmon Contaminant Levels Low
  

Energy Department Must Produce More Yucca Mountain Documents

The DOE's certification that it made available to the public all of its documentary material on the proposed Yucca Mountain repository has failed to meet Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations.

An NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board unanimously ruled Tuesday that the June 30 certification failed to make publically available "substantial quantities" of documentary material in DOE’s possession at the time of certification, and that the manner in which DOE made the material publicly available on its own internet web site "failed to satisfy the regulations."

But the DOE could correct the problem soon, the Board said. "It does not appear that it will take DOE a significant amount of time to complete its processing of the outstanding documents prior to being able to make a recertification."

The ruling was in response to a July 12 motion to the Licensing Board from the state of Nevada in connection with the DOE's expected application to build the repository.

The motion challenged DOE’s certification of the availability of its documentary material regarding the application. The Licensing Board heard oral arguments on the motion, from Nevada, from the DOE and from the NRC staff, on July 27 at the NRC’s Rockville, Maryland headquarters.

To provide for efficient discovery in reviewing the Yucca Mountain application, NRC regulations require that all potential participants in the proceeding make their documents available to other potential participants online through the Licensing Support Network (LSN). The LSN is available for anyone to access documents, at http://www.lsnnet.gov.

Under the regulations, DOE must certify, six months before submitting its license application, that its documents are electronically available. DOE made that certification on June 30, 2004.

Soon after, the NRC chief administrative judge appointed a three person Licensing Board to serve as the Pre-License Application Presiding Officer (PAPO) to decide disputes brought by parties or potential parties regarding documentary materials submitted to the LSN.

The PAPO Licensing Board is headed by Chairman Judge Thomas S. Moore, who has been an NRC administrative judge for years, Judge Alex S. Karlin, a former corporate, nonprofit and EPA attorney; and nuclear law expert Judge Alan S. Rosenthal.

Thirty days after the DOE certification, on July 30, the NRC certified that its own documents were electronically available.

The Board ruled that Nevada and other potential participants are not required to make their documents available until 90 days after DOE recertifies that it has made all of its documents available on the central LSN site.

A copy of the decision will be available from the NRC’s web site by entering http://hlwehd.nrc.gov/Public_HLW-EHD/home.asp and following the directions on the screen. Help in accessing information on the web is available from the NRC Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737.

Abandoned Mine Cleanup Fees Set to Expire

Millions of acres of dangerous abandoned mine lands could go unreclaimed and states would be left to foot the bill if Congress fails to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Fund, Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson said Monday.

Created by Congress in 1977, the AML authorizes fees on mining companies to raise money for clean up of mines abandoned before 1977.

The program has suffered from chronic underfunding and more than 7,000 mines abandoned before 1977 have not been cleaned up - federal officials estimate more than $3 billion is still needed to make these sites safe.

Watson included her remarks in a letter sent to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Resources Committee that urged Congress to act quickly on reauthorization.

"If the AML is not reauthorized before September 30th, the significant progress that has been made to date in reclaiming abandoned mine sites will soon come to an end," said Watson. "As a result, more than $2 billion worth of high priority coal reclamation in primacy states will remain unreclaimed, leaving millions of people who live, work and recreate in the nation's coal fields to continue to be exposed to the many dangers these areas present."

Watson says expiration of the fee authority would first and foremost impact the Appalachian coal states, where most of the work of reclaiming abandoned coal mines is left to do.

Funding in other states for emergency reclamation activities, clean streams programs, maintenance for AML inventory, and technical training and support vital to the AML program, will rapidly diminish or cease to exist.

"These are consequences that can and should be avoided," said Watson.

Abandoned mines present a range of hazards to the public – these sites have caused fatal landslides, sinkholes, and floods; destroyed homes and land; and poisoned waterways with acid drainage.

Timber Sale Halted in North Carolina National Forest

Demand for Th!nk Electric Cars Keeps 400 Out of the Crusher

U.S. and Norwegian citizen groups expect an action plan from Ford on the Th!nk EVs by September 15, according to the Rainforest Action Network of San Francisco, which with Global Exchange and Greenpeace, campaigned against destroying the zero emissions cars.

In an August 27 letter concerning the Th!nk EV controversy to Norwegian Minister of Transportation Torhild Skogsholm, Ford conceded that “it is very clear to us that there is a high demand for these vehicles in Norway, not in the least because of the high priority and support your government has given to environmentally friendly transport technology.”

The decision marks an abrupt about face by Ford, which had not responded letters of interest from Skogsholm, automakers Elbil Norge and Th!nk Nordic.

Ingvar Sviggum, a vice president of Ford Europe, confirmed, “It is with pleasure that I am able to inform you that we have, with immediate effect, stopped any further scrapping of these vehicles.”

In an August 27 statement issued in response to Ford’s letter, Skogsholm wrote, “I expect Ford will do what is necessary to bring these cars to Norway, and I have asked them to keep me informed on what they are doing. For me this matter is not over today. It is over the day these cars drive on Norwegian roads.”

“It is pointless to destroy more than 400 fully functional and environmentally friendly cars," the transport minister said. "There is a great demand for these cars here in Norway, and they can contribute to cleaner air and less pollution in our cities.”

“EVs are a perfect solution in places like Norway and California where access to solar, hydro and wind power is a public priority,” said Sherry Boschert, a former Th!nk EV driver in California.

“I'm pleased that Ford is coming to its senses regarding the fate of these EVs, but it shouldn’t take an international grassroots movement to motivate U.S. automakers to do everything possible to promote zero emission cars," said Boschert. "If Ford marketed and lobbied for zero emission EVs the way it has for gas guzzling SUVs, it could revolutionize urban and suburban transportation.”

Water Pollution Whistleblower Wins Michigan Jury Hearing

The case involves Gratiot Conservation District Manager Robin Berryhill who was fired after reporting pollution violations and financial irregularities.

Berryhill's job was to monitor non-point sources of water pollution. In January 2002, the Conservation District fired her for reporting major water quality violations, including pollution discharges and fish kills in Pine Creek, to the state's Department of Environmental Quality, contrary to District directives.

Berryhill also reported dubious fiscal management of the Conservation District, including the practice of “double dipping” grant money,” accepting duplicate payment for the same activity from more than one source.

On March 10, 2003, the 29th Circuit Court dismissed Berryhill’s complaint, filed under Michigan's Whistleblower's Protection Act.

But last week, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed that dismissal, calling the trial court's ruling “factually and legally flawed.”

Berryhill is seeking reinstatement, lost wages and other damages. Berryhill is represented in the suit by Detroit attorney Scott Brooks, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a self-described "national environmental whistleblower defense organization."

Brooks said, “The irony in this case is that the Gratiot Conservation District is supposed to be safeguarding the community’s land and water; but in this case it ordered an employee to ignore serious pollution violations and then fired her when she refused.”

Read the Court of Appeal decision here.

See Robin Berryhill’s whistleblower complaint http://www.peer.org/michigan/complaint_Berryhill.htm

Appalachian Trail Vulnerable to Repeal of Roadless Rule

Analysis by the nonprofit Coalition to Protect America's Lands (CPAL) shows that 163 miles of the Appalachian Trail go directly through endangered roadless forest areas at 31 different points in six states: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Repeal of the Roadless Rule would expose highlights of the Trail such as Springer Mountain in Georgia, White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, and views from some of the highest peaks along the trail, including the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina and the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee to development or logging.

By the numbers, there are 363,388 acres of roadless areas that touch the Trail. Within one mile of the Trail, are 16 roadless areas involving 38,017 acres. Established in 1937 it was designated as the first National Scenic Trail in 1968.

Campaign to Protect America's Lands Director Peter Altman said, "The Bush administration's repeal of the roadless rule threatens the Appalachian Trail's recreational and natural values by hacking apart the forest protections that preserve the character and ecology of the trail."

Altman said repeal of the rule would be "insulting the efforts and commitments of the thousands of volunteers who have worked so hard to make the Trail a special treasure."

Heritage Forests Campaign Co-Director Robert Vandermark said, "The Bush plan eviscerates current forests protections embodied in the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and instead abdicates national forest stewardship to state and local politicians who could either petition for protection of roadless areas in their states - or for more logging, mining and drilling."

The substitute policy announced is "entirely unworkable," Vandermark said. "Few, if any, governors are going to spend their limited resources and political capital asking the Forest Service to protect these remaining wild areas."

The CPAL report - including state-by-state impact details and downloadable maps for each threatened Appalachian Trail segment - are available on the Web at http://www.protectamericaslands.org/appalachian_trail.asp.

On July 28, 2004, CPAL released a separate report showing that the Bush administration's reversal of roadless rule protections for national forests jeopardizes 23 U.S. national parks and monuments in 16 states, raising the specter of serious harm being done to outdoor "crown jewels" that are traveled to each year by more than 40 million Americans.

The 23 endangered national parks and monuments account for 15 percent of all the land in the National Park Service system. Nearly 43 million people visited the jeopardized national parks and monuments in 2003.

The public can submit formal comments on the new rule at the website of The Heritage Forests Campaign http://www.ourforests.org

Satellites See Clues to Florida's Black Water Patches

Now, scientists are using remote sensing satellites to monitor and predict such events.

For the first time, scientists may now detect a phytoplankton bloom in its early stages by looking at its red glow under sunlight, due to the unique data from two NASA satellites.

According to a study conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, this phenomenon can forewarn fishermen and swimmers about developing cases of red tides that occur within plumes of dark-colored runoff from river and wetlands, sometimes causing black water events.

Dark colored river runoff includes the agricultural fertilizers nitrogen and phosphorus. These nutrients cause blooms of marine algae called phytoplankton. During extremely large phytoplankton blooms where the algae is so concentrated the water may appear black, some phytoplankton die, sink to the ocean bottom and are eaten by bacteria.

The bacteria consume the algae and deplete oxygen from the water. Starved of oxygen, the fish die off.

Chuanmin Hu and Frank Muller-Karger, oceanographers at the College of Marine Science of University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, used fluorescence data from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments aboard both NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.

The human eye cannot detect the red fluorescence, but MODIS senses the glow or phytoplankton fluorescence, from the plant's chlorophyll. Traditional satellites that measure ocean color cannot distinguish phytoplankton blooms within these patches.

The ability to detect glowing areas of water helps researchers identify whether phytoplankton are present in large dark water patches that form off the coast of Florida.

Without this information, it is impossible to differentiate phytoplankton blooms from plumes of dark river runoff that contain few individual phytoplankton cells.

The study traces the black water patches that appeared in the fall of 2003 near Charlotte Harbor, near the Florida Keys, to some 200 kilometers (124 miles) away upstream.

Said Hu, "These results suggest that the delicate Florida Keys ecosystem is connected to what happens on land and in two remote rivers, the Peace and Caloosahatchee, as they drain into the ocean. Extreme climate conditions, such as abnormally high rainfall in spring and summer 2003, may accelerate such connections."

Although satellites cannot directly measure nutrients in lakes, rivers, wetlands and oceans, remote sensing technology measure the quantities of plankton. Scientists can then calculate how much nutrient might be needed to grow those amounts of plankton.

This study appeared in a recent issue of the American Geophysical Union's "Geophysical Research Letters."

Alaska's Wild Salmon Contaminant Levels Low

"We continue to recommend the unrestricted consumption of fish from Alaska waters," said Public Health Director Richard Mandsager, M.D. "Fish is a very nutritious protein source that is low in saturated fat, providing essential fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins. It is far more healthful than many alternative replacement foods," he said.

Fishers from many walks of life contributed samples of the five species of salmon, halibut, Pollock, sablefish, Pacific cod, lingcod and rockfish. The fish were collected during 2001 and 2002 from marine waters and at the mouth of rivers through out the state. Northern pike were caught from lakes and rivers in the Koyukuk, Kuskokwim, Yukon and Susitna River drainages and sheefish from rivers draining in to Kotezbue Sound.

Forty pesticides were measured in each tissue sample. The lab results show that organochlorine contaminant concentrations in Alaska fish are low, and are not expected to cause adverse health effects in even the most frequent fish consumers.

State officials recommend ongoing monitoring to better understand the factors influencing contaminant concentrations in Alaska fish and wildlife, actual exposure levels in humans who consume wild foods, and trends in contaminant concentrations over time.

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Ernesta Ballard said, “Alaskans, especially those living in rural areas, eat much more wild food than people in other parts of the United States. For Native Alaskans, harvesting local food is an integral part of their culture and economy. We want to give Alaskans as much information as possible to help them make wise and healthy dietary choices.”

Still state officials acknowledged, the sample size in this study was "relatively small, only a few fish species were analyzed, and the fish were of a size range that may or may not be representative of the fish most commonly consumed."