• Public Lands Fee Waived Saturday for Working Volunteers
  
• New Jersey Defines Carbon Dioxide as a Contaminant
  
• Willie Nelson Headlines Farm Aid to Benefit Family Farms
  
• Orange County Breaks Ground on Water Reclamation System
  
• Disinfecting Water Yields Toxic Byproduct
  
• Dredging Starts to Clean PCBs From Wisconsin Rivers
  
• Soil Retention of Pharmaceuticals Accurately Predicted
  
• Ancient Asian Ice Cores Reveal Their Secrets
  

Public Lands Fee Waived One Day for Working Volunteers

For one day, people could enter public lands without paying a fee, and for the first time, volunteers who work at a National Public Lands Day event at a site managed by one of five federal agencies received a coupon good for a fee-free day at any of the agency sites. The coupon is good for use anytime in the next year. The agencies issuing the fee-free coupons are the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and USDA Forest Service.

But until 1996, members of the public could enter all public lands without paying a fee.

The Recreation Fee Demonstration Program (Fee-Demo) was authorized by a rider to the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1996. Fee-Demo was to be a three year experiment "to demonstrate the feasibility of user generated cost recovery for the operation and maintenance of recreation areas or sites" on public lands.

Extended till September 30, 2001 by a rider to 1997’s Interior Appropriations Bill, and extended until December 31, 2005 by several other riders, the Fee-Demo Program has met with support from the public lands agencies and Congressional committees.

The Sierra Club and over 100 conservation groups oppose Fee-Demo as do many recreation user groups. Within segments of the recreation industry, opposition is now developing. The organization Free Our Forests lists over 250 organizations as opposed to Fee-Demo at ww.freeourforests.org/opposition.html.

Opponents of fees to enter public lands say America's public lands are our heritage and birthright. Americans own these lands, and they are not a recreational commodity.

They argue that American taxpayers already support the public lands agencies through federal taxes. Hunters, fishermen and others pay licensing fees as well as access fees and taxes, so, they contend, this fee amounts to double taxation.

National Public Lands Day is sponsored by the non-profit National Environmental Education and Training Foundation in partnership with the Interior Department's Take Pride in America effort, which is part of USA Freedom Corps.

On Friday, Interior Secretary Gale Norton joined improvement and restoration efforts at Lockhouse 8 at the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal C&O National Historical Park on Friday to mark National Public Lands Day.

Built in 1830, Lockhouse 8 provided shelter for the Lockkeeper and his family as he helped to operate the C&O Canal as a primary transportation route along the Potomac River. After canal operations ended in the early 1900s, the Lockhouse was abandoned.

Partnering with the National Park Service, the Potomac Conservancy is renovating the Lockhouse into an interpretive and education center o accomodate the 250,000 visitors a year that visit the site. The Conservancy intends the Lockhouse 8 Learning Center to provide information about the historic C&O Canal, the Potomac River and its environs and the Potomac Conservancy's conservation efforts.

New Jersey Defines Carbon Dioxide as a Contaminant

The definition of carbon dioxide as a contaminant has been controversial, and the Bush administration has declined to support such a definition.

Announcing the program Thursday, Governor James McGreevey, a Democrat, said, “As a coastal state, New Jersey is especially vulnerable to the consequences of global warming. While the Bush administration refuses to confront the serious consequences of rising greenhouse gas levels, New Jersey is taking the first steps toward real, regional initiatives that will reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions.”

New Jersey is part of the nine state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative http://www.rggi.org/ that is working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Other participating states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

In addition, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, the Eastern Canadian provinces and New Brunswick are participating as observers in the initiative.

RGGI participating states are developing a regional strategy for controlling emissions by establishing a multi-state cap-and-trade program with an emissions trading system. The proposed program, which will require electric power generators in participating states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, is planned to be designed by April 2005.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas emitted by the combustion of fossil fuels that traps the Sun’s heat in the atmosphere, contributing to a rise in the Earth’s average temperature.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will revise several air pollution control rules, bringing them in line with what state officials see as the current scientific consensus that carbon dioxide is an air contaminant.

As part of the rule proposal, the DEP is publishing a formal determination that carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for adverse impacts on human health and the environment by contributing to global warming.

In announcing proposed rule changes, McGreevey and DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell cited a new study conducted by Rutgers University and funded by the DEP that found that for the past century, human induced global warming accounted for almost one-half of the sea level rise in New Jersey.

The New Jersey Air Pollution Control Act, signed in September 1954, was one of the nation’s first state laws to recognize a need to address air pollution.

Early air pollution acts focused on public safety concerns such as the threat of fires from the open burning of leaves. Over the years, the 1954 act has been amended and evolved to form the underlying basis of many of the state’s clean air regulations in effect today. The act created the 17 member Clean Air Council, which continues to recommend air quality priorities to the DEP.

The proposed confirmation that carbon dioxide is an air contaminant will appear in the October 18, 2004 New Jersey Register and will be subject to a 60 day public comment period.

Willie Nelson Headlines Farm Aid to Benefit Family Farms

Willie Nelson entertains a sold out crowd at the Farm Aid benefit at the White River Amphitheatre (Photo courtesy Farm Aid)

Farm Aid has raised $26 million to promote a strong family farm system of agriculture. Through public education and direct grants, Farm Aid supports national, regional and local efforts to build and strengthen family farm food systems. Farm Aid promotes sustainable agriculture, fights factory farms, advocates for fair farm prices, and provides credit counseling and direct assistance to farm families.

Farm Aid promoted its newest publication at the Seattle benefit, "10 Ways to Ensure Healthy Food for You and Your Family." The guide contains tips to help people support family farm agriculture through individual and community action.

Farm Aid and local family farm organizations collaborated to host a "10 Ways in 10 Days" series of events at Pike Place Market, involving area residents in local food and farm initiatives in the 10 days leading up to the concert.

"Everyone can play a role to defend and promote family farms and good food," said Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid executive director. "Farm Aid is for family farm agriculture and all the benefits that family farmers bring to the table in addition to good, healthful food: faithful stewardship of the land, strong local communities, and our link to sustainable food production for the future."

The line-up for this year's concert included founders Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young as well as fellow board member Dave Matthews, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Trick Pony, Tony Coleman, Blue Merle, Kitty Jerry, Kate Voegele, and the Canadian duo Tegan and Sara.

The official webcast of Farm Aid 2004 can be seen on Farm Aid's Web site http://www.farmaid.org. The webcast includes performances by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, and Dave Matthews. Virtual tickets are available at: www.farmaid.org for a $10 donation.

Sponsors include Silk Soymilk, Nantucket Nectars, TalentMatch.com, Organic Valley Family of Farms, Earthbound Farms, Annie's Homegrown, Horizon Organic, GRACE: Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, American Apparel, Larry's Markets, Nine Systems, ViewCast, Giving Nature Foods, Burien Auto Dealers Association, Alori and Chouinard.

Orange County Breaks Ground on Water Reclamation System

This afternoon, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) and Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) will break ground on a facility that will take highly treated sewer water that is currently released into the ocean and purify it to better than bottle water purity.

The sewer water is purified using the same technologies that purify baby food, fruit juices, medicines and bottled water. It is purified using microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide. Microfiltration technology is a new purification technology for OCWD.

The purified water will be used in an expanded seawater intrusion barrier to augment groundwater supplies for north and central Orange County residents, according to the Orange County Water District.

An Interim Water Purification Facility operated by the OCWD is now sending five million gallons a day of purified water to the county's seawater intrusion barrier that keeps the ocean out of drinking water supplies.

The interim facility uses the same technologies as the planned groundwater replenishment system, which is a larger advanced water purification system that comes on line in 2007, producing 70 million gallons of water each day.

Orange County, Los Angeles, and state legislators and members of Orange County's Congressional Delegation are expected to attend.

Water districts facing similar population and climate pressures as California from around the globe are expected to emulate it to produce their own new high quality source of water, says OCWD spokesperson Rebecca Long.

OCWD has been protecting Orange County's underground basin from ocean intrusion for the past 25 years by purifying sewer water to drinking water standards and injecting it into the groundwater basin to keep seawater from intruding into the groundwater basin.

Until this year, water for the seawater barrier was made by Water Factory 21, one of the nation's first water purification facilities. Water Factory 21 will be demolished this summer to make room for the new groundwater replenishment system.

Denis Bilodeau, president of the Orange County Water District Board of Directors, said, "Water produced by the Interim Water Purification Facility will mimic water produced in 2007 when the permanent advanced water purification facility is complete. Water produced by this project will surpass all state and federal drinking water standards."

Orange County, California, receives an average of only 13 to 15 inches of rainfall annually, yet sustains a population of 2.5 million people. The OCWD manages the massive groundwater basin that underlies the northwest half of the county, supplying about 75 percent of the District's total water demand. The remaining 25 percent is obtained through the Colorado River Aqueduct and the State Water Project via the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Disinfecting Water Yields Toxic Byproduct

The new discovery raises health questions about a plan by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to encourage all U.S. water treatment facilities to adopt chlorine alternatives, said Michael Plewa, a genetic toxicologist in the UI Department of Crop Sciences.

"This research says that when you go to alternatives, you may be opening a Pandora's box of new DBPs [disinfection byproducts], and these unregulated DBPs may be much more toxic, by orders of magnitude, than the regulated ones we are trying to avoid," he said.

Plewa and colleagues, three of them with the EPA, report on the structure and toxicity of five iodoacids found in Corpus Christi, Texas water treated with chloramines. Their study is published in this month's issue of the journal "Environmental Science & Technology."

The findings have prompted a call from the National Rural Water Association for a delay of EPA's Stage 2 rule aimed at reducing the amount of previously identified toxic disinfection byproducts occurring in chlorine treated water.

Some disinfection byproducts in chlorine treated water have been found to raise the risks of various cancers, as well as birth and developmental defects.

The use of chloramines, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, is one of three alternatives to chlorine disinfectant, which has been used for more than 100 years. Other alternatives are chlorine-dioxide and ozone. All treatments react to compounds present in a drinking water source, resulting in a variety of chemical disinfectant byproducts.

"The iodoacids may be the most toxic family of disinfection byproducts to date," Plewa said.

The chemicals raise "new levels of concerns," he said. "Not only do they represent a potential danger because of all the water consumed on a daily basis, water is recycled back into the environment. What are the consequences? The goal of Stage 2 is to reduce disinfection byproducts, particularly the ones that fall under EPA regulations, and especially the ones that have been structurally identified and found to be toxic."

Some 600 disinfection byproducts have been identified since 1974, Plewa said. Scientists believe they have identified half of all disinfection byproducts that occur in chlorine-treated water, but only 17 percent of those occurring in chloramines-treated water, 28 percent in water treated with chlorine-dioxide, and just eight percent in ozone treated water.

The disinfection byproducts in Corpus Christi's water were found as part of an EPA national occurrence survey of selected public water treatment plants done in 2002.

The survey reported on the presence of 50 high priority disinfection byproducts based on their carcinogenic potential. The report, published in April, also identified 28 new disinfection byproducts.

Co-authors with Plewa on the EPA-funded study were Elizabeth Wagner, a scientist in the department of crop sciences at Illinois; Susan Richardson and Alfred D. Thruston Jr. of the EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory; Yin-Tak Woo of the EPA's Risk Assessment Division, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics; and A. Bruce McKague of the CanSyn Chemical Corp. of Toronto.

Dredging Starts to Clean PCBs From Wisconsin Rivers

Hydraulic dredging of sediment contaminated by PCBs has begun in the Lower Fox River at Little Lake Butte des Morts, a portion of the river that lies between Menasha and Appleton, and will continue over the next four to six years.

Cleanup activities are also beginning near the Sheboygan River in Sheboygan and are moving into a new phase at the Hayton Millpond near New Holstein in Calumet County.

“This is the real deal. We're starting to move mud,” says Greg Hill, who leads the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) contaminated sediment section. "After a lot of heavy lifting by a lot of people in getting enough information to show there's a solution to these problems, we're beginning the full scale remediation projects to remove the source of fish consumption advisories in these waters.”

The beginning of work on the Lower Fox River culminates more than a quarter century of investigations, planning and studies aimed at determining the extent of PCB contamination, who was responsible, and how best to tackle the problem.

The cleanup involves dredging contaminated sediment with a hydraulic dredge from the lake bottom and pumping it through a pipeline to the treatment facility located on the west shore of Little Lake Butte des Morts.

The dredging operations will take place 24 hours a day, six days a week until the weather gets too cold, which is usually around mid-November.

Polychlorinated biphenyls are a family of 209 related chemical compounds that were once widely used in electrical and hydraulic equipment, lubricants, and carbonless copy paper and other products. They were discharged in wastewater or leaked onto and into the ground and eventually entered the rivers. Their manufacture was banned in 1976 in the United States.

Testing of fish for contaminants led to the discovery of PCB contamination in fish from the Lower Fox, which was eventually traced back to paper mills and PCBs in the Sheboygan River was traced to the Tecumseh Products Co. engine manufacturing plant.

The Hayton Millpond site near New Holstein in Calumet County was discovered in 1990, after tests revealed high PCB levels in fish from the South Branch of the Manitowoc River and investigation showed the contamination centralized in the backwaters of the Hayton Millpond and nearby farm fields.

The cause of those contaminants is unknown, but Tecumseh, which owns land next to the contaminated fields, has agreed to work with the Department of Natural Resources to clean up the PCBs.

Cleanup work at the Hayton Millpond site enters a critical phase this week as removal proceeds down Jordan Creek. PCB levels along Jordan Creek are 200 to 1,000 times the target cleanup level, according to Jim Baumann, DNR’s project manager.

This first phase of the cleanup is expected to cost $60 million, which two companies will fund.

There are several hundred sites along Wisconsin’s rivers and its Great Lakes coastline where chemical contaminants are buried in river or lake bottom mud. The contaminants are released into the water and are absorbed by fish and other aquatic creatures, and in turn, by the wildlife and humans that eat the fish.

Infants and children of women who have eaten a lot of fish contaminated with PCBs may have lower birth weights and be delayed in physical development and learning. PCBs also may affect reproductive function and the immune system in humans and animals and are also associated with cancer risk.

The overall cleanup is expected to reduce or eliminate fish consumption advisories for PCBs from the affected stretches of the river and Green Bay.

Soil Retention of Pharmaceuticals Accurately Predicted

Johns Hopkins researchers have created a way to determine the extent to which hazardous contaminants will linger on a piece of land and the rate at which they will migrate toward water resources.

The new approach will help regulators decide whether the pollutants need to be removed and how best to accomplish this, the researchers say.

"If we release chemicals into the environment, we need to know what will happen to them," said Thanh Helen Nguyen, a graduate student who played a leading role in adapting the math tool and demonstrating its effectiveness.

"For many years, we've made predictions with a method that doesn't work very well on many chemical pollutants in soil. This new tool does a much better job."

For years, environmental chemists have made predictions about how long the non-ionic pollutants will stay there by using octanol, an organic solvent, as a chemical stand-in for natural organic material. "But this technique doesn't work very well for polar pollutants that interact with surrounding solids in a more complex way," Nguyen said.

The doctoral student gathered 359 data points from published experiments involving 75 chemical pollutants. She then borrowed a medicinal chemist's method of converting each of the 75 pollutants to a mathematical representation.

"We worked with these numbers and came up with a very simple equation that predicts what fraction of these non-charged chemicals will make their home in the soil rather than water under any given set of conditions," Nguyen said. "The equation works very well with complicated chemical structures like pesticides and pharmaceuticals."

Nguyen, who is working toward her doctorate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, described the improved pollution predictor during an August 26 presentation in Philadelphia at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. nmental Engineering, said, "We've had a generally positive reaction to this technique so far."The researchers' goal is "to move this into the mainstream so that more practitioners and regulators in the environmental engineering field can take advantage of it," he said.

Nguyen grew up in Vietnam and completed her undergraduate studies at the Ivan Franko National University of L'viv, Ukraine. Before enrolling at Johns Hopkins, she earned a master's degree in earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Ancient Asian Ice Cores Reveal Their Secrets

The University of Maine's Climate Change Institute (CCI) has loaned an ice core research instrument to the Chinese Academy of Science in Lanzhou in central China.

When all the equipment arrived, two U. Maine scientists traveled to Lanzhou to melt an 87 meter (283 foot) long ice core from a central Tibetan peak - Geladandong.

Ice cores drilled from glaciers in central Asia can shed light on changes in atmospheric circulation in that part of the world, helping scientists to understand the driving forces behind climate patterns such as the annual monsoons of India and Asian dust storms.

With funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, two CCI members - Susan Kaspari, a Ph.D. student, and laboratory coordinator Sharon Sneed - traveled to Lanzhou in August to set up an ice core melter at the Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering Research Institute.

Kaspari's research focuses on the use of chemicals in ice cores to describe environmental changes related to atmospheric circulation.

Kaspari is studying techniques to detect radionuclides such as cesium-137 and strontium-90 that can be used to date ice core layers. She is also focusing on particles of black carbon that are produced from the incomplete combustion of fuels and may contribute to global warming.

The project stems from collaboration between CCI Director Paul Mayewski and Chinese scientists that began in the 1980s in Antarctica. Mayewski conducted a joint research project with the leader of the Chinese expedition, Qin Dahe.

China has a research station on the southern continent and participates in the International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expedition that was founded by Mayewski. As part of CCI's global ice core research program, Kaspari and Mayewski have also participated in ice core drilling expeditions in Asia, co-led by Mayewski and Dahe.

Ice cores collected in Asia have been sent to the United States for processing, but transporting ice for long distances carries the risk of delays and accidents. "If an ice core melts, the data are lost. It was decided to ship [water] samples rather than ice," Kaspari said.

On their trip to Lanzhou, Kaspari and Sneed hand carried an ice core melter built at UMaine, but they had sent ahead six cartons of laboratory supplies such as vials, scalpels and gloves.

Although Kaspari conducted some filtering work in Lanzhou, she sent the samples back to UMaine for further analysis. The researchers worked closely with Shichang Kang, a Chinese scientist who has spent several years at UMaine and participated in joint expeditions with Mayewski.

A joint expedition to New Zealand, led by scientists from all three countries, is planned for this fall.