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WATER News:
20080829
 John
McCain -  Sarah
Palin -  Science
-  Politics
-  Oil
-  Money
-  Wildlife
-  History
-  Global
-  Climate
- Ice
-  Law
-  Alaska
-  Arizona
- 2008
Election -  US
-  Canada
"McCain
VP Pick No Friend to Polar Bears." ... "Alaska [Republican]
Governor Sarah Palin has ignored research showing that polar bear populations
are declining in the quest to plumb new sources of energy, according to
scientists, and environmental groups who fought to put the bears on the
endangered species list." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
to be his vice presidential candidate Friday. Palin is only the second
woman to be on a major party's ticket as VP -- the first was Geraldine
Ferraro, who ran with Democrati Walter Mondale in 1984." ... "The 44-year-old
Palin, a beauty pageant winner and former mayor of a small town in Alaska,
is an advocate of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
She has infuriated environmentalists for her support of the aerial
shooting of wolves as a way to build up herds of moose and caribou. She's
also sued the Interior Department for putting
polar bears on the endangered species list." ... "In the lawsuit, filed
this month in federal district court in the District of Columbia, Palin
argues that the government's move to list polar bears as endangered is
not based on sound science, and restricts oil and natural gas development.
The Interior Department had put the bears on the list in response to a
lawsuit filed by environmental groups, who argued that the bears are being
threatened by global warming." ... "In an interview on the conservative
CNN talk show hosted by Glenn Beck earlier this year, Palin said that she
was worried that environmentalists are using the Endangered Species Act
to block the extraction of oil and gas." ... ""In fact, the number of polar
bears has risen dramatically over the past 30 years," she said. "Our fear
(is) that extreme environmentalists will use this tool, the ESA, to eventually
curtail or halt the North Slope production of very rich resources that
America needs."" ... "But biologists who have studied polar bear populations
counter that the facts simply do not support Palin's assertion that polar
bear populations are on the rise." ... ""Polar bear populations have not
been increasing for the past 30 years, and that's a well-known fact," said
Ian Stirling, an emeritus scientist with Canada's Department of the Environment
and an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta in an interview.
Stirling has studied polar bears for 37 years -- the longest of anyone."
... "In fact, the polar bear population has actually declined by 20 percent
in Alaska's Southern Beaufort Sea since the mid-1980s, he says, referring
to peer-reviewed research that he's conducted with other scientists for
the US Geological Survey. The reason: Loss of their habitat in the form
of melting ice." -By Sarah Lai Stirland
-Wired
20080828
Global
- Climate
- Ice
- Science
- History
"Arctic
ice shrinks to second-lowest level ever." ... "Arctic
sea ice, which melts partly during each polar summer, has shrunk more this
year than in any on record except for 2007, the National Snow and Ice Data
Center has found." ... "Scientists said the data provided more ominous
indications that a global warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to
be happening before their eyes: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is now at its
second lowest level in about 30 years." ... "With several weeks left of
the melting season, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported yesterday
that sea ice in the Arctic now covers about 2.03 million square miles.
The lowest point since satellite measurements began in 1979 was 1.65 million
square miles, measured on Sept. [September] 16, 2007." ... "Declining ice
as a result of warmer temperatures in the air and ocean threatens to amplify
global warming because the sea is darker than ice and absorbs more sunlight."
-Newsday.com
20080805
John
McCain - Oil
- Money
- Politics
- 2008
Election -  New
York -  Texas
- Ocean
-  Environment
"Oilman
greases skids for McCain campaign: Among the donors
from John B. Hess' company are an office manager and her husband, who pony
up $57,000." ... "On June 10, John B. Hess, a top executive at the oil
company with his family name, summoned friends to the 21 Club, a former
speakeasy in Manhattan [New York], and delivered $285,000 to [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain and the Republican National
Committee." ... "A week later, McCain traveled to Texas and announced his
support for offshore oil drilling." ... "Hess Corp. is an East Coast gasoline
retailer with major refining and exploration operations, some of which
happen to be offshore in the Gulf of Mexico." ... "Hess was one of half
a dozen hosts who tapped friends for the maximum $28,500 donation to the
GOP. Others included investor Henry Kravis and hedge fund mogul Paul E.
Singer." -By Dan Morain
-LAtimes
20080619
John
McCain -  Barack
Obama -  Iowa
- Flood
- Disaster
- Law
-  Enforcement
- 2008
Election
"Culver
aides: McCain ignored request to cancel Iowa visit."
... "An aide to [Iowa Democratic Governor] Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday
that [2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate John McCain ignored
the governor's request to cancel a campaign visit amid a massive flood
recovery effort in the state." ... "Patrick Dillon, Culver's chief of staff,
said the governor was concerned that McCain's trip would divert local law
enforcement from the flood recovery effort to provide security for McCain."
... "[2008 Election] Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama canceled
a scheduled visit to eastern Iowa last week at the request of state officials."
-By Mike Glover -AP
via -Google
Disaster
- Environment
-  Human
-  Agriculture
-  Land
- Science
- Iowa
- History
- Weather
"Iowa
Flooding Could Be An Act of Man, Experts Say." ...
"[Cedar Falls, Iowa college professor and City Council member Kamyar] Enshayan,
director of an environmental center at the University of Northern Iowa,
suspects that this natural disaster wasn't really all that natural. He
points out that the heavy rains fell on a landscape radically reengineered
by humans. Plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies. Fields have
been meticulously drained with underground pipes. Streams and creeks have
been straightened. Most of the wetlands are gone. Flood plains have been
filled and developed." ... ""We've done numerous things to the landscape
that took away these water-absorbing functions," he said. "Agriculture
must respect the limits of nature."" ... "Officials are still trying to
understand all the factors that contributed to Iowa's flooding, and not
everyone has the same suspicions as Enshayan. For them, the cause was obvious:
It rained buckets and buckets for days on end. They say the changes in
land use were lesser factors in what was really just a case of meteorological
bad luck." ... "But some Iowans who study the environment suspect that
changes in the land, both recently and over the past century or so, have
made Iowa's terrain not only highly profitable but also highly vulnerable
to flooding." ... "" (1, 2)
-By Joel Achenbach with contributions by Kari Lydersen
-WashingtonPost
20080614
Flood
- Iowa
- Des-Moines
-  Illinois
- History
-  Health
"Thousands
Flee Rising Waters In Iowa, Ill.: Breaking Levees
Flood Des Moines [Iowa's capital], Western Ill. [Illinois]; Streets In
Cedar Rapids [Iowa] May Be Underwater For Two Weeks." ... "Days after it
rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the
Cedar River has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes, emergency
officials said Saturday." ... "The bleak news came as swollen rivers breached
levees in the state capital, Des Moines, and in far western Illinois, leading
to the evacuation of hundreds more homes." ... "Officials guess it will
be four days before the Cedar River drops enough for workers to even begin
pumping out water that has submerged at least 438 blocks, threatened the
Cedar Rapids drinking water supply and forced the evacuation of a downtown
hospital." ... "The Cedar River crested Friday night at nearly 32 feet,
12 feet higher than the old record set in 1929." (1, 2)
-AP -CBSNews
20080523
-
Oceans
- Global
- Climate
- Science
- Environmental
-
 Atmospheric
- Industrial
-  Factories
-  Cars
- History
- Animals
- Seattle
-  Washington
-  California
-  Oregon
- US
- Canada
-  Mexico
- "Acidified
seawater showing up along coast ahead of schedule."
... "Climate models predicted it wouldn't happen until the end of the century."
... "So a team led by Seattle [Washington] researchers was stunned to discover
that vast swaths of acidified seawater already are showing up along the
Pacific Coast as greenhouse-gas emissions upset the oceans' chemical balance."
... "In surveys from Vancouver Island [British Columbia, Canada] to the
tip of Baja California [Mexico], reported Thursday in the online journal
Science Express, the scientists found the first evidence that large amounts
of corrosive water are reaching the continental shelf — the shallow sea
margin where most marine creatures live." ... "Off Northern California,
the acidified water was only four miles from shore." ... ""What we found
... was truly astonishing," said oceanographer Richard Feely, of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental
Laboratory in Seattle. "This means ocean acidification may be seriously
impacting marine life on the continental shelf right now."" ... "All along
the coast, the scientists found regions where the water was acidic enough
to dissolve the shells and skeletons of clams, corals and many of the tiny
creatures at the base of the marine food chain. Acidified water also can
kill fish eggs and a wide range of marine larvae." ... ""Entire marine
ecosystems are likely to be affected," said co-author Debby Ianson, an
oceanographer at Fisheries and Oceans Canada." ... "Though it hasn't received
as much attention as global warming, ocean acidification is a flip side
of the same phenomenon. The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from
power plants, factories and cars that is raising temperatures worldwide
also is to blame for the increasing acidity of the world's oceans." ...
"Normally, seawater is slightly alkaline. When carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere dissolves into the water, it forms carbonic acid — the weak
acid that helps give soda pop its tang. The process also robs the water
of carbonate, a key ingredient in the formation of calcium carbonate shells."
... "Since the Industrial Revolution, when humans began pumping massive
amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, Feely estimates the oceans
have absorbed 525 billion tons of the man-made greenhouse gas — about one-third
of the total released during that period." ... "By keeping some of the
carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the oceans have blunted the temperature
rise due to global warming. But they've suffered for that service, with
a more than 30-percent increase in acidity." ... "The acidified water upwelling
along the coast today was last exposed to the atmosphere about 50 years
ago, when carbon-dioxide levels were much lower than they are now. That
means the water that will rise from the depths over the coming decades
will have absorbed more carbon dioxide and will be even more acidic." -By
Sandi Doughton -SeattleTimes
20080513
-
Corporate
- Environmental
- Health
- Politics
- Investigation
- Manufacturing
- Water
-
 Michigan
- Illinois
-  Indiana
-  Minnesota
-  Ohio
-  Wisconsin
- "U.S.
Senators Probe Departure of EPA Midwest Administrator."
... "The circumstances surrounding the resignation of Mary Gade, formerly
the U.S. [United States] EPA's [Environmental Protection Agency's]
regional administrator for the Midwest, are under investigation by an environmental
committee of the U.S. Senate." ... "On May 2, the "Chicago Tribune" reported
that two top aides to Johnson demanded that Gade resign or be fired by
June 1, 2008. She has since submitted her resignation and is currently
on administrative leave." ... "According to the Tribune's story, Gade believed
her forced resignation was due to her efforts to push Dow Chemical Company
to clean up dioxin contamination in Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron stemming
from its Midland, Michigan chemical manufacturing plant. Dioxin is a known
carcinogen." ... "The paper also reported that officials from Dow Chemical
had met with EPA officials in Washington in January 2008 because they were
unhappy with Gade's approach, and that Gade's handling of this issue became
the subject of criticism from her superiors in Washington." ... "On January
4, 2008, Gade terminated negotiations with Dow Chemical aimed at a settlement
to conduct a study and interim cleanup actions for dioxin contamination
along the Tittabawassee River system, the Saginaw River and the Saginaw
Bay. The negotiations under the Superfund Act began in October 2007 with
the participation of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality."
... ""I am extremely disappointed with this outcome," said Gade on January
4. "EPA approached negotiations with high hopes and realistic expectations.
Our team put in many long hours of good faith efforts that came to an unfortunate
end today. EPA is now reviewing its options for ensuring that dioxin contamination
in the river system and the Midland area can be fully addressed."" ...
"An environmental attorney, Gade was appointed regional administrator of
EPA Region 5 in October 2006 to oversee federal environmental programs
in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin."
-ENS
20080508
-
Oil
- Corporations
- Air
- Environment
- Ground
- Water
- Safety
- Health
- Science
- Politics
- "Chevron,
11 Oil Companies to Pay $423 Million in MTBE Lawsuits."
... "Water suppliers in 17 states will collect $423 million from Chevron
Corp. [Corporation], BP Plc [Public limited company] and 10 other oil companies
as part of a settlement of contamination claims involving the gasoline
additive MTBE." ... "The suits claim the oil companies contaminated wells
and underground aquifers across the country by adding methyl tertiary butyl
ether, or MTBE, to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. They claim
the oil companies hid information showing MTBE would cause ``massive''
contamination." ... "The settlement was filed yesterday with U.S. District
Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York, who is presiding over the 59 settled
lawsuits brought by 153 municipalities. The six oil companies and refineries
that didn't settle include Exxon Mobil Corp. [Corporation], the world's
biggest publicly traded oil company, according to Robert Gordon, a lawyer
for the plaintiffs." ... "The municipalities ``will use the money to continue
to treat water so that it is safe and pure,'' Gordon said in a phone interview."
... "MTBE reduces air pollution by making gasoline burn more completely
in a car's engine. MTBE discharged into the air contaminates groundwater
through rainfall. The additive has been banned in many states." ... "Estimates
of the cost to treat contaminated water in the U.S. have reached $30 billion."
... "Scheindlin denied a request by the oil companies to dismiss the suits
in 2005." ... "``Innocent water providers -- and ultimately innocent water
users -- should not be denied relief from the contamination of their water
supply if defendants breached a duty to avoid an unreasonable risk of harm
from their products,'' Scheindlin said at the time." ... "The case is In
Re: MTBE, 00-cv-1898, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
(Manhattan). " -By David Glovin
-Bloomberg
20080507
-
Water
-
 Infrastructure
- Human
- Health
-  Safety
- Enforcement
- Environment
- Underground
- Money- History
- Weather
- Animals
-  Plants
- "Aging
systems releasing sewage into rivers, streams." ...
"America's
aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers and streams,
despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned agencies
responsible for sewage overflows, a Gannett News Service analysis shows."
... "The analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data found that
since 2003, hundreds of municipal sewer authorities have been fined for
violations, including spills that make people sick, threaten local drinking
water and kill aquatic animals and plants." ... "DATABASE:
Sewer
treatment plant reports by state[.]" ... "Local governments across
the USA plan to spend billions modernizing failing wastewater systems —
some of which are more than 100 years old — over the next 10 to 20 years,
EPA, state and local sewer authority officials said." ... "Those improvement
efforts face a huge challenge mitigating problems in what the EPA estimates
to be 1.2 million miles of sewers snaking underground across the USA."
... "Waste gurgles from manholes and gushes down streams and rivers somewhere
in the USA almost every day, the EPA estimates." ... "Gannett News Service
analyzed enforcement and compliance records compiled by the EPA and state
regulators from January 2003 to February 2008." ... "The analysis found
that at least one-third of the nation's large, publicly owned sewage treatment
systems were the subject of formal enforcement actions by the EPA or state
regulators for sewage spills or other violations. Those enforcement actions
included fines as well as orders to fix problems or expand treatment capacity.
Fines totaling $35 million were assessed against 494 of the nation's 4,200
municipal facilities that treat at least 1 million gallons of sewage daily,
the analysis shows." ... "An EPA 2004 report to Congress estimated that
850 billion gallons of storm water mixed with raw sewage pour into U.S.
waters every year from older, combined sewer systems that were designed
to overflow in wet weather. These combined systems, built by cities in
the 19th and early 20th centuries, are now considered antiquated and a
threat to public health and the environment, according to the EPA and environmental
groups." ... "The EPA's 2002 Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure
Gap Analysis reported the nation's municipal sewer authorities' capital
needs to meet clean water requirements from 2000 to 2019 ranged from $331
billion to $450 billion. Based on that data, the National Association of
Clean Water Agencies now puts that range at $350 billion to $500 billion
for the next 20 years, association spokeswoman Susan Bruninga said." -By
Larry Wheeler and Grant Smith with contributions by Robert Benincasa and
Dan Klepal -USATODAY
20080502
-
 Stephen
Johnson - Corporate
-  Government
- Politics
-  Fetal
- Human
- Health
- Science
- Environmental
- Safety
- Enforcement
- Emergency
- Wildlife
- Soil
- Water
- Law
- Manufacturing
- History
- Michigan
- Illinois
- "EPA's
top Midwest regulator forced out: Mary Gade, based
in Chicago [Illinois], says [Republican President] Bush administration
made her quit over Dow Chemical case." ... "The Bush administration forced
its top environmental regulator in the Midwest to quit Thursday after months
of internal bickering about dioxin contamination downstream from Dow Chemical's
world headquarters in Michigan." ... "In an interview with the [Chicago]
Tribune, Mary Gade said two top officials at the U.S. [United States] Environmental
Protection Agency headquarters in Washington stripped her of her powers
as regional administrator and told her to quit or be fired by June 1."
... "Gade said she had told the agency she would resign her position, based
in Chicago [Illinois]." ... "For the past year, Gade has been locked in
a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated
soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich. [Michigan],
plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron." ... "Gade, a former corporate attorney
appointed by Bush in September 2006, invoked emergency powers last year
to force Dow to clean up four hot spots of dioxin, including the largest
amount of the cancer-causing chemical ever recorded in the United States."
... "In January, Dow urged officials at the EPA's [Environmental Protection
Agency's] headquarters to intervene after Gade broke off negotiations intended
to renew the terms for a more comprehensive cleanup. Neither side would
reveal details, citing confidentiality agreements, but Gade said Dow resisted
taking steps needed to protect human health and wildlife." ... "Though
regional EPA administrators typically have wide latitude to enforce environmental
laws, Gade drew fire from officials in Washington last month after she
sent contractors to test soil in a Saginaw [Michigan] neighborhood where
Dow had found high dioxin levels." ... "She said top lieutenants to Stephen
Johnson, the national EPA administrator, repeatedly questioned her aggressive
action against Dow, which long ago acknowledged it is responsible for the
dioxin contamination but has resisted federal and state involvement in
cleanup plans." ... "Dow dumped dioxin-contaminated waste into the waterways
for most of the last century. The chemical, which is so toxic that it is
measured in trillionths of a gram, was a manufacturing byproduct of the
Vietnam-era herbicide Agent Orange and other chlorinated herbicides." ...
"Company documents show Dow knew by the mid-1960s that it could make people
sick or even kill them." ... "Citing years of independent studies, the
EPA says dioxin can cause cancer, disrupt the immune system and alter fetal
development." ... ""We have a responsibility to make sure people are living
in a healthy and safe environment," Gade said. "This problem has been out
there for more than 30 years, and it's unconscionable that action hasn't
been taken."" (1, 2)
-By Michael Hawthorne
-ChicagoTribune
20080430
-
Agriculture
- Factory
- Companies
- Poor
- People
- Nutrition
- Health
- US
-
- World
- Biofuel
- Air
- Soil
- Water
- Environment
- Animals
- Plants
- Science
- "Shortages
Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer." ... "Some
kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping
farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing
to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations’ World Food
Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition."
... "Rising demand for food and biofuels prompted farmers everywhere to
plant more crops." ... "Fertilizer companies are confident the shortage
will be solved eventually, noting that they plan to build scores of new
factories. But that will probably create fresh problems in the long run
as the world grows more dependent on fossil fuels to produce chemical fertilizers."
... "The demand for fertilizer has been driven by a confluence of events,
including population growth, shrinking world grain stocks and the appetite
for corn and palm oil to make biofuel. But experts say the biggest factor
has been the growing demand for food, especially meat, in the developing
world." ... "Fertilizer is plant food, a combination of nutrients added
to soil to help plants grow. The three most important are nitrogen, phosphorus
and potassium. The latter two have long been available. But nitrogen in
a form that plants can absorb is scarce, and the lack of it led to low
crop yields for centuries." ... "That limitation ended in the early 20th
century with the invention of a procedure, now primarily fueled by natural
gas, that draws chemically inert nitrogen from the air and converts it
into a usable form." ... "Environmental groups fear increased use, particularly
of nitrogen fertilizer made using fossil fuels. Because plants do not absorb
all the nitrogen, much of it leaches into streams and groundwater. That
runoff has long been recognized as a major pollution problem, and it is
growing." ... "A barometer of the pollution is the rising number of dead
zones where rivers meet the sea. In the Gulf of Mexico, for instance, nitrogen
runoff from fields in the Corn Belt washes downstream and feeds plant life
in the gulf. The algae blooms suck oxygen from the water, killing other
marine life." (1, 2)
-By Keith
Bradsher and Andrew
Martin -NYTimes
20080423
-
Noteworthy
- Government
- EPA
- Opinion
- Science
- Politics
-
 Food
-  Drug
- Oceanic
- Atmospheric
- Climate
- Health
- California
- Investigation
- "Hundreds
of EPA Scientists Report Political Interference Over Last Five Years:
UCS [Union of Concerned Scientists] calls for strengthened protections
for federal scientists." ... "An investigation of the Environmental Protection
Agency released today found that 889 of nearly 1,600 staff scientists reported
that they experienced political interference in their work over the last
five years. The study, by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), follows
previous UCS investigations of the Food and Drug Administration, Fish and
Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and
climate scientists at seven federal agencies, which also found significant
administration manipulation of federal science." ... ""Our investigation
found an agency in crisis," said Francesca Grifo, director of UCS's Scientific
Integrity Program. "Nearly 900 EPA scientists reported political interference
in their scientific work. That's 900 too many. Distorting science to accommodate
a narrow political agenda threatens our environment, our health, and our
democracy itself."" ... "The UCS report comes amidst a flurry of controversial
activity swirling around the EPA. Congress is currently investigating administration
interference in a new chemical toxicity review process as well as California's
request to regulate tailpipe emissions. And in early May, the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee is expected to hold a hearing on political
interference in the new EPA ground-level ozone pollution standard." ...
"UCS's investigation revealed political interference is most pronounced
in offices where scientists write regulations and at the National Center
for Environmental Assessment, where scientists conduct risk assessments
that could lead to strengthened regulations." ... ""The investigation shows
researchers are generally continuing to do their work," said Dr. Grifo.
"But their scientific findings are tossed aside when it comes time to write
regulations."" ... "Nearly 100 scientists identified the [Republican President
Bush's] White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the primary
culprit." -UCSUSA.org
-
Government
- Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- Human
- Health
- Law
- Air
- Ground
- Water
-
 Homes
-  Workplace
- Industry
- US
- Global
- Climate
- Free
Speech - Censorship
- "Interference
at the EPA: Science and Politics at the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency." ... "The U.S. [United States] Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has the simple yet profound charge "to protect human health
and the environment." EPA scientists apply their expertise to protect
the public from air and water pollution, clean up hazardous waste, and
study emerging threats such as global warming. Because each year brings
new and potentially toxic chemicals into our homes and workplaces, because
air pollution still threatens our public health, and because environmental
challenges are becoming more complex and global, a strong and capable EPA
is more important than ever." ... "Yet challenges from industry lobbyists
and some political leaders to the agency's decisions have too often led
to the suppression and distortion of the scientific findings underlying
those decisions—to the detriment of both science and the health of our
nation. While every regulatory agency must balance scientific findings
with other considerations, policy makers need access to the highest-quality
scientific information to make fully informed decisions." ... "Concern
over this problem led the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to investigate
political interference in science at the EPA. The investigation combines
dozens of interviews with current and former EPA staff, analysis of government
documents, more than 1,600 responses to a survey sent to current EPA scientists,
and written comments from EPA scientists." ... "The results of these investigations
show an agency under siege from political pressures. On numerous issues—ranging
from mercury pollution to groundwater contamination to climate change—political
appointees have edited scientific documents, manipulated scientific assessments,
and generally sought to undermine the science behind dozens of EPA regulations."
... "These findings highlight the need for strong reforms to protect EPA
scientists, make agency decision making more transparent, and reduce politicization
of the regulatory process. Congress, the next president, and the next EPA
Administrator must restore independence and scientific integrity to the
EPA by:"
-
"
* Protecting EPA Scientists: Scientists should be free to report the distortion,
manipulation, and suppression of their work without fear of retribution.
Congress should pass a whistleblower law that includes protection for scientists.
The EPA should adopt a communications policy that lets scientists speak
freely to the press about their findings."
-
"
* Making the EPA More Transparent: Too many decisions are made behind closed
doors with little accountability. The EPA’s scientific findings should
be freely available to the public. The EPA should open up its decision-making
process to congressional and public scrutiny to help reveal misuses of
science[.]"
-
"
* Reforming the Regulatory Process: The White House should not change scientific
findings in order to weaken, delay, or prevent new public protections."
-
"
* Ensuring Robust Scientific Input to EPA's Decision Making: The EPA should
review and strengthen how it uses the scientific expertise of its staff
and external advisory committees to create policies—especially when scientific
input is critical or required by law."
-
"
* Depoliticizing Funding, Monitoring, and Enforcement: Problems with funding,
monitoring and enforcement also need to be addressed by Congress and the
next President to ensure that the EPA is the robust environmental agency
that our country needs."
-UCSUSA.org/scientific_integrity/interference
20080409
-
Water
- Transportation
- Construction
- Technology
- History- Environmental
- Health
- Politics
- Government
- New
York
- "US
Water Pipelines Are Breaking." ... "The infrastructure
that delivers water to the nation's cities is badly aging and in need of
repairs." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency says utilities will
need to invest more than $277 billion over the next two decades on repairs
and improvements to drinking water systems. Water industry engineers put
the figure drastically higher, at about $480 billion." ... "Water utilities,
largely managed by city governments, have never faced improvements of this
magnitude before. And customers will have to bear the majority of the cost
through rate increases, according to the American Water Works Association,
an industry group." ... "Engineers say this is a crucial era for the nation's
water systems, especially in older cities like New York [City, New York],
where some pipes and tunnels were built in the 1800s and are now nearing
the end of their life expectancies." ... ""Our generation hasn't experienced
anything like this. We weren't around when the infrastructure was being
built," said Greg Kail, spokesman for the water industry group. "We didn't
pay for the pipes to be put in the ground, but we sure benefited from the
improvements to public health that came from it."" ... "Cities have a hard
time convincing residents that they should spend money on something they
never see, buried hundreds of feet underground. And often, public officials
pawn the responsibility off on the next person elected, Kail said." -By
Colleen Long -AP
via -SeattleTimes
20080403
-
Global
- Climate
- Atmosphere
- Science
- Antarctic
- Ice
- History
- UN
- San
Diego - California
- Iowa
- US
- "Dust
plays huge role in climate change: Tiny particles
heat up the atmosphere faster than scientist once believed. The good news
is this dust can be cleaned up fairly quickly." ... "Scientists know that
dust affects climate. Tiny particles create veils that reflect sunlight
and cool the atmosphere. Dark particles absorb sunshine and warm things
up. But as scientists look deeper into the dust-climate connection, they
find that they have underestimated its importance." ... "Research published
April 3 in Nature reveals the tight linkage between atmospheric dust flows
and Antarctic temperatures during ice ages over the past 800,000 years.
A research review published March 23 in Nature Geoscience online shows
that black carbon particles in the atmosphere have a more powerful global-warming
effect than any of the greenhouse gases except carbon dioxide. And these
particles are 60 percent as effective as CO2 itself. That's far more powerful
than the estimate in last year's report of the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)." ... "The good news is that black carbon
particles such as diesel soot or wood-stove smoke only stay airborne for
weeks. (It takes a century to get rid of today's CO2 emissions.) This fact
offers an opportunity for instant payback, say study authors V. Ramanathan
at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego [California] and Gregory
Carmichael at the University of Iowa in Iowa City [Iowa]. In an announcement
from Scripps, the authors note that commercially available technologies
exist to cut back soot emissions substantially. Using them would rapidly
reduce black-carbon warming. " -By Robert C. Cowen
-CSMonitor
20080331
-
Food
- Crisis
- World- People
- Farmers
- Land
- Fuel
- Money
- Politics
- History
- Weather
- Drought
-
 China
- UN
- "Tensions
rise as world faces short rations." ... "Food prices
are soaring, a wealthier Asia is demanding better food and farmers can't
keep up. In short, the world faces a food crisis and in some places it's
already boiling over." ... "Around the globe, people are protesting and
governments are responding with often counterproductive controls on prices
and exports -- a new politics of scarcity in which ensuring food supplies
is becoming a major challenge for the 21st century." ... "Plundered by
severe weather in producing countries and by a boom in demand from fast-developing
nations, the world's wheat stocks are at 30-year lows. Grain prices have
been on the rise for five years, ending decades of cheap food." ... "Drought,
a declining dollar, a shift of investment money into commodities and |
