Most Recent Issue:

April 1, 2002

A publication of the State Environmental Resource Center (SERC) bringing you the most important news on state environmental issues from across the country.

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In this Edition:
Headliner: Drought Bringing Rivers to Record Low Levels
Issue Spotlight: Sustainability
Watchdog: ALEC’s “Environmental Good Samaritan Act”
SERC Update: State E-News Ticker
News From the States:
Protecting Wildlands
*NY: Bill Catalogs & Protects Old Growth Forests
*SC: One Foreign Specie Introduced to Kill Another 
*MN: Battle Over ATV Restrictions Heating Up 
Children’s Health
*NY: Bill Mandates Lead Testing in Schools 
Land & Water Use
*GA: DNR Considers Strict Water Use Rules
*IA: Farm Bureau Fighting Hard to Kill CAFO Bill
*NJ: Bill Protects Water Resources When Acquiring Open Space
*WA: Environmental Group & Loggers Join to Fight Sprawl 
Clean Energy
*CA: Tailpipe Emissions Bill Begins Senate Journey
Protecting Wildlife
*AZ: Apache Tribe Helps Save Endangered Mexican Gray Wolf
*RI: State Suing Power Plant for Fish Decline
*NY: Bill Banning Lead Sinkers Close to Passage
Recycling & Waste Disposal
*KY: Trash Clean-Up Bill Passes Senate
*CA: Second State to Ban Compost-Poisoning Herbicide
Equal Justice
*PA: House Overhauls Open Records Law
Other News
*Segway “Human Transporter” Bills Passing Nationwide

Headliner: Drought Bringing Rivers to Barest of Levels
A USA Today analysis last week found that scores of the nation's rivers have fallen to historic low levels during the past four months. Using U.S. Geological Survey data that tracks the flow of rivers nationwide, the analysis identified 59 points on 57 rivers that reached record low levels in March. Less water flowed down these rivers than at any comparable time in at least 30 years and, in many cases, as long as 80 years. Using temperature and precipitation data, federal scientists calculate that severe or extreme drought has spread over 21% of the country. More than half the states have been affected, among them almost every single state along the East Coast. Only those states along the West Coast and in the Mississippi Valley have been spared. Dana Murch, a member of Maine's drought task force, says the drought is having a devastating impact on wildlife as well. "We're draining these big lakes. If they don't fill up again, the loons may not nest and the bass may not be successful in spawning," said Murch. For more information about USA Today’s analysis, click here.

Issue Spotlight: Sustainability
Our nation’s history of resource use has been a story of exploitation: exterminating species, damming rivers, over-cutting timber, over-harvesting fish, over-developing landscapes, polluting air and contaminating water, all for short term economic gain. In general, sustainability seeks to find a way to accommodate our human needs without damaging the environment, and perhaps even restoring damaged ecosystems so that they function somewhat like they once did. Last week Oregon was recognized by the Resource Renewal Institute, who analyzed all 50 states and ranked Oregon’s sustainability state policies and management strategies the best in the country. SERC’s sustainability page at http://serconline.org/sustainability, is based on Oregon’s practices and offers some of the tools necessary for you to bring sustainability legislation to your state. To read the Resource Renewal Institute's new report, The State of the States: Assessing the Capacity of States to Achieve Sustainable Development Through Green Planning, click here.

Watchdog: ALEC’s “Environmental Good Samaritan Act”
The American Legislative Exchange Council’s “Environmental Good Samaritan Act” is actually a pro-mining bill that provides immunity to mining companies in exchange for allowing others to do voluntary reclamation of the land and water the mine had earlier damaged. The bill releases mines from legal liability for harm they might do to people or the environment, and dictates that a mining corporation can not be the subject of a citizen suit. This ALEC bill asks every legislature to find that their “State does not possess sufficient resources to reclaim all the abandoned lands and to abate the water pollution.” A “good Samaritan” acts to help others, this bill is written for mines to help themselves.

SERC Update: State E-News Ticker
If you would like up-to-the-minute state environmental news from across the country, please visit our website at serconline.org and check out the State E-News Ticker in the upper right hand corner.

News From the States:

Protecting Wildlands
New York: Bill Catalogs & Protects Old Growth Forests
Rep. Brodsky has introduced A 481, a bill that would require the cataloging of the old growth forests on New York state land and prohibit their logging. Brodsky says proposals to allow logging of old growth forests, such as the recent attempt to do so in Allegany State Park, underscore the need for this legislation. 

South Carolina: One Foreign Specie Introduced to Kill Another 
The 3/28 The State reported that an accidentally imported Asian insect that threatens to wipe out the entire range of hemlock trees along much of the East Coast has found its way into South Carolina, threatening the slow-growing guardians of many of the state's mountain streams. The hemlock woolly adelgid has forestry officials so concerned they have taken the unusual step of introducing another non-native species to kill the insect. Last week, they released thousands of Japanese lady beetles in the state in hopes the beetles will feed on the woolly adelgids before they wipe out the hemlocks. Officials say the Japanese lady beetles are the last resort-pesticides can kill the hemlock woolly adelgid on individual trees, but spraying entire forests is not feasible. Despite the risk of bringing a non-native pest into the ecosystem, at least one environmental group backs the plan. "I'm a little leery of it, but we're looking at losing all the trees if we don't do something," said Eric Orr of the Chattooga Conservancy. "We're at our wits end." 

Minnesota: Battle Over ATV Restrictions Heating Up
With 150,000 registered all-terrain vehicle owners in the state and recent published reports documenting what has been seen as abuses by ATV users on state forest land, the issue has emerged late in the session but with a lot of heat. The Senate has approved an amendment to the DNR forestry and game bill that would limit the use of ATVs in state forests to designated areas after the DNR comes up with 2,000 miles of designated trails. DNR Commissioner Allen Garber has signed off on the Senate plan and local environmental groups are saying that keeping ATVs users in designated areas is their top priority for this legislation.

Children’s Health
New York: Bill Mandates Lead Testing in Schools
Environmental Advocates of New York is strongly endorsing A 7677, a bill that would require school districts to test drinking water in schools for lead. If lead levels exceed standards set in the public health law, a school district would be required to provide a safe water supply for drinking, notify parents of the contamination, and retest to ensure the issue is remediated. 

Land & Water Use
Georgia: DNR Considers Strict Water Use Rules
AP reported last week that strict new rules for water use could go into effect next year if they are approved by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to cope with the ongoing drought. The plan would create four levels of drought. The most severe, Level 4, would trigger a ban on outdoor water use, with a few exemptions such as retail garden centers. Even when there is no drought -- Level 1 – some outdoor watering restrictions would remain in place at all times. ''We need to condition people to only water on certain days,'' said Bob Kerr of the DNR. ''We shouldn't wait until the drought occurs.'' 

Iowa: Farm Bureau Fighting Hard to Kill CAFO Bill
The Des Moines Register reported that Iowa Farm Bureau flexed its political muscle last week when more than 300 members descended on the Statehouse to tell lawmakers of their opposition to ground breaking proposed CAFO regulations. Hog and cattle producers, wearing "We're good for Iowa" stickers, buttonholed their state representatives and senators in the Capitol rotunda. The lobbying effort was capped by a news conference where Farm Bureau leaders urged lawmakers to delay debate of SF 2293 until more is known about its impact on Iowa's largest industry. 

Maine: Senate Passes Bill to Track Water Withdrawals
The Senate gave its final approval last week to LD 1488, a bill to help the state monitor withdrawals of water from natural supplies. The legislation now goes to Gov. Angus King for his signature. Under the bill, users whose withdrawals exceed certain volumes would have to report, within ranges, the volume of water they take. The information will help the state Department of Environmental Protection to shape a water-use policy to maintain flows and protect aquatic life.

New Jersey: Bill Protects Water Resources When Acquiring Open Space
NCEL reported last week that New Jersey State Senator Bob Smith has introduced a bill, S 889, which establishes water resources as a top priority when the state purchases land through open space acquisition programs.

Washington: Environmental Group & Loggers Join to Fight Sprawl
The 3/27 USA Today reported that the Evergreen Forest Trust, an environmental group who is eager to slow urban sprawl, has agreed to buy an area of timberland nearly twice the size of nearby Seattle for $185 million— and they'll pay for it by letting logging continue. The unusual deal is one of many creative financial arrangements conservation groups across the nation are using to acquire open space, much of it large tracts owned by timber companies. Bonds will be sold to buy the land, and timber revenue will pay them off.

Clean Energy
California: Tailpipe Emissions Bill Begins Senate Journey
Today’s Sacramento Bee reported that AB 1058, a bill that would make California the first state to regulate vehicle exhaust related to global warming gets its first test this week in the Senate's Committee on Environmental Quality. The bill cleared the Assembly on Jan. 31, angering carmakers who claim technology doesn't yet exist to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Unlike previous bills to regulate toxic emissions such as ozone and diesel soot, the bill requires carmakers to begin limiting natural byproducts of the internal combustion engine. Those include carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide and methane. Robert Epstein, head of Environmental Entrepreneurs, a coalition of 80 venture capitalists and business leaders, said the issue is as much economic as environmental. 

Saving Wildlife
Arizona: Apache Tribe Helps Save Endangered Mexican Gray Wolf
AP reported last week that the White Mountain Apache Indian tribe has agreed to let as many as six endangered Mexican gray wolf packs roam over 1.5 million acres of Indian land. "The reservation provides a much-needed sanctuary for wolves that are having a difficult time surviving," said Craig Miller, regional director of Defenders of Wildlife. "Humans are shooting these wolves. The reservation has far fewer humans and fewer chances for conflicts."

Rhode Island: State Suing Power Plant for Fish Decline
Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse last week formally notified owners of Brayton Point Power Plant in Somerset of his intent to file a lawsuit against the company in 30 days for polluting Mount Hope Bay. The state alleges that since the 1970s, the power plant's practice of taking in nearly 1 billion gallons of bay water each day to cool its generators and discharging heated water back into the bay has caused an 87 percent decline in fin fish in the once thriving fishing ground.

New York: Bill that Bans Lead Sinkers Close to Passage 
The New York Times reported last week that after over 10 years of haggling, the legislature is on the brink of passing A 8683, a bill that would ban the sale of lead sinkers. Lead sinkers are a problem because loons, great blue herons, mergansers, trumpet swans, mallards and other birds go after fish bait and swallow it -- literally -- hook, line and sinker. The split-shot sinkers they ingest -- balls usually less than a quarter-inch in diameter -- are then ground up in the birds' gullets and cause lead poisoning, accounting for about 20 percent of loon deaths each year. Rep. Englebright first introduced the bill a decade ago, but it was not until this year that the New York State Conservation Council, which represents hunters and anglers, agreed to support the bill. 

Recycling & Waste Disposal
Kentucky: Trash Clean-Up Bill Passes Senate
The Senate approved a plan last week to clean up litter and dumps and to begin properly capping leaky old landfills. However, because the version of HB 174 passed by the Senate is significantly different than the version passed by the House, there are a lot of details that will need to be worked out in conference. The biggest difference is that the House version included a half cent disposal fee on fast-food cups and disposable beverage containers – a measure strongly contested by business interests. 

California: Second State to Ban Compost-Poisoning Herbicide 
Following Washington's lead, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation banned the common broadleaf herbicide clopyralid. The herbicide accumulates in lawn clippings that often are used in compost that can cause damage if it is applied to some vegetables. In California, nearly half the compost from garden clippings is used for agriculture, a $26.7 billion annual industry statewide.

Freedom of Information
Pennsylvania: House Overhauls Open Records Law
AP reported last week that Rep. John Maher’s HB 2100, a bill intended to improve access to state and local government records won the House’s overwhelming approval, with supporters saying it represents the first step toward overhauling Pennsylvania’s 44-year-old public records law. The measure would set deadlines for agencies to respond to requests for records; require government offices to provide reasons for denying access in writing; and impose fines on individuals and agencies that violate the law. Like many other states with weak open records laws, Pennsylvania’s current Right to Know law assumes that a government record can be kept from public view unless specifically designated by law as open for inspection. 
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Other News 

Segway “Human Transporter” Bills Passing Nationwide
Stateline.org reported last week that the governors of six states have signed regulations tailored to permit Segway's use in places normally off-limits to motorized vehicles. New Jersey led the way, followed by New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. Seven other state legislatures have passed bills that now await the governor's signature. Segway officials say they hope by the end of the year to have regulations passed in every one of the forty-four states whose legislatures meet this year. Unlike cars, motorcycles and bicycles, Segways don’t fit comfortably in any traditional transportation category. By the letter of the law in most states, Segway should be regulated as a motor vehicle, which would restrict its use to the street. The company fears this classification would be a death warrant for Segway, a vehicle many transportation experts predict will largely replace short-trip automobile use.

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