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May 13, 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: Survey of States Estimates Thousands of Leaking Fuel Tanks 
Issue Spotlight: Precautionary Principle for Children
Watchdog: ALEC “Junk Science Bills” 
News From the States
Children’s Health
*RI: Lead Paint Bill Gaining Traction
Protecting Wildlife
*CA: ORVs Damaging Critical Endangered Species Habitat 
*MD: State to Reduce Number of Mute Swans
Funding
*MN: Natural Resources Sales Tax Clears Committee
Clean Energy
*CA: Battle Over Historic Car Emissions Bill Rages On
Drought Management
*CO: Water Fee Hikes for Big Users Considered 
Saving Wildlands
*PA: DNR’s Meetings with Oil Industry Scrutinized
*MN: DNR Reverses “Special Areas” ATV Policy 
Equal Justice
*PA: Open Records Law Makes Headway in Senate
Safe Air & Water
*MT: Meth Lab Cleanup Growing Problem 
Land & Water Use
*CA: Gov Backs Sprawl Bill
Recycling and Waste Disposal
*NY: Scrap Tire Management Bill Introduced
Other News
*New Ruling Reigns in Mountaintop Mining

Headliner: Survey of States Estimates Thousands of Leaking Fuel Tanks
A new study by the General Accounting Office (GAO) estimates that there are more than 76,000 underground storage fuel tanks across the country that are leaking and polluting the nation’s groundwater. In a survey of all 50 states, the GAO found that more than 200,000 tanks are not being operated or maintained properly, increasing the chance of leaks. Even though the tanks may have leaked in the past, the contamination, which poses health risks, is often not discovered until the tank is dug up for removal. Most states do not know if all inactive tanks are empty because those tanks have not been inspected. The GAO said that the ability to block deliveries has proven to be one of the most effective tools for ensuring compliance with inspection requirements, but 27 states lack the authority to prohibit fuel deliveries to stations with problem tanks. To read the complete GAO report, go to http://www.gao.gov

Issue Spotlight: Precautionary Principle for Children
A United Nations study released last week found that, worldwide, about 5,500 children die each day from diseases caused by polluted air, water and food. The study comes as legislation in several states is emerging to employ the “precautionary principle” in health legislation. The precautionary principle movement has come about because much of our permissible exposure limits are based on insufficient information, are often merely extrapolated from animal data, and fail to take into account sensitive populations like pregnant women, children and the elderly. In addition, there are thousands of chemical compounds on the market for which little or no toxicity data is available. The precautionary principle guides our laws and actions based on a more risk-averse approach based upon reasonable understanding of potential risks. To learn more about this issue, visit our Precautionary Principle State Info section. 

Watchdog: ALEC's “Junk Science Bills”
Unfortunately, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been pushing “model legislation” in legislatures throughout the country to undermine the precautionary principle movement discussed in the previous section. Bills such as ALEC’s "Putting Junk Science Under a Microscope" try to keep the burden of proving whether a chemical, product, or practice is safe on the public, instead of on industry. ALEC believes that endangering a company’s bottom line with the “precautionary principle” outweighs the benefits of protecting public health or our environment. Current policies such as risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis give the benefit of the doubt to new products and technologies, which may later prove harmful. And when damage occurs, victims and their advocates have the nearly-impossible task of proving that a particular product or activity was responsible. Haven’t we learned, with DDT and other harmful chemicals, that it is better to be safe than sorry? To learn more about this and other harmful legislation, visit SERC’s Watchdog page.

News from the States

Children’s Health
Rhode Island: Lead Paint Bill Gaining Traction
The 5/9 Providence Journal reported that the newest form of Sen. Thomas J. Izzo’s bill (S 2813) was heard by the Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee last week and drew almost universal support. "I think this bill contains some of the best thinking on lead poisoning, not only in Rhode Island, but it will serve as a model for the country," said Stephanie Pollack of the Conservation Law Foundation. The bill requires the state Housing Resources Commission to set lead standards for housing and deal with landlords voluntarily seeking to comply with them. The bill also includes language proposed by the lawyers and child advocates requiring notification of all tenants in a building where a child is poisoned, lifting the so-called "innocent owner" provision that now protects many landlords from lawsuits and mandating the Health Department to make a focused enforcement campaign against the slumlords whose properties cause multiple poisonings.

Protecting Wildlife
California: ORVs Damaging Endangered Species’ Habitat 
The 5/9 LA Times reported that the California Coastal Commission has agreed to keep Oceano Dunes State Recreation Area open to off-road vehicles despite threats to endangered snowy plover, least terns and steelhead trout. Rangers expect over 47,000 people to show up over Memorial Day at the only beach in Southern and Central California where off-road vehicles can race along the water's edge. The Sierra Club, which sued to stop the mayhem, called the decision a "shameful embarrassment for the state to allow the imminent extinction of the snowy plover." Last year there were 33 nesting pairs of plovers at Oceano Dunes, one of the few nesting grounds in the state not lost to development. To learn more about this issue, visit SERC's Responsible ATV Use webpage

Maryland: State to Reduce Number of Invasive Mute Swans
The 5/11 Baltimore Sun reported on a state plan for controlling beautiful but destructive mute swan – an Asian invasive specie that was accidentally introduced to the United States in 1960s. The plan calls for creating "exclusion zones" where the birds would be eliminated by several means, including lethal injection or shooting, officials said. Officials hope that reducing the number of mute swans will keep them out of areas where the swans are eating all the underwater grasses or trampling nests of increasingly rare native birds such as black ducks and least terns. 

Funding
Minnesota: Natural Resources Sales Tax Clears Committee
The 5/8 Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that a proposed constitutional amendment to increase money dedicated to the state's natural resources cleared the House Governmental Operations committed last week. The measure would ask voters in November whether to dedicate 3/16 of 1 percent of the state's taxable sales to wildlife management programs, state and metro parks and trails, and to zoos. For more information about what other states are doing to fund conservation projects, visit our State Info web page.

Clean Energy
California: Debate Over Historic Car Emissions Bill Rages On
The 5/13 Sacramento Bee reported that AB 1058, which would require the state Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to reduce automobile greenhouse gases, is still under intense attack by the auto industry. The industry’s central argument that if the bill passes, regulatory compliance costs will rise and few Californians will be able to afford SUVs, pickups and minivans. However, NRDC and other environmental groups have countered that in Western Europe the same auto companies are responding much differently to international concerns over the buildup of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and a dozen other manufacturers have been cutting carbon dioxide emissions about 2 percent a year in their European models. According to their own ads for passenger cars, light trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles they are, on average, achieving the reductions without sticker shock or shrinking vehicle size or horsepower. "Sparen ohne verzicht" -- "savings without sacrifice" -- touts a German GM ad for the Opel Corsa Eco, a subcompact hatchback that squeezes extra kilometers from a liter of fuel with smoother-rolling tires, a lowered chassis and an aerodynamic body. 

Drought Management
Colorado: Water Fee Hikes for Big Users Considered 
The 5/7 Denver Post reported that two more of Colorado's largest cities are moving quickly to stem water use, with Aurora proposing fee hikes. Aurora leaders will debate rate hikes for higher usage and fines for water-schedule violators. Under the proposal, anyone using more than 15,000 gallons a month will pay $4.08 per each additional 1,000 gallons used. The rate triples to $6.12 per each additional 1,000 gallons if more than 25,000 gallons are used in a month.

Saving Wildlands
Pennsylvania: DNR’s Meetings with Oil Industry Scrutinized
Today, a coalition of conservation organizations petitioned the DNR to release documents detailing eighteen months of secretive meetings held between the DNR and oil and gas industry representatives. The year and a half of meetings resulted in plans to open 500,000 acres of state forest and park lands to deep drilling by private industry interests. The state's plans were disclosed last month by the Clarion, PA-based Allegheny Defense Project. Last week the auction was postponed under pressure from conservation groups and legislative leaders. 

Minnesota: DNR Reverses “Special Areas” ATV Policy
The 5/11 Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that in a policy reversal, Minnesota state forests no longer will offer special areas for ATV drivers to churn circles in mud and scramble up hillsides, two of the most environmentally damaging activities. The policy, described in a memorandum from the DNR, is part of a broader state effort to keep ATVs on trails, but it represents an about-face for the department. In an interview, DNR Deputy Commissioner Steve Morse said officials changed the policies after realizing that mudholes, hill climbs and scramble areas -- even if used by only a small percentage of off-road drivers -- cause too much environmental damage. Furthermore, said Morse, the rough driving transforms pockets of state forests into single-use areas where no other recreation can occur. To learn more about this issue, visit SERC's Responsible ATV Use webpage

Freedom of Information
Pennsylvania: Open Records Law Makes Headway in Senate
The 5/8 Pittsburg Post-Gazette reported that last week a Senate committee approved an amended state Open Records Law, setting the stage for final votes on reforms to a law that has remained untouched since long before computers revolutionized the way information is stored and used. Open-records advocates consider the present law one of the weakest in the country. The reform bill would open government documents kept on computer database to public scrutiny, set deadlines of up to 10 days for documents to be turned over to the press or public on request, require denials to be made in writing, and allow citizens to appeal denials to the local district justice instead of spending money to go to Common Pleas Court. The reform shifts the burden of proving a document should be made public from the requester to the government, but it doesn't change the definition of a public record, as some news media groups and government watchdog organizations wanted. To learn about how to implement a good open records law in your state, visit our Freedom of Information page

Safe Air & Water
Montana: Meth Lab Cleanup Growing Problem 
AP reported last week that Montana authorities expect to discover more than 100 makeshift labs for making methamphetamine this year, and that booming illegal industry poses a significant and expensive environmental cleanup problem. "You're really in a pickle in dealing with this issue," Brian McCullough, spokesman for an association of landlords, told the subcommittee of the Environmental Quality Council. Although Federal authorities pay for removal, lab sites often remain contaminated with small amounts of the drug and dangerous chemical residues. Ed Thamke, who heads the environmental investigations unit for the Department of Environmental Quality, said the agency and the clean air laws it uses do not cover the kind of indoor pollution found in the aftermath of meth labs. 

Land & Water Use
California: Gov Backs Sprawl Bill
The 5/12 LA Times reported that Gov. Gray Davis is supporting SB 1521, a bill that could propel the state back into the thick of the sprawl war. If passed, the plan would call for communities that abide by a set of growth principles, drafted by the governor's Office of Planning and Research, to get preference for certain funds. Planners call it a baby step compared with more radical policies enacted in Oregon and Maryland, but the bill has triggered fierce opposition from local government and real estate lobbyists. Some planners complain that those groups have already managed to poke loopholes in the bill. The debate highlights the political pitfalls inherent in attempts by state agencies to manage California's explosive growth. It has been such a controversial issue, in fact, that this is the first time the Office of Planning and Research has sponsored a piece of legislation in nearly 20 years. For related informaiton, visit SERC's Traffic Congestion Relief page

Recycling and Waste Disposal
New York: Scrap Tire Management Bill Introduced
Environmental Advocates of New York is strongly endorsing A 10260, which would create a state scrap tire policy for dealing with the state's waste tire stockpiles. The bill calls for tougher enforcement of a ban on waste tire disposal and a fee that would be collected at vehicle registration time. The proceeds of the registration fee would go for a multi-tiered program including municipal grants and loans for municipalities with stockpile problems, for providing incentives to companies for tire material use, and to enable the state DOT projects using tire shreds. The group says the bill is needed because the state’s rural landscape is blotted by as many as fifty million waste tires, each made from two gallons of petroleum and a host of other toxic materials, just waiting for the right incendiary moment to send their poisons into the air, earth, and water. In addition, the group points out that the hundreds of waste tire stockpiles represent more than eyesores: they provide some of the best breeding grounds for insects, including those bearing the West Nile Virus.

Other News

New Ruling Reins in Mountaintop Mining
The 5/10 Washington Post reported that the coal industry was reeling yesterday from a federal court ruling that would end a long-standing practice of filling rivers and streams with waste rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations. The ruling, issued Wednesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden II in West Virginia, immediately blocked the Army Corps of Engineers from issuing new permits to mining companies that dump waste in Appalachian waterways and valleys. Environmentalists hailed Haden's ruling as a lethal blow to mountaintop mining. "This is a great victory for citizens living in the shadow of these huge mines," said Joseph M. Lovett, executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.