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Volume
I, Number 2 |
January
14, 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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NEWS
FROM THE STATES: |
Saving
Wildlife |
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Safe
Air and Water: |
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Saving
Wildlands: |
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Land
and Water Use: |
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Conferences/Workshops: |
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Renewables
Portfolio Standard
"Renewables" describes the energy generated by wind, sun, water,
plant growth, and geothermic heat, which is then converted into power
for our everyday use. As the term suggests, this energy is generated from
sources we can tap into again and again. The movement of wind and water,
heat and light of the sun, heat in the ground, and carbohydrates in plants
are all natural energy sources that will not be depleted. A Renewables
Portfolio Standard (RPS) ensures that a minimum amount of renewable energy
is included in the portfolio of the electricity resources serving a state.
By increasing the required amount of renewables over time, the RPS can
put the electric industry on a path toward increased sustainability. No
one silver bullet solution can meet our society's future energy needs,
and any serious proposal must include the diverse energy technologies
that do not deplete our natural resources or destroy our environment.
The SERC web site offers policy makers the tools necessary to introduce
and pass legislation to promote renewable energy, including a model bill,
talking points, a press release, a fact pack, research, and other background
information. For more information, please go to: http://www.serconline.org/RPS/pkg_frameset.html. |
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States
not adequately tracking miscarriages and birth defects
Last week the Environmental Working Group and U.S. PIRG released a study,
which indicates that hundreds of thousands of women are at risk of having
pregnancies end in miscarriage or having children with birth defects,
because of chemical byproducts that occur in drinking water as a result
of chlorination. The exact impact is difficult to gauge since only nine
states have active, well-funded birth defects surveillance systems in
place and no state has an active, well-funded system to track miscarriages.
Tracking diseases has been a cornerstone of protecting health from infectious
diseases, but tracking is a tool that has not yet been applied to diseases
with potential environmental impacts. The groups recommended the creation
of a nationwide health tracking network, coordinated by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to monitor Americans' exposure to
potentially health-impacting pollution and to track birth defects, miscarriages,
and other environmentally-impacted health conditions like cancer and asthma. |
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As
44 state legislatures reconvene, SERC rolls into action
State legislatures consider 150,000 bills per year and enact 75 times
more laws than the U.S. Congress, yet operate with little or no staff
and a fraction of the resources. As 44 state legislatures reconvene this
month, SERC will aid state policy makers by tracking the best and worst
in state environmental legislation and sharing that information with them.
A great deal of SERC's efforts to help state policy makers will be through
its web site, www.serconline.org. Included in this web site are the tools
necessary to introduce and pass environmental state legislation, including
a sample bill, talking points, press clips, a fact pack, research, and
other background information. |
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| Saving
Wildlife: |
South
Dakota: Swift fox reintroduction effort gets OK
The Turner Endangered Species Fund received unanimous approval last
week from the state Animal Industry Board to attempt reintroduction
of the swift fox in central South Dakota. The small predators exist
in the wild in South Dakota only in Fall River and Shannon counties.
Turner hopes to establish a viable population of the animals on
his large ranch in Stanley and Jones counties. |
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Wisconsin:
Committee agrees to keep yellow perch cut permanent
An influential state legislative committee last week approved a
permanent cut in the amount of yellow perch that can be harvested
in the bay of Green Bay. The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative
Rules voted 10-0 to make permanent a temporary rule that cut from
25 to 10 the daily bag limit for recreational anglers and from 200,000
pounds to 20,000 pounds the amount allowed annually for commercial
harvesting. The rule took effect July 1 following studies showing
poor perch reproduction, far below good years in the early 1980s. |
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California:
Nitrogen gas kills exotic ballast water species (Mercury
News 1/7)
Mario Tamburri, a research fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute, found that, if shipping crews pump their ballast tanks
with nitrogen gas while at sea, oxygen in the ballast water is virtually
eliminated, reducing corrosion of a ship's steel compartments by
90 percent. Sucking out the oxygen also kills fish, crabs, mussels,
clams, and other exotic species lurking in the ballast tanks within
three days, Tamburri found. Over the 25-year life of a large cargo
ship, the process can save $1.7 million, or $70,000 a year, in painting
and maintenance costs, even when the cost of the nitrogen system
is factored in, Tamburri found. "This is a win-win solution,"
Tamburri said. "It actually saves the shipping industry money
and kills most of the invasive organisms." |
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| Safe
Air and Water: |
California:
Burn barrel ban proposed (LA Times 1/13)
The California Air Resources Board is looking to ban burn barrels
used by thousands of rural Californians to burn trash, because they
emit a nasty mix of dioxin and other toxic substances that pose
a potent health hazard. Although the barrels are scattered in regions
that typically enjoy clean air, the smoke they generate can cause
serious pollution problems, regulators say. Plastic containers,
resins in cardboard, the glossy color paper of magazines, and even
the little see-through plastic portion of billing envelopes can
send noxious fumes into the air. The air board will consider the
ban in February, although the new rules would not go into effect
until mid-2003. |
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New
York: 9/11 Firefighters sick from fumes (Associated Press)
Many firefighters who raced to save victims of the September 11
World Trade Center terrorist attack are facing their own health
problems now, because of the contaminated air at the disaster site.
Some have asthma, while others have troubles ranging from a persistent
cough to diminished lung capacity. Many are also concerned about
the long-term risks. Among the substances that escaped from the
1.2 million tons of debris at ground zero are carcinogens asbestos,
benzene, dioxin, and PCBs. |
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| Saving
Wildlands: |
South
Carolina: Isolated Wetlands bill gets buried in committee
(The State 1/10)
The South Carolina Senate dealt a potentially crushing blow Wednesday
to a bill protecting isolated wetlands, which were left open for
development by a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year. On the second
day of the 2002 legislative session, senators dropped the bill from
a priority list for consideration this year. The legislation was
sent to a committee, which severely damages its chances of passing
this year. The Senate's decision means isolated wetlands remain
open for development with little government oversight. |
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West
Virginia: ORV registration bill gets out of committee (Charleston
Gazette 1/9)
The Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary recommended a bill
to both the Senate and House that would require off-road vehicles
to be titled and registered with the state Division of Motor Vehicles.
Environmentalists favor registering ORVs because it makes it easier
to identify ORVs operating in illegal areas and the registration
fee funds restoration of areas damaged by ORVs. |
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| Clean
Energy: |
Massachusetts:
Governor delays installment of clean car standards (Boston
Globe 1/8)
The Swift administration has delayed, by four years, an agreement
to increase the number of low-emission and zero-emission vehicles
sold statewide, in favor of an alternative plan that will require
automobile manufacturers to increase the percentage of popular gas-and-electric
hybrid vehicles sold in Massachusetts. Dealers currently report
an eight-month wait for such hybrids. The plan requires that hybrid
vehicles represent 2 percent of each automaker's sales in Massachusetts
starting next year. In 1991, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York
agreed to comply with strict California emissions standards as part
of the federal Clean Air Act. But over the past several years, the
standards have been delayed at least three times. Irked environmentalists
say new clean-car technologies would be feasible if regulators had
stuck to the original timetable. Under the original mandate created
by California, 2 percent of all sales for each automaker in each
state were required to be pollutant-free vehicles by 2003. |
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| Land
and Water Use: |
Florida:
Senate Committee agrees on growth bill
A scaled-down version of a growth management bill that failed in
the final hours of the 2001 legislative session was unanimously
approved by a Senate committee last week. The new proposal makes
a number of changes to the last substantial growth management law
passed 17 years ago, including Gov. Jeb Bush's top priority of making
local governments consider school crowding before allowing new development
and allowing county commissioners and school boards to levy a half-cent
local option sales tax without a referendum. |
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Arizona:
State gets sued for allowing overuse of water supply (Associated
Press)
The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit
accusing Arizona officials of mismanaging the state's water resources.
The suit could reshape decades-old laws and strip thousands of miners,
farmers, and developers of their water rights. The group claims
that long-term overuse of the state's groundwater supply has depleted
underground aquifers and damaged rivers, streams, and other surface-water
resources. The suit says the damage extends to major waterways such
as the Verde, Upper San Pedro, and Santa Cruz rivers, along with
most of Arizona's wildlife areas near rivers. |
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| Conferences/Workshops: |
Land
Use Law Conference - January 24-25 - Chicago, Illinois
A high-powered faculty will address the hottest issues in the ever-changing
landscape of growth management and land use law. Contact: CLE International,
1620 Gaylord St., Denver, CO 80206; 800/873-7130, 303/321-6320 (fax),
[email protected] (e-mail), Web site: http://www.cle.com/upcoming/chilul02.shtml. |
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For
more information about SERC, or to use our services, contact our national
headquarters at: |
State
Environmental Resource Center
106 East Doty Street, Suite 200 § Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-252-9800 § Fax: 608-252-9828
Email: [email protected] |
