Most Recent Issue:

In this Edition:
Issue Spotlight: State Energy Efficiency Standards
Headliner: Study Says Global Warming Will Cause Sharp Decline in Trout & Salmon
Watchdog:  ALEC Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis Bills
News from the States:
Children’s Health
*RI: Senate Approves Lead Paint Bill
Clean Energy
*CA: Historic Exhaust Legislation May Hit a Red Light
*NY: Bill Helps Replace Inefficient Refrigerators 
Protecting Wildlife
*NC: CWD Fears Prompt State to Ban Deer Imports
Land & Water Use
*AZ: Bill Encouraging Sprawl on State Lands Passes House
Safe Air & Water
*OK: House Puts Breaks on Phosphorous in Rivers Rule
*VA: State Approves Air Pollution Trading System
*CA: Group Says Particulate Pollution Killing Thousands
Equal Justice
*FL: New Law Stymies Environmental Groups’ Suits
Protecting Wildlands
*NH: State Joins Maine in War Against Invasive Milfoil
Other News
*EPA Says Hard-Rock Mining & Coal-Burning Power Nation’s Biggest Polluters
*Tests Show that Some Ethanol Plants Have Emissions Problems
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Issue Spotlight: State Energy Efficiency Standards
America’s energy demand is growing steadily. Energy prices are fluctuating unpredictably. And we are learning more and more each day about the dangerous environmental and health impacts of an energy supply derived almost entirely from the combustion of dirty fossil fuels. In times like these, it is imperative to place an emphasis on minimizing energy waste. Many household and commercial appliances are not subject to even the most simple energy efficiency standards. As a result, products such as torch lamps and refrigerated vending machines continue to rely on outdated technology to govern their use of energy. While energy efficient versions of these and other products exist, their use is not mandated or even encouraged by many states. Traditionally, states have played a crucial role in shaping energy efficiency standards for consumer products, and the time has come for states to take the lead again on this important issue. By implementing simple, already established efficiency standards for a mere ten household and commercial products, states can reduce their energy demand by up to five percent – saving consumers money on their electricity bills, reducing the need for new and dirty power plants, and encouraging
investment in energy efficiency technologies.  To learn how to implement energy efficiency standards in your state, visit http://www.serconline.org/efficiencystandards or contact our energy associate, Rob Simpson.

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Headliner: Study Says Global Warming Will Cause Sharp Decline in Trout & Salmon 
Trout and salmon could disappear from many U.S. waterways due to rising temperatures caused by global warming. Habitats for some species could shrink as much as 17 percent by 2030, 34 percent by 2060, and 42 percent by 2090 if emissions of heat-trapping pollution such as carbon dioxide are not reduced, according to a study released today by Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study says the fish are especially vulnerable because of well-established tolerances for cold, clear water. Researchers looked at air and water temperature data from more than 2,000 sites across the U.S. Using three internationally recognized climate models, they estimated changes in stream temperature under a variety of pollution scenarios.  To read the report, go to http://www.defenders.org/newsroom

Watchdog:  ALEC Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis Bills
Last week Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes vetoed HB 587 , which would have created an advisory committee to develop guidelines the state Board of Natural Resources could use to determine whether the benefits of proposed environmental regulations would be worth the costs. The bill is a version of the “Economic Impact Statement Act” being circulated in state legislatures throughout the country by the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC. In his veto message, Barnes argued that the costs of determining those costs would be prohibitive. He cited state Environmental Protection Division estimates that subjecting last year's crop of 15 new environmental regulations to the analysis required by the bill would have run up a tab of $1.5 million.  The governor also said he was concerned that the measure could have made it more difficult for the state to enforce federal clean air and water laws.  To learn more about this and other harmful legislation, visit our Watchdog page.

News from the States

Children’s Health
Rhode Island: Senate Approves Lead Paint Bill
The 5/23 Providence Journal reported that amid congratulatory speeches and applause, the state Senate voted unanimously to approve Sen. Thomas J. Izzo's lead-paint reform legislation (S 2813).  Afterward, Elizabeth Colon, a spokeswoman for the Childhood Lead Action Project (CLAP) said: "We see this as a real victory. Everything we've fought for in the last four years is in this bill. It's tougher on landlords. It protects the rights of children. It incorporates the right to know provisions we wanted -- so that other tenants in a building must be notified if a child is poisoned."  Last year, 2,832 Rhode Island children had lead levels high enough to be considered poisoned. 

Clean Energy
California: Historic Exhaust Legislation May Hit a Red Light
The 5/21 LA Times reported that legislation (AB 1058) to make California the first state to regulate tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases is foundering in the Assembly amid a lobbying and advertising blitz by automakers, car dealers, oil companies and organized labor. The measure has already cleared both houses by rail-thin margins and needs only final approval of the Assembly to reach the desk of Gov. Gray Davis, but to the dismay of the environmental groups behind the legislation, support is eroding, and the bill may now be defeated. NRDC and other environmental groups call the campaign against the bill wildly misleading, saying it features claims of tax increases and higher prices at the pump that have little basis in reality. NRDC has put together a fact sheet at: http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/fcacars.asp

New York: Bill Helps Replaces Inefficient Refrigerators 
Environmental Advocates of New York are supporting A 3904 , which would provide for  the replacement of energy-inefficient refrigerators with energy-efficient refrigerators in certain multiple dwellings and financial assistance by the power authority to be repaid through energy cost savings. The group says that if every household in the United States had the most efficient refrigerators available, the electricity savings would eliminate the need for more than 20 large power plants, avoiding significant power plant emissions that contribute to acid rain, global warming, regional haze, mercury contamination, radio-nuclide pollution, ground-level ozone smog, and respiratory ailments.  To learn more about state efficiency standards, click here.

Protecting Wildlife
North Carolina: CWD Fears Prompt State to Ban Deer Imports
The 5/21 Charlotte Observer reported that North Carolina has joined the growing list of states to ban the import deer and elk because of fears of chronic wasting disease spreading. The disease has spread rapidly in Wisconsin and Western states over the past four months, said Dr. David Marshall, the state veterinarian.

Land & Water Use
Arizona: Bill Encouraging Sprawl on State Lands Passes House
The Arizona Sierra Club reported last week that HB 2162  narrowly passed the house after several members changed their vote.  The group says the bill encourages and accommodates sprawl and leapfrog development on state trust lands with language that effectively negates anti sprawl language in existing state law. The group is calling on Governor Jane Dee Hull to veto the bill.  For related information about reducing sprawl, visit our Traffic Congestion Relief page.

Safe Air & Water
Oklahoma: House Puts Breaks on Phosphorous in Rivers Rule
The 5/22 Oklahoman reported that the House approved a resolution (HJR 1061) last week that would delay legal enforcement of phosphorus limits in Oklahoma's scenic rivers. The legislation calls for a study and will not allow Oklahoma's attorney general to undertake any phosphorus-based litigation until that study is completed. The rule that the resolution targets was recently passed by the Water Resources Board and sets phosphorus limits in the Illinois River and several other rivers contaminated by run-off from chicken factory farms.  To learn how other states are dealing with factory farms, click here.

Virginia: State Approves Air Pollution Trading System
The 5/22 Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the State Air Pollution Control Board approved regulations last week that allow Virginia factories that run cleaner than is required to sell "credits" to factories not meeting pollution standards.  Critics of the plan say the program could allow old factories or power plants to continue polluting by buying credits from cleaner plants in other states. "Large polluters may find it more cost-effective to simply buy credits than to clean up their act," said Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club. The state was prompted into action by the Environmental Protection Agency, who is requiring Virginia and about 20 other states in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest to reduce emissions that cause smog. To find related information about how to reduce emissions from old power plants in your state, click here. 

California: Group Says Particulate Pollution Killing Thousands
The Environmental Working Group released a report last week that found pollution from airborne soot and dust causes or contributes to the deaths of more Californians than traffic accidents, homicide and AIDS combined. EWG's analysis of state data found that respiratory illnesses caused or made worse by microscopic particles of soot and dust, known as particulate matter (PM) are responsible for more than 9,300 deaths, thousands of hospital visits, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks and millions of missed work days each year. "Particle Civics: How Cleaner Air in California Will Save Lives and Save Money," details the public health impacts of PM pollution in each California county, and for the first time puts a price tag on the annual cost of particulate pollution. 

Equal Justice
Florida: New Law Stymies Environmental Groups’ Suits
The 5/28 Orlando Sentinel reported that a recently passed Everglades funding law, includes a controversial amendment that might limit whether citizens can challenge permits for developments, mines and industrial plants. The law specifies that a nonprofit group filing the protest must be a Florida-based corporation, formed at least one year in advance with a mission to protect the environment, and have at least 25 members living in the county where the challenged development would be. Susie Caplowe, a spokesperson for the Sierra Club said the amendment will bar her organization from having a say in Florida issues. 

Protecting Wildlands
New Hampshire: State Joins Maine in War Against Invasive Milfoil
AP reported last week that New Hampshire is joining Maine in a campaign to prevent the spread of milfoil, the invasive plant that is environmentally and economically devastating to lakes. Inspectors will staff boat ramps at 42 lake sites this summer to examine hulls and remove all vegetation on boats coming in and out of lakes. Experts say that in New England, the invasive plant problem is widespread and getting worse. Since there is no natural deterrent to their growth, the plants can grow wildly and absorb nutrients, air and other valuable resources that native plants would otherwise use. Maine has launched a public information campaign involving toll collectors who warn motorists entering the state with boats. Warning signs are posted at border crossings, and TV ads remind boaters to be vigilant.
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Other News
EPA Says Hard-Rock Mining & Coal-Burning Power Nation’s Biggest Polluters
AP reported last week that a new EPA study shows hard-rock mining companies and coal- burning power plants are America's largest toxic polluters, responsible for nearly two-thirds of the poisonous contaminants in the nation's air and water. In its most comprehensive inventory of pollution and its sources, the EPA said mining of hard-rock minerals — gold, silver, uranium, copper, lead, zinc, and molybdenum — was responsible for 3.4 billion pounds of toxic pollutants in 2000. Coal-burning electric generating plants were responsible for another 1.2 billion pounds. 

Tests Show that Some Ethanol Plants Have Emissions Problems
Recent EPA tests show that ethanol plants are releasing carbon monoxide, methanol and cancer-causing chemicals into the air at levels many times greater than industry estimates. Inspectors discovered that after ethanol is distilled from corn starch, the fermented mash left behind produces toxic fumes as it is dried for sale as livestock feed. These chemicals can be burned off with devices known as thermal oxidizers, but usually are not. Officials at the EPA's regional office in Chicago plan to meet with ethanol producers today and are expected to mandate the use of thermal oxidizers. Rather than fight the EPA, the industry is expected to either install the necessary pollution controls or find markets for corn mash that don't require it to be dried. The news comes as many states are considering incentives to lure new ethanol plants, which are being built because of expectations that ethanol use will soon triple because of a phase-out of ethanol’s competitor, MTBE. 

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