Most Recent Issue:

June 3, 2002

In this Edition:
Issue Spotlight: Cleaning Up Brownfields
Headliner: Indian Reservation May Get Permission to Store Nation’s Nuclear Waste
Watchdog: ALEC’s "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act”
News from the States:
Protecting Wildlife
*OR: State ESA May Come into Play for Gray Wolves
*WI: Critics Urge DNR to Speed –Up CWD Testing
*ME: Streamflow Concerns Cause Delay of Dam Constuction
Clean Energy
*NV: State Experiencing Geothermal Boom
*NC: Plan Would Put Optional $4 Toward Green Electricity
*MI: Bills Create Tax Incentives to Attract Alternative Energy Development
Protecting Wildlands
*VA: State to Index all of its Flora
Safe Air & Water
*VT: House Passes New Septic Regulations
*NY: Bill Bans Styrofoam Use By State Facilities 
Drought Management
*NM: Gov Introduces Water Conservation Plan
*OR:  Groups Wants Permits Halted Unil Water Quantity Determined
Recycling & Waste Disposal
*NY: AG & State Legislators Call for Bottle Bill Expansion
Children’s Health
*DE: Gov Signs Bill Banning Smoking in Restaurants 
Other News
*Nation’s Top Scientists Tell Norton Not to End Gray Wolf ESA Protections

Issue Spotlight: Cleaning-Up Brownfields
Experts estimate that this Nation has more than 450,000 brownfields -- vacant or underused industrial sites with environmental contamination caused by chemical compounds and other hazardous substances.  When brownfields sit idle, everybody loses. Neighbors face environmental worries and reduced property values. Cities see roads, sewers, and other infrastructure underused. New businesses seeks out "greenfields" or undeveloped land, encouraging
sprawl. And brownfield owners must deal with a long list of worries–from potential lawsuits to deriving too little income from their property.  When owners or developers clean up brownfields and put them to new uses, many people benefit. Clean-ups address environmental problems, bring new jobs and higher tax revenues. Revitalized brownfields can breathe new life into neighborhoods.  Visit SERC’s Cleaning Up Brownfields webpage to learn more what can be done to clean up brownfields in your state.

Headliner: Indian Reservation May Get Permission to Store Nation’s Nuclear Waste
The 5/29 LA Times reported that the Goshute Indian tribe has requested the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s permission to store the nation's nuclear waste on their reservation in Utah. An agreement has already been reached between the tribe and the eight relevant utilities companies. Now it needs only approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to become a reality. An NRC staff report has already been completed and concluded that the site meets all requirements. The state has filed multiple lawsuits, contesting the NRC's right to license a private storage facility and the utilities' creation of a private company that shields them from liability should something go wrong. Local officials and environmental activists are incredulous over how a project of this magnitude could face so little scrutiny, especially given the level of debate over the proposal to permanently bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste at Nevada's
Yucca Mountain. "Yucca took 20 years of study, a Department of Energy and presidential recommendation, a governor's veto and action by Congress," said Jason Groenewold, spokesman for Heal Utah, a coalition of environmental organizations. "Here, we have a few nuclear utility companies getting together with a few members of a Native American tribe, essentially determining our nation's nuclear waste policy." 

Watchdog: ALEC’s "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act”
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is trying to get their corporate environmental agenda—and only their agenda—into your state’s classrooms.   The "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act" is built around establishing an “Environmental Education Council” that would approve ‘acceptable’ environmental education materials. Such a Council would be charged with “actively seek countervailing scientific and economic views on
environmental issues.”  However, it would ban experts in environmental science from participation on the board while mandating 40 percent of the board be economists.  In addition, it limits text materials to those which can “not be designed to change student behavior, attitudes or values” nor “include instruction in political action skills nor encourage political action activities.” The Environmental Literacy Improvement Act attempts to control, confine, and intimidate educators into toeing the corporate line on environmental issues.  This legislation has already passed in Arizona and is currently being introduced in legislatures throughout the country. To learn more about this and other harmful legislation, visit SERC's Watchdog  page.

News From the States:

Protecting Wildlife
Oregon: State ESA May Come into Play for Gray Wolves
The 5/29 Oregonian reported that gray wolves are afforded double protection in the state under both the federal Endangered Species Act and a little-known state law, also called an Endangered Species Act. The state law, passed in 1987, has dwelled mostly in the shadows of its federal counterpart but may come into play if federal protection is dropped because of a successful recovery in neighboring states. Federal agencies propose to remove wolves from their endangered list this year. Ranchers argue that if the state’s wolves were shot into extinction decades ago, the law cannot be applied because there is nothing left to protect. Wolf advocates argue that Oregon officials have no choice but to accept and protect wolves as one of the state’s original wildlife species. But ranchers view the state ESA as an unfair burden on agriculture and are mounting a campaign to have the Legislature revise or repeal it. To learn how to implement a ESA in your state, visit SERC's Protecting Endangered Species webpage. 

Wisconsin: Critics Urge DNR to Speed –Up CWD Testing
The 5/30 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that DNR officials came under fire last week for their pace in setting up a program that would let private laboratories test deer for chronic wasting disease this fall. Companies that want to set up labs to test for the fatal brain disease said government is moving too slowly at a time when hunters want assurances that their deer will be safe to eat, and two members of the state Natural Resources Board agree."The hunters are absolutely going to demand this," said state Natural Resources Board Chairman Trygve Solberg. "We need to restore some public confidence."

Maine: Streamflow Concerns Cause State to Delay Dam Contruction
The 6/2 Portland Press-Herald reported that an energy company’s plans to install two inflatable rubber dams separated by a small concrete pier on the Androscoggin River have been delayed because of concerns that during installation the drawdown would damage bass and other aquatic animals’ habitat. "You're going to affect all species," said Steve Timpano, environmental coordinator at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. "It's all the way up and all the way down the food chain." 

Clean Energy
Nevada: State Experiencing Geothermal Boom
The 6/3 Nevada Appeal reported that advancing technology, rising electric prices and the growing emphasis on developing renewable power sources have combined to create a boom in applications for geothermal projects in Nevada.  Officials at the Bureau of Land Management say companies which were surrendering licenses just a few years ago are now putting in applications. "In the last two years, we've received about 175 applications covering about 300,000 acres," said Rich Hoops, who coordinates the BLM's Nevada geothermal leasing program. By comparison, existing leases total only 135 and cover just 170,000 acres of federal land. Hoops said the boom is also good for the state, which receives half the royalties collected from the leases. The Nevada Legislature last year enacted legislation requiring an increasing portion of the electric power used by Nevada utilities to come from renewable sources. But Soderberg said many of the companies showing interest in Nevada geothermal resources aren't doing it to meet the quota but because technology is making it competitive with traditional generating methods.  To learn how to establish renewable energy standards in your state, visit SERC's RPS  page.

North Carolina: Plan Would Put Optional $4 Toward Green Electricity
The 5/31 Charlotte Observer reported that the state is taking steps toward becoming the first in the nation to allow virtually all electric customers to buy energy made from renewable sources. Plans to be filed with the N.C. Utilities Commission would let customers pay an extra $4 a month for each block of "green" electricity. Utilities would buy power from N.C. renewable-energy producers. Because renewables produce little or no air pollution, the N.C.
GreenPower plan offers an alternative to coal-fired plants that generate much of the state's electricity and ozone-forming emissions.

Michigan: Bills Create Tax Incentives to Attract Alternative Energy Development
A 5/31 AP article reported that the House Energy and Technology Committee held hearings last week discussing legislation to establish a new state authority to oversee alternative-fuel technology and provide tax breaks for alternative-energy development.  The Senate Finance Committee approved similar legislation the week before.  The bills, which reflect a proposal  Gov. Engler announced last month, would create a 700-acre, tax-free area called the
NextEnergyZone to attract global alternative-energy companies. The legislation would also provide tax credits for firms that research and develop alternative energy systems. The bills would forgive the state use tax for a new alternative energy system or vehicle; the personal property tax for any property used for research, development or manufacturing of alternative energy technology, and the sales tax for purchases of new alternative systems or vehicles. 

Protecting Wildlands
Virginia: State to Index All of Its Flora
The 6/3 Virginian-Pilot reported that a group of botanists and naturalists are compiling a mammoth scientific manual, maybe 1,500 pages long, detailing every type of plant found in the state. With its wildly varying landscapes, from mountains to piedmont to barrier islands, Virginia supports more than 3,700 species of vegetation -- 13th in the nation for plant diversity. (California is first, Iowa last.)  Organizers say the manual will help local planners, conservationists, developers and consultants make sound decisions about where, and where not, to disturb nature. ``It's a very important, and long overdue, endeavor,'' said Nicky Staunton, president of the Virginia Native Plant Society. ``People ask us all the time, `Can you send us a list of the plants of Virginia?' And we say, `Well, no. We can't.' ''

Safe Air & Water
Vermont: House Passes New Septic Regulations
The 5/30 Rutland Herald reported that the Vermont House has given preliminary approval to a bill re-writing the state’s septic and water system regulations, a measure that puts all such systems under state control but also allows new technologies that could open up most of the state to development. By a 75-58 margin, the House advanced H 103  amid criticisms — mostly from Republicans — that it was more government intrusion on peoples’ lives and
would cost homeowners more money to comply with new regulations. At the heart of a bill is a trade-off: Allowing new types of septic systems to be used in Vermont in exchange for closing the “10-acre loophole” that allows many septic systems to avoid state and local regulations because they are on lots larger than 10 acres. Environmentalists have long sought to close the loophole for three decades, saying it leads to pollution by unregulated systems that fail and sprawl by encouraging large lots designed to avoid regulation. 

New York: Bill Bans Styrofoam Use By State Facilities 
Environmental Advocates of New York is strongly endorsing A 1733 , which would prohibit the use of polystyrene (Styrofoam) packaging or food service containers on property that is owned or leased by state or local governments in New York. The group says the public health and environmental arguments against the use of polystyrene foam are numerous: It is manufactured from petroleum, a  non-sustainable and heavily polluting commodity; It is not biodegradable and therefore clogs up landfills; Once in the environment it quickly crumbles into particles that pose
deadly threats to animal digestive and pulmonary systems; And its environmental threats are compounded if it finds its way to a municipal incinerator where it is reduced to airborne toxic chemicals that cannot be fully trapped by pollution control devices. 

Drought Management
New Mexico: Gov Introduces Water Conservation Plan
The 6/2 Albuquerque Tribune reported that Gov. Gary Johnson introduced a water conservation plan  last week to deal with a drought that is being called the worst in at least 50 years. In addition to drinking water supplies and farming operations, the plan also addresses the needs of wildlife. Fish stocking and hatchery operations could be curtailed in areas where lack of water destroys aquatic habitat, and watering stations could be set up for deer and other animals.

Oregon: Groups Wants Permits Halted Unil Water Quantity Determined
A 5/30 AP article reported that twenty groups — all of them involved with conservation and commercial fishing — have petitioned the state to stop accepting new claims for water in the parched Klamath Basin. The petition asks the Oregon Water Resources Commission not to accept applications for new wells or other water rights in the basin until studies clearly determine how much water is available. A drought last summer led federal agencies to save water for
threatened and endangered fish instead of irrigation, creating a rift between farmers and the government. The groups involved with the petition argue that the crisis proved the basin’s water supply is running out. “If the drought of last year taught us anything, it is that we have already promised too much water to too many interests,” said Karen Russell of WaterWatch of Oregon.

Recycling & Waste Disposal
New York: AG & State Legislators Call for Bottle Bill Expansion
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and several state legislators last week announced their support for comprehensive new legislation to expand the state "bottle bill" to include non-carbonated beverage containers.  In a related development, a leading environmental group released a study funded by the Attorney General’s office showing that the bulk of the state’s litter problem is caused by containers that are not covered by the current state bottle bill. "Our 20- year old bottle bill has been a phenomenal success at keeping billions of containers out of our landfills and off our streets in the form of roadside litter," said Spitzer. "However, the bottle bill can be made even better if we update it to include categories of containers – like bottled waters, sports drinks and fruit juices – that barely existed in the marketplace when the law was enacted in 1982." To learn how to establish a beverage conatainer return-deposit system in your state, visit SERC's Bottle Bill  page.

Children’s Health
Delaware: Gov Signs Bill Banning Smoking in Restaurants 
Governor Ruth Ann Minner last week put her signature on SB 99, making Delaware one of a handful of states in the nation to enact a comprehensive and landmark smoking ban that includes restaurants. The preamble of Senate Bill 99 notes that secondhand smoke includes 43 chemicals that are known human carcinogens, that secondhand smoke increases the risk for low weight babies in pregnant women, and that it leads to decreased lung function, asthma,
pneumonia, ear infections, bronchitis and even sudden infant death syndrome in children. 

Other News

Nation’s Top Scientists Tell Norton Not to End Gray Wolf ESA Protections
Nearly 50 of North America's most prominent scientists have sent a strongly-worded letter  to Interior Secretary Gale Norton imploring that current ESA protections for the gray wolf not be removed says Defenders of Wildlife, the Wildlands Project and Turner Endangered Species Fund. The scientists say Norton's proposed down listing would hand management over to states like Idaho, whose legislature recently voted for complete eradication of wolves in the state, and Minnesota, which has re-instituted a bounty on wolves. They also say the proposal would end prospects for restoring the wolf to vast areas of its former range in the Northeast, Northwest, northern California and the southern Rockies.