July 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.
___________________________________________________________________________

In this edition:
Issue Spotlight: Renewable Energy Tax Incentives
Headliner: Bush Slashing Toxic Waste Cleanup Funding in 18 States
Watchdog: Farm Bureau Thwarting State Efforts to Protect Isolated Wetlands
News Important to the States:
Safe Air & Water
*WI: New Runoff Rules Considered to be Nation's Most Comprehensive
Protecting Wildlife
*CO: State Approves Study of Live Elk with CWD
*OR: State Leadership Urged to Protect Whales
Clean Energy
*CA: High Speed Rail System Passes First Test in Assembly
Recycling & Waste Disposal 
*NE: State Fails to Reach 50% Waste Disposal Reduction Goal
*IN: New Law Targets Cigarette Butt Littering with a $10,000 Fine
Protecting Wildlands
*PA: DNR Reduces Plans to Allow Oil Drilling on State Lands
*FL: Everglades Restoration Plan May Never Benefit Ecosystem
*CA: Ballot Initiative Would Protect Old-Growth Forests

Issue Spotlight: Renewable Energy Tax Incentives
Renewable energy can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, reduce harmful pollution from energy production and consumption, and reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases. However, when compared to traditional sources of energy, most renewables are still in relatively early stages of technological development and have very different cost structures with high-up front costs and low operating costs. To help the technologies develop and the markets adapt to changes, both federal and state governments have offered a variety of tax incentives for the manufacture, installation and use of renewables. By providing incentives for renewable energy projects, states can reduce pollution, encourage technological development and improve economic growth.  To learn how to implement renewable energy tax incentives in your state, click here.

Headliner: Bush Slashing Toxic Waste Cleanup Funding in 18 States
The 6/30 New York Times reported that the Bush administration has designated 33 toxic waste sites in 18 states for cuts in financing under the Superfund cleanup program. The cuts mean that if states don't pick up the funding slack, work is likely to grind to a halt on some of the most seriously polluted sites in the country, confronting the surrounding communities with new uncertainty over  when the work will resume, how quickly it will proceed and who will pay for it.

Watchdog: Farm Bureau Thwarting State Efforts to Protect Isolated Wetlands
In January 2001 a Supreme Court decision gave individual states sole jurisdiction over the protection of “isolated” wetlands, wetland areas that are not directly connected to navigable bodies of water.  The American Farm Bureau and its state branches are taking advantage of this ruling by promoting state legislation that will reduce wetland protection and diminish public oversight of permit approval for wetland dredging and filling.  Recently adopted legislation in Ohio reverses previous state law requiring pollution permits for all waterways.  HB 231 effectively reduces wetland protection previously provided by the Federal Clean Water Act. This legislation establishes three different categories of wetlands of varying levels of ecological significance.  The bills establish different levels of review, different criteria for approval for wetland permits and different mitigation requirements depending on the size and category of the wetland.  In sum, this legislation weakens overall environmental review, facilitates destruction, and diminishes public involvement for certain categories of wetlands.

News Important to the States

Safe Air & Water
WI: New Runoff Rules Considered to be Nation's Most Comprehensive 
The 6/29 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Wisconsin will soon put in place a massive plan to control polluted runoff with new rules that will range from how farmers plow their fields to the way some homeowners care for their yards.  The new regulations are considered the most comprehensive in the country for controlling so-called non-point pollution. Runoff - the water that washes off oily parking lots or the sediment dumped into streams from farms and construction sites - is the largest source of water pollution in the country.

Protecting Wildlife
CO: State Approves Study of Live Elk with CWD
The 6/28 Denver Post reported that the Colorado Department of Agriculture last week approved a Colorado State University program to study 61 elk with chronic wasting disease in their natural habitat without killing them. Currently, the only way to test elk for CWD is to destroy them. Researchers want to learn how animals get the disease and how it is spread and hope that a natural setting, as opposed to studying penned animals, will be more productive. It is also hoped that the CSU study will lead to live testing for the disease and possibly even a cure. To learn what you can do to prevent CWD from spreading to your state, click here.

OR: State Leadership Urged to Protect Whales
The 6/28 Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that because the federal government won't take aggressive action to help the diminishing orca population, environmental groups last week called on the state to take a leadership role. The groups are asking Governor Gary Locke and state agencies to do more to stop industrial pollution, to pay for a rescue tug to prevent oil spills, to clean contaminated sites and to speed salmon restoration. On Tuesday, officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service announced their decision not to grant Endangered Species Act protection to the population of orca whales that returns each summer to the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands. Their population has decreased nearly 20 percent since 1996 to 79 orcas and scientists with the fisheries service said they could be gone within a century. 

Clean Energy
CA: High Speed Rail System Passes First Test in Assembly
6/25 Sacramento Bee reported that a  Senate bill that would allow the state to sell $9 billion in bonds to start building a high-speed rail system was approved by the Assembly Transportation Committee last week. The bill would allow the state to sell bonds to help pay for the first leg of a system designed to link California's major metropolitan areas with trains running at top speeds of more than 200 mph.

Recycling & Waste Disposal 
NE: State Fails to Reach 50% Waste Disposal Reduction Goal
The 6/28 Lincoln Journal Star reported that the DEQ has said communities throughout Nebraska will not meet a state deadline set in 1994 to reduce waste 50 percent. In 1994, the Legislature established a timeline for communities to reduce the amount of waste and extend the life of their sanitary landfills.  Under the Integrated Solid Waste Management Act, communities were supposed to achieve a waste reduction goal of 25 percent by 1996, 40 percent by 1999 and 50 percent by July 1, 2002. Communities can reduce waste by recycling or by not producing waste that ends up in a landfill. Most communities easily met the 25 percent level, but have struggled in meeting the higher goals. For related information about how to reduce waste disposal in your state, click here. 

IN: New Law Targets Cigarette Butt Littering with a $10,000 Fine
Under recently passed Indiana House Act 10-05, anyone who throws a lighted cigarette, cigar -- or anything burning -- out the window of an automobile will face a Class A Infraction for which violators can be fined up to $10,000. 

Protecting Wildlands
PA: DNR Reduces Plans to Allow Oil Drilling on State Lands
The 6/26 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the DNR officials have more than halved their plans to auction off oil  and natural gas rights under 500,000 acres of the state's forests and parks and have added new environmental protections to the proposed leases. Though welcoming the changes, environmental groups also called for a moratorium on all new leases until a policy can be developed that better protects the environment and increases public participation in decisions about tapping natural resources on state lands. "The major changes that the department was forced to make underscore the lack of a comprehensive review process,'' said Jeff Schmidt, a Sierra Club lobbyist. 

FL: Everglades Restoration Plan May Never Benefit Ecosystem
The Washington Post reported last week that the $7.8 billion effort to restore the Everglades, which is supposed to help save big cats, wading birds, gators and other wildlife, may never benefit the shrinking ecosystem. The paper's investigative series says the plan -- the biggest environmental project in American history -- may not help the Everglades, but it "delivers swift and sure economic benefits to Florida homeowners, agribusiness and developers."

CA: Ballot Initiative Would Protect Old-Growth Forests
Petitions have been submitted and signatures are currently being counted for a ballot initiative that would protect California's old-growth trees by prohibiting cutting or significant harm to heritage trees in California except as permitted in statute and by creating buffer zones. To learn more about the initiative, click here.