SERC Wildlines Report #31

August 5, 2002

  In this Edition:
  Issue Spotlight: Making Biomass Energy Sustainable
  Headliner: Deaths Increase Chronic Wasting Disease Concerns
  Watchdog: Punishing Citizen Suits
  News Important to the States:                _
Safe Air and Water
*Task Force Begins To Study Nebraska Water Issues
*Environmental Fees Could Save Alabama Agency
Clean Energy
*California Inches Closer to Renewable Fuels Standard
*President’s Clear Skies Plan Suffocates State Air Protections
Protecting Wildlife
*New Hampshire to Ban Harmful Plants

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Issue Highlight:

Making Biomass Energy Sustainable: An Environmentally-Responsible Definition

Biomass is one of America’s most promising renewable energy resources.  Organic materials such as grasses, weeds and other quick-growing plants can be converted into electricity or clean-burning fuels in an environmentally-friendly and sustainable way.  By using easily renewable plant material for energy generation, biomass technologies help protect the environment by reducing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, preserving important wildlife habitat and limiting the environmental damage associated with the extraction and combustion of traditional fossil fuels and nuclear power. In order to maximize the environmental benefits of biomass technologies and ensure that biomass power is generated in a sustainable fashion, a coalition of environmental groups has crafted a definition of biomass for use in states’ renewable energy statutes.  By adopting this definition, states have an opportunity to help shape the future of America’s biomass industry and ensure that biomass technology is implemented in a way that maximizes its clean and renewable potential. To learn more about the clean energy potential of biomass for your state, visit http://www.serconline.org/biomassdefinition/index.html.

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 Headliner: Deaths Increase Chronic Wasting Disease Concerns

The 8/1 Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the deaths of three outdoorsmen from brain-destroying illnesses are now under investigation by medical experts trying to discover whether chronic wasting disease, an affliction in wild game from the Rocky Mountains to the Upper Midwest, has crossed from animals into humans. Despite the rarity of their illnesses, the men knew one another and ate elk and deer meat at wild-game feasts hosted by one of them in Wisconsin during the 1980s and '90s. Chronic wasting disease is related to mad-cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. During the 1990s, scientists confirmed that people in Europe developed Creutzfeldt-Jakob from eating beef from cattle infected with mad-cow disease. There has not yet been a documented case of a person contracting a brain-destroying illness from eating wild animals with chronic wasting disease, however. For more on what your state can do to deal with chronic wasting disease visit http://www.serconline.org/CWD/ .

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 Watchdog:

Punishing Citizen Suits

Recently, Utah Governor Michael Levitt vetoed a bill that would have obstructed citizen’s Constitutional rights. The legislation, SB 183, would have been used to deter environmental citizen suits, impede access to the courts, and relinquish the right to challenge governmental action.  Utah State legislators passed the law to try to stop suits from being filed against state-associated projects. Under this legislation, any party bringing an action to enjoin a state related project that “does not substantially prevail” would be required to pay excessive damages relating to the project’s deferral. This would have put citizens in the impossible position of choosing between their environment and their family’s finances.  Senate Bill 183 resulted from an injunction, granted by the U.S. 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals, to stop work on the Legacy Highway due to alleged violations of environmental laws. For more on citizen suits visit http://www.serconline.org/citizensuits/index.html or to learn more about other efforts to undermine environmental laws visit SERC’s Watchdog page at http://www.serconline.org/watchdog .

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News Important to the States:

Safe Air and Water

Task Force Begins To Study Nebraska Water Issues

The 7/30 Lincoln Star Journal reported that a new 49-member water policy task force will study state laws governing the management and use of surface water and groundwater. The task force was established by a bill, LB1023, introduced by Sen. Ed Schrock, a farmer from Elm Creek and chairman of the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee. The task force includes a broad number of stakeholders, including irrigators, environmentalists, state senators, power industry representatives, members of the state's natural resources districts and municipal leaders from each of the state's 13 river basins. A key issue that Schrock wants discussed is how the state can meet the requirements of a proposed agreement reached with Colorado and Wyoming to manage water flows on the Platte River to protect wildlife. Nebraska has historically been enmeshed in considerable legal battles with neighboring states over river water in the past which have cost the state millions of dollars. For more on how your state can manage its water visit http://serc.com/waterconservation/stateactivity.html.

 Environmental Fees Could Save Alabama Agency

The 8/2 Birmingham News reported that after years of state funding declines, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) is advocating fees that would net the agency about $2.5 million and would allow staff to inspect every major and minor polluter in the state at least twice a year. The changes come as ADEM faces an explosion in workload, as it now must monitor not only factories and landfills, but farms and construction sites as well. Also, the head of EPA's Southeastern office had told ADEM officials they were in for a federal takeover if they didn't find a way to better fund their water pollution programs. Fear of what federal intervention might mean for them has muted criticism of the new fees by state industrial leaders and lobbyists. There is still a concern by many, however, that the state’s environmental budget could see further cuts to fund other priorities; ADEM’s state funding has declined by about one-fifth in the past decade. The department now receives less state funding than nearly any other environmental agency in the nation. For more on what your state can do to improve enforcement visit http://www.serconline.org/EnvironmentalEnforcementState.html .

 Clean Energy

California Inches Closer to Renewable Fuels Standard

The Union of Concerned Scientists announced on 7/31 that the state of California is moving closer to adopting the nation’s most ambitious Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in the nation. SB 1524 faces a hearing in the Assembly’s Utilities and Commerce Committee, where it was stalled last year. The bill, which would require California utilities to provide 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2012, sets forth the most ambitious renewable energy target in the country and provides state lawmakers with an alternative to the state’s current dependence on natural gas-fired energy. To learn more about Renewable Portfolio Standards and what similar legislation could do for your state, please visit http://www.serconline.org/RPS/index.html.

 President’s Clear Skies Plan Suffocates State Air Protections

After months of stalling regarding the specifics of its clean air plan, the White House finally introduced its Clear Skies proposal in the U.S. Senate on 7/29. The legislation, along with its House companion bill, repeals or weakens numerous protections under the Clean Air Act and fails to address the growing problem of carbon dioxide emissions – the leading cause of climate change. The legislation also specifically restricts states’ abilities to implement numerous Clean Air Act programs should they determine it is in their state’s best interest, and rescinds a state’s ability to force upwind polluters to comply with existing standards if those polluters are preventing a state from meeting air pollution health standards. For more information about the harmful effects of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, as well as information about comprehensive four-pollutant legislation in the states, please visit http://www.serconline.org/clean/index.html.

Protecting Wildlife

New Hampshire to Ban Harmful Plants

New Hampshire’s Invasive Species Committee took action last week to curb the spread of exotic plants. According to the AP, the committee released a list of invasive plants that wreak havoc on the state’s environment by choking out native species and destroying the natural diversity of the surrounding ecosystem.  The list, which awaits public comment before final approval, would ban the use of these harmful species, particularly in landscaping.  The Invasive Species Committee was established by the Legislature in 2000 to fight the introduction and spread of invasive plants, fish, and animals in the state. For more on how you can stop new invasive species from entering your state, see http://www.serconline.org/ballast/index.htm .

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