| Saving
Wildlife: |
Colorado:
Trout Unlimited Takes Aim at Colorado's Water Laws
Colorado's water laws, long seen by critics as good only for property
rights and bad for conservation, have become subject to scrutiny
by the Trout Unlimited environmental group, whose report, "Dry
Legacy - The Challenge for Colorado's Rivers," says overuse
and the lack of protection is depleting rivers and streams, degrading
water quality, killing fish, and threatening not only recreation,
but also the state's economy, which gets $1.3-billion from the fishing
industry and $122-million from commercial rafting a year. |
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Montana:
Two Legislators Attack Protection of Wolves
State Reps. Fuchs and Balyeat complained last week that the elk
herd that winters in Paradise Valley is in dire straits and Congress
should immediately remove federal protections for wolves in Montana.
Current federal policy calls for the wolves to be delisted only
after there are 30 packs roaming Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho for
three consecutive years. This countdown has already started and
environmentalists charge that Fuchs and Balyeat are using the invalid
elk excuse to accelerate the delisting. |
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| Clean
Energy: |
Georgia:
U of G Heats Campus Buildings with Chicken Fat
The Associated Press reported last week that the University of Georgia
is using chicken fat to heat the campus. Officials say it's cheap
and safer for people and the environment than burning coal and oil,
and no one has complained about odor. |
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| Land
and Water Use: |
Nebraska:
Fight Over Local Control of Factory Farms
The Nebraska Supreme Court was asked last week to referee the latest
round in the state's hog farm wars. As they have done in other parts
of the country, Premium Farms opened up a factory farm against the
will of Holt county officials. When the county officials tried to
implement environmental standards, Premium Farms insisted that the
more lax State Department of Environmental Quality has jurisdiction. |
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Iowa:
Big Farms Increasingly an Urban Issue (New York Times 2/10)
Urban and suburban lawmakers are frustrated and calling for more
regulation of water pollution that comes not from industry, but
from pesticide, animal waste, and fertilizer run-off from Iowa’s
larger farm operations. In the last six years there have been 152
fish kills and half of Iowa's lake beaches were temporarily closed
last year because of agricultural pollution. |
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| Safe
Air and Water: |
Maine:
Mercury Removal From Cars Bill Advancing
State Senator John Martin's LD 1921 passed the Senate Natural Resources
Committee last week. LD 1921 will require the removal of components
and switches containing mercury when vehicles are junked in Maine. |
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California:
High Court Allows Water Company Suits
In a precedent-setting victory for clean water rights, the California
Supreme Court ruled last week that people harmed by drinking contaminated
water can legally sue their water utility for failing to provide
clean drinking water. |
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Virginia:
Bill Makes Polluters Cover More of State's Expenses (Richmond
Times-Dispatch 1/6)
Fees factories pay for water pollution permits cover only 5.2 percent
of the costs to run the permit program and taxpayers pay the rest.
To help ease the burden on this year's strapped budget, State Senator
Patricia Ticer's legislation seeks to triple the fees. |
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| Saving
Wildlands: |
National:
Bush Proposes "Charter Forests" Under Local Control
Bush administration officials want to turn management of a national
forest over to a local council as a pilot project in local control,
a "charter school" approach to forest management. Though
the proposal is vague, the budget said certain national forests
or portions of them could become separate entities that would be
overseen by local trusts rather than the Forest Service. |
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Illinois:
Legislature Approves New Stream Protection Rules
Major new protections for Illinois' rivers, lakes, and streams against
future pollution were finalized last week when the General Assembly
approved rules to establish clear procedures for analyzing proposals
for increased pollution into Illinois waters. Also, the rules establish
a process for designating very high quality waters as "Outstanding
Resource Waters," which would receive a higher degree of protection
due to their unusual quality and value to the state. |
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| Natural
Resources: |
Kentucky:
Half Cent Container Fee Passes House Committee
HB 174, a bill that would put a half-cent fee on bottles, cans,
and fast-food cups to pay for litter cleanup cleared the House Appropriations
and Revenue Committee last week. The bill also would raise by $1-per-ton
the charge, known as a tipping fee, for dumping trash at state landfills
to help pay the cost of cleaning up dumps. |
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Minnesota:
Corn De-Icer Bill Gets Voted Out of House Committee
Rep. Bob Ness received the House Transportation Committee's endorsement
last week for HF 2589, a bill that would direct the Minnesota Department
of Transportation to use more corn-based de-icers on state highways.
Even though the corn compound can be $10 more expensive per ton
than normal road salt, committee members bought Ness' argument that
the state would save money because roads and cars wouldn't deteriorate
as fast. |
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| Freedom
of Information: |
Mississippi:
Bill Seeks to Rescind Corporation's "Audit Privilege"
Under current Mississippi law (as well as many other states), if
a company voluntarily reveals environmental problems it has created
and agrees to fix them, that company has "audit privilege"
and can't be forced to turn over internal documents about the problems
to state authorities, including the courts. Senator Dawkins' original
legislation, SB 2972, sought to repeal this law, but was replaced
by a watered down version last week that still allows corporations
to keep files secret in civil proceedings. |
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