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Crafting
a Clean and Sustainable Energy Policy
Energy fuels our nation's growth, makes industrial production possible,
heats and powers our homes, and makes transportation work. Energy
is what makes the modern economy possible, but at what cost? Currently
the demand for fossil fuels increases each year, with public health
implications and increased global warming. Alternative energy sources
-- solar, wind, and biomass -- would alleviate impacts from pollution
such as acid rain and smog. Renewable energy sources need to comprise
a significant portion of our current and future energy consumption.
With sufficient planning and investment we can insulate ourselves
from both current and future disruptions in the global energy supply.
The clean energy report can help your state craft an effective energy
policy with innovative provisions including pollution control, renewable
portfolio standards, distributed generation, and green power mandates.
For more information on how your states can implement these provisions,
visit: http://www.serconline.org/cleanenergy.pdf. |
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New
York Senate Approves Brownfield Legislation (NY Times 9/17)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/17/nyregion/17LEGI.html?pagewanted=1>
The New York Senate voted this week to approve AB 9120 that will
result in the rehabilitation of approximately 10,000 blighted sites
across the state. New York remained one of the few industrialized
states in the nation with no law to regulate the clean-up of privately
owned brownfields -- abandoned industrial sites that are contaminated
with chemicals, fuels, or other pollutants. The issue had become
linked with the state Superfund program, which provides money to
the worst toxic sites. Albany's political leaders allowed money
for the Superfund program to run out in March 2001, with hundreds
of tainted sites awaiting clean-up. Over the next decade it is estimated
that the measure will pump $120 million a year into the state's
Superfund program from industry fees and state tax dollars to clean
up 800 abandoned industrial sites in the state including 102 in
New York City. The legislation expands what is covered under the
Superfund program to include sites with hazardous substances, not
just toxic waste. The brownfields portion of the bill provides for
$135 million in tax credits for developers who voluntarily clean
up a site for residential, industrial, or commercial use, and $15
million in grants for community groups to identify and plan options
for use. According to Mark Izeman, senior attorney at the Natural
Resources Defense Council, the bill reflects a number of compromises,
but "incorporates among the strongest public health provisions
of any state brownfields law." For more information on brownfields,
visit: http://www.serconline.org/brownfields/index.html. |
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ALEC
Report on Ecological Terrorism
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) (http://www.alec.org)
published a report last week, titled "Animal & Ecological
Terrorism in America," that would make most legitimate non-violent
protest illegal and prosecutable as animal or eco-terrorism. The
report reviews the history of animal and ecological terrorism worldwide
and proposes model legislation to combat this type of terrorism.
The report begins by attempting to define the history of two fringe
groups -- Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front
(ELF). It then promotes a revised version of their model legislation
titled the "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act." ALEC
promotes this legislation as a way to combat vandalism and arson,
even though all states already have legal structures in place to
prosecute individuals who commit these criminal acts. Among the
new provisions of the model bill is the inclusion of optional language
defining "politically motivated" as "any activity
where the principal purpose is to influence a unit of government
to take a specific action or to persuade the public to take specific
action or to protest the actions of a unit of government, corporation,
organization or the public at large." Simply put, any expression
of dissent directed at a company or branch of government fits the
"politically motivated" criterion for ecological terrorism
under this act. An "animal or ecological terrorist organization"
is defined as a group that consists of "two or more persons
with the primary or incidental purpose of supporting [politically
motivated] activity through intimidation, coercion, force, or fear..."
but without defining what would constitute "intimidation, coercion,
force, or fear." Furthermore, the model legislation does not
distinguish between a member of a terrorist organization and a misguided
youth. The report makes sweeping generalizations intended to exploit
feelings of vulnerability and fear such as evoking the specter of
al-Queda and suggesting that animal terrorists will begin "cutting
throats." ALEC also boldly states, without any evidence, that
mainstream animal and environmental groups make backdoor contributions
to support illegal activities of animal and environmental terrorist
groups. At its worst, the report links all environmental organizations
together and assumes all are breaking the law. It uses terrorist
attacks and ill-supported assumptions to justify legislation that
duplicates current law and implicates legitimate expressions of
dissent. Some form of the model bill was introduced in six states
last year and saw limited success as most did not make it out of
committee. In spite of those failures, ALEC persists in its attempts
to promote this insidious legislation in legislatures across the
country. For more information on model legislation developed by
ALEC, see SERC's "ALEC Watch" series at http://www.serconline.org/alecIndex.html. |
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California
Assembly Votes to End Ag Air Exemption
(Mercury News 9/16)
<http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/6783587.htm>
Agricultural sources are responsible for more than 25 percent
of the air pollution in the Central Valley of California.
For decades farmers have been exempt from regulations because
of provisions in the federal Clean Air Act. But the passage
of a new bill by the California State Assembly will end the
exemption. The bill will require farms to implement control
measures to reduce or eliminate air pollution resulting from
various farm related activities. The bill will also establish
new state operating permits for large dairies and feedlots. |
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Religious
Leaders Urge Oregon to Make Fleet Eco-Friendly
(Statesman Journal 9/19) <http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=67944>
Religious leaders presented a report of the Oregon Interfaith
Global Warming Campaign to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.
The report urges Oregon to convert the state government fleet
of about 8,000 light-duty vehicles and 3,000 to 4,000 heavy-duty
vehicles to hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles. The
religious leaders said there is both a moral and practical
value to reducing oil consumption and air pollution. "We
know that caring for the Earth is a profoundly spiritual matter"
and "if we can do anything that saves state dollars for
other purposes as well as care for God's creation, it is our
obligation to stand here and do so," said Mark Knutson,
president-elect of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and senior
pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland. For more
information about the use of alternative fuel vehicles, visit:
http://www.ccities.doe.gov/afvinfo.shtml. |
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Caucus
Forms to Protect Great Lakes
(Stateline 9/16)
<http://www.stateline.org/story.do?storyId=324938>
State and provincial lawmakers have pledged more cohesive
management policies for the Great Lakes by launching the Great
Lakes Legislative Caucus. Representatives from Michigan, Pennsylvania,
Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Minnesota, Quebec,
and Ontario met for the first time last month in Milwaukee,
WI at the Council of State Governments' Midwestern Legislative
Conference. The caucus will unify regulation, and streamline
research and data-sharing efforts among the states and provinces.
This cooperative approach will focus on reducing water pollution,
controlling exotic species, and regulating water withdrawals. |
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California
Bill Could Block Logging (LA
Times 9/16)
<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water16sep16,1,6393774.story?coll=la-headlines-california>
(Registration Required)
The state legislature has forwarded Gov. Gray Davis an important
bill that would protect waterways from harmful logging effects
such as sediment dumping. The legislation, passed by Senate
Leader John Burton, would give regional water quality boards
the authority to review and block logging projects that could
jeopardize streams and rivers. The new law would alter logging
regulations so that the department of forestry "is not
calling all the shots," said Karen Douglas, general counsel
for the Planning and Conservation League. The timber industry,
citing costly delays and bureaucratic gridlock, is lobbying
for a veto by the governor. |
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Indoor
Pollution Common (LA Times
9/16)
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-homes16sep16,1,4382039.story?coll=la-home-todays-times>
(Registration Required)
The first major study of indoor contaminants finds 67 toxic
chemicals in household dust and air, including insecticides
and flame retardants. Most of the chemicals come from plastics,
cosmetics, and cleaning detergents. Nine toxics were found
in every home, a shocking prevalence, and several of these
were endocrine disrupters that are believed to alter reproduction
and development of sex characteristics. The abundance of this
exposure may guide research in the environmental toxicology
of breast and testicular cancer. The study also showed that
toxics may linger for longer periods indoors -- DDT, banned
30 years ago, was found in 65% of the homes tested. "This
is a wake-up call," said Linda Birnbaum, chief of experimental
toxicology at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "These
chemicals are all over, and are these things that we really
want all over? That's the question we have to address."
The research was conducted in 120 residential Cape Cod homes
by the Silent Spring Institute of Newton, MA, and Harvard
University's School of Public Health. For more information
on endocrine disruptors, visit: http://www.serconline.org/endoDisrupt.html. |
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US
Administration, California Clash over Environmental Policies
(LA Times 9/14) <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-calenviro14sep14000421,1,745145.story?coll=la-news-environment>
(Registration Required)
Federal officials, faulting California for overstepping its
authority and acting in opposition to national policy, have
recently challenged a number of state environmental rules.
In late August, the U.S. Justice Department backed oil companies
and engine manufacturers seeking to overturn South Coast Air
Quality Management District (AQMD) regulations in a pending
Supreme Court case. The AQMD policy is intended to promote
the use of alternative fuels in a wide range of vehicles.
Last month, the EPA announced that the Clean Air Act disallows
state regulation of carbon dioxide emissions, which are linked
to global warming. California, which passed a law regulating
carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles last year, plans
to sue the federal government in a bid to reverse the EPA
decision and have carbon dioxide recognized nationally as
a pollutant. In response to the federal weakening of the "new
source review" policy requiring factories and powered
plants to add emission controls when making renovations, a
California state senator has introduced a bill allowing the
state to continue implementing the previous, more rigorous
standards. While California's and the Bush administration's
environmental philosophies have never been close, actions
to address worsening smog in southern California and Governor
Gray Davis' increased attention to environmental issues in
the face of the recall challenge have widened the divide.
For more information on state enforcement of environmental
policies, visit: http://www.serconline.org/enforce/pkg_frameset.html. |
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Study
Shows Massive Tree Loss in Cities
(Planet Ark 9/18)
<http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22281/story.htm>
According to a study released by American Forests, U.S. cities
have lost 21 percent of their trees in the last 10 years.
The study estimates that the tree loss has cost the nation
$234 billion due to environmental and health problems. According
to Gary Moll, Vice President of American Forests, trees help
preserve water and prevent flooding, remove air pollution,
and cool the environment. The report found that urban deforestation
was a problem across the country, but was especially bad in
the fast-growing cities in the Sun Belt. For more information
about urban environmental issues, visit: http://www.serconline.org/urbanissues.html. |
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Businesses
Seek to Trump Vermont Legislature on Permit Reform
(Rutland Herald, 9/19) <http://www.rutlandherald.com/News/Story/71764.html>
Complaining that the state legislature's effort to reform
Vermont's land use permit process is taking so long that it
is effectively keeping jobs out of the state, business groups
and developers threw their support behind proposals offered
by the state Environmental Board. Changes to the law in question,
known as Act 250, were considered by the legislature during
its 2003 session. Governor James Douglas asked lawmakers to
meet over the summer to resolve differences between House
and Senate Act revisions, which they did. According to Senate
Natural Resources Committee chair Virginia Lyons, the conference
committee just needs a little more time. Environmentalists
and Democrats oppose the Environmental Board proposals, which
would limit who can participate in the permit appeals process,
limit appeals for non-adjacent property owners, reduce the
time someone, judged not to be a party to the process, has
to appeal that judgment, and introduce a "summary judgment"
mechanism. A local Conservation Law Foundation attorney said
the proposals "would severely curtail citizen participation
and severely compromise protection of Vermont's environment."
The Governor has offered to support a one-day special session,
and has reiterated his intention to resolve the issue before
the next legislative session. |
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Four
States, NRDC Coalition Sue over Pesticides in Children's Foods
(NY Times 9/16) <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/nyregion/16SUIT.html>
The Attorneys General of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut,
and Massachusetts filed suit against the EPA last Monday,
claiming the agency is failing to protect children from dangerous
pesticides. A similar lawsuit was filed the same day in the
same New York City federal district court by a coalition of
conservation, public health, and farm worker organizations
led by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The lawsuits
hinge on the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, which dictates
strict limits on pesticide use and pays special attention
to children. Since children are significantly more susceptible
to toxins than adults, the Act sets pesticide levels for foods
commonly eaten by children at ten times lower than the levels
considered safe for adults. At issue are pesticides used on
foods like peanuts, apples, bananas, and corn. One year ago,
an independent scientific review panel found that the EPA
was not applying the tenfold safety factor when considering
the risks of organophosphate insecticides, which are among
the most toxic pesticides available. The lawsuits were a follow-up
to a successful 1999 NRDC challenge that forced the EPA to
review the safety of specific high-risk toxic pesticides.
EPA spokesperson David Deegan said it was too soon to respond
to the suits, but added that "some of our efforts to
achieve the milestones laid out in the 1996 law are several
years away from completion." For more information on
safe health standards for children, visit: http://www.serconline.org/childrensHealth/index.html. |
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