Pennsylvania is spending plenty of money on economic development, but it's spending it in the wrong places. The result is that people are moving into outlying areas, abandoning urban and suburban centers. To counter this trend, Pennsylvania should reinvest in its older, established communities or it won't be prepared to participate in the emerging global economy. These are some of the conclusions of a yearlong, 120-page study released today by the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. The sweeping study, performed by urban center director Bruce Katz, is called "Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania." In the report, Katz stresses that the state has the ability to correct its economic problems by concentrating on its attributes -- strong, established communities with good infrastructure; the state's natural beauty and location; good corporate leadership; and, strong education and health facilities -- and developing a coordinated plan at the state level to reinvest in older communities. For more information on community revitalization, visit http://www.serconline.org/community/pkg_frameset.html.

When the Altamont wind farm, located in Altamont Pass east of San Francisco, was constructed two decades ago, the only negative comments centered around the aesthetic quality of the wind towers. Little consideration was given to the impact the towers would have on wildlife, especially migrating birds. Since the giant windmills began, an estimated 22,000 birds have died, including hundreds of golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, kestrels, and other raptors, after flying into the spinning blades of the wind turbines. The open country surrounding Altamont Pass is believed to contain one of the largest populations of breeding pairs of golden eagles in the world. In the fall, the large raptors, as well as thousands of the more common red-tailed hawks, use the pass as a route to their winter homes in the Central Valley. There are 16 other major wind farms in the United States, but none comes close to Altamont in the number of bird kills. In part, this is because of the abundance of birds. A number of environmental organizations that routinely support the use of renewable energy are beginning to have questions about the impact wind energy is having on some species of birds and the permitting processes that go into citing wind towers. However, industry officials counter that the Altamont wind farm is an anomaly and studies show that bird mortalities caused by automobiles and the Exxon Valdez oil spill are much greater than those caused by wind towers. For more information on bird mortalities related to wind towers, visit: http://www.serconline.org/avian_mortality.html.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration unveiled plans to simplify state regulation of agricultural runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. The proposed changes to Maryland's nutrient management laws, presented at the Maryland Farm Bureau's annual meeting, would eliminate some of the program's most contentious elements while ensuring that farmers still limit their use of fertilizers and manure, administration officials said. Environmentalists generally praised the proposal -- presented the day before the 20th anniversary of the original Chesapeake Bay Agreement -- and agreed that it does not back away from the intent of the 1998 law to reduce nutrient runoff. Some farmers criticized the plan for failing to address all of their concerns, particularly with paperwork and red tape. Some even suggested the proposed changes could force them to complete more forms than they do now. Farm runoff has been a particularly big issue since the summer of 1997, when an outbreak of a fish-killing bacteria (Pfiesteria piscicida) prompted legislation requiring stringent nutrient management plans for agricultural fields.

The Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board has approved an auction for some of the state's pollution allowances for ozone-causing nitrogen oxides. The pollution allowances were created by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as a way of reducing the amount of nitrogen-oxide pollution emitted from power plants and factories. Older plants and factories in Virginia will get their allowances free, based on their pollution history, with an adjustment for the required reduction in their emissions. Plants not able to meet their pollution allowance will have to purchase an additional allotment, or face stiff penalties. The auction will apply to the 5 percent of the state's allowances that the General Assembly has set aside for new power plant and factories. New power plants and factories will therefore have to purchase their nitrogen-oxide allotment from the state auction. Opponents to the auction, particularly companies that develop power plants, had submitted objections to the board based on several grounds. Among their arguments were that the board lacked the authority to create the auction and that the auction would discourage the development of new, cleaner energy sources. Representatives of power-plant developers indicated they may appeal the regulation creating the auction through the state's administrative appeals process as well as take their case to the upcoming General Assembly. The auction will raise an estimated $8.8 million to help pay off an estimated $1 billion budget deficit projected in the next two-year budget cycle.

A countywide initiative that would sharply limit development in San Diego's backcountry will go before voters March 2, clearing the way for a reprise of a similar ballot-box battle waged five years ago. Farmers and landowners say their livelihoods and financial well-being are threatened by the initiative, while backers of the initiative contend the county has not done enough to curtail sprawl. The county has also failed to finish updating its land-use plan, which was authorized in 1997. The initiative, which covers roughly 694,000 acres in unincorporated areas, seeks to stem sprawl by establishing 40-, 80- and 160-acre minimum lot sizes in the more remote eastern and northern portions of the county. In all, the county's unincorporated area is 2.3 million acres, nearly two-thirds of which are public and tribal lands. The premise behind the initiative and the county's update of its decades-old general plan is to move development away from more rural areas and closer to urban centers. Both would reduce the county's future population by 100,000, compared to what current land use plans call for. For more information on how your state can curb sprawl, visit: http://www.serconline.org/sprawl/pkg_frameset.html.

A new plan has been proposed that would reform the environmental permit process in Vermont, an issue that has been a primary focus for state legislators and Governor James Douglas. The plan, proposed by Senate Democrats, would change how appeals to environmental building permits are heard, limit the number of interested parties able to object to development proposals, and shorten the time it takes for a case to wind its way through the process. Both Democrats and Republicans see the new plan as an important step toward reaching a compromise. "We've been working quietly on this since the summer, and we think we've come up with something constructive that brings consolidation and transparency to the process," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Welch. The plan will be debated by the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules which is scheduled to meet to consider Environmental Board rules changes.

Utah Governor Olene Walker submitted a plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help make Utah the first state to have a plan to reduce haze in national parks. The plan, 12 years in the making, is part of a multistate effort known as the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP) -- made up of states, tribes, and federal agencies -- that primarily focuses on strategies for reducing sulfur dioxide, mostly from coal-fired industrial plants, the primary producers of haze. Automobiles, forest fires, and dust from roads also contribute to haze. The EPA approved the WRAP agreement in May, and the Utah implementation plan is expected to be approved by the EPA with little trouble. The program calls for reducing the annual sulfur dioxide emissions by setting a cap. The pollution cap is based on lowering sulfur dioxide by 85 percent from uncontrolled Western power plants, and would affect new power plants at a time when thousands of megawatts of new fossil-fuel electrical generation are proposed across the West. States that voluntarily participate must submit a proposal for achieving regional goals by Dec. 31. While Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, California, and Wyoming have agreed to implement the strategy, Colorado has opted out and therefore must develop a plan to meet the national standard targeted for 2007. If a region exceeds the annual goal, it allows for a sulfur dioxide market trading program to take effect. Environmentalists have applauded the WRAP agreement as a move in the right direction but have reserved judgment on whether it will actually work until individual states take action.

Some state officials and residents of a number Texas communities are demanding a halt to a deal that allows Rio Nuevo, Ltd. -- an eight-man water partnership of well-connected oilmen -- to tap the desert and sell billions of dollars of water from the state's public reserves. The venture was advanced without announcement or competitive bidding by the powerful Texas General Land Office, which controls 20 million acres of public lands and the liquids and minerals beneath them. The agency has never licensed private sale of its water. Rio Nuevo seeks to be the first such company, pumping out and selling some 16 billion gallons a year to municipalities and ranchers in drought-parched far west Texas, where many people fear that their own wells could go dry as a result. The proposal called for the water to be transported via the Rio Grande River and for the state to receive 20 cents an acre for water rights to 646,548 acres in six counties. The money from the sale, approximately $129,000, would go into a permanent school fund to benefit public education. The company now says the figures would be around 355,380 acres in four counties and would cost around $7 million. Rio Nuevo also says it will invest $350 million in water pipes and pumps, although who would purchase them and for how much is unclear. In the last legislative session, the Texas House and Senate passed a bill permitting the Rio Grande watermaster to allow transport of privately owned water, leading many to question the motivation behind the bill.

Industry lawyers, including those from coal and oil manufacturers and operators, have proposed major changes meant to weaken West Virginia's state water rules, which are currently undergoing legislative review. Historically, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has mandated that all state streams be protected as if someone uses them for drinking water. The new industry proposals would change the mandate to require drinking-water standards to be applied only to streams where municipal drinking water plant intakes are located. The proposals would also eliminate the updating of 75 toxic chemical limits to match federal recommendations and block the significant expansion of a list of protected state trout streams. "We're not looking for a chance to dump more pollution into streams, we just don't want to have to meet a standard that is irrational," said David Yaussy, a lawyer for the West Virginia Manufacturers Association. Officials from the DEP called the drinking-water change "sweeping," and said that they would oppose it. The State Environmental Quality Board also opposes the changes, saying that streams not used for drinking water may someday become water sources, and should be protected for such future use.