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Protecting
Endangered Species
Following alarm over findings that the nation had lost more than
500 species since colonial days, Congress passed the Endangered
Species Act (ESA) in 1973 with a groundswell of public support.
When the ESA was passed, experts predicted that, without such action,
an additional 40 mammals and birds and 25 fish species would become
extinct within the next 25 years. Today, our planet is losing species
faster than at any other time in all of human history. While Congress
and federal officials continue to debate the reform and reauthorization
of the federal ESA, state endangered species acts can help mitigate
the loss of species in our nation by seeking to assure the survival
of the plants and animals unique to each state, from piping plovers
in the East to Swainson's hawks in the West. While the federal ESA
serves the vital role of safeguarding those plants and animals that
are imperiled across ranges or on a natural scale, state acts can
protect those species within each state's borders that don't yet
need the emergency room measures of the federal act. If carefully
crafted, state endangered species acts can strengthen the web of
national protection efforts. A strong state endangered species act
can serve as a complement to the federal act, supplementing protection
to those species already listed so that recovery can be achieved.
A strong state act also can provide real protection to species not
listed under the federal act, thereby lessening the need for federal
listing. Coordinated state endangered species acts also can increase
ecosystem-wide protection efforts. For information on how your state
can protect endangered species, visit: http://www.serconline.org/esa/index.html. |
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New
Jersey Bill Would Raise Efficiency Standards (Trenton Times
8/9)
http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1092040555255431.xml
New Jersey will raise the efficiency standards for appliances ranging
from commercial clothes washers to exit signs to household torchiere
lamps if a measure now working its way through the state Legislature
is adopted this fall. The bill, which would set energy conservation
standards for eight mostly commercial appliances, would make the
sale of anything more wasteful illegal in New Jersey. It was approved
by the Assembly this summer and awaits action in the Senate. Many
household appliances, from refrigerators to air conditioners to
fluorescent lamps, already meet national standards set more than
10 years ago - and almost 20 years ago in some cases. The New Jersey
measure is part of a coordinated effort throughout the Northeast
to set standards for products that are deemed wasteful but unlikely
to be regulated anytime soon by the federal government. By adopting
the standards throughout the region, the bill's supporters hope
to create a large market for the efficient products that ultimately
will drive down the price. New Jersey officials said the states
were careful to pick products that are still considered fairly wasteful
and for which the cost of the more-expensive model could be recouped
in energy savings fairly quickly. A 2002 report by Northeast Energy
Efficiency Partnerships found that if states throughout the region
adopted efficiency standards for 15 common products, businesses
and households would save $27 billion by 2020 and reduce the projected
growth in annual electricity consumption by 24 percent. For more
information on how your state can raise efficiency standards, visit:
http://www.serconline.org/efficiencystandards/pkg_frameset.html. |
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MA
Gov. Romney Signs Bill Allowing Destruction of Wetlands
(Boston Globe 8/12)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/08/12/romney_signs_bill_on_wet
lands_development_1092287846/
Governor Mitt Romney has signed into law a pilot wetlands banking
program for the Taunton River Watershed, a controversial move
nudged along by a former EPA official whose environmental consulting
firm is considering a bid to run the program. The program would
let a developer build on wetlands and buy a credit from a bank
or an organization that has restored wetlands at other locations.
The measure, inserted in the transportation bond bill that the
governor signed last Tuesday, was derided by environmental activists
who argued that it will encourage private developers to fill in
wetlands and that it conflicts with the governor's often-stated
"smart growth" agenda. "If the governor wants to
control sprawl and guide development appropriately, we should
not be opening the door to developers filling wetlands,"
said James McCaffrey, director of the Sierra Club Massachusetts.
The measure was pushed by John P. DeVillars, who was regional
administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency from 1994
to 2000. DeVillars founded and serves as a managing partner of
BlueWave Strategies, a Boston environmental consulting firm, which
he said last night may bid to become the state's banker for wetlands
mitigation credits. Besides the taint of favoritism, this is a
step backward for Massachusetts at a time when the federal government
is declining to protect wetlands. According to a report
released by Earth Justice last week, the Bush administration has
allowed valuable wetlands to be lost to development. The scientific
evidence suggests that we are not able to restore or create functional,
diverse wetlands, as is required by a mitigation bank. Rather
than allowing wetlands to be destroyed under the pretense that
we can make new ones, we should be vigilantly protecting the few
intact wetlands we have left. For more information on how your
state can protect wetlands, visit: http://www.serconline.org/wetlands/pkg_frameset.html.
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Alaska
Objects to Fish Farms (Anchorage Daily News 8/12)
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/5417033p-5353072c.html
Federal officials are proposing to let fish farmers claim
Alaska coastal waters and start farming despite a state ban,
approved in 1990 by the state Legislature, on the practice.
The U.S. Department of Commerce wants to make fish farming
possible in federal waters across America, from three to 200
miles offshore. Alaska has banned fish farming in state waters-within
three miles of shore-because it worries that the farms will
spread disease and parasites and that the produce will compete
with the wild fish that support the fishing industry. State
officials and Alaska commercial fisherman offered objections
to the federal proposal, which the Bush administration could
submit to Congress next year. The state can't control what
happens in federal waters, but Gov. Frank Murkowski is calling
for a five-year moratorium on federal fish farms. Alaska wants
more information on what it would mean for the environment
and the commercial fishing industry, said Sue Asplund, special
assistant to the state fish and game commissioner. The state
Fish and Game Department warns of the "potentially catastrophic"
danger to habitat and Alaska's wild salmon of introducing
non-native species and reports that 577 Atlantic salmon have
been found in Alaska waters since 1994. |
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States
Work to Curb Pollution from Factory Farms (Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette 8/11; San Francisco Chronicle 8/6)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04224/359890.stm;
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/08/06/state2106EDT0139.DTL
Under a new factory farm proposal put out by Pennsylvania
Gov. Rendell's administration last week, large pig farms would
for the first time be required to control offensive manure
odors and be subject to tighter protections for streams and
groundwater. The Agriculture, Communities and Rural Environment
initiative, or ACRE, is the administration's attempt to address
air, land and water pollution problems created by the explosive
growth of factory farms-those that contain more than 1,000
pigs- that now number more than 118 in 22 counties. The policy
would set up a new five-member Agricultural Review Board to
look at local ordinances and regulations aimed at restricting
the siting and operations of factory farms, which also are
known as concentrated animal feeding operations or concentrated
animal operations. The board would attempt to negotiate and
resolve disputes between local governments and the large farming
operations, which have had to mount costly court challenges
to the local laws. In California, the South Coast Air Quality
Management District (AQMD) has adopted the nation's first
rules to reduce emissions from dairy cow manure. The regulation,
which will be gradually phased in beginning December 1, requires
dairies with at least 50 cows to remove manure from corrals
more frequently and send it to a special composting facility
or to an agricultural area where it is approved for use as
a fertilizer. By 2010, the measure will reduce ammonia emissions
by more than 3 tons per day and volatile organic compounds
by more than a ton daily, according to an AQMD statement.
For more information on how your state can curb pollution
from factory farms, visit: http://www.serconline.org/cafoZoning.html
and http://www.serconline.org/cafoAirEmissions.html.
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North
Carolina Considers Weakening Air Pollution Rules
(News & Observer 8/12)
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nc/story/1520858p-7692075c.html
To conform with Bush administration changes, North Carolina
environmental regulators are considering loosening state rules
that govern when industries must install new technology to
control air pollution. When utilities and manufacturers make
modifications or expansions, they are required under the federal
Clean Air Act to install up-to-date pollution controls. Such
equipment upgrades aren't required for routine repairs, but
what is routine is often a matter of interpretation. The Bush
administration in December 2002 issued changes to EPA rules,
creating broader exemptions for industries to expand without
installing new pollution equipment. States operating their
own air programs, such as North Carolina, have until 2006
to decide how to change them in response. The state is considering
three options, including keeping the current state rules;
adopting the more permissive rules; and passing a modified
state version of the new federal rules. The rules regulate
the installation of pollution equipment for 300 to 400 industries
in North Carolina. Representatives of industry want the state
to replace the state's current air rules with the new federal
rules, and environmental groups want the state to keep its
current rules. Jeff Gleason, deputy director of the Southern
Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, Va., said the
state proposal is an improvement over federal rule changes
but represents a significant weakening of the current program.
He said that if the state allows industries broader leeway
in determining whether they have to install new pollution
controls, fewer industries will have to comply, and the air
will be more polluted. "This is not an issue about jobs
versus environmental protection," Gleason said. "It's
about 170,000 children in North Carolina who suffer asthma
because of the pollution they are forced to breathe."
For more on how your state can clean up its air, visit: http://www.serconline.org/clean/index.html.
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California
Solar Home Initiative Stalled in Assembly
(San Francisco Chronicle 8/12, Union Tribune 8/10)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20040810-1622-ca-solarhomes.html;
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/08/12/state2109EDT7655.DTL
A
sweeping proposal to run half of new California homes on
solar energy by 2020 stalled in an Assembly committee, in
part because Gov. Schwarzenegger has yet to sign on to the
proposal advanced by his own Environmental Protection Agency.
The initiative by the state Environmental Protection Agency
(CalEPA) was added to a bill that already passed the Senate.
The proposal would far exceed incentives and requirements
in other states, putting California on a par with solar
programs by world leaders like Japan and Germany. It comes
three years after the state's debilitating energy crisis.
Sen. Kevin Murray, who altered his bill to include key parts
of the CalEPA proposal, said the vote in the Appropriations
committee “is really about whether the governor supports
it”. Schwarzenegger was generally supportive of the
plan during an informal conversation last week, Sen. Murray
said. State EPA officials outlined the "Million Solar
Homes Initiative" to fulfill a Schwarzenegger campaign
pledge. The building industry, opposed to Murray's original
bill, was supportive of the EPA's incentive-heavy approach.
The incentives alone would be enough to get solar panels
on 40 percent of new homes by 2010 and 50 percent by 2013,
the equivalent of 36 new, $30 million, 75 megawatt natural
gas "peaker" plants used when electricity is most
in demand, the EPA estimated in a draft proposal. The Senate
recently approved, 30-2, a bill requiring cities and counties
to allow the use of solar panels unless there are public
health or safety concerns, an effort to counter bans imposed
for aesthetic reasons. For more information on how your
state can encourage the use of renewable energy sources,
visit: SERC's policy issues packages on renewable portfolio
standards at http://www.serconline.org/RPS/pkg_frameset.html;
renewable energy incentives at http://www.serconline.org/RenewableEnergyIncentives/index.html;
and net metering at http://www.serconline.org/netmetering/index.html. |
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IL
Gov. Blagojevich Vetoes Bill Allowing ATV Trials in State
Parks (Quad City Times 8/10)
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1032881&t=Iowa+%2F+Illinois&c=24,1032881
Last week Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich vetoed state Senate
Bill 2272, which would have increased ATV and dirt bike traffic
in state parks, because he believes such traffic would cause
harm to the environment. The law would have allowed the Department
of Natural Resources, to use the Off-Highway Vehicle Trails
Fund to build trails on state property not designated as nature
preserves. The bill's sponsors said SB 2272 was needed to
provide ATV owners with a place to legally operate their vehicles.
The Sierra Club also opposed the bill. For more on how your
state can regulate ATVs, visit: http://www.serconline.org/orv/pkg_frameset.html.
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Maryland
Legislative Panel Sets Hearing on Bear Hunting Rules
(Baltimore Sun 8/10)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.bear10aug10,1,1991335.story?coll=bal-local-utility
The Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative
Review will hold a hearing August 25 in Annapolis on proposed
rules for the state's first bear hunt in 51 years. The Maryland
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says it will not postpone
authorizing the hunt planned for this fall, despite the committee's
request for a delay while it studies the proposal. The hunt
as planned by the DNR would specifically target the black
bears responsible for crop and property damage in Western
Maryland. DNR wildlife managers say they would match hunters
with property owners who have complained about bear damage.
The hunt, planned for October 25-30 and December 6-11, would
target 30 of an estimated 400 bears in the hunt zone. DNR
officials believe another 100 black bears live in Maryland.
The DNR can implement the rules despite the committee's request
for a delay. That could happen as early as August 25, the
day of the hearing. |
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South
Dakota Prairie Dogs Lose Endangered Status (Argus
Leader 8/13)
http://www.argusleader.com/news/Fridayfeature.shtml
Wildlife officials in South Dakota have removed the prairie
dog as a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection.
The move is expected to widen poisoning and other controls
on the rodent, which some see as a pest and others see as
the keystone of a native ecosystem. Prairie dogs, which ranchers
blame for stripping vegetation from productive grazing land,
never were actually on the threatened species list. But after
a 1998 petition made them a candidate, the government prohibited
killing them on federal land. Combined with drought, that
has allowed prairie dog colonies to expand from federal land
onto private land. South Dakota and other states have since
counted their prairie dog acres, revealing larger populations
than expected. That prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
to remove the species from candidate status. Environmentalists
said South Dakota's prairie dog management plan has some positives,
but not listing the species could free the state to let the
species decline once again. To see SERC's policy issues package
on protecting endangered species, visit: http://www.serconline.org/esa/index.html.
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New
Jersey's Governor McGreevey signs Highlands Bill
(NY Times 8/10)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/11/nyregion/11highlands.html?pagewanted=all
Gov. James E. McGreevey signed legislation last week that
will protect more than 400,000 acres of land as well as drinking
water for more than 5.4 million state residents. The Highlands
bill will prevent construction within 300 feet of lakes, streams
and all other bodies of water, thus protecting drinking-water
sources. The law will also restrict construction on steep
slopes and limit the construction of new water and sewer lines
in the Highlands region, and will ban new development in wooded
areas. The New Jersey Highlands is a 1,000-square-mile area
in northwestern New Jersey that encompasses parts of Bergen,
Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren Counties.
Approximately 5.4 million people in New Jersey receive their
water from the Highlands region. At the urging of state environmental
groups, Mr. McGreevey spent the last year working on the Highlands
water protection and planning act, which was approved by the
Legislature in June. For more information on how your state
can protect land, visit: http://www.serconline.org/conservationfunding/index.html. |
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