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Tracking
Environmental Problems and Progress
In the face of competing economic and political interests, environmental
oversight can be difficult to enact, fund, and enforce. Public health
and natural lands are often damaged when advocates shift focus to
another issue. Tracking and monitoring specific environmental state
issues is one tool to provide comprehensive oversight. With its
focus on fact gathering, this form of legislation can shine a spotlight
not only on problems, but also on solutions. States can play a proactive
role by enacting legislation that will improve the state's oversight
on many complex environmental issues. Examples of this type of legislation
include mandatory water withdrawal reporting, citizen monitoring,
and biomonitoring. For more information on what states have done
to track environmental problems, visit: http://www.serconline.org/TrackingEnvironmentalProblemsState.html. |
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New
York Wants Emergency Measures to Combat Acid Rain Effects (Newsday
8/17)
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--acidrain0817aug17,0,3047048.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
New York Environmental Conservation Commissioner Erin Crotty recently
announced that the state is ordering emergency regulations in an
effort to force power plants to reduce emissions that contribute
to acid rain in the state's environmentally sensitive regions. In
addition, Crotty announced the state's appeal of a spring decision
by a state Supreme Court judge that barred the state from adopting
similar regulations. The court previously dismissed the state's
case due to a missed deadline, but upheld the state's right to impose
strict emission restrictions. Emissions reductions are targeted
at power plants that are thought to contribute to acid rain in the
Adirondacks and Catskills. Today, officials are determined to get
new regulations passed to reduce ecosystem deterioration and pollution
in some of the state's most beautiful natural areas. "New York
state is fully committed to achieving the objectives of Governor
Pataki's Acid Rain Initiative which will result in a significant
decrease of harmful acid rain pollutants," Crotty said. "Any
delay in implementing these critical regulations will result in
more than 40,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide being
pumped into New York's air. According to a 2002 state-sponsored
study, about 76,200 tons of nitrogen oxide and 232,000 tons of sulfur
dioxide are emitted annually from the state's power plants. "These
regulations are critical in order to further protect public health
and New York's precious natural resources," Crotty said. The
emergency regulations imposed by the state, which are allowed when
there is a perceived threat to public health, are valid for a 90-day
period. That period will likely be extended as the state repeats
the normal rule-making process aimed at satisfying the court's concerns,
which could take more than a year. For more information on power
plant emissions and their detrimental effect on our health and natural
resources, visit: http://www.serconline.org/cleanenergy.html. |
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Efforts
to Kill Bottle Bills
Although no state bottle bill has ever been repealed, the beverage
industry's well-funded campaigns have been extremely successful
in stopping new bottle bills or the expansion of existing ones.
Hawaii recently became the first state in 20 years to pass a bottle
bill -- in large part, because, during that time, industry opponents
have spent tens of millions on anti-bottle bill propaganda, outspending
proponents by as much as 30 to 1. Hawaii's program, although not
yet implemented, is already under attack from the business community.
Oregon's bottle bill -- the three-decade-old law that spurred
the introduction of several similar bottle bills across the country
-- came very close to being undermined by lobbyists advocating
the agendas of beer and wine distributors. Their weapon was HB
3637, a measure that would have permitted the practice of sending
recyclable bottles to landfills in the absence of an economic
incentive to recycle them. In Connecticut, a coalition of businesses,
environmentalists, labor leaders, and charitable organizations
continues to block attacks on the state's 26-year-old bottle bill.
In 2001, the Grocery Association spent thousands to kill Iowa's
bottle bill, claiming that returning a beverage container to a
grocery store was a threat to public health -- an argument that
was quickly refuted by the state's department of public health.
Another argument commonly used is that return-deposit systems
should be dumped in favor of government-managed curbside recycling
programs. Industry prefers curbside recycling because it places
responsibility for recycling beverage containers -- and the cost
-- out of their hands and into the hands of taxpayers. However,
in states without bottle bills, curbside recycling, drop-off,
and buyback programs together recover only 191 beverage containers
per person per year, compared to 490 containers per person per
year in deposit-return states. The ideal system is a deposit system
for beverage containers, complemented by curbside and drop-off
systems for other products, including food containers, newspapers,
cardboard, mixed paper, and yard waste. Bottle bills continue
to be threatened by lobbyists representing beverage distributors,
grocery/retail associations, and other well-financed special interest
groups. Fortunately, however, their recent efforts have been largely
unsuccessful. For more information on bottle bills, visit: http://www.serconline.org/bottlebill/index.html. |
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Iowa
Forest Exemptions Raise Questions (Des Moines Register
8/17)
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040817/NEWS08/408170362/1001/
NEWS&lead=1
Iowa landowners have managed to avoid taxes on nearly $200
million in property under a little-known law that lets them
classify the land as a forest reserve. The owners range from
Iowans with large back yards to millionaire developers with
expansion plans. The exemptions mean an estimated $4.6 million
in tax breaks each year. Critics say the 98-year-old law --
designed to prevent soil erosion and protect wildlife -- shifts
the tax burden to neighboring property owners and strangles
an important revenue source for governments and schools. "If
they don't want to pay taxes, then maybe they don't need to
buy so much land and sit on it waiting for the big profit,"
Des Moines City Councilman Archie Brooks said. "If they
want to speculate, then they should pay the bill just like
everyone else." Iowa, Delaware, and Alaska are the only
states that offer complete tax exemption for land classified
as a forest. The exemption is claimed on only about half of
the Iowa acres that are eligible. All other states offer some
form of partial tax breaks to private forest owners, according
to the Journal of Forestry. Elected officials across the state
agree the exemption diminishes Iowa's tax base. Their cries
have caught the attention of some state lawmakers, who plan
to target the exemption and nearly 30 others in next year's
legislative session. "We desperately need a tax overhaul,"
said state Rep. Jim Kurtenbach. "Our current tax policy
is not tied to our environmental policies or our economic
development policies." A report last year by the Iowa
Department of Natural Resources suggests that state leaders
revise the requirements to qualify for forest exemptions.
Trees planted to meet the specifications should grow for at
least two years and the parcel should be a minimum of five
acres, natural resources officials recommended. John Walkowiak,
bureau chief for the department's forestry division, fears
that state leaders will eliminate the exemption altogether.
The result would be more urban sprawl and air and water pollution,
he predicts. About 92 percent of Iowa's 2.7 million acres
of forests are privately owned, Walkowiak said. Less than
25 percent of the acres are exempt from taxes. "I think
we need to take a look at where there are loopholes, but I'm
afraid the few might outweigh the 99.9 percent that use it
correctly," Walkowiak said. |
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New
Mexico, Texas Governors Pledge to Resolve Conflicts over Compacts
(Land Letter 8/19)
http://www.eenews.net/Landletter/Backissues/081904/081904ll.htm#1
At a meeting of governors from U.S. and Mexican border states
held last week, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Texas
Gov. Rick Perry announced that they will try to negotiate
a solution to a long-standing conflict between their states
over water deliveries. For decades, tensions between the two
neighboring states have escalated as New Mexico has struggled
to meet its water delivery obligations under compacts governing
the Pecos River and Rio Grande. The Rio Grande Compact, signed
by Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas in 1938, and the Pecos
River Compact, adopted 10 years later by New Mexico and Texas,
divvied up the water from the two rivers among the states.
As an upstream state, New Mexico is required to ensure that
enough water flows to Texas to meet compact requirements.
Under the agreements, New Mexico essentially can use no more
water from the rivers than it did at the time the compacts
were negotiated, with Texas getting what is left over. The
problem, water experts say, is that New Mexico and Texas have
undergone tremendous growth and change since the compacts
were adopted. While both New Mexico and west Texas were largely
agricultural during the early to mid-20th century, increasing
demand from growing cities along the rivers, including Albuquerque
and Carlsbad in New Mexico and El Paso and Juarez in Texas,
put new strains on the compacts. At the same time, drought
has cut flows in both rivers. Furthermore, pueblo water rights
were not factored in when water was allocated under the compacts.
Another issue complicating the matter involves providing water
habitat for endangered species. |
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PA
Introduces Resolution Against Logging Roads in AK Tongass
(NCEL 8/19)
http://ncel.net/index.cgim
Environmentalists and fiscally-conservative Republican Congressmen
find themselves on the same side in opposing funds for new
logging roads in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. In December
2003, the Bush administration exempted thousands of acres
of undisturbed rain forest that was included in a Clinton-era
roadless rule. Environmentalists and taxpayer advocates say
the Forest Service is subsidizing the logging industry at
a cost to the federal government. In June, the U.S. House
of Representatives passed an amendment that would bar federal
funding for new logging roads in the Tongass. The Senate has
yet to act. In Pennsylvania, a resolution has been introduced
urging the suspension, for one year, of federal dollars to
subsidize the building of new logging roads in the Tongass.
HR 832 points out that the market for lumber from the Tongass
is so limited that Congress has earmarked $5 million just
to encourage timber sales. The Keystone State resolution also
says Taxpayers for Common Sense has estimated that the Tongass
timber program loses $30 million a year due to uncompetitive
bidding practices and vastly undervalued timber sales. |
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California
Bill Would Cap Port Pollution Levels (Los Angeles
Times 8/18)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-port18aug18,1,6396026.story?coll=la-headlines-california
A California bill that would cap pollution levels at the ports
of Los Angeles and Long Beach is drawing criticism from business
and oil interests, but praise from environmentalists and local
residents. The bill, AB 2042, would not dictate how the ports
control pollution but would require that emissions not exceed
2004 levels, even though both ports have plans to expand their
operations. There has been increasing concern over port pollution,
in particular the harmful effects of diesel pollution. According
to a March 2004 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council
and the Coalition for Clean Air, U.S. seaports are the nation's
largest and most unregulated polluters. Diesel-burning trucks
converge at ports to load and unload shipments from diesel-burning
ships, and often have to wait there with their engines idling.
The busy ports at Long Beach and Los Angeles, taken together,
emit more pollution that the region's top 300 emitting industrial
plants and refineries. Most major U.S. ports, including Los
Angeles, Oakland, Long Beach, New York, New Jersey, and Houston,
violate federal safety standards for ozone and particulate
matter. Experts blame diesel fumes for 71% of the cancer risk
associated with air pollution in the Los Angeles region, and
a 1999 study by the South Coast Air Quality Management District
found the lifetime cancer risk from air pollution in the port
area to be higher than 2,000 cases per million people. California's
State Air Resources Board classified diesel exhaust as a known
carcinogen in 1990 and as a toxic air contaminant in 1998,
and the state's busy ports at Los Angeles, Long Beach, and
Oakland have begun measures to combat diesel emission effects.
State legislation passed in 2002 imposes fines on diesel-burning
trucks that idle for longer than 30 minutes at ports, but
this new bill would take state measures against port pollution
to a higher level. The California Chamber of Commerce, Department
of Transportation, and Department of Finance all oppose the
bill, saying it will be detrimental to jobs and economic development.
For more information on the harmful effects of diesel pollution
in our nation's ports, and state action to combat it, visit:
http://www.serconline.org/dieselPortPollution.html. |
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Wisconsin
Utilities May Use More Renewable Energy (Leader Telegram
8/16)
http://www.leadertelegram.com/story.asp?id=45374
Wisconsin utilities probably can meet an anticipated goal
of having 10 percent of the state's electricity from renewable
energy by 2015, according to the Governor's Task Force on
Energy Efficiency and Renewables. The 25-member task force
consists of utility representatives, business leaders, environmentalists,
and legislators. The group recommended that utilities statewide
generate 10 percent of the state's electricity from renewable
energy by 2015, and all utilities increase their use of renewables
by 6 percent over that same time frame. About 4 percent of
the electricity in the state is now generated from renewable
sources. The task force also recommends that state agencies
use 20 percent renewable energy by 2015 to help stimulate
the demand and that the state's building codes be improved
to make them more energy efficient. For more on how your state
can promote renewable energy sources, visit: http://www.serconline.org/RPS/pkg_frameset.html. |
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"Upset"
Air Pollution Episodes Poison Communities in 29 States (ENS
8/19; EIP Press Release 8/18)
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2004/2004-08-19-03.asp
http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/pubs/081804_EIP_upsets_national_release_FINAL6.doc
In 29 states, industrial facilities are getting away with
accidental, unplanned air pollution releases, known as "upset"
episodes, according to a fresh analysis of government data
by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released last
week. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not
acting to close the state loopholes that allow the "upset"
air pollution episodes, even when they expose millions of
Americans to benzene, butadiene, and other cancer-causing
chemicals, EIP found. The 29 states with loopholes for "upset"
episodes identified in the EIP report are: Alabama, Alaska,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Dakota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico,
New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas,
Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The loopholes in some of these states are larger than in others,
the EIP study found, and many states fail to keep track of
or include "upset" air emissions in state inventories.
The report also found that annual "upset" emissions
can actually exceed the total annual emissions a company reports
to a state and that "upset" emissions are largely
avoidable. To view the report, visit: http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/pub237.cfm. |
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GA
Governor Seeks New Ways to Protect State's Green Space (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution 8/17)
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0804/15land.html
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, considering recommendations from
a land conservation advisory panel, has indicated that the
state may need to provide more incentives for private landowners
to retain green space rather than increasing the amount of
state-owned and managed land. Measures to increase private
landowner stewardship will likely include more generous tax
benefits to landowners to keep their land in trust and refuse
to build large developments on open space. The panel recommends
the creation of a state authority to monitor green space purchases,
tax credits, and conservation easements to protect rivers
and critical wildlife ownership by purchasing land for preservation
and then reselling it into private ownership. Other recommendations
include prioritizing land that is rich in biodiversity, culturally
or historically valuable, diverse in its uses, and which filters
pollution in the air and water. Under the panel's recommendations,
cities and counties would be able to compete for state money
to purchase and preserve green space. The state may also consider
altering its property tax laws to value land based on its
use rather than on its market value. The panel did not issue
final recommendations on how to pay for the projects, but
suggests that other states have been able to raise money through
cigarette and gas taxes. For more information on green space
incentives and conservation easements, visit: http://www.serconline.org/conservationfunding/index.html. |
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Delaware
Cities Pursue Renewable Energy (News Journal 8/18)
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/business/2004/08/18delcitiespursue.html
Nine Delaware cities are trying to buy 20 megawatts of green
power, enough electricity for about 20,000 homes. The cities,
which make up the Delaware Municipal Electric Corp., have
asked power companies to tell them how much it would cost
to provide that much electricity from renewable sources such
as wind, solar power, or tidal-powered turbines. Green power
experts said the request is unusual because there is no mandate
forcing cities to buy renewable electricity. Most power companies
wait until state law forces them to buy green power before
taking such steps, said John Byrne, director of the Center
for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware.
"This is quite exceptional," Byrne said. "I
think they are to be commended." Corporation president
Patrick E. McCullar said the cities hope to accomplish several
goals if their request is realized, including spurring development
of clean power generation in Delaware and helping Dover Air
Force Base get some of its electricity from renewable sources.
A federal program aims to increase the use of renewable energy
sources at military bases. The city of Dover supplies electricity
to the Dover base. The corporation also is responding to an
effort by state lawmakers to require Delaware utilities to
buy a small percentage of their power from renewable sources.
That effort died at the end of the General Assembly session
this summer when the House failed to take up the matter for
a vote. The bill is expected to be debated when the General
Assembly reconvenes in January. A study earlier this year
by the federally-funded National Renewable Energy Laboratory
found that green power makes up less than 1 percent of the
total electricity generated in the United States, and costs
residential users 2 cents to 3 cents more a kilowatt hour,
or about $5 extra a month. The study found that, as long as
the additional cost of green power is kept at such a relatively
low level, consumers are willing to pay for cleaner electricity.
For more on how your state can clean up its power act, visit:
http://www.serconline.org/cleanenergy.html. |
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