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Regulating
PBDEs
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a group of chemicals
that are widely used as fire retardants. They are found in electronics,
electrical cables, carpets, furniture, and textiles. PBDEs tend
to accumulate in fats and are resistant to physical, chemical, and
biological degredation, which causes them to be highly persistant
in the environment and to accumulate in the bodies of organisms
that are exposed to them. PBDEs are now found around the world in
dust, air, water, and sediments. They have also been found in the
tissues of mammals, birds, and fish, and in tissue, blood, and breast
milk of women worldwide. The concentrations currently found in tissues
of American women are the highest ever reported. There are a number
of potential negative health effects of PBDEs, including thyroid
hormone disruption, permanent neural damage, behavioral changes,
birth defects, and possibly cancer. California passed a statewide
ban on the use of Penta and Octa PBDEs, effective in 2008, and several
other states have introduced bills that would regulate PBDEs. They
are not currently regulated by the U.S. government, but the U.S
Environmental Protection Agency has been working with U.S.-based
PBDE manufacturers on a voluntary phase out plan. PBDEs are a potentially
very serious health risk because of their ubiquity and their tendency
to accumulate in the human body. Because safer, commercially viable
alternatives are available, it only makes sense to stop using PBDEs.
For more information about PBDEs, visit: http://www.serconline.org/PBDEs.html. |
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States
Ahead of EPA in Cutting Mercury Pollution (Stateline.org,
NCEL 2/4)
http://www.stateline.org/stateline/?pa=story&sa=showStoryInfo&id=348228
State legislators in the Midwest and Great Lakes region announced
a new regional effort to reduce mercury pollution. This is the first
joint effort to curb mercury pollution and the latest salvo by states
acting in the absence of federal standards on mercury. A bipartisan
group of lawmakers from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio,
and Wisconsin said that states must arm themselves against mercury
pollution because the federal government has failed to take effective
action against the toxic element. The lawmakers, all members of
the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL), are proposing
regulations that range from controlling emissions from coal-fired
power plants to banning mercury-containing products such as thermometers
and dental fillings. "Acting regionally, we can send a collective
message to Washington that state policymakers are concerned about
protecting the environment and the health of our constituents,"
said Jane Krentz, Midwestern director of NCEL and a former Minnesota
state senator. Seven other states -- Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland,
New York, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington -- also are considering
proposals this year to impose strict mercury cutbacks by limiting
toxic emissions from coal-burning power plants. Mercury is the most
pervasive pollutant in the Great Lakes and all the state public
health departments in the region have issued fish consumption advisories.
Mercury from coal-fired power plants accounts for nearly one-third
of mercury released. After being released into the air, it settles
into lakes, rivers, and oceans and contaminates fish that humans
then eat. For more information on reducing mercury poisoning in
your state, visit: http://www.serconline.org/mercury/pkg_frameset.html. |
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How
ALEC's Property Investment Protection Act Works for Business
With a "model" bill aimed at property rights, the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is attacking urban planning
efforts that prevent suburban sprawl. The Property Investment Protection
Act requires municipalities to reimburse property owners if a change
in zoning laws causes a reduction in property values. This act is
designed to undermine smart growth policies. ALEC argues that smart
growth policies "limit freedom of choice and raise the cost
of living at the local level." We know that big box stores
and expansive parking lots don't increase citizens' choices, but
rather those of corporations. Sprawl creates traffic congestion,
lack of open space, over-concentration of commercial properties,
farmland loss, and lack of adequate infrastructure. These consequences
are much more expensive to fix than establishing local and regional
planning programs that strengthen cities. The Act also fails to
acknowledge that suburban sprawl actually reduces private property
values, which contradicts their entire claim. Relatively few people
profit from sprawling development, while many may see taxes rise
and property values fall. ALEC's bill should really be called the
"Corporate Investment Protection Act." For more information
on suburban sprawl, visit: http://www.serconline.org/sprawl/pkg_frameset.html. |
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New
York Issues Ban on Live Carp (Times-Union 2/6)
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=216281&category=STATE&newsdate=2/6/2004
New York has issued emergency regulations prohibiting most
imports of live Asian carp, becoming the last of the Great
Lakes states to bar the fish that scientists and sportsmen
fear will wreck the lakes' food chain. The ban also applies
to live silver and black carp, and the eggs of all three species.
There is an exception to the rule in New York, however. The
state will allow bighead carp to be transported live into
New York City and parts of nearby Westchester County for sale
in fish markets. Under the new rules, bighead carp have to
be killed by retailers before they can be sold. Scientists
have been watching with rising alarm as Asian carp have gotten
closer to the Great Lakes via the upper Mississippi River.
The carp probably got into the river in the early 1990s when
floods allowed them to escape from fishery operations near
the lower Mississippi. Other species, including lamprey eels
and zebra mussels, have already taken a heavy toll on the
Great Lakes. For more information on how invasive species
can impact your state, visit: http://www.serconline.org/invasives/pkg_frameset.html. |
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South
Dakota May Expand Aerial Hunting (Aberdeen News 1/28)
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/7664926.htm
People who use airplanes to hunt foxes and coyotes on private
land could also hunt over some public lands under a proposal
that will be considered March 4 by the state Game, Fish, and
Parks Commission. Current regulations forbid aerial hunting
over public land and water. "This change in the aerial
hunting restrictions was initially requested by ranchers and
landowners who were concerned about the inability to aerially
hunt depredating coyotes and fox over public lands,"
said Wildlife Damage Management Program Administrator Art
Smith. "There are many areas in western South Dakota
where public lands are leased for grazing, and those leased
lands are intermingled with private lands. Often it is impossible,
either from the ground or air, to determine the boundaries
between public and private lands." The Federal Airborne
Hunting Act prevents anyone from hunting for sport or recreation
out of an airplane, but retains the ability for producers
to protect their livestock by aerial predator hunting. A bill
introduced in the House, HB 1300, would similarly expand the
area in which aerial hunting is allowed, permitting hunters
to venture up to four miles on adjoining lands. |
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Pennsylvania
Budget Emphasizes Green (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
2/4)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04035/269173.stm
The state budget proposal released by Gov. Rendell last week
puts an emphasis on alternative energy and environmental initiatives,
while imposing new fees on polluting industries. The proposed
expenditures will cost $1.4 billion over the next four years,
but Rendell says it is an "investment in Pennsylvania's
quality of life." He proposes paying for the initiative
with a new $800 million dollar fund, the Growing Greener Fund,
which increases the cost of waste disposal and extends a fee
toward residual waste such as coal ash. Large industries and
utilities would be required to pay an additional $0.15 on
every pound of toxic chemicals released. The major initiative
includes preserving farmland and open space, upgrading state
and local parks, rebuilding historic communities, and supporting
local recycling efforts with programs to revive older industrial
"brownfield" communities and clean thousands of
miles of streams polluted by mine drainage. Utility officials
counter that the emissions fee will affect the competitiveness
of coal-fired utilities, and that it could shift power generation
and jobs to other states that choose not to impose such a
fee. Although she expects some state legislators to be critical
of the emissions fee, State Department of Environmental Protection
Secretary Kathleen McGinty said any negative effects would
be mitigated by capping a company's annual liability at $2
million. For more information on how your state can have a
greener budget, visit: http://www.serconline.org/fiscalreform/pkg_frameset.html. |
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Wyoming
May Sue Federal Government over Wolf Plan (Casper
Star-Tribune 2/3)
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/02/03/news/wyoming/7b52daa5ce5821d987256e30001d1953.txt
State attorneys are preparing to go to court to appeal the
U.S. Department of Interior's recent rejection of Wyoming's
wolf management plan, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Tuesday.
At the same time, state officials have filed a federal Freedom
of Information Act request for all U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service documents related to several aspects of gray wolf
reintroduction and management. Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho
must craft management plans that the Interior Department believes
will provide for a sustainable wolf population before the
agency will consider removing the gray wolf from the federal
Endangered Species List. Fish and Wildlife Service Director
Steve Williams cited three specific concerns in his letter
to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department rejecting Wyoming's
plan: predator classification, the number of packs the state
proposed maintaining, and the minimum pack size. Freudenthal
contends the federal government switched its position after
initially supporting the state's plan and the plan passed
the muster of 10 of 11 federally appointed biologists who
studied it. For more information on how your state can manage
its wolf population, visit: http://www.serconline.org/wolfpreservation/index.html. |
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Colorado
Bill Would Push Power Plants to Rely More on Renewables
(The Denver Post 2/2)
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1929881,00.html
A new bill in the Colorado legislature would require investor-owned
utilities to increase the amount of electricity they receive
from renewable energy by at least 0.5% each year between 2005
and 2020. House Speaker Lola Spradley introduced the bill,
which is one of several now pending in the Colorado legislature
that would encourage a shift from traditional water-intensive
power production to the use of bone-dry wind power and other
renewable sources. Power plants produce energy by heating
water into steam, which turns the massive turbines to produce
electricity. In Colorado, where water resources are relatively
scarce, power plants withdrew more than 21 billion gallons
of water from rivers and aquifers in 2000, according to a
2003 report by Western Resource Advocates. A small per-year
decrease in power plant's dependence on non-renewable water
resources could have a big impact. For more information on
renewable portfolio standards, visit: http://www.serconline.org/RPS/pkg_frameset.html. |
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Bill
Would Ban Lead Sinkers in Vermont (The Rutland Herald
2/2)
http://www.rutlandherald.com/04/State/Story/78247.html
Starting on Feb. 2, the Vermont House Committee on Fish and
Wildlife began a three-day hearing on a bill that would ban
the sale and use of lead sinkers weighing a half-ounce or
less as of 2007. The bill would also appropriate $100,000
for a statewide public education campaign to inform residents
of the dangers that lead can pose to wildlife. Studies have
indicated that lead sinkers may contribute to the lead poisoning
and death of some birds, who mistake the sinkers for grit
(which supplements their diets) on the bottom of lakes and
rivers. The ban would not affect the sale or use of other
fishing accessories containing lead. Vermont is not the first
state to peruse a lead-sinker ban; similar bills have passed
in New York and Maine, as well as in England and Canada. For
more information on how to ban lead sinkers, visit: http://www.serconline.org/lead/pkg_frameset.html. |
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State
Governments May Preempt Federal Action on Diesel Emission
Reductions (AP 1/30)
http://sierraactivist.org/article.php?sid=40405
Because of fears that the federal government will not follow
through with new federal rules requiring all large new diesel
rigs or replacement engines to reduce emissions more than
90% by 2010, some states are taking preemptive action by adopting
California's highway diesel emissions standard, the toughest
in the nation. The federal rules were issued in the final
weeks of the Clinton administration, upheld by the Bush administration,
and reaffirmed by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
scientific advisory panel in October 2002. However, some trucking
companies have asked that implementation of the rules be delayed,
fearing higher costs and less fuel efficiency. Glen Kedzie,
attorney for the trade group American Trucking Associations,
said the new trucks will cost an average $5,000 to $10,000
more, and the fuel economy may be up to 20% less efficient.
Anti-pollution advocates are urging trucking groups and legislators
to weigh those costs against expected benefits, which the
EPA says would include the annual prevention of some 8,300
premature deaths, 5,500 cases of chronic bronchitis, and 17,600
cases of acute childhood bronchitis. Federal law allows states
to adopt either federal the regulations or California vehicle
emissions regulations, which are nearly identical to the proposed
EPA rules. |
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Nebraska
State Forest Service under Debate in Legislature
(Lincoln Journal 2/6)
http://www.journalstar.com/nebraska.php?story_id=119764
Nebraska is considering establishing the Nebraska Forest Service
(NFS) in state law. The University of Nebraska, which runs
the NFS, threatened to eliminate the service last year, in
response to reduced state funding, until the legislature appropriated
funds to keep it active. The federal government considers
the forest service to be a federally-assisted state program,
so the elimination of state funding would mean that the NFS
could not meet federal matching requirements; therefore, the
amount of federal funds received by the NFS would be impacted.
Federal funds play a significant role in the budget of the
NFS. Additionally, one of the services of the NFS is to provide
reconditioned military vehicles to volunteer fire departments.
These reconditioned vehicles are on loan to the state pursuant
to a federal program, and would have to be returned if the
NFS no longer qualified for the federal program. LB 917 would
establish the NFS in state law and enumerate its core duties.
It would also provide for coordination and cooperation among
governmental entities including the Natural Resource Districts,
and provide for appropriate funding. |
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Alternative
Energy Ballot Drive Slated in Colorado (Denver Post
2/6)
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1931657,00.html
This November, voters in Colorado may have the chance to make
renewable energy more prevalent in their state. The proposed
measure, written by Environment Colorado and the Sierra Club,
would force power companies to use at least 10% renewable
sources to provide energy to customers by 2012, and 20% by
2022. Utilities not able not meet the standard could buy renewable
energy credits from utilities exceeding the minimum requirement.
Currently, Colorado produces only 1% of its energy from renewable
sources. The proposed ballot measure would be unnecessary
in the eyes of Environment Colorado and the Sierra Club if
a renewable energy bill proposed by House Speaker Lola Spradley
is passed (see related story above). Every attempt she has
made to pass the legislation thus far has failed, however.
Representative Spradley says that renewable energy is an issue
important to people in Colorado, a statement supported by
a recent survey conducted by the University of Colorado, Denver.
Eighty-two percent of those surveyed said they wanted power
companies to use renewable sources of energy in the future.
Only 12% of those surveyed said they wanted utilities to continue
relying on fossil fuels. For more information on renewable
portfolio standards, visit: http://www.serconline.org/RPS/pkg_frameset.html. |
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New
Strategy to Curb Sprawl in New Jersey (Star-Ledger
2/2)
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1075704196124750.xml
A proposal by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU)
would give developers a new incentive to build in urban areas
and existing suburbs and rural centers. Under the proposal,
the costs of extending electricity, hot water, and natural
gas infrastructures to new, sprawling subdivisions should
be levied by developers, not taxpayers. The proposal is designed
to reinforce the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment
plan, a blueprint that maps the state into planning areas
and channels growth into higher density areas. If the proposal,
now in a 60-day public comment period, is adopted, developers
would be reimbursed for the cost of extending services in
different amounts and at varying speeds depending on where
they build. Developers will be reimbursed more, and at a quicker
pace, if they build in growth areas designated by the state
plan. Builders are currently required to pay for a portion
of extending services, but are reimbursed by at least half
as the utilities come online. Groups opposed to sprawl are
generally happy with the BPU's idea, although some note that
the development and redevelopment plan needs to be reworked
for the proposal to be truly effective. For more information
on how your state can curb sprawl, visit: http://www.serconline.org/sprawl/pkg_frameset.html. |
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