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RPS
Renewable Energy
A Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) ensures that a certain percentage
of the electricity resources serving a state come from renewable
energy sources. By increasing the required amount of renewables
over time, the RPS can put the power industry on a path toward increased
sustainability. "Renewables" describes the energy generated
by wind, sun, water, plant growth, and geothermic heat that is then
converted into power for our everyday use. As the term suggests,
this energy is generated from sources we can tap into again and
again. The movement of wind and water, heat and light of the sun,
heat in the ground, and carbohydrates in plants are all natural
energy sources that will not be depleted. RPS bills have been introduced
this session in MD, PA, WI, NM, OH, RI, WA, IL, and CO. Hawaii has
introduced RPS language which would require 20% renewable power.
The effect has trickled down to the municipal level with a resolution
introduced in San Francisco that would require the city to buy from
a company that provides more than 40 percent of its electricity
from renewable sources. No one silver bullet solution can meet our
society's future energy needs, but any serious proposal must include
the diverse energy technologies that do not deplete our natural
resources or destroy our environment. RPS does just that. For more
information on how your state can implement a Renewable Portfolio
Standard, visit: http://www.serconline.org/RPS/pkg_frameset.html. |
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Governor
Granholm Looks to Certify Michigan's Forests (ENS 2/16)
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2004/2004-02-16-09.asp
Gov. Granholm has proposed that the Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) move forward on an effort to certify all state forestland
in Michigan under a forest certification system that uses environmental
and sustainability standards -- ISO 14001, Sustainable Forestry
Initiative (SFI), and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The proposal
was announced at the Governors Summit on Forest Industry Sustainability
in the Great Lakes Region. Granholm also intends to revive the Forestry
Advisory Council to work within the state to ensure that Michigan's
timber and wood fiber products can compete in the global marketplace.
The council would focus on recreation, wildlife habitat, biodiversity
concerns, and multiple use issues. Currently, 99 million acres of
forestland worldwide has been certified. Michigan would have the
nation's largest certified forest once its four million acres of
state-owned forestland are certified, Granholm said. Forest certification
is becoming increasingly popular as major consumers of wood and
wood products are demanding the products be produced in an environmental
and sustainable manner. The certification would also help to keeps
jobs in the timber and wood fiber industry in the state. For more
information on forest certification, visit: http://www.serconline.org/goodwood.html. |
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ALEC
Is Rewriting Science
The corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
has been pushing model legislation in legislatures throughout the
country to undermine scientific support for environmental protection.
At first glance, some of these bills seem reasonable. The Verifiable
Science Act, for example, seems to simply make scientific data used
to develop public policy more accessible to citizens. Two words
make the bill more complicated: pertinent and ascertainable. These
words have no clear legal meaning, which makes policy decisions
more difficult to promulgate. Public access to government documents
is already guaranteed under the federal Freedom of Information Act,
so why do we need another law? The Verifiable Science Act's true
purpose is to restrict agencies' authority to craft policy. One
of these bills was introduced in Vermont in 2003. The Common Sense
Scientific and Technical Evidence Act also appears to be innocuous
by simply defining scientific evidence and expert testimony. Those
definitions, however, have serious consequences because they significantly
limit the evidence that can be presented to the court. This makes
it more difficult for environmental activists to bring lawsuits
against corporate polluters. These types of ALEC-influenced bills
have been introduced in South Dakota, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Not only is ALEC trying to confuse the public's understanding of
scientific process, but they are attempting to rewrite scientific
knowledge by pushing a Resolution on Non-Verified Science Curriculum
Funding and the Environmental Literacy Act. These acts attempts
to control, confine, and intimidate educators into toeing the corporate
line on environmental issues. They set up processes to defund environmental
education and allow business interests to write science curriculum.
Through these bills, ALEC is trying to restrict state rights to
protect human health and the environment. They intend to erode scientific
data and public understanding of the threats so that big business
can profit. We need trained professionals to interpret and disseminate
scientific information, not corporations. For more information about
ALEC's model bills, visit http://www.serconline.org/alecIndex.html. |
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Idaho
Committee Kills "Junk Science" Bill (Idaho
Spokesman Review 2/20)
Idaho State Rep. Dick Harwood failed Thursday to persuade
a House committee to pass his anti-junk science bill, after
a parade of witnesses testified that it would violate the
First Amendment. The bill, HB 664, would have allowed anyone
who said anything or provided information to "any governmental
entity of any kind," which later found to be false, to
be sued. "HB 664 is so extreme that it crosses the line,"
Justin Hayes, program director for the Idaho Conservation
League, told the panel. "It so plainly creates some legal
course of action to be used to attack someone that you disagree
with." Marty Durand, attorney and lobbyist for the American
Civil Liberties Union, told the committee, "Laws should
not discourage public participation in government... This
bill does exactly that, by creating civil liability where
none should exist. It chills speech and conflicts with the
First Amendment." Critics of the bill said it would essentially
make it illegal to be wrong or misinformed, and to speak out,
whether it's to a legislative committee or to the local school
board or at a planning and zoning dispute. |
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Idaho,
Washington Try to Change Forest Management Priorities (NWEA
2/18; Idaho Spokesman Review 2/18)
http://ecosystem.org/act/94.html
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=021804&ID=s1489030&cat=section.idaho
Plans to dramatically increase logging on state lands were
endorsed unanimously by legislative budget writers in Idaho
recently. State Sen. Shawn Keough told the budget panel the
move will help state forests while also making money for the
state endowment fund. Gov. Kempthorne and the state Land Board
called for the logging increase to boost harvest by 20 million
board feet a year for the next decade. In addition to making
millions more for the state endowment, officials said they
wanted to thin state-owned forests of larger, older trees
so the inventory would be weighted toward smaller dimension
timber, where the industry's mills already are headed, indicating
that their management priorities are purely for logging. Environmental
groups have raised concerns that the increased logging could
threaten habitat for endangered species, including caribou
in North Idaho near Priest Lake. In a similar move, State
Sen. Bob Morton of Washington has introduced a bill, SSB 6144,
that gives a blank check to the Department of Natural Resources
to log federal, state, and private lands in Washington for
reasons of forest health. The bill attempts to achieve forest
health with no environmental guidelines, no accountability,
and no cost analysis; it threatens the state's interest in
wildlife, recreation, old growth forests, and clean drinking
water with uncontrolled logging. For more information on state
forest management, visit: http://www.serconline.org/forestrystateinfo.html. |
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HI
House Committees Approve Bill Regulating Commercial Cruise
Ship Pollution (Honolulu Advertiser 2/18)
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Feb/18/ln/ln31a.html
Three Hawaiian House Committees approved a bill that will
disallow commercial cruise ship pollution within four miles
of state shorelines. Prohibited would be any discharge of
wash-water drainage, oily bilge water, solid waste, hazardous
waste, and medical waste coming from commercial passenger
vessels. Under the bill, which would amend the state's Clean
Water Act, operators would need to install and maintain tamper-proof
automated data collection equipment approved by the Health
Department to record the dates, times, volumes or flow rates,
and locations of any discharges into marine waters around
the state. The operator would need to maintain records of
the dates for at least three years. Illegal discharges would
carry penalties as high as $25,000 for each offense. The cruise
ship industry, worth about $800 million per year to the state's
economy, currently has a "memorandum of understanding"
with the state regarding pollution discharges. Several cruise
lines have admitted violating the guidelines in the first
year of the agreement. The violations included the dumping
of treated sewage in waters at Penguin Bank, a protected fishing
ground off the south coast of Moloka'i frequented by humpback
whales. HB 2190 is now being reviewed by the House Transportation
Committee. |
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Bill
Proposes Changes to Alaska Board of Game (Anchorage
Daily News 2/19)
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/4759141p-4705292c.html
Introduced by State Sen. Ellis, SB 343 proposes changes to
Alaska's Board of Game. The bill would alter the makeup of
the panel, extending the membership from seven to nine individuals.
The two new members would represent "nonconsumptive uses."
The Board would also be renamed the Board of Wildlife. The
Board of Game's members are appointed by the governor, currently
Gov. Murkowski, and confirmed by the legislature. The qualifications
specify only that the members have "good judgment, knowledge,
and ability in the field of action of the board" and
represent a variety of view points. However, some of Sen.
Ellis' constituents have advocated changes to the board for
years, citing a number of appointees who support predator
control. Gavin Tarr, Sen. Ellis' chief of staff, said the
new bill specifies that the board "taken as a whole,
shall directly reflect all of the citizens' various uses of
game for sport and subsistence hunting, trapping, nonconsumptive
uses, tourism, and scientific study." Some people contend
the bill is unnecessary, including Game Board chairman Mike
Fleagle who stated, "the board considers all viewpoints;
it just doesn't agree with some of them." Advocates of
the bill, including the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, have said
that, if it fails in the legislature, they would bring the
issue to the voters as a statewide ballot initiative. |
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State
Officials Worried Diesel Standards Could Be Weakened (Greenwire
2/17)
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/Backissues/021704/021704gw.htm#1
While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims it is
still committed to its rules calling for reductions in pollution
from heavy-duty diesel engines, some members of the trucking
industry are pressuring officials to alter the rules or delay
their implementation. Trucking interests claim the rules,
which are expected to be implemented in 2007 and are designed
to reduce smog, will require unfair cost increases. Trucking
groups have sued in the past, claiming the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) failed to consider cost and energy
data. According to EPA officials, the new federal rules will
reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 2.6 million tons and particulate
matter by 110,000 tons annually. It would also prevent an
estimated 8,300 premature deaths, 5,500 cases of chronic bronchitis,
and 17,600 cases of acute bronchitis in children annually.
State and local officials sent a letter to the American Trucking
Association in January warning that, if the federal rule does
not go into effect, states will choose to adopt California
standards, which are virtually identical to the new federal
rules. Federal law allows states to adopt either federal or
California regulations. Officials at the EPA have said that
they do not expect trucking associations to be successful
lobbying Congress not to enforce the 2007 EPA regulations. |
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Maine's
Mercury Removal Law Upheld (ENS 2/19)
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2004/2004-02-19-09.asp#anchor1
A federal judge upheld Maine's automobile switch law, which
aims to prevent pollution from auto switches that contain
mercury, and is the first law in the nation requiring automakers
to pay to prevent mercury release from old cars. The law requires
automakers to pay a $1 bounty to junkyards and scrap dealers
for each mercury switch brought to a consolidation center.
It also requires automakers to set up the centers and provide
for collection and shipping of the mercury switches to recycling
centers. They must also phase out some uses of mercury and
label mercury components in new cars. The Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers had sued, contending the law was unconstitutional.
Many U.S.-manufactured cars and some older European models
contain mercury. Carmakers used switches containing mercury
for many years in lights located under hoods and in trunks,
and more recently in Antilock Brake Systems, which together
account for about 99 percent of all the mercury in cars. For
information on how your state can remove mercury from its
environment, visit: http://www.serconline.org/mercury/pkg_frameset.html. |
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West
Virginia Bill Proposes a State Air Emissions Registry (Herald
Dispatch 2/8)
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/February/08/LNlist5.htm
At West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise's request, SB 141 was recently
introduced to the state senate. The bill would authorize the
state Department of Environmental Protection to inventory
emissions from companies such as primary metals plants and
manufacturers of finished products, which are not currently
required to submit emissions reports. It would establish a
voluntary registry to allow companies to note emissions reductions
and would set up a system of emission credits that companies
could bank or sell. The bill would apply to the six greenhouse
gases referred to in the Kyoto Protocol: carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrous oxide, hydroflurocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur
hexafluoride. "There is an increasing recognition that
greenhouse gases have contributed to climate change,"
Gov. Wise said during an interview with the Associated Press.
"Even large energy corporations are talking about climate
change and, as a major energy producer, it is not a good idea
for us just to keep pretending now that it's not happening." |
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Vermont:
Compromise Reached on Environmental Permitting (Burlington
Free Press 2/20)
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/news/friday/1000h.htm
This week, legislators in Vermont negotiated an agreement
on Gov. Jim Douglas' environmental permit reform bill that
shifts the power of all environmental appeals away from the
Environmental Board and the Water Resources Board to a newly
created Environmental Court, effectively streamlining the
development permitting process. According to the compromise,
the Environmental Board, which has made hundreds of land-use
decisions over a 34-year tenure, will merge with the Water
Resources Board. The co-joined boards will continue to write
rules and decide citizen petitions on the classification of
wetlands and water bodies. In addition, the compromise upheld
Act 250, a state law requiring a three-citizen panel to review
development plans and grant environmental permits. Individuals
or groups granted party status in Act 250 decisions now have
the right to appeal all the way to the state supreme court,
a change applauded by both environmentalists and developers.
The bill also makes sweeping changes to local zoning and planning
laws. Proponents of the compromise say that judges will rule
more fairly on environmental appeals. Some details of the
bill still need to be ironed out before it is presented for
a vote in both houses of the legislature. |
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Washington
Bill Would Let Airports Create New Wetlands (Seattle
Post-Intelligencer 2/18)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/161068_wetlands18.html
A bill that would allow airport operators to replace wetlands
at locations away from their facilities passed the Washington
State Senate yesterday 38-10. Substitute Senate Bill 6173,
entitled "Requiring storm water and wetland mitigation
for public-use airports to be compatible with safe airport
operations," supported by the Port of Seattle and other
airport operators around the state, was proposed by a legislative
aviation study team concerned that building new wetlands or
holding ponds near runways would attract birds that planes
could hit and increase the risk of accidents. Environmentalists
and airport critics said the measure would lead to destruction
of wetlands and streams near runways. Studies of artificial
wetlands suggest that they do not replace the ecological value
of natural wetlands, particularly in terms of biodiversity.
Senators rejected amendments to the bill that would have exempted
Seattle-Tacoma Airport from its provisions and would have
retained state oversight of wetlands replacement. The measure
now goes to the House. For more information on this subject,
visit: http://www.serconline.org/wetlands/pkg_frameset.html. |
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New
Mexico House Approves Bill Limiting Water Well Use (Albuquerque
Journal 2/17)
http://www.albuquerquejournal.com/xgr/apwells02-17-04.htm
Legislators in New Mexico have proposed a bill that would
limit new permits for water use. In its House-approved form,
SB 89 grants greater regulatory power to the state engineer.
The engineer will now be able to limit well extractions to
one-half acre foot per household per year on new water permits,
which is half of the current household limit. The engineer
would designate the regulated areas, which could include places
where increased water use may cause excessive draw-down of
the water table, threaten the short-term viability of areas
with reduced aquifer thickness or negatively impact the state's
ability to meet its interstate water compact obligations.
A previous version of the bill would have allowed the engineer
to deny new wells in a critical management area unless an
applicant secures a water right to cover the proposed water
depletion. The Senate rejected the House version of the bill
-- negotiators are being appointed to help the legislature
reach a compromise. For more information on groundwater permitting,
visit: http://www.serconline.org/groundwaterWithPermit/pkg_frameset.html. |
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