Guest guest Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 WEEKLY GRIST 11 Aug - 17 Aug 2004 Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com> 1. POLLUTING THE VILLAGE TO SAVE IT Bushies Cite " National Security " as Reason to Skirt Enviro Rules While the Bush administration doesn't want to ask Americans to make any economic sacrifices for the war on terrorism, it doesn't seem to think twice about asking for environmental sacrifices. The Department of Homeland Security recently proposed exempting a raft of agencies under its control from environmental review requirements. If the feds log more trees and spray more pesticides, will we be better protected from terrorists? Muckraker wonders -- this week on the Grist Magazine website. this week in Grist: DHS pushes for environmental exemptions -- in Muckraker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/muck/muck081204.asp?source=weekly> sign up: Receive word by email each time a new Muckraker column hits the scene <http://www.gristmagazine.com/signup/subgrist.asp?source=weekly> 2. HEAVEN CAN'T WAIT Climate Stability Possible with Current Technology, Researchers Say Stabilizing global emissions of carbon dioxide and forestalling the worst consequences of global warming are possible with current technology, said Princeton researchers last week in the journal Science. While the Bush administration has stressed the need for " revolutionary technologies ... to transform the way we produce and consume energy, " as Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham put it last year, the new study " proves we have the technology several times over, and the marketplace can decide which ones to use, " said study coauthor Stephen Pacala. The study recommends widespread use of a portfolio of some 15 approaches ranging from solar and wind energy to energy efficiency to carbon sequestration to nuclear energy. While they stress that the search for new, transformative technologies should continue, the researchers' central message is simple: There's no need to wait. Let's get started. straight to the source: The Christian Science Monitor, Peter N. Spotts, 13 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2835> straight to the source: The Star-Ledger, Kevin Coughlin, 13 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2836> 3. THE ROCKFISH FILES Marine Defender Peter Huhtala InterActivates At the Pacific Marine Conservation Council, Peter Huhtala dedicates himself to, among other things, saving rockfish. Rockfish, which inhabit the waters off the West Coast of the U.S., can live up to 200 years -- unless they're caught up in fishing nets, that is. The fate of these fish rests to some extent in the hands of a federal fishery management council that is staffed almost entirely with folks from the fishing industry, so Huhtala's got his work cut out for him. Still, he finds time to canoe Oregon's waterways, worry about liquefied natural gas, and feel guilty about his Subaru Legacy. Check out his answers to our questions, and send him a question yourself -- only on the Grist Magazine website. only in Grist: Peter Huhtala answers Grist's questions -- in InterActivist <http://www.gristmagazine.com/interactivist/huhtala081604.asp?source=weekly> 4. LOOK, OVER THERE! A WAR! With Public Attention Elsewhere, Bush Rolls Back Regulations The Bush administration, critics say, has taken advantage of the public's distraction since 9/11 to govern via regulatory initiatives and rollbacks -- which, unlike new laws, do not require congressional approval. Pro-business measures enacted by the Bushies include a rule allowing Forest Service managers to circumvent environmental reviews on logging projects and the rollback of new-source review rules for power plants. Some rule changes have been blocked in court, but with a steady flood, most get through. A budget office official brags of " cut[ting] the growth of costly business regulations by 75 percent, " while Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.) calls it " tak[ing] a lot of loot out the back door without anybody noticing. " Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope says, " Now, when I hold focus groups with the general public and tell them what has been done, they exclaim, 'How could this have happened without me knowing about it?' " straight to the source: The New York Times, Joel Brinkley, 14 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2842> 5. GROW WITH THE FLOW Umbra Reveals the Mysteries of Hydroponics Hydroponic plant cultivation is the subject of almost cultish devotion among individuals involved in ... er... a sector of the economy that is, shall we say, frowned upon ... well, let's just call them entrepreneurs. A reader writes in to ask, if hydroponics is so great, why isn't it more widespread? Umbra talks to a farmer (no, not that kind) and brings back the straight dope (again, not that kind) -- in Ask Umbra, only on the Grist Magazine website. only in Grist: Ask Umbra on hydroponic cultivation -- in Ask Umbra <http://www.gristmagazine.com/ask/ask081604.asp?source=weekly> sign up: Receive word by email when new Ask Umbra columns hit the scene <http://www.gristmagazine.com/signup/subgrist.asp?source=weekly> 6. WELCOME TO THE MO' HELL CALIFORNIA New Study Predicts Hot, Dry Future for California According to a new study, global warming will leave California either really hosed or just moderately hosed, depending on the choices the world makes in coming years. Conducted by 19 prominent climate-change scientists, the study -- published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -- models two different scenarios. The first, a " business as usual " scenario involving no substantial change in the burning of fossil fuels or emission of greenhouse gases, would yield a rise in the average temperature of 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. Snowpack in the Sierra Mountains, one of the state's primary water sources, would be reduced by 89 percent. Heat waves would be more severe. The dairy, wine, and skiing industries could be devastated. Luckily, if substantial moves toward renewable energy are undertaken immediately -- the second scenario -- the average temperature will rise by only 4 to 6 degrees, and though the same effects will ensue, well, at least they'll be less severe. straight to the source: The Sacramento Bee, Edie Lau and Stuart Leavenworth, 17 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2846> straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Miguel Bustillo, 17 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2847> straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Carl T. Hall, 17 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2848> 7. WHEN PAUL'S SAID AND DONE Paul Ehrlich on Bush, Population Growth, Hope, and More Not surprisingly, readers sent in heaps of questions for renowned ecologist Paul Ehrlich. They quiz him about the predictions he made in his groundbreaking book " The Population Bomb, " subsequent population and consumption trends, the earth's carrying capacity, the fate of humanity, and oh yeah, how to pronounce his name (FYI: it's " air-lick " ). He assesses reactions to his previous work, the current state of the world, and our collective future in InterActivist -- only on the Grist Magazine website. only in Grist: Paul Ehrlich answers readers' questions -- in InterActivist <http://www.gristmagazine.com/interactivist/ehrlich081304.asp?source=weekly> 8. IF NOT FOR YOU MEDDLING KIDS ... Judge Spanks Commerce Secretary Over Dolphin-Safe Rules In a ruling made public last week, a federal judge resoundingly rejected the efforts of Bush administration officials to relax " dolphin-safe " standards for tuna. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson's ruling was, to put it mildly, strongly worded. " The record is replete with evidence that [Commerce Secretary Donald Evans] was influenced by policy concerns unrelated to the best available scientific evidence, " read the 51-page ruling. " This court has never, in its 24 years, reviewed a record of agency action that contained such a compelling portrait of political meddling. " The Commerce Department had proposed rewriting the rules to certify tuna as dolphin-safe even if dolphins were swept up in fish nets, as long as observers certified that the dolphins were unharmed. (Mexican observers are regularly bribed to overlook dead or injured dolphins.) Henderson called the decision " arbitrary and capricious. " Government officials are reviewing the decision and, one suspects, applying salve to their stinging rear ends. straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Associated Press, 11 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2820> straight to the source: The Sacramento Bee, Claire Cooper, 11 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2821> straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko, 11 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2822> 9. DO GOOD Take Action to Preserve Wyoming's Wildlands Wyoming's Bighorn National Forest -- encompassing tall peaks, big swaths of prairie, and a whole lotta trees -- is poised to get a new management plan, which will determine how much logging will be done, how many miles of roads will be bulldozed, and what sort of protections will be afforded to wildlife. Five management options are on the table. The Wilderness Society and Sierra Club are putting their energy behind the option that would protect the most land; the timber industry is pushing the option that would open the most areas to logging. Submit a comment and tell the U.S. Forest Service which option you favor. do good: Take action protect the Bighorn National Forest http://www.care2.com/go/z/16305 10. REGULATUS INTERRUPTUS Rule Helps Industry Weasel Out of Regulations, Enviros Say The Data Quality Act -- written by an industry lobbyist and tacked onto a massive appropriations bill in 2000 -- has become a tool used by industry to forestall regulation, critics charge. The DQA instructs the federal Office of Management and Budget to ensure that all information disseminated by the feds is reliable, and it allows companies and individuals to challenge info they say is inaccurate. It sounds innocent, but public-safety and enviro groups claim that it places scientific decisions in political hands; any industry, they say, can buy enough friendly scientific studies to muddy the waters and fight off regulation. In the last two years, industry has filed dozens of petitions under the DQA against regulations on everything from the herbicide atrazine to playground wood treated with arsenic. Environmental regulations have come under particularly furious attack. Says Jim J. Tozzi, the industry flack who wrote the rule, " Was it something that did not have hearings? Yes. Is it something that keeps me awake at night? No. ... Sometimes you get the monkey, and sometimes the monkey gets you. " straight to the source: The Washington Post, Rick Weiss, 16 Aug 2004 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2841> -------------------------------- Also in GRIST MAGAZINE this week: The chem reaper -- and more environmental news of the week <http://www.gristmagazine.com/daily/daily081704.asp?source=weekly> Pulling a fast-track one -- New Jersey's Democratic governor takes tricks from Bush's book -- by Glenn Scherer <http://www.gristmagazine.com/maindish/scherer081104.asp?source=weekly> Olympics don't go for the green -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http:/www.gristmagazine.com/ha/ha080904.asp?source=weekly> Brower power -- a spotlight on young enviro activists -- by Michelle Nijhuis <http://www.gristmagazine.com/maindish/nijhuis081004.asp?source=weekly> -------------------------------- WEEKLY GRIST is published by GRIST MAGAZINE, an online source for environmental news and commentary. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor: <http://www.gristmagazine.com>. 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