And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) COGENERATION ONLINE FOR GLOBAL POWER SURGE JAPAN TO LABEL 28 BIOTECH FOODS Y2K: BUG PROOFING U.S. POWER & WATER SUPPLIES SPAIN'S STORAGE PLANS FOR NUCLEAR WASTE DRAW FLAK AMERISCAN: AUGUST 5, 1999 E-WIRE * Reuters & IUCN to Award New Global Prize for Environmental Reporting * CMA Launches 'ChemicalGuide.com' to Provide Easy Access to Industry Information For Full Text and Graphics Visit: http://ens.lycos.com *************************************************************************** Send News Tips and Story Leads to [EMAIL PROTECTED] *************************************************************************** COGENERATION ONLINE FOR GLOBAL POWER SURGE OYSTER BAY, New York, August 5, 1999 (ENS) - The global emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions has moved cogeneration into a strong position for bulk power generation, according to a study from Allied Business Intelligence, Inc. (ABI) Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug99/1999L-08-05-03.html *************************************************************************** JAPAN TO LABEL 28 BIOTECH FOODS TOKYO, Japan, August 5, 1999 (ENS) - Twenty-eight genetically modified foods would have to carry identifying labels if a draft plan introduced Wednesday by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries becomes law. The draft was submitted to the Minstry's advisory panel for consideration at a meeting August 10. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug99/1999L-08-05-05.html *************************************************************************** Y2K: BUG PROOFING U.S. POWER & WATER SUPPLIES WASHINGTON, DC, August 5, 1999 (ENS) - As the deadline for preventing disasters from the Year 2000 computer bug grows closer, U.S. utilities are working to ensure unbroken service to customers across the country. Despite some ongoing problems, the majority of the nation’s electricity and water suppliers report that they are ready for the millennial rollover. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug99/1999L-08-05-02.html NEWS ON THIS ISSUE FROM OTHER SOURCES: World Bank Says Energy Most Vulnerable Commodity to Y2K (Nicholas Elliott, Dow Jones Newswires -- requires paid registration) http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=DI-CO-19990805-004250.djml From the World Bank's quarterly Global Commodity Markets report, published today: "Energy supplies are vulnerable because oil production is the most technology-intensive of major commodities. Embedded microchips used for production, transportation, refining, and distribution leave energy vulnerable to disruption. Oil-producing countries strapped for cash, such as Russia and Nigeria, may face problems which they lack the resources to fix. Thus, stocks could build at every available point along the supply chain because of fears of computer glitches." The Senate Y2K committee was scheduled to hold a hearing called "Y2K Update on Gas & Electric Utilities," but it was cancelled. However, written statements are available as part of a "virtual hearing." Find them here: Y2K Update on Gas & Electric Utilities http://y2k.senate.gov/hearings/990804/index.htm Nuclear Plants' Y2K Repairs Delayed (Stephen Barr, Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/05/203l-080599-idx.html 30 U.S. Nuclear Plants Still Need Y2K Fix - Agency (Tom Doggett, Yahoo! News/Reuters) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/tc/story.html?s=v/nm/19990804/tc/yk_nuclear_1.html The stories above were most likely taken from this press release: 22 Nuclear Power Plants Will Push Y2K Readiness Envelope (Senate.gov) http://y2k.senate.gov/news/pr990804.htm "The chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said today that six nuclear power plants in the United States will remain unprepared for possible Year 2000 computer problems after November 1, and according to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), at least three of those plants have Y2K readiness deadlines in mid-December. Also identified by NEI were 16 additional plants with deadlines in late October... Currently 30 of 103 U.S. nuclear power plants remain unprepared for Y2K. The NRC expects most to be Y2K ready by September 30, when it will make a determination whether certain facilities will remain operational..." END OTHER SOURCES *************************************************************************** ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 5, 1999 Lawsuit Seeks Wilderness Status for Alaska's Tongass Forest Conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service Wednesday because, in developing the new plan for Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the agency failed to consider permanent wilderness area protection for any portion of the millions of acres of undeveloped wild lands on the Tongass. Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Alaska Center for the Environment, and Sitka Conservation Society. The lawsuit alleges the Forest Service violated the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. "No National Forest in the country has more pristine, roadless wild lands than the Tongass. It was short sighted and wrong for the Forest Service to refuse to even consider future wilderness designations for any part of this Forest," said Richard Hellard of the Sierra Club California Water Agencies Sign Colorado River Pact>>> ********************** Sierra Club Sues Over Habitat Management Program California’s three biggest users of Colorado River water ended a decades long dispute Wednesday by signing a historic agreement to share water and ensure that the state has enough to meet future needs. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Imperial Irrigation District and the Coachella Valley Water District have been feuding since the 1930s over allocations of water for cities and agriculture. In March, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt warned officials to wrap up their negotiations soon or risk new federal regulations of Colorado River water. The Colorado River supplies much of Southern California, Nevada and Arizona with drinking water. Southern California water officials are scrambling to increase water conservation and assure a reliable supply in the face of an anticipated 37 percent increase in water demand in the next two decades. The details of the new agreement will not be released until after a meeting of the governing boards of the three water ag! ! enci es, which will be scheduled within the next week.>>> ************************ Climate Change Affects Wildlife Sierra Club officials announced Tuesday they will sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to halt systematic abuses of federal laws intended to restore wildlife habitat. At issue is how federal funds provided under the Pittman-Robertson Act - also known as the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937 - are spent by states under grants from the USFWS. The grants form the nation's largest habitat management program. The Pittman-Robertson Act was created to distribute federal funds to states to improve and restore habitat for wild birds and mammals. These funds are derived from taxes paid on guns, ammunition and archery equipment. The Sierra Club says activities in Michigan funded under the Pittman-Robertson Act are devastating forests and wetlands, by clear cutting arge swaths of state owned land.>>> ****************** Endangered Bat Closes Two Forests to Logging A day after the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont announced Tuesday that it is closing logging for the summer to study the endangered Indiana bat, North Carolina is following suit. North Carolina officials said Wednesday they are temporarily shutting down logging operations in four counties that make up the bulk of the Nantahala National Forest in the western part of the state. The four counties are Macon, Graham, Swain, and Cherokee. Forest Service bat specialists discovered 28 bats last week in one tree. As required by the Endangered Species Act, the agency will have to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine ways to protect the bat before the Forest Service continues with logging.>>> ****************** City Smog Pollutes Wilderness Across the Country Smog from cities is drifting with the winds to pollute rural areas across the country, the American Lung Association reported today. The group used data from the U.S. government to show that ozone and particulate pollution is just as bad if not worse in some of the places that Americans go to escape the cities - like national parks and wildlife refuges. Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts has more smog than Boston. Acadia National Park in Maine has about as much smog as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, has had four times as many days of high ozone this summer as Nashville, Tennessee - more ozone, in fact, than any Southern city other than Atlanta, Georgia.>>> ********************* Public Comment Welcome on Controversial Utah Monument The public has until August 25 to comment on a proposed management plan for the 1.9 million acre Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah. The Bureau of Land Management released the plan last week. The monument has been the subject of controversy since it was designated by President Bill Clinton in 1996. The President used executive authority to create the monument without the approval of Congress. Many lawmakers criticized the act, saying the President exceeded his authority, and a bill was introduced before Congress this year to require Congressional approval for the creation of new monuments. The management plan released last week is little changed from the 1998 version. It divides the monument into four zones, with varying restrictions on access, facilities and recreational use. Most of the monument will be preserved in its current wilderness state.>>> ******************** Florida Studies Evacuation Plans for Keys (SEE LINK BELOW FOR ARTICLE) ********************* EPA Fines Oil Sites on Navajo Lands The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined two oil facilities for failing to prepare and implement oil spill prevention programs for their sites on Navajo tribal lands. Speedy's Convenience Inc. was fined $68,600 and Giant Industries Arizona Inc. was fined $13,000. Oil spills from Speedy's 720,000 gallon oil storage facility near Lupton, Arizona could impact the Puerco River. Giant's 195,000 gallon above ground crude storage facility and tanker transfer facility in Montezuma Creek, Utah has the potential to impact Montezuma Creek and the San Juan River. "Serious environmental damage can result from oil spills," said Michael Feeley, EPA's deputy director for the Superfund Division. "Wildlife can be harmed and waters polluted. We want to work with oil facilities to help them prevent a potentially disastrous spill." The EPA inspected 19 facilities in June 1997 at the request of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency to assess whether they were complying w! ! ith the Clean Water Act's oil spill prevention regulations. During the inspections, EPA officials walked through the facilities and distributed information, including sample Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plans on how to comply with oil spill prevention guidelines. The EPA filed administrative complaints against the facilities last September. Both facilities had failed to prepare and implement the Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plan. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug99/1999L-08-05-09.html *************************************************************************** E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE *************************************************************************** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CMA Launches 'ChemicalGuide.com' to Provide Public Easy Access to More Industry Information ARLINGTON, Va., August 5, 1999 /E-Wire/ -- The Chemical Manufacturers Association today unveiled an Internet-based system to make more industry production and environmental, health and safety data available to the public. Contact: Jeffry C. Van, of Chemical Manufacturers Association at 703-741-5802. For Full Text and Graphics Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/August99/05aug9902.html Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1991-1998. All Rights Reserved. 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