And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
MT. RANIER AIR POLLUTED BY SEATTLE TRAFFIC
SEATTLE, Washington, May 29, 1999 (ENS) - The common assumption that ozone
pollution is strictly an urban problem is proving to be false. The air in
Washington's Mount Rainier National Park contains higher concentrations of
ground-level ozone, a major component of air pollution, than nearby urban
areas, a new U.S. Geological Survey study has found.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may99/1999L-05-29-01.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 29, 1999
EPA's Coastal Crusader Chopper Keeps an Eye on Beaches
Hurricane Surveillance Jet Tours Vulnerable Cities
Fulton Fish Market Dealer Fined $1.72 Million
Illinois Votes for Clean Energy Community Trust
Memorial Day Battle Shaping Up in Oregon's Eagle Creek
Wolf Recovery in Arizona Succeeding
Three Western Plants Gain Endangered Species Protection
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may99/1999L-05-29-09.html
EPA'S COASTAL CRUSADER CHOPPER KEEPS AN EYE ON BEACHES
As tens of thousands head for the beach this Memorial Day
weekend, the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) environmental
sampling and
surveillance helicopter, "The Coastal Crusader," will begin
its summer vigil, flying
along New Jersey and New York beaches making sure the water
is clean.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, EPA scientists use the
Bell 212 helicopter
to take hundreds of water samples, which are analyzed in
EPA's lab. They also
keep a watchful eye out for floating debris that could spoil
summer fun. The
results are shared with local communities to help them
determine if beach
closures are necessary. Garbage slicks are immediately
reported to the U.S. Corps
of Engineers, which dispatches vessels to skim the debris
from the water to
prevent wash-ups on bathing beaches. "When you head for the
beaches this year,
keep an eye out for the helicopter," said William Muszynski,
EPA Region 2
deputy administrator. "The Coastal Crusader is making sure
that your beach
experience is a safe and pleasurable one." All area coastal
waters have been in
very good shape in recent years, Muszynski says. Less than
15 years ago, area
beaches and coastal waters were plagued with high bacterial
levels, huge algal
blooms and extensive garbage and medical waste wash-ups.
These incidents are
now very rare. Information about area beaches can be
obtained through EPA's
new web site, Beach Watch at http://www.epa.gov/ost/beaches
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HURRICANE SURVEILLANCE JET TOURS VULNERABLE CITIES
A high-tech, high flying hurricane surveillance jet and
down-to-earth specialists
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) will promote
hurricane awareness in a three-day swing, June 1 to 3,
though six vulnerable Gulf
coast communities. The flight crew of NOAA's Gulfstream-IV
jet and experts
from the National Hurricane Center will focus attention on
hurricane awareness
and the technology of forecasting as they meet with local
media, government
officials and emergency managers in Corpus Christi and
Galveston, Texas; New
Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; and Tampa and Miami,
Florida. "Given the
deadly season last year and anticipated ‘above average'
number of tropical storms
and hurricanes expected again this year, NOAA has increased
the number of its
awareness tours to include both U.S. eastern and Gulf states
and the eastern and
western Caribbean," said Jerry Jarrell, director of NOAA's
National Hurricane
Center. Capt. Donald Winter, commander of NOAA's Aircraft
Operations
Center in Tampa, said, "The jet flies at high altitudes,
providing previously
unavailable information about the steering currents of
hurricanes. This data
complements the low-altitude data gathered by our P-3 Orion
hurricane-hunter
aircraft." Jarrell said the trip is not just for show. "The
G-IV jet is more than a
showcase for hurricane-tracking technology and a platform
for research. It's
important for decision-makers and emergency managers to know
the capabilities
and limitations of the tools and processes we use - to
inspect the technology
standing between them and harm's way."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FULTON FISH MARKET DEALER FINED $1.72 MILLION
NOAA has charged a New York City Fulton Fish Market retail
dealer with 172
counts of violations that undermine rules designed to
protect and conserve New
England groundfish stocks. Joseph H. Carter Inc. allegedly
concealed or falsified
the purchase of hundreds of thousands of pounds of fish from
at least 23 fishing
vessels over a year-long period. NOAA has assessed civil
fines totaling $1.72
million to Joseph H. Carter Inc.; Vincent Tatick, president
of the company;
Warren Kremin, the company's vice president; and Louis
Venuto, the
company's bookkeeper. The federal agency is seeking
suspension of Carter's
dealer permit for a five-year period. "This is a significant
case involving
large-scale reporting violations by a Fulton Fish Market
dealer who handles
millions of pounds of federally regulated seafood from a
number of different
states each year," said Mitch MacDonald, NOAA enforcement
attorney.
"NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service relies on data
submitted by dealers
such as Carter to determine when quotas are reached. Failure
to report landings
on such a large scale undermines NOAA Fisheries' ability to
effectively enforce
and manage the nation's marine resources."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ILLINOIS VOTES FOR CLEAN ENERGY COMMUNITY TRUST
The Illinois General Assembly Thursday voted for clean power
by approving a
new $250 million Illinois Clean Energy Community Trust.
Supported by
environmental organizations and Commonwealth Edison (ComEd),
the Trust will
be used to develop energy efficiency and renewable energy
resources, fund clean
coal initiatives, support the Illinois Citizens Utility
Board, and preserve Illinois
natural habitats and wildlife areas. "This fund reflects
years of work by Illinois
environmentalists and our supporters in the General
Assembly," said Howard
Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and
Policy Center. Almost
all of Illinois' electricity comes from coal and nuclear
power. These coal plants
are among the most polluting in the country, and Illinois
has more nuclear plants,
and nuclear waste from those plants, than any other state,
the environmentalists
maintain. Recently, ComEd announced the proposed sale of its
coal plants to
California based Mission Energy, a $3.5 billion profit for
ComEd. The new Illinois
Clean Energy Community Trust now a public interest condition
of the proposed
coal plant sale. "ComEd appears to be moving in a new
direction," said Learner.
"Though there is still much work to do to clean up the coal
plants in the state,
The Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Sierra Club
Illinois Chapter, and
the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago
commend ComEd's
investment in clean energy, and we hope to work with their
new CEO John
Rowe on sound environmental programs in the future." The
environmentalists
fear that the sale of the coal plants may lead to more air
pollution if the new
owners consistently run the plants at full capacity. The
environmentalists want to
clean up these coal plants with modern pollution control
technology and replace
some of the coal and nuclear plants with more energy
efficiency programs and
renewable energy technologies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MEMORIAL DAY BATTLE SHAPING UP IN OREGON'S EAGLE CREEK
On Monday, May 24, activists blocked the road leading to the
Eagle timber sales
to prevent the logging of roughly 500 acres of unprotected
old growth
wilderness. Last week, the Forest Service locked the gate to
the area, allowing
only timber companies in to log the forests. The protesters
in the road, and others
who perched 150 feet up in an old growth forest threatened
by the timber sale,
say they will not leave until the Eagle timber sales are
cancelled or bought back
from Vanport Manufacturing. Vanport purchased the sales in
late 1996 during the
time of the "salvage rider" which suspended the public's
right to challenge federal
logging plans. The Forest Service insists that Vanport log
the area. On May 19,
after closing his Boring lumber mill, Vanport owner Adolph
Hertrich told Oregon
Public Broadcasting that "we would be prepared to return the
sales, obviously we
donąt need it any more" but that "we really donąt have a
choice, we have a
contract to follow." Activists occupying a bipod they
constructed in the road at
Eagle Creek say that every night and day either "angry
federales or locals show up
to harass the bipod." Tires have been slashed. Opponents of
the tree sitters have
shown up in the middle of the night shaking the bipod and
asking if the sitters
have any weapons. "This afternoon, some angry logger types
showed and held a
knife up to the only rope supporting the bipod, threatening
to kill the activist until
an activist ground support person intervened and convinced
the person to stop."
Authorities have promised to clear the road by next week.
The Memorial Day
weekend "may bring hordes of drunk or angry locals,"
activists say, so they are
calling in reinforcements of their own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WOLF RECOVERY IN ARIZONA SUCCEEDING
The past week was one of many firsts for the Mexican Gray
Wolf Recovery
Program, the Fish & Wildlife Service reports. An interagency
team coordinated
the capture and transport of two wolf packs, first by
helicopter and finally by
mule, into remote areas of the Apache National Forest in
Arizona. Biologists
transferred both packs, consisting of adults and pups, into
experimental soft mesh
pens in the forest and were prepared to provide supplemental
food and water for
about one week before releasing them. The wolves found a way
out of the pen by
the next day, a result that was not unexpected by the
biologists. "The primary
purpose of these soft mesh pensis to cause the wolves to
stay together following
their release. That seems to have been accomplished," said
David Parsons, Wolf
Project Leader. There are now four packs of Mexican gray
wolves totaling at
least 19 animals, free in the Apache National Forest. That
number includes nine
pups born this spring. The birth of pups by the two pairs
that were free-ranging
during the breeding season has been neither confirmed nor
ruled out. The
Mexican gray wolf is the most endangered subspecies of gray
wolf in North
America. The spring pup counts of 21 born at Sevilleta and
in the Apache
National Forest, and six additional litters born at other
captive breeding facilities
throughout the United States help insure the future of the
wolf recovery program.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THREE WESTERN PLANTS GAIN ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION
Oregon's Howell's spectacular thelypody was listed as
threatened under the
Endangered Species Act Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. This
member of the mustard family occurs on fewer than 12 small
sites located within
100 acres of private lands near North Powder and Haines in
eastern Oregon in
Baker and Union counties. The species grows in wet alkaline
meadows in valley
bottoms. The plants are threatened by stream channelization,
grazing during
spring and early summer, trampling, urban development, and
competition from
non-native plants. "Listing Howell's spectacular thelypody
will help direct funding
and promote conservation efforts necessary to recover this
species," said Anne
Badgley, the Service's regional director for the Pacific
Region. Relatives of
Howell's spectactular thelypody in the mustard family have
economic importance
as food crops, such as cabbage and broccoli, and as
ornamentals such as
alyssum and peppergrass. The potential for agricultural,
ornamental, or medicinal
uses for this species is not known. In California, two rare
plants found only in the
foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains are now listed, the
Service said Tuesday.
The Ione buckwheat is listed as endangered and Ione
manzanita as threatened.
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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