http://www.sej.org/news/index2.htm New and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. en-us Copyright 2008 Society of Environmental Journalists Fri, 5 Sep 2008 13:38:46 CST rssFeeds http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss PHP sej@sej.org (webmaster) sej@sej.org (webmaster) Climate Changehttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15824http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15824An analysis of more and newer data is confirming the basic story told by the "hockey stick" graph used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2001 report. The graph uses some 1,300 years worth of proxy data to show a sudden, large temperature rise beginning with the Industrial Era. Anti-regulatory politicians supported by fossil fuel industries have denied the evidence and conclusions presented by expert scientists in the graph. Environmental News Service had the story September 2, 2008.Tue, 2 Sep 2008 08:15:52 CST Air Qualityhttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15846http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15846"The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday tightened emissions standards for new gasoline-powered lawn mowers, weed trimmers and boat engines, reducing the amount of smog-causing pollution these motors will be allowed to emit. In adopting long-delayed rules that will require small gas engines to have catalytic converters like those that have been installed in cars since 1975, the Bush administration overruled the initial objections of both engine manufacturers and their GOP allies in Congress, who argued that installing the devices in small engines could pose a fire threat. ... The new regulations will take effect in 2010 and 2011." Juliet Eilperin Washington Post September 5, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 05:23:24 CST Lakes/Rivers/Wetlandshttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15847http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15847"SACRAMENTO -- Saying California's water reserves are all but gone, state officials on Thursday announced the revival of a dormant 17-year-old program to buy water from Sacramento Valley farmers and sell it to the thirstiest Southern California agencies in case this winter brings a third year of skimpy precipitation. ... The bounty of the state's biggest reservoirs, which supplied the state through the last two dry years with Sierra and Cascade mountain snowmelt, is disappearing. Major reservoirs, including Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville, are now at half of what is typical for this time of year. ... State officials said long-range climate predictions indicate that this winter may bring average precipitation or less." Nancy Vogel reports for the Los Angeles Times September 5, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 05:27:11 CST Fisherieshttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15848http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15848"Conservationists are starting to raise the alarm about native oysters and their disappearing habitat. The situation is so serious that a band of scientists went to a remote inlet on the West Coast of Vancouver Island in search of Olympia oyster reefs." David Hyde reports for NRR's All Things Considered from member station KUOW, September 4, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 05:33:36 CST Climate Changehttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15849http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15849"There have been some breathless headlines in the last few days about the North Pole's being an "island" for the first time in 125,000 years. Aside from the fact that 90 degrees north sits in the middle of a 2.5-mile-deep ocean, that's quite a statement considering two things: first, no one has been routinely monitoring sea ice along both coastlines between then and now, and second, the region was clearly warmer than it is today (in summers) around 8,000 to 10,000 years ago -- on both the Siberian and North American sides." Andrew C. Revkin reports in his Dot Earth blog for the New York Times September 3, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 05:42:06 CST Coasts/Beacheshttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15850http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15850"MIAMI, Florida -- Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to reach the Carolinas early Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. North and South Carolina, as well as Georgia, have opened emergency centers in anticipation of Hanna's arrival. However, mandatory evacuation orders have not yet been issued. Hanna's center was about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of Great Abaco Island and about 430 miles (690 kilometers) south of Wilmington, North Carolina, according to the hurricane center's 5 a.m. ET Friday advisory. The storm was moving toward the northwest near 20 mph (32 kph) with top sustained winds near 65 mph (100 kph), the hurricane center said. 'Only slight strengthening is forecast prior to landfall, although it is still possible for Hanna to become a hurricane,' according to the hurricane center." CNN had the story September 5, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 05:57:45 CST Endangered Species/Wildlifehttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15851http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15851"OTTAWA -- The Canadian government has announced that it will protect more than 450,000 hectares (1,737 square miles) of Arctic wilderness in the Nunavut Territory, including a globally significant Important Bird Area, by establishing three new National Wildlife Areas. The protected areas are Niginganiq (Isabella Bay), Qaqulluit (Cape Searle) and Akpait (Reid Bay). All three sites are located on the northeast side of Baffin Island. ... The Niginganiq (nee geen ga nik) National Wildlife Area protects key bowhead whale habitat, and the Akpait (ak pa eet) and Qaqulluit (ka koo loo eet) National Wildlife Areas near Broughton Island are inhabited by seabirds including one of Canada's largest colonies of thick-billed murres and Canada's largest colony of northern fulmars. These areas also are inhabited by walruses, seals and polar bears." Environment News Service had the story September 4, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 06:07:32 CST Environmental Politicshttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15852http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15852"Who's best equipped to turn the White House green -- John McCain or Barack Obama? Both have made energy security and environmental stewardship part of their presidential campaigns. Both favor curbing the greenhouse gas emissions that spur climate change. Both say they want to stop U.S. "addiction" to imported oil. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, has the support of most U.S. environmental groups. McCain's stance on global warming led Republicans to hope they could sway environmentally inclined independent voters. Early in the campaign, both were seen as being an improvement over the current administration on the environment, but the difference between these two "green" candidates became more apparent after the Arizona senator advocated more drilling for oil off the U.S. coastlines and chose controversial Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. ... Palin ... favors offshore and onshore drilling for oil and gas, opposed the listing of the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act -- even though U.S. scientists found its icy Alaskan habitat was melting away -- and has questioned whether human activities spur climate change." Deborah Zabarenko reports for Reuters September 5, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 06:12:05 CST Public Landshttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15853http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15853Studying the ancient pictographs in Utah's Nine Mile Canyon, conservator Constance Silver concluded the images were threatened by dust from oil and gas development. But the Bureau of Land Management doctored her study to hide the evidence. Keith Kloor reports for High Country News August 25, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 06:39:16 CST Pesticides/Agriculturehttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15854http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15854"LOPEZ ISLAND, Wash. -- To have his hogs butchered legally, farmer Bruce Dunlop could haul his animals by ferry and truck 150 miles to the nearest federally sanctioned slaughterhouse. Instead, he just calls on his friendly roving neighborhood slaughterhouse. Up rolls a diesel truck pulling an 8-by-12-foot trailer fitted with a sink, a 300-gallon water tank and a cooling locker with carcass hooks. A butcher in a floor-length apron kills, skins, guts and trims the pigs into slabs of meat that are then hung in the cooler and trundled to a packaging plant. Soon the meat is stocked in the freezers of shops on the island and across Washington state and Oregon." Lauren Etter reports for the Wall Street Journal (free content) September 5, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 07:45:23 CST Technology/businesshttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15855http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15855"ROTTERDAM -- A club where dancers generate power to light the floor, drinks come in recyclable cups and toilets flush with rain water opened in the Netherlands on Thursday, hoping to lure environmentally conscious clubbers. Rotterdam's WATT, which is designed to save about 30 percent on energy and carbon emissions and 50 percent on water and waste compared to other nightclubs, has included sustainable elements into everything from its architecture to its cafe menus." Catherine Hornby reports for Reuters September 5, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 07:51:10 CST Climate Changehttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15856http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15856"This summer, an outbreak of typhus has left 16 Travis County residents with the flea-borne illness; 14 others are suspected of having the disease. In recent years, whooping cough and West Nile virus have also plagued Central Texas. Are the outbreaks stand-alone events, each with its own explanation? Or, with hot summers bearing down on the state, are these signals of broader changes in disease patterns driven by a warming climate? Epidemiologists differ on how much blame for illness can be laid on the overarching phenomenon of global warming. Some experts point out that improvements in sanitation and technological advances have gone far in controlling epidemics. But for at least a decade, scientists -- steering clear of laying down specifics -- have predicted that climate change will ultimately shift disease patterns in the state." Asher Price reports for the Austin American-Statesman September 05, 2008.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 07:54:39 CST Drinking Waterhttp://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15857http://members.sej.org/sej/enews.php?rssID=15857"The board of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority voted yesterday to curtail a multimillion-dollar program to replace all of the water system's lead service pipes, saying that the project was expensive and that other measures had reduced lead in the city's water. The board passed a resolution to suspend the large-scale replacement program but said it would continue replacing public lead pipes when water mains are being fixed or, in certain cases, when residents want to replace the private section of lead pipe going into their homes. David McLaughlin, the utility's acting director of engineering and technical services, said the move would save WASA about $197 million over the next seven years." Michael E. Ruane reports for the Washington Post September 5, 2008. DC made headlines several years ago when it was learned that WASA was hiding data about lead in water. The addition of orthophosphate to reduce corrosion has reduced the problem.Fri, 5 Sep 2008 07:58:57 CST