Wednesday, 28 Apr 1999

Fig Leaf Bill: Let's Hope It Wilts in the Heat

Senators opposed to the Kyoto climate change treaty introduced a bill yesterday that would forego mandates for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in favor of voluntary, market-based programs. Sponsored by Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Larry Craig (R- Idaho), and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the measure would allot $2 billion over 10 years to create a research, development, and demonstration program to work with private groups in developing new technology to help stabilize emissions. The bill would also create an Office of Global Climate Change within the Department of Energy to promote voluntary emissions reductions. A coalition of environmentalists panned the bill, calling it a "dangerous diversion" that would not curb carbon-dioxide emissions.

Village People Go on Tour

Women, men, and children from the remote Mexican village of Ejido Pino Gordo this month walked 36 hours to the Chihuahua state capital to stage a sit-in at the governor's palace and protest the illegal logging of forest land surrounding their village. Government officials were caught off guard by the protest and the ensuing media coverage, and announced a halt to illegal logging in the area, but much damage had already been done. The incident highlights the devastating impact of logging, legal and illegal, throughout Mexico, which has destroyed half of its forests in the last 40 years.

Stinky Stuff Sows Selma Civil Split

In an unusual alliance, some Black Alabamans are being joined by their white neighbors in protesting a proposed garbage dump that would be within smelling distance of a stretch of road leading from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., where a pivotal civil rights march took place in 1965. And in an unusual split, some long-time civil rights boosters have come out in favor the landfill, saying it will bring financial help to a poor county. The proposal from a private company to build the landfill was approved last year by the county commission.

Greens Parachute from Hijacked Panel

All of the environmental, consumer, and public interest groups on a food safety panel advising the EPA resigned in protest yesterday, accusing the Clinton administration of letting pesticide and agribusiness interests "hijack" a 1996 law aimed at protecting children from pesticides. The seven groups say the EPA won't meet an August deadline set by the law for reassessing the permissible levels of pesticides that pose serious threats to children, farm workers, and the environment. For its part, the EPA says it remains committed to reviewing the pesticides and removing them from the market or changing allowable residue levels by the deadline. Vice Pres. Al Gore created the advisory panel last year after agriculture interests complained the EPA was not taking their views into account.

First Crack at the WIPP

A truck bearing 42 barrels of radioactive waste from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory hit the road yesterday, the first shipment from outside New Mexico to head to the recently opened Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. About 4,900 more shipments from INEEL containing waste generated during production of nuclear weapons will follow over the next 19 years. Environmentalists continue to fight the WIPP project, which they claim could leak and contaminate the Rio Grande and Pecos River.

Take the Lead and Run

The Conservation Law Foundation is drawing flak for setting up a business arm that is pushing an additive to clean up gasoline in countries that haven't yet banned lead, and is planning to share in the profits from the additive's sale. Critics say that by promoting private, profit-seeking ventures, CLF will ruin its reputation as an environmental watchdog in New England. Several staffers have left CLF in part over concerns about the business ventures, but CLF Pres. Douglas Foy says that partnering with businesses can help achieve important environmental goals.