Monday, 16 Oct 2000

Polar Vault

After years of negotiating, the U.S. and Russia are signing an agreement today to protect polar bears in northeastern Siberia and Alaska. There are an estimated 3,000 polar bears in the region -- and that number has been growing -- but enviros have been fearful that the total could decline because ice cover has been shrinking due to global warming and poaching and commercial hunting have picked up to feed the market for bear hides and gallbladders. The pact, modeled after a similar one between the U.S. and Canada, will prohibit commercial hunting and all types of hunting around polar bears dens, as well as the killing of female bears with cubs and bears younger than one year, and the use of aircraft, traps, and snares to hunt bears. Native tribes in both Alaska and Russia are planning to participate in the conservation plan. Some enviros are hopeful the agreement could set a precedent. David Cline of the World Wildlife Fund asked, "If we can have agreement on polar bears, why not on walrus and other wildlife?"

Radioactive-free Europe

About 1,000 demonstrators protested yesterday outside a German nuclear power plant that hopes to ship its radioactive waste to France sometime soon. The German government recently lifted a two-year ban on such shipments, which had been imposed after it became clear that past shipments were leaking radiation well above permitted levels. The demonstration occurred even though German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said on Saturday that France has effectively refused to accept nuclear waste from German power plants. Nuclear industry officials have said that some of the country's 19 reactors may have to close prematurely because space to store waste onsite is running out. Meanwhile, Austrian protesters on Friday blocked all 15 border crossings to the Czech Republic in the fifth consecutive day of demonstrations after the Czech Republic started up a nuclear plant 30 miles from the Austrian border.

Swing State, Sweet Chariots

Texas Gov. George W. Bush traveled to the swing state of Michigan on Friday to attack Al Gore as an enemy of the automobile whose focus on the environment would damage the economy. Bush noted that the vice president cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate in 1993 to raise gasoline taxes and quoted from Earth in the Balance, in which Gore wrote that the internal combustion engine is a "mortal threat" to the world because of its contributions to global warming. Bush said, "In his speeches, [Gore] calls auto workers his friends. But in his book, he declares that the engines that power your cars are his enemy." A spokesperson for Gore said his campaign proposals include no new energy taxes but rather incentives for automakers to produce cars not powered solely by gasoline. A new poll has Bush pulling even with Gore in Michigan, after weeks of polls showing the veep with a small lead.

Leaps and Boundaries

In what would be the first major effort to confront transboundary air pollution since an agreement on acid rain pollution in the 1980s, the U.S. and Canada have drafted a smog-reduction plan for the next decade. Under it, the U.S. would reduce its nitrogen oxide emissions by 36 percent by 2010, while Canada would drop its emissions by 44 percent. Both sides are also pledging to take aim at volatile organic compounds, another contributor to ground-level ozone pollution. And Canada would bring its standards for vehicle emissions in line with those in the U.S. The draft agreement drew criticism from Dan Newman, the environment minister of Ontario, who said his country's negotiators "sold Canada out" by going light on the U.S.

Don't Mess With the Missionary Brand

Keeping track of where genetically modified crops end up is proving to be more difficult than U.S. regulators had anticipated. Exhibit A is the ongoing controversy over food products found to illegally contain StarLink corn, a modified variety not approved for human consumption. In addition to recent recalls of two brands of taco shells, the largest U.S. manufacturer of tortilla products, Mission Foods, announced on Friday that it will voluntarily recall all its snack chips, tortillas, and taco shells made with yellow corn because the products may contain StarLink corn. Government and industry officials are trying to find and buy up all the StarLink crop to make sure it doesn't get into more food products, but they are having a hard time. Some farmers growing the crop hadn't signed the required contracts that obligated them to take certain steps to keep StarLink out of the food supply, and some didn't follow recommendations that they plant buffer zones around the corn to keep it from contaminating other crops. One food company executive, speaking under the condition of anonymity, said, "The whole system has been self-policing by the seed industry. And obviously it hasn't worked."