Thursday, 02 Nov 2000

Chile Con Carnage

The tourism and salmon-fishing industries are joining with enviros to try to stop the U.S. multinational Boise Cascade from building what would be the world's largest timber mill in the middle of the Puerto Montt region of southern Chile, which includes the country's lake district and northern Patagonia. Critics say the $180 million port-and-mill project, known as Cascada Chile, would threaten old-growth forests and double deforestation rates. In the recent past, such views might have been dismissed by the business community, but nowadays many businesses revolve around tourists who flock to see natural sights intact. Rolando Soto from Puerto Montt's Chamber of Tourism said, "In this region, we are selling nature, and Cascada Chile represents practically the death of tourism." Chile's environmental agency has approved the project, but environmentalists have filed a complaint under the Canada-Chile Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a NAFTA-like pact, arguing that agency didn't adequately weigh the environmental ramifications of the project as required by Chilean law.

Fox Guarding the Penhouse

To the disappointment of environmental and human rights activists, a Mexican judge on Tuesday rejected evidence that two environmentalists had been tortured into confessing to drug and weapons charges. Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who have been sentenced to seven and 10 years in prison respectively, led peasant farmers in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero in protests against rampant logging in their region. Mexican Green Party lawmakers on Tuesday proposed giving amnesty to the two men. "There are plenty of elements to suggest [the case] was a reprisal for having touched powerful economic interests," the proposal read. Amnesty International and the Sierra Club have vowed to keep fighting for the men's freedom and are calling on President-elect Vicente Fox to intervene on behalf of Montiel and Cabrera after he takes office in December.

Pulling the Plug

After getting a complaint from the national League of Conservation Voters, Rick Lazio, the Republican candidate for Senate in New York, pulled a campaign ad yesterday that criticized his Democratic opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, for supporting the Kyoto climate change treaty. The ad described Kyoto as "a radical environmental treaty that would wipe out thousands of manufacturing jobs in New York." The LCV has endorsed both Lazio and Clinton in the race. Even as he pulled the ad, Lazio criticized Kyoto for placing an unfair burden on the industrial world for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the environment is playing a big role in the Washington Senate race pitting Sen. Slade Gorton (R) against former Rep. Maria Cantwell (D). Since first elected to the Senate in 1980, Gorton has grown increasingly hostile to environmental causes and mastered the craft of attaching anti-environmental riders to unrelated bills. Cantwell, an executive on leave from an Internet company, says Gorton has a "19th-century view" and remains fixated on industries like mining and logging when Washington has an opportunity to lead the information-age economy.

Rouge's Gallery

Ford Motor Co. is going green with its $2 billion remodeling plans for its Rouge industrial complex in Dearborn, Mich. The remodel, being spearheaded by green architect William McDonough, will include rooftop plantings designed to absorb rainfall and regulate building temperature along with a nearly 1 million-square-foot meadow meant to rehabilitate contaminated soil. Meanwhile, Ford announced this week that its first fuel-cell cars to be sold on the market will be based on its hot-selling Focus; the cars are expected to be available in 2004, but mainly as vehicles for business fleets. DaimlerChrysler plans to introduce its first fuel-cell buses in 2002 and fuel-cell cars in 2004; other automakers have pledged to market fuel-cell vehicles by 2004 as well. "In 25 years, fuel cells could be the predominate automotive power source," said Ford Chair Bill Ford in a statement.

Fannie Farmless

Atlanta, Ga., has the worst sprawl in the nation, according to a preliminary study by the Fannie Mae Foundation. Miami, Detroit, Denver, and Dallas round out the top five cities with the most serious sprawl problems. Although Southern and Western metropolitan areas absorbed roughly equal numbers of new residents between 1982 and 1997, the South sprawled out over more than three times as much land as the West, 15.1 million acres versus 4.8 million, said Cornell University professor Rolf Pendall. In Colorado, anti-sprawl activists used Denver's No. 4 ranking to argue that the state's voters should approve Amendment 24, a ballot measure that aims to curb sprawl by allowing residents to vote on development proposed for their communities.

Cholera Me Badd

Bacteria and other microorganisms that could harm humans and marine life are being spread around the world in the ballast water of ships, according to a study in today's issue of the journal Nature. The researchers found significant concentrations of a potentially fatal form of cholera in ballast water released from ships in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, and although conditions in the bay do not seem conducive for the cholera to flourish, its presence is cause for concern. "Each day, it's a game of ecological roulette, and when we'll lose, we're not sure," said Ann Swanson of the Chesapeake Bay Commission. Previous studies have documented the spread of exotic species such as zebra mussels and jellyfish through ballast water, but this is the first research into the spread of microorganisms. About 87 million tons of ballast water are discharged into U.S. ports each year, the study found.