Monday, 23 Jul 2001

Bonn Jour

Negotiators from 178 countries reached agreement today on how to tackle climate change, fleshing out the Kyoto treaty and leaving the U.S. isolated from the rest of the world. Margot Wallstrom, the European Union's environmental commissioner, said, "The rescue operation succeeded." In the final pact reached in Bonn, the E.U. held firm against efforts to weaken enforcement mechanisms for penalizing countries that fail to meet their targets. But the E.U. did give ground on the issue of carbon sinks, allowing Canada, Russia, and Japan to count forests that absorb carbon dioxide as large credits toward emissions-reduction targets. Enviros dismissed the carbon-sinks plan as a crock, but were excited that a deal on Kyoto had been struck. Over the weekend, the leaders of the world's other major developed nations, including France, Germany, and Japan, told U.S. President Bush that they would move to ratify Kyoto by next year, even without U.S. participation.

Infamous Potatoes

In keeping with her pattern of deferring to the positions of elected officials in the West, U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton has recommended that the U.S. Justice Department not appeal a ruling by the Idaho Supreme Court that denies water rights for a federal wildlife refuge on the Snake River. In the past, the U.S. has almost always defended its water rights to protect wildlife on federal land. The assistant manager of the refuge said the loss of water could jeopardize scores of bird species. Don Barry, a former assistant Interior secretary who now works for the Wilderness Society, said the case could set a bad precedent: "Other states will look at this and say, 'Idaho got away with it, so can we.'"

Sen and Sensibility

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has thrown his weight behind legislation to protect the country's remaining forests. The measure would set stricter logging regulations and allow courts to jail illegal loggers for up to 10 years. Illegal logging operations have been common in the past, supported by the Cambodian military and former Khmer Rouge members. But Hun Sen has been on the hot seat to rein in the logging, because foreign-aid donors have said they will link future aid to reforms in forest management. "Forests are the prime minister's life," said Hun Sen, who has threatened to resign if his government fails to stop the logging.

Fright Train

Sometime this summer, the feds are planning to transport nuclear waste from power plants via train from New York to a U.S. Energy Department reservation in southeastern Idaho. Dubbing the shipment a "mobile Chernobyl," anti-nuke advocates plan to raise a ruckus when the freight train comes through. Although the shipment across the country will be the first such one in many years, it might not be the last -- the nuclear power industry hopes to have an interim storage site for the waste set up in Utah by as early as 2003. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to approve plans for a permanent storage facility under Yucca Mountain, Nev., later this year.

Taking the "Force" Out of Enforcement

The U.S. EPA is moving ahead with plans to slash federal environmental enforcement programs and shift enforcement resources to the states. But the agency's own inspector general and analyses of EPA data by the Environmental Working Group have shown that many states seem to have little interest in enforcing the nation's clean air and water laws. The Bush administration plan would cut EPA enforcement staff by 8 percent while providing $25 million in new enforcement grants to the states. Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said, "The president's cuts take the environmental cop off the beat."

Data Dump

State officials in the Pacific Northwest are searching for ways to reduce the amount of high-tech waste ending up in landfills. The waste in Oregon has more than doubled since 1998, and it can be nasty stuff -- computer monitors and televisions contain four to eight pounds of lead each. The officials are considering a "bottle bill" for computers, encouraging consumers to redeem a deposit on each PC by returning it to the manufacturer or retailer for recycling or safe disposal. Another model: The European Parliament has endorsed a measure that would require manufacturers to pay for the recycling of their products.