Friday, 27 Jul 2001

Rising Stun

The International Whaling Commission yesterday delayed for a year the touchy subject of whether to lift a ban on commercial whaling. A motion by pro-whaling countries asking the IWC to allow controlled hunts was withdrawn before an official vote. The pro-whaling faction is led by Japan, which ran into a P.R. nightmare last week when one of its whaling negotiators said his country used foreign aid to help persuade other countries to vote to lift the ban. He also complained about the high number of minke whales in the sea, describing the species as "the cockroach of the ocean." Pro-whaling countries at the IWC meeting did succeed in shooting down a campaign for a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific.

You Dirty Rats!

Using boats and helicopters to drop about 120 tons of poisoned bait, New Zealand has launched the biggest rat eradication program in history. By ridding the remote Campbell Island south of New Zealand of 200,000 rats, officials hope to clear the way for the return of the flightless teal duck and the restoration of a species of wading bird found only on the island. They won't know for two years if the $1.1 million eradication project has been successful.

Gulp of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, where nutrient pollution from farms in the Midwest has chocked off fish life, is bigger this year than ever before, according to university researchers. Stretching from the Mississippi River delta to Texas waters, the 8,000-square-mile, low-oxygen area is forcing crabs and other bottom feeders to the surface. Environmental groups are struggling to get the Bush administration to act on the recommendations made by a Clinton-era task force to reduce fertilizer and animal-waste runoff into the Mississippi River.

Jesus, Christie!

U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman yesterday proposed replacing five of the government's toughest air-pollution programs with a single approach favored by the electricity industry. Rules to limit mercury emissions, reduce emissions from Midwestern power plants, and restore visibility in national parks would be scrapped. As a replacement, Whitman sketched a plan to reduce nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions by expanding pollution-credit trading programs. Whitman also contradicted comments by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell last week and said the Bush administration would probably not have ready by this fall a substantive alternative to the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Environmental and Publics Works Committee, sparred with Whitman over the issue of climate change. He has introduced a bill requiring power plants to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Crash Test Dummies?

A panel appointed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has eased up on the auto industry in a draft report on fuel-economy standards. An earlier draft, which was leaked to the New York Times, said big increases in fuel economy for cars and SUVs would be possible over the next six to 10 years; the revised version says 10 to 12 years would be necessary. The revised version also raises the estimated cost to consumers of the improvements in fuel economy, and cautions more strongly that the changes could lead to vehicle safety problems. Enviros accused the auto industry of pressuring the panel to weaken its conclusions. Industry reps denied the charge, though some admit to contacting panel members to make their cases.

Hey Good Lookin', What Ya Got Cookin'?

Nearly all residents in Villaseca, Chile, cook with solar power --pretty nifty in a country where firewood is a big source of energy, contributing to a steep loss in old-growth forests each year. Villaseca in sunny northern Chile has only 300 residents, but proponents of the solar technology hope the gizmos will spread across the region. Pedro Serrano, an environmental activist and one of the Villaseca project's original planners in 1989, estimates that 300,000 potential users of solar ovens live in northern Chile. If all of them made the switch, he says, 2 million tons of wood would be saved annually.