Monday, 22 Oct 2001

Norton: Here's a Whoops

An on-going battle over proposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge took an ugly turn late last week when news surfaced that Interior Secretary Gale Norton had distorted government data about the impact of drilling on caribou populations. In a July letter to the Senate committee that had requested the data, Norton left out some statistics suggesting that caribou could be adversely affected, while including information that could be used to support drilling in the Arctic refuge. Furthermore, Norton inaccurately stated that caribou calving has been concentrated outside of the proposed drilling area for 11 of the last 18 years, when the opposite is true. Speaking Friday at a conference for environmental journalists held in Portland, Ore., Norton apologized for that error but did not address the other instances of skewed data.

Dam Nation

The Amazon Basin could become home to the world's third-largest dam if Brazil continues with plans to build a hydroelectric plant to stave off the nation's energy crisis. Energy consumption in Brazil is growing by 5.3 percent annually, a rate that far outstrips supply increases. The energy shortage was compounded this year by a severe drought, which depleted reservoirs and required energy companies to begin rationing supplies. Advocates of the $6.6 billion Belo Monte Hydroelectric Complex on the Xingu River say it would generate 11,000 megawatts annually, increasing the nation's hydroelectric capacity by 15 percent. Opponents dispute the purported energy output and the project's economic viability; they say the project would impede navigation and uproot area residents, as well as destroy jungles, rivers, and wildlife.

Cogito Ergo Summit

At an environmental summit being held this week in Rio de Janeiro, Latin American and Caribbean countries are forging an alliance to pressure developed nations to foot most of the bill for the planet's ailing ecosystems. During the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, industrialized nations pledged to spend 0.7 percent of their gross domestic products on sustainable development in the developing world, but that promise has gone unmet except by a handful of European nations. Representatives at this week's summit say that in the last decade, Latin America has matured politically and is ready to demand fulfillment of the pledge. The coalition plans to make its case during the 10th anniversary of the Earth Summit, to be held next year in South Africa.

Wherefore Art Thou Romero?

There's death, taxes and now -- garbage. So says California state Sen. Gloria Romero (D), who is concerned about the state's increasingly inescapable waste problem. California's population is expected to reach 40 million by the end of the decade, and Romero and others see a waste management nightmare in the combination of a mushrooming poor population often unable to make recycling a priority and an ultra-affluent consumer culture partial to items like disposable cell phones. Auditors and others say if you look hard at the stats, California's reputation for leading the nation in recycling programs crumbles. The truth, says Mark Murray of Californians Against Waste, is that the state produces more trash per person than the national average.

Special K-O

Like the rest of the country, the town of Kellogg, Idaho, is at war. But this one is a civil war over the Silver Valley Superfund site, the legacy of a century of mining and smelting in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin. The U.S. EPA is poised to decide this week whether to expand the cleanup efforts from 21 square miles to 1,500 square miles, which would make Silver Valley the nation's largest Superfund site. Those in favor of the expansion say it is the only hope for the area, which is heavily contaminated by lead despite the $200 million the EPA has already spent de-toxing the site. Those opposed fear the Superfund stigma would destroy the area's nascent tourism prospects and prevent the mining industry from rebuilding in a region that is desperate for employment opportunities.