Tuesday, 23 Oct 2001

Anti-air Force?

In yet another environmental compromise made in the wake of last month's terrorist attacks, the U.S. EPA has backed off from pressuring the Air Force to eliminate the use of the gas Halon in its fighter planes. Although Halon is banned for most purposes because it breaks down the ozone layer, the Air Force continues to use it in F-16s, the most popular planes in its arsenal and the biggest emitters of the gas. Following Sept. 11, the Pentagon ordered F-16s to patrol Washington, D.C., New York, and nearly a dozen other major cities. The response from the environmental agency? "EPA fully supports the military in its ongoing use of Halon 1301 to safeguard our pilots, crews, aircraft, and ships," said EPA official Paul Stolpman. In other agency news, the EPA said yesterday that it would devote $500,000 of Superfund money to cleaning up the offices of America Media, Inc., where a tabloid worker caught a fatal case of anthrax earlier this month.

Morocco and Roll

The success of the next round of climate change negotiations, which open in Morocco next week, will be determined by the European Union, Russia, and Japan. The talks will attempt to translate the principles of the Kyoto treaty on climate change into a set of binding rules that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels. For Kyoto to take effect, it must be ratified by countries that together produce more than 55 percent of the industrial world's greenhouse gas emissions. That puts the E.U., which is responsible for 24.2 percent of the emissions, Russia (17.4 percent), and Japan (8.5 percent) in the hot seats, because the U.S. (36.1 percent) abandoned the agreement when President Bush took office. Those in the know say the E.U. and Japan are poised to ratify, but Russia is trickier to predict.

Enduring Spirit

In the latest in a sad string of politically motivated murders in Latin America, prominent Mexican human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa, 37, was shot to death in her office late last week. Ochoa is best known for defending Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, two peasant environmental activists who have been tortured and remain jailed on dubious charges. Ochoa, a recipient of Amnesty International's Enduring Spirit Award, had been repeatedly threatened with death and narrowly escaped attempted murders in the past. A note found next to her body threatened other activists with a similar fate.

Singa Song

Singapore drivers may soon be able to fill 'er up with hydrogen by 2004, following a letter of intent signed yesterday by BP to build hydrogen-refueling stations in the island nation. The letter is similar to one signed in May by DaimlerChrysler promising to develop hydrogen-powered cars for the Singapore market. BP plans to start small, with one or two hydrogen pumps to be added to existing gas stations by 2003, a year before the cars themselves hit the roads. The pumps will serve around 15 cars and cost between $500,000 and $1.5 million to build. BP is optimistic about the project and said the steep prices will drop as the cars become more popular and more stations are built: "We think that in 20 years the internal combustion engine could be obsolete," said Koh Kim Wah, president of BP Singapore.

Hang In, Chad

Nearly 10 percent of African bird species are threatened with extinction, according to a newly completed eight-year study published by BirdLife International, an international coalition of conservation groups. The study said many of the species could be saved if 7 percent of the African continent was protected. It identified 1,228 important bird areas, and found that 51 percent of them were threatened by the expansion of agriculture and development, 47 percent by hunting and logging for firewood, and 20 percent by commercial logging. The largest unprotected area was in Chad. The study noted that sound environmental planning in Africa is often thwarted by such factors as poverty, civil conflict, and international debt.