Thursday, 28 Mar 2002

Nuke Security: Bar None?

Two hours after planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, guards at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania were still struggling to close a gate designed to stop terrorists from entering. Security problems don't stop at the front gate at nuclear plants -- but the evidence suggests that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn't have safety foremost on its mind. The commission is considering a measure, backed by industry, that would allow utilities to design, administer, and grade their own security tests. Moreover, it has consistently thwarted efforts by citizens groups to mandate additional security measures, such as reinforced barriers around radioactive materials and contingency plans for attacks by land and air. In the second part of a two-part series on nuclear security, Shelley Smithson takes a look at the NRC's relationship with citizens groups and the nuclear lobby, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Ford: Tight Turning Radius

Henry Ford might be proud, but enviros are disappointed: William Clay Ford, Jr., great-grandson of the automobile pioneer, used to be known as the greenest person in the auto industry. But since taking the reins of Ford Motor Company last October, Ford has muted -- and sometimes changed -- his tune. The man who once jokingly called his company's 19-foot-long Excursion the "Ford Valdez" has promoted sport utility vehicles and lobbied against increased fuel-efficiency standards. Still, the company says it will stand by pledges to improve SUV fuel economy, sell hybrid versions of the oversized vehicles, and redesign one of its plants to be more eco-friendly. Environmentalists, however, fear Ford is showing his true stripes and say that so far, the company's record under his leadership is indistinguishable from those of other major automakers.

Warm Air Gives Us Cold Hands

Relatively minor increases in global temperatures are already dramatically affecting plants and animals, according to an article appearing in the current issue of Nature. The Earth has warmed by just 0.6 degrees in the past century (mostly in the last 30 years), but scientists from Europe, the U.S., and Australia have found serious consequences -- from massive coral deaths to expanded malarial regions. Biologist Eric Post said the team was surprised by "not only the magnitude of response to the slight increase in temperatures ... but also by the incredibly wide diversity of species" affected. In the most comprehensive report to date, the team reviewed almost 100 recent studies and found that nearly ever major habitat zone from the tropics to the polar regions was undergoing systemic changes due to warmer temperatures. Climate change models predict that if greenhouse gas emissions continue apace, average global temperatures will rise anywhere from 1.4 to 5.4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

Parroty, Not Parody

In the latest disheartening news about the energy task force, documents released Monday night by the Energy Department show that an executive order on energy policy released by President Bush last May was copied nearly verbatim from the energy policy proposed to the administration by oil lobbyists. On March 20, representatives from the American Petroleum Institute sent the Energy Department an email containing "a suggested executive order" requiring agencies to examine whether environmental regulations would lead to "inordinate complications in energy production and supply." As the May 19 order shows, their wish was Bush's command. Sharon Buccino, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (which identified the similarity between the memo and the order), said, "The oil companies seem to be putting words in our president's mouth."

You Got to Know When to Hold 'Em

Betting comes naturally to Nevadans, but the stakes are high and the odds are poor for a last-ditch effort to keep 77,000 tons of nuclear waste out of a proposed high-level radioactive waste facility in Yucca Mountain. The state's U.S. senators are about to unveil a multi-million dollar media blitz aimed at swaying the votes of key Republican lawmakers -- largely by showing them the potentially uncomfortable consequences to their job security when constituents find out that the nuclear waste will be shipped through their states en route to Nevada. The senators are throwing their weight behind a state-funded campaign to spend up to $10 million to air anti-Yucca television and radio ads, especially in New England states. Some Nevada lawmakers, however, are skeptical that the ads will be enough to stop the Yucca juggernaut.