Friday, 29 Mar 2002

Right in the Solar Plexus

From the believe-it-or-not department: To cover the costs of printing its 170-page energy plan last May, the Bush administration tapped into the Department of Energy's solar and renewable energy and energy conservation budgets. Documents released under court order by the DOE on Monday night indicate that $135,615 of the renewables and conservation budget was spent to print 10,000 copies of the drill-mine-burn plan, which, needless to say, is much reviled by enviros. Another $1,317.39 went toward printing "briefing boards" used by administration officials to explain the plan, and $176.40 helped send one lucky member of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force to Alaska to promote the plan. At the same time that it was spending the renewables budget and keeping the copiers humming, the administration was busy lobbying Congress to cut funding for renewables and energy-efficiency research by more than 50 percent. Somehow, it's cold comfort that the administration also took $100.92 from the DOE's fossil energy program to pay for a hotel room near the Government Printing Office.

Mustard Greens

In a hard-won triumph for environmentalists, the Pentagon announced yesterday that it will use a water-neutralization process, rather than incineration, to destroy 2,600 tons of mustard gas stored at Colorado's Pueblo Chemical Depot and other sites. The Chemical Weapons Working Group, a watchdog organization, applauded the decision, calling neutralization safe and effective. But in Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) expressed concerns yesterday about the proposed neutralization of 2,440 tons of mustard gas stockpiled at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, questioning whether arid eastern Oregon could afford to divert so much water. Kitzhaber also noted that the neutralization process would yield 27 million gallons of contaminated water, and questioned the "eleventh hour" nature of the plan. Defense Undersecretary E.C. Aldridge said the Army is working quickly to destroy chemical weapons so they do not become terrorist targets. The U.S. is also hustling to dispose of some 30,000 tons of such weapons by 2007, as mandated by international treaty, although the Pentagon has said it will miss that deadline.

World CERES

Could this be the end of greenwashing? After five years of work, an innovative coalition of businesses, advocacy groups, unions, accountants, academics, and government representatives is preparing to unveil standardized guidelines for how businesses report their impact on society and the environment. The Global Reporting Initiative standards, which are the brainchild of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, include more than 90 indicators of environmental, social, and economic performance -- from greenhouse gas emissions and waste management to human rights and child labor records. The GRI standards could meet the growing demand from investors, activists, accounting bodies, and governments for thorough information about business practices, while streamlining the reporting process for companies.

Foot-in-mouth Disease?

Dealing a blow to advocates of natural resource extraction in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, biologists working for the U.S. Geological Survey have produced a report finding that oil and gas drilling in the refuge could substantially threaten caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, migrating birds, and other wildlife. Although the report acknowledges that the risk could be mitigated by careful management, it nonetheless belies the repeated assertions of Interior Secretary Gale Norton that drilling would not pose any threat to wildlife in the refuge. "Once again the administration has released a report undermining its own case," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.). To prepare the 78-page report, the biologists examined 12 years of research into the ecology of the area targeted for development, the Arctic Refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain.

Dune Bugging

Almost 50,000 acres of dunes in California's Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area would be re-opened to off-road vehicles (ORVs) under a Bureau of Land Management proposal. The area has been off-limits to the vehicles since November of 2000, when the BLM, ORV groups, and environmentalists negotiated a settlement that closed the area to protect endangered species. The BLM now appears prepared to retract that agreement, saying the area could provide a "world-class recreation opportunity." But Terry Weiner, coordinator of the Desert Protective Council, said, "You cannot appreciate the dunes if you're raging across them at 40 miles an hour with smoke in your face and deafening noise." The new plan calls for regulated use and careful policing -- as much for the human inhabitants as for wildlife. Up to 200,000 people flock to the dunes on the weekends, and last Thanksgiving alone, there was one homicide, two stabbings, two fatal accidents, and innumerable brawls.

Deep Du Du

Three years after NATO's 78-day air campaign against Yugoslavia, depleted uranium (DU) has been found at five of six sites investigated by scientists from the U.N. Environment Programme. The sites, in Serbia and Montenegro, had "widespread but low-level" contamination. Although the scientists did not report any current direct threat to humans or the environment, they expressed concern about the possibility of future groundwater contamination from corroding munitions. UNEP also cautioned civilians to avoid touching any remaining pieces of DU and warned against disturbing the sites, thereby releasing DU particles into the air. The agency has begun work to decontaminate the areas.