Wednesday, 19 Jun 2002

Downwind for the Count

Thousands of "downwinders" -- people living in the path of radiation releases from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation -- scored a legal victory yesterday when a federal appeals court ordered a lower court to reconsider two lawsuits against five former Hanford contractors. From 1944 to 1989, Hanford produced most of the nation's plutonium for warheads; research conducted in the late '80s suggested that people living in the vicinity had been exposed to harmful radiation, particularly from iodine-131, which is linked to thyroid disease. The downwinders sued, but in 1998, the U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington reduced the number of plaintiffs who had standing in the case to those who could prove that their risk of contracting cancer had doubled due to radiation from Hanford. But yesterday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that standard, saying plaintiffs only needed to show that radiation exposure at levels comparable to Hanford's would cause health problems in the general population. The plaintiffs -- about 5,000 of them -- are seeking damages, including medical expenses and compensation for pain and suffering.

Dumbstruck

The sins of the fathers (etc.) shall be visited on the children -- at least when the sins are environmental and the children are in China. A recent survey of more than 11,000 schoolchildren in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen found that nearly two-thirds suffered from lead poisoning. Such poisoning, when untreated, can cause damage to the brain, nervous, and reproductive systems; mental retardation; behavioral problems; stunted growth; anemia; high blood pressure; and, in extreme cases, death. Sadly, Shenzhen is not atypical of Chinese cities; studies done in Beijing showed that about 20 percent of youth had excessive lead levels in their blood, and in Taiyuan, the industrial capital of central Shanxi province, 64 percent had lead poisoning. Overall, experts estimate that lead poisoning could afflict half of all urban Chinese youth. Ironically, Shenzhen was honored this year by the U.N. as one of the world's 500 most environmentally progressive cities.

Star Wars

The stars are twinkling over Nevada's Yucca Mountain -- movie stars and pop stars, that is. In the battle over the Bush administration's proposal to bury high-level radioactive waste below the mountain, the glitterati are siding against the president. Barbra Streisand, Bonnie Raitt, Martin Sheen, Melissa Gilbert, Tim Robbins, Alec Baldwin, Morgan Freeman -- the cast of characters assembled in opposition to the Yucca Mountain project reads like the credit sequence of a blockbuster. David Blee, a Reagan-era Energy Department official and a current PR consultant to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (which supports the project) acknowledged ruefully that, "There is no Charlton Heston on our side." But the pro-Yucca Mountain side does have the support of plenty of senators who would rather see the nuclear waste in someone else's backyard -- and all things considered, the politicos are probably more powerful than the culture gods and goddesses.

Money Shaving Steps

Many enviros have suspected for a while that the deregulation of electricity markets is bad for the environment. Now here's some proof: Spending on energy efficiency programs by North American power companies -- the biggest polluters on the continent -- dropped by 42 percent between 1995 and 1999, largely because of deregulation. The findings were made public this week in a report by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a Montreal-based agency created under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The drop in spending, from $2.4 billion to $1.4 billion, led to increased air pollution in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, affecting both human and environmental health. Janine Ferretti, executive director of the commission, said deregulation offers utilities fewer incentives to implement conservation measures. The report came just two days after President Bush announced that he would relax rules requiring utilities to install state-of-the-art pollution-control equipment when repairing or expanding power plants, a move that triggered a storm of protest from environmental groups.

Peru-stroika

An international coalition of conservation organizations is seeking protection for a 74 million-acre, species-rich tropical corridor between Peru and Bolivia. Conservation International and Peru's National Institute of Natural Resources are working with local authorities to try to protect the region from mining, oil and gas exploitation, road and dam construction, and logging. The corridor includes 15 pre-existing protected areas and spans the transition zone from the high-mountain ecosystems of the Andes to the tropical forests and waterways of the Amazon. The corridor is part of an area designated an ecological "hotspot" because of its high biodiversity and equally high risk from human encroachment. The project is expected to be something of an administrative headache, as the Bolivian side alone encompasses 57 municipalities and four agencies that play a role in land management. Still, enviros are heartened by letters of support from the presidents of both countries and an increasing worldwide recognition of the importance of cross-border conservation projects.