Thursday, 27 Feb 2003

Hamster Dance

Eight environmental organizations sued the U.S. Forest Service yesterday for failing to increase the fees paid by ranchers to graze livestock on public lands. The groups say that the dramatically below-market rates charged by the USFS cost taxpayers money and lead to damage from overgrazing on 95 million acres of federally owned land. On average, ranchers in the country's 16 westernmost states pay $13.50 per cow per month for grazing rights on private land; on public land, the rate is just $1.35 -- the lowest it's been in over a quarter-century. Peter Galvin of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the organizations involved in the lawsuit, put it this way: "The Forest Service charges about as much to run a cow on public lands as it costs to feed a pet hamster." The plaintiffs want the courts to force the USFS to make a final ruling on a languishing 1994 proposal to triple grazing fees.

First in Fright

A bankrupt paper mill in North Carolina is refusing to take responsibility for millions of gallons of wastewater, polluted landfills, and toxic chemicals it produced, leaving state environmental regulators stymied and alarmed. "We've just never dealt with anybody who said, 'We're going to walk out the door and leave it,'" said Forrest Westall, the regional water-quality supervisor in nearby Asheville. Of primary concern is a lagoon containing as many as 500 million gallons of contaminated wastewater and sludge. Regulators fear that, with the plant closing, the power will be shut off, stilling the pumps that keep rainwater from flooding the lagoon and sending toxics into the groundwater. The state attorney general has ordered the mill owners to continue environmental monitoring and foot the bill for the $70 million to $200 million cleanup, but the owners say their obligations will end when the mill is sold.

F Is for Fish

The Bush administration received an "F" from the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition for failing to make progress on protecting endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest. The coalition, which is comprised of regional environmental and conservation organizations, said the administration has not implemented three-quarters of the measures mandated under a salmon-recovery plan adopted in 2000. Since taking office, the administration has provided only half the estimated $900 million per year needed to fund the plan. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who advises Save Our Wild Salmon, accused the administration of intentionally ignoring the plan, and warned that the feds could wind up in court if they did not begin to take salmon recovery seriously.

Chickens Coming Home to Roost

It was the ultimate in pork-barrel politics, except it happened to concern chickens. Earlier this month, the U.S. Congress passed its omnibus spending bill -- which included a provision wedged in by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) on behalf of Fieldale Farms, a Georgia chicken-processing company that contributed $4,000 toward Deal's election. The provision allows farmers to bill meat, eggs, and dairy products as organic even if the livestock was raised on nonorganic feed. The loosened standard has come under fire almost across the board; opponents range from citizens and environmentalists to corporate food producers seeking to protect the commercial viability of the burgeoning organics business. Heeding the call of these critics, Republican and Democratic lawmakers announced new legislation yesterday to protect the organic standard; they also promised to form a caucus to keep an eye on issues important to the organic food industry.