Thursday, 03 Apr 2003

Glow With the Flow

In terms of air pollution, nuclear reactors beat fossil-fuel-burning power plants hands down. But enviros have long campaigned against nuclear power anyway, noting the dire consequences of uranium mining, the difficulty of storing radioactive waste, and the devastation that could result from an accident at an atomic power station. Now more than ever, with growing concern about terrorist attacks on nuclear plants, this energy source simply doesn't seem to be worth the risk. Yet the Bush administration is pushing hard for the construction of the first new nuclear power plants in the U.S. in three decades. Journalist Amanda Griscom weighs in on nuclear energy in Powers that Be, only on the Grist Magazine website. (Got strong feelings about nuclear power? You can weigh in, too, by sharing your thoughts on The Gristmill, our online discussion forum.)

Ceci N'est Pas Une Small Fine

The U.S. EPA has levied a $34 million fine against the Colonial Pipeline Company, the largest civil penalty the agency has doled out in its 32-year history. The company owns a 5,500-mile underground pipeline that snakes through 14 states on its way from Texas to New York; the fine is for violating the federal Clean Water Act with seven spills along that pipeline, involving a total of 1.45 million gallons of oil. The largest spill, in South Carolina in 1996, sent nearly 1 million gallons of oil down the Reedy River, killing 35,000 fish. The EPA said the spills were caused by gross negligence, including pipeline corrosion, mechanical damage, and human errors. Unlike money charged for damages, which is used to compensate for environmental harm, the fine levied in this case was punitive. "There is a price to being a consistent violator," said Thomas Sansonetti, assistant attorney general for the environment division of the Justice Department.

Sweet Tooth and Nail

Efforts to restore Florida's Everglades hit a snag yesterday, when the state's top environmental regulator suggested delaying by 20 years the cleanup of phosphorus from South Florida waters. David Struhs, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, had previously backed a plan to reduce the presence of phosphorus from a whopping 300 parts per billion to just 10 ppb by 2006, as mandated by the 1994 Everglades Forever Act. Yesterday, though, he encouraged lawmakers to revise that act to extend the deadline to 2026, a move he said simply acknowledged the "political reality." Translation: The sugar industry, which is largely responsible for the pollutant, says meeting the earlier deadline would be all but impossible. Environmentalists and the Miccosukkee Tribe, which lives in the Everglades, expressed outrage at the proposed change.

Research and Destroy

It's been a bad news week for whales. First, Iceland announced that it would begin hunting minke, fin, and sei whales again after a 13-year hiatus. The nation says the whaling will be strictly for research purposes, but environmentalists say the plan is a smokescreen for commercial hunts. The World Conservation Union's Red List ranks fin and sei whales as endangered, while North Atlantic minkes are near-threatened. Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, a Japanese whaling fleet has killed 400 minke whales during a five-month expedition in the Antarctic. The Japanese government acknowledged the hunt but said it was conducted to help gauge the impact of whale populations on fisheries stocks and assess migration patterns and population trends. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986, but it allows unlimited catches for research purposes.

Black and Blue Canyon

In a move that environmentalists and others fear could set a dangerous precedent, the U.S. Department of the Interior has ceded control over the waters in Colorado's Gunnison National Park, allowing the state to sell it to cities. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said the decision to hand over control of the river (which was awarded to the federal government when the Black Canyon was made a national monument in 1933) reflects the Bush administration's desire to let states control natural-resource policies, even on federal land. State officials joined the feds in welcoming the agreement, which they claim will help restore the natural flow of the river while encouraging economic development. Enviros say the plan sets a precedent that could spell disaster not just for the Gunnison River but for protected waterways and their ecosystems everywhere, and they have promised to challenge it in court.