Monday, 07 Apr 2003

Dumb and Hummer

While sales of many big SUVs are dipping, Hummers are rumbling out of showrooms at a rate of 3,000 per month, topping the list of best-selling large luxury SUVs in the U.S., despite a starting price of $50,000. Some buyers say they feel patriotic in a massive Hummer H2, the civilian sibling of the military Humvees now doing active duty in Iraq, and Hummer dealers report that sales have risen with the war. "When I turn on the TV, I see wall-to-wall Humvees, and I'm proud," said H2 owner Sam Bernstein. "They're not out there in Audi A4's." The Sierra Club is ramping up for a campaign against Hummers, which are so large and heavy that they are exempt from the fuel-economy rules that govern cars and regular SUVs. "At a time when our troops are at risk in part because of our oil dependence, it is the height of irresponsibility for General Motors to be pushing an 11-miles-per-gallon gas guzzler," said the Sierra Club's Daniel Becker.

Low Prestige

More than four months after the Prestige oil tanker sank off the coast of Spain, a new plan is underway for permanently cleaning up what proved to be the worst environmental disaster in the nation's history. About half of the ship's load of 77,000 tons of fuel oil has already leaked out and devastated the local environment; now a Spanish company will attempt to extract and capture the remaining oil from the wreckage more than two miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic. In work expected to start this summer, the company will first attempt to affix a valve to the sunken ship and capture its oil in giant bags. If that fails, next it will try to construct a canopy over the wreck to stop oil that's headed for the surface. As a last resort, it will try the tricky maneuver of pumping the oil out of the wreck. "Never before in history has an operation of this kind been performed," said Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Meanwhile, neighboring France is working to ward off such a disaster in its own waters with tough new rules governing ship traffic within 90 miles of its Mediterranean coast.

Make 'em Walk the Plank

Speaking of polluting ships, U.S. officials have recently uncovered a rash of illegal sludge dumping at sea, and they say it may only be the tip of the iceberg. A number of ships have been caught releasing tons of oily, toxic sludge that's produced in their engine rooms, even as captains, crews, and corporate managers go to extremes to cover up their dirty deeds, doing everything from faking waste-disposal receipts to painting over brackets used to bypass pollution controls to lying to grand juries. Oftentimes the only way to catch a polluting ship is to get testimony from crew members, who can be loath to jeopardize their careers by turning in their employers. When they do talk, crew members paint an unsettling portrait: "Those we've talked to said [sludge dumping] was not aberrant behavior -- it was viewed as accepted practice on other ships they've worked on," said Jim Oesterle, criminal-enforcement counsel for the U.S. EPA. The feds have recently handed out a number of prison sentences to chief engineers and other shipping employees found guilty of fouling the high seas.

Civil Wrongs

In the South, low-income, black citizens are becoming more outspoken and effective as they fight the construction of landfills, polluting factories, and other environmentally hazardous facilities in their communities, and they're increasingly being joined by neighbors of all colors. "Companies now don't just bully in," said Robert Bullard, a sociology professor at Clark Atlanta University who has studied environmental racism. "When they do, they're in for a rude awakening." Companies often argue that their proposed plants and incinerators would create jobs, but even in economically depressed areas, many citizens aren't willing to overlook the pollution that these developments bring to their water, air, and land. In rural Lowndes County in Alabama, national civil rights leaders have joined locals in crying out against plans for a landfill near the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail. "Twelve jobs -- come on. Twelve jobs for a dump on the ... historic civil rights trail," said community leader Barbara Evans, dismissing the small economic boost the landfill would bring.

Made to Border

Mexico and the U.S. shook hands Friday on a 10-year agreement to fight pollution along their shared 2,000-mile border, while some enviros contended that without money behind the deal, it won't make a real dent in the region's many problems. The intent is to reduce air pollution, protect water supplies, and prevent pesticide contamination in the border area, which is home to almost 12 million people. In the wake of NAFTA, the population along the border has grown markedly, particularly on the Mexican side, where people flock to find jobs at U.S.-owned factories, or maquiladoras, that have become notorious polluters. Government officials say that although the agreement doesn't include funding, it will serve as a framework to help the two countries decide where to channel money. Connie Garcia of the Environmental Health Coalition in San Diego is dubious: "As far as the fundamental problems facing the region, these binational programs have had very little effect. The people of the border region have really borne the brunt of this industrial development, particularly on the Mexican side."