Wednesday, 09 Apr 2003

Every Day I Rewrite the Book

Joshua Farley started studying economics because he wanted to find ways to connect his interest in ecology and international development to financial matters. Instead, he found he'd stumbled into a hostile new world where few people were interested in the questions he was asking or the problems he wanted to solve. Today, Farley is rewriting the book on economics -- literally, by co-authoring a textbook on ecological economics with the field's founder and guru, Herman Daly. Farley is one of three ecological economists profiled by writer Lissa Harris as part of a special series, "The Wealth of Nature," only on the Grist Magazine website. (Catch Daly's profile tomorrow.)

Hit the Bottle

Ever the leader on environmental issues, California is moving ahead with a bill that would give it the nation's most stringent bottled-water quality standards. Under the terms of the bill, bottled-water companies would have to include greater detail about contaminants on bottle labels, issue water-quality reports much like those produced by public water agencies, and, like those agencies, be subject to inspections by the state Department of Health. Makers of bottled water criticize the proposed legislation as unnecessary and costly, but backers note that 70 percent of Californians drink bottled water regularly, believing it to be cleaner and healthier than tap water -- an assumption that isn't necessarily true.

Pampas and Circumstances

The massive economic crisis in Argentina has had an unexpected silver lining for the environment: It has led to a surge in the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) in cars, a cleaner fuel than either diesel or gasoline. Argentina is home to the third-largest natural-gas reserves in Latin America and the world's largest fleet of natural-gas cars, at about 800,000, or 15 percent of personal vehicles. After the peso was devalued in January 2002, gasoline and diesel prices jumped by more than 30 percent, making CNG the most economical fuel available. "There's a revolution going on in the energy sector that developed countries aren't taking notice of. Developed countries are betting on the fuel cell idea, but that's for some 20 years from now," said Gregorio Kopyto of Argentina's Chamber of Compressed Natural Gas. (Enviros will be less thrilled to learn that the Argentinean government has also helped promote CNG use in order to cut costs in public transportation.)

Gold Diggers

The California gold rush of 1849 sent would-be miners rushing to the hills and streams of the Sierra Nevada. But some of them never made it that far, stopping instead to mine gold from Death Valley. Now, a proposal by the Colorado-based Canyon Resources to expand its operations by opening a second open-pit gold mine on 3,000 acres just outside of Death Valley National Park has got environmentalists and Native Americans up in arms. They say the open-pit mine would harm bighorn sheep habitat, contaminate the region's groundwater, and disfigure a landscape sacred to the Timbisha Shoshone tribe. The feds have given the project the green light, but the state is getting ready to adopt new environmental protections that could spell the end of the second mine.

Alcoa-holics

Two of the nation's corporate giants, Alcoa and Archer Daniels Midland, have agreed to settle charges of violating the New Source Review rules of the federal Clean Air Act by making upgrades ballparked at some $700 million, according to people familiar with the settlements. Alcoa, the world's largest producer of aluminum, has 12 months to cut sulfur dioxide emissions at a plant in Rockdale, Tex., by 95 percent (or over 52,000 tons per year) and nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent (or 17,000 tons per year). In addition, the company will pony up $1.5 million in fines and $2.5 million for habitat conservation and reduction of school bus exhaust. Meanwhile, ADM promised to cut more than 60,000 tons of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, organic volatile chemicals, and other pollutants from 42 plants in 17 states. Those cuts will cost hundreds of millions of dollars -- not counting the $4.5 million the company will pay in penalties and the $6 million it will pay to support environmental programs.