Friday, 30 May 2003

Coal Comfort

A four-and-a-half-year study by the federal government has confirmed what most residents of Appalachia figured was obvious: Mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying the region's forests and streams. Yet despite the findings, which were released yesterday, the Bush administration does not intend to impose concrete limits on the practice. Instead, it has proposed a plan whereby federal agencies would "enhance protection" by reviewing individual mining permit applications more closely before granting them. The plan would also basically eliminate a rule mandating a 100-foot buffer zone between mining operations and streams, and could axe another rule requiring strict Clean Water Act permit reviews for valley fills in streams draining more than 250 acres. The plan was praised by coal industry leaders and denounced by environmentalists and residents affected by coal mining.

Can We Get There From Here?

The U.S. transportation sector generates more carbon dioxide emissions than the entire economy of any other country in the world with the exception of China, according to a study released yesterday by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. The study, "Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Transportation," also found that transportation accounts for almost one-third of all U.S. CO2 emissions and seven in every 10 barrels of oil consumed by the country. As Pew Center President Eileen Claussen noted, that means "reducing emissions from this system is critical to an effective GHG [greenhouse gas] reduction strategy." Using existing technology and implementing mandatory policies could cut those emissions in half by 2030, the report found.

Another Roadside Detraction

The Washington State Department of Transportation has come under attack by citizens who say its practice of spraying the sides of roads to control weeds puts people and the environment at risk. Last year, a decade after promising to reduce its herbicide use, the department instead hit an eight-year high, applying more than 120,000 pounds of weed-killer alongside state roads. Critics argue that the herbicides can get into groundwater and wells, harming humans, salmon, and other life forms and undermining expensive efforts to restore creeks throughout the state. The department says herbicides are a safe and affordable way to keep roadsides clear, thereby reducing repairs and improving safety. But critics counter that other options are available and note that neighboring British Columbia, Canada, maintains a road system four times the size of Washington's yet uses a fraction of the herbicides.

Wallowing in the Myers

Environmentalists are up in arms over President Bush's nomination of William Myers III to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Based in San Francisco, the famously liberal court has long been a friend to the environment. But not so Myers, the top lawyer in the Interior Department and a longstanding supporter of ranchers, the livestock industry, and other for-profit sectors that use public lands. His supporters say he would bring balance to a court they claim is out of step with the interests of many of the areas it covers (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, the U.S. Territory of Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Island). "He'd be terrific and lord knows they need him. That is the goofiest court in America," said former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson (R), for whom Myers was once an aide. But Simpson acknowledged that enviros would disagree: "He'll never satisfy the tree huggers. They'd love to eat him alive."