Monday, 10 Nov 2003

Ghost Busters

Contaminated U.S. Ships Cause a Stir in Britain

Controversy continues to swirl around four highly contaminated former U.S. Navy vessels -- dubbed "ghost ships" -- that are making their way across the Atlantic* to Hartlepool, England, where a British company has a contract to dismantle them. The first two toxin-tainted ships are being towed through the English Channel today, but they won't be broken apart anytime soon. Last week, British Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett effectively suspended dismantling of the ships, citing European Union and international law, and said the vessels would spend the winter in British waters but would then be sent back to the U.S. The highly publicized case of the ghost ships has brought attention to the potentially hazardous business of taking apart old ships; most ship-breaking facilities are located in developing nations in Asia, where environmental and worker protections are few.

Strawberry Yields Forever

U.S. Could Endanger Ozone Layer with Push for Pesticide Use

In pushing for continued use of a controversial pesticide, the Bush administration could undermine international efforts to protect the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 treaty ratified by the U.S. and other industrialized nations, calls for phasing out the ozone-depleting pesticide methyl bromide by 2005, but at an international meeting on the protocol this week in Nairobi, Kenya, representatives from the U.S. will fight for an exemption that would not only allow U.S. farmers to keep using the pesticide but also to use it in larger amounts. The U.S. agricultural industry argues that methyl bromide is essential for affordable growing of strawberries and other crops, but European Union officials and others contend that there are viable alternative products. Atmospheric chemists say the ozone layer will likely take at least 50 years to heal, so this is no time to let up on protections.

Heartbreaker

Air Pollution Boosts Heart Attacks, Says New Study

Evidence keeps coming in to show that air pollution kills. New research released on Sunday found that during the 18 highest air-pollution days in Dijon, France, the rate of heart attacks increased by 161 percent among the general population, and by 250 percent among smokers. Fine particulate pollution was the culprit, even when levels did not exceed government standards. Lead researcher Yves Cottin of the University of Dijon said similar patterns may be found in other urban areas around the world, though more studies would be needed on the matter.

Bigger Homes and Gardens

As New Homes in Massachusetts Get Bigger, Enviros Get Worried

If Americans follow the trend in Massachusetts, they'll increasingly be living in larger homes on larger lots, even though fewer people reside in each house. A new report by the Massachusetts Audubon Society found that the state is losing 40 acres of forest, farmland, and open space to development every day, with about 90 percent of that going to new home construction. Between 1970 and 2001, the average square footage of a new single-family home grew by 44 percent, while the average size of a house lot grew by 47 percent. "If you care about affordable housing, if you care about habitat, this is really bad news," said Kevin Breunig, the report's author. Home builders say they're responding to consumer demand for bigger houses and to many local zoning regulations that favor tracts of spread-out homes over dense, multi-unit housing.

He's Crafty, He Gets Around

Anti-Environmental Riders Popping Up on Spending Bills

With a raft of must-pass spending bills making their way through Congress this month, a handful of crafty lawmakers are tacking on unrelated anti-environmental provisions, or "riders," in hopes of circumventing the usual legislative process. Perhaps the craftiest of all is Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), head of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, who has authored one amendment that would prevent the feds from spending any money to study and protect fish habitat in the North Pacific and another that would limit legal challenges to timber sales in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Meanwhile, a rider written by Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) would prevent California from imposing stricter emissions rules on small engines such as those in lawn mowers, and a rider drawn up by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) would let the U.S. EPA extend the deadline for states to meet air-quality standards, a change that enviros say would lead to people breathing dirtier air.


*[Correction, 11 Nov 2003: This article originally stated that the ships were crossing the Pacific Ocean.]