Monday, 24 Nov 2003

The Few, the Proud, the Exempt

Defense Bill Will Exempt Military from Species-Protection Laws

The U.S. military may be having trouble achieving its goals in Iraq, but at least it's getting what it wants on Capitol Hill: exemptions from key environmental laws. President Bush today is scheduled to sign a $401 billion defense authorization bill that includes provisions exempting the military from components of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. After the bill becomes law, the Navy will be able to make broader use of low-frequency sonar, despite the fact that it is believed to cause serious harm to whales, dolphins, and other marine life, and military bases won't have to follow some rules designed to protect habitat for endangered animals. Not satisfied with that, the Defense Department is also pushing for exemptions from other long-standing environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act and the Superfund Act; it argues that environmental laws interfere with military training and readiness, a contention that enviros dispute.

Anemone Mine

Fluorescent Fish Will Become First Genetically Engineered Pet in U.S.

If genetically engineered food ruffles your feathers, get a load of this: The nation's first genetically altered pet, a glow-in-the-dark tropical zebra fish, made its public debut on Friday. Developed by a Texas company and intended to be sold for about $5 a pop in pet stores, the patented GloFish owe their red fluorescence to a gene transferred from a sea anemone. The fish were originally engineered to detect environmental toxins, but have now been licensed to be sold as pets. A coalition of enviro groups is arguing that the fish should be reviewed by federal regulators before being sold because they could upset the ecological balance of waterways if people dump out their aquariums. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is charged with regulating genetically engineered animals intended for the food supply, but its role in relation to ornamental fish is unclear. Meanwhile, researchers are working on other genetically engineered pets, including an allergen-free cat.

Dam Huge

China's Three Gorges Dam Causes Havoc on a Large Scale

The new Three Gorges Dam on China's Yangtze River is an engineering project of monumental proportions, requiring more than six times as much concrete as the Panama Canal and stretching higher than the Washington Monument. It's also an environmental and human-rights disaster of monumental proportions, critics say. Up to 1.9 million people will be forced to leave their homes and land as waters rise behind the dam -- that's more than 600 times the number displaced by the infamous Trail of Tears emigration that devastated the Cherokee Indians in 1838. Check out a host of facts and figures about Three Gorges, amassed by the Worldwatch Institute.

Dollars and Sense

Big Institutional Investors Press for Info on Climate Change Risks

Officials controlling the largest pension funds in the U.S. on Friday called on publicly traded companies, federal regulators, and Wall Street to get serious about assessing and disclosing the financial risks posed by climate change. The comptrollers of New York state and New York City, the treasurers of California, Connecticut, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont, and the heads of two big union pension funds have formed a new organization to press their case: the Investor Network on Climate Risk. "In global warming, we are facing an enormous risk to the U.S. economy and to retirement funds that Wall Street has so far chosen to ignore," said California Treasurer Philip Angelides. The pension-fund officials say that a wide variety of industries could be affected by climate change and climate-change regulations, and they want companies to work aggressively to identify and address potential problems.

Spin Meisters

New Mini-Turbine Can Generate Electricity from Atop Homes and Offices

The winds of change may soon bring mini-turbines to rooftops near you. A Scottish company today is launching Britain's first wind-power system designed to be affixed to almost any roof to supplement electricity gotten from the grid. The 3-by-2-foot box with three rotating blades, which will be sold for about $1,300, will be able to provide up to 15 percent of the electricity used by an average British household, says the manufacturer. Thanks to expected energy savings and government subsidies for purchasers, the price of a unit could be recouped in as few as 30 months. "We will be able to bring green energy to the masses," says Scottish inventor David Gordon.