Tuesday, 31 Aug 2004

Good Vote Hunting

More Wildlife Refuges Opened to Hunting and Fishing

Yesterday, just as the Republican National Convention was getting underway, the Bush administration announced that it will open an additional 243,500 acres of land in 17 national wildlife refuges and wetlands to recreational hunting and fishing. Much of the 95-million-acre national refuge system, with its 544 wildlife refuges and thousands of small wetlands areas, is already open to sportsfolk. Some enviros suspected that the move was an election-year ploy to buy the votes of recreational hunters and anglers, who are represented by powerful groups like the National Rifle Association and Ducks Unlimited, and millions of whom live in swing states. "I do think politics are at play," said Betsy Loyless of the League of Conservation Voters. However, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams described the move as "just another example of the president's commitment to sportsmen."

Water Foul

Bush Administration Proposes Lower Standards for Toxic Metal Selenium

Even while the Bush administration publicly courts hunters and fishers, it's taking quiet steps that those outdoorsfolks likely wouldn't approve of. Over the objections of many federal scientists, the U.S. EPA is poised to establish a more lax standard for selenium, a toxic metal that builds up in the bodies of fish and is particularly harmful to waterfowl. The current standards were set in the 1980s after hundreds of deformed and dying waterfowl were traced to selenium, which runs off into streams and rivers from mines, power plants, and farms. For years, mining, power, and agricultural interests have lobbied the EPA for looser standards. The power industry alone has spent roughly $10 million on its own research; not surprisingly, for its money it has gotten studies claiming the current standards are too strict. The EPA is basing the proposed new standard in large part on a study that the author himself says was badly misinterpreted, and most biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say, if anything, the standards should be more strict.

Smells Like Ship

Concern Rises Over Air Pollution from Ships

Tough regulations and technological advances have made power plants, cars, and other common sources of air pollution cleaner over past decades, and as they get cleaner another common source comes into sharper relief: ships. In some port cities like Los Angeles, ships -- including oil tankers, container ships, and cruise ships -- create more pollution than any other single source. Vickie Patton of Environmental Defense says that massive container ships and car carriers "are essentially floating smokestacks." The U.S. EPA recently set emissions standards for boats and ships, but many local air-pollution officials and enviros say they don't go far enough. An international treaty set to go into effect in 2005 would restrict emissions from foreign-owned ships, but the U.S. Senate has not approved it, so it can't be enforced in U.S. waters -- and regardless, it will apply only to new ships, not the sulfur-belching older ones. Meanwhile, shipping traffic to and from the U.S. is expected to double by 2020.

Limp Biscuit

Judge Lifts Injunctions on Biscuit Salvage Logging

The legal battle over logging at the site of 2002's devastating Biscuit wildfire in southwestern Oregon continues. A federal judge has lifted the temporary injunctions that barred the U.S. Forest Service from logging in the forest, rejecting an appeal from Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. The group tried to stop logging on the grounds that the Forest Service had left it up to loggers to choose which trees to cut; the injunctions were lifted after the agency said it would choose and mark the trees itself. The enviro group, along with several others, said it would immediately appeal and seek another injunction. Meanwhile, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) requested that state Attorney General Hardy Myers (D) file a separate appeal, objecting to the federal decision to allow Biscuit salvage logging to proceed in roadless forest areas, citing a court decision upholding Clinton-era protections for roadless areas.

A Breed Apart

Plant Breeders Look to the Past for Seeds Suited to Organic Growing

In the post-WWII era, as farmers leaned increasingly on monocultures drenched in pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, seed breeders began developing genetic strains suited to those conditions. Funded by industry research money, they bred seeds designed to flourish in artificially controlled surroundings with heavy chemical inputs. Organic farmers, however, do not grow plants in these conditions, and today's commonly used seed strains are poorly suited to their work. As organic farming grows, so grows the market for sturdy seeds that are naturally disease resistant and suited to variable soil conditions. Such seeds are developed by resuscitating specimens from the pre-war era and breeding them for modern organic conditions. "We need varieties that are real workhorses that can take us through tough times," said Steve Peters at Seeds of Change. "We're looking for reliable yield, rather than the top yield under the best circumstances, and we don't want to forget flavor at the expense of other traits."