Tuesday, 08 Mar 2005

By all accounts, President Bush's new pick to head the U.S. EPA -- scientist and 24-year agency vet Stephen Johnson -- is capable, committed, and easy to get along with. He's garnered praise from prominent environmentalists, industry reps, and senators from both sides of the aisle. However, though no one has a cross word to say about him, some green leaders quietly wonder whether he has the grit and tenacity to stand up to the White House on Clear Skies, mercury rules, and other controversial proposals. Get the story on Johnson -- in Muckraker, today on the Grist Magazine website.

Cap Dancing

EPA skewed analysis in favor of cap-and-trade mercury regs, GAO says

The U.S. EPA misrepresented the analysis of its plan to regulate mercury emissions from U.S. power plants, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office reported yesterday. The EPA's proposal, released last year, explored two approaches to limiting emissions of the neurotoxin. The one largely favored by environmentalists would mandate emissions caps at every plant, whereas the approach favored by the Bush administration would allow dirtier facilities to buy the "right" to pollute from cleaner ones. The GAO's investigation found that the EPA had not fully documented mercury's harmful effects on brain development and other neurological functions, and that it had weighted its analysis in favor of the cap-'n'-trade camp by overestimating its benefits. Despite all its flaws, which EPA spokesperson Cynthia Bergman said would be addressed in its final form, the increasingly controversial mercury rule is still slated for rollout March 15.

Oh You Nasty Soy

Brazil solves problem of illegal GM soy production by legalizing it

In a victory for biotech conglomerates everywhere, lawmakers in Brazil last week lifted a ban on the growing of genetically modified crops in the country, and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected to quickly sign the changes into law. Brazil is now the second-largest producer of soy after the U.S., and for many of its farmers, the measure will simply ratify a long-standing practice -- about a third of the country's soybean crop is already genetically modified. Biotech companies are upping soybean-seed production in anticipation of the law's enactment. Da Silva's approval will come despite objections from environmentalists, some members of his party, and his environment minister, Marina Silva, who said, "The Environment Ministry feels obliged to point out to Brazilian society the potential environmental risks involved in the project that was approved."

Half a Bridge Over Troubled Water

EPA proposes stronger protections on lead in drinking water

The U.S. EPA has proposed strengthening protections against lead in drinking water for the first time since 1991. The move comes in response to the recent brouhaha in the Washington, D.C., area, where residents were not informed of widespread lead contamination until years after it was discovered. The changes would require utilities to run stricter water tests, report the results of the tests to homeowners, and notify state and federal regulators in advance of any changes to water treatment. "We need to free people from worrying about lead in their drinking water," said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles, whose name never ceases to delight us. The changes -- which must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget -- are already drawing fire from critics who say that they don't address the scale of the problem, and that the EPA does not adequately enforce rules even as they're now written.

Polluter Actually Pays

Illinois power plants will spend half a billion on pollution controls

A 1999 lawsuit against Illinois Power has ended in a proposed settlement of more than $520 million, most of which will go to installing new pollution controls. The suit charged that Illinois Power had violated the Clean Air Act by upgrading several plants without modifying pollution-reduction equipment, as required under the Clean Air Act's new-source review rules. The settlement, which will be finalized once the government receives public comment and makes a recommendation to the court, also includes $15 million for mitigation and other green projects and a $9 million civil penalty -- the largest the government has won in an emissions suit. The U.S. EPA estimates that the new pollution controls, which will be installed over a seven-year period, will more than halve the sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions from five of the company's plants. Says Thomas L. Sansonetti, an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, "The citizens of Illinois could not have asked for a better result."