Wednesday, 23 Mar 2005

Park ranger Jordan Fisher Smith spent 14 years patrolling California's American River canyon, an area slated to be flooded by a dam project. But with dam construction delayed by decades, the once-pocked canyon began regenerating and attracting wildlife like mountain lions and black bears. And the "condemned landscape" drew wild people too -- squatters, fugitives from the law, even murderers. In an interview with Aaron Dalton, Smith explains how he came to love this land and why he chose to chronicle that love in his new book Nature Noir -- today on the Grist Magazine website.

The Sound of One Hull Splitting

Sixteen years after Exxon Valdez, tankers still not safe

This week, to mark the 16th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster that spilled 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is running a special series on the environmentally precarious state of modern oil-tanker transport. Some key findings of its investigation: Post-Valdez initiatives intended to reduce crew hours, require more tug escorts for tankers, and crack down on alcohol use are all regularly dodged. Many West Coast officials have been lobbying to loosen tug-escort rules meant to help shepherd tankers safely to port. Also, even 16 years later, Exxon still hasn't double-hulled any of its Alaskan tankers. And even modern double-hulled tankers, such as those now used by ConocoPhillips to transport nearly 38 million gallons of oil at a time, are still vulnerable to spills thanks to human fallibility. More sobering, perhaps, is the fact that experts estimate it only takes some 1 million gallons of spilled oil to cripple wildlife and commerce in sensitive waterways for months or years. Sigh.

Dust, but Verify

New study finds toxic chemicals in household dust

Samples of household dust from 70 residences in seven U.S. states were found to contain a toxic cocktail of industrial chemicals -- all of which have been shown to harm animals, all of which are legal and commonly used. The study, conducted by consumer-advocate group Clean Production Action, tested the dust for 44 chemicals and found 35 of them. The most common, and most controversial, are phthalates: plasticizers used to soften the vinyl in carpet, furniture fabric, shower curtains, and plenty else. Phthalates mess with the reproductive systems of animals, but have not been tested extensively for human health effects -- mainly because lax U.S. regulations don't require such testing. Industry groups hastened to say that just because these chemicals are everywhere doesn't mean they're harming the, uh, guinea pigs using them. But, asks CPA director Beverley Thorpe, "why should we take chances on chemicals we know are inherently hazardous when safe chemicals exist, and progressive companies are putting in place safe chemical policies?"

Panther in the Dark

FWS admits using bad data to determine panther habitat

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has admitted to using shoddy science and thrice violating federal law while designating habitat for the endangered Florida panther, thereby allowing giant development projects to proceed within the species' range. Turns out, the core of the disputed science was a scheduling conflict -- with the panthers. In determining the cats' habitat requirements, the agency depended too heavily on panther range data gathered during late mornings. But panthers are most active at dusk and dawn, not midmorning. As a result, the data "did not represent a complete and accurate picture of Florida panther habitat needs," said FWS top science adviser Dan Ashe, a member of a panel that reviewed the issue. The service now plans to withdraw and reissue some documents related to the panther's range and designate habitat differently, but activists fear that 30-some giant development projects may still proceed as planned, within the cats' stomping grounds. Andrew Eller, the FWS biologist who filed a whistleblower complaint about the flawed data, was fired back in November.

Do You Ear What I Ear?

Government kept mum about GM corn's mistaken identity

Over a four-year period, Swiss biotech giant Syngenta AG inadvertently sold unapproved strains of genetically modified corn seed to U.S. farmers. The corporation claims the sales, which began in 2001, resulted from a case of mistaken identity between two genetically similar varieties of GM corn. Although the company reported the mistake to regulators in December 2004, U.S. officials have stayed mum about it. The news became public yesterday when the journal Nature published an article about the mishap. A Syngenta spokesflack confirmed that a relatively small amount of the seed was planted, but said that most of the resulting crops will be used as animal feed or for industrial purposes and that any remaining seeds were destroyed or isolated. Kendall Lamkey, head of Iowa State University's plant-breeding center and a former panel member for the National Academy of Sciences, said it's the federal government's secrecy about the matter that's most alarming: "The whole GMO controversy surrounds a lack of transparency on both [the part of] the companies and regulatory agencies."