Wednesday, 31 Aug 2005

Freedom to Pollute Is on the March

New air rules could allow coal-fired plants to pollute more

The Bush administration may finally eviscerate the legal basis for many pesky air-pollution lawsuits against coal-fired power plants. A new proposal being drafted by the U.S. EPA would change the system for monitoring plants' emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide: after a plant modernized its equipment, its permitted emissions levels would be based on pollution produced per hour, instead of the long-established per-year standard. Under this revision of the Clean Air Act's new-source review rules, if upgrades let plants operate for longer hours, they could end up polluting more than they did using older, dirtier equipment. This radical policy shift could undercut dozens of pending state and federal lawsuits seeking to force coal-burning plants to cut back on emissions. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D) said the rule change "would be devastating to all new-source review prosecutions," and pledged to challenge it in court if the administration presses ahead.


We drive cars, we burn coal, we do all manner of things that change the very air we breathe. But there's a little something else we do (giggle, giggle) that changes the air we breathe. It usually happens after a nice big meal? Are you with us here? Today, a creative gift-giver wonders if he can buy renewable-energy credits to offset his buddy's emissions, and advice maven Umbra Fisk lets fly.


Even as they mourn the loss of life and devastation of communities throughout the Gulf Coast, greens wonder whether global warming is responsible for Hurricane Katrina's intensity and worry about the possible toxic disaster that could ensue as waste, chemicals, and bodies float to the surface of the minacious floodwaters. Stop by Gristmill for discussion and a roundup of relevant news links.

A Hop and a Prayer

Eco-activists team with prayer network to save hapless toad

This summer's It amphibian -- the endangered arroyo toad of California, famously dismissed as "hapless" by Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts -- is in the news again. The Center for Biological Diversity has teamed up with Christians Caring for Creation to sue the Bush administration for allegedly nudging the toad toward extinction. In April 2005, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service drastically cut the amount of habitat set aside for the toad from 478,000 to 12,000 acres -- not enough to ensure its survival, the two groups claim. The move highlights "the willingness of this administration to undermine the Endangered Species Act," says David Hogan of the center, which has set up a website featuring the wee beastie at haplesstoad.com. "Despite its small size this toad needs a lot of land to complete its life cycle."

Ho Chi ... Man, I Gotta Pee

Vermont rest stop combines advanced green toilets with Vietnam memorial

Like chocolate and peanut butter, it's a combination so natural you wonder why nobody thought of it earlier: Vermont has built a $6.3 million rest stop featuring an ecologically advanced flush-toilet system, a greenhouse, and ... the country's oldest Vietnam memorial. Located along Interstate 89, the "living machine" green-toilet complex directs motorists' excreta into concrete holding tanks, where (ironically) South Asian plants and organisms clean it up. The treated water is then pumped back to the toilets for reuse. When the state first moved to close an older rest-stop facility on the site in the mid-'90s because of poor drainage, vets lobbied to preserve it, saying the particular location was key to the memorial's meaning. I-89 "was used many times by people heading to Canada to flee the draft," according to John Miner of the Vermont chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. And those dirty hippies had to stop somewhere to pee.