Friday, 14 Apr 2006

Who should decide how much toxic nastiness is in the air you breathe -- scientists, or political appointees? If you chose the political types, you'll love President Bush's nominee to head the EPA's air office, Bill Wehrum. However, the Senate, which takes up his confirmation later this month, may not share your warm feelings. Muckraker looks at a controversial new plan to change the way air-quality standards are determined, and at one of the key players behind it.

I'm the Train Wreck They Call the City of New Orleans

New Orleans debris heads to the landfill, isn't reused or recycled

New Orleans is taking great pains to recycle the waste left by Hurricane Katrina. Wait, you believed that? We're totally lying. Debris from the pummeled city is being dumped in the landfill by the truckload, including heaps of potentially reusable building materials such as cypress and cedar beams, bricks, cinderblocks, and roof tiles. Why is there no citywide plan for salvage and recycling? Says the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's recycling specialist: "We don't have the time." Dude, it's been seven months! Small-scale recycling efforts are under way, but big projects have gone nowhere, including a proposal to generate energy from landfill waste. Oh, and local environmental regulations concerning landfills were waived following Katrina. "We're creating a massive environmental liability for the future," says a local green activist. Man, the future's going to love New Orleans.


Readers sent oodles of questions to this week's InterActivist, Charles Munn, leader of the nonprofit Tropical Nature, which promotes ecotourism and conservation in South America. Is traveling to developing countries exploitative? What are the prospects for budget ecolodges? How does one get started working in ecotourism? Munn responds to all these queries and more with answers that'll have you wanting to pack your bags. And speaking of eco-trips to South America, have you entered Grist's Great Peru Giveaway yet?

TRI This on for Sighs

EPA unveils mixed news on U.S. toxic emissions

The U.S. EPA issued its annual Toxics Release Inventory this week, and it's a pessimist's dream. U.S. waterways absorbed 241 million pounds of chemicals in 2004, up 10 percent from the year before. Dioxin, mercury, and PCB releases were down, but (a fact the press failed to note) the 58 percent dioxin decline in 2004 was relative to a huge spike in 2003; compared to 2002, the decline was desultory. The EPA's talking point: Overall chemical pollution -- mainly from mining, electric, and haz-waste companies -- fell more than 4 percent from 2003 to 2004. So, only 4.2 billion pounds of nasty spewed into the environment in 2004. Praise be. Presumably satisfied with a job well done, the Bush administration is pushing to have the TRI review conducted every other year instead of annually, and is trying to excuse companies from reporting "small" spills and releases of fewer than 5,000 pounds of a specific chemical.

Where Are We Supposed to Move Now?

Canada plans cuts to climate programs and backs further away from Kyoto

Do you hear that? The mild harrumphing? That's the sound of disgruntled Canadian enviros. They're unhappy with the new Conservative government's reported plans to slash funding for programs to fight climate change, despite a recent federal review that found most such programs to be cost-effective. On Wednesday, top environmental leaders in the country called on opposition parties to defeat the Conservatives if they back out of trying to meet emissions limits under the Kyoto Protocol. The government has indicated that it will not pull out of Kyoto entirely, but will abandon efforts to comply with emissions targets in favor of its own "made-in-Canada" greenhouse-gas reduction plan. Also yesterday, a federal scientist who was to give a talk about his new novel -- Hotter Than Hell, a futuristic depiction of Canada and the U.S. at war over water in a world made hot by climate change -- was warned by the environment minister's office not to speak. Wouldn't be polite, they said.