Tuesday, 18 Apr 2006

Jumping the Park

Bush admin tells national parks to operate at 20 percent below budget

You know what the problem with America's national parks is? Profligacy. So says the Bush administration, which has ordered the parks to demonstrate that they can function with 80 percent of their current operating budgets. Bush is also proposing to cut about $100 million from the national parks' current $2.1 billion budget next year, despite the fact that the National Park Service has backlogged maintenance needs of up to $5 billion. The 270 million folks who will visit national parks this year may notice cutbacks in such luxuries as potable water access, trash service, visitor centers, and ranger programs. "The national parks are probably in worse shape now than any of us have seen in our careers," says Bill Wade of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. An NPS spokesflack says asking for a 20 percent cut isn't a budget exercise: "It's about management excellence." Despite the outbreak of management excellence, reports of low morale among current NPS employees persist.

A Fit of Leak

Another BP pipeline leaks in Alaska

Hot on the heels of last month's big oil spill, British petro-giant -- sorry, beyond-petro giant -- BP has confirmed that another pipeline ruptured on Alaska's North Slope on April 6, leaking 12,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The leak occurred at the same Prudhoe Bay oilfield as last month's 200,000-gallon oil spill, but was small enough that BP was not required to report it. "We are at the point where there is so much damage to the lines from corrosion, we don't know where another leak will occur," said a BP employee. The company is under criminal investigation for its pipeline management. Meanwhile, inspired by the oil industry's impeccable quality control, Alaska lawmakers are mulling over tax-break legislation that would pave the way for BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil to embark upon the largest construction project in U.S. history: a $25 billion natural-gas pipeline from the North Slope through Canada to the U.S. Midwest.


Here at Grist, we like to stay right on top of new developments. Which is why we're interviewing Wendy Brawer, founder of the Green Map System -- a mere 14 years after she created her first green map. But hey, we're just in time for the fifth edition of the New York City version, which boasts a brand-new focus on energy issues -- and besides, if we'd written about it back then, the concept wouldn't yet have spread to 330 projects in 46 countries. That's a lotta maps! Tim Sprinkle checks in with Brawer to discover the secrets of her success.

Spinning Isn't Everything; It's the Only Thing

Alaska looks to controversial PR firm to promote Arctic Refuge drilling

In the face of broad public opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Alaska legislature has ... abandoned its push for drilling? Don't be silly! No, the legislature's hired a PR firm to sell the joys of drilling to a skeptical public. The firm expected to get the job, Pac/West Communications, and its president, Paul Phillips, have reputations for shiftiness: In 1990, Phillips, then an Oregon state senator, was fined $17,000 for using his lawmaker status to advance his side job as a political consultant. Two years ago, while working to defeat an initiative to ban bear-baiting in Alaska, a Pac/West employee tried to register nine pro-bear group names to keep anti-baiting groups from using them -- a practice that's frowned upon. Anti-drilling Alaska legislators have expressed fear that PR campaigns in their districts might affect elections, which Phillips says will "absolutely not" happen. And surely we can trust him.

A Lansing Blow

Michigan demands 90 percent cut to mercury emissions from power plants

Tired of other states getting all the eco-love, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) has ordered her state's coal-burning power plants to slash mercury emissions by 90 percent by 2015. Her plan will not be a cap-and-trade system, but will allow companies to produce a 90 percent average cut across all their plants, meaning some plants can pollute more than others. However, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says the initiative won't let more-polluting plants release enough mercury to create toxic hotspots, a common criticism of the federal cap-and-trade plan. Enviros say the plan would raise residential electric bills by less than $1 a month. Michigan and more than a dozen other states are currently suing the feds over mercury pollution, charging that the Bush administration's efforts to cut mercury emissions 70 percent by 2018 are too weak. Mercury, as we all should know by now, does icky things to the nervous system and can cause developmental delays in children.