Friday, 28 Jul 2006

And You Were Thinking It Couldn't Get Worse

Oil spill and power-plant fire wreak havoc in already-havoc-stricken Lebanon

Bombed by Israel two weeks ago, a storage fuel tank of a power plant in Beirut, Lebanon, is still burning, filling the air with dangerous fumes; another exploded, sending at least 10,000 tons of oil into the Mediterranean Sea. Particulate pollution could waft as far as Europe, and winds have pushed the oil spill dozens of miles up the coast, blackening beaches and threatening marine life like the endangered green turtle and the commercially important blue fin tuna. Lebanon lacks the resources to extinguish the oil fire; if the second tank collapses, up to 15,000 more tons of fuel could seep into the sea. Lebanon has begged assistance from Kuwait, but the spill will take months and tens of millions of dollars to clean up. "This is a catastrophe I wouldn't wish on any country in the world," said Lebanese Environment Minister Yacoub Sarraf. Meanwhile, Israeli-blocked ports are leaving Lebanon mere days from running out of fuel for power plants.

That Darn Pat

Coal-fired cooperative coughs up cash to climate crank

Say you don't like the results of climate science. What to do? Us, we suffer from night terrors. But the Colorado-based Intermountain Rural Electric Association -- a group heavily invested in coal-burning utilities -- is going with the fossil-fuel industry's favorite alternate strategy: buy more favorable science! They've donated $100,000 to notorious climate crank Pat Michaels, and are urging other industry types to come up with more. Michaels, a University of Virginia professor, fellow at the Cato Institute, and isolated scientific outlier, has long had a large megaphone, quoted endlessly by a mainstream media determined to "balance" the other 99 percent of scientists. But with other skeptical voices falling silent, perhaps from an overdue sense of shame, it's more important than ever that the remaining shills be well paid. Coal-fired utilities dread the thought of mandatory caps or taxes on carbon dioxide emissions, which would increase their operating costs and make renewable energy sources more financially attractive. Can't have that.


Designer Tierra Del Forte ensures that her line of eco-friendly denim uses only organic cotton and is made in sweatshop-free facilities -- and she wants her fan base to know it. From the moment a customer looks at a Del Forte Denim display or peeks at a hangtag, she'll know the jeans are more than just stylin'. As InterActivist this week, Del Forte tries some reader questions on for size, chatting about Levi's going organic, eco-friendly methods for getting that "distressed" look, her plans to use hemp fabric, and more.

Take Care, TCE

Top scientists call on EPA to crack down on drinking-water pollutant

The solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) -- the most common industrial pollutant in U.S. drinking water -- poses a high risk of kidney cancer and other diseases, the National Research Council reported yesterday. The council said the U.S. EPA should get moving on a new risk assessment, which is expected to lead to new standards for allowable TCE levels. The EPA had indicated in 2001 that TCE was up to 40 percent more carcinogenic than previously thought -- but the Pentagon, Energy Department, and NASA, wishing to avoid costly cleanup at TCE-tainted sites, accused EPA of inflating the risks. In light of the new NRC data, "It is no longer acceptable for the government and local polluters to claim that health risks associated with TCE are simply scientific theory when we know that they are compelling scientific fact," said Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.). Said an EPA spokesflack, "Armed with the results from the NRC review, EPA will aggressively move forward."

Whole Watta Love

Small automakers roll out electric cars

The climate is right for electric cars, and several automakers are rolling out new models. It's "an untapped market that is phenomenal," says the CEO of Zap, which introduced the three-wheel electric Xebra last month (yes, it comes zebra-striped). While low-speed, relatively low-price vehicles like Miles Automotive's ZX40 and the Tomberlin Group's E-Merge E-2 are hitting the road, it's the sports cars that are getting the most attention. The swanky Tesla Roadster is only the start: Wrightspeed Inc. is developing a $100,000 sports car that could go up to 120 mph and run for 200 miles between charges, and Phoenix Motorcars will sell two 85-mph, 120-miles-per-charge cars. Companies estimate that charging an electric car costs a mere one to three cents per mile. Actress and electric-car plugger Alexandra Paul says the new models will defy the idea "that an electric car is pokey or doesn't have range." And if a Baywatch babe says it, you know it must be true.