two things about the ocean

So first, comes a report that if we continue to burn fossil fuels at our current rate, the acidification of the ocean is a certainty and a “planet changer“.  One reason is because the coral life is expected to die off within the half century.

The ocean absorbs about 1/4 of the CO2 released into the atmosphere by human activities each year, which tempers the effect of this greenhouse gas on our climate. Carbonic acid is formed when the CO2 is dissolved in the seawater, which lowers the pH (increases the acidity). An acidic ocean reduces the rate at which corals can produce their skeletons and at which other marine organisms can build their shells. And so many other marine organisms are affected by anything that takes a toll on the corals. It’s estimated that the global economy based on coral (and other related marine life) is about $16 trillion per year.

On the heels of that report, comes this report where the EPA is looking into the idea that ocean acidification is a violation of the Clean Water Act.

 

The United States Environmental Protection Agencyannounced steps to protect U.S. waters from the threat of ocean acidification under the Clean Water Act. Today, EPA issued a notice of data availability to be published in the Federal Register that calls for information and data on ocean acidification that the agency will use to evaluate water-quality criteria under the Clean Water Act.

The notice responded to a formal petition and threatened litigation from the Center for Biological Diversity that sought to compel the agency to impose stricter pH criteria for ocean water quality and publish guidance to help states protect American waters from ocean acidification. EPA’s notice marks the first time that the Clean Water Act will be invoked by the agency to address ocean acidification.

“Ocean acidification is likely the greatest threat to the health of our oceans and is occurring at a frightening rate,” said Miyoko Sakashita, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s oceans program. “The federal government has finally acknowledged that ocean acidification is a threat; now it must take the next step and fully implement the Clean Water Act to protect our nation’s waters from ”the other CO2 problem.”

 

All I want to say about this is that this is BIG, HUGE news.  Can you imagine if they find it is in violation and the limitations and restirictions that will then be enforced by everyone from big corporations to the US Navy.  

I like this Lisa Jackson….

last minute gift

In a last minute gift to chemical manufacturers, the Bush Administration issued a controversial health advisory on drinking water contaminated with a toxic chemical released when making Teflon and other non-stick coatings.

The EPA is “advising people to reduce consumption of water containing more than 0.4 parts per billion of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA — a level critics say is not strict enough. Studies have shown the chemical, which is linked to cancer, liver damage and birth defects, has built up in human blood throughout the world.”

Many had felt that the acceptable limit had to be reduced down to 0.2 parts per billion, which is why many are saying this is another win for companies such as DuPont, who makes the chemical.  It should be noted that Obama’s pick to head the EPA, reduced the acceptable level to 0.04 ppb in her state of New Jersey, ten times lower than the Federal limits.

PFOA and related chemicals concern other scientists and regulators because the compounds don’t break down and they stay in human blood for at least four years. They have also shown up in foods such as apples, bread, beans and ground beef.  More than likely due to a transfer from the contaminated water.

More information is available through the Chicago Tribune.

do you like clean water? then, you better pay attention…

The Colorado River is the water (and power) source for millions of people; it provides power to 3 million homes, waters 15% of our agriculture in the West, and gives one in 12 people something to drink. That is why many are concerned about its sustainability and longevity as a provider. In fact, many do not know this, but one environmental group has called listed it as the “most endangered” waterway.

The reason: the region could contain more oil than Alaska’s Arctic Wildlife Refuge and people want to get at it. And, now.

Rulings under the Bush Administration have not helped, either.

In the eight years George W. Bush has been in office, the Colorado River watershed has seen more oil and gas drilling than at any time in the past 25 years. Uranium claims have reached a 10-year high. Last week the departing administration auctioned off an additional 359,000 acres of federal land for gas drilling projects outside Moab, Utah.

As still more land is leased for drilling and a last-minute change in federal rules has paved the way for water-intensive oil shale mining, politicians and water managers are now being forced to ask which is more valuable: energy or water.

 

“The decisions we are making today will be dictating how we will be living the rest of our lives,” said Jim Pokrandt, a spokesman with the Colorado River Conservation District, a state-run policy agency. “We may have reached mutually exclusive demands on our water supply.”

It is estimated that if all the oil and natural gas drilling that has been requested to be done, were in fact, done, the annual demand would be the equivalent of shutting off the water to all of Southern California for five days. Oil shale drilling is the equivalent of 79 days.

And then there is a question of contamination. The major mining companies claim that they adhere to the EPA guidelines, but those guidelines are getting less strict every day. Add on top of that, Uranium mining, and there is the potential of radioactive material infecting our water supply.

Scientists say some degree of pollution is inevitable, because mining sometimes uses toxic chemicals like cyanide. It also exposes naturally toxic metals that would otherwise remain deep underground.

Drilling for uranium creates pathways where raw, radioactive material can migrate into underground aquifers that drain into the river. Surface water can seep into the drill holes and mine shafts, picking up traces of uranium and then percolating into underground water sources. The milling process itself creates six pounds of radioactive and toxic waste — including ammonia, arsenic, lead and mercury — for every ounce of uranium production.

So, this has become a question of competition: food and water for the citizenry or lack of dependency on foreign oil. Not to put too much pressure on the Obama Adminsistration, but many are looking to them to undo the leniency allowed by his predecessor and to come up with a happy medium between the two.

The full article can be found at ProPublica.

getting away with murder

New information alleges that Bush Administration officials broke the law. Shocker.

Bush’s Interior Department Interfered With Scientific Work To Limit Endangered Species Protection, via Huffington Post:

A high-ranking Interior Department official tainted nearly every decision made on the protection of endangered species over five years, a new inspector general report finds, concluding she exerted improper political interference on many more rulings than previously thought.

Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service, did pervasive harm to the department’s morale and integrity and may have risked the well-being of species with her agenda, Interior Inspector General Earl Devaney said in his report out Monday.

The Interior Department last year reversed seven rulings that denied endangered species increased protection, after an investigation found that MacDonald had applied political pressure in those cases. The new report looked at nearly two dozen other endangered species decisions not examined in the earlier report. It found MacDonald directly interfered with at least 13 decisions and indirectly affected at least two more.

It should be noted, she is NOT on the EPA’s Most Wanted list.

Bush Administration Covered Up 500+ Blocked Water Pollution Cases, via Environmental News Service:

The results of a Congressional investigation released today detail the collapse of the Clean Water Act enforcement program in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that clouded the question of whether rivers, streams and wetlands remain protected from pollution and development.

“One of the legacies of the Bush Administration is its failure to protect the safety and health of the nation’s waters,” said Chairman Waxman. “Our investigation reveals that the clean water program has been decimated as hundreds of enforcement cases have been dropped, downgraded, delayed, or never brought in the first place. We need to work with the new Administration to restore the effectiveness and integrity to this vital program.”

water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink

President-elect Obama’s to do list is getting mighty long. However, many people think they know what should be at the top of the list: our water.

Over the past decade, a potent combination of Supreme Court decisions, Bush administration regulatory actions, and congressional inaction—coupled with recent droughts and the specter of more pronounced problems from climate change—has helped breed crises of both water quality and water availability.

At the top of their priority list: reviving federal laws—particularly the Clean Water Act—that have been weakened or narrowly interpreted in recent years; boosting funding for the nation’s faltering and aging water infrastructure; and strengthening the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of water pollution from industry and power plants.

Bottom line: we are running out of water and the water we do have is traveling through a poor infrastructure, including not going through proper treatment facilities. Under Bush, the Clean Water Act funding has been reduced by half and the Supreme Court has lessened the water that is under Federal control.

I think we would all agree that water is vital to our survival. We need to figure this out and not import water in the way we import oil.

You should go HERE for the article