bush: last 12 days

Although there are only a handful of days before the inauguration of our new President, the legacy of the Bush Administration will remain for days, months, and maybe years, to come.

In his final days, we have seen the passing of a handful of midnight rulings that will greatly impact the environment. In addition, it was announced today that the administration will ending efforts to come up with better fuel efficiency rules, leaving that to Obama. (Which may benefit from being in the better hands, honestly.)

Here is some information of the midnight rulings that have a negative impact on the environment.

Endangered Species Act: A rule change was put in place removing a provision that requires Fish and Wildlife Service scientists to make sure that endangered species won’t be harmed by federally approved logging, mining and road-building projects. The evaluations will now be handled by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Highway Administration. But many argue that their best interest is in the approval and implementation of the new projects, not the species affected.

In a separate announcement, the Fish and Wildlife Service said that it will prevent the effect of greenhouse gases on threatened wildlife from being factored into the Endangered Species Act.

Oil-Shale: An issuance of new rules that take the first step toward tapping an estimated 800 billion barrels of oil trapped in sedimentary rock in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.

Oil shale is a sedimentary rock that contains trace amounts of oil, which can be extracted at high temperatures. But turning shale into usable oil is expensive, and the industry hasn’t been able to do it in a way that is profitable yet. There are also serious environmental consequences at every step. Digging the shale out of the earth damages the landscape, refining it dirties the air and both steps require massive amounts of water and energy.

Hazardous waste and air pollutants: The list of regulations about to get approved is astounding. Essentially, the EPA has opened the doors to a host of hazardous chemicals into our air and water. Here is a sampling:

-the definition of solid waste is revised
-fungicide limits are relaxed
-power plants are exempt from pollution controls
-ease of restirictions on power plants by national parks and wilderness
-hazardous waste to be used as fuel
-less reporting of animal pollution
-factory farms allowed to decide if they need a permit, or not, prior to dumping animal waste discharge
-lead standards lowered in air quality

and, believe it or not, the list goes on

Mining waste to be dumped in rivers and streams: The 25 year old ban disallowing the dumping of mining waste within 100 yards of rivers and streams has been lifted. Companies are allowed to place the bi-product of mining anywhere they like, even if it blocks the flow of important waters leading to towns or other ecosystems.

You can get a full listing of the midnight regulations from ProPublica

phthalates… rxn’s are bad

Phthalates may cause more damage than originally reported.

An investigation released by a committee from the National Research Council has found that the government risk assessment methods likely underestimate the effects of phthalates. The report has concluded that the EPA could understate the risk of phthalates if it does not consider the effect of combined exposure to different compounds. In other words, mixed with other chemicals, phthalates could be even more damaging.

Phthalate compounds with different chemical structures can interfere with androgen activity in ways that are different, yet lead to the same health outcome. The report stresses that particularly for hormone-mediated effects, risk assessments should group chemicals by common outcome, regardless of the chemical structure or mechanism involved. That will mean assessing products that may contain multiple phthalates or multiple products that may be used together or frequently in ways that could compound an individual’s total phthalate intake. Surprisingly, one such product may be certain types of medications.

In addition, scientists at Harvard, Boston University, and the CDC have identified phthalates in 47 different pharmaceuticals. Versions of the chemical are used in the coating surrounding some medications. Samples of urine were tested, and depending on dosage, some individuals were found with concentrations higher that allowed by the EPA.

Obviously, this has raised concern in over the counter medication, especially those used on pregnant women and children.

The article came via Consumer Reports, HERE.

energy (not so) star

So many of us think that we are doing something good by purchasing ‘Energy Star” appliances. For years, it has been a way for consumers to purchase new products, while creating the emotion that we are stopping a significant amount of waste from our homes.

Unfortunately, that is just not the case. A report released by the Inspector General of the U.S. EPA has found that the benefits touted by the Energy Star program cannot be verified.

In fact, in 2006 the program accounted for the program accounted for more than half of EPA’s claimed contributions to greenhouse gas reductions. However, that claim cannot be proven, therefore is deemed inaccurate and the reported savings unreliable. There hasn’t been any mention if these reports are used in understanding and quantifying the U.S. CO2 emissions, there by placing us in even dire straights than first imagined.

In 2006, the Energy Star program reported avoiding a total of 37.6 million metric tons of carbon equivalent. It further reported that Energy Star helped prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 25 million vehicles while saving Americans $14 billion on their energy bills.

But that claim did not stand up to the auditors’ examination. “Sales of formerly qualified products are used to determine Energy Star’s market transformation benefits, but we found that this benefit was computed inconsistently,” says the Inspector General’s report. “Also, the methodology used to compute the Energy Star commercial sector benefits uses unverified assumptions.”

What is also revealed in this report is that the standards for appliance qualification into the program are lax and out-of-date. In one example, it was cited that manufacturers self-certify that their products comply with the required specifications with no independent verification of what is reported.

Many state programs for combating climate change include a huge dependency on residents purchasing Energy Star products. Building in rebate benefits for consumers, the state relies on the citizenry to purchase these products as a way to reduce the overall footprint. If the products are not doing their job, then the program isn’t doing its job, unfortunately. Now, many are concerned that the time and effort put into statewide programs has to be reevaluated after the waiting game of finding out how the EPA plans to fix the issue.

This is one huge step backwards. The article can be found HERE, via Environmental News Service.

california dreaming

Two bits of environmental news bits came out of California today that are of interest.

Bush eyes oil reserves off California coast, via ENN

The federal government is taking steps that may open California’s fabled coast to oil drilling in as few as three years, an action that could place dozens of platforms off the Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt coasts, and raises the specter of spills, air pollution and increased ship traffic into San Francisco Bay.

The bans that protected both of the nation’s coasts beginning in 1981, from California to the Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic Coast and the Straits of Florida, ended this year when Congress let the moratorium lapse.

Brown Takes on “Audacious” Bush EPA Plan, via NBC

California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed suit in federal court to block an “audacious attempt” by the Bush Administration to gut provisions in the Endangered Species Act mandating scientific review of federal agency decisions that may threaten endangered species and their habitat.

The new regulations, initially proposed by the departments of the Interior and Commerce in August 2008 and made final on Dec. 16, largely eliminate a requirement in the Endangered Species Act that mandates scientific review of the agency decisions that could affect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.

The changes allow federal agencies to undertake or permit mining, logging and other commercial activities on federal land and other areas without obtaining review or comment from federal wildlife biologists on the environmental effects of such activities.

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.

i think i beg to differ

In an exit interview with Fox News, President Bush said that he “didn’t compromise his soul” during his administration. I know that this is going to ruffle some feathers, but I ask, what kind of person has a soul that has no issues with destroying nature and the people he is supposed to ‘lead’?

In the next month we are going to see countless examples as midnight rulings take affect under this administration. Of the 50 or so rulings expected, 36 of them directly affect the well being of our citizenry, either in aiding the destruction of our planet or in the allowance of toxins into our environment, affecting our health.

In another move that solidifies the Bush policy into the American public, it seems the EPA is undergoing a reorganization.

According to an employee of the ORD (EPA’s, Office of Research and Development) — who asked to remain anonymous to avoid reprisals — a department-wide staff meeting on 18 December reiterated plans mooted in recent months, including abandoning many small projects led by a single principal investigator (PI) in favour of broad, multi-agency, multi-disciplinary projects. It is not yet clear when these changes will take place.

The move is seen by many scientists not as sensible streamlining, but rather as an attempt to push through Bush administration objectives before the keys to the White House are passed to Obama.

ORD labs are in 13 locations around the United States and employ 1,900 people, including support staff. Much of their research focuses on the environment, human health and risk of exposure to pollutants.

I will leave it to you to make your own opinions about the move. Maybe, we should trust the EPA when they say that this is just a standard re-organization. Maybe we should look at the type of people who will lose their jobs in January 20th when Obama takes over and wonder what their motives may be. I do think it is very interesting timing.

The whole article is HERE.

our first video

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.”

public enemy, number 1

Why is this man not on the EPA’s “Most Wanted List”?

This was a highlights clip. If you want more of the details, extended selections, you can find them at the NRDC website, HERE.

37 days and counting

In 37 days, we will have a new president. However, in the meantime, we will have announcement after announcement of rulings by the current administration.

Yesterday, was no exception.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a new regulation yesterday exempting an estimated 118,500 tons of hazardous waste annually from strict federal incineration controls, and it separately exempted factory farms from a requirement to report hazardous air pollution to the federal government.

The incineration control ruling is of particular interest because the language can be loosely translated as “if you can burn it, it is not hazardous waste.” Which we all know is just simply not true.

This ruling is also particularly timely as the EPA is coming under attack for not testing the air quality around schools, as investigated by USA Today. The FDA and the EPA seem to be passing rule after rule that supports big business and not the citizen.

The article can be found HERE, via Washington Post.

I would like to remind the EPA, however, on their own mission statement, as found on their website:

EPA leads the nation’s environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people.

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