Grist News - May
Mary, Mary, Too Contrary
Bush admin ousts top EPA official over Dow Chemical pollution case
The Bush administration forced out the U.S. EPA's top Midwest regulator on Thursday, after months of contention over a pollution case involving Dow Chemical, the Chicago Tribune reports. Mary Gade, who was appointed by President Bush in 2006, had been tussling with Dow over plans to get the company to clean up extensive dioxin pollution that it dumped into Michigan waterways for decades. Dow asked EPA headquarters to intervene in the dispute, and top deputies to EPA chief Stephen Johnson repeatedly questioned Gade about the case. Then she was stripped of her authority and told to quit or be fired. "There is no question this is about Dow," Gade said. "I stand behind what I did and what my staff did. I'm proud of what we did."
source: Chicago Tribune
see also, in Gristmill: Shades of U.S. attorney scandal
additionally in Gristmill: 'At the pleasure of the president.' Who's looking into the circumstances of the Gade firing?
It's Like a Glow-in-the-Dark Gold Rush
Projected nuke-power renaissance spurs U.S. uranium-mining bonanza
Due to the escalating price of uranium, a flurry of uranium-mining claims has been staked in the United States recently, with one of the greatest concentrations around the Grand Canyon in Arizona. On public lands within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park, there are now 1,100 uranium-mining claims, compared with just 10 in January 2003. One proposed uranium mine just three miles from a popular Grand Canyon lookout has been stalled due to a lawsuit from green groups, but the bonanza of claims continues in the area and in four other states in the U.S. West. There are now over 43,000 total uranium-mining claims in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming -- a 1,900 percent increase since 2001. Uranium is both toxic and radioactive and mining it can contaminate water supplies, but the uranium-mining and nuclear power industries have been spinning it as an environmental plus, saying it's all part of the wonderful process that brings clean, safe nuclear power to the masses.
The Gray Area
Gray wolves under attack, groups want them re-listed
Saying that their concerns about trigger-happy hunters have been validated, 12 conservation and animal-rights groups have sued to get gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains re-listed as an endangered species. The 1,500 wolves that roam through Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho were delisted on March 28 and can now be shot in those states; a total of 37 have been killed in the last month. Conservation groups filed suit Monday, saying that the wolf population should be 2,000 at a minimum to protect genetic diversity. But federal biologists have a goal of maintaining a minimum population of 300 wolves, and predict that even with willy-nilly killing, the population will stabilize well above that goal in the next few years.
Getting Hard to Carrion
Wild Asian vultures going the way of the dodo
Wild Asian vultures are likely going the way of the dodo, a new study says. The white-backed vulture population has plunged by nearly 99.9 percent in India since 1992, and two other vulture species have seen a drop of 97 percent, say researchers publishing in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Researchers blame diclofenac, a drug given to livestock and ingested by the birds when they snack on carrion. Unless diclofenac is banned and more birds are able to be bred in captivity, the vultures will be extinct within a decade, say researchers. The vulture decline is already a public-health problem in India: less vultures means more animal carcasses rotting in the open, which in turn has caused more disease and rabies in rats and stray dogs.
Lipstick Bungle
An interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
They say beauty is only skin deep -- but even that may be too deep for safety, as emerging studies show. With products like lipstick, lotion, and deodorant shown to contain carcinogens and other toxics, is anyone safe? Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and author of the new book "Not Just a Pretty Face", talks with Katharine Wroth about her own Aqua Net-infused past, the advice she gives to men and women alike, and the most shocking thing she's seen the beauty industry do.
new in Grist: An interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
Quote of the Week
"So I hope that this film will help others to connect the dots the way it helped Tipper and me to connect the dots on the relationship between mountaintop removal -- which is a crime and ought to be treated as a crime -- and the results of burning [coal] without regard to the future, which also ought to be treated as just an unacceptable practice."
-- Al Gore, presenting the "Reel Current Award" to director Michael O' Connell for his film Mountain Top Removal
A penny saved ... Note to Bush, media: Opening ANWR cuts gas prices one cent in 2025.by Joseph Romm
Emetic Justice
Polar-bear listing would hurt the poor, says industry
If the U.S. Interior Department decides this week that polar bears are threatened with extinction, litigation will be immediate from a group arguing that bear protection will "result in higher energy prices across the board, which will disproportionately be borne by minorities." So says Roy Innis, chair of the Congress for Racial Equality -- a recipient of ExxonMobil funding that has recently aligned itself with anti-enviro activists. Industry groups will rely heavily on the CRE lawsuit to "give us a very high-visibility national media platform on day one," wrote Jim Sims of the Western Business Roundtable in an email obtained by Mother Jones. Sims said that the CRE can help fight and "quite possibly reverse" a protective ruling. Fox News' Sean Hannity has promised prominent airtime for Innis, and a 15-city bus tour will promote the lawsuit. Sims continued in his email, "We should be able to very quickly take over this issue from the radical enviro groups and place it squarely where it belongs: on the negative impacts this decision will have on the poor."
MTBE Cool
Big Oil will shell out for groundwater cleanup
Some of the nation's largest oil companies will over the next 30 years have to pay to clean up groundwater befouled with gasoline additive MTBE. In settling a suit brought by 153 public water providers in 17 states, a dozen companies -- including BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron -- will also have to pay a total $423 million cash. If approved, the settlement will be "a step in the direction of making the parties responsible for the contamination pay for it rather than the folks who drink the water and pay the rates," says an attorney for the plaintiffs. Well, most of the responsible parties anyway -- six defendants, including Exxon Mobil, did not agree to settle. MTBE, which began to be added to gasoline in 1979 to increase octane levels, is a possible carcinogen and can give water the taste and odor of turpentine. It is now banned in 23 states, and oil companies stopped using it in 2006. Estimates of the cleanup cost have reached $30 billion.
Where in the World?
Brazilians and Indians are the greenest, says survey
Brazilians and Indians are the most eco-friendly folks in the world, and Canadians and Americans are the least, according to a new survey done by the National Geographic Society. Consumers in 14 countries, representing more than half of the world's population and about three-quarters of its energy use, were ranked on their sustainability in the areas of housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods. Brazil and India tied for the win with a score of 60 on the sustainable-consumption scale, followed by China, Mexico, Hungary, Russia, a tie between Great Britain and Germany and Australia, Spain, Japan, France, Canada, and the United States. NGS admits that the high scores of poorer countries are likely a product of necessity rather than choice -- yeah, ya think? It plans to conduct the survey annually and watch trends over time.
Bad News, Bees
Honeybee hives in U.S. seeing continued decline, survey says
Honeybee populations in the United States continued their decline last year, according to a survey of bee health by the Apiary Inspectors of America. U.S. commercial beekeepers saw the loss of 36 percent more hives than last year. "For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," said Dennis van Engelsdorp of AIA. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm." According to the survey, some 29 percent of the bee decline was caused by colony collapse disorder, a mysterious and devastating phenomenon that causes adult bees to abandon their hives. Last week, Pennsylvania's agriculture secretary announced a $20,000 boost to CCD research at Pennsylvania State University. Earlier this year, ice-cream maker Haagen-Dazs also made quite a buzz when it pledged $250,000 in CCD research funds to Penn State and the University of California at Davis. Bees typically pollinate about $14 billion worth of U.S. crops a year.
Be Like NikeBig biz ranked on greenness
Takeaways from a new ranking of eco-friendly practices in big biz: Consumer companies are getting greener, but there's plenty of ground to gain. In its second annual scorecard, nonprofit Climate Counts ranked 56 companies on their measurement, reduction, and disclosure of greenhouse gases. Eighty-four percent of the companies scored higher this year than they did in 2007, but the average score was still only 40 out of a possible 100. At the top of the list were Nike with 82, Stonyfield Farm with 78, and IBM with 77; Google was most improved, jumping from 17 points in 2007 to 55 in 2008; and Jones Apparel Group, Burger King, Darden Restaurants, and Wendy's were the bottom-dwellers, receiving big goose eggs. Climate Counts distributes pocket-sized versions of its scorecard in hopes that consumers will consider the rankings when wielding purchasing power.
Trouble in Paradise
Ouster of Sierra Club's Florida leaders stirs up a storm of controversy
The national board of the Sierra Club recently suspended the elected leaders of its Florida chapter for four years -- an unprecedented move for an organization with a long history of grassroots democracy. The board says the Florida leadership was crippled by infighting and factionalism. The expelled leaders say they were targeted for opposing the national board's positions on biofuels and a Clorox endorsement, and they compare the board's actions to a "massacre" and "the crimes of the Bush administration." Emily Gertz sorts through charges, counter-charges, and heated rhetoric.
Farm Team
Timothy LaSalle of Rodale on the surprising climate benefits of organic farming
You already know that organic agriculture yields pesticide-free products that are better for you and for the planet. But did you know it could play a key role in carbon sequestration and battling climate change? Anna Lappé talks with Timothy LaSalle of the Rodale Institute about why farmers could be climate-change heroes, which fungi could save the world, and how he surmounted his own chemical-saturated past.
Do Me a Fava. Umbra on soil health.
Word puzzles. Washington Post reporter not allowed to say what he knows about climate legislation costs.by David Roberts
Better homes and gardens. The NYT on urban farming.by Tom Philpott
Bush admin ousts top EPA official over Dow Chemical pollution case
The Bush administration forced out the U.S. EPA's top Midwest regulator on Thursday, after months of contention over a pollution case involving Dow Chemical, the Chicago Tribune reports. Mary Gade, who was appointed by President Bush in 2006, had been tussling with Dow over plans to get the company to clean up extensive dioxin pollution that it dumped into Michigan waterways for decades. Dow asked EPA headquarters to intervene in the dispute, and top deputies to EPA chief Stephen Johnson repeatedly questioned Gade about the case. Then she was stripped of her authority and told to quit or be fired. "There is no question this is about Dow," Gade said. "I stand behind what I did and what my staff did. I'm proud of what we did."
source: Chicago Tribune
see also, in Gristmill: Shades of U.S. attorney scandal
additionally in Gristmill: 'At the pleasure of the president.' Who's looking into the circumstances of the Gade firing?
It's Like a Glow-in-the-Dark Gold Rush
Projected nuke-power renaissance spurs U.S. uranium-mining bonanza
Due to the escalating price of uranium, a flurry of uranium-mining claims has been staked in the United States recently, with one of the greatest concentrations around the Grand Canyon in Arizona. On public lands within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park, there are now 1,100 uranium-mining claims, compared with just 10 in January 2003. One proposed uranium mine just three miles from a popular Grand Canyon lookout has been stalled due to a lawsuit from green groups, but the bonanza of claims continues in the area and in four other states in the U.S. West. There are now over 43,000 total uranium-mining claims in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming -- a 1,900 percent increase since 2001. Uranium is both toxic and radioactive and mining it can contaminate water supplies, but the uranium-mining and nuclear power industries have been spinning it as an environmental plus, saying it's all part of the wonderful process that brings clean, safe nuclear power to the masses.
The Gray Area
Gray wolves under attack, groups want them re-listed
Saying that their concerns about trigger-happy hunters have been validated, 12 conservation and animal-rights groups have sued to get gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains re-listed as an endangered species. The 1,500 wolves that roam through Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho were delisted on March 28 and can now be shot in those states; a total of 37 have been killed in the last month. Conservation groups filed suit Monday, saying that the wolf population should be 2,000 at a minimum to protect genetic diversity. But federal biologists have a goal of maintaining a minimum population of 300 wolves, and predict that even with willy-nilly killing, the population will stabilize well above that goal in the next few years.
Getting Hard to Carrion
Wild Asian vultures going the way of the dodo
Wild Asian vultures are likely going the way of the dodo, a new study says. The white-backed vulture population has plunged by nearly 99.9 percent in India since 1992, and two other vulture species have seen a drop of 97 percent, say researchers publishing in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Researchers blame diclofenac, a drug given to livestock and ingested by the birds when they snack on carrion. Unless diclofenac is banned and more birds are able to be bred in captivity, the vultures will be extinct within a decade, say researchers. The vulture decline is already a public-health problem in India: less vultures means more animal carcasses rotting in the open, which in turn has caused more disease and rabies in rats and stray dogs.
Lipstick Bungle
An interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
They say beauty is only skin deep -- but even that may be too deep for safety, as emerging studies show. With products like lipstick, lotion, and deodorant shown to contain carcinogens and other toxics, is anyone safe? Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and author of the new book "Not Just a Pretty Face", talks with Katharine Wroth about her own Aqua Net-infused past, the advice she gives to men and women alike, and the most shocking thing she's seen the beauty industry do.
new in Grist: An interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
Quote of the Week
"So I hope that this film will help others to connect the dots the way it helped Tipper and me to connect the dots on the relationship between mountaintop removal -- which is a crime and ought to be treated as a crime -- and the results of burning [coal] without regard to the future, which also ought to be treated as just an unacceptable practice."
-- Al Gore, presenting the "Reel Current Award" to director Michael O' Connell for his film Mountain Top Removal
A penny saved ... Note to Bush, media: Opening ANWR cuts gas prices one cent in 2025.by Joseph Romm
Emetic Justice
Polar-bear listing would hurt the poor, says industry
If the U.S. Interior Department decides this week that polar bears are threatened with extinction, litigation will be immediate from a group arguing that bear protection will "result in higher energy prices across the board, which will disproportionately be borne by minorities." So says Roy Innis, chair of the Congress for Racial Equality -- a recipient of ExxonMobil funding that has recently aligned itself with anti-enviro activists. Industry groups will rely heavily on the CRE lawsuit to "give us a very high-visibility national media platform on day one," wrote Jim Sims of the Western Business Roundtable in an email obtained by Mother Jones. Sims said that the CRE can help fight and "quite possibly reverse" a protective ruling. Fox News' Sean Hannity has promised prominent airtime for Innis, and a 15-city bus tour will promote the lawsuit. Sims continued in his email, "We should be able to very quickly take over this issue from the radical enviro groups and place it squarely where it belongs: on the negative impacts this decision will have on the poor."
MTBE Cool
Big Oil will shell out for groundwater cleanup
Some of the nation's largest oil companies will over the next 30 years have to pay to clean up groundwater befouled with gasoline additive MTBE. In settling a suit brought by 153 public water providers in 17 states, a dozen companies -- including BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron -- will also have to pay a total $423 million cash. If approved, the settlement will be "a step in the direction of making the parties responsible for the contamination pay for it rather than the folks who drink the water and pay the rates," says an attorney for the plaintiffs. Well, most of the responsible parties anyway -- six defendants, including Exxon Mobil, did not agree to settle. MTBE, which began to be added to gasoline in 1979 to increase octane levels, is a possible carcinogen and can give water the taste and odor of turpentine. It is now banned in 23 states, and oil companies stopped using it in 2006. Estimates of the cleanup cost have reached $30 billion.
Where in the World?
Brazilians and Indians are the greenest, says survey
Brazilians and Indians are the most eco-friendly folks in the world, and Canadians and Americans are the least, according to a new survey done by the National Geographic Society. Consumers in 14 countries, representing more than half of the world's population and about three-quarters of its energy use, were ranked on their sustainability in the areas of housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods. Brazil and India tied for the win with a score of 60 on the sustainable-consumption scale, followed by China, Mexico, Hungary, Russia, a tie between Great Britain and Germany and Australia, Spain, Japan, France, Canada, and the United States. NGS admits that the high scores of poorer countries are likely a product of necessity rather than choice -- yeah, ya think? It plans to conduct the survey annually and watch trends over time.
Bad News, Bees
Honeybee hives in U.S. seeing continued decline, survey says
Honeybee populations in the United States continued their decline last year, according to a survey of bee health by the Apiary Inspectors of America. U.S. commercial beekeepers saw the loss of 36 percent more hives than last year. "For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," said Dennis van Engelsdorp of AIA. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm." According to the survey, some 29 percent of the bee decline was caused by colony collapse disorder, a mysterious and devastating phenomenon that causes adult bees to abandon their hives. Last week, Pennsylvania's agriculture secretary announced a $20,000 boost to CCD research at Pennsylvania State University. Earlier this year, ice-cream maker Haagen-Dazs also made quite a buzz when it pledged $250,000 in CCD research funds to Penn State and the University of California at Davis. Bees typically pollinate about $14 billion worth of U.S. crops a year.
Be Like NikeBig biz ranked on greenness
Takeaways from a new ranking of eco-friendly practices in big biz: Consumer companies are getting greener, but there's plenty of ground to gain. In its second annual scorecard, nonprofit Climate Counts ranked 56 companies on their measurement, reduction, and disclosure of greenhouse gases. Eighty-four percent of the companies scored higher this year than they did in 2007, but the average score was still only 40 out of a possible 100. At the top of the list were Nike with 82, Stonyfield Farm with 78, and IBM with 77; Google was most improved, jumping from 17 points in 2007 to 55 in 2008; and Jones Apparel Group, Burger King, Darden Restaurants, and Wendy's were the bottom-dwellers, receiving big goose eggs. Climate Counts distributes pocket-sized versions of its scorecard in hopes that consumers will consider the rankings when wielding purchasing power.
Trouble in Paradise
Ouster of Sierra Club's Florida leaders stirs up a storm of controversy
The national board of the Sierra Club recently suspended the elected leaders of its Florida chapter for four years -- an unprecedented move for an organization with a long history of grassroots democracy. The board says the Florida leadership was crippled by infighting and factionalism. The expelled leaders say they were targeted for opposing the national board's positions on biofuels and a Clorox endorsement, and they compare the board's actions to a "massacre" and "the crimes of the Bush administration." Emily Gertz sorts through charges, counter-charges, and heated rhetoric.
Farm Team
Timothy LaSalle of Rodale on the surprising climate benefits of organic farming
You already know that organic agriculture yields pesticide-free products that are better for you and for the planet. But did you know it could play a key role in carbon sequestration and battling climate change? Anna Lappé talks with Timothy LaSalle of the Rodale Institute about why farmers could be climate-change heroes, which fungi could save the world, and how he surmounted his own chemical-saturated past.
Do Me a Fava. Umbra on soil health.
Word puzzles. Washington Post reporter not allowed to say what he knows about climate legislation costs.by David Roberts
Better homes and gardens. The NYT on urban farming.by Tom Philpott
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