Complete list of press releases

(11 November, 2002 — New York)  Before eating the big meal and watching the big game, Environmental Defense would like people to consider a few simple steps to protect the environment while enjoying their Thanksgiving celebration.

“This is the time of year when people are thinking about all they have to be thankful for, so it’s the perfect time to take easy steps that will help the environment, which has given us so much,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense.  “For example, when preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, remember to buy food items that use the least amount of packaging and look for packaging that contains recycled, post-consumer content.”

“If there are a lot of leftovers after Thanksgiving dinner, use this holiday as an opportunity to start composting food waste, and consider donating extra food to a shelter.  For leftovers, stock up on reusable food containers that can save resources all year long,” said Krupp.

“When shopping for food, look for meat and poultry items raised without the routine use of antibiotics.  With the USDA’s new organic labels, holiday shoppers will find it easier than ever to select a turkey that is antibiotic free.  This practice can help preserve the effectiveness of important medicines by not contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, which is caused in part by the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture,” Krupp said. 

“Try not to use disposable utensils, plates, napkins or tablecloths during the holiday weekend,” said Krupp.  “Bringing out dinnerware and flatware for Thanksgiving dinner is a tradition that is also good for the environment.”

“Another way to reduce solid waste is to recycle beverage containers and the aluminum foil that accumulates during the meal and the football game,” suggests Krupp.  “Also, consumers should buy locally produced foods whenever possible so that less energy will be used for food transport.”

Another classic Thanksgiving tradition is driving to the celebration.  “Considering the usual Thanksgiving traffic, public transportation may be the quickest way to get where you are going, while minimizing pollution,” said Krupp.  “If you take the car, carpooling is the best way to go and a good way to spend time with family and friends.”

(1 November, 2002 — New York)  Partnership for Climate Action (PCA) members DuPont (NYSE:DD) and Entergy (NYSE:ETR) traded accumulated emissions reductions on November 1 to demonstrate that market-based trading can address global climate change.

The demonstration trade transferred 125,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent verified emission reductions from DuPont to Entergy.  The greenhouse gas involved in the transaction was nitrous oxide (N2O).  The specific N2O reductions in the trade were achieved in 2001 at the DuPont Sabine River Works adipic acid plant, Orange, Tex.  In 1997, DuPont voluntarily installed a company-designed catalytic control process that accounted for the reduced emissions.  This process decomposes the N2O generated in the production of adipic acid into two inert gases, nitrogen and oxygen.

“This shows that emissions trades can have quantifiable business value, and it underscores the strength of our commitment to stabilizing our CO₂ emissions,” said Jim Mutch, Entergy’s vice president-environmental support.

Consistent with PCA guidelines, Entergy and DuPont both have established targets and timetables for reducing or capping greenhouse gas emissions associated with their operations.  The DuPont target was to reduce its global CO2-equivalent emissions by 40 % below a 1990 baseline by the year 2000. Entergy established a target of stabilizing CO₂ emissions from its U.S power plants at 2000 levels through 2005.  To meet its target, Entergy set guidelines to achieve 80 % of the reductions through internal actions at its facilities and operations, and 20 % through external offset projects and emissions trades.

Through actions, including investing more than $50 million in facility retrofits, DuPont has been able to achieve reductions in excess of its target.  In early 2002, DuPont and Entergy began discussing a demonstration trade to show that DuPont could benefit from its surplus greenhouse gas reductions, while assisting fellow PCA member Entergy in achieving its target.  Entergy and DuPont estimate that their trade will fall within the estimates of a recent analysis by emissions brokerage firm Natsource which indicated that verified emission reductions currently trade in the range of $1 to $5 per CO2-equivalent ton.

The PCA is a joint project of business and environmental leaders dedicated to climate protection.  The two companies consulted with other PCA members in the process of structuring and implementing the trade, in order to further the PCA’s common purpose of employing innovative strategies and harnessing market mechanisms to maximize reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

“The PCA believes the business community should lead in demonstrating the use of market mechanisms, such as emissions trading, and that these types of actions should be recognized by government,” said Jessica Holliday, who represents Environmental Defense on the PCA’s Management Committee.  For additional information on the PCA and the trade between Entergy and DuPont, please visit www.pca-online.org.

During 2002, DuPont is celebrating its 200th year of scientific achievement and innovation - providing products and services that improve the lives of people everywhere.  Based in Wilmington, Del., DuPont delivers science-based solutions for markets that make a difference in people’s lives in food and nutrition; health care; apparel; home and construction; electronics; and transportation.

Entergy Corporation, with annual revenues of nearly $10 billion, is a major integrated energy company engaged in power production, distribution operations and related diversified services, with more than 15,000 employees.  Entergy owns, manages or invests in power plants generating more than 30,000 megawatts of electricity domestically and internationally, is the second largest U.S. nuclear generator, and delivers electricity to about 2.6 million customers in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.  Through Entergy-Koch, L.P., it is also a leading provider of wholesale energy marketing and trading services, as well as an operator of natural gas pipeline and storage facilities.

(1 November, 2002 — New York) The Partnership for Climate Action (PCA), consisting of eight leading corporations and the advocacy group Environmental Defense, today announced the launch of their web site, www.pca-online.org.  The PCA members include Alcan, BP, DuPont, Entergy, Ontario Power Generation, Pechiney, Shell International and Suncor Energy.

The PCA’s goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, employ market mechanisms, report emissions performance and share its learning.  The web site furthers these goals by providing information about the PCA’s activities and each member’s greenhouse gas management programs and emissions information. Publications by the PCA are available for download as well as links to each PCA member’s web sites. The site will publish the PCA’s work on actual emissions trades, project-based emissions reduction credits, and emissions reporting issues, among other topics.

(30 October 2002 — New York)  Environmental Defense today issued a report that explores the potential for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to advance the flow of new, clean technologies to developing countries.  The CDM is one of the trading tools available through the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The report, Can the CDM Spur the Diffusion of New Technologies? A Case Study from the Aluminum Sector, walks through a real case study of an aluminum smelter project in South Africa, with data provided by  Aluminium Pechiney.  The reader is guided through various decision points encountered in designing a large-scale project that satisfies three main concerns: promoting sustainable development, implementing state-of-the-art technology that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and minimizing CDM transaction costs.  Should the decision be taken to build this smelter in South Africa, further study would be required to assess the practical viability of an actual CDM submission.

The report illustrates one method of quantifying emissions reductions from a “business-as-usual” baseline that can add incentives to accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge technologies in the developing world.  The method, known as performance benchmarking, compares a project’s carbon efficiency to that of the existing emissions standards within the industry.

The report can be obtained today at www.environmentaldefense.org, the Environmental Defense web site, and, as of November 1, it will be available at www.pca-online.org, the new web site of the Partnership for Climate Action (PCA).

Environmental Defense and Pechiney are members of the Partnership for Climate Action (PCA), a group of business and environmental leaders dedicated to climate protection.  Other PCA members are Alcan, BP, DuPont, Entergy, Ontario Power Generation, Shell International and Suncor Energy. Environmental Defense and Pechiney consulted with the PCA while writing this paper in order to further the PCA’s goals of employing market-mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

(28 October 2002 — Washington, DC)  Citing inadequate protections for biologically and socially important forest areas, leading environmental and sustainable development organizations today called upon World Bank head James Wolfensohn to withdraw the Bank’s Forest Policy from Board consideration. 

“There is no evidence that large-scale commercial logging of tropical or old-growth forests can be done in an environmentally sustainable manner and deliver development benefits to local communities,” said Robert Goodland, formerly the Bank’s chief environmental adviser.  “Removing the World Bank’s current ban on financing these projects and exempting the Bank’s private-sector arms from these safeguards would potentially open the floodgates for logging operations that could devastate some of the world’s most biologically diverse forests.” 

Under the existing 1993 forest policy, the World Bank is prohibited from directly financing commercial logging activities in primary tropical moist forests.  However, pressure from inside the Bank has led to efforts to pass a revised version that would lift the logging ban and offer no new protections for forests or forest peoples.  Critics are calling on Wolfensohn to withdraw the new draft Policy, which fails to include recommendations from local stakeholders and NGOs interested in preserving forest ecosystems and promoting sustainable development.      

“The draft Forest Policy ignores the important effects of debt, trade, and fiscal and monetary policies on forests in countries where the World Bank operates.  This massive gap in the policy calls into question the World Bank’s stated commitment to sustainable development,” said Korinna Horta, a senior economist at Environmental Defense.

Despite evidence from the Bank’s own evaluations department and other research organizations showing that macroeconomic policies are a major cause of deforestation, the Bank is seeking to exempt its economic policy reform lending from the proposed draft Forest Policy.  This lending, known as structural adjustment, accounts for nearly 50% of the World Bank’s portfolio. 

“The Bank should focus its efforts on providing support for community forestry and small-scale pilot projects to demonstrate how logging can be conducted in an environmentally sustainable, socially responsible manner,” Horta said.  “Any meaningful policy must also include mechanisms to ensure local stakeholder participation and secure land rights for those who call these forests home.”

(28 October 2002)  A team of scientists, including researchers from Columbia University, the NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Environmental Defense have found that increased flooding, an expected outcome of climate change, may cause a doubling in losses of agricultural production over the next 30 years, which could cost U.S. agriculture $3 billion per year.  The findings were published earlier this month in the journal Global Environmental Change.

“The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation paid out $21 billion between 1981 and 2000,” said Evan Mills, a scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, and a co-author of the paper. “Unless greenhouse gas pollution is brought under control, damage to crops from flooding will probably escalate, raising payments from government insurance programs and lowering the reliability of the U.S. crop supply.  Action taken to slow global warming will protect U.S. farmers and agriculture, as well as taxpayers.”

“Extreme precipitation events and total annual precipitation in the U.S. have increased over the last 100 years, especially the last two decades,” said Janine Bloomfield, an Environmental Defense senior scientist and a co-author of the report.  “Aggressive action to slow climate change must be taken now to lessen the risk of increased flooding over agricultural areas in the United States and the significant increases in crop damage and economic losses that could result.”

The study modifies a standard crop model called CERES-Maize to simulate yields under projected future climate conditions of heavier rainfall and shows that damage due to excessive soil moisture alone is likely to significantly increase crop production losses compared to present levels.  Heavy downpours increase the risk of plant disease and insect infestation and cause delays in planting and harvesting.  Additional negative effects, such as direct physical damage to crop plants from heavy rains and hail, were not estimated in this study.  Corn production in Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, North and South Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin were examined in the study.

(23 October 2002 — Boulder)  Tim Sullivan, an international species conservation expert, has joined Environmental Defense as director of the Environmental Defense Rocky Mountain Office.  As the organization’s top executive in the Rocky Mountains, Sullivan will lead the office’s work to preserve the precious air and natural resources of the Rocky Mountains and will also work to develop new programs to further protection of species and wildlife habitat. 

“We are very excited about Tim’s new role.  He brings valuable skills and management experience in conservation and environmental policy to the organization, which will help us contribute to positive change in the Rocky Mountain region,” said Environmental Defense executive director, Fred Krupp.

Previously, Sullivan served as deputy director for conservation programs for the Chicago Zoological Society, a world leader in international wildlife conservation efforts.  He was responsible for overall direction of the Society’s animal management, education, communications, biological research and field conservation programs.  Sullivan was extensively involved in international wildlife conservation efforts, worked with the World Conservation Union and worked with local governments and private landowners to protect biological diversity in the Chicago metropolitan region.

Tim Sullivan lived and worked in Colorado during the 1980’s when he worked for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and former United States Senator Tim Wirth. 

“I am happy to be back in Colorado, and I look forward to using my skills as a scientist and as a consensus-builder to find fair and innovative solutions to the challenges facing our environment,” said Tim Sullivan, the new director of the Environmental Defense Rocky Mountain Office. 

The Rocky Mountain Office of Environmental Defense is recognized as a leader in developing policies to protect the region’s air and water resources.

(21 October, 2002 - New York) As Halloween approaches, Environmental Defense reminds ghosts and goblins not to say “boo” to wise environmental choices.  Following are several ideas for trick-or-treaters and treat-givers to add more green to the orange and black holiday.

“Whether they are dressed as Harry Potter or SpongeBob SquarePants, children should carry canvas bags or pillow cases to tote treats instead of disposable bags.  Using durable bags is a great idea any time of year, especially at Halloween when disposable bags can tear and lead to unhappy trick-or-treaters,” said Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense executive director.

“Another idea to protect the environment is to make a costume from old clothes at home, instead of buying a disposable one from a store.  This way you can scare your neighbors without spooking Mother Nature,” said Krupp.

“When planning a Halloween monster bash, use reusable utensils, plates, napkins and tablecloths instead of disposable ones.  Also, when you are shopping for Halloween goodies, buy candy that uses the least amount of packaging.  Kids may clamor for chocolate and candy corn, but after Halloween’s over, wrappers may be as common as tummy aches   look for the recycled content in items you buy and carry reusable bags to put your groceries in,” Krupp said.

Environmental Defense recommends walking, riding a bike, or using public transportation for Halloween parties or trick-or-treating.  If you have to drive, carpool to help reduce traffic and air pollution.

“Fall is a great time to start backyard composting ? it’s a great way to recycle organic materials such as food scraps, leaves, yard clippings and jack o’ lanterns.  A backyard bin is a lot more convenient than bagging leaves for collection.  You get great soil for gardening, and you can compost all winter long   even in cold climates,” said Krupp.  “Check with your town or local hardware store or garden center for help getting started.”    

“Try to re-use Halloween decorations in the same way that Christmas ornaments are used from year-to-year, instead of throwing them away each November first.  Most of all, use this holiday to think about your everyday habits and actions to reduce waste 365 days a year.  The scariest aspect of Halloween may not be the ghosts in the attic, but the waste on the floor.  Individual actions can make a huge difference for our future,” said Krupp.

(21 October, 2002 — Washington, DC)  With the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new rules for organic agriculture set to take full effect today, Environmental Defense praised the nation’s first legally enforceable federal standards covering production of organic foods.
 
“Organic foods are good for consumers and the environment,” said Rebecca Goldburg, Ph.D., a senior scientist at Environmental Defense and a member of USDA’s advisory body on organic agriculture, the National Organic Standards Board.  “Organic standards promote biological diversity and encourage farms to enhance soil fertility.  Consumers also benefit by having a clear choice to purchase food produced without the use of synthetic chemical pesticides, antibiotics and other substances.”

“Organic isn’t just about fruits and vegetables,” Goldburg said.  “Shoppers will now be able to buy meat and poultry that is certified as USDA Organic and that is produced without the use of antibiotics.  By one estimate, more that 70% of the antibiotics used in the US are given to farm animals - a practice that is contributing to the worrisome increase in antibiotic-resistant, disease-causing bacteria.  One way that consumers can say no to drugs is to choose organic meat and poultry.”

(18 October, 2002 - Washington)  Citing its positive impact in moving the legislative process forward, Environmental Defense today praised Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE) for introducing a bill that would cut and/or cap four major pollutants from power plants: sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), mercury and carbon dioxide (CO₂).

“While we will be pressing Senator Carper for major changes before we can support his bill, this glass is definitely more than half full,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Joseph Goffman. “The bill’s aggressive sulfur dioxide reduction mandate and its mandatory cap on the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide prove that its sponsors are serious about protecting public health, acid-rain-sensitive ecosystems and the climate.”

“By assembling a group of sponsors from different regions that reflects the diversity of the U.S. energy economy, Senator Carper has shown a path toward winning the political battle to enact meaningful multi-pollutant legislation.  This approach can jump-start efforts to control power plant pollution in the next Congress,” said Elizabeth Thompson, Environmental Defense legislative director.

“By including a net cap on emissions of SO2, NOx and CO₂ - and embracing emissions trading - this bill has the potential to create a market for pollution clean-up that will produce superior environmental results and real cost savings,” said Goffman.  “For that potential to be tapped, however, we will be working for significant changes in the bill’s language amending the Clean Air Act, a much more ambitious carbon dioxide emissions reduction target and legislative language specific enough to guarantee the environmental integrity of the carbon dioxide emissions credit trading system.”

“This has been a team effort from the local residents to the Puerto Rico legislature.” said Dr. Ken Lindeman, a senior scientist with Environmental Defense. “Citizens, scientists, and lawmakers have created an initiative that will help control coastal sprawl and protect exceptional coral reefs.”

“This recognition is a strong validation for the local volunteer grassroots activists in Rincon who have been working hard to defend their quality of life and their local environment”, said Chad Nelsen, environmental director of the Surfrider Foundation. “It demonstrates that a peoples movement of locals can achieve their goal to permanently protect their coral reefs and beautiful coastal zone.”

The rural shore of Rincon, in northwest Puerto Rico, has been threatened by proposals to build massive hotel complexes in front of some of the finest coral reefs and beaches in the region. A key element of this grassroots campaign has been the garnering of local support. “Our coalition volunteers gathered over 5,000 local signatures and 25,000 international online signatures endorsing the creation of the Tres Palmas Natural Reserve,” said Azur Moulaert, coastal analyst with Environmental Defense.

The members of the Rincon Quality of Life Coalition includes the Surfrider Foundation, Environmental Defense, the Ecological League of Rincon, Surfer’s Environmental Alliance, University of Puerto Rico Sea Grant Program, Puerto Rico Waterkeeper, the Ecological League of Northwest Puerto Rico, Caribbean Action Network, and other groups.

(8 October 2002—Washington, D.C.) Testifying today before a House subcommittee, Environmental Defense transportation director Michael Replogle strongly opposed H.R. 5455, a bill that would undermine important provisions of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

“Passage of this bill will jeopardize public health, harm efforts to preserve endangered species and threaten valuable wetlands and communities by impairing accountability,” said Replogle.  “Some state transportation agencies have had trouble administering the 40% increase in funds they got in the last transportation bill.  To cover up their poor performance, shaky financing deals and accounting scandals, road builders want to cook the books, hide information and blame the environmentalists.”

Testifying before the Subcommittee on Highway and Transit, Replogle cautioned members of Congress that H.R. 5455, sponsored by Rep. Don Young (R-AK), would weaken environmental laws created under NEPA by setting arbitrary deadlines that are far too short to meet important goals.  The deadlines fail to give local officials, community groups, environmental agencies and scientists sufficient time to determine the impacts of proposed projects.  The bill also gives authority over projects to distant federal highway bureaucrats, leaving local and state transportation officials in the dark.

“Through early community involvement, sensible planning and utilization of existing programs, high quality highway projects can be advanced quickly and without discarding important environmental and historic resource safeguards, as the experience of Oregon and Vermont shows,” Replogle said.  “H.R. 5455 on the other hand would encourage development of more poorly planned, poorly designed highway projects and will spur conflict that will further hinder overall transportation progress.”

Replogle dismissed claims by proponents of H.R. 5455 that environmental reviews are too time consuming and create delays in highway projects.  The U.S. government’s own data included in Replogle’s testimony showed nearly two-thirds (63%) of projects are delayed because of lack of funding, low priority, local controversy and complexities stemming from project design and construction. 

(7 October, 2002 — Washington)  Bipartisan demand for reform of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers forced Congressional leaders today to delay consideration of legislation authorizing new water projects.

“Most members of Congress are simply unwilling to give the green light to new Army Corps water projects until meaningful reforms are considered,” said Environmental Defense water resources specialist Scott Faber. 

Reps. Jim Oberstar (D-WI), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), Tom Tancredo (D-CO), Peter Defazio (D-OR), Ron Kind (D-WI) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) hoped to offer amendments to require independent peer review of large and controversial Corps projects, update methods for calculating benefits and costs, and to tighten standards for environmental mitigation of Army Corps projects.  Congressional leaders had placed the Water Resources Development Act of 2002 on the “suspension calendar,” which prohibits amendments.  But today, the vote was postponed.

The move to delay consideration follows a new General Accounting Office (GAO) report outlining flaws with a Corps study of a $108 million North Carolina inlet project.  The report is just the latest in a series criticizing Corps practices.

“Congress wants the opportunity to consider amendments that will ensure that future Corps water projects are economically and environmentally sound,” said Faber, who applauded the decision to delay the vote.  “The evidence supporting the need for Corps reform is simply too great to ignore.”

The Army’s Inspector General (IG), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the GAO all recently concluded that the Corps exaggerates economic benefits and underestimates the environmental impacts of large water projects.  In addition, the GAO found that the Corps frequently fails to quickly and fully mitigate project impacts on the environment.  Three NAS panels have also endorsed independent review of costly or controversial projects, and called for modern methods of calculating benefits and costs.

(30 September 2002 — Honolulu)  Close to 1,000 protestors took to the streets of Kanaky/New Caledonia last week demanding withdrawal of a permit tripling the amount of nickel mining by Inco, a Canadian mining operation notorious for environmental problems and conflicts with indigenous communities in Canada and Indonesia.  The protests by indigenous Kanaks, environmentalists, political parties, women’s organizations and small businesses were the second large-scale actions in less than a month on the island, whose population numbers only 200,000.

“Investors and public financial institutions should understand the extraordinary degree of risk associated with Inco’s New Caledonia plans,” said Environmental Defense scientist Stephanie Gorson Fried.  “French, Australian, American and Canadian contractors are poised to begin constructing the $1.4 billion Inco nickel-cobalt mining facility using an unproven, dangerous pressure acid leach technology in an area adjacent to fragile reef systems proposed for nomination as a World Heritage Site.”

Protestors in this isolated French overseas territory have also heavily criticized the French government’s recent announcement that it planned to withdraw its January 2002 request for UNESCO World Heritage Site protection for the Kanaky/New Caledonia reef ecosystem - the second largest barrier reef system in the world after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.  In August, 2002, shortly after a Paris visit by New Caledonia strongman and Governor of the Southern Province Jacques Lafleur, France’s new Environment Minister, Roseline Bachelot, announced she would ensure protection of Kanaky reefs by working with international mining companies instead of seeking World Heritage designation

“With the on-going stoppage of Inco’s construction work, this scale of protest activity, unusual in this territory still recovering from a mid-1980’s civil war, represents a direct threat to ongoing efforts by Inco, Falconbridge and other mines to secure financial backing and political risk insurance,” said Fried

New Caledonia, also called Kanaky, is a territory of France.  The area has been identified by the prestigious British journal Nature as one of the world’s top “biodiversity hotspots;” over 76% of the country’s plant species are endemic and are found nowhere else on Earth.  Surrounding the world’s largest lagoon, the New Caledonia/Kanaky reef system occupies close to 10 million acres or over 40,000 km2.  New Caledonia researchers are continually discovering marine species previously unknown to science in these rich waters. 

American Rivers    Earthjustice    Environmental Defense 
Izaak Walton League of America    National Audubon Society 
National Wildlife Federation

Contact:
Eric Eckl, American Rivers, (202) 347-7550 ext. 3023
Joan Mulhern, Earthjustice, (202) 667-4500
Jeff Fleming, Izaak Walton League, (301) 548-0150 ext. 215
Linda Shotwell, National Wildlife Federation, (703) 438-6083

(Washington, D.C.) Environmental and taxpayer groups commended Rep. Jim Oberstar today for his commitment to offer amendments to the 2002 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) to reform the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. On Wednesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee failed to include long-overdue policy changes in its markup of the biennial bill, setting the stage for a fight on the floor of the House of Representatives.

“These amendments are critical to helping the Corps use its expertise to meet the needs of people in ways that are economically and environmentally responsible,” said Mark Van Putten, president of the National Wildlife Federation. “With the reforms called for here, the Corps of Engineers can become a force for the restoration of our wildlife, wetlands and waterways and the responsible use of our tax dollars.”

On Friday, Rep. Oberstar (D-MN), senior Democrat on the committee, announced his intention to offer amendments intended to address a pattern of environmental damage and waste of tax dollars by the scandal-plagued agency. Specifically, these amendments would require the Army Corps to submit its proposals for costly water projects for review by independent experts, require full mitigation for project impacts on the environment, and require the Corps to use modern methods to measure project benefits and costs.

“By allowing the Corps to evaluate their own projects, Congress has allowed an outdated and self-serving conflict of interest that was outlawed years ago in the federal government bidding process,” said Paul Hansen, executive director of the Izaak Walton League. “Independent analyses will yield a better outcome for taxpayers, the environment, and the Corps. Congress and the public will finally know which projects really make sense.”

The groups noted that the upcoming floor vote would provide rank and file House members their first opportunity to take a stand on the issue. The vote will be closely watched ? the League of Conservation Voters, National Taxpayers Union, Taxpayers for Common Sense Action, and the Council for Citizens against Government Waste have indicated they will consider including these votes in their annual ?scorecards? of representatives? records.

“The House is going to have to take a stand on stopping these scandals before members get new Army Corps projects authorized in their districts,” added Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers. “It’s time for elected officials to put the public trust before their parochial interests.”

The centerpiece of the reform package ? independent review of projects proposed by the Army Corps ? was endorsed by the National Academy of Sciences in a report released on July 25. The Science Academy urged that Army Corps proposals “should be subjected to independent review by objective, expert panels.? The Science Academy went on to urge that independent reviewers “should not be selected by the Corps and should not be employed by the Corps,” and the process, “should be overseen by an organization independent of the Corps.”

CEOs and other senior leaders of the environmental community were unanimous in their support for reforms.

“Billions of federal taxpayer dollars have been spent on questionable projects that destroy America’s wetlands and degrade our rivers and coastal areas,” said Bob Perciasepe, Audubon’s senior vice president for public policy.  “It’s time to put the brakes on projects that needlessly destroy wildlife habitat and will cost billions more to fix.”

“From the Chesapeake Bay to Puget Sound and for most major rivers in between, the Corps of Engineers controls the health of our rivers and bays. These amendments would help make that control more environmentally responsible,” said Fred Krupp, executive director of Environmental Defense.

“It would be unconscionable for the House of Representatives to authorize new water resources projects without fixing the serious and well-documented problems at the Corps of Engineers. Congress’ responsibility to protect the health of nation?s waterways and wisely invest taxpayers’ money would be breached if Corps reforms are not part of the WRDA bill,” said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice. “The efforts of Congressman Oberstar and other members working to enact reforms should be supported by every representative.”