Complete list of press releases

American Rivers, Environmental Defense, and Restore America’s Estuaries today called on Congress, when it renews farm programs this fall, to reward farmers who help save America’s most polluted bays.

According to a new report by the groups, Bringing Dead Zones Back to Life: How Congress, Farmers and Feedlot Operators Can Save America’s Most Polluted Bays, agricultural runoff is the leading threat to 13 of the nation’s 17 most polluted bays. The report finds that most farmers are rejected when they seek federal help to clean up polluted bays.

Agriculture contributes one-third or more of the pollutants that cause low-oxygen dead zones in many of the nation’s most polluted bays, as well as contributing to toxic algae blooms and the loss of bay grasses that provide critical habitat for fish and crabs.

The bays primarily impacted by agricultural runoff include the Laguna Madre (TX), Northern Gulf of Mexico (LA), Neuse River (NC), Delaware Inland Bays (DE), San Francisco Bay (CA), Corpus Christi Bay (TX), Baffin Bay (TX), Tijuana Bay (CA), Potomac River (MD, VA), Chesapeake Bay (MD, PA, VA), Patuxent River (MD), Lake Pontchartrain (LA), Newport Bay (CA), Calcasieu Lake (LA), Barnegat Bay (NJ), and Florida Bay (FL).

“Most farmers and feedlot operators are willing to do their part to clean up America’s most polluted bays, but they are repeatedly rejected when they seek federal help,” said Environmental Defense water resource specialist Scott Faber. “Congress should reward farmers when they take steps to clean up our bays.”

By triggering the growth of algae, polluted runoff contributes to low-oxygen “dead zones” and blocks the sunlight needed by bay grasses. Polluted runoff also reduces food supplies for fisheries and makes red tides occur more often and last longer. Agricultural runoff can be reduced by techniques such as targeted fertilizer and manure applications, installing buffers and wetlands to filter runoff, and tillage practices that reduce erosion.

“Many farmers are willing to take action to reduce farmland runoff, but 70% of the farmers who seek federal water quality grants to implement these practices are rejected due to inadequate federal funds,” said Jeff Stein, Mississippi Regional Representative for American Rivers.

The groups urged Congress to support H.R. 2375, the Working Lands Stewardship Act championed by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), which provides more than $6 billion in annual funding to farmers who help reduce polluted runoff and restore wetlands.

The California Fish and Game Commission on Friday will consider a long-studied proposal for protecting some of the waters surrounding the Channel Islands, including closing limited areas to fishing.

Environmental Defense today announced its support for the Channel Islands marine reserve proposal, which represents a compromise solution that will minimize short-term economic impacts on the fishing industry and achieve real environmental protection while restoring depleted fisheries.

“California’s unique marine wildlife is threatened by overfishing. A few species now teeter on the edge of extinction, even within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary,” said Environmental Defense marine ecologist Dr. Rod Fujita. “Fully protected marine reserves will be the national parks of the sea, helping to preserve California’s natural treasures for future generations. Studies show marine reserves greatly enhance fish and shellfish populations within their borders. Reserves may also enhance fish populations and fish catches outside their borders, helping to rebuild and sustain the troubled fishing industry.”

The proposal would set aside about 25% of Channel Islands waters for protection. Currently, less than 1% of California state waters are protected from fishing impacts. The compromise was drafted by the California Department of Fish and Game and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary based on two years of negotiations by a working group of commercial and sport fishermen, scientists, environmental advocates, academics and others.

“The restoration of California’s marine environment depends on strong protections,” said Environmental Defense marine advocate Richard Charter. “The Channel Islands marine reserve network proposal will provide real environmental protection, but any further erosion of the current compromise will fail to guarantee the preservation of our unique marine treasures for future generations.”

A public hearing on the marine reserves proposal will be held at the Santa Barbara Veteran’s Memorial Building Auditorium, 112 West Cabrillo Blvd., in Santa Barbara at 11 am on Friday, August 24. The proposal can be viewed at www.cinms.nos.noaa.gov/cimpa2.html

Environmental Defense today praised Senator Joseph Lieberman (D - Connectictut) and Senator John McCain (R - Arizona) for their call for U.S. leadership on global climate change. The Senators called for a comprehensive cap on America’s greenhouse gas emissions, paired with an allowance trading system to encourage innovation across the full range of opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas pollution and enhancing the uptake of carbon by soils, crops, and trees.

“Today’s bipartisan statement on climate change signals more forward progress in bringing greenhouse gas pollution under control,” said Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp. “Senator McCain and Lieberman’s call for a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas pollution takes on the problem of global warming in a strong and sensible way. Everyone knows that a diet is only successful if you take the weight off and keep it off. The Lieberman/McCain statement uses that same common sense approach. It will cut pollution and keep pollution from building up in the future.”

“This bipartisan action should demonstrate clearly that economically and environmentally sound approaches to the problem of global warming are available and politically viable. It’s time to end growing U.S. isolationism on climate change and put America’s ingenuity and market power to work against the premier environmental threat of the 21st century,” said Krupp.

“The agreement reached in Bonn on climate change shows there is going to be a world marketplace in carbon reductions and new technologies that will reward improvements in energy efficiency, advances in energy technologies, and improvements in land-use practices,” said Krupp. “It’s vital that American economic and environmental interests be a part of these new business opportunities. The Lieberman / McCain proposal shows how.”

Environmental Defense today criticized the California Public Utilities Commission (the CPUC) for a rejecting a consensus proposal for immediate implementation of real time pricing of electricity for large businesses late yesterday.

“This was a common-sense proposal that would have saved energy, cut pollution, and saved overburdened consumers money. The Public Utilties Commission’s decision is bad news for California’s economy and environment,” said Nancy Ryan, an Environmental Defense economist.

Environmental Defense praised the California Energy Commission (CEC), for working with customers, utilities, environmentalists, and public agencies to develop the spurned proposal. “The CEC has developed a workable proposal with broad-based support. It’s a shame that the CPUC has declined to make real time pricing a reality in California,” said Ryan.

The CEC designed its pricing plan so that large businesses could have realized the full conservation potential of sophisticated electric meters that are being installed at public expense in over 21,000 California businesses. The $35 million meter installation program is funded by legislation approved earlier this year to ease the state’s energy crunch.

Under real time pricing, customers know the price of electricity as it varies with the relative scarcity of electricity. The highest prices tend to occur on the hottest summer days when electricity demand peaks. It is during those times that dirty, old power plants are likely to be brought on line to meet the peak load. Successful real time pricing programs in Georgia and elsewhere have demonstrated that when prices spike, customers in real time pricing programs find ways to cut their use?they shut off lights, turn down thermostats, and may even shift operations to other days when prices are likely to be lower. The higher the price, the greater the conservation effort.

CPUC’s 4 to 0 vote yesterday removes a key obstacle to installing the meters but sends all parties back to the drawing board on tariff design, all but guaranteeing that implementation of real time pricing will not occur in time to help ward off late summer black-out risks. Experts have warned that an extended heat wave could bring back the outages that rolled through the state earlier this year. California’s annual system peak, the hour in which the year’s electricity use is highest, has occurred in August or later in 8 of the last 13 years.

“Senators Biden, Kerry and their colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee should be praised for their leadership on climate change policy,” said Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp. “The Kerry-Biden amendment calls on the U.S. to re-engage in the global climate change talks that proved so successful in Bonn, where the governments of almost 180 countries pledged their support for the Kyoto Protocol. This amendment calls for the administration to reclaim the United States’ leadership in the international community’s effort to prevent dangerous warming.”

“The scientific consensus about the danger of global climate change is clear; the United States needs to act now to protect the interests of the American public and the world,” said Environmental Defense strategic communications director Steve Cochran.

“Sprawl not only threatens our quality of life by increasing traffic congestion, reducing air and water quality, and destroying wildlife habitat, but sprawl also threatens our primary source of fresh local produce and open space,” said Environmental Defense attorney Scott Faber.

Environmental Defense urged Congress to pass HR 2375, the Working Lands Stewardship Act, championed by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), that annually provides $500 million to buy development rights from farmers and ranchers. Current federal funds are inadequate to meet the needs of farmers seeking to sell these rights. “Farmers offering to sell their development rights are being rejected nine out of 10 times because of inadequate federal funding,” said Faber.

USDA’s Economic Research Service concluded that local, state, and federal land preservation programs may need to spend as much as $130 billion over the next 30 to 50 years to buy development rights on threatened farmland. To view the report, visit http://www.ers.usda.gov/features/sprawl/ on the web.

HR 2375 also provides $2 billion annually for incentives to protect water quality, $500 million for protecting wildlife habitat, and more than $500 million to restore wetlands and grasslands. The bill also eases the transition to organic farming, and provides grants to develop farmers markets.

By contrast, farm legislation approved last week by the House Agriculture Committee would provide only $50 million annually for the Farmland Protection Program, the USDA program that buys development rights from farmers and ranchers. The Agriculture Committee proposal also directs most federal farm spending to large farmers who grow commodities like corn, beans, wheat, rice and cotton. Two-thirds of the nation’s farmers and ranchers would not be eligible for these subsidies.

“Less than ten percent of the money Congress spends now helps farmers help the environment. The remainder actually harms the environment,” said Tim Searchinger, principal author of the report and an Environmental Defense senior attorney. “Only farmers and ranchers can solve many of our country’s biggest environmental problems. Its time for Congress to help them,” said Searchinger.

Farmland occupies half of this country’s land, and many current farming practices help make agriculture the nation’s leading source of water pollution and problems for endangered species. If given the right incentives, however, farmers can use proven techniques to provide clean water and restore imperiled species. Farms can serve as a bulwark against sprawl and can be part of the solution to global warming.

Two thirds of all farmers receive no direct financial farm support, according to the report, and most of the remainder is targeted at the tiny percentage of largest farms. Many major farming states receive almost no support at all. Meanwhile, three quarters of all farmers and ranchers seeking support to help the environment are turned away because of a lack of funds. Traditional programs can cause crop surpluses and low prices that drive out family farms. Programs that reward environmental stewardship would give more help to family farmers than traditional farm programs.

The report also discusses how farm programs can preserve and enhance private forests and address critical public health concerns, including growing problems with antibiotic-resistant diseases, and pesticides.

The upcoming Farm Bill will spend almost three times as much money each year as the last Farm Bill (1996). The House Agriculture Committee will start to mark-up its bill Thursday, which is expected to mirror past Farm Bill spending patterns. However, the Working Lands Stewardship Act (HR 2375), with eighty bi-partisan co-sponsors, devotes roughly one third of its funds to conservation incentives.

Food for Thought was also authored by American Farmland Trust, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Working Group and Trout Unlimited.

Environmental Defense today praised an agreement by over 170 nations on the Kyoto treaty to combat global warming. Ministers wrapped up three days of intense negotiations by finalizing the basic structure of the rules needed to implement the treaty. With the high-level ministerial segment over, delegates will remain in Bonn for a week to begin work on the technical and legal details of the rules.

“The nations of the world have come together to protect Earth from the potentially disastrous effects of global warming,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Joseph Goffman. “This agreement on the rules for the Kyoto treaty is a turning point. It is now up to each country to ratify the treaty and ensure strong domestic policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Today’s agreement makes it possible for the world to act now to avert dangerous warming.”

The 1990s, likely the hottest decade of the past thousand years, capped decades of shrinking glaciers, thinning Arctic ice, intensifying rainstorms, and rising seas.

“The scientific consensus on global warming is clear, as is the need for decisive action,” said Environmental Defense international counsel Annie Petsonk. “Countries have recognized the risks and come together on a basic agreement for action. It is imperative now that the United States, the world’s largest polluter, join the nations of the world in protecting Earth from the threat of global warming.”

Environmental Defense expressed extreme concern over the Bush administration’s legal review of the Executive Orders that established the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve. In December of 2001 President Clinton protected the fragile NWHI by declaring the area a Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve. This followed a century of efforts initiated in 1909 by Theodore Roosevelt’s declaration of a NWHI Wildlife Refuge. The Bush administration review may rescind or significantly weaken the Reserve’s protections. National and regional organizations representing 2 million people, including the Hawaii Fishing and Boating Association, wrote to Commerce Secretary Evans expressing concern about this review.

Reaching 1,200 miles northwest of the Main Hawaiian Islands, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) are largely uninhabited shoals and atolls which comprise an isolated and remote network of hundreds of miles of pristine waters and 70% of the coral reefs under U.S. jurisdiction.

“This area is the last safe haven for monk seals, sea turtles, and millions of sea birds. If the Northwest Hawaiian Islands breeding grounds for turtles are not adequately protected, Hawaii’s entire $700 million marine tourism industry will feel the impact,” said Environmental Defense scientist Stephanie Fried.

“The Northwest Hawaiian Islands Reserve is vital to the cultural heritage of Native Hawaiians. The area serves as a nursery for the potential replenishment of main Hawaiian Islands fisheries. The reserve must be kept in place to protect Native Hawaiian heritage and Hawaii’s fisheries for today and for future generations,” said Native Hawaiian fisherman, Isaac Harp.

“The process of establishing the NWHI Reserve involved more public participation, input, and support than any other natural resource management decision in recent history in the State of Hawaii,” said KAHEA executive director, Cha Smith

In 2000, Congress also expressed firm support for protection in the NWHI by amending the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and creating a special protected status which allowed for restrictions on activities that would negatively impact this extremely unique and fragile ecosystem. Environmental Defense, with assistance from KAHEA and others, has produced a report detailing efforts by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council to overturn or weaken the Executive Orders. More information on the NWHI is available at www.kahea.org.

New Environmental Defense/KAHEA report:

Environmental Defense called today’s anticipated release of the Bush administration’s five-year offshore oil and gas drilling proposal “a tragic sacrifice of Alaska’s fisheries and fragile marine environment.”

The plan is reported to target virgin unexplored “frontier” waters off the Alaskan shore, where no technology for the cleanup of spilled oil in heavy seas and broken sea ice has yet been developed. The plan also announces the timing and location for all proposed offshore drilling “lease sales” to be held by the Interior Department between 2002 and 2007.

“This aggressive move to speed up drilling in risky areas represents a tragic sacrifice of Alaska’s fisheries and fragile marine environment,” said Environmental Defense marine conservation advocate Richard Charter.

“Unfortunately the public is now hearing the same vague reassurances it heard when the first large oil tankers were allowed into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Those false reassurances led directly to the Exxon-Valdez disaster that continues to poison the Alaskan marine ecosystem with residual oil, well over a decade after the spill,” said Elizabeth Thompson, legislative director for Environmental Defense. “In addition to the threat to Alaska, today’s proposal will bring offshore drilling rigs ever closer to the white sandy beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast, threatening the visitor-serving economy in that region.”

The newly-proposed offshore drilling program also includes a 1.5 million acre plan called “Lease Sale #181”, which would bring new offshore leasing into the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area for the first time. This new lease sale was the recent target of a six-month deferral passed by the House of Representatives, but a similar delaying amendment offered in the U.S. Senate was defeated on July 12. A House-Senate Conference Committee will work out the differences between the House and Senate bills regarding Sale #181 later this summer.

A public comment period on the proposed offshore drilling plan is now open, with letters from interested citizens currently being accepted by the Department of Interior.

Environmental Defense released a report today, A Home on the Range, demonstrating how economic incentives can be used to protect the Utah prairie dog, the rarest of the four U.S. prairie dog species and one of the first animals listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The report finds that prairie dog conservation and cattle ranching need not be incompatible. In fact, both prairie dogs and ranchers can benefit from incentives like safe harbor agreements and a Habitat Reserve Program. Eventually these measures could help the other three prairie dog species, all of which are declining.

“For too long, ranchers and conservationists alike have assumed that prairie dog conservation and cattle ranching do not mix,” said Environmental Defense senior ecologist David Wilcove. “To the contrary, with the right set of incentives, habitat for prairie dogs can be restored while also benefiting ranchers.”

Until their listing in 1973, Utah prairie dogs were the target of a government-aided eradication campaign, as ranchers blamed them for forage loss on rangeland. Environmental Defense’s report, however, shows that cows and prairie dogs can co-exist.

Safe harbor agreements provide landowners with assurances that they will not face increased Endangered Species Act restrictions on the use of their land if they agree to protect and restore habitat for endangered species. Such agreements have been used successfully to restore privately owned lands for endangered species in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, and are under development in several other states.

Utah prairie dogs have also suffered extensively from habitat loss. To date, efforts on behalf of the Utah prairie dog have targeted federal lands and been unsuccessful in recovering the species. “Protecting the Utah prairie dog will require restoration and conservation of habitat found on private lands,” said Wilcove. “In particular, Utah prairie dogs can be protected by safe harbor agreements, which Environmental Defense helped pioneer to protect endangered species on private lands.”

The report also calls for the establishment of a Prairie Dog Habitat Reserve Program through the upcoming Farm Bill; legislation that establishes price support and conservation programs for the nation’s farmers.