Complete list of press releases

Environmental Defense today praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for finalizing its long-awaited rules applying to genetically engineered crops. The rules spell out how the agency regulates pesticidal substances, such as “Bt” toxins, that certain plants are genetically engineered to produce.

“EPA’s rules are a cornerstone of federal oversight of genetically engineered crops,” said Environmental Defense senior scientist Dr. Rebecca Goldburg. “These rules are essential to protecting both the environment and food safety.” EPA proposed the rules in 1994, and the Clinton administration approved the final rules in January 2001. The Bush administration, which had held up processing of the rules in January, recently approved the rules, which appeared in today’s Federal Register.

“EPA has implemented the rules since they were first proposed,” said Goldburg. “For example, the agency has registered as pesticides numerous Bt toxins for use in genetically engineered cotton, potatoes, and corn, including ‘Starlink’ corn, which has contaminated taco shells and other foods. However, EPA’s proposed rules did not clearly have the full force of the law, and were susceptible to industry disregard. Publication of the final rules make EPA’s regulatory program fully enforceable.”

“The rules are consistent with the recommendations of an April, 2000, National Academy of Sciences report,” said Goldburg, who was a member of the panel that wrote the report. The report, Genetically Modified Pest-Protected Plants: Science and Regulation, urged that EPA’s rules be finalized, and that the scope of the rules be expanded slightly, to apply to some types of genetically engineered plants not covered by the proposed rule.

Along with finalizing the rules, EPA yesterday issued a supplemental notice requesting public comment on whether the agency should expand the scope of the rules to be consistent with the recommendations of the National Academy report.

Nationwide, exhaust from diesel engines accounts for 78% of the total added cancer risk in outdoor air from all hazardous air pollutants combined, based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, according to a new analysis on Environmental Defense’s www.scorecard.org website.

The analysis is based on a massive EPA study, which provides detailed estimates of the levels of 41 top hazardous air pollutants in every community in the U.S. EPA’s previous version did not include information on diesel particulate emissions.

“The dominance of diesel in the unhealthiness of our air is a revelation,” said David Roe, Environmental Defense senior attorney. “It couldn’t be seen before, only because studies weren’t trying to look for it.” Scorecard.org is able to translate quantities of hazardous air pollutants into cancer risks, both nationally and at the local level. For any locality, see: www.scorecard.org/env-releases/hap/community.tcl.

“The bad news is that cancer risks from air toxics are much higher than the public has been told before. The good news is that a great deal of the air toxics problem can by addressed by focusing on just this one pollutant. Cutting diesel exhaust has to be priority number one for everyone concerned about the health of our air.”

Diesel’s predominance leads to surprising results. For example, supposedly clean San Francisco shows a risk level of 2,600 additional cancer cases per million, with 90% of the risk coming from diesel emissions. The goal set in the Clean Air Act for air toxics is a maximum of one additional case per million.

The air pollution comes both from diesel vehicles on the roads, like trucks and buses, and from offroad equipment like bulldozers and heavy construction machinery. “Offroad diesel equipment is a big part of the problem that most people don’t realize, and that is long overdue for emission controls,” Roe said.

Environmental Defense today urged leaders of the House Agriculture Committee to substantially boost funding for voluntary conservation programs for farmers, and said a Farm Bill proposal released today fails to reward most farmers and ranchers when they preserve open space, improve water quality, or restore habitat for rare species.

Rep. Larry Combest (R-TX), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, today released a Farm Bill proposal that boosts U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation spending to approximately $3.5 billion annually. Farmers, ranchers and foresters, however, may seek as much as $8 billion in annual payments to help the environment over the next five years.

“Because of a lack of adequate funds, most farmers are rejected when they seek federal help to meet environmental challenges,” said Environmental Defense attorney Scott Faber. “If the Farm Bill proposed today is passed, farmers will still be turned away. Green payments should be a no-brainer. The money provides income to all farmers, and provides public goods to the taxpayer: clean water, open space, and wildlife habitat.”

Environmental Defense urged Rep. Combest to support legislation championed by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and 59 other bipartisan members of Congress. The Working Lands Stewardship Act of 2001, H.R. 2375, substantially increases annual spending for USDA programs that help protect the environment by acquiring development rights for farmland threatened by sprawl, providing incentives to reduce polluted runoff, and rewarding landowners who restore wetlands, grasslands, and forests.

H.R. 2375 provides: $500 million annually for open space protection; $2 billion annually for incentives to reduce polluted runoff, protect food and drinking water from pesticides and pathogens, and use water more efficiently; $750 million annually for farm, ranch and forestry practices that help wildlife; and provides sufficient funds to restore more than 12 million acres of wetlands, grasslands, and shrublands over the next six years. The bill also boosts funding to plant trees along urban rivers, establish new farmer’s markets, and to help farmers switch to organic farming.

Today’s U.S. Senate failure to delay offshore oil and gas drilling in new areas of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico will threaten economically important marine life and Florida’s pristine beaches, according to Environmental Defense. Today’s Senate rejection of an amendment offered by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) could allow the Interior Department to lease 1.5 million acres, known as Lease Sale 181, to the oil industry. The House of Representatives recently voted to delay the sale, however, so an upcoming House-Senate Conference Committee will ultimately determine the fate of the Eastern Gulf.

“Opening a new 1.5 million acre swath of the Eastern Gulf to offshore drilling would be an American tragedy,” said Environmental Defense marine conservation advocate Richard Charter. “Millions treasure the white sand beaches of Florida’s Panhandle and Gulf Coast and visitors to these areas support much of the Florida economy.”

“It does not make economic or environmental sense to gamble with America’s natural heritage,” said Charter. “Drilling poses an unacceptable level of risk to two of Florida’s most important economic sectors, fishing and coastal tourism.”

Today’s vote defeating the Nelson amendment came as the Senate considered the appropriations bill for the Department of Interior for fiscal year 2002. Still to be announced by the Bush administration is an upcoming White House decision about whether or not to permit offshore production platforms to be constructed by Chevron on active offshore leases on Destin Dome, very close to the Florida Panhandle.

Environmental Defense today praised the Bush administration for rejecting an environmental agreement on export agencies negotiated before the deadline of this month’s G-8 summit in Italy. The U.S. rejected the agreement because it does not require environmental standards at least as strong as the World Bank’s, nor public disclosure of environmental information prior to approval of financing.

“The Bush administration has taken a strong stand on an important international environmental issue in rejecting the proposed environmental agreement on export credit agencies, and the U.S. must now take the lead in working with other countries to develop a meaningful agreement and in further improving the environmental performance of its own export credit agencies,” said Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp.

Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) are governmental or quasi-governmental entities that support a country’s exports and investments abroad. The agencies are together the world’s largest publicly mandated financiers of large infrastructure projects in developing countries, dwarfing the role of the World Bank and other international financial institutions. ECA-backed projects, such as the Three Gorges Dam in China, often have devastating environmental and social impacts. ECAs also support energy-intensive fossil fuel development that contributes to global climate warming.

“This agreement left it up to individual ECAs to determine what environmental standards to apply, and didn’t require compliance with standards as an actual condition for financing,” said Environmental Defense social scientist Aaron Goldzimer. “An acceptable agreement would prohibit financing for projects that fail to meet internationally recognized environmental standards, require assessment and reduction of global climate change impacts, institutionalize public consultation and public access to environmental information, and facilitate exports and investment in alternative, environmental technologies.”

Information on the growing international citizens’ campaign to reform ECAs can be found in the Jakarta Declaration at www.eca-watch.org/documents.html.

Eighteen national and Iowa conservation and farm groups today sent a letter to Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) urging him to use his new authority as Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee to craft a farm aid bill in the coming weeks that makes conservation a key goal.

The letter notes Senator Harkin led efforts in Congress this year to increase agricultural conservation funding by $1.65 billion in next year’s budget. Senator Harkin also authored a letter to the Appropriations Committee, signed by 43 Senators, urging the increase in conservation funds just to work off the backlog of farmers already seeking support to help the environment.

“Most farmers who want to protect the environment are being turned away by the government because of a lack of funds,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Tim Searchinger. “Because the Congressional budget resolution gave the Agriculture Committee vast new spending authority, Senator Harkin now has the power to realize his goal of helping farmers help the environment.”

Iowa groups signing the letter include the Iowa Environmental Council, Iowa Wildlife Federation, and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State. In addition to Environmental Defense, national groups include American Farmland Trust, American Rivers, Center for Rural Affairs, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, Land Trust Alliance, Mississippi River Basin Alliance, National Audubon Society, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Sierra Club, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and Trout Unlimited.

Yesterday, 11 Wisconsin conservation organizations sent a similar letter to Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI), Chair of the Agriculture Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Senate committees may act as early as next week on two major spending bills for agriculture, one a normal appropriations bill, and another an “emergency” spending bill.

Copies of the letters to senators Harkin and Kohl can be obtained at www.environmentaldefense.org or by contacting Tim Searchinger at Environmental Defense, 202 387-3500. For information on opportunities for agricultural conservation programs to help farmers and the environment, visit www.environmentaldefense.org

The Clean Car Campaign, with the support of 25 environmental organizations, today called on automakers to remove toxic mercury from vehicles in for service, repair, or recall. The Campaign also endorsed a similar call by 26 state attorneys general urging Ford to remove mercury-containing devices as part of their Firestone tire recall. The recommendation by the attorneys general would prevent up to 2.5 tons of mercury from entering the environment.

Mercury can cause brain, lung and kidney damage in humans. It has been used in switches for hood and trunk convenience lighting, and in other devices, becoming a contaminant when vehicles are recycled. The Campaign today sent letters to the heads of Ford, DaimlerChrysler and GM asking them to have dealers replace switches for free when vehicles come in for service. The letter and Campaign reports on mercury and autos can be found at www.cleancarcampaign.org/mercury.html on the web.

“It’s time for automakers to take responsibility for the environmental hazards of their vehicles,” said Charles Griffith, auto project director at the Ecology Center. “Replacing mercury switches protects the environment and consumers with a simple, affordable fix.”

“New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the other attorneys general should be commended for their leadership in promoting a workable plan to recover automotive mercury,” said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project.

“Ford could show real leadership among automakers by replacing not just the tires but also the toxic mercury,” said Dean Menke, an engineer with Environmental Defense.

Concerns about exposure to mercury have grown in recent years, with many states and stores banning mercury thermometers. More than forty states have issued fish consumption advisories for mercury, and the National Academy of Sciences 2000 mercury report found that more than 60,000 children may suffer from exposure to mercury while in the womb. Mercury can cause neurological problems that range from mild learning disabilities to mental retardation.

Despite concerns about mercury contained in automobiles, little has been done to rectify the problem, and automakers have generally pushed the issue off to auto dismantlers. The Campaign proposes a national program for collecting up to 90% of the mercury switches now on the road, which includes working with both auto dealers and recyclers. The plan seeks to maximize recovery of mercury by getting automakers to start with their own dealers to remove and replace the switches whenever a vehicle is serviced or recalled.

Environmental Defense today said opening new areas of the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling would threaten economically important marine life there and could despoil Florida’s pristine beaches. Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced today that 1.5 million acres of what was formerly known as Lease Sale 181 in the Gulf will be opened for drilling. The House voted to delay the sale two weeks ago.

“Opening a new 1.5 million acre swath of the Eastern Gulf to oil drilling unnecessarily threatens marine life with pollution and puts Florida beaches at a much greater risk for spills,” said Environmental Defense marine conservation advocate Richard Charter. “Given the environmental risks and the bipartisan opposition from Congress, going ahead with new drilling, even in a smaller area than originally proposed, seems like an ill-considered move by the Bush administration.”

“Much of Florida’s economy depends on its successful coastal tourism and fisheries industries,” said Charter. “Drilling poses an unacceptable level of risk to two of Florida’s most important economic sectors. Opening more of the Gulf to drilling now makes little environmental, economic or political sense.”

The proposed new offshore drilling lease sale unveiled today is the first of two pending announcements from the Bush administration. Still to be announced is the administration’s decision about whether or not to permit offshore production platforms to be constructed by Chevron on active offshore leases on Destin Dome, adjacent to the white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle.

Ten Texas environmental and conservation organizations sent a letter today to Gordon R. England, Secretary of the Navy, urging him to end further consideration of the Laguna Madre area of Texas as a possible bombing and training site for Navy and Marine operations. The letter, which was signed by Environmental Defense, Texas Center for Policy Studies, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Texas Committee on Natural Resources, American Farmland Trust, Texas Clean Water Fund, Frontera Audubon Society, National Parks and Conservation Association, and the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, expressed the groups’ concerns about the impact that bombing exercises would have on the fish and wildlife that depend on the Padre Island National Seashore, Laguna Madre, and surrounding upland areas.

“The stretch of coastline under consideration by the Navy is one of the most environmentally significant areas in Texas and one of the most biologically diverse in the United States,” said Melinda Taylor, an attorney for Environmental Defense. “The impacts of bombing and training maneuvers on rare species, as well as on the fishing and recreational industries in the area, would be irreversible and devastating.”

“Commercial and recreational fishing and the growing nature tourism industry contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy of South Texas,” said Mary Kelly, executive director of the Texas Center for Policy Studies. “These activities would be seriously harmed by Navy’s training activities.”

The upper Laguna Madre, an area south of Corpus Christi, is a pristine, sparsely populated region that supports a productive estuary for fish and provides habitat for a number of endangered species, including Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the piping plover, and the brown pelican. It is important for ranching and is a prime destination for birders and others interested in nature and outdoor recreation.

The conservation organizations encouraged the Navy not to waste time and resources pursuing the Laguna Madre site for bombing and training. They offered to work with the Navy to provide information on the natural resources, tourism, recreational and cultural values that would be impacted by a military training operation.

Environmental Defense today praised Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and 53 other bipartisan members of Congress for introducing legislation late yesterday to reward farmers, ranchers and private foresters when they preserve open space, improve water quality, or restore habitat for rare species.

The Working Lands Stewardship Act of 2001 dramatically expands voluntary U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that acquire development rights on farmland threatened by sprawl, provides incentives to reduce polluted runoff, and rewards landowners who restore wetlands, grasslands, and forests.

"This bill will ensure that farmers, ranchers and foresters who help meet environmental challenges are rewarded," said Environmental Defense attorney Scott Faber.

The Working Lands Stewardship Act provides $500 million annually for open space protection; $2 billion annually for incentives to reduce polluted runoff, protect food and drinking water from pesticides and pathogens, and use water more efficiently; and $750 million annually for farm, ranch and forestry practices that help wildlife. The bill also provides sufficient funds to restore more than 12 million acres of wetlands, grasslands, and shrublands over the next six years.

The bill also boosts funding to plant trees along urban rivers, establish new farmer's markets, and to help farmers switch to organic farming.

Westlake Protectors Neighborhood Watch Group, Environmental Defense, Councilman Mike Hernandez and Councilman elect Ed Reyes, and community activists joined together this morning to plant the first tree for the proposed Hope and Peace Park near the corner of 9th and S. Bonnie Brae. In July of 2000, at the urging of the Westlake Protectors and other activist groups, the city purchased the properties at 843 and 849 S. Bonnie Brae for the purpose of building a park.

At today’s tree-planting ceremony the Westlake Protectors, Coalition LA and Environmental Defense presented to the council members a park design developed by community consensus over the course of three months. The selection of a cedar tree for today’s planting arose from the community’s desire to have a fragrant, evergreen tree that neighbors could decorate together for the holidays, even before the rest of the park is built. The tree planting celebrates this successful community effort, and aims to give momentum to the next step; funding actual park construction.

“People living here have invested their hearts and more than a decade of their lives into creating a park,” said Environmental Defense research associate Misty Sanford. “The community design and our celebration here today should inspire the City and individuals to help get this park funded and built.”

“We really want to thank Mike Hernandez for all he has done to get us this far, and welcome the commitment of our new Councilmember Ed Reyes to continuing the fight to make this park happen,” said community activist Bertha Wooldridge. “Hope and Peace will be a safe place for our children and our older people. Our dream has always been to create a place that all ages could enjoy.”

Earlier this month the City Council set aside a portion of the funds needed to build the park from money available under last year’s statewide park bond, Proposition 12, but the 7-10 year backlog in park construction means that it will take private funds to create the park in the near future. “Kids who were ten when their parents and neighbors began the struggle to improve their neighborhood with this park have grown up now and may be starting families of their own. It’s time to make this dream come true,” said Sanford.

Environmental Defense and Ohio Citizen Action today launched a citizen monitoring network for collecting air pollution data in the Miami Valley. This summer, volunteers will collect data with hand-held devices for seven weeks in 10 areas to learn more about ozone levels in their areas. The results will indicate any differences in smog levels (also known as ground-level ozone) among neighborhoods and help pinpoint hot spots for high levels of ozone formation around the region.

The Dayton Project is being organized by Citizens Policy Center (CPC), Ohio Citizen Action’s research and education organization. “We are pleased that we could coordinate this project in the Miami Valley and equip citizens and organizations with the tools to monitor ozone and educate the public on this problem,” said Jane Forrest Redfern, Environmental Projects Director for Ohio Citizen Action’s CPC.

Environmental Defense is working with organizations in Cleveland and Atlanta to operate similar monitoring networks in those cities. “This is a new and exciting way for citizens to take actions to protect the environment and their health,” said Carol Andress, economic specialist at Environmental Defense. “The high ozone concentrations that Dayton and many other cities experience during the summer can have serious health effects, especially for residents with asthma or other respiratory problems. By allowing citizens to monitor smog levels in their neighborhoods, we can help residents protect themselves from the harmful effects of ground-level ozone.”

For more information about the procedures used, how the technology works, limitations of the technology, as well as the citizen readings throughout the Miami Valley, please visit www.environmentaldefense.org on the web.

Environmental Defense today called on Congress to deny the Bush administration’s request for “fast track” trade promotion authority.

“The administration’s rejection of the Kyoto accord on climate change cast legitimate doubts on the administration’s ability to ensure that global environmental protections are integrated into our globalizing markets,” said Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp, who serves on the President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, America’s top independent advisory panel on trade.

“Environmental Defense supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and has traditionally been supportive of freer trade, but expanding trade without any limits to protect the environment is bad for Earth,” said Krupp. “The global market can be an engine for environmental change, if the right standards are in place, and the Kyoto treaty would harness the power of the market and bring industrialized and developing countries together to solve global warming — the most pressing environmental problem of our time. The Bush administration’s continued unwillingness to build on this treaty and be a leader in solving global warming makes it impossible for Environmental Defense to support unfettered presidential authority on trade.”

A report released today by Environmental Defense paints a sobering picture of the potentially severe consequences of global warming. Hot Prospects: The Potential Impacts of Global Warming on Los Angeles and The Southland is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the potential impacts of global warming on the environment and the public health of Southern California. The report, available at www.environmentaldefense.org, puts forward a plan to head off the worst potential problems.

“This report shows that global warming is as much about Compton as Kyoto,” said Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, Environmental Defense chief scientist. “The data are clear: global warming in Southern California could lead to shrinking beaches in Santa Monica, asthma attacks in the Valley, and heat waves in Riverside.”

“The climate forecast for L.A. isn’t pretty,” said Dr. Janine Bloomfield, Environmental Defense senior scientist and project director for the report. “Heavy storms, intense heat, and smoggy skies could become more common, more severe and more damaging unless action is taken now.”

The report shows that global warming may have a wide variety of severe impacts on Southern Californians including:

• Weather: More storms, winter rainfall, hot summer days, possible increase in El Nino-type conditions.

• Health problems: More smog, in areas such as the San Fernando Valley and Pomona, leading to increased respiratory illness. More heat waves. Increased potential for hantavirus.

• Coastal lands: Heavy rainfall and strong waves from increased El Nino-type conditions affecting Malibu, Santa Monica and other coastal communities.

• Fires: Increased heat waves, wet winters could produce more fires in the Santa Monica, San Gabriel and other mountain ranges. Other factors, like wetter springs, could decrease the risk.

• Coastal waters: Faster decline or shifts in range of numerous marine species, including California sea lions and sea otters.

• Water Supply: Early or decreased flow from Sierra Nevada snowpack creates increased uncertainty and potential water shortages for some systems.

Environmentalists are not the only ones concerned about the effects of global warming in the L.A. basin. Global warming can have serious implications for the health of Southern Californians. “The hotter weather we expect as a result of global warming promotes the formation of ozone, the major component of smog,” said Dr. Kent Bransford, climate change consultant with Physicians for Social Responsibility. “This increase in air pollution may trigger an increase of asthma attacks, especially in the most vulnerable populations, children, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses.”

While sharply reducing fossil fuel emissions will go a long way to lessening the impacts of global warming, some climate change is probably unavoidable. The report outlines actions that can be taken now to lessen the potential impacts of global warming. These include:

1. Maintaining strong emissions controls to reduce ozone-smog levels and improve air quality;

2. Cooling the urban environment by planting more trees, establishing more parks and increasing reflective surfaces;

3. Incorporating climate change into long-term water resource planning, increased inter-basin coordination and flexibility in operations; and

4. Planning and implementing appropriate beach and shoreline management, including the possibility of restoring natural sand supply.

In the long-term, changing the way we use and produce energy is necessary to avoid the worst of these projections. The report recommends viable, affordable and clean solutions, which can help reduce the severity of global warming. “These findings are particularly timely since they provide immediate and cost-effective solutions to California’s current energy problems,” said Jim Martin, senior policy analyst for Environmental Defense.

Environmental Defense makes several recommendations for curbing global warming emissions and promoting energy efficiency including:

1. The Bush administration should work to improve, rather than reject, the Kyoto Protocol on global warming;

2. Congress should close the Federal SUV Loophole. Increasing the fuel efficiency standards for SUVs, light trucks and other motor vehicles, would reduce global warming emissions by as much as 187 million tons per year;

3. The CA state legislature should adopt the renewables portfolio standards bill (SB531) requiring electricity suppliers to provide at least 20% of their electricity from renewables by 2010; and

4. Make buildings more efficient by increasing insulation, installing solar panels on rooftops, and increasing the reflective surface of buildings to keep them cooler.

“There is a real chance for a win-win situation here. The right solutions to the energy crisis, efficiency, clean energy sources, and conservation, are also the best way to reduce emissions of global warming pollution,” Martin said.