Category Archives: Politics

Breath Deeply

Conservation, Politics, ,

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Latest trinational report presents most complete picture of North American industrial pollution

Montreal, 10 June 2009—Ninety percent of the 5.5 billion kilograms of toxic pollutant releases and transfers reported in North America in 2005 can be traced to about 30 substances from 15 industrial sectors across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Taking Stock 2005, released today by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, represents the most complete picture of pollution reporting from North American industrial facilities ever assembled. Beginning this year, the CEC’s annual Taking Stock report provides a broader perspective by expanding its scope to include all data reported in 2005 to the pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Also new this year, the report employs air release data from the US National Emissions Inventory (NEI) for criteria air contaminants—a group of pollutants associated with issues such as smog, acid rain, and respiratory effects—and for petroleum sectors not subject to reporting under the US PRTR program.

The United States accounted for about 82 percent of all reporting facilities, Canada 12 percent, and Mexico 6 percent. The year 2005 marks the second consecutive year of mandatory Mexican PRTR reporting.

“Taking Stock 2005 presents the clearest view ever of industrial pollution in North America, and confirms the progress in pollution management that we have tracked for the past decade,” said Adrián Vázquez-Gálvez, CEC’s executive director. “However, it also reveals some major blind spots. This information is critical to government, industry, and communities, and highlights issues of comparability and areas for further action on pollution reduction to address potential environmental and human health issues.”

The report shows that the principal contributors to pollutant releases and transfers reported in each country were:

  • Oil and gas extraction activities, primary metals and wastewater treatment in Canada;
  • Metal mines, electric utilities and electrical equipment manufacturing in Mexico; and
  • Chemicals manufacturing, primary metals and mines in the United States.

An in-depth look at the North American petroleum industry in this year’s report reveals that the industry reported about 1.5 billion kilograms—or one-quarter—of the 5.5 billion kilograms of toxic pollutants reported by all sectors in 2005. The industry was also responsible for 10 percent of the 32 billion kilograms of criteria air contaminants released across North America in 2005.

Analysis of 2002–2005 reporting by Canadian and US petroleum refineries and bulk storage terminals discloses that, on average, about 7 million kilograms of carcinogens and developmental or reproductive toxicants were released annually. Most of these pollutants were released to air and water.

The perspective of this year’s report remains incomplete, however—a result of national differences in pollutant and industry sector coverage and compliance. Comparing the national petroleum industry profiles also reveals one of the most important such gaps in PRTR reporting across the three countries.

Hydrogen sulfide gas, a toxic pollutant having the smell of rotten eggs, is a common byproduct of oil and gas extraction and processing. PRTR regulations in both Canada and Mexico require hydrogen sulfide to be reported. In Canada, hydrogen sulfide from the oil and gas production sector represented over 90 percent of all toxics reported by the Canadian petroleum industry in 2005. In Mexico, however, no data on this substance were reported by the petroleum industry. In the United States, neither this pollutant nor the oil and gas production sector is subject to Toxics Release Inventory reporting requirements.

The report also discusses pollutants that were transferred across national borders. The majority of these consisted of metals such as lead, zinc, copper and nickel compounds, mainly sent to recycling facilities. A small number of other chemicals, such as sulfuric acid, phosphorus, and xylenes, were also sent across borders for recycling or other treatment.

Taking Stock compiles data from the three pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) in North America: Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), the United States’ Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), and Mexico’s Registro de Emisiones y Transferencia de Contaminantes (RETC).

The Taking Stock Online website allows users to further explore PRTR data for North America with customized reports by pollutant, facility, sector or geographic region. Taking Stock Online also provides interactive mapping of data search results using Google Maps, and features a North America-wide map layer displaying point-specific industrial pollutant data in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Using the Google Earth mapping service, the CEC’s map layer displays about 35,000 North American industrial facilities that reported releases and transfers of pollutants in 2005. You can access this information at: http://www.cec.org/takingstock/MappingTool.aspx?varlan=en-US.

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The Worst Is Yet To Come?

Conservation, Politics,

A new study from Texas A&M researchers details the impacts of stronger hurricanes and rising seas from a variety of global warming scenarios. “Flooding and damage from major hurricanes will be more severe,” said Jennifer Irish, the study’s lead author. “And the worse global warming gets, the more severe the consequences for the Texas coast.” The report is available on line from Texas A&M. Thanks to our old friend Bill Dawson and Texas Climate News for alerting us about this report.

Ted Eubanks
9 June 2009

Significant ESA Ruling

Conservation, Politics

CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT

The Center for North American Herpetology Lawrence, Kansas http://www.cnah.org

9 June 2009

Defenders of Wildlife

The Center for Biological Diversity

COURT ORDERS ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION FOR FLAT-TAILED HORNED LIZARD — FOR THE THIRD TIME U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must review decision to deny protections

San Francisco – In response to a lawsuit brought by The Center for Biological Diversity and a number of other groups, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to deny the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii) protection under the Endangered Species Act was illegal and again ordered the agency to consider protection for the lizard.

“The Flat-tailed Horned Lizard is severely threatened by urban and agricultural sprawl and needs protection as an endangered species to survive,” said Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director at The Center for Biological Diversity. “With today’s court decision, we hope the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finally gotten the message that it can not legally deny this imperiled species protection.”

Significantly, the decision rejected a Bush administration policy developed by the solicitor of the Department of the Interior in 2007 that required the Fish and Wildlife Service to ignore loss of historic range when determining if species warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. The decision observes that “the Secretary clings to his argument that lost historical habitat is largely irrelevant to the recovery of the species, and thus the ESA does not require him to consider it,” and then roundly rejects this position, concluding that past court decisions require “the Secretary to analyze lost historical range.”

“This decision goes beyond the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard by seriously undermining the Bush administration’s position that loss of historic range is not a basis for protecting species under the Endangered Species Act,” said Greenwald. “The courts have determined today that the Bush administration’s emergency room approach to species protection – in which only species that are on the brink of extinction everywhere are protected – is plainly illegal.”

The Flat-tailed Horned Lizard inhabits portions of southern California (Riverside, Imperial and San Diego counties), Arizona (Yuma county), and northwestern Mexico (Sonora, Baja Calif. N). It is severely threatened by habitat destruction caused by urban and agricultural sprawl, off-road vehicles, and other threats.

“This is the third time in the fifteen years since the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard was proposed for listing that a court has told the Fish and Wildlife Service to go back and review its refusal to protect the flat tailed horned lizard under the Endangered Species Act,” said Kara Gillon, senior staff attorney with Defenders of Wildlife. “These lizards need these protections now more than ever, if we are to avoid the loss of this species and the dwindling wild places that form its last refuge. We’re hoping that the third time’s the charm; these lizards are running out of time.”

The Flat-tailed Horned Lizard was first proposed for listing in 1993. The proposal has since been withdrawn three times with conservation groups successfully challenging each withdrawal in court. The groups involved in the latest court challenge include the Tucson Herpetological Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Horned Lizard Conservation Society, and Sierra Club, who were represented by attorneys Neil Levine, a private attorney, and Bill Snape, senior counsel with the Center for Biological Diversity.

As the common name suggests, the species is recognized by its broad, flattened tail but also has long, sharp horns on its head, two rows of fringe scales along its abdomen, a dark stripe along its backbone, and concealed external ear openings. Adults of this species range in size between 2.5 and 4.3 inches long, excluding the tail.

Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than 1 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit www.defenders.org

Contact(s)

Kara Gillon, Defenders of Wildlife, (505) 715-3898 Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495

Galveston Green?

Politics, Sustainability,

TripAdvisor is an on-line travel “community,” an aggregation of tourists that share opinions and experiences about when and where they travel. Each year TripAdvisor publishes the results of its annual travel trends survey of more than 2,500 travelers from around the world. Among the top trends are issues that should be of concern (and interest) to the Galveston tourism industry.

This year’s survey show that travelers are growing greener. According to the survey “twenty-six percent of respondents said they will be more environmentally conscious in their travel decisions in the coming year. The green trend may be evident in their choice of transportation — 22 percent said they’ll go biking while on vacation this year, compared to 13 percent, last year. Forty-seven percent of travelers plan to go hiking this year, up from 43 percent, last year.”

TripAdvisor™ TravelCast is a barometer of what’s hot in travel destinations. TripAdvisor engineers have developed a proprietary algorithm that looks at several criteria including changes in search activity and postings throughout the world’s largest travel community. The TravelCast then predicts the rising stars in travel.

Consider the follow rising starts in domestic travel, according to TripAdvisor:

1. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
2. Kitty Hawk (Outer Banks), North Carolina
3. Seward, Alaska
4. Kailua, Hawaii
5. Blue Ridge, Georgia
6. Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania
7. San Marcos, Texas
8. Paso Robles, California
9. Rockport, Texas
10. Copper Mountain, Colorado

According to TripAdvisor,  “the major trends we’re observing are that travelers value cleanliness above all else and are becoming more environmentally conscious,” said Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor. “

As you can see above, Texas has two rising stars – San Marcos and Rockport. Rockport is a comparable coastal community that apparently has tapped into the green travel market more effectively than Galveston.

Let’s be honest. Ike has done us no favors when it comes to being clean. We will be hauling trash off of this island for the foreseeable future, and there is little that we can do to accelerate that process. But what about Galveston’s commitment to being a green community, a green destination? Surrounded by such natural riches, surely Galveston has the potential for being an iconic green coastal community?

Each morning I exercise by walking the seawall between 25th and Broadway (6th, to be technically correct). We have no bathrooms along the seawall, so the locals choose the beach for their urinal. Each evening there is a line of customers between the beer joints on the seawall and our beach, the urinal. Galveston green?

We allow the non-point pollution from Seawall Boulevard to wash across the pavement and into the Gulf. Rather than view the seawall as our most precious asset, we would rather have Thunder Road. Galveston green?

We still have entire developments on the west end of the island still on septic systems (you can imagine how they fared in Ike). Even while our bay is in the earliest stages of recovery from the worst natural disaster in Texas history (as measured by damage), we are still considering development on the west end (Marquette, Anchor Bay) that would add insult to injury. Galveston green?

How can a community surrounded by such natural beauty be so oblivious to the color green? I do not believe for a moment that our citizenry is color blind. Given the most recent surveys, Galvestonians are keenly aware of the value of our environment. What is lacking is the community leadership that is willing to take advantage of these remarkable resources that we inherited.

Galveston is unraveling. There are easy and early steps that can be taken to begin to reconstitute Galveston as a sustainable community. Without a blinding, overarching vision of where we are headed, though, and the leadership to get us there, Galveston will continue to decompose. The old adage is lead, follow, or get out of the way. So who exactly is in the lead?

I personally believe that Galveston can be green and still consider gambling.

I personally believe that Galveston can be green and still have a prosperous port.

I personally believe that Galveston can be green and still have a dynamic historic downtown.

I personally believe that Galveston can be green and still have strategically located resort development.

I personally believe that Galveston can be green and have a commuter rail that connects our work force to the economic engine that is Houston.

I personally believe that Galveston can be green and be fueled by alternative energy sources, including offshore wind.

I personally believe that we can be green and still have a world-class nature park and interpretive center at the East End Lagoons.

I personally believe that we can be green and still develop an infrastructure that shows the world how to live in harmony with a coastal environment.

I personally believe that we can be green and still have a burgeoning industry in restorative economics, hopefully developed in partnership with Texas A&M.

Most importantly, I believe that we can have a sustainable tourism industry that can carry our economy forward into the 21st Century.

But I believe that a truly sustainable Galveston is not possible without bold, dedicated leadership that is willing to envision a Galveston of the future, not one mired in the past. Until that leadership appears, we will continue to unravel, Strand by Strand, UTMB by UTMB, Shriners by Shriners.

Ted Eubanks