ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL BLOGS

US HOUSE CONSIDERING BILL TO EXEMPT MANURE FROM CERCLA

    Last November, Rep. Ralph M. Hall (R-Tex.) introduced HR 4341 (go to the House home page and click on "Find a Bill or Law" on the right-hand side of the page) which provides

`(a) In General- Upon the date of enactment of this section, manure shall not be included in the meaning of `hazardous substance' under section 101(14) of this Act or `pollutant or contaminant' under section 101(33) of this Act.

    The Legislation has 157 co-sponsors in the House and is presently in the House Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials.  The bill appears designed to help the agricultural industry, in which obviously releases/disposals of manure are an everyday occurrence.

     The "environmentalist" lobby is not pleased. The Union of Concerned Scientists this month commented:

...Congress may exempt factory farms from pollution laws
Large agribusiness companies are pushing their friends in Congress to exempt factory farms from the pollution reporting and cleanup provisions in key pollution laws. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as Superfund) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) provide an essential safety net for protecting water supplies from livestock pollution and for providing warnings of toxic air emissions from factory farms. Over 140 representatives are supporting a bill, H.R. 4341, that would give this sweetheart deal to factory farms. The bill may soon be attached to a "must-pass" spending bill in an effort to speed this ill-conceived measure through Congress. Please call your representative and urge him or her to oppose this dangerous legislation.

     The text of the legislation (see link above), however, does not distinguish between "factory" farms (whatever that means) and, presumably, "non-factory" farms.  Also, while undoubtedly large agribusiness would benefit from (and is pushing) this legislation, as far as I can tell smaller farms would benefit, too.

     In any event, is there anything intrinsically wrong with larger farms benefiting?  Last time I checked, the Equal Protection Clause existed for their benefit, too. 

AL GORE FOR ARCH-DRUID?

       Yahoo News carried a Reuters report on Wednesday, May 17, highlighting a new ad being run by the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute challenging the alarmist premise of Al Gore's new movie, "An Inconvenient Truth":

A little girl blows away dandelion fluff as an announcer says, "Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution; we call it life," in an advertisement targeting global warming "alarmists," ...

***

The spots are timed to precede next week's theatrical release of "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary film on global warming that features Gore, the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate.

***

"The fuels that produce CO2 (carbon dioxide) have freed us from a world of back-breaking labor, lighting up our lives, allowing us to create and move the things we need, the people we love," the ad runs. "Now some politicians want to label carbon dioxide a pollutant. Imagine if they succeed -- what would our lives be like then?"

***

Fred Smith, president of the institute, a lobbying group closely allied to the Bush administration that stresses limited government regulation and a free-market approach to environmental issues, said he had seen the film and found it "very alarmist," although well-produced.

"There's a lot of pictures of Al Gore pensively looking into the sunset," Smith said. "I don't think he's running for president, but he might be running for arch-druid."

CAL DTSC PROPOSING CHANGES IN UST REGULATIONS

     For your info:

     DTSC proposes some changes in California's underground storage tank regulations dealing with secondary containment structures.  The specific regulations to be amended are Title 22, California Code of Regulations, sections 66264.191, 66264.193, 66265.191, and 66265.193.

     There will be a public comment period from May 19-July 6 and a public hearing on the proposed changes to be held on July 6, 10 am in the Byron Sher Auditorium, 2nd Floor, 1001 "I" Street, Sacramento.

     Questions?  per the DTSC announcement of these regulatory changes, contact:

Ms. Joan Ferber, Regulations Coordinator
Environmental Analysis and Regulations Section
Department of Toxic Substances Control

Mailing Address:    P.O. Box 806, Sacramento, CA  95812-0806

E-mail Address:    [email protected]

Fax Number:        (916) 323-3215

Phone number:    (916) 322-6409. 

"New Report Sees Positive Environmental Trends Across The U.S."

The free-market oriented Pacific Research Institute last month published a study that concludes the environment is fairly dramatically improving.  You can find a summary of the study here.  An excerpt (don't bother looking for this angle on the environment from Time, Newsweek or The New York Times):

.

“With over a decade of compiled research in the Index, the facts speak for themselves – it’s impossible to deny the environmental improvements we’ve made and the certain progress we’ll continue to make over time,” said Dr. Steven Hayward, author of the Index, senior fellow at PRI, and F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at AEI.

The eleventh edition of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators (available at www.pacificresearch.org) highlights the positive trends occurring in key areas including climate change, air quality, water quality, toxic chemicals, and biodiversity in the U.S.

Air Quality
1.	The number of exceedances of the eight-hour ozone standard in Los Angeles during the last 30 years has dropped significantly, from 201 in 1975 to 75 in 2005. There are large scale areas of the LA air basin where there have been no exceedances of the ozone standard for the last several years, meaning millions of residents have no exposure to high levels of ozone.
2.	In the Washington, D.C. area, not a single Code Red day for poor air quality was declared over the summer of 2005, despite the hot temperatures. Ozone levels are falling in 19 Eastern states where smog has been a recurring problem in the summer.
Auto Emissions
1.	Automobile tailpipe emissions from carbon monoxide have been reduced by 96 percent since the 1950s. These emissions rates are per mile—not an average for the whole auto fleet. The frequently-heard claim that large SUVs "pollute more" is a myth.
Toxic Releases
2.	In 2005, the Center for Disease Control reported declining amounts of chemicals in human blood and urine almost across the board.

NORTHWEST PASSGE-MELTING ICE BOON TO WORLD ECONOMY?

The National Public Radio website carries the following:

Morning Edition, April 27, 2006 · European explorers spent centuries searching for a passage through the ice at the top of the world. The Northwest Passage, a shortcut to Asia, proved elusive until about 100 years ago, when Norway's Roald Amundsen completed a three-year journey.

These days, thanks to global warming and a receding ice cover, the voyage is easier to complete, says explorer James Delgado, author of Across the Top of the World.

***

The melting offers opportunities, some say.

"Perhaps now with less ice, particularly with a longer summer season, the age-old dream of a fast passage to Asia can be achieved," Delgado says. "You can shave thousands of miles off and get to Asia faster…"

     Assuming global warming is occurring; assuming that the phenomenon is long-term; assuming that global warming has been caused by human activity; and assuming there is anything mankind can do about the phenomenon without throwing the world into an economic depression (a lot of assumptions), what are the chances the mainstream media would spin this story to point out the upside of the situation?  See Post of March 12, 2006, ("Catergories", "Global Warming", right-hand side of this page) wherein I point out an example of how the mainstream media constantly--and slantedly-- paints the vision of catastrophe being right around the corner.   And of course it's all "our" (humans') fault.

     By the way, kudos to NPR for in this story covering the global-warming issue fairly evenhandedly.

SLUDGE BAN ABOUT TO PASS IN KERN COUNTY

     Yesterday's LA Times reports that Kern County voters are about to pass an initiative banning the landfilling of processed human waste.

     Apparently, Los Angeles County and other jurisdictions around California send a lot of processed human waste to Kern County; and health and aesthetic concerns have reached the boiling point.  In the event the land-ban (Measure E, also known as "Keep Kern Clean") passes, jurisdictions dumping the waste may have to go as far as Arizona to find a receptive landfill.  For the City of Los Angeles, according to the article, this change will increase dumping costs from $7 million annually instead to possibly $21 million annually.

     Opponents of Measure E also point out that the landfilling pumps $8 million annually into Kern County wages and purchases.  Nonetheless, per the Times, Measure E is certain to pass.

'GREEN" DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN ETHICALLY CLEAN

     The NEW YORK POST reports today that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's appointment to chair the UN Environmental Program has come under suspicion:

Kofi Annan came under fire yesterday for his role in giving a prestigious post to a man who had sat on a panel that awarded the U.N. secretary-general a prize worth $500,000.

Members of Congress and other critics pushing to clean up the United Nations have raised sharp questions over the still-murky circumstances that led to the appointment of Achim Steiner of Germany to head the U.N. Environmental Program.

Steiner, a well-known international activist who headed the World Conservation Union, was a judge on a panel that awarded Annan the $500,000 Zayed Prize for Global Environmental Leadership, sponsored by the United Arab Emirates.

The prize was awarded last December.

Less than a month later, Steiner's name was included on a short list of candidates for the U.N. environmental job, and his appointment was made official on March 15.

     Of course, it is important to remember that Mr. Anna's appointment of Mr. Steiner has not been shown to involve a quid pro quo or other illegal/unethical favoritism--all that is at issue right now are allegations and suspicions.  The Post story does, however, serve as a useful reminder that nice-sounding names like "UN" and "environmental" don't necessarily mean that people with those titles are immune from the basic laws of cronyism and avarice that so often are alleged to affect the business community.

     I often wonder why some people think that, by taking somewhat decentralized power away from private hands and placing that power into centralized public hands, greater fairness is achieved.  In fact, such transfers may only succeed in placing greater power in the hands of people with nice-sounding titles but who are in positions to do more damage than could ever be done by their private-industry counterparts.