THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWSThursday, 29 July, 2010

Other Environment News

Telegraph (UK): BP oil spill in Gulf of Mexico disperses quicker than was feared Guardian (UK): BP petrol stations have pumps closed by Greenpeace activists New York Times (US): Another Oil Leak Hits Gulf of Mexico AFP: US hit by new oil spill AP: EPA: 1M gallons of oil may be in Mich. River Reuters: Water cut to north China city after chemical spill BBC: Plankton decline across oceans as waters warm Guardian (UK): Global warming pushes 2010 temperatures to record highs Reuters: Indonesian Sinar Mas-linked firms wrecked forest: report

Environmental News from the UNEP Regions

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UNEP and the Executive Director in the News

UNEP and the Executive Director in the News

Reuters: UN Environment Programme Chief congratulates Plastiki crew on boat's arrival in Australia

ISRIA: UN environment chief lauds marine adventurers as they end anti-pollution voyage Nine to Five (Australia): Plastiki adventurer David De Rothschild to speak in Sydney The City Fix (Blog): Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo Exposes Challenges for China’s Cities Care 2 (Blog): Monstrous Waste: Citizens Unite to Ban Plastic Bags in California The Ecologist (UK): What is a sustainable lifestyle? Green Prophet (Middle East): Will AFED’s Documentary “Wet And Dry” Catalyze Arab

Environmental Action? CSR Digest (Malaysia): Guess what we saw at Yves Rocher Subang Parade? YES (Blog): 2010 a Tipping Point for Renewable Energy El Periodico (Spain): Cartas de los lectores Il Giornale (Italy): Ahmadinejad ha fatto il nido al Palazzo di vetro

Reuters: UN Environment Programme Chief congratulates Plastiki crew on boat's arrival in Australia

28 July 2010

I would like to express my admiration and communicate my congratulations to David de Rothschild and the courageous crew of Plastiki for their epic, around 8,000 nautical mile voyage across the Pacific Ocean. David, you and your shipmates have achieved not only a journey but a milestone in terms of raising global awareness of human-kind's increasingly serious impact on the marine environment. Through the novel and inspiring design of Plastiki-with its innovative use of recycled materials- to the informative, daily blogs and tremendous media coverage, you have engaged the heads but also the hearts of millions upon millions of people. The message- indeed the multiple metaphorical messages contained in the 12, 500 plastic bottles used as buoyancy- is simple. If collectively we carry on using the seas and oceans as a dustbin, human-beings will soon have turned the once beautiful and bountiful marine environment from a crucial life-support system into a lifeless one. UNEP has, at the requests of governments, been chronicling and compiling accelerating change and degradation. More than 13,000 pieces of plastic litter are now floating on every square kilometre of the world's oceans Some 8 million items of marine litter are thought to enter the oceans and seas every day, about 5 million (63 percent) of which are solid waste thrown overboard or lost from ships 100,000 turtles and marine mammals, such as dolphins, whales and seals, are killed by plastic marine litter every year around the world Over two billion tones of wastewater, a cocktail of sewage, heavy metals, fertilizer, pesticides and other pollutants, are discharged into rivers, estuaries and coastal waters annually An estimated 200 temporary or permanent de-oxygenated 'dead zones' now exist in the world's seas and oceans as a result Three quarters of marine fisheries are exploited up to, or beyond their maximum capacity About one fifth of all coastal mangroves-natural sea defenses and fish nurseries-have been lost since the 1980s Climate change is beginning to acidify the seas with real threats to shellfisheries, coral reefs and the food chain

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ISRIA: UN environment chief lauds marine adventurers as they end anti-pollution voyage

29 July 2010

The head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner, has congratulated the adventurer David de Rothschild and his crew for completing a voyage

across the Pacific Ocean in a boat fashioned from recycled plastic bottles to raise awareness about pollution of the seas.

The boat, named the Plastiki, was constructed from 12,500 recycled plastic bottles. It reached Sydney Harbour in Australia yesterday after a four-month voyage that started from the United States city of San Francisco in March.

“David, you and your shipmates have achieved not only a journey but a milestone in terms of raising global awareness of human-kind's increasingly serious impact on the marine environment,” Mr. Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director, told Mr. de Rothschild by video link from UNEP headquarters in Nairobi.

“Through the novel and inspiring design of Plastiki – with its innovative use of recycled materials – to the informative, daily blogs and tremendous media coverage, you have engaged the heads but also the hearts of millions upon millions of people,” Mr. Steiner said.

“If collectively we carry on using the seas and oceans as a dustbin, human beings will soon have turned the once beautiful and bountiful marine environment from a crucial life-support system into a lifeless one,” he added.

According to UNEP, more than 13,000 pieces of plastic litter are now floating on every square kilometre of the world’s oceans and some 8 million items of marine litter are thought to enter the oceans and seas every day, about 5 million (63 per cent) of which are solid waste thrown overboard or lost from ships.

An estimated 100,000 turtles and marine mammals, such as dolphins, whales and seals, are killed by plastic marine litter every year around the world, according to the agency.

UNEP research has also shown that more than 2 billion tons of wastewater – a cocktail of sewage, heavy metals, fertilizer, pesticides and other pollutants – are discharged into rivers, estuaries and coastal waters each year. Climate change is also beginning to acidify the seas with real threats to shellfisheries, coral reefs and the food chain.

“If society can begin to turn the tide [of sea pollution] in 2010 and beyond, then I am sure that David and the Plastiki crew will have played their part in helping humanity to chart a new and transformational course towards the low carbon, resource efficient green economy so urgently needed,” Mr. Steiner added.

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Nine to Five (Australia): Plastiki adventurer David De Rothschild to speak in Sydney

28 July 2010

UK-based environmentalist David de Rothschild will speak about his groundbreaking expedition on a vessel made from plastic at the University of Sydney on Thursday (July 29).

David de Rothschild is the founder of Adventure Ecology and a modern-day environmentalist who seeks to raise awareness of the human impact on the environment, whilst driving innovative real-world solutions.

In his Sydney Ideas lecture, co-presented with the University‚s Institute for Sustainable Solutions, de Rothschild will discuss his four-month journey from San Francisco to Sydney on board The Plastiki, an 18-metre vessel created from 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles.

„It‚s about re-thinking waste as a resource,‰ said de Rothschild, who will also address the impact of pollution on the ocean. „We need to move on from just articulating the problem and actually inspire action for solutions.‰

David de Rothschild conceived the idea for the voyage after reading a report issued by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) called „Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas.‰ He was also part inspired by Thor Heyerdahl‚s epic 1947 expedition, The Kon-Tiki, which questioned the treatment of waste materials.

„The expedition is not only influenced by the Œcradle-to-cradle‚ design but also brought together a team from various fields to create The Plastiki as a truly unique vessel,‰ de Rothschild said.

The Plastiki is engineered almost entirely from plastic bottles, which provide 68 per cent of the vessel‚s buoyancy. The sail is hand-made from recycled PET cloth and the mast is created from aluminium irrigation pipe.

De Rothschild argues waste, principally plastic, can be transformed into a valuable resource, which can help lesson the human footprint on the natural world. „Almost all of the marine pollution in the world is comprised of plastic materials,‰ remarks Rothschild. „Scientists estimate that every year at least one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die when they entangle themselves in plastic pollution or ingest it.‰

David de Rothschild is a UK-based environmentalist and the author of “The Global Warming Survival Handbook”, “The Boy, the Girl and The Tree” and is the editor of Dorling Kindersley‚s “Earth Matters”. In 2006, he spent more than 100 days crossing the Arctic and became the youngest British person to reach both geographical poles. He has been named as a National Geographic Society ŒEmerging Explorer‚, the World Economic Forum ŒYoung Global Leader‚ and a UNEP ŒClimate Hero‚.

Also appeared in: North Side (Australia), Central News Magazine (Australia), The Mosman Daily (Australia), North Shore Times (Australia), Wentworth Courrier (Australia)

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The City Fix (Blog): Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo Exposes Challenges for China’s Cities

27 July 2010

Cities in China are “becoming ever less habitable,” and their future will depend on an “urban awakening” that includes the Chinese government’s support of public participation in urban planning and decision-making, says Zhang Song, a professor at Tongji University’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning, in a two-part interview on chinadialogue.

China is a country of superlatives. It has the world’s fastest train. It uses the most energy. It even has the world’s highest cocktail bar. It’s no wonder, then, that Chinese cities are now feeling the burden of having to deal with astronomical rates of sprawl, motorization and population growth.

ALL SHOW, NO SUBSTANCE?

The “Better City, Better Life” theme of the 2010 World Expo (another superlative: the biggest world’s fair) seems to signal an urban sustainability future for China. Indeed, many of the pavilions on display (here are some pictures of the coolest ones) use modern and environmentally conscious design elements, like energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, recycled building materials, and a “green wall” (another world’s largest.)

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report last August to assess Shanghai’s efforts in nine key areas: air quality, transport, energy, solid waste, water, green coverage, protected areas, climate neutrality and the overall situation of the Expo Site. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said: “The Shanghai Expo…is offering us a glimpse of a greener future.”

But only a glimpse. The UNEP report applauds many of the city’s efforts, but also outlines several key areas for improvement. This includes developing renewable energy sectors to move away from coal-powered electricity, promoting public transportation, reducing waste, cleaning up rivers, and encouraging public participation from NGOs and “green citizenship.”

Some critics have flat-out accused the Expo for being “insultingly hypocritical,” for being organized more like a utopian theme park than a true testament to sustainability. There are 192 countries and 50 organizations involved in the massive construction of pavilions, many of which won’t have any lasting benefit to the city.

Richard Brubaker, an expert on environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility, was quoted by NPR as saying, “the Expo, by its nature, is the very opposite of sustainable development,” and in a separate email to TheCityFix, he adds an important caveat: “If you are ONLY focused on the buildings.  There are a number of very sustainable elements that exist, and this Expo will be the only site where up to 600,000 people will be sustained for 6 months in a sustainably designed site.” (Read more about why Brubaker thinks “this Expo should be given some green credits” on his blog, Cleaner Greener China.)

Nonetheless, the Expo does reveal China’s market-led mentality of rebuilding, rather than restoring or preserving, for the sake of maximum profit, as Zhang points out in his chinadialogue interview. “The Expo has many showy buildings,” he says, “but it doesn’t seem like any of them will become classics.”

Part of problem, Zhang says, is that many of the old factory space that used to be on the Expo site was demolished. “If that had been made full use of, perhaps things would have been simpler, or have better embodied environmental principles.”

TOWARDS AN URBAN AWAKENING

To fight its “urban disease,” China needs to focus more on human society, Zhang says. He outlines several recommendations, paraphrased below:

Preserve, don’t destroy: “Protecting and changing the use of old buildings is better for the environment and saves resources and energy – and also touches on hidden issues such as social structure.”

Be narrow-minded, at least when it comes to roads: “The marker of liveability for a city is its human scale…In Shanghai’s [major financial district], the roads are too big, the huge buildings leave people feeling alienated, the space is badly organised and living and travelling are extremely inconvenient.”

Think green: “You need to remember that greenery and landscaping aren’t just to look nice, they actually improve the ecological environment.”

Don’t be a copycat: “There is a misconception that bigger cities are better cities. But it isn’t a question of size, it’s a question of comfort, efficiency, environmental quality, liveability and, in particular, suitability for different types of people to flourish. The government needs to recognise the nature of cities, rather than treat them as a source of prestige or as a copy of other urban centres like New York”

Involve the public: “Urban planning is a social activity that citizens can get involved in….The future of the Chinese city depends on the citizens waking up, not just a few officials.“

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Care 2 (Blog): Monstrous Waste: Citizens Unite to Ban Plastic Bags in California

28 July 2010

Assembly Bill 1998 goes to the California State Senate in mid-August; if passed, the bill will outlaw plastic bags at large retail outlets throughout the state. Passage would be a major victory for environmentalists and the planet, and hopefully would set the trend for other states to follow.  

TAKE ACTION: NO MORE PLASTIC BAG POLLUTION!

What harm can a little plastic bag do?  A lot. Californians dispose of 19 billion plastic bags a year. Those bags don't dissolve into air…they end up in landfills and, even worse, in the ocean, where many become part of the swirling mass of plastic garbage known as the Pacific Garbage patch. The 'patch' is the size of Texas, a swirling vortex of plastic and other waste that persists in the ocean and in some patches now outweighs

the plankton in the water by a ratio of 6:1.

According to Greenpeace, about 10% of the 100 million tons of plastic produced each year ends up in the ocean; while about 20% of this waste comes from ships and platforms, the rest is from land. The durable plastic does not degrade, but accumulates; the UN Environmental Program reports that plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year. UNEP has called for a global ban on plastic bags; Mexico City and other countries and municipalities around the world have nixed them, and China banned free plastic shopping bags in 2008.

Plastic bags are often used for mere minutes, but they persist in the environment for centuries. Those "free" bags cost us a lot: they are derived from costly and finite petroleum; they kill wildlife, and they clog our landfills. The City of San Francisco, before passing a ban on plastic bags in retail outlets in 2007, estimated that the city spent 17 cents per bag to clean up, recycle or landfill plastic bags. Recycling is not the answer; Californians recycle only 5% of plastic bags currently; recycling them is costly and difficult. 

Californians have been agitating to get rid of plastic bags for years.  One particularly creative anti-bag campaign is carried out by the BagMonster. Created by the inventor of a brand of reusable bag, BagMonsters are volunteers in costumes made of 500 plastic bags, representing the 500 bags that Americans use on average every year. BagMonsters turn up at rallies, farmers markets and other green events, wafting along, covered in 15 pounds of plastic baggery, a visible and visceral demonstration of an expensive waste that could so easily be avoided.

Sometimes making the best sustainable, green decision is a tough choice, but living without mountains of single-use plastic bags? I think we can do this!

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The Ecologist (UK): What is a sustainable lifestyle?

28 July 2010

Does GDP really correspond to happiness? Is our happiness tied up with ''stuff''? And what is a sustainable lifestyle? A UNEP video helps explain

Next to demands for international climate agreements and government targets for carbon emissions and biodiversity, the way we live our lives often gets lost or forgotten.

'The area of lifestyle choice has often been regarded as too subjective, too ideological, too value laden, or simply too intractable to be amenable to policy intervention,' argues Tim Jackson, author of 'prosperity without growth'.

The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) have produced a report and this video to look more closely at ideas about sustainable living from around the world and how more of us could achieve them.

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Green Prophet (Middle East): Will AFED’s Documentary “Wet And Dry” Catalyze Arab Environmental Action?

28 July 2010

Even as they sound an important climate change alarm for Middle Eastern viewers, AFED’s endorsement of MASDAR and KAUST deserves its own alarm.

At Green Prophet, we have lamented environmental inaction in the Middle East for a long time. Ridiculous artificial island schemes and dying rivers, such as the Jordan, are only 2 examples from a long list that both reveal and threaten the region’s stability. The Middle East does not spew the kind of emissions seen in the United States, China, or India, but many countries in the region are blinded by fossil fuel wealth, which obscures the attendant environmental decay. The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) released a powerful 12 minute documentary that finally sounds the alarm.

The wave of the future: higher temperatures and higher seas

Called Wet and Dry, the documentary launches deep into the crux of climate change: the potential that human activities could lead to a 5 degree Celsius temperature increase by 2100 and a sea level increase of 59cm, according to statistics published by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

A “1m rise [in sea levels] will directly affect 3 – 4% of the population in Arab countries,” according to Dr. Mostafa Kamal Tolba, the former Executive Director for the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), and overwhelm an area 4 x the size of Lebanon.

Despite these pressing issues, the narrator draws attention to the irony that while the Maldives is moving their population in land, to prepare for future sea level increases, in the Middle East, Arab countries are “racing to build artificial islands.”

The nightmare scenario

Najib Saab, AFED’s Secretary General, narrates the importance of fresh water, which will become increasingly scarce, and food production, which is expected to drop by 50% if new crops are not introduced.

Infectious diseases will increase. Malaria will spread.  And there will be more cases of dyspnea and sun stroke as temperatures continue to rise.

All of these statistics and images generate a frightening momentum for even the most dissident viewer, and then culminates in the typical bottom line for all economies in the throes of globalization: money.

Economics – the bottom line

“Tourism is one sector of the economy highly vulnerable to climate change,” according to Saab. Rising temperatures will make many Middle Eastern destinations unbearably hot, subject to extreme weather and scarce water supplies, as well as ecosystem degradation. As such, tourism should push for inland activities centered more on culture and entertainment.

Biodiversity is addressed as well, noting that after only a 2 degree rise in temperatures, 40% of species are already likely to become extinct. Another serious issue is land use and urban planning regulations.

“Choices for construction materials used for buildings and roads do not take into account the risk of rising temperatures,” according to Professor Hamed Assaf from the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, AUB. As a result, “75% of buildings, roads, and other infrastructure could be destroyed as climate change continues to morph our planet.

Is there an upside?

There is if governments take the hint and introduce serious measures to at least keep temperatures from surpassing a 2 degree increase. And they should ditch short-term thinking in favor of long-term planning.

Wet and Dry draws attention to the absence of concerted research, which is good, as well as programs such as MASDAR and KAUST as anecdotes – not good. Both MASDAR and KAUST are flashy efforts to maintain the status quo, a cultural model that has to be reigned in if our quality of life is ever to be restored.

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CSR Digest (Malaysia): Guess what we saw at Yves Rocher Subang Parade?

29 July 2010

In conjuction with its 50th anniversary, Yves Rocher has pledged to one million of the proposed one billion trees under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) initiative, “Plant for the Planet: Billion Trees Campaign”.

According to its statement:

When the Yves Rocher Brand celebrates its 50th anniversary, this is the Planet which is celebrated. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, to never forget what we owe to nature, to restore and preserve biodiversity, the Yves Rocher Brand is committed in planting 50 million trees across the globe over the next 5 years.

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YES (Blog): 2010 a Tipping Point for Renewable Energy

28 July 2010

100 days into the BP disaster, it's time to quit claiming that an economy based on fossil fuels is our only option.

It’s been a tough summer for the oil industry—or so you’d think.

BP’s geyser of oil has now made headlines for 100 days, each one a reminder that oil extraction poses dangers we can’t control.

Even with the temporary cap on the well providing a respite from new oil, there’s been little time for the industry to breathe a sigh of relief, much less burnish its image: A second well, even closer to shore, ruptured after being struck by a barge and began spilling more oil into the Gulf. In Michigan, 800,000 gallons of oil poured into the Kalamazoo River from a broken pipeline. In China, an explosion at an oil terminal caused a massive fire that took 15 hours and 2,000 firefighters to extinguish, as well as a nearly 300-mile large spill of thick crude oil, one of the worst in that country’s history.

And in the Arctic, May and June broke records for the fastest ice melt of any summer since recording began.

The truth is that there not only is an alternative to oil dependence, it’s already being built.

But even with the dangers of oil so clearly and horrifyingly illustrated, this summer is unlikely to end with any major constraints on the oil industry in the U.S.—the main responses will likely be a temporary moratorium on new offshore wells (not offshore drilling itself) and a stripped-down energy bill that tries to hold BP accountable for the costs of its spill.

Why? Why can't we muster the political will for a real response—one that would help us avoid future disasters by breaking our dependence on fossil fuels? Because of the belief, strongly held even in the midst of our shock and outrage, that there is no alternative to our current oil-based society, dangerous though we must all now recognize it to be.

A new UN-backed study of renewable energy worldwide declared that the world has reached a “clear tipping point” for green power. In Europe and the U.S., renewable energy grew faster than fossil fuel energy in 2009—for the second year in a row.  Sixty percent of new electricity generation in Europe and more than half of new energy in the U.S. came from renewable sources. China built more than 37 gigawatts of renewable power generation capacity, more than any other country.

“If this trend continues,” the report notes, “then 2010 or 2011 could be the first year that new capacity added in low-carbon power exceeds that in fossil-fuel stations" on a global basis.

The report also found that more than 100 countries, half of them in the developing world, now have policies to promote renewable energy.

Achim Steiner, the UN’s undersecretary general, noted that there is “a serious gap between the ambition and the science in terms of where the world needs to be in 2020 to

avoid dangerous climate change. But [this research shows that] this gap is not unbridgeable."

"Indeed," he said, "renewable energy is consistently and persistently bucking the trends and can play its part in realizing a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy if government policy sends ever harder market signals to investors.”

That’s a big "if," considering the failure of the U.S. Congress to turn this summer’s oil disasters into strong climate legislation. But at least now, neither industry nor government can continue to claim that an economy based on fossil fuels is our only option. 

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El Periodico (Spain): Cartas de los lectores

29 July 2010

Siendo congruentes con la prohibición de los toros en Catalunya, habría que prohibir también los correbous, la matanza del cerdo, la caza, la pesca, cerrar los zoos, acabar con la comercialización del fuagrás y vetar las langostas, las almejas, los filetes de ternera, los mejillones, el lechón y el corderito lechal. También es curioso que se dé libertad de voto a sus señorías para votar el asunto de los toros y no para el aborto. Parece ser que los seres humanos importan mucho menos. ¡Cuánta hipocresía!

Sociedad adocenadaEugeni del CastellSant Andreu de Llavaneres

La polémica en torno a la abolición de los toros es el paradigma de la sociedad catalana actual, una sociedad adocenada, acrítica, manipulada por una mesocracia inepta, demagógica y populista. Así nos va.

Reses bravas libresJuan Diego EscartínUtrecht (Holanda)

El toro bravo ha existido en todo el continente europeo desde hace siglos. Hoy en día, solo hay toros donde se celebran corridas: España, Portugal y el sur de Francia. En el resto de Europa fue erradicado por ser un animal peligroso y económicamente improductivo. Tras la prohibición en Catalunya, ¿qué vamos a hacer con esa masa de reses bravas que ocupan nuestros campos? Los dueños de las ganaderías querrán ganarse el pan de otra manera. Me temo que con la desaparición de las corridas haremos desaparecer también al toro.

Se acabó la torturaMarc CortalBarcelona

Siempre he optado por el voto útil en Catalunya, pero los dos grandes partidos catalanes me decepcionaron ayer profundamente al dejar una cuestión tan importante como la prohibición de la tortura de los toros al libre albedrío de cada diputado. En cambio, felicito a los partidos pequeños, que han demostrado su responsabilidad y coherencia al votar a favor del fin de las corridas.

Para mí, sería una verdadera animalada votar por un president que no está en contra de estas torturas. Ahora solo falta acabar con esta vergüenza de tener que esperar aún hasta enero del 2012 para que se acaben estas carnicerías en público.

Más paradosMontse G. P.Barcelona

Vaya por delante que soy catalana y que no me gustan los toros, lo cual soluciono no acudiendo a ninguna corrida, pero ¿y a los que si les gustan? ¿Qué harán? Pues fastidiarse, igual que los fumadores y tantas otras personas que se ven rodeadas de prohibiciones. Eso sí, ahora se sumarán al paro los ganaderos, toreros, banderilleros y la inmensa mayoría de gente que vive de los toros bravos, animales que toda la vida se han criado en España.

Por esta regla de tres, también tendrían que cerrar los mataderos donde sacrifican los animales que luego nos comemos. Con la cantidad de cosas urgentes que tenemos por arreglar en Catalunya (sanidad, educación, delincuencia, paro...), nuestros gobernantes se dedican a estos temas, que no hacen más que atraer más antipatías por una comunidad que no es como los políticos insisten en demostrar que es.

IMPUESTOS MUNICIPALESAumento desmedidoFernando Delgado LópezSanta Perpètua de Mogoda

El gobierno municipal de Santa Perpètua de Mogoda (PSC, ERC y CiU) ha cambiado la gestión de los tributos a través de la Diputación de Barcelona. Ya se ven las consecuencias para los contribuyentes: una denuncia por estacionar mal ha pasado de 48 a 200 euros. Y en tres años el IBI me lo han subido un 110%.

EL CUIDADO DEL MEDIOAMBIENTEEmpresas suciasJordi Serrano AlcarazEl Masnou

Hacía tiempo que no se daba una posición tan rotunda en un organismo de la ONU: el director ejecutivo del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA), Achim Steiner, acusa a las grandes empresas de explotar los recursos naturales de manera desenfrenada, sin protección de la naturaleza. Steiner añade que un porcentaje bajísimo de empresas se dedica a la conservación de los ecosistemas.

El informe del PNUMA se centra en las grandes compañías mundiales, aunque deberíamos preguntarnos qué hacen las empresas españolas por la naturaleza, y de

dónde y cómo extraen los recursos que luego transforman. Deberíamos plantearnos también si las administraciones deberían incentivar y bonificar a las empresas más limpias.

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Il Giornale (Italy): Ahmadinejad ha fatto il nido al Palazzo di vetro

29 July 2010

Dell’Onu, dei suoi paradossi, abbiamo già volte tentato di ridere per non piangere, e tuttavia non si può fare a meno di soffrire: nata per preservare il mondo da dittature, persecuzioni, guerre è divenuta spesso la più ipocrita e aggressiva cassa di risonanza antioccidentale e antidemocratica. Causa ne sono le maggioranze automatiche cosiddette “non allineate” e islamiste. Adesso a misurare in maniera intelligente e particolare il danno ci aiuta la giornalista Claudia Rossett su Forbes, e lo diciamo per non derubarla del difficile computo da lei operato sulla presenza dell’Iran dentro le istituzioni dell’Onu.È formidabile a dir poco quanto il Paese che oggi rappresenta una delle maggiori minacce per tutto il mondo con il suo programma atomico che procede, conformemente alla politica iraniana, contro Israele e la civiltà ebraico-cristiana; ormai colpito da quattro round di sanzioni obbligatorie del Consiglio di Sicurezza; macchina organizzatrice e ideologica di terrorismo internazionale; violatore senza remore di diritti umani… quanto questo Paese si sia insediato all’Onu in lungo e in largo. Ad aprile, dopo che avevamo rischiato di vederlo nel Consiglio per i Diritti Umani, l’Iran ripiega sulla Commissione per lo Status delle Donne. Questo, mentre escono via internet le immagini delle sue donne costrette in palandrane totali e sottoposte a regole di segregazione sotto la sorveglianza delle Guardie della Rivoluzione, o peggio mentre si diffondono immagini di fedifraghe fustigate, sottoposte a lapidazione, impiccate.Ma questo è solo un incipit: l’Iran è uno dei 36 membri della maggiore organizzazione Onu, l’Undp, programma per lo sviluppo. Lo ha presieduto l’anno scorso, e essere nel direttivo gli dà l’accesso anche al direttivo che governa l’Unfpa, il fondo per la popolazione, e l’Unifem, il fondo di sviluppo per le donne. I tre anni nel direttivo dell’Undp si concluderanno alla fine del 2010, ma l’Unifem dà diritto a far parte del direttivo dell’Unicef (che si occupa dell’infanzia) fino alla fine del 2011 e del Wfp (il programma per il cibo) fino al 2012.Altrettanto pervasiva la presenza iraniana nel settore delle armi, dello spazio, del crimine globale. Fino alla fine del 2012 infatti l’Iran di Ahmadinejad, che si pregia di una minaccia di sterminio al giorno, sarà vicepresidente del consiglio esecutivo dell’Opcw, l’organizzazione per le armi chimiche; inoltre, siederà in due commissioni dell’Unodc, l’ufficio Onu per la droga e il crimine, e la sub commissione di 20 membri della commissione per la Prevenzione del Crimine e la Giustizia Criminale, di cui fa parte dal 2009 per la durata di tre anni. Da questo aprile l’Iran è entrato per 4 anni nella commissione con base a Ginevra per la Scienza, la Tecnologia e lo sviluppo. L’Onu consta anche di un sub comitato legale del Copuos, Comitato per l’Uso Pacifico dello Spazio, ed esso è presieduto da Ahmad Talebzadeh dell’Iranian Space Agency. L’Iran siede anche nel consiglio dell’Unhcr (l’Agenzia per i rifugiati) e fa parte del comitato direttivo delle sue centrali di Nairobi. Manca alla nostra lista ancora l’Unep, il programmna per l’ambiente, e l’Un Habitat, il Programma per gli insediamenti umani.

Ahmadinejad è anche là. Dice la Rossett inoltre che il mandato dell’Iran alla Fao come presidente del consiglio direttivo è scaduto, ma ne è già prevista la candidatura per il periodo 2011-13 e intanto siede nella commissione finanze fino alla fine del 2011.Ahmadinejad, oltre a primeggiare in conferenze Onu come quella di Ginevra contro Israele detta “Durban 2”, dal 2005 ogni settembre, in occasione della inaugurazione annuale, è volato a New York per tenere un suo discorso: sempre ha lasciato gli ascoltatori senza fiato per la smodata aggressività anti occidentale e per la promessa ripetuta del genocidio degli ebrei. Possiamo dire che l’Iran si è impossessato del discorso pubblico internazionale e l’ha tutto quanto volto verso sé stesso: Ahmadinejad è il grande capo di un movimento mondiale, il suo comportamento ci dice se si mette bene o male per tutti. La forza diplomatica dell’Iran gli ha certo fatto da scudo simbolico contro le sanzioni votate dall’Onu stessa. Esse sono sempre state sbeffeggiate. Adesso l’Ue ha scelto a sua volta di adottare dure sanzioni che riguardano gli scambi commerciali, i servizi finanziari e l’energia. Solo un paio di settimane fa il Consiglio di sicurezza dell’Onu aveva adottato una quarta tornata di sanzioni, e l’Ue, pressata dagli Usa, l’ha battuta in severità. Lo shock sembra aver indotto Ahmadinejad a riproporre uno «scambio di carburante senza precondizioni». Sarà saggio guardare a questa proposta con scetticismo. L’Iran ha sempre usato i negoziati per guadagnare tempo: vuole raggiungere l’arma atomica prima che la pressione economica diventi intollerabile. Dunque l’Europa deve tener fede alla sua intenzione: l’Iran deve essere bloccato. Anche per l’Onu è venuto il tempo dell’intransigenza: date le sanzioni del Consiglio di Sicurezza, sarebbe logico anche in uno stop alla nidificazione in tutti gli angoli del Palazzo di Vetro.

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Other Environment News

Telegraph (UK): BP oil spill in Gulf of Mexico disperses quicker than was feared

28 July 2010

The Gulf of Mexico slick is disappearing far more quickly than expected, leaving clean-up workers struggling to find oil to remove.

Two weeks after BP finally managed to plug a hole that had leaked 200 million gallons of crude oil, officials said the pollutants were dispersing and evaporating.

Adm Thad Allen, the national incident commander, said: "It's becoming a very elusive bunch of oil for us to find."

Local communities have begun asking if fishermen who are being paid to help with the clean-up will soon be out of pocket.

By some estimates, up to 40 per cent of the oil may have evaporated as soon as it reached the surface.

Experts said that warm surface water and weeks of sunlight had broken up the crude, along with strong winds and waves during storms last week.

The Gulf's waters also contain bacteria that have always degraded oil that seeps naturally from the ocean floor.

Since the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig, the effort by the US government and BP, which involved 4,000 boats and an army of workers skimming, scooping and burning the oil, has also played a significant part in shrinking the slick.

Early on in the crisis, fishing was suspended in about a third of the Gulf, while there was extensive damage to wildlife. The tourism industry was hit as holiday-makers stayed away, with a fifth of the 253 beaches in four affected states were subject to closure or health warnings.

Officials remain wary about the effects of the 86-day leak, partly because the damage to the ecosystem below the surface is not yet fully understood.

"Less oil on the surface does not mean that there isn't oil beneath the surface, however, or that our beaches and marshes are not still at risk," said Jane Lubchenco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Louisiana politicians are concerned that even when shrimp, oysters and fish have been declared safe the industry could suffer from negative publicity.

"It's a matter of making everyone realise that our fish and shrimp are edible," said Louisiana Congressman Charlie Melancon.

At its peak, the leak tested relations between Washington and the Government as President Barack Obama made hostile remarks which were seen as detrimental to BP's share price. He then persuaded the company to set up a $20 billion escrow account to deal with claims from the public.

A US Senate panel meanwhile postponed a hearing due to be held today on BP's alleged role in the Lockerbie bomber's release after British and Scottish officials including Jack Straw, the former Foreign Secretary, and Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, refused to appear.

Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive who will be stepping down in October, also declined to accept the invitation from the Senate foreign relations committee.

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Guardian (UK): BP petrol stations have pumps closed by Greenpeace activists

27 July 2010

Protesters shut down 46 outlets to highlight environmental promises made by oil giant

BP petrol stations across central London were temporarily shut down by activists today in a move they said was designed to make the troubled oil company adopt greener policies.

Greenpeace claimed supporters had at one time stopped the pumps at 46 outlets by stealing parts of safety switches in forecourts – action the company said was "childish and irresponsible".

The protests, coinciding with the replacement of BP chief Tony Hayward by Bob Dudley, was meant to encouraged the public to help speed-up the end of the oil age.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said: "The moment has come for BP to move beyond oil. Under Tony Hayward the company went backwards, squeezing the last drops of oil from places like the Gulf of Mexico, the tar sands of Canada and even the fragile Arctic wilderness ... They're desperate for us to believe they're going 'beyond petroleum'. Well now's the time to prove it."

About 50 protesters were involved in the action today, including three teams of 12 who moved between BP sites attempting to remove pieces of safety equipment which they intended to return later.

Greenpeace said it had been unable to halt the flow at a handful of stations and some had got services back on line quickly because of back-up equipment. The action is not thought to have led to any arrests by police, whom a Greenpeace spokesman described as "relatively friendly and reasonable".

But BP said the protesters had interfered with safety systems that allowed emergency services to switch off power to the pumps. "To interfere with them is just childish and irresponsible," a spokesman said.

The company believed up to 30 stations had been affected.

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New York Times (US): Another Oil Leak Hits Gulf of Mexico

27 July 2010

A wellhead in southeastern Louisiana was spewing a mist of oil and gas up to 100 feet into the air after being hit by a tug boat early Tuesday morning, officials said. It is at least the third unrelated oil leak in the area since the Deepwater Horizon spill began 99 days earlier.

The well is about 65 miles south of New Orleans in Barataria Bay, which is surrounded by wildlife-rich wetlands and was a fertile area for fishermen, shrimpers and oystermen before the BP spill. By Tuesday afternoon, a reddish brown sheen 50 yards by one mile long was spotted near the well, according to a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said the well was owned by Cedyco, a company based in Houston.

The wellhead burst at 1 a.m. local time Tuesday after being hit by a tug boat, the Pere Ana C, that was pushing a dredge barge, Captain Buford Berry, though details were still being investigated.

A cleanup crew from a company in nearby Houma that was already involved in the Deepwater Horizon spill response was sent to the area. A Coast Guard strike force team was also sent.

About 6,000 feet of boom was placed around the spill, and the Coast Guard was surveying the scene from the air.

The Coast Guard said it would use the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, financed by a tax on oil companies, to pay for the response.

No specific flow rate has been determined, officials said.

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AFP: US hit by new oil spill

29 July 2010

A new oil spill is sullying US waters in the northern state of Michigan after a pipeline leak sent more than a million gallons of crude into a river tributary, officials said Wednesday.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the spill began Monday when a 30-inch (76-centimeter) pipe in Marshall, Michigan burst, spewing the crude into Talmadge Creek, a waterway which feeds into the Kalamazoo River.

Officials said the pipeline belongs to the Canadian company Enbridge Inc.

The agency said it is directing and monitoring all aspects of oil spill clean-up and containment efforts over 30 miles (48 kilometers) of the Kalamazoo River, including marshlands, residential areas, farmland, and businesses.

"This is a serious spill that has the potential to damage a vital waterway and threatens public health," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

"Staff from EPA's regional and headquarters office are on the scene and ensuring the leaked oil is contained and cleaned up as quickly and effectively as possible."

On Tuesday, the environmental agency requested that the US Coast Guard make two million dollars available for the federal response to the spill, and said the money eventually will be reimbursed by Enbridge.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm however criticized both EPA and Enbridge Wednesday for what she described as a slow response so far.

"The situation is very, very serious," Granholm said in a conference call with the news media, adding that oil could reach Lake Michigan if more intensive containment measures are not put in place.

The Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge said in a statement that it views the incident "very seriously."

"We're treating this situation as a top priority," the company statement said.

"We are committed to thoroughly cleaning up the site as quickly as possible. The safety of people and the protection of the environment are our highest priorities during the clean-up."

Enbridge said that the faulty pipeline has been shut down and isolation valves closed, stopping the flow of oil.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the leak, it added.

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AP: EPA: 1M gallons of oil may be in Mich. river

29 July 2010

Federal officials now estimate that more than 1 million gallons of oil may have spilled into a major river in southern Michigan, and the governor is sharply criticizing clean-up efforts as "wholly inadequate."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the update Wednesday night, shortly after Gov. Jennifer Granholm lambasted attempts to contain the oil flowing down the Kalamazoo River. She warned of a "tragedy of historic proportions" if the oil reaches Lake Michigan, which is still at least 80 miles downstream from where oil has been seen.

Granholm called on the federal government for more help, saying resources being marshaled by the EPA and Enbridge Inc., which owns the pipeline that leaked the oil, were "wholly inadequate."

Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge said earlier Wednesday that it had redoubled its efforts to clean up the mess. Chief executive Patrick D. Daniel said the company had made "significant progress," though he had no update on a possible cause, cost or timeframe for the cleanup. The company didn't return messages for comment after Granholm's statements.

The overall work force on the spill Wednesday was likely more than 400 people.

EPA officials said they're ramping up efforts with air and water testing. Local officials said they weren't concerned about municipal water supplies.

Tom Sands, deputy state director for emergency management and homeland security, said during a conference call with Granholm that he had seen oil past a dam at Morrow Lake. The lake is a key point in the river near a Superfund site upstream of Kalamazoo, the largest city in the region.

But his report could not be immediately confirmed. The company's latest update statement Wednesday said oil was about seven miles short of the opening to Morrow Lake. A press conference scheduled for late Wednesday, which was to include company and EPA officials, was canceled for what a company spokesman called scheduling conflicts.

State and company officials previously said they didn't believe the oil would spread past that dam.

"It's going to hit a Superfund site unless somebody like the EPA and the company get very serious about providing significant additional resources," Granholm said.

The spill has killed fish and coated wildlife as it made its way westward about 35 miles downstream past Battle Creek, a city of 52,000 residents about 110 miles west of Detroit.

Both company and EPA officials have said oil is no longer leaking.

Enbridge has been working to clean up the spill since the leak was reported early Monday.

Before the EPA announced its new estimate, Enbridge reiterated its belief that about 819,000 gallons of oil spilled into Talmadge Creek, which flows into the Kalamazoo River. State officials said they were told during a company briefing Tuesday that about 877,000 gallons spilled, but company officials disputed the number.

An 800,000 gallon spill would be enough to fill 1-gallon jugs lined side by side for nearly 70 miles. It also could fill a wall-in football field including the end zones with a 14-foot-high pool of oil.

Granholm has declared a state of disaster for some areas along the river, and President Barack Obama called Granholm to offer federal support.

An oily reflective sheen could be seen in patches along the Kalamazoo, and the affected area still had a strong odor, although not as strong as on Tuesday.

Anil Kulkarni, a mechanical engineering professor at Penn State University, said a quick response was vital to the river's ecology. Snails, frogs, muskrats and even birds eat, live and nest on or near the riverbank.

"The river banks are nearby. It has more potential to inflict damage because of the proximity to land. Anything that comes in contact with oil is going to be affected badly. It prevents the natural life of species, whether it's collecting food or anything else."

Enbridge affiliates have previously been cited for skirting environmental regulations in the Great Lakes region.

Houston-based Enbridge Energy Co. spilled almost 19,000 gallons of crude oil onto Wisconsin's Nemadji River in 2003. Another 189,000 gallons of oil spilled at the company's terminal two miles from Lake Superior, though most was contained.

In 2007, two spills released about 200,000 gallons of crude in northern Wisconsin as Enbridge was expanding a 320-mile pipeline. The company also was accused of violating Wisconsin permits designed to protect water quality during work in and around wetlands, rivers and streams, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said. The violations came during construction of a 321-mile, $2 billion oil pipeline across that state. Enbridge agreed to pay $1.1 million in 2009.

The Michigan leak came from a 30-inch pipeline, which was built in 1969 and carries about 8 million gallons of oil daily from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario.

The river already faced major pollution issues. An 80-mile segment of the river that begins at Morrow Lake and five miles of a tributary, Portage Creek, have unsafe levels of PCBs and were placed on the federal Superfund list of high-priority hazardous waste sites in 1990. The Kalamazoo site also includes four landfills and several defunct paper mills.

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Reuters: Water cut to north China city after chemical spill

29 July 2010

Water supplies were cut in parts of the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin on Thursday, after a flood washed thousands of barrels of a dangerous chemical from a factory into the area's main river, state media said.

After the accident tap water supplies were stopped in Jilin, the official Xinhua agency said, though residents reached by telephone on Thursday morning said water had been restored to some districts.

Local officials said it was merely an unexpected technical suspension unrelated to the accident, but by Thursday afternoon supplies had not resumed.

Downstream in Harbin city -- where the barrels could arrive in the next day if they are not picked up first -- "panicked residents" were buying up bottled water, even as the government assured people water supplies were uncontaminated, Xinhua added.

"No chemicals had been detected in the river water," it quoted environment ministry spokesman Tao Detian as saying.

In Jilin a "small quantity" of two pollutants produced by the plant were found in the Songhua River, and a reporter smelt a strange odor as he watched dozens of the metal containers float through downtown, Xinhua said.

It was not clear how well the barrels were sealed. But the environmental protection ministry said late on Wednesday that tests showed nothing abnormal about the water quality. It would monitor the river closely, it added in a statement.

Jilin city suffered a major chemical spill in November 2005, when an explosion at a petrochemical plant released tonnes of hazardous chemicals into the river.

That was covered up for over a week. In the face of widespread panic, officials were forced to cut water supplies to millions of people, including the city of Harbin in neighboring Heilongjiang province.

The latest incident was triggered when a flood surged through a chemical plant on Wednesday morning, carrying off barrels.

Around 3,000 barrels contained 170 kg (375 lb) of chemicals, and another 4,000 were empty, Xinhua said, citing a government official speaking at a news conference in Jilin.

Some 2,500 contained trimethyl chloro silicane, a colorless, flammable liquid with a pungent smell, and another 500 contained hexamethyl disilazane, another colorless but smelly liquid.

Altogether as much as 500 tonnes could potentially be floating down river.

The government of Jilin, which has a population of 4.5 million, said it had acted quickly.

"The city government paid great attention, and immediately reported the incident to the provincial government and rapidly put in place an emergency plan," it said in a faxed statement.

The Songhua River is a major tributary of the Heilongjiang or Amur River, which forms China's border with Russia for several hundred km (miles) before crossing fully into the neighboring nation.

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BBC: Plankton decline across oceans as waters warm

28 July 2010

The amount of phytoplankton - tiny marine plants - in the top layers of the oceans has declined markedly over the last century, research suggests.

Writing in the journal Nature, scientists say the decline appears to be linked to rising water temperatures.

They made their finding by looking at records of the transparency of sea water, which is affected by the plants.

The decline - about 1% per year - could be ecologically significant as plankton sit at the base of marine food chains.

Algal blooms can be imaged from space

This is the first study to attempt a comprehensive global look at plankton changes over such a long time scale.

"What we think is happening is that the oceans are becoming more stratified as the water warms," said research leader Daniel Boyce from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

"The plants need sunlight from above and nutrients from below; and as it becomes more stratified, that limits the availability of nutrients," he told BBC News.

Phytoplankton are typically eaten by zooplankton - tiny marine animals - which themselves are prey for small fish and other animals.

Disk record

The first reliable system for measuring the transparency of sea water was developed by astronomer and Jesuit priest Pietro Angelo Secchi.

Asked by the Pope in 1865 to measure the clarity of water in the Mediterranean Sea for the Papal navy, he conceived and developed the "Secchi disk", which must be one of the simplest instruments ever deployed; it is simply lowered into the sea until its white colour disappears from view.

Various substances in the water can affect its transparency; but one of the main ones is the concentration of chlorophyll, the green pigment that is key to photosynthesis in plants at sea and on land.

The long-term but patchy record provided by Secchi disk measurements around the world has been augmented by shipboard analysis of water samples, and more recently by satellite measurements of ocean colour.

The final tally included 445,237 data points from Secchi disks spanning the period 1899-2008.

"This study took three years, and we spent lots of time going through the data checking that there wasn't any 'garbage' in there," said Mr Boyce.

"The data is good in the northern hemisphere and it gets better in recent times, but it's more patchy in the southern hemisphere - the Southern Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and so on."

The higher quality data available since 1950 has allowed the team to calculate that since that time, the world has seen a phytoplankton decline of about 40%.

Ocean cycling

The decline is seen in most parts of the world, one marked exception being the Indian Ocean. There are also phytoplankton increases in coastal zones where fertiliser run-off from agricultural land is increasing nutrient supplies.

However, the pattern is far from steady. As well as the long-term downward trend, there are strong variations spanning a few years or a few decades.

Father Secchi's simple disk has been used for more than 100 years

Many of these variations are correlated with natural cycles of temperature seen in the oceans, including the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Arctic Oscillation.

The warmer ends of these cycles co-incide with a reduction in plankton growth, while abundance is higher in the colder phase.

Carl-Gustaf Lundin, head of the marine programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), suggested there could be other factors involved - notably the huge expansion in open-ocean fishing that has taken place over the century.

"Logically you would expect that as fishing has gone up, the amount of zooplankton would have risen - and that should have led to a decline in phytoplankton," he told BBC News.

"So there's something about fishing that hasn't been factored into this analysis."

The method of dividing oceans into grids that the Dalhousie researchers used, he said, did not permit scrutiny of areas where this might be particularly important, such as the upwelling in the Eastern Pacific that supports the Peruvian anchovy fishery - the biggest fishery on the planet.

Absorbing facts

If the trend is real, it could also act to accelerate warming, the team noted.

Photosynthesis by phytoplankton removes carbon dioxide from the air and produces oxygen.

In several parts of the world, notably the Southern Ocean, scientists have already noted that the waters appear to be absorbing less CO2 - although this is principally thought to

be because of changes to wind patterns - and leaving more CO2 in the air should logically lead to greater warming.

"Phytoplankton... produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO2, and ultimately support all of our fisheries," said Boris Worm, another member of the Dalhousie team.

"An ocean with less phytoplankton will function differently."

The question is: how differently?

If the planet continues to warm in line with projections of computer models of climate, the overall decline in phytoplankton might be expected to continue.

But, said, Daniel Boyce, that was not certain.

"It's tempting to say there will be further declines, but on the other hand there could be other drivers of change, so I don't think that saying 'temperature rise brings a phytoplankton decline' is the end of the picture," he said.

The implications, noted Dr Lundin, could be significant.

"If in fact productivity is going down so much, the implication would be that less carbon capture and storage is happening in the open ocean," he said.

"So that's a service that humanity is getting for free that it will lose; and there would also be an impact on fish, with less fish in the oceans over time."

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Guardian (UK): Global warming pushes 2010 temperatures to record highs

28 July 2010

Scientists from two leading climate research centres publish 'best evidence yet' of rising long-term global temperatures

Global temperatures in the first half of the year were the hottest since records began more than a century ago, according to two of the world's leading climate research centres.

Scientists have also released what they described as the "best evidence yet" of rising long-term temperatures. The report is the first to collate 11 different indicators – from air and sea temperatures to melting ice – each one based on between three and seven data sets, dating back to between 1850 and the 1970s.

The newly released data follows months of scrutiny of climate science after sceptics claimed leaked emails from the University of East Anglia (UEA) suggested temperature records had been manipulated - a charge rejected by three inquiries.

Publishing the newly collated data in London, Peter Stott, the head of climate modelling at the UK Met Office, said despite variations between individual years, the evidence was unequivocal: "When you follow those decade-to-decade trends then you see clearly and unmistakably signs of a warming world".

"That's a very remarkable result, that all those data sets agree," he added. "It's the clearest evidence in one place from a range of different indices."

Currently 1998 is the hottest year on record. Two combined land and sea surface temperature records from Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and the US National Climatic Data Centre (NCDC) both calculate that the first six months of 2010 were the hottest on record. According to GISS, four of the six months also individually showed record highs.

A third leading monitoring programme, by the Met Office, shows this period was the second hottest on record, after 1998, with two months this year – January and March – being hotter than their equivalents 12 years ago.

The Met Office said the variations between the figures published by the different organisations are because the Met Office uses only temperature observations, Nasa makes estimates for gaps in recorded data such as the polar regions, and the NCDC uses a mixture of the two approaches. The latest figures will give weight to predictions that this year could become the hottest on record.

Despite annual fluctuations, the figures also highlight the clear trend for the 2000s to be hotter than the 1990s, which in turn were clearly warmer than the previous decade, said Stott.

"These numbers are not theory, but fact, indicating that the Earth's climate is moving into uncharted territory," said Rafe Pomerance, a senior fellow at Clean Air Cool Planet, a US group dedicated to helping find solutions to global warming.

The Met Office published its full list of global warming indicators, compiled by Hadley Centre researcher John Kennedy. It formed part of the State of the Climate 2009 report published as a special bulletin of the American Meteorological Society by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the NCDC temperature series.

Seven of the indicators rose over the last few decades, indicating "clear warming trends", although these all included annual fluctuations up and down. One of these was air temperature over land – including data from the Climatic Research Unit at the UEA, whose figures were under scrutiny after hacked emails were posted online in November 2009, but the graphic also included figures from six other research groups all showing the same overall trends despite annual differences.

The other six rising indicators were sea surface temperatures, collected by six groups; ocean heat to 700m depth from seven groups; air temperatures over oceans (five data sets); the tropospheric temperature in the atmosphere up to 1km up (seven); humidity caused by warmer air absorbing more moisture (three); and sea level rise as hotter oceans expand and ice melts (six).

Another four indicators showed declining figures over time, again consistent with global warming: northern hemisphere snow cover (two data sets), Arctic sea ice extent (three); glacier mass loss (four); and the temperature of the stratosphere. This last cooling effect is caused by a decline in ozone in the stratosphere which prevents it absorbing as much ultraviolet radiation from the sun above.

One key data set omitted was sea ice in the Antarctic, because it was increasing in some areas and decreasing in others, due to reduced ozone causing changes in wind patterns and sea-surface circulation. This data set showed no clear trend, said Stott. These figures were also in the last report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007.

"It's not that the IPCC didn't look at this data, of course they did, but they didn't put it all together in one place," he added.

The cause of the warming was "dominated" by greenhouse gases emitted by human activity, said Stott. "It's possible there's some [other] process which can amplify other effects, such as radiation from the sun, [but] the evidence is so clear the chance there's something we haven't thought of seems to be getting smaller and smaller," he said.

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Reuters: Indonesian Sinar Mas-linked firms wrecked forest: report

29 July 2010

Greenpeace said on Thursday it had fresh evidence that palm oil firms linked to Indonesian agribusiness giant Sinar Mas have bulldozed rainforest and destroyed endangered orangutan habitats in Kalimantan.

The charges were denied by palm oil firm PT SMART Tbk, part of Sinar Mas, which has already said it would stop clearing critical forests.

The accusations, leveled by Greenpeace in a new report, is the latest chapter in a long and bitter dispute between the conservationists and a key player in one of Indonesia's biggest industries, palm oil.

The high stakes battle has already led to top palm oil buyers Unilever and Nestle dropping PT SMART as a supplier.

Industry giant Cargill on Thursday reiterated that it may also delist the Indonesian producer if the allegations of wrongdoing are borne out in an audit due to be released next month.

It also has implications for Indonesia, which competes fiercely with neighboring Malaysia for dominance of the lucrative palm oil market and which is also under intense international pressure to curb deforestation, seen as fuelling dangerous climate change.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 by as much as 41 percent from business-as-usual levels, and agreed to a moratorium starting in 2011 on issuance of new permits to clear primary forest.

The ban is part of a $1 billion climate deal signed with Norway earlier this year.

SMART has already promised to stop clearing high conservation value (HCV) forests, which refers to forests that shelter endangered species or provide valuable natural services such as trapping climate-warming greenhouse gases.

It said it will publish an audit of its operations on August 10.

SMART manages Indonesian palm oil firms PT Agro Lestari Mandiri (ALM) and PT Bangun Nusa Mandiri (BNM). The parent company for SMART, ALM and BNM is Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources, which is part-owned and led by the Widjaja family that controls Sinar Mas.

AERIAL SHOTS

Greenpeace said in a report released on Thursday that aerial photographs taken in July by their own photographers, as well as by a Reuters photographer, showed that ALM was still clearing carbon-rich peatland forests in Ketapang district, in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province.

"What we found was that, despite their commitment, high carbon destruction is still going on," said Greenpeace forest campaigner, Bustar Maitar. "This is still happening, even while their auditor is writing the report."

Greenpeace also published photographs which it said showed BNM clearing in an area in Ketapang that was identified by the United Nations Environment Program as habitat for highly endangered orangutans.

SMART released a press statement the firm did not clear virgin or primary forest and that it complied with Indonesian laws and regulations.

"We are not responsible for clearing primary forests, which are the natural habitats for orangutans, and High Conservation Value areas. On the contrary, all our concession areas do not contain primary forests and we conserve High Conservation Value areas, creating sanctuaries that will continue to preserve biodiversity," said Daud Dharsono, PT SMART's president director. Areas of untouched greenery in the aerial shots were proof

that parts of their concession areas are being set aside for preservation, the statement said.

Enormous amounts of greenhouse gases are emitted when peatland forests are cleared and drained. Their preservation is seen as crucial to preventing runaway climate change.

SMART's spokesman, Fajar Reksoprodjo, told Reuters that in the past, aerial photographs that appeared to show clearing in peatlands had been misinterpreted and showed mineral soil.

SMART initially planned to release its audit in July but delayed it to August 10 because it was not yet finished.

The auditors are paid by SMART and were selected in collaboration with Unilever, which chairs the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an industry body made up of producers, consumers and non-government organizations.

The Greenpeace report also called on fast food chains Pizza Hut -- a unit of Yum Brands Inc -- and Burger King to stop buying palm oil from firms linked to Sinar Mas.

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RONA MEDIA UPDATETHE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Executives See Biodiversity as Key to Business Growth

Reuters, 28 July 2010, By Yale Environment 360 (Re-printed)

http://www.planetark.com/enviro-news/item/58961

An increasing number of corporate executives, particularly in biodiversity-rich nations of Latin America and Africa, view declines in biodiversity as a challenge to business growth, according to a new study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

More than 50 percent of chief executive officers surveyed in Latin America and 45 percent in Africa expressed concerns about the loss of "natural capital," the study found. Only about 20 percent of executives in Europe share those concerns. The report says business leaders who do not address sustainable management could see profits suffer as consumers become increasingly concerned about the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity.

UNEP or UN in the News Reuters: Executives See Biodiversity as Key to Business Growth

According to the study, more than 80 percent of consumers surveyed said they would stop buying products from companies that do not use ethical practices when sourcing materials. Yet despite increasing corporate awareness - and some successful regional responses - rates of biodiversity loss worldwide have not slowed, the study said.

Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360 [e360.yale.edu]

Obama Says Will Keep Pushing For Climate Bill Reuters, 28 July 2010, By Jeff Mason

http://www.planetark.com/enviro-news/item/58943

President Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday to keep pushing for legislation to fight climate change despite a move in the U.S. Senate to focus energy reform more narrowly on offshore drilling.

Senate Democrats unveiled a bill on Tuesday that omits setting caps on carbon emissions -- the key element of a more comprehensive energy and climate bill that failed to gain sufficient support in the Senate.

The Senate bill would require oil companies to cover all oil spill costs by removing the $75 million cap on liability, and provide rebates for purchasing vehicles that run on alternative fuels and making existing homes more efficient.

Obama said it was "an important step in the right direction" but it was not enough.

General Environment NewsReuters: Obama Says Will Keep Pushing For Climate Bill The New York Times: Cap and Trade Is Dead. Long Live Cap and TradeThe New York Times: The Chevy Volt’s Sticker: $41,000Los Angeles Times: Western Climate Initiative: California, New Mexico and 3 Canadian provinces push greenhouse gas controlsLos Angeles Times: Wind farm 'mega-project' underway in Mojave DesertClimateWire: Electric carmakers focus on incentives, not carbon pricesClimateWire: Foundering U.S. industry calls for Senate lifeboatClimateWire: Congress debates easing forest restrictionsThe Aspen Times: Aspen Enviro Forum panel: Urbanized world is developing ‘nature deficit disorder'

Canada:The Toronto Star: Three millions litres of oil spill from Enbridge pipeline into Michigan riverMontreal Gazette: Michigan declares pipeline spill a disaster areaThe Globe and Mail: Michigan oil spill Enbridge’s ‘highest priority’ The Globe and Mail: Biggest provinces push plan to cap emissions

"I want to emphasize it's only the first step and I intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate legislation," he told reporters in the White House Rose Garden after meeting with congressional leaders.

"If we've learned anything from the tragedy in the Gulf, it's that our current energy policy is unsustainable."

Obama, who spoke before details of the Senate proposal were disclosed, did not set out a timetable for a future climate push and it is very unlikely that any legislation on the subject will be passed this year.

If likely Republican gains in November elections change the balance of power in Congress, climate change legislation would face an even more uncertain future.

With that in mind, the White House indicated on Tuesday that climate provisions could be added back into a bill once negotiators from the Senate and the House of Representatives hammer out differences between their respective versions during "conference" talks.

The House bill, passed last year, includes climate provisions to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, when asked whether the administration would seek to do a separate climate bill later after getting a narrow energy-focused bill first, said: "No, I think the process is you get an energy bill through the Senate then you can conference that legislation with the House."

Gibbs said that process could happen in September.

Obama's comments were likely meant as a nod to the international community and environmentalists, who are counting on U.S. action to help advance U.N. talks to form an international pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming.

Obama said climate change legislation would create high-wage U.S. jobs in the renewable energy sector.

"We can't afford to stand by as our dependence on foreign oil deepens, as we keep on pumping out the deadly pollutants that threaten our air and our water and the lives and livelihoods of our people," he said.

Cap and Trade Is Dead. Long Live Cap and Trade.

The New York Times, 28 July 2010, By Felicity Barringer

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/cap-and-trade-is-dead-long-live-cap-and-trade/?hp

Hard on the heels of the Senate Democratic leadership’s decision to put aside climate legislation intended to cap carbon dioxide emissions, another carbon-capping precinct was heard from this week.

On Tuesday, representatives of some of the Western Climate Initiative, a group of seven states and four Canadian provinces, unveiled a rough blueprint for a cap-and-trade program that would begin operating in 2012.

A subgroup — California, New Mexico, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia — intends to move first in limiting carbon dioxide emissions. Each is writing its own rules, but all are working from the same template, with a shared understanding of how to count emissions accurately and a shared value for the allowances that emitters will be awarded in each jurisdiction.

And to prevent a utility in, say, New Mexico from buying electricity from a coal plant in Texas to skirt the cost of compliance with the emissions limits (in policyspeak, this is called leakage), the emissions associated with imports of electricity are included in the total cap for a given state or province.

But there is one significant difference between the emissions profile of this core group and that of the United States as a whole. Whereas the electric power industry, with its huge fleet of coal-fired power plants, is the biggest single source of carbon dioxide emissions in the country over all, in California and the three provinces, the transportation sector — think passenger cars — creates the preponderance of emissions.

Yet planners anticipate that emissions related to transportation fuels and fuels for home heating or commercial use will not fall under the emissions cap until 2015, three years into the program.

And a more tangible threat to the system is on the horizon.  Proposition 23, on the California ballot this fall, is intended to derail the state’s signature climate-change law. And California accounts for one-third of the full Western Climate Initiative’s total emissions.

Finally, even as the Western states and Canadian provinces announced that they can act regardless of what the United States Congress does, the value of the emissions allowances being traded under the auspices of a different coalition — the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a coalition of 10 states in New England and the mid-Atlantic — are dropping in the absence of a federal law that could bolster their value.

Point Carbon, a ThomsonReuters publication that follows the carbon market, reported on Friday that activity in the RGGI (pronounced Reggie) market had come to a near standstill. “Fading hopes for passage of a federal climate bill that would give value to RGGI allowances” has also deterred financial speculators from participating in what the creators had hoped would be an inspiration for a nationwide carbon market, it said.

Based on their statement on Tuesday, the architects of the Western Climate Initiative still hope to produce a model market that could join with the smaller market on the East Coast, which covers only the electrical sector. That is, if California is still a leader in the group after the November election.

The Chevy Volt’s Sticker: $41,000

The New York Times, 27 July 2010, By Todd Woody

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/chevy-volts-sticker-41000/

General Motors began taking orders for the long-awaited Chevrolet Volt on Tuesday, pricing the plug-in hybrid car at $41,000.

A federal tax credit can reduce the net cost of the Volt to $33,500, and a 36-month lease will be available for $350 a month with $2,500 due at the signing.

Production of the Volt will begin in September, and the car will initially be sold in California, New York, Michigan, Connecticut, Texas, New Jersey and the nation’s capital, G.M. said.

The car’s suggested starting price is $8,220 higher than that of the all-electric Nissan Leaf, which will also go on sale this year.

With the Volt ready for the assembly line, executives began a full-court press to persuade consumers that the car’s cutting-edge technology and features are worth a BMW price tag.

“It’s a real car — it just happens to be electric,” Joel Ewanick, G.M.’s vice president for North America marketing, said at a dinner Monday night at the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, Calif. “This car is designed for the majority of Americans. This is a car that the average person can drive on a daily basis. It’s not something that’s a unique little niche vehicle.”

“The marketing challenge is communicating how different this is than what they’re used to,” he added.

The Volt’s lithium-ion battery pack gives the car an emissions-free range of 40 miles. When the battery is depleted, a small gasoline engine kicks in to run a generator that supplies electricity to the motor, extending the Volt’s range by 300 miles.

Mr. Ewanick said that a Volt driven 15,000 miles a year would use 550 fewer gallons of gasoline than a comparable gas-only car.

G.M. executives, however, insist on calling the Volt an “extended range electric vehicle,” underscoring the balancing act between promoting its green credibility and its utility as competitors roll out all-electric cars.

The Leaf will go up to 100 miles on a charge, according to Nissan, which has been touting the car as “100 percent electric, zero emissions.” During a test drive in San Jose on Monday, a Nissan representative pointed out that the car’s interior is made of recycled water bottles and cited the availability of a solar panel that serves as a spoiler.

If Nissan appears to be targeting the Prius set, G.M. is emphasizing that the Volt comes packed with whiz bang technology that lets drivers use their smartphones to do things like turn on the car’s air-conditioner or control when the vehicle is charged. As a sweetener, OnStar, the G.M. subscription service that provides driving directions and allows cars to be remotely controlled, will be included free with the Volt for five years.

A fully loaded Volt, with specialized wheels, paint and other options, will cost $44,600 before tax credits.

Executives said the company plans to manufacture 10,000 Volts in the 2011 model year, with 30,000 cars produced the following year, when it will begin selling the plug-in hybrid nationwide.

G.M. chose the initial markets to show that the Volt can operate in a range of climates, from frigid Northeast winters to hot Texas summers, said Tony DiSalle, director of product marketing for the Volt.

In Texas, the Volt will first available only in Austin, and in New York, the car can only be bought in New York City for now, Mr. DiSalle said.

Beginning Tuesday, buyers can go to a Web site, getmyvolt.com, to find Volt dealers who can take orders. Those 600 dealers have received special training on handling Volt orders and customers.

“Lots of those will be people we haven’t seen in Chevrolet dealerships before,” Mr. DiSalle said.

Western Climate Initiative: California, New Mexico and 3 Canadian provinces push greenhouse gas controls

Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2010, By Margot Roosevelt

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/

California, joined by New Mexico and three Canadian provinces, outlined a detailed plan Tuesday to curb greenhouse gas emissions in a regional cap-and-trade program by January 2012.

The Western Climate Initiative, two years in the making, comes as Congressional legislation for a federal climate legislation has stalled and the focus of U.S. action to curb global warming shifts to the states. A Northeastern cap-and-trade program is operating, covering power plants, but the economy-wide Western program, if enacted, would be three times larger, eventually encompassing most industrial and transportation sources of carbon dioxide and other gases that have begun to alter the global climate. Europe has been operating under a cap-and-trade program for industry for several years.

But the future of the Western initiative is up in the air:  California’s push for statewide controls are under challenge in a ballot initiative, as well as by gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.

According to a news release from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office Tuesday the California-led plan “will be the most comprehensive carbon-reduction strategy adopted anywhere in the world.”  While international and federal climate controls are needed," Schwarzenegger said,  “California and the rest of the Western Climate Initiative partners are not waiting to take action.”

Wind farm 'mega-project' underway in Mojave Desert

Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2010, By Tiffany Hsu

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-windfarm-20100727,0,7972223.story

It's being called the largest wind power project in the country, with plans for thousands of acres of towering turbines in the Mojave Desert foothills generating electricity for 600,000 homes in Southern California.

And now it's finally kicking into gear.

The multibillion-dollar Alta Wind Energy Center has had a tortured history, stretching across nearly a decade of ownership changes, opposition from local residents and transmission infrastructure delays.

But on Tuesday, the project is officially breaking ground in the Tehachapi Pass, a burgeoning hot spot for wind energy about 75 miles north of Los Angeles. When completed, Alta could produce three times as much energy as the country's largest existing wind farm, analysts said. It's slated to be done in the next decade.

The project will probably be a wind power bellwether, affecting the way renewable energy deals are financed, the development of new electricity storage systems and how governments regulate the industry, said Billy Gamboa, a renewable energy analyst with the California Center for Sustainable Energy.

"It's a super-mega-project — it'll definitely set a precedent for the rest of the state and have a pretty large impact on the wind industry in general," he said.

The project's developer, New York-based Terra-Gen Power, plans to coax three gigawatts of power from the wind farm over the next eight years. It has led some industry experts to predict that California might have a shot at reclaiming the wind energy crown from competitors such as Texas and Iowa.

"Alta's an absolutely enormous project in probably the most promising wind resource area that remains in the state," said Ryan Wiser, a renewable energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "It's the single biggest investment in California wind project assets in decades and is likely the largest the state is ever going to see."

Southern California Edison agreed in 2006 to buy 1,550 megawatts of electricity from Alta over 25 years, one of the heftiest power purchase agreements ever signed. That would be enough energy to serve 275,000 homes and is twice the capacity of the country's largest existing wind farm, a 735-megawatt project in Texas.

Terra-Gen is building Alta as a collection of wind farms; it has finished funding and started building the first group of five. The cluster's 290 turbines will be scattered across 9,000 acres, most of which are leased from private landowners. As early as next year, executives said, the turbines could start producing enough power to boost California's wind energy output more than 25% while creating thousands of local jobs.

By 2015, another batch of farms, with roughly 300 turbines — some with blades spanning nearly the length of a football field — is expected to be producing an additional

830 megawatts. Beyond that, details are scarce.

"The first Alta phases are very real, but future phases might be a little less tangible," said Matt Kaplan, a senior analyst with IHS Emerging Energy Research. "We've seen California utilities sign a lot of power purchase agreements for not necessarily the most realistic projects."

For years, Alta seemed to some like just another ambitious pipe dream tied up in red tape and stymied by a lack of transmission lines to carry the energy to customers.

The project was originally conceived as the Alta-Oak Creek Mojave initiative in the early 2000s by Australian infrastructure fund Allco Finance Group. But when the firm went bankrupt in 2008, Terra-Gen bought control of Alta for $325 million.

The permitting process took about three years, said Steve Doyon, vice president and head of development for Terra-Gen.

Along the way, Terra-Gen had to abandon several proposed sites because of landowners' concerns about noise and frosty turbine blades slinging chunks of ice. Some worried that the skyscraping structures could malfunction and collapse or impede firefighting efforts.

Last year, a petition opposing part of the project collected more than 1,000 signatures. The Federal Aviation Administration also jumped in, saying that some of the proposed turbines would interfere with flights at the nearby Mountain Valley Airport.

"We're not against green energy in any way, but there just comes a time when you say that this is my community and I don't want turbines encroaching in full view," said Merle Carnes, president of the Old West Ranch Property Owners Assn. "There's room somewhere else."

The Alta project had other big hurdles. California has been falling behind in the wind power race, increasing its capacity just 7% in 2008 while Texas and Iowa each doubled theirs.

Pockets where high wind is common — such as the Altamont Pass in Northern California and the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs — ran out of space early on, crammed with small turbines using inefficient old technology, analyst Wiser said. That has led to just "dribs and drabs" of installation over the last two decades. The Tehachapi area is one of the few windy regions left with room to grow, he said.

Edison has been making headway on its Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project, connecting alternative-energy projects such as Alta to electricity-hungry city centers. The utility is trying to meet a statewide goal for investor-owned utilities to use renewable energy for 33% of all power supplied to customers by 2020.

Previously tight-fisted investors also are more confident about financing renewable energy projects. Terra-Gen recently secured $1.2 billion in funding for the Alta project.

Vestas-American Wind Technology said last week that it would deliver 190 turbines to Alta, the largest order ever for the turbine-making company. It was unable to land any

contracts last year because of the credit crunch.

The industry is not out of the woods yet: In the first half of 2010, newly added wind capacity in the U.S. tumbled 70% compared with the same period last year to just 1,200 megawatts, the American Wind Energy Assn. said Monday.

But for now, experts said, the Alta project seems to be on track.

"I'm not seeing any great big red flags there," Wiser said.

Electric carmakers focus on incentives, not carbon prices

ClimateWire, 28 July 2010, By Saqib Rahim

http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/07/28/1/

LIVONIA, Mich. -- With climate legislation seemingly dead in Congress, many clean-energy advocates are going back to the drawing board. But the electric-car industry, which is relying on other federal incentives to get ahead, remains upbeat.

Industry officials have met just outside Detroit for the past two days to discuss the state of the growing industry: whether the United States can build enough batteries, at a low enough price, to compete globally. Michigan has enjoyed much of the early investment, initiating battery-manufacturing plants and starting to set up the supply chain for electric cars.

Those at the conference agreed that federal investment has set up a formidable amount of manufacturing and research in just two years. Yet in assessing what needs to come next, they called for more such investment -- not a price on carbon.

In a recorded video address, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) said, "We need help from Congress," namely, renewing the clean energy manufacturing tax credit and the tax incentives that make plug-ins cheaper to buy for consumers. She did not mention climate or energy legislation.

To be sure, the electric-car industry has never made a collective push for climate legislation. That may be because the climate bills were unlikely to cause an electric-car breakthrough by themselves.

Some modeling of the economywide bills suggested carbon prices would only add a few cents to the price of gasoline, widely considered short of what's needed to change fuel consumption.

A substantial price difference would be necessary to bring the economics in line with an electric car. Yesterday, General Motors Co. announced its Chevy Volt will cost $41,000 when it debuts this November.

Carbon prices 'don't move the ball' for vehicle sales

"It may not be as much of a driver or a benefit in the short term as we would like it to be," said Bill Van Amburg, senior vice president with CALSTART, a group promoting hybrids and electric-drive in trucks. He said some carbon markets trade at about $3 a metric ton today, which has a negligible effect on fuel prices. "That doesn't really move the ball for transportation."

Even prices around $30 to $40 may fall short of some of the cheaper fixes in the transportation industry, Van Amburg said. He said when fuel prices spiked in 2008, that really got drivers' and truckers' attention -- they all began to watch their driving as well as the cars they drove.

"I've encouraged companies as they've looked at this, don't build your business case around the carbon price. Make that an add-on to your business case," he said. "Really focus on what you're delivering, and then if you get some additional benefits from the carbon reduction, that's good. But it may not totally move the market, and that's what we've been concerned about."

Those in the industry, and in Michigan, are feeling better about the manufacturing side. The state estimates it's had almost $6 billion in battery-related public and private investment since 2008, and 16 battery companies have ongoing projects there. Officials speak of becoming the "battery capital of the world."

The White House, meanwhile, has taken credit for putting a down payment on the U.S. battery industry that may reduce battery prices in the coming years, thanks to the scale of the investment (ClimateWire, July 15).

Some of that investment will help General Motors, which is aiming to release a partly electric car in the next few months. The Volt's 40-mile battery will be built in Michigan.

A GM spokesman said a carbon price would advance alternative-fuel vehicles, and that GM formally supports the policy, but he disputed whether it was "essential" for the Volt to thrive commercially.

In an e-mail, GM's Greg Martin said, "Policy makers can do their part to speed the market acceptance of these vehicles as part of a much broader energy policy that sends a market/economic signal that places a premium on fuel efficiency. Could a carbon price be a part of such a policy? Yes. As well as consumer tax incentives."

Cautious optimism from the 'battery capital of the world'

At the Detroit-area conference, the general sense was that manufacturing has been kick-started, so now the industry wants to be sure there's a market for the cars.

Even if the batteries get cheaper, they warned, investors will turn sour if no one buys the cars.

One battery manufacturer, Boston-based A123Systems, has received hundreds of millions in government aid to set up a new plant in Livonia. Les Alexander, the company's general manager of government solutions, said federal spending on manufacturing and research is helping, but "if we do not have the vehicles being built, or customers buying those vehicles, it's a risk that this industry will go away."

Alexander's job is to convince the federal government to be a first market for electric-drive vehicles, such as the U.S. Postal Service and other government fleets.

The U.S. Army also sent several representatives to the conference -- it has roughly 400,000 vehicles, and leaders have begun to push for electric vehicles that can handle the battlefield.

Even so, others called for sweeter incentives that promote electric cars among civilians, since they're the bulk of the several hundred million cars that are on the road today.

Yesterday, Nissan announced that its Leaf, an all-electric car with a 100-mile range, will debut in California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee this December. It will have rolled out to nine more states and Washington, D.C., by April of next year; the car will be available nationwide in fall of 2011.

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) provided more encouragement that when those cars hit the streets, there could be more refueling stations waiting for them. Unveiling the latest version of his slimmed-down energy bill, Reid included more aid for "electrification deployment communities," or towns and cities that make a push to develop the infrastructure needed to convince people that pioneering the return of the electric car won't be as difficult as some imagine.

Robbie Diamond, president of the Electrification Coalition, said the bill, if passed, will ensure that electric cars will be successful beyond early adopters of the technology.

Foundering U.S. industry calls for Senate lifeboat ClimateWire, 28 July 2010, By Joel Kirkland

http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/07/28/4/

Wind power installations in the United States plummeted 71 percent in the first half of 2010 as compared with the same period last year, according to an industry analysis, triggering an eleventh-hour push by the industry to bring a proposed national renewable energy standard before the U.S. Senate.

"The numbers are dismal, and they're getting worse," Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), said in a call with reporters. "We're going to see jobs lost and see manufacturing facilities not getting built in the U.S."

Senate Democrats yesterday rolled out a limited energy bill that did not include a 15 percent renewable energy standard (RES) by 2020 for utilities. The national requirement won bipartisan support in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year.

The original sponsor of the RES, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), had given up on pursuing the measure once Senate Democratic leaders indicated their intention last week to narrow the energy bill to bare essentials. Election-year concerns about partisan brawls over energy policy and a shrinking legislative calendar also played into the decision to kick major initiatives to a lame-duck session or into next year.

Still, the jobs that come with wind power projects benefit both blue and red states. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) on Monday said he plans to push for an RES, but that could run into problems if the Democrats decide not to allow amendments.

The fate of any lingering RES proposals rests on the extent to which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is willing to consider amendments. So far, he's been unwilling to open the door to a messy energy debate before the congressional recess begins in early August.

"Why do we even need a special agreement? We have an amendment process that works," said Robert Dillon, Republican spokesman for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Reid just doesn't like to use it."

U.S. becomes less attractive for wind turbine investments

The committee's top Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted in favor of Bingaman's RES proposal when it passed out of committee, but she did so primarily because there were other sweeteners in the overall bill that could attract broader Republican support.

Dillon couldn't say exactly how Murkowski would vote if presented with the option during floor debate, but he said she's not a big fan of an RES. "If we put a price on carbon, she sees it as a redundancy," he said. "She agreed to it, but her inclination is that supporters of the RES would try to increase it to 25 percent."

AWEA's Bode put it all in stark terms. She warned that the U.S. wind industry is about to walk off a cliff, led by the paltry 700 megawatts of wind generation added in the second quarter and the significant drop-off in manufacturing facilities coming online. It indicates utilities are less willing to sign long-term contracts with wind power providers and turbine manufacturers are looking to China and the European Union, both of which have national policies in place to build out wind power.

In the United States, Bode said, the 30 or so states with renewable energy requirements aren't enforcing those rules consistently. Litigation in California and elsewhere has slowed full implementation. She said a federal standard would send the message to utilities and global turbine manufacturers that the United States is safe for investment and has a long-term policy to develop wind power.

"Utilities make short-term decisions in terms of purchasing natural gas or coal because they are waiting for the long-term policy," said Bode, a former state regulator in Oklahoma.

Utilities have been signing short-term contracts for coal and natural gas generation. For wind to be cost-effective at a guaranteed rate, utilities have to sign longer-term supply contracts in the 10- to 20-year range.

Low natural gas prices play a role

The drop-off in electricity demand this year, low natural gas prices and no permanent federal policy aimed at carving out a place for wind power are the driving forces behind this year's decline. So far this year, according to AWEA, the United States has installed more coal- and gas-fired power plant capacity than wind, a change from the previous two years, during which wind was able to match natural gas.

Wind power companies have long complained that one-year tax incentives passed by Congress can't reassure investors that wind power can grow and compete with cheaper fossil fuels. Breaks for oil and gas companies are for longer periods, adding to their financial advantages. On the right side of the political spectrum, there is a sense that wind power should be able to "stand on its own feet," according to a Republican source yesterday, without dipping into government largesse.

There are also concerns among a segment of the Republican caucus that an RES would require states in the Southeast to buy wind power from Midwestern and Great Plains states at a high cost.

AWEA yesterday said more than 5,500 MW of wind power is under construction, but it projected that 2010 installations could end up at a figure that's 25 to 45 percent below 2009 installations. Many of the wind projects in the current pipeline are there because of a Treasury grant program that ends at the end of the year.

"Beyond 2010: There is a dramatic drop in the project development pipeline after the 5,500 MW under construction," said the second-quarter analysis. "That is, there is no demand beyond the present 'coasting momentum.' Without stable policy, without demand and new power purchase agreements and without new turbine orders, the industry is sputtering out."

While much of the economy sputtered in 2009, wind power benefited from injections through the federal economic stimulus funding.

Congress debates easing forest restrictions ClimateWire, 28 July 2010

http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/07/28/9/

Brazilian lawmakers are considering a forest policy that would place the world's largest forest at greater risk from farmers than in recent decades.

The proposed changes to Brazil's 1965 Forest Code would hand over power for forest protection policy from the central government to the states, a move that environmentalists say will lead to weak regulation. Heavy lobbying by the agriculture industry has helped place the issue before the Congress after a special committee

passed it earlier this month. It is expected that a vote on the issue will take place after October's presidential elections.

The new legislation would also give amnesty to people already fined for violating the code up to 2008, and would reduce the amount of land that owners must maintain as forests under law to 20 percent, down from 80 percent. The greatest threat to the Amazon comes from farmers who clear trees for livestock and crops.

Environmentalists say that a revised code will prove to be an embarrassment for anyone in office.

"Environmentally, it's a disaster, from what science tells us, and from the agricultural point of view, it's also a disaster," said Fabio Scarano, the executive director of the Conservation International Brazil environmental group. "The water they use for irrigation is the water that is protected by these very reserves. All sides lose."

Supporters say that the bill will help make agriculture more competitive by placing a larger area under cultivation. Rates of deforestation in Brazil have been falling in recent years, by as much as 47 percent between August 2009 and May 2010. Proponents of the bill say that the forest no longer needs as much protection (Stuart Grudgings, Reuters, July 26). --GV

Aspen Enviro Forum panel: Urbanized world is developing ‘nature deficit disorder'

The Aspen Times, 28 July 2010, By Scott Condon

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20100728/NEWS/100729836/1077&ParentProfile=1058

ASPEN — We're staring down a barrel at climate change. We're coping with a huge oil spill. Population growth is a ticking time bomb. There are no shortages of big environmental problems, but a smaller-scale issue delivers a special dose of tragedy.

Kids, and an increasing number of adults, suffer from “nature deficit disorder,” members of a panel at the Aspen Environment Forum said Tuesday. Kids spend an increasing amount of time in front of their computer, their Wii and their TV, and less time collecting shells, rocks and bugs.

It's inevitable that if fewer people are spending time in nature as the world gets urbanized, the natural world is going to suffer, said Sally Grover Bingham, an Episcopal priest who has been an environmentalist for 25 years. Bingham, a panelist at the Environment Forum, is the founder and president of the Interfaith Power and Light, which promotes the link between faith and the environment.

Bingham said it might be difficult to understand in a spectacular setting like Aspen that many people around the country don't have the chance to connect with nature or take the opportunity. The consequences, she said, are potentially dire.

“I have a big concern about who are going to be the next environmentalists,” Bingham told an audience during the second day of the three-day forum.

The concept of nature deficiency disorder was laid out by author Richard Louv in his 2005 book, “Last Child in the Woods.” The deficiency in nature is allegedly tied to everything from obesity to behavioral problems.

The big environmental issues like climate change and fresh water supplies obviously need attention, Bingham said, but more needs to be done to connect kids to nature.

Moderator Robert Draper, a contributing writer to National Geographic Magazine, noted that children today spend 50 percent less time outdoors on average than children of 20 years ago, according to a study by the University of Michigan.

The problem isn't just with kids, and the disconnect from nature isn't just a U.S. phenomena, Draper noted.

Panelist Audrey Peterman said minorities are particularly disengaged from nature in general and the U.S. National Park System in particular. She and her husband, Frank Peterman, drove 12,000 miles around the country checking out the wonders of the national parks and other public lands. They wrote a book, “Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Every American Should Care.”

Seeing so few minorities among staff and visitors at the great parks inspired them to form Earthwise Productions, which raises awareness of and involvement in nature among minority groups. Minorities will comprise an increasing large portion of the U.S. population, Audrey Peterman noted, so it is vital that they are engaged to help solve many of the top environmental issues. Large environmental groups are making a mistake by not taking more aggressive action to recruit minorities, she said.

“We need all hands on deck,” Peterman said.

Unlike many environmental problems, this one isn't too daunting to tackle, Peterman said. It just takes a concerted effort to take kids and adults to places. “This whole disconnect from nature can be so easily remedied,” she said.

The Petermans personally take kids and adults to visit natural places, like people from the southeastern U.S. into the Everglades. Frank Peterman said he has witnessed first-hand the transformation nature encourages.

“We are hard-wired to be connected to nature,” he said.

Bingham's efforts to reconnect people comes, in part, from the pulpit. Churches that make the connection between spirituality and nature are experiencing a surge in popularity, she said.

Her efforts aren't always graciously accepted. “When I started talking about climate change from the pulpit, I was called a communist,” she said.

Bingham is undaunted. Her efforts continue.

“You cannot call yourself a person of faith and then watch God's creation get destroyed,”

she said.

The Environment Forum, sponsored by the Aspen Institute and National Geographic, concludes Wednesday.

Canada:

Three millions litres of oil spill from Enbridge pipeline into Michigan river

The Toronto Star, 28 July 2010, By Tim Martin

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/840975--three-millions-litres-of-oil-spill-from-enbridge-pipeline-into-michigan-river?bn=1

BATTLE CREEK, MICH.—Southern Michigan residents are learning that devastating oil spills aren’t limited to the Gulf Coast.

Crews were working Wednesday to contain and clean up an estimated 877,000 gallons (3,319,708 litres) of oil that coated birds and fish as it poured into a creek and flowed into the Kalamazoo River, one of the state’s major waterways.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm toured the area by helicopter Tuesday night and said she wasn’t satisfied with the response to the spill. The leak in the 30-inch (76-centimetre) pipeline, which was built in 1969 and carries about 8 million gallons (30 million litres) of oil daily from Griffith, Indiana, to Sarnia, Ontario, was detected early Monday.

“There needs to be a lot more done,” Granholm said. “There are not enough resources on the river right now.”

Granholm declared a state of disaster in Calhoun County and potentially affected areas along the river, which eventually bisects the city of Kalamazoo and meanders to Saugatuck, where it empties into Lake Michigan. Officials don’t believe oil will spread past a dam upstream of Kalamazoo. The cause of the spill is under investigation.

Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge Inc.’s affiliate Enbridge Energy Partners LP of Houston initially estimated that about 819,000 gallons (3,100,161 litres) of oil spilled into Talmadge Creek before the company stopped the flow.

But state officials were told during a company briefing Tuesday that an estimated 877,000 gallons (3,319,708 litres) spilled, said Mary Dettloff, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

As of late Tuesday, oil was reported in at least 26 kilometres of the Kalamazoo River downstream of the spill. Company officials said the spill appeared to be contained and oil wouldn’t likely drift much more downstream.

Enbridge crews and contractors are using oil skimmers and absorbent booms to minimize its environmental impact.

“This is our responsibility,” Enbridge’s president and chief executive Patrick D. Daniel said Tuesday evening in Battle Creek. “This is our mess. We’re going to clean it up.”

Many area residents were surprised to learn that a pipeline was so close to the Great Lakes river.

“I just can’t believe they allowed that to happen, and they’re not equipped to handle it,” said Owen Smith, 53, of Galesburg. Smith lives near the river and stopped at several points far upstream on Tuesday to see what might be headed his way.

The air was pungent with the smell of oil, but health officials said they so far were satisfied with the results from air quality tests. Groundwater testing was expected to begin soon.

Still, health officials warned residents to stay away from the river, saying it should be closed to fishing and other recreational activities, and irrigation. No injuries or illnesses have been reported, but a few households near the spill had been evacuated.

Enbridge said it had about 200 employees and contractors working on the spill, and a centre was being set up to help ducks, geese and other wildlife coated with oil.

Local, state and federal agencies also were involved, and the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation.

U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, a Michigan Democrat, said he discussed the spill with President Barack Obama. Schauer called the spill a “public health crisis,” and said he plans to hold hearings to examine the response.

Obama has pledged a swift response to requests for assistance, White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said.

The river already faced major pollution issues. An 80-mile (130-kilometre) segment of the river and five miles of a tributary, Portage Creek, were placed on the federal Superfund list of high-priority hazardous waste sites in 1990. The Kalamazoo site also includes four landfills and several defunct paper mills.

Michigan declares pipeline spill a disaster area

Montreal Gazette, 28 July 2010

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Michigan+declares+pipeline+spill+disaster+area/3331773/story.html#ixzz0uzUYngDI

DETROIT - Governor Jennifer Granholm declared a state of disaster on Tuesday for an area along the Kalamazoo River in south-central Michigan where an oil pipeline leaked 19,500 barrels of oil.

The spill, reported on Monday morning by Houston-based pipeline operator Enbridge Energy Partners, came in a 30-inch, 190,000 barrels per day line transporting crude oil from Griffith, Indiana, to Sarnia, Ontario.

The company, a unit of Enbridge Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, said the cause of the spill was still being investigated and it was co-operating with authorities on the investigation and cleanup efforts.

There were no injuries reported but two homes in the area were evaculated on Monday, authorities said.

Oil spilled into Talmadge Creek, which flows northwest into the Kalamazoo River. Emergency response crews began working on Monday along the creek and river to contain the oil.

A temporary dike and flume arrangement was in place near the origin of the leak, blocking oil from reaching the tributary creek, the pipeline operator said on Tuesday.

"Crews worked through the night on containment, including the use of booms, oil skimmers and vacuum trucks," said Stephen J. Wuori, Executive Vice President of Enbridge Inc. .

The pipeline is part of Enbridge's Lakehead system in the U.S., which connects to other Enbridge pipelines in Canada.

Volunteers on Tuesday worked to clean Canadian geese and other birds soaked in oil from the spill.

Michigan oil spill Enbridge’s ‘highest priority’ The Globe and Mail, 28 July 2010, By Lauren Krugel

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/michigan-oil-spill-enbridges-highest-priority/article1654445/

A serious pipeline leak in Michigan has cast a dark shadow over what would otherwise have been an upbeat financial report from major oil and gas pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. (ENB-T50.36-1.19-2.31%) on Wednesday.

The Canadian company said crews are doing their utmost to deal with a spill of about three million litres of oil, which has affected the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.

The leak has been closed off and the company's “highest priority” will be to mitigate impact on the environment and members of the public, Enbridge chief executive Patrick Daniel said in the company's second-quarter financial report Wednesday.

“This is a serious incident and we're treating it as a top priority,” Mr. Daniel said on a conference call from Battle Creek, Mich., where he is overseeing the response to the spill. “Enbridge will do what it takes to make this right.”

“While we're very proud of our second quarter financial performance, unfortunately, we are reporting those results at the same time as members of our team are in Michigan doing their utmost to respond to the leak we experienced on the Lakehead System earlier this week,” Mr. Daniel said in a statement.

“Isolation valves on the line have been closed, stopping the source of the leak, and we are now focusing all of our efforts on recovery and cleanup.”

Enbridge said it is “working closely with regulators and federal, state and local officials” in the spill area. A Houston affiliate of Calgary-based Enbridge owns the Lakehead pipeline, which carries 30 million litres of oil daily from Indiana to southwestern Ontario.

About 200 workers are trying to contain the spill with skimmers and booms. The river flows into Lake Michigan, but officials don't expect the oil to reach that far — though the slick has so far travelled 26 kilometres downstream, coating fish and Canada geese in oil.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who toured the stricken area by helicopter, blasted the response to the spill as “anemic.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer said Enbridge was slow in alerting federal authorities.

The Democratic congressman from Michigan briefed media Wednesday near the Kalamazoo River where crews worked to contain and clean up oil that coated birds and fish as it poured into a creek and flowed into one of the state's major waterways.

Enbridge officials have said the spill was detected between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Monday. Schauer released a document saying the incident was not reported to the National Response Center until about 1:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Enbridge said its profit for the three months ended June 30 — prior to the Lakehead pipeline leak —dropped to $138-million or 37 cents per share — down from $393-million or $1.08 per share a year earlier. But Enbridge says it's on track to reach the upper end of its 2010 guidance for adjusted earnings, a benchmark used by many analysts to track profit health.

Second-quarter adjusted earnings, which strip out unusual financial losses or gains, totalled $232-million or 63 cents per share, up from $195-million or 54 cents per share. That beat analyst estimates of 58 cents per share, according to figures from Thomson Reuters.

Enbridge is known mainly as a major shipper of crude oil, but also has a natural gas distribution business in Ontario and a growing renewable energy presence.

A regulatory review is underway into Enbridge Inc.’s controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, which would connect Alberta oil to the British Columbia coast, where it can then be exported abroad.

Enbridge says the $5.5-billion project, if built, will open up new markets for oilsands crude, particularly energy-hungry Asian economies.

Aboriginal groups and environmentalists are fighting hard against Northern Gateway, saying tanker traffic along B.C.’s north coast threatens fragile ecosystems there. They

also worry a pipeline rupture could endanger northern B.C. rivers, which are key to local First Nations group economy and culture.

A month ago Enbridge said it plans to invest US$500-million in a 250-megawatt Colorado wind project as it looks to beef up its renewable energy portfolio.

Biggest provinces push plan to cap emissions

The Globe and Mail, 28 July 2010, By David Ebner

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/biggest-provinces-push-plan-to-cap-emissions/article1653672/

Canada's three largest provinces are forging ahead on a cap-and-trade system to stem global warming emissions, a move made just after a similar plan was abandoned by the U.S. Senate.

The system, set to start in January, 2012, would cap emissions on large industrial facilities in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia in Canada, and in California and New Mexico in the United States.

If implemented, the plan will likely leave the members' policy at odds with most of the U.S. and the remaining seven provinces in Canada.

The five jurisdictions making the push are part of the Western Climate Initiative, formed in 2007 and led by California. On Tuesday, the initiative provided details of its centrepiece plan in a lengthy outline of the cap-and-trade program. Other group members, such as Utah and Arizona, haven't committed to the system that some critics call too costly.

Even the early backers of the idea are uncertain. Last month, Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty wouldn't commit to the 2012 date. B.C. hasn't made a final decision and wants to make sure it's not alone if it does join.

“Each jurisdiction is continuously weighing the pros and cons on moving ahead,” said Tim Lesiuk, a B.C. environment department official and the province's chief negotiator with the Western Climate Initiative.

The biggest blow for cap-and-trade came last Thursday, when the Democrats in the Senate abandoned a bill that included the measure because of intransigent Republican opposition.

The Conservative federal government has long resisted the cap-and-trade idea, suggesting it would only move ahead if the U.S. did. In May, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it would be “difficult if not impossible” to start a system without the U.S.

In the midst of a scorching summer in much of North America, the Senate decision could mark the death knell for cap-and-trade nationally in the U.S. for several years.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a cap-and-trade bill last year, but according to forecasts, Republicans are expected to make gains in the House in the November elections – and possibly take majority control. Gains in the Senate are also predicted, though the Democrats are expected to maintain their majority.

Cap-and-trade is designed to reduce global warming emissions by limiting gases industry can pump out. But to provide flexibility and minimize economic costs, businesses have the option to buy credits to cover situations where they exceed caps.

Concern still high about volume of oil in gulfLos Angeles Times, 28 July 2010, By Rong-Gong Lin II and Richard Fausset

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-20100728,0,1628139.story

Reporting from Kenner, La., and Atlanta — Even though significantly less crude is now floating on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, federal officials warned Tuesday that the region could still suffer long-term negative impacts from the spill, particularly from oil beneath the water's surface.

"The sheer volume of oil that's out there has to mean there will be some very significant impacts," said Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "What we have yet to determine is the full impact that the oil will have on not just the shorelines, not just the wildlife — but beneath the surface."

Those concerns, while not new, were reiterated as a relatively hopeful chapter unfolds in the gulf. As of Tuesday, the well had been fully sealed for 12 days, with a permanent closure expected in mid-August.

Randy Pausina, an assistant secretary of Louisiana's Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, said Tuesday that the state was expecting to open most of its waters east of the

Gulf of Mexico oil spill coverageLos Angeles Times: Concern still high about volume of oil in gulfLos Angeles Times: Epic legal battle over oil spill is about to beginThe Washington Post: Criminal probe of oil spill to focus on 3 firms and their ties to regulatorsThe Washington Post: Oil in gulf is degrading, becoming harder to find, NOAA head saysThe New York Times: On the Surface, Gulf Oil Spill Is Vanishing Fast; Concerns StayThe New York Times: Delta’s Black Oystermen Seeking Cleanup Work and Clinging to Hope

Mississippi River to commercial fishing by the end of the week, and would have the majority of its state waters open within a month. Extensive testing of fish in these areas showed no signs of contamination, he said.

BP's new chief executive, Robert Dudley, told reporters Tuesday that BP was intent on meeting its post-spill commitments and "getting this right."

But not everyone agrees on the extent of the challenge ahead. In an interview this week with Agence France Press, geologist Ed Owens — identified as a spill expert under contract with BP — said that with so much oil skimmed, burned and dispersed, the recovery "will be very much in a matter of months to a year at the most. We're not talking about years or decades here as has been the case for other spills in the United States."

Tom Mueller, a BP spokesman, could not confirm that Owens was under contract with BP, but said that Owens was not authorized to speak for the company.

When asked about the comments, Thad Allen, the federal oil-spill response chief, said: "When you put somewhere between 3 million and 5.2 million barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, I don't think anybody can understate the gravity of that situation."

Lubchenco said the government was engaged in "aggressive monitoring and research efforts" to locate, quantify and analyze the undersea oil, which appears to be suspended in very small, microscopic droplets and in "very dilute concentrations falling off very steeply as one goes away from the well site."

"Now, dilute does not mean benign," she said.

Senate Democrats unveiled their legislative response to the spill Tuesday. The Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act includes a number of the same provisions as a proposed House bill, including removing a $75-million cap on industry's liability for economic damages from spills and increasing funding for conservation projects nationwide.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is looking to bring the bill up for a vote next week. The House is due to vote on its bill before the end of the week.

The Senate bill, though less ambitious than environmentalists hoped for, is expected to draw opposition from Republicans who have said that removing the liability cap could drive small independent producers out of the gulf and increase U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Meanwhile, Louisiana suffered a small oil spill just after midnight Tuesday when a barge being pulled by a tugboat crashed into an inactive well near Bayou St. Denis, about 35 miles south of New Orleans.

Epic legal battle over oil spill is about to beginLos Angeles Times, 28 July 2010, By Carol J. Williamshttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-lawsuits-20100728,0,563444.storyThe largest oil spill in U.S. history has unleashed a gusher of at least 250 class-action lawsuits that could eventually encompass millions of victims in a legal battle expected to stretch on for decades.

The first step in what many experts predict will be among the most complex environmental cases to hit the U.S. courts begins Thursday when an army of attorneys converges on Boise, Idaho, where a federal panel will start to decide what judge or judges will oversee the cases and where they will be heard initially.

"The stakes here are tremendous," said Georgene Vairo, a Loyola Law School professor of civil procedure and expert in complex litigation. "For a single-event type of incident, this is the biggest we've ever seen, just in the range of claims, the government and private-party actions, the cost of claims, the insurance aspects. It's just the whole nine yards. It's huge."Since the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, hundreds of trial attorneys have descended on Gulf of Mexico states, some garnering clients by advertising on billboards and holding town hall meetings. They have filed scores of lawsuits seeking damages expected to reach into the double-digit billions from BP, Transocean Ltd. and other companies.

The vast majority of the suits have been filed by fishermen, charter operators, restaurants and property owners claiming financial losses after the disaster shut down fisheries and pummeled coastal tourism. One suit seeks payouts for the diminished property values of every land, home and business owner within five blocks of the gulf shore.

Families of the 11 men killed in the explosion have filed wrongful-death suits. Seafood processors and marinas have sued over their dwindling revenues.

Complaints have flooded in from afar as well. An Ohio-based investment fund hit by falling oil industry share values is seeking damages. And a group of South Carolina beach hoteliers has filed suit, saying they are suffering from a spate of cancellations because tourists fear the oil will reach around to the East Coast.

Environmental defense groups have sued on behalf of dead and injured wildlife. Veteran litigators have gone so far as to target BP with civil RICO actions, accusing the company of negligence so willful that it should be subjected to the steep penalties of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

"This spill has caused tremendous fallout in the legal arena," said New Orleans environmental attorney Allan Kanner, noting that the scope of the accident already far eclipses that of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, which led to more than 20 years of courtroom wrangling.

The panel of seven federal judges, known formally as the U.S. Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation, is responsible for sorting through the mountain of legal actions and will hear the parties' arguments about where all pretrial proceedings should be consolidated. The assignments are expected to be decided within a few weeks.

The panel often consolidates litigation from mass-casualty accidents like plane crashes and train wrecks, or victims alleging a common cause of their problems, such as those suffering from asbestos exposure. The panel recently assigned more than 200 lawsuits brought against Toyota alleging sudden acceleration and other defects to a judge in Southern California.

Location is key, the plaintiffs and defendants agree.

Those with seafood industry and marine services businesses devastated by the spill want their cases merged in New Orleans or Mobile, Ala., close to where they live and work.

BP, the majority owner of the leaking oil well, has asked the panel to send the entire docket to Houston, the corporate heart of the oil industry, and specifically to U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes. Like many judges in the gulf, Hughes has long-standing ties to and investments in energy industries.

Anticipating the surge of litigation, Transocean, which operated the drilling rig, quickly filed a petition in a Houston courtroom, seeking to limit its liability. Because Judge Keith Ellison has begun work on that case in Houston, legal analysts expect the panel to send all defendant challenges to liability to his bench.

The judge or judges selected to handle the spill cases will have tremendous power. The judges will appoint a steering committee of plaintiffs' lawyers from among all who have filed suit. A defense lawyers' panel will also be named.

The appointed jurists will decide important fact-finding and discovery issues, determine whether the cases can even move forward, vet the parties' expert witnesses and rule on the admissibility of evidence. A key objective will be to press the parties to settle rather than go to trial.

The companies targeted by lawsuits are also under federal investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Justice Department, which could expose them to fines and recovery costs in addition to court-ordered compensation.

Many legal analysts expect the judicial panel to split up the huge caseload. Under this scenario, one judge might be assigned all the economic loss complaints, and others would oversee environmental claims, securities actions, RICO charges and the liability limitation efforts.

Still, professor Vairo said, it wouldn't be surprising for a single judge to be put in charge of all the litigation.

"The facts here are going to be relevant to every single claim. What did they do when they built that pipeline and well? Who did what in terms of maintaining the well over time? Did they do the required inspections?" Vairo said. Once those questions are answered in one case, they can be applied to the rest, she said.

Most of the lawsuits have been filed under the post-Valdez Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Although that statute caps a company's liability at a total of $75 million, it holds the firm responsible for paying unlimited cleanup and environmental restoration costs. However, if victims' attorneys can prove that BP and the others were willfully negligent, the liability cap comes off and the companies have to pay what the court orders.

Charlie Tebbutt, an Oregon attorney representing the Center for Biological Diversity in its suit alleging violations of the Clean Water Act, said he was pursuing the maximum penalties against BP and Transocean of $4,300 per barrel of oil spilled into the gulf. He

estimates the bill could be $20 billion, "if we can prove gross negligence or willful misconduct, which we expect should be relatively easy to prove in this case."

Attorney Kanner, who represents the state of Louisiana, said, "We are witnessing nothing short of a collapse of an ecosystem that took tens of thousands of years to create." He added that it would have a domino effect on the region's economy.

Filing of lawsuits has tapered off since last month's announcement of an out-of-court program for settling claims from a $20-billion fund established by BP. But if claimants despair of that process, they could abandon it and turn to the courts.Criminal probe of oil spill to focus on 3 firms and their ties to regulators The Washington Post, 28 July 2010, By Jerry Markonhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072706052.html?hpid=topnewsA team of federal investigators known as the "BP squad" is assembling in New Orleans to conduct a wide-ranging criminal probe that will focus on at least three companies and examine whether their cozy relations with federal regulators contributed to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, according to law enforcement and other sources. The squad at the FBI offices includes investigators from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal agencies, the sources said. In addition to BP, the firms at the center of the inquiry are Transocean, which leased the Deepwater Horizon rig to BP, and engineering giant Halliburton, which had finished cementing the well only 20 hours before the rig exploded April 20, sources said. While it was known that investigators are examining potential violations of environmental laws, it is now clear that they are also looking into whether company officials made false statements to regulators, obstructed justice or falsified test results for devices such as the rig's failed blowout preventer. It is unclear whether any such evidence has surfaced. One emerging line of inquiry, sources said, is whether inspectors for the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency charged with regulating the oil industry -- which is itself investigating the disaster -- went easy on the companies in exchange for money or other inducements. A series of federal audits has documented the MMS's close relationship with the industry. "The net is wide," said one federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The Justice Department investigation -- announced in June by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and accompanied by parallel state criminal probes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama -- is one of at least nine investigations into the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Unlike the public hearings held last week in Kenner, La., by a federal investigatory panel, the criminal probe has operated in the shadows. But it could lead to large fines for the companies and jail time for executives if the government files charges and proves its case. Justice Department officials declined to comment Tuesday. Holder, in an interview with CBS News this month, confirmed that investigators are conducting a broad probe. "There are a variety of entities and a variety of people who are the subjects of that investigation," Holder said. In an additional avenue of inquiry, BP disclosed in a regulatory filing Tuesday that the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into "securities matters" relating to the spill, although no more details were included. Scott Dean, a spokesman for London-based BP, said the company "will cooperate with any inquiry the Justice Department undertakes, just as we are doing in response to other inquiries that are ongoing." Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for Transocean, a former U.S. firm now based in Switzerland, declined to comment, as did Teresa Wong, a spokeswoman for Houston-based Halliburton. Halliburton informed its shareholders about the Justice Department probe in its July 23 quarterly report to securities regulators. It also noted that the department warned the company not to make "substantial" transfers of assets while the matter is under scrutiny. The probe is in its

early stages, with investigators digging through tens of thousands of documents turned over by the companies, beginning to interview company officials and trying to determine the basics of who was responsible for various operations on the rig. Although lawyers familiar with the case expect that environmental-related charges -- which have a low burden of proof -- will be filed, some doubted that investigators can prove more serious violations such as lying or falsifying test results. "That's hard to prove," said one lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details of the investigation are not public. "It's hard to show that somebody who could have died on the rig was malicious and reckless and intentionally did something that jeopardized their own life." The emerging focus creates potentially awkward interactions on several levels. Investigators are probing companies, especially BP, which the government has been forced to work with in cleaning up the oil that cascaded into the gulf. And the former Minerals Management Service, which sources said has attracted the attention of criminal investigators, is helping to lead the federal panel that conducted last week's hearings in Louisiana. Federal auditors have in recent years documented a culture at the MMS in which inspectors improperly accepted gifts from oil and gas companies, moved freely between industry and government and, in one instance, negotiated for a job with a company under inspection. After the most recent investigation was released in May, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he had asked his department's acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, to expand her inquiry to include whether MMS failed to adequately inspect the Deepwater Horizon rig or enforce federal standards. One law enforcement official said criminal investigators will look for evidence that MMS inspectors were bribed or promised industry jobs in exchange for lenient treatment. "Every instinct I have tells me there ought to be numerous indictable cases in that connection between MMS and the industry," said this official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is unfolding. Melissa Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the former MMS (now called the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement), declined to comment. FBI agents and other investigators are working with prosecutors from the environmental crimes section of the Justice Department, along with local U.S. attorney's offices. Officials would not provide details about the new squad starting in the FBI's New Orleans office. Sources said it is known internally as "the BP squad," though it will examine all companies involved with the Deepwater rig. After learning what is in the thousands of documents, investigators plan to "start trying to turn one witness against the other, get insider information," said the law enforcement official. The official said that no decisions on criminal charges are imminent and that "you can bet on it being more than a year before any kind of indictment comes down." Oil in gulf is degrading, becoming harder to find, NOAA head says The Washington Post, 27 July 2010, By Marc Kaufmanhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705263.html?hpid=topnewsOil from the BP blowout is degrading rapidly in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and becoming increasingly difficult to find on the water surface, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday. "The light crude oil is biodegrading quickly," NOAA director Jane Lubchenco said during the response team daily briefing. "We know that a significant amount of the oil has dispersed and been biodegraded by naturally occurring bacteria." Lubchenco said, however, that both the near- and long-term environmental effects of the release of several million barrels of oil remain serious and to some extent unpredictable. "The sheer volume of oil that's out there has to mean there are some pretty significant impacts," she said. "What we have yet to determine is the full impact the oil will have not just on the shoreline, not just on wildlife, but beneath the surface." But much of the oil appears to have been broken down into tiny, microscopic particles that are being consumed by bacteria. Little or none of the oil is on seafloor, she said, but is instead

floating in the gulf waters. Her conclusions come from the work of several NOAA boats now collecting water samples, as well as the analysis of academics brought in to help study the spill effects. The goal, she said, is to get a scientifically sound assessment of the overall environmental effects of the spill. "To do this, we're working with the best scientific minds in the government, as well as the independent scientific community, to produce an estimate of just how much oil has been skimmed, burned, contained, evaporated and dispersed," she said. "We're getting close to an answer." Lubchenco also said that five boats are now patrolling the gulf for sea turtles, scores of which have been found dead on shorelines. She said the rescue teams had caught 180 turtles that appeared to be stressed by oil, and that 170 are now in successful rehabilitation. NOAA has been at the center of several disputes about what has been happening to the oil from the BP well. Early reports by university scientists of large plumes of oil moving below the water's surface were generally dismissed by NOAA, and the agency has also determined that the sea turtles and sea mammals that washed up onshore after the spill do not appear to have died from the oil. These conclusions have led some to charge NOAA is underestimating the spill's environmental damage. A significantly more optimistic assessment of the environmental effects of the oil well blowout came Tuesday from Edward Owens, who worked with Exxon for four years on the Alaska-Valdez spill and who has been hired as a consultant to BP. Owens was quoted by AFP as saying the fragile Louisiana marshes would be close to pre-blowout condition within months and that the environmental impact on the gulf as a whole would be "quite small." Lubchenco rejected the sanguine conclusions of a BP restoration consultant. "Anyone who classifies the results of the accident as anything less than catastrophic has not been watching," she said. Federal officials do agree, however, with the assessment of BP chief executive Tony Hayward, who told investment analysts Tuesday, "it is increasingly difficult to find oil in sufficient quantities to skim or burn." Staff writer Steven Mufson contributed to this report. On the Surface, Gulf Oil Spill Is Vanishing Fast; Concerns Stay The New York Times, 27 July 2010, By Justin Gillis and Campbell Robertson http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/us/28spill.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=allThe oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolving far more rapidly than anyone expected, a piece of good news that raises tricky new questions about how fast the government should scale back its response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The immense patches of surface oil that covered thousands of square miles of the gulf after the April 20 oil rig explosion are largely gone, though sightings of tar balls and emulsified oil continue here and there. Reporters flying over the area Sunday spotted only a few patches of sheen and an occasional streak of thicker oil, and radar images taken since then suggest that these few remaining patches are quickly breaking down in the warm surface waters of the gulf. John Amos, president of SkyTruth, an environmental advocacy group that sharply criticized the early, low estimates of the size of the BP leak, noted that no oil had gushed from the well for nearly two weeks. “Oil has a finite life span at the surface,” Mr. Amos said Tuesday, after examining fresh radar images of the slick. “At this point, that oil slick is really starting to dissipate pretty rapidly.” The dissolution of the slick should reduce the risk of oil killing more animals or hitting shorelines. But it does not end the many problems and scientific uncertainties associated with the spill, and federal leaders emphasized this week that they had no intention of walking away from those problems any time soon. The effect on sea life of the large amounts of oil that dissolved below the surface is still a mystery. Two preliminary government reports on that issue have found concentrations of toxic compounds in the deep sea to be low, but the reports left many questions, especially regarding an apparent decline in oxygen levels in the water. And understanding the effects of the spill on the shorelines that were hit, including Louisiana’s coastal marshes,

is expected to occupy scientists for years. Fishermen along the coast are deeply skeptical of any declarations of success, expressing concern about the long-term effects of the chemical dispersants used to combat the spill and of the submerged oil, particularly on shrimp and crab larvae that are the foundation of future fishing seasons. After 86 days of oil gushing into the gulf, the leak was finally stopped on July 15, when BP managed to install a tight-fitting cap on the well a mile below the sea floor, then gradually closed a series of valves. Still, the well has not been permanently sealed. Until that step is completed in several weeks, the risk remains that the leak will resume. Scientists said the rapid dissipation of the surface oil was probably due to a combination of factors. The gulf has an immense natural capacity to break down oil, which leaks into it at a steady rate from thousands of natural seeps. Though none of the seeps is anywhere near the size of the Deepwater Horizon leak, they do mean that the gulf is swarming with bacteria that can eat oil. The winds from two storms that blew through the gulf in recent weeks, including a storm over the weekend that disintegrated before making landfall, also appear to have contributed to a rapid dispersion of the oil. Then there was the response mounted by BP and the government, the largest in history, involving more than 4,000 boats attacking the oil with skimming equipment, controlled surface burns and other tactics. Some of the compounds in the oil evaporate, reducing their impact on the environment. Jeffrey W. Short, a former government scientist who studied oil spills and now works for the environmental advocacy group Oceana, said that as much as 40 percent of the oil in the gulf might have simply evaporated once it reached the surface. An unknown percentage of the oil would have been eaten by bacteria, essentially rendering the compounds harmless and incorporating them into the food chain. But other components of the oil have most likely turned into floating tar balls that could continue to gum up beaches and marshes, and may represent a continuing threat to some sea life. A three-mile by four-mile band of tar balls was discovered off the Louisiana coast on Tuesday. “Less oil on the surface does not mean that there isn’t oil beneath the surface, however, or that our beaches and marshes are not still at risk,” Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a briefing on Tuesday. “We are extremely concerned about the short-term and long-term impacts to the gulf ecosystem.” Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral who leads the government’s response, has emphasized that boats are still skimming some oil at the surface. Admiral Allen said the risk of shoreline oiling might continue for at least several more weeks. “While we would all like to see the area come back as quickly as it can,” he said, “I think we all need to understand that we, at least in the history of this country, we’ve never put this much oil into the water. And we need to take this very seriously.” Still, it is becoming clear that the Obama administration, in conjunction with BP, will soon have to make decisions about how quickly to begin scaling down the large-scale — and expensive — response effort. That is a touchy issue, and not just for environmental reasons. The response itself has become the principal livelihood for thousands of fishermen and other workers whose lives were upended by the oil spill. More than 1,400 fishing boats and other vessels have been hired to help deploy coastal barriers and perform other cleanup tasks. Those fishermen are unconvinced that the gradual disappearance of oil on the surface means they will be able to return to work soon. “Surface is one thing; you know that’s going to dissipate and all,” said Mickey Johnson, who owns a shrimp boat in Bayou La Batre, Ala., pointing out that shrimpers trawl near the sea floor. “Our whole big concern has always been the bottom,” Mr. Johnson said. The scientific picture of what has happened at the bottom of the gulf remains murky, though Dr. Lubchenco said in Tuesday’s briefing that federal scientists had determined that the oil was primarily in the water column and not sitting on the sea floor. States have been pushing the federal authorities to move quickly to reopen

gulf waters to commercial fishing; through most of the spill, about a third of the United States part of the gulf has been closed. The Food and Drug Administration is trying to speed its testing, while promising continued diligence to be sure no tainted seafood gets to market. Even if the seafood of the gulf is deemed safe by the authorities, resistance to buying it may linger among the public, an uncertainty that defies measurement and is on the minds of residents along the entire Gulf Coast. “How do we get people to buy our food again?” Mr. Johnson asked. While leaders on the Gulf Coast would welcome moves by the federal government that could put residents back to work, they are also wary of any premature declaration of victory. Officials in Grand Isle, La., met with the Coast Guard after the well had been capped to insist that no response equipment be removed until six weeks had passed. Rear Adm. Paul F. Zukunft of the Coast Guard, coordinator of the response on the scene, said any decisions about scaling down the effort would be made only by consensus, and only after an analysis of the continuing threat from oil in each region of the gulf. “I think it’s going to happen one day at a time,” Admiral Zukunft said. Delta’s Black Oystermen Seeking Cleanup Work and Clinging to Hope The New York Times, 28 July 2010, By Trymaine Leehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/us/28marina.htmlPOINTE A LA HACHE, La. — Way down in the delta, just south of the Belle Chasse Ferry at Beshel’s Marina here, black men with work-worn hands and several generations of fishing in their blood sat around on old milk crates, hoping for a piece of the oil cleanup action that seems to have bypassed their little stretch of the bayou. Hispanic workers unloaded oysters at Pointe a la Hache. Mexicans man some oysterboats, whose owners are typically white. Nearly all of them have taken BP’s courses on oil cleanup, but few said they had been called to work; their little skiffs remain moored and forlorn, tied side-by-side like wretched sardines. “The little guy loses again,” one of them lamented. There was Hurricane Katrina five years ago. And now the great spill. But even before those two blows, the fishermen in Pointe a la Hache and other small, historically African-American fishing towns and villages that dot the east bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, have long had to fight hard for every dollar, every oyster and every opportunity they could drag out of the bayou. In decades past they have dealt with the red-lining of leases on the richest oyster beds and waterways. In the 1970s and ’80s they said they fought the laws against hand-dredging that disproportionately limited the work of the black oystermen. Many have been nudged out by the major fishing operations owned mostly by native whites and Europeans. And they have even had to compete with migrant Hispanic workers who are willing to work for little, and who filled the void when Hurricane Katrina ran off so many of the locals. The very way of life in these fishing villages has been in danger as younger generations opted for work in other industries, like the local coal processing plant, or moved in search of education and fresh opportunities. “You might see a time when there ain’t no more black fishermen around here,” said Warren Duplessis, 49, a deckhand for a two-man oystering operation. “Because now you can’t raise no children off the side of a boat. Nowadays you’ve got to take him out of here, let him learn something with the books. No future in what we’ve been bleeding and sweating for all our lives.” With so many deckhands making so little money, maybe $100 a day, much of what they did make, in cash, was never reported. But now, to get loans to recoup on damages or lost income, or to be compensated by BP, they said they needed to show documents to prove how much they made. “Their issues are institutional and historical in a sense that they’ve been struggling for a long time,” said Jeremy Stone, with Coastal Communities Consulting, a nonprofit that provides economic development services to disadvantaged entrepreneurs along the Louisiana coast. “These guys are on the margins of solvency all the time anyway, and they don’t have a lot of resources to collateralize debts.” And they lack simple

information about how to apply for aid, get small-business loans or meet filing deadlines, so many continue to struggle. “We’re looking at a long road,” said Byron Encalade, president of the Louisiana Oystermen’s Association, which represents African-American and other nonwhite oystermen. “It’s not going to get any better. It’s getting worse.” Mr. Encalade said BP had not been hiring local black fishermen in large numbers to help with the cleanup, pointing to dozens of moored boats at the marina, which is owned by a white Plaquemines Parish city councilman but is almost completely occupied by black fishermen and oystermen, as some degree of proof of the untapped work force here. “A lot of them will leave,” Mr. Encalade said of the black bayou-men and women. “Some never came back after Katrina; all of this is just eroding our traditions.” Steve Rinehart, a BP spokesman, said the company was unaware of any groups being left out of the cleanup efforts and had tried to be as inclusive as possible. “The selection is by vessel, not by person,” he said. Criteria include a safety check of charter vessels and crew training. Mr. Rinehart said recent changes to BP’s vessels-of-opportunity program would allow rotation of the 3,000 vessels he said were registered. While officials have reopened oyster season, which will surely mean a boost to the morale and pocket book of these oystermen, Mr. Encalade warned against high hopes of a hefty harvest. He said the fresh water that had been diverted from the Mississippi River into the bays and bayous to keep out the oil had killed off much of the oysters, which need the right balance of salt and fresh water to survive. And officials had reclaimed many of their leases, he said. Before the spill, Mr. Encalade said, he had 1,500 acres of oyster bed. Now he is down to about 300, with most of his oysters dead, picked clean from their shells by crabs and scavenger fish. Others sang a similar tune. Roger Moliere Sr., 71, sat perched behind the wheel of his truck, watching his son and a deckhand unload the skiff he built with his own hands when Junior was just a boy. “When you’re poor and black and this is all you know, what else are you going to do?” Mr. Moliere said, grimacing. “Was a time if a man lost his job he could always come down to the bayou and feed his family. But this here, what you got happening now, this here might finish us off.” Mr. Moliere, now retired after 52 years as an oysterman, handed down his boat to his son, Roger Jr. He said he had raised his family on what he could gather from the bayou, after dropping out of school in the fifth grade to help after his father left. Inside the marina’s office, Elton Encalade, of the second Encalade clan in town, stood by a window and looked out on the semicircle of men on milk crates. “Take a look out there,” he said, motioning outside. “See what they’re doing? Sitting, talking, nobody working. We’ve been out on that water all of our lives, but look what we’re doing now.” He shook his head and took a long, deep gulp of the beer in his hand. “We just have to tough it out,” he said. “I know I’m going to make it. I know it like I know them waters out there. I’m going to make it.” Back to Menu=============================================================ENVIRONMENT NEWS FROM THEUN DAILY NEWS29th July 2010 (None)Back to Menu=============================================================S.G’s SPOKESPERSON DAILY PRESS BRIEFING29th July 2010 (None)Back to Menu=============================================================