PROTECT WILDLIFE IN PIERCE COUNTY

"Directions for Protecting and Restoring Habitat" is a proposal before the Pierce County planning commission. The group 1000 Friends of Washington is calling on people to help make sure this package is not weakened. To get involved: [email protected] or 206-343-0681.

LEARN TO LIVE WITH WASHINGTON'S 48 TOXIC WASTE DUMPSITES?

Washington State has 48 toxic-waste dumpsites dangerous enough to qualify for the federal Superfund priority list, yet the Bush administration is slowing down the cleanups, says the public interest group WashPIRG. The group also reports that due to increased pollution in rivers and reservoirs that provide the state's drinking water, utilities are using more chlorine, "leaving dangerous chemical byproducts in the water that may cause cancer, birth defects or cause pregnant women to miscarry." WashPIRG is urging the Department of Ecology to finish a review of the state's waters (which has been delayed by corporate interests) and to make the polluters clean up their wastes.

YUCCA MT. NUKE WASTE DUMP A 250,000-YEAR MISTAKE

US government plans to make Yucca mountain in Nevada the repository for all US nuclear waste is a dangerous idea, says Physicians for Social Responsibility, www.psr.org. Problems include transportation of nuclear waste through thousands of communities to reach the Nevada site, possible highway accidents or terror attacks and a major geological fault running through the site that has produced more than 600 seismic events since 1978, says PSR. The group asks what the impact would be of 77,000 tons of nuclear waste concentrated in one site on ground water that is used as far away as southern California. Also, why did the Environmental "Protection" Agency exempt the site from safe drinking water rules? And when will the US start reducing its production of nuclear waste?

REMOVE FOREST ROADS TO RESTORE ECOSYSTEMS

Habitat for predators can be destroyed by as few as "one mile of road per square mile of habitat" says The Home Range, published by Predator Conservation Alliance, www.predatorconservation.org. Grizzly bear and wolf mortality rise in proportion to the number of roads in the "wilderness." The magazine says decommissioning forest roads confers multiple benefits including jobs and stream restoration. "Roads cause most of the erosion and stream siltation associated with logging. Removing them almost completely stops the erosion and allows damaged streams to heal.

VAST RUSSIAN FORESTS PROTECTED

In a historic conservation measure, forestland in the Russian Far East totaling 1.7 million acres was recently designated as protected. Approximately the size of the state of Ohio, the areas are now off-limits to all major industrial activity, with some of the land designated as "areas of traditional use" for the indigenous Evenk peoples. The area, including the Amur forests, hosts some of the most pristine forests and watersheds in the world. The designation comes at the same time that timber and mining industries are rapaciously extracting resources in the area. Said a spokesman for the group Pacific Environment, "While in America we're fighting to protect small swaths...across the Pacific there are still huge areas that have escaped development. And people who live in those areas who are working hard to preserve them." Pacific Environment works to protect the Pacific Rim by supporting over 100 grassroots organizations in Russia, China and Japan. www.pacificenvironment.org

LEAKING UNDERGROUND FUEL TANKS

(ENS)-More than 76,000 leaking underground storage tanks across the country are polluting the nation's groundwater because they are leaking hazardous substances. In fiscal year 2000, more than 14,500 leaks or releases from regulated tanks were reported. A Senate committee recently heard of a school in Indiana where children had been using and drinking water with 10 times the EPA's recommended safe limit of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). An oxygenate added to fuel for reducing emissions and raising octane, MTBE poses health risks including damage to kidneys and livers and can cause cancer.

POLLUTER PAY LAW THREATENED

(ENS) - A bipartisan group of senators is cosponsoring a bill to ensure that polluters will continue to pay for cleanup of the nation's most toxic waste sites, known as Superfund sites. The Bush administration announced earlier this year that it would not request a reauthorization of Superfund fees on oil and chemical companies. This fee, established in 1980, provides revenue to the Superfund Trust Fund, which ensured that polluters paid the bulk of Superfund cleanups. "One in every four Americans lives within four miles of a Superfund site, putting these individuals at a higher risk of cancer and other diseases," said Sen. Barbara Boxer. "Sadly, the Bush administration has turned its back on the people of this country and weakened the Superfund program by abandoning polluter pays."

ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS ENDANGERS WILDLIFE

The National Wildlife Federation says that among the Army Corps of Engineers' most destructive projects are the dams on the Lower Snake River in Idaho and Washington, which threaten salmon. Funded by tax dollars, since 1779 the Corps has constructed 8500 miles of levees and seawalls, more than 500 dams and 11,000 miles of inland waterway navigation channels. With its 37,000 members, it is now involved in $52 billion worth of projects, many of which "threaten to destroy vital wildlife habitat." The NWF says Corps projects are often destructive because they "alter...America's environmentally sensitive landscapes. They develop on top of wetlands, alter the flow of rivers, dredge rivers with channels and construct dams." Go to www.nwf.org for more information.

TINY POLLUTION PARTICLES LINKED TO LUNG CANCER

(ENS)-Long term exposure to soot-filled air carries nearly the same risk of lung cancer as breathing second hand smoke, a new nationwide study suggests. Researchers in the US and Canada finds that breathing air containing high concentrations of tiny soot and dust particles significantly boost the risk of dying from lung cancer and heart disease. For more information go to ens-news.com/ens/mar2002/2002L-03-06-07.html

AN END TO MERCURY THERMOMETERS?

(ENS)-A Senate committee has approved a bill that would phase out mercury thermometers and improve management of surplus mercury. S351 "reduces toxic health hazards in American's homes, particularly to the most vulnerable populations of pregnant women and young children," said Sen. Jim Jeffords. The measure would ban the sale of mercury thermometers except by prescription and directs the EPA to establish a national mercury thermometer collection and exchange program, and dispose of all mercury collected under hazardous waste regulations. "A mercury thermometer contains about a gram of mercury, which when airborne is enough to contaminate a 20-acre lake for a year," said a spokesperson for the Mercury Policy Project, based in Montpelier, Vermont.