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Quite a lot of
ominous stuff in this. A few good things happening
too.
SERC www.serconline.orgState
Environmental Resource Center "Defending the Environment
State-By-State" WILDLINES, Vol. III, No. 12 March 22, 2004
IN THIS EDITION:
ISSUE SPOTLIGHT: SERC Report: ALEC's Attack on Civil
Liberties
HEADLINER: North Carolina Asks EPA to Force Other States to Clean
Air
WATCHDOG: GA Senator Wants to Make It Harder for Citizens to Block
Damaging Permits
NEWS FROM THE STATES:
* Mississippi: Drilling Bills Sail Through
Legislature
* Florida Legislators Look to Weaken Manatee
Protections
* Minnesota Bill Would Dedicate Funding to Clean
Water
* Colorado May Implement Fees for Wildlife Watching
*
Florida to Face Lawsuits over Polluted Waterways
* SD Gov. Wants River
Management Plan Reconsidered
* Nebraska: Senators to Debate Livestock
Waste Bill
* NJ Legislators Fast-Track North Highlands Watershed
Preservation
* Connecticut Gov. Approves Proposals to Combat Climate
Change
* Maine Plans to Green State Vehicle Fleet
* New
Jersey Assembly Passes Smart Growth Measure
ISSUE SPOTLIGHT: SERC Report: ALEC's Attack on Civil Liberties
Today, lawmakers and citizens alike place national security among the
foremost of their concerns. In a post-911 world in which America is waging a
"war against terrorism," one of the most critical issues facing our nation is
how to ensure national security while safeguarding the civil liberties
guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Against the backdrop of this political
climate, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing
organization primarily comprised of business interests and state legislators,
has drafted and is promoting three related bills. The first, ALEC's "Animal and
Ecological Terrorism Act," was released as part of ALEC's alarmist report,
"Animal & Ecological Terrorism in America," and has been introduced in six
states (WA, AZ, HI, TX, SC, NY). The other bills, "Environmental Corrupt
Organizations - Preventative Legislation and Neutralization Act" (ECO-PLAN) and
the "ECO-PLAN Forfeiture Act" emulate RICO statutes but target environmental
groups. ALEC claims that these bills will help safeguard the nation against acts
of domestic ecoterrorism. However, the bills plainly violate civil rights
guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. To read the full report, visit: http://www.serconline.org/pdf/civilLiberties.pdf.
North Carolina can't clean up its dirty air by itself, so the federal
government should make 13 upwind states reduce pollution at their coal-burning
power plants, state leaders said. With the support of Gov. Easley, Attorney
General Cooper sent a letter to Michael Leavitt, administrator of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), asking his agency to agree that the 13
states are illegally fouling North Carolina's air. The letter asks the EPA to
order those states to emit far less of the soot and airborne chemical compounds
that poison people's lungs and spoil scenic views. "We've taken steps to cut
down on the pollution we produce here in North Carolina, but dirty air doesn't
respect state borders," Cooper said Thursday in announcing the petition. "Since
we can't stop air pollution at the state line, we want to cut it at the source."
North Carolina is the first southern state to petition the EPA under Section 126
of the federal Clean Air Act to force nearby states to be healthier neighbors,
as several northeast states did successfully in the late 1990s. Cooper said that
despite slashing pollution from its own power plants, North Carolina can't meet
federal air-quality standards. Smog and ground-level ozone have broken federal
limits in the Triangle, Charlotte, and other places. That not only makes the air
unhealthy, it jeopardizes federal highway funding. And, air pollution elsewhere
hurts farming and tourism. If the petition succeeds, states as far away as
Michigan would have to cut power plant pollution by more than 50 percent, while
states nearer North Carolina would face reductions of 70 percent to 80 percent.
In addition to Michigan, the states named in the petition are Alabama, Georgia,
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The EPA estimates that more than half
the nation's population will be living in areas that are in violation of the
Clean Air Act after April 15th. For more on how your state can clean up its air,
visit: http://www.serconline.org/clean/pkg_frameset.html.
WATCHDOG: GA Senator Wants to Make It Harder for Citizens to Block Damaging
Permits
In Jan. 2004, Georgia Sen. Eric Johnson introduced SB 524, which sought to
restrict the ability of concerned parties to appeal pollution permits. The bill,
as introduced, would have required the appealing party to post a bond as a
prerequisite for an appeal. That bond would have to cover "all loss, damages,
interest, attorney fees, and costs and expenses of litigation" that could be
incurred by the business or government entity that received the permit, and
would be unduly prohibitive to all but the very wealthy who try to oppose such
permits. The bill as proposed may have violated the Equal Protection Clause of
the U.S. Constitution by offering financial protection only to the permittee and
not to the appellant or agency. The bill was supported by industry groups that
complained of having to jump through hoops to obtain a permit, only to have
their development halted when an appeal was issued -- usually by "environmental
groups." However, citizen groups say those complaints lack merit and insist that
the majority of past appeals were ruled valid and resulted in permit
modifications or other changes. In other words, in most cases where an appeal
was issued, the permittee or the permit issued was found to be in violation of
the law and detrimental to the environment and human health. Reactions to the
bill from citizen groups and others in Georgia resulted in the Senate committee
introducing a substitute for SB 524, which removes the bond requirement but
retains the intent of the original bill. The new substitute removes the
so-called "stay rule," which halts the development during the appeals process to
allow the state to consider and rule on the appeal. This version passed the
Senate, and is under consideration in the House. If SB 524 were passed today, it
would allow developments to proceed immediately during an appeals process; if a
judge later finds that the action was illegal, they may be unable to undo or
hold parties liable for any harm that might have occurred. SB 524 makes it more
difficult for citizens to hold corporations liable for environmental damage, and
may prevent the state from correcting the harm done even if an appeal is found
to be valid. This is a dangerous bill, and should not pass.
NEWS FROM THE STATES:
The Senate and House voted overwhelmingly in favor of bills aimed at
opening state waters to oil and gas drilling, but only after restricting
nearshore drilling for most areas of the coast. The two versions include
provisions, which would move oil and gas lease authority from the Department of
Environmental Quality to the Mississippi Development Authority, with an
oversight board comprised of the governor, secretary of state, attorney general,
and state treasurer, and restrict drilling near some barrier islands and oyster
reefs. Proponents said the legislation would allow the state to tap its natural
resources to help fund public education, without spoiling the environment or
beach views. But some environmentalists, local governments, and tourism and
casino industry representatives have lobbied against the legislation. They worry
offshore drilling would harm the environment or tourism industries and views
from the sand beach or islands.
A bill moving through the Florida legislature calls for the state to shift
manatee protection money into research on whether the huge marine mammals are
eating so much sea grass that they're harming fish that depend on it for food
and shelter. Inspired by anger over restrictions on boating and dock-building,
the bill is one of several introduced this session to head off additional
manatee protection regulations. One bill would exempt certain proposals for new
marinas from the full approval process for large regional developments. Another
would require the state to set measurable biological goals for manatees and
prohibit additional protection measures where those goals were being met. A
third bill would shift $3 million in manatee protection funds from the Florida
Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to Mote Marine Laboratory in
Sarasota for conducting manatee research, including an inquiry into their effect
on sea grass. The shift in funding would devastate the state's manatee
protection work, according to an analysis by the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission. It would cause the agency to reduce or eliminate vital
functions such as rescuing injured manatees, posting and enforcing slow speed
zones, recovering manatee carcasses, determining the cause of death, and
reviewing coastal construction permits. For more on how your state can protect
endangered species, visit: http://www.serconline.org/esa/index.html.
A bill, which would give voters a chance to create an annual pool of money
to clean up Minnesota's lakes and rivers, is working its way through the
legislature with a strong ally -- the governor. The legislation would set a
referendum on whether the state constitution should be amended so that
one-quarter of 1 percent of the state sales tax is set aside each year for 20
years for environmental programs, including water restoration. Similar attempts
to get money for outdoors programs have failed in the past, and this year's
version again faces opposition. But Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said that cleaning up
one of the state's natural treasures -- its lakes and streams -- is a
cornerstone of his administration. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
(MPCA), whose report on the status of lakes is the basis for the funding
request, lists cleaning up lakes and rivers as its top priority. The agency
lists 1,916 lakes and streams as "impaired," meaning they contain harmful levels
of pollutants like mercury or excess nutrients like nitrogen. The list, first
released in 1998 as part of the federal Clean Water Act, has grown in recent
years as the agency collects more data on water quality. It is estimated that
10,000 lakes and streams could be on it by 2014. The pollutants causing most of
the trouble in Minnesota's water come from routine activities such as driving
cars, fertilizing lawns, and agricultural and stormwater runoff, the MPCA said.
For more on your state can protect its water, visit: http://www.serconline.org/safeair&water.html.
Colorado lawmakers may consider a bill next year that would require
wildlife watchers to pay a fee to access state wildlife areas. Wildlife
advocates are encouraging the use of such fees because hunters and fishermen
currently bear the majority of the cost of wildlife management. "It is past time
that individuals, other than fishermen and hunters, begin to contribute on a
mandatory basis for wildlife management," Eddie Kochman, former state fisheries
manager, told a state committee. Besides the burden placed on hunters and
fishermen, the numbers of those groups are declining, causing a decrease in
state money available for wildlife management. Kochman estimates that about 2
million people use the state's wildlife areas annually, while only a small
fraction actually pay for it. To implement such a program, wildlife watchers and
other users would pay an annual fee for a wildlife habitat or conservation
stamp. State lawmakers have considered similar proposals in the past, but
potential payers wanted to ensure that the money would go specifically to
wildlife preservation, while the state Division of Wildlife doesn't want the
money collected to benefit specific programs. Similar pay schemes have been
implemented in neighboring Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and New Mexico. For more
information on conservation funding mechanisms, visit: http://www.serconline.org/conservationfunding/index.html.
Accusing the state of shirking its responsibility to keep Florida waterways
clean, two environmental groups announced last week they will sue the federal
government to take over the job. The Sierra Club, along with the Natural
Resources Defense Council and Linda Young of the Clean Water Network, said they
had filed a 60-day notice that they intended to sue the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), a step required before filing a lawsuit. The aim is to
force the EPA to once again enforce the federal Clean Water Act in Florida. The
agency gave up that authority in 1995, delegating responsibilities to the state,
an arrangement the agency has with most other states. The groups said Florida,
in its last report to the EPA, identified 6,391 miles of rivers and streams,
635,008 acres of lakes, and 1,150 square miles of estuaries not meeting federal
water quality standards. They also said the state has failed to issue permits to
limit dioxins from paper mills and sewage from dairies, is pursuing potentially
dangerous underground injection of waste, and had altered laws that would delay
cleanup of phosphorus pollution in the Everglades, among other things.
South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds wants more emphasis placed on sufficient
water to support spawning fish in upstream reservoirs of the Missouri River.
Rounds has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to modify their submitted
Missouri River management proposal to ensure protection for the hatching of fish
important to the viability of the fishing industry. The changes will be made to
the new master manual, used to guide river management and develop annual
operating plans based on the amount of water available each year. Rounds noted
South Dakota officials' concerns over basing the existing plan on the normal
amount of runoff from melted snow and rain, since runoff this year is likely to
be below normal. If the plan were based on averages, it could pose a threat to
fish eggs laid in shallow water this spring. Droughts in the area in recent
years could aggravate those threats. Upstream states want more water held in
upstream reservoirs to support the fishing industry, and downstream states want
more water at certain times of the year to support barge traffic, city water
supplies, and power plant cooling systems. Even after the final master manual is
completed, the Corps expects numerous legal challenges. In response to concerns
from environmentalists, the Corps has submitted a new plan that would create
about 1,200 acres of slow-moving, shallow water channels for the endangered
pallid sturgeon, and intends to establish ways to provide nesting places for
terns and plovers. At the federal level, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle has
reintroduced a bill that would reform the Corps and revise its methods of
designing and building projects. Dashle's bill would also create a new,
independent review process for such proposed projects. For more information on
how your state can work to encourage water conservation, visit: http://www.serconline.org/waterconservation/pkg_frameset.html.
Nebraska LB 916, if approved, would force permit holders to pay a fee for
each cow, pig, horse, sheep, lamb, turkey, or chicken housed in a facility each
year. The fee would vary depending on the animal. Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek,
who introduced the bill, said the measure is designed to bring the state's
permitting process into compliance with federal regulations that take full
effect in 2007. The goal is for the fees to cover about 20 percent of the
state's $1 million annual cost of conducting inspections and issuing permits.
Permit holders would have to pay a fee of 10 cents per head of beef cattle, 15
cents for each dairy cow, and $4 per 100 pigs greater than 55 pounds or $1 per
100 pigs less than 55 pounds. The state's Livestock Waste Management Act, passed
in 1998, directs the Department of Environmental Quality to oversee a system of
permits and inspections designed to keep livestock waste from polluting
Nebraska's waterways. The Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Nebraska Cattlemen, and the
Nebraska Pork Producers all spoke in support of the bill, despite the new fees.
Environmental groups question why the bill doesn't include a requirement for
livestock operators to contribute money to a fund in case a confined animal site
is abandoned and needs to be cleaned up.
The New Jersey Senate and Assembly environment committees said this week
that they will fast- track the North Highlands area of the state for
preservation because the watershed is an invaluable asset to the state. Gov.
McGreevey has called for sweeping protections in the region, which supplies
drinking water to more than half the state. The protections include the creation
of a regional council with veto power over development on 350,000 watershed
acres. The state will stress both new regulation and land purchases at prices
that reflect values prior to regulatory changes in order to preserve the
watershed's core. The area's remaining 120,000 acres are privately-owned,
undeveloped land, and could be protected for somewhere between $200 million and
$300 million. McGreevey and others stress that the plan will be ineffectual if
growth in designated areas is not appropriately managed. For more information on
smart growth and sprawl, visit: http://www.serconline.org/sprawl/pkg_frameset.html.
Connecticut Gov. Approves Proposals to Combat Climate Change (ENS
3/15)
Connecticut Gov. John Rowland has accepted 38 recommendations from a
climate change committee to help reduce state greenhouse gas emissions. The
Steering Committee on Climate Change made their recommendations based on input
from a diverse array of citizen stakeholders, businesses, and government
agencies that met and formulated action plans during a series of public forums.
The recommendations could result in a number of greenhouse gas-reducing state
programs, ranging from stricter auto emissions standards to a program that would
give state energy users the option to pay for renewable energy sources like
wind, solar, hydro, and fuel cell power. If implemented, the plan is expected to
encourage the use of renewable energy, environmentally-friendly building
materials, green building, smart growth plans, alternative fuels, product
recycling, and locally produced goods. "Together [the recommendations] are
projected to account for more than half of the greenhouse gas emission
reductions we're targeting by 2010," Rowland said. "It's the equivalent of
planting nearly three million acres of trees or removing over 750,000 cars from
our highways over a year's time." For more information on how your state can
work to implement sustainable growth policies, see SERC'S Energy Policy Report,
"Crafting a Clean and Sustainable Energy Policy," at http://www.serconline.org/cleanenergy.pdf
or SERC package materials on a variety of issues including smart growth,
electronic waste, clean power, and biodiesel.
Gov. John Baldacci issued an executive order this week that outlines a plan
to thin out, and reduce emissions from, the state's vehicle fleet. The program
envisioned by the initiative includes using more hybrid vehicles and cutting
down on unnecessary transportation by maximizing opportunities of employees to
telecommute. Maine has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990
levels by 2010, with another 10 percent cut envisioned by 2020. Baldacci writes
in the order that he believes state government needs to assume a leadership role
in curbing climate change, and that the program will also save taxpayer dollars.
For more information on greening state vehicle fleets, visit: http://www.serconline.org/suvFleets.html.
The New Jersey Assembly passed, by a 65-10 vote, a bill that would allow
local governments to channel growth by transferring development rights away from
undeveloped property and into designated growth areas. The building industry has
lobbied against most of Gov. McGreevey's smart growth agenda, but this
initiative appears to have builders' support because it manages instead of
restricts development. The concept is based on a decade-old Burlington County
program that has preserved more than 10,000 acres of open space and farmland in
Chesterfield and Lumberton by shifting developers' rights to build houses from
one area of town to another. Under the program, builders forfeit their rights to
build in an undeveloped area of town in return for permission to build more
densely in sections designated for growth. Under the legislation, towns
interested in establishing a transfer-of-development-rights program would have
to pass local ordinances and receive approval of their master plans from the
State Planning Commission. Similar programs exist in 20 other states. For more
information on smart growth and sprawl, visit: http://www.serconline.org/sprawl/pkg_frameset.html.
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