Environmentalists criticize Senate energy bill

Washington, DC, Apr. 29 (ENS)— The US Senate has passed its version of a national energy bill, adding a number of provisions to boost renewable energy use.

The bill includes a measure to triple ethanol use in vehicle fuels by 2012, expand tax incentives for wind energy, and require that an additional one percent of the nation’s electricity come from new renewable energy sources by 2005, increasing each year thereafter until renewable energy provides 10 percent of the national electricity supply by 2020.

But conservation groups criticized the bill for failing to boost vehicle fuel efficiency or take other steps to reduce the nation’s energy consumption.

“The Senate Energy Bill would have been forward thinking legislation when Grover Cleveland was President, “ said Friends of the Earth president Brent Blackwelder. “America has the brainpower and know how to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but we lack the leadership to fight the wealthy corporate polluters that steer our nation’s energy policy.”

After the passage of the Senate bill, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a new analysis of the energy savings that will result from the Senate bill over the 2003-2020 period. The analysis, available online at: http://aceee.org/energy/0402senatebill.pdf, concludes that the bill will reduce US energy use by a meager 1.6 percent.

“This bill is a failure because it doesn’t significantly reduce oil dependence or pollution,” said Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope. “Congress must create a different plan which protects our energy future, while protecting our land, air and water at the same time.”

Among the bill’s provisions are tax incentives for new energy efficient home and business construction, consumer tax credits for new qualified fuel cell and hybrid engine vehicles, and manufacturers’ tax credits for energy efficient washers and refrigerators.

The legislation also offers loan guarantees and expedited approval for an Alaska natural gas pipeline, grants for state weatherization assistance programs, and funding for clean and efficient energy research and development programs.

“This bill is the tip of the iceberg of where we need to go and what we need to do for our domestic energy future,” said Michael Marvin, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. “Tax incentives for clean energy technologies, services and products encourage the energy industry to be innovative and profitable while providing consumers additional choices at affordable prices.”

Some of the provisions that environmental groups object to include billions of dollars in subsidies for the fossil fuels industry, including so called clean coal technology, and incentives for the construction of new nuclear power plants. The bill also overturns a Circuit Court decision that upheld the US Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing -- a controversial practice of injecting chemical solvents under high pressure into the ground to increase the yield of oil and gas wells.

The bill now heads for a conference committee where the differences between the House and Senate energy bills will be reconciled. One of the most important distinctions of the House bill is a measure to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling, a proposal that the Senate has rejected.

ENVIRO BRIEFS

Feds may allow mining law change
The Bush administration is proposing to make it easier for the mining industry to dump its waste in the nation’s waterways, according to draft regulations circulated by environmental groups. The proposed rules, drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, would affect a practice known as mountaintop removal mining, which is common in Appalachia.

In recent years, the Army Corp has increasingly issued permits allowing mountaintop removal, and environmnentalists are suing the agency over that practice in federal court in West Virginia. The draft proposal being circulated would eliminate the provision in the Army Corp regulations that bans waste from being put in waterways. (AP)

Nevada governor resists federal
plans for nuke dump
On Wed., Apr. 4, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality voted overwhelmingly to override Nevada’s objections ot building a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, in the Nevada desert. The government plans to bury 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain over 24 years, beginning in 2010.

Speaking at a Congressional hearing on Fri., Apr. 25, Nevada’s governor, Republican Kenny Guinn, testified that the plan is “the product of extremely bad science, extremely bad law, and extremely bad public policy… Implelmenting this ill-concieved project will expose tens of millions of Americans to unnecessary transport risks.”

The Yucca Mountain site has been approved by Energy Sec. Spencer Abraham and Pres. Bush, but vetoed by Gov. Guinn. Approval by both houses of Congress is necessary to override the veto. (ENS, AP)

New Zealand Animal Liberation Front contaminates bottles of shampoo
Protesting the death of an estimated 50,000 animals during product testing by the cosmetics company Proctor and Gamble, Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activists in New Zealand announced on Wed., Apr. 24, that they have placed 38 bottles of Pantene Pro V shampoo contaminated with ammonia and hydrogen peroxide in 13 supermarkets throughout New Zealand. The bottles are not identifiable in any way and are randomly mixed with unlaced bottles. The activists also stated that in accordance with ALF guidelines of not harming any animals or humans, the contaminant solution is diluted. (Frontline News Service)

High court rules on property taking
The Supreme Court refused Tue., Apr. 23 to expand American’s property rights, reaffirming that the goverment can temporarily block building to protect the environment or prevent overdevelopment. Justices ruled 6-3 against a group of land owners barred from building reitrement homes near lake Tahoe because of environmental concerns. the Court said if it imposes time limits on temporary ordinances, decision-makers might be too hasty in setting permanent policy. (AP)

5000 march against Finnish
nuclear power plant
Five thousand people marched through Helsinki last week to mark the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and protest against plans to build a new nuclear power plant in Finland. The plant would be the only new one being built in Western Europe. The peaceful demonstration was significantly larger than had been expected by police. (Reuters)

2002 warmest in past 1000 years
The first three months of this year were the warmest globally since records began in 1860, and probably in the last 1000 years, British scientists have announced. The study found that the record on land and sea was consistant with computer predictions of the effects of man-made global warming. The three months were about .71 C warmer than the average for 1961 to 1990, itself the warmest period for 1,000 years according to ice-core analysis. The record warm period was remarkable because there was no sign of the cyclical El Niño in the tropics, which has attended a succession of record warmest years in the past decade. (London Telegraph)

DOE releases index of missing Cheney energy task force documents
On Apr. 26, the Department of Energy (DOE) released to the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) an index of withheld documents and another 400 pages of documents related to Vice President Cheney’s energy task force. The 400 pages, which should have been released by Apr. 10 according to court order, proved further verification that the task force worked closely with energy industry officials when writing its proposals.

NRDC plans to return to court next week to challenge the DOE’s illegal effort to hide information from the public.

“While the administration continues to keep critical information secret, its energy plan is moving forward both on Capitol Hill and on the ground in the West,” said an NRDC chief attorney. (NRDC)

Starches on high fry can cause cancer
Potato chips, french fries, baked potatoes, and bread may contain high levels of a probable human carcinogen known as acrylamide, Swedish researchers have announced. No acrylamide has been found in boiled food. The group has found that acrylamide is formed during the heating of starch foods to high temperatures.

Commercially produced since 1954, acrylamide is known to produce neurotoxic effects in people and animals. Until now, human exposure to acrylamide has been known only to occur through contact with the manufactured chemical, as it does not occur in nature. (ENS)

White House shifted emissions policy after lobbyist’s letter
In response to a law suit by the group Judicial Watch, the Bush Administration has released documents revealing the intense pressure from energy lobbyists Bush was under when he reversed his campaign stance on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal-fired plants.

Two weeks before Bush’s decision, lobbyist Haley Barbour virtually papered the White House, from Vice Pres. cheney on ldown, with a memo suggesting the president must not take action against CO2. At the time, Barbour represented the interests of several energy companies that gave substantially to Bush’s campaign.

“A moment of truth is arriving,” the memo stated. “The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore.” (AP)