‘Greening’ School Chemistry Labs

Tougher environmental laws and concern for students are prompting many schools to consider new ways of teaching chemistry and other sciences. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tom Rogers reports:

Transcript

Tougher environmental laws and concern for students are prompting many schools to consider
new ways of teaching chemistry and other sciences. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tom
Rogers reports:


Teachers in Illinois are being introduced to what’s being called “green chemistry” – using much
smaller amounts of hazardous chemicals – or none at all – to conduct experiments for
demonstration.


Bill Nelson is a chemical process specialist with the University of Illinois. He says not only is
green chemistry safer for students, it won’t leave behind a legacy of chemicals needing disposal.
Nelson says there’s no reason to worry that students won’t get the full impact of working with
larger supplies of chemicals.


“Students will be taught a healthy respect for chemicals, but what we’re trying to do is limit the
chemicals that are used in the classroom laboratories to as minimal as possible so that down the
road we don’t face the difficulties oftentimes we face now with disposal.”


Nelson says one prime example is mercury – it was widely used in classrooms until it was linked
to a variety of illnesses. Now schools are trying to roundup old mercury supplies and dispose of
them properly.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tom Rogers.

Federal Budget Cuts to Regional Commission

The Bush administration has proposed a 50-percent cut to programs promoting socioeconomic development by one federal agency. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Damon Boughamer reports on the cuts facing the Appalachian Regional Commission:

Transcript

The Bush administration has proposed a 50-percent cut to programs promoting socioeconomic
development by one federal agency. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Damon Boughamer
reports on the cuts facing the Appalachian Regional Commission:


The term “Appalachia” is most often associated with West Virginia and Kentucky. But
Appalachian Regional Commission territory runs north to Lake Erie, and the agency distributes
money across 13 states, including much of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Louis Karnagay
is a spokesman for the commission. He says many of the agency’s efforts have had
environmental components.


“We have developed some projects to study the feasibility of ecotourism in the region. We have
also commissioned studies on the ecology of the Appalachian region, on the biosphere area
there.”


In Pennsylvania, officials fear they could lose three-million dollars next year. That would put
business training at risk that would include instruction on adhering to environmental regulations.
The states and several Congressional delegations are starting to lobby for a reversal of
the cuts. The ARC has invested more than 67-million dollars in its lakefront counties since its
inception in 1965.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Damon Boughamer.

Protecting Right to Hunt and Fish

Hunters and anglers are working to protect their hunting and fishing rights by amending their state’s constitution. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Hunters and anglers are working to protect their hunting and fishing rights by amending their
state’s constitution. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


Hunters and fishers in seven states have already won amendments to their state constitutions that
protect the right to hunt and fish. The latest serious effort is in Wisconsin where a constitutional
amendment will appear on the ballot on April first.


Dan Gunderson is with the Wisconsin Hunting and Fishing Alliance. He says there’s not a real
threat to hunting and fishing rights right now…


“It’s about ten, twenty, thirty years from now. What kind of rights are we going to have to hunt
and fish. And there have been efforts throughout the country to restrict those rights and restrict
that access and we want to make sure that there’s not an unreasonable restriction of hunting and
fishing in the future.”


Gunderson says fewer and fewer politicians hunt or fish, which his group believes might mean
misguided laws against hunting and fishing. Hunting and fishing proponents are preparing to
introduce similar amendments in other states.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

‘Greener’ Cars Won’t Save Us From Sprawl

Many feel that cars powered by fuel cells will save us from a future of pollution and rising oil prices. But Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator James Howard Kunstler says there’s more to think about… he says it’s time to reconsider not just WHAT we drive but HOW we live:

Transcript

Many feel that cars powered by fuel cells will save us from a future of pollution and rising oil
prices. But Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator James Howard Kunstler says there’s
more to think about and that it’s time to reconsider not just what we drive but how we live:


For quite a while now it’s been fashionable among the environmentally-minded to decry the
ownership of SUVs. This says a lot about what’s wrong with the conventional thinking of the
progressive / green crowd.


Would the everyday environment in America be any better if it were full of compact cars instead
of giant gas-guzzling Chevy Denalis and Ford Expeditions? I don’t think it would make a bit of
difference, really. We’d still be a car-dependent society stuck in a national automobile slum. The
problem with America is not big cars, it’s the fact that cars of all sizes have such an
overwhelming presence in our lives, and that driving is virtually mandatory for the ordinary
business of daily life.


Many in the anti-SUV crowd assume that we will solve our car problem with new technology,
like hydrogen fuel cells. Or that low-emission, environmentally-friendly hybrid cars will help to
usher in a sustainable way of life in America.


In fact, cleaner-running, higher mileage cars would do nothing to mitigate the degraded public
realm of a nation that has become a strip mall from sea to shining sea. They would not lessen
commuting distances or times. They would not reduce the number of car trips per day per
household. If anything, they would only promote the idea that we should continue living this way
– that suburban sprawl is normal and desirable, instead of what it is: the most destructive
development pattern the world has ever seen, and a living arrangement with poor prospects for
the future.


Why do we believe that better-running cars will save us? Because environmentalists are stuck in
a culture of quantification, just like their corporate bean-counter adversaries. It’s easy to count up
the number of carbon dioxide molecules in a cubic foot of air, and reduce the whole car issue to
good air or bad air. But air pollution or miles-per-gallon are hardly the only problems with car
dependency. The degradation of the everyday environment in general and of public space in
particular is at least as important, and is not subject to statistical analysis. It’s a question of
quality, not numbers.


In the age of austerity and global strife that is coming down the pike at us, we are going to need
walkable neighborhoods, towns and villages and public transit systems that are a pleasure to use.
Many of us pay premium prices to vacation in European cities precisely because they offer this
way of living, with great railroad and streetcar systems. Europeans still have cars, but they’re not
sentenced to own one per family member or spend two or three hours every day in them. It
would be nice to have these options here in the USA.


In the meantime, I really don’t care whether Americans drive Humvees or Toyota Priuses. Both
big and small cars are cluttering up our everyday world and wasting our lives.


James Howard Kunstler is the author of ‘The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition’ and
other books. He comes to us by way of the Great Lakes Radio Consortium.

Region Deals With Deadly Nerve Agent

The Army wants to get rid of its stockpiles of chemical weapons because they fear terrorists might get to them. There are eight Army sites across the U.S. that store those kinds of chemicals. At one site in the Midwest, the military is planning to dispose of Nerve Agent VX. To destroy the stockpiles, the Army must first “water-down” the nerve agent. Then it has to be shipped to a company that disposes of industrial wastes. But while the Army says it’s making neighborhoods safer near where the chemical weapons are stored … some people fear having the watered-down nerve agent trucked into their neighborhoods. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:

Transcript

The Army wants to get rid of its stockpiles of chemical weapons because they fear terrorists might get to them. There are eight Army sites across the U.S. that store those kinds of chemicals. At one site in the Midwest, the military is planning to dispose of Nerve Agent VX. To destroy the stockpiles, the Army must first “water-down” the nerve agent. Then it has to be shipped to a company that disposes of industrial wastes. But while the Army says it’s making neighborhoods safer near where the chemical weapons are stored, some people fear having the watered-down nerve agent trucked into their neighborhoods. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:


Nerve Agent VX is a clear, odorless liquid with the consistency of motor oil. It was
accidentally created during the Korean War, when British chemists were experimenting
with various concoctions meant to kill lice on North Korean POW’s and refugees. Nerve
Agent VX kills within minutes after contact with the skin. It has never been used in
combat by the United States. Instead, most of the country’s supply sits in a highly-
guarded tank at the Newport Chemical Depot in west-central Indiana. In 1985, Congress
ordered the chemical weapons destroyed because many seemed obsolete. In 1997, the
United States joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits countries from
developing, producing, stockpiling or using chemical weapons.


Then, as U.S. Army spokesperson Terry Arthur explains, terrorists slammed planes into
the World Trade Center towers:


“After September 11th, 2001, because the public suddenly became aware of the possibility
for terrorism here in the United States, folks living near the stockpiles became acutely
aware of that. And the army began to look at ways to accelerate destruction of the
stockpiles.”


The Army is planning to burn some of its chemical weapons in incinerators. The Nerve
Agent VX that’s stored in Newport, Indiana will be destroyed through a neutralization
process. That’s a process that makes the nerve agent no more harmful than a household
drain cleaner.


(Ambient sound fade up)


The watered-down version of the nerve agent is called hydrolysate. It will be shipped by
tanker truck to Perma-Fix Environmental Services, a company in Dayton, Ohio. It’s a
company that usually handles industrial wastes and used oils.


“If you get your oil changed anywhere at a service station near the Dayton, Ohio area,
chances are, the used oil from your vehicle ends up here.”


That’s company Vice President Tom Trebonik. He says the hydrolysate will, simply put,
be broken down by a natural process. It will be eaten by microscopic bugs. And then it
breaks down even more into a form that will be pumped into the sewer system.


But, once word of a “nerve agent” coming to town spread around the small, poor
neighborhood near the plant, environmentalists began working with residents to voice
opposition to its disposal. They tacked up signs in the local supermarket and carry-out
that read “Deadly VX Nerve Agent” is coming to the neighborhood.


(Nat sound)


Martha Chatterton is a young mother of one with another child on the way. She lives in a
small house in a decaying area. Her husband fixes cars in the garage out back. They’re
glued to the news on CNN about heightened terror alerts. They know terrorist attacks are
a possibility. But they don’t want a problem from Indiana shipped to their backyard.


Chatterton is worried about the health effects of living near a plant that deals with such
industrial wastes. She says some days the air is orange and smells of a chemical stew.


“Well, last year we did the whole yard with roses and different flowers, and about a week
after we planted them, all of them died. So there’s got… there’s something wrong with
the ground here, because when I dug the hole for the rose tree, it smelled like gas fumes.”


Chatterton fears Perma-Fix won’t be able to properly handle the hydrolysate. The
company was cited in 2001 for odor violation but has since installed equipment to solve
the problem. Beyond that, the U.S. EPA and the Army see no reason why the treated
nerve agent can’t be trucked into town. Again, Army spokesperson Terry Arthur:


“We understand the concern of the public because it’s derived from a chemical agent.
What we want them to understand is that we have truckers who will be dedicated and
trained specifically for hauling this product and getting it across the state line to the Ohio
facility, where experts have been working with this kind of material for years.”


With the threat of terrorism, there’s little that’s likely to slow the pace of the destruction
of the nerve agent. The risks of leaving it intact seem greater than the risks associated
with destroying it.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Natalie Walston.

U.S. Army Corps Seeks Neighbor’s Support

  • A freighter navigates the American Narrows in the St. Lawrence River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to embark on a $20 million study to look at expanding the St. Lawrence Seaway's locks and channels, but they first need Canada's support. Photo by David Sommerstein.

The St. Lawrence Seaway is a major economic engine for the communities of the Great Lakes. Shippers and ports say a deeper channel for bigger freighters will add billions of dollars in trade and create new jobs. Environmentalists say replumbing the Seaway would devastate the region’s ecology. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to move ahead on a 20 million dollar study of Seaway expansion. But it’s waiting for support and money from Canada. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:

Transcript

The St. Lawrence Seaway is a major economic engine for the communities of the Great Lakes.
Shippers and ports say a deeper channel for bigger freighters will add billions of dollars in trade and
create new jobs. Environmentalists say replumbing the Seaway would devastate the region’s
ecology. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to move ahead on a 20 million dollar study of
Seaway expansion. But it’s waiting for support and money from Canada. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:


The Army Corps of Engineers’ study will set the Seaway’s agenda for years to come. That’s why
ports on both sides of the border say it’s important to update a system that’s almost fifty years old.
Keith Robson is president and CEO of the port of Hamilton, Ontario.


“You know, when it was first built, it was probably the right size and now the world has moved
on, so we need to take a look at what we need to do for the future.”


The world of shipping has moved on to so-called “Panamax” size. That’s the term used for huge
freighters that carry cargo containers to coastal ports and through the Panama Canal. A preliminary
study says if those Panamax ships could squeeze into the Seaway, a billion and a half dollars more a
year could float into ports such as Hamilton, Duluth, Toledo, Chicago, and Detroit.


But while bigger may be better in the Corps’ projections, shippers first want to make sure the old
locks keep working as is. Reg Lanteigne of the Canadian Shipowners Association says Canadian
shippers rely on the Seaway to handle 70 million tons of cargo a year.


“None of our economy could sustain a catastrophic failure of that waterway. The only issue here
is not how deep, how wide, how long the ditch should be, but the most important issue is how
long the current ditch can last.”


For the 20 million dollar study to proceed at all, Canada must fund half of it. Canada owns 13 of
the Seaway’s 15 locks. And the shipping channel is partially in Canadian waters. But even though
a decision was expected months ago, Canada has yet to sign on. Critics believe that’s because
Canada sees problems in the Corps’ approach.


Dozens of environmental groups across the Great Lakes have slammed the study. They say it’s
cooked in the shipping industry’s favor. They say it’s predestined to support expansion with dire
environmental consequences.


Expansion foes gathered recently at a meeting organized by the New York-based group ‘Save The
River.’ Their ears perked up when Mary Muter took the floor. She’s vice-president of the
Georgian Bay Association, an Ontario-based environmental group. She says Canada is wary of
expansion. The first time the Seaway was dug, water levels dropped more than a foot. With even
lower levels today, Muter says places like Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay can’t afford to lose more
water.


“Wetlands have literally dried up, converted into grass meadows in some locations. Another
concern is access for shoreline property owners to get to their cottages that are on islands.”


There are also concerns of invasive species depleting fisheries and channel dredging stirring up toxic
sediment.


But Muter says Canada is also wary of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has developed a
reputation of skewing studies to justify more work. Muter says Canada’s Transport Minister has
assured her one thing. He’s not interested in an expansion study that leaves environmental issues as
an afterthought.


“If the U.S. transport department wants to involve the Army Corps, that’s fine. But Canada is not
giving money directly to the U.S. Army Corps to replumb the Great Lakes.”


Both transportation departments have remained tight-lipped through months of negotiations, leaving
interest groups on both sides of the debate to speculate.


Stephanie Weiss directs Save The River. She says Canada’s delay may mean a chance to broaden
the scope of the study beyond shipping.


“Y’know, is this an opportunity to change the shape of the study into something that more interest
groups and more citizens around the Great Lakes can buy into?”


Reg Lanteigne of the Canadian Shipowners Association says the delay is just a bureaucratic one.


“The mandate has been agreed, the scope and governance has all been agreed. All we’re looking
for now is a suitable location and time and date to sign this off.”


On the U.S. side of the border, Congress has allocated 1.5 million dollars for the first year of the
study. That’s less than the Corps had asked for. And the legislation includes a special warning. It
directs the Corps to pay more attention to the environmental and recreational impacts of building a
bigger Seaway channel.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

Encouraging Farmers to Enter Alternative Crop Market

Lawmakers in one state are looking at possible incentives to help farmers expand into the lucrative alternative crop market. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Joyce Kryszak has details:

Transcript

Lawmakers in one state are looking at possible incentives to help farmers expand into the
lucrative alternative crop market. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Joyce Kryszak has
details:


New York once had a robust agricultural industry. But it’s taken some hard hits in recent years,
mainly from falling dairy prices. It’s nudged many farmers out of the business – and left fallow
thousands of acres of fertile soil. But state legislators think there may be a cure in the multi-
billion dollar herbal supplement business. They’re working on a plan that would provide
economic incentives to help farmers establish so called “grow zones” for alternative crops, such
as the popular herbal supplement, ginseng. Jim Hayes is a Western New York Assemblyman.
He says it would be a unique partnership that could reinvigorate the state’s farming industry.


“We’re trying to listen to scientists, and doctors, and farmers, and economic development people
to establish a protocol on how to get this thing started. And certainly it’s an area
that is just expanding nationwide, and we believe we should be capitalizing on here in New York
state.”


He says the program would also benefit consumers by developing high standards and controls for
herbal product purity and potency.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Joyce Kryszak.

Canada to Join in Seaway Expansion Study?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants funding to continue a study of expanding the St. Lawrence Seaway for bigger ships. Now amidst widespread speculation, a Canadian environmental group doubts Canada will support it. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:

Transcript

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants funding to continue a study of expanding the St.
Lawrence Seaway for bigger ships. Now amidst widespread speculation, a Canadian
environmental group doubts Canada will support it. The Great Lakes Radio Consoritum’s David
Sommerstein reports:


Canada’s role is critical to the study moving forward. In many places, the Seaway channel is in
Canadian waters and Canada owns most of the Seaway’s locks. Mary Muter is with the Georgian
Bay Association, an Ontario-based environmental group. She says Canada’s Transport Minister
David Collinette will not help pay for the study unless it beefs up its environmental approach.


“We have heard from Minister Collinette that he is only interested in funding a joint study with
the U.S. transport department that will look at the environmental impacts and that the full
scenario is looked at.”


Others say Canada will sign on. Keith Robson of the Hamilton Port Authority believes Transport
Minister Collinette is dedicated to expansion.


“My impression is that Collinette understands very much the benefits of marine transportation.”


Collinette himself has declined to comment. Transport Canada says talks with the U.S. are
ongoing.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

State to Regulate Dishwashing Detergent?

The state legislature in Minnesota is looking at a bill that would restrict phosphorus levels in automatic-dishwashing detergents. Supporters say it would reduce harmful algae blooms in lakes and streams. If the bill passes, it would be the first state to make such restrictions. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports:

Transcript

The state legislature in Minnesota is looking at a bill that would restrict phosphorus levels in
automatic-dishwashing detergents. Supporters say it would reduce harmful algae blooms in lakes
and streams. If the bill passes, it would be the first state to make such restrictions. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports:


Phosphorus in detergents helps to clean dishes, but when the mineral ends up in lakes and
streams, it promotes algae blooms. Large algae blooms can kill fish and restrict sunlight to
bottom-rooting plants. In the 1970s, phosphorus was restricted in other types of detergents.
David Mulla is a professor in the soil, water, and climate department at the University of
Minnesota. He says that legislation did make a difference.


“We had a very large reduction in the amount of phosphorus that was being emitted to our waste
water treatment plants as a result.”


However, Mulla says dishwashing detergents are not one of the primary sources of phosphorus in
lakes and streams today. Detergent manufacturers say if they don’t use phosphorus, their
detergents might not meet some health standards. They also say a reduction won’t have any
environmental benefits. The bill is currently being discussed in the state legislature.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Christina Shockley.

Underwater Power Lines Still in the Works?

An Ontario power company would like to see a high-powered transmission line built to Chicago. The plan includes stringing a high-voltage power line under Lake Superior. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike Simonson has more:

Transcript

An Ontario power company would like to see a high-powered transmission
line built to Chicago. The plan would include stringing a high-voltage
power line under Lake Superior. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike
Simonson has more:


This plan is part of a project that would build high-capacity generating
plants in Ontario, selling excess power to the United States. Larry
Hebert is the general manager of Thunder Bay Hydro. He says this is at
least five years off. By that time, Hebert expects the demand for power
in the U.S. to increase.


“Certainly, the need for power doesn’t seem to be diminishing, despite the cries for conservation
and wise use of power. Certainly in this province of Ontario, we seem to be
using more and more every year.”


Hebert expects the most controversial part of the project will be laying
a 90-mile long cable under Lake Superior to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula,
and run a high-voltage line down Wisconsin’s eastern side to Chicago.


Mary Pat Blankenheim with the Wisconsin-based American Transmission
Company says Thunder Bay Hydro’s proposal is intriguing.


“And especially given the fact that we are
looking for new ways of getting energy to the
areas where it’s needed.
But again the only way to get it there is by transmission.”


Hebert says they’re investigating permit applications with the Army Corp
of Engineers.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mike Simonson.