A study last year found that men living in rural areas have lower sperm counts than their urban counterparts. Now, researchers say they’ve found a possible reason for the difference. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman has more:
Transcript
A study last year found that men living in rural areas have lower
sperm counts than their urban counterparts. Now, researchers say
they’ve
found a possible reason for the difference. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Chris Lehman reports.
Researchers compared urine samples of men with high and low sperm
counts.
They found that men with low sperm counts were far more likely to have
high
levels of three common pesticides in their urine. Many farmers use the
pesticides to kill weeds and insects on corn, soybeans, and other crops.
Doctor Shanna Swan is a researcher at the University of Missouri. She
says
the study showed that men from all walks of life in the rural areas are
affected, not just those who work directly with the chemicals…
“This is not a study of farmers, it’s not a study of men who work in
industry producing these chemicals. This is the general population.”
Swan says it’s unclear how the pesticides reach the men. She says it’s
likely that men are ingesting the chemicals through their drinking
water.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris Lehman.
As the U.S. government debates cutting mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants, Wisconsin may become the first state in the region to pass mandatory controls. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
As the U.S. government debates cutting mercury emissions from
coal-burning power plants, Wisconsin may become the first state in the
region to pass
mandatory controls. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach
reports:
Mercury released by the burning of coal often falls
into bodies of water and can be passed up through the food chain.
A proposal going before the Wisconsin Natural Resources
Board would order big Wisconsin utilities to cut mercury
emissions 40% by 2010 and 80% by 2015.
Environmentalists want faster
and deeper reductions.
Lloyd Eagan is a Wisconsin air management official. She says
her agency is taking a cautious approach
to how utilities would meet their goal.
“We did not assume that there would be improvements in
mercury control technology… which there will be, but we
based the rule on what is in existence today that we
think will work.”
Utilities still say the Wisconsin mercury plan goes too far.
They want the state to wait until approval of a federal cleanup plan.
That plan targets several different air pollutants.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck
Quirmbach in Milwaukee.
The Environmental Protection Agency last year set new emissions standards for diesel truck engines. Most of those engines are manufactured in the Midwest by Indiana-based Cummins, Michigan-based Detroit Diesel, Pennsylvania-based Mack Truck, and Illinois-based Caterpillar. One of those companies is trying a different approach to meet the new standards. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:
Transcript
The Environmental Protection Agency last year set new emissions
standards for diesel truck engines. Most of those engines are
manufactured in the Midwest by Indiana-based Cummins,
Michigan-based Detroit Diesel, Pennsylvania-based Mack Truck,
and Illinois-based Caterpillar. One of those companies is
trying a different approach to meet the new standards. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:
A truck engine the size of a
small couch is up on blocks at the
testing center of Caterpillar’s engine
research division just
outside of Peoria, Illinois. When it starts up,
you can feel
the vibrations.
(ambient sound, engine)
While this engine for a typical 18-wheeler is
large and loud,
the engineers who designed it say what makes it
different is
very small. Tana Utley is an engineering
director for
Caterpillar.
“We actually talk about the amount of fuel
that an injector
injects in terms of cubic milliliters. We measure the
time in
milliseconds. And even the degree of accuracy that is required to
measure what we are doing is not unlike what you’d find if
were to go to the space program and look at some of the things
they do for NASA.”
Caterpillar is trying a different approach to reduce
pollution from the engines on vehicles like school busses, dump trucks,
and 18-wheelers. Other engine makers are using a process
called
cooled exhaust gas recirculation. That essentially
means
cooling off the exhaust from the engine that
includes
pollutants, and running it back through the engine
instead of
releasing it into the air. Cooling the exhaust makes it
easier for
filters to pick up pollutants, and reduces the amount of
outside
air required to run the engine. But Caterpillar says it has a
better system. They call it ACERT, or Advanced
Combustion
Emissions Reduction Technology. ACERT doesn’t bank
on one thing
to clean up engine emissions like its competitors.
Tana Utley
says it is a combination of dozens of improvements to
the way a
large diesel engine works. She says one
example is a second
turbine placed at the end of the
engine.
“When we put a series turbo on, what we
do is we take the
exhaust energy that would normally be wasted and go out to the
environment at that temperature, the
second turbine takes that
temperature and turns it into useful work. That useful
work is used to add energy to the intake air, which helps us to
reduce the
fuel consumption. It also provides plenty of cool, clean air to
the engine to give us clean combustion.”
Utley says improvements to the engines air intakes,
fuel
injection systems, and the electronics
that run the engine all
combine to make for cleaner exhaust. John Campbell is
Caterpillar’s director of On-Highway Engine Products. He says
the ACERT engine follow Cat’s mission of taking a comprehensive
approach to solving problems.
“Who invented ACERT? The answer is Caterpillar invented ACERT.
Because it took a series of people with all kinds of
different
backgrounds, working together, and if you will,
playing off of
each other. And ACERT development
was a true teamwork effort
among a broad-based skill of people to make it occur and
actually bring it to production.”
Campbell says because ACERT does not rely on one piece of
equipment or technology to comply with new standards, Cat
will
have an easier time of meeting the next round
of emission
standards in 2007. But not everyone
shares Caterpillar’s
confidence that ACERT will be the clear
leader in the engine
market. Mike Osenga is the publisher of
Diesel Progress, an engine trade magazine. He says Caterpillar’s
unique approach to the engine market goes beyond the technology.
“The interesting thing that Caterpillar did with
ACERT is they
said, not only does it, in their opinion, change
the game
technically, but they also intended to charge more for ACERT
equipped engines. Especially the truck engine
market is hugely
price competitive. So Caterpillar has said
they’re coming in
with a new technology and they intend to get more
money for it.
That is typically not a path taken in moving a technology
into to a market.”
Osenga says it is impossible to predict which technology will
prevail, or which engine manufacturer will have an easier time
meeting future emissions standards. He says the biggest
question mark is durability. Osenga says none of the engines
currently on the market have been tested for the hundreds of
thousands of miles trucking companies demand from their engines.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.
Purple loosestrife's looks are deceiving. It's a beautiful plant, but researchers say it has caused enormous damage in many parts of the country. An imported beetle has now shown significant signs of controlling the plant.
Galerucella calmariensis is a species of beetle being reared and released throughout the region to control purple loosestrife. The bug was imported from Europe and Asia. (Photo courtesy of L.T. Kok)
Purple loosestrife is a beautiful plant. It’s tall… and each cone-shaped stem produces hundreds of flowers. When the plants bloom in mid-summer they can create a sea of purple in wetlands throughout the region, but the ability of the plant to spread and reproduce in great numbers is what concerns scientists and land managers. Over the years they have been working to control it. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush says one way they’re trying to control it is by releasing a bug to eat the plant:
Transcript
Purple Loosestrife is a beautiful plant. It’s tall… and each cone-shaped
stem produces hundreds of flowers. When the plants bloom
in mid-summer they can create a sea of purple in wetlands
throughout the region… but the ability of the plant to spread and
reproduce in great numbers is what concerns scientists and land
managers. Over the years, they have been working to control it.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush says one way
they’re trying to control it is by releasing a bug to eat the plant:
Roger Sutherland has lived next to this wetland for more than 35
years.
He helped build a boardwalk over the soggy marsh so that he can
get a close-up view of some of his favorite plants:
“You see that plant with the big green flower? Yep. That… and
there’s more along here… that’s a pitcher plant. These are insect
eating plants and there’s another one called sundew here… here’s
some right in here…”
(sound under)
But like many wetlands throughout the country, this wetland has
been invaded by a plant originally found in Europe and Asia.
Purple Loosestrife was introduced as an ornamental plant.
It was a
beautiful addition to gardens, but once it took
hold in the environment,
it out-competed native plants.
Frogs, birds, and insects have relied on these native plants for
thousands of years. Purple Loosestrife is crowding out their habitat.
“We’re going to get a lot more shade with this loosestrife.. and so
these plants that are on these hummocks here…
these little insect
eating plants and so on… just can’t tolerate that shade, so we’ll
probably lose ’em unless I can keep it open here… and I am trying
to keep some of it open.”
The plant spreads quickly… that’s because one plant can produce
more than two million seeds that spread with the wind, like dust.
So when it moves into an area, it often takes over creating a thicket
of purple with a dense root system.
Land managers have seen populations of ducks, and turtles
disappear when loosestrife takes over…
And research has shown that the plant can reduce some frog and
salamander populations by as much as half.
So land managers wondered what to do to stop the spread of this
weed.
They initially tried to control the plant by digging it up… or by
applying herbicide to each plant.
Trying to kill the plants one by one is hard work… especially
considering how abundant purple loosestrife is.
But researchers have hope because of a bug.
(Sound of volunteers planting loosestrife)
Volunteers have gathered here in Ann Arbor, Michigan to plant
purple loosestrife.
They’re putting dormant loosestrife roots into potting containers and
adding fertilizer.
(more sound)
When the plants leaf out they’ll be covered with a fine mesh net and
become home to a leaf-eating beetle known as galerucella.
And galerucella loves to munch on purple loosestrife.
The volunteers are creating a nursery to raise more beetles.
Once they’ve got a bunch of beetles growing on the plant… they’ll
take it to a nearby wetland… and the bugs will be released into the
wild…
(sound up)
Linda Coughenour is a member of the Audubon Society.
Her group is working with state and local agencies to raise and
release these beetles.
She says tackling purple loosestrife invasions is a big task – and
governments need help from volunteers to deal with the problem:
“This is a serious problem throughout the entire Great Lakes
wetlands… it has migrated from the East Coast to the Midwest…
so, uh.. the problem’s just too big – so they thought up doing this
volunteer project and they’ve enlisted people all over the state… and
we’re just one of those.”
Volunteers have have been releasing their beetles into this wetland
for few years now and they’re beginning to see progress:
“It’s going really well… for a while we got off to a slow start, but for two
years now we’ve found evidence that the beetles are reproducing on their
own. We see little egg masses, we see larva that are starting to eat
the plants, we see adult beetles on the plants that have wintered
over. And that’s the thing, to get them to do it on their own.”
But releasing a foreign species into the wild is always a concern.
There are a number of examples of bugs released into the wild to
eliminate a pest, but ended up causing a problem themselves.
But before importing a bug that will prey on plants – the federal
government requires testing to make sure it won’t eat other plants.
The tests have been done.
And researchers feel that this is an extremely finicky bug…
Berndt Blossey is a specialist on invasive plants and ways to control
them.
He says the beetles were tested on native plants before they were
allowed to import the bugs:
“And it was shown there that they will not be able to feed and
develop on the plants. They will occasionally nibble on them, but
they will not be able to develop on them and they usually move off
after they have taken a bite, and they move off to other plants.”
The leaf beetle is not the only bug researchers are importing.
They’re also importing two other beetles known as “weevils.”
One that feeds on loosestrife flowers, and one that feeds on its root
system.
Blossey says more than one bug is needed to keep the plant from
growing back:
“Loosestrife will rebound from resources in the root stock. If you
have the root feeder in the system as well, these fluctuations will be
dampened, so loosestrife will not be allowed to comeback to higher
levels.”
(sound of wetland up)
People who admire the diversity of plants and animals in wetlands
like the idea of keeping purple loosestrife in check.
Roger Sutherland welcomes the bugs.
He believes they’ll help him keep this wetland open for the plants,
birds, and insects he’s come to know over the years:
“We know that the purple loosestrife will probably always be here.
But if we can bring it down to a manageable level, where you’re going
to have a pocket here and a pocket there… and you can kind of
maintain the integrity of this wetland system… then you can’t ask for
anything more than that.”
And researchers say that’s the goal.
To help these wetlands reach a balance… so that plants and animals
that have evolved to rely on these wetlands for thousands of years…
can continue to do so.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.
The government is expecting shortages of natural gas in the next year. A combination of factors has caused reduced inventories of natural gas. Environmentalists say the Bush administration is trying to take advantage of the situation by calling for more drilling on public lands. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
The government is expecting shortages of natural gas in the next year. A combination of
factors has caused reduced inventories of natural gas. Environmentalists say the Bush
administration is trying to take advantage of the situation by calling for more drilling on
public lands. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
In a letter to U.S. Senators, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham indicated natural gas
must be conserved this summer by switching to coal or other fuel sources. Abraham also
suggested to boost supplies, the government should allow more drilling for natural gas on
federal lands. Some environmentalists see this as opportunistic. Patricio Silva is an
attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“We think that it’s reprehensible that the White House and some of their industry
supporters are using this opportunity to help subsidize the industry by giving away
billions of taxpayer dollars so that companies can drill and develop more of our protected
public lands.”
The shortage of natural gas is due to reduced storage capacity, hurricanes in the Gulf of
Mexico which stopped natural gas production, and low prices which curtailed
exploration. Inventories are down by 29-percent and prices are rising quickly.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
An Environmental Protection Agency internal document indicates that about one-quarter of the largest industrial plants and wastewater treatment facilities are in serious violation of the Clean Water Act at any given moment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
An Environmental Protection Agency internal document indicates that about
one-quarter of the largest industrial plants and wastewater treatment facilities are in
serious violation of the Clean Water Act at any given moment. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The study shows some wastewater treatment plants exceed pollution limits for
toxic substances by more than 100-percent. The EPA document was obtained by The
Washington Post. It further reveals that only a fraction of violators of the Clean Water
Act ever face enforcement actions and fewer than half of those are ever fined for the
violations. The study concentrated on the years 1999 to 2001. But it indicated some
company and municipal wastewater plants have illegally discharged toxic chemicals or
biological waste into rivers and streams for years without getting into trouble with the
government.
Often, state governments are responsible for enforcing EPA rules to meet the
requirements of the Clean Water Act. The EPA indicates it’s trying to become more
aggressive in monitoring state enforcement by creating “watch lists” of the most
flagrant violators.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Public health officials in the Midwest are trying to control a virus outbreak… believed to be linked to infected prairie dogs sold as pets. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sean Crawford reports:
Transcript
Public health officials in the Midwest are trying to control a virus outbreak…
believed to be linked to infected prairie dogs sold as pets. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Sean Crawford reports:
There are several confirmed cases of monkeypox now and more are expected.
Authorities are working to track down more than 100 customers of a
suburban Chicago exotic pet dealer.
Dr. Craig Conover with the Illinois Public Health Agency says those who purchased
prairie dogs during the past two months might be at risk.
“We’re making every effort to contact them personally. Many of the individuals are out
of state so the names of such individuals have been transmitted to other state health
departments.”
Conover says some prairie dogs later were traded at swap meets… making it more
difficult to locate them. This is the first time monkeypox has shown up in the
Western hemisphere. While similar to smallpox, it’s usually not as serious, but can
result in fever, chills, and rashes.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Sean Crawford.
A company in the Great Lakes region wants to convert trash into fuel. This could be one of the first plants in the nation to convert organic trash into ethanol. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Julie Grant reports:
Transcript
A company in the Great Lakes region wants to convert trash into fuel. This could be one
of the first plants in the nation to convert organic trash into ethanol. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Julie Grant reports:
The president of Genahol, Inc., says his facilities can make fuel out of nearly any plant
material. A lot of paper, leaves, and grass clippings wind up in landfills. But Donald
Bogner patented a new kind of process. It converts green waste to sugar, distills the
sugar into alcohol and transforms the alcohol into ethanol. Ethanol is usually made from
corn or other grains. Bogner says Genahol reuses other people’s trash.
“Genahol actually receives payment for its materials. Rather than going out and having
to pay a dollar fifty to two fifty a bushel for corn or something, we actually get paid on a
tonnage basis. So it can be very, very profitable.”
No Genahol facility has yet been built. Bogner and the Solid Waste Authority of Central
Ohio are negotiating one of the first deals in the nation for a trash-to-ethanol plant.
For
the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Julie Grant in Kent.
A company in the Great Lakes region wants to convert trash into fuel. You might have heard of plants that burn garbage to create energy. But this plant is different. This plant would convert organic trash into ethanol. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Julie Grant reports:
Transcript
A company in the Great Lakes region wants to convert trash into fuel. You might have
heard of plants that burn garbage to create energy. But this plant is different. This plant
would convert organic trash into ethanol. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Julie
Grant reports:
The walls of Genahol, Inc., are covered with pictures of Donald Bogner’s wife and
children. Bogner is a ruddy-looking man with a friendly attitude. He’s the kind of guy
who likes to get things done. He started Genahol seven years ago, with the idea that he
could turn paper, leaves, and grass clippings into fuel.
“The green waste is such a problem, because, what do you do with it? Well, you chop it
up, you mix manure with it, you package it, and sooner or later you finally say, hey, I
can’t sell this stuff.”
Bogner says Genahol can make fuel out nearly any plant material. A lot of green waste
winds up in landfills. But Bogner patented a new kind of process. It converts green and
paper waste to sugar, distills the sugar into alcohol and transforms the alcohol into
ethanol. Until now, ethanol has usually been made from corn or other grains. Bogner
says they’ve been surprised by how many products they can re-use to make ethanol.
Anything from stale beer, to old perfume, or factory-rejected candy…
“You just can’t imagine the volume when you start talking about Christmas candy canes.
And a bad batch of candy canes may be three million candy canes that a producer has to
destroy because they came out wrong in a batch or whatever. So, you know, three
million candy canes (laughs).”
If a Genahol facility is built, Bogner says it could convert anywhere from one hundred to
one-thousand tons of waste per day and make up to three million gallons of ethanol a
year. As long as the selling price of ethanol remains over a dollar a gallon, Bogner says
Genahol can make money. But he needs a deal. He needs a city that’s willing to let him
sort through the trash. It should be an easy sell, he says, because cities could save landfill
space and get a cut of the profits from ethanol sales.
“The hardest sell right now is that we cannot right now take them to a facility and show
them ethanol coming out of a spigot.”
And that’s the problem not only with Genahol, but with other companies that want to
convert waste to ethanol. Their ideas are theoretical. But Bogner says things are about to
change for Genahol. He’s negotiating a contract with the Solid Waste Authority of
Central Ohio, known as SWACO. It is in charge of trash in Columbus and owns one of
the largest public landfills in the country. Executive Director Mike Long is interested in
Bogner’s ideas.
“We are always looking for new methods, cost effective methods to reduce, reuse and
recycle the waste stream to reduce reliance on landfills. That is our primary purpose at
SWACO, to reduce reliance on landfills.”
SWACO already diverts yard wastes and paper from the trash stream, but there hasn’t
been much of a market for those products. That’s why Long says contracting with
Genahol makes sense.
“It’s being approached on, I think, a very conservative point of view, small scale pilot
project. Trying to minimize the risk to SWACO and the public from a financial point of
view.”
It might be a bit of a risk. SWACO and other trash managers got burned in the mid-
1990s by waste-to-energy facilities. Some plants were forced to close because they
emitted too much pollution. Genahol’s Don Bogner says the only emissions from his
plant will be carbon dioxide, which he plans to capture and sell for industrial use.
Bogner and SWACO are negotiating one of the first deals in the nation for a trash-to-
ethanol plant. Many entrepreneurs trying to sell similar ideas are having a tough time
making a deal. Monte Shaw, an ethanol industry spokesperson, says these companies
should hang on a little longer.
“It’s always harder to be first. It’s always harder to convince investors, and banks, and
government agencies, that this is going to work. ”
The government is considering tax breaks and financial assistance to encourage new
ethanol plants. One reason the government is interested is to cut dependence on foreign
oil. Another reason, is ethanol is a good replacement for MTBE in gasoline. MTBE has
been used to reduce ozone pollution, but the chemical has contaminated water supplies
and the government wants to phase it out. Don Bogner expects the move from MTBE to
increase demand for ethanol. He’s wondering if that means Genahol will be able to turn a
profit.
“That’s what my wife asks me, are we going to make money this year?”
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Julie Grant in Kent.
A group that usually spends its time counting frogs, is now rescuing frogs. It recently learned that the frogs’ habitat is being filled in and paved over for a parking lot. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:
Transcript
A group that usually spends its time counting frogs, is now rescuing
frogs. It recently learned that the frogs’ habitat is being filled in and paved
over for a parking lot. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly
reports:
(sound of kids)
The Amphibian Conservation Club meets at Petrie Island, outside of Ottawa,
Ontario, once a month. These young homeschoolers usually come to the island to study
frogs. But they recently discovered one of their favorite ponds is going to be
turned into a parking lot.
So, the kids have embarked on a rescue mission – moving as many frogs as
they can. 11-year-old Frank Ogilvie says they’re motivated by their love of
amphibians.
“I really, really, really like frogs. Yes I do. And I think that
they’re a great habitat indicator and that they are one of my favorite
animals.”
The group is inviting family and friends to join them in a last minute
blitz to save the animals before the bulldozers cover up the frogs’ home.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.
