The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing how much of a commonly used pesticide it will allow in drinking water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing how much of a commonly used
pesticide it will allow in drinking water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:
Atrazine is one of the most commonly used pesticides in the nation. It’s found in trace
amounts in water, just about everywhere. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
has measured Atrazine levels in rainfall that exceeded the current drinking water standards. A
recent study indicated that Atrazine was causing male frogs to develop female characteristics at
even lower levels than the drinking water standard allows. Now the Environmental Protection
Agency is doing its own review of Atrazine’s environmental impacts. Dave Deegan is with the
EPA. He says that review has to be completed before the agency can determine whether drinking
water standards should change.
“At this point, really, it’s too early to know what direction that would take or how long that would
take or what the outcome would be.”
It will be late this year before the EPA Office of Water begins to study whether it should loosen,
further restrict, or leave the drinking water standards for Atrazine where they are.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
An EPA study says that less than one percent of lakes in the Upper Midwest suffer from the effects of acid rain – down from three percent 20 years ago. Air pollution officials disagree on what to do next about the harmful precipitation. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
An EPA study says that less than one percent of lakes in the Upper Midwest suffer from the
effects of acid rain – down from three percent 20 years ago. Air pollution officials disagree on
what to do next about the harmful precipitation. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck
Quirmbach reports:
The EPA credits the improvement in the health of lakes to a 1990 law that reduced sulphur
dioxide emissions, mainly from coal-burning power plants. Cutting SO2 pollution means several
things, including less disruption to the Lakes’ food chain. Now the EPA agrees with President
Bush’s call for Congress to pass his so-called Clear Skies Initiative. That plan aims for more
reductions in sulphur dioxide, as well as cuts in emissions of nitrogen oxides and mercury. But
several state air pollution regulators say the plan doesn’t go far enough. Lloyd Eagan is with the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“Basically my feeling is that the levels in the Clear Skies Initiative really offer too little reduction
and it comes too late.”
But the EPA calls the Clear Skies Initiative a market-based, workable approach to pollution
control.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chuck Quirmbach reporting.
Soon you’ll be seeing a label on some lights that you might buy for your house. The label will warn that the light bulbs contain mercury. It’s the result of a five-year court battle. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Soon you’ll be seeing a label on some lights that you might buy for your house. The label will
warn that the light bulbs contain mercury. It’s the result of a five-year court battle. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Fluorescent lamps need mercury to operate. But mercury is known to cause health problems. So,
keeping it out of the environment is important. The State of Vermont passed a law requiring a
label, warning of the mercury. The lamp makers fought it, but finally lost when the Supreme
Court refused to hear the case. It’s impossible to label just the bulbs sold in Vermont, so, that
means you’ll see the labels in your state too. That includes those newer energy efficient compact
fluorescent lights. Michael Bender is Director of the Mercury Policy Project and lobbied for the
Vermont law.
“We fully support and encourage people to use these energy efficient lights, but at the same time
we encourage consumers to be aware that they have mercury in them and that they should not be
disposed in the trash. Instead they should be kept intact and not broken and brought in for
recycling.”
The labels will begin appearing later this year.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Scientists are talking about a new way to address global warming. Their idea is to take carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants and inject it deep into the earth. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Annie MacDowell explains:
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Scientists are talking about a new way to address global warming. Their idea is to take carbon
dioxide from coal-burning power plants and inject it deep into the earth. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Annie Macdowell explains:
It’s called carbon sequestration. The idea is to use a chemical process to remove carbon dioxide
from power plant emissions and pressurize it into a liquid form. The liquid would then be injected
into saline aquifers up to ten thousand feet below the ground.
The government wants to create 4 to 10 regional partnerships to study the possibility of carbon
sequestration. One of the potential sites is in the Illinois Basin. The basin extends throughout three
quarters of Illinois, into Western Indiana and Western Kentucky.
Robert Finley is the director of the Center for Energy and Earth Resources at the Illinois State
Geological Survey. He says carbon sequestration could be a good transition for the country as it
moves away from using fossil fuels.
“It would allow us to use coal in a more environmentally responsible way while we look toward the
future with additional use of renewables and ultimately, perhaps, going to a hydrogen economy.”
Finley says at this point, sequestration doesn’t work with other pollutants found in power plant
emissions, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Annie MacDowell.
Scientists at the USDA Agriculture Lab in Peoria may have discovered a way to protect skin from sun damage without harming the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tanya Koonce reports the new mixture has a soybean or vegetable oil base:
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Scientists at the USDA Agriculture Lab in Peoria may have discovered a way to protect skin from
sun damage without harming the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tanya
Koonce reports the new mixture has a soy bean or vegetable oil base:
Right now most sunscreens are made from a cream or petroleum base that doesn’t break down in
the water. Two scientists at the Ag Lab in Peoria think they may have a way to remedy that by
using soybean oil and another plant based product called ferulic acid. Joe Lazslo is the lead
scientist who came up with the idea.
“The ferulic acid is present in plants. And if plants were worried about getting sunburned they
already have their sunscreen present. We’re just taking it out of plants and putting it into
soybean oil so that it can then be incorporated into cosmetics or other suntan lotions, that type of
thing.”
Laszlo and his colleague Dave Compton are standing in the lab next to a bottle of Kroger brand
vegetable oil. They use the same soybean oil in the lab you’d buy at the store. Lazslo says it gets
the job done. He says they’ve been working on their so-called soy screen mixture for
more than a year:
“There are many aspects or uses of the process that we are doing right now that are very
environmentally sound. We don’t pollute with this process. All the starting materials and
products are very environmentally benign. That means Soy Screen itself does not accumulate in the
environment. It’s biodegradable. All these types of things.”
Lazslo says most importantly Soy Screen doesn’t build up in the water supply. But because it’s
just barely out of the lab, doctors and other scientists are not willing to weigh in on its pros or cons
for human use. Specifically they are quiet on the dermatological effects – like whether the
vegetable oil-based product clogs skin pores.
But Lazslo says other scientists have found anti-oxidants like ferulic acid prevent wrinkling and protect against the sun’s rays that are known to cause
skin cancer. He says before Soy Screen makes its way into face lotions and other consumer
products licensing companies will have to confirm these claims.
While doctors aren’t ready to sing the praises of Soy Screen, soybean growers are. In the best
case scenario, Soy Screen would require about a million pounds of soybean oil each year. That
just barely scratches the surface
of the 800 million pound annual surplus. But the Soybean Growers Association’s Theresa Miller
says it does have an impact on public perception.
“We always are looking for any new use that might develop. You know as much as anything, of
course getting a product like a soy sunscreen or soy crayons or some of these uses that maybe don’t
mean a lot in terms of bushels, they do mean a lot in terms of public relations. In terms of getting
the word soy out in front of consumers and making them more aware of what all those soybeans out in
the field get used for.”
Soy Screen is likely years away from receiving the FDA’s blessing, despite the perks it may offer
the environment and soybean growers. Co-developer Dave Compton says it takes several years
and several million dollars for the FDA to approve something as a sun block:
“Currently the FDA regulates these active ingredients as “category one” drugs. So you have to have
FDA approval to claim an SPF. So before you will see a packaged retail item with the word Soy
Screen and an SPF we would have to go through an FDA approval of the Soy Screen.”
Compton says in the meantime Soy Screen will likely work its way into cosmetic products that
claim anti-aging effects. He says the money earned from its use in those anti-aging cosmetics will
help defray the cost of the FDA approval process. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m
Tanya Koonce.
Half of the states surrounding the Great Lakes have seen the governor’s office switch from Republican to Democrat. Environmental organizations believe that will be good for their causes. But the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports other factors might interfere:
Transcript
Half of the states surrounding the Great Lakes have seen the governor’s office switch from
Republican to Democrat. Environmental organizations believe that will be good for their causes.
But the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports other factors might interfere:
Conventional wisdom finds that Democrats are more often friendly to environmental issues than
Republicans. Of course that’s not always true, but when four Democrats seized four
governorships that had been long-held by Republicans, many environmentalists were optimistic
they’d get a better deal. That optimism might be short-lived. Now that the Democrat governors
in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania have had time to look at the budget, the reality
of politics is setting in and in most cases the environment isn’t quite as high on the list of
priorities. Each of the states is facing budget shortfalls, some amounting to a couple of billion
dollars. And in three of those states the Democrat governor will have to work with a legislature
controlled by Republicans. Political observers say it’s clear that the new governors will have to
find compromises in any environmental initiatives they talked up during the campaigns.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
New governors from different political parties than their predecessors took over in more than half of the states around the Great Lakes. In most of those states, the governor’s seat went from Republican to Democrat. Some environmental groups are optimistic that the changes will benefit their causes. But the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham spoke with journalists around the region who feel politics and state budgets will slow any change the new governors might want:
Transcript
New governors from different political parties than their predecessors took over in more than half
of the states around the Great Lakes. In most of those states, the governors’ seat went from
Republican to Democrat. Some environmental groups are optimistic that the changes will benefit
their causes. But the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham spoke with journalists
around the region who feel politics and state budget problems will slow any change the new
governors might want:
Five of the eight Great Lakes states have new governors. Four of those states went from
governorships long-held by Republicans to a Democrat governor.
For example, Republicans held the Illinois govenor’s seat for 26 years. That changed when
Democrat Rod Blagojevich took the office. The environment was not a huge issue in the
campaign. Under the Republicans there’s been an interest in acquiring large pieces of land for
parks and creating green corridors. And Blagojevich is even retaining the previous
administration’s director of the state Environmental Protection Agency. Still, some
environmentalists feel they’ll fare better under a Democrat.
At the Illinois capitol, Bill Wheelhouse is the Statehouse Bureau Chief for Illinois Public Radio.
He says the change probably won’t be that significant…
“Environmental groups will see more friendly territory for some of their pet projects to some
degree. But, Illinois is not a liberal state. It’s not one that is concerned with ground-breaking
legislation on the environment or anything else. Politics is a business in that state and that can
never be forgotten.”
Despite that, the new governor, Blagojevich, has outlined a couple of areas he’d like to change.
One is charging businesses for pollution discharge permits, something that’s been free in the past.
It’s popular among lawmakers because it brings in more money for the state which is facing
budget deficits. Bill Wheelhouse says another issue Blagojevich has proposed is legislation
mandating that Illinois power companies use renewable resources such as wind and solar power.
“What it would do is in just a couple of years require that part of the energy portfolio of a utility
company include five percent renewable energy and that would increase, I believe, up to about
15-percent a decade down the road.”
Again, that kind of legislation wouldn’t cost the state any new money. That’s a plus.
Wheelhouse adds that even with Blagojevich’s fellow Democrats controlling both the House and
the Senate, any environmental proposal that doesn’t pay for itself is not likely to get very far,
because of Illinois’ budget deficit.
It’s the same story in other states. Illinois’ neighbor to the north, Wisconsin, also saw a shift
from several years under Republican governors to a newly installed Democrat. Jim Doyle is now
Governor.
Reporter Chuck Quirmbach covers environmental issues for Wisconsin Public Radio. He says
the race for governor touched on the environment, but there was another more immediate issue to
consider.
“The overwhelming issue, the issue common to a lot of states is the state budget deficit here in
Wisconsin, but the environment was an important difference. It energized a lot of environmental
groups to vote for Doyle or this Green Party candidate who got about two-percent of the vote. So,
it was a significant difference. It may not have been the number one issue in the state, though.”
Quirmbach says while environmentalists are optimistic about a Democrat taking the governor’s
office, Governor Doyle will have to compromise with the Republicans who hold a majority in
both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature… and he’ll have to make compromises because of the
state’s budget…
“The threat to the green agenda will be the economy and whether Doyle decides, ‘Well, putting
people to work might be more important than protecting certain wetlands or protecting the
environment from air pollution.'”
Across Lake Michigan from Wisconsin is another state that’s long had a Republican governor.
Michigan elected Democrat Jennifer Granholm, and in Michigan, the environment was a key issue
in the campaign for governor.
Sarah Hulett covers state government for Michigan Public Radio Network. She says the
Democrat governor quickly moved on an environmental issue which gets some Republican
support in Michigan.
“Right when the governor came in, Governor Granholm, she put together a land-use commission
— Smart Growth Commission, I think, is the name of it — made up of Democrats and Republicans
and involved the Republican leaders in both chambers in that. So, she’s off to a pretty good start
in terms of the environment, I’d say.”
But, like Wisconsin and Illinois, Michigan is facing budget problems and Hulett says the new
Democrat governor might find the environmental initiatives that cost the state will be a hard
sell to the Republican-held legislature.
“Well, the deficit is huge. And, so, that affects everything across the board. And, you know, the
environmental community is having to be patient with some of these initiatives.”
It’s a similar story in Pennsylvania where Democrat Ed Rendell took the governor’s seat from
Republicans. Rendell is friendly to environmental issues, but he, too, has to deal with a budget
deficit and he has to work with a Republican-controlled legislature.
So, despite conventional wisdom which indicates more enviro-friendly laws might come from a
Democrat in the Governor’s mansion, in those states where there’s been a change, the economy
might force those governors to put the environment further down on the list of priorities.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.