San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signs mandatory composting into law (Photo courtesy of the Press Office of Mayor Newsom)
San Francisco already leads the
nation in recycling. Now, that
city has the first mandatory
composting law in the country.
Emily Wilson reports that’s got
some people worried about “garbage
cops”:
Transcript
San Francisco already leads the
nation in recycling. Now, that
city has the first mandatory
composting law in the country.
Emily Wilson reports that’s got
some people worried about “garbage
cops”:
Putting recyclables into the blue bin is second nature for people in San Francisco.
But this new law now means also putting coffee grounds and eggshells into a green bin.
There are some people who are concerned about Big Brother looking through their garbage. And then there’s the $100 fine.
Mark Westlund at the Department of the Environment says ‘no worries.’ Not much is going to change.
“Well, we get a lot of calls from people who are worried about garbage cops and that frankly is not going to happen. For years now we’ve been looking in peoples recycling to make sure they’re doing it correctly and if not, they get a tag and if they continue misusing it, they get a letter and a follow up call and then a visit.”
So there are warnings before the fine.
Cities across the country will be watching San Francisco’s mandatory composting law to see how it goes.
State legislatures and Congress could consider new laws to deal with pesticide regulations. That’s after an Oregon pest management company received what some consider to be a slap on the wrist by the Environmental Protection Agency. A bug killer sprayed in a home led to the death of an elderly woman. Angela Kellner reports:
Transcript
State legislatures and Congress could consider new laws to deal with pesticide regulations. That’s after an Oregon pest management company received what some consider to be a slap on the wrist by the Environmental Protection Agency. A bug killer sprayed in a home led to the death of an elderly woman. Angela Kellner reports:
76-year-old Florence Kolbeck died of cardiac arrest a few hours returning home, where Swanson’s pest management had fumigated. Her husband was hospitalized for respiratory distress. Six others who entered the home, including emergency responders, also became ill.
The EPA investigated and fined the company $4,550 for misusing the pesticides.
Chad Schulze with the EPA says that was the maximum fine allowed under the law.
“That does not take into account the seriousness of the results of the violations. It’s just the statutory max.”
The person who applied the pesticides had failed his licensing exam seven times.
The company denies liability and disagrees with the EPA’s decision.
A Government
Accountability Office report finds the EPA doesn't actually collect a lot of their fines (Photo by Lester Graham)
A government report reveals that some
polluters do the crime, but don’t pay the fine.
Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
A government report reveals that some
polluters do the crime, but don’t pay the fine.
Lester Graham reports:
The Environmental Protection Agency issues a lot of press releases that announce
big fines against companies that have been caught polluting. But, a Government
Accountability Office report finds the EPA doesn’t actually collect a lot of those fines.
It still reports them as penalties against polluters.
Matt Madia is with the government watchdog group OMB Watch.
“First of all, EPA is not doing a good job collecting the fines that they do assess. And
across the board under the Bush administration there just simply hasn’t been a big
emphasis on enforcement. The second thing is that the public is really kept in the
dark about what EPA is doing.”
That’s because an EPA official says the public should not be told whether
the agency actually collects the fines, even though the agency is quick to announce
when it levies fines.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
Whole foods Store Manager Sherry Wiseman, says her Cleveland store hasn’t had plastic bags since February and her customers have hardly noticed. (Photo by Lisa Ann Pinkerton)
Wal-Mart stores are stocked solely with plastic bags and paper is not an option. The company says it won’t discontinue plastic in favor of paper, because it says plastic bags are more suited for items sold at its stores. (Photo by Lisa Ann Pinkerton)
It’s one of the eternal questions, ‘paper or
plastic?’ They’re both recyclable, but only paper
bags come from a renewable resource. And since only
1% of all the plastic bags on earth are actually
recycled, Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports some cities and
even one national company are wondering why we need
plastic bags at all:
Transcript
It’s one of the eternal questions, ‘paper or
plastic?’ They’re both recyclable, but only paper
bags come from a renewable resource. And since only
1% of all the plastic bags on earth are actually
recycled, Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports some cities and
even one national company are wondering why we need
plastic bags at all:
(garbage truck sounds)
Americans send around 100 billion plastic bags to landfills every
year, where they’re supposed to be compacted by bulldozers.
(sound of plastic bag in the wind)
That is, unless they catch the wind and transform into mini
parachutes.
Carmine Camillo is a spokesman for the national company Waste Management.
“The tree lines and fence lines can be littered with bags, until we get
a chance to get out there and clean them up.”
This happens so much around the world, it’s picked up the nickname ‘tree condoms’. Besides that,
they clog storm drains, and
eventually end up in waterways and oceans, where fish
mistake them for jellyfish.
The solution, it would seem, is to recycle them.
But shopper Mary Jo Wickliffe says that’s too much of a hassle.
“You unload your groceries and you go home and throw them away. That’s what I do with them.”
Since Wickliffe shops at the organic market Whole Foods she
says she’s been doing less of that. Because the
chain recently bagged the plastic.
Cleveland Store Manager Chery Wiseman says to stop offering plastic bags is a decision that goes against busines school 101.
“It costs us more money to buy our paper recyclable bags, but we
feel that’s worth it to keep the plastics out.”
Whole Foods’ paper bags are made from 100% recycled content and
shopper Bruce Kane says it’s about time plastic went out of
style.
“I notice that China has fines for stores that use plastics. I think it’s a
positive trend and I’m glad to see it coming to Whole Foods and coming to the
United States.”
The trendsetter in this country is San Francisco. It’s the only city to successfully ban plastic bags.
New York City, Annapolis, Maryland, New Haven,
Connecticut, Santa Monica, and Portland, are looking to shun plastic too. But the bruising the city of Oakland took might make them think twice.
A plastics industry group, called the Coalition to Support Plastic
Bag Recycling sued Oakland over its ban and won. It
claimed the city didn’t do its homework on alternatives such as compost-
able plastic bags or a recycling program.
Sharon Kanise is a spokeswoman for the plastics industry at the
American Chemistry Council.
“We certainly hope that the city of Oakland will work with the state of
California on recycling, because it
doesn’t belong in the roadways, it belongs in the recycling bin.”
Plastic bags are made from petroleum and natural gas, but
Kanise says their manufacture and transport uses 70% less
energy and produces half the carbon dioxide that making paper
bags does.
But for some, choosing between paper and plastic isn’t enough. A few people are starting to shop with reusable cloth bags. Some
stores sell them for about a dollar and Wal-Mart recently gave
away 1 million free to its customers.
But the concept of bringing
their own bags to the store is still foreign to some Wal-Mart
shoppers.
Customer 1: “It really doesn’t matter to me, but I’m going to need a
bigger bag than this.”
Customer 2: “It’s easier just to throw these out and come back to
the store with nothing in our hands.“
Customer 3: “Well, it’s just becoming popular, so I’ll start to.”
Whether it’s paper, plastic, or cloth, each can be environmentally-friendly, if
consumers go to the extra effort. But if people keep throwing them away, local governments might attempt to
reduce plastic bag use. A move the plastics industry will certainly
contest.
For The Environment Report, I’m Lisa Ann Pinkerton.
The US Department of Agriculture says consumers will
see tougher policing of the organic food market. That’s after the
USDA recently revoked the accreditation of a company that certified organic products. The GLRC’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
The US Department of Agriculture says consumers will
see tougher policing of the organic food market. That’s after the
USDA recently revoked the accreditation of a company that certified
organic products. The GLRC’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
The Ag Department kicked a Wisconsin certifier out of the
National Organic Program for apparent conflicts of interest. That marks the first time
the department has revoked an organic certifier, but the agency says
other investigations into rule-breaking have been done and some
certifiers have left voluntarily when they knew the government was
scrutinizing them.
Barbara Robinson oversees the USDA’s Organic
Program. She says the learning curve of the four-year old effort is
over and tougher enforcement is on the way:
“Ignorance is no longer a good excuse. Now, enough time has passed to
say, okay, we can get a little tougher.”
People who break the organic certification rules can be booted out for up to
five years and face fines.
A live adult emerald ash borer. (Photo by Jodie Ellis, Purdue University)
Emerald ash borer larvae make galleries underneath an ash tree's bark, cutting off the tree's nutrient supply and killing it. (Photo by Jodie Ellis, Purdue University)
Ash borers in the process of multiplying. (Photo by Jodie Ellis, Purdue
University)
If you’re packing up the car for a camping trip, you can’t
leave without the marshmallows and duct tape and bug spray, but
in more and more places, you can’t take firewood with you. That’s because government officials are worried about a destructive beetle
that people are spreading by moving firewood. The GLRC’s
Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
If you’re packing up the car for a camping trip, you can’t leave without the
marshmallows and duct tape and bug spray, but in more and more places, you
can’t take firewood with you. That’s because government officials are
worried about a destructive beetle that people are spreading by moving
firewood. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports:
(Sound of RV humming)
Butch Sloan can’t imagine camping without a fire:
“Sitting back and watching the wood burn and kinda dreaming about old times
or whatever, you know? That’s part of your camping. Yeah, you gotta have
your camp fire!”
Sloan’s been coming to this Michigan campground from his home in Ohio for 20
years now. For the past few years, it’s been illegal for anyone to move
hardwood firewood over the state line. There can be steep fines if you’re
caught.
That’s because of the emerald ash borer. It’s an invader from Asia that’s
killing millions of ash trees in the upper Midwest. Moving just one piece
of infested firewood can start a new outbreak. Beetles can emerge from the
wood and fly to healthy ash trees.
Butch Sloan says he brings wood from construction sites or buys firewood at
the campground instead:
“As far as trying to bring regular firewood across the state lines, the fines
are just too high. I don’t want to take a chance on it, you know? We bring
the two by fours and stuff like that, and that’s good fire, good cooking, you
know!”
But there are plenty of campers who ignore the laws and bring firewood with
them. That’s why states such as Michigan and Ohio are setting up
checkpoints along highways. They’re trying to catch people sneaking
firewood out of infested areas.
(Sound of traffic)
Here on a two lane country road in Northwest Ohio, every car and truck is
being stopped. State workers ask the drivers if they’ve got firewood.
“If we do find someone that has brought firewood with them, we ask them to
pull into a parking lot and at that point we begin to interview them to find
out where the firewood came from.”
Stephanie Jaqua is a crew leader with the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
She says a lot of the people they catch don’t understand the quarantine
laws. But she says others don’t think they’re part of the problem:
“We have had people in the past say there’s no ash in the back of my truck, you know,
there’s no way I’m transporting emerald ash borer, and then you get to the
bottom and there are four pieces of ash in the bottom.”
Jaqua says that’s why the laws are written the way they are. It’s illegal
to move any hardwood firewood out of quarantined areas, not just ash wood.
Jaqua says the best thing campers can do is buy firewood where they camp and
burn it all up at the site.
A lot of campers say the firewood rules are annoying, but the rules have
changed everything for some people.
Jim Albring owns Lumber Jacks Quality Firewood. His business is in
Michigan, just a mile and a half from Ohio. He says before the ash borer
arrived, most of his customers were in Ohio. Then, suddenly, he couldn’t
move firewood across the state line.
“It was profitable and we were increasing by 25-30% a year until the ash
borer hit. And now we’ve dropped uh, boy, I don’t even know. I don’t really
look at the figures too much any more because it’s disheartening.”
Albring says at first, he could only sell to people a few miles away in
Michigan, so his customer base totally dropped out. He says these days,
people from Ohio still drive up and try to buy firewood from him.
“If we know or we’re suspicious it’s going back to Ohio, we tell them how
heavy the fines are and then they usually back off right away and they don’t
try to get it.”
That’s the problem with trying to stop the destructive insect from spreading
across the country. Even government officials admit there’s no way to stop
every single person from moving firewood.
Patricia Lockwood directs ash borer policy for Michigan:
“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult and we’ve known that from day
one, to stop it. What we have always agreed on is we’re buying ourselves
time. What we’re looking for is time so that the science can catch up.”
And researchers are scrambling to find something that will stop the ash
borer, a natural predator or a perfect pesticide. But scientists say
states have to contain the infestations in the meantime.
That means there’s a lot of pressure on campers and hunters to change their
habits. Tossing some wood in the back of the truck on the way up north used
to be pretty harmless. Now it’s changing entire landscapes, as millions of
trees get wiped out by the beetle.
Most Americans have a trace amount of the chemical C-8 in their blood, and no one knows where it comes from. But the DuPont Company is going to conduct studies that could solve the mystery as part of a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:
Transcript
Most Americans have a trace amount of the chemical C-8 in their blood,
and no one knows where it comes from, but the DuPont Company is
going to conduct studies that could solve the mystery as part of a
settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Fred Kight has the story:
DuPont spokesman Cliff Webb says the company will spend five million
dollars to investigate the potential breakdown in the environment of C-8,
a key ingredient in Teflon and other non-stick materials.
“We’ll hire independent third parties to serve as a panel administrator for
peer review and consultation, and then the panel will address any specific
activities and findings they see as a result of the study, and the public
will have an opportunity to nominate also a panel member.”
Webb says the three year study will focus on nine chemicals or products
that could release C-8, but he won’t divulge what they are, explaining
they’re confidential business information.
An EPA advisory group has concluded that C-8 is a “likely carcinogen,”
but DuPont disputes that.
Under the settlement agreement, DuPont also must pay a record fine of
more than 10-million dollars for failing to disclose C-8 data to regulators.
The sea lamprey, up close. (Photo courtesy of USFWS)
This is an example of what the invasive species, sea lamprey, will do to a lake trout. The mark left on the lake trout shows how sea lamprey attach to their victims and suck their blood. (Photo courtesy of USFWS)
One of the Ten Threats to the Great Lakes is the decline of many of the native species. The lake trout has been in trouble from over-fishing and because of an invasive species called, the sea lamprey. Conservation agents use a pesticide to keep the lamprey down, but it’s expensive, and sometimes it kills other fish. Now, researchers have discovered a lamprey pheromone that could help the fight against the sea lamprey. Stephanie Hemphill has that story:
Transcript
In our next report in the series Ten Threats to the Great Lakes we hear about how a native
fish has been hurt by an invasive species that swam into the lakes through a canal. Lester
Graham is our guide through the series.
One of the Ten Threats to the Great Lakes is the decline of many of the native species.
The lake trout has been in trouble from over-fishing and because of an invasive species
called, the sea lamprey. Ever since it invaded the Great Lakes, scientists have been trying
to keep the invasive sea lamprey under control.
Conservation agents use a pesticide to keep the lamprey numbers down, but it’s expensive,
and sometimes it kills other fish. Now, researchers have discovered a lamprey
pheromone. They think the chemical attractant could be a big help in their fight against
one of the most destructive invasive species in the Great Lakes. Stephanie Hemphill
has that story:
The sea lamprey came into the Great Lakes through canals more than a hundred years
ago. The slimy parasites attach themselves to big fish and feed on them until they die.
Each lamprey can kill 40 pounds of fish in its lifetime.
Between sea lampreys and over-fishing, the big native fish, the Lake Trout, was wiped out
in the lower Great Lakes. Only a few survived in small pockets in Lake Huron. Lake
Superior is the only place Lake Trout survive in healthy numbers.
There’s an aggressive 15-million dollar a year program to keep sea lamprey numbers
down. Part of the effort is using a chemical called TFM that kills the lamprey.
Wildlife managers spread the lampricide in streams in the spring. It kills some of the
young lamprey as they swim down into the lake.
University of Minnesota biologist Peter Sorensen says he and other scientists noticed that
TFM kills not just the juveniles, but the larvae that live in the streambed too. They also
realized, after a stream is treated, very few adult lamprey come back to the stream to
spawn, or lay new eggs.
“And this led to an observation decades ago, which was key, that adult lamprey must be
selective in how they pick streams. They only pick a few, and if you remove the larvae
they don’t seem to go in there.”
Scientists suspected the larvae might play a role in the spawning migration of adults.
That might mean the larvae are putting out a pheromone that tells the adults it’s a good
place to spawn. Just one larva attracts a lot of adult lamprey, indicating the pheromone
is very potent.
It was up to Jared Fine to determine what the chemical is. Fine is a PhD student working
with Peter Sorensen. For two years he sifted through the water in tanks holding lamprey
larvae.
“Separating the different chemical compounds, testing them biologically, seeing which
ones have activity, coming back to the active ones, further separating them, and just
repeating this until you get down to the one or two or three compounds that have the
activity.”
Fine narrowed it down to three compounds. He purified them and gave them to a colleague in the chemistry department, Thomas Hoye. Hoye created a synthetic version of the most potent pheromone. He says it should be possible to produce it on a large scale, and that means it could be used to treat the
Great Lakes. The question is, how much would he need?
“You know, would it be a tank car load, would it be a football field, would it be a dump
truck? It’s none of those. Would it be a barrel? No. Is it a bucket-full? No. In
fact it’s only about 500 grams, that’s just one pound, would treat all that water for a
month.”
And that’s all it would take, because the lamprey only spawn for a month, but the
treatment would have to happen once a year. Peter Sorensen says when lamprey
approach a stream to spawn, their clock is ticking. They have a powerful urge to lay
eggs, and once they’ve done that, they die.
“They are driven animals. Frankly they’re kind of on autopilot and pheromones are
what’s driving that autopilot to a very large extent, and now that we’ve got it, I think we
can really powerfully use that to our advantage.”
Sorensen says fisheries managers could use the pheromone to attract more lampreys to
streams outfitted with traps.
“You know the key here is the fact that this pheromone is natural, safe, and should be
very inexpensive to add.”
Fisheries managers hope the pheromone will help reduce the cost of controlling the
lamprey and add a new weapon to their arsenal.
The news on lamprey couldn’t have come at a better time for wildlife managers
around Lake Superior. After years of relatively constant numbers, the lamprey
population jumped dramatically this year. Scientists say lamprey may be finding new
spawning grounds in the mouths of streams, where lampricide is less effective. They’re
hoping they can use the pheromone to draw the lamprey to traps further upstream.
Many power plants like this one emit a large volume of polluting gases. Unlike those power plants, Ohio Edison decided to settle the lawsuit filed against the Sammis Plant by installing equipment to reduce pollution. (Photo by Lynne Lancaster)
More than five years ago, several eastern states filed suit against Midwest power companies. They claimed the power companies were violating the Clean Air Act, and their residents were suffering from air pollution that drifts eastward. Now, one of the power companies named in the lawsuit has settled. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jo Ingles reports, environmentalists think this agreement might prompt other utilities to follow suit:
Transcript
More than five years ago several eastern states filed suit against Midwest power companies. They claimed the power companies were violating the clean air act, and their residents were suffering from air pollution that drifts eastward. Now, one of the power companies named in the lawsuit has settled. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jo Ingles reports, environmentalists think this agreement might prompt other utilities to follow suit:
Ohio Edison has agreed to pay more than a billion dollars over the next seven years to install pollution control equipment that will reduce the amount of pollution emitted into the air from the Sammis Plant near Steubenville, Ohio.
In addition, the company will spend ten million dollars over the next five years for alternative energy projects in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Plus Thomas Sansonetti with the U.S. Justice department says the company will pay a huge fine.
“In fact, it’s the second largest civil penalty ever obtained in this field….it’s 8.5 million dollars.”
Environmentalists are cheering the settlement, saying it will prompt other power companies that have polluted in the past to pay up.
First Energy, the parent company of Ohio Edison, says it’s happy to settle this lawsuit because it can now plan for its future.
The Corps of Engineers will soon lower water on the Missouri River… a month after it was first ordered by a judge to do so. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tom Weber reports:
Transcript
The Corps of Engineers will soon lower water on the Missouri River… a
month after it was first ordered by a judge to do so. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Tom Weber reports:
The Corps is only going to keep the river levels down for three days. A
federal judge in Washington had ordered the reduction to protect nesting
endangered species… but the Corps said that would conflict with another
ruling from Nebraska that said water must be high enough for barges.
Those lawsuits were all combined and sent to a court in Minnesota… where
judge Paul Magnuson ruled the two orders were not in conflict. He says that
means the order to lower levels still applies.
Barge companies were told to secure vessels because the river will likely be
too shallow for navigation during the three days. The corps had risked
being fined a half-million dollars a day for being in contempt of the
ruling… but Judge Magnuson says he won’t enforce those fines at this time.
Environmental groups say it might be too late for the species… but it’s
better than nothing.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tom Weber.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signs mandatory composting into law (Photo courtesy of the Press Office of Mayor Newsom)
