Smoking Gun Memo & Growing A Green Way

Washington is getting hot about global warming.

This is The Environment Report. I’m Lester Graham.

The Republicans in Congress feel they’ve got the Obama administration in a “gotcha” moment. During a hearing Republican Senator John Barasso (buh-RASS-oh) waved a White House memo. He said it was proof the administration was moving ahead with regulation of the greenhouse gases causing global warming without having the science to back it up…

“It’s here, nine pages. This is a smoking gun, saying that your findings are political not scientifica (sic) -- not scientific.”

There it was… deep inside a document from the White House itself… something the Republicans could use to fight against restricting greenhouse gases… something they feel we cannot afford.

The Republican leader in the House, John Boehner said the memo shows the White House is putting special interests ahead of middle-class families and small businesses struggling in this recession.

Special interests being those who are worried about a global warming catastrophe.

So… where did this memo, ‘that smoking gun’ come from. It was part of a larger document put together by the White House Office of Management and Budget. When dealing with possible regulations, it’s routine to get opinions from all kinds of agencies. So this opinion could be from anywhere in the government. We called them… the Office of Management and Budget repeatedly… asking what office wrote the memo. No one would go on tape… but instead referred us to the Director’s blog… which basically said… he believes the EPA is operating under the law… and has the science to back up its concerns about greenhouse gases and global warming.

(((STING)))

This is The Environment Report.

For many cities all growth is all good. More tax revenue… more retail… more jobs. Some people call that… urban sprawl.
CLAPPING
In Trussville, Alabama recently there was a big ribbon cutting for a new housing development right along the river in that town… the Cahaba River. But …reporter Gigi Douban says the economy means some of that growth is not happening… so what happens then???


Another developer had approached Trussville about building homes along the Cahaba River, but then the housing market took a nose dive. The developer wanted out.

Trussville Mayor Gene Melton says the city would have been crazy not to buy the land.

Melton bite: This property was probably going to sell for $35 or $40,000 an acre. And we got to the point where we were able to acquire this for $4,500 an acre.

The city could have turned it into an industrial park or zoned it for retail. But instead, they’ll turn it into a greenway. It’ll connect to nearby parks with the river as the centerpiece.

Now, the mayor of Trussville is not a staunch environmentalist, by any measure. He tools around the city in a gas guzzling SUV. He’s pro-development. But, he says, a city needs greenspace, too.

Melton bite: Have you ever flown in to a big city like Atlanta or Los Angeles and for miles and miles all you see is rooftops? Well that’s how not to build a city.

The Cahaba River watershed stretches through Alabama’s most populous county. Recently, heavy development along the Cahaba has polluted the water. It’s endangered habitats not just here, but downstream.


Randall Haddock is a field director with the Cahaba River Society, a conservation group. Haddock says the Cahaba River is among the most biologically diverse in the country.

Haddock bite: …it turns out that Alabama has more fish species, more snails, more crayfish, more turtles, freshwater snails more than any other state in the US. So when it comes to things that live in rivers, we’re at the top of the list by a long way.


Fade up people walking near river

So protecting that is important. He says this greenspace is an example of how just keeping grass on the ground not only means a cleaner river, but it also slows the rush of stormwater to the river. That might help reduce flooding.

Haddock bite: So that when you make so many hard surfaces, the water runs off real fast and gets into the river real quick... And you’ve increased the volume of water and the only response that a river can make is to get bigger.


Trussville, like many small towns, still believes growth is good. But it also realizes… that growth has to protect its river.


For The Environment Report, I’m Gigi Douban.