Author: Bill Poorman

Chemical Plant Security in Question

The General Accounting Office has released a report saying that there’s no way to know how secure the nation’s chemical plants are from terrorist attacks. The Congressional Research Agency says that no federal department has looked into the problem yet. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Poorman reports:

Transcript

The General Accounting Office has released a report saying that there’s
no way to know how secure the nation’s chemical plants are from
terrorist attacks. The Congressional Research Agency says that no
federal department has looked into the problem yet. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Bill Poorman reports:


The GAO released the study last week. It says that there are 123
chemical plants in the U.S. that are in areas where more than a million
people would be effected by a toxic release. But the GAO says the
government has failed to take a comprehensive approach to addressing
chemical plant security. Kate McGloon is spokesperson for the American
Chemistry Council, an industry trade group. She says many
chemical-makers have already taken steps voluntarily to increase
security since 9/11. But they don’t want to reveal what those
are.


“Homeland Security has stressed to us that one of the best ways to keep
potential terrorists from knowing what they’re doing is to be
unpredictable and random and not tell people what you’re doing.”


McGloon says many chemical companies would welcome federal legislation
putting the government in charge of assessing and enforcing chemical
plant security. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Poorman.

Gm Promises Fuel Cells for Homes

In the next few years, homeowners across the Great Lakes region could get a new, environmentally friendly way to power their homes – thanks to an automaker. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Poorman reports:

Transcript

In the next few years, homeowners across the Great Lakes region could get a new, environmentally friendly way to power their homes – thanks to an automaker. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, Bill Poorman reports.


General Motors has announced that it’s going to begin selling fuel cell power plants for use in homes or in offices in the next two or three years. Daniel O’ Connel is a staff engineer with GM’s fuel cell program. He unveiled the new system at a recent automotive conference.


“The unit we demonstrated this morning is a 5 kilowatts. That would be about enough to provide for an average home. The unit we showed this morning was about the size of a conventional refrigerator.”


All of Detroit’s automakers are working on fuel cell systems for their vehicles, not for homes. They are considered something like a Holy Grail that will let car companies escape environmental criticism. When they’re perfected, fuel cells will take in hydrogen from some source – perhaps methane, natural gas, or even everyday gasoline. Through a chemical process, they will produce electricity, and the main waste product is water.


But fuel cells have been a long time coming. Automakers are working to reduce the weight, size, and cost of the systems so that they can be put into cars. Auto analyst Paul Eisenstein of the car web site thecarconnection.com says that car companies moving into the home seems unusual at first. But it has some basic business reasons behind it.


“The automakers are hoping that they can use the home fuel cell technology to learn a lot about it, and to get it into mass production, and lower the costs of on-the-road or mobile fuel cells, as well.”


Plus, Eisenstein says, the move could help speed up research into fuel cells for all applications.


“This way they might be able to go to market much sooner and develop a revenue source that could fund further fuel cell development efforts.”


But GM still has to put a lot of pieces into place before it starts selling home fuel cell units. GM’s Daniel O’Connel says the company is still looking for the best way to jump into an unfamiliar business.


“Currently GM does not have the distribution network to set up a non-automotive applications, so we’re looking for partners to help us out in that arena.”


Of course, the ultimate goal for GM is to be the first company to mass produce affordable fuel cell powered cars and trucks. But the timeline for that is a bit longer. Most automakers believe it could be up to a decade before the cars are ready. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Poorman.

Great Lakes Water for Sale?

Five U.S. and Canadian environmental groups want state and provincialgovernments to move more quickly to prevent the export of Great Lakeswater. U.S. and Canadian officials have been meeting for months todevelop a joint water policy. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s BillPoorman reports:

Transcript

Five U.S. and Canadian environmental groups want state and provincial
governments to move more quickly to prevent the export of Great Lakes water.
U.S. and Canadian officials have been meeting for months to develop a joint
water policy. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Poorman reports.


U.S. and Canadian officials are working to develop rules on water use by
people and businesses – and on the sale of Great Lakes water. But
environmental groups worry that, if governors don’t act quickly, it might
soon be too late to protect area water. Tim Eder is the director
of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office.


“Demand is going to increase and it’s increasing in those parts of the
world where there isn’t adequate supply. The pressure and the increasing
demands for Great Lakes water is just inevitable.”


Many proposals have already been floated to send water to the U.S. Southwest
and the Middle East. Eder also says Great Lakes residents need to improve
their use of water through conservation. For the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium, I’m Bill Poorman in Ann Arbor.

Recycling the Car

Each year nearly 50-million new cars get produced worldwide. And
because it’s home to the Big 3 automakers…the Great Lakes region
accounts for a third of those vehicles. But with all of these new
models coming on the market, what happens to the ones that are ready for
the junk yard? Believe it or not, most of them get recycled. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Poorman has more: