Christie Todd Whitman, who was appointed to head the EPA under George W. Bush, says just because you're leading the EPA, that doesn't mean you get to
choose who staffs it. (Photo courtesy of the EPA)
The big environmental agencies of
the government will soon have new leadership.
Rebecca Williams reports those agency leaders
might not have as much control as you’d think:
Transcript
The big environmental agencies of
the government will soon have new leadership.
Rebecca Williams reports those agency leaders
might not have as much control as you’d think:
President-elect Barack Obama is putting together his Cabinet and appointing
agency leaders.
One former Cabinet-level official says it’s great working with the President,
but you don’t always have as much power as you’d like.
Christine Todd Whitman was appointed by George W. Bush to run the
Environmental Protection Agency.
She says just because you’re leading the EPA, that doesn’t mean you get to
choose who staffs it.
“You have recommendation ability. Obviously the Administration always
has those must-hires. People they want to put in, people they feel they owe
positions to, people they think have good backgrounds.”
She says when she was in charge there was tension between the EPA and the
White House.
Critics of the Bush White House say political appointees have interfered
with scientific findings. They’re hoping that changes with the Obama
Administration.
The South Shore Commuter Rail Line runs between South Bend, Indiana and Chicago. The line's reaching its 100th birthday, and as it does, its ridership is near a 50-year high. It serves many sizable towns, such as Hammond and Gary, but commuters from smaller towns, suburbs and even rural areas drive to, and sometimes cram, the rail lines' stations. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
More and more people who live in
suburbs have been climbing onto commuter
trains over the past few years. They’ve
got every reason to: they’re fighting high
gas prices, traffic congestion, or even big
road construction projects. But oddly enough,
cars remain a problem even when people choose
commuter rail. Shawn Allee found
that out first hand when he checked out one
system:
Transcript
More and more people who live in
suburbs have been climbing onto commuter
trains over the past few years. They’ve
got every reason to: they’re fighting high
gas prices, traffic congestion, or even big
road construction projects. But oddly enough,
cars remain a problem even when people choose
commuter rail. Shawn Allee found
that out first hand when he checked out one
system:
I’ve just got into a parking lot in a commuter rail station in Northwest
Indiana. This rail line runs from towns like Gary and Hammond Indiana to
Chicago, where there are a lot of jobs.
Anyway, officials with the rail line tell me parking happens to be one of the
biggest complaints. I’m here to check it out, and I gotta tell you I’ve been
driving past hundreds of parked cars, and I haven’t been able to see an
open spot yet.
Okay, finally found one.
(sound of door slamming)
Shawn Allee: “Getting a parking spot in this station took a lot longer than I
expected. This commuter here, Celia Ramirez, says she has the same
problem. What’s it usually like?”
Celia Ramirez: “It’s a dread, because I don’t know where to park.
Sometimes I park where I’m not supposed to park, on the residential
streets.”
Allee: “And then you’re taking your chances.”
Ramirez: “Yes, of getting a ticket.”
Allee: “In fact there are signs all around us right now that pretty much
warn you not to do that.”
Ramirez: “And I break that rule.”
Well, you can guess spillover parking around the rail station in Hammond ticks off
the neighbors.
To make matters worse, a lot of the commuters, they don’t even in live in Hammond.
They’re from towns or suburbs even farther out.
In fact, the local government and The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation
District don’t always agree on how to solve the problem.
John Parsons is the rail line’s marketing director.
John Parsons: “We have over 700 spaces in Hammond. Unfortunately, we
need more. But the residents in the area are reluctant to expand parking.”
Shawn Allee: “How difficult is it to convince towns to do that, especially if
they feel that they’re creating parking for people outside of their area?”
Parsons: “It’s a difficult problem. For one thing, we’re a tax-exempt
organization and what we’re doing is acquiring residential property that
currently pays taxes and that property’s no longer on the tax rolls.”
Now, this particular rail line had a growth spurt a few years ago. It’s lightened up,
but parking’s still an issue.
So, just imagine pressure other rail lines have, especially ones that saw double-digit
growth over the past year.
The situation’s familiar to transportation experts.
Joe Schwieterman teaches at DePaul University.
He says, when it comes to parking, suburban commuter rail is often behind the ball.
“The ridership is surging on our transit system, and parking spots, you
know, it’s a five a five-year process. If we start now, we have new spots you
know, in 2013. Clearly that’s not fast enough to tap into that new market.”
So, is there a way out of the parking – commuter rail conundrum?
Schwieterman says one idea is to add bus service that branches out from stations.
But not all towns can afford it, or they don’t have enough riders to justify buses.
So, Schwieterman says some commuter rail lines are stuck.
They advertise that they’re a cheap, convenient alternative to driving. And when gas
prices rise, people take that advice.
“It’s a bad idea to encourage floods of people to take public transit if you’re
not ready to accommodate them. You lose them for life, frankly, if it’s a bad
experience.”
Still, Schwieterman says you can look at the parking problem two ways.
Sure, you can shake your head because suburban stations’ parking lots fill up.
But, at least for now, those drivers aren’t clogging roads and spewing even more
pollution on their way to work.
Employers are hoping to cut down on costs and commutes by switching to a four-day work week (Photo by Ed Edahl, courtesy of FEMA)
With gas well over four dollars a
gallon, more employers are offering the
four-day work week as a way to cut down on
commuting costs. Rebecca Williams reports
it can boost morale, but it might not always
save on gas:
Transcript
With gas well over four dollars a
gallon, more employers are offering the
four-day work week as a way to cut down on
commuting costs. Rebecca Williams reports
it can boost morale, but it might not always
save on gas:
If you want to skip out on a day of commuting you could fake a stomach
flu – or you could talk your boss into letting you work four 10 hour days,
and then take a nice long weekend, every single weekend.
But an eight hour day can seem long. Working 10 hours in a row, well,
let’s just say you might take a lot more YouTube breaks.
Denise Truesdell is a legal secretary. She’s been working four day weeks
on a trial period. She admits working 10 hours straight can be tough.
“By noon I feel like I could curl up and take a quick little nap but you just have to keep moving. I
have to run to the vending machine and get a little sweet just to keep my energy level up.”
But she says she loves having three day weekends, and that’s what keeps
her going.
“I think some employers are leery of the four day week because they don’t think productivity is
going to be there, people get tired easier. But I think it’s an incentive for people to maybe work a
little harder because they’ve got something to look forward to.”
Bosses like the 4 day week because they can sometimes save money by
closing the office one day a week, and they can make their employees a
little happier.
John Walsh oversees 94 custodians at Kent State University in Ohio.
He’s trying out the four day week for his workers.
“They’re not the highest paid on campus. With this summer coming up and the rise of gas I
brought it up and challenged my supervision to see if we could come up with a plan to make this
work.”
He won his supervisors over, so the schedule’s in full swing. He says it’s
actually easier to get projects done with 10 hour days. Things like
stripping and waxing a floor. And Walsh says his workers love cutting
back on their commutes.
“Well I’ve been in this position for eight years and I think this is the highest our morale has ever
been. Teamwork is the highest I’ve ever seen it.”
Walsh says they have to make sure there’s enough staff on duty to get
everything done – like making sure trash doesn’t pile up.
Quite a few companies and government offices are taking the four day
week seriously. Utah’s governor just made it mandatory for most state
employees. And at least eight other state governments are offering 4
day weeks or at least considering them.
They say they’re helping out employees who are feeling squeezed by gas
prices. And a lot of people say they save at least one tank of gas a
month.
But a short work week might not always be an energy saver. Frank
Stafford is an economist at the University of Michigan. He studies how
people use their time.
“So would you on your now newly awarded Friday off stay home and save gas? You might drive as
many miles on your day off as you did roundtrip. It’s pretty subtle. People are going to say well,
I’ve got a third day off, so why don’t I drive around and do some errands and enjoy myself?”
But Stafford says, still, there’s a clear trend happening. He thinks more
employers will offer flexible schedules as gas prices rise. And as those
gas prices stick around, they’re probably going to change our traditional
work weeks for good.
Wind companies want taxpayer help (Photo courtesy of the Department of Energy)
The wind power industry has been growing.
But to keep growing, wind companies want more
taxpayer help. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
The wind power industry has been growing.
But to keep growing, wind companies want more
taxpayer help. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Some of the recent growth in wind generation is being fueled by a national
production tax credit. It’s due to expire at the end of this year.
The American Wind Energy Association is asking the public to encourage Congress to renew the
credit.
Association spokesman Jeff Anthony says, without the tax break, there’d be a slow down in new
wind projects and a potential loss of jobs.
“The longer it takes, the more in danger we’re putting the jobs in the wind industry at risk from a
drop-off in activity, both in project installations and in new manufacturing installations in this
country. So we need the PTC extended as soon as possible.”
Anthony acknowledges there’s a dispute in Congress over how to pay for the credit. Some
critics call the production tax credit ‘corporate welfare’.
Bion's proposed project would consist of 84,000 beef cattle (Photo by Bill Tarpenning, courtesy of the USDA)
Corporations are taking a new approach to farming. They’re combining ethanol production with feeding animals. The corporations need land, water, and a willing community. They turn to economically depressed rural communities and promise jobs. But some researchers think these rural communities could end up with more problems than benefits. Kinna Ohman reports:
Transcript
Corporations are taking a new approach to farming. They’re combining ethanol production with feeding animals. The corporations need land, water, and a willing community. They turn to economically depressed rural communities and promise jobs.But some researchers think these rural communities could end up with more problems than benefits. Kinna Ohman reports:
Bion Environmental Technologies is just like a lot of big businesses trying to capitalize on the ethanol trend.
Over the past year, people from Bion have been working with local officials in St. Lawrence County, a rural area of northern New York. Bion plans to build their first project there. It’ll be a huge indoor feedlot for eighty four thousand beef cattle and a large corn ethanol plant.
They have everything accounted for – they’ll ship cattle and corn in from the Midwest. They’ll use distiller’s grain from the ethanol plant to help feed the cattle. And they’ll even use manure from the cattle to power the ethanol plant.
Jeff Kappell is a manager with Bion. He says this kind of scale and integration is the future of agriculture. And he thinks it’ll be great for the community,
“Establishing a brand and establishing the ability, the knowledge in a consumer marketplace that there is value associated with activity in St. Lawrence County is a tide that can rise all boats. So we see this as symbiotic.”
But not everyone agrees. They wonder how much water the project will need. And they wonder about pollution from all those cattle.
Shane Rogers knows a lot about pollution from factory farms. He’s a professor of environmental engineering at Clarkson University in St. Lawrence County. He tests for certain pollutants in the water and soil around factory farms. Rogers often finds antibiotic resistant E-Coli and other pathogens. He says that type of discharge can happen every day – even at the best run facilities.
”And these are from operations with good practices. Or what we would call good practice because they’re following nutrient management plans. Because they’re treating their manures the way they’re supposed to be before applying them to land. Because they’re collecting and doing things the way they’re supposed to be. But they still can contribute pathogens to the environment and those pathogens still affect us.”
Rogers says factory farms don’t need to remove these pollutants. But people at Bion say their system will remove a lot of them.
James Morris is one of their engineers. He says they’re motivated to keep environmental impacts low,
“A facility of this sort wants to have the minimum possible environmental liability. Because that lowers the risk and raises the probability of profits. And we’re in the business to make money.
But researchers are still unconvinced. And some think there are better ways to provide meat and dairy products for the country.
Doug Gurian-Sherman’s with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He’s the lead author of a new report critical of large factory farms. He says small and medium sized farms can provide what people need without the risks to those in rural communities.
“When you spread these animals out, and you have smaller operations you have benefits to rural communities in terms of not as many problems with the pathogens, or the odors or the nutrient problems. What we’re talking about are sophisticated, smart alternatives that work with nature rather than against it.”
But Bion insists their large integrated project will work. And they expect to receive millions in taxpayer subsidies to help make it work. It’s unclear what the costs will be to the community. In the meantime, the trend continues. Bion plans to build at least five more of these projects throughout the country.
The creation of 'green-collar' jobs may help the Rust Belt's unemployment problems (Photo by Lester Graham)
The nation’s economy is in decline, and
the middle states that make up the Rust Belt have
been hit particularly hard with job losses. Some
Midwest states have turned to a new type of
manufacturing and the so-called green collar jobs
it creates. Marianne Holland reports:
Transcript
The nation’s economy is in decline, and
the middle states that make up the Rust Belt have
been hit particularly hard with job losses. Some
Midwest states have turned to a new type of
manufacturing and the so-called green collar jobs
it creates. Marianne Holland reports:
Nationwide, just over half the states have passed some sort of laws or incentives geared at
getting green manufacturing jobs. In the nation’s rust belt,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Ohio already have green policy in place.
Ron Pernick is a co-founder of CleanEdge. That’s a national green manufacturing research
organization. Pernick says those jobs, are in one of the major growth sectors in American
manufacturing. They’re growing at a rate of about 30% each year. In Iowa, property tax abatements are given to green manufacturing. In Illinois, the state has passed laws requiring utilities to get a portion of their energy from wind or solar power. Pernick says public policy translates to more jobs.
“If you think about creating new industry, you can’t export development. You’ve got to
hire local people to put in the wind turbines, to install the solar farms, to put solar on top
of rooftops. And those jobs can never be exported.”
But other states have been slow to change policy to embrace green manufacturing. In Michigan, green energy legislation has been tied up in
the State Senate. An in states like Indiana, there are no laws or business incentives even on the table to attract the green
manufacturing industry.
Indiana State Representative Ryan Dvorak blames the big power companies for lobbying against incentives to create green jobs.
“I’m not sure why they have so much sway in the state with the different legislators but
they don’t want to give up any ground basically. Obviously they make their money by
generating and selling electricity, so any loss in market share, they’re motivated to
stop that legislation.”
The power companies say they’re just looking out for their customers.
Angeline Protegere is a spokesperson for Duke Energy. Protegere says renewable energy is
moving forward without state regulations. She says Duke understands that some day
regulations will come. But she says that will be at a high risk.
“We constantly have to balance our environmental responsibilities with our economic
responsibilities to our customers because they pay for the cost of pollution control
through their bills.”
And the power companies’ lobbyists persuade legislators it’s in the best interests of the people to block incentives for green jobs. Representative Dvorak thinks his colleagues are being misled.
Jesse Kharbanda is with the Hoosier Environmental Council. He says in his state and others that ignore the green jobs opportunity, workers are being left behind.
“We’re obviously in this situation where Indiana has historically had a formidable
manufacturing base and that base has been continuously eroded because of globalization.
We’re not in any time going to fundamentally change Indiana’s economy and so we have
to deal with the labor force as it is. We have a good, technically minded labor base, but
the question is: what sectors are we creating in the state to employ that technical labor
base. And one of them ought to be the green technology sector.”
Kharbanda says it’s a state’s public policy, tax breaks, and other incentives that will attract the
most green collar jobs. Without those incentives, unemployed factory workers in Rust Belt
states will have to hope for some kind of recovery in manufacturing, or take lower paying, service sector jobs.
The "Great Plate" - a 10-inch plate: half non-starchy vegetables, a
quarter lean protein, a quarter starchy vegetable or whole grains (Photo courtesy of the University of Michigan)
Lots of companies are starting new programs
that teach their employees how to eat healthier.
Because healthier employees can save companies loads
of cash. Kyle Norris has more:
Transcript
Lots of companies are starting new programs
that teach their employees how to eat healthier.
Because healthier employees can save companies loads
of cash. Kyle Norris has more:
So, Stacy Witthoff is teaching people about healthy snacks.
“We have some 100 calorie packs. We have fresh fruit like bananas, peaches, pears,
apples, any kind of canned fruit is good too.”
Witthoff is a dietician with the Michigan Healthy Community – basically it’s a group that
does health education for University of Michigan employees.
The people at this expo are learning about how to eat healthier, and the idea is that they’ll
share this info with their co-workers.
Witthoff stands in front of a little booth and she’s all friendly. She snags people as they
walk by.
She’s just caught Jason Maynard. He’s a nursing administrator. And he goes to a lot of
meetings where there are a lot of snacks.
“So at meetings it’s probably donuts or bagels, cookies.”
But he thinks people would go for fresh fruit like raspberries or strawberries, if they were
offered.
Stacy Witthoff is promoting a guide that helps people make better food choices.
It’s called the Great Plate. It’s a picture of a plate that’s divided into different sections.
“Basically you take a 10-inch plate and half of it should be non-starchy vegetables, a
quarter of it lean protein, and a quarter of it starchy vegetable or whole grains. So it’s just
an easier way to eat healthy without having to think about portions.”
Ok let’s recap.
Divide your plate in-half and fill that half with non-starchy veggies – carrots, broccoli,
cauliflower, green beans, asparagus and peppers. And aim for a variety of colors.
Then divide the other half of the plate into quarters. Fill one-quarter with grains &
starchy veggies – that’s things like brown rice and whole-wheat pastas and whole-wheat
bread. And starchy veggies are things like potatoes, corn, peas, and squash.
Then the last quarter of the plate should have meats and proteins. Things like grilled
or baked chicken, fish, turkey, lean cuts of meat. And non-meat options like tofu, beans,
and eggs.
And the Great Plate says go for way smaller serving sizes.
The Great Plate encourages people to eat what they call “whole
foods.” That means eat the food in its raw form and not it’s processed equivalent. So
like eat the apple – as opposed to apple juice. Or as opposed to the apple-flavored gummi
worms, if you were someone like me.
Steve Aldana helps companies start employee healthcare programs. He says that
culturally we eat pretty bad stuff. And that we’re way stressed-out.
And all that can affect an employer’s pocketbook, for real.
“So 2 things: poor behaviors are leading to onset of chronic diseases. And those chronic
diseases are costing an inordinate amount in health care. And it’s that cost alone that’s
driving most companies to start to look very, very intently at worksite wellness
programs.”
Businesses are starting to see healthy employees as a smart investment. Companies like
Johnson & Johnson, IBM, and Dow Chemical have all taken note.
They hope programs like this one will help shave-off millions of dollars from their
employee health care costs.
And these programs can also help save money in the long run – by boosting employee
morale and leading to fewer employee absences.
Later this month, a group of students and professors
in the Great Lakes region are holding a national conference aimed at creating more diversity in the environmental field. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Transcript
Later this month, a group of students and professors in the Great Lakes region are holding a national conference aimed at creating more diversity in the environmental field. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
The Minority Environmental Leadership Initiative at the University of Michigan is holding the conference. It’s for students, leaders of environmental non-profit groups and government agencies, and environmental faculty at universities.
Professor Dorceta Taylor says the conference will look at why the level of minority hiring in the environmental field is still so low, and what can be done about it.
“The environment affects everyone, and it could be a far more effective movement if it involved a larger cross section of the population.”
Taylor says many environmental organizations say they’d like to hire more minority graduates, but don’t know how to find or recruit them. Organizers say they hope the conference will connect employers with minority students looking for jobs.
Some researchers say that car makers risk future profits if they continue to make fuel-inefficient vehicles. (Photo by Gustavo
Schonarth)
For the last several years, American car makers have seen their profits falling. Now, a new report says the Big Three will take even steeper hits to their bottom lines if the trend in higher gas prices continues. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has this report:
Transcript
For the last several years, American car makers have seen their profits
falling. Now, a new report says the Big Three will take even steeper hits
to their bottom line if the trend in higher gas prices continues. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has this report:
The authors of the report looked at potential impacts to the U.S. car
industry if gas prices go up. They found that if they go up, profits will
fall, and more jobs will be lost.
Walter McManus is with the University of Michigan Transportation Research
Institute. He co-authored the report and says it should serve as a wake up
call to American car makers.
“It shows them that it is costing them a lot more to sell the fuel-inefficient vehicles than fuel-efficient vehicles, that they are putting
jobs at risk and putting their profits at risk because they are unwilling to
accept that the world has changed.”
Representatives from the auto industry say they already offer many fuel-efficient models, but that overall, American consumers rank fuel economy
lower than things such as power, cargo space, and safety ratings.
If it feels as if your commute to work is taking longer, it probably is. The Census Bureau reports the average drive time continues to increase. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
If it feels as if your commute to work is taking longer, it probably is. The Census Bureau reports
the average drive time continues to increase. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester
Graham reports:
According to the Census Bureau, most of the longest commutes are on the east and west coasts.
But the second longest average travel time to work – clocking in at nearly 33 minutes – is
Chicago. And travel times are getting longer, mostly because of urban sprawl. Workers are
moving farther away, and in some cases corporations are moving from downtowns into the
suburbs. Phillip Salopek is with the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Average travel time has been increasing. There was an increase in average travel time between
1980 and 1990. There was a more significant increase in travel times between 1990 and 2000.”
The Census Bureau also found some of the cities with the longest commute times tend to have a
higher rate of workers who have turned to public transportation, with New York, Chicago, and
Philadelphia topping the list.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Christie Todd Whitman, who was appointed to head the EPA under George W. Bush, says just because you're leading the EPA, that doesn't mean you get to choose who staffs it. (Photo courtesy of the EPA)
