Like several other states, Ohio is moving ahead with plans to provide anti-cancer pills to people who live near nuclear power plants, just in case an accident or terrorist attack spills radiation. Health officials have made a key decision about when the pills will be passed out. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:
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Like several other states, Ohio is moving ahead with plans to provide anti-cancer pills to people who live near nuclear power plants, just in case an accident or terrorist attack spills radiation. Health officials have made a key decision about when the pills will be passed out. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:
The 150-thousand people who are neighbors of the 3 nuclear plants serving Ohio won’t have to flee first to evacuation centers to get hold of the pills that protect against thyroid cancer. Health officials have decided to help distribute the potassium iodide pills this fall, hopefully before any crisis.
At three public hearings last month, residents and local emergency officials made it clear they wanted the pills in their medicine cabinet or their desk drawer at work…just in case of a disaster. Health officials say they’ll go along…but they’re stressing – evacuation is still the top priority…swallowing the pills can come later.
The federal government has agreed to pay for this first round of pills for any state that requests them…but the states may have to pick up the tab for replacements when the pills lose their effectiveness after a few years.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen.
The federal government is offering to buy special anti-cancer pills for people who live near nuclear power plants. There are 24 nuclear power plants in the Great Lakes states… and state officials are now pondering whether to accept the offer. In Ohio, the debate reflects the pro and con arguments across the region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen has details:
To get more states to comply with the federal Clean Water Act, environmental activists are taking them to court. Ohio is the latest example. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen has more:
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To get more states complying with the federal clean water act….environmental activists are taking them to court. Ohio’s the latest example. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:
Mercury from power plants, run-off from farm fields, and poisons from manufacturers – they’re all in Ohio rivers and streams. In fact, nearly 900 are officially called “impaired.”
The state EPA has asked legislators for extra cash to prepare clean-up plans….but the money has never come through. So now, activists like Jack Shaner of the Ohio Environmental Council have filed a court suit. It demands the feds force Ohio to act.
“The Ohio EPA has told the feds it will take 25 years just to come up with the cleanup plans and that doesn’t include the cleanup itself.”
A key senator says Ohio’s made what he calls great strides. Jim Carnes cites the revival of Lake Erie. He’d like the clean-up to move faster but he notes Ohio has a budget crisis – “there’s not an unlimited supply of money.”
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.
The U.S. EPA estimates that in the Midwest there are more than50-thousand brownfields – polluted sites where the company that did thepolluting has either gone bankrupt or has simply abandoned thelocation. Next week, Ohio voters are being asked to approve a ballotissue that would let the state borrow millions of dollars… forbrownfield clean-up projects and for preserving greenspace. The issuehas sparked something unusual – a split among major environmentalgroups. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen filed thisreport:
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The U.S. EPA estimates that in the (Midwest/Great Lakes states)… there
are more than 50-thousand brownfields… polluted sites where the
company that did the polluting has either gone bankrupt or has simply
abandoned the location. Next week, Ohio voters are being asked to
approve a ballot issue that would let the state borrow millions of
dollars… for brownfield clean-up projects and for preserving
greenspace. The issue has sparked something unusual – a split among
major environmental groups. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill
Cohen filed this report.
With video of a babbling brook… a TV commercial is asking Ohioans to vote yes on this
ballot issue. If passed, the issue would give Ohio the green light to borrow 400 million
dollars and spend it two ways — first…. helping communities buy land for parks, nature
preserves, bikeways, and walking trails. And second, paying to clean-up the polluted
industrial sites called brownfields. State legislators are the ones who’ve put the plan onto
the ballot…..and it also has the backing of several activist groups – for example, the
National Wildlife Federation, the League of Ohio Sportsmen, and the Ohio
Environmental Council. Jack Shaner speaks for the council.
“If ever there was a state that needed an environmental cleanup program, it’s the state of Ohio. We rank near the bottom in public access to public lands. We’re third in the nation for toxic releases. Only a little more than half of our rivers and streams are fishable and swimable. You know, it’s 4 million dollars before the voters this fall, we probably need more like 4 billion dollars.”
Just about every Ohio environmental group likes half of the ballot issue, the greenspace
part. But, on the brownfields part, there’s disagreement. The Ohio Sierra Club is
refusing to endorse the ballot measure. The group is staying neutral because it worries
that the way future brownfields will be cleaned up….is the same way they’ve been
cleaned up in the past. Sierra Club leader Mark Conte says there are two drawbacks that
muddy the waters.
“A lot of time with brownfield projects in that program the public is not notified that the cleanup is going to take place or how that cleanup will take place. Nor is there a chance for the public to comment on how that cleanup takes place. In a lot of cases there are weekend clean up standards. For example, in some sites the redevelopment does not have to clean up the groundwater contamination that might be in the site.”
Another major environmental group has so many questions about the brownfields part of
this ballot issue, it is actually calling for a NO vote. Citizen Action often sees the Ohio
EPA as an ally for polluting industries….so the environmental activists don’t trust the
state EPA to do the clean-ups right. Sandy Buchanan heads the Ohio group:
“We are very concerned that the money that the tax payers are being asked to spend will be used to try to put a coat of whitewash over the Ohio EPA. An agency that is suffering from dry rot, an agency that has serious enforcement problems. Particularly in the brownfields cleanup area, which this money is supposedly going to go for.”
The Environmental Council agrees with Citizen Action that the Ohio EPA could do a
better job…….but that’s why the council’s Jack Shaner says voters should approve the
ballot issue, not reject it.
“The more you have idle, abandoned, old former industrial sites, contaminated sites dotting the inner city, the more and more it’s going to push sprawl into the countryside. Eat up that valuable farmland. So it makes sense to redevelop the inner city. Ohio’s current program is not a good one, is not effective. Even businesses don’t use it. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves. We’ve got to fix that program. But it’s going to take not only a fix, it’s going to take money.”
Unlike critics of the ballot issue…the environmental council and other backers have some
big names and the money to publicize their side of the story. In fact, two of Ohio’s most
popular politicians are leading the vote yes drive – Governor Bob Taft, a republican,
and former Senator John Glenn, a democrat. The issue also has the support of Ohio
manufacturers. Greg Vergameni helps lead their trade association. He says cleaning up
brownfields will open up cheaper inner city sites for industry.
“The upfront cost will be a lot less. Instead of going out buying land, building new manufacutiing plants. They can go into a spot that already has some structure there. And as long as it’s a clean site, I can see some economic growth there.”
While Ohio’s environmental movement is split over whether this ballot issue merits
support……it appears it will pass. Jack Shaner of the environmental council says it’s
about the best thing environmental activists can realistically expect from state
government.
“If were are to wait for every jot and tittle to be squared away, and the perfect plan crafted, we’ll be into the 22nd century, we can’t afford to wait.”
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.
Health officials and pet owners in some of the western Great Lakesstates can breathe a little easier these days. That’s because Ohio hasfound a way to block an outbreak of rabies carried by raccoons, andspreading from the East. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohenreports from Ohio:
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Health officials and pet owners in (IN, IL, MI, MN, WI or some of the western Great Lakes states) can breathe a little easier these days. That’s because Ohio has found a way to block an outbreak of rabies, carried by raccoons, and spreading from the East. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports from Ohio.
It began in New York, then hit Pennsylvania, and then crept over the border into Ohio. But health officials report the yearly number of raccoon rabies cases here has now dwindled – 59 cases were the peak. But last year, there were only 5 cases, and so far this year – none.
Key to this rabies blockade are millions of fishmeal biscuits, laced with a rabies vaccine…and dropped from helicopters and cars.
Healthy raccoons are gobbling them up and making themselves invincible when they’re bitten by infected raccoons. Kathleen Smith is Ohio’s official veterinarian.
“Hopefully if we can get enough of the population of raccoons immunized, the disease then goes ahead and dies out.”
To be sure the westward spread of rabies has been blocked, Ohio plans to spend 1.6 million dollars this year for even more vaccine. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Bill Cohen in Columbus.
Wildlife officials in several Great Lakes states are concerned about the dwindling number of walleye in Lake Erie. That’s why there’s a move to limit the number of fish that may be legally caught each day. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:
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Wildlife officials in several Great Lakes states are worrying that the number of
walleye in Lake Erie is dwindling. That’s why there’s a move to limit the number
of fish that may be legally caught each day. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports.
Right now, Ohio fishermen may catch up to 10 walleye a day
from Lake Erie, but that may soon change to six. Ohio wildlife
officials are proposing a tighter limit, because they believe there
are fewer fish in the lake these days. Scott Johnson is a fisheries
biologist for Ohio’s division of wildlife.
The catch rates were very poor in 1999. In ‘99, we got a harvest of about a million fish. And the year before that, the catch rates were considerably higher. And the harvest was 2.3 million fish in ’98.”
Johnson says other states bordering Lake Erie plan to follow Ohio and
reduce their limits on walleye catches. That includes Michigan,
Pennsylvania, New York, and the Canadian province of Ontario.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.
Electric power plants in some of the Great Lakes states are the
biggest contributors to pollution in the nation. That’s the bottom line
of
the latest study from the Public Interest Research Group. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:
In recent years, environmentalists and consumer advocates have
been the target of what they’ve termed "slap suits." When the
activists
have blasted companies for alleged pollution or consumer rip-offs, the
companies have returned fire, by filing counter suits. In Ohio,
there’s
a
new development in one of the nation’s longest running environmental
battles — the owner of a hazardous waste incinerator has just
suspended a
so-called slap suit. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen has
more:
Ohio health officials are using airplanes and helicopters in a
battle against raccoon rabies that could affect all states west of their
border. The potentially-fatal disease invaded Ohio from Pennsylvania in
1996. Since then, officials have been air-dropping tons of biscuits
laced with vaccine to try to keep the disease walled off just inside
Ohio’s eastern border. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen
reports:
A new threat to honey bees that had been isolated to four southern
states has just been spotted in the Great Lakes region……and
agriculture officials are warning beekeepers to be on the lookout. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen has more: