The Bush administration is giving the oil and gas industry an exemption from pollution permits that other industries don’t get. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
The Bush administration is giving the oil and gas industry an exemption from pollution permits
that other industries don’t get. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring construction sites between one and five acres
large to get a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit. Highway construction,
home construction, every type of construction project must get the permit, except for the oil and
gas industry.
Sharon Buccino is a senior attorney with the environmental group Natural Resources Defense
Council. She says the Bush administration is giving that industry an exemption.
“And, there really is no basis for giving them an exemption. In fact, construction at oil and gas
sites is likely to be even more problematic than just your, you know, kind of run of the mill
construction activities.”
Now, a measure before Congress would make the exemption law instead of just an administrative
rule, and would also exempt larger oil and gas construction sites from the pollution permit
process.”
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Although commercial airlines have been replacing their fleets with jets that are quieter and more fuel efficient, the engines actually emit more of certain pollutants. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham explains:
Transcript
Although commercial airlines have been replacing their fleets with jets that are quieter and more
fuel efficient, the engines actually emit more of certain pollutants. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham explains:
The federal government’s watchdog agency, the General Accounting Office, issued a report that
finds many airports have worked to reduce air pollution. Some have converted airport ground
vehicles to cleaner burning fuels. Newer jet engines emit less carbon monoxide and
hydrocarbons. But, they produce higher amounts of nitrogen oxides than engines on the older
models. As much as 40-percent more during landings and take offs. Those emissions contribute
to ozone pollution. That’s helping to keep more than half of the nation’s major airports in
violation of the federal ozone standards.
The General Accounting Office noted there are technologies available to limit nitrogen oxides
emissions from some of the newer aircraft models. Many government officials indicate that will
likely have to be the next step if ozone pollution around the airports is to be reduced.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
The U.S. Justice Department is suing several utility companies in the Midwest and South. The charge is that they didn’t install state of the art pollution controls when they renovated their power plants, a violation of the federal Clean Air Act. The first case is being heard in a federal courtroom in Columbus, Ohio. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:
Transcript
The U.S. Justice Department is suing several utility companies in the Midwest and South. The
charge is that they didn’t install state of the art pollution controls when they renovated their power
plants, a violation of the federal Clean Air Act. The first case is being heard in a federal
courtroom in Columbus, Ohio. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:
About a decade ago, First Energy corporation fixed up a power plant built in 1959 in
Steubenville, Ohio, but it didn’t put in the latest high-tech scrubbers. The company insisted it was
just routine maintenance, so the requirement for top of the line pollution controls didn’t apply.
The justice department disagreed and sued, and states in the Northeast are cheering. They say
soot and smog from the Great Lakes region travel hundreds of miles to New England.
Environmental activists like Jack Shaner say maybe the pollution travels, maybe it doesn’t, but
either way, a crackdown is needed.
“Study after study have shown it’s the folks that live in the shadow of these power plants within a
hundred miles or so that bear the brunt of it. That’s why it’s particularly important for Ohio and
for the Midwest to clean up these power plants. If it helps New England, God bless ’em, but we
gotta start in our own backyard here first.”
President Bush is reportedly pushing for changes, so that state of the art pollution controls
couldn’t be required so often.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen.
An EPA study says that less than one percent of lakes in the Upper Midwest suffer from the effects of acid rain – down from three percent 20 years ago. Air pollution officials disagree on what to do next about the harmful precipitation. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
An EPA study says that less than one percent of lakes in the Upper Midwest suffer from the
effects of acid rain – down from three percent 20 years ago. Air pollution officials disagree on
what to do next about the harmful precipitation. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck
Quirmbach reports:
The EPA credits the improvement in the health of lakes to a 1990 law that reduced sulphur
dioxide emissions, mainly from coal-burning power plants. Cutting SO2 pollution means several
things, including less disruption to the Lakes’ food chain. Now the EPA agrees with President
Bush’s call for Congress to pass his so-called Clear Skies Initiative. That plan aims for more
reductions in sulphur dioxide, as well as cuts in emissions of nitrogen oxides and mercury. But
several state air pollution regulators say the plan doesn’t go far enough. Lloyd Eagan is with the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“Basically my feeling is that the levels in the Clear Skies Initiative really offer too little reduction
and it comes too late.”
But the EPA calls the Clear Skies Initiative a market-based, workable approach to pollution
control.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chuck Quirmbach reporting.
Cell phones were a popular holiday gift this year. That means old phones will wind up in the garbage. A cell phone company from the Midwest is one of several firms that are pledging to reduce the number of old wireless phones that wind up in landfills. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
Cell phones will be a popular holiday gift this year. A cell phone company from the Midwest is
one of several firms that are pledging to reduce the number of old wireless phones that wind up in
landfills. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
By some estimates, U.S. consumers discard more than 100-million cell phones a year. The
phones are small, but usually contain toxic chemicals like lead and cadmium that can leak in
landfills. Illinois-based Motorola and nine other cell phone manufacturers have pledged to the
United Nations to address the environmental issues linked to cell phone disposal. Motorola
official Craig Liska says the companies wanted to keep some control over the process:
“We wanted to make sure there wasn’t a global regulation that came out that kind of limited the
solutions because we wanted to have the flexibility to have the proper solutions in place in the
proper place of the world.”
If you want to get rid of an old cell phone now, you may be able to take it to a dealer for
reprogramming or perhaps have the toxic metals removed before dumping. The cell phone
makers are pledging to work on more options. They say they’ll also try to design phones that are
more eco-friendly.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach reporting.
An environmental group is calling for a change in how we pay for car insurance. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports on the group’s strategy to lower rates for people who drive their cars less:
Transcript
An environmental group is calling for a change in how we pay for car insurance. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports on the group’s strategy to lower rates for
people who drive their cars less:
The group, Environmental Defense, wants it to work this way: if you don’t drive your car that
much because you’re taking the bike, or walking, or using mass transit, then you should be
allowed to pay for insurance based on the miles you drive. Michael Replogle is the
Transportation Director for Environmental Defense:
“Those of us who drive less are helping to protect the environment, but we’re paying a
disproportionate share for car insurance. We pay a much higher rate per mile than those who
drive more.
The flip side of it is, to work, everyone would have to be charged on a per mile basis.
Environmental Defense thinks that would be a step toward cutting down how much all of us
drive, burn up gasoline, and pollute. The group says it’s talking with a couple of insurance
companies that are studying the idea.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
A new survey is out that ranks which automakers make the least-polluting cars. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
A new survey is out that ranks which auto-makers make the least-polluting cars. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Together Ford, General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Honda, Toyota and Nissan sell nine out of
every ten vehicles in the U.S. An environmental watchdog group, the Union of Concerned
Scientists, found, as in the past, that Honda is the least polluting auto-maker, followed by the
other two Japanese companies. But, Jason Mark, the author of the report, says there’s been a shift
among the U.S. companies.
“The big news is that Ford has now surpassed General Motors as the greenest of the Big Three
car companies on the strength of voluntary commitments that they have made to improve the
environmental performance of their products.”
Federal regulations allow trucks, such as SUVs, to pollute more than cars, but Ford has taken
steps to reduce truck smog-forming emissions on its own.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Companies who fear that their greenhouse gas emissions may soon be regulated are being offered a new alternative. A Virginia-based firm has created an emissions trading system that will capitalize on telecommuting. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:
Transcript
Companies who fear that their greenhouse gas emissions may soon be regulated are being
offered a new alternative. A Virginia-based firm has created an emissions trading system
that will capitalize on telecommuting. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly
reports:
The company is called “Teletrips.” And it’s created a system in which industries that
need to reduce their emissions can buy credits from businesses with large numbers of
telecommuters.
Teletrips president Mary Beatty says the trading system would force polluters to buy
credits to offset the amount they pollute. They’d buy the credits from companies who
keep their employees off the road.
“We felt like if you could find an incentive that would motivate companies to set up
(programs) trip reduction programs and (be able to quantify that) and give them some real
financial benefit back for creating those programs, that was much better than mandating
an approach.”
The company’s software converts the number of trips saved by working at home into the
amount of emissions averted.
It’s currently being pilot tested in five U.S. cities.
For the Great Lakes Radio consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.
American Electric Power is working to stop blue clouds of sulfuric acid from descending on towns near the Ohio River. Ironically, the clouds are a by-product of a 200-million dollar system installed in May to help curb smog-producing emissions from the General James M. Gavin Power Plant. The search for a solution is being watched by other power plants in the U.S. that have to comply with stricter anti-smog regulations put in place by the federal government.
Blue clouds of sulfuric acid have descended upon towns in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia more than a dozen times since May. The clouds are from smoke stacks at American Electric Power’s General James M. Gavin plant in rural Cheshire, Ohio. It’s one of the largest coal-burning power plants in North America. The company blames a new 200 million dollar pollution control system for releasing more toxic emissions. If they’re right, other Midwestern power companies may face similar troubles when trying to comply with federal clean air laws. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:
Transcript
Blue clouds of sulfuric acid have descended upon towns in south-eastern Ohio and West Virginia more than a dozen times since may. The clouds are from smoke stacks at American Electric Powers General John M. Gavin plant in rural Cheshire, Ohio. It’s one of the largest coal-burning power plants in North America. The company blames a new 200-million dollar pollution control system for releasing more toxic emissions. If they’re right, other midwestern power companies may face similar troubles when trying to comply with federal clean air laws. The great lakes radio consortium’s Natalie Walston reports.
The small, rundown airport in Mt. Pleasant sits on a flat part of the hills of West Virginia.
It’s surrounded by thick trees. Its rural enough here that it’s common to see wild turkeys dashing across the runways. One summer afternoon airport manager Ben Roush looked out his window. But instead of seeing a plane land … he saw thick smoke clinging to the tops of the trees.
“It looked like, uh, exhaust out of a car or something like that. It wasn’t black smoke it was blue. Very, very visible.”
After the smoke appeared, his phone began to ring.
“The fire department down here called up here and wanted to know if we had a fire up here because it was all in these … it settled to the ground. And, it was in those trees.”
The clouds contain high concentrations of sulfuric acid. That’s not normal … even this close to a power plant that burns coal with a high sulfur content. For years, most coal-burning power plants have had pollution control devices called “scrubbers” to deal with that sulfur. The scrubbers do just what the name implies – they scrub the air clean of sulfur dioxide as well as some other pollutants. But, they don’t do a good job in removing nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is blamed in part for causing acid rain and smog.
Paul Chodak is manager of American Electric Power’s Optimization Group. He says AEP installed a selective catalytic reduction system … or SCR … in an effort to remove nitrous oxide. Chodak says the SCR system is a relatively new technology. And, so far, it and the scrubber aren’t working well together. That’s because they are combining to make sulfuric acid, but in a different form. And that form then gets released into the air.
“The SO3 … or sulfuric acid is in very fine droplets … sub-micron size droplets. Very, very tiny. And they’re so small that they travel through the scrubber and they’re not removed. So, the scrubber works very well on the gas in removing SO2. However, it’s not very effective in removing SO3.”
Chodak says this is all because of an effort to reduce emissions that cause acid rain and smog in eastern seaboard states. But… as AEP scrambles to stop polluting the air hundreds of miles away … people who live beneath the smoke stacks claim their health is being sacrificed. They say that in the summer, when the sulfuric acid clouds move in it’s difficult to breathe.
(natural sound of NASCAR race and drunk people carrying on)
Gallipolis is a small city five miles south of the power plant. Today there’s a small crowd of people gathered at Sunny’s bar and grille. People here will only give their first names to an out of town reporter. A man named Steve is drinking a beer at a table with his sister. He says fallout from the plant makes the paint peel off cars.
“All that acid and stuff goes on these cars. They gotta repaint the cars … so you know it’s tearin’ us up. Our bodies. And, like I say, we worry about our kids and grandkids more. We’re old enough that it’s not gonna bother us no more.”
His sister Tammy drags slowly on a cigarette as Steve talks.
When he finishes, she jumps in to say that since the blue clouds started showing up, everyone in town has become sick.
“I have health problems. I cough all the time. Allergies all the time. Allergies to something’. Runny nose. Constantly. You know, I think everyone in town has health problems that live around here.”
But AEP claims the air is cleaner than it was before the SCR system was installed. Paul Chodak says the air turned blue this summer because the sulfuric acid reacted with sunlight on hot, humid days. He says people become scared because they could actually see what they were breathing.
“The hard thing for people to understand is that what is coming out of the stack is significantly cleaner than what was coming out before. This is an improvement from a pollution control perspective. However, it has created this local phenomena that is a problem. And, AEP is moving to address that and we will solve it.”
Sulfuric acid measurements taken by the company and examined by Ohio and U.S. EPA researchers meanwhile don’t show a major sulfuric acid problem. But there are no state standards in place in Ohio for levels of gaseous sulfuric acid in the air.
Kay Gilmer of the Ohio EPA says emissions from AEP have exceeded sulfuric acid standards set by other states. However, she says people near the plant stacks aren’t in immediate danger. But she hesitates to say the air is perfectly safe to breathe.
“We didn’t have anything that would um … that we would … that we looked at that was exceptionally high. But, that was, I don’t want to say that to say we’re not concerned with the problem.”
Meanwhile, people near the plant say they’re tired of having their health jeopardized so people far away from them can breathe easier. They are working with state environmental groups to possibly fight the power plant in court.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Natalie Walston.
People have long considered the burrowing mayfly a pest. And 40 years
ago, they were glad when the clouds of bugs virtually disappeared from
the Great Lakes. But the mayfly is making a comeback. And as the Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, scientists say it’s a sign
of a healthier water system:
