A computer-generated image of the solar plane (Photo courtesy of Solar Impulse/EPFL Claudio Leonardi)
A team in Switzerland is gearing up for
the first around-the-world flight of a solar
powered plane. Rebecca Williams has more:
Transcript
A team in Switzerland is gearing up for
the first around-the-world flight of a solar
powered plane. Rebecca Williams has more:
Bertrand Piccard was the first to fly a hot air balloon non-stop around the
world.
“You know a lot of people think something is impossible just before someone
else finds the solution to do it.”
Now he’s leading a team that’s building a solar powered plane to fly around the
world. The plane will have long skinny wings with solar panels, and room for
just one pilot.
“My greatest hope is that enough people will follow our adventure. These
people will say ‘Wow! If there was there a team that could do it in a solar
powered airplane, of course we should do it also ourselves in our daily lives.’”
Piccard says they have a lot to test out, especially how to fly at night.
If all goes well, the first real test flight is planned for next year.
A layer of smog over upstate New York at sunset on October 21, 2000 (Photo courtesy of the Earth Science and Image Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center)
A new report says smog can contribute to
premature death. Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
A new report says smog can contribute to
premature death. Rebecca Williams reports:
Ozone is a main ingredient in smog – it comes from cars and smokestacks and
other sources.
The National Academies of Science report says ozone can send people to the
hospital, and even lead to earlier death. That’s because ozone can damage
your lungs and make it harder to breathe. It can be especially bad for
kids, older people, and people with lung diseases.
Dan Greenbaum is the president of the Health Effects Institute. He worked
on the report.
“It just reinforces the risks of exposure to ozone are there, they’re
significant and people really should be paying attention to alerts when
there are high ozone days.”
Ozone alerts mean even healthy people should avoid working or exercising
outdoors during the day.
The EPA recently tightened the ozone standards. But the agency’s scientific
advisory committee said the standards should be tightened even more.
A layer of smog over upstate New York at sunset on October 21, 2000 (Photo courtesy of the Earth Science and Image Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center)
Researchers have identified the top corporate
air polluters in the country. Mark Brush reports:
Transcript
Researchers have identified the top corporate
air polluters in the country. Mark Brush reports:
The Environmental Protection Agency identifies what factories around the country are
polluting. But sometimes it’s hard to know who owns those factories.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts sorted that out. They name the
companies on their Toxic 100 list. Turns out – a lot of the companies that make the most
money, are often making the most pollution.
DuPont, Nissan Motor, Archer Daniels Midland, the Bayer Group, and Dow Chemical
top the list.
Michael Ash is the co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute. He says
everyone has the right to know who is polluting their air.
“So in terms of the citizen seeing this report, I hope that she or he could use this as a tool
for thinking about exposure in her own community and to limit that exposure.”
But to limit your exposure – Ash says you first have to know what company is
responsible.
Hallway family farm in NY. (Photo by Keith Weller, courtesy of the USDA)
A federal plan to exempt livestock farms from
reporting on air pollution has environmental groups upset.
Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
A federal plan to exempt livestock farms from
reporting on air pollution has environmental groups upset.
Chuck Quirmbach reports:
More farms are getting bigger. With the larger numbers of cows, chickens and
other animals, come sizable amounts of gasses such as ammonia and hydrogen
sulfide.
The EPA wants to change an emergency response law to exempt farms from
reporting large airborne emissions connected to animal waste.
Barry Breen is a Deputy Administrator with the EPA. He says the regular release
of animal gases is not the kind of thing that should trigger a rapid response from
his agency.
“Even if one of our folks showed up, we wouldn’t quite know what to do. It’s not any
different today than it was yesterday or last week or any other time.”
Breen says the EPA or states could take clean up action, if need be, under other
rules. But environmental groups say the current reporting requirement is very
helpful to neighbors and communities that want to know what’s in the air at
nearby farms.
Transforming black crude oil into gasoline has
always been a notoriously dirty process. But oil
refineries are expanding so they can use a new source
of oil. That could make the process even dirtier.
Shawn Allee explains why this is happening
and what environmentalists are doing about it:
Transcript
Transforming black crude oil into gasoline has
always been a notoriously dirty process. But oil
refineries are expanding so they can use a new source
of oil. That could make the process even dirtier.
Shawn Allee explains why this is happening
and what environmentalists are doing about it:
Refineries are expanding because they’ve struck oil… and it’s not
far away….
Roxanne Potvin: “Oh Canada, our home in native land …”
That’s right, it’s from Canada.
“Phil here, can I help you? Hey, I’m doing good, how are you?”
Phil Flynn analyzes energy markets for Alaron Trading. Flynn
says Canada’s secret is oil pulled from tar sands.
“If you look at the oil sands that are in Canada, some experts
estimate there’s more oil in the oil sands than there is under
Saudi Arabia. And to be honest with you is, the reason why we
haven’t tapped it earlier is, it’s been a very expensive process to
do.”
But technology’s made tar sand oil competitive with lighter crude
from the Mideast and elsewhere.
Flynn says there’s a downside to Canadian tar sand oil. It’s
heavier, it’s dirtier, and it creates more refinery pollution. But he
says the market wants it anyway.
“You know, we want abundant supplies. We want to be able to
pull up at the pump, pay a dollar fifty a gallon and drive home
happily. But guess what, it doesn’t work that way in the real world.
Believe me, if the prices get high enough, even the environmentalists
will be more open to more negotiations.”
Actually, Flynn’s wrong on that – environmentalists are not willing
negotiate on new refinery pollution. Last year, green groups in
Chicago and Northwest Indiana were outraged by plans to
expand a BP refinery on Lake Michigan.
That BP plant will use new Canadian crude.
A new permit allowed it to dump more ammonia and suspended
solids – in other words… more pollution into Lake Michigan.
Environmentalists and politicians argued with regulators, then they
hit the airwaves …
“This is a clean water alert. BP Amoco has announced plans to
expand an Indiana refinery to process thick
crude oil – already one of the worst polluters …”
“I think that really tapped public sentiment that we’re going in the
wrong direction.”
Howard Learner directs the Environmental Law and Policy
Center.
Learner considers last year’s effort a success.
“Ultimately, BP was forced to back off, and BP is now committed
to no net increase in water pollution.”
That fight against BP’s refinery expansion plan in Indiana was not
isolated. Michigan activists fought a similar refinery expansion
plan in Detroit. Eventually, Marathon Oil agreed to keep water
and air pollution near present levels at that refinery.
Now, groups across the Midwest want to repeat these
performances. Altogether, they’re taking on expansions at ten refineries, from
South Dakota to Ohio, plus another in Ontario.
Learner says each could increase water and air pollution.
“So with these oil refineries having such a major environmental
footprint in our region, we want to make sure that they’re doing the
absolute best, state of the art, pollution control technology at the
beginning rather than later having to come back and say
oh wait a minute, we somehow missed the boat here, we gotta
get it fixed up. That’s not gonna fly.”
Learner says there does not have to be a trade-off between more
pollution and higher gas prices.
“Companies like BP, ConocoPhillips, MurphyOil, and Marathon are
making billions of dollars in profits. They can take and invest
some of those profits, not on doing their plants in ways that increase pollution, but in
ways that reduce pollution.”
But can we cut pollution and keep gas prices level?
Some economists doubt it.
Lynne Kiesling teaches at Northwestern University.
“Regardless of your perception of corporate profits there is a
fundamental trade-off between environmental quality and
increasing our refinery production.”
Kiesling says, when refineries invest in pollution control,
consumers ultimately foot the bill.
And she says drivers are to blame – over time, we buy more
gasoline – even when prices rise. So… oil companies are just trying to meet
our demand with new, dirtier oil.
Environmental groups have preached about getting out of our
cars for years – but they’ve been losing that battle.
They say all they can do now, is to fight the air and water pollution
that comes with dirtier oil.
Mount Moran and Jackson Lake at Grand Teton National Park. (Photo by Kimberly Finch courtesy of National Park Service)
Even our most remote national parks are
polluted. That’s according to a six-year government
study of parks from the Arctic to the Mexican border.
Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
Even our most remote national parks are
polluted. That’s according to a six-year government
study of parks from the Arctic to the Mexican border.
Rebecca Williams reports:
You might think it’d be safe to eat a fish you catch in a lake way out in
the middle of nowhere. But the new study found high levels of mercury, DDT
and other chemicals in some fish in national parks. Levels that make the
fish unsafe for both people and wildlife.
Dixon Landers is a researcher with the Environmental Protection Agency. He
says the team also found low levels of 70 different chemicals in snow, water
and plants in national parks.
“There’s probably no place left in the world that has no sign of human
activities and largely because of atmospheric transport.”
Landers says that means some chemicals get transported in the air and end up
hundreds or thousands of miles away from their source. He says chemicals
from nearby cities and farms also end up polluting the parks.
A new study finds that the air you breathe could be teeming with more than
1,800 types of bacteria. Rebecca Williams reports the research might help
protect against bioterrorist attacks:
Transcript
A new study finds that the air you breathe could be teeming with
more than 1,800 types of bacteria. Rebecca Williams reports the
research might help protect against bioterrorist attacks:
This is the first time researchers have used DNA sequencing to study
bacteria in the air. They wanted to find out what’s normal and what’s
harmful.
Federal officials are hoping to improve on the way they test the air for
potential bioterrorism agents.
Gary Andersen is the lead author of the study… published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He says the
current monitoring system tests the air above most major U.S. cities
for specific pathogens. He says the new research will make that
system better.
“To see not just whether or not these specific handful of pathogens
were present but what actually was the microbial composition in the
air and that also may give some clue to as whether things are normal
or suspicious circumstances.”
Andersen says the research will make it clearer whether or not people
are actually in danger.
The US EPA is reconsidering a decision to let cement plants off the hook when it comes to mercury emissions. Tests at several cement plants showed they were emitting up to ten times the mercury being disclosed. Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
The US EPA is reconsidering a decision to let cement plants off the hook when it comes to mercury emissions. Tests at several cement plants showed they were emitting up to ten times the mercury being disclosed. Tracy Samilton reports:
Cement plants emit mercury from both the coal they burn and from processing limestone, an ingredient of cement. But the EPA has never regulated the mercury emissions. The agency said it would be too costly for the industry. Cement manufacturers say they plan to voluntarily reduce mercury emissions over time.
But Michael Wall of the Natural Resources Defense Council says the EPA needs to exert control over the plants now.
“It would be as if we took a segment of the coal-fired power plant industry and just said ’emit mercury freely, we’re not going to do anything about it.’ That makes really bad policy and it’s really bad for our public health.”
An EPA spokesman says the agency is taking a second look at the issue, in light of stack tests showing some plants may have been grossly underestimating their mercury emissions.
The stifling hot weather recently has triggered ozone action days in many parts of the country. That means smog levels are high and the air can be unhealthy to breathe. But the Environmental Protection Agency says it’s making progress on cleaning up the pollutants that lead to ground-level ozone. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
The stifling hot weather recently has triggered ozone action days in many
parts of the country. That means smog levels are high and the air can be
unhealthy to breathe. But the Environmental Protection Agency says it’s
making progress on cleaning up the pollutants that lead to ground-level
ozone. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports:
Smog forms when pollutants mix with hot, stagnant air and sunshine. The
pollutants come mostly from cars and trucks, and power plants. Ground level
ozone can make asthma worse and can even cause permanent lung damage.
Chet Wayland is with the EPA. He says ozone concentrations are dropping as
regulations on smokestacks and tailpipes kick in.
“Ozone concentrations have decreased about 20 percent since 1980 and since 1990
they’ve actually decreased about 8 percent. I think that’s one of the things we’re seeing
even this summer, as hot as it is, we’re not seeing the levels we would’ve
seen several years ago.”
But ozone is still a major health problem. A recent EPA-funded study found
that ozone levels the agency considers acceptable can cause lung damage and
lead to premature death.
With concerns about global warming, the government wants to build a power plant that would capture emissions – if it can find the right site. The GLRC’s Julie Grant reports:
Transcript
With concerns about global warming, the Government wants to build a
power plant that would capture emissions – if it can find the right site.
The GLRC’s Julie Grant reports:
The U.S Department of Energy is chipping in 750-million dollars to the
build what’s called the FutureGen coal-burning power plant, and a
consortium of power companies is contributing an additional 250-
million. That’s a billion dollars of investment.
Craig Stevens is a spokesman with the Department of Energy. He says
there are 250 years worth of coal reserves and this project would burn
that coal without polluting the air…
“If we can find a way to use coal that has zero emissions into the
atmosphere through geologic storage – actually pumping the carbon
dioxide into geologic formations – we can go a long way toward using
this coal but also saving our environment.
Stevens says the DOE is looking for a site that is safe to store carbon
dioxide deep underground.
The agency is currently reviewing proposals and plans to choose a spot
by late next year.
A computer-generated image of the solar plane (Photo courtesy of Solar Impulse/EPFL Claudio Leonardi)
