Watering Down ‘Open Government’

Critics say President Bush is trying to block part of a new law that makes the government
more accountable. The Open Government Act is supposed to improve access to
government information. But as Mark Brush reports, the Bush Administration’s recent
budget request attempts to strip a key provision of the new law:

Transcript

Critics say President Bush is trying to block part of a new law that makes the government
more accountable. The Open Government Act is supposed to improve access to
government information. But as Mark Brush reports, the Bush Administration’s recent
budget request attempts to strip a key provision of the new law:


The new Open Government Act tries to address complaints about government secrecy by
creating an impartial mediator: an ombudsman who will help resolve disputes over
information requests. But in his budget, President Bush calls for the elimination of the
new ombudsman.


Rick Blum is the coordinator of the Sunshine in Government Initiative. That’s a
collection of news media groups working for a more open government. Blum says
having an impartial mediator is critical to resolving disputes:


“Right now, if you get denied, if an agency says, ‘No, you can’t receive this document.’
Well, your only recourse is to hire a lawyer at tens of thousands of dollars, or maybe even
over a hundred thousand dollars to pursue a legal case.”


Blum says he’s hopeful that the President’s attempts to eliminate the ombudsman position
will not stand.


For the Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush

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Fed Dollars for the Birds

A conservation group says birds would get much needed help from President
Bush’s proposed federal budget. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

A conservation group says birds would get much needed help from President
Bush’s proposed federal budget. Chuck Quirmbach reports:


The National Audubon Society and other organizations have been warning that
many bird species are in decline because of threats such as loss of habitat. The
President’s budget would put 36 million dollars more into wildlife refuges.
There’d be another eight million dollars for keeping track of bird populations and
helping migrating birds.


The Bush Administration has often focused on birds that are hunted. Greg
Butcher is with the Audobon Society. He says the budget initiative would help
wetlands birds:


“And that’s going to include ducks and geese that are hunted, but it’s also going
to include herons and terns, and other species that aren’t hunted. So it’s a very
habitat-focused initiative.”


Congress still has to act on the President’s budget. It contains many
controversial items, so that could delay final passage.


For the Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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Bush Brushes Over Environment

  • Bush has spoke of plans to fund clean energy and reduce dependence on oil but did not elaborate on how he would put these plans into action. (Photo courtesy of whitehouse.gov)

President Bush is echoing his past calls to wean the country from foreign oil, but his
most recent State of the Union speech quickly brushed over the topics of energy
independence and global warming:

Transcript

President Bush is echoing his past calls to wean the country from foreign oil, but his
most recent State of the Union speech quickly brushed over the topics of energy
independence and global warming:


The President says the U.S. is committed to energy security and confronting global
climate change:


“And the best way to meet these goals is for America to continue leading the way
toward the development of cleaner and more energy-efficient technology.”


The President called specifically for funding new clean coal technology. That came
at the same time his Energy Department pulled funding for a major clean coal
technology project in Illinois. Mr. Bush also called for better battery technology and
renewable fuels for automobiles, but did not mention additional government support
for research.


A proposed investment in clean energy in developing countries and completing an
international agreement on global warming was noted by environmental groups. But
then they criticized the Bush administration for not implementing a mandatory
greenhouse gas cap and trade program in the U.S.


For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.

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Satellites Could Help Great Lakes

  • Scientists say there's no money to support using satellite images to help spot problems in the Great Lakes. (Photo by Lester Graham)

Scientists say satellite images could do more to help spot major problems in the Great Lakes, if
there were more federal money for those kinds of programs. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

Scientists say satellite images could do more to help spot major problems in the Great Lakes, if
there were more federal money for those kinds of programs. Chuck Quirmbach reports:


Researchers have occasionally used satellite data from the Great Lakes, including to map ice on
the lakes. But the International Association for Great Lakes Research says federal funds for
satellite programs to monitor water quality and other conditions in the lakes have dropped
substantially since the 1990s.


Research group Executive Director Robert Sweeney says the lack of infrared and photo data
means it’s hard to tell if pollution clean-up programs are working:


“We don’t know if the removal of certain pollutants really make sense in terms of how the water is
responding.”


Sweeney says there are not enough research boats or coastal programs to get the answers. The
Bush Administration has been trying to coordinate Great Lakes environmental efforts through a
collaboration plan, but scientists complain there’s no new money.


For the Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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California Sues Epa

Environmental groups are lining up behind California in a lawsuit against the
Environmental Protection Agency. Lester Graham reports, the EPA is trying to stop
California from mandating stricter greenhouse emission standards for cars and
trucks:

Transcript

Environmental groups are lining up behind California in a lawsuit against the
Environmental Protection Agency. Lester Graham reports, the EPA is trying to stop
California from mandating stricter greenhouse emission standards for cars and
trucks:


The Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense
and other big environmental groups have filed a petition with an appeals court. They
want to overturn a decision by the EPA. As soon as President Bush signed the
Energy Bill into law, the EPA Administrator said the new 35
mile per gallon standards in the Energy Act would reduce greenhouse gas emissions
enough that California’s stricter emissions standards were not necessary.


In response, California and 15 other states sued the EPA. California often leads the
nation in stricter pollution reduction standards. The Sierra Club called the EPA’s
decision – quote “another example of the Bush administration’s bad habit of ignoring
laws that is finds inconvenient.”


The EPA argues the better mileage standards will adequately lower greenhouse gas
emissions because less gasoline will be burned.


For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.

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Watching Artificial Wetlands

  • Natural wetlands that are developed are supposed to be replaced by man-made wetlands somewhere else. (Photo by Lester Graham)

More than half of U.S. wetlands have been drained for
development, farmland, and other purposes. That’s 100
million acres now dried up. The Bush administration has
continued “no net loss” policy of any more wetlands.
So, when someone wants to drain a marsh or a swamp for,
say, a new housing development, they’ve got to build a man-
made wetland to replace it. But a new study is finding that
most of those man-made wetlands aren’t doing very well.
Julie Grant reports:

Transcript

More than half of U.S. wetlands have been drained for
development, farmland, and other purposes. That’s 100
million acres now dried up. The Bush Administration has
continued a “no net loss” policy of any more wetlands.
So, when someone wants to drain a marsh or a swamp for,
say, a new housing development, they’ve got to build a man-
made wetland to replace it. But a new study is finding that
most of those man-made wetlands aren’t doing very well.
Julie Grant reports:


(Sound of truck stop)


These 18-wheelers are lined up on a huge black parking lot
behind a truck stop off Interstate 80. Looking at it, this
wouldn’t seem like the ideal place to create a wildlife area.


But wetland ecologist Mick Micacchion has chosen this place
to show that man-made wetlands can be successful.
At the edge of the parking lot, we walk down into some
brush. The ground is mostly even, there’s no big ditches… just
some gentle slopes. The weather’s been dry the past few
weeks. But water starts seeping into my shoes:


(Mike:) “You getting wet?”


It might be bad for our shoes, but saturated soil is a good
sign for a wetland, and so are a lot of the plants we’re seeing.


As we walk, Micacchion stops at plant after plant…
Impatients, monkey flower, and lots of grass-like plants called
sedges. These all grow in wet soil:


“So even in sedge community, we’re seeing some diversity.
Which is unusal in a wetland that’s only been constructed for
a few years. But it tells you some good things are going on
here.”



Checking out what’s going on at wetlands like this one is a
new job for Micacchion. He works for the state government.
Federal officials used to take authority over wetlands as part
of the Clean Water Act. But a U.S. Supreme Court decision
six years ago took away some of that federal authority, and
left responsibility for these kinds of isolated wetlands up to
states.


That’s why Micacchion is studying man-made wetlands for
the Ohio EPA: to assess how well the state program is
working.



Wetlands that work are not only good for wildlife…they
provide a holding area for water when there’s heavy rain.
That helps prevent flooding. It also gives polluted sediments
time to drop out of the water, so it’s filtered, which means
it’s cleaner by the time it drains into streams, rivers and
lakes.


But this story of a successful man-made wetland is the
exception. A study Micacchion’s is conducting is finding that most are in fair
or poor condition.


The loss of functioning wetlands can lead to more flooding
and polluted waterways.


Micacchion says when developers drain natural wetlands,
they often don’t understand how to build artificial wetlands to
replace those original systems.


Our next stop is a good example of that. We pull into a parking lot just behind a busy street
of car dealerships. One company drained a wetland back
here to build an access road. And to replace it, they built a
pond.


Tom Wysocki walks out of the car dealership to see what
we’re up to out on his property:


“Is there someone in your office, who I mean, is this your
Beliwick in the office?”


“It would come to my desk.”


“You’re the wetlands expert at Klaben Ford.”


“I’m the expert on everything.”


Originally, this site might’ve correctly designed for a wetland. But
Wysocki decided it didn’t look right to him because it wasn’t
holding water. So he had it dug again to make a pond.


He and the actual wetlands expert definitely have a different
idea about what a successful wetland looks like. Micacchion
says a pond isn’t a wetland:


“Usually with natural wetland systems, the slopes
are very gentle. And you have to walk out maybe 15-20 feet
before you get a foot deep of water. Here, you could step in
and maybe immediately be in a foot to two feet of water. And then, the deep
water it becomes difficult for certain plants to grow.”



The area is dominated by a couple of kinds of plants. But
Micacchion says they’re both invasives. And they’re
crowding out the native wetland plants. Native plants would
provide habitat for wildlife:


“This is all reed canary grass. The biggest problem with it, it
comes in, and you can see it gets very thick. It’s pretty much
only species you see growing with just a few other things you see
poking their heads up here and there. This eliminates some
of diversity we might see otherwise.”


Micacchion says his study is finding that this is pretty typical.
Even if a developer starts out with right kind of plan,
somebody can make an arbitrary decision that defeats the
original purpose. But Micacchion says it doesn’t have to be
that way. Man-made wetlands can work if they’re designed
by ecologists and engineers who understand the details of
what makes natural wetlands so useful.


His office is creating wetlands guidelines. They want
developers to understand the natural wetlands they’re destroying and what they need to do to replace them.


For the Environment Report, I’m Julie Grant.

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Funding for Clean Water Lacking

Cities and states across the country will need to spend hundreds of billions of
dollars to maintain and improve the nation’s sewer and water systems. A new
report says these communities are not getting enough help from the federal
government. Chuck Quirmbach has more:

Transcript

Cities and states across the country will need to spend hundreds of billions of
dollars to maintain and improve the nation’s sewer and water systems. A new
report says these communities are not getting enough help from the federal
government. Chuck Quirmbach has more:


A study by the consumer group Food and Water Watch says the federal share of
clean water infrastructure spending has shrunk from 78 percent 30 years ago to
three percent today.


The group says it’s time to create a national Clean Water Trust Fund, potentially
from fees or taxes. Wenonah Hauter is executive director of Food and Water
Watch. She acknowledges the Bush Administration has been focused on funding
the Iraq war:


“Well, I think it’s a matter of priorities and I that having clean and safe and
affordable drinking water for future generations has to be a number one priority.”


Hauter says without more national funding, people will continue to pay more in
property taxes and storm water assessment fees.


For the Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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Polluters Pay Less Under Bush

  • A new report concludes that under the Bush Administration, polluters are less likely to be taken to court. (Photo by Shealah Craighead, courtesy of the White House)

The Bush Administration is not punishing polluters as much. That’s according to a new
report issued by a group of former Environmental Protection Agency attorneys. Mark
Brush reports:

Transcript

The Bush Administration is not punishing polluters as much. That’s according to a new
report issued by a group of former Environmental Protection Agency attorneys. Mark
Brush reports:


The report concludes that under the Bush Administration, polluters are less likely to be
taken to court. They’re less likely to be investigated. And they’re less likely to pay civil
or criminal penalties when compared to the Clinton Administration. Eric Schaeffer is the
director of the Environmental Integrity Project, the group that released the report. As an
example of lax enforcement, he says the EPA often takes no action when power
companies pollute:


“I think power plants routinely violate particulate matter standards. They exceed opacity
requirements. They are even in some cases blowing stack tests, which are really hard to
fail, and you just don’t see much response.”


An EPA spokesman says they’re committed to holding polluters accountable. As proof,
he says they’ve reached a record number of settlements in the last three years that force
companies to clean up.


For the Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

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Bush to Block Sewer Funding

Congress appears poised to approve billions of dollars to help
cities renovate their aging sewage systems. That could prevent a lot
of sewage dumps into lakes and rivers. But the funding – if approved by Congress –
might not get the President’s signature. Tracy Samilton reports:

Transcript

Congress appears poised to approve billions of dollars to help
cities renovate their aging sewage systems. That could prevent a lot
of sewage dumps into lakes and rivers. But the funding – if approved by Congress –
might not get the President’s signature. Tracy Samilton reports:


Many American cities have sewage systems that dump untreated sewage
into nearby waters during heavy rainstorms. The problem contributes to
beach closings, and in some places, sewage even backs up into people’s
basements.


But the price tag to fix one mid-size sewage treatment system can be
hundreds of millions of dollars. Without federal help that can be out
of reach for many cities. Katherine Baer of American Rivers says the
problem will be worse soon:


“We have systems all around the country kind of hitting that place
where there’s a lot of population growth and older systems, and all of
a sudden they’ve kind of come up with a perfect storm causing a lot of
sewage.”


There’s considerable support for the funding in the Senate, but no
support at all in the Bush Administration. The President has
indictated he will veto the bills if they reach his desk.


For the Environment Report, I’m Tracy Samilton.

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Reusing Spent Nuclear Fuel

  • According to the government, GNEP is an evolving U.S. global nuclear strategy aimed at reducing global dependence on fossil fuels; providing reliable, abundant energy necessary for economic growth, prosperity and health; utilizing international expertise to advance technologies and safeguards; and reducing the risk of nuclear proliferation. (Photo courtesy Idaho National Laboratory)

A U.S. Department of Energy initiative to reprocess spent nuclear
reactor fuel is trying to find a home for a facility. Fred Kight
reports the Bush administration says the plan is a means to safely
expand nuclear energy. Critics of the initiative say it’s unsafe and
unwise:

Transcript

A U.S. Department of Energy initiative to reprocess spent nuclear
reactor fuel is trying to find a home for a facility. Fred Kight
reports the Bush administration says the plan is a means to safely
expand nuclear energy. Critics of the initiative say it’s unsafe and
unwise:


The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP, would collect spent
nuclear rods from reactors and process them for re-use in the U.S. and
other countries.


Supporters, such as Henry Spitz of the University of Cincinnati, say the
program will allow more reliance on nuclear energy while reducing the
amount of waste generated by power plants:


“GNEP is an essential program if the U.S. is to become less dependent upon
foreign sources of energy.”


But opponents, such as Linda Buskin Jergens, say a facility to reprocess
spent nuclear fuel could make it easier to obtain plutonium for nuclear
weapons:


“Are we creating here a target for terrorism?”


The Department of Energy is studying 11 sites across the nation for the
reprocessing plant.


For the Environment Report, I’m Fred Kight.

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