Tag: environmental defense

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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Enviros Draw Attention to Ship Smog

A report by an environmental group says smokestacks on ships are becoming a larger source of air pollution in ports across the country. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike Simonson reports, the shipping industry says they’re in the process of cleaning things up:

Transcript

A report by an environmental group says the floating smokestacks on ships are becoming a larger
source of air pollution in ports across the country. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Mike Simonson reports, the shipping industry says they’re in the process of cleaning things up.


Environmental Defense says smog plagues big city ports…citing New York, Chicago, Detroit,
Cleveland and Toledo as having unhealthy levels. Jana Milford is a Senior Scientist with
Environmental Defense. She says diesel-operated ships don’t have as stringent regulation as
trucks; so while land-craft pollution is being reduced ship pollution remains the same. Milford says
in 25 years, ship smog will make up 28-percent of air pollution, four times higher than in 1996.


Glenn Neckvasil is with the Lake Carriers Association. He says ships are “green transportation”
compared to trucks and trains.


“On the U.S. side there are 65 U.S. flagged vessels working on the Lakes. They move about 125
million tons of cargo. I mean I don’t know how many thousands of locomotives and how many tens
of thousands of trucks are here in the region moving cargo.”


Neckvasil says ships are phasing in a new, low-sulfur fuel that will be required by 2010.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mike Simonson.

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Great Lakes States Top Mercury Contamination List

Four Great Lakes states have some of the most severe cases of mercury contamination in the country. That’s according to a recent report by the group Environmental Defense. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner has more:

Transcript

Four Great Lakes states have some of the most severe cases of mercury contamination in the
country. That’s according to a recent report by the group “Environmental Defense.” The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner has more:


Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania made the group’s top 10 list of places with the worst
mercury pollution. Mercury can cause brain damage in babies whose mothers eat contaminated
fish. The report says mercury in the ground and water often comes from local sources, such as
power plants.


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working on new mercury rules for power plants.
But Michael Shore, of Environmental Defense, says the rules aren’t strong enough.


Other sectors have been required to reduce their mercury pollution by 90 percent. These
standards would only reduce mercury pollution by 70 percent. Also, these standards wouldn’t be
in place until 2018.


The EPA’s policy could use a market-based approach. That allows companies to buy pollution
credits from others that have emission controls in place. Environmentalists say instead, the EPA
should force all power companies to pollute less.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Erin Toner.

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States’ Air Quality Rules Tough Enough?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved rules to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in the Midwest. Environmentalists say in some states the rules aren’t strong enough. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:

Transcript

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved rules to
reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in the Midwest. Environmentalists say in
some states the rules aren’t strong enough. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:


Ohio is one of the last of the states in the Midwest to submit rules that
would curb nitrogen oxide emissions. The state’s plan would cut harmful NOx
emissions from power plants and other coal-burning boilers by 120-thousand tons
annually starting in 2004. NOx is blamed for causing smog on hot days.


Environmentalists say the new rules are a positive step… but Ohio should be
one of the first states to cut back emissions year-round, not just during summer
months, as the Ohio plan proposes.


Michael Shore is with the New York-based group Environmental Defense.


“The federal government is really failing to protect our air quality.
So the responsibility is really falling to our states at this point.”


Shore says if Ohio takes action to control NOx emissions year-round,
a domino effect will be created, encouraging other states to follow its example.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Natalie Walston.

Pay-Per-Mile Insurance a Fairer Option?

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.