Tag: usepa

Water Quality Data Collection Inefficient

A government report has found federal agencies collect a lot of data on water quality, but don’t always share the information in a way that can help the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

A government report has found federal agencies collect a lot of data on water
quality, but don’t always share the information in a way that can help the
environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


The investigative arm of Congress, the General Accounting Office, looked at how
federal agencies and state governments gather water quality data. It found the
different agencies are either not coordinating their efforts or have difficulty
doing that. That’s because: 1) agencies collect the same data for different
reasons; 2) they use different methods; 3) each agency is unaware what the
others are collecting; and 4) coordinating the information is just not a big
priority for them. The problem is collecting water quality data is expensive,
so duplication is a waste of taxpayer money.


The General Accounting Office is recommending Congress designate a lead agency
to coordinate the water quality data and establish clear standards so everyone
is measuring the same things in the same way.

For the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

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States Contest Epa’s Particulate Standard

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a list of counties it says are out of compliance with new rules governing fine-particle pollution or soot. Dozens of the counties are in states in the Midwest, but many states are contesting the EPA’s list. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:

Transcript

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a list of counties it says
are out of compliance with new rules governing fine-particle pollution
or soot. Dozens of the counties are in states surrounding the Great
Lakes, but many states are contesting the EPA’s list. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports.


State environmental officials and the U.S. EPA agree about one thing:
fine-particle pollution, or soot, causes thousands of premature deaths
a year. But state officials say many of the counties on the EPA’s list
are actually complying with the new rules. Indiana says it only has
six counties out of compliance instead of 19. Southeast Michigan says
only two of its seven counties on the list are out of compliance.


Chuck Hersey is with the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments,
which monitors air pollution. He says the EPA’s list could be both
costly and ineffective.


“Once the EPA puts a boundary around a larger area, you’re obliged to
put controls in that whole area even if they’re not necessary.”


EPA officials say they included many counties that they believe are
creating pollution that travels into nearby counties. That can be
because they have coal-fired power plants or lots of commuter traffic.
States have until September to convince the EPA to reconsider the list
before it becomes final.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m
Tracy Samilton.

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White House Pushes Fuel Additive

New ethanol plants are under construction since the White House has mandated that California use ethanol to replace MTBE as an additive to reduce smog. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:

Transcript

New ethanol plants are under construction since the White House has mandated that California use ethanol to replace MTBE as an additive to reduce smog. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports.


Farmers in the Midwest have seen depressed prices for corn in recent years. That’s why they were thrilled to hear the demand for ethanol might double because California will be required to use corn-based ethanol to replace the now banned MTBE. The requirement came despite the fact that technical staff at the EPA found California could have cleaner air without ethanol. Frank O’Donnell is with the environmental group, Clean Air Trust.


“The Bush administration came in and made a totally political decision to discard the technical information of the EPA’s best scientists and said, essentially, California had to use an ethanol mandate.”


The Clean Air Trust says the Bush Administration was under pressure by Archer Daniels Midland’s lobby engine. ADM produces more than half the ethanol used in the U.S. and was a major contributor to the Bush Campaign. The EPA’s administrator, Christine Whitman, says the decision was simply about enforcing the Clean Air Act. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Ethanol Drives West

The EPA last week denied California’s request to avoid using the gas additive Ethanol to lower emissions from cars and trucks. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports that some environmentalists are criticizing the decision:

States Cooperate to Reduce Air Pollution

  • States around Lake Michigan are working with Missouri to reduce emissions from coal-burning power plants such as this one near St. Louis.

States surrounding Lake Michigan are working together to reduce
air pollution. Instead of filing lawsuits against each other, the
states
agreed how to fix the problem. The federal government is keeping an
eye
on the agreement. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:

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STATES COOPERATE TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION (Shorter Version)

  • States around Lake Michigan are working with Missouri to reduce emissions from coal-burning power plants such as this one near St. Louis.

States surrounding Lake Michigan are working together to reduce
air pollution. Instead of filing lawsuits against each other, the
states
agreed how to fix the problem. The federal government is keeping an
eye
on the agreement. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:

Related Links

City Bans Mercury Thermometers

Duluth, Minnesota recently banned the sale of mercury
thermometers. It’s the latest in a series of grassroots efforts to get
mercury out of the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Stephanie Hemphill reports:

Feds Test for Endocrine Disrupters

The U-S Environmental Protection Agency is working to identify whether certain chemicals disrupt human reproductive and neurological systems. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports that the process will take years, and for now, scientists recommend avoiding suspect chemicals found in some foods:

Mercury Emissions Hit the ‘Net’

The U-S Environmental Protection Agency will soon require some coal-burning power plants to report how much mercury their smokestacks are emitting. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports that the E-P-A will post the information on the Internet: