[Mb-civic] Late breaking global warming and other environews

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

http://www.grist.org/

WHO WILL SCREENSAVE US NOW?
Big climate-modeling experiment predicts disaster

A worldwide, collaborative climate-modeling study has produced its 
first results, and the news is not good.  More than 95,000 volunteers from
150 countries participated in the study by downloading a program, run as a
screensaver, which created slightly different climate simulations on each
computer and sent them back to researchers.  The distributed effort
exceeded the processing power of any existing supercomputer and logged 
the
equivalent of more than 8,000 years of computer time in just 16 months. 
The models generated by the study suggest that when CO2 concentrations 
in
the atmosphere reach twice pre-industrial levels -- a point that the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has pegged at roughly
mid-century -- global increases in temperature ranging from 3.6 to 19.8
degrees Fahrenheit will follow close behind.  This is roughly twice the
increase predicted by previous studies.  Said lead project scientist David
Stainforth, "When you start to look at these temperatures, I get very
worried indeed."

straight to the source:  Reuters, Patricia Reaney, 26 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4140>

straight to the source:  The Independent, Steve Connor, 27 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4141>

straight to the source:  Newsday, Bryn Nelson, 27 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4142>

do good:  Participate in the climate-modeling study
<http://climateprediction.net/>

TWO DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Report warns of major climate catastrophe in as few as 10 years

A task force of leading politicians, academics, and business leaders from
around the world has quantified global warming's so-called "point of no
return."  And it's bloody soon!   In as little as 10 years, says a report
by the task force, the global average temperature could rise 3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit from its pre-industrial level.  At that point, the authors
contend, the tipping point will have been reached and major droughts,
sea-level rise, and widespread crop failures are all but certain.  So far,
global average temperature has risen about 1.4 degrees since 1750, 
meaning
we've still got a couple of degrees before the threshold is reached.  To
help beat the clock, the report calls on all G8 nations to produce a
quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and double
their expenditures on low-carbon energy technologies by 2010. "There is 
an
ecological time bomb ticking away," said British Member of Parliament
Stephen Byers, who co-chaired the task force with U.S. Sen. Olympia 
Snowe
(R-Maine).

straight to the source:  The Independent, Michael McCarthy, 24 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4114>

straight to the source:  CNN.com, Associated Press, 24 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4119>

PRETTY PLEAS
At Davos, Blair pushes U.S. for climate-change action

Addressing the annual World Economic Forum powwow in Davos, 
Switzerland, yesterday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had what 
observers called unusually sharp words for the Bush administration, 
saying the U.S. should join the global battle against climate change if it
seeks global cooperation in its battle against terrorism.  "If America
wants the rest of the world to be part of the agenda it has set," said
Blair, "it must be part of their agenda too."  Blair intends to focus his
2005 presidency of the G8 group of industrialized nations on climate
change and poverty in Africa, and his address at Davos signaled his intent
to pressure the U.S. to hop on board.  Former U.K. government official 
and
Blair confidant Stephen Byers said that while the climate-change door was
"locked" in Bush's first term, it is now merely "unlocked -- but closed." 
We'll take it.

straight to the source:  San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, 
Robert Wielaard, 26 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4144>

straight to the source:  The Guardian, Matthew Tempest, 25 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4143>



EXECUTIVE DISORDER
Industry unhappy with Bush's back-up air-pollution plan

President Bush's Clear Skies legislation has stalled out in Congress,
unable to muster support even from a sufficient number of Republicans.  
To
compensate, Bush is planning to implement some of the bill's provisions by
issuing executive orders -- for instance, an order establishing a
mercury-emissions trading program.  But the electric-utility industry, the
very constituent that enviros say the bill is most friendly to, is not
happy about the strategy.  They say a regulatory rather than legislative
approach opens the door to multiple lawsuits, and they complain that the
executive orders would establish inconsistent standards from state to
state.  Jim Connaughton, chair of the White House Council on 
Environmental
Quality, admits that regulation is a "second-best way to get there."
Neither the industry nor the White House seems to have considered 
whether,
when the people's representatives in the legislative branch reject a goal,
the proper response might be to stop trying to "get there" at all.

straight to the source:  Bloomberg.com, Jay Newton-Small, 21 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4090>


THE TERMINAL
Enviros gear up for international battle over Siberian oil pipeline

Russia's 2,565-mile, $15.5 billion trans-Siberian oil pipeline -- 
currently under construction -- is at the center of a major emerging
international environmental brouhaha.  At issue is the Pacific terminal
site.  Recently, the terminus was abruptly moved from Vostochny, Russia's
main Pacific industrial port, to Perevoznaya, a pristine bay and popular
tourist destination that is home to some of the world's last Amur
leopards.  The bay can only be reached through a narrow channel that is
home to Russia's sole maritime nature reserve, a collection of 11 islands
valued for their rich biodiversity.  The area is home to strong currents
that enviros say could carry an oil spill quickly over large distances. 
Russian and international environmental organizations are mounting an
international outcry, which poses an awkward problem for Japan, as it is
financing 80 percent of the pricey project but would prefer to present a
green image on the global stage.

straight to the source:  The New York Times, James Brooke, 21 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4096>


January 25, 2005

EX-FBI AGENT CHARGES FEDS WITH RADIOACTIVE COVERUP 
AT COLORADO'S
ROCKY FLATS 

In 1989, agent John Lipsky led an FBI raid on the Rocky Flats
nuclear weapons plant in Colorado after receiving reports that
the plant posed a huge public health threat. The raid, which
took place over 18 days and involved more than 100 FBI and EPA
officials, gave way to a nearly three-year criminal
investigation into widespread radioactive contamination of the
air, water, and soil at the 6,240-acre site and the surrounding
suburbs of nearby Denver. 

The raid prompted the Department of Justice (DOJ) to assemble a
special grand jury to investigate the evidence against U.S
government officials and Rockwell International, the private
defense contractor that managed Rocky Flats from 1975 to 1989 on
behalf of the Department of Energy (DOE). The case was settled
with a plea bargain agreement, and DOJ sealed the contamination
evidence from the public. 

Next month, Lipsky will be party to a lawsuit against DOJ --
along with Wes McKinley, the former leader of the Rocky Flats
grand jury, and Jacque Brever, a former chemical operator at the
plant who suffers from radiation exposure -- in an effort to
unseal the documents. 

The plaintiffs are concerned, in particular, about a 2001
Congressional decision to turn Rocky Flats into a wildlife
refuge, which may include as many as 16 miles of trails for
hiking and horseback riding. 

Last month Lipsky retired early from the FBI to protest the
agency's orders that he keep mum about the Rocky Flats
controversy. "I left so I could help expose the truth," he told
Grist Magazine. "Without the truth...there can be no thorough
cleanup." 

Lipsky describes the DOE's ongoing cleanup effort at the nuke
site, scheduled for completion by next year, as "woefully
inadequate -- a farce." 

Before the vote on the Rocky Flats designation, Lipsky wrote an
open letter to Congress: "I am an FBI agent. My superiors have
ordered me to lie about a criminal investigation I headed in
1989. The Justice Department covered up the truth...I have
refused to follow the orders...Some dangerous decisions are now
being made based on that government cover-up." 

Critics say that DOE wanted to keep the public in the dark to
cut corners on cost, as well as protect itself from criticism
for environmental negligence. The department allocated $7
billion to the cleanup. But the plaintiffs say that less than 8
percent of the allocated sum is even being used to decontaminate
the site; the rest is going to administrative costs and
decommissioning the plant. 

Former Rocky Flats employee Jacque Brever said several fields
and hillsides that had been dumping grounds for toxic and
radioactive wastes have been excluded from the cleanup.
Additionally, she said, the standards for soil and water
purification are weak. 

"There is no question in my mind that the grounds are still hot
[radioactive] at that site, and will be for a long time," said
Brever. "That plant was spewing radioactive ash and effluent for
nearly 40 years. We dumped radioactive stuff in areas they're
not even looking at. We buried drums that corroded underground,
and they're looking only at the surface of the soil." 

This could be of particular interest to President Bush, given
that just this month he told The Wall Street Journal of his
hopes to spark a nuclear-power renaissance. "I believe nuclear
power answers a lot of our issues," he said. "It certainly
answers the environmental issue." 

### 

This story was jointly produced by BushGreenwatch and Grist
Magazine. For more on this story, visit Grist Magazine:
http://ga3.org/ct/Kp1g7oM1kR_U//. 

-----

AY, CHIHUAHUA!
New drilling approved for New Mexico's Otero Mesa

The Bureau of Land Management yesterday made the final decision to 
open nearly 2 million acres of Chihuahuan desert grassland in 
southern New Mexico to oil and gas drilling.  The Bush administration
insists that drilling in the area, known as Otero Mesa, won't be a
"free-for-all," as the BLM's plan calls for close management and
environmental assessments before drilling begins, and also prohibits
activity on some 124,000 acres in order to protect sensitive areas and
provide habitat for the endangered Aplomado falcon.  Stephen Capra of 
the
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance calls the agency's environmental-
protection
efforts "window dressing."  He and other enviros say the plan didn't take
into account public opinion -- more than 85 percent of those who 
commented
on the plan favored a prohibition on drilling in the area.  Says New
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), "The state is going to fight this with
everything we've got."

straight to the source:  San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, 
Susan Montoya Bryan, 25 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4116>

straight to the source:  Los Angeles Times, Julie Cart, 25 Jan 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4117>


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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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