US opposes plan for financing of clean energy over fossil fuel

Compiled by Sean Marquis

July 13— The Bush administration plans to oppose an international drive to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and increase financing for nonpolluting energy sources worldwide, administration officials said today.

The proposals are contained in a report commissioned by the Group of 8 (G-8) industrial nations, which will hold its annual summit meeting in Genoa, Italy, next week. The proposals would commit rich nations to help one billion people around the world get their power from renewable energy sources, like wind, water and the sun.

The White House says its opposition to the proposals is based on a desire to let the marketplace, rather than government, decide how quickly renewable energy sources are adopted worldwide.

Historically the US government has subsidized its preferences rather than allow the marketplace to decide on energy.

From 1948 to 1998, the US provided $111.5 billion in federal subsidies to energy research and development programs. Of that $111.5 billion, $66 billion went to nuclear energy and $26 billion went to fossil fuels. Less than $5 billion has gone towards non-large hydro-renewables such as solar, wind and geothermal. Additionally, there are more than $14.7 billion in federal tax credits that benefit the production of fossil fuels and nuclear fuel.

The administration’s decision — along with objections today by Canadian officials, who also oppose elements of the report — could prevent the G-8 from endorsing the proposals (proposals are generally not adopted if any members object).

European leaders had hoped to use the summit meeting to jump-start talks on global warming and to salvage what they could of the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty to fight global warming, which the Bush administration also opposes.

The G-8 Renewable Energy Task Force was established at the July 2000 G-8 Summit in Okinawa, where leaders agreed to set up a group composed of high level industry and government representatives with a remit to identify actions that can be taken to give a major boost to renewable energy in developing countries. The Task Force is co-chaired by Corado Clini, Italy’s top environmental official, and Mark Moody Stuart, chairman of the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell.

One important goal of the report was to persuade wealthy nations to stop promoting fossil fuel projects in the developing world, a step that could reduce sales of power plants, pipelines, drilling equipment and other goods used in producing energy from oil and coal.

Key components of the report include:

· The adoption of a renewable energy target of serving almost 1 billion people with renewable energy by 2010.

· A reform of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), (such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) to increase funding for renewable energies in developing countries.

· Phasing-out of G8 governmental subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy, while increasing R&D for renewable energies.

“The Taskforce has clearly stated that renewables are big business but that major new initiatives are needed if their potential is to be realized, technology is not the barrier but financial and political will. G-8 governments must now respond and deliver,” said Liam Salter, Climate and Development Coordinator at World Wildlife Fund. “It is incomprehensible that President Bush who recently stated that he favored a technology driven approach to combat climate change would seek to undermine a G-8 initiative to promote renewable technologies.”

A Bush administration official said, “While we are committed to expanding the use of renewables, there was a sense that this task force was more focused on government funding — throwing money at the problem, we are more interested in looking at how to leverage private sector efforts.”

But critics say it is yet another instance of the Bush administration’s placing the interest of oil and gas companies ahead of the drive to reduce global warming.

A study by Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization, found that the export promotion agencies of rich nations, like the Export-Import Bank of the United States, are the world’s largest public backers of fossil fuels, the main causes of global warming. The credit agencies supported $115 billion in such projects in the five years through 1999, the study said.

The task force incorporated some of the administration’s views and watered down language concerning numerical goals. But it did not accept all of the changes proposed by Washington, and the administration declined to support the final draft.

Sources: NY Times, ECA-Watch Coalition

Environmentalists fight logging in Jefferson National Forest

By Jana Brickett

Bark Camp Lake, Virginia, July 10— Five environmental groups Monday appealed the US Forest Service’s plan to log 700 acres in the Bark Camp-High Knob portion of the Jefferson National Forest. Filed on the last day to challenge the decision to log, the groups’ appeal alleges that the forest service has failed to do what it is supposed to have done to protect the environment, water quality and endangered species on 5,215 acres of national forest in the Bark Camp-High Knob area.

“The forest service literally drew a line around one of the most popular recreation spots in the area and decided to log it,” Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Blaine Phillips said in a phone interview Tuesday.

“I give the Clinch Ranger District a big, fat F for its past and present management practices,” Lyndy Worsham, southeast organizer for the American Lands Alliance in Asheville, NC, said at Tuesday’s press conference at Bark Camp Lake.

Following the press conference, the groups formed a vehicle caravan to hand-deliver a copy of the appeal and a signed card mapping the plan’s proposed timbering to Clinch District Ranger Sten Olsen.

“We feel we have submitted a sound ecological plan for the area that will create diverse wildlife habitats and visual diversity and improve recreation opportunities,” Olsen said by phone Monday afternoon. He pointed out that the forest service did more public involvement than usual on this project because of the public’s high interest in the High Knob-Bark Camp area.

The original management plan was issued in September 1997. Nearly four years later, on May 21, 2001, George Washington and Jefferson National Forests Supervisor William Damon Jr. announced selection of a new forest management approach that cut in half the original amount of tree cutting and road building proposed. The so-called Alternative 8 also reduced by more than 75 percent the amount of land that would be treated with herbicides.

The changes were not enough and drew yesterday’s reaction from the environmental groups.

Phillips said the appeal states that the forest service failed to adequately study the adverse effects of the Bark Camp timber sale, as the law requires.

According to the appeal, he said, the forest service failed to:

* Address water quality and aquatic species concerns;

* Address violations to the Endangered Species Act;

* Address violations to the National Environmental Policy Act; and

* Complete an environmental impact statement, which is a more comprehensive review of the environmental effects of the timber sale.

Phillips said he believes an environmental impact statement is required because of the significant effect the project will have on recreation and wildlife.

“This is one of the favorite places of everybody and I think they need to leave it alone,” said Patsy Osborne, whose husband does sustainable logging on private property. Osborne said she has been aiding the Clinch Coalition in getting petitions signed and has signatures from about 200 people who say they will not fish, hunt or visit the project area if logging is done.

“The Clinch River is unequaled in its contribution of rare species and beauty,” said George Gay, regional director of the Wilderness Society, in a press release. “It is a prime example of a unique wildland that needs to be left undisturbed.” The Wilderness Society last year recognized the High Knob area as one of the nation’s 15 most endangered wildlands.

Phil Shelton, a retired ecology and geology professor at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, said he hopes the forest service will leave large portions of the forest untouched and timber management won’t be taken too far.

“Thousands of folks in Wise, Scott and Dickenson counties have already expressed their opposition to forest service logging between High Knob and Bark Camp lakes,” Clinch Coalition president Detta Davis said. “This is everyone’s favorite forest recreation area. Such cutting at the heart of our favorite forest is too devastating to contemplate.”

Clinch Coalition vice president Dick Austin believes his group has a very strong case.

“In political action, we will prevail,” Austin said, adding that more people need to voice their concerns. “We do not expect to lose this beautiful mountain.”

“This is not about personalities,” Austin also said. “It’s about issues and policies.” He said the forest service has “hidden and overlooked” the stream damage that is caused by logging.

Worsham, of the lands alliance, identified three “egregious violations of many” found within the district in the US Department of Agriculture Inspector General’s Report of 1999.

Worsham said investigators visiting the Mahogany II Skyline Timber Sale project measured a 36-foot riparian buffer zone in most places and one zone of 15 feet, despite the legal requirement of 100 feet.

This led to an excessive amount of sedimentation entering the stream and potentially harmed endangered mussel populations downstream.

Second, Worsham said investigators discovered Clinch Ranger District forest service officials cut three times the amount of trees permitted in the decision notice.

“Ultimately, five of the six timber sales were terminated and the public was left to pay $650,000 because the Clinch Ranger District breached the contract and violated the law,” Worsham said.

Third, Worsham cited the Big-Flat Top Opportunity Area Timber Sale, where investigators found that no site-specific surveys had been done -- even though the district’s own biological evaluation stated that harm or destruction of wildlife habitat would be avoided by performing site-specific surveys.

“How can we trust the Clinch Ranger District to follow the law on the Bark Camp timber sale after the same officials have continually violated our nation’s laws and shattered the public trust?” she asked.

Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project executive director Tracy Davids opposed the Bark Camp Timber Sale because she said it will destroy top soil and forest canopy, dry out streambeds, degrade the water quality of the Clinch River, adversely impact the wildlife habitats of the Indiana bat, 23 species of mussels and the Green salamander.

Furthermore, it will hurt recreation and tourism and violate environmental protections, she said.

“Public logging is a $1 billion a year loss to the US taxpayers,” said Davids.

“Now is the time to end this travesty,” she said. “Now is the time to stop the Bark Camp timber sale. Now is the time to end commercial logging on public lands.”

Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project filed a separate appeal, said SABP coordinator Marty Bergoffen.

The Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville filed an appeal on behalf of the Clinch Coalition, Virginia Forest Watch and the Wilderness Society.

Representatives from the Wilderness Society, Virginia Forest Watch, French Broad Earth First! and Preserve Our Wilderness also attended the press conference.

Regional Forester Elizabeth Estill, who is based in Atlanta, Ga., has 45 days to review the appeals, order revisions or let the original findings stand.

“If the appeal is rejected, we will consider the option of going to federal court,” Phillips said.

Source: Coalfield Progress

Diesel cancer risk dwarfs all other air toxics combined

New York, New York July 12— Nationwide, exhaust from diesel engines accounts for 78% of the total added cancer risk in outdoor air from all hazardous air pollutants combined, based on US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, according to a new analysis on Environmental Defense’s www.scorecard.org website.

The analysis is based on a massive EPA study, which provides detailed estimates of the levels of 41 top hazardous air pollutants in every community in the US EPA’s previous version did not include information on diesel particulate emissions.

“The dominance of diesel in the unhealthiness of our air is a revelation,” said David Roe, Environmental Defense senior attorney. “It couldn’t be seen before, only because studies weren’t trying to look for it.”

Scorecard.org is able to translate quantities of hazardous air pollutants into cancer risks, both nationally and at the local level. For any locality, see www.scorecard.org/env-releases/hap/community.tcl

“The bad news is that cancer risks from air toxics are much higher than the public has been told before. The good news is that a great deal of the air toxics problem can by addressed by focusing on just this one pollutant.

Cutting diesel exhaust has to be priority number one for everyone concerned about the health of our air.”

Diesel’s predominance leads to surprising results. For example, supposedly clean San Francisco shows a risk level of 2,600 additional cancer cases per million, with 90% of the risk coming from diesel emissions. The goal set in the Clean Air Act for air toxics is a maximum of one additional case per million.

The air pollution comes from diesel vehicles on the roads, like trucks and buses, and offroad equipment like bulldozers and heavy construction machinery. “Offroad diesel equipment is a big part of the problem that most people don’t realize,” Roe said.

Source: Environmental Defense: www.environmentaldefense.org