Coca-Cola accused of using
scarce water in El Salvador
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US could block international
action on mercury
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Logging pollution damages
North Coast watersheds
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BRIEFS
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Coca-Cola accused of using
scarce water in El Salvador

By Blanca Abarca

San Salvador, El Salvador, Jan. 30 (IPS)-- The El Salvador subsidiary of Coca-Cola is accused of hogging scarce water supplies in a region where the rivers that have not dried up or totally disappeared under urban areas are polluted.

But the soft drink company maintains that it is living up to international environmental standards.

The Embotelladora Salvadoreña (Embosalva), a bottling company that belongs to the Agrisal consortium, invested $23 million three years ago to build Nixtapa, its second plant, in the northern municipality of Nejapa, on top of important underground aquifers.

But the firm, whose 120 employees bottle 100,000 crates of Coca-Cola and other soft drinks a day, moved to that site after exhausting the water sources in Soyapango, where it began to operate its first bottling company in 1979, said the director of the Appropriate Technology Research Center, Ricardo Navarro.

In the municipalities of Soyapango, Ilopango, and San Marcos, piped water is available only eight hours a day and water quality is poor, posing health risks to the local population — a situation that fuels the growth of the market for bottled water, stated the Human Development Report 2001 of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Some 350,000 residents of Soyapango depend on water from the Nejapa underground reserves, because the nearby rivers are polluted, have dried up, or have simply disappeared under the urban sprawl.

Navarro lamented that the authorities do not have the resources needed to measure and monitor the amount of water extracted by the company.

“First it is necessary to guarantee that the people have water. Coca-Cola, as a beverage, is not more important,” he said.

El Salvador’s laws do not require companies to pay taxes or compensation for the use of water resources.

Environmentalists accuse transnational soft drink producers of contributing to the global water crisis. In two or three decades, there will not be enough water on the planet to meet the needs of humanity -- a looming catastrophe to which at least 10 transnational corporations (including Coca-Cola) contribute, say Canadian activists Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke in their book Blue Gold.

But Embosalva points out that it was granted the ISO 14001 certification last year, which ensures that a company is complying with international environmental standards.

The company built a liquid waste disposal plant at a cost of $1.5 million.

“We are concerned about preserving natural resources. We are the first Salvadoran company and the first Coca-Cola bottling plant of the Northern division, which stretches from Mexico to Colombia and the Caribbean, to receive ISO 14001 certification,” said José Carlos Bonilla, president of Embosalva.

Bonilla said the company’s environmentally responsible policy includes reforestation programs, a greenhouse that hands out saplings during “Mission Planet” campaigns, and the sponsorship of community clean-up campaigns in which plastic waste products are collected.

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US could block international
action on mercury

By Cat Lazaroff

Washington, DC, Jan. 28 (ENS)-- The United States plans to attempt to thwart future talks on mercury pollution at an international meeting next month, suggests an internal document leaked to a mercury watchdog group. The leaked paper provides talking points for US negotiators who will argue against international limits on mercury releases or other mandatory measures aimed at reducing the risk of mercury exposure.

The document was leaked in advance of next week's meeting of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Governing Council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. At the meeting, the council will review the recommendations of the UNEP Global Mercury Assessment Working Group, an assembly of about 150 experts which concluded last year that “there is sufficient evidence of significant global adverse impacts to warrant international action to reduce the risks to human health and the environment arising from the release of mercury into the environment.”

For the rest of this article, please see Environment News Service.

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Logging pollution damages
North Coast watersheds

Humboldt County, California, Jan. 29 (ENS)-- Accelerated logging has polluted some 85 percent of the waters in California's North Coast region, uprooted protected redwoods and damaged private property, but state officials continue to permit logging companies to avoid complying with environmental regulations.

California environmentalists are fighting back with lawsuits, and activists continue to take to the trees in a desperate attempt to save ancient redwoods and their surrounding ecosystems.

For the rest of this article, please see Environment News Service.

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BRIEFS

Bush’s ‘green’ car called a ruse
Pres. Bush’s plan to give $1.7 billion over five years to the Energy Department’s Freedom Fuel and Freedom Car initiatives has pleased the coalition of oil companies, car makers, fuel cell companies, and government agencies called the California Fuel Cell Partnership, dedicated to the development and commercialization of hydrogen-powered vehicles. But George Miller, the outspokenly environmental East Bay congressman whose district includes one of the world’s few hydrogen refueling stations, called the program a ruse, saying that the nation’s air quality problems can’t wait for Bush’s decade-long spending plan. Others criticized the federal funding of oil companies and White House support for automakers mounting a legal challenge to California’s emissions laws. (Oakland Tribune)

Bush’s judicial nominees favor polluters
Opposition to governmental enforcement of environmental regulations mark some of the recent 100 Bush nominees to the federal appellate court, superceded only by the Supreme Court and often providing the final decision on legal challenges to environmental rules and regulations; its judges are appointed for life. Jeffrey Sutton, for example, an Ohio lawyer nominated to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, has argued that the federal government has no authority to enforce the Clean Water Act or supervise state officials charged with enforcing federal law. Previously rejected nominees include Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, whose court opinions have favored polluters and restricted public access to public information, and District Court Judge Charles Pickering, Sr., whose dismissal of toxic tort claims was overturned by the 5th Circuit, the court Bush has nominated him to serve on 25 of 179 federal appellate court judge positions are currently open. (ENS)

Bush steps up pro-industry agenda
A report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) calls attention to the Bush administration’s industry-friendly attacks on the environment and public health. It cites the White House bid to roll back key provisions of the Clean Air Act, which requires factories to improve pollution controls when they increase their output, and new guidelines for the Clean Water Act which might remove 20 million acres of wetlands from federal protection. The White House has also downplayed major decisions by announcing them late on Friday evenings or around major holidays. Its appointments to panels which advise the federal government on science and public health policies have been politically discriminatory; for example, a consultant to the Army Science Board says he was denied full membership because of his support for Bush opponent Sen. John McCain, and at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention the administration packed an advisory committee on childhood lead poisoning with friends of the lead industry. (IPS)

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