Environmentalists seek legal action on Bush fuel policy
Three conservation groups are seeking a contempt of court order against Bush administration officials for refusing to implement an energy conservation law designed to increase the use of alternative fuel vehicles.
The legal action, announced Mar. 20, is being pursued by environmental law firm Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Bluewater Network, and the Sierra Club. It centers on the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) which was signed into law in 1992 after the first Gulf War by George H.W. Bush. The EPAct aims to reduce American demand for transportation oil fuels by 10 percent by the year 2000 and 30 percent by 2010. The law requires federal agencies with light duty fleet vehicles in major metropolitan areas to gradually convert their fleets to alternative fuel vehicles.
The government has fallen far short of the requirements. “It’s ironic that in the same week the administration pushes for a vote opening the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling, it throws in the towel on a common sense conservation program designed by the President’s father,” said Earthjustice Attorney Jay Tutchton. (ENS)

Genetic link found for pesticides, ADHD, Gulf War Syndrome
Suppported by a $1.5 million grant from the US Dept. of Defense, research at the Salk Institute bas identified a gene that may link certain pesticides and chemical weapons to a number of neurological disorders, including the Gulf War syndrome and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The finding, published in the March 17 online version of “Nature Genetics,” is the first to demonstrate a clear genetic link between neurological disorders and exposure to organophosphate chemicals. Organophosphates include household pesticides as well as deadly nerve gases like sarin. Exposure to them has been found to inhibit the activity of a gene which is present in the parts of the brain which control movement. This inhibition either killed lab mice before birth, or led to a range of behaviors very similar to ADHD. Some of the neurological problems were similar to symptoms seen in Gulf war syndrome. (ENS)

Public may be barred from comment on TN uraniumenrichment plant
Louisiana Energy Services, a consortium of some of the world’s biggest companies in the nuclear power field, is working towards an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build a new uranium enrichment plant in central Tennessee that would supply enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power reactors.
Two national anti-nuclear groups are seeking the release of a document they say is being withheld by the NRC that will indicate exactly how the agency will handle the licensing and public hearings from the uranium enrichment plant near Hartsville, TN.
The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and Public Citizen say the document contains the commissioners’ response to six memos submitted last spring by Louisiana Energy Services focusing on licensing issues that may be troublesome. The ruling sought by the consortium would prohibit members of the public, including organizations and local and state government bodies, from addressing such issues as environmental justice, the financial qualifications of the consortium, the disposition of the thousands of tons of radioactive/hazardous waste the proposed plant would produce, and the need for the plant.
The NRC has received more than 350 comments thus far, almost all urging the commission to reject the consortium’s position. (ENS)

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