Antarctic ozone hole sets record
The gaping, man-made hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has hit record proportions for this time of year and could get bigger still within the next few days, a leading scientist said on Sept. 12.
At just short of 28 million square kilometers, the hole is a fraction under the absolute record of 28.5 million, but it has historically peaked in the second week in September and therefore could theoretically grow further, according to British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientist Jonathan Shanklin.
Shanklin, one of the scientists who first discovered the ozone hole in 1985, said he and his colleagues were still at a loss to explain exactly why it had grown so big in August.
“We don’t know if the hole has finally peaked, is over the top and on the way down, or still has a bit further to go,” Shanklin said.
Shanklin said it was vital for countries to stick to the Montreal Treaty curbing the emission of ozone depleting chemicals.
But he stressed that until there was similar accord on greenhouse gases it was impossible to tell what effect there would be on the atmosphere.
Most major polluting nations have signed up to the Kyoto treaty curbing carbon dioxide emissions. But the United States has refused, even going so far as to refuse to accept that the gas is a pollutant. (Reuters)

100 in US House sign letter to prevent offshore oil drilling
A letter signed by 100 US House members Sept. 12 urged congressional leaders to keep an energy bill from including an oil and natural-gas inventory they think would lead to lifting a 20-year ban on drilling beneath most of the nation’s coastal waters, including those in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida.
A Senate-House conference committee is trying to develop a compromise from separate versions of the bill passed by each chamber. Neither bill included the inventory, yet drilling foes remain wary.
Inventory supporters, including the Department of the Interior, say it is needed to learn how much oil and gas the country has by using the most modern technology, including 3-D seismic testing. They denied it would lead to opening off-limits waters to energy development.
The letter also argues the inventory is unnecessary because studies are done every five years, the last in 2000, that already provide an estimate of undiscovered oil and natural gas. It points out that those estimates indicate 80 percent of undiscovered natural gas is in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, which is not covered by the moratorium. (AP)

Cheney denieddelaying tactic by appeals court
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 11 denied the Bush administration’s latest effort to hide the workings of the secret Cheney Energy Task Force. The Appeals Court decision comes as the controversial energy bill, based on the Bush energy plan, is debated by a Congressional conference committee.
In July, a three judge panel of the Court of Appeals said the Bush administration is subject to “discovery,” and must comply with requests for information from Sierra Club and Judicial Watch about the Cheney Energy Task Force.
In rejecting the government’s arguments, the court noted that the administration’s position would “transform executive privilege from a doctrine designed to protect presidential communications into virtual immunity from suit.”
The Bush administration attempted to further delay releasing information about the secret meetings by asking for a rehearing of the appeal by the entire court. The Court of Appeals denied their request by a 5-3 vote.
“It’s time for the Bush Administration to stop delaying and fess up to their secret dealings with energy industry,” said Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. “Given that the Congress is currently debating the energy bill, it’s more important than ever that Americans know who’s deciding their energy future. Today the public is one step closer to knowing how much influence energy corporations had over the Bush Administration’s energy plan.” (Sierra Club)