Mass. DEP land acquisition will help protect sea-run brook trout habitat

Good news from the Commonwealth of Mass. here. Pa.’s Fish and “Boat” Commission could learn some lessons and start protecting habitat, not just its hatcheries.

Contact: Erin Mooney, National Press Secretary
(703) 284-9408, emooney@tu.org Massachusetts DEP Land Acquisition Will Help Protect Critical Sea-Run Brook Trout Habitat

Land protection will complement TU’s restoration work on Red Brook

Trout Unlimited (TU) applauds the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and its Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) for its purchase of 245 acres on Red Brook in Wareham and Plymouth. The land provides critical habitat to one of the last remaining sea-run brook trout populations in the state.

“The state of Massachusetts has shown unprecedented support for coldwater fisheries by protecting this land,” said Joe Overlock, chair of TU’s Massachusetts council. “This purchase, combined with the hard work of TU members and others who have invested their time in protecting Red Brook, will go a long way towards protecting sea run brook trout.”

Yesterday, the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and its Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) announced that the land acquisition had occurred. The 245-acre parcel, commonly known as Century Bog, was purchased from A.D. Makepeace Company for $3 million. Funding for the purchase comes from the state’s $1.7 billion Energy and Environment Bond Bill.
The land acquisition will help protect the Red Brook watershed and habitat for sea-run brook trout, as well as other fish and wildlife.

TU has worked on Red Brook for a number of years, and has worked with DFG’s Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) to remove several levees, berms, small dams and dikes in Red Brook. The groups have planted trees and root wads to the stream to enhance habitat and have planted native riparian species along the restored stream channel in Theodore Lyman Reserve. These restoration efforts have been in partnership with MassWildlife, A.D. Makepeace, The Trustees of Reservations, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the USGS, American Rivers, the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the towns of Wareham, Plymouth, and Bourne and DFG’s Division of Marine Fisheries.

“This is a great example of using land protection to protect an entire watershed and an entire ecosystem,” said Nat Gillespie, TU’s Director of Eastern Lands Protection. “It’s one of the last river systems south of Maine that has a thriving sea run brook trout population.”

Sea-run brook trout – or salters – live in fresh water from spring to fall, and spawn in the autumn before spending the winter in near-shore ocean waters. A variant of Massachusetts’ native brook trout, they are larger than typical brook trout due to feeding on abundant food resources in salt water during winter months.

Poacher kills radio-collar lynx in Colo.

Shoot first and then ask questions? Come on. Read about this poaching crime here.

Group sues to stop logging in Calif.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-clear-cutting29-2010jan29,0,3955258.story

Conservation philanthropist does her thing – again

As this newspaper article from Maine shows. Way to go, Quimby.

Carbon emissions increasing acidity in Alaskan seas

The Christian Science Monitor has this look

Keeping vigil over endangered wild lands

The Great Old Broads for wilderness.

PEER: Coal industry allowed to edit EPA reports

From Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility:

Reports to Congress, Brochures, “Fact Sheets” Tailored to Allay Industry Concerns

Washington, DC – For years U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publications and reports about uses and dangers of coal combustion waste have been edited by coal ash industry representatives, according to EPA documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  Not surprisingly, the coal ash industry watered down official reports, brochures and fact-sheets to remove references to potential dangers and play up “environmental benefits” of a wide range of applications for coal combustion wastes – the same materials that EPA is currently deciding whether to classify as hazardous wastes following the disastrous December 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee.

During the Bush administration, EPA entered into a formal partnership with the coal industry, most prominently, the American Coal Ash Association, to promote coal combustion wastes for industrial, agricultural and consumer product uses.  This effort has helped grow a multi-billion dollar market which the industry worries would be crimped by a hazardous waste designation.

The documents obtained by PEER under the Freedom of Information Act show how this partnership gave the coal ash industry a chance to change a variety of EPA draft publications and presentations, including –

• Removal of “cautionary language” about application of coal combustion wastes on agricultural lands in an EPA brochure to be replaced with “exclamation point ! language” “re-affirming the environmental benefits…that reinforces the idea that FGD [flue gas desulfurization] gypsum is a good thing” in the word of an American Coal Ash Association representative;
• A draft of EPA’s 2007 Report to Congress caused industry to lobby for insertion of language about the need for “industry and EPA [to] work together” to weaken or block “state regulations [that] are hindering progress” for greater use of the coal combustion wastes; and
• EPA fact-sheets and PowerPoint presentations were altered at industry urging to delete significant references to certain potential “high risk” uses of coal combustion wastes.

“For most of the past decade, it appears that every EPA publication on the subject was ghostwritten by the American Coal Ash Association,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, who examined thousands of industry-EPA communications.  “In this partnership it is clear that industry is EPA’s senior partner.”

This collaboration is not limited to publications, however.  EPA staff also forewarned industry about conference calls and other intra-agency deliberations, such as growing concerns about “increased leaching of arsenic” from “increased use of fly ash” in order to let industry know where to target its lobbying efforts.  The working relationship is so close that a coal ash industry representative joked to EPA staff in an October 27, 2008 e-mail, referring to a news article about mercury contamination from coal ash:
“We are in bed with the EPA again, it looks, at least according to this article.  The advocacy groups are well organized and have the ready ear of the press.”

“It is no joke – the terms of the coal ash partnership tucks EPA snugly into bed with industry for the purpose of marketing coal combustion wastes as a product,” Ruch added noting that the partnership is still in effect.  “EPA is supposed to be an objective regulatory agency dedicated to protecting the public instead of protecting a gigantic subsidy for a powerful industry.”
###

Review the EPA partnership with the coal industry

Read e-mail about replacing cautionary with exclamation point language

See industry comments on draft EPA Report to Congress

Examine alterations to EPA PowerPoint presentation

Trace industry changes to EPA “fact-sheet”

Look at EPA heads-up to industry

View the “in bed with EPA” e-mail

Revisit partnership to promote coal waste in agriculture

PEER: EPA must intervene in weak Fla. pollution control enforcement

EPA INTERVENTION NEEDED FOR WEAK FLORIDA POLLUTION RESPONSE
Petition Filed for Federal Enforcement Takeover in Palm Beach Contamination Case

Tallahassee – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency needs to take immediate enforcement action to redress dangerous and long-standing pollution violations in West Palm Beach, according to a formal “overfile” petition filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  The filing represents an early test of EPA’s promises of tougher oversight of lax state environmental programs.

The action concerns vapor intrusion in an office building owned by Palm Beach County in which workers have become seriously ill.  The building abuts the West Palm Beach Canal and the International Airport.  The case also involves more than 20 years of petroleum contamination spreading from property now owned by Gastion, Inc.

U.S. EPA authority to enforce clean water and toxic waste laws has been delegated to Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which in turn delegated enforcement to Palm Beach County – in this instance putting the County in a conflicted position of having to take enforcement action against itself.  The result has been decades of inaction, partial clean-up and continuing toxic leaks.

“This case is a poster child for federal intervention,” stated Florida PEER Director Jerry Phillips, a former DEP enforcement attorney, who filed the petition based on agency case files documenting year after year of inattention or ineffective half-measures.  “People are getting sick from breathing contaminants and only urgent action will prevent more workers from becoming victims.”

The Obama administration has pledged tougher oversight of state anti-pollution programs.  For example, in an October 15, 2009 hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson testified that –
“…we need to strengthen our oversight of state permitting and enforcement programs…In situations where states are not issuing protective permits or taking enforcement to achieve compliance, EPA needs to act to strengthen state programs and to pursue federal enforcement actions as necessary.”
The PEER overfile petition was filed today with the acting EPA Regional Administrator in Atlanta invoking EPA’s concurrent authority to enforce federal environmental statutes.  It demands that EPA immediately take jurisdiction over (i.e., overfile) the case in order to protect public health and the environment and maintain the credibility of the federal program.  If problems remain unaddressed, PEER can appeal to EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance in Washington.

“After years of enforcement abdication by the Bush administration, we have been led to believe that the Obama administration will act promptly and diligently in cases of environmental dereliction brought to their attention,” Phillips added.  “How this petition is handled will signal whether there is a reality behind the rhetoric of tougher oversight.”
###

Read the PEER overfile petition

Look at Florida’s woeful environmental enforcement record

Examine EPA’s poor record of oversight in Florida during the Bush administration

Tackling climate change head-on means a long look at the ‘growth’ equation, think tank says

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8478770.stm

Ozone hole is mending. Now for the ‘but’