WASHINGTON, DC, November 28, 2008 (ENS) – President-elect Barack Obama can revive the U.S. economy – and aggressively combat climate change – by investing in clean energy technologies and strengthening environmental protections, the leaders of major U.S. environmental groups advise.

The recommendation is a central part of a lengthy wish list of policies sent to Obama’s transition team Tuesday by a broad coalition of 29 of the nation’s leading environmental and conservation organizations, who also urged the president-elect to swiftly reverse “eight years of environmental neglect” under the Bush administration.

“Our economy is suffering and so is our environment,” Larry Schweiger, head of the National Wildlife Federation told reporters on a conference call. “The solutions to both go hand in hand.”

The groups contend that difficult economic times provide opportunities, rather than obstacles, to tackling the daunting issues of climate change, clean energy and environmental protection.

Oak Ridge National Lab engineer Jeff Christian
directs the design and construction of highly
energy-efficient houses for low-income
families. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

“Generating green collar jobs, making our offices and homes more efficient, rebuilding our water infrastructure, reducing our dependence on oil, reviving our ailing landscapes – these are solutions that can lead directly to economic prosperity, greater social equity and even enhanced national security,” the coalition said in the 391-page report.

The solution to the nation’s economic problems “is a new green economy,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. “Delay is not just bad for the planet, it is bad for the economy.”

That message echoes some of Obama’s own rhetoric on energy and climate change – last week he pledged support for a federal carbon cap-and-trade system, that would mandate cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and a further 80 percent by 2050.

Obama also outlined support for a $15 billion annual investment to support renewable energy and build a clean energy future, predicting the efforts would produce some five million new green jobs.

Those goals are in line with what environmentalists have long supported – a key reason the environmental groups are confident their agenda will now have a powerful advocate in the White House.

Workers install the first Mariah Windspire vertical
axis wind turbine in the Midwest at the
The College School, an elementary
school in St. Louis, Missouri. October
2008. (Photo by Matthew Diller)

Obama has made it clear that his priorities “jive nicely” with the major concerns of the environmental community, said Maggie Alt, executive director of Environment America.

The environmental groups’ planning document contains broad goals as well as specific recommendations for the White House and federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department, as well as the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy

“It covers a wide range of issues that merit prompt presidential attention, but it underscores the urgent need to build a green energy economy to tackle global warming,” the groups wrote. “Most importantly, the document reflects a fundamental consensus that serious action is needed right now in order to usher in a healthier, cleaner, more prosperous and more sustainable era for America.”

Along with the climate and energy recommendations, the groups call for a slew of policies to safeguard the Arctic, as well as steps to increase protection for wetlands, national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands.

The report recommends increased funding for conservation programs, stricter oversight of energy production from public lands and tighter air pollution standards.

The groups want Obama to reinstate a federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling along with a Clinton administration rule protecting roadless areas in national forests. They also want Obama to restore protections for endangered species weakened by the Bush administration.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District solar-powered
hydrogen vehicle fueling station opened
April 1, 2008. As solar panels make
electricity, it powers the separation of
water into hydrogen and oxygen to make
fuel for hydrogen-powered vehicles.
(Photo by Keith Wipke courtesy NREL)

“There is lot of work to do to reverse the damage of the last eight years,” Alt said.

In addition, the Obama administration should act quickly to reverse any last minute Bush rules that weaken environmental protections, Karpinski added.

“On day one they should place a moratorium on finalizing midnight regulations and reviewing those that have not yet taken effect,” he said.

The environmentalists contend the widely anticipated economic stimulus package provides a critical opportunity for Obama to quickly signal his intention to follow through on his promises to solve the “entwined economic, climate and environmental crises.”

Obama should lead the effort with bold measures to promote energy efficiency and spark increased development and use of renewable energy through modernization of the nation’s electrical grid, the groups said.

“There’s economic opportunity if we do this right,” said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The current electricity transmission grid is “a patchwork of antiquated technology” that loses 20-25 percent of electricity generated by coal-fired power plants, he explained.

Upgrading the grid can create jobs and unleash the potential of renewable energy, said Schweiger.

“This can get the system moving in terms of new energy … and allows us to invest in solar in the Southwest, wind in the Midwest and elsewhere and move that energy to places where it is needed,” he told reporters. “Currently we do not have an infrastructure for that.”

The following groups collaborated to produce the recommendations [www.saveourenvironment.org] – American Rivers, Center For International Environmental Law, Clean Water Action, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, Friends Of The Earth, Greenpeace, Izaak Walton League, League Of Conservation Voters, National Audubon Society, National Parks Conservation Association, National Tribal Environmental Council, National Wildlife Federation, Native American Rights Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana, Ocean Conservancy, Pew Environment Group, Physicians For Social Responsibility, Population Connection, Population Action International, Rails-To-Trails Conservancy, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, The Trust For Public Land, Union Of Concerned Scientists, and World Wildlife Fund.

By J.R. Pegg

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

SEATTLE, Washington, September 29, 2008 (ENS) – The National Flood Insurance Program is pushing orcas and several runs of salmon towards extinction, in violation of the Endangered Species Act, according to a regulatory finding issued today by scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The National Flood Insurance Program is implemented by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. Without making the changes called for by the Fisheries Service, cities and counties around the Puget Sound could lose their eligibility for federal flood insurance. A total of 252 Washington jurisdictions currently participate in the flood insurance program, including 39 counties, over 200 cities and towns, and two tribal reservations.

The federal fisheries agency issued the finding, known as a biological opinion, as required by a 2004 federal court decision.

In the case National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service, Judge Thomas Zilly of the federal district court in Seattle found that FEMA’s flood insurance program encouraged floodplain development and harmed salmon already listed as threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act.

Puget Sound salmon (Photo courtesy
Puget Sound Partnership)

He ordered FEMA to consult with the Marine Fisheries Service to ensure compliance with the Act, and the document issued today is the result of that consultation.

“We have always known that building homes and businesses in the floodplain was dangerous and economically senseless,” said John Kostyack, excecutive director of wildlife conservation and global warming at the National Wildlife Federation.

“With global warming causing sea level rise and intensified storms, the risks of such development are now higher than ever. With this decision, we now have a tool for reducing risks to both wildlife and people,” said Kostyack.

The biological opinion documents the ways in which FEMA’s flood program encourages development within the floodplain area.

Because most private insurers refuse to insure floodplain homes, FEMA’s insurance program allows development to occur where it otherwise would not.

In addition, FEMA’s minimum development standards for floodplain construction currently fail to include environmental standards.

Floodwaters damaged farms, roads, businesses
and homes affecting thousands of residents
in Lewis County Washington. December
2007 (Photo by Leif Skoogfors
courtesy FEMA)

“Even where flood risk is well established (for example, in Lewis County on the Chehalis River), the National Flood Insurance Program’s current implementation does not significantly restrict floodplain development or encourage the preservation of floodplain natural and beneficial values,” the biological opinion states.

It points out that the City of Chehalis has nine percent of its Urban Growth Area in mapped floodplain, and Centralia has 21 percent of its Urban Growth Area in mapped floodplain.

“Development within the floodplain results in stream channelization, habitat instability, vegetation removal, and point and nonpoint source pollution (NMFS 1996) all of which contribute to degraded salmon habitat,” according to the biological opinion.

By insuring development in floodplain areas, the National Marine Fisheries Service determined that the program was jeopardizing the survival of Puget Sound chinook, Puget Sound steelhead, and Hood Canal summer-run chum salmon, and adversely modifying their designated critical habitat in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

It also found that by reducing the prey base for Southern Resident orcas, also called killer whales, it jeopardized them as well.

The biological openion warns that implementation of the FEMA program in Puget Sound could result in a 30 percent reduction of chinook salmon in Puget Sound – the orcas’ favored food source – in the years ahead.

Puget Sound was once inhabited by at least 37 populations of Chinook salmon, but today only 22 remain. The remaining Chinook salmon are at only 10 percent of their historic numbers, with some down lower than one percent of their historic numbers, according to the Puget Sound Partnership, a coalition of citizens, governments, tribes, scientists and businesses working together to restore and protect the sound.

As required by the Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Fisheries Service set forth an alternative approach for FEMA that would not result in jeopardy to salmon and orcas.

FEMA and Washington State workers check
the bank erosion from flooding that is
endangering this house. January 2008.
(Photo by Marvin Nauman courtesy
FEMA)

The alternative includes new requirements that development within the floodplain and riparian buffer area be either prohibited or that its impacts to the stream be completely mitigated.

Any development in these sensitive areas should be required to use “low impact development.” This type of development specifies protection of native vegetation, pervious concretes that allow rain to flow through to the ground, narrow footprints, and rain gardens to absorb stormwater runoff.

Last month, the Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board declared that low impact development was both more effective than traditional stormwater controls like detention ponds, and cheaper to implement.

“Americans are getting tired of paying to rebuild flooded homes in places that should be left alone,” said Jan Hasselman, an attorney with the public interest law firm Earthjustice who argued the 2004 lawsuit against FEMA.

“The good news today is the federal agency scientists have stepped in on behalf of both American taxpayers and its wildlife and said no to building in flood-prone areas,” Hasselman said. “We think this is just plain old common sense.”

Click here [www.earthjustice.org] to read the biological opinion, formally known as the “Endangered Species Act – Section 7 Consultation Final Biological Opinion And Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Essential Fish Habitat Consultation Implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program in the State of Washington Phase One Document – Puget Sound Region.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

WASHINGTON, DC, August 26, 2008 (ENS) – “The big picture is that global warming is putting hurricanes on steroids,” declared climate scientist Dr. Amanda Staudt of the National Wildlife Federation, one of the country’s largest conservation groups.

Windspeeds could increase 13 percent and rainfall could increase 31 percent, Staudt warned at the launch of her new report last week.

“As so many grapple with Tropical Storm Fay’s landfall in the United States, our thoughts and prayers are with those in harm’s way,” she said.

Now weakened from a Tropical Storm to a Tropical Depression, Fay will be pouring down rain in Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, eastern Tennessee, Georgia and parts of the Carolinas most of Tuesday and Wednesday, say National Weather Service forecasters. Fay has been in Florida and the Deep South since August 18.

While weary Florida and Gulf Coast residents endure yet another round of flooding, destruction and power outages, the latest science connecting hurricanes and global warming suggests more of the same is yet to come, said Dr. Staudt.

“Although no single weather event can be attributed to global warming, it’s critical to understand that a warming climate is supplying the very conditions that fuel the strongest storms,” she said, predicting higher wind speeds, more precipitation, and bigger storm surges in the coming decades.

The destructive potential of tropical storms in the North Atlantic has increased by about 50 percent since the 1970s, Staudt states in the report.

Deltona, Florida Fire Department Search and
Rescue members, Randy Siebert, left, and
Tony Jacinto deliver food and medications
to stranded residents of this Volusia
County community. August 24, 2008.
Six days after the first landfall of Tropical
Storm Fay, communities are still stranded.
(Photo by Barry Bahler courtesy FEMA)

And the heights of big waves along the eastern United States have increased by 20 percent during hurricane season since the late 1970s, augmenting the overall risk to coastal communities and wildlife habitats.

Staudt says the increase reflects longer storm lifetimes and greater storm intensities. She correlates it with an increase of 0.9 to 1.3°Fahrenheit in sea surface temperatures in the main development area for storms in the North Atlantic.

The report is entitled “Increasing Vulnerability to Hurricanes: Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call for the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic Coasts,” reflecting Dr. Straudt’s concern that hurricanes are getting stronger as the oceans warm.

Straudt points out that the increasing coastal population and development in Florida and along the Gulf Coast puts more people as well as wildlife at risk of hurricanes.

For protection, she says, we could use the natural function of coastal wetlands and barrier islands to absorb the destructive force of the stronger hurricanes of the future.

But wetland loss has been a persistent problem along the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and will only be made worse by increasing sea level, she notes in the report.

“We must account for increasing storm activity and rising sea level when managing our coasts, especially by restoring and protecting coastal wetlands, lowlands, and barrier islands that provide crucial natural levees,” Dr. Staudt advises.

Wetlands can reduce the size of storm surges by inhibiting the formation and propagation of waves. Scientists have estimated that every mile of wetlands can trim three to nine inches off of a storm surge.

Linking stronger storms with global warming, Staudt says if greenhouse gas emissions continue at today’s levels over the next century, tropical sea surface temperatures could rise another 3° F, or three times the warming increase to date.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

WASHINGTON, DC, July 2, 2008 (ENS) – Climate change will bring an increase in severe storms like the ones responsible for the devastating floods plaguing the U.S. Midwest, experts warned Tuesday. But current government flood forecasts and insurance programs do not consider the effects of global warming, leaving Midwest residents with an incomplete assessment of their flood risks.

“Although no single weather event can be attributed to global warming, it’s critical to understand that a warming climate is supplying the very conditions that fuel these kinds of weather events,” said Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, NWF.

The frequency of torrential rainstorms in the Midwest has jumped 20 percent since the late 1960s, Staudt said, and large storms that historically would only be seen once every 20 years are projected to happen as often as every five years.

“Global warming is making tragedies like these more frequent and more intense,” Staudt told reporters in a telephone briefing. “As climate continues to warm and we have even more moisture in the air, the trend toward increasingly intense weather events will continue.”

The city of Burlington, Iowa is
submerged by the swollen
Mississippi River. June 2008.
(Photo courtesty Iowa DOT)

U.S. officials say the Midwest has seen two 100-year floods in the last 35 years as well as two 500-year floods – one in 1993 and this latest disaster.

Those numbers don’t make sense and illustrate the government’s flawed flood forecasting, said Nicholas Pinter, a geologist and flood researcher at Southern Illinois University.

“These are not random events,” he said. “We are getting a systematic pattern of floods larger and more frequent than estimated by those calculations.”

Relying on historical records, flow rates and river elevation, government agencies have consistently underestimated the flooding risks, Pinter said.

The latest study used by agencies, led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “assumed no natural changes” to the region over time, he said.

It ignored evidence of an increased risk from global warming and failed to consider significant land use changes, new levee construction and modifications to rivers in order to ease navigation, Pinter told reporters.

The Corps’ study did include potential flood reduction benefits from dams throughout the Midwest, thereby further underestimating flood risks, Pinter explained.

The faulty estimates, used to set standards for the national flood insurance program, have contributed to the devastation, said David Conrad, a senior resource specialist with the National Wildlife Federation, the largest U.S. environmental organization.

“Many areas have experienced failures of levees that they were led to believe would protect their properties,” Conrad said.

The concern has prompted NWF to ask Congress for changes to the National Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, which is currently in negotiations between Senate and House leaders.

Flooding destroyed property of
all kinds across the Midwest.
(Photo courtesy Iowa DOT)

Conrad said his organization fears the measures being negotiated offer little that responds to actual changing conditions and are centered on the same land use and building codes standards established 40 years ago.

“These bills look backwards, not forward,” he said.

In a letter sent today to key lawmakers, NWF president Larry Schweiger caled on Congress to hold hearings on the issue and mandate improvements to flood forecasting as part of modernizing the flood insurance program.

“In order to ensure that people accurately understand the risks associated with living in certain areas, floodplain maps must be updated using modern climate science,” Schweiger wrote. “In addition, methods used to predict the flood heights and frequency of major flood events must be updated to account for climate change, sea-level rise and the predictable future conditions anticipated from land and watershed development.”

Schweiger noted that the failure to enact reforms after the 1993 floods, whose record heights were overtopped this year, likely contributed to the recent devastation, “as there was significant rebuilding” in the Mississippi floodplains after 1993.

“While there may have been an expectation that such floods would only happen every 500 years, scientists now warn that climate change will make such floods far more frequent,” the NWF chief told lawmakers.

As Congress considers its response to this year’s Midwest floods, victims of the disaster are wrestling with how best to move forward.

Joe Wilkinson, president of the Iowa Wildlife Federation, told reporters the devastation “goes a lot deeper than the newspaper shots or the TV videos.”

Now that the water has begun to subside, residents must deal with homes and businesses that have sat for days or weeks inundated in contaminated floodwater, he said.

“The people living in those homes now have to go in and clean these things up,” Wilkinson said. “The heavy lifting, reconstruction and paperwork are only just beginning.”

Wilkinson echoed the call for reforms to flood insurance and new consideration of how the warming climate and conversion of the natural landscape to agriculture and development are making floods more severe.

“We can’t just keep doing the same things,” he said.

By J.R. Pegg

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida, June 2, 2008 (ENS) – Environmental groups have issued a coastal, marine system global warming survival guide for Florida in an effort to prod state officials into taking action now while disaster is still manageable.

Florida has heated up by about two degrees Fahrenheit since the 1960s and scientists project that average temperatures will keep rising in the coming decades, with lows in winter increasing three to 10 degrees, and highs in summer increasing three to seven degrees.

These warmer temperatures will bring more extreme weather events, higher ocean temperatures and sea level rise, and while these prospects seem daunting, a group of nationally and internationally recognized environmental organizations has drafted a series of key steps that governments and individuals can take to minimize the dangers.

“By assembling the nation’s first comprehensive set of guidelines for dealing with the demonstrated effects of climate change on a coastal state, the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition has accomplished a first, said Environmental Defense Fund Climate Director Gerald Karnas.

“This is a real prescription for surviving the onrushing years of global warming. The whole world is going to be watching what is done here. This is the front line in the war on global warming,” said Karnas.

Storm damage on the Florida coast
(Photo courtesy Florida Coastal
School of Law)

The report was issued by the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition – a group of scientists and experts active in global warming and ocean issues in Florida as well as nationally and internationally.

The Caribbean Conservation Corporation is a member along with Environmental Defense Fund, Gulf Restoration Network, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Fund, Ocean Conservancy, Reef Relief and The Surfrider Foundation.

“Warmer ocean waters kill coral and harm fish populations,” said Patty Glick, the report’s primary author and senior global warming specialist with the National Wildlife Federation. “Higher acidity inhibits corals and other marine animals from forming their protective skeletons.”

“Rising sea levels erode beaches, causing saltwater intrusion into fresh water supplies, and killing coastal marshes,” Glick said. “Extreme weather events, including floods, droughts, and tropical storms, lead to more polluted runoff into estuaries, and damage to coastal habitats and property.”

“We want our children and our grandchildren to be able to enjoy what we love about the ocean – from fishing trips to beach vacations and seafood dinners,” said Sarah Chasis, Ocean Initiative director with the Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC, one of the authoring organizations.

“This report is a blueprint for protecting our oceans from global warming,” Chasis said. “The longer we wait the more expensive and difficult it is going to be to fix later.”

The first and most important step, the groups say, is to curb emissions, but even if humans are able to do that, the impacts that are predicted to occur still must be addressed.

Coastal and marine ecosystems can be restored so they can better cope with the stress of climate change and ocean acidification, the groups say in their survival guide.

“The thin ribbon of sand that surrounds the Florida peninsula is the most important sea turtle nesting habitat in the United States,” said Gary Appelson, Sea Turtle Survival League advocacy coordinator at the Caribbean Conservation Corporation.

Development in vulnerable areas can be halted to prepare for rising sea levels, and natural buffers must be restored and protected, the groups advise.

The guide urges governments and individuals to prepare for extreme weather events by protecting and restoring shoreline vegetation and wetlands and upgrading stormwater management.

Water use efficiency can be improved through conservation and recycling treated wastewater for irrigation and industrial use.

“Florida can and must be a leader not only in curbing the build up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but also in implementing smart, common-sense coastal and ocean policies that will help preserve the state’s natural coastal and ocean heritage,” biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle, a former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, observes in the preface to the report.

To reduce the impacts of higher ocean temperatures, the groups advise Florida and federal agencies to work together to protect and restore coastal and marine ecosystems in order to enhance their ability to deal with the additional stresses caused by climate change.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection should evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of the state’s coastal and aquatic managed areas and coastal zone management programs in supporting biological diversity among fish and wildlife species and should develop strategies to strengthen these programs, the report recommends.

The groups advise the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to promote the rebuilding of depleted coastal and ocean fish populations since depleted populations will have a harder time dealing with the additional stresses posed by climate change and warming waters.

“During our lifetime, acidification and warming sea temperatures could eliminate coral reefs in Florida as we know them,” warned Paul Johnson, president of Reef Relief.

Congress should enact climate adaptation legislation that would provide funding and require federal and state agencies to protect and strengthen the health of coastal and ocean ecosystems, the report recommends.

“We have a moral obligation to change our relationship with the planet,” said David White, regional director of Ocean Conservancy. “Adaptation to climate change will require significant investments in research, education, industry and government, but is within our capacity as a global society.”

To read the full report, “Preparing for a Sea Change in Florida: A Strategy to Cope with the Impacts of Global Warming on the State’s Coastal and Marine Systems,” click here [www.flcoastalandocean.org].

“This guide, put together with careful thought by an impressive coalition of conservation organizations, lays out a roadmap for state policymakers to follow in preserving heritage,” Dr. Earle wrote. “The pathway is clear; what is needed now is action.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

MIAMI, Florida, January 16, 2008 (ENS) – The world’s first carbon neutral fishing tournament was held over the weekend at the Miami Beach Marina. Twenty-three boats competed in the event, with the winning team catching and releasing 10 fish to take top honors in the Sailfish Tournament.

The tournament completed its pledge to balance its carbon ledger, using a portion of the proceeds to offset its carbon footprint.

“Anglers cherish Florida’s coastal waters, and we have a responsibility to protect them,” said Captain Dan Kipnis, tournament organizer and director-at-large for the Florida Wildlife Federation, an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation.

“Sportsmen know climate change threatens the fish we love and the habitats they live in. Offsetting our emissions is just one way to show we’re not going to pass the buck to the next generation of anglers,” he said.

Releasing a sailfish in waters off Miami,
Florida (Photo courtesy Reel Style
Fishing Charters)

The tournament is offsetting an estimated 200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions through AgCert, which will use the funds for an East Coast methane capture project. Methane gas from dairy farms will be converted into electricity, balancing out the tournament’s greenhouse gas impact on the environment.

Environmental Defense, a co-sponsor of the tournament, wants to make sure the tournament’s carbon neutral message resonates with Florida anglers. The group has launched the Green Button Project, which offers anglers the chance to buy climate mitigation credits when they fuel their boats.

“We hope that someday every motor runs on clean, renewable energy, but until then we’re doing what we can to help boaters connect the dots and cut their own carbon footprint,” said Jerry Karnas, Florida Climate Project director for Environmental Defense.

“Considering the threats posed by warming temperatures, rising sea levels, and stronger hurricanes, the stakes for Florida are incredibly high,” he said.

As Florida’s presidential primary on January 29 draws closer, surveys suggest climate change will be on the minds of millions of anglers as they head to the polls.

According to a National Wildlife Federation survey, 85 percent of sportsmen say Congress should pass legislation setting a clear national goal for reducing global warming pollution with mandatory timelines.

“With this carbon-neutral tournament and Governor Charlie Crist’s strong climate leadership, Florida continues to set an example for the nation,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, a tournament co-sponsor whose boat finished in the event’s top ten.

“I hope members of Florida’s congressional delegation support federal legislation cutting our national greenhouse gas emissions by two percent annually while also providing critical funding to help wildlife survive our rapidly changing climate.”

Florida plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, Governor Charlie Crist pledged last July. Due to its low elevation and hurricane risk, global warming may pose the biggest risk to Florida of any U.S. state.

Business leaders in the United States have also called for similar cuts, a step many scientists say is necessary to head off the worst effects of climate change.

Crist hopes to reach the target by switching to renewable energy technologies – especially solar power – improving energy efficiency, and promoting fuel-sipping rather than gas-guzzling cars.

With about five percent of the world’s population, the United States produces roughly one-quarter of all global greenhouse gas emissions.

View This Story On Eco-mmunity Map.

WASHINGTON, DC, January 10, 2008 (ENS) – Eleven regional and national environmental organizations today announced plans to file suit against the Department of Energy over its final designation of a mid-Atlantic National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor.

On October 5, the Energy Department published its order designating two National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors – the Mid-Atlantic Corridor, and the Southwest Corridor.

Led by the National Wildlife Federation and the Piedmont Environmental Council, the groups are challenging the designation on grounds that the Energy Department violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act by failing to study the potential harmful impacts of the corridor on air quality, wildlife, habitat and other natural resources.

“The Department of Energy has ignored the public interest in favor of the private interests of power companies,” said Randy Sargent Neppl, wildlife counsel at the National Wildlife Federation. “Our federal government should be working to find solutions that protect our natural heritage and promote a clean energy future so that our children and grandchildren will have healthy communities, clean air and abundant wildlife and wild places to enjoy.”

“The Department of Energy has failed to do even the basic due diligence and analyze responsible and cost effective alternative ways of meeting the region’s energy needs,” said Christopher Miller, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council.

“Efficiency and conservation should be the first order of business. Reducing both peak and base load demand through energy efficiency, conservation and expanding demand response programs should be a priority,” he said. “The mid-Atlantic corridor designation puts an enormous area of the region at risk while sending our energy policy a major step backwards towards continued reliance on coal-fired generation.”

High voltage transmission lines
near Rochester, New York (Photo
credit unknown)

The groups plan to file suit on Monday, January 14 in the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The Center for Biological Diversity today is filing a similar lawsuit in the Central District of California challenging the Energy Department’s designation of the Southwest National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor, which includes counties in California and Arizona.

Joining the lawsuit are Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Environmental Advocates of New York, Clean Air Council, Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, Civil War Preservation Trust, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Brandywine Conservancy and Natural Lands Trust.

In 2005, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which directed the U.S. Department of Energy, DOE, to designate large geographic areas as National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors.

This designation gives power companies blanket approval to build new high-voltage interstate transmission lines within the corridor, even on environmentally sensitive and protected lands. The designation also allows power companies to bypass local, state and federal environmental laws.

The groups’ lawsuit claims that the Energy Department has overstepped what Congress called for in the Energy Policy Act and designated lands that lie outside of the identified congestion area.

The groups are asking the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania to compel the Energy Department to perform an environmental impact statement on the corridor and consult with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over impacts to endangered species as required by law.

Because the current designation would rely on some of the country’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants to service the region’s power demands, the groups are asking that the Energy Department consider more environmentally friendly alternatives.

“Unfortunately, rather than take this opportunity to promote renewable energy sources and encourage energy efficient solutions, the Department of Energy has put forth a plan that favors dirty coal and undermines regional efforts to combat global warming,” said Glen Besa, regional field director of the Sierra Club.

“The lack of environmental scrutiny given to proposed high-voltage transmission lines under this plan is alarming,” he said. “The DOE has not even a made a token effort to study the region-wide impact of this corridor on wildlife, forests or water.”

The ambiguous definition of “corridor” has allowed the Energy Department to designate more than 116,000 square miles in the mid-Atlantic, including parts of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. The Mid-Atlantic corridor designation affects over 49 million Americans.

Gettysburgh National Military
Park (Photo courtesy
National Park Service)

Within the area are dozens of state and national parks, refuges and recreation areas, including the Gettysburg National Military Park, the Shenandoah National Park and the Upper Delaware Scenic and National Recreation River.

“The National Park Service is mandated to ‘conserve the scenery’ of our national parks. Adding new power lines near or through national park sites could severely compromise our national heritage,” said Bryan Faehner of the National Parks Conservation Association. “It is simply inappropriate for energy corridors to be built within the geographic boundaries of, or even within view of national parks such as Gettysburg.”

In November, the states of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia petitioned the federal government to reconsider designating dozens of their counties for the siting of the high-speed electricity transmission corridor.

Also filing a petition with the department for a rehearing on the designation of the transmission corridors in the Southwest and mid-Atlantic were 20 environmental and conservation groups.

The states and groups say the Department of Energy disregarded key energy issues, failed to consult with the states and failed to adequately assess environmental impacts of the transmission corridors.

View This Story On Eco-mmunity Map.