WASHINGTON, DC, January 23, 2009 (ENS) – The Obama administration’s new Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has promised that high ethical standards will be the norm at the department that has been plagued with scandals under the Bush administration.

In an address to thousands of Interior Department employees Thursday broadcast live by satellite to DOI offices across the country from the department’s main building in Washington, Salazar pledged to run the agency with honesty and respect for science.

“We and those who work with this department will make sure we follow the high ethical standards that President [Barack] Obama outlined in his first press conference yesterday at the White House,” said Salazar, who, before being elected to the U.S. Senate from Colorado, was that state’s attorney general, the top law enforcement officer.

He introduced his Chief of Staff Tom Strickland, who served during that same time period as United States Attorney for Colorado.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar addresses employees. January 22, 2009 (Photo courtesy DOI)

“We will follow the law, we will hold people accountable, and we will expect to be held accountable,” Salazar said. “We will not tolerate the types of lapses that detract and distract from good honest service to the American people that this department does every day.”

The Department of the Interior includes eight bureaus that manage millions of acres of public lands: The Bureau of Indian Affairs,The Bureau of Reclamation, the Minerals Management Service, the National Park Service, the Office of Surface Mining, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

During the Bush administration DOI officials were found to have violated ethics rules, undermining public confidence in the department.

In September 2008, Minerals Management Service employees were fired when the agency’s Inspector General found that they accepted gifts from oil and gas companies, participated in “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” and considered themselves exempt from federal ethics rules.

In May 2007, a deputy assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks, who controlled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species program, resigned in disgrace after the Inspector General found that she violated federal ethics rules by sending “nonpublic information” to industry lobbyists. Many of her decisions hampered endangered species protections and some are still the subject of litigation.

Salazar Thursday told the packed auditorium of DOI employees that a new day has dawned for the agency.

“I pledge to you that we will ensure the Interior Department’s decisions are based on sound science and the public interest, and not on the special interests. I want the public to be proud of the department’s work,” he said. “Above all, I want you to know that your secretary is proud of you and respects the work you do to serve the American people.”

In response to questions from employees in the audience, Salazar promised to fill management positions in the agency that have been left vacant under the Bush administration.

He vowed to coordinate closely with the departments of energy and commerce on energy issues, which are many, including oil and gas leasing, offshore drilling, and development of renewable sources of energy.

Secretary Salazar said that the DOI will be an important contributor to the Obama administration’s “moonshot on energy” and in carrying out a “strong economic recovery plan that helps create jobs, build our clean energy economy and remake America.”

On the controversial DOI regulation passed late last year that allows members of the public to carry concealed and loaded firearms in national parks, Salazar told a National Park Service employee concerned about assaults on park rangers that he would “take a look at it.”

From the audience, Einar Olson from the National Park Service said the national parks get 275 million visitors a year and park rangers and officers are already the most assaulted of all law enforcement officers.

Salazar responded that he has used a gun since he was a child and feels a sense of comfort when he has a gun with him. “I’m a defender of the 2nd Amendment,” he said, noting that the regulation is a subject of litigation. “We’ll take a look at it. I don’t have an answer for you at this time,” he said.

That was the new secretary’s response to many questions from the audience, but he did express a positive leaning towards the Endangered Species Act, which has been criticized by Republican lawmakers during the past several sessions of Congress.

“The ESA has worked,” said Salazar, “we have many examples.”

“I want my children and grandchildren to be able to see whooping cranes,” said the new secretary. “In my view, it’s like other laws. There may be ways in which we can do it better to protect the habitat under the ESA to help the species thrive.”

The secretary reminded employees that the department has “a global footprint and indeed very much a footprint in each of our 50 states and each of our territories and insular possessions.”

“The department and its agencies touch all of the people of America,” he said. “So whether your job … involves protecting wildlife or issuing leases, preserving history or providing water, I urge you to think of your mission as part of a mission of a new Department of America, this Department of the Interior.”

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ARCATA, California, January 22, 2009 (ENS) – Death rates of old-growth trees in western U.S. forests have more than doubled over the past few decades, and the most likely cause of the trend is regional warming, finds new research to be published Friday in the journal “Science.”

Led by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, the research team found that the increase in dying trees has been pervasive. Tree death rates have increased across a wide variety of forest types, at all elevations, in trees of all sizes, and in pines, firs, hemlocks, and other kinds of trees.

Increasing tree mortality rates mean that western forests could become net sources of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, further speeding up the pace of global warming, the scientists indicate.

Regardless of the cause, higher tree death rates could lead to substantial changes in western forests, said Phil van Mantgem, a USGS scientist and co-leader of the research team.

“The same way that in any group of people a small number will die each year, in any forest a small number of trees die each year,” said van Mantgem. “But our long-term monitoring shows that tree mortality has been climbing, while the establishment of replacement trees has not.”

The result is that forests have begun to lose trees faster than they are gaining them, said van Mantgem, a research ecologist with the USGS Redwood Field Station in Arcata, California.

Dead tree in Sequoia National Park, California (Photo by Nate Stephenson courtesy USGS)

These changes could change the suitability of forests for wildlife species, the scientists suggest.

They ruled out a number of possible sources of the increasing tree deaths, including air pollution, long-term effects of fire suppression, and normal forest dynamics.

Instead, increasing regional temperature was correlated with tree deaths.

“Average temperature in the West rose by more than 1° F over the last few decades,” said van Mantgem. “While this may not sound like much, it has been enough to reduce winter snowpack, cause earlier snowmelt, and lengthen the summer drought.”

The lengthening summer drought could be stressing trees, leading to higher death rates, he said. Warmer temperatures also might favor insects and diseases that attack trees. Some recent outbreaks of tree-killing bark beetles in the West have already been linked to warming temperatures.

“Tree death rates are like interest on a bank account – the effects compound over time,” said Nate Stephenson, also with the U.S. Geological Survey and research team co-leader.

“A doubling of death rates eventually could reduce average tree age in a forest by half, thus reducing average tree size,” said Stephenson, director of the USGS Sierra Nevada Global Change Research Program.

In some cases, increasing tree deaths could indicate forests vulnerable to sudden, extensive die-back, similar to forest die-back seen over the last few years in parts of the southwestern states, Colorado, and British Columbia.

“That may be our biggest concern,” said Stephenson. He worries that the trend observed by the research team is a prelude to bigger, more abrupt forest changes.

Complete findings appear in the article, “Widespread increase of tree mortality rates in the western United States.” Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service, University of Colorado, University of Washington, Oregon State University, Pennsylvania State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of British Columbia contributed to this research.

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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, January 5, 2008 (ENS) – Six of every 100 streams in Indiana contain mercury at levels greater than the state water quality standard protecting human health, according to research released today by the U.S. Geological Survey. With new mapping techniques, the scientists identified an area in southeastern Indiana with some of the highest levels of mercury deposition in the United States.

Mercury concentrations in 73 percent of the samples exceeded the more restrictive state water quality standard protecting wildlife.

More than 80 percent of the water samples had detectable methylmercury, the most toxic form of mercury that accumulates in fish, birds, and mammals at the top of food chains.

In a separate report looking at mercury in rain and snow, USGS scientists found that mercury concentrations in more than 40 percent of the samples exceeded the Indiana water quality standard for human health and nearly all concentrations exceeded the standard protecting wildlife.

“Our studies are showing that mercury can be found in the water everywhere we’ve looked in Indiana, but the mercury varies from place to place and changes both seasonally and year to year,” said USGS scientist Martin Risch, an author on both papers.

Foam on a stream in southeast Indiana (Photo by Bernie Kasper)

Mercury in the atmosphere comes from human activities that include coal-fueled power generation, metals industries, and cement manufacturing. Mercury in streams comes from atmospheric deposition and discharges of municipal and industrial wastewater.

Mercury poses a health risk to humans and wildlife, especially the young. Nervous system and mental development can be diminished by mercury exposure. Mercury levels build up in food chains so that wildlife can be exposed to concentrations that impair their reproduction and survival.

Mercury concentrations in sport fish in Indiana have caused health officials to recommend restrictions or bans on consumption of some fish. These restrictions have a widespread effect because one out of every six Indiana residents participates in recreational fishing.

For the studies published today, scientists from the USGS Indiana Water Science Center in Indianapolis operated five monitoring stations across the state that collected rain and snow samples and measured precipitation every week. The water samples reported in the studies were collected from 2001 to 2006.

The scientists also collected water samples each season from 25 stream sites in the major watersheds draining most of Indiana.

They analyzed the samples for mercury with methods that could detect concentrations less than a part per trillion, using special techniques and equipment to assure the mercury concentrations measured were representative.

Not all of the streams have rising mercury levels. At the five Indiana monitoring stations from 2001 to 2005, the scientists observed a three percent decrease in mercury concentrations and an eight percent decrease in the mass of mercury deposited by rain and snow.

These decreases may be related to a 28 percent decrease from 2002 to 2005 in mercury emissions in Indiana, they said.

“The decrease in mercury deposited by precipitation from 2001 to 2005 is explained by the decrease in the mercury concentration, not by an accompanying decrease in precipitation during that time,” said Risch.

But mercury in precipitation is not decreasing everywhere in Indiana.

With a new mapping technique, the scientists pinpointed an area in southeastern Indiana where high mercury concentrations in the rain contributed to some of the highest mercury deposition in the United States.

“The highest mercury concentrations we measured were downstream of urban and industrial discharges or, in one case, downstream from active and abandoned minelands,” said USGS scientist Amanda Ulberg, who led the study of stream samples.

The highest unfiltered total mercury concentrations were at six monitoring stations – five that are downstream from urban and industrial wastewater discharges and that have upstream drainage areas more than 1,960 square miles, and one that is downstream from active and abandoned mine lands and that has an upstream drainage area of 602 square miles.

“High total mercury concentrations were associated with increased streamflow in winter and spring when large amounts of fine particulates were suspended in the water,” Ulberg explained.

By contrast, most of the methylmercury was detected when water temperatures were warm and streamflow was low.

The USGS, in partnership with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, continues to monitor mercury in precipitation every week at the five stations in Indiana. These stations are part of a network of more than 110 stations in North America, coordinated through the National Atmospheric Deposition Program.

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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, October 20, 2008 (ENS) – The widespread use of chemicals to control plant pests across the United States has been happening for decades, yet a newly released study shows that only a few herbicides have persisted in well water over the 10 years from 1993 to 2003.

Results for one of the first national studies on the presence of herbicides in groundwater is published by the U.S. Geological Survey in the September-October issue of the “Journal of Environmental Quality.”

One goal of the study was to track the retention of various types herbicides and pesticides used over the years.

“The results of this study are encouraging for the future state of the nation’s groundwater quality with respect to pesticides,” said hydrologist Laura Bexfield of the U.S. Geological Survey’s New Mexico Water Science Center, who conducted the data analysis.

The study is a part of the National Water Quality Assessment Program, federally funded and conducted by the USGS. It aims to provide an understanding of water quality conditions and how those conditions may vary locally, regionally, and nationally; whether conditions are getting better or worse over time; and how natural features and human activities affect those conditions.

Artesian well in Missouri (Photo by
Alaina Culbertson)

Changes in pesticide detection frequency and concentrations in groundwater might be expected to have occurred on a regional or national basis within the United States during at least the past 10 to 20 years as a result of targeted use restrictions and chemical bans and the introduction of new pesticide compounds.

Bexfield’s data analysis evaluated samples collected from a total of 362 wells located in 12 local well networks characterizing shallow groundwater in agricultural areas and six local well networks characterizing the drinking water resource in areas of variable land use.

Each well network was sampled once during 1993-1995 and once during 2001-2003. The networks provide an overview of conditions across a wide range of hydrogeologic settings and in major agricultural areas that vary in dominant crop type and pesticide or herbicide use.

Laboratory analysis was performed using methods that allowed detection of pesticide compounds at concentrations as small as 1,000 times below EPA drinking water standards.

Of about 80 pesticide compounds analyzed, only six compounds were detected in groundwater from at least 10 wells during both sampling events.

These six pesticide compounds were the triazine herbicides atrazine, simazine, and prometon; the acetanilide herbicide metolachlor; the urea herbicide tebuthiuron; and an atrazine degradate, deethylatrazine.

Concentrations of these compounds generally were less than 0.12 parts per billion, or more than 10 times lower than applicable EPA drinking water standards.

But exposure to pesticides at doses below EPA standards does make a difference to human health, says Alex Formuzis, communications director of the Environmental Working Group. The Washington, DC research and lobbying organization has focused on contaminants in U.S. drinking water.

“Toxic pesticides or pharmaceuticals in drinking water are unacceptable at any level,” he told ENS in an interview. “Low dose exposures do matter. People continue to buy the industry spin that low doses don’t matter. The opposite is true.”

“The therapeutic level of prescriptions specified by doctors is at parts per billion, and that low concentration has the desired effect. Low doses matter,” said Formuzis.

“People are drinking this water every day, using it to prepare food, and every time they use it, they’re being exposed to pesticides,” he said.

One of the chemicals found to persist in the test wells is atrazine, the most commonly used herbicide in the United States.

Bexfield says in her paper that because national use of atrazine has not changed substantially in the Unites States during the past 10 to 20 years, the decrease in atrazine and DEA concentrations could reflect the reduction in atrazine application rates starting in the early 1990s.

To decrease the presence of atrazine in surface and groundwater, atrazine application rates were reduced in the early 1990s. Bans have been placed on atrazine in some areas.

Sprayed on farm crops, atrazine may wash from soil into streams or groundwater where it will stay for a long time, because breakdown of the chemical is slow in water, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances.

Birth defects and liver, kidney, and heart damage have been seen in animals exposed to high levels of atrazine. There are limited human and animal data that suggest that there may be a link between atrazine exposure and various types of cancer, the agency says.

“Atrazine was banned in Europe in 2004 because of persistent groundwater contamination,” said Formuzis. “In the United States, 80 million pounds are applied every year.”

“A number of top scientists in this country have called for its ban has not happened,” he said.

Bexfield said, “Despite sustained use of many popular pesticides and the introduction of new ones, results as a whole did not indicate increasing detection rates or concentrations in shallow or drinking water resources over the 10 years studied.”

Characterization of large-scale trends could help determine the effectiveness of efforts aimed at minimizing groundwater contamination, identify compounds that are of increasing concern, and estimate time scales over which changes might affect water quality, Bexfield wrote in her study.

Learning more about these trends is important in determining how quickly ground water systems respond to changes in pesticide use and land management practices, Bexfield wrote, and in identifying compounds that may pose a threat to water quality before large-scale problems occur.

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GAINESVILLE, Florida, September 9, 2008 (ENS) – Fishes that once were abundant in North American streams, rivers and lakes are now disappearing, with nearly 40 percent of all species in jeopardy, according to the most detailed assessment of the conservation status of freshwater fishes in the last 20 years.

The report shows that 61 fishes are presumed extinct, and 280 species are classed as endangered. In addition 190 are considered threatened, and 230 fishes are listed as vulnerable to extinction.

An endangered holiday darter from
the southeastern United States (Photo
by Noel Burkhead courtesy USGS)

The new report, published in the journal “Fisheries,” was conducted by a team of scientists from the United States, Canada and Mexico, led by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey. The team examined the status of continental freshwater fishes and those that migrate between rivers and oceans.

“Freshwater fish have continued to decline since the late 1970s, with the primary causes being habitat loss, dwindling range and introduction of non-native species,” said Mark Myers, director of the USGS. “In addition, climate change may further affect these fish.”

The 700 fishes now listed as imperiled for this report by the Endangered Species Committee of the American Fisheries Society are a 92 percent increase over the 364 listed in the previous 1989 study.

The fish at greatest risk are the salmon and trout of the Pacific Coast and western mountain regions. More than 60 percent of the salmon and trout had at least one population or subspecies in trouble, the report shows.

Also at great risk are minnows, suckers and catfishes throughout the continent; darters in the southeastern United States; and pupfish, livebearers, and goodeids, a large, native fish family in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

Fish families important for sport or commercial fisheries are also vulnerable to extinction. One of the most popular game species in the United States, striped bass, has populations on the list.

Twenty-two percent of sunfishes, a family which includes the well-known species such as black bass, bluegill and rock bass, are listed as at risk.

An endangered Alabama sturgeon from the
Mobile River. (Photo courtesy Patrick
O’Niel, North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources)

The southeastern United States, the mid-Pacific coast, the lower Rio Grande and basins in Mexico that do not drain to the sea are losing their freshwater fish species more quickly than other regions.

“Human populations have greatly expanded in many of these watersheds, compounding negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems,” said Howard Jelks, a USGS researcher and the senior author of the paper.

River systems that are both hotspots of regional biodiversity and also show the greatest levels of endangerment are the Tennessee, where 58 fishes are in jeopardy; the Mobile with 57 fishes at risk; and the southeastern Atlantic Slope river systems where 34 fishes are imperiled.

The Pacific central valley, western Great Basin, Rio Grande and rivers of central Mexico also have high diversity and numbers of fish at risk of extinction, according to the report.

Many of the fish populations at risk are restricted to only a single drainage.

Of fish on the American Fisheries Society’s 1989 imperiled list, 89 percent are either still listed with the same conservation status or have become even more at risk. Only 11 percent improved in status or were delisted.

A threatened sicklefin redhorse from
the Tennessee River. (Photo courtesy
Steve Fraley, North Carolina Wildlife
Resources Commission)

The authors say the new list is based on the best biological information available.

“We believe this report will provide national and international resource managers, scientists and the conservation community with reliable information to establish conservation, management and recovery priorities,” said Stephen Walsh, another lead author and USGS researcher.

The authors emphasize that improved public awareness and proactive management strategies are needed to protect and recover these and other aquatic species.

“Fish are not the only aquatic organisms undergoing precipitous declines,” said USGS researcher Noel Burkhead, a lead author on the report and the chair of the AFS Endangered Species Committee. “Freshwater crayfishes, snails and mussels are exhibiting similar or even greater levels of decline and extinction.”

For an interactive map showing the fish species at risk, click here [fisc.er.usgs.gov].

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WASHINGTON, DC, September 3, 2008 (ENS) – A joint Canada-U.S. scientific expedition this fall will map the unexplored Arctic sea floor where the U.S. and Canada may have sovereign rights over oil and gas resources and control over activities such as sea bed mining.

The expedition will be collaboratively undertaken by the U.S. and Canada using two ships. Both countries will use the resulting data to establish the outer limits of the continental shelf, according to the criteria set out in the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The extended continental shelf, the seafloor and subsoil beyond 200 nautical miles from shore that meet those criteria, is an area of great scientific interest and potential economic development.

Satellite data shows the extent of Arctic sea ice this year is the second-smallest since observations from space began 30 years ago. This is the second year in a row that the most direct route through the Northwest Passage has opened up, making access to the Arctic Ocean easier for ships.

The U.S. Geological Survey will lead data collection from September 6 to October 1 on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy to map the Arctic seafloor.

The Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada will follow Healy on the Canadian Coast Guard ship Louis S. St. Laurent and study the geology of the sub-seafloor.

“Use it or lose it is the first principle of sovereignty in the Arctic,” said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, announcing the geo-mapping program. “To develop the North we must know the North. To protect the North, we must control the North. And to accomplish all our goals for the North, we must be in the North.”

Harper said the mission will “use the full tools of modern geological science to encourage economic development and defend Canadian sovereignty throughout the North.”

Possible foot of the slope north of Chukchi Plateau
looking south-southwest. Water depth
range in image is -2880 to -3800 meters.
(Image courtesy U. New Hampshire)

“Managed properly, Canada’s share of this incredible endowment will fuel the prosperity of our country for generations. And geo-mapping will pave the way for the resource development of the future,” said the prime minister.

“The two-ship experiment allows both the U.S. and Canada to collect and share complementary data in areas where data acquisition is costly, logistically difficult, and sometimes dangerous,” said USGS scientist Deborah Hutchinson, who will sail aboard Louis.

“Both countries benefit through sharing of resources and data as well as increasing likelihood of success by utilizing two ice-breaker ships in these remote areas of the Arctic Ocean,” Hutchinson said.

“Healy will utilize an echo sounder, which emits sounds signals in the water, to map the seafloor. This will be done using a multibeam bathymetry system,” said USGS scientist Jonathan Childs, chief scientist on the Healy during the September cruise.

“Unlike conventional echo sounders, which measure the water depth at a point directly beneath the ship, the multibeam system collects a ‘swath’ of depth information about three kilometers wide along the ship’s path, creating a three-dimensional view of the seafloor.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funded U.S. participation in this mission and collaborated with the University of New Hampshire to collect bathymetric data in the Arctic Ocean on the Healy from August 14 to September 5.

The U.S. portion of this research is coordinated by the Extended Continental Shelf Task Force, a U.S. government group headed by the U.S. Department of State. The task force includes the USGS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, National Science Foundation, Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Navy, Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Executive Office of the President, Mineral Management Service, and the Arctic Research Commission.

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SACRAMENTO, California, August 18, 2008 (ENS) – Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California, Davis, are exploring a new style of farming in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that produces not crops but soils that store carbon dioxide.

The research team has won a three-year, $12.3 million grant from the California Department of Water Resources to test the concept on 400 acres in the Delta beginning next spring.

Called carbon farming, the project involves building wetlands, which is what nature originally grew in the Delta. Following the Gold Rush, developers “reclaimed” the land for agriculture by constructing levees to drain swamplands and contain the rivers that form the estuary.

Over the past 150 years, conventional farming practices have exposed fragile peat soils to wind, rain and oxygen, liberating carbon from the soil and causing subsidence, or sinking, of Delta lands. According to the USGS, most of the islands farmed in the Delta are more than 20 feet below the surface of the water. They are kept dry and intact only because of the levees.

Farmers’ fields adjoin the channels of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
(Photo by Phillip Capper)

The carbon farming project aims to rebuild the rich peat soils by re-establishing wetlands. A pilot project by the USGS and state Department of Water Resources has already shown that it can work.

On an island called Twitchell in the western Delta, researchers planted two seven acre test plots with cattails, tule grass and other wetlands vegetation. As the plants grew, died and decomposed, they left roots and other parts that gradually compacted into a material similar to the original peat. From 1997 to 2005, the USGS measured 10 inches of new soil.

The pilot also showed that the process could sequester up to 25 metric tons of carbon dioxide per acre per year and eliminate the CO2 emissions produced by current farming practices, which cause peat to oxidize, virtually evaporating and blowing away, the USGS reported in a briefing paper.

If California converted into carbon farms an area the size of all subsided lands in the Delta, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided each year would be equivalent to trading all SUVs in the state for small hybrids, the agency estimated.

The state is under a self-imposed deadline to scale back its greenhouse gas output by 2020 to the level emitted in 1990.

As more governments tackle greenhouse gases, the concept of carbon farming is catching on. Usually, the term refers to paying farmers to plant trees and other vegetation that stores carbon for longer periods than crops; or to less frequently till the land, a practice that delivers carbon in the soil into the atmosphere.

The Delta brand of carbon farming specifically involves rebuilding wetlands. The project is not without potential risks. As the USGS briefing paper notes, “Large scale efforts to manage the environment have a decidedly mixed record of success.”

One possibility is that the wetlands will emit methane and nitrous oxide, two greenhouse gases more potent than carbon dioxide, potentially canceling the benefit of sequestering the carbon. The USGS said measurements of methane varied widely in the pilot. The scientists did not attempt to measure nitrous oxide.

Another possible drawback is that certain conditions under which carbon is captured may produce methylmercury, a neurotoxin that accumulates in the food chain, concentrating in fish.

Methylmercury is highly toxic to mammals, including people, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Eating fish high in methylmercury can permanently damage the brain, kidneys, and developing fetus. Effects on brain functioning may result in irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or hearing, and memory problems. If the benefits of wetlands restoration outweigh problems, the project could accomplish three big goals: it would sequester carbon, reverse subsidence and provide a means of making a living from land in a sustainable manner, said Roger Fujii, Bay-Delta program chief for the USGS California Water Science Center.

In a statement, Fujii said, “This project is an investment in California’s future that could reap multiple benefits over several decades – for California, the nation and the world.”

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WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2008 (ENS) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to conduct a detailed study of the disposal methods used by hospitals, long-term care facilities, hospices and veterinary hospitals that wish to discard unused pharmaceuticals.

The EPA is seeking more information on the practices of the health care industry to inform future potential regulatory actions, and identify best management and proper disposal practices.

EPA has assumed that one facility in seven, approximately 3,500 facilities, would be selected to receive the detailed questionnaire.

To gather this information, the agency has drafted an Information Collection Request and is now seeking public input on the request form. Public comments on the Health Care Industry ICR will be taken for 90 days after it is published in the Federal Register, which should occur shortly.

Unwanted pharmaceuticals can contaminate rivers,
streams and lakes when they are
flushed or washed down the drain.
(Photo by Carlos Lowry)

Drugs taken for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems contaminate U.S. waterways, according to a March 2008 report by the Associated Press National Investigation Team. The findings confirm a 2002 report by the U.S. Geological Survey that was the first nationwide study of pharmaceutical pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams.

The questionnaire is one of several actions the agency is taking to strengthen its understanding of disposal practices and potential risks from pharmaceuticals in water.

The agency also is commissioning the National Academy of Sciences to provide scientific advice on the potential risk to human health from low levels of pharmaceutical residues in drinking water.

The Academy will convene a workshop of scientific experts December 11-12, to advise the agency on methods for screening and prioritizing pharmaceuticals to determine potential risk.

“The agency’s work to increase industry stewardship and scientific understanding of pharmaceuticals in water continues,” said Benjamin Grumbles, EPA’s assistant administrator for water.

“By reaching out to the National Academy of Sciences and requesting information from the health care industry, EPA is taking important steps to enhance its efforts,” he said.

The EPA is also expanding a recent fish tissue pilot study to include samples from across the country to determine whether residues from pharmaceuticals and personal care products may be present in waterways and the fish that inhabit them.

Grumbles says the agency is developing a methodology to establish water quality criteria to protect aquatic life and is conducting studies to examine the potential occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in sewage sludge and wastewater.

The agency has developed analytical methods capable of detecting pharmaceuticals, steroids and hormones at very low levels, he says.

The EPA also is participating in an international effort with the World Health Organization to study appropriate risk assessment methods for pharmaceuticals as environmental contaminants.

All these actions reflect advice the agency sought and received from a broad range of stakeholders including environmental and public health groups, drinking water and wastewater utilities, state water and public health agencies, and the agricultural community.

Grumbles says that the EPA’s approach to learning about pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water is aimed at strengthening scientific knowledge, improving public understanding, building partnerships for stewardship, and taking regulatory action when appropriate.

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ALBANY, New York, July 24, 2008 (ENS) – New York state is preparing for a boom in its natural gas industry.

The industry has expressed an interest in drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation, situated in southwestern New York and the Catskill Mountains.

Most of the Marcellus Shale deposits lie beneath Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, but smaller deposits extend north to New York, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Currently, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation is considering three applications for gas wells in Chenango, Tioga, and Chemung Counties. They are part of a wave of gas leasing activity that has occurred in parts of northern Pennsylvania and western New York, encouraged by record gas production in 2005.

“Natural gas exploration has the potential to increase domestic supplies of natural gas, create jobs, expand the tax base and benefit the upstate economy,” said Governor David Paterson Wednesday as he signed a bill that regulates the spacing of gas wells.

“My administration is committed to working with the public and local governments to ensure that if the drilling goes forward, it takes place in the most environmentally responsible way possible,” the governor said.

Wells such as this produced enough
natural gas in New York state in
2004 to supply 800,000 homes
for a year. (Photo courtesy DEC)

The bill he signed extends the state’s uniform well spacing system to include additional wells and drilling activity, including horizontal well drilling.

A spacing unit is the land area from which a well is expected to recover oil or gas. The bill adds requirements about how wells may be located within spacing units and how far they must be from the boundaries.

Natural gas production in New York dates back to 1821, but new techniques for extracting the gas are now available.

Because new horizontal drilling techniques will likely be used, Governor Paterson has directed the state Department of Environmental Conservation to prepare an updated Generic Environmental Impact Statement to ensure that all environmental impacts from this type of drilling are addressed.

The update will examine potential impacts from new horizontal drilling techniques, including potential impacts to groundwater, surface water, wetlands, air quality, aesthetics, noise, traffic and community character, as well as cumulative impacts.

The update will occur as part of a public process that ensures that concerns raised by residents who could be affected by drilling activities are heard and considered.

The governor pledges that while the bill streamlines permitting for drillers, it does not relax environmental safeguards.

“This new law will ensure greater efficiency in the processing of requests to permit oil and gas wells, while maintaining environmental and public health safeguards, said Paterson.

The new requirements are intended to result in more effective recovery of oil and natural gas, and reduce unnecessary land disturbance, the governor said.

Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis said, “Let it be clear: DEC will be vigilant in ensuring environmental safeguards. Water protection will be a top priority. As the issue of potential natural gas drilling develops, Governor Paterson and DEC are committed to exercising its authority to protect New Yorkers and their environment.”

In addition, DEC is reviewing a variety of other areas, including staff resources, existing regulations, jurisdiction over water withdrawals, permit application fees and procedures, and legal and regulatory compliance, that could be implicated by increased drilling activity.

Because drilling activity impacts local governments as well, Grannis says the DEC will be looking at ways to enhance the role of local governments in the regulatory process and in achieving compliance.

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WASHINGTON, DC, July 9, 2008 (ENS) – Today’s federal environmental research, development, and monitoring programs are not structured to handle such major problems as global climate change, declines in freshwater, and loss of biodiversity, warns a group of former senior federal officials who want to form a new agency by merging two existing ones.

In an article published in the journal “Science,” the officials propose an independent Earth Systems Science Agency that would be created by merging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and the U.S. Geological Survey, USGS.

Former NOAA administrator D. James Baker and former USGS director Charles Groat, among the article’s seven coauthors, see important synergies in linking the two agencies.

Baker said, “Population pressure, development impact, and resource extraction affect land and sea alike. Just as the science of the Earth is seamless, so should the government responsibility be merged for these separate Earth agencies.”

Groat points to the breadth of capabilities the agency would possess.

A new combined Earth science agency
would treat the planet as a whole.
(Photo courtesy NASA)

“The USGS, in bringing not only its geologic, biologic, hydrologic and geospatial expertise to the understanding of natural systems, but also its research capabilities in energy, mineral, water, and biologic resources, gives the new organization a comprehensive perspective on both environmental and resource systems. If we effectively link these capabilities with those of NOAA, we will have a powerful research institution.”

The authors recommend that no less than 25 percent of the new agency’s budget be devoted to grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements with academic and nonprofit institutions.

“Earth system science merges earth, atmospheric, and ocean science into a panorama of the earth system as it is today and as it will be tomorrow,” said Charles Kennel, former associate administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, and director of Mission to Planet Earth.

“We need it to predict climate change and its impacts, and to help us mitigate and adapt to other changes that have the potential to affect our quality of life and economic well-being,” Kennel said.

The article, entitled “An Earth Systems Science Agency,” points to the scientific advantages of linking NOAA’s atmospheric and marine programs with the terrestrial, freshwater, and biological programs of the USGS.

According to Donald Kennedy, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and past president of Stanford University, “It isn’t often that we are offered a real opportunity to make government work better. But the modest, sensible reorganization proposed here brings a new science-rich focus on some of our biggest contemporary challenges.”

Kennedy stresses the importance of linking the new agency’s activities with the tremendous talent in the nation’s universities, while former presidential science adviser John Gibbons says the new agency’s effectiveness will depend upon the bridges it builds to other federal agencies.

David Rejeski, who worked in both the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Council on Environmental Quality, emphasizes the importance of setting aside some of the Earth Systems Science Agency’s budget to fund research and development with breakthrough potential.

The paper points to the direct link between research and development and economic growth. The work of NOAA and USGS already fuels a large, multi-billion dollar private sector enterprise.

Mark Schaefer, a former official at the Department of the Interior and the White House science office, said, “Our nation’s research and development enterprise must be better structured and directed if we are to have any chance of solving the tremendous environmental challenges of our time.”

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COWICHAN, British Columbia, Canada, July 7, 2008 (ENS) – A canoe trip by American Tribes and Canadian First Nations through the Salish Sea this month will be part tradition and part science under a new partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey and tribes of the region.

Five of some 100 canoes participating in Tribal Journeys, an annual paddle through the inland waters of British Columbia and Washington, will carry Global Positioning System units and probes that measure the quality of the water, including its temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids and turbidity.

Aided by scientists from the USGS, the project aims to get a better handle on environmental degradation of the tribes’ ancestral waters.

“Over the last 100 years, people have looked at our most sacred site as a dump site,” said Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Tribe, which is coordinating the project.

“You have everything – heavy metals, toxins, farm runoff, nonpoint pollution – and it ends up in the Salish Sea. It’s up to this generation and future generations to make everyone aware of the conditions,” Cladoosby said in a statement. “We as Coast Salish have decided ‘no more,’ and we are stepping forward to restore and protect our most precious waters.”

The Salish Sea encompasses the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia; the Strait of Juan de Fuca that flows between Washington and British Columbia; and Puget Sound in Washington. Coast Salish is the collective name for a number of tribes and First Nations people of the region.

Coast Salish tribes traditionally paddled the Salish Sea to meet for ceremonies and festivals. The Tribal Journeys Canoe Voyage started in 1989 to revive and celebrate the tradition.

Paddlers land at Swinomish
in Washington state. July 26,
2006. (Photo courtesy
Swinomish Indian Tribal
Community)

This year’s Tribal Journeys, billed as the largest yet, begins for its farthest-flung participants on July 8. Tlingket paddlers will come from as far north as the border of Alaska with British Columbia, and Haida paddlers will come from Haida G’wai far to the north, also called the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Paddlers will travel from as far south as Oregon, and all will end their trip at Cowichan Bay on southern Vancouver Island on July 28.

The gathering in Cowichan marks the start of the 2008 North American Indigenous Games, which runs from August 2 to 10 and will involve more than 7,000 athletes competing in 16 sports.

For the U.S. Geological Survey, the journey will be the most important part of the event. Two agency scientists, Eric Grossman and Paul Schuster, are serving as science advisors. Sarah Akin, a scientist with the Swinomish Tribe, is leading the project.

“It was a great honor to be invited by Coast Salish to help identify some of the coastal water quality and habitat problems that are affecting the marine resorces of the Coast Salish ecoregion,” Grossman said in a podcast. He has been studying the effects of urbanization on water quality and habitat in the Puget Sound,

Grossman said the USGS will teach Coast Salish participants how to make the measurements independently. “We’ll be empowering them to continue this type of science in the future, if they choose,” he said.

Canoes are considered especially suited to the task because they do not discharge pollutants or otherwise disrupt the water.

The concept of adding science missions to canoe voyages was tested last year in Alaska during the Yukon River Healing Journey, a 1,200 mile paddle down the Yukon. The journey’s chief goal was to promote environmental awareness and cultural ties, but participants, under the guidance of USGS hydrologist Paul Schuster, also collected water quality measurements along the way.

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