DISPATCHES
Mining the Everglades
The Florida Everglades are known for many things: alligators and crocodiles, mangroves and cypress swamps, herons and spoonbills. But open pit mines? Perhaps, if the Bush administration has its way. In 2002 the Army Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Service issued permits to 10 mining companies, allowing them to begin mining for limestone in a 22,000-acre region of the eastern Everglades. The 80-foot-deep mine pits would have drained water from the Everglades and could have contaminated the drinking water supply of millions of Miami-Dade County residents. The project would also have undermined the $11 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan -- the largest and most ambitious wetlands restoration project ever attempted. NRDC and other groups filed suit to stop the mining project, and in March a federal district court in Miami blocked the permits, ruling the agencies had violated federal law by ignoring the threat posed by the mines to the environment.
-- Lisa Whiteman
The Nation's River
Tires, discarded appliances, and thousands of plastic bottles crowd the banks of the Anacostia River, which runs through Prince George's County, Maryland, into Washington, D.C., where it divides the city less than a mile from the Capitol. Ducks and herons navigate the river's brown waters in the shadow of highway overpasses,undaunted by the floating trash, while neighborhood residents are kept out by concrete-flanked banks clogged with debris.The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that 20,000 tons of trash end up in the river every year -- an amount that overwhelms the efforts of dedicated volunteers who haul away refuse in wheelbarrows. In March, NRDC joined 23 community, sporting, and environmental groups in petitioning the Maryland Department of the Environment to list the Anacostia River and its tributaries -- which cover a 178-square-mile area -- as "impaired by trash" under the Clean Water Act. This classification would require local and federal authorities to devise a plan to rehabilitate the choking waterway.
-- Kathryn McGrath
Clean Air Watchdogs
In March, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., struck down a highly contentious EPA rule that would have weakened a key provision of the Clean Air Act. The rule would have created a loophole permitting the nation's largest industrial polluters to upgrade their facilities without installing modern pollution controls. NRDC, along with 15 states, 27 cities, and 16 public interest groups, filed suit against the agency, arguing that the rule violated the Clean Air Act and would allow more than 20,000 power plants and other industrial facilities to dramatically increase their emissions without any regard for public health. In a sharp rebuke of the Bush administration's attempt to rewrite the act, the court said the proposed rule was "contrary to the plain language...of the [Clean Air] Act."
-- Kathryn McGrath
Mahogany's Steep Price
Is your coatrack contraband? It could be, if it's made from bigleaf mahogany, a tree that fuels an illicit timber trade between the United States and Peru. Bigleaf mahogany is teetering on the brink of extinction, and loggers in pursuit of the luxury timber it yields now must venture deep into the Amazon to find it. In the process, they're not only edging out jaguars and other endangered species, but also invading the homeland of indigenous tribes who have lived in isolation for thousands of years. Unfortunately for the Amahuaca, Youra, and Mascho Piro tribesmen, their bows and arrows are little match for loggers with motorized vehicles and guns. In March, NRDC and two Peruvian human rights organizations announced their intent to file suit against the U.S. departments of interior, agriculture, and homeland security, as well as four U.S. importers, for violation of the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.
-- Bennett Madison
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"Ocean, who is the source of all."
-- Homer
For many years we've been debating how to manage and conserve our ocean fisheries. The most effective law on the books is the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which was passed in 1976. And yes, that's the same Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, who supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He's not always on our side, but he is a strong ally on responsible fisheries management. Studies have shown that if managers were to follow Magnuson-Stevens fishery restoration plans, they could triple the economic value of depleted ocean fisheries. Unfortunately, legislation introduced in the House by Representative Richard Pombo, Republican of California, would roll back key conservation provisions. NRDC hopes Congress will vote in favor of economic and ecological sustainability by reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Act with no rollbacks.
Finally it seemed that the Bush administration was doing something real about our oil dependence. In May the administration sent a proposal to Congress requesting permission to restructure fuel-economy standards for U.S. automakers, ostensibly to encourage them to make more fuel-saving passenger vehicles. The truth is that its proposal would actually weaken current law. It eliminates the requirement that automakers use the best available fuel-saving technology. This, combined with other loopholes in the proposal, could result in an overall decrease in fuel efficiency. What's more, the President already has the authority to raise the requirement for fleetwide fuel efficiency from 27.5 miles per gallon to, say, the reasonable 33 miles per gallon proposed by Representative Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts. If Congress is serious about freeing us from oil dependence, it needs to set an overall oil savings target and raise the minimum fuel-efficiency standards.
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