• Six People Die in Sunday Tornadoes
  
• Environmentalists Criticize Senate Energy Bill
  
• Baltimore to Begin Billion Dollar Sewer Upgrade
  
• Lawsuit Seeks Cleanup at Alaska Military Base
  
• Ford to Clear Dump in National Park
  
• Research Promises Answers to Water Pollution
  
• Westchester Suburbs Crucial to Hudson Valley Diversity
  
• Humane Society Honors Champions of Animal Rights
  

Six People Die in Sunday Tornadoes

The storm was part of a weather system that left pockets of devastation in areas of Maryland, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky on Sunday, killing at least six people.

In Maryland, a powerful tornado killed three people and leveled parts of La Plata, a small town 25 miles south of Washington, DC. A tornado in Missouri struck Marble Hill, killing a 12 year old boy who was hurled 50 yards through the air.

In Illinois, a tornado tore this house completely off its foundation on Sunday. (Photo courtesy National Weather Service)

The damage assessment team from the Baltimore-Washington forecast office of the National Weather Service said the tornado that devastated portions of Charles County in southern Maryland was a F5 on the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale, a monster of a tornado.

For a tornado to be classified as an F5, winds must be in the 261-318 mile per hour (mph) range, which can lift strong frame homes and blow them off their foundations, send automobiles flying through the air, and strip the bark off trees. This is the first F5 tornado recorded in Maryland history.

The twister that touched down in Shenandoah, Virginia was measured to be a F2, which is characterized by winds between 113-157 mph that can tear roofs off houses, demolish mobile homes, overturn box cars, lift cars off the ground and snap trees.

According to the Storm Prediction Center, 100 tornadoes have been documented so far this month. During an average April, the United States averages 140 tornadoes.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service said the weekend's weather was triggered by a vigorous upper level storm system, as it moved from the Midwest to the East. Along the way, the system picked up warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and drew colder air in from Canada.

The resulting violent clashes between the warm, moist air near the surface, and cold, dry air higher up created a series of severe thunderstorms with baseball sized hail, and devastating tornadoes.

"The combination of these factors causes thunderstorms to spin up quickly, and sometimes causes the entire storm to rotate and spawn tornadoes," said Joe Schaefer, director of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Environmentalists Criticize Senate Energy Bill

The bill includes a measure to triple ethanol use in vehicle fuels by 2012, expand tax incentives for wind energy, and require that an additional one percent of the nation's electricity come from new renewable energy sources by 2005, increasing each year thereafter until renewable energy provides 10 percent of the national electricity supply by 2020.

But conservation groups criticized the bill for failing to boost vehicle fuel efficiency or take other steps to reduce the nation's energy consumption.

"The Senate Energy Bill would have been forward thinking legislation when Grover Cleveland was President, " said Friends of the Earth president Brent Blackwelder. "America has the brainpower and know how to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but we lack the leadership to fight the wealthy corporate polluters that steer our nation's energy policy."

After the passage of the Senate bill, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a new analysis of the energy savings that will result from the Senate bill over the 2003-2020 period. The analysis, available online at: http://aceee.org/energy/0402senatebill.pdf, concludes that the bill will reduce U.S. energy use by a meager 1.6 percent.

"This bill is a failure because it doesn't significantly reduce oil dependence or pollution," said Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope. "Congress must create a different plan which protects our energy future, while protecting our land, air and water at the same time."

Among the bill's provisions are tax incentives for new energy efficient home and business construction, consumer tax credits for new qualified fuel cell and hybrid engine vehicles, and manufacturers' tax credits for energy efficient washers and refrigerators.

The legislation also offers loan guarantees and expedited approval for an Alaska natural gas pipeline, grants for state weatherization assistance programs, and funding for clean and efficient energy research and development programs.

"This bill is the tip of the iceberg of where we need to go and what we need to do for our domestic energy future," said Michael Marvin, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. "Tax incentives for clean energy technologies, services and products encourage the energy industry to be innovative and profitable while providing consumers additional choices at affordable prices."

Some of the provisions that environmental groups object to include billions of dollars in subsidies for the fossil fuels industry, including so called clean coal technology, and incentives for the construction of new nuclear power plants. The bill also overturns a Circuit Court decision that upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing - a controversial practice of injecting chemical solvents under high pressure into the ground to increase the yield of oil and gas wells.

The bill now heads for a conference committee where the differences between the House and Senate energy bills will be reconciled. One of the most important distinctions of the House bill is a measure to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling, a proposal that the Senate has rejected.

Baltimore to Begin Billion Dollar Sewer Upgrade

The agreement, which is subject to final court approval, answers charges by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over untreated sewage discharges that contaminate Baltimore area waters with bacteria, pathogens and other harmful pollutants.

Years of chronic discharges of millions of gallons of raw sewage have contaminated city streets and local waterways, including the Patapsco River and other tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Raw sewage can cause a number of diseases in contaminated areas, including cholera, dysentery and gastroenteritis.

Under the settlement, the city will begin a system wide upgrade to bring the city into long term compliance with the Clean Water Act.

The sewer upgrade will cost about $940 million over the 14 year life of the agreement. The city has also agreed to pay a $600,000 civil penalty and design a biological nutrient reduction facility for the removal of nitrogen at the city owned Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant at an estimated cost of at least $2.7 million.

"Years of neglect in coming to grips with the problem of chronic raw sewage overflows has long endangered the environment and public health in the area," said Tom Sansonetti, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's environment and natural resources division. "Today's settlement will bring Baltimore into compliance with the law, protect our nation's waterways and keep the people who depend on them safe from pollution."

Most of Baltimore's wastewater is transported in sanitary sewer systems - a network of sewer pipes connected to the city's wastewater treatment facilities. The city experiences frequent sanitary system overflows caused by excessive use, limited sewer capacity and infiltration of water into the system caused by years of neglect.

Since 1996, the city has experienced hundreds, if not thousands, of unpermitted discharges of raw sewage from its sanitary sewer system. Conservative estimates of the volume of raw sewage discharged are well over 100 million gallons.

Heavy rainfall or snowmelts often overwhelm the capacity of these systems, resulting in combined sewer overflows that send contaminated stormwater and untreated human and industrial waste into local waterways.

"Today's settlement is a good deal for the parties, the public and the environment," said Donald Welsh, regional administrator for EPA's mid-Atlantic region. "EPA, Maryland and Baltimore can now concentrate our time and resources on preventing the sewage overflows that threaten public health and the water quality of the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay."

Lawsuit Seeks Cleanup at Alaska Military Base

The citizens' lawsuit, filed under the Clean Water Act, seeks to compel the Department of the Army and Department of Defense to address ongoing pollution and safety hazards associated with past and present bombing of Eagle River Flats. The Eagle Flats delta is part of Fort Richardson.

The Army uses Eagle River Flats, an extensive wetlands area on Cook Inlet near Anchorage, for bombing and training exercises.

More than 10,000 unexploded bombs and other munitions contaminate the Eagle River Flats. The groups say that so far, the Army has refused to address the dangers posed by the presence of unexploded ordnance at the site.

Attorneys for the groups filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court in Anchorage on April 12, after the Department of Defense terminated 10 months of negotiations with the groups.

"The military has polluted our traditional lands and waters with impunity," said Janet Daniels of the Chickaloon Tribe, and board member of Alaska Community Action on Toxics. "We are seeking to correct this serious environmental injustice and hold the military accountable for their dangerous actions."

In 1994, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed Fort Richardson on the National Priorities, or Superfund, list of polluted sites.

The groups allege violations by the Army of the federal Clean Water Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA); the Federal Facility Agreement for Fort Richardson; and the Solid Waste Disposal Act.

"We will not allow the United States military to operate above the law. In a democracy, it shouldn't be that way," said Pamela Miller, director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics.

After thousands of waterfowl deaths, the Army began to clean up white phosphorus contamination from their use of incendiary weapons on Eagle River Flats, but they have failed to address the larger problem of continuing pollution from unexploded bombs and other munitions, the groups charge. Meanwhile, the Army continues to fire bombs and other munitions into the waters of the Eagle River delta without a required federal Clean Water Act permit.

The lawsuit comes the same month that Congress takes up the Defense Department's request for broad exemptions from environmental laws at all military sites, citing national security needs.

The Military Toxics Project and its network of organizations around the country protest the exemptions proposed by the Department of Defense (DoD).

"The DoD's proposed exemptions would allow them to contaminate the water we drink and the air we breathe" said Tara Thornton national director of the Military Toxics Project. "The military has the responsibility to protect the health of the people they serve. The people that live around military sites deserve equal protection under the law."

Experts from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Defense Department are meeting in Indianapolis this week to discuss the status of efforts to address environmental problems at U.S. military bases. The USGS assists the Department in characterizing hazardous waste sites, evaluating cleanup plans, assessing biological resources and developing new techniques to improve the cost effectiveness of the military's environmental efforts.

Among the topics of this week's are:

• Restoration of contaminated ground water areas at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod
• Groundwater vulnerability to surface contamination in North Carolina
• Mapping of an MTBE plume on the site of Dover Air Force Base in Delaware
• Effects of heavy groundwater withdrawal near Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California
• Sources of pollution at the Belen National Guard Armory, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico

Ford to Clear Dump in National Park

Ford will remove 77,000 cubic yards of soil and debris - enough to cover a football field to a depth of more than 36 feet (11 meters) - contaminated with lead, heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as a result of years of industrial dumping.

After the contamination is removed, Ford will grade and then re-vegetate the site to restore its natural grassland condition. The cleanup will take three years to complete.

The National Park Service, which has been seeking a cleanup agreement from Ford since 1997, estimates it would have cost the government $30 million to perform the remediation.

In 1997, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Park Service against Ford and a number of other defendants under the Superfund law and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). Ford and the other defendants arranged for the disposal of wastes at the site from nearby industrial facilities during the1950s and 1960s.

After Ford reached an agreement in principle to conduct the final cleanup, the Justice Department was able to obtain settlements from the other defendants to reimburse the Park Service for almost $20 million already spent to remove thousands of drums and other contaminated wastes from the surface of the Krejci site.

"By stepping forward and accepting responsibility for the final cleanup, Ford helped break a logjam preventing settlement of the litigation," said Tom Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "As a result, the Krejci Dump restoration will be completed at minimal cost to the public."

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park was created by Congress in 1974. It preserves 33,000 acres of pastoral valley along 22 miles of the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron.

More than 3.5 million visitors use the park each year, more than the number that visit Yellowstone National Park. The 47 acre Krejci Dump Site is located near the center of the park.

In 1986, the Park Service discovered that the former salvage yard contained large quantities of hazardous wastes, much of which was covered over by junk and vegetation.

"The work that Ford will be doing will enable the Park Service to integrate the former Krejci Dump into the Park," said John Debo, superintendent of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. "It will protect users of the Park as well as flora and fauna at the site. We acknowledge Ford's act of responsible corporate citizenship and look forward to working closely with Ford to restore the ecological integrity of this seriously degraded area."

Research Promises Answers to Water Pollution

Researchers at the University of California at Davis and Olin College shows a simple way to work out the stability and water solubility of a whole class of clay like metal compounds called hydrotalcites. The finding should help geochemists make much better estimates of contamination.

Hydrotalcites are layered compounds that form when metals combine with aluminum oxides and hydroxides in the soil. By understanding how easily hydrotalcites form from various metals, scientists can predict how much of the metal stays dissolved in groundwater and how fast it can spread.

With some further measurements, the model could be used to make predictions about the solubility of a wide range of environmental contaminants, such as chromium, said UC Davis professor Alexandra Navrotsky, an author on the paper. The same methods could also be used to study contamination with radioactive wastes such as carbon, iodine and technetium isotopes.

The research appears in the April 26 issue of the journal "Science."

Heavy metals are not the only pollutants that can threaten human health and the environment. Septic tanks, sewage overflow, and landfills can contaminate drinking water supplies with germs responsible for human infections, including hepatitis viruses and E. coli bacteria.

The development of an inexpensive means for blocking the transmission of bacteria and viruses to humans could reduce disease outbreaks associated with groundwater and could also ease concerns about bioterrorist threats to drinking water supplies.

A team of scientists headed by Dirk Schulze-Makuch of the University of Texas at El Paso has experimented with the removal of viruses from drinking water using a filter made of natural minerals known as zeolites. Their findings are presented in the April 30 issue of "Eos," a publication of the American Geophysical Union.

In typical ground water, viruses carry a negative surface charge. Adding a filter that carries a positive charge to wells will cause the viruses to adhere to the filter, rather than being transmitted to humans who drink the water.

Schulze-Makuch and his colleagues suggest, based on their experiments, that zeolites would be effective filter components to block virus migration in ground water.

Zeolites possess a negative surface charge, which limits their natural ability to attract viruses. In order to reverse this charge, the scientists treated zeolites with a chemical found in hair conditioner and mouthwash.

In the field, treated zeolite removed at least 99 percent of viruses from the water and 100 percent of E. coli.

Westchester Suburbs Crucial to Hudson Valley Diversity

The Metropolitan Conservation Alliance, a program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), released a scientific report on Earth Day indicating that the towns of Lewisboro, Pound Ridge and North Salem contain an unusual collection of animals including bobcats and river otters, as well as large tracts of undeveloped land that need protection from poorly planned development.

The report calls the region the "Eastern Westchester Biotic Corridor" (EWBC) and makes specific recommendations to protect its remaining wild places. These include creating municipal ordinances that take a region wide view when considering the impacts of development, purchasing individual tracts as buffers to existing parks, and a variety of other approaches.

The Westchester Land Trust and the WCS say increasing development is reaching farther and farther from New York City, making planning of crucial importance to municipalities that have not yet suffered the effects of suburban sprawl.

"The purpose of this report is to plan in advance the protection of a corridor consisting of large swaths of habitat that still connect to one another," said the report's co-author Dr. Michael Klemens, director of the Metropolitan Conservation Alliance, a program of the WCS. "If these areas are carved into smaller pieces by unwise development, they lose their ability to protect wildlife."

Klemens said officials from the three towns are looking to the plan for guidance to manage development and protect wildlife habitat. Two of the towns entered into formal agreements with MCA/WCS; the third town was brought into the partnership due to strong local interest.

"We intend to use the findings of this study to guide our land preservation program, and we hope the three municipalities give it careful consideration as well," said Paul Gallay, executive director of the Westchester Land Trust, a conservation group based in Bedford Hills working on land preservation and development issues.

At the heart of the corridor is Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, a 4,700 acre county park in Lewisboro and Pound Ridge, which New York has designated as a Significant Biodiversity Area. The report found a wide array of species of conservation concern living in the region, including more than a dozen species of reptiles and amphibians, and scores of nesting birds, some of which migrate from as far as South America.

Humane Society Honors Champions of Animal Rights

The HSUS awarded Leakey the Joseph Wood Krutch Medal, presented to an individual who has made contributed to the improvement of the environment. The medal commemorates the late journalist and naturalist, Joseph Wood Krutch, who spent his last years defending life on Earth.

The HSUS presented the award at its Humane Awards gala, which honors corporate and Congressional champions who are making the world a better place for animals.

Richard Leakey is a paleontologist and conservationist whose leadership of the Kenya Wildlife Service made that country a safe haven for African elephants and other wildlife who are targeted by poachers. The Kenyan government garnered worldwide attention through its decision to burn Kenya's stockpile of ivory tusks.

Leakey led the successful fight to ban the international trade in ivory because of the enormous pressure the trade put on elephant populations in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa.

"Richard Leakey went up against many in Africa who argued that elephants are a resource to be consumed," said Paul Irwin, president and CEO of the HSUS. "Richard Leakey demonstrated that elephants not only have intrinsic value as living creatures, they also bring tourism to a nation's economy."

The HSUS also honored Senators Robert Byrd, Robert Smith and Barbara Boxer, and Representatives Elton Gallegly and Peter DeFazio, awarding them the Humane Lifetime Achievement Award.

Senator Smith fought to end subsidies for mink farms and helped create partnerships to house chimpanzees no longer used in research. Senator Byrd has championed animal protection on the Senate floor and secured millions of dollars for enforcement of the Humane Slaughter Act and the Animal Welfare Act.

Senator Boxer, who could not attend the awards ceremony, worked to pass legislation to protect dolphins from commercial tuna fleets.

Representative Gallegly introduced legislation to prohibit the sale of so called crush videos depicting acts of animal cruelty, and authored legislation to halt the killing of bears for their gall bladders. Representative DeFazio promoted a ban on government funded lethal predator controls, including poisons, aerial gunning, and steel jawed leghold traps, and helped to enact the Humane Air Transportation for Animals Act, which increased protections for pets and other animals traveling by air.

Other award recipients include The Procter & Gamble Company, RealNetworks, Inc., Johnnic Communications and Citigroup Asset Management.