• Mercury Found Around Danbury Hat Factories
  
• Natural Gas Power Plant Launched in California
  
• Environmental Justice Applied to Outdoor Recreation
  
• Diazinon Levels Drop in Two California Rivers
  
• Habitat Homes in Tennessee Built Energy Efficient
  
• New Index Warns of Impending Heat Waves
  
• Urban Heat Islands Increase Downwind Rains
  
• Oregon Deer May No Longer Need Protection
  

Mercury Found Around Danbury Hat Factories

Mercury, once used in the hat making process, caused a brain illness in many hatters - hence the term "mad as a hatter." Though the hatmaking industry is gone from one Connecticut town, Danbury, mercury from the town's former hat factories still contaminates the area.

Danbury was known as the hat making capital of the world in the 19th century. During the industry boom of the 1880s, over five million hats a year were produced in 56 different factories in Danbury.

The production process involved using a mercury compound, mercury nitrate, to remove fur from its pelts and turn it into felt. President Abraham Lincoln's beaver stovepipe hats were made in this fashion.

Hat makers, exposed to large amounts of vaporized mercury, began to experience its effects on their own nervous systems. Doctors even recorded seeing holes the size of quarters inside some hatters' brains in post mortem autopsies.

The state of Connecticut outlawed the use of mercury in hat making in the early 1940s. But there are signs that mercury remains in soil and river sediment not far from where factories once stood.

Connecticut Sea Grant researcher Johan Varekamp and his team, who had been studying the distribution of mercury contamination throughout Long Island Sound, discovered high levels of mercury in a marsh within the mouth of the Housatonic River. Varekamp worked his way up the river in order to find the mercury's source.

He found extremely high levels in the Still River, a tributary of the Housatonic that flows through Danbury. He and his team have tested fields, rivers and soils inside the town, and have found mercury levels many times higher than natural levels.

Now, the team is testing additional sites to find out how far the contamination has reached. The Still and Housatonic Rivers are both prone to flooding, and Varekamp worries that a future hurricane or storm may flush more mercury into Long Island Sound, threatening its fisheries, and once again imperiling human health through seafood contamination.

Natural Gas Power Plant Launched in California

The first of its kind facility was designed by scientists at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and built by Pacific Gas and Electric Company in Sacramento.

INEEL developed the patented technology used in the small scale liquefier, and PG&E was responsible for its installation.

"The invention that was required to make this new liquefier is expected to revolutionize the liquefaction industry," said Bruce Wilding, INEEL natural gas products program manager.

The new technology reduces the size and cost of an LNG plant. Standard LNG plants cost about $10 million to build, and occupy five to six acre sites.

When this prototype technology is developed, plant construction cost is expected to be around $450,000, and only about 240 square feet of space will be required for each facility.

Liquefied natural gas from the plant can be used as a cleaner burning alternative to diesel to fuel heavy duty trucks and transit buses.

The new plant is designed to draw natural gas from an existing pipeline, liquefy the natural gas and store it until it is used, trucked away or reinjected into the pipeline. The small scale plant can be transported between sites, and could be used to provide emergency services to prevent service disruptions or allowing faster gas service recovery.

Because of their low cost and small size, a number of such facilities could be placed close to clean fuel customers. Customers could include public organizations such as city, county, transit, school district and waste removal fleets, as well as private fleets, such as those used by supermarkets and delivery companies.

"This project is directed at obtaining relief from oil dependence by diversifying our transportation energy supply," said Mike Anderson, DOE Idaho Energy R&D project manager.

The plant now begins a three to six month startup and operational testing phase.

Other partners in the project include the California Energy Commission, Sacramento Air Quality Management District, SoCal Gas Company and South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Environmental Justice Applied to Outdoor Recreation

U.S. Forest Service (USFS) researcher Cassandra Johnson collaborated with Myron Floyd from the University of Florida's Center for Tourism to define what environmental justice means for natural resource management.

The environmental justice movement emerged in the U.S. in the early 1980s as evidence accumulated that low income communities were more likely to be exposed to environmental hazards through the site selection of waste facilities or exposure to hazards in the workplace. The concept entered the context of outdoor recreation in 1994, when Executive Order 12898 directed federal agencies to develop environmental justice strategies and to identify patterns of natural resource use among minority and low income populations.

"So far, there has been only limited inquiry into what environmental justice means in the context of recreation," said Johnson. "Environmental justice activities have centered on hazards, health risks, and undesirable land uses. Only recently have social scientists started looking at disparities in the delivery of recreation benefits."

In a recent article in the journal "Leisure Sciences," Floyd and Johnson, a social scientist with the Southern Research Station (SRS) unit in Athens, review the origins of environmental justice and the related concepts of environmental racism and environmental equity. They outline the research needed for adapting a concept primarily associated with health risk to the area of natural resource availability and accessibility.

The two issues converge in examples from research on patterns of people who eat fish caught in public waters. A study from Detroit found Native Americans and African Americans consuming more fish caught on public lands - in both cases, exceeding the standards established to protect citizens from the toxins in contaminated waters.

Another study on preference found that bottom feeding fish - which retain higher levels of toxins - ere more likely to be consumed by low to moderate income minorities. Other issues, such as accessibility of resources and constraints to using them, are subtler.

"Issues of equality in allocating natural resources are moving to the forefront," said Johnson. "More attention must be given to defining the specific nature of racial discrimination in recreation and tourism in relation to environmental justice. The lack on clarity in defining these concepts is a major challenge to future research."

The full text of the "Leisure Sciences" article is available at http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/pubs/viewpub.jsp?index=3220

A related article by Johnson, "Outdoor Recreation Constraints: An Examination of Race, Gender, and Rural Dwelling," is available at: http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/pubs/viewpub.jsp?index=3050

Diazinon Levels Drop in Two California Rivers

Two reports by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) show that the application of diazinon on orchards, and the amounts running off into rivers and streams, have both dropped over the past decade.

However, despite the lower levels measured in 2000, the proposed state guideline for diazinon was still exceeded in 14 percent of the samples in the San Joaquin Basin and in 30 percent of the samples in the Sacramento Basin. The proposed state guidelines for chlorpyrifos, a pesticide with similar winter uses as diazinon, was exceeded in two percent of the samples in the San Joaquin Basin.

Pesticides were sampled at major river sites, including the Sacramento, Feather, San Joaquin, Merced, Tuolumne and Stanislaus Rivers and 21 smaller tributary sites.

"The most significant sources of both diazinon and chlorpyrifos were the part of the San Joaquin Basin upstream of Highway 165 and the Dry Creek tributary to the Tuolumne River," said USGS hydrologist Charles Kratzer, the lead author of the San Joaquin Basin report.

In the Sacramento Basin more than half the diazinon appeared to come from sources upstream of Colusa, California and about 30 percent from the Feather River, according to USGS hydrologist, Peter Dileanis, the lead author of the Sacramento Basin report.

The decrease in diazinon levels is related to a decrease in the amount of pesticide applied. Diazinon is a pesticide used to control insects, which is applied to dormant orchards in winter months.

Both USGS studies were funded by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to provide information to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board for their development of a federally mandated Total Maximum Daily Load regulation for diazinon and chlorpyrifos.

The San Joaquin River Basin report is available at: http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/wri024103/

The Sacramento River Basin report is available at: http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/wri024101/

Habitat Homes in Tennessee Built Energy Efficient

The technologies will be tested through the Buildings Technology Center at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

With four Habitat homes utilizing ORNL tested technology already constructed in Lenoir City's Harmony Heights subdivision, the new houses - which will showcase different technologies - will provide living laboratories for developing integrated building systems that lead toward net zero energy houses of all types by 2010.

Jeff Christian, director of the laboratory's Buildings Technology Center, said ORNL staff and the area Habitat group are looking forward to opening a new era of construction in the neighborhood.

"We have overwhelming support for this program," he said.

Christian also explained that the effort is part of DOE's Building America program, which has resulted in more than 14,000 homes around the country with energy efficient and affordable features, leading to zero net energy houses.

"Building America designs for this area can save from 50 to 70 percent on energy requirements and at little or no extra cost to the builder over his previous construction methods," Christian said.

"The majority of the new houses in this development will be prototypes of zero net energy designs," Christian continued. "The zero net energy houses will ultimately be equipped to export more energy produced on site than imported from off site on an annual basis. Enabling production technologies include solar photovoltaics, biomass microturbines, fuel cells and thermal and electric storage."

The first zero energy home in the Harmony Heights Subdivision now under construction will use structural insulated panels, a raised metal seamed roof, a biomass fired microturbine, two kilowatts of photovoltaic solar panels and a hydronic heating system.

Christian said the Habitat houses will integrate extensive energy saving technologies and systems now available and under development at the DOE and around the country. Additional plans call for the Tennessee Valley Authority to test advanced technologies in some of the houses.

"These houses will show builders, utilities and home owners the 'leapfrog' integrated technologies available today, as well as those on the near horizon that will be marketable by 2010," Christian said. "We hope to encourage local contractors to become DOE's Building America partners and provide them an opportunity to learn the cutting edge of energy efficient construction. The bottom line is an opportunity to construct more energy efficient homes and take advantage of the national exposure offered by DOE's Building America program."

New Index Warns of Impending Heat Waves

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed the Mean Heat Index, which became operational in May, to help save lives through better preparations.

The Mean Heat Index is a measure of how hot temperatures feel to a person over the course of the day. It differs from the traditional Heat Index in that it is an average of the Heat Index from the hottest and coldest times of each day.

It combines factors such as surface and ambient heat with humidity and other environmental factors.

"Heat waves often turn fatal when the nighttime temperature doesn't drop very much from a high daytime temperature," said Jim Hoke, director of NOAA's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center in Camp Springs. "The Mean Heat Index captures this potentially serious condition by including data from what should be a cooler portion of the day, and factoring that in to give a 'big picture' of the day's temperatures, not just the day's high."

According to NOAA scientists, a Mean Heat Index above 85 degrees is considered dangerous. NOAA statistics show that heat related problems kill more people than all other severe weather categories.

For example, based on a 10 year average from 1992-2001, excessive heat claimed 219 lives each year. By contrast, floods killed 88; tornadoes, 57; lightning, 52; and hurricanes, 15.

"Through improved heat wave forecasting, plus greater public awareness and education, hopefully these numbers will begin to decline soon," Hoke said. "Heat waves kill with silence. Intense heat can creep up on its victims, because it doesn't have the loud, crash and bang of a hurricane or tornado. Its average death toll, however, is much worse."

NOAA is now warning of hazardous temperatures in the upper Mississippi Valley and Great Plains beginning Monday and Tuesday.

Alerts and Mean Heat Indices are issued to the public in two ways. One is a daily, graphical representation of the United States with color coded overlays indicating the temperatures the Mean Heat Index is expected to reach or exceed in each area or region of the country. The agency also issues a more localized, text forecast of the Mean Heat Index, available for 90 cities across the country.

Heat waves in America have a deadly legacy. In 1980, a stifling heat wave killed 1,700 people in the East and Midwest; another East/Midwest heat wave killed 454 in 1988; in 1995, a heat wave claimed a total of 716 lives in Chicago, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and St. Louis, and in 1998, a heat wave killed more than 120 in Texas alone.

The Mean Heat Index, Hoke said, gives local health and emergency officials advanced warning when a prolonged period of dangerous heat approaches.

"Having more time to warn the public means increasing the chances of saving lives," Hoke said.

Urban Heat Islands Increase Downwind Rains

Researchers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) found that urban areas with high concentrations of buildings, roads and other artificial surfaces retain heat and lead to warmer surrounding temperatures, and create urban heat islands. This increased heat may promote rising air and alter the weather around cities.

"Cities tend to be one to 10 degrees Fahrenheit [.56 to 5.6 Celsius] warmer than surrounding suburbs and rural areas and the added heat can destabilize and change the way air circulates around cities," said Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Rising warm air may help produce clouds that result in more rainfall around urban areas.

Using the world's first space based rain radar aboard NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, Shepherd and colleagues found that mean monthly rainfall rates within 30-60 kilometers (18 to 36 miles) downwind of the cities were, on average, about 28 percent greater than the upwind region. In some cities, the downwind area exhibited increases as high as 51 percent.

The researchers also learned that, on average, maximum rainfall rates in downwind regions often exceeded the maximum values in upwind regions by between 48 and 116 percent. These results are consistent with earlier related experiments in St. Louis, Missouri and near Atlanta, Georgia.

During the warmer months, the added heat creates wind circulations and rising air that can produce clouds or enhance existing ones. Under the right conditions, these clouds can evolve into rain producers or storms.

The scientists suspect that converging air due to city surfaces of varying heights, like buildings, also promotes rising air needed to produce clouds and rainfall.

"A recent United Nations study estimates that 80 percent of the world's population will live in cities by 2025, so a better understanding of the impact of urban land use change on Earth's water cycle system is vital," Shepherd said.

The study appears in the July 2002 issue of the American Meteorological Society's "Journal of Applied Meteorology."

Oregon Deer May No Longer Need Protection

After obtaining peer review of its science, the USFWS published a new proposal to delist the deer population. The original proposal to de-list the deer, which has been protected as an endangered species since 1967, was published in 1999.

Action on that original proposal was delayed while the USFWS sought a review by a panel of independent scientists with expertise in Columbian white-tailed deer biology. That panel concurred with the USFWS determination that the deer should be delisted.

Recovery goals for delisting the Douglas County population of Columbian white-tailed deer require a minimum of 500 deer on at least 5,500 acres of suitable secure habitat. The Douglas County population is now estimated at more than 5,000 animals, living on 7,000 acres of suitable secure habitat on public and private land.

"Our decision to propose delisting the Douglas County population of the deer is the result of two decades of partnership, serving as an excellent example of how we can work together to conserve threatened and endangered fish, wildlife and plants," said Anne Badgley, regional director of the USFWS Pacific region. "Having independent scientists support our decision validates the quality of the work that has been done."

Declines in deer populations resulted from intensive hunting by early settlers who also drained and cleared marshes, forested swamps, and riparian areas for farms and cities, reducing habitat for the deer. Fewer than 300 Columbian white-tailed deer were found in Douglas County in the 1930s.

Habitat for the deer has since been protected through land use restrictions, land donations and exchanges.

The lower Columbia River population of Columbian white-tailed deer, which suffered substantial losses during spring flooding in 1996 and has not yet reached pre-flood population levels, will continue to be listed as an endangered species.

If the Douglas County population of the Columbian white-tailed deer is removed from the list, the USFWS and its partners will continue to monitor the population for a period of five years. If a decline in the population is detected, the deer's status will be reviewed.