• Hybrid Vehicles Lead Fuel Efficiency Ratings
  
• Superfund Cleanups Underfunded and Slowing
  
• Lawsuit Challenges Farming on Klamath Refuges
  
• Switch to Wet Cleaning Benefits Dry Cleaners
  
• Washington Jail Fined for Hazwaste Violations
  
• Natural Gas Trucks Outperform Diesel Models
  
• New Initiative Explores Threats to Aging Population
  
• Western Gray Squirrel May Need Protection
  

Hybrid Vehicles Lead Fuel Efficiency Ratings

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the 28th annual miles per gallon (mpg) estimates for 2003 passenger vehicles on Tuesday, offering consumers important information on the energy efficiency and pollution emissions of new cars and trucks.

"The fuel economy guide allows consumers to make informed purchasing decisions about what kind of gas mileage a new vehicle gets during normal usage," said Whitman. "By choosing more efficient models, people will not only save themselves money at the pump, they will help improve the quality of our environment. I believe that when people are provided the information this guide contains, they will make smart decisions that benefit both their checkbook and the air we all breathe."

Besides the hybrid Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, the top rated fuel efficient vehicles include the Honda Civic Hybrid and several diesel Volkswagen models. The Toyota Echo is the only gasoline fueled vehicle to have made the top 10 list for fuel efficiency.

The 2003 model vehicles with the lowest fuel economy are generally luxury class vehicles, including several Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, and Maserati models, the Lamborghini L-147, and several large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.

A joint EPA and Department of Energy web site, http://www.fueleconomy.gov, provides detailed information on vehicle fuel economy, including a complete version of the Fuel Economy Guide. The site includes fuel economy information going back to 1985, which can be helpful for buying used cars.

The website also includes emissions and safety data for model year 2003 vehicles as well as fuel saving tips for drivers. The printed version of the "2003 Fuel Economy Guide" will be available at car dealerships, public libraries and credit unions later this fall.

"The DOE and EPA have joined forces to provide clear, unbiased information to help car buyers choose the most fuel efficient vehicle that meets their needs," Abraham said. "By driving a more fuel efficient vehicle, a vehicle powered by alternative fuels, or even by driving our current vehicles more efficiently, we can all do our part to reduce our nation's reliance on imported oil and strengthen our energy security."

Federal fuel economy estimates are determined by averaging numbers gathered through tests conducted by manufacturers and verified by the EPA. Vehicles are tested in a controlled setting and the results are adjusted to reflect actual driving conditions.

All vehicles are tested in the same way so consumers can compare the results when choosing a vehicle type or class. The miles per gallon ratings appear on window stickers on all new cars and light trucks prior to sale.

The EPA has also posted the 2003 models on the Green Vehicle Guide website to give consumers a full picture of fuel economy and automobile emissions. Consumers can use this guide to locate the cleanest and most fuel efficient vehicle that meets their needs. The green vehicles guide is at: http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles

Superfund Cleanups Underfunded and Slowing

According to the Inspector General report, regional EPA offices requested cleanup funds for 81 high priority remedial waste sites, but the EPA refused to fund 20 sites, including seven listed as a top priority by the National Risk-Based Priority Panel. Remedial sites are those that need construction work such as building removal to stabilize the site and prevent additional pollutant seepage.

In addition to the sites receiving zero funding, the EPA only partially funded another 35 sites, meaning that 55 of the 81 high priority waste sites received less funding than needed to make them safe.

The report also revealed that another 12 long term response sites are not being funded at all, and 19 long term sites are being funded inadequately. These response sites, with ongoing operating and maintenance activities, were denied 43 percent of the funding requested, putting communities where cleanups are close to completion at risk of recontamination.

The funding slowdown means more health and environmental risks for nearby communities. For example, copper wastes are continuing to pollute a stream near the Elizabeth Mine site in Vermont, and pollution from the Atlas Tack site in Massachusetts is damaging wetlands.

"Many of the sites that have received no funding are in communities that have waited years for corporate polluters to clean up their messes. It is unjust to force these people to wait any longer," said Ed Hopkins, director of the Sierra Club environmental quality program.

The Sierra Club said the best solution is to restore the polluter pays principle to give the government enough money to clean up these toxic sites. Since the Superfund law was signed in 1980, Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton all supported a tax on chemical and oil companies that funds cleanup of sites on the National Priority List or Superfund list.

But this tax expired in 1995, and Congress has refused to renew it. In 1996, the Superfund trust fund had a balance of $3.8 billion collected from polluters for cleanups. Next year, the fund is projected to contain just $28 million, shifting the clean up costs to taxpayers.

"By letting polluters off the hook and forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for cleaning up toxic waste sites, the Bush Administration is leaving our communities at risk from toxic waste," Hopkins said. "Families shouldn't have to worry about toxic waste festering near their homes. This report shows that Americans families are paying a terrible price for the Bush Administration's decision to turn its back on the sensible, obvious solution: Make the polluters pay."

The Inspector General report also documents that the EPA's effort to clean up toxic waste sites is slowing under the Bush administration. The EPA completed construction on only 47 sites in 2001, far fewer than the 75 it projected and just over half of the 87 achieved in 2000.

The Inspector General report is available at: http://www.epa.gov/oigearth/ereading_room/boxer.pdf

Lawsuit Challenges Farming on Klamath Refuges

The suit goes to the core of how the refuges are being managed, and the groups say it may result in a major shift in future management of farming on the wildlife refuges.

Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges, located on the Oregon/California border, permit the commercial farming of over 20,000 acres within their boundaries. This requires the diversion of up to 60,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Klamath River and natural wetlands to grow crops including potatoes, onion, and alfalfa, at the expense of key habitat in the heart of the largest waterfowl migration corridor in the western states.

Over the last several years the commercial farms on the refuges have received water while adjacent refuge wetlands have gone dry.

This summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) rescinded a 1999 decision that found that diverting scarce water from wetlands in drought years harmed the refuges. Instead, the agency announced that it would give priority to commercial agriculture within the refuges, even if the refuges' marshes run dry.

The federal government has made declarations of drought disaster in the Klamath Basin every single year since 1997.

The groups have asked a federal district court in Sacramento to order the USFWS to review their current policy of giving commercial farming interests in the refuge water priority over wildlife in low water years.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to manage the basin's wildlife refuges for potatoes, onions and alfalfa, disregarding the geese, herons, and eagles that are in its care," said Jim Waltman, director of refuges and wildlife at The Wilderness Society. "The Bush administration apparently sees our nation's wildlife refuges as a haven for potatoes rather than the wildlife they were created to protect."

Lower Klamath and Tule Lake are the only wildlife refuges where broad scale commercial farming is allowed, the groups note.

"What we're looking for is balance and common sense - farming on our nations' refuges that threatens refuge wildlife and takes scarce water resources away from refuge wetlands as well as salmon and other species in the Klamath Basin should not continue," said Bob Hunter of WaterWatch.

Conservationists have also raised concerns that farming on the refuges pollutes the river and groundwater with toxic pesticides. More than 80 percent of western migratory birds use the refuges' wetlands, and in the winter months, the refuges provide essential habitat for the largest concentration of bald eagles in the lower 48 states.

"Year after year, advocates for birds and other wildlife must beg for water while farmers grow onions and potatoes on what was once prime refuge wetlands," said Wendell Wood of the Oregon Natural Resources Council.

The environmental groups will be represented by the environmental law group Earthjustice in their attempt to win new protections for the refuges.

"National Wildlife Refuges are special places, and our laws treat them as special," said Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles. "We don't grow onions in Yosemite Valley, and we shouldn't allow commercial farming in National Wildlife Refuges."

Switch to Wet Cleaning Benefits Dry Cleaners

Each of the five owner operated cleaners in the study - the first to assess the viability of the switch to wet cleaning by multiple cleaners - reported that they were able process the full range of garments they had once dry cleaned, maintain comparable levels of customer satisfaction, and cut their operating costs.

The study by Occidental's Pollution Prevention Education and Research Center (PPERC) comes on the eve of a November 1 vote by the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) on whether to become the country's first air quality agency to require dry cleaners to phase out the use of perchloroethylene (perc).

A chemical cleaning solvent used by 85 percent of all dry cleaners, perc is classified as a toxic air contaminant and a major groundwater pollutant in Southern California.

"Through these five case studies, we have learned about the keys to making a quick, smooth, and successful transition to professional wet cleaning," said Peter Sinsheimer, PPERC director and senior author of the report.

Professional wet cleaning is one of several alternatives to the use of perc. Introduced to the United States from Germany in 1991, it is a non-toxic, water based system that uses computer controlled washing and drying machines, biodegradable detergents, and specialized finishing equipment to clean wool, silk, rayon and other delicate fibers often labeled "dry clean only."

The five cleaners who participated in the study have anywhere from two to 27 years previous experience as conventional dry cleaners, and all had serious reservations at first about making the switch to wet cleaning - concerns that it might increase shrinkage, be more time consuming, or less effective.

But after making the switch, each of the five "considered switching a good business decision, a fact that reflects their confidence in the quality of wet cleaning and their confidence in the system's financial viability," the report states.

Among the benefits of switching to wet cleaning reported by the cleaners were improved worker health, with no headaches or dizziness, and reduced operating costs, due in part to the elimination of federal and state regulatory fees and costs of disposing of perc waste.

Each of the cleaners reported being able to wet clean more than 96 percent of all garments brought in by customers, a success rate comparable to that achieved when the cleaners were using conventional dry cleaning equipment. The five cleaners wet clean from 774 to 2,193 garments per month.

None reported any negative customer response as a result of the switch to wet cleaning, and all were successful in retaining their customer base during and after the switch.

Proper training and installation of wet cleaning equipment, as well as the ability to observe the claming process first hand at a demonstration facility, are important factors in a successful transition from dry to wet cleaning, the cleaners reported.

As part of PPERC's Professional Wet Cleaning Commercialization Project, each of the five cleaners received an equipment grant of $12,500, assistance in selecting and installing professional wet cleaning equipment, and training in the operation of the equipment. Funding for the project was provided by the AQMD, The California Wellness Foundation, The Gas Company, and Southern California Edison.

The PPERC report is available at: http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/pperc/resources/index.htm

Washington Jail Fined for Hazwaste Violations

After seeing several violations of hazardous waste rules go uncorrected for many years, the state Department of Ecology (Ecology) decided to fine the state Department of Corrections for problems at the Walla Walla facility. The penitentiary failed to properly manage its dangerous wastes, such as paints, used oil, anti-freeze, dental wastes and solvents, Ecology said.

According to inspection reports, the waste was not "clearly and correctly" labeled, some of it was being illegally stored, and by law some should have been removed from the facility for proper disposal. In addition, the prison failed to conduct proper inspections of its dangerous waste, and the penitentiary staff had not been trained to handle dangerous waste.

"We worked for several years with the penitentiary to help the management understand and comply with the rules," said Greg Sorlie who manages the state's hazardous waste program. "We need the Department of Corrections to take these matters very seriously and bring them way up on the priority list."

Along with the $54,000 penalty, the Department of Corrections was ordered to take immediate steps to remedy the violations. For example, all containers must be properly labeled, inspections must be scheduled, and hazardous waste must be sent to proper treatment, storage or disposal facilities.

"The Department of Corrections and the penitentiary take the Department of Ecology report and findings very seriously," said prison superintendent Richard Morgan. "Compliance is a foremost priority for us. We will be working closely with Ecology and staff from [the Department of] Corrections to meet environmental regulations and correct deficiencies."

Natural Gas Trucks Outperform Diesel Models

The study was conducted using trucks operated by UPS, which has the nation's largest private compressed natural gas (CNG) fleet. The study compared the operations, maintenance, performance, and emissions characteristics of Connecticut based CNG and diesel vehicles from 1997 to 2000, as part of the broader U.S. Department of Energy/National Renewable Energy Laboratory (DOE/NREL) Truck Evaluation Project.

The CNG trucks ran every working day with no major complaints and were used as much or more than the diesel trucks.

Compared with diesel truck emissions, CNG truck carbon monoxide emissions were 75 percent lower, oxides of nitrogen 49 percent lower, hydrocarbons and non-methane hydrocarbons four percent lower, and carbon dioxide seven percent lower. Total operating costs of CNG trucks were two percent lower than total operating costs of diesel trucks at one of the study sites and 19 percent higher at the other site.

Because the CNG trucks were built with early production technology, they had a 27 to 29 percent lower energy equivalent fuel economy than diesel trucks. Newer technology can reduce this deficit to as low as 10 to 15 percent.

The study results are detailed in "UPS CNG Truck Fleet: Final Results," available online at: http://www.ctts.nrel.gov/heavy_vehicle/pdfs/31227.pdf

New Initiative Explores Threats to Aging Population

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman met with the heads of the nation's leading aging organizations on Tuesday to announce the new initiative, which will examine the impact that a growing older population will have on ecosystems as well as encourage older persons to volunteer in their own communities to reduce hazards and protect the environment for future generations.

This will be the first coordinated approach by the agency to address environmental hazards that affect the health of the elderly, and to encourage older persons to volunteer in their communities to reduce hazards and protect the environment for future generations. Thirty-five different organizations were represented at Tuesday's meeting.

"Protecting the health of older Americans must be one of EPA's priorities," said Whitman. "There is much we can do together to make older persons and their families aware of - and safe from - environmental hazards that may impact their health and quality of life."

Speaking on behalf of the 50 member Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO), president and CEO of the National Council on the Aging James Firman said, "We commend the EPA for focusing on the health and safety of older Americans. We know many LCAO members will want to work with the EPA to educate seniors about such threats and promote civic engagement of seniors nationwide in combating these problems."

There are now 35 million people in the United States aged 65 years and older, and that number is expected to double over the next 30 years. In 2011, the first of the baby boomers will begin to turn 65.

Among older Americans there is an increasing number who are at risk of chronic diseases and disabling conditions that may be caused or exacerbated by environmental conditions. Hazards that may impact the health of older Americans are lead, indoor and outdoor air pollution, microorganisms in water and pesticides.

In December, the National Academy of Sciences will hold a workshop in Washington, DC, to examine the susceptibility of older persons to environmental health hazards, and what interventions can be undertaken to reduce the exposure to these hazards.

The Aging Initiative will draw on the expertise of professionals and researchers at the federal, state and local levels in the fields of environment and health. The EPA will also work with the public and service provider organizations dealing with the aging population.

Whitman announced that public meetings to get input for the Initiative would be held in the spring in California, Florida, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, DC.

Western Gray Squirrel May Need Protection

Up to three populations of the squirrel subspecies, living in Washington state's Thurston, Pierce, Klickitat, Yakima, Chelan and Okanogan counties, may need federal protection, the agency said. The finding was prompted by a lawsuit filed in July 2002 by the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and the Tahoma Audubon Society.

The USFWS is soliciting additional scientific information and public comment on the squirrel's conservation status throughout its range in Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. This information will be used to conduct an overall status review of the Western gray squirrel to determine if one or more of the Washington populations need federal protection.

"We will use the 12 month status review to look at all available scientific and commercial evidence available to determine what steps to take next," said Anne Badgley, USFWS Pacific regional director.

In determining whether a species may be listed as a distinct population segment, the USFWS must consider whether the population is discrete - physically separated from others of its kind - and significant - important to the continuing existence of that species. A species is defined under the Act as any full species or subspecies of fish and wildlife or plants, and any distinct population segment of vertebrate fish or wildlife that interbreed when mature.

Biologists believe Western gray squirrels, the largest native tree squirrel in the Pacific Northwest, probably once ranged throughout western Washington and the Cascades in association with oak communities, but their distribution has diminished as oak woodlands disappear. In Washington, where just three geographically isolated western gray squirrel populations now remain, the state has listed the species as threatened.

Threats to some populations of the species include habitat modification and destruction due to fire suppression, logging, overgrazing, highway construction, and residential development. Other threats include fluctuating food supplies, disease, competition, road kills and illegal shooting.

Comments on the status of and threats to the Western gray squirrel and its habitat may be submitted until December 28, 2002 to the Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Office, 510 Desmond Dr., SE, Lacey, Washington 98503.