Some Good Environmental News for 2010 Holiday Season!

Top 10 Reasons for Holiday Cheer for 

Our Environment at End of 2010
So "Of Paramount Importance" is happy to report a few pieces of good news and progress this year, even though there is never any shortage of things to be concerned and appalled about the in state of our environment.  Let's look at the bright side this Christmas Eve!

• 1 - Good News on Climate and Clean Air from Environmental Defense Fund

• 2 - US Senate Approves START Treaty

• 3 - WA State Regulates Copper Brake Pads - Good News for Salmon and Streams 

• 4 - Food Safety Bill Passes Congress 

• 5 - Electric Cars Are on the Market and Cities are Creating Electric Plug in Networks

• 6 - Bureau of Land (BLM) Management Announces  New 'Wild Lands' policy protects BLM potential wilderness!

• 7 - Safe Baby Bottle Act Signed by Governor Gregoire - Bisphenol A banned in WA State! 

• 8 -  Shoreline Begins Installation of Largest "Silva Cell" Tree Project in State on Aurora Phase II Project

• 9 -  Shoreline's Backyard Wildlife Project Achieves SUCCESS!

• 10 - City of Shoreline Requires Mitigation on Aurora Rents project to include signage to commemorate Shoreline Pioneer Judge JT Ronald and meaning of Ronald Place!

Entry Path to Paramount Park
at 12th NE, November 2010
photo creek - Janet Way
Good News on Climate and Clean Air from 
Environmental Defense Fund -
Environmental Protection Agencyended years of delay and announced it would commit to a schedule for establishing legal limits on global warming pollution from new and existing coal-fired and other fossil fuel power plants.

The EPA will issue draft emission standards by July 2011and then a final rule by May of 2012.

The announcement comes as a response to a 2006 lawsuit filed by EDF along with numerous states,Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club.

Polar Bears on Ice Flow -
photo credit- EDF

#2 - US Senate Approves START Treaty - Story from NPR 
and certainly a small step for peace in this time of seemingly endless wars!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/12/22/132262684/senate-ratifies-start?sc=nl&cc=brk-20101222-1504

US Senate Speech from Sen Robert Byrd a few years ago

#3 - WA State Regulates Copper Brake Pads - Good News for Salmon and Streams 

Story from Stormwater - Journal for Surface Water Quality Professionals

Adopt-A-Stream Logo

#4 - Food Safety Bill Passes Congress - 

Story from ABC News 

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/12/back-from-the-dead-food-safety-bill-passes-senate-in-unexpected-last-minute-move.html

Back from the Dead: Food Safety Bill Passes Senate in 

Unexpected Last-Minute Move

While it may not be perfect, most experts believe that the passage of this food safety bill is a big improvement over the alternative, which was doing nothing.

Lake City Farmers Market - Billy's Produce Stand
photo credit-Janet Way

#5 -  Electric Cars Are on the Market and Cities are Creating Electric Plug-in Networks -

Well it's taken a long time, but finally there are choices available on Electric Vehicles! 

Leading the Pack is the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt.  - Story from  Hybrid Cars 

Electric Cars: A Definitive Guide

Some other offerings which are coming on the market in near future are: BMW Megacity, 

BYD E6 (from CHINA!), CODA Electric Sedan, Ford Focus, Mercedes BlueZero, 

MINI E (from Mini Cooper), Mitsubishi iMiEV and many more.

Shoreline has joined this network via the new City Hall Parking Garage and its policies to comply with WA State legislation (WAC). The garage hook-ups are ready, but need to be made more available to actual electric vehicles to charge. 


#6 - Bureau of Land (BLM) Management Announces 
New 'Wild Lands' policy protects BLM potential wilderness!

In a press conference yesterday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a new federal policy that requires the Bureau of Land Management to take a fresh look at lands with wilderness characteristics, and set them aside as 'Wild Lands' to protect those characteristics. The Biodiversity Conservation Alliance works on public lands protection issues in the Wyoming area and their efforts have been beneficial to wilderness protection advocates nationwide.

#7 - Safe Baby Bottle Act Signed by Governor Gregoire - Bisphenol A is banned in WA State! 
WA Toxics Coaliton Blog has the story - 
http://watoxics.org/toxicswatch/breaking-news-victory-on-bpa

Surrounded by supporters, Gov. Chris Gregoire returned home Monday to sign key legislation into law.

Robert Whale/Reporter
Buy Photo Reprints
Governor Signs Bill To Ban BPA In Children's Dishware and Sports Bottles

# 8 - Shoreline Begins Installation of Largest "Silva Cell" Tree Project in State on Aurora Phase II Project

Silva Cell elements installed on Shoreline's Aurora Phase II
to provide part of the "natural drainage systems"
required by project as approved by City Council
in 2007

see Of Parmount Importance article from 5/10/10 http://ofparamount.blogspot.com/2010/05/silva-cells-aurora-phase-ii-is-top.html

# 9 - Shoreline's Backyard Wildlife Project Achieves SUCCESS! Shoreline is a Certified Backyard Wildlife City! 

Congratulations to Sustainable Shoreline, WOWTA, SCWHP and all the partners who achieved this goal! WELL DONE!

# 10 -  City of Shoreline Requires Mitigation on Aurora Rents project to include signage to commemorate Shoreline Pioneer Judge JT Ronald and meaning of Ronald Place!

Shoreline's Ronald Place (Red Brick Road) eligible
for listing by National Trust for Historic Places

See article from Preserving Shoreline Blog.

http://preserveshoreline.blogspot.com/2010/12/shorelines-ronald-place-aka-red-brick.html

Some might ask why we've included this in our "Top Ten" list.  The reason is that it is significant for Shoreline to recognize it's history in conjunction with a development process.  The history of the Ronald Place is vital to our development of our new Town Center, which will also be significant to our local economy. Sustainable development must recognize historical elements. In fact the SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) requires this recognition in it's SEPA Checklist. 


For the City of Shoreline to make this point, requiring a plaque marking a vital piece of our history is very important. 

Insecticide to be Banned says EPA-Decades After Poisoning Thousands

This News Story from Alternet Blog

  FOOD  

Environmental Health News / By Marla Cone

 1 COMMENT

Insecticide To Be Banned, Decades 

After Poisoning Thousands

A farm chemical that caused the worst known outbreak 
of pesticide poisoning in North America is being phased 
out. 
But why did it take so long?

September 1, 2010  |  

Photo Credit: USDA Photo by: Charles O'Rear

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Twenty-five years after the worst known 
outbreak of pesticide poisoning in U.S. history, an agreement is announced that phases out all uses of aldicarb. Manufacturer Bayer CropScience agreed to stop producing the highly toxic insecticide, 
used to kill pests on cotton and several food crops, by 2015 in all 
world markets. 
Use on citrus 
and potatoes 
will be prohibited after next year. 
New 
EPA documents show that babies 
and children 
under 5 can 
ingest 
levels of the insecticide 
through food 
and drinking 
water that 
exceed limits that the agency 
considers safe. “Aldicarb no longer meets our rigorous food safety standards and may pose unacceptable dietary risks, especially to 
infants and young children,” the EPA said. At least 2,000 people 
fell ill from eating California watermelons illegally contaminated 
with aldicarb on the Fourth of July in 1985. “It is good the revocation 
is happening; it is a shame it took 20 years,” said Richard Jackson, 
chair of environmental health sciences at UCLA, 
who was a top state health official during the outbreak.

A farm chemical with an infamous history -- causing the worst 
known outbreak of pesticide poisoning in North America -- is 
being phased out under an agreementannounced Tuesday by 
the Environmental Protection Agency.

Manufacturer Bayer CropScience agreed to stop producing 
aldicarb, a highly toxic insecticide used to kill pests on cotton 
and several food crops, 
by 2015 in all world 
markets. 
Use on citrus and potatoes 
will be prohibited after 
next year.

Tuesday’s announcement comes 
25 years after a highly publicized outbreak of aldicarb poisoning 
sickened more than 2,000 people who had eaten California 
watermelons.

New EPA documents show that babies and children under five 
can ingest levels of the insecticide through food and water that 
exceed levels the agency considers safe.

“Aldicarb no longer meets our rigorous food safety standards 
and may pose unacceptable dietary risks, especially to infants 
and young children,” the EPA said in announcing the agreement.

For infants, consumption of aldicarb residue -- mostly in potatoes,
citrus and water – can reach 800 percent higher than the EPA’s 
level of concern for health effects, while children between the ages 
of one and five can ingest 300 percent more than the level of 
concern, according 
to an Aug. 4 
EPA memo.

In a statement, 
Bayer CropScience 
said Tuesday that its decision to agree to 
phase out aldicarb 
came after EPA’s 
new report calculated 
the health risks to children.

The company 
said it “respects the oversight authority of the EPA and is 
cooperating with them” even though it “does not fully agree” 
with the agency's new assessment. Bayer CropScience stressed 
that the analysis “does not mean that aldicarb poses an actual 
risk” to consumers.

One of the most acutely hazardous pesticides still used in the 
United States, aldicarb is a carbamate insecticide that is taken 
up by roots and carried into the fruit of a plant. High levels of 
aldicarb can have neurotoxic effects; it inhibits an enzyme that 
controls the transmission of messages to nerves.

“After thousands of poisonings, it is mind-boggling that aldicarb 
is still in use,” said Steve Scholl-Buckwald, managing 
director of the environmental group Pesticide Action 
Network North America. “The wheels just grind so, 
so slowly. It never should have been registered in the first 
place back in 1970 and by the mid-1980s there was 
sufficient data to suggest it should have been taken 
off the market.”

On the Fourth of July in 1985, three people who had eaten 
watermelon in Oakland, Calif., rapidly became ill with 
symptoms that included vomiting, diarrhea, muscle 
twitches and abnormally slow heart rates. At the same 
time, people in Oregon were falling ill, too, and tests 
of watermelons found extremely high levels of aldicarb, 
which was illegal to use on all melons.

California ordered an immediate ban on watermelon sales, 
which meant huge quantities had to be destroyed in fields 
and at stores at the height of the season. How aldicarb got into watermelons remains unknown, but experts suspected that 
some melon farmers used low levels of it intentionally and 
illegally and that some also might have flowed off nearby 
cotton fields.

That summer, a total of 1,350 cases of aldicarb poisoning 
from watermelon were reported in California, plus another 
692 cases in eight other states and Canada, according to a 
report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
Seventeen people were hospitalized. Six deaths and two 
stillbirths were reported in people who fell ill, but the 
pesticide was not listed as the cause of death in 
coroner reports.

To date, it remains the largest case of pesticide food 
poisoning documented in North America.

Richard Jackson, who was a top official in California’s health 
department at the time of the watermelon poisonings, testified 
at a U.S. Senate hearing back in 1991 that aldicarb posed a 
health risk to children and that regulations offered an 
inadequate margin of safety.

“It is good the revocation is happening; it is a shame it took 
20 years,” said Jackson, now chair of environmental health 
sciences at UCLA.

Dr. Lynn Goldman, an environmental health professor at 
Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public 
Health, also welcomed the agreement, noting that aldicarb 
has been under special review at the EPA for more than 
25 years.

“It is good to see that EPA and Bayer have now reached 
an agreement to phase out the remaining uses,” Goldman 
said Tuesday.

Goldman was an epidemiologist with California’s health 
department when the outbreak occurred.

“As a state health official, I wanted to see stronger action on 
aldicarb,” she said, adding that she and Jackson 
“recommended that aldicarb be banned in California, 
because of its potency and what seemed to be a large 
temptation for misuse. We obviously did not prevail.”

Aldicarb was the first of the so-called “dirty dozen” 
pesticides that Pesticide Action Network targeted in 1985 
for worldwide ban. At the time, it was found in bananas and 
in well water on Long 
Island, NY.

Scholl-Buckwald said that the EPA relies mostly on 
voluntary agreements, instead of bans, to avoid lawsuits from manufacturers.

“The system is designed to leave things like this on the 
market as long as possible. It’s innocent until proven guilty. It’s really 
unconscionable that it takes literally decades to do this,” he said.

Goldman in 1993 was named EPA assistant administrator 
overseeing pesticide programs, but she said Tuesday that 
even then, her efforts to restrict aldicarb were hamstrung by 
insufficient scientific evidence at the time and a weak 
pesticide law. She said she faced “the need to exercise 
due process in making sure that the company producing 
the chemical had a fair hearing.”

Years later, in 2007, the EPA concluded that there were 
“potential human health risks” from drinking-water contamination, 
as well as risks to birds and other wildlife. But the agency 
approved its continued use with added precautions, such 
as increased setbacks between fields and 
water wells and reduced amounts applied to crops.

Then, this month, the EPA revised its analysis using new 
toxicity data and determined that current uses meant babies 
and young children were at risk of being exposed to levels 
in water and food that exceeded the agency’s level of concern.

Aldicarb residues are found in grapefruit, oranges, orange 
juice, potatoes, frozen French fries and sweet potatoes. 
It already has been banned in bananas because of the 
potential for high exposure in children.

In the new analysis, children’s exposure from drinking water was estimated based on aldicarb use at cotton and peanut farms in Georgia.

“Potatoes, citrus and water are the greatest contributors to the aldicarb exposure,” the EPA document says.

Bayer researchers recently reported that water contamination has been minimal. They analyzed 1,673 drinking-water wells that were within 300 meters of fields treated with aldicarb, which has the trade name Temik, and found that none violated the EPA’s health advisory limit.

“For nearly 40 years, Temik has provided farmers with 
unsurpassed control of destructive pests, without compromising 
human health or environmental safety,” Bill Buckner, 
president and CEO of 
Bayer CropScience, said in a statement Tuesday.

While it is known that high exposure can cause vomiting, diarrhea and neurotoxic effects, the potential for chronic health effects from low exposure remains poorly understood. It is not carcinogenic, although researchers found a high rate of colon cancer in pesticide applicators exposed to high levels.

Its use has steeply declined in the U.S. over the past couple of 
decades, particularly on food crops. It is currently legal to use only on citrus, potatoes, dry beans, peanuts, soybeans, sweet potatoes, sugar 
beets and cotton. Its main use is to kill mites and nematodes on 
cotton, potatoes and citrus.

In 2008, about 75,000 pounds were applied to California crops
 -- almost entirely cotton - compared with more than half a million 
pounds in 1998, according to state Department of Pesticide 
Regulation data.

Union Carbide was the sole manufacturer of aldicarb until 1987.
 Its plant in Bhopal, India, was making aldicarb when a pesticide 
called methyl isocyanate leaked, killing several thousand people 
in 1984.

Aldicarb already has been banned in Europe, although it is 
still used, and perhaps manufactured, in other countries.

Under the new agreement, Bayer, the sole U.S. manufacturer, 
said its distribution will end by 2017. Use on citrus and potatoes 
will be banned beginning in 2012, and all remaining uses will 
end in 2018. 
In the meantime, new requirements will go into effect to change 
labeling and to protect ground water near cotton, soybean and 
peanut farms.

“We recognize the significant impact this decision will have 
on growers and the food industry, and will do everything possible to 
address their concerns during this transition,” Buckner said. He added, 
“We recognize the loss of this tool to growers and will seek innovative 
solutions to fill this void.”

But Scholl-Buckwald said he was disappointed that the 
agreement didn’t have earlier deadlines.

“After 40 years, the question is why should there be a 
phaseout period at all,” he said.

Marla Cone is the Editor in Chief of Environmental Health News.

EPA Announces End to Endosulfan Pesticide

Activists are celebrating the EPA's decision to ban a pesticide, endosulfan.

The product has been shown to enter bloodstream of workers causing serious health impacts.
A press release from PANNA (Pesticide Action Network of North America) came out yesterday, and is emphasizing the impact of this decision by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

It is certainly a positive direction for the EPA to go to protect farmers and their families. WA Toxics Coalition organization states that this chemical had been sprayed on Christmas Trees in our state and in other uses.

photo credit - PANNA 

Farmers spraying Endosulfan

Endgame for Endosulfan

in 

• Press Releases

June 9, 2010

For Immediate Release

End game for endosulfan

Environmental health and farmworker groups celebrate 

U.S. phaseout of persistent pesticide

Today Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) and partners around 

the world are rejoicing over U.S. EPA’s announcement of the end of endosulfan, 

an antiquated, highly toxic insecticide. The pesticide has been linked to autism, 

birth defects, and delayed puberty in humans.

“This long overdue decision is an important victory for the farmworkers who have 

worked with this poison, the families that live near fields where it’s sprayed, and 

the Indigenous communities in the Arctic who are exposed to this persistent 

organic pollutant in their traditional foods,” said Karl Tupper, Staff Scientist 

with PANNA. “Our work has finally paid off.” 

PANNA and allies have campaigned for a ban on endosulfan for years, collecting 

tens of thousands of signatures on petitions to EPA, filing legal petitions, 

submitting detailed comment letters, and even challenging in federal court the 

agency’s 2002 decision to reregister endosulfan.

Citing concerns over human health and environmental degradation, EPA is 

negotiating an agreement from its manufacturer, Makhteshim Agan North America, 

to voluntary remove endosulfan products from the market.

“The end of endosulfan cannot come soon enough for farmworkers,” says Jeannie 

Economos, Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Project Coordinator with 

the Farmworker Association of Florida. “The health of farmworkers should have 

raised red flags on the impacts of this pesticide many years ago. Soil and water 

studies in and around the Everglades indicate that endosulfan is also of serious 

concern to wildlife.”

Today’s announcement is expected to have reverberations outside the U.S. as well. 

Already banned in more than 60 countries around the world, including Thailand, 

Sri Lanka, several African countries and all 27 members of European Union, a 

global ban on endosulfan is currently being pursued under the Stockholm Convention 

on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a UN treaty.  

“The U.S. EPA is taking the lead in the right direction with its decision to phase out 

endosulfan,” says Sarojeni V. Rengam of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific. 

“We hope this decision will increase momentum towards a worldwide ban that is 

effectively implemented by governments. The unhealthy legacy of this acutely toxic 

chemical has been felt for decades by farmers and rural communities in Asia and 

throughout the world. It is time for endosulfan to go.”

Pamela Miller, Executive Director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics, agrees. 

“Endosulfan has become one of the most ubiquitous organochlorine pesticides in the 

Arctic, contaminating the traditional foods of Arctic Indigenous peoples, including fish, 

seabird eggs, and marine mammals. This is a serious public health and human rights 

issue. Unless it is phased out globally, levels are likely to increase with climate warming 

in the Arctic. We hope that the U.S. phase out will help advance a global ban.”

The Stockholm Convention outlaws toxic chemicals that—like PCBs and DDT—

persist in the environment, bioaccumulate in food chains, and are transported across 

international boundaries on the wind and in ocean currents. India and China have been 

the most vocal opponents to adding endosulfan to the treaty, and have pointed to its 

continued use in the U.S. as evidence that it must not be harmful.

According to Tupper, who participates in the Convention’s negotiations, “Today’s 

announcement takes away one the most powerful talking points of those few countries 

that are determined to stop global ban.”

Jayakumar Chelaton, Director of the Indian NGO Thanal, said, “We expect that India 

will be encouraged to act after hearing the  decisions of the U.S. EPA to protect health 

and the environment, since Indian law makers have been referring to U.S. provisions 

when framing the Indian law. This is now the opportunity for all to stay ahead in saving 

the world and making it toxic free. "

Contacts: Karl Tupper, PANNA, 415-981-6205, ext 314, Kristin Schafer, 

PANNA, 408-836-8189 (cell