Asian Carp Poised to Devastate Great Lakes

Like a Greek tragic comedy, the Asian carp were brought to America to help, but have now become a seemingly unstoppable force of destruction. The carp were brought to America in the 1970's to eat algae on catfish farms. After large floods in the 1990’s, the farms overflowed and allowed the Asian carp to escape into the Mississippi River. The carp flourished along the river and in highly infested areas along the Mississippi, Asian carp make up 97% of the weight of the fish population. Knowing the projected route, Michigan went so far as to try to close the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in order to protect the Great Lakes from the invasive carp. This attempt was denied by the Supreme Court. Recent DNA of the Asian carp has been found in the Great Lakes and experts seem confident that the fish have breached the defenses. As it stands, a non-native species of fish with no natural predators is predicted to take over the Great Lakes.

Apart from the lack of diversity that would follow, this would be devastating to the economy of the Great Lakes. Some attempts have already been made to keep the invasive Asian carp out, such as by connecting a $9 million electric fence. Although this may sound like a lot to spend to protect from a carp attack, the fishing industry of the Great Lakes is estimated to be $7 billion annually. The carp will affect every state and province which relies on the Lakes. There will be some adapting that can be done to harness all benefits from the carp, but changes will cost money. This will forever change the lifeline of the Great Lakes economy for the worse, and there doesn’t seem to be a cure in sight for an already troubled region.

--Ed Plato

Rendell proposes 5% tax on natural gas industry in PA

This article details a plan that is about to be introduced in Pennsylvania, by Gov. Edward Rendell, to tax the natural gas industry. This plan, if put into motion, could put hundreds of millions of dollars back into a struggling budget. When looking at last year’s numbers it was estimated that with the tax the state would have made $107 million in its first year.

The idea for this tax arises because of the great influx of energy giants coming to drill for natural gas in the state. For example Mobil has just agreed to pay $41 billion for XTO Energy Inc. in part because of the drilling sites it holds in Pennsylvania. There was also an instance when the state opened 32,000 acres of state forestland to drilling; the leases brought in $128.5 million-- twice the amount officials expected.

With the increase of drilling the state is making more money, but there are some concerns regarding the environment. Drilling for natural gas is done through a process called hydrofracking, a process requiring millions of gallons of water. With its demand for so much water it creates a few environmental problems, including water pollution, and forest fragmentation.

To alleviate these concerns the Susquehanna River Basin Commission regulates how much water companies can withdraw for fracking. They are hoping that with the tax there will be more money to hire more inspectors to cover the increasing amount of wells. In addition to the regulations PennFuture has called for a temporary stop to drilling in state forests until scientists have studied its effects on wildlife and habitat.

I think that the tax is an excellent idea; it has the ability to increase the state’s budget. This in turn allows the state to better public education, and public roads among other important things. I also believe that the state of Pennsylvania is taking many steps in the right direction to make sure that the drilling companies are not hurting the environment while they go about their business.

--Joe Wascavage

Energy companies responsible for climate change?

Kivalina is a barrier island off the coast of Alaska. There an Eskimo village of 400 is suing 20 fuel and utility companies for their contribution to climate change which is purported to be the main cause accelerating the erosion of their island. The reason why the village is suing fuel companies such as Exxon Mobile and Shell Oil is that blocks of sea ice used to protect the island’s fragile coast from harsh winter storms. Those blocks of ice no longer form and the high winds from the winter weather are eroding the narrow island’s coastline. Climate change is thought to be the reason the ice blocks are gone and the village wants the fuel companies to pay for their relocation.

This sort of lawsuit is not an aberration; there are two other major lawsuits against big producers of heat-trapping gases filed by environmental groups, private lawyers, and state officials. In Mississippi, Gulf Coast property owners claim emissions produced by local industry intensified Hurricane Katrina.

There may be more of a case then one first thinks. The lawsuit is filed under the same laws that allow a person to file a complaint against a neighbor for noise or odors that are a nuisance. Similar cases in the past include lawsuits brought against tobacco companies and the asbestos industry.

I think proving beyond a reasonable doubt the link between fuel companies and climate change, making tehse firms directly responsible for the erosion of Kivalina will be difficult--like tracing the butterfly effect. But as the article points out this, and similar, lawsuits will bring the issue of climate change toward the front of the national debate once again and will put pressure on Congress to address climate change and heat-trapping gases. More lawsuits and more pressure to pass laws regarding climate change are expected to come.

--Jon Bickford

Nantucket Wind Energy

This article is about a offshore wind farm in Nantucket which could possibly be a money saver for the New England economy. This wind farm has been a long debated project that would add about 130 wind fans about 5 miles off the nearest shore making this the first one in the United States if it does happen. People also did analysis showing that this project would benefit their economy financially saving them almost 4.6 billion dollars over 25 years. Everyone is for the alternative energy but people want to check and make sure that the risk towards birds and other shore area wild life isn’t harmful. This article is very similar to one out of the Sunday times about Maryland looking into the same alternative source of energy. I feel New England’s project is a little farther ahead because they have numbers and how much money it would save while Maryland’s project is just looking at how many jobs it would supply for people to work on the project. It doesn’t say who would pay those jobs. I feel that as long as the off shore wind farms don’t disturb the shore life or affect the wild life then they are a good idea because we can never have too many energy sources. Also since another state has similar project plans we could maybe join together to make both projects flow smoother or Maryland can sit and wait and see how it goes for New England and its economy. I’m all for this project and hope that it can be successful.

--Chris Sewell

Population Pressure

This article is discussing the problem of “How to Feed the World in 2050.” There are many problems that go along with this. The world’s population is growing exponentially and it is believed that by the year 2050 the population will consist of 9.1 billion people. When the population gets that high, the overall demand for food will be 70% higher than it is now. In order to satisfy this demand, more land must be cleared for agriculture. Over the past ten years, about 8 million acres have been cleared for agricultural use. But the amount of new land that is cleared for agriculture is a lot higher, because each year some of the existing farmland is lost to degradation and expanding human settlement. The FAO predicts that the amount of farmland will increase by 170 million acres by 2050, but because farmland will be lost in developed countries, the amount of farmland will increase by 300 million acres in developing countries. The expansion of agriculture threatens rainforests which are valuable natural resources that provide things like provision of fresh water, climate regulation, and medicines.

In order to prevent such a huge spread of agricultural land, we will need to take advantage of things like genetically modified crops. There are varieties of crops that are more resistant to salts in the soil. And when these crops are planted not only do they grow well but they remove the salts in the soil so that the lands can be used again for other crops.

--Steve Miller

Salmon fishery collapsing

(from the SF Chronicle- click to go to source)

No one's hanging the blame on any particular polluter or consumer of water, but bad conditions are on the brink of destroying the $3 billion salmon fishery in California, Oregon, and Washington. The system of water distribution is almost as tangled and screwed up as the state's system of government, and it's only recently that the threats to the fishery have received due attention. The chief response so far has been to ensure that enough water runs through the systems of streams that go hundreds or even thousands of miles inland to the spawning places, and while that sounds like a common sense solution it's anything but common sense to the people who have been using that water to farm. It looks like the real culprit is climate change, so... how should we respond? No simple solution in sight, unfortunately.

Ethanol guidelines

Glad to see that the EPA is tightening guidelines under which corn ethanol will be produced in this country. On the one hand we need to be patient with corn ethanol since ratcheting up of the technology should produce big results, but on the other hand switching the US corn crop all to ethanol has had some pretty severe impacts on food prices particularly in other countries. The global economic slowdown is hiding those from us now, but if and when things crank up again the poor will once again be feeling the hurt. In addition to giving incentives to improve corn processing technology, hopefully this will increase incentives for cellulosic technology, which is looking like the wave of the future right now. Be great to be able to turn waste into energy instead of turning food (even animal food) into energy....