An environmental impact study for Fort Monroe has been carried out over the last 18 months, and the environmental cleanup of the site is ahead of schedule. The cleanup process typically begins after the Army has left a base, but in the past five years, $10 million has been put into the cleanup at Fort Monroe. The Army will vacate the historic post in September 2011. Fieldwork for a contraband cemetery study has taken place, but no graves of contrabands have been found. (Contrabands were slaves freed after presenting themselves to Fort Monroe during the Civil War.) The Virginia DEQ initially identified 50 sites for a possible cleanup, and 25 of those sites needed further investigation after a preliminary study. Work has continued on 12 of these sites. There has also been “rampant speculation” about the amount of ordnance at Fort Monroe, which has proven to be “wide of the mark.” Out of 2,300 items dug at the Fort, only two were items of concern – a 10-inch cannon ball and a 3-inch Parrott rifle round. A cannon was also found, which has been restored and placed in the Casemate Museum on the Fort.
Newport News Daily Press: Article
Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality added about 1,400 miles of streams and rivers, as well as 2,500 acres of lakes, to a list of polluted waters in the state. The polluted waters report is released every two years and contains water quality assessments for over 1,200 watersheds in the state. The latest report concludes that about 12,100 miles of rivers and streams, 96,500 acres of lakes and reservoirs, and 2,200 square miles of estuaries are impaired or polluted. Streams, rivers, and lakes that meet high water quality standards in the state include 5,600 miles of rivers and streams, 16,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs, and 113 square miles of estuaries. In Virginia, there are more polluted and impaired waters than there are clean. In order to achieve a high water quality rating, a water source must meet standards in each of its designated uses (including ability to support aquatic life, fish and shellfish consumption, swimming, public water supplies, and wildlife). Information for about 34,000 miles of streams and rivers and 3,700 acres of lakes and reservoirs was not available. Some good news: the state has removed 430 bodies of water from the impaired list because they now meet water quality standards, and 600 bodies of water have been improved by the removal of at least one pollution source. Most of the waters were placed on the impaired list because they had either high bacteria levels or low oxygen content. The DEQ says that the number of impaired waters is not surprising. “There’s nothing to say that there’s more pollution,” said DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden, “We’re just looking more closely at what’s out there.”
Newport News Daily Press: Article
A federal judge ruled last week to list gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act and that the Northern Rockies wolves must be treated as a single population. Prior to the ruling, the wolves were considered endangered in Wyoming, but not in Montana and Idaho. The judge’s ruling means that if the wolves are considered endangered in one state, they must be listed as endangered throughout the region. The federal government delisted the gray wolves in Montana and Idaho last year after the states agreed to management plans that included controlled wolf hunts. In Wyoming, there is unregulated hunting of wolves if they are not on the endangered species list, so the USFWS kept the wolves in Wyoming listed as endangered in the state. Montana and Idaho officials, legislators, and ranching groups will seek to reverse the ruling and to pressure Wyoming to change its policy on wolf hunting. Ranchers and hunters say that gray wolves kill too much livestock and game. Wyoming says it does not plan to revise its wolf policy. The state Game and Fish Department says that wolves should be considered “predators” that can be shot at will on agricultural land. On nonagricultural land (about one tenth of the state), hunting of wolves (if they are delisted) would be allowed but regulated.
Virginia made a pitch to the U.S. Department of Energy for an offshore wind turbine demonstration center. DOE is considering proposals to develop a center where wind turbines could undergo engineering and operational tests. Virginia is proposing the $60-$80 million test site be located in the Hampton Roads area. The project would place fixed, offshore wind turbines in three locations in shallow to intermediate-depth waters. Governor Bob McDonnell’s energy adviser said that Virginia is working to start leasing tracts 12 miles off Virginia Beach, and four energy companies have expressed interest in developing wind farms off the coast. Other Mid-Atlantic states are competing for the demonstration center siting. State officials argue that Virginia is the best choice, because it would allow wind testers to assess how fixed wind turbines would withstand tropical storms, their impact on birds in the Atlantic flyway, and their compatibility with the large military presence in the Hampton Roads area. The world’s largest naval base (Naval Station Norfolk) and a NASA facility on the Eastern Shore have national security and testing interests in Virginia’s offshore waters. The demonstration center would be a good opportunity for the military in the region, as DoD is seeking to achieve a goal by 2025 of using 25 percent renewable energy. The Navy is seeking to achieve 50 percent renewable energy by 2020 on its land-based operations.
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star: Article
Scientists are currently rolling out mats in the coves of Lake Tahoe in an attempt to kill off a clam invasion that has recently hit this area. The clams are a threat to the pristine clear waters Lake Tahoe has come to be well known for. The half-acre mats are designed to smother dime-sized, non-native Asian clams that can reach populations of 5,000 per square yard. The clams increase algae growth and also have highly concentrated secretions that could cause some of the coves to turn green. The greater fear is that the clams could change the lake’s chemistry, opening the door for an array of other invasive species.
Senator Dianne Feinstein’s insistence on a food safety bill that would totally ban bisphenol A (BPA, which is a chemical used to line cans and in plastics) has raised much concern among the food and chemicals industries, who have promised to defeat the bill. California recently passed a similar ban and Feinstein wants it to be nationwide. The senator has cited studies that suggest the chemical mimicks the hormone estrogen, having adverse effects on adolescent boys and girls. She and other bill supporters also noted that when tested in small doses on monkeys the chemical was linked to heart disease, diabetes, and neurological problems. The FDA however has not declared BPA to be a risk to public health, but they are conducting new tests that have raised “some concerns.” At this point there is no viable alternative to BPA, and banning it would mean that there could not be any canned foods; however, Feinstein’s bill would allow a one-year period for the development of an alternative to the chemical. President Obama has made the overhaul of food safety rules a priority, and with little time for this Congress to make a decision, the president released a statement last week urging the senate to hurry to pass its bill.
The purchase of 298 acres of a nature preserve will both conserve the land and help to buffer Cherry Point from encroaching residential development. The Magnolia Farm Preserve was purchased for $3 million by the N.C. Coastal Land Trust in partnership with MCAS Cherry Point. The preserve is located next to a ground training area on base and is also good habitat for wild turkey, deer, and quail. Cherry Point’s natural resources manager says, “The potential for any kind of high-density development in close proximity to that training area could have potential conflicts. This project was an opportunity for us to get an easement on the property to totally take away any potential threat of development.” The property is owned by the land trust, but the Department of the Navy holds a restrictive easement on the land to protect it from future development. The Clean Water Trust Fund also holds a conservation easement on the land to help protect the headwaters of Anderson Creek, which feeds into Slocum Creek and the Neuse River. In August 2009, the first 163 acres of the preserve were purchased from Bate Land & Timber LLC using funding from N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund and Department of the Navy Encroachment Partnership Program. The additional 135 acres were purchased with funding from the Navy and private funds raised by the nonprofit. This tract is in addition to about 4,600 acres that the trust has preserved with Cherry Point officials to act as buffers to the military installation and to preserve natural resources. The current downturn in the real estate market helped create the opportunity to preserve this tract of land that would otherwise be developed.
New Bern Sun Journal: Article
On July 12, the Obama administration issued a new moratorium on deepwater drilling until November 30th to ensure that oil companies implement safety measures in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe. This comes six days after an appeals court denied the administration’s emergency request to stay a federal judge’s ruling that lifted the previous six-month moratorium. Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu said that the moratorium could lead to the loss of 120,000 jobs in the state, while insisting that offshore drilling is safe. The oil industry and local officials would prefer to replace the moratorium with a process to increase grant scrutiny and only approve on a case-by-case basis. DOI Secretary Ken Salazar has said that he would issue a new moratorium to block deepwater drilling regardless of how the court ruled. The order is necessary in order to give investigators enough time to study the accident and create new safety regulations.
Grist Magazine: Article
The Trust for Public Land and Truckee Donner Land Trust together acquired more than 4,000 acres in conservation easements on Sierra Pacific Industries’ land north of Truckee, CA. This was the first such conservation deal ever brokered with a timber company, and Sierra Pacific Industries is the largest private landowner in California. Plans also call for an additional 3,000 acres as part of the package, which primarily straddles watersheds for the Little Truckee River and the Yuba River and includes sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. The easements will prevent clear-cutting and the use of herbicides, but will allow some logging and opening the land—nearly 12 square miles—to public access and potentially new trail construction. The property consists of rolling forests, meadows, streams, and lakes. It will be open to hikers, bikers, off-road vehicles, and snowmobiles. The easement was made possible by a $1.83 million grant from the Northern Sierra Partnership and $6.42 million from the Wildlife Conservation Board. Save Sutton, the Northern California and Nevada director for TPL, said that they are getting recommendations from the scientific community regarding climate change to accommodate species adaptation, which requires blocks of land 50,000 acres or larger. The space allows plants and animals to move freely—and generally uphill—in response to changing temperatures, without running into development.
Article: San Jose Mercury News
The Obama administration’s 6-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was struck down by a federal judge, who ruled that the government “rashly concluded that because one rig failed, the others are in immediate danger, too.” The administration promised an immediate appeal, and the Department of the Interior has halted the approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling of 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf of Mexico. The judge’s ruling prohibits federal officials from enforcing the moratorium until a trial is held, and the judge did not yet set a date. Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs asked that the moratorium be overturned. At a major oil conference in London, executives warned that the moratorium would cripple world energy supplies and that it was an “unnecessary overreaction.”
New York Times: Article