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Thursday, September 29, 2005

Environment - Stories today

"Dunes group warns of threat to National Lakeshore: Changes to National Park Service policy would downgrade preservation" ist he headline to this story today in the Munster (NW Indiana) Times. Some quotes:

Proposed changes in the National Park Service's policy manual could upend the original intent of the service to protect the nation's natural and cultural areas for future generations, says Tom Anderson, executive director of the Save the Dunes Council.

Instead of maintaining higher priority on the preservation of land, plants and animals, the changes would elevate public use of national park land. Preventing "impairment" of park resources would become just one of several goals. Greater openness to commercial activity within the parks would also be part of the new emphasis.

For Save the Dunes officials, that raises the prospect of off-road vehicles and Jet Skis running rampant at Indiana Dunes and park rangers running ragged trying to police them.

The changes appear in a rewrite of park service policy by Interior Department official Paul Hoffman, who served as a congressional aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and as head of the Cody, Wyo., Chamber of Commerce.

The Hoffman draft is troubling, Save the Dunes President Geof Benson said, because it was done in secret by someone without park service experience and it bypassed the accepted process of input and consultation. In addition, Benson said, the policy manual, which is revised about every decade, was last updated just four years ago.

The Seymour TribTown has a lengthy story today about a public hearing on Rumpke of Indiana's effirts to expand its landfill near Medora. More than 30 people spoke against the request. Some quotes:
MEDORA — New allegations about past and present misconduct by a Cincinnati company hoping to expand its landfill near Medora surfaced during a public hearing Wednesday.

Those allegations included video testimony from a former Rumpke of Indiana employee who said he hauled three loads of waste from a Salem company in 2003 that contained a liquid that had a solvent-like smell and that the liquid burned when lighted. * * *

The DVD containing those allegations came to light during the second part of a two-part public hearing held by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management at Medora High School.

The first part involved a presentation by Rumpke officials, followed by a question-and-answer session with the public, which included members of Jackson County Citizens Against Rumpke Expansion as well as Friends of Rumpke Expansion. The second session involved IDEM taking public comments and concerns about Rumpke’s request. It was conducted by IDEM hearing officer Tom Linson.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 29, 2005 03:51 PM
Posted to Environment