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Saturday, October 22, 2005

Environment - A number of recent stories

Feds fine Indianapolis Casting $446,000. A story by Tammy Webber in the Indianapolis Star today reports:

An Indianapolis iron foundry has agreed to pay $446,000 in fines and install emission controls on 139 city diesel buses to settle allegations that it failed to install adequate pollution controls at its Eastside plant for 18 years. * * * George Czerniak, chief of the agency's air enforcement branch in Chicago, said that from 1977 to 1995, the company installed 13 "process operations" that significantly increased pollution at the plant without obtaining proper permits. * * * Agreeing to install pollution controls on city buses allowed the company to avoid a higher penalty while helping the community, Czerniak said, adding the company would spend about $145,000 on the project.
Medical waste plants voted down. A story yesterday in the Gary Post-Tribune reported:
CROWN POINT — After six months of wrangling in courtrooms and public hearings, a ruling by county officials on a pair of medical waste processing plants was a swift and resounding no.

With little discussion, Lake County Solid Waste Management Board members Thursday voted 18-3, ruling that there is no need for medical waste plants in East Chicago and Gary. * * *

The vote echoed an outcry from city officials, church leaders and residents who protested the facilities as “environmental racism” and a hindrance to economic growth in the struggling communities, said the Rev. Asher Harris, spokesman for the Interfaith Alliance, a coalition of some 30 Gary churches. * * *

The board still must make a final ruling in January, and Midwest already has challenged a court ruling that would block the company from operating its plant, which began treating waste using super-heated steam autoclaves more than a year ago. * * *

The state Department of Environmental Management approved the Midwest plant more than a year ago, and Abrade’s application for a license to process medical waste is pending before the state. County officials sued IDEM, arguing that county-level approval is required. A Lake County judge ruled in favor of the county, but the case was appealed by Midwest.

"Dirt from stadium site not coming to Morgan-Johnson County line after all" was the headline to this story yesterday in the Moorseville-Decatur Twp. Times.

"Judge tells Forest Service it went too far" is the headline to an interesting AP story from the Oregon Gazette Times on the a judge's ruling on the U.S. Forest Service interpretation of his earlier order. Some quotes:

“This is the second time in a row the judge agreed with us and rejected the Forest Service’s utterly ridiculous interpretation of his order,’’ said Jim Bensman of Heartwood, a Midwest forest protection group that was a plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging Bush administration changes to forest management rules. “I think this is pretty solid proof that the Forest Service was playing games with thousands of people’s livelihoods to try to get a political advantage.’’

The Forest Service had suspended nearly 1,500 activities nationwide, including cutting an 80-foot spruce in New Mexico to serve as the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree, the transfer of an operating permit for a ski area outside Los Angeles and permits to pick mushrooms on national forests in Oregon, arguing that they were all affected by Singleton’s July 2 ruling for the Eastern District of California.

Environmental groups accused the Bush administration and the Forest Service of intentionally trying to create a train wreck to build support for legislation to further limit public participation in logging on national forests.

The ruling stemmed from a 2003 lawsuit by Heartwood and other environmental groups challenging the harvest of burned trees on the Sequoia National Forest in California, which had been approved under what is called a categorical exclusion that does not allow for public comment or appeals. The case was aimed at striking down rules adopted by the Bush administration in 2003, Bensman said. * * *

The Forest Service had suspended 115 permits for guided hunting, fishing, river trips and horseback rides, 14 projects on ski areas, 98 permits for public utilities and communications sites, and National Guard training on the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana. They also suspended thinning and burning to reduce wildfire danger on 20,000 acres, and 169 projects involving trail and campground maintenance.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 22, 2005 12:26 PM
Posted to Environment