Draft EIS Released

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to evaluate Tarmac America LLC’s proposal to fill waters of the United States for activities associated with limestone mining in Levy County, Florida, as well as alternatives to these proposed actions. The DEIS comment period began May 11, 2012, and will end on July 11, 2012. We welcome your comments on this document.
Public Meeting on the Draft EIS

A public meeting will be held Thursday, May 31 at 6:30 p.m. at the Inglis Community Center, 137 Highway 40 West, Inglis, FL 34449. The purpose of this meeting is to provide the public an additional opportunity to comment, either orally or in writing, on the Draft EIS. Pre-registering for the meeting is optional; you may do so by clicking here.

via King Road EIS Website.

Despite strong lobbying from northwestern senators for a measure that would require more testing of genetically engineered salmon before it’s introduced in the US,  the Senate on Thursday voted it down. The “frankenfish” measure, introduced by Alaskan Republican Lisa Murkowski, failed by a 46-50 vote.

Murkowski put forth the measure as an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Bill (a measure that would create a user-fee to partially fund FDA’s work).  Her measure would have required that the FDA hold off on approving or rejecting so-called “test tube salmon” until the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has done its own tests on the environmental and economic impacts the salmon might have on fisheries.

The FDA granted preliminary approved for GE salmon back in September 2010, but it remains a contentious issue. If approved, it would be the first GE animal approved for human consumption in the US.

via Senate Says ‘Frankenfish’ Don’t Need More Testing | Mother Jones.

This week a stretch of the Santa Fe River near Poe Springs began to run green with algae. And it is only a matter of time, perhaps just days, before Poe Springs itself stops flowing.
The springs’ average flow is 47 cubic feet per second. That’s now down to less than half a cubic foot.
It is convenient to blame the drought for both conditions; to shrug it off as an act of God. But while the lack of rain is a problem, two other man-made contributing factors — over-pumping of the groundwater and nitrogen pollution of the river — should not be ignored.
Santa Fe is an Outstanding Florida Water, but efforts by state environmental officials and regional water managers to “rescue” the much abused river are ineffectual to nonexistent.

via Gainesville.com.

July 7 Part 2 

BEE KEEPING WORKSHOP

Registration ends June 15th 

$35 per session 

http://cronescradleconserve.com/

June 16th Part 2

Victorian era quilting, made out of varieties of different kinds of materials. You can make a quilt, purse, pillow, etc. 

$35 each day, Registration ends June 5th 

http://cronescradleconserve.com/?page_id=382

As if sea turtles didn’t already have enough troubles. On beaches, poachers snatch up their eggs and babies for stewing; at sea, adults get snagged by fishermen’s long lines and nets. Now, climate change joins the list, threatening the survival of critically endangered leatherback sea turtles in the Pacific.

James Spotila, the Betz Chair professor of environmental science at Drexel University in Philadelphia, says that in decades to come, global warming is likely to heat up the beach and kill off turtles. “They’re facing not just one problem, but a convergence of many negative effects of both people and climate change,” he said in an interview.

via Hot Nests Mean Baked Baby Leatherbacks – NYTimes.com.

Craig Grigonis, a third generation insulation installer in Michigan, watched his father die in 1987 of mesothelioma, a deadly form of cancer with one known cause: exposure to asbestos.

Before he died, his father James, who worked with insulation made of asbestos, sued the company that made the toxic substance and recovered some of his medical bills.

“They want plaintiffs to die”
Asbestos is still legal in the U.S. Every year, 9,000 Americans are stricken with asbestos-related illnesses, like lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, according to the Environmental Working Group.

Workers who have been most exposed include pipefitters, shipworkers, including U.S. Navy personnel, and construction workers.

Because asbestos was in widespread use in an array of products in the 1960s and 70s, and it takes a latency period of 20 to 40 years for asbestos-related diseases to emerge, many consumers are just now getting sick and filing suite based on their exposure to the toxic substance.

Lawyers who represent asbestos victims say asbestos makers have known about its dangers since as early as 1949, and now that the litigation is picking up, the model bills are a new delay tactic.

via ALEC Puts the Screws to Asbestos Victims | Lawyers.com – JDSupra.

Telling someone they’ve been poisoned in ways that could reshape their DNA and be carried on to their descendants — possibly causing cancer, neurological illness, mental deficiency, birth defects, brain damage and death — isn’t easy. But that’s Michael Stanley-Jones’ job.
As public information officer for the United Nations Environment Programme, he’s tasked with engaging the public with initiatives established during the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam conventions. While not exactly breakfast-table topics, those gatherings saw world leaders convene to address the dangers of synthetic petrochemicals that saturate our air, soil and water, including the meat and plants we eat.
The World Health Organization reported last year that more than 5 million deaths from exposure to chemicals occur annually — more than 8 percent of all deaths — and most are among children 15 and younger. The United Nations Environment Programme is charged by the conventions with achieving sound management of chemicals and reducing child mortality.

via Safe Planet Campaign Uses the Arts to Explain Chemical Threat.

LAFITTE, La. — Gloom infects the hard-working shrimp and crab docks of this gritty fishing town as the second full year of fishing since BP’s catastrophic oil spill kicks into high gear.
Usually folks are upbeat and busy in May, when shrimpers get back to work in Louisiana’s rich waters. This spring, though, catches are down, docks are idle and anxiety is growing that the ill effects of the massive BP oil spill may be far from over.
An Associated Press examination of catch data from last year’s commercial harvest along the Gulf – the first full year of fishing since the 2010 spill – reveals merit in the fishermen’s complaints. According to the analysis of figures obtained through public records requests, seafood crops hit rock bottom in the Barataria estuary, the same place where some of the thickest waves of oil washed in when a BP well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.

via Gulf Oil Spill: Fishermen Reel From Seafood Troubles – The Huffington Post.

North Central Florida rivers at record low water levels
Shelby Webb, Alligator Staff Writer | Posted: Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:15 am
In increasingly dry North Central Florida, lakes are drying and springs are predicted to stop flowing. The land is becoming more brittle by the week.
Some visible symptoms of the arid conditions are the muddy banks and low water levels in bodies of water frequented by fun seekers during the summer months.
The Florida Park Service warned on the Ichetucknee River website that “due to extreme drought conditions and historic low water levels in the Ichetucknee River,” there is “potential for occasional temporary recreational tubing closures this summer at the park’s North entrance.”
“If things don’t change, we will see more closures,” said Chris Bird, Alachua County environmental director.
Bird said he’s been working with the environment in Alachua County for 22 years, and he’s never seen water levels this low, especially in the springs.

via North Central Florida rivers at record low water levels.