Environmental Issues and Extinctions
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440-425
Million The oldest known mass extinction, the
Ordovician extinction, occurred about this time. A long ice age
followed, but it is unknown if this was a cause or an effect. It was
later speculated that a supernova within 10,000 light years of Earth
may have been the cause.
(SFEC, 8/22/99, Par p.12)(SFC, 1/8/04, p.A4)
365-357 Million A 2nd known mass extinction
occurred near the end of the Devonian.
(SFEC, 8/22/99, Par p.12)(SFC, 3/19/04, p.A5)
c251 Mil BP The worst mass extinction in Earth’s
history occurred about this time. 90% of life in the oceans and 70%
of land animals disappeared within a million years due to a
suspected asteroid impact. This was later called the
"Permian-Triassic Extinction" and "The Great Dying." Scientists
later suspected that an eruption of flood basalt in Russia, the
Siberian Traps, caused the massive extinction. [see 225 and 200 mil]
(SFC, 2/23/01, p.A1)(SFC, 6/10/02, p.A6)(Econ,
11/8/03, p.78)
198 Million In 2002 scientists presented research
that indicated a cataclysm about this time in the Triassic due to a
comet or asteroid that killed of species competing with dinosaurs.
Iridium deposits and fern spores were cited as evidence.
(SFC, 5/27/02, p.A6)(SFC, 3/19/04, p.A5)
65.3 Million About this time a comet struck the
area of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and created a crater, known
today as Chicxulub, about 150-180 miles (200 km) in diameter. The
area at this time was covered by ocean. The asteroid is believed to
have been 6-12 miles (10 km) in diameter. Evidence for this was
gathered by Luis Alvarez. In 1997 Walter Alvarez published "T. Rex
and the Crater of Doom," an account of this critical event. The
impact was estimated at 5 billion times greater than the atomic
bombs of WW II.
(SFC, 2/18/96, p.A3)(SFEC, 8/17/97, BR p.7)(NH,
9/97, p.85)(WSJ, 3/2/04, p.B1)
The asteroid that struck Earth
wiped out the dinosaurs, about 80% of the world’s plants species and
all animals bigger than a cat. In 2002 it also was estimated to have
wiped out 55-60% of the plant-eating insects. A high oxygen level
may have contributed to a worldwide firestorm.
(SFC, 2/25/02, p.A4)(NH, Jul, p.62)
12Mil BC Studies in 2011 of tiny pollen fossils
buried deep beneath the seafloor suggested that the last remnant of
vegetation in Antarctica vanished about this time.
(http://tinyurl.com/3lqsfzz)
c50k BP Scientists in 2004 reported that Earth may
be in the middle its 6th big extinction event, which began some
50,000 years ago. A recent survey indicated population extinctions
in all the main ecosystems of Britain.
(SFC, 3/19/04, p.A5)
1450-1890 The period of the Little Ice Age.
Temperatures over this period were a few degrees lower than during
the 1900s.
(SFC, 11/29/02, p.J6)
1757 Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790) helped set up America’s first street cleaning service in
Philadelphia.
(Econ, 2/28/09, SR p.5)
1775 Jan 17, 9 old women were
burned as witches for causing bad harvests in Kalisk, Poland.
(MC, 1/17/02)
1821 Ignatz Venetz, Swiss civil
engineer, presented a paper titled “Temperature Variation in the
Swiss Alps” to the Helvetic Society of Natural Sciences, in which he
described retreating ice glaciers and acknowledged Jean-Pierre
Perraudin, a hunter and mountain guide, as the originator of the
idea that a glacier had once occupied the full length of the Val de
Bagnes. In 1833 Jean de Charpentier (1786-1855), a German-Swiss
geologist, arranged to have the paper published.
(ON, 10/08,
p.10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Charpentier)
1851 Jan 27, John James Audubon
(b. 1785), wildlife painter and conservationist (Audubon Society),
died. He was buried in NYC.
(HNQ, 7/15/01)(MC, 1/27/02)
1852-1884 Hydraulic gold-mining in the Sierra
released large amounts of mercury-enriched sediments into the SF
Bay. Hydraulic mining was invented in the Bear River watershed. A
report in 2000 was issued on high mercury content in fish in the
Bear and Yuba Rivers.
(SFC, 3/17/99, p.A19)(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A3)
1855-1926 In Baja, Mexico, an estimated 3,350 gray
whales were harpooned in their spawning grounds in Magdalena Bay.
(SFEM, 5/7/00, p.9)
1862 About this time land
surveyor William Magee (1806-1892) and Charles Camden discovered an
enormous mass of rich ore near Redding, California, and bought the
land for an iron mine. Mining at the Iron Mountain Mine commenced in
the 1890s.
(SFEC,11/2/97,
p.A13)(http://shastacountyhistory.com/law_enforcement_history)
1866 The word "ecology" was
coined by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel from the Greek oikos, for
house, and logos, for discourse. It meant the study of the relations
between living organisms and their environment.
(NH, 2/97, p.4)
1869 Etienne Leopold Trouvelot
(1827-1895), French artist, amateur entomologist and immigrant to
the US, imported gypsy-moth eggs to set up a silk production project
in the backyard of his Medford, Mass., home. The moth became a
national pest.
(WSJ, 5/1/01, p.A24)(SSFC, 5/22/05, Par p.4)
1870 Mar 18, The 1st US
National Wildlife Preserve was Lake Meritt in Oakland, Calif. (Lake
Merritt was named after Samuel Merritt, a physician and one of the
1st mayors of Oakland).
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A22)(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W31)(SFC,
1/5/01, WBb p.8)(MC, 3/18/02)
1870-1970 In northern California the Selby smelter
near San Pablo Bay released large amounts of lead into the Bay.
(SFC, 3/17/99, p.A19)
1875 A Nebraskan estimated a
grasshopper swarm to be 1,800 miles long and 110 miles wide. In 2004
Jeffrey A. Lockwood authored “Locust: The Devastating Rise and
Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American
Frontier.”
(SSFC, 5/16/04, p.M3)
1876 Jun 21, The first gorilla
arrived in Britain.
(Camelot, 6/21/99)
1879 Feb 25, Congress passed
the 1st Timberland Protection Act.
(MC, 2/25/02)
1880-1920 Over 2 billion board feet of white pine
were shipped out of northern Minnesota to build the towns and cities
of a growing America. In 2004 Jeff Forester authored “The Forest for
the Trees: How Humans shaped the North Woods.”
(NH, 10/1/04, p.70)
1885 Mar 3, California became
the 1st US state to establish a permanent forest commission.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1890 Apr 7, Marjory Stoneman
Douglas, environmentalist (1st Lady of Everglades), was born.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1890 Eugene Schieffelin, a
German immigrant, released 40 pairs of European starlings in NYC’s
Central Park. By 1959 the birds reached the Pacific coast. To honor
his new homeland he had attempted to release every species of bird
mentioned in the plays of Shakespeare. In 2002 the starling
population in North America exceeded 200 million.
(HNQ, 5/1/02)(AH, 6/02, p.42)
1894 The Mountain Copper Co. of
Great Britain bought the Iron Mountain Mine north of Redding,
California, and developed it into the only big copper producer on
the Pacific Coast. The exposure of a large concentration of pyrite
to oxygen water and bacteria created a poisonous runoff that ran
into the Sacramento River. The mind was abandoned in 1966 but by the
1980s tons of acidic water still flowed into the river. The site
became known as one of the most polluted places on Earth. In 2004
the EPA built the Slip Rock Creek Retention Dam to capture most of
the toxic sludge. EPA management costs in 2010 were estimated at
$200 million over the next 30 years.
(http://ice.ucdavis.edu/education/esp179/?q=node/164)(SFEC,11/2/97,
p.A13)(SSFC, 8/29/10, p.A15)
1895 Etienne Leopold Trouvelot
(b.1827), French artist, amateur entomologist and immigrant to the
US, died. In 1869 he imported gypsy-moth eggs to set up a silk
production project in the backyard of his Medford, Mass., home. The
moth became a national pest.
(WSJ, 5/1/01, p.A24)(SSFC, 5/22/05, Par p.4)
1897 Pres. Grover Cleveland
established a forest reserve in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington
state with sharp restrictions on commercial logging. 3 years later
McKinley remanded a third of the reserve back to open logging.
(NG, 7/04, p.66)
1900 May 1, Andrew Putnam Hill,
artist and photographer, and Stanford Pres. David Starr Jordan
convened a meeting of citizens and academics at Stanford Univ. with
the intent of saving redwood forests. Hill had attempted to
photograph the burned redwoods of the 1899 Santa Cruz fire, but was
barred unless he paid a local landowner for the privilege.
(Ind, 4/24/99, p.5A)(SFC, 5/20/00, p.A13)
1900 May 18, Andrew Putnam
Hill, encamped at Slippery Rock with a Subcommittee in the Big Basin
of the Santa Cruz Mountains, proposed the formation of an
organization to save the Big Basin redwoods. The next day he passed
a hat and collected $32. This was the birth of the Sempervirens Club
of California. "Save the Redwoods" became its official slogan.
(Ind, 4/24/99, p.5A)(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.C1)
1901 A silver refinery was
established in Torreon in Coahuila state. Land for housing was sold
next to the area in the 1970’s and in 1998 a pediatrician began
noticing high levels of lead among the children. The Met Mex Penoles
plant had created a mountain of slag over the years and poisonous
lead seeped into the blood of thousands of children in the area. In
1999 a plan was announced to evacuate a 20-block area. 393 homes
were to be bulldozed for a 15-acre buffer zone in a $36 million
cleanup program, the largest ever by a Mexican company.
(SFC, 5/6/99, p.C2)(Econ, 9/3/11, p.37)
1902 The US Newlands Act
established the Reclamation Bureau and began to enact some of the
ideas of John Wesley Powell concerning control of western water
resources. It resulted in the Newlands Irrigation Project in
Nevada’s Fallon area and diverted water from the Carson and Truckee
Rivers to new farmland.
(HFA, ‘96, p.128)(SFEC, 7/9/00, DB p.67)(SFC,
12/28/02, p.A20)
1903 Pres. Theodore Roosevelt
set aside the 5 acres of Pelican Island off the east coast of
Florida to protect pelicans and other birds from hunters. This began
the wildlife refuge system that grew to 537 national wildlife
refuges in 2001.
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.A2)
1905 Jan 5, Representatives of
35 state Audubon organizations incorporated as the National
Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds
and Animals.
(T&L, 10/1980, p.12)(MC, 1/5/02)
1905 Mar 3, US Forest Service
formed. President Theodore Roosevelt successfully lobbied Congress
to create the Forest Service and appointed Gifford Pinchot, a fellow
conservationist, to run the agency. Pinchot had studied forestry in
Europe and worked for the U.S. government in various forestry
positions since 1896. He stayed with the Forest Service until 1910
and contributed greatly to its early development and national
attitudes towards conservation with his enthusiasm. In 1912, he
helped former President Roosevelt found the Bull Moose Party. He
later went on to serve as governor of Pennsylvania. His
autobiography "Breaking New Ground," was published in 1947, a year
after his death.
(WSJ, 2/25/97, p.A22)(HNQ, 4/20/01)(SC, 3/3/02)
1905 The federal government
built the Klamath Project, a series of reservoirs and lakes on the
California-Oregon border. The Federal Bureau of Reclamation began
draining the Klamath Basin to help farmers. The Audubon Society
lobbied Pres. Roosevelt to preserve some of the area, a major
Pacific flyway for birds, and in 1908 he agreed.
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A8)(SFEC, 3/2/97, p.A15)
1905 Teddy Roosevelt
established the million-acre Siskiyou Forest Reserve in Oregon.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.T8)
1907 May 27, Rachel Carson
(d.1964), biologist and writer (Silent Spring, The Sea Around Us),
was born. "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder,
he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it,
rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world
we live in."
(AP, 12/29/98)(HN, 5/27/01)
1907 The Hague Convention
instituted what some considered the first wartime environmental
protections.
(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A15)
1908 Pres. Teddy Roosevelt
declared parts of the Klamath Basin the first federal wildlife
refuge.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, p.B4)
1908 Chase Lake, about 60 miles
north of Bismarck, ND, was established as a protected area by Pres.
Theodore Roosevelt, to save a dwindling number of pelicans from
hunters. The colony, down to 50 breeding pairs, peaked in 2000 with
some 17,500 pairs on the 4,385-acre site.
(SFC, 7/13/04, p.A2)
1908 Pacific Gas and Electric
co. acquired a gas-making company in Daly City, Ca. Wastes contained
lamp-black, a finely powdered carbon, and thick, sticky tars
containing cancer-causing compounds.
(SFC, 3/2/09, p.B1)
1909 Pres. Theodore Roosevelt
established the Farallon Islands, 28 miles off the coast of San
Francisco, as a wildlife refuge.
(SFC, 2/17/05, p.A1)
1916 Aug 25, The National Park
Service was established within the Department of the Interior by the
Organic Act. Horace Albright and Stephen Mather helped persuade the
US Congress to establish the organization.
(AP,
8/25/97)(www.nps.gov/legacy/organic-act.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/mr6gc)
1918 Jul 3, The Migratory Bird
Treaty Act, the oldest US environmental conservation law, prohibited
killing or harassing birds migrating across international borders.
(SFC, 4/9/99, p.A5)(SFC, 10/23/02,
p.A4)(www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/migtrea.html)
1918 In Northern California the
33-mile Avenue of the Giants, a 52,000-acre area of river and
redwoods, was established by the Save the Redwoods League.
(SFCM, 7/18/04, p.29)
1921 Aug 3, The 1st aerial crop
dusting was in Troy, Ohio, to kill caterpillars.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1926 U.S. Radium stopped
processing radium at its Orange, NJ, facility. In 1983 the EPA put
the 2-acre plant site on its Superfund national Priorities List.
In2006 the EPA declared the site clean and that concerns over
contaminated groundwater had been effectively addressed.
(AH, 10/07, p.37)
1930 US Congress passed the
first federal wilderness preservation law and set aside over 1
million acres in northern Minnesota as the Superior Primitive Area.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, Z1 p.6)
1930s Nutria rodents were
introduced to Louisiana from Argentina. The propagated rapidly and
by 1997 were threatening acres of fragile wetlands due to their
feeding on plant roots.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.A5)
1930s Millions of mitten crabs
migrated up Germany’s major rivers. They clogged dams and climbed
onto shore where they wandered city streets and entered homes. They
devastated fisheries and destroyed river banks and levies causing
floods and other damage.
(Pac. Disc., summer, ‘96, p.6)
1932-1968 The Chisso Corporation, located in
Kumamoto Japan, dumped an estimated 27 tons of mercury compounds
into Minamata Bay. The name Minamata Disease was coined in 1956 to
identify villagers suffering dizzy spells with troubles walking and
speaking. Growing numbers fell into convulsions, wasted away and
died.
(www.american.edu/TED/MINAMATA.HTM)
1935 Monsanto began producing
PCB in Indiana and Anniston, La. PCBs were banned in 1979. Tons of
PCBs were released into the Anniston environment and hidden from the
public for over 40 years.
(SFC, 2/23/02, p.A7)
1935 Cane toads were introduced
from South America to wipe out beetles that were devastating
Queensland's sugar cane industry. The beetles survived and the toads
became a pest and a threat to the native quolls, small spotted
marsupials.
(Econ, 7/12/03, p.38)
1937-1938 An infestation of Mormon crickets
(Anabrus simplex) in Montana and Wyoming caused nearly $1 million in
crop damage.
(SFC, 5/19/01, p.A3)
1938 Jun 29, Mesa Verde
National Park, Colorado, and Olympic National Park, Washington, were
founded.
(HN, 6/29/01)
1939 The California state
Division of Fish and Game, concerned about dead fish near Redding,
launched a study and found a creek downstream from Iron Mountain
getting 2,876 pounds of copper a day. The state told mine operators
to reduce metals and acid drainage.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)(SSFC, 8/29/10, p.A15)
1940-1949 During the 1940s the Associated
Sportsmen of California repeatedly warned of damage to the salmon
population near Redding and urged the government to release water
from Shasta Lake to dilute the poisons from Iron Mountain.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)(SSFC, 8/29/10, p.A15)
1941-1974 Hunters Point Shipyard in SF was a major
repair and dry-dock facility for destroyers, frigates and other
warships. The work left hazardous materials such as lead, nickel,
cadmium, asbestos and PCBs in the soil, groundwater and structures.
(SFC, 1/15/98, p.A17)
1943 Jan 17, US Tin Can Drive
Day.
(MC, 1/17/02)
1944 California state officials
blamed the pollution from Iron Mountain, near Redding, for killing a
third of the salmon run before they could spawn.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1945-1947 The US West Coast sardine industry
plummeted from abundance to empty nets.
(PacDis, Summer ’97, p.2)
1945-1970 Some 47,000 55-gallon drums of
radioactive waste, from US government research programs, was dumped
near the northern California Farallon Islands.
(SFC, 7/8/05, p.F2)
1946 Dec 2, The International
Whaling Commission prohibited the hunting of gray whales worldwide
when their numbers were down to the thousands. The IWC was set up to
regulate whaling and promote whale conservation. Scientific studies
and the commercial reality of fewer whales led to the implementation
of bans on hunting many whale species such as the humpback whale in
1963 followed in 1965 by a hunting ban on the blue whale (the
largest creature known to have ever existed). Although the IWC
attempted to ban all commercial whaling in 1986, some countries
refused to agree.
(SFEM, 5/7/00,
p.9)(www.iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm)(HNQ, 2/20/01)
1946-1970 Some 62,000 steel drums of nuclear waste
were dumped into the oceans from 1946-1970. In 1976 EPA scientists
reported that they had discovered plutonium in the ocean sediment
off the SF coast and radioactive cesium leaking from containers 120
miles east of Ocean City, Md.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.WB6)
1946-1977 PCBs were released into the Hudson River
by 2 General Electric plants and were buried in sediment along 197
miles that was later declared a Superfund site. The EPA expected GE
to dredge some 35 miles at a cost of some $1 billion. GE fought the
cleanup law and was also involved in Superfund sites at Hoboken NJ
and Milford NH. Cleanup of the Hudson River began in 2009 at an
estimated cost of $750 million, to be paid by GE. The sludge was
scheduled to be buried in West Texas.
(SFC, 11/29/00, p.A10)(SFC, 5/16/09, p.A5)(SFC,
6/22/09, p.A9)
1947 California founded a state
forest system with sustained yield as a goal. The Dept. of Forestry
and Fire Protection assumed responsibility for a cutover area near
Fort Bragg that became the Jackson Demonstration Forest.
(SFC, 11/28/02, p.A27)(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.E3)
1947-1971 In southern California Montrose Chemical
Co. manufactured DDT during this period and released about 2,000
tons of the pesticide into sewers that flowed to the ocean. In 2007
fish caught off Los Angeles County's coast still contained high
levels of DDT, banned since 1972, decades after a manufacturer
dumped tons of the pesticide into sewers, creating a toxic plume on
the ocean bottom.
(AP, 1/28/07)
1948 Oct 31, By this
date some 20 people died and 6,000 were made ill by smog from steel
and zinc plants in Donora, Pennsylvania. Between October 26 and
October 31, 1948, an air inversion trapped fluoride effluent from
the Zinc Works. In three days, 18 people died. After the inversion
lifted, another 50 died. Hundreds more finished the rest of their
lives with damaged lungs and hearts. Both plants closed in 1966. In
2002, “When Smoke Ran Like Water” was published by Devra Davis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donora,_Pennsylvania)(SSFC, 11/2/08,
p.A6)
1948 Oct, The Int’l. Union for
the Protection of Nature was formed. In 1956 it changed its name to
the Int’l. Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUPN).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Union_for_Conservation_of_Nature)
1948 The Int’l. Whaling
Commission (IWC) was founded by 7 countries with large whaling
fleets. It included America, Australia, Britain, France, Norway,
South Africa and the USSR.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.15)
1948 The Russian Mayak plant in
the Chelyabinsk region of the southern Urals began processing
weapons grade plutonium. By 1997 it had released more than 5 times
the radioactivity of all above-ground atomic tests put together.
Substances such as strontium-90 and cesium-137 had seeped into
waterways and ground water and traces were detected in the Arctic
Ocean over 600 miles away.
(SFC,12/27/97, p.A15)(SFC, 5/26/01, p.A8)
1949-1951 The Mayak nuclear plant in the
Chelyabinsk region of the southern Urals dumped some 228 million
cubic feet of toxic nuclear waste into the Techa River. People in
the region started dying in the early 1950s and dumping stopped.
(SFC, 5/26/01, p.A8)
1949-1963 Commercial whaling reduced the number of
Humpback whales from some 12,500 to 400. A ban ended commercial
whaling in the southern hemisphere in 1963 and by 1998 the
number of whales increased to some 2,500.
(SFC, 10/31/98, p.A8)
1950 The Nature Conservancy was
founded by a handful of biologists and ecologists that included
Richard H. Pough (d.2003 at 99), who served as the 1st president.
(SFC, 6/26/03, p.A20)
1950 Berkeley, Ca., 1st noted
smog damage to vegetation.
(SFC, 2/18/05, p.F4)
1950 An industrial explosion
exacerbated oil leakage into Newtown Creek, which separates Brooklyn
from Queens. The problem was ignored until the coast Guard
rediscovered it in 1978 and determined that oil was leaking from
nearby refineries and storage facilities. In 1990 ExxonMobil signed
a consent agreement with the state of NY to clean up the creek. In
2007 oil still floated on the water.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.32)
1951-1966 PG&E released chromium into the
environment of Hinkley in San Bernadino Ct., Ca., over this period.
Residents suffered from numerous illnesses and were not informed
until 1987. [see Brockovich 1993]
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A17)
1952 May 15, California’s
Central Valley Regional Water Pollution Control Board issued
resolution No. 127 barring entry of perchlorate and 8 other
chemicals into local groundwater and the American River. Medical
researchers soon published that perchlorate blocks the uptake of
essential iodide into the thyroid. Aerojet Corp., a rocket fuel
manufacturer, objected and continued untreated discharges.
(WSJ, 12/16/02, p.A9)
1952 Dec 5-1952 Dec 8, A 4-day
London smog killed 4,703 people. Oxides of sulfur and other
irritants from coal smoke were blamed.
(PCh, 1992,
p.937)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog)
1953 Jul 14, The freighter
Jacob Luckenbach from SF rammed the Matson freighter Hawaiian Pilot
near Point Montara, 17 miles from the Golden Gate. The Luckenbach
sank while the Hawaiian Pilot limped to SF. Oil leaked from the
Luckenback later killed numerous birds. In 2002 a $3.5 million plan
for cleanup was begun. A $19 million cleanup ended in Sep.
(Ind, 3/31/01, 5A)(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A15)(SFC,
5/8/02, p.A22)(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A13)
1954 Apr 25, Bell labs in NYC
announced the 1st solar battery.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1954 A.J. Liebling, New York
reporter, returned to Pyramid Lake and wrote some stories on mustang
buzzing, the practice of chasing wild mustangs with small planes
into corrals to sell them for pet food.
(SFEC, 1/2/00, BR p.12)
1956 In Japan the term Minamata
Disease was coined to identify villagers suffering dizzy spells with
troubles walking and speaking. Growing numbers fell into
convulsions, wasted away and died. Chisso Corp. had polluted
Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea with deadly methylmercury. By 2007
at least 2,000 people had died from eating tainted fish.
(AP, 9/30/07)
1956-1972 In California large industrial
corporations legally poured some 35 million gallons of industrial
waste into the Stringfellow Acid Pits near Glen Avon. The dumping
was halted when it was noticed that pollutants were leaking into the
ground water. In 1978 a large rainfall forced the release of more
than a million gallons of polluted water into the Pyrite Canyon,
which drained into a creek bed that flowed through the community of
Glen Avon. In 1982 Stringfellow was declared a Superfund site.
(WSJ, 4/14/99, p.CA1)
1957 Oct 7, A fire in the
Windscale plutonium production reactor (later called Sellafield)
north of Liverpool, England, spread radioactive iodine and polonium
through the countryside and into the Irish Sea.
(HN, 10/7/98)
1957 A fire at the Colorado
Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant released some plutonium in the
smoke. The fire was kept secret until 1969 when another fire
released more plutonium.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A3)
1957 A nuclear waste container
exploded at the Mayak plant in the Chelyabinsk region of the
southern Urals and 20 million curies of deadly strontium and cesium
were released. This was about 40% of the amount later released at
Chernobyl. Some 9,200 square miles were contaminated.
(SFC, 5/26/01, p.A8)(SFC, 8/18/01, p.E1)
1958 Feb 19, Hail the size of
baseballs was reported with flash lightning over parts of
Minneapolis.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1958 Mar, A gas analyzer was
installed on the slopes of Mauna Loa, Hawaii. It gave a reading of
314 ppm for carbon dioxide. It was part of the International
Geophysical Year project and the carbon dioxide research was under
Charles Keeling (1928-2005). The atmospheric chemist had begun
monitoring the pure air at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, and the South Pole.
Subsequent CO2 readings indicated climbed steadily and became known
as the Keeling Curve. After one year of gathering data it was clear
that the whole planet has an annual cycle for photosynthesis and
respiration that is visible by measuring carbon dioxide
concentration. [See 1988]. 50 years later the CO2 reading was about
387 parts per million.
(WSJ, 12/14/07,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_David_Keeling)(Econ,
9/17/11, p.89)
1958 May 18, Chairman Mao Tse
Tung spoke at the Second Session of the Eight Party Congress and
called for schoolchildren to assist in the elimination of the four
pests, which included sparrows, rats, flies and mosquitoes. A
massive 3-day campaign soon began to exterminate sparrows, which
were thought harmful because they ate the peasant's grain. Numerous
other birds were killed in the process and the following year a
plague of locusts became a problem. In 2001 Judith Shapiro, Donald
Worster and Alfred W. Crosby authored “Mao's War Against Nature:
Politics & the Environment in Revolutionary China.”
(http://tinyurl.com/8gbhg)(Econ, 12/20/08,
p.65)(http://tinyurl.com/7m9egc)
1958 The virus that causes
hemorrhagic fever was identified. A rare mouse that is both host and
vector of the disease in Argentina rapidly multiplied when
rangelands were converted to maize fields.
(NH, 2/97, p.53)
1958 The Northern California
Iron Mountain mine owner built a small treatment plant to capture
copper and halt the killing of salmon.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1959 The US Fish and Wildlife
Service recommended that Iron Mountain mine owners seal mine tunnels
or collect mine drainage in a reservoir to halt the killing of
salmon in northern California.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1959 Ecuador turned 97% of the
Galapagos Islands into a national park.
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.M6)
1960 Mar 21, California state
officials dumped radioactive waste from civilian installations into
the ocean about 50 miles off of San Francisco at a site that the
Navy and other Atomic Energy contractors have been using since 1946.
The waste was mixed with concrete, sealed in 55-gallon steel drums
and dumped in about 7,500 feet of water.
(SSFC, 3/21/10, DB p.46)
1960 California ordered smog
control devices on cars. It was the first such law in the country.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
c1960 In Utah the Tooele Army
Depot decided to dispose of its old munitions by blowing them up
every spring and summer. In an uncritical climate Magcorp magnesium
refinery set up shop nearby and split magnesium chloride extracted
from the Great Salt Lake. A hazardous waste zone, incinerators and
landfills followed. In 1999 Chip Ward authored "Canaries on the Rim:
Living Downwind in the West."
(SFEC, 1/9/00, BR p.4)
1960s A walking catfish
(Clarias batrachus), imported from Bangkok, walked away from a fish
farm west of Deerfield Beach. By 2002 it had spread to 20 counties
in South Florida.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A2)
1960-1966 Later studies showed that the worldwide
amphibian population declined 15% per year during this period.
(SFC, 4/13/00, p.A4)
1961 Sylvia McLaughlin, Kay
Kerr (d.2010 at 99) and Esther Gulick (d.1995) founded the Save the
Bay Association in an effort to stop plans by the city of Berkeley
to create 2,000 new acres by filling in shallow bay waters. Their
efforts led to the 1965 McAteer-Petris Act, which placed a
moratorium on filling the San Francisco Bay.
(SFCM, 10/5/03, p.13)(SFC, 5/10/04, p.B5)(SFC,
1/3/11, p.C4)
1961 Guy Mountfort (d.2003) and
3 other Britons: zoologist Sir Julian Huxley, broadcaster Peter
Scott and wildlife advocate Max Nicholson, founded the Swiss-based
World Wildlife Fund.
(AP, 5/1/03)
1962 Jan 18, The U.S. sprayed
foliage with pesticide in South Vietnam, in order to reveal the
whereabouts of Vietcong guerrillas.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1962 Rachel Carson (d.1964)
published "Silent Spring" and exposed the pesticide industry and its
effects on the environment: "They should not be called
‘insecticides’, but ‘biocides.’" Carson entered the Pennsylvania
College originally planning to major in English. Instead, she grew
more interested with the natural world, graduating in 1929 with a
bachelor’s degree in biology. After graduate work at Johns Hopkins
University and a teaching stint, she worked for the U.S. government
until the early `50s. She combined her interests in writing and
ecology and reached a wide audience with the publication of her
first book, Under the Sea-Wind (1941). Her following works were also
praised for their scientific accuracy and readable prose. Her book
"Silent Spring," which documented the contribution of pesticides to
declining songbird populations, came out when DDT and similar
insecticides were used in abundance.
(NOHY, Weiner, 3/90, p.70)(HNQ, 4/18/01)
1962 Boyd Stewart, a Marin,
Ca., cattleman, helped create the Point Reyes National Seashore on
70,000 acres of grassland.
(SFC, 1/1/05, p.A14)
1962-1971 US military tanker planes and
helicopters sprayed 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other
defoliants in Operation Ranch Hand to deny cover to communist
forces. The defoliants were contaminated with TCDD, the most
dangerous form of dioxin. In 2004 Philip Jones Griffith,
photojournalist, authored "Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in
Vietnam."
(SFC, 5/17/01, p.A12)(Econ, 1/31/04, p.82)
1962-1973 In Utah the Deseret Test Center
conducted 46 chemical warfare exercises at Fort Douglas.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.A3)
1963 Feb-Mar, The US military,
while conducting biological weapons tests, sprayed Bacillus globigii
from aircraft near Fort Sherman Military Reservation in the Canal
Zone.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.A3)
1963 Nov 25, Assassinated
President John F. Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
A bronze casket that was used to transport JFK to Washington was
flown off the Maryland-Delaware coast and dropped into a 9,000 feet
deep military dump site.
(AP, 11/25/97)(HN, 11/25/98)(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A3)
1964 Apr 14, Rachel L. Carson
(56), American biologist, author (Silent spring), died. She raised
public awareness of environmental pollution and ecological issues
with a number of best-selling books--notably Silent Spring (1962).
In 1997 Linda Gear wrote the biography: "Rachel Carson: Witness for
Nature."
(SFEC, 9/14/97, BR p.3)(HNQ, 4//01)(MC, 4/14/02)
1964 Sep 3, Pres. Johnson
signed the Wilderness Act and designated 9 million acres as an area
"where the Earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man,
where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." It allowed for
roadless federal lands to qualify for wilderness protection. In 1999
the act sheltered over 100 million acres. Conservationists stopped a
dam in Echo Park in Dinosaur National Monument and persuaded
Congress to pass the Wilderness Act to provide permanent protection
to wilderness areas.
(NG, May 1985, p.669)(SFC, 8/6/93, p.C4)(SFEC,
8/29/99, Z1 p.6)
1964-1992 Texaco dumped nearly 20 billion gallons
of toxic waste into open pits, estuaries and rivers and allegedly
polluted some 2.5 million acres of pristine rain forest. Texaco
merged with Chevron in 2001 and a suit over the toxic waste went to
trial in Ecuador in 2003.
(SFC, 5/1/03, A8)
1965 Raymond Dasmann (d.2002 at
83) authored "The Destruction of California." He later authored
"Wildlife Biology" (1981) and "Environmental Conservation" (1984).
In 2002 he authored "’The Autobiography of a Conservationist."
(SFC, 11/7/02, p.A26)
1965 The US Congress
established the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It was to receive
$900 million a year from federal oil and gas revenues for
acquisition of sensitive lands and wetlands, but the money was never
dedicated for the intended purpose.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A21)
1965 Brazil’s Forest Code of
this year required private landowners to leave to leave forests
standing on part of their farms. In the Amazon this was set at
four-fifths. This particular requirement has never been effectively
implemented.
(Econ, 12/3/11,
p.47)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Forest_Code)
1965 Niger's began planting
trees for a green belt around its capital, Niamey, five years after
the country proclaimed independence from France. Planting continued
to 1993 as funding for the 4.5 million-euro (6.2 million-dollar)
project came mainly from abroad. The belt began to decline as
hundreds of rural people fled to the capital to escape the severe
famine of 1984. By 2011 almost half of its original 2,000-hectare
(nearly 5,000-acre) surface area had disappeared.
(AFP, 11/1/11)
1965 The Norwegian whaling
stations on St. Georgia Island closed. Some 175,250 whales had been
processed there.
(SSFC, 5/20/01, p.T11)
1966 Jan 17, Two US Air Force
jets collided in the skies over Spanish coastal village of
Palomares. The mid-air crash of the B-52 bomber and a KC-135
refueling plane killed 8 crew members. The real scare was a missing
hydrogen bomb which was found 2 months later, intact, in nearby
waters.
(MC, 1/17/02)
1966 Oct 15, US Congress passed
the Endangered Species Preservation Act. It was expanded in 1973 as
the Endangered Species Act. The Devils Hole Pupfish of Death Valley
were among the first species protected. By 1972 only 124 remained.
By 2007 only 42 were left.
(www.fws.gov/endangered/1966listing.html)
1966-1997 Later studies showed that the worldwide
amphibian population declined 2% per year during this period.
(SFC, 4/13/00, p.A4)
1967 Apr-May, The US military
conducted chemical warfare tests, Red Oak, Phase 1, in the Upper
Waiakea Forest Reserve of Hawaii using shells and rockets filled
with sarin gas.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.A3)
1967 Nov 21, President Lyndon
B. Johnson signed the Air Quality Act, allotting $428 million for
the fight against pollution.
(HN, 11/21/98)(AP, 11/21/07)
1967 Dennis Pulestin (d.2001 at
95) helped found the Environmental Defense Fund to fight DDT
spraying and to campaign for better environmental protection.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.A27)
1967 The US declared the eagle
an endangered species.
(SFC, 6/18/99, p.A3)
1967 In Livermore, Ca., a small
amount of plutonium accidentally leaked out of the Lawrence
Livermore Lab. and into the sewer system. The sewer sludge was sold
to Tri-Valley residents as a soil conditioner for gardens and lawns.
The 4.2-acre Big Trees Park later tested higher than background for
plutonium but experts assured residents that there was no real
danger.
(SFC, 2/27/98, p.A22)
1968 Oct 2, The 2,650-mile
Pacific Crest Trail, spanning Mexico to Canada, was designated a
National Scenic Trail as part of the US National Trails System Act.
(SFC, 7/16/08,
p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Crest_Trail)
1968 Open air testing of
chemical weapons at the US Army Dugway Proving Grounds in the Utah
desert caused the deaths of some 3,600 [6,400] sheep in an adjacent
valley.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 6/1/98, p.A1)
1968 A US B-52 bomber with 4
nuclear bombs cashed 12 miles from Greenland’s Thule air base. Caner
reports began to surface later and in 1955 the Danish government
paid a $15.5 million settlement to some 1,700 exposed workers.
(SFC, 11/3/01, p.C3)
1968 Washington state’s North
Cascades National Park was dedicated.
(SSFC, 7/18/04, p.D7)
c1968-1969 James F. Phillips (d.2001 at 70) began
engaging in environmental activism in the Fox Valley area of
Illinois after he found dead ducks in the Fox River. He was later
described as the 1st notorious eco-saboteur.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.A25)
1969 Jan 29, An undersea oil
well off Santa Barbara, Ca., suffered a blowout and over the next 11
days released some 200,000 gallons of oil that spread over 800
square miles of ocean and soiled 35 miles of coastline.
(www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/sb_69oilspill/69oilspill_articles2.html)
1969 Feb 5, US population
reached 200 million.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1969 Nov 20, The Nixon
administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide
DDT as part of a total phase-out.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1969 Pres. Nixon signed a
National Environmental Policy Act. It required the government to
review environmental implications of its projects. In 2002 the Bush
administration held that the act does not extend beyond a few miles
of territorial waters.
(SFC, 8/10/02, p.A3)
1969 Marjory Stoneman Douglas
(1890-1998), American journalist and environmentalist, helped found
Friends of the Everglades, a Florida-based conservation
organization.
(SFC, 5/15/98,
p.D7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjory_Stoneman_Douglas)
1969 Patrick Moore helped to
start Greenpeace with a "Save the Whales" theme and served as a
leader for the next 15 years.
(SFC, 4/30/97, p.A9)
1969 Ben Metcalfe (d.2003 at
83) coordinated the initial campaigns of the Winnipeg-based
Don't Make a Wave Committee (later Greenpeace) against planned
nuclear tests in the Aleutian Islands.
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.A31)
1969 In northern California
after a heavy rain some 1,600 fish, mostly adult and yearling
salmon, died of copper poisoning below the Kewick Dam.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1970 Jan 1, Pres. Nixon signed
the National Environmental Policy Act into law.
(WSJ, 2/25/97,
p.A22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Environmental_Policy_Act)
1970 Feb 20, Students at San
Jose Univ., Ca., buried a brand new Ford Maverick as part of their
Survival Faire. The Maverick was exhumed one year later.
(SFC, 4/20/10, p.E1)(http://tinyurl.com/yyplgjc)
1970 Apr 22, The first Earth
Day and Earth Week was celebrated and millions protested pollution
on Earth and their concern for the environment. The event was
organized by a 33-member committee in Philadelphia. Wisconsin
Senator Gaylord Nelson suggested Earth Day as a means to focus
national attention on ecological issues. Gaylord selected Pete
McCloskey as co-chairman. Organizers later identified 12
anti-environment members of the US House and Senate, 7 of whom soon
lost their seats.
(AP, 4/22/97)(WSJ, 5/12/99, p.A23)(SSFC, 4/18/04,
p.E3)(http://www.nelsonearthday.net/)
1970 Dec 2, The Environmental
Protection Agency began operating under director William
Ruckelshaus. Pres. Nixon appointed a 3-member Council on
Environmental Quality that included journalist Robert Cahn (d.1997
at 80). It was the first centralized White House office to advise
the president on environmental matters. Cahn served to 1972.
President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA took over certain functions previously handled by the
departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Health, Education and
Welfare in an effort to set and enforce national pollution-control
standards. The first task it was given was the administration of the
Clean Air Act, passed that same year. Currently, the EPA enforces 12
federal statutes ranging from safe drinking water to pesticide use.
(SFC,11/1/97, p.A17)(AP, 12/2/97)(HNQ, 4/16/01)
1970 The Don't Make a Wave
Committee of Winnipeg, Canada, was renamed Greenpeace and Ben
Metcalfe became the 1st chairman.
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.A31)
1970 The Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) was founded in the US to protect public
health and the environment.
(www.nrdc.org/about/)(Econ, 2/18/06, p.32)
1970 The Clean Air Act was
designed to control smog but not global warning. Catalytic
converters designed to reduce smog were produced by the automobile
companies. In 1998 it was reported that the nitrous oxide comprised
7.2% of the gases in global warming. Catalytic converters produced
nearly half of this nitrous oxide.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A2)
1970 The California
Environmental Quality Act was passed. It required developers to
produce an environmental impact report on any new project.
(PacDis, Summer ’97, p.13)
1970 RCA Corp. opened its
Taiwan 1st semiconductor factory. GE bought RCA in 1986 and sold it
to Thomson in 1987. Its northern facilities were shut down in 1991
and the area was declared a toxic site. In 2002 it was reported that
a 1000 former plant employees suffered from cancer and that 200 had
died.
(SFC, 5/24/02, p.B5)
1970-1985 A 2002 study said pollution from
industrial nations was one of the possible causes of the African
famine that stretched from Senegal to Ethiopia and left 1.2 million
people dead. A group of scientists in Australia and Canada say the
drought may have been triggered by tiny particles of sulfur dioxide
from factories and power plants thousands of miles away in North
America, Europe and Asia. Researchers said the short-lived pollution
particles, known as aerosols, didn't have to travel to Africa to
harm the environment there. The particles were able to alter the
physics of cloud formation miles away and reduce rainfall in Africa
by as much as 50 percent, say the researchers, who used a computer
to simulate the atmospheric conditions. The process, known as
teleconnection, continues in the atmosphere today.
(AP, 7/22/02)
1971 Jan 8, 29 pilot whales
beached themselves and died at San Clemente Island, off Calif.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1971 Jan 18, Two Standard Oil
tankers collided in the fog a quarter mile west of the Golden Gate
Bridge. The Arizona Standard ripped into the Oregon Standard and
caused the spill of some 1.9 million gallons of heavy bunker oil.
800,000 gallons of oil was dumped into the Bay. The spill spread
over 50 miles along the California coast.
(SFEC, 2/23/96, z-1 p.5)(SFEC, 3/8/98,
p.W39)(SFEC, 6/27/99, p.A14)
1971 Feb 2, The Ramsar
Convention, officially titled “The Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat,” was
developed and adopted by participating nations at a meeting in
Ramsar, Iran. It came into force on December 21, 1975. The US
ratified the Ramsar agreement in 1986.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsar_Convention)(NH, 5/01, p.35)
1971 May 9, Friends of Earth
returned 1500 non-returnable bottles to Schweppes. Friends of Earth
became an international network this year with a meeting of
representatives from the US, Sweden, the UK and France.
(http://tinyurl.com/6yqzul)(http://tinyurl.com/5zmwfa)
1971 May 18, The documentary
"Powers That Be" aired for one time and went under litigation from
PG&E. Don Widener (d.2003 at 72) produced the work about
environmental and nuclear dangers.
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A26)
1971 Sep 15, A group of
activists set sail on the Phyllis Cormack for Alaska from Vancouver,
Canada, to stop a US nuclear weapons test in the Aleutian Islands.
Panels reading Green and Peace dangled from the bridge. Bob Hunter
(d.2005), one of the activists, became the 1st president of
Greenpeace (1973-1977).
(HFA, '96, p.38)(GQ, summer ‘96, p.18)(SFC,
4/30/97, p.A9)(Econ, 5/14/05, p.89)
1971 Harold S. Johnston was the
first scientist to warn that trace amounts of nitrogen emitted to
the upper atmosphere could profoundly damage the ozone layer. He
earned a national Medal of Science in 1997. His discovery led
Congress to initiate the CIAP.
(SFC,12/16/97, p.A20)
1971 The US government
initiated a $21 million study called the Climactic Impact Assessment
Program (CIAP). Its purpose was to study the impact of high-flying
airplanes on the upper atmosphere, i.e. the stratosphere.
(NOHY, 3/90, p.138)
1971 Denmark became the first
European country to create a Cabinet-level ministry dealing
exclusively with the environment.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.AA6)
1972 Mar 12, “The Limits to
Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament
of Mankind." was presented publicly at the Smithsonian Institute in
Washington. It was translated into 30 languages and 10 million
copies of the book were sold, helping the Club of Rome gain the
world stage. Donella Meadows (1941-2001) Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen
Randers, and William W. Behrens III co-authored the report.
(SFC, 2/21/01,
p.A22)(www.clubofrome.at/peccei/limits.html)
1972 Apr 4, The 1st electric
power plant fueled by garbage began operating.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1972 Apr 15, Canada’s PM Pierre
Trudeau and President Richard Nixon met in Ottawa to sign the Great
Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The agreement followed measurements
that showed that high concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen led
to the lakes being choked to death from vegetation and algae.
Methods for quantifying eutrophication had been developed by Swiss
scientist Richard Vollenweider (1922-2007).
(http://tinyurl.com/ygrc3p)(WSJ, 2/3/07, p.A8)
1972 Aug 9, The pesticide
Compound 1080, or sodium fluoroacetate, was banned as of this day by
the EPA. It had been used against coyotes but other animals were
dying from its use. It was reinstated in 1985 for use in livestock
protection collars. DDT was banned.
{Chemistry, Environment, USA, Animals}
(http://fluoridealert.org/pesticides/sodium.fluoroacetate.epa.90.htm)(SFC,
5/17/97, p.A17)(SFC, 6/18/99, p.A3)
1972 Oct 12, House Resolution
16444, establishing the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
(GGNRA), was passed by Congress and was signed by President Richard
Nixon 15 days later. The island of Alcatraz was incorporated into
this park. California Congressman Phillip Burton pushed through
legislation preserving thousands of acres of forested hills, valleys
and rugged shoreline. The park was expanded from 870 acres in 1948
to 6,300 acres by 1972.
(www.sftravel.com/Alcatraz1950on.html)(SFEC,
6/27/99, Z1 p.1,4)(SFCM, 4/25/04, p.18)
1972 Oct 18, The Federal Water
Pollution Control Act Amendments, sponsored by Senator Ed Muskie of
Maine, was passed. It was amended in 1977 and became known as the
Clean Water Act. It gave EPA the authority to implement pollution
control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry.
(SFC, 6/2/96,
p.T-12)(http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/acts/fwpca.html)
1972 The US government outlawed
the pesticide DDT. It followed the suit filed by Ralph Abascal
(d.1997 at 63) of California Rural Legal Assistance on behalf of six
farmworkers. The federal law prevented California’s Montrose
Chemical Co. from dumping DDT into the ocean off the Palos Verdes
peninsula.
(SFC, 1/18/97, p.A16)(WSJ, 3/18/97, p.A22)(Pac.
Disc., summer, ‘96, p.5)
1972 California Congressman
Phillip Burton pushed through legislation preserving thousands of
acres of forested hills, valleys and rugged shoreline. This led to
the formation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA).
The park was expanded from 870 acres in 1948 to 6,300 acres by 1972.
(SFEC, 6/27/99, Z1 p.1,4)(SFCM, 4/25/04, p.18)
1972 Monsanto ceased producing
PCBs in Anniston, Alabama. In 2001 Monsanto agreed to a $40 million
settlement for toxic pollution.
(SFC, 4/25/01, p.A5)
1972 Owens Corning, Ohio-based
maker of insulation and other building products, stopped selling
asbestos products. In 1998 it offered $1.2 billion to settle its
asbestos related lawsuits, which numbered about 176,000 cases.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/6glsle)
1972 A coal sludge spill killed
125 people and swallowed 500 homes in Buffalo Creek, W. Va.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A20)
1972 Chen Yifei (b.1946),
Shanghai born artist, painted "Eulogy of the Yellow River," as
China’s Yellow River dried up for the 1st time in history before
reaching the Yellow Sea. From 1980 to 1996 he worked in the US and
became known as the Norman Rockwell of China.
(WSJ, 1/6/97, p.A10)(SFC, 3/4/02, p.A3)
1972 Costa Rica created the
1,680-acre Manuel Antonio National Park.
(SSFC, 6/1/03, p.C5)
1972 Jose Kahn, a Chilean-born
US citizen, opened Metales & Derividos in Tijuana, Mexico. The
plant smelted old US car and boat batteries. In 1987 it was told to
clean up its waste. In 1994 it was closed following years of
ineffective warnings.
(WSJ, 1/16/02, p.A12)
1972 David McTaggart (d.2001),
one of the founders of Greenpeace Int’l., sailed his small boat into
the French nuclear-testing site at Mururoa atoll in the South
Pacific.
(SFC, 3/24/01, p.A22)(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.A31)
1972 India enacted a Wildlife
Protection Act. It banned the hunting of tigers, the capture and
sale of bears (dancing bears) as well as the catching of snakes. In
2001 animal performances on the streets were banned. Snake charmers
felt their livelihood threatened.
(SFC, 7/8/02, p.A3)(SFC, 12/4/04, p.B10)(Econ,
6/25/05, p.41)
1973 Oct 15, Russell E. Train,
the US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, announced
final transportation control measures to lower air pollution levels
in several of the nation's largest cities. The action marked a final
step in developing the transportation controls required under the
Clean Air Act of 1972, although several urban plans were yet to be
finalized.
(www.epa.gov/history/topics/caa70/10.htm)
1973 Dec 28, Pres. Nixon signed
into law the Endangered Species Act. The first list of endangered
species contained Gray whales. The Gray whale was removed from the
list in 1994 when the population climbed back to about 22,000.
(PacDis, Fall/’96, p.24)(SFC, 10/2/98, p.A6)(SFC,
12/28/98, p.A1)
1973 Oregon adopted “urban
growth boundaries” (UGBs) setting rules limiting urban sprawl and
preserving farmland.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.35)(Econ, 4/17/10, p.32)
1974 Jun 28, Mario J. Molina
and F. Sherwood Rowland of UCLA, Irvine, proposed an alarming
hypothesis in Nature that the use of chlorofluorocarbons added
chlorine to the environment in steadily increasing amounts.
(www.ciesin.org/docs/011-464/011-464.html)
1974 Sep 25, Scientists warned
that continued use of aerosol sprays will cause ozone depletion,
which will lead to an increased risk of skin cancer and global
weather changes.
{Environment, USA, Cancer}
(HN, 9/25/98)(www.todayinsci.com/9/9_25.htm)
1974 Sep 26, The NYT published
a front page article on the impact of the chlorofluorocarbon, used
in aerosols, on the ozone.
(www.ciesin.org/docs/011-464/011-464.html)
1974 Dec 16, The US Safe
Drinking Water Act was passed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_Drinking_Water_Act)
1974 Dec 24, An oil spill
polluted 1,600 square miles of scenic Inland Sea in Japan.
(HN, 12/24/98)
1974 Deaths from cancer began
to escalate in the village of Dragon Range in the mountains of
Central China. Tests in 2000 showed high levels of lead and arsenic
from 4 factories in a nearby valley.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.F5)
1975 Jan 2, US Dept of Interior
designated the grizzly bear a threatened species.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1975 The New Almaden mine south
of San Jose, Ca., was closed. It had mined mercury for over 120
years. In the 1980s it was placed on the state’s list of Superfund
cleanup sites.
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A26)
1975 In Pennsylvania a company
called McAdoo Associates began operating to extract and recycle
metals from chemical wastes. The company accepted hundred of
thousands of gallons of paint sludge, waste oils, used solvents,
PCBs, cyanide, pesticides and many other known or suspected
carcinogens. In 1979, when the EPA stepped in, McAdoo Associates had
stockpiled enough chemicals to nearly fill an Olympic-size swimming
pool. The EPA placed it on the Superfund list and began a cleanup.
The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry began
looking into polycythemia vera (PCV) in August 2006 after 97 cases
in Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne counties were reported to the
state cancer registry between 2001 and 2005.
(AP, 10/23/07)
1976 Jul 10, There was an
explosion at a factory in Seveso, Lombardy, Italy, owned by ICMESA
with a Swiss parent company. It produced a cloud of Dioxin which
settled over several adjacent communities. The people exposed
became nauseated, experienced eye and throat irritations, developed
burn-like sores on exposed skin, headaches, dizziness and diarrhea
-- the same symptoms recorded by exposed Vietnamese and Cambodian
populations. In the next two days, small animals in the area
began to die. The contamination led to a high incidence of birth
defects.
(www.theveteranscoalition.org/educational_material/agent_orange.htm)(WSJ,2/12/97,
p.A8)
1976 Jul 13, The Green Peace
500-ton James Bay, a converted Canadian minesweeper, set out from
the SF Bay to thwart Japanese and Russian whale hunters in Hawaiian
water.
(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.6)
1976 Aug 22, EPA scientists
reported that they had discovered plutonium in the ocean sediment
off the SF coast and radioactive cesium leaking from containers 120
miles east of Ocean City, Md. Some 62,000 steel drums of nuclear
waste were dumped into the oceans from 1946-1970.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.WB6)
1976 Sep 14, EPA scientists
discovered a new species of sponge growing on steel cans containing
low-level radioactive waste that were dumped near the Farallones
Islands from 1946-1970.
(SFC, 9/14/01, WB p.6)
1976 Oct 11, The US Toxic
Substances Control Act became law with an effective date of January
1, 1977.
(www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/tsca/tscaenfstatreq.html)
1976 Dec 21, The
Liberian-registered tanker Argo Merchant ran aground near Nantucket
Island, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the North Atlantic.
(AP, 12/21/97)
1976 US Congress passed the
Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. It extended US
territorial waters to 200 miles offshore.
(GQ, Summer ‘96, p.22)(WSJ, 11/25/97, p.A1)
1976 The US Congress asked the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to find land that might qualify for
wilderness protection. It found 3.2 million eligible acres in Utah.
(Econ, 8/23/03, p.26)
1976 A movement against climate
modification culminated in an international convention that
foreswore hostile use of "environmental modification techniques. The
int’l. community banned the use of environmental modification
techniques such as cloud seeding and Agent Orange.
(SFC, 8/11/00,
p.A15)(www.aip.org/history/climate/RainMake.htm)
1976 San Mateo County, Ca.,
rebuilt the military housing by the PG&E plant east of Cow
Palace in Daly City with a housing complex of 150 units called
Midway Village. The units stood over toxic soil from PG&E that
was used by the military during WW II as land fill. Dirt and
groundwater in the area contained polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons
(PNAs), a known carcinogen. No soil tests were conducted.
(SFC, 3/10/98, p.A14)(SFC, 1/5/00, p.A12)(SFC,
1/19/00, p.A4)
1977 May 23, Pres. Jimmy Carter
presented an environmental message to Congress: "I am directing to
make a one-year study of the probable changes in the world’s
population, natural resources and environment through the end of the
century. This study will serve as the foundation of our longer-term
planning. The Global 2000 Report sold 1.5 million copies and
pronounced a world that would be more crowded, more polluted, less
stable ecologically and more vulnerable to disruption than the world
of 1980.
(SFC, 12/31/00, WB p.1)
1977 The US Congress passed the
surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act to help solve problems
with abandoned mines.
(WSJ, 6/4/03, p.A1)
1977 The manufacture of
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) became prohibited in the US,
because of evidence they build up in the environment and can cause
harmful health effects.
(www.epa.gov/glnpo/bnsdocs/stakeholder98/pcbinus.htm)
1977 The Endangered Species Act
(1973) listed the California sea otter as threatened. Their numbers
increased slowly until 1995 and then dropped again.
(PacDis, Fall/’96, p.23)(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.C1)
1977 Protocols I and II were
added to the Geneva Conventions. They prohibited environmental
damage during int’l. and internal armed conflict. Protocol I
prohibited "widespread, long-term and severe damage to the
environment."
(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A15)
1977 France banned frog fishing
to protect the local green and red varieties. Poaching remained a
problem.
(WSJ, 4/2/02, p.A1)
1978 Jan 24, Cosmos, a
4-month-old nuclear-powered Soviet satellite plunged through Earth's
atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over
parts of northern Canada.
(CFA, '96,Vol 179, p.38)(AP, 1/24/98)(SSFC,
3/18/01, p.A1)
1978 Mar 16, The Amoco-Cadiz
oil tanker spilled a record 1.6 million barrels of crude oil off the
coast of France.
(WSJ, 9/13/99,
p.R4)(www.cedre.fr/uk/spill/amoco/amoco.htm)
1978 Dec 1, Pres. Jimmy Carter
proclaimed 15 new national monuments, eleven under NPS jurisdiction
and two each for the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife
Service.
(www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/rothman/chap11a.htm)
1978 The US military buried an
estimated 250 drums of Agent Orange herbicide and other chemicals at
the Camp Carroll base in South Korea. In 2011 the US military
acknowledged the burial.
(AP, 6/2/11)
1978 In Northern California
hundreds of fish near Iron Mountain died from mine pollutants.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1978 The Chinese Academy of
Sciences set up the River Dolphin Research Group in Wuhan. The
baiji, a white river dolphin, was declared a "rare and precious
aquatic animal" the following year.
(SFC, 3/23/98, p.a8)
1979 Feb 18, Snow fell in the
Sahara Desert.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1979 Apr 13, A barge with 4.3
million gallons of gasoline rammed into an abutment of the
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and spilled 42,000 gallons into the SF
Bay.
(SFC, 4/9/04, p.F10)
1979 Jun 3, Ixtoc 1, an
exploratory oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, blew and spilled an
estimated 3.3 million barrels of oil by March 1980.
(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A14)(Econ, 5/8/10, p.69)
1979 Jul 19, Two supertankers
collided off Tobago and spilled 260,000 tons of oil. It was the
worst oil spill to date with 88 million gallons spewed.
(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R49)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills)
1979 Nov 1, The tanker Burmah
Agate, spilled 10.7 million gallons of oil off Galveston Bay, Texas,
in US's worst oil spill disaster.
(http://tinyurl.com/2jwxd3)
1979 The US EPA approved the
use of MTBE as a 2-5% blend in gasoline to boost octane.
(SSFC, 8/26/01, p.A17)
1979 In Germany “The Greens”
political party formed to give the environmental movement political
and parliamentary representation.
(Econ, 4/2/11,
p.13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Green_Party)
1979 The Japanese oil ship
Takeo Maru sank in a storm off the coast of Sakhalin Island with its
tanks full. The rusty tanks later began leaking and in 2000 a huge
slick hit the port city of Shakhtyorsk.
(SFC, 7/8/00, p.D8)
1979 Elephant hunting was
banned in Kenya with the herd down to 1.3 million.
(SFC, 4/11/00, p.D2)
1979 Nigeria outlawed gas
flaring, to be phased out over 5 years. The law was not enforced and
in 2008 some 20 billion cubic meters of year were flared, out of a
global total of 150 billion.
(Econ, 4/5/08, p.50)
1979 In Sverdlovsk, Russia,
there was an explosion at a biological weapons lab. 96 people were
stricken from the release of anthrax bacterium and 66 died. The name
of the town was later changed to Yekaterinburg.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A9)
1979 Two tankers collided off
the coast of Trinidad and Tobago in the worst oil spill to date and
88 million gallons were spewed.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1980 Feb 23, Oil tanker
explosion off Pilos, Greece, caused a 37-mil-gallon spill.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1980 Apr 11, Mother Jones
magazine won the 1980 national Magazine Award for Reporting
Excellence for a Nov. 1979 article by Mark Dowie on the export of
hazardous products banned from the US.
(SFC, 4/8/05, p.F2)
1980 May 22, In response to a
request from the Governor of NY, President Carter declared a second
federal emergency at Love Canal, paving the way for federal aid to
relocate the more than 700 families who still lived near the former
toxic waste dump.
(www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/investigations/love_canal/lcreport.htm)
1980 Nov 22, Georgia tanker at
Pilottown La, spilled 1.3 million gallons of oil after an anchor
chain caused the ship to leak.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1980 Pres. Carter signed a law
that renamed the Arctic National Wildlife Range to the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge and more than doubled its size. The law
directed the Interior Dept. to assess oil potential in 1.5 million
acres of the coastal plain. A ban was put on drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. In 2002 Pres. Bush pushed to overturn the
ban. Estimates on oil there ranged from 3.2 to at least 5.7 billion
barrels.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.A9)(SSFC, 8/28/05, p.A13)
1980 Congress passed the Alaska
National Interest Lands Conservation Act and protected 104 million
acres of wilderness. The size of Denali National Park was tripled to
6.2 million acres. Motorized access to the land was given for
traditional activities such as hunting, fishing and camping. Peggy
Wayburn’s book: "Alaska the Great Land" was credited with helping
persuade Congress.
(WSJ, 5/13/99, p.B1)(SFC, 3/28/02, p.A24)(SSFC,
3/28/04, p.D9)
1980 Alaska's Wrangell-St.
Elias National Park was established.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.38)
1980 August Cinquegrana (d.1999
at 78) directed "Toxic Time Bomb," an HBO documentary on the threats
of toxic waste in America.
(SFC, 9/8/99, p.B2)
1980 In Brazil the TAMAR
project to protect sea turtles was begun by Maria and Guy
Marcovaldi.
(SFC, 11/2/98, p.A12)
1980 The huge British Steel
plant at Corby, central England, closed and the site was
redeveloped. In 2009 a British court ruled in favor of a group of
young people who said pollution from the former steelworks
contributed to their birth defects, which included missing fingers
and deformed hands and feet.
(AP, 7/29/09)
1981 The federal government
declared Picher, Oklahoma, a hazardous waste site due to lead
contamination and proceeded to buy out about 900 homeowners and
businesses. In 2011 every commercial building was destroyed and only
a handful of residents remained.
(Reuters, 1/29/11)
1981 An amendment to the
Endangered Species Act allowed property owners to destroy some
habitat provided that they come up with an acceptable plan to
preserve equivalent habitat elsewhere.
(WSJ, 4/14/99, p.CA1)
1981 Employees informed Shell,
Exxon and Texaco that the gasoline additive, methyl tertiary butyl
ether (MTBE), was leaking from their gas stations and had
contaminated ground water in 3 towns in New Jersey and Maryland.
(SSFC, 8/19/01, p.A13)
1981 In San Jose, Ca., water
supply wells were found to be contaminated due to leaks from
Fairchild and IBM storage tanks used for toxic solvents.
(SFC, 1/30/04, p.E6)
1982 Jan 24, A draft of Air
Force history reported that the U.S. secretly sprayed herbicides on
Laos during the Vietnam War.
(HN, 1/24/99)
1982 Jul 23, The Intl. Whaling
Commission voted for a total ban on commercial whaling starting in
1985.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1982 Sep 1, Congress created a
110,000 acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A15)
1982 Dec 10, The UN Law of the
Sea treaty opened for signature. It extended internationally
recognized territorial waters to 200 miles offshore. The convention
came into force on November 16, 1994, one year after the sixtieth
state, Guyana, signed it. The treaty gave countries the power to
restrict fishing within 231 miles of their coasts. The convention
created the International Seabed authority and the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
(http://tinyurl.com/2wsq9p)(WSJ, 1/18/07,
p.A13)(Econ, 8/18/07, p.51)
1982 Dec 16, Anne M. Gorsuch,
head of the Environmental Protection Agency, became the first
Cabinet-level officer to be cited for contempt of US Congress for
refusing to submit documents requested by a congressional committee.
(AP, 12/16/02)
1982 The jellyfish-like
creature, Mnemiopsis leidyi, arrived in Black Sea, probably in the
ballast water of a cargo ship, and began to devastate the ecology of
the almost closed ecosystem.
(SFEC,12/797, p.A22)
1982 In Monaco an aquarium was
emptied that contained the exotic seaweed Caulerpa taxifolia. It
mutated and thrived in the Mediterranean Sea and by 1997 occupied
8,000 acres and eliminated everything else. Its growth has tripled
annually over the last three years.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.E4)
1983 Jan 23, Russian
radioactive satellite fell into the Indian Ocean.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1983 Jul 1, In Australia the
High Court on circuit in Brisbane ruled by a vote of 4 to 3 in the
federal government's favor and prohibited Franklin River dam-related
clearing, excavation and building activities that had been
authorized by Tasmanian state legislation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Dam)(Econ,
2/12/11, p.49)
1983 In Ringwood, New Jersey, a
500-acre site once used by Ford Motor Co. as a dump site was
declared a Superfund site. Ford paid for a $2.5 million cleanup in
1994. Complaints in 2004 led to calls for a re-testing of the site.
(USAT, 3/23/04, p.11A)
1983 Felix Smith, biologist for
the US Fish and Wildlife Service, discovered the first selenium
deformed birds at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in Merced
County, Ca.
(WSJ, 11/18/98, p.CA3)
1983 The Bear River Migratory
Bird Refuge was flooded. In 1991 Terry Tempest Williams authored
"Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place."
(SSFC, 12/2/01, p.M3)
1984 Feb 3, The Environmental
Protection Agency ordered a ban on the pesticide EDB for grain
products.
(HN, 2/3/99)
1984 Mar 19, Mobil oil tanker
spilled 200,000 gallons into the Columbia River.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1984 Oct 31, The Puerto Rican
tanker San Francisco exploded spilling 2 million gallons of oil as
the ship caught fire. The ship Puerto Rican exploded and sank 15
miles off Montara. It spilled a million gallons of oil.
(MC, 10/31/01)(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A27)
1984 Bills covering national
forests in 20 states added 8.3 million acres to the Federal
Wilderness System.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, Z1 p.6)
1984 US Congress established
the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to distribute funds for
wildlife and environmental projects.
(SFC, 11/20/99, p.A8)
1984 In California cancer cases
began popping up in McFarland in the Central Valley. 21 people over
20 years were struck in the town of 8,000. A state study from
1985-1991 ended inconclusively and the EPA was petitioned to study
the problem. Residents suspected airborne pesticides.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A5)
1994 Rene Ngongo of Congo DRC
founded the OCEAN environmental group, exposing the impact of
deforestation and monitoring the plunder of minerals by warring
factions during Congo's 1996-2002 civil wars.
(AP, 10/13/09)
1985 Jul 10, French security
forces sank the Rainbow Warrior, a ship operated by Greenpeace near
NZ. Fernando Pereira, a Dutch photographer, was killed in the
sinking.
(SFC, 5/7/99,
p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Warrior)
1985 Sep 22, In France the
premier confessed to the June 10 attack of Green Peace's Rainbow
Warrior.
(MC, 9/22/01)
1985 Nov 6, An exploratory oil
well at Ranger, Tx., exploded and spilled 150,000 barrels of oil.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980-1989_world_oil_market_chronology)
1985 Randy Hayes founded the
Rainforest Action Network, a non-profit group in SF.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.B1)
1985 Marcelo Carvalho de
Andrade, Brazilian mountain climber, former model and surgeon, came
up with a plan to help protect the rain forest while waiting out a
storm on the north face of Aconcagua, the highest peak in South
America.
(SFC, 7/7/99, p.A8)
1985 The Mexican environmental
organization Group of 100 was founded.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A14)
1985-1997 In Niger some 60 million trees were
planted over this period to stave off the encroaching Sahara Desert
that expands by 500,000 acres each year. About half the trees have
survived.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A12)
1985-1999 Swiss glaciers lost at least 18% of
their surface area during this period.
(NH, 2/05, p.17)
1986 Apr 26, The world's worst
nuclear accident occurred in Pripyat, Ukraine, north of Kiev, at
1:23 a.m. as the Chernobyl atomic power plant exploded. A
300-hundred-square-mile area was evacuated and 31 people died as
unknown thousands were exposed to radioactive material that spread
in the atmosphere throughout the world. An exploded at Chernobyl,
Ukraine, and burned for 10 days. About 70% of the fallout fell in
Belarus. Damage was estimated to be up to $130 billion. By 1998
10,000 Russian "liquidators" involved in the cleanup had died and
thousands more became invalids. It was later estimated that the
released radioactivity was 200 times the combined bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
(WSJ, 11/8/95, p.A-1)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A14)(SFC,
12/18/99, p.C4)(AP, 4/26/05)
1986 Nov 1, A fire in a Sandoz
factory in Basel left 30 tons of chemicals in the Rhine.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1986 Daniel B. Luten (d.2003)
published "Progress Against Growth: Essays on the American
Landscape."
(SFEC, 4/27/97, Z1 p.3)(SFC, 1/24/03, p.A25)
1986 Richard Vollenweider
(1922-2007), Swiss scientist, was awarded the Tyler Prize for
Environmental Achievement for helping save Lake Erie. Procter &
Gamble, the USA’s biggest detergent manufacturer, had nominated him
for the prize. Vollenweider had developed methods for quantifying
the eutrophication of freshwater. His methods also helped form the
basis of the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Act.
(http://tinyurl.com/ygrc3p)(WSJ, 2/3/07, p.A8)
1986 Nevada’s 77,000-acre Great
Basin National Park was dedicated.
(SSFC, 7/18/04, p.D7)
1986 Residents of south San
Jose settled a suit with IBM and Fairchild over toxic chemical
leaks. The terms were sealed.
(SFC, 1/30/04, p.B1)
1986 The Potamocorbula clam, or
Asian clam, was introduced to the SF Bay. It was highly prolific and
proceeded to devour all the plankton in the northern part of the
Bay, causing the shrimp population to drop and the striped bass to
decline. The clams accumulate selenium more than other shellfish
causing increases in selenium levels in sturgeon, striped bass and
ducks.
(SFC,12/11/97, p.A24)
1986 The zebra mussel was
introduced to the Great lakes by Russian freighters in 1986. [see
1988]
(WSJ, 9/27/00, p.A1)
1986 The pine pitch canker was
first noticed in California. Wilted needles and browned branch tips
preceded the formation of resin-oozing cankers which then attract
beetles. It was believed that beetles carried the disease.
(SFC, 11/30/98, p.A17)
1986 The EPA reported that 35%
of all underground gas tanks were leaking an average of 2,800
gallons of gasoline annually.
(SSFC, 8/19/01, p.A13)
1986 The Apex Houston oil spill
off the California coast killed an estimated 6,500 common murre
seabirds.
(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A27)
1986 In Brazil Marcelo Carvalho
de Andrade formed Pro-Natura, a non-governmental organization
dedicated to saving the rain forests through sustainable
development. The first program was set up in Desengano State Park to
prevent clandestine logging.
(SFC, 7/7/99, p.A8)
1987 Feb 4, Congress overrode
Pres Reagan's veto of Clean Water Act. Changes in the 1972 Act
phased out the construction grants program, replacing it with the
State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund, more commonly known as
the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
(www.epa.gov/r5water/cwa.htm)(www.agiweb.org/legis105/cwupdate.html)
1987 Mar 13, The president of
Ecuador announced his country had suspended payments on its foreign
debt after earthquakes killed hundreds of people and ruptured the
country's main oil pipeline. The quake destroyed nearly 25 miles of
oil pipeline.
(AP, 3/13/97)(SFC, 5/1/03, A8)
1987 Apr, An internal EPA memo
warned that the gasoline additive MTBE had a tendency to separate
from gasoline and leak into groundwater.
(SSFC, 8/19/01, p.A1)
1987 Sep 16, Two-dozen
countries signed the Montreal Protocol, a treaty designed to save
the Earth's ozone layer by calling on nations to reduce emissions of
harmful chemicals by the year 2000. It was amended in 1990 and 1992.
The international convention met in Montreal and negotiators from 23
of the world’s major industrial nations signed a treaty to slow down
global chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs) production to restore atmospheric
ozone. By 1997 156 nations had signed the Montreal Protocol.
(NOHY, W3/90, p.47)(SFC, 5/31/96, A1,17)(SFEC,
6/15/97, BR p.4)(AP, 9/16/97)
1987 Geochemist Wallace
Broecker of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 1st suggested that a
greenhouse induced shutdown of a current in the Atlantic Ocean (the
thermohaline circulation) could trigger abrupt climate change and
plunge much of Europe into a mini-ice age.
(WSJ, 5/14/04, p.B1)
1987 The Lebanese Free Forces,
a right-wing Christian militia, arranged to accept and store 15,800
barrels and 20 large containers of toxic chemicals from the Italian
firm Jelly Wax in exchange for cash. Later German, Canadian and
Belgium firms shipped in toxic chemicals for storage. By 1998 70% of
the country’s drinking water sources was contaminated.
(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A10)(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A10)
1988 Apr 23, A drain valve was
left open at the Shell Marsh in Martinez and 10,000 barrels of oil
poured in the marsh adjoining Peyton Slough. Shell cleaned the mess
and paid $20 million in penalties. The marsh was purchased with part
of the funds and turned into a regional park.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A19-20)
1988 Spring, Soviet germ
scientists transferred hundreds of tons of anthrax bacteria into
canisters with bleach and sent them for storage to Vorrozhdeniye
Island (Renaissance Island) in the Aral Sea, shared by Kazakstan and
Uzbekistan.
(SFC, 6/2/99, p.A10,11)
1988 A memo from a Camp
Lejeune, NC, lawyer, Staff Judge Advocate A.P. Tokarz, to the base's
assistant facilities manager said the Marine Corps had known for
years that a fuel farm, built in 1941, was leaking 1,500 gallons a
month and had done nothing to stop it. "It's an indefensible waste
of money and a continuing potential threat to human health and the
environment.”
(AP, 2/18/10)
1988 The zebra mussel first
appeared in the US. It is capable of laying up to 5 million eggs per
year. The European freshwater mussel was introduced into the Great
Lakes. It proceeded to spread to 18 states and 3 Canadian provinces
clogging water intake pipes at power plants and water facilities.
[see 1986]
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A3)(SFC,12/11/97, p.A24)
1988 Climatologist James Hansen
brought the greenhouse effect to the attention of the American
public when he told Congress that worldwide temperature increases
were probably a sign of human alteration of the atmosphere.
(SFC,12/12/97, p.A13)
1988 Beal Mountain mine opened
near Butte, Mont. Its owner promoted open-pit cyanide leaching for
extracting gold from ore as modern and environmentally friendly.
Pegasus Gold Corp., a Canadian company, extracted nearly 460,000
ounces of gold over a decade before closing the mine and declaring
bankruptcy in 1998. It left behind a 70-acre, cyanide-contaminated
leach pond with a leaky liner and tons of rubble that sends
selenium-laced runoff into streams, threatening cutthroat trout and
other fish. The 2009 economic stimulus included some funds for
cleaning up this and other similar sites.
(AP, 2/15/09)
1988 The world’s seafood supply
peaked at 34 pounds a person per year. In 2001 the supply fell to 25
pounds per person per year.
(SFC, 11/30/01, p.E1)
1989 Mar 2, Exxon Houston ran
aground in Hawaii and spilled 117,000 gallons of oil.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1989 Mar 24, Good Friday. The
nation's worst oil spill occurred as the supertanker Exxon Valdez
ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began
leaking 11 million gallons of crude. The Exxon Valdez struck ground
in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and spilled 10.6 million gallons of
oil. It was later renamed the Mediterranean and operated between
Europe and the Middle East. Exxon then spent some $2.5 billion to
clean up the spill and filed suit against Lloyd’s of London for
reimbursement under a $210 million insurance policy. In 1996 a jury
in Houston voted that Lloyd’s and some 250 other underwriters should
compensate Exxon $250 million. The Exxon Valdez oil spill fouled
approximately 1,000 miles of Alaska shoreline. The oil tanker ran
aground in Prince William Sound, spilling some 11 million gallons of
crude oil. An estimated 250,000 seabirds were killed. The Exxon
Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels of oil in Alaska's Prince William
Sound.
(AP, 3/23/97)(TMC, 1994, p.1989)(SFC, 5/5/96,
p.A-11)(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A10)(SFEC, 2/8/98, p.T5)(HNQ, 8/14/99)
1989 Jul 1, The 1987 Montreal
Protocol, an international treaty dealing with ozone-destroying
pollutants, went into effect. The treaty sought to cut in half
production of chemicals posing the greatest risk to ozone.
(HNQ, 8/11/99)(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A16)
1989 Jul 16, Leaders of the
seven major industrial democracies called at their economic summit
in Paris for "decisive action" against global pollution.
(AP, 7/16/99)
1989 Sep 29, In California The
Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 was signed into law.
Republican Gov. George Deukmejian and Democratic lawmakers in
control of the Legislature had negotiated the creation of the
Integrated Waste Management Board to oversee the reduction of waste
going to landfills.
(SSFC, 6/14/09, p.A10)(http://tinyurl.com/l9wx7d)
1989 The UN Convention on
Int’l. Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) imposed a total ban on
the trade of ivory and elephant hide.
(WSJ, 1/7/97, p.A1)(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A20)(SFC,
4/18/00, p.A9)
1989 The Louisiana legislature
established the Louisiana Wetlands Conservation Authority.
(NH, 2/05, p.46)
1989 The Fresno, Ca., Municipal
Sanitary Landfill, opened in 1937 as the nation’s 1st true sanitary
landfill, was named a Superfund toxic site by the EPA.
(SFC, 8/29/01, p.A3)
1989 The city of Berkeley Ca.,
passed a ban on Styrofoam.
(SFC, 4/29/08, p.A1)
1989 The Russian wheat aphid
arrived from Mexico and began to damage US wheat fields.
(SFC, 8/17/00, p.A2)
1989 The village of Copsa Mica,
Romania, was exposed as one of the most polluted places in Europe.
Despite cleanup efforts heavy contamination persisted in 2002.
(WSJ, 1/9/02, p.A1)
1989 A tanker ran aground near
Claymont, Del., spilling 300,000 gallons of heating oil into the
Delaware River.
(AP, 11/28/04)
1990 Feb 7, An 811-foot tanker,
the American Trader, spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of
Alaskan crude oil off the coast of Huntington Beach, Calif.
(AP, 2/7/00)
1990 Mar 12, Exxon pleaded
guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay $100 million fine in a
$1.1 billion settlement of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1990 Apr 22, Millions of
Americans joined in a worldwide 20th anniversary celebration of the
first Earth Day. Harriett Burgess (d.2010 at 73) founded the San
Francisco based American Land Conservatory to shelter land from
development in all parts of the country.
(AP, 4/22/00)(SFC, 5/8/10, p.C4)
1990 May 24, Darryl Cherney and
Judi Bari (11/7/49-3/2/97), environmental activists in the Earth
First! movement, were injured after a pipe bomb exploded in their
car as they drove through Oakland, Ca. They were arrested while in
the hospital on charges of transporting a bomb but the charges were
never filed. They later filed a suit against the FBI and Oakland
police for false arrest, illegal search and seizure and conspiracy
to violate free-speech rights. Bari died of liver cancer in 1997. In
2002 a jury awarded $2.9 million to Bari’s estate and $1.5 million
to Cherney saying the FBI had framed them as eco-terrorists. In 2004
the government settled civil suits for $2 million.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.C2)(SFC,10/21/97, p.A20)(SFC,
6/12/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/23/04, p.B1)
1990 Jun 11, The UN appoints
Olivia Newton-John as its 1st Goodwill Ambassador to the
Environment.
(http://hometown.aol.com/author31/discov.htm)
1990 Nov 15, Pres. Bush signed
the Clear Air Act of 1990.
(www.epa.gov/history/topics/caa90/02.htm)
1990 Richard and Rhoda Goldman,
SF philanthropists, founded the Goldman Prize to provide cash awards
for grass-roots environmentalist activity in 7 major geographic
regions.
(SFC, 4/22/02, p.A3)
1990 Doug Tompkins founded the
Foundation for Deep Ecology in SF after his wife eased him out of
the fashion firm, Esprit Corp.
(SFC, 7/15/02, p.E1)
1990 US Congress passed the
Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act of 1990
(CWPPRA).
(NH, 2/05, p.46)
1990 A US law allowed a
dolphin-safe label for cans of tuna not netted with dolphins. A 1997
amendment allowed the label for tuna harvested with encircling nets
if observers witnessed no dolphins harmed.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.C14)
1990 The US Oil Pollution Act
(OPA) was passed. It required new tankers sailing through US waters
to have double hulls and that old tankers be fitted with double
hulls by 2015. It capped liability for economic damages at $75
million.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A11,15)(Econ, 5/22/10, p.68)
1990 A law suit began against
Montrose Chemical Corp. and 2 other companies for a 100 ton DDT
deposit in the ocean off Los Angeles. A settlement was reached in
2000.
(SFC, 10/28/00, p.A5)
1990 An int’l. agreement set
limits on human harvesting of krill at 9 million tons a year. By
1997, the krill population were markedly depleted and new limits
were considered,
(SFC, 6/26/97, p.A3)
1990 The killing and selling of
dolphins became illegal in Peru, and the market went underground.
(PacDis, Winter/’96, p.36)
1990 A study by the US EPA
found that leaf-blowers were responsible for about 5% of the
nation’s harmful airborne pollutants.
(SFC, 8/5/05, p.B1)
1990 The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its 1st report on global
warming. Its 3rd report in 2001 noted that global temperatures could
rise 2.5 to 10.4 degrees during the 21st century.
(NH, 4/1/04, p.61)
1990s In the early 1990s
truckloads of foreign waste computer equipment began to be trucked
in to Guiyu, China. Salvaging operations soon caused fish to
disappear and the drinking water to go foul.
(SFC, 3/1/02, p.B3)
1990-2009 In Kenya the forests shrank during this
period by a at least 60%.
(Econ, 8/29/09, p.22)
1991 Jan 25, During the Gulf
War Iraq sabotaged Kuwait’s main supertanker loading pier, dumping
an estimated 460 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf.
(AP, 1/25/01)(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A14)
1991 Jul 14, In California a
Southern Pacific tanker car derailed near Dunsmuir and spilled
18,000 gallons of pesticides (19k gallons of metam sodium) into the
Sacramento River. This killed every living thing in the river for 40
miles downstream including 250,000 trout.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T7)(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A22)
1991 William L. Dwyer, Wash.
state federal district judge, ordered the government to stop
permitting logging on up to 60,000 acres of ancient forests a year
on public land because it endangered the habitat of the Northern
spotted owl.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.B6)
1991 In Alberta, Canada, a gas
leak forced Wiebo Ludwig to evacuate his 320-acre Trickle Creek
"community." Ludwig blamed the Alberta oil and gas industry for the
death of 60 of his livestock and a succession of human health
problems.
(SFC, 2/16/99, p.C2)
1991 Mexico shut down an oil
refinery in Mexico City. It was said to have belched out 7$ of the
city’s air pollution.
(Econ, 7/31/10, p.27)
1991 Norway became one of the
first countries to adopt a carbon tax in an attempt to slow global
warming.
(Econ, 1/24/09, p.28)
1992 Apr 21, Mobil Oil tug with
12,000 gallons of oil ran aground in Arthur Kill.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1992 May 5, The Basel
Convention, which curbed the trade of toxic materials, came into
force after being ratified by 20 nations. By 2008 170 nations had
signed the convention.
(www.ec.gc.ca/wmd-dgd/default.asp?lang=En&n=AE05D309-1)(SSFC,
7/6/08, p.A2)
1992 Jun 12, President Bush,
addressing the Earth Summit in Brazil, declared America's
environmental record "second to none."
(AP, 6/12/97)
1992 Jun 14, The Earth Summit
concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The world’s industrial nations
reached an agreement to reduce CO2 emissions, the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). By 1996 it was clear that the
goals were not being met.
(TMC, 1994, p.1992)(SFC, 7/11/96, p.A10)(AP,
6/14/97)(Econ, 12/5/09, SR p.3)
1992 Sep, San Francisco bicycle
riders began to ride in a group called "Commute Clot." It grew to
become the last Friday of the month Critical Mass bike ride.
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A13)(SFC, 9/26/02, p.A25)
1992 Dec 3, The Greek tanker
Aegean Sea spilled 21.5 million gallons of crude oil when it ran
aground at La Coruna, Spain.
(AP, 12/3/97)
1992 Dec, Vice-Pres. elect Al
Gore issued a press release to review plans of hazardous waste
incinerator in East Livermore. The plant, located on the Ohio River
and 1,100 feet from an elementary school, went into operation.
(SFEC, 9/17/00, p.A14)
1992 William Kittredge of
Oregon authored "Hole in the Sky." It was a memoir on the
destruction of habitat.
(SFEC, 4/2/00, BR p.12)
1992 Federal law outlawed the
commercial fishing of Coho salmon off the Pacific coast.
(SFC, 1/27/98, p.A15)
1992 The depletion of the ozone
layer made headlines.
(TMC, 1994, p.1992)
1992 Methyl bromide was added
to the list chemicals in the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an
international treaty dealing with ozone-destroying pollutants.
(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A16)
1992 MTBE was blended into
gasoline at a 10-15% level for use in winter to reduce carbon
monoxide in air.
(SSFC, 8/26/01, p.A17)
1992 Waste Reduction Partners
was founded in North Carolina to tap skilled retirees to assist on
environmental issues.
(SSFC, 10/31/04, Par p.16)
1992 Canada closed the Grand
Banks off of Newfoundland to all cod fishing. The cod fishery had
collapsed due to overfishing. By 2012 the fishery had still not
recovered.
(NH, 5/96, p.61)(Econ, 2/25/12, p.71)
1992 The National Marine Park
of Alonissos, Greece, was established to protect the endangered
Mediterranean monk seal.
(SSFC, 3/14/04, p.D6)
1992 The Asahi Glass Foundation
of Japan began sponsoring the Blue Planet Prize, an award for
environmental work.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.A20)
1992-2000 Environmental groups say wealthy
landowners and power brokers, profiting from logging Mexico’s
Petatlan Sierra, destroyed 40 percent of 558,000 acres of woodland,
some of the worst deforestation on the planet. In 2005 after a
month-long blockade by peasants, Boise Cascade canceled contracts
for massive cutting operations in the Petatlan mountains, citing
supply problems, and 15 logging permits were revoked. Since then at
least a dozen peasant leaders have been targeted. Some have been
arrested and jailed on what are widely seen as bogus charges
engineered by political and economic interests profiting from
logging. Others have gone into hiding and some have been killed.
(Reuters, 7/21/05)
1993 Jan 5, The Braer, a
Liberian-registered tanker, ran aground in Scotland's Shetland
Islands, spilling some 26 million gallons of light crude oil.
(AP, 1/5/98)(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A14)
1993 Mar 22, The 1st World
Water Day. On Dec 22, 1992, the UN General Assembly adopted
resolution A/RES/47/193 by which 22 March of each year was declared
World Day for Water, to be observed starting in 1993.
(www.unesco.org/water/water_celebrations/index.shtml)
1993 Aug 24, The Clinton
administration unveiled its proposed revisions to wetlands policy,
which would expand protection but also give landowners some
flexibility.
(AP, 8/24/98)
1993 The Seacology
environmental group was founded by ethnobotonist Paul Cox to help
island people save native plants and animals.
(SSFC, 8/4/02, p.A3)
1993 Shark finning was banned
in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico by the US Sec. of
Commerce due to serious overfishing.
(SFC, 6/7/00, p.A10)
1993 Princess Cruises began its
Planet Princess environmental conservation and training program.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T9)
1993 Louisiana Pacific was
fined $11 million under the federal Clean Air Act.
(SFC, 7/21/00, p.A5)
1993 The California Shellfish
Protection Act mandated that regional water quality control boards
enact policies and set up committees to protect threatened
shellfish.
(SFC, 4/28/03, A14)
1993 In Colorado a spill of
cyanide and acidic water from a gold-mining operation killed almost
every living thing along a 17-mile stretch of the Alamosa River in
the foothills of the San Juan Mountains. Summitville Consolidated
Mining Corp. declared bankruptcy. The main officers fled the country
and left taxpayers with a cleanup approaching $150 million.
(SSFC, 1/7/01, p.A4)
1993 Shell Oil stopped pumping
oil in the Ogoni Province, but continued to use pipelines that pass
through it. The Ogonis are a 500,000-strong community in
southwestern Nigeria. They maintain that oil production has polluted
their land, destroying their livelihoods of fishing and farming.
Shell canceled several community development projects. It had
earlier agreed to spend $29 million per year on such projects. In
2011 a UN report said it could take 30 years and at least $1 billion
to rid the poisoned mangroves of a black carpet of crude.
{Nigeria, Netherlands, Oil, Environment}
(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-11)(WSJ, 11/15/95,
p.A-1)(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.46)
1993-2005 In India pollution on the Yamuna River
doubled and continued to rise. The river extended 855 miles from the
Himalaya Mountains to the Ganges. New Delhi with 15 million
inhabitants dumped 57% of its waste into the Yamuna.
(SFC, 7/27/07, p.A17)
1994 Mar 13, The oil tanker
Nassia collided with an empty cargo ship at the entrance of the
Bosporus. 27-29 people lost their lives. 9,000 tons of petroleum
spilled and 20,000 tons burned for four days long affecting the
marine environment.
(www.bosphorusstrait.com/the-bosporus-strait/incidents/)(AP,
4/27/11)
1994 Aug 3, VP Al Gore broke a
50-50 tie in the US Senate by voting in favor of an ethanol tax
credit. In 2009 the credit added almost $5 billion to the federal
deficit. In 2010 Gore admitted that first-generation ethanol was a
mistake.
(SFC, 11/30/10,
p.A16)(http://tinyurl.com/2c4xaup)
1994 Aug 11, A US federal jury
awarded $286.8 million to some 10,000 commercial fishermen for
losses as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
(AP, 8/11/99)
1994 Pres. Clinton signed the
California Desert Protection Act, which set aside 7 million acres of
wilderness, mostly in the Mojave Desert.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A17)(SFEC, 8/29/99, Z1 p.6)
1994 Shooters at Lake Merced’s
gun club in SF, Ca., stopped using lead shot and switched to
biodegradable targets following a 1993 environmental study. During
the 1980s some 128 tons of lead were removed from the site. In 2005
lead contamination was reported to be 10 times higher than the 1993
study and efforts to raise the water level were put on hold.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.B1)
1994 Some 5,800 square miles
were cleared by fire for agriculture and ranching in this year.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.T5)
1994 The "Metales y Derivados"
plant, a car battery recycling facility in Tijuana, Mexico, was
closed for failure to properly dispose hazardous waste.
Investigations into pollution from the plant were demanded in 2000.
(SFC, 5/19/00, p.D4)
1994 Chinese triads arrived in
South Africa seeking abalone to supply black markets in China,
Taiwan, Japan and Korea. Poaching soared and "Operation Neptune" was
begun to combat a feared extinction.
(SFC, 11/28/03, p.C1)
1994 Japan introduced subsidies
for solar power technology. A typical system cost $16,000 per
kilowatt, of which the government paid half. The subsidies were
phased out in 2005.
(Econ, 11/18/06, p.73)
1994-1998 In Arkansas 59 bald eagles were found
dead at DeGray Lake and Lake Hamilton. Their deaths were associated
with dead coots and followed 10-20 days after heavy rains. Runoff
containing hazardous materials was suspected.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A14)
1995 Sep 8, It was reported
that a lifeless zone in the Gulf of Mexico has grown to more than
7,000 sq. miles, nearly the size of New Jersey. It was caused by
chemical and fertilizer runoff from US agriculture into the
Mississippi River. "An analysis of data from six major farm states
showed a significant correlation between (farm) subsidies and
increased chemical and fertilizer use." The subsidies encouraged
farmers to increase yield on less acreage.
(WSJ, 9/8/95, p.A-10)
1995 Sep 13, The hole in the
Earth's ozone layer was growing fast and was twice the size it was
in 1994. It now reached about the size of Europe.
(WSJ, 9/13/95, p.A-1)
1995 Carol Buckley and Scott
Blais founded the Elephant Sanctuary on a 800-acre farm in
Hohenwald, Tenn.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, Par p.14)
1995 The SF Bay Area held its
1st Bike to Work Day.
(SFC, 5/15/03, p.A17)
1995 A World Bank study
concluded that water pollution cost China some $54 billion this
year.
(SFC, 6/6/03, p.A12)
1995 A strong wind pushed a
tanker away from a refinery dock in West Deptford, N.J., snapping a
fuel line that spilled 40,000 gallons into the Delaware River.
(AP, 11/28/04)
1995 An Asian beetle, fatal to
North American ash trees, arrived in the US about this time. It was
1st noticed in 2002 and by 2005 had killed some 15 million ash trees
in Michigan. Ohio, Indian, and southern Ontario were also affected.
Infested trees died within 4 years.
(SSFC, 12/25/05, p.A25)
1996 Jan 23, The US Army
disclosed that it had 30,000 tons of chemical weapons stored in
Utah, Alabama, Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas, Colorado and
Oregon.
(WSJ, 1/23/96, p.A-1)
1996 Jan 23, France
acknowledged that its nuclear testing had caused leaks of
radioactive materials in the South Pacific.
(WSJ, 1/25/96, A-1)
1996 Feb 15, In the Toronto
Globe and Star there was a report by Peter Whelan that "pesticides
sprayed on fields in Argentina were killing tens of thousands of
wintering Swainson’s hawks that nest on the Canadian prairies and
the adjacent US Great Plains."
(NH, 10/96, p.51)
1996 Feb 15, The Sea Empress
grounded off of Wales and spilled 18 million gallons (72,000 tons)
of oil.
(SFC, 11/20/02,
p.A14)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/uk_news/55393.stm)
1996 Feb 26, Environmentalists
estimated that there were 100 Amur leopards left in the world and
only 30 in Russia. A new seaport on the border of Russia, North
Korea and China would reduce the number even more,
(SFC, 2/26/97, p.A8)
1996 Apr 22, Earth Day. The
Goldman Environmental Foundation of San Francisco presented annual
awards of $75,000 each to grass-roots eco-environ-mentalists on each
of the inhabited continents as selected by a panel of experts from
30 countries. Winners for 1996 were Albena Simeonova, founder of
Green Parliament in Bulgaria; Amooti Ndyakira, for journalism on
endangered gorilla habitats in Uganda; Edwin Bustillos, defender of
native lands and culture in Mexico, Mahesh Chandar Mehta, for
crusading against air and water pollution in India; Bill Ballantine,
for promoting marine reserves in New Zealand, Marina Silva, for
fighting deforestation in Brazil.
(USAT, 4/22/96, p.4-D)
1996 Apr 22, Pres. Clinton
endorsed a plan to expand the Point Reyes National Seashore by
38,000 acres. The Dept. of the Interior was to buy easements from
local farmers and to begin purchasing the 564-acre Giacomini dairy
ranch.
(SFC, 5/31/96, E1)
1996 May 16, Chevron said it
spilled as much as 17,000 gallons of oil into Pearl Harbor after a
pipeline sprang a leak.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-4)
1996 May 21, The US Congress
listed the California red-legged frog as an endangered species. The
year long moratorium blocking new listings by the Fish and Wildlife
Service ended last month.
(WSJ, 5/22/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 27, An oil spill in
Galveston Bay stretched for 5 miles after a barge broke up that was
carrying 700,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil. The barge was owned by
Buffalo Marine Services Inc. Two months ago another Buffalo owned
barge broke up and spilled nearly 200,000 gallons that drifted 50
miles into the Gulf of Mexico.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.A2)
1996 May 31, State authorities
officially advised the 900 residents of Chualar in Monterey County,
Ca., not to use tap water due to the accumulation of nitrates from
agricultural fertilizers and pesticides.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A1,6)
1996 Jul 10, A report by
TRAFFIC, a global wildlife trade monitoring group reported that 20
million sea horses are caught and traded each year. China was
estimated to import 20 tons each year for use in traditional
medicines. Sea horse populations in the Indo-Pacific region have
fallen over 50% in the last 5 years. Sea horses mate for life and if
one of a couple is caught, the other refuses to breed again.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 12, On the shores of
Australia’s Cocos and North Keeling Islands thousands of thongs
(flip-flops) have been washing up on the shore as discards from
Indonesia.
(WSJ, 8/12/96, p.B1)
1996 Aug 15, A botulism
outbreak began killing birds at the Salton Sea in California. The
sea is 278 feet below sea level and is now 10% more salty than the
Pacific Ocean. Extensive pollution with sewage from Mexico and
pesticides from farms in the Coachella valley plagued the big lake.
(SFC, 9/1/96, p.D8)(SFC, 9/3/96, p.A18)
1996 The Sapling Foundation, a
private, non-profit foundation, was founded by Chris Anderson. Its
mission is to offer help where it is most needed by leveraging the
power of ideas, technology, media and markets. In 2001 it acquired
the TED conference.
(SSFC, 2/07/04, p.A1)
1996 Bruce Babbitt, US Sec. of
the Interior, called for another survey of land that might qualify
for wilderness protection, which yielded another 2.6 million acres
in Utah.
(Econ, 8/23/03, p.26)
1996 The US banned leaded
gasoline.
(SSFC, 1/1/06, p.A20)
1996 The California
desert town of Hinkley won a $333 million settlement from PG&E
for the leakage of high concentrations of chromium 6 from storage
tanks into the groundwater. The film "Erin Brockovich" was based on
the case."
(SFC, 10/29/00, p.A5)
1996 California State Fish and
Game officials closed fishing for white, pink and green abalone. A
year later a moratorium on commercial and sport catches for all
abalone species south of SF was imposed due to dwindling numbers
from excess harvesting.
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.C7)
1996 California almond growers
advertised that they would pay $34 per colony for beekeepers to
bring in honeybees. A shortage was caused by parasitic mites, Varroa
jacobsoni and Acarapis woodi. The bee parasite, first found in Java
about a hundred years ago, spread to America in 1987.
(NH, 5/97, p.34)(Econ, 6/4/05, p.33)
1996 In Chile bicyclists formed
“Furiosos Cuiclistas” (raging cyclists) patterned after a SF group,
founded in 1992, to promote bicycling as a form of nonpolluting
transportation.
(SSFC, 11/14/04, p.A16)
1996-2000 Deforestation of the Amazon region
reached 5 million acres per year.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A10)
1997 Jan 2, 90 miles off the
coast of Japan the Russian oil tanker Nakhodka broke in two. It
carried 5 million gallons of fuel oil. The bow of the ship ran
aground 5 days later, 110 miles northwest of Tokyo, and much oil was
spilled.
(SFC, 1/8/97, p.C1)
1997 Feb-Mar, Over 700 dolphins
and whales piled up on the Atlantic coast of France. They had been
discarded by mid-water commercial fishing trawlers as bycatch.
(NG, 12/97, p.149)
1997 Apr 14, In SF the winners
of the 1997 Goldman Environmental Prize were announced: Alexander
Nikitin of Russia who helped to expose the danger of radioactive
fuel from Russian submarines stored in the Arctic waters; Terri
Swearingen of the US for fighting against a toxic waste incinerator
on the Ohio River; Samoan chieftain Fuiono Senio and ethnobotonist
Paul Cox for establishing forest preserves; Juan Pablo Orrego of
Chile for his battle to stop the damming of the Bio Bio River; Nick
Carter of England for helping to create Africa’s inter-governmental
force to fight illegal wildlife trade; and Loir Botor Dingit,
Indonesian tribal chief, for struggling to protect ancestral rain
forest from logging.
(SFC, 4/14/97, p.A11)
1997 Apr 25, The Clinton
administration extended the area over which the northwest coast
silvery Coho salmon is considered a "threatened" species.
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.A1)
1997 May 9, A pesticide plant
burned after an explosion in West Helena, Ark. The chemical
Azinphosmethyl was not supposed to have exploded unless it was
heated and decomposed. A levee was built to keep poison-laden
rainwater from entering the Mississippi River. Three firefighters
were killed.
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.A8)
1997 May 16, Some 2,500 barrels
of oil leaked near a coastal marsh in Louisiana at lake Barre in
Terrebonne Parish.
(SFC, 5/20/97, p.A3)
1997 Jun 19, In Zimbabwe
delegates to the UN Convention on Int’l. Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) approved the applications by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana
to sell an annual quota of their collective 55 tons of ivory
stockpile, but only to Japan. Trade in ivory was shut down in 1989
due to extensive poaching.
(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A20)(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A9)
1997 Jul 29, Once a worldwide
symbol of industrial pollution, Minamata Bay, Japan, was declared
free of mercury 40 years after contaminated food fish were blamed
for birth defects and deaths.
(AP, 7/29/98)
1997 Aug 10, It was reported
that the gasoline additive MTBE, methyl tert-butyl ether, was
leaking into ground water in California and elsewhere in the US.
Some 1,000 wells in California tested above the state’s action
level. The additive leaks from gasoline stations and dissolves in
water and seeps into aquifers. In 1995 the EPA reported that it
caused cancer in laboratory animals.
(SFEC, 8/10/97, p.A1,14)
1997 Aug 11, Steelhead trout of
the west coast was added to the federal list of imperiled species.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 11, The Environmental
Working Group claimed that high levels of the weed killer atrazine
were found in 245 Midwest communities. The chemical is used to spray
corn and kill weeds.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A3)
1997 Sep, In Sri Lanka Tamil
guerrillas sank a ship in the Trincomalee area. By 1999 leakage of
the 700 tons of oil in the ship was threatening the coastline.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A6)
1997 Nov 5, The freighter Kure,
while preparing to load a cargo of woodchips, rammed a concrete
piling of the Louisiana Pacific Co. pier near Eureka, Ca., and
spilled 5,100 gallons of oil in Humboldt Bay.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.A19)(SFC, 9/10/99, p.A19)
1997 Dec 11, In Kyoto, Japan,
negotiators at the conference on global warming reached a compromise
with a commitment by some 38 industrialized nations to cut
greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5% from 1990 levels over
the next 10-15 years. Over 160 nations endorsed the treaty that
binds industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gases. It was signed
by 171 nations. Int’l. aviation was excluded from the protocol on
condition that by 2007 countries and airlines of the Int’l. Civil
Aviation Organization (ICOA) come up with a way of reducing
emissions through a trading scheme.
(SFC,12/11/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/11/97, p.A1)(SFC,
5/29/98, p.A2)(Econ, 6/10/06, p.67)
1997 Janine Benyus authored
“Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.” She became one of the
1st to describe eco-friendly design ideas.
(SSFC, 11/28/04, p.E3)
1997 Joseph Petulla (d.2001 at
68), environmental philosopher and former priest, authored "American
Environmental History."
(SFC, 6/21/01, p.C2)
1997 Ray F. Smith (d.1999 at
71), entomologist, won the annual $250,000 World Food Foundation
prize for his contributions to integrated pest management and
reduced insecticide use.
(SFC, 9/6/99, p.A21)
1997 A large incidence of
tuberculosis was found in the environmentally degraded area of the
Aral Sea.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A20)
1997 A study discovered that
the water tables beneath much of northern China were shrinking by
about 5 feet every year.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A12)
1997 In California the quino
checkerspot butterfly was named an endangered species. It was
confined to western Riverside County and the Ptay Mesa area of San
Diego.
(WSJ, 4/14/99, p.CA1)
1997 Australia’s Macquarie
Island, located about halfway between Australia and Antarctica, was
designated a World Heritage site as the world's only island composed
entirely of oceanic crust. It is known for its wind-swept landscape,
and about 3.5 million seabirds and 80,000 elephant seals migrate
there each year to breed. In 2009 researchers said a 1995 decision
to eradicate cats from Macquarie island allowed the rabbit
population to explode and, in turn, destroy much of its fragile
vegetation that birds depend on for cover.
(AP, 1/13/09)
1997 A study by the Peruvian
government found that the country’s glaciers had shrunk by 22% over
the last 30 years. In the Carabaya range they had receded by 32%.
(WSJ, 6/17/05, p.A1)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.42)
1998 Jan 11, In the UAR a large
oil spill resulted when an 11,000-ton oil barge ran aground. Some
4,000 tons spilled on beaches and threatened marine and bird life.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A12)
1998 Jan 12, In Nigeria an
underwater pipeline from a Mobil Oil production platform broke and
released 40,000 barrels of oil into the Niger delta.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, p.A26)
1998 Jan 14, An int’l.
agreement on Antarctica took effect that banned mining and oil
drilling for 50 years and forbade a wide range of environmental
hazards including pesticides and dogs.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.C16)
1998 Feb 11, Ben Cohen,
co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, was named as director of
the Greenpeace environmental group. Greenpeace had an annual
worldwide income of about $160 mil.
(SFEC, 2/15/98, p.A7)
1998 Mar 21, It was reported
that Chinese researchers had discovered heavy industrial pollution
in the snow around the North Pole.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 20, A poll of 400
scientists indicated that 7 of 10 believed that a "mass extinction"
is under way, and that one-fifth of all living species could
disappear within 30 years.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A7)
1998 May 20, In Kyrgyzstan a
truck spilled 20 tons of cyanide and forced 600 people to seek
medical treatment. 3,876 pounds of cyanide leached out of the truck
but did not seem to hurt any local residents. Some fish died in the
river and the water flowed into the 113-mile-long Lake Ysyk Kol. The
Cameco Corp. of Canada ran the Kumtor gold mine and
contributed some 15% of the country’s GNP.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/18/98, p.A18)
1998 May 21, Canada ordered
major cuts in the catch of Coho salmon on the West Coast due to
declining stocks. Fishing on the Skeena and Thompson River runs was
banned and US officials were urged to take similar action.
(WSJ, 5/22/98, p.A1)
1998 May 30, Pakistan set off a
nuclear bomb, the 6th test in 3 days.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A15)
1998 May 30, An estimated 6.9
earthquake hit the northern Afghanistan region. Shari Basurkh was
hit hardest and some estimates put the death toll up to 3,000. The
estimated deaths later reached 5,000.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 2, Royal Caribbean
Cruises admitted to routinely dumping oily waste into the Caribbean
and agreed to pay a fine of $9 million. It was estimated that 80% of
the oil pollution in the world’s seas was caused by routing dumping
by ships of all sorts.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.A6)
1998 Jun 5, Some 70,000 white
bass at the Cheney Reservoir west of Wichita had died over the past
week from unexplained causes. The reservoir on the north fork of the
Ninnescah River was the main drinking water source for Wichita.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 5, In Texas an
estimated 22,000 trout died in the Guadalupe River after eating dead
fire ants that fell into the river after mating.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 8, In California
lethal algae blooms in recent weeks killed scores of birds and seal
lions in Monterey Bay.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 17, Unocal announced
that it would pay up to $200 million to remove an oil spill beneath
the town of Avila Beach near San Luis Obispo.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A1)
1998 cJul, Barrie Cook helped
found the Hong Kong Business Coalition on the Environment to push
for a cleaner Hong Kong. Pollution kept the skies gray regardless of
the weather.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.D3)
1998 Aug 14, Russia announced
that it would proceed with plans to regulate wolves with a planned
poisoning of 15,000.
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A16)
1998 Aug 16, It was reported
that about 80% of breeding-age swordfish had been eliminated by
overfishing.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T9)
1998 Aug, In Alberta, Canada,
the RC Mounted Police arrested evangelical pastor Wiebo Ludwig (56),
his wife and son and a friend for bombing an oil-well site. They
were later released for lack of evidence. Over the last 2 ½
years some 160 attacks were made on natural resource companies in
the area.
(SFC, 11/3/98, p.C3)
1998 Sep 1, China imposed a ban
on logging upstream on the Yangtze effective by this date due to the
excess flooding following a half-century of clear-cutting.
(SFEC, 9/27/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 12/23/03, p.A1)
1998 Sep 17, David Chain of
Texas was killed by a falling redwood tree logged by Earl Ammons
near the Headwaters Forest near Eureka, Ca. Chain's family filed
suit in 1999 against Pacific Lumber. In 2004 Patrick Beach authored
"A Good Forest for Dying: The Tragic Death of a Young Man on the
Front Lines of the Environmental Wars."
(SFEC, 3/14/99, p.A1)(SFC, 9/13/99, p.A28)(SSFC,
4/11/04, p.M1)
1998 Sep 26, From Zimbabwe it
was reported that timber companies were poisoning hundreds of
baboons causing them to die a slow painful death over 7-10 days.
(SFC, 9/26/98, p.A5)
1998 Sep 27, A pair of 3-4
mile-long oil slicks, each a mile wide, were found about 9 miles out
to sea between the Golden Gate and half Moon Bay. Lab tests later
matched this oil to a small spill in the Bay on Sep 24 to the
Liberian tanker, M-T Command, owned by Pearl Shipping of Monrovia.
In Dec. the owner, captain and chief engineer were indicted for
dumping fuel. In 1999 Anax Int'l. was fined $3.8 million. The Greek
firm had earlier paid $5.5 million in civil penalties.
(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A1)(USAT, 10/9/98, p.10A)(SFC,
12/3/98, p.A25)(SFC, 12/14/99, p.A28)
1998 Sep, Radioactive red
harvester ants were found underground near waste pipes in Richland,
Wa.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.A7)
1998 Oct 9, The weekly Der
Spiegel reported that spinach grown near the nuclear reprocessing
plant in Sellafield, England, had doses of technetium-99 that was 7
times above EU food standards. Greenpeace in April had demonstrated
that game pigeons in the area were irradiated.
(SFC, 10/10/98, p.A9)
1998 Oct 12, An American law
protecting sea turtles was overturned by an appeals panel of the
World Trade Organization (WTO).
(SFC, 10/13/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 16, It was reported
that a growing number of lobsters in Maine were being found sick and
dying from undetermined causes.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.C1)
1998 Oct 16, In Columbia red
ants, called "crazy ants" by farmers in the Santander and Boyaca
provinces, had destroyed some 10,000 acres of crops and threatened
an additional 100,000 acres.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.C1)
1998 Oct 16, It was reported
that fires in Russia were burning in the Sikhote-Alin wildlife
reserve and threatened Siberian tigers of which only an estimated
450 remained.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.C1)
1998 Oct 22, The US government
announced a $1 billion settlement with diesel engine manufacturers
for violations of environmental laws.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.A11)
1998 Oct 22, At Cape Canaveral
Orbital Sciences launched a Brazilian satellite from a Pegasus
rocket aboard a modified jumbo jet. The satellite will monitor
environmental devices throughout Brazil.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 22, In Texas the
Natural Resource Conservation Commission voted against issuing a
license for a radioactive waste dump at Sierra Blanca, 16 miles from
the Mexican border.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 22, The US National
Academy of Sciences released a report that called for forcefully
reducing fish catches due to dwindling fish populations.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.A13)
1998 Oct 26, Nutrient pollution
known as eutrophication, the overabundance of nitrogen and
phosphorus, was noted on the Chesapeake Bay and estuaries around the
world. A 7,000 sq. mile dead zone was reported to spread every
summer across the Gulf of Mexico from the mouth of the Mississippi.
In 2007 Louisiana crabbers complained of buckets of dead crabs and
the condition in the Gulf of Mexico was expected to get worse due to
rising demand for ethanol and increased corn production in Corn Belt
states, which called for more nitrogen use.
(SFC, 10/25/98, p.A3)(SFC, 12/20/07, p.A26)
1998 Oct, The Italian freighter
Pallas caught fire in the North Sea and leaked some 10-15 tons of
oil. Hundreds of birds along the northern coast of Germany were
killed by the resulting oil slick.
(SFC, 11/14/98, p.A8)
1998 Oct, In Vietnam a 5-year
study by a Canadian government research group found high levels of
dioxin in the soil, fish and animal tissue, and the blood of people
born after the war in the Aluoi Valley in central Quang Tri
province.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A20)
1998 Nov 10, From Bangladesh it
was reported that an estimated 18 million people were slowly
poisoning themselves by drinking from groundwater contaminated with
trace amounts of arsenic.
(SFC, 11/10/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 11, Argentina and
Kazakstan pledged to abide by the treaty to cut emissions of gases
that cause global warming. This put a crack in a united front of
developing nations opposed to cuts before 2012.
(WSJ, 11/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 12, Pres. Clinton
signed a UN accord on global warming. It still needed to be ratified
by Congress.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.A3)
1998 Nov 14, In Argentina
negotiators from 150 countries agreed to set a 2 year deadline for
adopting operational rules of the Kyoto Protocol for cutting
emissions of industrial waste gases that were believed to cause
global warming.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.A21)
1998 Nov 13, Near Hong Kong 2
oil tankers collided and left a 6-mile oil slick near the Pearl
River delta that threatened the local rare pink dolphins.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A6)
1998 Sep 19, The ozone hole
over Antarctica reached 10.5 million sq. miles. It was feared that
ultraviolet radiation would impact the marine food chain.
(SFC, 11/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Dec 3, A scientific report
from the Multispecies Monitoring Committee said that the cod fishing
in the Gulf of Maine has collapsed due to overfishing.
(SFC, 12/4/98, p.A3)
1998 Dec 15, Marine scientists
reported that trawling by fishing fleets was causing widespread
disruption of ocean bottom habitats. They said that each year trawl
nets disturb an area twice the size of the contiguous US.
(SFC, 12/16/98, p.A10)
1998 Mike Davis authored
"Ecology of Fear," a 484-page diatribe about the ecological and
social disasters threatening Los Angeles.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A5)
1998 Michael Mann published a
chart that purported to show average surface temperatures in the
Northern Hemisphere over the past 1,000 years. It showed a sharp and
continuous increase over the last 100 years following a line of
relatively minor fluctuations and came to be called the hockey stick
chart. Other scientists later questioned his data analysis
techniques.
(WSJ, 2/18/05, p.A10)(www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba478/)
1998 The EU agreed to ban
asbestos by 2005.
(WSJ, 12/9/02, p.A1)
1998 Texaco completed a $40
million oil cleanup in Ecuador. The Ecuadoran government,
PetroEcuador and 5 municipalities released the company from all
liabilities and obligations related to its oil operations. A
class-action suit against ChevronTexaco opened in 2003.
(SFC, 10/21/03, p.A3)(Econ, 5/16/09, p.42)
1998 In Mexico high lead levels
amongst children living near the Met-Mex Penoles silver refinery at
Torreon were found. Met-Mex dispatched cleaning equipment and set up
a mobile clinic and agreed to put $6.6 million in a trust fund for
cleanup and medical costs. The 5,000-worker plant is the world's
largest producer of refined silver.
(SFEC, 5/30/99, p.A24)
1998 A UN workshop decided that
the algae Caulerpa taxifolia could wreck the Mediterranean
ecosystem. The plant is composed of tube-like cells, grows to 9 feet
and has only male parts. Parts can break off and self-clone. The
plant is toxic to fish.
(WSJ, 8/13/01, p.A1,4)
1998-1999 The Univ. of Hawaii was fined $1.8
million after an EPA inspection found dangerous chemicals buried for
years in the basement of the Honolulu campus.
(WSJ, 1/117/00, p.A1)
1999 Jan 21, In Russia Grigory
Pasko (37), in jail for 14 months, was put on trial for selling
classified information. He had reported on the disposal of
radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan.
(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A12)
1999 Jan 15, Off of Argentina a
Liberian tanker collided with a German vessel and leaked over 65,000
gallons of crude oil near the Rio de la Plata, 50 miles north of
Buenos Aires.
(SFC, 1/23/99, p.C1)
1999 Feb 1, In Nairobi, Kenya
students protested for a 3rd day against plans for construction in a
virgin forest.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 3, The Clinton
administration called for a mining ban on a large section of federal
land along the Rocky Mountain Front.
(SFC, 2/4/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 3, The first of 110
Lynx cats was released near South Fork. The program to transfer the
cats from BC was to cost $1.4 million.
(SFC, 2/4/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 3, It was reported
that Kenyan fisherman were using toxic agricultural chemicals
instead of nets to increase their catch and income from $8 to $240.
The idea supposedly originated in Uganda. Some fishermen were
arrested and beaches were closed.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 22, From Mexico it was
reported that fisherman found 9 dead gray whales in the Magdalena
Bay.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb, In Rome delegates
from almost every fishing nation agreed on a plan to reduce fishing
capacity starting within the next 6 years.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A6)
1999 Mar 3, The New England
Forestry Foundation announced a conservation deal that banned
development on over 750,000 acres of prime Maine woods owned by the
Pingree family. Gov. Angus King said the $30 million agreement would
allow managed logging while preserving the wilderness character of
the forestland.
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.A3)
1999 Mar 12, The Mexican
environmental Group of 100 reported a record number of dead gray
whales near the Baha California peninsula. The ESSA Saltworks, a
Mitsubishi-Mexican partnership, was blamed. Government officials
proposed other reasons.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 16, It was reported
that the world's 300 right whales faced extinction.
(SFC, 3/16/99, p.A2)
1999 Mar 16, The National
Marine Fisheries Service announced the addition to the endangered
species list of 9 salmon species from the Pacific Northwest.
(SFC, 3/16/99, p.A2)
1999 Mar 27, On Christmas
Island the crazy ant, Anoplolepis gracilipes, was reported to be
decimating the local crab population. The ant was introduced by west
African traders about 50 years earlier.
(SFC, 3/27/99, p.C1)
1999 Apr 6, In Columbia Pres.
Pastrana said that drug traffickers had destroyed an area of rain
forest the size of Delaware to plant illicit drug crops.
(SFC, 4/8/99, p.C3)
1999 Apr 12, The Snake River in
southeastern Washington state was named as the nation's most
endangered river because of 4 dams that have brought salmon runs to
the brink of extinction.
(SFC, 4/12/99, p.A19)
1999 Apr 18, In Yugoslavia NATO
bombers hit refineries, bridges and other targets in the heaviest
strikes to date. 70% of fuel storage capability was now destroyed
and Yugoslavia no longer had the ability to refine oil. In Pancevo a
refinery, fertilizer plant and American-built petrochemical complex
were destroyed and a dense toxic cloud was released with potential
long term consequences.
(SFC, 4/19/99, p.A1,8)(SFC, 7/6/99, p.A8)
1999 Apr 19, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prize went to: Ka Hsaw Wa of Burma for reporting on
the plight of indigenous people and environmental abuses on a gas
pipeline across Thailand and Burma; Bernard Martin, a Canadian
fisherman, for his work opposing large factory trawlers; Jacqui
Katona and Yvonne Margarula, Australian aboriginal women, who have
led a fight against the mining of a uranium deposit by Kakadu
National Park on lands owned by the Mirrar people; Samuel Nguiffo, a
Cameroon lawyer, for his work in protecting rain forests and
opposition to the slaughter of chimpanzees and other rare wildlife;
Jorge Varela, a Honduran conservationist, for fighting the
destructive shrimp farming practices in the Gulf of Fonseca; and
Michal Kravcik, a Slovakian hydrologist, who successfully fought a
government plan to dam the Upper Torysa River in 1996.
(SFC, 4/19/99, p.A2)
1999 Apr 19, In China the
number of Siberian tigers living in the wilderness was reported to
be less than 20. Loss of habitat due to deforestation was blamed.
(SFC, 4/19/99, p.A6)
1999 May 17, The EPA said the
SF Bay contains unsafe levels of dioxin, furans and the pesticides
DDT, dieldrin and chlordane.
(SFC, 5/18/99, p.A20)
1999 Jun 4, Senators Diane
Feinstein of California and Harry Reid of Nevada announced the Lake
Tahoe Restoration Act. The bill would authorized $300 million over
10 years to restore clarity and health to Lake Tahoe.
(SFC, 6/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 10, Scientists
reported a wintertime cloud of air pollution the size of the US over
the Indian Ocean. The soot and sulfur cloud covered an area of 3.8
million sq. miles.
(SFC, 6/10/99, p.A7)
1999 Jun 12, It was reported
that all 15,000 glaciers of the Himalayas were melting at an
alarming rate and that torrential floods in Northern India could
result over the next 40 years.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A11)
(HN, 6/12/99)
1999 Jun 14, Prof. Paul Ehrlich
of Stanford and Qu Geping, president of the China Environmental
Protection Foundation, won the Blue Planet Prize, an environmental
award sponsored by the Asahi Glass Foundation of Japan.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.A20)
1999 Jun 16, Austria reported
that it found animal feed contaminated with Dioxin.
(WSJ, 6/17/99, p.A18)
1999 Jun 21, The Wilderness
Society in its 3rd annual listing of the country's most endangered
federal parks, forests and refuges, had California leading with 3
sites listed: old growth in the Sierra Nevada; the Mojave National
Preserve and the Klamath Basin.
(SFC, 6/21/99, p.A5)
1999 Jun 23, An environmental
coalition issued its "Fields of Poison" report that slammed
California on pesticide regulation and enforcement.
(SFC, 6/23/99, p.A15)
1999 Jun 26, It was reported
that 500,000 acres of forest in China's Liaoning province were
destroyed by at least 20 types of bugs due to lack of diversity, the
high ration of young trees and drought from last year.
(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A8)
1999 Jun, In Florida the
Miccosukee Indians celebrated the opening of their $50 million,
300-room resort and convention center on their 680 acres in
Everglades National Park. Meanwhile the price tag for restoring the
everglades ecosystem was put at $7.8 billion.
(SFC, 6/5/99, p.A6)
1999 Jul 1, In Maine the 162
year-old Edwards Dam was broken open by government order to allow
fish to move upstream.
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A3)
1999 Jul 1, In Maryland some
20,000 fish turned up dead in the tributaries of the Magothy and
Patapsco Rivers. Drought conditions and the build up of phosphorus
and nitrogen was suspected.
(SFC, 7/24/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 3, It was reported
that the Mozambique government had lifted a ban on hunting elephants
as a sport due to growing numbers.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A5)
1999 Jul 5, In Riverside County
2 Union Pacific freight trains collided and derailed 9 locomotives.
Some 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled and 2 crewmen were
injured.
(SFC, 7/6/99, p.B2)
1999 Jul 1, In Maryland some
20,000 fish turned up dead in the tributaries of the Magothy and
Patapsco Rivers. Drought conditions and the build up of phosphorus
and nitrogen was suspected.
(SFC, 7/24/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 22, In Maryland some
300,000 menhaden fish turned up dead at the mouth of the Pocomoke
River in the Chesapeake Bay. Depleted oxygen in the water due to
drought conditions was suspected.
(SFC, 7/24/99, p.A8)
1999 Aug 14, Some 20 million
dead menhaden fish were reported washed up at the banks of the
Arroyo Colorado. It was the worst kill in 4 years and low
oxygen levels from algal bloom were blamed.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A6)
1999 Aug 20, The Peregrine
falcon was removed from the list of endangered species. Nesting
pairs in the lower 48 states grew to 1,650 from a low of 39 in 1975.
(SFC, 8/20/99, p.A2)
1999 Sep 6, The dredge
Stuyvesant spilled an estimated 2,000 gallons of bunker fuel in
Humboldt Bay, Ca., during dredging operations.
(SFC, 9/10/99, p.A19)
1999 Sep 10, It was reported
that Canada has 339 species in serious danger of disappearing and no
federal legislation for protection of endangered animals.
(SFC, 9/10/99, p.D4)
1999 Sep 30, It was reported
that the Western oak beetle, P. pubipennis, and the oak ambrosia
beetle, M. scutellare, were decimating black, tan and coast live oak
trees across northern California. Sudden Oak Death was later
attributed to a fungus of the genus Phytophthora. The pathogen was
later reported to be related to a fungus that was destroying Port
Orford cedars in the Pacific Northwest. In 2001 it was reported that
the pathogen had been found on rhododendron plants in Europe and
California.
(SFC, 9/30/99, p.A21,26)(SFC, 7/15/00,
p.A17)(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A13)(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A1)(SFC, 1/11/01, p.A17)
1999 Oct 2, It was reported
that the flamingoes of Lake Nakuru had migrated away to other
locations. Environmental stress from industrial refuse and other
wastes was blamed. Fluctuating salinity was also suspect in that
flamingoes feed on the algae spirulina platensis, which blooms in
saline waters. It was later reported that tens of thousands of
flamingos on Lake Bogoria had died since July due to heavy metals.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A9)(SFC, 3/4/00, p.A8)
1999 Oct 7, The Spix macaw of
Brazil (Cyanopsitta spixii), native to the area of Curaca along the
Sao Francisco River, was the world's rarest wild bird, due to animal
trafficking. It's market value was put at $60,000. 218 species in
Brazil were endangered, including 109 birds, 68 mammals, 31
invertebrates, 9 reptiles and 1 amphibian. The last wild Spix macaw
disappeared in 2000.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.A15,18)
1999 Oct 13, Pres. Clinton
proposed to place 40 million acres of federal forest beyond the
reach of loggers, miners and road-builders. He urged the forest
service to engage the public in how best to manage and conserve over
50 million acres of the last roadless tracts.
(SFC, 10/14/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/9/00, p.A21)
1999 Oct 25, It was reported
that the chiru, a goat from the high Tibetan plateau, was seriously
endangered and down to some 75,000. The animal's hide is used to
make expensive shahtoosh shawls.
(WSJ, 10/25/99, p.A1,15)
1999 Oct, In France thousands
of fish were killed when the residue of seasonal pressing for
champagne grapes was washed into the Marne River by heavy rains.
Dead fish were piled 6 feet high along a 20-mile stretch and
fisherman said it could take 10 years for stocks to return to
normal.
(SFC, 10/9/99, p.C1)
1999 Nov 18, The SF Board of
Supervisors passed a resolution that urged Coca Cola to use more
recycled plastic in the estimated 10 billion plastic bottles that it
produced annually in the US.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.A26)
1999 Dec 3, Ice in Arctic
waters was reported to be shrinking by about 14,000 square miles
annually. Global warming from human activity was suspected.
(SFC, 12/3/99, p.A6)
1999 Dec 3, A 129 country
environmental conference in China agreed to provide poor countries
an additional $440 million over 3 years to stop using chemicals that
harm the ozone layer.
(SFC, 12/4/99, p.A14)
1999 Dec 12, The Erika, a
Maltese registered oil tanker, broke in two during a storm off the
coast of Brest, France, with 8 million gallons of diesel oil. Half
the ship was towed to deeper waters and 3 million gallons were
spilled. In 2008 a French court found Total SA guilty of maritime
pollution and fined it the maximum penalty of $560,000. It also
ordered Total and three other defendants to pay total damages of
$285 million.
(SFC, 12/13/99, p.A13)(WSJ, 12/13/99, p.A1)(SFC,
11/20/02, p.A14)(AP, 1/16/08)
1999 Dec 14, It was reported
that Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa had recently announced
a $3.75 billion environmental crusade in an effort to reduce
pollution. An 80% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions by 2005 was
planned. Hong Kong's yearly emissions for sulfur dioxide was 80,000
tons. Guangdong Province on the Chinese mainland put out 630,000
tons.
(SFC, 12/14/99, p.A,12,14)
1999 Dec 29, A Russian oil
tanker broke up and sank near the mouth of the Bosporus and coated
the Turkish shore with some 4,800 tons of heavy fuel.
(WSJ, 12/30/99, p.A1)
1999 Kanatjan Alibekov (Ken
Alibek), the former director of Soviet anthrax production in
Kazakstan, published "Biohazard."
(SFC, 6/2/99, p.A11)
1999 Robert Dawson and Gray
Brechin published "Farewell, Promised Land: Waking Up From the
California Dream," a photo-journalist documentation of the
environmental costs to the state's prosperity.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, BR p.1,8)
1999 Mark Hertsgaard published
"Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental
Future."
(SFEC, 4/18/99, p.D5)
1999 The Japanese book "Katte
wa Ikenai" (Don't Buy This ) was an ecological manifesto questioning
the safety of household goods.
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.A15)
1999 Randy Shaw authored
"Reclaiming America: Nike, Clean Air, and the New National
Activism."
(SFEC, 8/22/99, BR p.1)
1999 John Terborgh published
"Requiem for Nature," an assessment of the conventional strategies
for ecological conservation.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, BR p.4)
1999 Cambodia agreed to allow
environmentalists to begin an experiment in wildlife and forest
protection with enforcers paid by outside nations.
(WSJ, 6/19/01, p.A1)
1999 An experiment over the
Indian Ocean (INDOEX) found a large cloud, the Asian Brown Cloud,
with high levels of soot that warmed the upper air by absorbing
sunlight and cooled the lower surface causing regional droughts.
(WSJ, 5/6/03, p.A6)
2000 Jan 25, In Texas a tanker
truck with 9000 gallons of furfural overturned and spilled the toxic
chemical, which is used in manufacturing, into a drainage ditch that
flows into San Martin Lake. An estimated 6 million fish and dozens
of ducks were soon found dead.
(SFC, 2/12/00, p.A9)
2000 Jan 30, In Romania a dam
at the Baia Mare gold mine overflowed and caused cyanide to pout
into the Lapus River and then into the Somes River. It flowed into
Hungary and within weeks into the Tisa River in Yugoslavia.
(SFC, 2/12/00, p.A9)
2000 Jan 31, It was reported
that nitrogen-based fertilizers were likely suspects in the rapid
decline of the spotted frog in the Pacific Northwest.
(SFC, 1/31/00, p.A6)
2000 Jan, A broken crude oil
pipeline in Rio de Janeiro spilled at least 130,000 gallons near the
coast and into Guanabara Bay.
(SFC, 1/22/00, p.A6)
2000 Feb, An Asian swamp eel,
Monopterus albus, was discovered in South Miami-Dade County and it
was feared that it would make its way into Everglades National Park
and disrupt food webs.
(SFEC, 3/5/00, p.A20)
2000 Feb 2, In Bolivia an oil
spill was reported to have leaked some 5,000 barrels into the
Desaguadero River, which empties into Lake Titicaca. The spill was
reported to have reached Lake Poopo and Lake Uru Uru and was
spreading to the communities of the Aymara Indians.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A16)
2000 Feb 5, In Pennsylvania an
oil pipeline began leaking and released some 25,000 gallons below
the surface of a frozen pond in the John Heinz National Wildlife
Refuge in southwest Philadelphia.
(SFC, 2/7/00, p.A10)
(AP, 3/11/00)
2000 Mar 9, The Snake river was
declared the most endangered river in the US for the 2nd year in a
row.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.D2)
2000 Mar 9, In Norway Prime
Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik announced that his minority government
would resign following a failed vote of confidence in an
environmental dispute. He opposed new power plants to burn gas
supplies.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.D6)
2000 Mar 10, In Romania some
20,000 tons of metal pollutants escaped into the Vaser River from
the state-owned Baia Borsa mine after a dam broke following heavy
rains and melting snow.
(SFC, 3/11/00, p.A9)
2000 Mar 16, About a dozen
whales became stranded on 2 Bahama beaches one day after a US Navy
exercise propagated loud noises through the waters of the region. 5
of the whales died. In 2001 testing confirmed that Navy sonar caused
the whales to beach themselves.
(SFC, 3/22/00, p.A9)(WSJ, 12/21/01, p.A1)
2000 Mar 20, The Clinton
administration moved to phase out the fuel additive MTBE to avoid
further contamination of groundwater.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 15, The Int’l. Whaling
Commission turned down a requests from Japan and Norway to allow
expanded limited whaling. 2000 delegates were gathered in Nairobi,
Kenya, for a 10 day UN Convention on Int’l. Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES).
(SFEC, 4/16/00, p.A22)
2000 Apr 16, The rest of the
winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize were announced: Nat
Quansah (46), an ethnobotonist in Madagascar; Oscar Rivas (45) and
Elias Diaz (54) of Paraguay for their work in defeating government
plans to reconfigure the Paraguay and Parana rivers for shipping at
environmental expense; Vera Mischenko (47) for environmental legal
work in Russia; Oral Ataniyazova (43), for founding a clinic and
fighting pesticide contamination in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous
region of Uzbekistan; and Alexander Peal (55), for environmental
work and founding a national park in Liberia.
(SFC, 4/17/00, p.A2)
2000 Apr 17, African nations
agreed to a compromise on the trade of ivory. A ban on legal sales
was restored until an effective system to combat poaching can be
instituted.
(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A9)
2000 Apr 22, Earth Day 2000,
the 30th annual anniversary, was celebrated in Washington DC with
the theme "Clean Energy Now."
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.C8)
2000 Apr 29, The year’s 17th
Bay Area dead whale was found near Pier 50 in SF.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.C12)
2000 Apr 30, It was reported by
the Royal Swedish Academy that the Earth is currently hotter than at
any time in recorded human history.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A17)
2000 Apr, UNESCO declared the
Atlantic rain forest of Brazil a World Heritage site. Only 3% of the
original 4,500 square mile rain forest remained.
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.B10)
2000 May 9, In Kentucky a fire
at the Wild Turkey Distillery caused an alcohol runoff into an
8-mile stretch of the Kentucky River and a huge fish kill followed
within days.
(SFC, 5/20/00, p.D8)
2000 May 16, The 3M Co.
announced that it would stop making many Scotchguard stain repellent
products. The company found that the compound perfluorooctane
sulfonate (PFOA), one of the ingredients, tended to persist in the
environment and in the bloodstream of people worldwide. The US
market was left to DuPont.
(SFC, 5/17/00, p.A7)(SFC, 4/15/03, p.A5)
2000 May 22, Russia’s Pres.
Putin abolished the chief agency for environmental protection and
transferred its powers to a ministry that hands out oil and gas
leases.
(SFC, 5/23/00, p.A12)
2000 Jun 1, It was reported
that leatherneck sea turtles were in danger of extinction. The
National Marine Fisheries estimated 85,000 mature females left in
the Pacific while the Center for marine conservation estimated only
5,000.
(SFC, 6/1/00, p.A14)
2000 Jun 1, The organophosphate
pesticide called chlorpyrifos, sold under names including Dursban,
was reported to pose a risk to children. The EPA announced a ban on
its use for most applications on June 8.
(WSJ, 6/1/00, p.A1)(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A1)
2000 Jun 6, A state of
emergency was declared in Marin county, Ca., due to the rapid spread
of a mysterious disease that killed oak trees. Sudden Oak Death was
first reported in 1995. The death of the oak trees was later
attributed to a fungus of the genus Phytophtora, the same kind of
organism that caused the Irish potato famine from 1840-1850.
(SFC, 6/7/00, p.A17)(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A13)
2000 Jun 14, US federal marine
specialists reported that the US Navy induced underwater noise
caused the stranding of a dozen beaked whales in the Bahamas in
March. Hemorrhages were found around the ears of the dead animals.
(SFC, 6/15/00, p.a7)
2000 June 22, In Kazakstan some
11,000 seals were reported found dead on the shores of the Caspian
Sea. Infectious disease linked to weakened immune systems due to
oil-related pollutants were blamed.
(SFC, 6/23/00, p.D3)
2000 Jun 23, A Panamanian
registered tanker sank off Cape Town, South Africa and at least
1,300 tons of seeped out. Oil began to soak the local penguins at
Robben Island.
(SFC, 6/30/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 24, A red tide of
algal bloom over 2,700 square miles was reported over the East China
Sea. China’s environmental protection agency blamed pollutants and
weather conditions.
(SFC, 6/24/00, p.A24)
2000 Jul 16, An oil leak in
Brazil’s Parana state began near the Getulio Vargas Refinery in
Araucaria and dumped over 1 million gallons of crude into a
tributary of the Iguacu River. Petrobras was later fined $94 million
for the country’s worst spill in 25 years.
(SFC, 7/18/00, p.A12)(SFC, 8/3/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 20, Willamette
Industries of Portland was fined $11.2 million under the federal
Clean Air Act plus $8 mil in contributions to environmental
projects. It also agreed to install an estimated $74 million worth
of pollution control equipment. The company estimated the new
equipment at $28 mil.
(SFC, 7/21/00, p.A5)(WSJ, 7/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 21, It was reported
that warming climate was causing Greenland to lose 11 cubic miles of
ice a year, or 12.5 trillion gallons, enough to raise sea level by
.005 inches annually.
(SFC, 7/21/00, p.B3)
2000 Jul 25, Thousands of tons
of anchovies washed up on the beaches near Half Moon Bay, Ca. The
die-off was said to be an annual event and some said it was the
largest in 10 years.
(SFC, 7/25/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul, In Kaohsiung, Taiwan,
the water supply from the Kaoping River was shut down after tanker
workers were caught pouring tons of the cancer-causing solvent
dimethyl benzene into a tributary of the river.
(SFC, 8/16/00, p.A18)
2000 Jul, Visitors to the North
Pole reported that the ice had melted for the 1st time in recorded
history and formed a free patch of ocean about a mile in diameter.
(SFC, 8/26/00, p.A20)
2000 Aug 8, Some 109 nuclear
waste sites in 27 states, Puerto Rico and territorial islands of the
Pacific would remain dangerous for centuries according to a new
report by the US National Research Council.
(WSJ, 8/8/00, p.A24)
2000 Aug 17, It was reported
that a soybean aphid from China threatened the $13.5 billion US
soybean market.
(WSJ, 8/17/00, p.A2)
2000 Aug 31, In Ukraine Pres.
Kuchma declared 4 villages near Mykolaiv an ecological disaster zone
due to illnesses of some 400 residents since July 4. Chemical
poisoning from Soviet-era rocket fuel leaks was blamed.
(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D5)
2000 cSep 8, Millions of dead
fish washed ashore from the Gulf of Oman 50 miles northwest of
Muscat. It was the 2nd kill within a week and authorities suspected
oxygen depletion by phytoplankton as the cause.
(SFC, 9/9/00, p.A22)
2000 Sep 15, In Uganda the
chimpanzee population was estimated at about 3,000 and declining due
to refugees from Congo eating small apes.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.D2)
2000 Sep 18, It was reported
that Kenya was losing 50,000 ebony trees annually due to the
thriving wood-carving industry. An estimated 80,000 carvers used the
wood.
(SFC, 9/18/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 19, Japan’s research
whaling fleet returned home with 88 whales that included 43 Bryde
whales, 5 sperm and 40 minke whales.
(SFC, 9/20/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 27, It was reported
that the Asian swamp eel, Monopterus albus, was within a mile of the
fragile Florida Everglades National Park.
(WSJ, 9/27/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 6, In Peru a 5,000
barrel oil spill by an Argentine company threatened the water
resources of some 10,000 inhabitants in the northern jungle.
(SFEC, 10/8/00, p.A24)
2000 Nov 2, It was reported
that 82 species of marine and estuarine fish in the waters off of
Canada, Mexico and the US were in danger of extinction due to over
fishing and habitat destruction.
(SFC, 11/2/00, p.A8)
2000 Nov 5, In Scottsbluff,
Neb., 15 Burlington Northern Santa Fe train cars derailed and
spilled some 80,000 gallons of benzene. 15,000 residents were
ordered to evacuate the area.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A3)
2000 Nov 13, The US government
declared the wild Atlantic salmon an endangered species.
(SFC, 11/14/00, p.A7)
2000 Nov 15, The US government
announced a plan to use the gnat-like phorid fly to control fire
ants.
(SFC, 11/16/00, p.A3)
2000 Nov 19, US negotiators at
the Hague agreed to limit the use of forest projects to reach
targets for green house gases at global warming talks aimed writing
the fine print for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
(SFC, 11/20/00, p.A8)
2000 Nov, In Manaus, Brazil, an
oil leak at an abandoned asphalt factory spilled as much as 6,600
gallons into feeder streams of the Amazon.
(SFC, 11/25/00, p.D8)
2000 Dec 1, The European
Commission demanded reductions in fishing including 60% cuts of cod
and hake catches due to overfishing.
(SFC, 12/2/00, p.A13)
2000 Dec, It was reported that
Robert Taylor, brother Pres. Charles Taylor, headed the Liberia
Forestry Development Authority and allowed Oriental Timber of Hong
Kong to wipe out entire forests.
(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B5)
2000 Dec 19, Four companies in
LA County agreed to pay $73 million to help clean an ocean dump used
for DDT. Montrose Chemical, Aventis Crop-Science USA, Chris-Craft
Industries and Atkemix Thirty Seven Inc. settled the suit.
(SFC, 12/18/00, p.A3)
2000 Dec 19, It was reported
that swiftlet colonies in Thailand were threatened due to the
excessive harvesting of their edible nests for Chinese restaurants.
(SFC, 12/19/00, p.A16)
2000 Dec 20, It was reported
that four-fifths of the salmon spawning in the last free-flowing
reach of the Columbia River had reverted to female sex for unknown
reasons. Water temperature and environmental pollutants were
suspect.
(SFC, 12/20/00, p.C3)
2000 Dec 20, A new EPA
regulation required oil refineries to remove 97% of the sulfur from
diesel fuel by 2006.
(WSJ, 12/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 26, Pres. Clinton
signed a ban on cutting shark fins and discarding the fish back to
the sea.
(SFC, 12/27/00, p.A6)
2000 Oct 10, Sludge from a coal
mines broke through a waste lagoon of the A.T. Massey Coal Co. and
some 250 million gallons hit coldwater Creek and Wolf Creek near
Inez. Gov. Paul E. Patton declared a 10-county emergency.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A20)
2000 Nov, The US ended chemical
weapons disposal on Johnston Island, 825 miles southwest of
Honolulu, after 10 years of operations. The island was turned into a
wildlife preserve.
(SFC, 4/22/02, p.A2)
2000 Peter Huber authored "Hard
Green," in which he argued that a growth oriented economy could
actually do a better job of preserving nature than a society run on
the principles of environmentalism.
(WSJ, 2/8/00, p.A24)
2000 Philip Stott, Prof. at
London Univ., authored "Political Ecology: Science, Myth and Power."
(WSJ, 3/25/02, p.A18)
2000 California Fish and Game
Dept. began looking into bird deaths at Searles Lake in Searles
Valley, San Bernardino County. From 2001-2007 some 348 to 706 birds
died at the lake each year. Searles Valley Minerals, formerly IMC
Chemicals, produced soda ash, boron minerals and sodium sulfate
there and pumped spent brine to form the lake. The birds had died of
salt toxicosis. The lake was also a natural repository of arsenic.
Numerous area workers complained of health problems following their
employment. In 2008 the company was sold by an affiliate of Sun
Capital Partners Inc. to Nirma Ltd., an India-based company.
(SSFC, 7/6/08, p.A10)(SFC, 7/7/08, p.A9)
2000 Forest Guardians filed a
federal lawsuit in New Mexico over bird deaths against IMC Potash
Carlsbad, a division of IMC Global. US Fish and Wildlife estimated
that from 1996-2000 over 1,600 birds had died in a shallow lake
where wastewater was discharged.
(SFC, 7/7/08, p.A9)
2000 The EU in 1998 announced
plans for tough anti-pollution laws to take effect to make car
engines and fuels burn cleaner.
(SFC, 7/3/98, p.D2)
2001 Jan 8, Mike Dombeck, US
Forest Service chief, outlined a policy to end the cutting of all
old-growth trees in national forests.
(SFC, 1/9/01, p.A3)
2001 Jan 16, The tanker Jessica
with 243,000 gallons of fuel, ran aground on San Cristobal island in
the Galapagos and began leaking.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Jan 19, The tanker
Jessica, aground on San Cristobal island, cracked its cargo hold and
began leaking fuel. Some 150,000 gallons of diesel and bunker fuel
were released. It was later learned that the oil caused the deaths
of thousands of marine iguanas.
(SFC, 1/22/01, p.A10)(SFC, 6/6/02, p.A2)
2001 Jan 20, It was reported
that 12.5% of the original forest in the Amazon region had been
destroyed.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb, In Mexico it was
reported that millions of monarch butterflies had died at a hilltop
reserve in Michoacan. Insecticides were suspected while officials
blamed cold weather.
(SSFC, 4/8/01, p.C6)
2001 Mar 1, The pesticide
Diazinon was scheduled to be removed from retail products for use
indoors.
(SFC, 12/6/00, p.A5)
2001 Mar 11, The San Francisco
Bay’s tidal marshes were reported to have dwindled from 190,000
acres to 40,000 over the last 150 years.
(SSFC, 3/11/01, p.A12)
2001 Mar 26, The Bill Moyers
PBS special "Trade Secrets" focused on the coverup by the American
chemical industry of health problems caused by numerous products
including vinyl chloride and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
(SFC, 3/27/01, p.A17)
2001 Mar 29, An oil tanker
collided with a freighter in the Baltic Sea and some 550,000 gallons
of oil were spilled and drifted toward Denmark.
(SFC, 3/30/01, p.D4)
2001 Mar 30, It was reported
that the forests of China’s Yunnan province had dropped from 50%
coverage in 1949 to less than 10% today.
(SFC, 3/30/01, p.A17)
2001 Mar 30, It was reported
that the forests of Burma had dropped from 21% coverage in 1949 to
less than 7% today.
(SFC, 3/30/01, p.A17)
2001 Apr 13, It was reported
that new evidence from ocean surveys supported the idea of global
warming due to "greenhouse gases."
(SFC, 4/13/01, p.A1)
2001 cApr 15, Australia
indicated that it would not ratify the Kyoto treaty to reduce
carbon-dioxide emissions and said the treaty is probably defunct now
that the US has repudiated it.
(WSJ, 4/16/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 22, The Goldman
Environmental Prize was awarded. Jane Akre and Steve Wilson,
American TV journalist, won for reports on modified bovine growth
hormone. Eugene Rutagarama of Rwanda won for efforts to protect the
mountain gorillas. Myrsini Malakou and Giorgos Catsadorakis, Greek
biologists, won for their efforts to save the Prespa wetlands.
Yosepha Alomang, spokeswoman for the Amungme tribe of Irian Jaya,
won for her opposition to mining dumps by Freeport McMoran. Oscar
Olivera, grassroots leader in Bolivia, won for his efforts against
water privatization. Bruno Van Peteghem, an Air France crew member,
won for resisting mining activities on New Caledonia.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.A3)
2001 May 4, It was reported
that the hydroxyl radical, a critical air-cleaning molecule, was
decreasing.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D4)
2001 May 19, In Utah it was
reported that Mormon crickets (Anabrus simplex) had reproduced into
the worst infestation since the early 1970s.
(SFC, 5/19/01, p.A3)
2001 May, In Cameroon a plague
of caterpillars was devastating crops in the eastern and southern
provinces.
(SFC, 5/19/01, p.C9)
2001 May 22, In Sweden
delegates from 127 countries formally adopted a global treaty
banning 12 toxic chemicals called persistent organic pollutants
(POPS).
(SFC, 5/23/01, p.C4)
2001 May 23, The Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS) opened for
signature in Stockholm, Sweden. The convention entered into force on
May 17th, 2004 with ratification by an initial 128 parties and 151
signatories.
(http://tinyurl.com/5exstm)(SSFC, 7/6/08, p.A2)
2001 May 29, The US National
Marine Fisheries Service declared the California coast white abalone
an endangered species.
(SFC, 5/30/01, p.A3)
2001 Jun 4, Pres. Bush spoke in
the Florida Everglades and underlined his request for $58 million in
the 2002 budget for Everglades restoration.
(SFC, 6/5/01, p.A3)
2001 Jun 5, In Rwanda soldiers
fanned out across Virunga National Park to protect endangered
mountain gorillas. 2 were recently killed and eaten by Hutu
militiamen. Only 355 members of the group live in the wild.
(SFC, 6/6/01, p.C14)
2001 Jun 6, It was reported
that the Caspian sturgeon catch had plummeted to 1,100 tons in the
late 1990s from 22,000 tons in the 1970s. The UN Cites organization
stopped shipments in 2001 and threatened to ban exports from the
Caspian states until a feasible protection plan was presented.
(WSJ, 6/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 6, A report by the
National Academy of Sciences concluded that industrial greenhouse
gases would likely raise temperatures 2.5-10.4 degrees Fahrenheit
before the end of the century.
(SFC, 6/7/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 11, In Germany
Chancellor Schroeder and leading energy companies signed an
agreement to shit down the country’s 19 nuclear power plants.
Average operation was limited to 32 years and the last would close
around 2021.
(SFC, 6/12/01, p.A8)
2001 Jun 14, Pres. Bush clashed
with EU leaders in Sweden over his global warming policy. The EU
leaders said they would move to implement the Kyoto treaty without
the US.
(SFC, 6/15/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 14, A tanker capsized
in a sea lane between Malaysia and Singapore. The MT Endah Lestari
with 660 tons of phenol rolled as it was towed. Unknown amounts of
phenol and a large amount of diesel oil was spilled.
(SFC, 6/15/01, p.D6)
2001 Jul 2, In Irkutsk
authorities declared a state of emergency following a huge invasion
of locusts.
(SFC, 7/7/01, p.A4)
2001 Jul 23, In Bonn, Germany,
negotiators from 178 nations, without the US, rescued the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol and accepted rules to cut emissions of waste gases linked
to global warming after marathon talks.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.3A)(SFC, 7/24/01, p.A1)(AP,
7/23/02)
2001 Jul 27, It was reported
that the Earth Liberation Front had begun selling a promotional
videotape for $10 called "An Introduction to the Earth Liberation
Front."
(SFC, 7/27/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 1, The US House passed
energy legislation that included opening the Arctic national
Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.
(SFC, 8/2/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 18, It was reported
that Chelyabinsk Gov. Pyotr Sumin had written Russia’s Pres. Putin a
letter of concern over the radioactive waste from the Mayak nuclear
processing plant. Some 14 billion cubic feet of waste in artificial
lakes threatened to leak into the region’s rivers.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.E1)
2001 Aug 26, It was reported
that MTBE was leaking from 251 underground gasoline tanks in the Bay
Area and reached 48 wells in public water systems.
(SSFC, 8/26/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 1, Scientists gathered
in the French Alps to discuss a medicine called ivermectine given to
livestock to protect them from parasites. Dung from the animals was
toxic and virtually indestructible and threatened the survival of
insects, birds and bats.
(SSFC, 9/2/01, p.A20)
2001 Oct 31, The Bush
administration said it would adopt stricter arsenic standard for
drinking water as proposed in the final days of the Clinton
administration.
(SFC, 11/1/01, p.A13)
2001 Nov 9, In Morocco
negotiators of over 160 countries reached agreement on a climate
control treaty and set mandatory targets for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.
(SFC, 11/10/01, p.A12)
2001 Nov 23, In Brazil an oil
pipeline leak near Rio was stopped after some 26,000 gallons spilled
into Guanabara Bay.
(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.A18)
2001 cDec 25, Grigory Pasko
(39), Russian military journalist, was sentenced to 4 years in
prison plus credit for time served for passing state secrets to
Japan. He had reported on the Russian navy practice of ocean-dumping
old weapons and nuclear waste.
(SFC, 12/26/01, p.A5)
2001 Tim Flannery authored "The
Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its
Peoples."
(SSFC, 6/3/01, DB p.70)
2001 Bjorn Lomborg authored
"The Skeptical Environmentalist" in which he presents data that
shows the environment to be improving.
(WSJ, 10/2/01, p.A17)
2001 The US EPA recommended
that strict regulations on perchlorate. The chemical, a key
component in munitions, had seeped into drinking water supplies. A
strict limit meant that defense contractors would have to clean up
scores of water sources in 35 states.
(WSJ, 12/29/05, p.A1)
2001 The New Orleans Regional
Transit Authority installed plastic railroad ties for the 1st time
on its St. Charles line. Plastic tie manufacturers included Polywood
Inc. and the TieTek unit of North American Technologies Group. Each
mile of track laid with plastic ties was said to save 800 oak trees.
(WSJ, 10/19/04, p.B8)
2001 Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer
co-founded TerraCycle, an environmentally friendly consumer products
firm, at the end of their freshman year at Princeton, NJ. In 2009
Tom Szaky (27) authored “Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle Is
Redefining Green Business.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TerraCycle)(WSJ,
3/11/09, p.A13)
2001 In Nigeria over 100 flare
stacks burned some 2 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per
day. It was estimated that 35 million tons of carbon dioxide was
released annually along with 12 million tons of methane.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
2002 Jan 30, The Nature
Conservancy announced a $31 million purchase of the 151-sq. mile
Baca Ranch. It was a step towards the creation of a new 58th US
national park with the adjacent Great Sand Dunes National Monument
and Preserve in 2005.
(SFC, 1/31/02, p.A2)
2002 Jan 12-13, In Mexico a
rain storm was followed by a freeze and as many as 270 million
monarch butterflies were killed at the Rosario and Sierra Chincua
colonies in Michoacan state.
(SFC, 2/12/02, p.A4)(SFC, 2/18/02, p.A3)
2002 Feb 14, Pres. Bush
proposed an environmental plan that would encourage businesses to
cut pollution and develop more energy-efficient technology.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A5)
2002 Feb 14, The 168th annual
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
opened in Boston with a bleak assessment of planet health and a call
for conservation of resources.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A3)
2002 Feb 16, It was reported
that 80% of the 235 rivers of Bangladesh were drying up due to
silting, dumping and construction of unplanned embankments.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A26)
2002 Feb 16, Mark Meier,
glacier expert, predicted that oceans would rise 7-11 inches by the
end of this century due to polar warming.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A4)
2002 Feb 22, An Alabama jury
found Monsanto and its corporate successors (Solutia Inc.) guilty of
releasing tons of PCBs in Anniston between 1935-1979. In 2004 some
18,447 plaintiffs were scheduled to an average of $7,725, while 27
lawyers were scheduled to receive over $4 million each.
(SFC, 2/23/02, p.A7)(SFC, 3/24/04, p.A5)
2002 Feb 27, Eric V. Schaeffer
ended his 12-year EPA career with a missive accusing the Bush
administration of dragging its feet on lawsuits against 9 power
companies blamed for a quarter of the nation’s annual sulfur dioxide
pollution.
(SFC, 3/1/02, p.A9)
2002 Feb 28, Japan reportedly
planned to double its whale catch to 260 whales and include the
endangered sei whale.
(SFC, 3/1/02, p.A19)
2002 Feb, Florida Bay
experienced a mass of "black water" spread over some 700 sq. miles
north of the Keys. It was thought to be caused by an algal bloom.
(SFC, 4/6/02, p.C10)
2002 Mar 3, Denmark generated
13% of its electricity from wind and planned to raise the figure to
50% by 2030.
(SSFC, 3/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Mar 4, European Union’s 15
members ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, but failed to
set pollutant-emission levels to meet the accord’s targets.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2002 Mar 6, The Bush
administration announced an additional $450 million to speed the
cleanup of the Washington state Hanford nuclear reservation by 35-45
years.
(SFC, 3/7/02, p.A4)
2002 Mar 25, It was reported
that poachers were destroying the palms in Brazil’s Itatiaia
National Park in order to harvest the palm hearts. A 100-year-old
tree has enough heart to fill 2 14-oz cans sold retail at $3.99.
(WSJ, 3/25/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 28, It was reported
that the US government planned to distribute safety hoods and
training to some 35,000 Alabama state residents in an eastern county
prior to the incineration of nerve-gas weapons in the fall.
(WSJ, 3/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 1, The American Rivers
environmental group listed the most endangered US rivers and
included the Missouri, Big Sunflower (Mississippi), and Klamath
(California) in the top 11.
(SFC, 4/2/02, p.A3)
2002 Apr 6, Some 90,000 gallons
of oil from a ruptured pipeline spilled into the coastal area of
Little Lake, La.
(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.A15)
2002 Apr 10, It was reported
that the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) was becoming exhausted
from over fishing.
(SFC, 4/10/02, p.A16)
2002 Apr 12, Beth O’Brien (22)
fell from a tree platform in the Eagle Creek area of Mount Hood,
Oregon, while protesting a timber sale.
(SSFC, 4/14/02, p.A14)
2002 Apr 21, The annual
environmentalist Goldman Prize winners included: Gwich’in natives
Jonathan Solomon, Sarah James and Norman Kassi for their work to
prevent oil drilling in the Arctic Nat’l. Wildlife Refuge; Fatima
Jibrell of Somalia for her resistance to the charcoal trade
threatening the local rain forests; Psit Charnsnoh of Thailand for
helping to restore coastal ecosystems; Jean La Rose of Guyana for
organizing resistance to mining and logging on native Arawak lands;
Alexis Massol-Gonzalez of Puerto Rico for converting a mining zone
to a forest reserve; and Jadwiga Lopata of Poland for promoting
eco-farming.
(SFC, 4/22/02, p.A3)
2002 Apr 24, The EPA reported
that ethanol factories were producing carbon monoxide, methanol and
some carcinogens at levels higher than promised.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A3)
2002 Apr, Carnival Corp.
pleaded guilty to dumping oily waste from bilge tanks between
1998-2001 and agreed to a $18 mil fine. Royal Caribbean pleaded
guilty to similar charges in 1999.
(SSFC, 4/28/02, p.C12)
2002 May 11, It was reported
that a dead orca whale found off the Washington state coast
contained toxic PCBs so high that test equipment needed to be
recalibrated. Levels were measured at 1,000 parts-per-million.
(SFC, 5/11/02, p.A5)
2002 May 18, It was reported
that the US-funded Plan Colombia had caused widespread crop damage
in Ecuador. The coca leaf fumigation affected some 10,000
Ecuadorians along the Colombia border where the RoundupUltra
herbicide was spread by Colombian airplanes.
(SFC, 5/18/02, p.A11)
2002 May 22, A UN environmental
report said population growth was slowing but that severe water
shortages should be expected in the Middle East over the next
generation and biodiversity will continue to be damaged in many
world regions. Ocean degradation was also noted.
(SFC, 5/23/02, p.A6)
2002 May 24, Japan led a
successful move to deny Alaska and Siberian native peoples a renewal
of permission to hunt whales after a failed bid to end a 20-year
moratorium on commercial whaling.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A17)
2002 May 24, In Mexico Pres.
Fox announced that all of Mexico’s waters are a preserve for whales
and off-limits to whale hunting.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A13)
2002 May 30, It was reported
that dynamite fishing in the Philippines has put the native coral
reefs on the verge of collapse.
(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A1)
2002 May 31, European Union
countries formally signed on to the Kyoto Protocol, a pact aimed at
stemming pollution and global warming that has been opposed by the
United States.
(SFC, 6/1/02, p.A9)(AP, 5/31/03)
2002 Jun 2, It was reported
that atrazine, a commonly used herbicide made by Sygenta AG of
Switzerland, had been linked to cancer in humans and deformities in
frogs. US farmers sprayed over 60 million pounds of it each year.
(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.A3)(NH, 10/02, p.56)
2002 Jun 4, Pres. Bush said
that he read the new EPA report on global warming, but still opposed
the Kyoto treaty.
(SFC, 6/5/02, p.A3)
2002 Jun 4, Japan ratified the
Kyoto Protocol, aimed at cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases
and urged the US and other countries to do so.
(AP, 6/4/03)(SFC, 6/5/02, p.A3)
2002 Jun 18, In London it was
reported that sparrows numbers had declined steeply for no known
reason.
(AP, 6/18/02)
2002 Jul 1, It was reported
that the Bush administration had designated 33 toxic waste sites for
funding cuts.
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.A5)
2002 Jul 3, The federal
government agreed to nullify the 2001 designation of most of 4.1
million acres as protected habitat for the red-legged frog in an
agreement with the Home Builders Association of Northern Calif.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 9, WWF Int’l. released
its 4th Living Planet Report and said humans are using 20% more
natural resources each year than can be regenerated.
(SFC, 7/10/02, p.A12)
2002 Jul 9, The US Senate
approved a nuclear waste burial site at Yucca Mountain Nevada. Gov.
Kenny Guinn vowed to continue fighting the plan.
(SFC, 7/10/02, p.A3)
2002 Jul 13, It was reported
that some 100 northern snakehead fish, a meat-eater native to China,
had been found in a Maryland pond.
(SFC, 7/13/02, p.A4)
2002 Jul 15, A federal agency
approved Navy plans for a sonar system to search out enemy
submarines despite potential injury to whales and dolphins.
(SFC, 7/16/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 19, West Coast
Homebuilders under Albert Seeno agreed to pay $1 million for
draining frog-breeding ponds for 3,200 homes in Pittsburg, Ca. Seeno
also agreed to turn hundreds of acres over to a frog refuge.
(SFC, 7/20/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 22, Gov. Davis signed
a bill for California air regulators to enact measures by 2009 to
cut vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases believed to contribute to
global warming.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 7/23/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 27, Nearly 60 false
killer whales stranded on an Australian beach died or were euthenize
after failed attempts to return them to the water.
(AP, 7/27/02)
2002 Jul 30, In Mass. 46 pilot
whales beached themselves a 2nd time one day after rescuers managed
to return most of a pod back to sea. All the animals died.
(SFC, 7/31/02, p.A3)
2002 Aug 5, Shell Oil agreed to
pay $28 million to the Tahoe Public Utility District to help cleanup
contamination from the gasoline additive MTBE.
(SFC, 8/6/02, p.A17)
2002 Aug 9, The Bush
administration said the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act does
not extend beyond the few miles of territorial waters.
(SFC, 8/10/02, p.A3)
2002 Aug 12 It was reported
that a 2-mile thick cloud of pollution covered South Asia and that
it was suspected for causing drought, flooding and the premature
deaths of a half-million people in India each year.
(SFC, 8/12/02, p.A7)
2002 Aug 21, Weldon Spring,
Missouri, was reported open to the public as tourist attraction. The
radioactive site opened after a $1 billion, 16-year cleanup.
(SFC, 8/21/02, p.A2)
2002 Aug 22, In Brazil
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed a decree creating the
Tumucumaque (too-moo-koo-MAH-kee) Mountains National Park bigger
than Maryland covering a region of virgin rainforest in Amapa state,
along Brazil's northern borders with Surinam and Guyana.
(AP, 8/22/02)
2002 Aug 26, The 4th UN World
Summit on Sustainable Development opened in Johannesburg, SA. Pres.
Bush sent Colin Powell as his stand-in. The 3rd gathering was in Rio
de Janeiro in 1992.
(SSFC, 8/25/02, p.A3)
2002 Aug 27, In South Africa
delegates to the World Summit on Sustainable Development called for
increased global efforts to bring new agricultural technologies to
poor farmers to help feed the developing world.
(AP, 8/27/02)
2002 Aug 28, Delegates at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development focused on ways to bring
fresh water and sanitation to hundreds of millions of people who
lack access to either. Negotiators hailed their first breakthrough:
a deal to protect the world's oceans and marine life.
(AP, 8/28/02)
2002 Aug 29, The World Summit
on Sustainable Development focused on ways business and governments
could work together to spread prosperity in the developing world
while protecting the environment.
(AP, 8/29/02)
2002 Aug 29, The federal
government approved a plan to store Colorado River water under the
Mohave Desert and tap it for use by Southern California during times
of drought.
(SFC, 8/30/02, p.A10)
2002 Sep 12, Gov. Davis signed
legislation to dramatically increase California’s use of renewable
energy.
(SFC, 9/13/02, p.A23)
2002 Sep 13, In South Africa
the Italian ship, the Jolly Rubino, that ran aground within
the boundaries of the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park, began leaking
oil and was in danger of breaking up, according to conservation
officials and a salvage company.
(AP, 9/13/02)
2002 Sep 15, In Knoxville,
Tennessee, a Norfolk Southern train derailed near and one car with
93,000 pounds of sulfuric acid ruptured. The liquid acid vaporized
creating a toxic cloud.
(SFC, 9/16/02, p.A7)
2002 Sep 24, The annual $500,00
"genius award" MacArthur grants were given to 24 men and women
including David B. Goldstein, energy specialist at the Natural
Resources Defense Council in SF for his work on energy-efficient
refrigerators.
(SFC, 9/25/02, p.A3)
2002 Sep 24-25, In the Canary
Islands over a dozen beaked whales beached themselves following NATO
exercises that involved a cluster of warships and submarines. 9 of
the whales washed ashore dead and showed lesions in the brain and
hearing system, consistent with acoustic impact.
(SFC, 9/26/02, p.A20)(SFC, 10/7/02, p.A6)
2002 Sep 27, The federal
government increased the flow of water into the Klamath River from
Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon following the die-off of some 20-30,000
salmon in northern California.
(SFC, 9/28/02, p.A2)(SFC, 10/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Nov 1, Scientists reported
that 22-47% of Earth’s plant species are in danger of becoming
extinct due to human activity.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.A4)
2002 Nov 13, The
Bahamian-registered Prestige, with 85,000 tons of oil, sprang a leak
during a storm off the coast of Spain. Some 3,300 tons leaked and
began reaching the coast of Spain after a few days.
(AP, 11/16/02)
2002 Nov 19, The Prestige oil
tanker, carrying 20 million gallons of fuel oil, broke in two and
sank in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain. It leaked up to
1.02 million gallons of oil and threatened a spill nearly twice as
big as the Exxon Valdez in 1989. Leakage continued at some 33,000
gallons per day and could drain until 2006.
(AP, 11/19/02)(WSJ, 12/11/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 22, An epidemic of
tree-killing pine beetles was reported to be spreading rapidly
through the forests of British Columbia, Canada's largest lumber
exporting province, with the deadly insects now found in a area
nearly three-quarters the size of Sweden.
(Reuters, 11/22/02)
2002 Nov 24, A tanker carrying
20,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas was on fire in Chinese waters
about 38 kilometers east of Hong Kong, risking a huge explosion.
(Reuters, 11/24/02)
2002 Nov 22, The US EPA eased
rules requiring installation of anti-pollution gear. The Bush
administration eased clean air rules to allow utilities, refineries
and manufacturers to avoid having to install new anti-pollution
equipment when they modernized their plants.
(WSJ, 11/25/02, p.A1)(AP, 11/22/07)
2002 Dec 6, The EU agreed to
ban single-hull tankers, likely to be effective in 2010.
(SFC, 12/7/02, p.A15)
2002 Dec 14, The Norwegian
Tricolor, a cargo ship carrying nearly 2,900 luxury cars capsized
and sank after colliding with the Bahamas-registered Kariba cargo
ship in the English Channel. Tricolor carried 2,862 cars, high-end
BMWs, Volvos and Saabs, and 77 other items, mainly tractors and
large crane parts.
(AP, 12/14/02)
2002 Dec 16, The EPA issued a
water-pollution rule to cover animal waste from "factory farms."
(WSJ, 12/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Dec 16, It was reported
that a severe drought ravaging most of Australia's rural sector will
slash farm exports by 13 percent this fiscal year. Triggered by
abnormal sea temperatures, El Nino was blamed for severe drought in
Australia, which slashed crops and caused a liquidation of the
nation's livestock. The drought continued thru 2005.
(AP, 12/16/02)(AP, 5/24/05)
2002 Dec, China signed a
preliminary agreement with Indonesia aimed at halting the trade in
illegal logs.
(WSJ, 12/23/03, p.A12)
2002 Devra Davis authored "When
Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the
Battle Against Pollution."
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.M5)
2002 Richard Porter authored
“The Economics of Waste.”
(Econ, 2/28/09, SR p.6)
2002 Michael Williams, British
geographer, authored “Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to
Global Crisis, An Abridgment.”
(www.amazon.com/Deforesting-Earth-Prehistory-Global-Crisis/dp/0226899268)
2002 A UN analysis of timber
statistics for 2002 showed China's reported import of logs from
Indonesia to be 200 times higher that the figures reported by
Indonesian customs.
(WSJ, 12/23/03, p.A12)
2002 Pres. Omar Bongo decided
to preserve a tenth of Gabon's 103,000 square miles in 13 nature
preserves based on stories and photographs by Mike Fay and Nick
Nichols.
(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.D10)
2003 Jan 1, A US Army
incineration at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama, scheduled to
begin destroying stockpiled chemical weapons in Oct 2002, was
postponed to at least Jan 1, 2003. A global treaty called for
complete destruction by 2004.
(SFC, 9/15/02, p.A5)
2003 Jun 30, The pesticide
Diazinon was scheduled to be removed from retail products for use on
lawns and gardens.
(SFC, 12/6/00, p.A5)
2002 Michael D’Orso authored
"Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galapagos Islands."
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.M6)
2003 Jan 29, Belgium said oil
leaking from the sunken cargo ship Tricolor (Dec 14) is washing up
on the Belgian coastline, damaging wildlife and beaches.
(AP, 1/30/03)
2003 Feb 15, It was reported
that SF Bay Area refineries were belching 30% more pollutants than
previously known due to the frequent flaring of gases.
(SFC, 2/15/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 7, Jose Marcio Ayres
(49), Brazilian biologist and senior Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS) biologist, died in NYC. In 1996 he set up the Mamiraua
Sustainable Development Reserve to protect a 4,300 square-mile area
of the Amazon rain forest.
(Econ, 6/19/04, p.77)
2003 Mar 19, Pacific Lumber
began removing tree sitters near Eureka, Ca. Some of the 18 sitters
had been in the trees for almost a year.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A23)
2003 Apr 14, The US EPA
launched an investigation into perfluorooctanoic acid, an ingredient
in teflon, for possible health risks to humans.
(SFC, 4/15/03, p.A5)
2003 Apr 24, Canada banned cod
fishing off the Atlantic provinces and Quebec due to the collapse of
cod stocks.
(SFC, 4/25/03, A8)
2003 Apr 28, An environmental
group reported that chemical perchlorate, the explosive ingredient
in rocket fuel, was found in samples of lettuce traced to growers in
southern California or Arizona. The Bush administration had already
imposed a gag order on the EPA from publicly discussing perchlorate
pollution.
(SFC, 4/28/03, A1)(WSJ, 4/28/03, A3)
2003 Apr 29, California
biologists reported that some 92 southern sea otters had died since
the beginning of the year between Point Conception and Half Moon
Bay.
(SFC, 4/30/03, A1)
2003 May 3, It was reported
that half of Germany's bee colonies failed to survive the winter due
to a mite that began spreading from Southeast Asia about 90 years
ago.
(SFC, 5/3/03, p.B8)
2003 May 15, The SF Bay Area
celebrated its 9th Bike to Work Day.
(SFC, 5/15/03, p.A17)
2003 May 21, Christie Whitman
(56), former New Jersey governor, announced her resignation as chief
of the Environmental Protective Agency.
(SFC, 5/22/03, p.A1)
2003 May 31, A Chinese
freighter sank in the Baltic Sea. It carried 66,000 tons of
fertilizer and leaked over 55,270 gallons of diesel oil. Some 38,000
gallons were recovered.
(SFC, 6/3/03, p.A3)
2003 May, Freecycle, a global
recycling phenomenon started operating in Arizona. By 2008 it had
grown to more than 4 million members in more than 4,100 cities. It
boasted of keeping more than 300 million tons of trash out of
landfills every day and inspired imitators.
(AP, 12/29/07)
2003 Jun 4, The Pews Ocean
Commission said US waters are so stressed by pollution and
overfishing that drastic federal intervention is required.
(SFC, 6/5/03, p.A8)(WSJ, 6/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 13, Scientists
reported that the new hydrogen fuel cell technology could lead to
greater destruction of the ozone layer that protects Earth from
cancer-causing ultraviolet rays.
(AP, 6/13/03)
2003 Jun 15, Scientists
reported that nearly 1,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises drown
every day after becoming tangled in fishing nets and other
equipment.
(AP, 6/15/03)
2003 Jun 18, The Mercury Policy
Project reported that 1/3 of albacor tuna contained levels of toxic
mercury exceeding a federally recommended dose for women of
child-bearing age.
(SFC, 6/19/03, p.A10)
2003 Jul 7, It was reported
that the night crawler, Lumbricus terristris, was not native to
northern American forests and that its introduction was causing
problems on the forest floor.
(WSJ, 7/8/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 9, Research was
released that said PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), commonly
used in flame retardants, posed a health hazard.
(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 1, In San Diego, Ca.,
a 206-unit complex under construction was leveled by a fire. Members
of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 9/20/03, p.A5)
2003 Aug 9, The US Army began
burning chemical weapons at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal
Facility in Anniston, Ala.
(SSFC, 8/10/03, p.A4)
2003 Aug 9, California Gov.
Davis signed legislation banning 2 forms of flame-retardant
chemicals (PBDEs) effective Jan 1, 2008.
(SSFC, 8/10/03, p.A32)
2003 Aug 11, Pres. Bush named
Mike Leavitt, Republican governor of Utah, to head the EPA.
(SFC, 8/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 14, A Greek oil tanker
that ran aground Jul 27 off the port city of Karachi broke apart,
but officials said the worst was over and rich fishing grounds
nearby were not threatened. The ship carried 378,000 to 450,000
gallons. It leaked an estimated 12,000 metric tons.
(AP, 8/14/03)(SFC, 8/15/03, p.A3)
2003 Aug 14, The California
Dept. of Fish and Game proposed an indefinite ban on herring fishing
in SF Bay due to a marked decline in the number of fish.
(SFC, 8/15/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 22, In southern
California members of the Earth Liberation Front struck 4 car
dealerships. Damage at a Chevrolet dealership in West Covina was
over $1 million.
(SFC, 8/23/03, p.A2)
2003 Aug 27, The Bush
administration relaxed clean air rules to allow industrial plants to
make upgrades without installing pollution controls.
(SFC, 8/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 28, The WWF reported
that the hippos of Congo's Virunga national Park have been nearly
wiped out by poachers and civil war.
(WSJ, 8/29/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 3, It was reported
that Lake Chapala in Jalisco state had lost some 80% of its water
over the last 10 years due to heavy development in central Mexico
and agricultural diversion of water from the Rio Lerma.
(WSJ, 9/3/03, p.B1)
2003 Oct 9, Scientists in
Nature reported that certain types of Navy sonar use was responsible
for whale deaths due to beaching.
(SFC, 10/9/03, p.A4)
2003 Oct 21, A report from the
Environmental Working Group ranked pesticide contamination for 46
fruits and vegetables based on lab tests done between 1992 and 2001.
(SFC, 10/21/03, p.A3)
2003 Oct 28, The US Senate
approved Utah's Gov. Mike Leavitt as head of the EPA.
(SFC, 10/29/03, p.A3)
2003 Oct 31, The EPA rejected
new restrictions on weed-killer atrazine. It was suspected of
causing mutations in frogs.
(WSJ, 11/3/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 4, It was reported
that world sulfur stocks were at record highs and that the energy
industry produces some 64 million tons a year, far more than needed.
(WSJ, 11/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 28, It was reported
that the New Zealand mud snail had invaded trout streams in Northern
California. They were capable of stripping entire river systems of
algae and had already infested trout streams in Montana.
(SFC, 11/28/03, p.A21)
2003 Dec 1, In Canada a
coalition of energy and forest companies and Indian tribes and
environmental groups announced a framework for forest and wetland
conservation to conserve at least 50% of Canada's sub-Arctic boreal
forests.
(SFC, 12/1/03, p.A7)
2003 Dec 2, A senior adviser to
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia cannot ratify the Kyoto
Protocol limiting greenhouse gas emissions, dealing a mortal blow to
the pact that required Russia's ratification to take effect.
(AP, 12/2/03)
2003 Dec 4, It was reported
that scientists saw 2003 set to become the 3rd hottest year since
modern temperature records began. The warmest since 1880 was 1998
followed by 2002.
(WSJ, 12/4/03, p.A10)
2003 Dec 8, US District Judge
James Ware ruled that US toxic cleanup law doesn't apply abroad. A
suit by Filipinos sought that the US government be required to
assess pollution near 2 former military bases.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A6)
2003 Dec 12, A UN conference on
climate control closed in Milan, Italy. Many countries planned to go
ahead with their Kyoto Protocol commitments to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
(AP, 12/13/03)
2003 Dec 15, The Bush
administration proposed a market-based system of pollution controls
that required power companies to cut mercury pollution by nearly 70%
over the next 15 years, but let them decide for themselves how to
meet the overall limits.
(SFC, 12/16/03, p.A5)
2003 Dec 18, The Cayman Islands
banned fishing in grouper spawning areas for eight years, citing a
sharp decline in the species' population. The ban took effect of Dec
29.
(AP, 12/19/03)
2003 Dec 19, Fisheries
ministers of the 15 European Union nations reached a compromise deal
to protect dwindling stocks of cod, hake and other species.
(AP, 12/19/03)
2003 Dec 24, A US federal
appeals court blocked the Bush administration from implementing a
major environmental rule change that would have allowed power plants
to upgrade their facilities without installing anti-pollution
equipment.
(SFC, 12/25/03, p.A3)
2003 In New South Wales,
Australia, the lower reaches of the Great Anabranch of the Darling
River ran dry following a 10-year drought.
(Econ, 5/7/05, Survey p.15)
2003 Brazilian ranchers,
soybean farmers and loggers destroyed a chunk of the Amazon
rainforest about the size of Massachusetts.
(AP, 4/8/04)
2003 A high court in Kerala,
India, ordered Coca Cola to shut down a $25 million plant due to
local complaints of excess water use. Villagers also complained that
waste from the plant had contaminated drinking water. Activists left
alone a nearby Indian brewery.
(SSFC, 3/6/05, p.A3)
2004 Jan 1, Restrictions on
wood-burning stoves in the San Joaquin Valley went into effect.
Fresno County was noted for the highest childhood asthma rate in
California and the SJ valley was considered the 2nd dirtiest air
basin in the US outside of Los Angeles.
(SFC, 1/1/04, p.A20)
2004 Mar 4, Michigan
authorities asked 6 southeastern counties to evaluate damage done by
the emerald ash borer. The pests had already killed some 6 million
ash trees.
(USAT, 3/5/04, p.9A)
2004 Mar 9, Groundbreaking
ceremonies were set for a research center on the Israeli-Jordan
border. The Bridging the Rift foundation, launched in 1999, planned
a $30 million environmental research center created with the
assistance of California's Stanford Univ.
(SFC, 2/28/04, p.A8)
2004 Mar 10, The Monrovia
Growers in Azusa, LA County, reported that its camellias were
infested with oak disease, Phytophthora ramorum. Plants from the
nursery were distributed around the country.
(SFC, 3/11/04, p.B1)
2004 Mar 11, The California
Office of Environmental Health Hazzard Assessment raised the action
level for reporting perchlorate pollution in drinking water from 4
to 6 ppb.
(WSJ, 3/12/04, p.A8)
2004 Mar 19, Scientists
reported that Earth may be in the middle its 6th big extinction
event, which began some 50,000 years ago. A recent survey indicated
population extinctions in all the main ecosystems of Britain.
(SFC, 3/19/04, p.A5)
2004 Mar 24, The Bush
administration, under pressure from farmers, petitioned to postpone
the global phase-out of methyl bromide, a pesticide that has been
shown to destroy ozone.
(SFC, 3/23/04, p.A5)
2004 Mar 24, Australia's
parliament passed a law making the Great Barrier Reef the most
protected reef system on earth. A fishing ban on a third of the
World Heritage site would begin in July.
(AP, 3/24/04)
2004 Mar 26, The US Department
of Agriculture ordered a 60-day ban on the interstate sale of host
plants from California due to infestation by the sudden oak death
disease.
(SFC, 3/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar, A biology professor
said the monarch butterfly population wintering in Morelia, Mexico,
was down 75%. Logging had severely impacted the area.
(SFC, 2/24/05, p.A10)
2004 Apr 19, The annual
environmental Goldman Prizes were awarded in SF. Winners included
Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla of India for their work following
the Bhopal catastrophe; Margie Richard of the US for her work
following chemical leaks in Norco, Louisiana; Rudolf N. Amenga-Etego
of Ghana for his work in suspending a water privatization project;
Libia R. Grueso Castelblanco of Colombia for her work in securing
territorial rights for rural communities; Manana Kochladze of
Georgia for winning concessions to protect villagers and a pristine
gorge from an oil pipeline; Demetrio De Carvalho of East Timor for
his environmental efforts.
(SFC, 4/19/04, p.B5)
2004 Apr 20, A US federal
commission said oceans of the US are in dire shape due to pollution
and overfishing.
(WSJ, 4/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 23, On Earth Day Pres.
Bush toured a Maine nature preserve and said the US should try to
expand its wetlands.
(WSJ, 4/23/04, p.A1)
2004 May 12, A wildlife group
warned that world cod stocks were falling and could be wiped out in
15 years if the current rate of overfishing continues.
(WSJ, 5/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 12, The Bush
administration announced a new rule to allow the nation’s governors
to help decide whether roadless areas in their states should be
opened for logging or other commercial activity.
(SFC, 7/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 15, Scientists
reported that excess carbon dioxide spilled into the air by humans
over the past 2 centuries has been taken up by the oceans. They
warned that a continuation of this process could damage the ability
of ocean creatures to make their shells.
(SFC, 7/16/04, p.A4)
2004 Jul 17, Office Depot and
Hewlett-Packard launched the country's first free, nationwide,
in-store electronics recycling program. The program ran to Sep 6.
(TechWeb, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 19, Some 4,000 acres
of salt ponds in the south bay began receiving SF Bay water in a
project to return the area to natural wetlands.
(SSFC, 7/18/04, p.B1)
2004 Aug, The World Bank
estimated that pollution is causing China and annual 8-12% of its
$1.4 trillion GDP in direct damage.
(Econ, 8/21/04, p.56)
2004 Sep 5, Australian Prime
Minister John Howard defended his country's controversial refusal to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases as he launched the
19th World Energy Congress in Sydney.
(AP, 9/5/04)
2004 Sep 23, Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed bills allowing some hybrid vehicles to use
freeway carpool lanes and requiring older autos to pass smog checks.
He also authorized the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a new California
agency dedicated to preserving 25 million Sierra acres.
(SFC, 9/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 23, Antarctic
researchers reported that the ice cap’s glaciers are now melting
twice as fast as in the 1990s and raising sea level.
(WSJ, 9/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 30, Love Canal, NY,
was formally removed from the Superfund list. The land was deemed
safe only for industry. In the center a 16-acre canal dump site
remained fenced.
(SFC, 10/1/04, p.A8)
2004 Sep 30, Russia's Cabinet
approved the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
(AP, 9/30/04)
2004 Oct 15, The journal
Science published a report that said 1,856 of 5,743 species of
amphibians are “globally threatened.”
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.A4)
2004 Oct 15, Authorities said
the Northern Snakehead has invaded the Great Lakes. The voracious
predator dubbed the "Frankenfish" can breathe out of water and
wriggle across land.
(Reuters, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 21, WWF Int’l. said
humanity is consuming 20% more natural resources each year than the
Earth produces.
(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 22, It was reported
that engineers in Arizona, in an effort to stave off global warming,
were building a prototype machine that would remove carbon dioxide
from the air and store it in rocks or under the Earth.
(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 22, Russia's lower
house of parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol on combating global
warming.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 27, It was reported
that Stefan Jaronski, a Montana researcher, had found that canola
oil combined with a fungus can be used to get rid of grasshoppers.
(USAT, 10/27/04, p.6D)
2004 Oct 27, In Russia the
Kyoto Protocol overcame its final legislative hurdle when the upper
house of parliament ratified the global climate pact and sent it on
to Pres. Vladimir Putin to sign.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct, Michael Shellenberger
of El Cerrito, Ca., and Ted Norhaus of Berkeley delivered a 36-page
treatisse titled “The Death of Environmentalism” at a national
gathering of environmentalists.
(SFC, 4/23/05, p.B1)
2004 Nov 3, British scientists
reported an 89% decline since the 1970s in stocks of Antarctic
krill, vital food for marine animals.
(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 11, It was reported
that large swathes of southern and eastern China are in the grip of
their worst drought in more than 50 years, prompting calls from the
countries top leaders for better management of water conservation.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 12, Mexico and a US
environmental group agreed on a plan to protect 370,000 acres of
tropical forest on the Yucatan Peninsula. Officials said it was the
largest conservation project in the country's history.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 22, Stavros Dimas
(b.1941), Greek politician, succeeded Margot Walstron of Sweden as
the EU’s environment commissioner.
(Econ, 10/25/08,
p.80)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavros_Dimas)
2004 Nov 23, In Brazil
government data indicated that 47% of its rainforest was now
occupied by man or logged.
(WSJ, 11/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 25, The 3rd IUCN World
Conservation Congress closed in Bangkok. Its final resolutions
included a resolution urging governments to limit the use of loud
noise sources in the world’s oceans.
(SFC, 12/13/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 26, A
Cyprus-registered tanker spilled 30,000 gallons of crude oil into
the Delaware River between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey,
creating a 20-mile-long slick that killed dozens of birds and
threatened other wildlife.
(AP, 11/28/04)
2004 Nov 28, On a southern
Australian island about 100 whales and dolphins died after beaching,
and about 50 more were still at risk.
(AP, 11/28/04)
2004 Dec 7, The
German-registered MSC Ilona was punctured during a collision night
with the Panama-registered Hyundai Advance near the mouth of the
Pearl River, northwest of Hong Kong. The collision of the container
ships caused a huge oil spill and cleanup effort.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 8, The 738-foot
freighter, Selendang Ayu, ran aground off Unalaska Island and began
leaking oil. 6 crew members were missing following an attempted
rescue in which a Coast Guard helicopter crashed. The ship carried
some 500,000 gallons of bunker oil and diesel fuel.
(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 9, Scientists tracked
an algae bloom covering 400 square miles in the Gulf Coast that has
caused a mass fish kill and dolphin deaths near Florida.
(WSJ, 12/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 17, It was reported
that China’s growing power industry was causing global concern over
mercury accumulation in the world’s water and food supply.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 18, UN talks on
climate change ended with few steps forward as the US, oil producers
and developing giants slammed the brakes on the European Union's
drive for deeper emissions cuts to stop global warming.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 19, It was reported
that the wind farm at Altamont, Ca., killed some 4,700 birds every
year.
(SSFC, 12/19/04, p.A1)
2004 In Mongolia scientists and
American sport fishermen teamed with local Buddhist monks to help
stamp out habitat destruction and poaching of the Siberian salmon
called taimen.
(WSJ, 10/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Charles Clover authored
“The End of the Line: How Over-Fishing is Changing the World and
What We Eat.”
(Econ, 10/2/04, p.83)
2004 Mark Elvin authored “The
Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China.”
(Econ, 7/10/04, p.74)
2004 Paul and Anne Erlich
authored “One With Nineveh,” a plan for reorganizing the world’s
economy and systems of government in order to ward off a prospective
collision with nature.
(WSJ, 5/20/04, p.D10)
2004 James Gustave Speth
authored “Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crises of the Global
Environment—A Citizen’s Agenda for Action.”
(Econ, 3/20/04, p.91)
2004 Turkmenistan’s Pres.
Niyazov moved forward with the building of the Golden Era Lake. The
massive 75 by 37 mile lake in the middle of the Krakum Desert was
considered by many to be an environmental catastrophe.
(WSJ, 7/16/04, p.A8)
2005 Jan 1, A new California
law took effect levying a surcharge on computer sales to defray
recycling costs.
(Econ, 1/29/05, p.60)
2005 Jan 22, It was reported
that a mutant of the sudden oak pathogen was found in a nursery in
Washington state. Phytopthora ramorum was believed to be the result
of a union between California and European strains.
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.B1)
2005 Jan 25, Georgina Mace told
a meeting of zoologists in London that 0.5% of the area of natural
habitats on land is lost each year, largely due to conversion to
farmland.
(Econ, 2/5/05, p.74)
2005 Jan, The European
Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), a market for carbon emission
permits, was created to help EU countries meet their commitment to
cut emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. It covered 5 industries, and
13,000 factories and plants, rated as particularly dirty. A 2nd
phase of ETS would run from 2008-2012.
(Econ, 5/6/06, p.75)(Econ, 6/10/06, p.69)(Econ,
12/2/06, p.56)
2005 Feb 16, The Kyoto global
warming pact went into force, 7 years after it was negotiated,
imposing limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases
scientists blame for increasing world temperatures, melting glaciers
and rising oceans. Canada’s pledge to cut emissions 6% below its
1990 level by 2012 faced the problem of an average annual increase
of 1.5%.
(AP, 2/16/05)(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 22, Researchers at
Texas Tech Univ. reported that the rocket fuel perchlorate has been
found in women’s breast milk at 5 times the average level found in
dairy milk.
(SFC, 2/23/05, p.A6)
2005 Feb 23, Pres. Bush and
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pledged to help developing
nations cut back on their output of greenhouse gases.
(SFC, 2/26/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 25, Gapminder was
founded in Stockholm by Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and
Hans Rosling. It is a non-profit venture promoting sustainable
global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals by increased use and understanding of statistics
and other information about social, economic and environmental
development at local, national and global levels.
(www.gapminder.org/about-gapminder/)(Econ,
12/11/10, TQ p.26)
2005 Feb, A group called the
Environmental Investigation Agency alleged that $600 million worth
of timber was being smuggled from Indonesia to China every month.
Pres. Yudhojono pledged a crackdown in March with Operation
Sustainable Forest. The EIA described a timber-smuggling chain
bringing 300,000 cubic meters of merbau, a valuable hardwood, from
Indonesia’s Papua province to China. EIA claimed Indonesia was
losing an area of forest the size of Switzerland every year.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.42)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.39)
2005 Mar 4, Pres. Bush picked
Stephen Johnson (53) to head the EPA.
(SFC, 3/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 10, The US EPA
approved new limits on power plant emissions in the Eastern US. The
EPA issued its Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to reduce air
pollution. Courts left its provisions intact but ordered the
EPA to come up with a better rule. The new Cross-State Air Pollution
rule (CSAPR) was due to go into effect Jan 1, 2012, but faced heavy
state and industrial opposition.
(WSJ, 3/11/05, p.A1)(Econ, 10/15/11,
p.38)(http://www.epa.gov/cair/)
2005 Mar 23, Chinese state
media reported that already severe water shortages are worsening due
to heavy pollution of lakes and aquifers and urban development
projects with a big thirst for water, such as lawns and fountains.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 30, The UN-backed
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report was released. It identified
24 main ecosystem services, most of which are found in forests.
(www.maweb.org/en/article.aspx?id=58)(Econ,
9/25/10, SR p.6)
2005 Apr 4, Evergreen Int’l., a
Panamanian shipping line, pleaded guilty to over 2 dozen counts of
illegal dumping around the US. It was ordered to pay a fine of $25
million, one of the largest ever imposed for polluting the ocean.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.B8)
2005 Apr 12, Wal-Mart said it
will spend $35 million over 10 years to conserve land equal to the
total US footprint of its stores and other facilities.
(WSJ, 4/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 14, Ethiopia police
said authorities have seized more than 1,100 pounds of illegal
ivory, stuffed animals and ostrich eggs that were destined for
collectors abroad.
(AP, 4/14/05)
2005 Apr 18, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prizes were awarded in San Francisco. Recipients
included Isidro Baldenegro of Mexico (forest protection), Rev. Jose
Andres Tamayo Cortes of Honduras (unregulated logging), Kaisha
Atakhanova of Kazakhstan (fighting the import of nuclear waste),
Corneille E.N. Ewango of Congo (animal and plant protection),
Stephanie Daniel Roth of Romania (for fighting an open-cast gold
mine), and Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of Haiti (for teaching
sustainable agriculture).
(SFC, 4/18/05, p.B2)
2005 Apr 25, It was reported
that Didemnum, a species of sea squirt, were spreading unabated off
New England and the Pacific Northwest to the detriment of valuable
shellfish beds and habitat for bottom feeding fish.
(SFC, 4/25/05, p.A6)
2005 Apr 28, Scientists
reported that deep ocean readings promised a steadily warming world
and attributed global warming to human activity.
(SFC, 4/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr, It was reported that
the US Fish & Wildlife Service listed 317 species, including 273
plants, as threatened or endangered in Hawaii. Local
environmentalists blamed pollution from cruise ships and tourists.
(Econ, 4/9/05, p.24)
2005 May 2, Bob Hunter (63),
inspirer of Greenpeace, died.
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.89)
2005 May 5, The Bush
administration set aside a rule protecting 33% of national forests
from roads. This opened some 58.5 million acres for possible
commercial use. New rules by the Bush administration in 2008
repealed a 1982 regulation requiring that fish and wildlife habitats
be managed to maintain viable populations. On June 30, 2009, these
changes were reversed by a federal judge in San Francisco.
(SFC, 5/6/05, p.A4)(WSJ, 5/6/05, p.A1)(SFC,
7/1/09, p.A6)
2005 May 17, The captain of the
Greenpeace boat, "The Rainbow Warrior," was sentenced to six months
in prison for disobedience during a protest against the war in Iraq
in 2003. The case stemmed from the detention of five men on March
14, 2003, for staging a protest aboard the boat captained by Daniel
Rizzotti, an Argentine citizen, near the U.S.-Spanish Rota naval
base in southern Spain.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 Jun 1, A 5-day UN World
Environment Day conference opened in SF.
(SFC, 6/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 5, In San Francisco
big city mayors from around the world signed a set of 21 urban
environmental accords, capping a 5-day UN World Environment
conference.
(AP, 6/6/05)(SFC, 6/6/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 8, The WWF
conservation group reported that fishing nets claim the lives of
some 1,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises around the world each day.
(WSJ, 6/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 15, Blairo Maggi,
Brazilian soyabean magnate, governor of Mato Grosso, and winner of
this year’s Greenpeace “golden chainsaw” award for deforestation,
refused to accept the award and slunk out through the back door of
the school he was visiting, to the taunting shouts of hundreds of
children.
(Econ, 8/8/09,
p.70)(www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/brazilian_soy_k.php)
2005 Jun 17, SF enacted its
Environmentally Preferable Purchasing for Commodities Ordnance. It
became the 1st US city take public health and environmental
stewardship into consideration when purchasing products.
(SFC, 6/18/05, p.B2)
2005 Jun 20, California state
and federal officials set aside $2 million to determine why smelt
and other species in the San Joaquin and Sacramento River Delta has
dropped sharply. Numerous causes were suspect including nonnative
predators and increasing herbicide and pesticide runoff as well as
water draw down to supply Southern California and the Central
Valley.
(SFC, 6/21/05, p.B3)
2005 Jun 28, Austria launched
an energy exchange to trade carbon allowances in accord with the
Kyoto treaty to deal with greenhouse gases.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.64)
2005 Jul 1, An EU directive
took effect banning lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and
2 types of brominated flame retardants. Some exceptions were
allowed.
(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.E1)
2005 Jul 14, The White Holly, a
retrofitted WW II Navy freighter, embarked from SF Bay on a 7,000
mile roundtrip cruise to study coral reef decay.
(SFC, 7/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 20, SF Bay Area air
quality officials impost the toughest regulations in the nation to
reduce flaring in the East Bay’s 5 oil refineries.
(SFC, 7/21/05, p.B1)
2005 Jul 21, The US Centers for
Disease Control reported that the bodies of American children and
adults contained over 100 toxic substance including pyrethroids, a
pesticide ingredient, and phthalates, found in beauty products and
soft plastics.
(SFC, 7/22/05, p.A12)
2005 Jul 22, Researchers
estimated that deaths of North Atlantic right whales may be
underreported by as much as 83 percent annually. At least eight
whales have died in the last 16 months, and only 350 of the animals
are believed to exist.
(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 27, Environment
Minister Ian Campbell said Australia and the US have been secretly
negotiating a new international pact on greenhouse gas emissions to
replace the Kyoto Protocol, which they refused to sign.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Aug 16, The Bush
administration reduced the estimated value of recreation in national
forests from $111 billion to $11 billion. Environmentalists warned
the new Forest Service assessment could be used to justify increased
logging.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.A4)
2005 Aug 17, Researchers from
Greenpeace Int’l reported that toxic waste from electronic devices
discarded in the US and dismantled in China and India was posing a
sever problem around Guiyu, China, and New Delhi, India.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.C3)
2005 Aug 24, The New York Times
reported that officials in nine northeastern US states have reached
a preliminary agreement to freeze power plant emissions at their
current levels and then reduce them by 10 percent by 2020.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Canada more
than 150 nations agreed to launch formal talks on mandatory
post-2012 reductions in greenhouse gases, talks that will exclude an
unwilling US.
(AP, 12/10/05)(Econ, 12/17/05, p.77)
2005 Marla Cone authored
“Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic.”
(SSFC, 5/22/05, p.F2)
2005 Americans generated over
245 million tons of municipal solid waste, roughly 4½ pounds
for per person per day.
(SFC, 7/13/07, p.C1)
2005 The EU in 1998 announced
plans for tougher anti-pollution laws to take effect to make car
engines and fuels burn cleaner. Implementation of new laws began in
2000.
(SFC, 7/3/98, p.D2)
2006 Mar 2, An oil spill in
Alaska curtailed Prudhoe Bay production. At least 265,000 gallons
spilled onto the tundra from a British Petroleum (BP) line handling
100,000 barrels per day. The spill of 5,000 barrels was the largest
in the field’s 29-year history. In 2011 a $25 million settlement was
reached with a BP subsidiary for the spill.
(WSJ, 3/3/06, p.A1)(SFC, 3/11/06, p.A4)(SSFC,
8/13/06, p.A18)(SFC, 5/4/11, p.A6)
2006 Jun 15, Pres. Bush
announced plans to designate a new marine sanctuary in the area of
the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands encompassing nearly 140,000 square
miles. The plan for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, the
nation’s 14th marine sanctuary, would end fishing in the area within
5 years. Formal designation was about a year away.
(SFC, 6/15/06, p.A2)(WSJ, 6/16/06, p.A1)(Econ,
1/10/09, p.70)
2006 Jun 19, The US Supreme
Court rolled back coverage of the Clean Water Act, but did not agree
on how to define the waters protected by the act.
(WSJ, 6/20/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug, In China a project
was begun in Shanghai to treat industrial waste with iron filings, a
process which had been found to be a cheap and efficient way to
clean up polluted water.
(Econ, 12/6/08, TQ p.11)
2006 Sep 20, The 3-day second
annual Clinton Global Initiative, on the sidelines of the United
Nations General Assembly, kicked off in Manhattan and collected over
$2 billion in pledges in funds and programs on its 1st day to combat
global ills. A day later British mogul Richard Branson pledged to
spend three billion dollars in the next decade on projects to combat
global warming and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
(SFC, 9/21/06, p.A3)(AFP, 9/21/06)
2006 Oct 19, The UN Environment
Program said the number of "dead zones" in the world's oceans had
reached 200, an increase of 34% in 2 years, threatening fish stocks
and the people who depend on them.
(AP, 10/19/06)(WSJ, 10/20/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 3, US and Canadian
researchers reported that the world's fish and seafood could
disappear by 2048 as overfishing and pollution destroy ocean
ecosystems at an accelerating pace.
(AFP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, Ben Bradshaw,
Britain’s Fisheries Minister, responded to a major report warning
that stocks could be wiped out by 2048 by ruling out a complete ban
on cod fishing. Bradshaw said that the UK had already taken action
by clamping down on illegal fishing and setting fishing quotas.
(AFP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, The UN weather
agency said heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached
a record high in 2005 and are still increasing.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 6, In Kenya thousands
of delegates from around the world opened a UN conference on next
steps to ward off the worst effects of climate change.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 16, The Vermont based
Conservation Fund partnered with the state of California to purchase
16,000 acres in northern California from the Hawthorne Timber Co.
for $48.5 million.
(WSJ, 11/17/06, p.A4)
2006 Nov 21, The Environmental
Protection Agency announced that pesticides can be applied over and
near bodies of water without a permit under the federal Clean Water
Act.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2005 Nov-2005 Dec, In San
Francisco between 39,488 and 53,988 gallons of diesel fuel leaked
over 4 weeks from an underground storage tank at the John Muir Motor
Coach yard at 1095 Indiana St. Muni workers had disabled an alarm
system that would have warned of the leak. In 2009 the US EPA sought
a $250,000 settlement for the leak which allowed fuel to enter a
storm drain leading the SF Bay.
(SFC, 11/3/09, p.C1)
2006 Dec 8, Scientists said
that the forests of the American West are under siege from bark
beetles, miniscule but mighty foes that are ravaging the region's
leading trees in record numbers. Experts said the region has failed
in recent years to register the sustained periods of sub-zero
temperatures that once dealt a fatal blow to beetle populations.
(AFP, 12/8/06)
2005 Dec 10, In Canada more
than 150 nations agreed to launch formal talks on mandatory
post-2012 reductions in greenhouse gases, talks that will exclude an
unwilling US. The agenda item on “Reducing emissions from
deforestation in developing countries and approaches to stimulate
action” was first introduced into the Conference of the
Parties (COP) agenda at its eleventh session in Montreal. The
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plan
became known as REDD.
(AP, 12/10/05)(Econ, 12/17/05,
p.77)(http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_15/items/5257.php)(Econ,
9/25/10, SR p.6)
2005 Indonesia’s government
gave a 30-year permit to Putri Naga Komodo, a nonprofit joint
venture company partially funded by The Nature Conservancy and the
World Bank, to operate Komodo National Park tourist facilities in
hopes of eventually making the park financially self-sustaining. The
deal collapsed in 2010, when Putri Naga Komodo's permit was yanked.
(AP, 4/20/12)
2006 Dec 12, A new
environmental report said fertilizer and sediment runoff from
sugarcane, banana and pineapple plantations are threatening tourism
by damaging a coral reef stretching along the Caribbean coasts of
Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.
(AP, 12/13/06)
2006 Dec 12, Eritrea said it
aims to become the 1st country in the world to turn its entire coast
into an environmentally protected zone to ensure balanced and
sustainable development.
(AFP, 12/12/06)
2006 Mike Strizki of New Jersey
began to live off the grid without emitting an ounce of carbon or
paying a penny to the local utility. The civil engineer turned green
energy evangelist used fuel cells to convert the power generated by
about 150 solar panels so that it can be stored in 11 hydrogen tanks
about 100 yards from his house.
(http://energy.aol.com/bloggers/jon-hurdle)(Jon
Hurdle, 8/13/2011)
2007 Jan 20, Richard
Vollenweider (1922-2007), Swiss scientist, died. He developed
methods for quantifying the eutrophication of freshwater. His
methods were used to save Lake Erie and helped from the basis of the
1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Act.
(http://tinyurl.com/ygrc3p)(WSJ, 2/3/07, p.A8)
2007 Jan 22, Scientists warned
that glaciers will all but disappear from the Alps by 2050, and that
most would be gone by 2037.
(SFC, 1/23/07, p.A4)
2007 Feb 2, Scientists from 113
countries issued a report saying they have little doubt global
warming is caused by man, and predicting that hotter temperatures
and rises in sea level will "continue for centuries" no matter how
much humans control their pollution. The 4th report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published in
Paris.
(AP, 2/2/07)(Econ, 2/10/07, p.86)
2007 Feb 15, Scientists
gathered in Atlanta, Ga., to find a way to stop a fungus killing the
world’s frogs. Up to 170 species have gone extinct in the past
decade.
(WSJ, 2/16/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 20, EU ministers
agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below their 1990 level
by 2020.
(SFC, 2/21/07, p.C5)
2007 Mar 6, Researchers
reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that
pollution from Asia is helping generate stronger storms over the
North Pacific, according to new research. Satellite measurements
have shown an increase in tiny particles generated from coal burning
in China and India in recent decades.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 9, EU leaders agreed
on a bold set of measures to fight global warming, pledging that a
fifth of the bloc's energy will come from green power sources such
as wind turbines and solar panels by 2020 and that 10% of European
cars will run on biofuels.
(AP, 3/9/07)(Econ, 3/17/07, p.59)
2007 Mar 13, Environmental
group Greenpeace launched a fresh attack on genetically modified
maize developed by US biotech giant Monsanto, saying that rats fed
on one version developed liver and kidney problems.
(Reuters, 3/13/07)
2007 Mar 20, The WWF
conservation group said climate change, pollution, over extraction
of water and development are killing some of the world's most famous
rivers including China's Yangtze, India's Ganges and Africa's Nile.
(AP, 3/20/07)
2007 Mar 30, It was reported
that shark overfishing has led scallops to decline because their
predators, mainly rays, aren’t being eaten.
(WSJ, 3/30/07, p.A1)
2007 Mar 30, Leaked extracts of
a UN report said Australia will suffer more droughts, fires, floods
and storms due to global warming and its famous Great Barrier Reef
will be devastated by 2030.
(AFP, 3/30/07)
2007 Apr 2, The US Supreme
Court ruled that a US government agency, the EPA, has the power
under the clean air law to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that
spur global warming. In its first case on climate change, the
Supreme Court declared in a 5-4 ruling that carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases were air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)(AP, 4/2/08)(Econ, 2/12/11,
p.36)
2007 Apr 10, In China’s
southeast Guangxi Zhuangzu region thousands of fish were reported
killed this month in a lake near Nanning due to “sharp drops in
temperature.”
(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 13, Prominent Chinese
environmental activist Wu Lihong (39) was arrested for alleged
blackmail. Lihong has campaigned for years against the pollution of
Tai Lake which lies in the center of Yangtze Delta plain, a region
known for its natural beauty but littered with polluting light
industry and chemical factories. In August Lihong was sentenced to 3
years in prison for fraud and blackmail.
(AFP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.49)
2007 Apr 16, Scientists
reported that Britain once had around 25 native species of
bumblebee, but three of those have been wiped out in the past 50
years and 10 more are now severely threatened.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, A state-run
newspaper said China's massive Yangtze river, a lifeline for tens of
millions of people, is seriously polluted and the damage is almost
irreversible.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 May 1, Julie A. MacDonald,
a deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks,
resigned after an internal review found that she had violated
federal rules by giving government documents to lobbyists for
industry. In November the US Fish and Wildlife Service reversed 7
rulings that had denied endangered species increased protection.
(www.mindfully.org/Heritage/2007/Interior-Wildlife-Decisions21jul07.htm)(SFC,
11/28/07, p.A3)
2007 May 4, Delegates meeting
in Thailand from 120 countries approved the first roadmap for
stemming greenhouse gas emissions, laying out what they said was an
affordable arsenal of anti-warming measures that must be rushed into
place to avert a disastrous spike in global temperatures.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 7, More than 1,000
government delegates gathered in Bonn, Germany, to find ways to
break gridlock in international negotiations on widening action to
slow global warming. The UN urged far tougher action to fight
climate change at the 166-nation climate conference.
(Reuters, 5/7/07)
2007 May 29, President Bush's
environmental adviser said the US rejects the EU's all-encompassing
target on reduction of carbon emissions. The US and Australia ruled
out a regional carbon trading scheme before the meeting officially
opened in the northern city of Darwin, saying it was too early to
impose uniform targets on APEC nations. APEC members already account
for 60% of global energy demand and their needs are expected to
almost double by 2030. Fidel Castro lambasted President Bush for
opposing the EU's goal for an agreement on carbon emissions at next
week's Group of Eight summit.
(AFP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, China said it will
not be tied to targets on cutting carbon emissions as Europe and
Asia failed to agree at a 40-nation meeting on how to fight global
warming.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, European and Asian
foreign ministers meeting in Germany agreed to set a 2009 deadline
to complete negotiations on a new international climate change pact
to limit greenhouse gases.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Sweden said it
plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020, bettering the
EU's proposal to cut emissions by at least 20%.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 Jun 4, China promised to
better control emissions of greenhouse gases, unveiling a national
program to combat global warming, but rejected mandatory caps on
emissions as unfair to countries still trying to catch up with the
developed West. The government also said it will license no new
Internet cafes this year while regulators carry out an industry-wide
inspection, amid official concern that online material is harming
young people.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Experts warned at a
conference in Nepal's capital that Himalayan glaciers are retreating
fast and could disappear within the next 50 years.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, The UN warned in a
report that up to 12% of Arctic ice has turned to water in the past
30 years, an alarming fact that only accelerates global warming
further.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 20, A Dutch
government-funded agency said China has overtaken the United States
as the top emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas,
because of surging energy use amid an economic boom. However
consumption and emission levels per head remained a mere fraction of
America’s.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Econ, 6/13/09, p.45)
2007 Jun, The World Monuments
Fund added the Jordan River Valley to its list of 100 most
endangered sites. Israel, Jordan and Syria diverted over 90% of the
Jordan River water annually for drinking and irrigation, reducing
flow to the Dead Sea.
(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A15)
2007 Aug 31, In Vienna,
Austria, negotiators from 158 countries reached basic agreement, at
a UN conference on climate, on rough targets aimed at getting some
of the world's biggest polluters to reduce emissions of the
greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
(AP, 8/31/07)(WSJ, 9/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Sep 21, In Canada,
delegates from almost 200 countries agreed to eliminate
ozone-depleting substances faster than originally planned. The
agreement was reached at a conference in Montreal to mark the 20th
anniversary of the Montreal protocol, which was designed to cut
chemicals found to harm the ozone layer.
(Reuters, 9/22/07)
2007 Sep 17, Volunteers
worldwide collected debris from beaches and waterways in a 22nd
annual effort. A report by Ocean Conservancy in 2008 said 7.2
million items were gathered weighing 6 million pounds.
(AP, 4/15/08)
2007 Oct 22, Two new studies
said the world's oceans may be losing their ability to soak up extra
carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, with the risk that this
will help stoke global warming.
(AFP, 10/22/07)
2007 Oct 22,
About 40 tons of oil spilled from a land pipeline carrying
crude from the port of Ashkelon in southern Israel to refineries in
the northern city of Haifa.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, At least 21 oil
workers were killed when a drilling rig hit an oil platform in
stormy weather, spilling gas and oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Pemex
said the workers who died included four Pemex employees, seven
employees of the subcontractor company that operated the rig, at
least one rescue boat crew member, and six others who worked for
other companies. On Dec 16 Pemex announced that the well was finally
capped. Roughly 420 barrels of oil per day had spilled from the
damaged platform since the accident.
(AP, 10/25/07)(AP, 12/16/07)
2007 Oct 26,
China announced a multibillion-dollar plan to clean up
severely polluted Lake Tai, where an algae bloom forced the
suspension of water supplies to millions of people this summer. The
$14.5 billion plan to clean up the lake, in a densely populated area
northwest of Shanghai, should take five years.
(AP, 10/27/07)
2007 Oct-2008 Nov, In Senegal
lead poisoning killed 18 children in Thiaroye Sur Mer. For years,
the town's blacksmiths had extracted lead from car batteries and
remolded it into weights for fishing nets. The work left the dirt of
Thiaroye dense with small lead particles. As the price of lead
climbed local people had begun to sift the dirt to extract the lead.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2007 Nov 1, A project called
“The Deep Carbon Observatory,” a multidisciplinary, international
initiative dedicated to achieving a transformational understanding
of Earth's deep carbon cycle, received funding from the Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation.
(Econ, 2/26/11,
p.86)(https://dco.gl.ciw.edu/about/history)
2007 Nov 7, The Cosco Busan, a
65,131 ton Greek-owned container ship leased by Hanjin Shipping of
South Korea, hit a protective shield at the base of a tower of the
Bay Bridge. The Bridge was not damaged, but the ship suffered a gash
and spilled 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into the SF Bay. By
the end of the month estimated bird deaths due to the oil topped
20,000. The cleanup cost was later estimated at some $61 million. A
year later federal authorities still held 6 Chinese crew members for
their testimony. In July, 2009, Cosco Busan Capt. John Cota (61) was
sentenced to 10 months in prison, becoming the first ship’s pilot in
US history to be sent to prison for an accident. On August 13, 2009,
Fleet Management Ltd. of Hong Kong pleaded guilty to charges of
water pollution and falsifying documents and agreed to pay $10
million in fines. On Dec 4, 2011, a settlement was reached to pay
120 SF Bay Area commercial fishermen $3.6 million.
(SFC, 11/8/07, p.A1)(SFC, 11/27/07, p.A1)(SFC,
12/19/07, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/5/08, p.A2)(SFC, 7/18/09, p.C1)(SFC,
8/14/09, p.D1)(SFC, 1/5/11, p.C3)
2007 Nov 7, A Chinese
government publication reported that industrial discharge and
household wastewater have polluted the northern Futuo River so badly
that the water is dark red in some sections and has caused chronic
illnesses among villagers.
(AP, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 8, California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger, joined by 14 other states, sued the Bush
administration over its refusal to let them enforce bigger auto
emissions cuts than those required by the federal government.
(Bloomberg.com, 11/8/07)
2007 Nov 11, A severe storm
broke the Volganeft-139, a small Russian oil tanker, in two in the
Strait of Kerch, spilling at least 560,000 gallons of fuel into the
strait between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. A Russian official
said it was an "environmental disaster." 8 seamen were left missing.
Two freighters nearby also sank under 18-foot waves in storm. As
many as 10 ships sank or ran aground in the area.
(AP, 11/11/07)(Reuters, 11/12/07)(SFC, 11/12/07,
p.A15)
2007 Nov 12, Alexander
Tkachyov, governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region, said more than
30,000 birds and countless fish have been killed in an "ecological
catastrophe" wrought by thousands of tons of oil from a tanker that
broke apart in a heavy storm near the Black Sea. 3 bodies washed
ashore and 20 sailors remained missing after the sinking of at least
11 ships.
(AP, 11/12/07)(SFC, 11/13/07, p.A10)
2007 Nov 16, In Spain
negotiators concluded a policy guide for governments on global
warming that declares climate change is here and is getting worse.
(AP, 11/16/07)
2007 Nov 17, A Nobel-winning UN
scientific panel said in a landmark report that the Earth was
hurtling toward a warmer climate at a quickening pace.
(AP, 11/17/08)
2007 Nov 18, Greenpeace said an
international commission designed to protect bluefin tuna stocks has
effectively increased the fishing quota for 2008 from what was
already an "unsustainable" level. Greenpeace said the annual meeting
of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic
Tunas (ICCAT), held in Turkey had approved a nearly 1,000-ton
increase in the 2008 catch.
(AFP, 11/18/07)
2007 Nov 20, In SF large
grocery stores stopped using plastic bags as a new city ordnance
banning the bags took effect.
(SFC, 11/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Dec 3, Labor Party leader
Kevin Rudd became Australia's 26th prime minister and immediately
began dismantling the former government's policies by ratifying the
Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
(AP, 12/3/07)
2007 Dec 3, In Bali, Indonesia,
climate experts at a massive UN conference urged quick action toward
a new international pact to stem global warming. The UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) hoped for an agreement to
mitigate climate change after the Kyoto protocol runs out in 2012.
(AP, 12/3/07)(Econ, 12/1/07, p.73)
2007 Dec 7, China said it will
not consider mandatory cuts on greenhouse gases, saying the United
States and other industrialized countries should take the lead in
fighting climate change by embracing a less-extravagant lifestyle.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2007 Dec 7, A crane-carrying
vessel collided with the Hebei Spirit, an oil tanker off of South
Korea's west coast, spilling nearly 80,000 barrels of crude oil in
what was believed to be South Korea's largest offshore oil leak.
(AP, 12/7/07)(AP, 12/20/07)
2007 Dec 8, The chief US
negotiator at the climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, said the US
will come up with its own plan to cut global-warming gases by
mid-2008 and won’t commit to mandatory caps.
(SSFC, 12/9/07, p.A17)
2007 Dec 8, Worldwide
demonstrations began to draw attention to climate change and push
their governments to take stronger action to fight global warming.
(AP, 12/8/07)
2007 Dec 8, South Korea's
worst-ever oil spill reached the country's southwest coastline,
polluting beaches with pungent sludge and threatening valuable sea
farms.
(AP, 12/8/07)
2007 Dec 11, Environmentalists
warned that a scenic coastal region could take years to recover from
South Korea's worst oil spill, as over 19,000 people worked to
contain or clean up the slick.
(AP, 12/11/07)
2007 Dec 13, Nobel laureate Al
Gore accused the United States of blocking progress at the UN
climate conference, and European nations threatened to boycott
US-led climate talks next month unless Washington compromises on
emissions reductions.
(AP, 12/13/07)
2007 Dec 30, Bert Bolin (82), a
Swedish climate scientist and co-founder of the Nobel Peace-winning
UN panel on climate change, died in Stockholm. His last book, "A
History of the Science and Politics of Climate Change: The Role of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" was published in
November 2007.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2007 Carbon dioxide output
jumped 3% this year putting the world on track for a worst-case
global warming scenario.
(WSJ, 9/26/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 2, California led 15
other states and 5 environmental groups into federal court to
challenge the Bush administration’s refusal to let the state limit
vehicle emissions of gases that contribute to global warming.
(SFC, 1/3/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 17, The US EPA said
Massey Energy, the country’s 4th largest coal producer, had agreed
to pay a $20 million fine as part of a settlement over allegations
that it routinely polluted hundreds of streams and waterways in West
Virginia and Kentucky.
(SFC, 1/18/08, p.A7)
2008 Jan 31, The Sewerage
Agency of Southern Marin, Ca., let nearly 3 million gallons of
treated and raw sewage spill into the SF Bay. A week later it was
reported that a spill on Jan 25 had released 2.5 million gallons.
(SFC, 2/6/08, p.B7)
2008 Feb 19, Canada’s province
of British Columbia announced its intention to implement a carbon
tax of $10 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions
(2.41 cents per liter on gasoline) beginning July 1, 2008, making BC
the first North American jurisdiction to implement such a tax.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tax)
2008 Feb 28, In western
Antarctica a 160-square mile chunk of ice on the edge of the Wilkins
ice shelf began collapsing. It had been there for some 1,500 years.
(SFC, 3/26/08, p.A4)
2008 Mar 4, In southern Sudan
activists warned that the 2006 arrival of White Nile Petroleum
Company (WNPOC), a consortium led by Malaysia's Petronas, in Unity
State threatens the Sudd wetlands, the world's largest maze of
swamps, lagoons and tributaries. Villagers said thousands were
forcefully evicted to make way for the low-sulphur crude oil
venture. They lost ancestral homes, died from contamination and saw
livelihoods jeopardized.
(AFP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 11, China unveiled
plans to revamp bureaucratic government ministries and create new
agencies to help it tackle pressing issues such as nuclear energy,
food and drug safety, environmental protection and the Internet.
(AP, 3/11/08)
2008 Mar 15, In Japan Tony
Blair, during a meeting of senior officials from the world's top 20
greenhouse gas emitters, urged the world's heaviest polluters
including the United States, China and India to agree to binding
emissions cuts, saying failure to act on global warming would be
"unforgivably irresponsible."
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 16, In France a pipe
ruptured while a tanker was being loaded at a Total refinery. Some
3,000 barrels of fuel oil leaked in and along the Loire River.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 17, The first
carbon-linked derivatives contracts began trading on the Green
Exchange, a joint venture between the NY Mercantile Exchange,
Evolution Markets and Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and others. This
followed the emissions trading market already established in the
Chicago Climate Exchange.
(Econ, 3/15/08, p.91)
2008 Mar 18, NASA reported that
the thickest Arctic ice is melting according to satellite data.
(WSJ, 3/19/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 1, The US EPA took
over cleanup of an oil spill in Santa Barbara, Ca., after failed
efforts by Greka Oil & Gas to clean up a spill. 2 spills since
last summer had left some 29,000 gallons of crude oil and
toxin-laden water in a creek in Los Olivos.
(SFC, 4/2/08, p.B6)
2008 Apr 4, In Thailand climate
negotiators ended 5 days of talks. More than 160 nations agreed to
consider how to reduce rapidly growing emissions from air and sea
travel as they worked toward drafting an ambitious new treaty on
global warming.
(AFP, 4/4/08)(WSJ, 4/5/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 10, The UN Environment
Program said dumping of waste by ships in the Mediterranean Sea will
become illegal as of May 1, 2009.
(AFP, 4/11/08)
2008 Apr 13, The winners of
this year’s Goldman Awards were reported to be: Feliciano dos Santos
(43) of Mozambique, the director of Estamos, an environmental group
promoting sanitation, sustainable development and reforestation;
Marina Rikhvanova (46), founder of Baikal Environmental Wave, which
forced the rerouting of an oil pipeline in the Baikal basin; Pablo
Fajardo (35) and Luis Yanza (48) of Ecuador, co-founders of the
Amazon Defense Front, which accused Texaco (now Chevron) of dumping
oil and wastewater into local streams; Rosa Hilda Ramos (63) of
Puerto Rico, head of a movement to protect the Las Cicharillas
Marsh; Ignace Schops (43) of Belgium, head of a movement to
establish Belgium’s 1st and only national park; Jesus Leon (42) of
Mexico, co-founder of the Center for Integral Samll Farmer
Development of the Mixtec (CEDICAM).
(SSFC, 4/13/08, p.A4)
2008 Apr 30, Syncrude Canada's
operations were under investigation by environmental regulators
after as many as 500 birds landed in the waste water in the oil
sands region of northern Alberta.
(Reuters, 5/1/08)
2008 May 13, In Brazil renowned
rain forest defender Marina Silva resigned as the environment
minister, saying she lacked the necessary political support to
protect the Amazon. A government study said Blacks will outnumber
whites in Brazil this year for the first time since slavery was
abolished, but the income gap between the two groups may take
another 50 years to bridge.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2008 May 17, In Louisiana 6
train cars derailed spilling 8-10 thousand gallons of hydrochloric
acid and forming a toxic cloud over Lafayette, 125 miles west of New
Orleans.
(WSJ, 5/19/08, p.A2)
2008 May 26, In Japan the Group
of Eight (G8) environment chiefs pledged "strong political will"
toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, declaring
that developed nations should take the lead in battling global
warming, but failed to agree on much more contentious near-term
targets.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 27, President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva swore in Carlos Minc, former environment
secretary for Rio de Janeiro state, as Brazil's new environment
minister. Silva used the swearing-in speech to lash developed
nations for alleged hypocrisy on environmental policy.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 Jun 1, China became the
latest country to declare war on plastic bags in a drive to save
energy and protect the environment.
(Reuters, 6/1/08)
2008 Jun 2, Carlos Minc,
Brazil’s new environment minister, said the government will impound
cattle caught grazing on illegally cleared pastures with an
operation, dubbed "Rogue Bull," to attack deforestation in the rain
forest. Government researchers said that preliminary data indicate
the Amazon lost at least 2,258 square miles (5,850 square
kilometers) of forest cover from August to April 2008.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 2, In Germany Some
2,000 delegates from 162 countries and dozens of specialist agencies
opened a two-week conference to start tackling the details of a new
global warming agreement slated to take effect after 2012.
(AP, 6/2/08)
2008 Jun 4, An undetermined
amount of fuel oil was released after the Greece-registered Syros
slammed against the Malta-registered Sea Bird near Montevideo,
Uruguay.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 20, A rocket carrying
a US-French satellite for monitoring ocean surface height was
launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The data will
be used to monitor climate change effects on sea level.
(SFC, 6/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Jun 24, In Florida Gov.
Charlie Crist and officials of US Sugar announced a plan for the
state to buy US Sugar for $1.7 billion. The company, founded by
Charles Stewart Mott, would be allowed to operate for 6 more years
before returning 187,000 acres of the Everglades to its natural
state. In November the plan was revised to pay $1.34 billion for
181,000 acres. In 2009 the plan was again scaled back to cover
72,500 acres fro $533 million with a 10-year option to buy the
remaining land.
(SFC, 6/25/08, p.A2)(WSJ, 6/25/08, p.B1)(WSJ,
11/12/08, p.A2)(WSJ, 4/2/09, p.A4)
2008 Jun 26, A UN rights
official said many poor countries accept toxic waste from abroad,
such as old computers, rusted ships and pesticides, in a
shortsighted bid to lift themselves out of poverty, despite the
dangers to human health and the environment.
(AP, 6/26/08)
2008 Jun 27, In Piedras Negras,
Mexico, Chad Foster, the mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas, attended a tree
planting ceremony for the first of 400,000 trees which will form a
"green wall" in protest of the fence the US is building along the
border with Mexico.
(AP, 6/28/08)
2008 Jul 23, Two environmental
groups estimated that cement kilns in the US annually released
mercury compounds totaling some 23,000 pounds. Two of the worst
emitters were located in northern California in Cupertino and
Davenport.
(SFC, 7/24/08, p.B1)
2008 Jul 23, In Louisiana an
oil tanker and an oil barge collided near New Orleans creating a
12-mile oil slick and closing about 29 miles of the Mississippi
River.
(SFC, 7/24/08, p.A3)
2008 Aug 14, Scientists
reported that the number of oxygen-starved "dead zones" in coastal
waters around the world has roughly doubled every decade since the
1960s, killing fish, crabs and massive amounts of marine life at the
base of the food chain.
(SFC, 8/15/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 27, In Honolulu Marcus
Eriksen and fellow eco-mariner Joel Paschal celebrated the end of
their 2,600-mile voyage on what they call the JUNK raft. They had
spent three months crossing the Pacific on a raft made of plastic
bottles to raise awareness of ocean debris. Research suggested that
every square kilometer of the ocean has an average of 13,000 pieces
of plastic floating in it. The floating portion was thought to make
up only 15% of marine litter.
(AP, 8/28/08)(Econ, 2/28/09, SR p.9)
2008 Aug 30, Brazilian
officials said Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in the past 12
months, the first such increase in three years, as rising demand for
soy and cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees.
(AP, 8/31/08)
2008 Sep 14, France's ecology
minister said the government is considering a "picnic tax" on
disposable dishes to encourage people to use reusable plates and
cups instead.
(AP, 9/14/08)
2008 Sep 19, PM Kevin Rudd
announced that Australia will launch a multi-million dollar
international carbon capture and storage institute to fight global
warming.
(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 24, In California a
mercury spill at Searles Valley Minerals in San Bernardino County
released some 90 pounds during a demolition project. Another 90
pounds was released in a 2nd spill at the site on Oct 10.
(SSFC, 2/8/09, p.A21)
2008 Sep 28, Ecuadoreans voted
on a new constitution that would significantly broaden leftist
President Rafael Correa's powers and let him run for two more
consecutive terms. Correa's avowed quest for an "equitable, just"
Ecuador won a major boost as voters approved a new constitution that
will help the leftist president consolidate power and enable him to
run for two more consecutive terms. The new constitution conferred
on ecosystems “the inalienable right to exist, flourish and evolve.”
(AP, 9/28/08)(AP, 9/29/08)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.68)
2008 Sep 29, Brazilian
officials said the Amazon is being deforested more than three times
as fast as last year, acknowledging a sharp reversal after three
years of declines in the deforestation rate.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Oct 6, A panel of
scientists met in Monaco for the 2nd international UNESCO symposium
on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World. On Jan 30, 2009, they issued the
Monaco Declaration, which summed up their deliberations, and
reported that acidity of ocean surface waters has increased 30%
since the 17th century.
(SFC, 1/31/09, p.A4)(http://tinyurl.com/bdtj3p)
2008 Oct 14, The World
Conservation Congress ended in Barcelona, Spain. The meeting was
awash in gloomy forecasts.
(Econ, 10/18/08, p.68)
2008 Oct 15, EU leaders agreed
to stick to ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20% by
2020, but divisions over how to share out the cuts were widened by
fears over the impact of the financial crisis.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 27, It was reported
that a new study, released last week, has found dangerous levels of
toxic metals in produce grown on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico,
formerly used as a Navy bombing range, despite US government claims
that the soil there is safe.
(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 31, Petrofac evacuated
56 non-essential workers from the North Sea Heather Alpha oil rig
after a reports of 10-20 ton oil spill.
(AP, 10/31/08)
2008 Nov 7, An environmentalist
group and four Nigerians filed suit against Royal Dutch Shell PLC in
the Netherlands, claiming the company was negligent in cleaning up
oil spills in Nigeria.
(AP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 10, In Japan a
California-based computer scientist, a Canadian philosophy professor
and a Canadian molecular biologist each received US$500,000 at an
awards ceremony for this year's Kyoto Prizes for achievement in the
arts and sciences.
(AP, 11/10/08)
2008 Nov 22, The Yellow River
Conservancy Committee reported that one-third of the Yellow River,
which supplies water to millions of people in northern China, is
heavily polluted by industrial waste and unsafe for any use.
(AP, 11/25/08)
2008 Dec 1, A 12-day UN climate
conference opened in Poznan, Poland. During the conference Chief
Bill Erasmus of the Dene nation in northern Canada brought a stark
warning about the climate crisis: The once abundant herds of caribou
are dwindling, rivers are running lower and the ice is too thin to
hunt on.
(www.environmentalleader.com/2008/12/01/un-climate-talks-kicks-off-in-poznan/)
2008 Dec 11, US Interior Sec.
Dirk Kemphorne announced major changes to the Endangered Species Act
causing environmental groups to charge that the ‘midnight rules” set
to go into effect before Pres. Obama takes offices were intended to
eviscerate the wildlife protection law.
(SFC, 12/12/08, p.A1)
2008 Dec 12, The Bush
administration issued a regulation exempting farms from reporting
releases of hazardous air pollution from animal waste to federal,
state and local authorities.
(SFC, 12/13/08, p.A9)
2008 Dec 12, In Poland
negotiators at a UN climate conference broke through red tape and
freed up millions of dollars to help poor countries adapt to
increasingly severe droughts, floods and other effects of global
warming.
(AP, 12/12/08)
2008 Dec 15, Australia pledged
to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least five percent by 2020 to
fight climate change, but critics said the plan was a "global
embarrassment" and called for deeper reductions.
(AFP, 12/15/08)
2008 Dec 16, NASA said
satellite data indicated that more than 2 trillion tons of land ice
in Alaska, Antarctica and Greenland since 2003 among the latest
signs of global warming.
(SFC, 12/17/08, p.A20)
2008 Dec 22, In Tennessee a dam
broke at the Kingston Fossil Plant spilling some 5.4 million cubic
yards of toxic coal ash sludge near the Emory River. TVA officials
later said the spill does not threaten water in the Tennessee River,
which is fed in part by the Emory River. On Jan 2 federal data
showed arsenic levels over 100 times the acceptable amount in the
Emory River. In February the TVA estimated cleanup costs of up to
$825 million. In May the estimate for cleanup was raised to $975
million. In 2010 state regulators hit the TVA with penalties
totaling $11.5 million for the coal ash spill. The sludge was
shipped to a landfill outside Uniontown, Alabama.
(SFC, 12/25/08, p.A6)(WSJ, 12/26/08, p.A2)(SFC,
12/27/08, p.A2)(SFC, 1/3/09, p.A3)(WSJ, 2/13/09, p.A1)(SFC, 5/2/09,
p.A4)(SFC, 6/15/10, p.A4)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.44)
2008 Dec 27, It was reported
that the mountain pine beetle was expected to kill virtually every
mature lodgepole pine in Colorado. The beetle had already destroyed
pine forests from Mexico to Canada.
(WSJ, 12/27/08, p.A2)
2008 Dec 31, It was reported
that China has delayed plans to start the central section of its
massive South-to-North water diversion project by 4 years due to
environmental concerns.
(WSJ, 12/31/08, p.A4)
2008 Wallace S. Broecker and
Robert Kunzig authored “Fixing climate: What Past Climate Changes
Reveal About the current Threat – And How to Counter It.”
(Econ, 5/17/08, p.101)
2008 In Peru city officials of
Cerro de Pasco gave mine owner, Peru-based Volcan Compania Minera
S.A., permission to take another 28 acres (11.33 hectares) of the
town, including the center square and its colonial church, rebuilt
in 1748 after an earthquake. If not, the company threatened to close
the pit-mine, putting 4,000 jobs at risk. About the same time,
Peru's congress passed a bill to condemn and relocate Cerro de
Pasco, based on US Centers for Disease Control studies that found
soil, homes and water saturated with toxic levels of lead.
(AP, 4/19/10)
2009 Jan 5, In Hong Kong a new
survey said one in five residents is considering leaving the city
because of its dire air quality, raising fears over the financial
hub's competitiveness.
(AFP, 1/5/09)
2009 Jan 6, South Korea said it
will invest 50 trillion won ($38.1 billion) over the next four years
on environmental projects in a "Green New Deal" to spur slumping
economic growth and create nearly a million jobs. Opposition
lawmakers ended their violent, 12-day siege of the parliament after
successfully delaying a key vote on a US free trade deal and other
legislation.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 23, Japan’s space
agency (JAXA) launched Ibuki (breath), the first satellite dedicated
to monitoring carbon dioxide emissions. Officials hoped to gather
information on climate change and help the country compete in the
lucrative satellite-launching business.
(AP, 1/23/09)(Econ, 2/14/09, p.90)
2009 Jan 26, It was reported
that recent analysis of vials of treated wastewater taken from a
plant in Patancheru, where about 90 Indian drug factories dump their
residues, enough of a single, powerful antibiotic was being spewed
into one stream each day to treat every person in a city of 90,000.
(AP, 1/26/09)
2009 Feb 5, Turkey's parliament
approved the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The
parliament voted 243-3 after the Cabinet signed the protocol.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 8, In Illinois a
broken holding tank at a Caterpillar plant near Joliet spilled some
65,000 gallons of oil sludge and contaminated a 30-mile section of
the Des Plaines River.
(SFC, 2/9/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 10, A tanker burst
into flames after colliding with a container ship in a shipping
channel off the coast of Dubai. The Maltese-flagged tanker, Kashmir,
was carrying about 30,000 tons of oil condensate.
(AP, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 14, Irish authorities
learned about an oil spill through surveillance carried out by the
European Maritime Safety Agency in Lisbon, Portugal. Irish military
aircraft flew over the area and saw the Russian aircraft carrier
Admiral Kuznetsov, a Russian oil tanker, and a Russian oceangoing
tug near the slick. this was the biggest oil spill in the waters
around Ireland in the last ten years.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, In the SF Bay Area
a sewage spill began at the Fort Baker treatment plant of the
Sausalito-Marin County Sanitaru District. By the next day some
300,000 gallons of bacteria-laden sewage had entered the SF Bay.
(SFC, 2/18/09, p.B4)
2009 Feb 19, In Spain the
mobile phone industry's biggest trade show wrapped up after four
days that delivered exciting news for technophiles, average phone
users and even environmentalists. During the show leading
manufacturers announced an initiative to produce a standard charger
that would fit all phones by 2012 in a step set to reduce waste and
increase convenience.
(AFP, 2/19/09)
2009 Feb 20, Chinese
authorities closed a chemical plant being investigated for
contaminating water supplies to 1.5 million people in the country's
east. Water supplies were restored after a five-hour shutdown.
Biaoxin Chemical Company caused "massive" tap water pollution in
Yancheng, a city in east Jiangsu province. Investigators identified
the pollutant as a phenol compound used to make products including
air fresheners, medical ointments, cosmetics and sunscreens.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 26, The Australian
government announced a multi-million dollar investment in research
on reducing gas emissions from farm animals as part of the fight
against global warming.
(AFP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb, Chinese authorities
started using fish to try to clean up Lake Taihu when they released
10 million mostly green and silver carp into the water, after the
algae tainted the drinking supply of millions of residents. In 2010
authorities planned to release 20 million more algae-eating fish
into the scenic lake ravaged by pollution.
(AFP, 2/23/10)
2009 Mar 11, A California state
study said global warming is expected to cause a rise of nearly 5
feet along the coastline and severely threatening SF Bay by 2100.
The rising waters could cost the state $14 billion of more to
safeguard the coast.
(SFC, 3/12/09, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/12/09, p.A1)
2009 Mar 11, More than 30
shipping containers of ammonium nitrate fell off a ship in stormy
seas off Australia, damaging the ship's hull and leaking up to 30
tons of oil [see Mar 13]. Swire Shipping's cargo liner Pacific
Adventurer released about 200,000 liters (53,000 US gallons) of
heavy fuel oil off the coast of Queensland state as it travelled
through cyclonic weather. Australia later sought more than 18
million US dollars in compensation from a Hong Kong-based shipping
company. In August the Hong Kong-based Swire Shipping company said
it will pay Australia 25 million dollars (21 million US) in
compensation for the oil spill.
(AP, 3/11/09)(AFP, 5/6/09)(AFP, 8/8/09)
2009 Mar 13, Dozens of popular
tourist beaches on Australia's northeast coast were declared a
disaster zone, with their once-pristine sands fouled by a massive
oil and chemical slick. Queensland state's marine safety authority
said up to 100 tons of fuel were now believed to have spilled from
the Hong Kong-flagged ship Pacific Adventurer amid cyclonic
conditions on March 11.
(AP, 3/13/09)
2009 Mar 13, Russia’s
Kontinental Management said it has closed for good its Baikal Pulp
and Paper Mill, located on the southern edge of Lake Baikal. It
halted production in October. The plant has polluted the world's
largest freshwater lake with chemical effluent for decades.
(AP, 3/13/09)
2009 Mar 19, A report issued by
the US Interior Department said one-third of the nation's endangered
birds are in Hawaii. 31 Hawaiian bird species were listed as
endangered, more than anywhere else in the country. The native birds
were threatened by the destruction of their habitats by invasive
plant species and feral animals like pigs, goats and sheep, habitat
loss and insect born diseases. The report also said energy
production of all types — wind, ethanol and mountaintop coal mining
— was contributing to steep drops in bird populations.
(AP, 3/20/09)
2009 Mar 25, The US House voted
to set aside over 2 million acres in 9 states as protected
wilderness. Legislators also approved a $400 million project to
restore a 3-mile stretch of the San Joaquin River in central
California.
(SFC, 3/26/09, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/26/09, p.A5)
2009 Mar 28, Sydney became the
world's first major city to plunge itself into darkness for the
second worldwide Earth Hour, a global campaign to highlight the
threat of climate change.
(AP, 3/28/09)
2009 Mar 30, Pres. Obama signed
legislation setting aside over 2 million acres as protected
wilderness.
(SFC, 3/31/09, p.A6)
2009 Mar, Mexico City passed
legislation to ban free non-biodegradable plastic bags. It was
signed in August gave retailers a year to comply.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Apr 2, The US
Environmental Working Group issued a press release drawing attention
to a study by scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention which looked for the chemical, perchlorate, in different
brands of powdered baby formula. The study was published last month.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 10, In Britain 11
environmental activists from a group called Eastside Climate Action
were arrested after they entered the power station and climbed onto
equipment at the coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant outside
Nottingham. In 2011 a trail against 6 of the accused activists broke
down after police a infiltrator prepared to give evidence on their
behalf.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratcliffe-on-Soar_Power_Station)(AFP,
1/10/11)
2009 Apr 17, The US EPA
declared that greenhouse gases endanger public health paving the way
for new federal regulations on pollutants. The Obama administration
declared that carbon dioxide and 5 other industrial emissions
threaten the planet.
(SFC, 4/18/09, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/18/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 19, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prize was awarded to 7 activists from 6 nations.
Rizwana Hasan (40) of Bangladesh was awarded for exposing
environmental damage and exploitative practices used in the
country’s ship dismantling industry; Marc Ona Essangui (45) of
Gabon, the founder of Brainforest, was awarded for exposing secret
agreements for a Chinese mine project that threatened Gabon’s rain
forests; Yuyun Ismawati of Indonesia was awarded for designing
environmentally safe waste management systems for poor Indonesia n
communities; Olga Speranskaya (46) of Eco-Accord in Russia was
awarded for her efforts to control and store chemicals in Russia and
former Soviet republics; Wanze Eduards (52) and Hugo Jabini (44) of
Suriname, leaders of the maroon community, were awarded for their
efforts that led to a landmark ruling ending tribal exploitation by
the government. Maria Gunnoe (40) of West Virginia was awarded for
her fight against the practice of removing of the tops of mountains
and filing valleys below with tailings.
(SSFC, 4/19/09, p.A18)
2009 May 4, California’s State
Water Resources Control board released a study that said only 21 of
152 lakes studied were free of mercury and other contaminants. 131
lakes showed one or more pollutants above state health guidelines.
(SFC, 5/5/09, p.A1)
2009 May 8, In Ireland Dr. Yuri
Melini (47), a leading Guatemalan environmentalist who recently
survived an assassination attempt, won a human rights award for his
efforts to stop the rapid growth of mines in his mineral-rich
nation. Melini received the annual Front Line Award for Human Rights
Defenders at Risk in a Dublin City Hall ceremony.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, A federal jury
acquitted W.R. Grace and 3 of its executives on all criminal charges
that they knowingly contaminated Libby, Montana, with asbestos and
conspired to cover up the deed.
(SFC, 5/9/09, p.A6)
2009 May 15, In Hong Kong 63
governments approved the Int’l. Convention for the Safe and
Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. It aimed to make the
business of scrapping ships safer and greener by requiring higher
standards at recycling yards mostly located in South Asia. 107
environmental rights groups complained that the UN accord, doesn’t
go far enough.
(SFC, 5/16/09, p.A2)
2009 May 15, In Indonesia 6
Asia-Pacific countries, meeting at the World Oceans Conference,
agreed on a management plan to protect one of the world's largest
networks of coral reefs, promising to reduce pollution, eliminate
overfishing and improve the livelihoods of impoverished coastal
communities. The Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries
and Food Security covered an area defined as the Coral Triangle,
which spans Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea,
the Solomon Islands and East Timor.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 May 19, Environmental
groups in Indonesia said Singapore-based Asia Pulp &
Paper, one of the world's largest paper companies, plans to
clear a large swath of unprotected forest in Indonesia being used as
a sanctuary for critically endangered orangutans.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 26, In Denmark
business leaders attending the World Business Summit on Climate
Change urged governments to order steep and mandatory cuts in
greenhouse gases, favoring a cap-and-trade system instead of a tax
to set a market price for carbon waste.
(AP, 5/26/09)
2009 May 28, US Agriculture
Sec. Tom Vilsack issued a directive reinstating for one year a
Clinton-era ban on new road construction and development in national
forests.
(SFC, 5/29/09, p.A7)
2009 Jun 18, A study by an
environmental group said pollution in the Mekong River is putting
the rare Irrawaddy dolphin in danger of disappearing from Cambodia
and Laos.
(AP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 22, The US Supreme
Court ruled 6-3 to allow a mining company to dump waste from an
Alaskan gold mine into a nearby 23-acre lake, although the material
will kill all of the lake's fish. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called the
decision "great news for Alaska" and said it "is a green light for
responsible resource development." The Kensington gold mine 45 miles
north of Juneau will produce as many as 370 jobs when it begins
operation.
(AP, 6/22/09)
2009 Jun 25, The EU said it
will give China up to euro50 million ($70 million) to build a carbon
capture and storage plant that will test a technology aimed at
limiting climate change.
(AP, 6/25/09)
2009 Jun 30, Indonesia
committed to the conservation of its dwindling tropical forests in a
multimillion dollar debt-swap deal signed with the American
government. Jakarta's payments to Washington will be reduced by $30
million over the next eight years under the US Tropical Forest
Conservation Act.
(AP, 6/30/09)
2009 Jun, Sludge containing
PCBs, released into the Hudson River between 1946-1977 by 2 General
Electric plants, began to be shipped for disposal to West Texas. The
sludge along 197 miles had been declared a Superfund site. Cleanup
of the Hudson River began in 2009 at an estimated cost of $750
million, to be paid by GE.
(SFC, 11/29/00, p.A10)(SFC, 5/16/09, p.A5)(SFC,
6/22/09, p.A9)
2009 Jul 15, In Turkmenistan
President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov led a ceremony for channeling
water across hundreds of miles to create Golden Age Lake in the
heart of the barren Karakum Desert, in a Soviet-style engineering
feat that some experts fear could unleash an environmental
catastrophe.
(AP, 7/16/09)
2009 Jul 17, The UN said an
international accord requiring governments to publicly identify
sites of environmental pollution will come into force on Oct. 8.
(AP, 7/17/09)
2009 Jul 29, China’s state
media reported that contaminated drinking water has sickened more
than 2,600 people in northern China, including 59 who were
hospitalized with fevers, diarrhea, stomach aches and vomiting.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 30, In China nearly a
thousand villagers gathered at government and police offices in
Zhentou township in Hunan province to highlight what they say is
deadly pollution being discharged from the Xianghe Chemical Factory
in nearby Liuyang city.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Jul, California’s Air
Resources Board adopted a 24-mile threshold for ships bound for
state ports to begin using low sulfur fuel.
(SFC, 3/29/11, p.C5)
2009 Aug 1, Chinese police
detained the head of the Xianghe Chemical Factory and the government
suspended the chief and deputy chief of the city's environment
protection bureau.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 3, China’s state media
reported that more than 500 villagers in central China have been
found to have high concentrations of a dangerous metal in their
bodies after a series of leaks from the Changsha Xianghe Chemical
Plant in Hunan province's Zhentou township. 509 people were found to
have high concentrations of cadmium and 33 were hospitalized over
the weekend.
(AP, 8/3/09)
2009 Aug 7, The US
Environmental Protection Agency said the US Department of
Agriculture has agreed to pay $30,000 in penalties for alleged
improper maintenance of underground storage tanks in Puerto Rico.
(AP, 8/8/09)
2009 Aug 8, In China hundreds
of villagers rioted after news broke about the lead poisoning at the
Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping township, central Hunan
province. A crowd of 600 to 700 people overturned four police cars
and smashed a local government sign. China later detained two
factory officials after 1,354 children were reported poisoned by
lead pollution from the manganese processing plant.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 10, New Zealand
announced that it will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 10 to 20
percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
(AP, 8/10/09)
2009 Aug 12, China’s state
media reported that authorities in northern China have shut down the
Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in Shaanxi province after it was
found to have caused lead poisoning that sickened more than 300
children. Media later reported that 851 children in Changqing
township had tested positive for lead poisoning.
(AP, 8/12/09)(AP, 8/14/09)(AFP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 17, In Russia powerful
explosion took place during repair work at the Sayano-Shushinskaya
hydroelectric plant in southern Siberia. The death toll soon reached
69 with 6 still missing and feared dead after an engine room was
suddenly flooded. The accident produced an oil spill and the slick
that floated down the Yenisei River.
(AP, 8/17/09)(AP, 8/18/09)(AP, 8/21/09)(AP,
8/23/09)
2009 Aug 20, Australia passed a
clean energy law requiring the country to produce 20 percent of its
power from renewable sources by 2020 in move that could draw
billions of dollars of green investment.
(AFP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 20, A French
government-sponsored report was released saying that decomposing
algae covering some beaches in Brittany represent a serious health
risk and gases that can kill within minutes were detected on a beach
where a horse died last month.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 21, A massive oil and
gas leak forced the evacuation of an oil rig off Australia's
northwest coast. PTTEP Australasia, a Bangkok based company, said
about 40 barrels of oil had been discharged in the initial incident,
and it was still attempting to bring the leak under control at the
rig, which is owned by Norway's Seadrill.
(AFP, 8/22/09)
2009 Aug 22, The EU published a
list of nearly 4,000 airlines that it says should reduce their
impact on the environment from 2012 or face being banned from
European airports.
(AP, 8/22/09)
2009 Aug 31, The European
Commission said an EU-wide transition of power-draining light bulbs
to more energy efficient ones will start Aug 1. The new rules follow
an agreement reached by the 27 EU governments last year to phase out
the traditional incandescent light bulb over three years starting
this year to help European countries lower greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 8/31/09)
2009 Aug 31, Nepal's PM Madhav
Kumar Nepal opened the first climate change conference of Himalayan
nations with a warning about the dangers of melting glaciers, floods
and violent storms for the region.
(AFP, 8/31/09)
2009 Sep 3, The Ford Motor Co.
settled a lawsuit filed by residents of a northern New Jersey town
over toxic waste dumped there in the 1960s and '70s. Thousands of
tons of paint sludge and other toxic material from Ford's old Mahwah
factory were dumped in Ringwood, and residents sued in 2006 claiming
that the waste led to illnesses ranging from skin rashes to cancer,
and threatened the Wanaque Reservoir. The Record of Bergen County
reported that residents of Ringwood will receive about $10 million.
(AP, 9/4/09)
2009 Sep 7, Yukio Hatoyama,
Japan's next prime minister, vowed to slash greenhouse gas emissions
by 25% from 1990 levels by 2020.
(AP, 9/7/09)
2009 Sep 11, A risk consultancy
said Australians have overtaken Americans as the world's biggest
individual producers of carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global
warming. British firm Maplecroft placed Australia's per capita
output at 20.58 tons a year, some four percent higher than the
United States and top of a list of 185 countries.
(AFP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 11, In Vietnam the
Canadian environmental firm Hatfield Consultants said new
environmental tests confirm extremely high levels of dioxin, the
toxic ingredient of Agent Orange, in people, fish and soil near
Danang airport, a former US air base where American troops stored
the herbicide during the Vietnam War.
(AP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 15, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed an executive order mandating that the state
Air Resources Board create a regulation requiring that 1/3 of energy
sold by utility companies in the state over the next decade come
from renewable sources.
(SFC, 9/16/09, p.A16)
2009 Sep 20, Trafigura, a
Netherlands-based oil trading company, said it has agreed to a
settlement with people who claim they fell ill after a tanker dumped
hundreds of tons of waste around the Ivory Coast's main city of
Abidjan in 2006. Trafigura paid Ivory Coast's government euro152
million (US$197 million) in 2007 to assist in cleaning up the waste
without admitting responsibility.
(AP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 23, US President
Barack Obama delivered a stern message to global leaders to work
together to solve the world's most pressing problems in his maiden
speech to UN General Assembly. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
challenged world leaders to cleanse the globe of nuclear weapons,
tackle the threat of catastrophic climate change and combat growing
poverty from the global financial crisis.
(AFP, 9/23/09)(AP, 9/23/09)
2009 Sep 24, Ireland, the first
nation to tax plastic bags as a way to stop them littering the
countryside, announced plans to double its levy to a 44 euro cents
(59 US cents) per bag.
(AP, 9/24/09)
2009 Sep 26, The Australian
town of Bundanoon pulled all bottled water from its shelves and
replaced it with refillable bottles in what is believed to be a
world-first ban.
(AFP, 9/26/09)
2009 Sep 26, China reported
that medical tests have shown at least 121 children living near a
battery plant in eastern Fujian province are suffering from lead
poisoning, the latest in a recent string of such cases that have
affected hundreds. The government has ordered the Huaqiang Battery
Plant to shut about 10 days ago after local villagers approached the
authorities with test results showing lead poisoning in some
children.
(AP, 9/27/09)
2009 Sep 28, In Thailand
climate talks kicked off in Bangkok with the UN urging nations to
break the deadlock over a global warming deal that is supposed to be
finalized in just 70 days time, and warning that failure to act
would leave future generations fighting for survival.
(AP, 9/28/09)
2009 Sep 29, In California 28
parties, after a decade of negotiations, reached a tentative
agreement to remove 4 dams on the Klamath River, which have blocked
salmon migrations.
(SFC, 9/30/09, p.A1)
2009 Sep, George Zimmermann, a
Pennsylvania landowner, filed suit against Atlas Energy Inc. for
polluting his soil and water in an attempt to link a natural gas
drilling technique with environmental contamination. Atlas was
exploiting the Marcellus Shale, a vast gas reserve that underlies
about two-thirds of Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia, Ohio
and New York State. Experts estimated that it contains enough
natural gas to meet total US demand for at least a decade. Baseline
tests on Zimmermann's water a year before drilling began were
"perfect," he said. In June, water tests found arsenic at 2,600
times acceptable levels, benzene at 44 times above limits and
naphthalene five times the federal standard.
(Reuters, 11/9/09)
2009 Oct 5, President Barack
Obama ordered the federal government, the nation's largest energy
user, to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce its impact
on the environment.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/3326813)
2009 Oct 9, Burkina Faso's
environment minister, at the opening of a special forum on climate
change, said Africa needs 65 billion dollars (44 billion euros) to
deal with the effects of global warming.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 13, China’s Xinhua
state news agency said 968 children in central China have tested
positive for lead poisoning in the latest environmental scandal to
erupt in the nation's smelting industry. Residents in Jiyuan city,
Henan province, had protested over pollution from three local
smelters last month.
(AFP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Activists from
Congo, Rene Ngongo (48), and New Zealand, Alyn Ware (47), and an
Ethiopia-based doctor from Australia, Catherine Hamlin (85), won the
Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "alternative Nobel," for
work to protect rain forests, improve women's health and rid the
world of nuclear weapons. The honorary part of the award, without
prize money, went to Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki (73) for
raising awareness of climate change. Each will receive euro50,000
(US$74,000).
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 14, It was reported
that Swiss researchers have found that Alpine glaciers melting under
the impact of climate change are releasing highly toxic pollutants
that had been absorbed by the ice for decades.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 17, Members of the
Maldives' Cabinet donned scuba gear and used hand signals at an
underwater meeting staged to highlight the threat of global warming
to the lowest-lying nation on earth.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 18, Representatives of
the world's biggest carbon polluters began two days of informal
talks in London to map out common ground 50 days before a key UN
climate conference in Copenhagen.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, Amazon Chief Almir
Surui (35), unveiled a project in partnership with Google, to make
public the encroachment of illegal mining and logging on his
people’s 600,000 acre reserve in Brazil. Almir was evacuated for his
safety to the US in 2006. Eleven chief of the Surui and neighboring
tribes have been shot and killed this decade.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 20, Representatives of
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay announced a joint plan in Buenos
Aires to establish protected zones to halt deforestation in their
countries by 2020.
(SFC, 10/21/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 20, An Indian official
said 8 South Asian countries have agreed they can't be part of any
climate change deal that sets legally binding limits on their
emissions.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 21, China and India
put aside a diplomatic spat to sign a five-year agreement in New
Delhi to cooperate on climate change leading up to crucial talks in
Copenhagen.
(AFP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 22, The EU said it has
launched an investigation into a prized Spanish wetland that has
turned bone dry through mismanagement of water resources and is now
on fire underground, white smoke now rising from areas where fish
once swam. The EU wants the Spanish government to explain how it
plans to save Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park in the central
Castilla-La Mancha region. It is classified as a UNESCO biosphere
site and an EU-protected area because of its birdlife.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 29, The US rubber
company Firestone said in a statement that it has conducted its own
extensive testing of discharge water in Liberia and found it was not
harmful to human health. The Liberian government has said a
three-month investigation found high levels of orthophosphate being
released into the water.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, In the San
Francisco Bay the tanker Dubai Star began leaking fuel oil after a
tank overflowed during refueling. Coast Guard officials later
estimated that some 400-800 gallons of toxic oil leaked into the SF
Bay killing at least 37 birds along the Alameda coastline.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A1)(SFC, 11/3/09, p.C3)(SFC,
11/17/09, p.C2)
2009 Oct 30, In Puerto Rico new
Gov. Luis Fortuno's issued an order allowing large-scale development
inside a 3,200-acre parcel of land immediately north of El Yunque,
the only tropical rain forest in the US National Forest system.
Previous Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila had declared the Northeast
Ecological Corridor off-limits to all but small, eco-friendly
projects after a preservation campaign backed by actor Benicio del
Toro and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Oct 30, European Union
leaders agreed to contribute to a euro50 billion ($74 billion)
annual aid fund that would help developing nations adapt to climate
change, but failed to set a firm figure for exactly how much the EU
would pay.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Indonesian
officials and fishermen said thousands of dead fish and clumps of
oil have been found drifting near the coastline more than two months
after an Australian underwater well began leaking in the Timor Sea
on Aug 21.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Nov 1, PTTEP Australasia
attempted to plug a leaking well of the West Atlas drilling rig when
a fire then broke out on the rig. The operation to stem the leak has
involved the Thai-based operator towing the West Triton rig from
Singapore, which took five weeks, to drill down some 2.6km under the
seabed to the source of the emissions. The leak has dumped thousands
of barrels of oil into the Timor Sea since it began on August 21.
The blaze was brought under control on Nov 3 when experts managed to
plug the leak that has spewed tons of crude over the past 10 weeks.
(AP, 11/1/09)(AFP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 1, In China a ship
carrying 100 tons of hydrochloric acid sank in the Yangtze river
after colliding with another vessel.
(AFP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 3, African countries
boycotted meetings at UN climate talks in Barcelona, saying that
industrial countries had set carbon-cutting targets too low for
reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 12, In Bolivia
authorities said that evaporation blamed on global warming has
reduced Lake Titicaca, one of the world's highest navigable lakes,
to its lowest level since 1949.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 13, The Dutch
government announced to bring the polluter-pays principle into the
home garage. As of 2012 rather than an annual road tax for their
cars, drivers will pay a few cents for every kilometer on the road,
in a plan aimed at breaking chronic traffic jams and cutting carbon
emissions.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 17, In Beijing
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a
determined, joint effort to tackle climate change, nuclear
disarmament and other global troubles yet emerged from their first
full-blown summit with scant progress beyond goodwill.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 21, The University of
East Anglia, in eastern England, said computer hackers have broken
into a server at a well-respected climate change research center and
posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online, stoking
debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for
man-made climate change. More than a decade of correspondence
between leading British and US scientists was included in about
1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents posted on Web sites following the
security breach last week.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 26, China announced
plans to cut its carbon emissions by up to 45 percent as measured
against its economic output, a commitment from the world's largest
polluter that builds momentum ahead of a widely anticipated climate
conference in Copenhagen next month.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Indonesia
police broke up a protest by the environmental group Greenpeace
against deforestation on the island of Sumatra, arresting 12 foreign
and six Indonesian demonstrators.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov, The Planetary Skin
Institute (PSI), set up by Cisco Systems and NASA to study the
extent and health of forests and other ecosystems, was registered as
an independent non-profit organization.
(Econ, 12/18/10,
p.153)(www.planetaryskin.org/institute/background)
2009 Dec 2, Australia's plans
for an emissions trading system to combat global warming were
scuttled in Parliament, handing a defeat to a government that had
hoped to set an example at international climate change talks next
week.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, The World Bank said
it will give India at least one billion dollars to help clean up the
heavily polluted holy river Ganges as part of moves to sharply hike
lending to the country.
(AFP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 4, Nepal's top
politicians strapped on oxygen tanks and held a Cabinet meeting amid
Mount Everest's frigid, thin air to highlight the danger global
warming poses to glaciers.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 7, In Denmark the
largest and most important UN climate change conference in history
opened in Copenhagen, with organizers warning diplomats from 192
nations that this could be the last best chance for a deal to
protect the world from calamitous global warming. This was the 15th
conference of the parties to the 1992 UNFCCC in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 12/7/09)(Econ, 12/5/09, SR p.3)
2009 Dec 7, South Africa
offered to slash the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions by 42
percent by 2025, but in exchange wants rich nations to expand aid
for poor countries to cope with climate change.
(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 8, The UN weather
agency reported that this decade is on track to become the warmest
since records began in 1850, and 2009 could rank among the top-five
warmest years, on the second day of a pivotal 192-nation climate
conference.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 11, In Brazil a new
presidential decree suspended up to an estimated $5.7 billion in
fines and gave landowners two more years to comply with
environmental regulations meant to stop the razing of the Brazilian
rain forest.
(AP, 12/11/09)
2009 Dec 11, EU leaders agreed
to commit euro2.4 billion ($3.6 billion) a year until 2012 to help
poorer countries combat global warming, as they sought to rescue
their image as climate change innovators and bolster the talks in
Copenhagen. A new draft agreement at the climate talks pulled
together the main elements of a global pact but left gaping holes on
financing and cutting greenhouse gas emissions for world leaders to
fill in next week.
(AP, 12/11/09)
2009 Dec 12, In Denmark
violence broke out in Copenhagen as tens of thousands took to the
streets to demand tough measures on climate change, with
demonstrators around the world rallying for action instead of words.
(AFP, 12/12/09)
2009 Dec 14, In Denmark China,
India and other developing nations boycotted UN climate talks,
bringing negotiations to a halt with their demand that rich
countries discuss much deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas
emissions. Representatives from 135 developing countries said they
refused to participate in any formal working groups at the
192-nation summit until the issue was resolved. African nations
agreed to resume UN climate talks in Copenhagen after a half-day
suspension, accusing rich countries of trying to kill the existing
Kyoto Protocol.
(AP, 12/14/09)(Reuters, 12/14/09)
2009 Dec 16, In Denmark police
fired pepper spray and beat protesters with batons outside the UN
climate conference, as disputes inside left major issues unresolved
just two days before world leaders hope to sign a historic agreement
to fight global warming.
(AP, 12/16/09)
2009 Dec 16, Nigerian
authorities announced the creation of five committees that will
address oil, environmental and disarmament issues, following an
amnesty in the southern Niger Delta.
(AFP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 17, In Copenhagen US
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to put new life
into flagging UN climate talks by announcing the US would join
others in raising $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poorer nations
cope with global warming.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 18, In China an
environmental group backed by the government said it had won two
lawsuits on behalf of residents threatened by pollution, marking the
first time such an organization has been allowed to file a public
interest case.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 19, In Denmark the
13-day UN climate conference ended. It narrowly escaped collapse by
agreeing to recognize a political accord brokered by President
Barack Obama with China and other emerging powers. The US supported
the idea that, by 2020, $100 billion should be flowing from the
north to the south every year to pay for emissions reduction and
climate adaptation. A small group of nations blocked the Copenhagen
Accord, because it lacked specific targets for reducing carbon
emissions. After a break, the conference president gaveled the
decision to "take note" of the agreement instead of formally
approving it. Experts said that clears the way for the accord to
become operational in practice even though it has not been formally
approved by the conference. Several developing countries, including
Bolivia, Cuba, Sudan and Venezuela, bitterly protested the deal and
said it is unacceptable because it lacks specific targets for
reducing carbon emissions.
(AP, 12/19/09)(SSFC, 12/20/09, p.A1)(Econ,
10/30/10, p.79)
2009 Dec 23, Rajendra Pachauri,
chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), said India had to curb its high-polluting coal
consumption in the near future or risk burning through its reserves.
(AFP, 12/23/09)
2009 Dec 23, In Alaska a
123-foot tug boat hit Bligh Reef, the same reef that damaged the
Exxon Valdez in 1989. Over the next few days 49,000 gallons of
diesel fuel were salvaged from the tug. It was unknown ho much fuel
was spilled.
(SSFC, 12/27/09, p.A10)
2009 Dec 30, An unknown amount
of oil poured from a China National Petroleum Corp. pipeline into
the Wei River in Shaanxi province following a construction accident.
The pipeline links the capitals of northwest Gansu province and
central Henan province. Shaanxi TV later said 20 miles (33 km) along
the Wei were polluted by the leak, estimated at 40,000 gallons.
(AP, 1/2/10)
2009 David Own authored “Green
Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are
the Keys to Sustainability.”
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.E2)
2009 The US National
Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS),
estimated in the mid 1990s to cost some $6.5 billion, ballooned to
some $15 billion. At this point it was under review with the launch
date postponed to 2011.
(Econ, 10/17/09,
p.94)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPOESS)
2009 Australian Jeff Lawton
created his “Re-greening the Desert” video. In 1996 Lawton was
accredited with the Permaculture Community Services Award by the
permaculture movement for services in Australia and around the
world.
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gPvsl9ni-4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Lawton)
2010 Jan 5, Bolivian President
Evo Morales said he's inviting activists, scientists and government
officials from around the world to an alternative climate conference
following the failure of a summit in Copenhagen to produce binding
agreements.
(AP, 1/5/10)
2010 Jan 7, US scientists
released a paper saying that mountaintop coal mining is so
destructive that the government should stop issuing permits to do
it. Earlier in the week the EPA issued a new permit for the Hobet 45
mine in West Virginia.
(SFC, 1/8/10, p.A11)
2010 Jan 8, The EU said it will
pursue a new deal on global warming through the Group of 20, since
last month's UN climate conference of nearly 200 nations led to
unwieldy negotiations that didn't accomplish much.
(AP, 1/9/10)
2010 Jan 9, California-based
eSolar Inc. said it will help build a series of solar thermal power
plants in China, as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases
tries to decrease its heavy reliance on coal, imported gas and oil.
(AP, 1/9/10)
2010 Jan 11, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh laid out ambitious plans to make his country a global leader
in solar power as he launched a government initiative to boost use
of the technology. Andy Pag (35) was detained in the western state
of Rajasthan for having an unlicensed satellite phone. He (Andrea
Pagnacco) was ordered held for 14 days while police investigate
whether he is a threat to national security. The London-based
environmental campaigner was traveling around the world in a
biofuel-driven bus. In March ordered to pay a fine for illegally
using a satellite phone and became free to leave India 69 days after
his arrest.
(AFP, 1/11/10)(AP, 1/17/10)(AP, 3/21/10)
2010 Jan 12, In California a
state commission voted unanimously to approve the most stringent,
environmentally friendly building code standards of any state in the
nation. The new code, dubbed Calgreen, will take effect next
January.
(SFC, 1/13/10, p.A1)
2010 Jan 23, In Texas an
800-foot oil tanker and towing vessel collided spilling oil in the
southeast port of Port Arthur. The spill, estimated at 42,000
gallons, was contained to a 2-mile area.
(AP, 1/24/10)(SSFC, 1/24/10, p.A10)
2010 Jan 24, In India
environment ministers from Brazil, South Africa, India and China
said that talks in New Delhi had further cemented their alliance
following the Copenhagen climate change summit. The group, known by
the acronym BASIC, pledged to strengthen its unified stance but
would seek consensus with developed countries.
(AP, 1/24/10)
2010 Jan 28, The US formally
pledged to the UN that it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
17% (from what they were in 2005) by 2020. Meeting the target
depended on getting a climate bill through Congress.
(Econ, 2/6/10, p.38)
2010 Feb 1, Brazil’s government
approved the 11 billion dollar Belo Monte project on the Xingu river
that will flood 500 square km (193 square miles) and supply 11% of
Brazil's electricity. Detractors said the dam in northern Para state
will trigger droughts along a 100 km (60 mile) stretch of the Xingu,
displace thousands of indigenous people, attract an army of
job-seekers, and accelerate the deforestation and destruction of the
rain forest.
(AFP, 2/2/10)
2010 Feb 9, China said its
first national pollution census has mapped nearly 6 million sources
of industrial, residential and agricultural waste. The 2-year survey
results gave the government one year to shape the next 5-year
environmental protection plan.
(SFC, 2/10/10, p.A4)
2010 Feb 15, British Airways
said it would use low-carbon fuel to power part of its fleet from
2014 once Europe's first sustainable jet-fuel plant was built by US
biofuels specialist Solena Group. A plant to be built in London will
convert 500,000 tons of waste into 16 million gallons of green jet
fuel annually.
(AFP, 2/15/10)
2010 Feb 16, In Austria 14
countries and the European Commission adopted the Danube River Basin
Management Plan, a cleanup plan for the Danube River and its
tributaries. Participating countries included Austria, Bosnia,
Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro,
Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
(AP, 2/16/10)
2010 Feb 22, A UN report said
sales of household electrical gadgets will boom across the
developing world in the next decade, wreaking environmental havoc if
there are no new strategies to deal with the discarded TVs, cell
phones and computers.
(AP, 2/22/10)
2010 Feb 23, In Italy an oil
spill began and spread south down the Lambro to Piacenza and Cremona
overnight, despite efforts to contain it. By the next day if reached
the Po River, with officials warning of an ecological disaster as
they scrambled to contain the sludge before it contaminated Italy's
longest and most important river. Milan regional officials said the
cause was certainly sabotage at a former refinery turned oil depot,
since the cisterns were opened and the oil allowed to flow unimpeded
into the Lambro River near Monza.
(AP, 2/24/10)
2010 Feb 26, Sierra Leone and
five other west African countries (Mauritania, Senegal,
Guinea-Bissau, Gambia and Guinea) signed onto an action plan in
Freetown for sustainable mangrove management.
(AFP, 2/27/10)
2010 Mar 5, It was reported
that the advocacy group Big Brother Watch found, through a series of
Freedom of Information requests, that many local governments, called
councils in Britain, are installing microchips in trash cans
distributed to households, but in most cases have not yet activated
them — in part because officials know the move would be unpopular.
Proponents called it a bid to push recycling. Microchips were first
fitted into some British trash bins eight years ago, and the debate
over whether the state has the right to weigh or otherwise analyze
residents' refuse has surfaced periodically since.
(AP, 3/6/10)
2010 Mar 9, China and India
gave a qualified approval to the nonbinding Copenhagen climate
accord brokered by Pres. Obama in the final hours of the December,
2009, climate summit.
(SFC, 3/10/10, p.A2)
2010 Mar 15, China’s state
media said at least 94 people living near a lead factory, most of
them children, have tested positive for lead poisoning, prompting
authorities to order the closure of the Zhongyi Alloy Co. in
Longchang county of Sichuan province's Neijiang city. Hundreds more
people waited for test results.
(AP, 3/15/10)
2010 Mar 17, US federal
authorities won a court order requiring officials in the US Virgin
Islands to repair sewage plants that have dumped raw waste at
beaches renowned for snorkeling and surfing.
(AP, 3/17/10)
2010 Mar 27, In Australia
Sydney's iconic Opera House and Harbor Bridge went dark along with
millions of homes at the start of Earth Hour, a global switch-off
aimed at revitalizing efforts against climate change.
(AFP, 3/27/10)
2010 Apr 1, Britain said it
will create the world's largest marine reserve by banning fishing
around the Chagos Islands, a U.K.-owned archipelago in the Indian
Ocean. The cluster of 55 islands is spread across about a quarter of
a million square miles of ocean.
(AP, 4/1/10)
2010 Mar 25, Maine Gov. John
Baldacci signed into law America’s first blanket “extended producer
responsibility” (EPR) framework law. It ordered manufacturers to
assume the cost of disposing their products following consumer use.
Maine’s EPR law for electronic waste went into effect in 2004.
(Econ, 4/3/10, p.67)(http://tinyurl.com/y5ew8vk)
2010 Mar 27, In China a
recycling pool at a sewage treatment plant collapsed in northern
Shaanxi province and some 1,000 tons of oil sludge contaminated
farmland and the Luohe River, a tributary of the Yellow River.
(AFP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, The 230-meter
(754-ft) Shen Neng I, a bulk coal carrier, was on its way to China
when it ran aground on a shoal off offshore from the Australian city
of Rockhampton. Australian government officials said the stranded
ship was leaking oil into the sea and is in danger of breaking up
and damaging the Great Barrier Reef. The ship was refloated on April
12.
(Reuters, 4/4/10)(AP, 4/12/10)
2010 Apr 4, In Uzbekistan UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the drying up of the Aral Sea
one of the planet's most shocking disasters and urged Central Asian
leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 6, Louisiana
authorities said a pipeline has spilled some 18,000 gallons of crude
oil into a canal in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge about 60
miles southeast of New Orleans.
(SFC, 4/7/10, p.A8)
2010 Apr 6, An African Union
conference on maritime security opened in Ethiopia. Somali Deputy PM
Abdulrahman Adan Ibrahim Ibbi called for outside help to clear toxic
waste dumped illegally on his country's vast coastline, arguing that
the fight against dumping goes hand in hand with the fight against
piracy.
(AFP, 4/8/10)
2010 Apr 9, In Germany
delegates from 175 countries began a 3-day meeting in Bonn on a new
global warming agreement.
(AP, 4/9/10)
2010 Apr 15, It was reported
that researchers were warning of a new blight on the ocean: a swirl
of confetti-like plastic debris stretching over thousands of square
miles (kilometers) in a remote expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.
(AP, 4/15/10)
2010 Mar 22, Scientists, policy
experts and journalists gathered at Asilomar on the Monterey
peninsula of California for a 5-day discussion on geoengineering, a
term to describe deliberate large-scale actions to combat the
climate changing effects of greenhouse gas emissions, without
actually curbing those emissions.
(Econ, 4/3/10, p.81)
2010 Apr 19, Winners were
announced for the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prizes, known as the
"green Nobels." Cuba’s Humberto Rios Labrada (47) won for his
campaign to let farmers choose the crops and seed varieties best for
their lands helped him the prize. Thuli Makama of Swaziland won for
her efforts in investigating allegations of private park rangers
killing suspected poachers in sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute
monarchy.
(AP, 4/19/10)
2010 Apr 20, An explosion and
fire damaged an oil rig and critically injured 7 people off the
coast of Louisiana leaving 11 workers missing in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Deepwater Horizon rig sank 2 days later. Officials feared as
much as 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day could be rising from the
sea floor nearly 5,000 feet below. On April 23 no oil appeared to be
leaking from the well head at the ocean floor, nor was any leaking
at the water's surface. On April 25 it was reported that some 1000
barrels per day were leaking from 2 conduit sources related to the
sunken oil rig. An internal investigation later said the deadly
blowout was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from
the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst
through several seals and barriers before exploding. In June it was
reported that BP had been trying to seal cracks in the Macondo well
more than 2 months before the explosion.
(AFP, 4/21/10)(AFP, 4/23/10)(AP, 4/25/10)(AP,
5/8/10)(SFC, 6/18/10, p.A13)
2010 Apr 22, The US National
Research Council released a study that found the level of acid in
oceans increasing by 30% since the start of the Industrial
Revolution, some 200 years ago. This came on the 40th observance of
Earth Day.
(SFC, 4/23/10, p.A16)
2010 Apr 23, Bolivia’s
President Evo Morales said he is creating a "Mother Earth Ministry"
to promote the planet's rights and says that he would like to
establish an international court with the power to punish nations
that fail to obey emissions-reduction agreements. Morales revealed
the plans as he launched a campaign to plant 10 million trees, equal
to Bolivia's population, by April 22, 2011.
(AP, 4/24/10)
2010 Apr 26, The oil spill off
the coast of Louisiana, due to April 20 sinking of the Deepwater
Horizon oil rig, extended over some 1,800 square miles. Robot
submarines were in use to close valves atop the well. Officials said
engineers have begun constructing a giant dome to place over the
leaking oil well.
(SFC, 4/27/10, p.A6)(AFP, 4/27/10)
2010 Apr 28, Coast Guard Rear
Adm. Mary Landry was emphatic at a hastily called news conference
that a new leak was discharging 5,000 barrels a day of sweet crude,
not the 1,000 barrels officials had estimated for days since the
Deepwater Horizons drilling rig exploded and sank 50 miles off the
Louisiana Coast. Shrimpers in Louisiana filed a class-action lawsuit
against oil giant BP Plc and owners of the drilling platform that
exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, as claims for economic losses
anticipated from the disaster began to mount.
(AP, 4/29/10)(Reuters, 4/29/10)
2010 Apr 30, Oil from a leaking
well in the Gulf of Mexico began washing ashore in the southern US
state of Louisiana, threatening an ecological disaster.
(AP, 4/30/10)
2010 May 1, The worst US oil
spill in decades reached into precious shoreline habitat along the
Gulf Coast as documents emerged showing British Petroleum downplayed
the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the offshore rig that
exploded.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 3, Energy giant BP
vowed to pay "all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs" from the
US oil pollution disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil has been
spewing into the Gulf of Mexico since a deepwater oil rig operated
by BP exploded and sank on April 20 killing 11 men.
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 3, A team of Israeli,
Jordanian and Palestinian environmental scientists said large
stretches of the biblical Jordan River could dry up by 2011. In
1847, a US Naval officer visiting the area reported on the
"deafening roar of the tumultuous waters."
(AP, 5/4/10)
2010 May 4, British Petroleum
said efforts to contain a giant oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico are
costing nearly four million pounds a day. Winds pushed a giant slick
towards fragile wetlands on the US coast as efforts intensified to
bottle up a ruptured oil well causing the growing environmental
disaster.
(AFP, 5/4/10)
2010 May 4, Royal Dutch Shell
said it spilled nearly 14,000 tons of oil into the creeks of the
Niger Delta in 2009 and blamed thieves and militants for the
environmental damage.
(SFC, 5/5/10, p.A2)
2010 May 5, The US Coast Guard
said BP PLC has managed to cap one of three leaks at a deepwater oil
well, but the work is not expected to reduce the overall flow of oil
into the Gulf of Mexico. The well has been spewing at least 210,000
gallons per day since an April 20 explosion at a rig 50 miles off
Louisiana.
(AP, 5/5/10)
2010 May 5, China said it would
punish officials who failed to fulfill emissions reduction targets,
warning the nation's current environmental situation was extremely
serious.
(AP, 5/5/10)
2010 May 8, BP’s first attempt
to divert a major crude spill was foiled and it could be at least a
day before another attempt at putting a lid on the well could be
made. Meanwhile, thick blobs of tar washed up on Alabama's white
sand beaches, yet another sign the spill was worsening.
(AP, 5/9/10)
2010 May 15, Oil leaking from
the ruptured well pipe in the Gulf of Mexico washed ashore in two
new locations, as BP’s latest attempt to contain the spill faltered.
Experts warned that the spill may be growing more than ten times
faster than previous Coast Guard estimates of 5,000 barrels (210,000
gallons) a day.
(AFP, 5/15/10)
2010 May 16, Oil from a
blown-out well is forming huge underwater plumes as much as 10 miles
long below the visible slick in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists said
as BP wrestled for a third day with its latest contraption for
slowing the nearly month-old gusher.
(AP, 5/16/10)
2010 May 17, BP said it was
siphoning more than one-fifth of the oil that has been spewing into
the Gulf for almost a month, as worries escalated that the ooze may
reach a major ocean current that could carry it through the Florida
Keys and up the East Coast. The US Coast Guard said 20 tar balls
have been found off Key West, Fla., but the agency stopped short of
saying whether they came from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico.
(AP, 5/17/10)(AP, 5/18/10)
2010 May 18, A discovery of tar
balls on Florida's Key West fanned fears that a massive Gulf of
Mexico oil spill was spreading through ocean currents, as energy
giant BP Plc worked to capture more of the crude leaking from its
gushing deep-water well.
(Reuters, 5/18/10)
2010 May 18, Most of Canada's
largest forestry companies announced a groundbreaking deal with
environmental groups that will restrict logging in the country's
vast northern forests.
(Reuters, 5/18/10)
2010 May 20, BP conceded that
more oil than it estimated is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico as
heavy crude washed into Louisiana's wetlands for the first time,
feeding worries and uncertainty about the massive monthlong spill.
(AP, 5/20/10)
2010 May 23, The US government
threatened to remove BP from efforts to seal a blown-out oil well in
the Gulf of Mexico if it doesn't do enough to stop the leak, though
it acknowledged only the company and the oil industry have the
needed know-how. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the state is not
waiting for federal approval to begin building sand barriers to
protect the coastline from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
(AP, 5/23/10)
2010 May 24, It was reported
that Malagasy timer barons were robbing Madagascar of its sylvan
heritage, illegally cutting down scarce species of rosewood trees in
poorly protected national parks, and exporting most of the valuable
logs to China.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A2)
2010 May 25, The US EPA barred
Texas from issuing an operating permit to a refinery on Corpus
Christi and said it would do the same to dozens in other cases in
which it believes the state is violating the Clean Air Act.
(SFC, 5/26/10, p.A4)
2010 May 25, In the Singapore
Strait emergency teams scrambled to contain thousands of tons of
crude oil that spilled into waters near one of the world's busiest
ports after two ships collided. Singapore's Maritime and Port
Authority (MPA) said in its latest update that 5,000 tons of crude
had leaked from the Malaysian-registered tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3.
(AFP, 5/25/10)
2010 May 27, BP Plc wrestled to
plug its gushing deepwater Gulf of Mexico well in the latest attempt
to control the source of a catastrophic five-week-old oil spill.
Pres. Obama extended a moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling and
ordered floating rigs to stop work on 33 exploratory wells. The
government gave the go-ahead for an ambitious plan to construct
several barrier islands to reduce the amount of oil from the giant
Gulf of Mexico spill from coming ashore. Officials raised estimates
of the spill from 210,000 to at least half a million gallons a day.
(Reuters, 5/27/10)(AFP, 5/28/10)(SFC, 5/28/10,
p.A8)
2010 May 28, BP made progress
toward plugging its Gulf of Mexico oil spill with mud but said it
won't know for two more days if the fix will really work.
(AP, 5/28/10)
2010 May 28, Indonesia said it
will impose a 2-year moratorium on large-scale clearance of
rainforests, effective as off January 2011, in return for $1 billion
grant from Norway to fund projects as part of the REDD plan (Reduced
Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).
(http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0527-hance_moratorium.html)(Econ,
10/30/10, p.44)
2010 May 29, The worst oil
spill in US history hit its 40th day with Gulf residents clinging to
the tenuous hope that BP's complicated "top kill" operation will
plug the gushing well.
(Reuters, 5/29/10)
2010 May 30, With BP declaring
failure in its latest attempt to plug the uncontrolled gusher
feeding the worst oil spill in US history, the company is turning to
yet another mix of risky undersea robot maneuvers and long shot odds
to keep crude from flowing into the Gulf. White House energy czar
Carol Browner said oil might keep leaking into the Gulf of Mexico
for months until relief wells are completed.
(AP, 5/30/10)
2010 Jun 2, BP Plc forged ahead
with its latest effort to curb the flow of oil spewing into the Gulf
of Mexico as the British energy giant's shares fell anew as the US
government launched criminal and civil probes into the disaster.
(Reuters, 6/2/10)
2010 Jun 3, BP sliced off a
pipe with giant shears in the latest bid to curtail the worst spill
in US history, but the cut was jagged and placing a cap over the
gusher will now be more challenging. BP's top executive acknowledged
the global oil giant was unprepared to fight a catastrophic
deepwater oil spill as engineers were forced yet again to
reconfigure plans for executing their latest gambit to control the
Gulf of Mexico gusher. Robots a mile beneath the Gulf positioned a
cap over the main pipe on the leaking well Thursday night and an
inverted funnel-like system, wrapped in hoses and more sophisticated
than previous devices, started pumping oil and gas to a tanker on
the surface. A very rough estimate of current collection was
estimated at about 42,000 gallons a day. An estimated 500,000 to 1
million gallons of crude was believed to be leaking daily. The
federal government slapped BP with a $69 million bill to cover
initial costs of responding to the oil spill.
(AP, 6/3/10)(AP, 6/4/10)(AP, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 4, A senior Nigerian
official said lead poisoning caused by illegal gold mining has
killed 163 Nigerians, including 111 children, since March in several
northern remote villages.
(Reuters, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 5, President Barack
Obama on his 3rd visit to Louisiana said that he will stand with
Gulf Coast residents "until they are made whole" from the oil spill
catastrophe.
(AP, 6/5/10)
2010 Jun 5, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev called for a global fund to fight ecological
catastrophes like the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as he sought to
burnish his credentials as a green leader.
(AP, 6/5/10)
2010 Jun 5, Rwanda hosted UN
World Environment Day with a ceremony to name 11 endangered baby
mountain gorillas in which Internet users worldwide were for the
first time able to take part.
(AFP, 6/5/10)
2010 Jun 7, The Corporate Eco
Forum (CEF) awarded Walmart Brazil and its CEO Hector Nunez
the inaugural C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Sustainability
Leadership for their historic work to preserve the Amazon.
(PRNewswire, 6/8/10)
2010 Jun 11, In Salt Lake City
an underground pipeline broke sending oil into a creek that
ultimately flows into the Great Salt Lake. The pipeline was shut off
the next day as the 21,000 gallon spill coated some 300 birds at
area creeks. Chevron said it would pay for cleanup.
(SFC, 6/14/10, p.A6)
2010 Jun 11, A Credit Suisse
analyst, briefed by BP’s Chief of Staff, said in a research note
that BP expects the total bill for the clean up of the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill to be $3-6 billion.
(Reuters, 6/11/10)
2010 Jun 14, US authorities
gave BP permission to start burning oil and gas piped up from its
broken seafloor well as part of a pledge to more than triple how
much crude it stops from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico.
(AP, 6/15/10)
2010 Jun 21, The US White
House slapped BP with a new 51-million-dollar bill, the third sent
to the British energy giant and its partners for government expenses
incurred in efforts to halt the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP
revealed it has so far spent two billion dollars on the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill, after an internal BP document suggested the gusher
might be spewing far faster than initially feared.
(AFP, 6/21/10)
2010 Jun 21, Egypt's government
confirmed that oil has leaked from one of several rigs operating off
the coast of the Red Sea resort Hurghada and has polluted about 100
miles (160 km) of coastline including tourist beach resorts. The
government has kept quiet about the leak for days.
(AP, 6/21/10)
2010 Jun 25, Chinese official
said a huge bright green algae bloom is blanketing the sea off
China's east coast and wind is driving it closer to land. The
current outbreak has nearly doubled in size since it was first
spotted June 14 near eastern Shandong province and now measures
about 110 square miles (300 square km).
(AP, 6/25/10)
2010 Jul 3, In the Gulf of
Mexico a Taiwanese converted tanker, dubbed "A Whale" and billed as
the world's largest oil skimmer, arrived from Portugal in the Gulf
of Mexico for testing. Officials hoped it would scrub 21 million
gallons of oil-tainted seawater per day. The US Coast Guard later
said it was too big to maneuver around the smaller patches and
ribbons of oil.
(AP, 7/03/10)(SSFC, 7/4/10, p.A8)(AP, 7/17/10)
2010 Jul 5, BP's costs
for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill climbed nearly half a billion
dollars in the past week, raising the oil giant's tab to just over
$3 billion for work on cleaning and capping the gusher and payouts
to individuals, businesses and governments. Tar balls from the Gulf
oil spill found on a Texas beach were the first evidence that
gushing crude from the Deepwater Horizon well has reached all the
Gulf states.
(AP, 7/6/10)
2010 Jul 6, In New Orleans,
Louisiana, oil from the ruptured well was reported to be seeping
into Lake Pontchartrain, threatening another environmental disaster
for the huge body of water that was rescued from pollution in 1990s.
(AP, 7/6/10)
2010 Jul 7, A Peruvian judge
halted the expulsion of Paul McAuley (62), a British religious
activist. He was accused by the government of inciting unrest among
indigenous groups protesting environmental damage to the Amazon rain
forest.
(AP, 7/7/10)
2010 Jul 10, In the Gulf of
Mexico hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil were allowed to spew
into the fouled waters while BP engineers prepared to install a new
containment system they hope will catch it all in the coming days.
(AP, 7/11/10)
2010 Jul 12, A Canada Steamship
Lines vessel ran aground near the Cote Sainte-Catherine canal lock
south of Montreal. The Montreal Gazette newspaper said the accident
punctured the ship's fuel tank, leaking between 50 and 200 tons of
oil into the surrounding waters.
(Reuters, 7/13/10)
2010 Jul 15, BP finally stopped
oil from spewing into the sea, for the first time since an April 20
explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11
workers and unleashed the spill 5,000 feet beneath the water's
surface.
(AP, 7/16/10)
2010 Jul 19, One of China's
biggest ports, Dalian, shut down after an pipeline explosion
triggered a major offshore oil spill, forcing a refinery to cut
processing and importers to divert cargoes elsewhere. The government
later said 1,500 tons of oil were spilled. Others later estimated as
much as 60-90 thousand tons.
(Reuters, 7/19/10)(SFC, 7/31/10, p.A4)
2010 Jul 21, China's largest
reported oil spill had more than doubled, closing beaches on the
Yellow Sea and prompting an environmental official to warn the
sticky black crude posed a "severe threat" to sea life and water
quality. The oil was spread over 165 square miles (430 square km) of
water five days since a pipeline at a busy northeastern port
exploded.
(AP, 7/21/10)
2010 Jul 28, Argentina and
Uruguay held a signing ceremony in Buenos Aires on an agreement to a
joint environmental monitoring program along the shared Uruguay
River, ending a seven-year pollution controversy over a Finnish
paper mill on the Uruguayan side.
(AFP, 7/28/10)
2010 Jul 28, The Galapagos
Islands, 620 miles (1,000 kms) off Ecuador's coast, were removed
from the UNESCO list of sites endangered by environmental threats or
overuse.
(AP, 7/28/10)
2010 Jul 29, The X Prize
foundation offered up a new $1.4 million prize for anyone who can
come up with a faster way to clean oil spills from the ocean.
(Econ, 8/7/10, p.79)
2010 Jul 30, UNESCO added a
region of mountainous forests in Sri Lanka and the Papahanaumokuakea
archipelago off Hawaii to the World Heritage list. Florida's
Everglades and Madagascar's tropical forest were added to the roll
of endangered sites, which is meant to ring alarm bells and
encourage protective measures.
(AFP, 7/31/10)
2010 Aug 2, The US government
said BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico gushed an estimated
4.9 million barrels of oil, making it the largest accidental oil
spill of all time.
(AFP, 8/3/10)
2010 Aug 4, BP PLC reached what
it called a significant milestone overnight when mud that was forced
down the well held back the flow of crude. A government report said
much of the spilled oil is gone, though what's left is still at
least quadruple the amount that poured from the Exxon Valdez.
(AP, 8/4/10)
2010 Aug 7, The
Panamanian-registered MSC Chitra smashed into the St.
Kitts-registered MV-Khalijia-II near Mumbai's Jawahar Lal Nehru
port. The environment minister of Maharashtra state told reporters
the next day that about 2 tons of oil was pouring into the water
every hour. Indian authorities plugged the fuel leak on Aug 9 after
some 500 tons of oil had spewed into the Arabian Sea.
(AP, 8/9/10)(AP, 8/10/10)
2010 Aug 10, Indonesia and the
US launched a biodiversity research centre on the holiday island of
Bali to further studies of the archipelago's rich and diverse
species.
(AFP, 8/10/10)
2010 Sep 1, In western India
wave after wave of tar balls floated ashore on the renowned Goa
beaches after a ship dumped tons of waste oil, about three days
after officials believe a ship dumped burnt oil at sea.
(AP, 9/1/10)
2010 Sep 11, In southern Egypt
a barge leaked some 100 tons of gasoline into the Nile River.
Captain Yasser Hussein told police that low water levels caused the
boat to tilt and partially submerge allowing the fuel to leak.
(AP, 9/12/10)
2010 Sep 15, Greenpeace said
China's coal-fired plants produce enough toxic ash to fill an
Olympic-sized swimming pool every two-and-a-half minutes, creating
contaminants that travel far and wide.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, Brazil's
government unveiled plans to slow the deforestation and help halt
the wildfires that destroy its tropical savanna. The government
plans to spend $200 million in the next two years to combat illegal
deforestation and prevent fires.
(AP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 26, It was reported
that the Hilmar Cheese company in Merced County is the likely
culprit in ruining at least 18 wells in and around Hilmar. Partially
treated effluent from the 27-acre plant has been discharged onto
land around the plant for years.
(SSFC, 9/26/10, p.A1)
2010 Sep 28, President Barack
Obama endorsed a plan to rehabilitate the Gulf of Mexico with some
of the billions of dollars in water pollution fines expected from
the companies responsible for the worst offshore oil spill in US
history.
(AP, 9/28/10)
2010 Oct 4, In Hungary a
torrent of toxic red sludge from an alumina plant tore through
Kolontar and two other villages, killing four people and injuring
120. The next day Hungary declared a state of emergency in three
counties. 6 people remained missing.
(Reuters, 10/5/10)
2010 Oct 6, The US and EU said
that UN climate talks in Ttianjin, China, were making less progress
than hoped due to rifts over rising economies' emission goals, while
China pushed back and put the onus on rich nations.
(AP, 10/6/10)
2010 Oct 6, Documents were
released in which the national oil spill commission's staff
described "not an incidental public relations problem" by the White
House in the wake of the April 20 accident. The report said, the
administration made erroneous early estimates of the spill's size,
and President Barack Obama's senior energy adviser went on national
TV and mischaracterized a government analysis by saying it showed
most of the oil was "gone." The analysis actually said it could
still be there. The explosion in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11
workers, spewed 206 million gallons of oil from the damaged oil
well, and sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
(AP, 10/7/10)
2010 Oct 6, San Francisco
unveiled new equipment allowing luxury liners to plug into the
city’s power grid, part of an effort to cut diesel suit along the
waterfront.
(SFC, 10/7/10, p.C2)
2010 Oct 6, Hungary scrambled
to contain a toxic mud spill that left four people dead and more
than 100 injured in what is being described as an ecological
catastrophe. The spill raised fears that pollution leeching from it
could reach the Danube River, which courses through Croatia, Serbia,
Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine before flowing into the Black Sea.
(AFP, 10/6/10)
2010 Oct 7, In Canada mercury
was discharged during a reconfiguration of pipes at the Teck
Resources Ltd. lead smelter waste-treatment plant in Trail, British
Columbia. The work has since been completed and the leak stopped.
(Reuters, 10/8/10)
2010 Oct 7, Hungary's most
prestigious organization of scientists and researchers said tests of
the red sludge flowing into the Danube show no dangerous heavy metal
levels. Disaster relief officials said more than 150 people, most of
them suffering chemical burns, were treated in hospitals after part
of a metals factory reservoir collapsed and a toxic torrent swept
through three villages killing at least four people.
(AP, 10/7/10)
2010 Oct 8, China said on rich
nations must lock in fresh vows to slash greenhouse gas output to
unblock talks for a new climate change deal, while some negotiators
said Beijing was holding progress hostage.
(Reuters, 10/8/10)
2010 Oct 8, In Mozambique a
settling pond breached its wall at the Irish mining firm Kenmare
Resources’ Moma titanium and zircon mine in the northern province of
Nampula, flooding the area with a mixture of water, sand and clay. A
four-year-old girl was missing after the dam burst, flooding an area
housing 3,000 families.
(AFP, 10/11/10)
2010 Oct 9, China and the
United States clashed on the final day of climate change talks in
Tianjin, accusing each other of blocking progress ahead of a major
summit next month on global warming.
(AP, 10/9/10)
2010 Oct 9, Hungarian police
and soldiers evacuated 800 from the village of Kolontar as
authorities said a second flood of toxic sludge from a chemicals
plant was likely after new cracks appeared in a dyke.
(AFP, 10/9/10)
2010 Oct 10, The 10/10/10 event
known as the "Global Work Party" kicked off in Australia and New
Zealand before spinning its way across the globe with events in 188
countries. Environmental campaigners planted trees, collected
rubbish and rallied against pollution for what organizers aimed to
make the world's biggest day of climate-change activism.
(AFP, 10/10/10)
2010 Oct 10, A Hungarian
official said the wall of a reservoir filled with caustic red sludge
will inevitably collapse and unleash a new deluge of red sludge that
could flow about a half-mile (1 km) to the north.
(AP, 10/10/10)
2010 Oct 12, A Greek tanker,
the Mindoro, collided with a container ship, the Cypriot-flagged
Jork Ranger, 20 miles (30 km) off the Dutch coast and briefly leaked
jet fuel into the North Sea.
(AP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 13, Hungarian
authorities said the threat of another chemical spill had been
averted and villagers could return home, as the plant responsible
prepared to resume production. The municipal court in Veszprem
released MAL's managing director Zoltan Bakonyi, who had been
brought in for questioning.
(AFP, 10/13/10)(AP, 10/13/10)
2010 Oct 15, The Costa Rican
government said it is receiving nearly $56 million in donations and
debt write-offs to expand its forest and marine conservation
programs and has become the first developing country to meet UN
goals on protected areas. Under the plan, the US agreed to buy back
$27 million of Costa Rica's foreign debt, money that will be used
instead to invest conservation programs. The US already trimmed $26
million of Costa Rican debt in 2007 as part of the US Tropical
Forest Conservation Act. The debt now stands at $77 million.
(AP, 10/15/10)
2010 Oct 19, India announced
the creation of a tribunal to punish those who sully the forests or
rivers or otherwise break its environmental laws, in the hopes of
clearing a backlog of some 5,000 such cases languishing in a
sluggish court system.
(AP, 10/19/10)
2010 Oct 27, BrightSource
Energy of Oakland, Ca., broke ground on its Ivanpah Solar Electric
Generating System in the Mohave Desert. Plant operator NRG Energy
Inc. agreed to invest $300 million into the $2 billion project. On
April 11, 2011, BrightSource finalized $1.6 billion in loans for the
project.
(SFC, 10/28/10, p.D1)(Econ, 4/16/11, p.69)
2010 Oct 28, A White House
panel said that Halliburton Co. used flawed cement in BP Plc's
doomed Gulf of Mexico well, which could have contributed to the
blowout that sparked the worst offshore oil spill in US history.
Halliburton had run a series of tests that showed the material was
unstable in the weeks before the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater
Horizon rig. An interim report BP issued in September said
Halliburton used an "unstable" cement mixture that allowed
hydrocarbons to flow up the drill pipe and onto the floor of the
rig, where they ignited.
(Reuters, 10/29/10)
2010 Oct 28, The
Washington-based nonprofit, the National Association of Clean Air
Act Agencies, surveyed the states on whether they would be ready to
comply with the new EPA rules by the Jan 2, 2011, deadline. In a new
report the association said 49 states have either changed their laws
to allow regulation of greenhouse gases or will allow the EPA to
issue permits. Texas is doing neither.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101029/ap_on_bi_ge/us_epa_vs_texas)
2010 Oct 28, Liang Congjie
(78), historian and modern China’s first environmentalist, died. In
1994 he and 3 colleagues founded Friends of Nature, China’s first
legal NGO and the first committed to protecting the country’s
environment..
(Econ, 11/20/10, p.100)
2010 Oct 30, In Japan
representatives to a UN conference on biodiversity agreed to expand
protected areas on land and at sea in the hopes of slowing the rate
of extinction of the world’s animals and plant. Scientists have
estimated that the Earth is losing species at 100 to 1,000 times the
historical average.
(SFC, 10/30/10, p.A2)
2010 Nov 2, BP lifted its
estimate of the likely cost of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill to $40
billion, denting profits, but its underlying performance beat all
expectations on higher refining margins and a lower tax rate.
(Reuters, 11/2/10)
2010 Nov 11, China said it has
toughened rare earth export rules to allow only producers that meet
environmental protection laws and international standards to ship
the precious elements out of the country.
(AFP, 11/12/10)
2010 Nov 23, China acknowledged
that it is the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, as it called
on the United States to ensure climate change talks opening next
week make progress.
(AFP, 11/23/10)
2010 Nov 24, The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it had closed 4,200
square miles/10,880 square kms of federal waters in the Gulf of
Mexico to royal red shrimping after a commercial shrimper discovered
tar balls in his net.
(Reuters, 11/24/10)
2010 Nov 25, China’s state
media said Shanghai is suffering from its worst November air quality
in five years after the local government lifted pollution controls
that were in place for the six-month World Expo. China started
publishing hourly air-quality information for major cities across
the country as the world's top source of greenhouse gas emissions
tries to rein in its notorious pollution.
(AFP, 11/25/10)(AFP, 11/26/10)
2010 Nov 28, African foreign
ministers, at a meeting on the eve of a summit on climate change in
Libya, rejected the idea of a joint declaration, which was to have
been signed at the conclusion of a two-day Africa-EU summit. The EU
had hoped to deliver a joint statement at the gathering of 80
nations from the two continents to deliver "a strong symbol" as the
Cancun conference on climate change opens in Mexico.
(AFP, 11/29/10)
2010 Nov 29, In Mexico a 2-week
UN conference opened on global warming. Some 15,000 negotiators,
environmental activists, businessmen and journalists convened at
Cancun to overcome the disconnect between rich and poor nations on
fighting global warming.
(AP, 11/29/10)
2010 Dec 1, In Iran for the
second time in a month, heavy air pollution in the smog-filled
capital of Tehran, home to over 12 million people, has forced
authorities to close government offices and schools and declare a
two-day public holiday because of the health dangers of being
outdoors.
(AP, 12/1/10)
2010 Dec 10, Mexico scrambled
to break an impasse between rich and poor nations over future cuts
in greenhouse gas emissions as 190-nation climate talks went down to
the wire.
(Reuters, 12/10/10)
2010 Dec 11, In Cancun, Mexico,
almost 200 countries agreed to modest steps to combat climate
change, including a Green Climate Fund to help poor nations, but
they put off tough decisions on cutting greenhouse gas emissions
until next year.
(Reuters, 12/11/10)
2010 Dec 14, San Jose, Ca.,
adopted the strictest ban on plastic bags in the state.
(SFC, 12/15/10, p.C3)
2010 Dec 14, A report, "High
and Dry," by the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization and the Shan
Women's Action Network, said local trade and transport on the river
in northern Myanmar near a border trade crossing with China has been
severely affected by unpredictable daily changes in the water level
since the completion in mid-2010 of the 360-foot (110-m) tall
Longjiang Dam about 19 miles (30 km) upstream.
(AP, 12/14/10)
2010 Dec 16, The California Air
Resources Board approved the creation of the nation’s first
broad-based program to put a cap on green house gas emissions.
(SFC, 12/17/10, p.A1)
2010 Dec 28, Japan postponed
the creation of a greenhouse gas emission trading system by a year
until after April 2014 in the face of strong resistance from the
business lobby.
(AFP, 12/30/10)
2010 Roger Pielke Jr. authored
“The Climate Fix: What Scientists and Politicians Won’t Tell You
About Global Warming.”
(Econ, 10/30/10, p.91)
2010 Suriname numbered about
500,000 people. Satellite analysis of scarred earth and diverted
waterways showed that miners have deforested at least 30,000
hectares (74,000 acres) and damaged more than 2,200 km (1,370 miles)
of river over the past decade.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2011 Jan 1, Italy, one of the
top users of plastic shopping bags in Europe, began banning them.
Retailers warned of chaos as many stores braced for the switch.
(Reuters, 12/29/10)
2011 Jan 18, Rwanda said police
will begin cracking down on those degrading the environment as part
of their widened jurisdiction to shore up ecological protection.
(AFP, 1/18/11)
2011 Jan 26, Environmental
groups accused Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell of destroying lives and
the environment in the Niger Delta, and urged Dutch MPs to intervene
as the company defended its record.
(AFP, 1/26/11)
2011 Jan 27, The Brazilian
government issued a "partial" installation license allowing the Belo
Monte Dam to break ground on the Amazon's Xingu River despite
egregious disregard for human rights and environmental legislation,
the unwavering protests of civil society and condemnations by its
Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF).
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20110127/pl_usnw/DC37400)
2011 Feb 1, New satellite
imagery showed Malaysia is destroying forests more than three times
faster than all of Asia combined, and its carbon-rich peat soils of
the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster.
(AP, 2/1/11)
2011 Feb 2, US federal
regulators took the first step in setting a drinking water limit for
perchlorate, a noxious component of rocket fuel, flares and fire
works known to hamper thyroid function and hinder brain development
in young children. Most of the contaminations stemmed from military
and munitions operations.
(SFC, 2/3/11, p.A6)
2011 Feb 3, In the Philippines
President Benigno Aquino III ordered a logging moratorium in the
country, blaming devastating floods on unmitigated logging and
deforestation. A weeklong downpour culminated in raging flash floods
that surged through the streets of Jolo's coastal provincial
capital, sweeping away stilt houses and damaging hundreds of homes
killing at least 5 people. Disaster officials said at least 9 other
people have died in floods elsewhere in the Philippines this week,
adding to more than 70 lives lost in heavy rainfall between late
December and the end of January.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 8, In Brazil over half
a million people, most of them Brazilians, called via petition on
newly elected President Dilma to halt plans to construct the Belo
Monte Dam. Outside the Presidential Palace, several hundred people
gathered in protest including indigenous chiefs in full tribal
regalia and community leaders from the Xingu River Basin, and
delivered the petition signatures to the Dilma Government.
(PRNewswire, 2/8/11)
2011 Feb 9, Indonesia's biggest
palm oil producer pledged to follow new standards to protect
carbon-rich forests and peatlands, in a move cautiously welcomed by
environmentalists including Greenpeace. A suspect was arrested in
his Jakarta art shop during a raid carried out by police and
forestry officials for allegedly using the Internet to sell hundreds
of illegal wildlife parts, from ivory and tiger skins to the teeth
of the world's smallest bears.
(AFP, 2/9/11)(AP, 2/17/11)
2011 Feb 10, Russian
environmental activist Alla Chernysheva (35) was detained with her 2
daughters (3&6), the latest victim in a campaign to silence
opponents of a new Moscow-St. Petersburg highway that is tearing up
the ancient Khimki forest. Authorities announced a March start date
for the highway. According to police Chernysheva was arrested on
suspicion of taking a fake bomb to a Feb. 1 protest rally.
(AP, 2/10/11)
2011 Feb 14, An Ecuadorean
judge ruled that Chevron Corp. was responsible for oil contamination
in a wide swath of Ecuador's northern jungle. The plaintiffs'
attorney says the company was fined $8 billion. The company said
that it would appeal, and called the judge's decision "illegitimate
and unenforceable."
(AP, 2/14/11)
2011 Feb 24, The southern
Indian state of Kerala passed a bill allowing compensation claims
against soft drink giant Coca-Cola over alleged environmental damage
caused by a bottling plant. The Palakkad bottling factory in Kerala
was closed in 2005 after protests from activists and residents. A
high-level state panel concluded last year that the plant had caused
environmental and soil degradation as well as water contamination,
and recommended a fine of 47 million dollars.
(AFP, 2/25/11)
2011 Mar 7, A US federal judge
extended his temporary order banning collection of an $18 billion
judgment by the courts in Ecuador against Chevron, saying the oil
company could face irreparable harm because it appeared that lawyers
for Ecuadoreans who sued over rainforest contamination were going to
try to quickly collect the award.
(AP, 3/7/11)
2011 Mar 16, The
Malta-registered MS Olivia was grounded on Nightingale Island in the
Tristan da Cunha chain. All 22 crew were rescued by 17th March. The
ship broke in two and some 20,000 penguins became coated in oil.
There was a risk rats from the ship could come ashore and eat the
chicks and eggs of native seabirds.
(AP, 3/22/11)(www.tristandc.com/newsmsoliva.php)
2011 Mar 22, World Water Day.
The int’l observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew
out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The web site
www.worldwaterday.org started in 2001 as a community space and
repository where people can upload their WWD event activities and
reports.
(Econ, 3/26/11, p.52)(www.worldwaterday.org/)
2011 Mar 25, In China Ying
Jianguo, general manager of Taizhou Suqi Storage Battery Co. Ltd.,
was taken into custody in the city of Taizhou in Zhejiang province.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported 139 cases of lead poisoning
near the plant. More testing soon found at least 168 villagers,
including 53 children, had high lead levels.
(AP, 3/27/11)
2011 Mar 26, In a World Wide
Fund for Nature (WWF) initiative landmarks in thousands of cities,
from Sydney Harbor Bridge to the world's tallest building, the Burj
Khalifa in Dubai, turned off the power for Earth Hour, the fifth
such event promoting a sustainable future for the planet. The first
lights dimmed across Fiji and New Zealand at 8.30 p.m. (3:30 a.m.
EDT), to lights being turned on again in Samoa 24 hours later.
(Reuters, 3/27/11)
2011 Apr 5, The UN weather
agency said a protective ozone layer in the Arctic that keeps out
the sun's most damaging rays, ultraviolet radiation, has thinned
about 40 percent this winter, a record drop.
(AP, 4/5/11)
2011 Apr 8, Cambodia’s
government said PM Hun Sen has cancelled a controversial titanium
mine project in the country's southwest because of environmental
concerns.
(AFP, 4/8/11)
2011 Apr 8, In Thailand rich
and poor nations agreed on a roadmap for UN climate talks this year,
but only after long-running feuds flared over a wide range of
actions they must take to combat global warming. The talks in
Bangkok will be followed by other rounds in Germany, before the
annual summit in Durban, South Africa.
(AFP, 4/8/11)
2011 Apr 11, In San Francisco
the annual Goldman Environmental prize was awarded 6 people from
around the world. The winners included Hilton Kelly for his efforts
to cut pollution in Port Arthur, Texas; Francisco Pineda for
resisting mining in El Salvador; Ursula Sladek of Germany for
creating for reducing her community’s reliance on nuclear power;
Prigi Arisandi for her efforts to protect Indonesia’s Surabaya
River; Dmitry Lisitsyn for his efforts to protect the Russia’s
Sakhalin island; and Raoul du Toit for defending wildlife in
Zimbabwe.
(SFC, 4/11/11, p.A12)
2011 Apr 16, A report by three
US House Democrats said millions of gallons of potentially hazardous
chemicals and known carcinogens were injected into wells by leading
oil and gas service companies from 2005-2009.
(AP, 4/16/11)
2011 Apr 16, TEPCO, the
Japanese operator of a stricken nuclear plant, said it has started
dumping a mineral into the sea that absorbs radioactive substances,
aiming to slow down contamination of the ocean.
(AFP, 4/16/11)
2011 Apr 18, Greece's public
order minister said residents of Keratea, a town near Athens, have
pledged to suspend nearly four months of often violent protests over
a planned rubbish dump, pending talks with officials.
(AP, 4/18/11)
2011 Apr 22, In Brazil gunmen
killed Jorge Grando, an environmental activist, his brother and
three friends.
(AP, 4/24/11)
2011 May 3, The Arctic Monitory
and Assessment Program (AMAP) reported that the ice of Greenland and
the Arctic is melting faster than expected and could raise global
sea levels by as much as five feet this century.
(SFC, 5/4/11, p.A3)
2011 May 4, A Gervais beaked
whale washed up on the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico. A necropsy
of the whale found more than 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of twisted plastic
inside its stomach.
(AP, 5/7/11)
2011 May 10, Vermont officials
said swamped farm fields and gorged rivers could worsen pollution
worries for the flooded Lake Champlain because of the high amount of
phosphorus that has washed into it.
(AP, 5/10/11)
2011 May 14, US Army engineers
prepared to slowly open the gates of an emergency spillway along the
rising Mississippi River, diverting floodwaters from Baton Rouge and
New Orleans, yet inundating homes and farms in parts of Louisiana's
populated Cajun country.
(AP, 5/14/11)
2011 May 14, Canada’s Manitoba
province opened its dike on the swollen Assiniboine River, starting
a slow creep of water across rich farmland to avert a potentially
catastrophic, unplanned breach.
(Reuters, 5/14/11)
2011 May 17, The British
government pledged to cut the country’s carbon emissions in half by
2025 from benchmark levels of 1990.
(SFC, 5/18/11, p.A2)
2011 May 18, Brazil said it has
set up a crisis center to combat increased deforestation in the
Amazon rain forest. Satellite data showed a significant increase in
deforestation over the past two months.
(SFC, 5/19/11, p.A2)
2011 May 18, China’s Cabinet
acknowledged that its $23 billion Three Gorges Dam
required action to curb pollution, counter risks of possible natural
disasters and improve life for the 1.4 million people who were
forced to relocate.
(AP, 5/22/11)
2011 May 22, In Brazil about
1,000 people gathered in Sao Paulo to protest against proposed laws
in favor of Brazilian farmers who are seeking more space to raise
cattle. They said that the environmental law changes would
increase deforestation in the Amazon.
(AP, 5/22/11)
2011 May 22, South Korea said
the United States has agreed on a joint investigation after American
veterans claimed they buried large amounts of Agent Orange at the
Camp Carroll US military base in South Korea in 1978. Environmental
tests already confirmed extremely high levels of dioxin in people,
fish and soil near the Camp Carroll air base.
(AP, 5/22/11)(AP, 6/2/11)
2011 May 25, It was reported
that Iran’s popular Lake Oroumieh, home to migrating flamingos,
pelicans and gulls, has shrunken by 60 percent and could disappear
entirely in just a few years, drained by drought, misguided
irrigation policies, development and the damming of rivers that feed
it.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 29, Chinese state
media said China will expand a ban on free shopping bags as it tries
to further curb its addiction to plastic in a bid to rid the country
of "white pollution" that clogs waterways, farms and fields.
(AFP, 5/29/11)
2011 May 29, In the Philippines
workers cleaned up more than 750 tons of fish that have died and
rotted on fish farms in Taal Lake near Taal volcano south of Manila.
Scientists said the onset of the rainy season led to a sharp drop in
water temperatures depleting oxygen levels.
(AP, 5/29/11)(AFP, 5/29/11)
2011 May 31, Analysts said
Germany's plan to shut all its nuclear power plants by 2022 will add
up to 40 million tons of CO2 dioxide emissions annually as the
country turns to fossil fuels.
(Reuters, 5/31/11)
2011 Jun 1, Pennsylvania and
the city of Philadelphia embarked on a 25-year, $2 billion effort to
reduce storm water pollution through eco-friendly measures.
(SFC, 6/2/11, p.A6)
2011 Jun 2, In Brazil another
rural activist, identified only by his first name, Marcos, was found
shot to death in the Amazon, just three days after Brazil's leaders
discussed how to stop the region's deadly disputes over logging and
protect those whose lives are threatened.
(AP, 6/2/11)
2011 Jun 13, The US Dept. of
Justice said Hecla Mining Co. will pay $263 million to settle one of
the nation’s largest Superfund lawsuits for releasing mining waste
into the environment in Idaho.
(SFC, 6/14/11, p.A4)
2011 Jun 14, In Brazil a
landless peasant activist was reported killed by a gunshot to his
head outside his home in Brazil, the fifth murder in a month likely
tied to the conflict over land and logging in the Amazon. The body
of Obede Loyla Souza was found over the weekend in the dense forest
surrounding his home in the landless settlement of Esperanca.
(AP, 6/16/11)(AP, 6/16/11)
2011 Jun 14, Indian officials
signed an agreement with the World Bank to use a $1 billion loan to
finance a new effort to cleanup of the Ganges.
(SFC, 6/15/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 17, Vietnam started
the first phase of a joint plan with the US to clean up
environmental damage left over from the chemical defoliant Agent
Orange.
(SFC, 6/18/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 21, It was reported
that tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at
least 48 of 65 sites, according to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
records reviewed as part of the AP's yearlong examination of safety
issues at aging nuclear power plants.
(AP, 6/21/11)
2011 Jun 21, A study led by the
International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) showed that
life in the oceans is at imminent risk of the worst spate of
extinctions in millions of years due to threats such as climate
change and over-fishing.
(Reuters, 6/21/11)
2011 Jun 22, In Indonesia
indigenous peoples of Borneo demanded a halt to internationally
backed forest conservation schemes, saying they are trampling their
rights and robbing their lands.
(AFP, 6/22/11)
2011 Jul 1, Hundreds of barrels
of crude oil spilled into Montana's Yellowstone River after an
ExxonMobil pipeline beneath the riverbed ruptured, sending a plume
25 miles downstream and forcing temporary evacuations. An estimated
42,000 gallons of oil leaked from the pipeline.
(AP, 7/3/11)(SFC, 7/23/11, p.A4)
2011 Jul 1, China confirmed
that an oil spill had occurred in waters around Nanhuangcheng Island
in Shandong province. US oil company ConocoPhillips operated the
Penglai 19-3 oil field where the leak originated. Leaking oil was
first detected on June 4, and then again on June 17. The state
maritime bureau said that an area in the mouth of the Bohai Sea,
measuring 840 square km (336 square miles), had been badly polluted
due to the spill.
(AFP, 7/5/11)(SFC, 7/6/11, p.A4)
2011 Jul 10, Australia’s PM
Julia Gillard announced plans to tax carbon pollution at Aus$23
(US$24.74) per ton to help battle climate change, as it moved
towards creating the region's biggest emissions trading scheme.
(AFP, 7/10/11)(Econ, 7/16/11, p.41)
2011 Jul 18, US Fish and
Wildlife Service said the whitebark pine, found atop mountains in
the American West, is facing extinction due to white pine blister
rust and mountain pine beetles due in part to climate change.
(SFC, 7/20/11, p.A8)
2011 Jul 25, In Jerusalem
Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders joined forces to launch a
multi-faith environmental campaign, the Interfaith Centre for
Sustainable Development, citing religious injunctions to protect the
Earth across their three faiths.
(AFP, 7/25/11)
2011 Jul 28, Peter Berg,
co-founder of the Diggers and founder of the Planet Drum Foundation,
died in San Francisco. The Diggers were a radical community-action
group of activists and Improv actors (1966-68), based in the
Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
(SSFC, 8/14/11,
p.C9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers_%28theater%29)
2011 Aug 4, In India a 740-foot
(225-meter) vessel, which had been transporting coal from Indonesia
to the western Indian state of Gujarat, sank off Mumbai. The navy
rescued 30 crew members. The ship was estimated to be carrying 325
tons of fuel oil and 56 tons of diesel. By Aug 7 oil had spread over
an area of 7 nautical miles and cleanup efforts were underway.
(AP, 8/7/11)
2011 Aug 4, A UN report was
released that described oil destroying crops and seeping into
drinking water supplies in Ogoniland, Nigeria, a region of the Niger
Delta. In one case, the UN found one village where drinking water
was polluted with benzene 900 times more than the international
limit.
(AP, 8/5/11)
2011 Aug 9, Pres. Obama
announced fuel efficiency standards for heavy trucks. The
regulations called for cutting 9-23% of fuel consumption and
greenhouse gases by 2018.
(SFC, 8/10/11, p.A6)
2011 Aug 12, Royal Dutch Shell
PLC said it is trying to stop oil leaking from a flow line at one of
its drilling platforms in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.
On Aug 15 Shell estimated that 54,600 gallons had leaked from the
Gannet Alpha oil rig. On Aug 16 Shell said a 2nd smaller leak had
been found at the rig.
(AP, 8/13/11)(SFC, 8/16/11, p.A4)(SFC, 8/17/11,
p.A3)
2011 Aug 14, Chinese state
media said authorities in the northeastern port city of Dalian
ordered a petrochemical plant be shut down after more than 12,000
people demonstrated over pollution concerns. Calls to relocate the
plant grew after waves from Tropical Storm Muifa broke a dike
guarding it last week and raised fears that flood waters could
release toxic chemicals.
(AP, 8/14/11)
2011 Aug 16, California Gov.
Jerry Brown and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a pact with the
federal government to increase the clarity of Lake Tahoe by half a
foot per year for the next 65 years.
(SFC, 8/17/11, p.C1)
2011 Aug 17, Texas Gov. and GOP
presidential candidate Rick Perry told New Hampshire voters that he
does not believe in manmade global warming, calling it a scientific
theory that has not been proven.
(AP, 8/17/11)
2011 Aug 25, In Brazil a leader
of landless workers was shot to death while riding his bike in
Barbosa, Para state. Valdemar Oliveira Barbosa was the fourth person
murdered in Para since May who was involved in environmental or land
rights movements. Catholic Land Pastoral said more than 1,150 rural
activists have been killed in Brazil over the past 20 years.
(AP, 8/25/11)
2011 Aug 27, In Iran residents
of Orumiyeh residents demonstrated against parliament’s refused in
mid-August to fast-track a rescue plan to save Lake Orumiyeh, Iran’s
largest lake. The drying lake, situated between East and West
Azarbaijan provinces in the northwest, has lost more than half of
its surface over the last two decades due to drought and the damming
of rivers feeding it. The protest was repressed by force.
(AFP, 9/3/11)
2011 Aug, In Malaysia the first
turbine from French giant Alstom began producing electricity at the
Bakun dam in the Malaysian portion of Borneo island. The reservoir
has swelled to the size of Singapore since impoundment began a year
ago. The project was first approved in 1986. A 2005 report,
anti-graft watchdog Transparency International termed the dam one of
the world's "Monuments of Corruption," citing years of delays,
ownership changes, and overall costs that more than doubled. Tribal
residents said warnings about the dam's ecological and human impact
are coming true.
(AFP, 10/27/11)
2011 Sep 2, President Barack
Obama scrapped his administration's controversial plans to tighten
smog rules, bowing to the demands of congressional Republicans and
some business leaders.
(AP, 9/2/11)
2011 Sep 8, In Algeria experts
from some 40 African countries gathered at a conference on
desertification. The 10th session of the decision-making body of the
UN Convention to Combat Desertification opens in South Korea next
month.
(AFP, 9/8/11)
2011 Sep 9, Malaysia’s
Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas sent a letter to his
Indonesian counterpart about hundreds of suspected fires on Sumatra
island.
(AFP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 13, An online 200-page
paper by Project CLAMER, a collaboration of 17 European marine
institutes, said the rising temperature of ocean water is causing a
proliferation of the Vibrio genus of bacteria, which can cause food
poisoning, serious gastroenteritis, septicemia and cholera.
(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 17, In Washington
state America’s largest ever dam renewal project began on the Elwha
River. It was dammed in 1914.
(Econ, 10/1/11, p.35)
2011 Sep 19, California and
federal officials said shipping companies responsible for the Nov 7,
2007, Cosco Busan oil spill in the SF Bay have agreed to pay $44.4
million to restore bay habitat and reimburse agencies that responded
to the disaster.
(SFC, 9/20/11, p.A1)
2011 Sep 19, China shut down a
solar panel factory after hundreds of angry residents staged days of
violent protests over pollution, the second such incident in as many
months.
(AFP, 9/19/11)
2011 Sep 24, Moving Planet day
marchers held an estimated 2000 events around the world urging local
leaders to work toward lowering carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
(SSFC, 9/25/11, p.D1)
2011 Sep 25, Wangari Maathai
(71), Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Prize winner (2004),
died. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977.
(AFP, 9/25/11)
2011 Sep 29, China ordered
manufacturers of potentially toxic products to conduct safety and
environmental checks after a recent spate of major anti-pollution
protests triggered fears of more unrest.
(AFP, 9/29/11)
2011 Oct 5, In New Zealand the
47,000 ton Liberian-flagged container vessel "Rena" ran aground on
the Astrolabe reef about 12 nautical miles (22 km) off the North
Island. Maritime New Zealand soon declared the vessel a hazardous
ship as an oil slick more than doubled in size in just a few hours
on the Bay of Plenty. The ship had 1,368 containers on board. On Feb
29, 2012, the captain and the navigating officer, both Filipino,
pleaded guilty to mishandling the vessel and altering ship
documents.
(AP, 10/6/11)(AP, 10/12/11)(SFC, 11/14/11,
p.A2)(AP, 2/29/12)
2011 Oct 11, New Zealand
declared its worst maritime pollution disaster, as oil gushed into a
pristine bay from the Rena, a stranded container ship being pounded
in heavy seas.
(AP, 10/11/11)
2011 Oct 25, The UAR said a
ship carrying 450 tons of diesel fuel sank off the coast of Umm
al-Quwain emirate.
(SFC, 10/26/11, p.A2)
2011 Nov 3, The US Dept. of
Energy reported that the world pumped some 564 million tons more of
carbon into the air in 2010 than it did in 2009, a 6% increase.
(SFC, 11/4/11, p.A3)
2011 Nov 7, The Republic of
Congo launched a vast tree-planting program to guard against the
twin scourges of deforestation and soil degradation that plague many
African states.
(AFP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 8, Australia passed
its controversial pollution tax in a sweeping and historic reform
aimed at lowering carbon emissions blamed for climate change, after
years of fierce debate.
(AFP, 11/8/11)
2011 Nov 13, Anglo-Dutch oil
giant Shell reported a fresh spill from a key delivery pipeline in
southern Nigeria, but said it has contained the leak.
(AFP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 17, Brazilian
authorities began investigating an offshore oil spill. Chevron says
that between 400 and 650 barrels of oil have leaked from a well it
was drilling off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 11/17/11)
2011 Nov 18, Brazil's
environmental protection agency said nearly 110,000 gallons of oil
may have spilled into the Atlantic Ocean because of a leak at an
offshore Chevron drilling site. Chevron had said that only 16,800 to
27,300 gallons in total leaked into the ocean.
(AP, 11/19/11)
2011 Nov 19, In Bhutan a
Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas was held in Bhutan's capital
Thimphu. India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan agreed to cooperate on
energy, water, food and biodiversity issues.
(AP, 11/20/11)
2011 Nov 25, Australia said it
will create the world's largest marine reserve in the Coral Sea. The
proposal includes seas beyond the already protected Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park off northeast Australia.
(AP, 11/25/11)
2011 Nov 28, The United Nations
completed the first-ever global assessment of the state of the
planet's land resources, finding in “"State of the World's Land and
Water Resources for Food and Agriculture,” that a quarter of all
land is highly degraded and warning the trend must be reversed if
the world's growing population is to be fed.
(AP, 11/28/11)
2011 Nov 28, UN climate
negotiations opened in Durban, South Africa, with pressure building
to salvage the only treaty limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 11/28/11)
2011 Nov 29, The UN weather
office said world temperatures keep rising, and are heading for a
threshold that could lead to irreversible changes of the Earth.
(AP, 11/29/11)
2011 Nov 30, Britain’s biggest
carbon capture (CC) pilot plant began siphoning emissions from SSE's
490 megawatt coal-fired station at Ferrybridge, West Yorkshire, in
the latest effort to prove the technology on an industrial scale.
(Reuters, 11/30/11)
2011 Nov 30, In South Africa
Rajendra Pachauri, the UN's top climate scientist, cautioned climate
negotiators that global warming is leading to human dangers and
soaring financial costs, but containing carbon emissions will have a
host of benefits.
(AP, 11/30/11)
2011 Dec 2, The Environmental
Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN) visited
Kalaba community, Bayelsa state, and observed five spill points on
the pipeline which was spewing oil into the environment. The
pipeline was operated by Agip, the local subsidiary of Italian oil
group Eni.
(AFP, 12/3/11)
2011 Dec 4, The Kathmandu-based
Int’l. Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) published
reports showing that Nepal's glaciers have shrunk by 21 percent and
Bhutan's by 22 percent over the last 30 years.
(AFP, 12/5/11)
2011 Dec 8, The US
Environmental Protection Agency announced for the first time that
fracking, a controversial method of improving the productivity of
oil and gas wells, may be to blame for causing groundwater
pollution. The EPA found that compounds likely associated with
fracking chemicals had been detected in the groundwater beneath
Pavillion, a small community in central Wyoming where residents say
their well water reeks of chemicals.
(AP, 12/8/11)
2011 Dec 8, The US Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry accepted local claims that
there is a higher incidence of cancer and other health ills on
Vieques island compared with neighboring Puerto Rico, but said there
is no proof the problem is linked to US military activity. The
bombing range closed in 2003 following years of protests about
environmental risks and the 1999 killing of a Puerto Rican civilian
guard by an errant bomb.
(AP, 12/8/11)
2011 Dec 10, In South Africa a
day after their scheduled close, UN climate talks fought against
despondency as 194 countries grappled for a deal to tame greenhouse
gases. Research presented at Durban said the world is on track for a
3.5 C (6.3 F) rise, a likely recipe for droughts, floods, storms and
rising sea levels that will threaten tens of millions.
(AFP, 12/10/11)
2011 Dec 11, In South Africa a
UN climate conference reached a hard-fought agreement on a
far-reaching program meant to set a new course for the global fight
against climate change. The 194-party conference agreed to start
negotiations on a new accord that would ensure that countries will
be legally bound to carry out any pledges they make. It would take
effect by 2020 at the latest. The conference also agreed on a Green
Climate Fund, which would funnel some of the $110 billion, promised
by rich countries to poor ones, to help them cut emissions and adopt
to climate change.
(AP, 12/11/11)(Econ, 12/17/11, p.140)
2011 Dec 12, Canada became the
first country to declare it was formally exiting the Kyoto protocol,
a reversal that will save it billions of dollars in fines. Canada
had agreed under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce CO2 emissions to 6.0
percent below 1990 levels by 2012, but its emissions of the gasses
blamed for damaging Earth's fragile climate system have instead
increased sharply.
(AFP, 12/13/11)
2011 Dec 14, Colombia's
government and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime released a new study
th says more than 3,000 square miles (800,000 hectares) of
Colombia's woodlands have been cleared since 1981 in the planting
and destruction of drug crops. According to the UN, Colombia had 240
square miles (62,000 hectares) of coca under cultivation last year.
(AP, 12/14/11)
2011 Dec 21, The Obama
administration issued the first US standards to cut mercury and
other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants.
(SFC, 12/22/11, p.A9)
2011 Susan Freinkel authored
“Plastic: A Toxic Love Story.”
(SSFC, 5/1/11, p.G1)
2011 Mark Lynas authored “The
God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans.”
(Econ, 7/16/11, p.86)
2012 Jan 1, As of today the EU
began billing all the world’s airlines for the carbon emissions into
and out of the EU.
(Econ, 1/7/12, p.58)
2012 Jan 5, China’s state media
said Poyang Lake, the country’s largest freshwater lake, has shrunk
to its smallest size in years due to drought, endangering the
ecology in the area and fishermen's livelihoods.
(AFP, 1/5/12)
2012 Jan 6, China’s government
bowed to a vocal online campaign for a change in the way air quality
is measured in Beijing, one of the world's most polluted cities. The
Beijing Environmental Bureau said it would provide hourly updates of
PM2.5 measure ahead of the Lunar New Year, which starts on January
23, in response to the flood of public anger.
(AFP, 1/6/12)
2012 Jan 8, In New Zealand the
cargo ship Rena, which caused New Zealand's worst maritime pollution
disaster when it ran aground three months ago, broke in two in a
storm, raising fears of a fresh environmental crisis.
(AFP, 1/8/12)
2012 Jan 13, In Estonia
volunteers from 83 countries converged on Tallinn to launch World
Cleanup 2012, a voluntary 6-monthy rubbish collection effort to
begin on March 24.
(Econ, 1/7/12, p.52)
2012 Jan 13, It was reported
that mounds of debris were piling up at illegal dumping sites around
Mexico City in recent weeks as the metropolis grappled with an
avalanche of refuse after closing one of the world's largest
landfills.
(AP, 1/13/12)
2012 Jan 18, The Obama
Administration rejected the Keystone oil pipeline because there was
not enough time to review an alternate route that would avoid a
sensitive aquifer in Nebraska within a 60-day window set by
Congress. Republicans decried the move for sacrificing jobs and
energy security in order to shore up the president's environmental
base before elections. TransCanada quickly said it would re-apply
for the permit, which it first sought in 2008.
(Reuters, 1/19/12)
2012 Jan 19, Indonesia's
forestry ministry said it would conserve nearly half its share of
Borneo island, which is covered with dense rainforest, so as to meet
a presidential pledge to reduce gas emissions.
(AFP, 1/19/12)
2012 Jan 21, In China Beijing
environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air
quality data that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's
air pollution is.
(AP, 1/21/12)
2012 Jan 25, The UN said that
the worldwide fishing industry could benefit from a $50 billion
boost annually if stocks were allowed time to recover. A UN
Environment Program report released in the Philippine said 32
percent of the world's fish stocks have already been depleted by
years of overfishing and poor coastal management.
(AFP, 1/25/12)
2012 Jan 27, The California Air
Resources Board approved strict vehicle emissions regulations in a
package known as the Advanced Clean Car program. It would cut in
half current greenhouse gas emission by 2025.
(SFC, 1/27/12, p.C1)
2012 Jan 31, China said that it
has detained seven company executives after tons of industrial waste
including cadmium, a toxic metal, polluted some 200 miles of the
Longjiang river, threatening water supplies for millions of people.
Unnamed experts were quoted saying that the amount of illegally
released waste in the waterway was unprecedented at an estimated 20
tons.
(AFP, 1/31/12)(SSFC, 2/5/12, p.A6)
2012 Feb 4, In Venezuela a pipe
transporting crude oil to a processing plant ruptured and blackened
Guarapiche River in Monagas state. The spill forced officials to
halt normal water distribution to parts of the city of Maturin.
(AP, 2/11/12)
2012 Feb 9, The US EPA approved
a federal rule banning ships from flushing their sewage into the sea
within 3 miles of the California coast.
(SFC, 2/10/12, p.A1)
2012 Feb 17, In Louisiana two
barges collided near Laplace spilling oil and leading officials to
close a 5-mile stretch of the Mississippi River.
(SFC, 2/18/12, p.A5)
2012 Feb 28, A coalition of
environment groups called for the world's largest marine reserve to
be declared in Antarctica's Ross Sea to prevent "industrial scale"
fishing ruining the pristine ecosystem.
(AFP, 2/28/12)
2012 Feb 29, China's cabinet
ordered new air-quality standards to measure the most dangerous form
of particulate matter, following a public outcry over worsening air
pollution.
(AFP, 2/29/12)
2012 Mar 5, The Scottish
government said Scotland plans to fit all its existing coal-fired
power plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology by
2025 and require new coal stations to be fully equipped with CCS
from the turn of the decade.
(Reuters, 3/5/12)
2012 Mar 8, It was reported
that the ecosystem of Xochimilco, the floating gardens of Mexico
city, is crashing. The UN World Heritage Site’s last water source
was now only wastewater from treatment plants.
(SFC, 3/9/12, p.A2)
2012 Mar 16, Britain’s
Environment Agency said Indonesia has asked Britain to take back
1,800 tons of waste after inspectors found liquid and illegal mixed
waste in containers marked as "scrap metal."
(AFP, 3/16/12)
2012 Mar 19, In India G.D.
Agrawal (80), a former professor of environmental engineering who is
also known as Swami Gyan Swaroopanand, was hospitalized in Varanasi
during a hunger strike to protest against pollution and dams in the
holy Ganges river. He has refused food and water since March 8.
(AFP, 3/19/12)
2012 Mar 22, India said it has
barred its airlines from complying with the EU’s carbon taxation
scheme, with the government saying no Indian carrier would share
emissions data with the EU. The EU has directed Indian carriers to
submit emission details of their aircraft by March 31, 2012. China
decided last month to ban its airlines from complying with the EU
directive. Over two dozen countries, including Russia and the United
States, have opposed the EU move, calling it a violation of
international law.
(AFP, 3/23/12)
2012 Mar 27, The Obama
administration set the first-ever limits on heat-trapping pollution
from new power plants.
(SFC, 3/28/12, p.A6)
2012 Mar 31, Millions of people
switched off their lights for Earth Hour in a global effort to raise
awareness about climate change that will even be monitored from
space. Newcomers to the Sydney-led initiative, now in its sixth
year, included Libya, Iraq and the International Space Station,
which will watch over the event as it rolls across the globe.
(AFP, 3/31/12)
2012 Apr 11, The Nebraska
Legislature approved a bill that would provide support for an
expected new route for TransCanada Corp's Canada-to-Texas Keystone
XL crude oil pipeline that would bypass an environmentally sensitive
region in the state. Governor Dave Heineman has said he will sign.
(Reuters, 4/11/12)
2012 Apr 11, Shell Oil reported
a 10-square-mile oil slick between two major production sites in the
Gulf of Mexico, 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. A response
vessel was sent.
(SFC, 4/12/12, p.A6)
2012 Apr 13, Canada unveiled
long-delayed regulations for cutting emissions that aim to make big
trucks and buses up to 23 percent less polluting by 2018.
(Reuters, 4/13/12)
2012 Apr 16, In San Francisco
the annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were presented 6
individuals. They included Sofia Gatica of Argentina work on
diseases related to agrochemicals; Caroline Canon of Alaska for her
village efforts against oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean; Ma Jun of
China for his efforts on air and water violations by major
manufacturers; Ikal Angelei of Kenya for her efforts to protect Lake
Turkana; Evgenia Chirikova of Russia for her efforts to protect the
Khimki Forest; and Father Edwin Gariguez of the Philippines for
advocating against mining developments on indigenous lands.
(SFC, 4/16/12, p.A10)
2012 Apr 16, Half of England
was officially in drought after the Environment Agency declared
another 17 counties short of water, and warned the situation may
continue until the end of the year.
(AFP, 4/16/12)
2012 Apr 17, Hundreds of
Kuwaiti firemen fought to contain a massive fire in a dump for used
tires, with some members of parliament calling the blaze an
environmental catastrophe.
(AFP, 4/17/12)
2012 Apr 20, Dive operators and
conservationists said Indonesia's government is not doing enough to
keep illegal fishermen out of the boundaries of the Komodo National
Park, a UN World Heritage site. They said enforcement declined
greatly following the exit two years ago of a US-based environmental
group that helped fight destructive fishing practices.
(AP, 4/20/12)
2012 Apr 26, In Cambodia Chhut
Vuthy, the director of Natural Resource Protection Group, was killed
after military police apprehended him at Veal Bei in Mondul Seima
district on behalf of a company that asked them to stop him from
shooting photos of their development. Investigators later believed
that the officer who killed Vuthy was shot with his own gun during a
scuffle with security guard Ran Boroth (26), who tried to disarm
him.
(AP, 4/27/12)(http://tinyurl.com/7hjmxkh)(AFP,
5/4/12)
2012 May 2, South Korea's
parliament approved a long-delayed bill to start trading carbon
dioxide emissions in 2015, joining the vanguard of countries
battling climate change.
(AFP, 5/2/12)
2012 May 14, The United States
consulate in Shanghai began issuing its own pollution statistics,
giving a much more pessimistic assessment of the city's air quality
than official Chinese data.
(AFP, 5/15/12)
2020 Deforestation of the
Amazon region was expected to reach 28-42%.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A10)
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End of file.