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Stopping
SLAPP Suits
SLAPPs -- Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation -- are
civil legal complaints brought by corporations, real estate developers,
or other entities who are opposing public interest issues. They
are usually civil complaints or counterclaims against an individual
who exercised free speech. Typically, SLAPPs are based on ordinary
state court civil claims such as defamation, conspiracy, and interference
with prospective economic advantage. SLAPPs involve issues of state
law such as tort claims, so federal legislation cannot solve this
legal problem. While most SLAPPs are legally meritless, they chill
public debate. Defending a SLAPP requires substantial money, time,
and legal resources and diverts the defendant's attention away from
the public issue. If our voices are stifled, our constitutional
rights will be infringed upon and the ultimate result is censorship.
If we want to stop SLAPP suits, it is up to the states to act now.
For more information on how your state can enact legislation to
prevent SLAPP suits, visit: http://www.serconline.org/SLAPP/index.html. |
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Eastern
States Take Action on Global Warming (Boston Globe 07/25)
A collective of ten eastern states is facing an issue President
Bush has steadfastly avoided: global warming. The states -- Connecticut,
Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maine,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York -- will spend the next two
years developing a regional market-based system aimed at limiting
carbon emissions. An acknowledgement that global warming is a real
problem, the goal is to create a "cap-and-trade" program
that will allow power plants that reduce carbon emissions to profit
by selling pollution credits to other companies. Global warming
threatens the New England climate conditions that influence fall
foliage, maple syrup production, and ski conditions, and effects
will be felt both environmentally and economically. The Bush administration's
record regarding global warming has been sharply criticized. Early
in his tenure, Bush backed out of the Kyoto accord -- the international
treaty that called for the largest industrial nations to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, the Bush administration struck
language on global warming from an EPA report on the state of the
environment. Just last week, the White House announced a 10-year
study on global warming that many see as delaying action. For example,
the first goal of the study is to analyze "natural variability"
in climates. |
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Repealing
Environmental Review
In a move to slowly erode Minnesota's strongly worded Environmental
Policy Act, legislators passed Minnesota SF 905 in the 2003 legislative
regular session, exempting certain projects from environmental assessment.
Previously, an environmental assessment was required for projects
such as power plants, new highways, and waste facilities. An environmental
assessment could also be requested by citizens who put together
a petition and obtain 25 or more signatures. However, under SF 905
some of the most environmentally devastating types of projects can
not even be questioned by the public. One kind of project now exempted
are new or expanded permits issued for CAFOs (Concentrated Animal
Feeding Operations) that will house fewer than 1,000 animals units.
Citizens living near farms with 999 animal units will now be forced
to live with the water pollution and odor that goes along with these
operations. Luckily, farms looking to locate in "environmentally
sensitive areas" will still be reviewed. In another twist,
ATV trails are also going to be exempt from reviews partially due
to the ATV compromise bill passed this session. Fortunately, new
rules guiding the determination and review of ATV trails will be
put into effect in 2005. Lawmakers tried, but were unable, to exempt
transportation projects from environmental assessments. These exemptions
are obvious attempts that favor commercial interests over the public's
best interest. Minnesota's Environmental Policy Act provides a valuable
review process that protects the state's environment and gives the
public a voice. It should not be weakened in anyway. |
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Study
Confirms Sprawl Inefficient and Expensive (LA Times
07/23)
In a report that probably did not surprise anyone, the Surface
Transportation Policy Project, a Washington, DC group promoting
transportation alternatives, suggests that families living
in spread-out metropolitan areas with weak public transit
systems spend more of their household income on transportation
than people in denser regions. In the 28 metropolitan areas
studied, transportation costs consume 20 percent of every
dollar earned by the average household and 40 percent of every
dollar earned by the poor. The Surface Transportation Policy
Project hopes the report will draw attention to congressional
debates over a federal transportation bill that will provide
highway and transit funding for the next six years. In the
last forty years, transportation costs have been taking a
bigger and bigger bite out of household incomes. In 1960,
14% of the average income was spent on transportation; today,
it is 19.3%, or $7,633 a year. Of the 28 areas examined, Tampa,
Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Diego spent the highest
percentage of their incomes on transportation. Residents of
New York, a densely-populated and transit-friendly city, spent
only 15.1 percent of their income on transportation costs.
The study confirms that it is indeed more economical and efficient
to build up rather than out. |
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Ohio
School District is a Model for Indoor Air Quality
(ENS 07/22)
Recognizing the connection between health and indoor air quality,
the school district of Huber Heights, a suburb of Dayton,
Ohio, spends more than $1 million annually on maintaining
indoor air quality. In August 2002, the school district was
one of 20 schools recognized nationwide and awarded the United
States Environmental Protection Agency's "Indoor Air
Quality 'Tools for Schools' Excellence Award." The EPA
developed the 'Tools for Schools' programs and kits in 1995,
responding to government studies highlighting deteriorating
school conditions and a rising rate of childhood asthma. In
addition to regular filter changes and antibacterial tablets
in air conditioning units, the district has completed extensive
masonry repairs and roof maintenance and replacement to inhibit
mold and mildew growth and the water intrusion that leads
to mold and mildew formation. Projects that create a lot of
fumes are now scheduled for the summer months while students
and staff are away. The pest control program now uses bait
and traps more than chemical pesticides. Also, the district
now samples cleaning products for noxious odors or side effects.
The operations director for Huber Heights City Schools urges
all parents to find out what their children's schools are
doing about air quality. |
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Oregon
Legislature Eliminates Hybrid Vehicle Penalty (OEC
press release 7/23)
Oregon's transportation funding package, HB 2041, eliminates
the "hybrid penalty" enacted by the 2001 legislature.
The 2001 legislature doubled registration fees for hybrid
and electric vehicles, making regular passenger vehicles fees
half of those charged for cleaner, more environmentally-friendly
cars. The registration fee for regular passenger vehicles
and hybrid vehicles has been equalized by the legislation
that passed the legislature on 7/23/03. Regular passenger
vehicle fees will increase to $27.00 from $15.00, whereas
hybrid and electrical vehicle fees will decrease from $30.00
to $27.00. Although the state provides a tax credit for purchase
of alternative-fuel vehicles, potential purchasers without
tax liability or those purchasing a used vehicle do not qualify.
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NC
Legislature Focuses on Economics Versus Environment
(Charlotte Observer 7/23)
The 2003 legislative session closed for North Carolina reflecting
a trend seen across most of the United States -- state legislatures
were forced to focus on deficits and a troubling economy rather
than many environmental issues. Some environmental initiatives
made it through including a turtle harvest ban, continued
moratorium on hog waste lagoons, and the continued funding
of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. However, some environmental
legislation that passed the House was stalled in the Senate
and, therefore, forced onto the next session's agenda. While
many environmental groups declared it was a lost session,
business groups felt the legislature balanced both environmental
and business interests well. For more information on how your
state can balance the budget, while preserving environmental
programs visit: http://www.serconline.org/greenscissors.html,
and http://www.serconline.org/fiscalreform/pkg_frameset.html.
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Florida,
Georgia, and Alabama Agree on Water Deal (Orlando
Sentinel 7/22)
In an agreement that will continue for the next four decades,
the governors from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama agreed to
principles guiding how the states will allocate water from
the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. They hope
to sign off on major points of plan by August and have a draft
agreement done by the end of August. Afterwards there will
be comment periods for both the public and the federal government.
The water debate has persisted throughout the last decade,
and there has been little agreement to how much water should
be allocated for farming, metropolitan areas, and for natural
habitats, including Apalachicola Bay one of the country's
last pristine estuaries. The basic agreement sets out how
much water is to flow south through the river system and sets
an expiration date of 2040 for the plan. For more information
on how your state can address the growing needs of society,
while protecting rivers, visit: http://www.serconline.org/streamflow/pkg_frameset.html. |
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Michigan's
Big Farms Cause Big Stink (Detroit Free Press 7/21)
Super-sized dairy and hog farms are turning profits for more
and more Michigan farmers, but are also churning out vast
amounts of manure that pose risks to inland waterways and
the Great Lakes. Since 2000, the Sierra Club has filed lawsuits
against four large dairy farms in Michigan for water pollution.
In February, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) imposed a $30,000 fine on two of the state's largest
dairy Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) for polluting
nearby waterways with runoff from manure and stored feed.
Nineteen CAFOs are under DEQ supervision for pollution violations.
Just as agriculture nationwide has evolved into fewer but
bigger farms, this trend has also accelerated in Michigan
in the past six years, especially with dairy farms. The Department
of Agriculture estimates between 200 and 300 super-sized farms
in Michigan, with dozens more proposed. Even though mega-farms
are now just a fraction of Michigan's 5,600 pig and dairy
farms, the concentration of animals in CAFOs creates waste
disposal problems that smaller farms don't face. A dairy farm
of 2,000 cows generates more than 45,000 tons of manure in
a year, as much fecal waste as a city with a population of
30,000 people. "If not now, it's a matter of five or
10 years before CAFOs are the largest contributor to E. coli
contamination of the Great Lakes if they continue to spread
as they have," said James Clift, spokesman for the Michigan
Environmental Council. Dan Wyant, director of Michigan's Department
of Agriculture, said as stricter laws are phased in, the department
is working with farmers to control pollution without driving
them out of business. For more information on how your state
can deal with CAFOs, visit: http://www.serconline.org/cafos.html.
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Vermont's
Governor Seeks Legislation on Stormwater Permits
(Burlington Free Press 7/25)
Gov. Jim Douglas said he will ask the Legislature to remove
from state law a requirement that streams meet strict water-quality
standards within five years. Lawmakers passed a law in 2000
aimed to encourage the Natural Resources Agency to catch up
with hundreds of lapsed permits for stormwater discharges
and to bring streams within the requirements of state and
federal law that they be clean enough to support fish life
and to allow people to swim. Douglas and his secretary of
the Agency of Natural Resources, Elizabeth McLain, said they
made the decision after a Water Resources Board's decision
last month that said the agency's plan for meeting the law's
requirements was not sufficient. The board called for setting
"total maximum daily loads" of pollutants, including
sediment, which streams will be required to absorb. McLain
said the agency's chief complaint with the law, and the board's
interpretation of it, was that it set a hard-and-fast deadline
for reaching specific limits on sediment in streams. McLain
said sediment build-up is often caused by natural forces and
can't be predicted. The decision made by Douglas and McLain
drew sharp criticism from Senate President Peter Welch, as
well as Chris Killian, a lawyer for the Conservation Law Foundation,
who called it "outrageous." "They're trying
to accomplish two things. They're trying to get concerns over
water quality standards off the backs of the real estate interests.
And they're trying to take the cost burden of cleanup off
the backs of the polluters," said Killian. |
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New
York Wetland Bills (EANY.org)
AB 7905 and SB 4408, bills aimed at strengthening New York's
wetlands protections, have not moved from either the Assembly
or Senate Committees on Environmental Conservation since they
were introduced in April. The wetlands bills would amend New
York wetlands laws to reduce the size of regulated wetlands
from 12.4 to one acre. New York's wetlands protection laws
apply primarily to larger wetlands that are at least 12.4
acres in size. New York's wetlands, particularly isolated
wetlands, have been increasingly threatened by the U.S. EPA's
interpretation of the January 2001 Supreme Court ruling in
Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County vs. U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers (SWANCC) that the federal government no longer
has jurisdiction over isolated wetlands. According to the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's
estimates, approximately 20 percent of New York's wetlands
could be left unprotected as a result of the SWANCC ruling.
New legislation would provide increased protection against
encroaching development and ensure the preservation of large
numbers of smaller wetlands in New York. For more information
on how your state can protect wetlands, visit: http://www.serconline.org/wetlands/pkg_frameset.html. |
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