Thursday, 19 Jul 2007

Just When You Thought It Was Safe-ish

Rush-hour steam-pipe explosion rattles Manhattan

An 83-year-old underground steam pipe exploded near New York City's Grand Central Terminal during rush hour yesterday, causing one death, more than 40 injuries, and a lot of rattled nerves. After the initial explosion -- a plume as high as the Chrysler Building that onlookers compared to a volcano, the Yellowstone geyser, and the World Trade Center attack -- fears arose about possible asbestos contamination. Crews from local utility Con Edison and the city's Department of Environmental Protection spent the night testing air and debris samples for traces of the carcinogen, which was often used in construction before the risks were fully known. While they found no asbestos in the air, they did find it in muddy debris at the site, and advised those who had been in the area to shower and to bag their clothes for cleaning or disposal. An official also warned area residents to put air conditioners on recirculate to avoid the chance of drawing asbestos into their homes. Man, that city cannot get a break.

Use the Task Force, Dick

Members of mysterious energy task force finally revealed

You might want to sit down for this: the Bush administration's national energy policy was heavily influenced by Big Industry. Shocking, we know. In 2001, a task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney met with various entities to discuss energy policy; since then, the administration has battled to keep from saying who was involved. Finally, The Washington Post has acquired the names of some 300 interest groups and individuals who gave input, including electric utilities, natural-resource trade groups, and about 20 oil and gas companies. Green groups were lumped together into a single meeting, after the initial draft was nearly complete. It remains unclear why the Bushies fought to keep the list on the down low; after all, their priorities are hardly a secret. In other Cheney news: Spurred by an earlier piece in the Post, House Democrats plan to hold a hearing at the end of July to look into the veep's role in policy moves that led to the massive die-off of Klamath River salmon in 2002.


Whole Foods founder John Mackey made the news this week for posing as a company booster in online chat rooms. But the CEO's questionable behavior -- for which he's apologized -- is just part of a complicated situation that finds the Federal Trade Commission trying to block a Whole Foods buyout of competitor Wild Oats. On what grounds are the regulators acting, and what will become of the two leading natural-foods stores in the U.S.? Tom Philpott serves up some answers in Victual Reality.

Swine By Us

Court rules against green groups, lets factory farms off the hook

Some 2,600 livestock companies are participating in a sweet deal from the U.S. EPA. In exchange for paying a minimal fee and agreeing to participate in an air-quality data-collection program, factory farms can basically be exempt from Clean Air Act requirements for 30 months. When the swap was announced in early 2005, environmentalists cried foul; green groups sued the EPA, claiming that the agency failed to follow rulemaking procedures. But this week, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the EPA, in effect allowing factory farms participating in the program to pollute and stink as much as they like without fear of litigation. "The EPA decided to give them blanket amnesty in the form of, 'You send us a check ... and we'll guarantee that no one will sue you,'" says David Bookbinder, senior attorney for the Sierra Club. Data collection began this summer; of the 14,000 farms signed on to the compliance agreement, only 24 will actually be studied. The rest are happy as pigs in ... well, you know.

Whose Fault Is It, Anyway?

Carmakers, nuclear plant halt operations after Japan quake

Aftershocks from Monday's earthquake in Japan continue to be felt -- and not the kind that shake the ground. Yesterday, officials ordered the nuclear plant that was damaged in the quake to shut down indefinitely while operators assess and fix some 53 problems discovered over the course of the last few days. They also acknowledged that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co., sits above an active fault line -- an inconvenient truth the utility and the government had long denied. The shutdown could cause power shortages in Tokyo this summer, some fear; plant operators, who have been publicly reprimanded for their response to the incident, are requesting support from other utilities and asking customers to "redouble their energy-saving efforts." The quake also hit a key auto-parts supplier in the region, leading Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, and Subaru to temporarily suspend production. Wow, forced conservation and fewer cars? Mother Nature has a sick sense of humor.