For those who missed the
story last week about U.S. Interior Secretary Gale
Norton´s expansive new definition for the term wetlands,
here is what the Miami Herald had to say about it.
Here is the Columbus [Ohio] Dispatch´s angle.
And here is NBC Tonight Show host Jay Leno´s take: "In an effort to
make the Bush environmental record look good, Interior Secretary Gale
Norton announced that under the Bush administration, there are now more
wetlands than any time since 1954. ...
"Well, yeah, if you count New Orleans."
Well, yeah. Also if you count decorative ponds in subdivisions, water
traps on golf courses, stormwater retention ponds, and the like. Why
stop there? Dozens of other nominally moist types of man-made ecosystems
could fit the bill. Backyard wading pools. Cesspools. Let the
imagination run wild. Wet and land are the only limiting
characteristics.
Speaking of New Orleans -- we were talking about the Crescent
City back there somewhere, weren´t we? -- one would hope that in this
post-Katrina era, developers and governments might have some new
thoughts about the concept of building new developments on land that
lies below sea level near waterways.
New thoughts like, for instance, "Don´t do it!"
Guess again.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that an environmental group is
suing Oakley, Calif., to try to halt that city´s plan to allow the
construction of 4,000 homes on a tract of levee-protected land that lies
six feet below sea level along a branch of the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta.
Six feet under. Imagine that.
Reuters
reports that the EPA plans to solicit public comment this
summer on a proposal to change the way regulators oversee emissions
from oil refineries and other industrial plants. The agency isn´t
saying yet whether the proposed change would pertain strictly to
refineries and related facilities, or whether it would also apply more
generally to power plants and the like.
Don´t worry, though. According to Reuters´ headline writer, the
change will only amount to a "tweak."
On the other hand ...
"Specifics on the impending proposed rule, first detailed broadly in
a brief Web site filing to the White House April 7, remain elusive,"
Reuters reports. "But refining officials familiar with the evolving plan
embraced the agency´s latest action."
Hmm. We´ll keep our eyes peeled for new dalliances -- I mean
developments.
Inbox plans to sneak away for some spring break R&R next
Monday and Tuesday. (Though spring training might be more like it: A
heavy dose of baseball with the kids in the park is on the agenda.)
We´ll see you next Thursday.
