S/N

Title

Synopsis

I. Subject Area: Environmental Policy and Regulation

1

Southern California considers stricter smog checks

The Air Quality and Management District, the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, proposed stricter emissions checks for motor vehicles in some Los Angeles suburbs as part of the efforts to reduce air pollution.

2

Ontario to shut outdated hospital incinerators

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment plans to tighten regulations governing the handling of hazardous waste in the province and shut down more than 40 outdated hospital incinerators that have become a source of toxic emissions.

3

Commission seeks tighter ballast water rules

The Pews Ocean Commission is seeking tighter ballast water rules for all ships docking in the ports in United States.

4

Canada to cut sulphur content in diesel fuel

The Government of Canada proposed new regulation to reduce the level of sulphur in on-road diesel fuel from the current average of 500 ppm to 15 ppm.

II. Subject Area: Green and Renewable Energy

5

Telecommunications facility to be powered by fuel cell

The public and private organisations in Massachusetts, United States, are working on a project to get the nation's first telecommunications site to be powered by fuel cells.

6

Winds over European waters harnessed for electricity

The Belgian Energy Minister announced at a conference held in Brussels that the government plans to support wind farm construction off Belgium's North Sea Coast.

III. Subject Area: Environmental Management

7

Researchers develop new way to keep carbon dioxide from atmosphere

Researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in San Francisco found a new method for removing carbon dioxide from power plants and storing it in the ocean.

IV. Subject Area: Environmental Public Health

8

Kids lungs stunted by air pollution

A study conducted by the researchers from the Keck School of Medicine in California showed that air pollution would affect the growth and development of children's lungs.

V. Subject Area: General Environmental News

9

Water could be used as a safe and inexpensive solvent

Researchers from the University of Arkansas in United States developed a new water-based process for extracting active ingredients from a plant that has medicinal properties. This new method is less toxic compared to the current industrial processing technique which uses solvent.

Item 1

Southern California considers stricter smog checks

Summary

AQMD's Governing Board would propose to the Bureau of Automotive Repair, the agency responsible for the Smog Check program, to implement the Partially Enhanced program next year after collecting public feedback at meetings this month.

Reference

http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-18-09.html

Item 2

Ontario to shut outdated hospital incinerators

Summary

Starting from 1 January 2002, all waste generators in the province would be required to register their hazardous wastes annually rather than the present one-time-only requirement. The Ministry would also implement a new electronic monitoring system that could provide immediate information on the location and movement of hazardous waste. In addition, the plan also calls for the destruction of 99,000 tons of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in storage in Ontario. These PCBs were used mainly as a cooling oil in electric transformers during the 1920s and 1930s, and their use was halted by the government in the 1970s. The Ministry would also phase out all the 44 hospital incinerators in the Canadian province as most of the incinerators are more than 20 years old and are not designed to handle the type of the waste material now being produced.

Reference

http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/12/12192001/reu_45916.asp

Item 3

Commission seeks tighter ballast water rules

Summary

Ballast water is carried in ships to increase their stability, and it is one of the leading sources of introduced species, such as fish, crabs, marine worms and bacteria to the coastal waters. Such species now inhabit many coastal environments from Maine to Hawaii, and it had cost the nations million of dollars for management, control and lost revenues to fisheries. One established method to prevent introduced species from harming the coasts is to exchange ballast water in the open ocean. Under the 1996 National Invasive Species Act, the US Coast Guard is required to report to Congress on the level of voluntary compliance for reporting ballast water exchanges and to initiate a mandatory program if such compliance is inadequate. The Coast Guard estimated that the current rate of compliance is about 20 percent, and is scheduled to decide in January 2002 on whether to make ballast water exchange mandatory.

Reference

http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-18-09.html

Item 4

Canada to cut sulphur content in diesel fuel

Summary

The Government of Canada proposed new regulation to reduce the level of sulphur in on-road diesel fuel from the current average of 500 ppm to 15 ppm. The new 15 ppm limit would come into effect on 1 June 2006 for producers and importers and on 1 September 2006 for sellers to allow for the turnover of diesel supplies. In the Arctic regions, the limit on sales would come into effect a year later to allow for slower turnover and to reflect logistical difficulties in the far north.

According to the Environment Minister, reducing sulphur in on-road diesel fuel is one important step in reducing harmful emissions from vehicles, engines and fuels and to improve air quality for Canadians. Combined with new, more stringent vehicle emission requirements to be proposed early next year and low sulphur gasoline regulations which would start next summer, the new low sulphur diesel fuel requlation would help protect the health of Canadians by significantly reducing air pollution.

Reference

http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=18961&image1=2

Item 5

Telecommunications facility to be powered by fuel cell

Summary

The companies are working to develop the 5kW fuel cell systems which would produce enough energy to meet the needs of most distributed telecommunications electronic sites, including those that support local and wireless phone services. The fuel cell system would be powered by natural gas. The companies would also conduct a demonstration on the use of the fuel cell system. During the demonstration, the fuel cell system would supply power to the Verizon facility, which provides phone service to nearly 200 local customers and houses engineering, maintenance and installation personnel, for a duration of 500 hours. Batteries and the electric grid would be used to provide backup power.

Reference

http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=18945

Item 6

Winds over European waters harnessed for electricity

Summary

The Belgian Energy Minister announced at a conference held in Brussels that the government plans to support wind farm construction off Belgium's North Sea Coast. The draft plan would combine the elements of Germany's financial support system and the green certificates method used in The Netherlands. Starting from next year, offshore wind energy generators would receive green certificates for the electricity they produce and utilities would be obliged to buy them in amounts equal to two percent of the electricity they supply by 2002. This figure would increase to six percent by 2006 and fines would apply to energy companies for not acquiring enough certificates to cover the obligation. Generators can sell green certificates to the grid operators at a fixed rate per kilowatt hour and operators can in turn sell them in the open market.

Reference

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/12/12172001/winds_45871.asp

Item 7

Researchers develop new way to keep carbon dioxide from atmosphere

Summary

This new method would put the greenhouse gas into ocean in a manner that will have smaller environmental and ecological impacts. The new process would not result in a drastic change in the ocean pH and is less biologically harmful compared to other methods such as direct injection ocean carbon sequestration and ocean fertilization. The researchers believed that the carbonate dissolution process would expand the capacity of the ocean to store carbon dioxide while minimising the amount of carbon going back into the atmosphere, unlike some of the other forms of carbon dioxide sequestration.

Reference

http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=18900&image1=2

Item 8

Kids lungs stunted by air pollution

Summary

A study conducted by the researchers from the Keck School of Medicine in Southern California showed that high levels of pollution in the air could dramatically slow down the healthy growth and development of children's lungs. The team studied 110 children who had lived in Southern California in the 1990s but later moved away. The children were first tested at about age 10 in Southern California then followed up at age 15, after they had relocated to other communities in California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Arizona or Utah. The researchers tested the lung function by having each child taking a deep breath and then measured how much and how fast the kids could blow out the air. The more they could blow, the higher the level of lung function. The researchers found that students who had moved to areas with fewer microscopic particles in the air such as dust and smoke showed increased growth in lung function. Those who moved to areas with more particulate matter showed a slowdown in lung function growth. The trend seemed strongest for those who had moved away three years or more before they were tested. The researchers hoped to follow the children as they progress into adulthood so as to better understand any persistent and long-term effects of pollution.

Reference

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/12/12182001/lungs_45902.asp

Item 9

Water could be used as a safe and inexpensive solvent

Summary

This new water-based extraction process is less toxic compared to the current industrial processing technique which uses solvent such as hexane to extract the desired compounds from the plant. Water extraction is also a cost effective alternative because it eliminates the solvent recovery stage and water is less expensive than most industrial solvents. Furthermore, water is environmentally benign and would not cause many of the problems encountered with the use and disposal of many industrial solvents. The researchers compared their water-based extraction process with the standard chemical extraction process and found that similar concentrations of the compounds were obtained by using both processes.

Reference

http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-18-09.html