by Renee Kjartan and Environment News Service

Renton Residents Unite for Community, Environment

Renton, Washington, neighbors have organized to protect their neighborhood and the environment.Alarmed at the unchecked development progressing outward from Renton along Cemetery Hill Road, neighbors have banded together to demand that City and County employees hold developers to the letter of the law.The group, called Citizens' Alliance for a Responsible Evendell (CARE), has launched a campaign to prevent the destruction of critical wildlife habitat, to preserve the rural character of the neighborhood, to provide for improved pedestrian and traffic safety and to prevent property damage and destruction caused by increased runoff and degraded drainage infrastructure.The response from the community has been outstanding. An initial detailed analysis of the Rezone and Plat applications has already been delivered to King County Executive Ron Sims, David Irons, Jesse Tanner and almost a dozen other city and county employees outlining the errors and inadequacies of these applications. Letters and surveys from many concerned area families were included. For more information, call Gwendolyn High (425)917-0117 or Marsha Rollinger (425)277-0245 or email Highlands_Neighbors@hotmail.com

TREE SITTERS OPPOSE GAS PIPELINE COMPANY

Activists from the Cascadia Defense Network began a tree sit-in recently to fight a proposed natural gas pipeline in Thurston County. The group says the $82 million, 49-mile long gas pipeline project will adversely impact endangered species habitat in the Black River National Wildlife Refuge. The section of the Black River that the Tulsa-based Williams Company wants to tear up contains one of three known Oregon Spotted Frog populations found in the Washington State. The CDN says the project violates the Endangered Species Act and the company is circumventing environmental and safety laws. In 2001 the Duke Energy Corp. of North Carolina broke-ground on a $340 million natural gas-fired power plant in Satsop, Washington, in the shadow of two failed nuclear reactors. They do not yet have a pipeline to provide the fuel to produce the plant's potential of 650 megawatts. However, Williams Company already has a 30-year contract to supply Duke with natural gas. From the perspective of those who wish to build a new power plant in Western Washington the contracts have been signed and it's a done deal. The Cascadia group says it disagrees.

GREENPEACE, NEW GUINEA PROTEST LOGGING

(ENS)-Greenpeace climbers ended their occupation of a log ship in Papua New Guinea (PNG) recently after the Prime Minister joined landowners and Greenpeace in condemning a logging project. Landowner communities, frustrated by the inaction of Papua New Guinea and international governments over the logging of their forests by the Malaysian company Concord Pacific, asked Greenpeace to help save their forests because the logging has brought social, environmental and economic problems. After the Prime Minister condemned the logging, Concord Pacific towed its log barge away. Greenpeace says the logging is destroying the world's third largest tropical ancient forest. Most of the logs are exported to China, Japan and Korea for the manufacture of furniture, flooring and cheap plywood. "This is modern daylight robbery disguised as a development project," said the Greenpeace Australia-Pacific forests campaigner. "It is a flagrant example of the ongoing destruction of ancient forests worldwide and the communities who depend on them for their livelihoods."

NEW FINDINGS ABOUT AIDS IN AFRICA

Until recently, demographers predicted continuing population pressures in African countries, despite the AIDS crisis. But data due by the end of the year from the United Nations now may show severe population drops and distortions due to the epidemic, and life expectancy more representative of the Middle Ages than the 21st Century, says a report by the Earth Policy Institute (EPI). It is now believed that AIDS affects women's fertility and there may be drastic population declines for many African countries, including Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Zambia. "Life expectancy is falling precipitously. In Zimbabwe, without AIDS, life expectancy in 2010 would be 70 years, but with AIDS, it is expected to fall below 35 years....The demography of this epidemic is not well understood simply because, in contrast to most infectious diseases, which take their heaviest toll among the elderly and the very young, this virus takes its greatest toll among young adults." For the complete article go to www.earth-policy.org.

SNOWMOBILE FUMES PERVADE YELLOWSTONE

About 550 snowmobiles pass through West Yellowstone gates on an average day, and double that in the winter. Forest magazine, published by Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, www.fseee.org, says rangers last year wore respirators after complaining of headaches, nausea and watering eyes "because of the overpowering fumes" and a "toxic blue haze." Meanwhile the Bush administration supports a lawsuit by the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Assn. challenging a ban on the vehicles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

WETLANDS HELP CLEAN MINING WASTE

(ENS) - Wetlands can help clean up acidic runoff from mine waste, according to geologists from the University of Cincinnati. Acid mine drainage from abandoned coalmines is a problem around the world, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. When water reacts with materials like sulfur and sulfide-bearing metal ores in exposed rock, sulfuric acid is produced, turning water acidic. This can harm ecosystems by releasing heavy metals and other toxins. Wetlands can help clean up acid mine runoff because they harbor microbes that can convert sulfates into sulfides, which make the water less acidic.

POPULATION CONNECTION

The environmental group Zero Population Growth has changed its name to Population Connection. The group says, "The world's population continues to grow by 80 million people every year. In some of the most desperately poor places, women have an average of 6, even 7 children--because they lack access to the most basic education and health services. Here in the US, we still have appallingly high teen pregnancy rates....Couples with access to reproductive health services have smaller, healthier families, and population growth slows. Yet the Bush administration....panders to the hard right wing...by imposing the Bush Global Gag Rule, by proposing a budget that completely guts vital international family planning programs and by placing harsh restrictions on sex education in our schools." To get involved go to www.zpg.org or call 1-800-POP-1956.