Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution by Gerald E. Markowitz, David Rosner. Deceit and Denial details the attempts by the chemical and lead industries to deceive Americans about the dangers that their deadly products present to workers, the public, and consumers. Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner pursued evidence steadily and relentlessly, interviewed the important players, investigated untapped sources, and uncovered a bruising story of cynical and cruel disregard for health and human rights. The two authors had unique access to materials on the inner workings of the two industries they studied. Because of their expertise on occupational health, they were asked to review corporate records of the lead industry and the plastics industry by lawyers working on class action suits on behalf of child victims of lead poisoning and workers harmed by exposure to vinyl chloride in chemical plants. The result is a chronicle of corporate malfeasance, using internal memos, letters, minutes and other corporate and industry documents.
Review of Deceit and Denial and links to full text.

"Silent Scourge: Children, Pollution and Why Scientists Disagree," New Book by University of Wisconsin Psychology Professor Colleen F. Moore
In her recently published book (Oxford University Press; 019515391X, hardback, 328 pages) developmental psychologist Colleen Moore looks at the effects of lead, mercury, noise, pesticides, dioxins, and PCBs on the developing brains of children. According to the book's web site, "Moore focuses, in particular, on the impact of these pollutants on children's psychological development --- their intellectual functioning, behavior, and emotional states. Only by understanding the impact of pollution can we prevent future negative effects on quality of life and even pollution disasters from occurring."
Children and Pollution, book web site
Purchase from Oxford University Press
Book review by Eric Ness, Grist Magazine
Bam! Popular toys may leave kids' ears ringing By Anita Clark, Racine Journal Times

MOSTLY MISSISSIPPI: A Very Damp Adventure By Harold Speakman--The charming classic of river travel now back in print! In 1925, Harold Speakman and his new wife, Frances “Russell” Lindsay Speakman, journeyed down the entire Mississippi River, from the headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, on a twenty-foot houseboat. A classic American travel narrative that captures the soul of the river, Mostly Mississippi features lyrical descriptions of encounters with archetypal characters, landscapes, and experiences. The Speakmans meet lumberjacks in northern Minnesota and Mormons at Nauvoo, Illinois, as well as roustabouts, hoboes, farmers, drifters, Southern grandees, Native Americans, collegians thirsting for the real world, and convicts. They also meet William Alexander Percy, the “Poet of the Delta”; Laura Frazer, the inspiration for Mark Twain’s Becky Thatcher; and the prototypical “lady from Dubuque” as described by the New Yorker. Illustrated by Harold Speakman’s paintings and sketches and Russell Speakman’s delightful drawings, Mostly Mississippi captures the deepening emotional bond of a newly married couple embarked on a grand adventure. Harold Speakman (1888-–1928) was a writer, poet, and artist. He wrote eight books, including the travel narratives Hilltops in Galilee (1923), Beyond Shanghai (1922), and Here’s Ireland (1925).
For more information, visit the book's webpage.

MTBE -- Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether Provision Up for Voting this Week? MTBE, an "oxygenate" gasoline additive that makes gasoline burn cleaner in the wintertime, remains at the center of a federal energy bill leglislative controversy. The additive has contaminated groundwater from leaking gasoline storage tanks in many places around the county. A bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Senate originally blocked the bill for that reason and others. However, lawsuits are pending across the country, and the debate is brewing in the nation's capital. Two sides are now at odds on legislation that would give legal protection to MTBE producers in the long-debated energy bill. To get the scaled-down $13 billion bill through its chambers, Senate Republicans have agreed to cut the protection provision from the energy bill and want to bring the legislation to a vote this week. ''I do not want to give immunity to the manufacturers of MTBE,'' said Rep. Joe Hoeffel, D-13th District. ''They need to be held accountable for contaminating drinking water across the country.'' However, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and newly confirmed Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, both of Texas, have said they will not let the House vote on the bill without the ''safe harbor'' provision. Ethanol is offered by a number of farm states as an alternative to MTBE, yet it also carries an environmental price.

General Accounting Office (GAO) Report on MTBE Contamination From Underground Storage Tanks (.pdf)
USEPA: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether Overview
American Petroleum Institute: MTBE Resource Center
Environmental Working Group: MTBE Contamination: Illinois sites, Iowa sites, Minnesota sites, Missouri sites, Wisconsin sites.
California Energy Commission: MTBE Phaseout in California
National Ground Water Association (NGWA) MTBE Postion Paper
American Water Works Association: Drinking Water vs. MTBE and Ethanol: And the winner is... ?
USGS: Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) and Other Gasoline Oxygenates
Gas additive leak spurs fears in Hatfield Township Clean-air chemical's fate is subject of debate in Congress. By Pervaiz Shallwani Of The Morning Call 2/29/04

Winona Earth Day Celebration: Saturday, April 24th, 2004
UMBSN Will Gather Stakeholder Feedback and Discuss Clean Water Issues at the Winona Earth Day Celebration. The celebration will be held from 11:00am to 6:30pm at Lake Park in Winona, Minnesota. Events will include a Green Living Fair featuring presentations on Alternative Energy, Green Practices, Food Market and Local Producers Showcase, and a wide variety of Educational Booths, Procession of the Species, Silent Sports Spectacular, Locally and Nationally Known Guest Speakers, a Silent Sports Gear Swap Meet, and Live Music. The Silent Sports Spectacular will include several guided hiking, biking, canoeing, and kayaking tours of Winona's trails, bluffs, lakes, prairies, and backwaters. The Food Market and Local Producers Showcase will feature local food along with great cooking tips from French Chef Monique Jamet Hooke. Live Music will feature: The Buffalo Gals, Jack Norton, Mudcat Grant, John Bernadot, and others. Education, activities, and fun for the whole family!!
Go to Winona Earth Day.org to learn more.
Click Here to view the full Program of Events.

Chapter 57 of the Upper Basin Chronicles
Anaerobica Exotica - A Dream of the River
Laura had a bad dream. She lay wide awake, blinking at the intensity at what she had just witnessed. A lifeless river. Dead oak trees. Scarred and deeply-gullied hillside farmland. Ditch-straight creeks leveed high from dredging. Everywhere junked automobiles, abandoned in farm yards and driveways. Mercy. [More...]

Schooner Virginia's Deck Taking Shape
The Schooner Virginia shipwrights have already wrestled deck beams into place and are laying the deck itself in early January with steady progress toward the completion of the 114' x 24' x 12'3" sailing schooner. Click the photo for more construction photos. Also see the project's live web cam. The Port of Norfolk hosts the Schooner Virginia, an education-focused, community-based wooden ship project fully underway, and targeted at highlighting Virginia's economy, tourism, and culture. Will replica shipbuilding come to the Upper Mississippi River?

Corps' Upper Mississippi River / Illinois Waterway Navigation Study Gets Another Sharp Review from the National Research Council
The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers' Navigation Study received a second critical review in the most recent report from the National Research Council's transportation scientists. Samples of bold points in findings from the prepublication version summary in the table below. Read the report (45p., .pdf). Review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Upper Mississippi-Illinois Waterway Restructured Feasibility Study: Interim Report, National Research Council, 12/5/03. (Also see the Corps of Engineers news release on the NRC report.)

Chapter 2, Findings and Recommendations

Conservation Security Program Funding Restored; Stakeholders Call for Supplement to Proposed Rules: Comment Period Ends March 2nd, 2004 On Jan. 22, the Senate restored full funding of the Conservation Security Program to nearly $8 billion beginning in fiscal year 2005. "The omnibus bill restores the funding dedicated to the Conservation Security Program in the 2002 farm bill and clears the path for USDA to carry out CSP as enacted to compensate farmers and ranchers across America for conserving soil, water, air, energy, wildlife and other resources," said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. Harkin and many others are calling for the USDA to scrap the sharply restrictive rules proposed in December, 2003 to carry out a $41 million program. Both environmental and agricultural interests are urging the USDA to immediately issue a supplement to the proposed rules so farmers, ranchers and others will have an opportunity to comment on what USDA is considering for the final rules for a fully funded CSP.
Comments to:
Conservation Security Program Comments
ATTN: David McKay
NRCS Conservation Operations Division
P.O. Box 2890
Washington, D.C. 20013
or by email to david.mckay@usda.gov; Attn: Conservation Security Program.
Comments will be accepted for 60 days [from Federal Register publication].
CSP Proposed Rule (119p.; .pdf)
CSP Fact Sheet (2p., .pdf)
CSP Summary of Proposed Rule (13p.; .pdf)
Grassley Objects to Limited CSP Washington, DC -- by Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, U.S. Senate, 12/17/03
Rules would limit conservation program, by Philip Brasher, Des Moines Register, 12/18/03.
Conservation Security Program Page, The Minnesota Project
Proposed Conservation Security Program Rules a Dissapointment by Loni Kemp, January 7, 2004
Groups united in questioning CSP rules 2/17/0404 By Jean Caspers-Simmet Agri News staff writer

The McKnight Foundation Awards $50,000 Grant to Pheasants Forever Environmental Grant Focuses on Mississippi River Basin in Iowa and Minnesota
The McKnight Foundation has awarded Pheasants Forever, Inc. a two-year grant of $50,000. The grant will be used to promote landowner enrollment in the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (Continuous CRP). Continuous CRP enrolls small parcels of land as filter strips and riparian buffers along waterways in order to protect soil, improve water and air quality, and enhance fish and wildlife habitat. Pheasants Forever's proposal targets rivers in the Mississippi River watershed in northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota. Pheasants Forever's grant falls under The McKnight Foundation's Mississippi River initiative. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that future generations of residents along the Mississippi River are able to enjoy clean water, fresh air, outdoor recreation, and beautiful scenery.

Bruce Babbitt on Balance for Rivers and Dams
A recent article in Open Spaces Quarterly by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt (pictured at left with USGS geologist Mel Kuntz), titled, "A River Runs Against It: America's Evolving View of Dams," offers the emerging point of view on the value of free-flowing rivers. Babbitt takes the reader through the logic and the history of dam building and river restoration. "No, we're not taking aim at all dams. But we should strike a balance between the needs of the river and the demands of river users," he states. (This is a "must read" according to the Sierra Club's Dean Rebuffoni of Minneapolis, where Lock and Dam Number 1 is under scrutiny for a restoration of the once free-flowing Falls of Saint Anthony.

Agrarian Philosopher and Essayist
Wendell Berry Speaks Out
In Citizenship Papers (Shoemaker & Hoard; Sept., 2003) -- to date his most recent collection of essays -- writer, farmer, poet, novelist, and teacher Wendell Berry offers some of his best work. While challenging the conservation movement to find a new rural economy, he pointedly cites the global industrial economy for its rapacious treatment of democracy, the land, and the people. Berry calls for a local consumers' and small farmers' revolt to revive rural areas with a viable, sustaining economy. One of the principal essays, “A Citizen’s Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States of America” appeared as a full page ad placed by the Orion Society in the New York Times in February of this year. Wendell Berry speaks out as the conscience of rural America, an ever-hopeful agrarian, determined to do the right thing in the face of significant evidence of considerable decline in rural communities, rural quality of life, in the degradation of working lands. This book should be on the 'must read' list of every land manager in the nation.
Agrarians of the World, Unite!
Wendell Berry's vision, and how Christians should respond to it.
By Eric Miller, Christianity Today, 06/10/02
Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky
Internet Resources Page by Bro. Tom Murphy, Order of Carmelites
The New Patriotism Series
Orion Society; three books, two by Wendell Berry

New Upper Mississippi River Freshwater Mussel Web Site from FWS and USGS
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Geological Survey recently announced a new internet site featuring the freshwater mussels in the Upper River from among the 300 North American freshwater mussel species. According to FWS biologist Gary Wege, the site provides a wealth of information, plus pays special attention to the federally endangered Higgins eye pearlymussel (Lampsilis higginsii) and the exotic invaders, the zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha). The site offers history, ecology, current harvest and threats, photography, video and animated multimedia, posters, links, and an education section for teachers. The site also links directly to an online version of the excellent Illinois Natural History Survey manual, Field guide to freshwater mussels of the Midwest, by Cummings and Mayer. For more information:
Gary Wege, Fish and Wildlife Biologist
Ph: 612-725-3548, gary_wege@fws.gov

New Wisconsin Breast Cancer Study Cites Possible Elevated Risk for Young and/or Premenopausal Women with PCBs in Game Fish
A newly published study (abstract online at Environmental Health Perspectives) titled, "Potential Exposure to PCBs, DDT, and PBDEs from Sport-Caught Fish Consumption in Relation to Breast Cancer Risk in Wisconsin," examined breast cancer cases for women 20-69 years of age, diagnosed in 1998-2000. The found a relative risk of breast cancer for women who had recently consumed sport-caught fish that was similar to that of women who had never eaten sportcaught fish. However, it does say, "This study demonstrates no overall association between recent sport-caught fish consumption and breast cancer, although there may be an increased breast cancer risk for subgroups of women who are young and/or premenopausal," according to the abstract. The study is by Jane A. McElroy, Marty S. Kanarek, Amy Trentham-Dietz, Stephanie A. Robert, John M. Hampton, Polly A. Newcomb, Henry A. Anderson, and Patrick L. Remington (most are from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, except Dr. Anderson, who is chief medical officer with the Wisconsin Division of Public Health).

Meanwhile, Rebecca Katers of the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin has published a list of Breast Cancer, PCBs and Dioxin studies, some citing strong associations with breast cancer, at the Fox River Watch web site. Fox River Watch also publishes comments critical of the state's fish consumption advisories by a toxicologist under contract to the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin.

Lower Mississippi River Angler Seeks River Keeper Funding
Sidney Montgomery, of Tara Wildlife near Vicksburg, Mississippi, wants to be the river keeper for the Lower Mississippi River, covering the long reach from Alton, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Montgomery, also a longtime supporter of the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee, was recently featured in an article by Robert Montgomery (no relation) reprinted here from BASSMASTER magazine. The avid bass angler is working hard to raise the considerable funds required to start and sustain a riverkeeper project. You can contact Sidney Montgomery at <sidney@tarawildlife.com>.
Tara Wildlife www.tarawildlife.com
Riverkeeper, Inc. www.riverkeeper.org/
Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee (LMRCC) www.lmrcc.org
BASSMASTER espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster

UMBSN Releases Results of Recent Stakeholder Survey
The Upper Mississippi Basin Stakeholder Network surveyed stakeholder participants in June and July of this year. The results are available in a .pdf document (109KB). Thank you very much to everyone who completed the survey! UMBSN 2003 Survey Results.

Give Sustainable Local Farm, Forest, and Fisheries Products, Art, Photography, Writing, Music, and Donations for the Holidays!
You can use your holiday shopping dollars to build a sustainable economy in your watershed. Support the people who support sustainable land use. Where to find them? Locally-harvested Christmas trees and greenery are a great-start. [Photo of Elsie and Pearl Schuenemann of the "Christmas Tree Ship" family standing among Christmas trees for sale in Chicago, 1917. Courtesy Chicago Historical Society] Check with your local and community newspapers, your food co-op, local art tours. Call your agricultural extension agent. Check with your book store and music stores (any left?) for local writers, musicians, artists, and photographers. Recommend sustainable farm-based products and enterprises to your friends and family. Give to the organizations who support the land and water you care about. Make a donation in someone's name to a conservation, watershed, or environmental group in your area. Here are a few resources among many, many. (Part of the fun is finding these folks!)
LocalHarvest -- find organic products close to you.
Minnesota Artists Online -- McKnight Foundation Minnesota Artists Directory.
Big River Magazine -- Covering the Upper River from the Twins to the Quads.
Julia Crozier, Artist, Blue Heron Studio, Winona, Minnesota.
Bernadette Mahfood, Hotflash Designs, Winona, Minnesota.
Allen Blake Sheldon, Photographer, Trempealeau, Wisconsin; absheldon@earthlink.net.
Yarrow Brown, Artist, Winona, Minnesota.
Vera Ming Wong, vera@arakunem-arts.com; (651-246-4074).
Robert J. Hurt, Aerial Photography, Dakota, MN; archenv@acegroup.cc.
The Outside [Magazine] Canon -- A Few Great Books.
Project Art for Nature -- "collaboration of artists and illustrators from Minnesota and Wisconsin, working independently and collaboratively to create artwork which promotes stewardship of threatened natural areas in our region."

More Upper Mississippi Waterfronts as Viewed from the Big Boat -- Hannibal and St. Louis
Upper Mississippi American Heritage River Listserv [MISSRIVERL@LISTS.UMN.EDU] contributor Andrew M. Hine of St. Paul, Minnesota recently created a series of brief powerpoint (.ppt) slide presentations of photographs taken from the 21st to 28th of September, 2003 while aboard the American Queen steamboat. Mr. Hine was en route to St. Louis with his wife and her grandparents. Here are Andrew Hine's photos of these waterfronts:
Winona, MN (669KB, .ppt) La Crosse, WI (1,430KB .ppt) Dubuque, IA (1,109KB, .ppt)
Burlington, IA (1,005KB, .ppt) Hannibal, MO (275KB, .ppt) St. Louis, MO (355KB, .ppt)
Photographer Hine (36KB, .jpg) The presentations are copyrighted; please credit Mr. Hine on their use.

BASSMASTER Sees Sport Decline
Thirty-Five Greatest Threats to Fishing
This very active organization in June 2003 published a feature story alarm for its members in an attempt to counter what it believes is a serious threat to the sport -- declining participation and a host of other issues. In addition, most of the list comprises environmental problems, including public health advisories, water level manipulation during spawning seasons, climate change, runoff pollution, shoreline development, urban sprawl, factory farms, invasive plants, personalized watercraft, all among several others. See the Bassmasters feature.

Environmental Working Group Again Details Farm Subsidy Recipients Online
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), the Washington, D.C., and Oakland, California-based environmental research organization "dedicated to improving public health and protecting the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food," again offers taxpayers a publicly available, searchable Internet database of government farm subsidy payment records. Search the EWG Farm Subsidy Database. News articles:
Big farms get bulk of federal payments (By JERRY PERKINS, Des Moines Register, 09/10/03)
Environmental group revives farm subsidy debate (By Dan Looker, Successful Farming, 09/09/03)
Web Site Helped Change Farm Policy (By Elizabeth Becker, The New York Times, 02/24/02)

"Running Pure" -- How Forests Can Provide Cleaner, Cheaper Water for Cities
The new World Wildlife Fund / World Bank report on the value of protecting forests as a means for providing cities with cleaner, cheaper water represents a real value -- "a forest protection strategy can result in massive savings." The 114 page report was released in early September by the World Bank and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-International). "There appears to be a clear link between forests and the quality of water coming out of a catchment, a much more sporadic link between forests and the quantity of water available and a variable link between forests and the constancy of flow." The extensively researched document looked at 105 large cities around the world. See Running Pure from the World Bank/WWF Alliance.

New Report Available: "Conservation Priorities for the Freshwater Biodiversity in the Upper Mississippi River Basin"
A new report, an assessment of freshwater biological diversity in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, by Roy E. Weitzell, Mary Lammert Khoury, Paula Gagnon, Brian Scheurs, Dennis Grossman, and Jonathan Higgins, and published by NatureServe and The Nature Conservancy creates a "network of areas that together represent the full diversity of target species and aquatic ecological systems, as well as the top forty-seven areas for both terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity," according to one of the authors, Mary Khoury. "[The report is for] conservation practioners and natural resource managers to guide action needed to sustain freshwater biodiversity in this national treasure." Downloadable from http://www.conserveonline.org (select browse library) and http://www.natureserve.org. Additional spatial data, species and project databases are available by request to Mary Khoury, Freshwater Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy, mkhoury@tnc.org; (312) 759-8017 ext. 16. See the report page.

Implementation Plan Released for the Regional Fecal Coliform TMDL for the Lower Mississippi River Basin
Norman Senjem of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced the release of the Total Daily Minimum Load (TMDL) Implementation Plan for watersheds in southeast Minnesota on October 30, 2003. Download the report. The TMDL plan is in support of the goals of the Basin Alliance for the Lower Mississippi in Minnesota (BALMM). "BALMM is a locally-led alliance of land and water resource agencies formed to coordinate efforts to protect and improve water quality in the Lower Mississippi River Basin in Minnesota." See the BALMM pages on UMBSN.

Special Report: Mother Jones
The "Ungreening of America" Examined
As the chorus of protest at the environmental policies of the present administration grows ever louder, here's a sample of such reporting from the September 2003 Mother Jones magazine, a feature that documents the shift away from the conservation ethic built in the nation since the late 19th century. See the ungreening timeline. The recent announcement of the 2003 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service to be presented to Senator Edwardy Kennedy at Texas A&M University on November 7, makes public a schism between moderate conservatives and neo-conservatives, and impling that at least some traditional conservatives are unhappy with the conservation direction of the nation, as well. On the other hand, one of the voices of the neoconservative conservation shift is Peter Huber, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Huber wrote "Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists," in 1998 in response to Albert Gore's "Earth in the Balance."

Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act, HR961, Senate Committee Hearing Testimony
According to Karrie Jackelen of the office of Congressman Ron Kind on Wednesday, 9/24, "Everything went well at the Senate hearing yesterday on HR 961. Our thanks to Holly Stoerker (UMRBA) for her testimony once again. The next step is getting it on the Senate schedule." The Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act, was heard before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday, September 23. Senator Lisa Murkowski (AK) presided. Rep. Kind and Holly Stoerker, of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, testified, as did Dr. Robert Hirsch, associate director, United States Geological Survey . Read testimony from the hearing, "Salt Cedar and Miscellaneous Water Bills." Email the Committee. Members. Rep. Kind introduced the bill in February, 2003. House co-sponsors include: Rep. Jerry Costello [IL-12], Rep. Gil Gutknecht [MN-1], Rep. Mark Kennedy [MN-6], Rep. Dale Kildee [MI-5], Rep. Jim Leach [IA-2], and Rep. Jim Nussle [IA-1]. Senator Russ Feingold is the principal senate sponsor. The bill grew out of the "Upper Mississippi Basin Stewardship Initiative," conceived by Barry Drazkowski and Rory Vose at Saint Mary's University with the support of a core development team represented by the Mississippi River Basin Alliance, American Rivers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the University of Minnesota.

Understanding the Neoconservative Movement; A Primer
The respected Christian Science Monitor published an overview of the neoconservative movement in the federal government in August. It covers the basic concepts, some of the history, the key figures with their brief biographies and statements, and offers expert opinion on the movement itself. Who are Irving Kristol, Norman Podhorettz, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle , Douglas Feith, Lewis Libby, John Bolton, Elliot Abrams, Robert Kagan, Michael Ledeen, William Kristol, and Frank Gaffney, Jr., and how are they shaping the national direction, anyway? Find out.
Read the Monitor's overview, "Empire builders."
Other points of view:
The Neoconservative Persuasion, by Irving Kristol, The Weekly Standard, 08/25/03
Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists, by Peter W. Huber, The Manhattan Institute, 04/98.
REP America, Republicans for Environmental Protection, website.
Letter to the Editor, by Malachi McNeilus, 01/11/04.

Listen
Hear the Tale of Environmental Legislation at the State Level in This America Life's "The Annoying Gap Between Theory ... and Practice" Documentary from WBEZ Radio, Chicago
"This American Life," from Public Radio International (PRI) via WBEZ every Saturday afternoon in some locales. Listen to host Ira Glass follow a Michigan state legislator in his first term of office -- a guy interested in preserving the environment for his constituents -- and what happens to a piece of pro-conservation legislation. Fascinating; in "Act Two. Detroit Is In the House. Alex Blumberg spends three days with Michigan state representative Steve Tobocman. He ran for office because he thought that would be the best way to change things for his neighborhood in Detroit. Can you change things from the inside without changing on the inside yourself? (26 minutes)"
This web site uses frames, so you need to navigate a bit to find it. Go to This American Life and the link in the lefthand column, titled, "All Episodes/RealAudio in order of broadcast," then look for 11/17/2003, "Act 2 Detroit Is In the House." Listen in Real Audio format (download help is available there). Scroll (fast forward) the player forward to about 21 minutes to hear this segment.
An Interview with Ira Glass [text] by Nathan Rabin, The Onion AV Club, 11/05/03
Profile of "America's best radio host" [text] by David Mamet, Time Magazine, 06/01

Tax Policy in States Surrounding the Chesapeake Can Contribute to the Bay's Protection; A New Report
A new study by the Environmental Law Institute, "Chesapeake 2000 Tax Policy Study," looks in depth at tax impacts on a large conservation effort. The study was funded by a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Program, and written by James M. McElfish, Jr. with research from Jeramy Alice Shays. Download the report. The study looks at the taxes in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and then discusses these striking conclusions:
"1. Over-dependence on local real property taxes can lead to competition among local governments and encourage zoning that promotes sprawl development.
2. Non-targeted state and local business tax incentives may work against land use controls.
3. Higher taxes in older urban jurisdictions encourage a cycle of decline absent offsetting tax and reinvestment policies.
4. Tax policies can promote landowner decisions to forgo farm and forest land conversions, and support dedications to conservation uses.
5. Several miscellaneous tax provisions have the potential to operate against the achievement of Chesapeake 2000 goals."
Read the overview: Chesapeake Bay Protection Affected by Tax Law in Its Surrounding States. The Environmental Law Institute is primarily funded by AT&T.

UMBSN Comment on the Navigation Study
What’s Being Done and Who’s Doing It?
Upper Mississippi Basin Stakeholder Network director Barry Drazkowski submitted this comment to the recent public meeting of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Restructured Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway (UMR-IWW) System Navigation Study in LaCrosse, Wisconsin on October 29, 2003. "This is an extraordinary amount of money to invest in the managing of the ecological restoration portion of the plan and the implementation challenge will be in providing a Federal oversight process to guide how funds are spent. " [Read the entire statement.]

Report on the USACE Public Meeting in LaCrosse Wisconsin on the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System Navigation Feasibility Study
by David C. Wilson, Upper Mississippi Basin Stakeholders Network
On the evening of Wednesday, the 29^th of October, 2003, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a public meeting in LaCrosse, Wisconsin to present the preliminary findings of their revised Navigation Feasibility Study. [Read the entire LaCrosse meeting report.]
Navigation Study Resources:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Navigation Study Website
McKnight Foundation River Politics
MARC 2000 (Midwest Area River Coalition 2000) Website
Audubon Society Upper Mississippi River Campaign
The Nature Conservancy Upper Mississippi Priority Places Conservation Study
Sierra Club Mississippi River Home Page
Illinois Stewardship Alliance Website

Bay Foundation Cites Leadership and Agriculture Problems; Calls for Enforcement Muscle on Polluters
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation recently released a new edition of its book, Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay by environmental writer Tom Horton. In it, one of the most successful volunteer land and water restoration organizations in the nation cites the bay's leadership, the executive council of the Chesapeake Bay Program, comprised of the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, for failure to act aggressively in the last three years. "Agriculture is the biggest challenge in reducing pollution to the Bay. We are going to have to go well beyond current nutrient management strategies, and all of us are going to have to help foot the bills for farmers to do that. The cost per acre isn't much, but there are many millions of acres of the Bay's watershed in agriculture. The goal has to be clean, healthy, profitable agriculture," said writer Tom Horton recently.
Editorials: "Better Bay Governance," Washington Post, 08/25/03.
"For Bay cleanup, no more Mr. Nice Guy," Virginian-Pilot, 08/25/03.
Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay, Island Press (www.islandpress.org), 352 pages, $40.00 hardcover, $18.95 softcover.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation website
Map: Increasing Hypoxia: Five Decades of Trends
Map: Delivered Yield of Total Nitrogen to the Bay

Next 50 Years of Upper Mississippi River Policy and Funding Direction Now on the Table
Question the Corps - Show Up, Speak Up at the October Public Meetings
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "Restructured Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway (UMR-IWW) System Navigation Study" rolled out its latest set of refined choices in a series of public meetings in late October. Read the October Mississippi Monitor's " Special Section: Citizen’s Guide to the Navigation Study." The locations of the public meetings included:
Saint Louis, Quincy, Peoria, Davenport, Bloomington, La Crosse, and Dubuque.
Report on the LaCrosse Meeting by David C. Wilson, UMBSN
Download the Navigation Study September Newsletter (.pdf).
Restructured Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway (UMR-IWW) System Navigation Study website.

Project Art For Nature "Close to Home" Exhibit Features Minnesota and Wisconsic Artists in Support of the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust and Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas Program
Three regional gallery venues, Upper Mississippi Basin artists from Project Art For Nature exhibited works for sale to raise funds for two conservation projects. Artists Carla Benjamin, Richard Crammer, Judy Fairbrother, Denise Friesen, Barbara Harman, Mimi Holme, Yung Jouseau, Anne Kerfoot, Wendy Lane, David Morrison, Alis Olsen, Catherine Reed (Bouteloua), Roz Stendahl, Gloria Williams, Vera Ming Wong, and Susan Bacig will show works that "highlight natural gems of, or threats to, prairie, forest, wetland or savannah." Twenty percent of the sales of the River Falls exhibit go to the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust, and 20% of the St. Paul sales go to the Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas Program (SNA). Slide show of selected works and details of times and locations.

Bioneers: Visionary and Practical Solutions for Restoring the Earth
Bioneers is a group of ecological innovators seeking restorative change for the earth. Founded by Kenny Ausubel in 1990 for educational and economic development programs in biological conservation, cultural diversity, traditional farming practices, and environmental restoration. Bioneers uses conferences, workshops, media, and model projects to get its ideas across. Its recent annual conference in San Rafael, California, and simultaneous satellite conferences with twelve other sites around the country, including one in the Upper River basin. The Fairfield, Iowa conference included sessions on:
Soils 101: Building a Productive Soil; Soils 102: Getting Balanced, Discovering Soil Nutrient Behavior; Noah’s Ark Today: Conservation of Rare Livestock Breeds; Landowner Options: Restoration and Conservation; Tours: Examples of Local Sustainability; Socially Responsible Investing (SRI); Why Grass Fed is Best – The Many Health Benefits For Farmer & Consumer; Prairie Landscaping – Living Treasure of the Midwest; Eating Locally – Lessons From France; Get into the Act: Influencial Iowa Non-profits; Community Wind Power: Making it Happen; How to Choose Green Building Materials; Genetic Engineering: How is it affecting Iowa Farms?
Bioneers Conference to focus on ecology, social solutions FAIRFIELD, IA -- By Erik Gable, Fairfield Daily Ledger, 10/14/03

Rapanos and SWANCC Resources: The Impact of the Reinstated Conviction
On August 5, 2003 the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court reinstated the wetland filling conviction of Michigan land developer John A. Rapanos on appeal. The case is closely related to Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. United States Army Corps of Engineers (often called the "SWANCC decision"). In SWANCC the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ authority under the Clean Water Act [Section 404(a); Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972] does not extend to isolated wetlands not adjacent to navigable waters. The Corps had assumed authority via the "Migratory Bird Rule," 33 CFR 328(a)(3). The Supreme Court ruling has prompted two federal bills in the present 108th Congress, one in the Senate, and one in the House that seek to restore Clean Water Act protection to isolated wetlands.
Resources:
August, 2003: United States v. Rapanos, Sixth Circuit Court Decison to Reinstate the Conviction
August, 2003: U.S. EPA Region 5 Enforcement Action Summary FY 2003 Sixth Circuit Upholds Wetlands Conviction Of Developer After SWANCC Review [scroll down] (United States v. John A. Rapanos; E.D. MI)
August, 2003: The Supreme Court's SWANCC Decision; U.S. Department of Energy
June, 2003: Hearing before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Commitee, "current regulatory and legal status of federal jurisdiction of navigable waters under the Clean Water Act." June 10, 2003
April, 2003: The Izaak Walton League; The SWANCC Decision - Conservation Issue Background Information
February, 2003: American Rivers on SWANCC and related issues. The Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM)
Search Library of Congress Thomas Database for two bills in the 108th Congress intended "to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify the jurisdiction of the United States over waters of the United States."
1) S. 473 Clean Water Authority Restoration Act of 2003, sponsored by Rep. James Oberstar, MN-8th.
2) H R. 962 Clean Water Authority Restoration Act of 2003, sponsored by Sen. Russell Feingold, WI.
January 2001: Ducks Unlimited EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - 404 Report; The SWANCC Decision: Implications for Wetlands and Waterfowl.
Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM) SWANCC resources.

Watch Webcasts from Public Television's "The Sacred Balance" Series
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS) recently provided the nation quality environmental programming in a new series hosted by scientist David Suzuki, who travels the earth reporting stories highly relevant to "exploring humanity's place in nature." The first broadcast looked at "The Journey Into New Worlds," how "science and technology have worked wonders" and incurred "terrible costs." The second episode examined "The Matrix of Life," discusses how water, air and the earth work together. Episode three, "The Fire of Creation," examines the elemental fire and how it drives the earth's carbon cycle. The final and fourth episode, "Coming Home," look at the "ethnosphere," " the web of human culture."Many of the key vignettes from the series are already available as webcasts.
See The Sacred Balance PBS portal page. Sacred Balance Webcast page. Biography of host David Suzuki; High school curriculum; Postcard page, high quality e-postcards; Kidzone page, fun activities for children.

Listen
This America Life's "Garbage" Documentary from WBEZ Radio, Chicago
For the uninitiated, here's a radio program you may not want to miss, "This American Life," from Public Radio International (PRI) via WBEZ every Saturday afternoon in some locales. This American Life is the radio documentary creation of Ira Glass, a mid-40s Baltimore native who tells some of the most fascinating stories on radio. His droll delivery has won an extensive following, considerable funding, and freedom for frank, straightforward reporting. In "Garbage," from October 31, 2003, delivered in the show's standard "four act" audio format, Ira and company talk with a New York City "sanman" (sanitation man), interview Bill Rathje of Stanford University and Richard Dennison of Environmental Defense on recycling, examine the lives of squatters who live atop rotting trash heaps in Mexico, and play the "secret recordings that ended mob control of New York garbage collection." This web site uses frames, so you need to navigate a bit to find it. Go to This American Life and the link in the lefthand column, titled, "All Episodes/RealAudio in order of broadcast," then look for 10/31/2003, "Garbage." Listen in Real Audio format (download help is available there).
An Interview with Ira Glass [text] by Nathan Rabin, The Onion AV Club, 11/05/03
Profile of "America's best radio host" [text] by David Mamet, Time Magazine, 06/01

Bill Moyers Decries Nation's Environmental Policy
In a recent interview with Grist Magazine, respected television journalist Bill Moyers of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), spoke candidly about the state of environmental policy in the nation. Here's the Grist article by Amanda Griscom, August 26, 2003:
"Bill Moyers is best known as the broadcast journalist who, for more than 20 years, has brought the public frank, soul-searching, and sometimes frightening examinations of -- well, of almost everything under the sun. On air, he's equally comfortable discussing politics or poetry, scriptures or science." [more...]
NOW with Bill Moyers PBS website.

Comments and Responses Now Available from Pool 5 Drawdown Public Meetings
Responses and public comments recorded by the Upper Mississippi River Pool 5 Drawdown Task Force were released recently by the task force chair, Tim Schlagenhaft, Minnesota DNR Principal State Planner, in Rochester, MN. [tim.schlagenhaft@dnr.state.mn.us]. Read the document (pdf, 60KB).
The meetings were held at Wabasha High School, on May 21, 2003, and at Cochrane/Fountain City High School, May 22, 2003. The Pool 5 Task Force, a state and federal multi-agency group, hosted the meetings. The task force is presently focused on studying the potential for a seasonal reduction of water level on the Upper Mississippi River Pool 5 in 2005. Pool 5 is located between Upper Mississippi River mile 752.8, Lock and Dam 4, at Alma, Wisconsin, and river mile 738.1, Lock and Dam 5, 10 miles NW of Winona, Minnesota, near Bass Camp. While the Pool 8 drawdown was called a success, local opposition, planning or low water issues forced cancellations of limited drawdowns in Pools 6, 9, and 13 this year.
"Backwater Revival," Minnesota DNR Conservation Volunteer Article on Drawdowns
News Release Announcing Public Meetings, USACE
Upper Mississippi River Water Level Management Study; USACE, a.k.a., www.drawdowns.com
Upper Mississippi River Locks and Dams; USACE St. Paul District
River drawdown ends; wildlife officials call it a success; La Crosse Tribune, September 17, 2002
Pool 6 drawdown canceled, Winona Daily News, July 11, 2003

Special Report on the Plight of the Pallid Sturgeon
The Billings Gazette ran a four-part series the week of August 18, 2003 on one of the species at the center of the Missouri River debate, the pallid sturgeon, a fish the experts say is on the brink of extinction. Read the Gazette's series, by Mark Henckel, outdoor editor, 406-657-1395, henckel@billingsgazette.com:
Part 1: Death of a dinosaur
Part 2: Sex and the lonely sturgeon
Part 3: Sparking