Hellbender Press News

Oil in the Obed

2008-05-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

Clear Creek will take 172 years to recover from an oil-well fire in July 2002, according to a damage assessment published by TDEC and federal agencies. Restoration of natural resources was estimated at $28,772, lost fishing and paddling days at $56,446 and costs to public agencies responding to the incident totaled $151,835. The agency recommended the responsible parties contribute about $500,000 toward improving aquatic resources in Centennial Park in Crossville as mitigation for the damage. Pryor Oil, owner of the well, will be given an opportunity to settle the matter before any lawsuits are filed. The fire and spill occurred when a test drill by Highland Drilling Company, Inc. of Kingston struck a pressurized oil pocket about 2,500 feet below the surface. Thousands of barrels worth of oil rose to the surface, catching fire as crews attempted to contain the spill. The fire burned a swath about an acre in area so intensely the soil and seed bank were destroyed. Though the well was capped as soon as the fire was extinguished, oil continues to leak into Clear Creek, particularly when water levels drop. Pryor Oil maintains absorbent booms along the bank, though the report said the equipment appears neglected. The company did not respond to several invitations to participate in assessment. Clear Creek is the major northern fork of the Obed River, and the well was drilled atop the northern bluff between Double Drop Falls and the confluence of White and Clear Creeks. A federal Wild and Scenic River, the entire Obed system is managed as wilderness. In a recent publication, the National Parks Conservation Association cited the Obed as one of ten Park Service units most vulnerable to degradations from inholdings of private land. Oil and natural gas wells are often drilled on such land, and luxury homes built along the rim are often visible to paddlers and hikers. Because of inadequate Congressional appropriations, the Land & Water Conservation Fund sometimes turns away willing sellers of such inholdings. Managers of several state and federal lands in East Tennessee are studying whether to allow new and refurbished wells on public lands, and a Canadian firm began drilling adjacent to the site of the fire last summer, hoping to tap the same pocket of oil, which they believe could produce over 10,000 barrels of high quality oil per day.

How do you like those dumplins

2008-05-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

Having spent the past year flattening the hills on either side of a Dumplin Creek tributary, Kodak Land Partners, LLC of Knoxville proposes to restore the stream as mitigation for burying another. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will hold a public hearing at the Sevierville Civic Center on June 6 at 7 p.m. to explain the Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit. Comments will be accepted until June 16. A 665-foot stream will be buried and replaced by underground drains for the parking lot and stores built on top of it, if the permit is granted. A 1,770-foot stream with an earthen-dam farm pond will be restored to more natural conditions. The dam will be removed, and riparian vegetation will be established along the stream, which is currently partially forested. The stream will accept runoff from some of the surrounding development. TDEC has ruled the project will not degrade water quality. Dumplin Creek joins the French Broad River near Kodak and carries runoff from several miles of Interstate 40.

Eagle double bogeys

2008-05-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

The Sevierville Public Building Authority proposed filling 17 wetlands along the free-flowing Little Pigeon River to expand Eagle Creek Golf Course and straighten Old Knoxville Highway. The project would relocate more than 2,000 feet of Gist Creek and a tributary, eliminate two unnamed tributaries and culvert additional stream footage. To mitigate this impact, the PBA offered to restore 1,500 feet of a nearby stream and create more than 9 acres of wetlands along the fringes of golf-course water hazards. Other golf course expansion projects included adding fill atop a river island to support fairways and greens.

Leaf falls, may grow next year

2008-05-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

The Tennessee Scenic Vistas Act was blocked by the House Environment Subcommittee. In a largely symbolic vote, it passed the Senate Environment Committee with eight votes for and one against, giving sponsors hope for passage next year. The bill was created by an organization called the Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship, formed in memory of Kathy Lindquist by members of her congregation, Knoxville's Church of the Savior. It sought to end surface mining at elevations over 2,000 feet, establish a 100-foot stream buffer as state law and place a moratorium on permits until an Environmental Impact Statement covering modern techniques replaces an older document. Part of the Creation Care movement, LEAF was able to gain support from Christian legislators, including Senate sponsor Raymond Finney of Maryville. East Tennessee legislators supporting the bill were Senators Finney, Southerland, Williams and Bunch. Opposing the bill were Senator Kilby and Representatives Baird, Niceley and McCord. Representative Hawk avoided the committee vote.

Pilgrims were immigrants

2008-05-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

A five-state raid on Pilgrim's Pride meat processing plants included the arrest of 100 workers in Chattanooga. Immigration officials descended on the downtown chicken plant Apr. 16, hauling off workers in vans and two buses. Some were charged with immigration violations and face deportation. Raids in Texas, Arkansas, West Virginia and Florida brought the nationwide total to 311 arrests, but the company was not charged. Pilgrim's Pride cooperated with federal agents for 15 months leading up to the raids and has participated in a Homeland Security worker verification program. Workers arrested in Texas and Florida were criminally charged for using false documents to pose as American citizens or legal visitors, but most of those arrested faced simple immigration charges. An Apr. 1 indictment unsealed on the day of the raid charged 45 Texas workers with identity theft. Like several other national meat processors, Pilgrim's Pride is facing a class-action suit by workers who claim the company suppresses wages by hiring illegal workers. In those suits, workers contend the company knows some of its hires use false documents, and in 2006 Tennessee investigated whether managers at the Chattanooga plant had taken bribes from illegal workers to obtain or retain employment, but no charges were filed. Thirty-six Chattanooga workers were released with ankle bracelets within a day of their arrest so they could tend to children or to health issues. Five of those detained faced criminal charges because of prior violations, including two Guatemalans whose primary language is Mayan. Disrupted families and communities have rallied together as they await trials and hearings. Two days before the raids, Pilgrim's Pride announced a five percent cut in production due to rising costs for chicken feed and has since begun selling stock to cover debts.

Last century's coal industry

2008-05-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

Ruins of a coal company town on the Tennessee River below Chattanooga were nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. The McNabb Mine operated from the mid-nineteenth century until 1903 and was used by the Union army during the Civil War. At its peak, the mine operated 10 coke ovens that fed the Sequatchie Valley iron industry, but low yields from a thin seam condemned the mine to eventual failure. A Tennessee Supreme Court decision in 1892 doomed the company, which had tried to elude debtors by transferring assets to a different corporation, a practice legal in adjacent states. Only stone foundations survive, but these include remains of a hotel, store and church as well as housing and offices. More than 5,000 feet of rail were salvaged from the site, and three distinct segments of rail bed connecting the dock and store to the mine shafts to the residential settlement are still apparent in what is now Prentice Cooper State Forest. The coal seam was two feet thick or less and mined with the room-and-pillar technique, with a furnace to ventilate the shafts. The mine was founded by David McNabb, a nearby farmer. When he died in 1880, McNabb Coal and Coke formed and convinced local farmers to leave their land and live on scrip in the company town. The company's failure left both the mine and the farming communities in ruins.

Lifting Oconaluftee

2008-04-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Great Smoky Mountains National Park proposed building three new structures at the Oconaluftee entrance in North Carolina. Donations from the Great Smoky Mountains Association and Friends of the Smokies will fund the project, which seeks to add a 7,000-square-foot visitor center, a separate restroom and vending facility and a backcountry permit kiosk. The existing 1,100-foot center, built in 1941 from salvaged chestnut and locally quarried stone, will be preserved but converted to administrative uses. An outbuilding behind it will be removed. Parking will be reconfigured for better flow, and the middle intersection with Newfound Gap Road will be removed during a widening project that will accommodate turn lanes. Only previously disturbed land will be developed, and the Mountain Farm Museum will not be affected. Friends pledged $500,000 for exhibits on culture and ecology, and the Association, beneficiary of gift-shop sales in the Park, will spend $2.5 million on construction. The Federal Highway Administration will fund the road widening. Surveys of the site turned up the first record of a meadow jumping mouse on the North Carolina side of the Park since 1935, a rare stand of montane alluvial forest, a large population of wood frog and a rare salamander, but none are threatened by the project. An archaeological survey last year revealed only minor, scattered artifacts. The public comment period for the Environmental Assessment ends May 27.

Fire in the mountain

2008-04-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

An underground fire at an illegal landfill near Keller Bend in West Knox County burned for more than two months. Residents first reported smoke on Christmas Eve, but Rural Metro was unable to locate the source until Dec. 28, when carbon monoxide alarms began going off in homes. Several were evacuated, and a three-day effort involving local and state emergency crews and a hired firm got gas levels back in a safe range. Firefighters doused the ground with water while clean-up experts excavated the scene, finding stumps, brush, demolition waste and hot soil, but no clear sign of the origin of the fire. An estimated 100,000 gallons of water disappeared into the karst terrain, leaving officials wondering where it was draining. They decided to plug vents rather than continue digging, and this stopped the smoke and carbon monoxide. An odor persisted, and after several days, residents began smelling smoke around nightfall. Burning intensified, and by mid-January smoke became visible and persistent. Excavation crews worked to remove smoldering material and investigate the dump, and officials decided to let the fire burn itself out despite finding asphalt, plastic piping and other materials that can release toxins as they burn. Smoke grew thicker on weekends, and residents said it was causing headaches, nausea and other symptoms. Air tests showed trace amounts of numerous volatile organic compounds, some in significant concentrations. Rains eventually quelled the smoke, but burning resumed with dry weather. In February, thick smoke limited visibility on Pellissippi Parkway and Tedford Road for several hours, but officials refused to put water on the fire. Knox County cited a landowner for open burning and said it would attempt to recover costs, but it was unclear whether the fire started on the same property where it was first detected. Officials believe the fire was finally extinguished in March. Though they had hoped to rebury debris on site, health and safety concerns have led county officials to seek disposal permits and a remediation plan.

Helping things with wings

2008-04-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Two U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station ecologists received national recognition for their work. Susan Loeb, a Clemson University professor affiliated with the Forest Service, shared the Bat Conservation Award with team members working in several federal forests in the Southeast. Loeb studies forest ecology as it relates to small mammals, and her team developed forest management strategies to benefit the various bat species that live in southern forests. Ornithologist Paul Hamel received the International Cooperation Award for his work with cerulean warblers. A migratory songbird that nests on the Cumberland Plateau and in the Ohio Valley, cerulean warblers winter in South America. Hamel is one of the founders of the Cerulean Warbler Technical Group, which coordinates research in Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, and in the bird's North American breeding grounds.

Water on a bluff

2008-01-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

City Councilman Joe Hultquist convened a public meeting in South Knoxville to discuss a water tower that sprung up on Chapman Ridge above Fort Loudoun Lake in December. The tower sits on a small parcel of land just outside the city limits and will serve existing and future development along the ridge, including the Cherokee Bluff condominiums. The condominiums had been without adequate water service to meet fire protection needs since they were built, and they are the highest elevation development in the vicinity, thus dictating the height of the tower, which can be seen from downtown and many vantage points in South Knoxville. Two new developments along Cherokee Trail and a third in construction forced the Knoxville Utilities Board to upgrade its water service. Ratepayers will cover $600,000 of the $2.2 million price for the tower and water lines, with the two developers sharing the remainder. Two adjacent parcels of mostly undeveloped land would also be served by the tower should development plans materialize. The Metropolitan Planning Commission approved the tower in September, yet most residents and public officials learned of the project when they saw the tower erected. Hultquist said he would try to halt the project and also said the city should consider protecting its ridges. KUB and MPC officials attended the meeting to explain how the decision to build the tower was made.

Old-time road revival

2007-12-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

Officials from local, state and federal government convened in Etowah on Nov. 29 for a public presentation by a Knoxville developer urging construction of a new highway east of Chattanooga. The Appalachian Regional Commission has been accumulating funds for this "Corridor K" project for several decades, but the $80 million kitty was dwarfed by estimates for upgrading U.S. 64 through Ocoee Gorge. A study done as part of a 2003 Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) determined it would cost nearly a billion dollars to make that century-old road into a four-lane highway. The road is notorious for slow traffic, and accidents occur almost twice as often as on similar highways. Developer Wilbur Smith Associates cited decreased reliability of employees traveling on the road and the need for an efficient route to coastal ports in a globalized economy as primary economic justifications for the highway. Transportation officials plan to initiate a new EIS process encompassing a broader range of options, from building a bypass around the gorge to finding novel routes between Chattanooga and Asheville, N.C. One proposed alternate route follows an unpaved Forest Service road known as Kimsey Highway, which stretches through Cherokee National Forest between Archville and Harbuck, twice crossing the Benton MacKaye Trail. Congress will revisit funding for the project in 2009.

Building a better pine plantation

2007-11-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

A federal forest in Mississippi was chosen to house a loblolly pine gene bank, and an Oregon forest will hold a similar collection of Douglas fir diversity. Thousands of grafts will be grown as a living genetic archive, and researchers will work with the diverse lines to identify and understand genotypes. Artificial breeding will be used to find and propogate vigorous hybrids. The U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) awarded six million dollars to a team headed by David Neale of the University of California-Davis, who will work through U.S. Forest Service research stations in Saucier, Miss. and Corvallis, Ore. to develop the experimental and archival stocks. The Forest Service is a USDA agency. Genetic catalogs exist for several food crops and a hardwood tree, but these will be the first conifers sequenced.

Get sustainable now

2007-11-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

Tennessee Conservation Voters and the Tennessee Environmental Council convened the first “Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee” at Lipscomb University in Nashville. The groups aim to create a long-term agenda for the state based on sustainability principles, which blend economic prosperity with resource conservation. Business, government and citizen interests will work together to draft a “Sustainability Agenda.” Summits will be held annually. Closer to home, the City of Knoxville assembled an energy and sustainability task force. The panel of 15 representatives from community organizations and 10 city officials will develop a strategic plan for the city. Its first task is conducting an energy audit of city operations. Three working groups have formed, aimed at transportation and land use, buildings, and waste and recycling.

Give and you shall receive

2007-11-20T18:33:00.000-08:00

The Tennessee Clean Water Network(TCWN) presented its annual River Hero award to Wilma Dykeman. Dykeman authored “The French Broad” in 1955 and was a lifelong advocate for the Appalachian people and environment. She died in December 2006. Senator Lamar Alexander presented the award to Jim Stokely, Dykeman’s son. Meanwhile, the organization was awarded the 2007 Green Paddle by the American Canoe Association for its statewide efforts protecting water quality. TCWN helped win a major victory in 2005 when the state legislature passed a bill allowing citizens to appeal pollution permits. This year the state passed a TCWN-sponsored bill requiring the Department of Environment and Conservation(TDEC) to post notices of water quality violations on its Web site. Their “Build the River Movement” program is helping unite communities across the state around water quality issues, and the network is working to pass the Water Quality Act, which includes an innovative penalty structure designed to reward good actors, discourage repeat offenders and bolster TDEC’s enforcement budget.

Don’t confuse the freddie

2007-11-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Forest Service’s determined efforts to ignore management rules established in 2000 crept closer to success with the publication of an environmental impact statement. A five-year planning process started in 1995 culminated in “social, economic and ecological sustainability” being adopted as a management goal for public forests. When the agency’s leadership changed in 2001, the sustainability standard was rejected as “difficult and expensive.” The Forest Service conducted a review and “business analysis,” which revealed that “unnecessarily detailed requirements” would overwhelm their staff. The plan “did not recognize limitations on the availability of scientists” and “injects scientists directly into the planning process,” which the agency said “could lead to confusion about what role the scientists play in the decision.” They published an altered rule in 2002 that gutted ecological monitoring and scientific input and returned the agency to 1982 standards. Revisions and court challenges have prolonged adoption of a new plan, but the agency expects to finally publish its “feasible” version next year.

Knob has multiple uses

2007-11-13T18:19:00.000-08:00

Trees are dying in a stand of aspen near High Knob in southwestern Virginia. Because aspen is rare in the eastern United States, the Forest Service is developing a plan to sustain and regenerate the grove. A citizen group called the Clinch Coalition is working to protect headwater forests of the Clinch River, winning withdrawal of a timber sale this summer after warning federal officials of flood risks downstream. In addition to the two acres of aspen, other rare plants live in the forest and rare mussels in the upper Clinch, so the coalition has pressed lawmakers to designate a national recreation area around High Knob. Much of the forest there is actively managed for timber production, with burns, thinning and plantings used to boost yield, but the new designation would bring restraints on logging activity. Meanwhile, federal officials plan to build three new parking lots and three miles of new trails and improve five miles of trail near the campground and lake on High Knob. Nearby in the North Fork of Pound Roadless Area, federal officials proposed development of 21 new gas wells because the lease predates the 1997 roadless designation. Eleven miles of road and 12 miles of pipeline would be built to service the wells, and the draft environmental impact statement will be published in December and open for public comment.

The year parches on

2007-11-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

October rains brought brief respite from the drought, but dry weather returned, and extreme and exceptional drought conditions persist in the eastern half of Tennessee and parts of the surrounding states. Year-to-date rainfall deficits in the major river basins vary from 10 to 22 inches below normal. The rains were particularly beneficial on the Cumberland Plateau, but were insufficient to affect deep soil and water tables anywhere. Most rivers and creeks are at record low levels or low flows. The tropical storm season expired without any systems delivering a substantial impact. Atlanta’s water supply reached critical levels, triggering a battle with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over reservoir management. The Corps agreed to reduce flows out of Lake Lanier, pending approval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which must guard the survival of downstream populations of the fat threeridge and purple bankclimber mussels. The City of Alcoa installed an emergency water diversion along the Little River in Rockford, piping water upriver so it flows past the municipal intake twice. Springs along the Appalachian Trail dried up, and other backcountry water sources vanished. Fisheries biologists said low water levels primarily impact large fish and may hurt non-native brown and rainbow trout more than native species.

Partnership provides plateau protection

2007-11-10T18:16:00.000-08:00

The “Connecting the Cumberlands” conservation initiative reached completion as the State of Tennessee and The Nature Conservancy acquired timber rights or easements on acreage connecting Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area and Sundquist Wildlife Management Area with Frozen Head State Park. The effort brings 127,854 acres under protection. In combination with the 66,000 acres already in public ownership, almost 200,000 contiguous acres of the plateau are now under sustainable management. Two forestry companies, Lyme Timber and Conservation Forestry, contributed a total of $40 million to the project. In return, they will be allowed to harvest timber from portions of the land using low-impact techniques and sustainable management principles. The Nature Conservancy contributed $13 million, and the state spent $82 million.

Maryville College students promote renewable energy

2007-11-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

by Ashley McBee

Where does your electricity come from? When you flip on a light switch, turn on the washing machine or lie in bed listening to the refrigerator run, where does the tangible electric current originate? Who and what is being sacrificed to produce electricity?
As my friends and I learned the answers to these questions, we began to worry that not enough is being done to conserve resources and reduce pollution. In early fall, we called our local utility board and learned that only 92 of more than 15,000 Maryville Utility Board’s residential customers purchase Green Power from TVA. Two of my fellow Maryville College seniors and I decided to help our neighbors understand how to lower electricity bills, reduce pollution, and why they might want to buy Green Power blocks with the savings. Our hope is that providing people with information will help them act responsibly and take a new perspective on our needs as consumers in a modern society.
We received a grant from our college to run a community awareness campaign. Laura DeBusk, Tom Hankinson, and I will give a presentation at the Blount County Public Library at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14. Through our combined efforts and those of Steve McMinn, a TVA representative, attendees will learn about the processes and impacts surrounding conventional sources of electricity, how TVA’s Green Power Switch works, and how they can improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
They will learn that coal is the main source of energy for TVA, and we will explain the impacts of extracting coal and converting it to electrical energy. To put our consumption in perspective, we will consider what must conspire for one household to meet its energy demands for one year.
The average house in the Southeast uses 36 killowatt-hours(kWh) of electricity per day. One kilowatt-hour will operate an air conditioner for 30 minutes, 10 light bulbs for an hour or a water heater for 15 minutes. One pound of coal is burned for each kilowatt-hour, so the average home in the Southeast indirectly consumes about 13,000 pounds of coal in a year. In order to meet the needs of their customers, TVA must burn 8 trillion pounds of coal per year.
Our neighbors, children and the ecosystems of our beloved and majestic Appalachian mountains suffer daily from coal production and consumption. Extraction by mountaintop removal uses five million pounds of explosives daily in the Cumberland Mountains to literally blow the tops off mountains in order to access seams of coal beneath. Stone blasted from where it stood for millions of years is dumped into surrounding streams and valleys. As a result, over 1,500 miles of streams have been buried under rubble. This results in farms, homes, and towns falling victim to a lack of clean water, severe floods and erosion.
Mountaintop removal devastates the culture and health of people who live nearby. From asthma to cancer, particulates in the air and toxins in the water affect man and animal alike. By burning coal, we are condemning 33 million people in the Southeast to live in areas whose air quality has been deemed bad. Children are developing asthma and other lung disorders at increasing rates. While coal burning negatively impacts everyone’s lungs, its effects are more profound in children because their lungs are still developing. Studies have shown children who grow up breathing bad air average 10 percent less lung capacity. Coal combustion exposes us to mercury and other toxins that find their way into our food, water and air. Environmental effects of burning coal range from accelerating climate change to reducing visibility in Great Smoky Mountain National Park 60 percent in the last 60 years.
Contributing to the solution rather than the problem is actually pretty simple. You can demand that TVA use more renewable power and less conventional power by participating in the Green Power Switch, a program that funds development of wind, solar and methane power. Their progress shows they are willing to make a shift in production, but it requires a shift in consumer consciousness. When we create the demand, they will generate more electricity from green sources.
You can also reduce the amount of electricity TVA generates by reducing your own consumption. Efficient light bulbs and appliances pay for themselves quickly, and there are several simple, low-cost tips that can be implemented to save additional energy. When combined, these efficiency techniques can add up to quite a bit of displaced coal combustion and save you money on your electricity bill, which you can then invest in Green Power.
With a little awareness and some research, you can reduce electricity consumption and still have your needs met. My needs are a healthy and promising future for my children, a humbling view from a mountaintop, and a life that does not jeopardize anything or anyone around me. These are my demands. What are yours?

McBee is a senior at Maryville College majoring in psychology.

Spirit of the law

2007-11-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

Appalachian State University astronomer Dan Caton is moving closer to installing a remote camera in Linville Gorge in hopes of documenting the legendary Brown Mountain Lights. Since the gorge is a federal wilderness area, mechanical devices are not allowed; however, the Forest Service has published notice that it intends to perform an environmental assessment of the proposal. The camera would require a power source, with solar panels or a small wind turbine possible, a vandalproof mount and a wireless Internet link. Sightings of strange lights in the area date back centuries, but the lights have never been captured on film. Caton believes the lights may be a natural electrical phenomenon called ball lightning. Legend says they are the spirits of Cherokee warriors or their mourning lovers.

Much ado about pipes

2007-09-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

by Rikki Hall

Under pressure from the federal government and the City of Knoxville, Knox County finally passed a new stormwater ordinance intended to protect waterways from silt and other pollutants coming from developed land. The ordinance expands buffers around streams and allows developers to use low-impact site planning and building designs in stormwater management plans. Commissioners Tony Norman and Greg “Lumpy” Lambert gave dueling speeches from the podium to preface deliberations. Norman, a former biology teacher, emphasized the importance of clean water to the community, while Lambert stressed the economic impact of development. Norman proposed raising the minimum fine from $50 to $1,000 but was voted down. Lambert offered several amendments. He tried to remove federally mandated language about endangered species, claiming “environmental extremists” had put it there. His amendment loosening restrictions on pipes installed in public rights of way was adopted by the commission. Confusion reigned briefly during the meeting when John Valliant, head of the Home Builders Association, spoke to commission about “our amendments,” until he clarified that he was referring to the amendments offered by Commissioner Lambert. City officials, promised a stronger ordinance by Knox County in 2001, contemplated whether to sue over delays and weaknesses in the ordinance, and city council passed a resolution condemning the new regulations.

Modern moonshiners in Georgia

2007-09-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

by Rikki Hall

The first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant is being built in Georgia. Range Fuels broke ground on a plant that will eventually generate 100 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year. Wood waste will be the primary feedstock, but the plant can also handle waste paper, fruit pits and other sources of cellulose. Rather than fermenting sugars or using enzymes to break down cellulose, the plant will use a cheaper, patented thermochemical process to convert fibers to ethanol. The plant is in Treutlen County, between Macon and Savannah, and the company expects to open more like it throughout the region.

Red List released

2007-09-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

by Amanda Womac

Over the course of Earth’s history there have been five significant mass extinctions, according to Dr. Jack Sepkoski and Dr. David Raup in a 1982 paper titled “Mass extinctions in the marine fossil record,” published in the journal “Science.” The first great extinction took place around 440 million years ago and wiped out 85 percent of marine animal species. In the second, known as the Late Devonian extinction, nearly 70 percent of species were eliminated over a prolonged period of time, possibly 20 million years. Earth’s largest extinction occurred about 245 million years ago. Up to 95 percent of all animals were lost in what is known as the Permian-Triassic extinction, or the “Great Dying.” Sea creatures suffered most in the fourth mass extinction, which took place 200 million years ago.
The most familiar mass extinction took place 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous-Paleocene transition, in which three-quarters of all species, including dinosaurs, were eliminated. Possible causes for these extinctions are volcanic eruptions, meteorites colliding with the Earth and a changing climate. Biological diversity and richness took upwards of 10 million years to recover, yet once a species is gone, it is gone forever. Most biologists, including E.O. Wilson, renowned Harvard University professor, believe we are moving toward another mass extinction that could wipe out half of all species on the planet in the next 100 years. Although climate factors into the equation for the upcoming extinction, finger point at one single species as the cause for the massacre: humans.
The current extinction rate is 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than extinction rates over the past 60 million years. For most of geological history, new species evolved faster than existing species disappeared, so biological diversity increases. Now, however, evolution is falling behind and humans are the main culprit. Scientists estimate that 10-15 million species inhabit the planet today, yet thousands of modern species have been lost for good, some before scientists even discover them. Across the globe, consumption drives habitat destruction and fuels extinction. What people need to survive and what people want are fused and muddled by cultural conditioning. Industry manufactures cheap, plastic crap most people throw away in five years and replace with an equally cheap, plastic piece of crap, which prolongs a cycle of consumption that is killing other species.

State of the Species
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), now known as World Conservation Union, released the 2007 Red List of Endangered Species Sept. 12. According to the list, 16,306 species are threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year. The total number of recently extinct species has reached 785, and 65 species are only found in captivity or in cultivation. One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 percent of the world’s assessed plants are in jeopardy.
“This year’s IUCN Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to protect species are not enough,” said Julia Marton- Lefèvre, director general of the IUCN. “The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing, and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis. This can be done, but only with a concerted effort by all levels of society.”
The IUCN began in 1948 following an internationial conference in Fontainebleau, France, and brings together 83 states, 110 government agencies, more than 800 nonprofit organizations and 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.
Species vanish due to a number of different factors, but the most pressing is loss of habitat. Most species on the Red List have lost over half of their habitat and breeding grounds. Resource extraction displaces many species and hampers reproduction. Invasive species contribute to species decline. Global trade provides plenty of opportunities for non-native species to invade.
American chestnuts thrived in Eastern forests until a fungus arrived on ship from Asia in 1904 causing a blight that destroyed most chestnut trees by 1950. Other species have suffered the same plight and face similar futures unless humans curtail habitat destruction and prevent invasions.

Gorillas and seeweeds, goodbye
According to the Red List, groups threatened with extinction include humans relatives. The western lowland gorilla has moved from endangered to critically endangered, decimated by hunting for bushmeat markets and the deadly Ebola virus. Population numbers have decreased more than 60 percent over the past 20 years, and scientists worry gorillas will not be around too much longer.
“Great apes are our closest living relatives and very special creatures,” Russ Mittermeier, head of IUCN’s Primate Specialist Group, said in an interview with the Associated Press. “We could fit all the remaining great apes in the world into two or three large football stadiums. There just aren’t very many left.”
The Sumatran orangutan is listed as critically endangered, and the Bornean orangutan is endangered. Both species are threatened by habitat loss due to logging, legal and illegal, and forest clearance for palm oil plantations.
For the first time in history, coral has been added to the Red List. Ten species of coral located in the Galapagos Islands were listed, with two in the critically endangered category. Climate change is a major factor in coral decline. Seventy-five various seaweeds from the same region have been added. Warming water inhibits cold-loving varieties, and overfishing removes predators from the food chain, resulting in an increase in sea urchins and other herbivores.
In Asia, the Yangtze river dolphin is listed as critically endangered, possibly extinct. India and Nepal’s gharial, a large aquatic reptile, is critically endangered due to habitat loss. A population decline of 58 percent over the past 10 years caused by dams, irrigation projects, sand mining and artificial embankments, has reduced its domain to two percent of its former range.
In North America, 723 species of reptiles were added to the IUCN’s Red List. Ninety percent of these are threatened with extinction. Vultures are in crisis due to a drug used to treat livestock. Almost 10,000 species of birds are listed. Over 12,000 plants are on the Red List, and the Malaysian herb, wooly-stalked begonia, has been declared extinct.
Although the outlook is grim for many species, biodiversity and conservation are gaining momentum. Conservation networks are working to enact policies that preserve habitat. Public awareness is up, and a newer generation wants to ensure biodiversity in the future. As we move forward, words of E.O. Wilson ring as true to today as in 1985:
“The worst thing that can happen during the 1980s is not energy depletion, economic collapse, limited nuclear war, or conquest by a totalitarian government. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired within a few generations. The one process ongoing in the 1980s that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly that our descendents are least likely to forgive us.”

For a complete listing of species, see
www.iucnredlist.org

Changing climate

2007-09-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

by Rikki Hall

All of East Tennessee as well as adjacent counties in Virginia and North Carolina fell into exceptional drought conditions, the National Weather Service’s worst designation. Streams flows hit record lows, with data extending back a century and beyond, and smaller tributary streams went dry. Campfires were banned in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and in National Forests in North Carolina, where burned acreage was four times above average just over half way through the year. Lightning also ignited several fires in Tennessee National Forests. Wells and farm ponds dried up, and a gnat-borne disease killed deer forced to drink from stagnant water. Water levels behind some dams dropped below winter levels, though TVA had been releasing only enough water to maintain minimum flows in the main channel since February. Hydropower production was down 40 percent, and both coal and nuclear generators had to be temporarily shut down at the height of summer because the river could not absorb the heat in their effluent. Corn crops failed, trees were stressed, and wetlands sported cracked mud and dead cattails. Forecasters warned that it will take a year or more of average to above-average rains to recharge the water table.

Kiwis purchase Pigeon River paper mill

2007-09-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

by Rikki Hall

Blue Ridge Paper Products, which owned the former Champion International paper mill in Canton, N.C., was purchased by a New Zealand firm, Rank Group, for $338 million. Rank owns Evergreen Packaging of Pine Bluff, Ark. and announced that it would merge operations of the two mills. Blue Ridge Paper moved its headquarters from Canton to Memphis and shed its chief executive and other officers. Employees owned 39 percent of Blue Ridge Paper, but they were bought out for $750 each in the sale.