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Thursday, September 08, 2005

Environment - A number of stories today

Wetlands. "Undoing the damage: Wolf Lake should restore wetlands, remove homes from flood-plain designation" is the headline to this story today in the Munster (NW Indiana) Times. Steve Zabrioski writes:

HAMMOND | Two years of work is intended to reverse a century of environmental damage to Wolf Lake and ease costly flood insurance requirements for Robertsdale homeowners.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city formally agreed on a project to restore natural fish and wetland habitats at the 900-acre lake, and normalize water levels to remove some 1,800 homes from the flood-plain at a lakeside ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. * * *

Burke Engineering of Indianapolis -- a specialist in changing the flood designation of communities -- was successful in getting 96 homes along New York Avenue off required flood insurance in January and is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to do the same around Wolf Lake, McDermott said.

Work on the project began in 1998, with an assessment of Wolf Lake's degraded ecosystem. A lengthy public comment period followed, during which concerns from the many anglers, boaters, birders and surfers who enjoy the lake were addressed by the Army Corps, which modified parts of its plan in response.

The restoration project complements the city's plan to add 15 acres of new wetlands and prairie to the southern end of Wolf Lake to compensate for filling in 11 acres of nearby George Lake and adjacent wetlands to build the Lost Marsh Golf Course.

Green space. "City agrees to leave majority of Cressmoor development as green space: Officials now must decide whether to take ownership of the 60-plus acres," is the headline to this Munster (NW Indiana) Times story. Some quotes:
HOBART | Whatever the outcome of the proposed development at the site of the Cressmoor Country Club, city officials agree the majority of the acreage will remain green space.

The city's Board of Public Works and Safety, which is chaired by Mayor Linda Buzinec, and the City Council agreed Wednesday to preserving two-thirds of the 100-acre development as green space.

Under the proposal, a little more than 480 units would be built on the property, including condominiums and townhouses, said developer Arnis Putrenieks of Trinity Acquisition Corp.

Putrenieks offered to immediately donate the green space property to the city, but officials Wednesday weren't ready to take ownership.

New Orleans contamination. The Louisville Courier Journal has a story by James Bruggers headlined "New Orleans cleanup: Officials foresee long, risky job in 'toxic gumbo'". Some quotes:
Cleaning up New Orleans after the floodwater recedes likely will involve massive demolition, decontamination and a race to remove sediment before it hardens into something resembling concrete. * * *

Whole neighborhoods and many buildings will have to be demolished, said Chris Ward, a co-owner of Louisville-based Chase Environmental Group, a consulting firm that specializes in environmental remediation.

"I'd say the homes, if they are wood-framed, are probably going to be history," he said, adding that metal-framed buildings might be gutted and rebuilt.

"Anything that cannot be sanitized has to be removed, particularly if it has been contaminated with sewage," said Connie Mendel, environmental health coordinator for the Louisville Metro Health Department. She is on standby to go to New Orleans to assist in the cleanup. * * *

Local and national experts said the work will be similar to what's been done in Louisville and other cities that have suffered major flooding -- but it will be on a larger scale and with unprecedented twists. * * *

Experts also noted that the polluted water could wreak havoc with the ecology of Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico.

Bud Schardein, executive director of the Metropolitan Sewer District, which manages Louisville's flood-control system, said this city's experience might portend areas of concern for New Orleans.

Louisville's 1937 flood, which covered 150 square miles of Jefferson County -- in some areas up to 50 feet deep -- forced the evacuation of 230,000 people, according to the Louisville Encyclopedia.

Schardein said many of the city's sewer lines filled with sediment and had to be cleaned out; some collapsed and were rebuilt.

Drinking-water lines had to be purged and cleaned, and that will be a necessity in New Orleans, Schardein said, noting that sediment must be removed quickly or it will dry and become a concrete-like mat. "You can't move it" if workers wait too long, he said.

NEPA. The Ricmond, VA Times Dispatch reports today:
A three-judge panel of the Richmond-based federal appeals court ruled yesterday that a U.S. District Court in North Carolina was correct in ruling that the Navy had conducted a deficient environmental-impact study for a new jet fighter training facility.

But it found also that the lower court's order preventing the Navy from going ahead with any steps in planning or building the facility -- near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, the winter home for nearly 100,000 migrating waterfowl -- went too far.

The panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that the Navy failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.

It sent the case back to the trial judge with instructions to remake the order so it allows some project activity while the Navy complies with the law's requirement that it take a "hard look" at the environmental impacts of the project.

The Navy is seeking to build an airfield where pilots may practice carrier landings and takeoffs with the new "Super Hornet" fighter aircraft the Navy is acquiring. The field would simulate the deck of an aircraft carrier. The site is in Washington and Beaufort counties in North Carolina.

The Navy plans to acquire about 30,000 acres of land for the field. The core area will use about 2,000 acres and the rest will serve as buffer area.

Both counties, the National Audubon Society, the North Carolina Wildlife Federation and Defenders of Wildlife filed separate lawsuits against the Navy, alleging the Navy violated the law because it did not adequately assess the environmental impacts on the site. The cases were later consolidated into one.

The plaintiffs claim the Super Hornet airplanes might flush the birds into flight, strike them in the air, reduce their feeding and resting times, alter their behavior, interfere with their migration and decrease their populations.

The opinion was written by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who was joined by Judge Karen J. Williams and Judge William B. Traxler Jr.

Access the 4th Circuit opinion here.

Appointments. U.S. Newswire reports here that: "Philip R. Sharp, a long-time member of Congress and a prominent authority on energy and environmental policy, has been appointed president of Resources for the Future, the Washington think tank announced today."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 8, 2005 09:49 AM
Posted to Environment