Humans have always had a propensity to leave evidence of their presence but rarely has our littering posed as significant a risk to our future activities as the junk that now circulates in orbit around our planet. According to a report by the US National Research Council Committee for the Assessment of NASA’s Orbital Debris Programs, the amount of satellite and rocket debris orbiting the earth has now reached a “tipping point”, by which the Committee means that the debris will continually collide with itself, further increasing the population of orbital debris. The Committee states that “This increase will lead to corresponding increases in spacecraft failures, which will only create more feedback into the system, increasing the debris population growth rate.”

The report reviews measures to assess the risk of harm to humans from falling debris and in many areas it finds current programs inadequate. In particular, it finds that “Enhanced mitigation standards or removal of orbital debris are likely to be necessary to limit the growth in the orbital debris population.” However, the necessary economic, technology, testing, political, or legal considerations for removal of orbital debris have not been fully examined.

As we approach the uncontrolled return of the failed Russian Mars mission in a few days, this NRC report suggests that some of the risk assurances given by the media are not well grounded. It also provides numerous recommendations for more research, as well as technology development and deployment that is needed if we are to ensure that future risks from uncontrolled space junk are manageable.

For a copy of the full report visit http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13244

The issue of dioxin exposure is returning to the public policy agenda as the US Environmental Protection Agency moves towards release of guidelines for maximum human exposure to this family of toxic substances. US EPA has stated that these guidelines will be released before the end of this month.

The US food industry is concerned that the guidelines may have the effect of declaring many foods toxic as a result of the dioxin concentration that they contain and has asked the US Administration to scale back the human exposure guideline. A media article describing the debate is available at http://www.truthabouttrade.org/2012/01/04/industry-wary-of-dioxin-guidelines/

The EPA’s dioxin reassessment has been a long process that is still far from complete. A summary of current activities is available at http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=209690 and links to the draft dioxin reassessments are available through that page.

In general, dioxin releases are declining but chemicals in this family of persistent bioaccumulative and toxic substances are still ubiquitous in the global environment. Current background levels are likely not causing significant harm, though there is still some concern about the effects of long-term exposure, but we have no practical methods for removing or avoiding those background concentrations.  The greater concern relates to enhanced exposure arising from accidental releases and exposure to significantly contaminated sites.

Our monthly Gallon Environment Letter will review this topic further as final EPA reports are released. To subscribe please visit http://www.cialgroup.com/subscription.htm/

The US Environmental Protection Agency has just released its analysis of 2010 releases of toxic substances to the environment. Overall releases of toxic substances are up 16% over 2009.

Some of the analyses by substance are also somewhat disappointing. Total releases of carcinogenic chemicals increased 67% between 2009 and 2010 but decreased by 5% from 2001 to 2010. Releases of dioxins increased 18% from 2009 to 2010 but decreased by 65% from 2001 to 2010 with the chemicals and primary metals sectors being major contributors. Industry managed almost 1.2 billion pounds of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) substances in production-related waste in 2010, an increase of 19% over 2009 but
an overall reduction of 10% since 2001. Lead and lead compounds accounted for 97% (1.1 billion pounds) of the 2010 amount. Mercury and mercury compounds, polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), certain pesticides, dioxin and dioxin-like compounds and other chemicals made up the remainder.

The detailed report, including analyses by industry sector, is available at http://www.epa.gov/tri/  and click on National Analysis.

US Food and Drug Administration has announced that it is scrapping its program to implement and enforce regulations on use of subtherapeutic levels of antibiotics in animal feed. This use of antibiotics is designed to increase weight gain in animals destined for human food but is widely seen as contributing to evolution of antibiotic resistant strains of organisms which cause sickness in human. As a result of the antibiotic resistance it will far more difficult, and potentially impossible, for doctors to cure people who become sick from ingesting these drug-resistant organisms.

Farm groups and FDA officials seem not to have noticed that when government withdraws from regulatory plans the issue, whatever it is, usually becomes much more widely promoted by environmental and health critics, much more visible in the media, and much more hostile to the involved industry. GallonDaily confidently predicts that the issues surrounding use of antibiotics in meat production will become much more high profile in the United States, and by news spillover in Canada, in the months ahead.

An excellent discussion of the reasons behind the FDA announcement, which is seen as political rather than science-based, can be found in an International Business Times article at http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/275785/20120103/fda-antibiotics-livestock-withdraws-longstanding-petiton-regulate.htm

A good discussion of environmental groups position on subtherapeutic use of antibiotics in food animals can be found on the Natural Resources Defense Council website at http://www.nrdc.org/media/2011/110525.asp

In the last three or four years Canada’s late NDP leader seemed to be speaking less about the environment than in previous years. Maybe that was because he thought everyone knew of his environmental commitment; maybe because his advisors felt that environment was not the issue on which to win a lot of votes. The result has been a slight rise in the fortunes of the Green Party, not yet enough to take many seats from the NDP but certainly enough to set some warning bells ringing.

Some of the current NDP leadership campaigns seem to have recognized the weaknesses in the party’s environment platform and are addressing it with their own proposals. If any one of Thomas Mulcair, Nathan Cullen, Peggy Nash, or Paul Dewar wins the title of Leader of the Official Opposition, we can expect that the Conservative Government will be under renewed pressure on the environment in the House of Commons, with resulting implications, both good and bad, for Canadian business. Andrew Reeves has written a good analysis of the NDP Leadership candidate’s positions on the environment in Huffington Post. It’s worth a quick read and can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andrew-reeves/thomas-mulcair-environment-policy_b_1178495.html

Environmentalists have argued for years against non-essential air travel because of the atmospheric effects of aeroplanes but now a major German environmental group, Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) has published a report slamming cruise ships. According to NABU, which awarded two German cruise ship companies its Dinosaur of the Year Award, a cruise ships emits particulate matter equivalent to 5 million cars driving the same distance. In fact, according to NABU data which GallonDaily has not verified, the 15 largest cruise ships emit as much particulate air pollution as all 760 million automobiles in the world.

Two of the biggest problems are that most cruise ships are fueled with some of the dirtiest fuel oils in the world and that the huge engines of cruise ships generally have little or no pollution control included in their exhaust systems.

Just as much of the airline industry in developed countries has responded to critics by selling carbon offsets, so GallonDaily expects that the cruise ship industry will soon develop tools to reduce, or appear to reduce, its air pollution impacts. It’s not rocket science!

Green good wishes for 2012 to all our readers.

More information on the NABU study is available in German at http://www.nabu.de/aktionenundprojekte/dinodesjahres/

In a year-end message the European Environment Agency Executive Director Jacqueline McGlade said. “We need to break this link between environmental damage and economic growth if we are to achieve continued prosperity, without destroying the natural systems that sustain us.”

The EEA predicts that “the shift to a ‘green economy’ which does not damage the environment looks set to dominate environmental discussions next year.” The big environmental event of the year will be the June conference in Rio de Janeiro marking the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit. This United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will be held 20 – 22 June and is expected to focus on green economy issues.

Details of the Rio+20 Conference are at http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/

The European Environment Agency year-end review is at http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/economic-growth-must-be-decoupled

Mining for uranium is currently prohibited in the State of Virginia but with a commercially viable stock the State regulator asked the National Research Council to convene an independent committee of experts to write a report that described the scientific, environmental, human health and safety, and regulatory aspects of mining and processing Virginia’s uranium resource. The report, now in a published draft with a finalized non-technical summary, discusses some issues that are relevant not only to uranium mining in Virginia but also to many broader resource exploitation projects in other jurisdictions.

Among many topics the report discusses uncertainties of long-term management of tailings, risks from extreme rainfalls and earthquakes, risks to the health of miners, and risks of off-site exposure to radiation and radionuclides. The report recommends:

• planning at the outset of a project for the complete life cycle of mining, processing, and reclamation;
• retaining qualified experts familiar with internationally accepted best practices for all aspects of a project; and
• encouraging meaningful and timely public participation throughout the life cycle of a project, beginning at the earliest stages.

One of the more interesting findings of the report is that “The United States’ federal government has only limited experience regulating conventional uranium mining, processing, and reclamation over the past two decades”.

The report, a press release, and a brief summary are available at http://dels.nas.edu/Report/Uranium-Mining-Virginia-Scientific-Technical/13266

Early next year Panasonic is launching a line of household appliances with parts made from recycled plastic and glass. The products includes a refrigerator, a rice cooker, a washer/dryer, and a vacuum cleaner. In addition to recycled resin the appliances will use insulation made from recycled glass from used television cathode ray tubes.

The appliances will also have intelligent control systems that, according to Panasonic,  will cause the appliances to adapt themselves to each person’s lifestyle and usage, greatly reducing wasted electricity and water consumption.

Initially the appliances will be available only in Japan. Details at http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/en111214-6/en111214-6.html

The US Environmental Protection Agency has finally lifted its restriction on the use of certain hydrocarbons as refrigerants in household and small commercial refrigerators and freezers. In GallonDaily’s opinion this approval for use of hydrocarbon refrigerants is long overdue. Hydrocarbon refrigerants for use in domestic refrigerators were popularized by Greenpeace in the former East Germany in the early 1990’s and have been available in Europe ever since. Hydrocarbon refrigerants can achieve similar energy efficiency to hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants without the huge impact on climate change that is characteristic of HFCs. HFC-134a, the most common HFC refrigerant in use today, has a global warming potential of 3,830 times that of carbon dioxide and an atmospheric lifetime of 14 years; HFC-23 has a global warming potential of 12,000 times that of carbon dioxide and an atmospheric lifetime of 270 years. They do not deplete the ozone layer, which is why they have been widely adopted as alternatives to ozone depleting CFCs and HCFCs.

In Canada there is no restriction on sale and use of equipment with hydrocarbon refrigerants but both the Canadian Standards Association and The Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) offer little encouragement for their use. HRAI states that “The use of a flammable refrigerant in a home or building could create a serious fire and explosion risk” while CSA has special rules for systems containing hydrocarbon refrigerants.

No major manufacturers of North American household appliances have yet announced their intention to bring hydrocarbon-based refrigerators to the domestic market. Given the very high greenhouse gas potential from existing HFC refrigerants, one can only hope that the EPA announcement encourages some in the industry to wake up.

The EPA announcement is at http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/eed8a9f289e19d3f85257966005dbf51!OpenDocument

The Greenpeace take on ‘Greenfreeze” hydrocarbon technology is at http://archive.greenpeace.org/ozone/greenfreeze/