Wednesday, 19 May 2004

Fowl Play

Factory Farms Getting Sweetheart Deal from EPA

Something stinks, and it's not just the hundreds of thousands of tons of excrement piling up in the nation's concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) -- or factory farms, to the uninitiated. Documents reveal that agribusiness lobbyists and lawyers have been working hand in hand with EPA officials to craft a program that lets factory farms pay a fee -- critics call it a "pittance" -- to fund monitoring of emissions from their smelly facilities, in exchange for which they receive full immunity from lawsuits under the Clean Air Act. An industry lawyer called it "a very cheap insurance policy" for CAFOs. Critics say the EPA has slept with pigs and woken up in ... well, read just what -- in Muckraker, today on the Grist Magazine website.

Ear Today, Ear Tomorrow

European Union Ends Ban on Genetically Modified Food

The European Union today approved the import of a genetically modified, insect-resistant strain of sweet corn, thereby ending its six-year ban on new biotech foods. For now the corn can only be imported, not grown in Europe, but an application for its cultivation is pending -- one of 33 applications for cultivation or breeding of biotech crops in Europe. The constituent E.U. governments were bitterly deadlocked on the issue, but the E.U. executive body in Brussels came down on the side of biotech. David Byrne, the E.U. commissioner for health and consumer protection, said that the product, a strain of corn called Bt11 produced by Swiss-based company Syngenta, was approved after "the most rigorous pre-marketing assessment in the world" and that now "it is a question of consumer choice." Biotech products in Europe will be subject to strict labeling laws that went into effect last month. The E.U. has been under intense pressure from the U.S., a stalwart proponent of biotech products, to lift the biotech ban.

A Better Business Climate

Survey Finds Increasing Corporate Attention to Climate Change

Climate change seems to be climbing the corporate agenda. An annual survey called the Carbon Disclosure Project -- sponsored by a group of more than 90 institutional investors that collectively control some $10 trillion in assets -- received nearly three times more responses this year than last year. Companies described their efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, control business risks connected to climate change, and develop new business opportunities related to climate change. The survey enforced the conventional wisdom that European firms are acting more aggressively on the issue than U.S. companies, but the latter appear to be closing the gap. Of some note was the fact that ExxonMobil, which last year ignored the survey, this year gave responses that "were intelligent and thorough, and suggest they have changed their position," said a project spokesperson. "The world's most powerful investors have an obvious reason for wanting to avert climate change. It would devastate their wealth," said James Cameron, chair of the project.

Loan Rangers

Activist Efforts to Pressure Corporations Find Some Success

Speaking of corporations, it seems they may be more amenable to reforming their ways than governments -- and with that in mind, activist groups are seeking eco-friendly commitments from companies. One group that's had notable success is the Rainforest Action Network: In January, the group persuaded Citibank, the largest U.S. bank, to tighten lending standards based on environmental principles. This week, the second-largest U.S. bank, Bank of America, signed on with an even greater commitment, pledging not to fund oil and gas exploration, mining or logging in old-growth tropical rainforests, or companies or projects involved with illegal logging operations or logging operations in lands contested by indigenous groups. Also of note is a campaign launched this week by ForestEthics and Greenpeace to pressure U.S. companies that either make wood pulp or paper or buy those products from companies who do to audit their supply chains and avoid buying timber from companies that log in Canada's boreal forest.

Jumbo Shrimp Problems

Shrimp Farming Wreaks Eco-Destruction, Group Says

Shrimp farms are polluting land and oceans, destroying wetlands, and depleting wild fish stocks, wreaking environmental havoc on some of the world's poorest countries, says the nonprofit Environmental Justice Foundation. The destruction is driven by a get-rich-quick attitude among farmers and aided and abetted by governments and development organizations, said the group. Shrimp farms are frequently located in cleared mangrove forests, and the farming involves a harsh cocktail of antibiotics, fertilizers, herbicides, and other chemicals that pollute wetlands and soil. The EJF report says governments and aid agencies use shrimp farming as a quick and easy way to spur development in poor countries -- most of the 50 countries where the farms are located are developing -- but they do not plan sufficiently to protect the environment.