China View : Eight dead, four missing as floods hit Shandong Province

China View : Eight dead, four missing as floods hit Shandong Province

BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Eight persons have been killed and four missing as floods caused by heavy rain hit east China's Shandong Province in the past week, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Wednesday.

15 August 2007

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner, has said the agency will deploy a technical mission to the Virunga National Park in DR Congo. The move is geared towards stopping the wanton killing of one of the rarest great apes, the mountain gorilla, by poachers, as well as stopping the human tragedy and environmental degradation there. The UNEP chief made the announcement at the agency's headquarters here Monday after meeting the DR Congo Environment, Nature Conservation, Water and Forestry Minister, Didace Pembe. They reviewed in detail the escalating situation in the Virunga National Park, which resulted recently in the death of a park ranger and injuries to others, as well as the death of a number of mountain gorillas. "The instability surrounding the Virunga is an illustration of the unfolding human and environmental tragedy," he said. The park is home to 50% of the mountain gorilla population and to numerous other endemic and endangered species. "It is the duty of the international community to assist the DRC authorities," said Steiner at the conclusion of the meeting. Based on a request from the Minister, he announced the immediate dispatch of a UNEP technical team to assist the Congolese authorities and stressed the need to stabilize the situation around the National Park. "The continuing problems in the Virunga reveal the need for a sustainable solution to the management of the Park and other protected areas in DRC," Steiner said. He said any lasting approach must involve the local communities and the protection of their livelihoods, and pledged to support the government in identifying appropriate courses of action. "I am also very pleased that other partners of UNEP are conscious of the necessity to provide assistance, such as UNESCO and a number of non-governmental organizations, with whom we collaborate in the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP)," he added. During the meeting with Minister Pembe, the Executive Director agreed to work with the government of the DRC to develop a post conflict environmental assessment programme, which will take into account issues of capacity building, waste management, the development of a framework environmental law and legislation to strengthen the forestry code. A commitment was also made for the rehabilitation of the Presidential Park of N'Sele. While in Nairobi, Pembe, in his capacity as Chair of the Meetings of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, also held consultations with UNEP's officials ahead of the 19th meeting of the partners and the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Montreal protocol. http://www.panapress.com/newslat.asp?code=eng023368&dte=14/08/2007

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General Environment News

The $79 million climate-change initiative is part of United Nations worldwide campaign

By Kerry Gillespie

The Toronto Star

Trees improve the look and feel of Ontario and are such a good way to combat climate change the province plans to spend $79 million to plant 50 million new ones.

Every year an average tree inhales 12 kilograms of carbon dioxide and exhales enough oxygen for a family of four for a year, according to a United Nations expert.

The trees, to be planted by 2020, are Ontario's contribution to a United Nations campaign to plant a billion trees worldwide.

"We're the strongest province in one of the most blessed countries on the planet. It seems to me that we have a special responsibility to the future to do our share," Premier Dalton McGuinty said at Bronte Creek Provincial Park in Oakville yesterday.

"By planting a tree any one of us can do our part and leave a green legacy for others to enjoy," he said.

The trees, about five million a year, will be planted in parks, conservation areas and on private land.

When all the trees are planted, they'll remove an estimated 3.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2054 – that's the equivalent of 172 million car trips from Toronto to Barrie (100 kilometres), McGuinty said.

They'll cover an area the size of Mississauga and be southern Ontario's largest tree planting, he said.

Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox, the representative from the United Nations Environment Program, was impressed with Ontario's plans, calling it the largest pledge in North America, but opposition parities were not.

"The state of Uttar Pradesh in India planted 10 million trees, so compared to some Third World jurisdictions, (McGuinty) is falling far short," said New Democrat environment critic Peter Tabuns.

The UN's Guilbaud-Cox said she hoped others would follow Ontario's lead.

"Planting trees remains the cheapest, most effective means of drawing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," Guilbaud-Cox said.

"The loss of natural forest around the world contributes more to greenhouse gas emissions each year than the transport sector."

That's why some critics don't understand why the province isn't doing more to protect existing forests.

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society executive director Janet Sumner said yesterday's announcement was good news, but is not enough on its own.

"It's going to ring hollow if there's not an accompanying announcement to protect our natural forests," Sumner said.

It's estimated logging companies harvest more than 200,000 hectares of Ontario's public forests each year – an area three times the size of Toronto, she said.

If the government doesn't do more to protect existing forests, planting millions of new trees will have no impact, she said.

In addition to climate-change benefits, the millions of new trees will enhance Ontario's natural beauty, protect wildlife habitats and make for healthier ecosystems, McGuinty said.

"There's an old saying: `The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second-best time is right now,"' he said.

http://www.thestar.com/article/246033

Red faces at NASA over climate-change blunder; Agency roasted after Toronto blogger spots 'hot years' data fumble

By Daniel Dale

The Toronto Star

In the United States, the calendar year 1998 ranked as the hottest of them all - until someone checked the math.

After a Toronto skeptic tipped NASA this month to one flaw in its climate calculations, the U.S. agency ordered a full data review.

Days later, it put out a revised list of all-time hottest years. The Dust Bowl year of 1934 now ranks as hottest ever in the U.S. - not 1998.

More significantly, the agency reduced the mean U.S. "temperature anomalies" for the years 2000 to 2006 by 0.15 degrees Celsius.

NASA officials have dismissed the changes as trivial. Even the Canadian who spotted the original flaw says the revisions are "not necessarily material to climate policy."

But the revisions have been seized on by conservative Americans, including firebrand radio host Rush Limbaugh, as evidence that climate change science is unsound.

Said Limbaugh last Thursday: "What do we have here? We have proof of man-made global warming. The man-made global warming is inside NASA ... is in the scientific community with false data."

However Stephen McIntyre, who set off the uproar, described his finding as a "a micro-change. But it was kind of fun."

A former mining executive who runs the blog ClimateAudit.org, McIntyre, 59, earned attention in 2003 when he put out data challenging the so-called "hockey stick" graph depicting a spike in global temperatures.

This time, he sifted NASA's use of temperature anomalies, which measure how much warmer or colder a place is at a given time compared with its 30-year average.

Puzzled by a bizarre "jump" in the U.S. anomalies from 1999 to 2000, McIntyre discovered the data after 1999 wasn't being fractionally adjusted to allow for the times of day that readings were taken or the locations of the monitoring stations.

McIntyre emailed his finding to NASA's Goddard Institute, triggering the data review.

"They moved pretty fast on this," McIntyre said. "There must have been some long faces."

By Martin LaMonica

The New York Times

In the pine forests of rural Georgia, Devon Dartnell sees a path into the global fuel economy.

As the biomass program manager for the Georgia Forestry Commission, Dartnell is impatiently waiting for construction to begin next month of a plant that will convert forestry wastes into ethanol, a car fuel.

The facility is an important test to see whether lumber and agricultural by-products, rather than corn or sugar cane, are an economically viable "feedstock" for ethanol production. Behind the plant is Range Fuels, a start-up headed by a former Apple executive and financed by famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.

Dartnell hopes this project, eligible for up to $76 million in U.S. Department of Energy grants, will lead to many more plants--and a new industry--in the state.

"This gives us energy security and it keeps all the money in-state," said Dartnell. "Today, if we buy a tank of gasoline, a lot of money ends up with the oil reserve owners and refiners, and it's spread all around the world."

Georgia's enthusiasm for the Range Fuels plant--one of a handful now being planned in the U.S.--underscores the high hopes attached to cellulosic ethanol, an advanced biofuel that backers anticipate will play a large role in meeting federal targets for domestic fuel production that can one day offset reliance on foreign oil.

But like many energy-related technologies now being actively pursued, there are potential pitfalls for advanced biofuels, including long-standing technology hurdles and environmental questions. And getting clear-cut answers on the benefits and trade-offs of biofuels is tricky.

"Just because the technology can be done right doesn't mean we will use it right or develop it in a smart way; that's the real challenge," said Nathanael Greene, senior policy analyst at the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). "Biofuels, in particular, can be anywhere from very good for the environment to very bad."

Cellulosic ethanol promises several advantages over corn-based ethanol which, fueled by government policies and investor capital, is now undergoing a massive build-out.

Making ethanol from forestry or agricultural waste does not involve the same intensive farming as corn, which requires more water and labor, cellulosic ethanol proponents say. Also, in the ongoing food-versus-fuel debate, cellulosic ethanol advocates say that forests don't compete for land with food crops.

The Soperton, Ga., plant will be using wood cast away by loggers. Trees are hauled to a central point where their tops and branches are cut off, providing the material for Range Fuels' multi-step thermochemical process.

Tree branches will go into a large tank where enough heat and pressure are applied to the mix to turn it into a gas. That synthetic gas is treated and then passed through a chemical catalyst which converts the gas to alcohol. Finally, the alcohol gas is converted to fuels and then turned into liquid.

Companies are pursuing different routes to cellulosic ethanol. Iogen, one of several companies using enzymatic processes, has built a demonstration plant in Ottawa that uses specially designed enzymes to convert agricultural wastes, such as corn stalks and straw, to ethanol.

Other wood wastes, even wood from natural disasters and fires, could be used, Dartnell said. Researchers are also busy devising processes to convert grasses, such as switchgrass and Micanthus, into fuels.

"Everybody is looking for feedstocks which they have to then plant and grow," Dartnell said. But because current logging practices usually leave branches behind, the waste is already there. It's just not being put to good use.

Indeed, companies have promised working cellulosic ethanol processes for years, but at this point, most work remains in the research or trial stage.

Part of what has held back making advanced biofuels from wood or straw is the significantly higher capital costs it takes to build a plant. But even with the bigger up-front investment required, rising corn prices have made the cost of biofuel from cellulosic sources only slightly higher than corn-based ethanol, according to a recently published report in the journal Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining.

Range claims its first plant will be completed next year and will be capable of making 20 million gallons of ethanol a year. It intends to later expand to 100 million gallons per year.

Dartnell estimates that the state has enough wood residue from tree farming and milling to create 2 billion gallons per year.

And just like Georgia, other states are encouraging development of cellulosic ethanol.

The state of Michigan is working with Mascoma, a cellulosic ethanol company spun off from Dartmouth College, and said in July that they intend to build a plant in Michigan using wood wastes as feedstock.

Mascoma, also backed by high-profile venture capital firms, has designed organisms that speed up the process of breaking down biomass and converting sugars to ethanol.

Michigan's governor, Jennifer Granholm, is enthusiastic about the plan and says it will help the state economically. The total investment from the state and Mascoma could top $150 million, said Michael Shore, a spokesman from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, a state agency.

"The state of Michigan will be putting some significant dollars on the line. We certainly believe there's a race to be first and we want to be in it," Shore said.

According to local press reports, the total investment of the Soperton, Ga., plant will be $225 million. A Range Fuels representative said that the company and Treutlen County have not finalized all of the incentives, which are said to include free use of land and tax abatements.

Federal mandates are setting a rapid pace in biofuel production and investment. Ethanol, made from corn, is now used as a gasoline addition, and blends with a high concentration of ethanol can power "flex-fuel" cars that run both ethanol and gas.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 set a target of 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2012--a benchmark that is expected to be surpassed as early as next year. The current capacity from U.S. production is more than 6.5 billion gallons, with another 6.4 billion gallons currently under construction, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

Biofuels today make up a fraction of gasoline consumption, which in the U.S. is about 400 million gallons a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administratione idsrc="NYSE" value="Gateway Inc"/>Gatewayestically grown biofuels could meet one third of current fuel demand, according to a 2005 report from the Departments of Energy and Agriculture. The report assumes a major portion will be derived from forests as well as agricultural waste products.

Deforestation?

Making ethanol from the cellulose in agricultural and forestry waste rather than corn produces less greenhouse gases, according to environmental groups. An NRDC study found that, on average, corn-based ethanol reduces greenhouse gas pollution by 18 percent for every gallon of gasoline displaced.

Making ethanol from other sources of biomass can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent to 75 percent depending on the feedstock, the group found. The analysis sought to analyze the emissions through the lifecycle of fuel production. Compared with perennial crops like grasses or managed forests, creating corn ethanol is more polluting because farmers use petroleum-based fertilizer and tractors that consume gas, according to studies.

The NRDC advocates incentives that favor "low-carbon biofuels," an approach that California is taking. Rather than setting biofuels production targets, federal mandates should draw distinctions between different types of biomasses used for fuels, said the NRDC's Greene. Policies should promote fuels that create the least amount of greenhouse gases measured during production, refining and burning of fuels, Greene said.

From the environmental point of view, the Range Fuels plant is notable because it's moving fuel production into the forests and away from competing uses from agricultural land, Greene added.

However, he notes that forests are already under a lot of strain from sprawl and the pulp and paper industries. "Going to the forests is certainly no panacea," he said.

A citizen advocacy group called Food and Water Watch last month published a report last month that criticized the land-grab mentality now hovering around ethanol. It warned that the environmental effects of large-scale cellulosic ethanol production are still not well-understood.

"Even cellulosic ethanol, a considerably better alternative than corn ethanol, is limited by the impacts that large-scale production of feedstocks and fuel would have on the environment," it concluded.

Georgia's Dartnell argues that building a fuel industry around the forests is actually good for trees. He notes that the land being used in the Range Fuels plant is a plantation, where trees are planted in rows for miles, and was converted from cotton and tobacco farms over the past century.

Deforestation should not be a concern, he says, because the state has an inventory process and, at this point, the state is growing trees faster than they consume them. Creating a demand for tree residue will mean that landowners have an interest in managing the resource sustainably, he said.

"In the Forest Commission, our mission statement doesn't say anything about making ethanol," Dartnell said. "It's all about clean air and healthy forests. Part of that is the economic viability of owning forest land."

http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-11392_3-6202328.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

By Felicity Barringer

The New York Times

Water levels in the three upper Great Lakes are wavering far below normal, and experts expect Lake Superior, the northernmost lake, to reach a record low in the next two months, according to data from the international bodies that monitor the Great Lakes, the world's largest freshwater reservoir.

Although the cause of the falling levels is in dispute, the effects in Lakes Michigan and Huron are visible everywhere. Ship channels are overdue for dredging. Wetlands in some areas like Georgian Bay, east of Lake Huron in Ontario, have dried up, leaving fish and birds without accustomed places to reproduce.

Beaches around Saginaw Bay in Michigan have reverted to marshes as shorefront reverts to wetlands. One-third of the Michigan boat ramps are unusable.

Although the drop in levels in all three lakes is variously ascribed to climate change or new rainfall patterns, evidence is growing that people caused some losses in Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Gravel mining early in the 20th century by private companies and dredging by the Army Corps of Engineers, particularly in the mid-1960s, may have widened and deepened the St. Clair River, through which those two lakes drain into Lake Erie.

The flow may be eroding the riverbed. The erosion may in turn result in increased outflow, more than can be replenished by rain or snowmelt, according to a study by a group of Canadian coastal engineers.

Data being released this week by a group of Canadian homeowners, supplementing an engineering study from 2005 by W. F. Baird and Associates, a Canadian business, indicates that the outflow is undiminished and may be significantly greater than earlier estimates.

If the new estimates are correct, 2.5 billion gallons a year are being lost through the expanded parts of the St. Clair, roughly the equivalent of the amount diverted annually for Chicago's needs.

Robert B. Nairn, a coastal and river engineer who is a principal at Baird, said in an interview Monday, ''I was surprised that something of this magnitude could be happening.''

Although Mr. Nairn said the man-made changes were consequential, he was cautious about speculating whether they had played a greater role in the water loss than other factors, like climate change.

''I think we found that all of those contributed to some degree,'' he said. ''The big question that remains is how much is each contributing.''

Those questions are a central focus of a new study begun under the auspices of the International Joint Commission, a binational group whose members are appointed by the governments in Washington and Ottawa to monitor the boundaries and water quality of the Great Lakes.

Eugene Stakhiv, an official of the Army Corps of Engineers on loan to the commission, said the Baird group had raised significant questions.

''They raised concerns and came to conclusions that make sense within the information and models they used,'' Mr. Stakhiv said. ''But I think there are still many uncertainties.''

That the water levels in the upper lakes are falling is certain. Data from the corps's Web site indicates that Lake Superior has almost reached its record low, set in 1926.

Roger Gauthier, a project manager at the Great Lakes Commission, an intergovernmental body representing eight states and two Canadian provinces, said water levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron had dropped three feet since 1999 and were about seven inches above the record low set in 1964.

The persistence of low water in Lakes Huron and Michigan has been out of keeping with the larger cycles of high and low water in the basin.

The level of Lakes St. Clair and Erie, more southerly lakes, has been slightly above average. These lakes receive the Huron and Michigan outflow. Intake of abnormally high amounts of water could raise their levels. But so could unusually high rainfalls.

Mr. Stakhiv said he would not prejudge the cause of these changing water levels before new measurements were taken.

But the Georgian Bay Association, the homeowners' group that hired Baird, says it believes that its study has identified the problem, and its members are impatient for a solution.

''We obviously believe that the river is eroding,'' said Bill Bialkowski, a homeowner who is an engineer and took the new measurements. ''It would be nice to stabilize it where it's occurring.''

Representative Candice S. Miller, Republican of Michigan's 10th District, which includes shoreline of Lakes Huron and St. Clair, said she had tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain a $3 million to $5 million Congressional appropriation to pay for an Army Corps of Engineers study of the crucial waterways.

If the Baird hypothesis is correct, Ms. Miller said, ''you're diverting millions of gallons into the Atlantic Ocean.''

http://www.nytimes.com

Mississippi makes ton of green off wildlife-related activities

By Bobby Cleveland

Associated Press

Hunting, fishing and other wildlife-related activities continue to be big business in Mississippi generating nearly $988 million a year.

That is the estimate released by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in a preliminary report from its 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation.

A full report from the survey is expected later this year. The federal agency conducts the survey every five years to track outdoor trends on a national and state-by-state basis.

Clearly, outdoor sports are important to Mississippi as both a source of recreation and revenue.

At a tax rate of 7 percent, the state's general fund received nearly $69.1 million in 2006. Most of that is 100 percent net profit, too, since hunting and fishing programs administered by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks receive no money from the state's general fund.

Despite a reduction in participation, the Magnolia State's income continues to grow.

In 2001, the total economic impact to Mississippi was an estimated $874 million. The five-year increase of $113 million or 11.5 percent comes despite a big drop in the total number of hunters.

In the 2001 survey, the USF&WS estimated that the combined number of resident and nonresident hunters over the age of 16 was 357,000. In 2006, that number had fallen to 309,000, a decrease of about 48,000 hunters, or 13.5 percent.

But, the 13.5 percent fewer hunters shelled out a whopping $558 million in 2006, 35.5 percent more than the $360 million spent five years earlier.

Fishing activity also showed a decrease during the period, down from an estimated 586,000 combined residents and nonresidents in 2001 to 534,000 in 2006. That's a decrease of 8.9 percent. Spending grew 12.1 percent, however, producing nearly $240 million in 2006 as compared to $211 million in 2001.

Only in non-consumptive wildlife-related activities did Mississippi show reduced revenue. In 2001, it was estimated that wildlife-watching produced $303 million. In 2006, the number had fallen to $182 million 40 percent lower.

Wildlife watching includes two categories, around-the-home participants and those who travel to view or photograph wildlife. Mississippi's total of 743,000 wildlife watchers in 2006 included 613,000 (83 percent) who did their watching at home.

On a national basis, there was a 12 percent decrease in the number of fishermen and a 4 percent drop in hunters. Wildlife watching increased 8 percent.

Despite the reduction in its numbers, Mississippi continues to rank high in per capita participants.

With 21 percent of all Mississippi residents over the age of 16 fishing at least once in 2006, the state ties for sixth in national rankings. The nationwide percentage is 13 percent.

Mississippi ties for 11th in hunting, with 11 percent of the population of residents over 16 hunting in 2006. Nationwide, the percentage of the population that hunts is down to 5 percent.

Mississippi is well above the national average for residents who either hunted or fished. The state ties for 10th with 24 percent of the population participating. The national average is 15 percent.

Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com

Rendell's global warming plan still in the workshop

Associated Press

By Marc Levy

Gov. Ed Rendell, who has been outspoken on the need to limit emissions of global warming gases, has not delivered on a promise to come up with his own strategy for Pennsylvania.

Administration spokesmen would give no reason for the delay, other than to say a plan is still being worked on.

When Rendell rolled out his proposal to subsidize alternative energy and conservation efforts on Feb. 1, he said he would have a plan ready in 90 days to limit the greenhouse gas emissions that most scientists blame for global warming.

But such a plan could prove difficult in Pennsylvania, which produced more electricity from coal in April than any other state except for Texas and is the nation's third-largest producer of the most prevalent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency.

Seventeen states have made commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including New York, New Jersey and the six New England states. Only one of the 17 states Illinois is among the top 10 in electricity production from coal, which is the biggest single source of carbon dioxide.

Some critics say it is costly, and even futile, for a state to embark on a climate-change strategy if its neighbors do not do the same. But with no plan being pressed by the federal government, Rendell and other governors say states must fill the void.

A key part of reducing greenhouse gas emissions may involve capturing carbon dioxide at power plants and pumping it underground. Although electric industry officials say they know of no coal-fired plant where carbon dioxide is being successfully captured, numerous states, power companies and scientists are studying the idea.

Many people, including Pennsylvania's utility consumer advocate, Sonny Popowsky, expect that such efforts to control carbon dioxide emissions will drive up electricity prices.

The Electric Power Generation Association, a group that represents power plant owners such as PPL Corp and FirstEnergy Corp., agrees.

"You can't take what is easily our most abundant fuel for generating electricity and then cap ... the carbon emissions from that and not expect power prices to rise," said Doug Biden, who heads the Harrisburg-based association.

John Hanger, a Harrisburg-based clean-energy advocate, said "carbon sequestration" will mean jobs and money flowing to entrepreneurs savvy enough to jump into what he expects will be a booming new industry. Besides, with coal-fired power plants selling electricity at the same price as plants fired by more expensive natural gas, the cost to capture and store carbon dioxide could simply come out of the plant's profits, he said.

Conservation should also be a big portion of cutting carbon dioxide emissions, Hanger said.

"We've gotten in this country very wasteful with energy," Hanger said. "That creates environmental damage and it also costs more dollars than necessary."

The state Legislature is scheduled to meet in special session Sept. 17 on Rendell's energy plan, which aims to expand the use of cleaner-burning automotive fuels and encourage people to install solar panels and buy energy-efficient appliances.

Although he has missed his own deadline for proposing a greenhouse gas strategy, Rendell has fought for and won initiatives that could play a role in reducing global warming gases.

Under his administration, Pennsylvania became one of nearly two dozen states that require a portion of electricity used within its borders to be generated from clean sources, such as wind and sun.

Rendell also has made Pennsylvania one of about a dozen states that require tougher-than-federal pollution control requirements for vehicles. Under this standard, which is set by the state of California, 2009 model cars must cut back carbon dioxide emissions, although a legal challenge to the standard is pending in federal court.

In addition, Rendell's Department of Environmental Protection has looked at requiring landfill owners to recycle the methane that is generated by below-ground waste and vented into the atmosphere.

Also, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is studying the idea of sequestering carbon dioxide below state parks, forests and private lands.

"There is no one single solution," said John Quigley, the conservation department's director of legislation and strategic initiatives.

Energy Decision Makers Meet in Atlanta as Record Temperatures Soar

Business Wire

Temperatures soared to a record 103 degrees in Atlanta as a backdrop to the largest carbon reduction conference and exhibition. More than 4,000 of the nation's foremost authorities on energy efficiency and renewable energy will convene at the 30th annual World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC), August 15-17 at the Georgia World Congress Center to address technologies and strategies to reduce carbon footprints. The WEEC is the largest forum of its type with over 250 state-of-the-art presentations and a 100,000 square foot exposition.

As the largest event of its kind, the WEEC conference and exposition is designed to provide hands-on, up-to-the-minute information you can use right away to address the full spectrum of energy cost, control challenges and supply uncertainties. Well known for both its quality and scope, the WEEC conference is recognized not only for the number of conference presentations, but also for the qualifications and knowledge of the experts making the presentations. You will learn about the latest innovative technologies, on-site and distributed power generation options, sustainability, and proven cost management strategies. You will also hear insightful commentary on what the future holds, and how best to prepare for it.

Helping GA Businesses be Green & Grow:The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is sponsoring a special section of the exposition entitledGreenStreet.Here, corporate energy leaders can find solutions for making their business more energy efficient, implement sustainable technologies & strategies, and be a green leader for economic growth.

According to Albert Thumann, Executive Director, Association of Energy Engineers, the presenter of the WEEC, "Reducing greenhouse gases is now part of corporate sustainable goals. A recent survey of AEE members indicated that 48% of respondents now have a global warming policy. The 30th anniversary WEEC includes case studies on how corporations plan to reduce carbon emissions by 35% or more."

Technology in Action - One of the more interactive features of the event are the technology tours that delegates can attend while in Atlanta. Here delegates can see real world solutions in place, in Georgia, to help companies save energy, produce energy, and be a sustainable energy leader:

--Atlantic Stationchilled water plant tour.

--Georgia World Congress Centercentral plant tour.

--GA Aquarium:Legends in Energy reception & behind the scenes tour

For more information on this exciting event, please go to,www.energycongress.com, or to register for the event,VIP Media Registration. Visit the Association of Energy Engineers web site at,www.aeecenter.org.

About AEE

The Association of Energy Engineers is a 501(c)(6) non-profit professional organization that specializes in training, membership development, chapter development, and certification for professionals practicing in the fields of energy management, renewable energy and green buildings. The mission of AEE is to promote the scientific and educational interests of those engaged in the energy industry and to foster cooperative action in advancing their common purpose.

VIP Media Registration

CONTACT: Association of Energy Engineers

Communications

Patty Ardavin, 678-778-8516 or 770-447-5083

fax: 770-446-3969

Patty@aeecenter.org

http://www.businesswire.com

By Kay Nolan

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Aug. 14--BROOKFIELD -- New groundwater monitoring wells will be installed this summer across Brookfield Road from a Superfund landfill site.

The city's Park and Recreation Commission on Monday gave final approval for Waste Management of Wisconsin to install four wells in Rolling Meadows Park, a 41-acre city-owned public park near Brookfield Road and Tamarack Drive, east of the Brookfield Sanitary Landfill.

Larry Buechel, project manager for Waste Management, said the wells are part of a hydrogeological investigation launched this summer in the vicinity of the landfill "to refine our understanding of the quality and flow of the groundwater."

Buechel said two water samplings will be done at the new wells in the fall.

Bill Kolstad, city director of parks, recreation and forestry, described Rolling Meadows as a natural, grassy expanse with no improvements such as playground equipment or sports fields.

Other groundwater monitoring wells were recently approved for installation on city-owned rights of way along the east side of Brookfield Road.

Although Buechel said the investigation is part of ongoing maintenance of the former landfill, any new activity in the area is being watched intently by neighbors, who fear that disruption of land near the site could cause contamination to seep into their yards and wells. The city offers municipal water to the area, but some residents have kept their private wells.

Meanwhile, developers of the Shire subdivision to the west of the landfill are under a moratorium from completing Phase 2 until September 2008 while the city awaits further testing of the groundwater in that vicinity.

The Brookfield Sanitary Landfill is one of four Superfund sites in Waukesha County. Superfund sites are defined by the federal government as "any land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment."

The other three, which were all named to the Superfund National Priorities List in 1984, are: the Master Disposal Service Landfill, 19900 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield; the Muskego Sanitary Landfill, Janesville Road near Crowbar Road, Muskego; and the Boundary Road Landfill, previously called the Lauer I Sanitary Landfill, 8925 Boundary Road, Menomonee Falls.

To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com. Copyright (c) 2007, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

By José Adán Silva

MANAGUA, Aug 13 (Tierramérica).- The Nicaraguan government launched a national campaign to reforest 60,000 hectares per year and recover 18 rivers lost as a result of uncontrolled logging in recent years.

By Stephen Leahy

TORONTO, Aug 13 (Tierramérica).- Rainforest conservation policies are reducing the rate of deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon, but roads are unquestionably the drivers of change, new satellite data reveal.

or others simply move into nearby areas.

Accurate and ongoing measurements of standing forests and deforestation are absolutely crucial to making such as compensation system work, and Asner's group has the technology, says Laurance.

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