An Iowa county has received $48.5 million in federal funding to protect the rusty-spotted bumblebee and preserve its habitat.
The grant is designed to restore endangered species and their habitats across the country. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded Winneshiek County more than $635,000 to protect the bee and its natural habitat.
Pam Mackey-Taylor, Iowa chapter director of the Sierra Club, said the rusty-spotted bumblebee is a crucial part of the natural ecosystem.
“It pollinates prairie plants, pollinates garden plants, fruit trees, ornamental plants,” Mackey-Taylor explained. “It’s important to keep the pollinator services of the rusty-spotted bumblebee available, and they’re certainly necessary.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service is awarding more than $48 million to 19 states for habitat protection projects benefiting 80 endangered and threatened species across the country.
The bee lives in prairie and marsh areas and builds its colonies underground. Mackey-Taylor noted that the grant money will be used to protect the areas the bee most relies on from invasive species so the things it needs to thrive can flourish.
“Blooming flowers in the spring, summer and fall so there is a source of nectar,” Mackey-Taylor noted. “And make sure the bees are protected from sprays, fungicides, herbicides and insecticides.”
For Iowa farmers, excessive pesticide spraying and drift from weed and pest control are often a problem that could impact the bee habitat that the grant is intended to protect.
Disclosure: The Sierra Club donates to our fund for reporting on climate change/air quality, energy policy, the environment, and environmental justice. If you would like to help us support news in the public interest, click here.
Get more stories like this by email
Environmental groups in Texas are supporting a proposal for a global plastics agreement to be finalized by the end of the year.
The aim of the treaty is to minimize the impact of plastic on the environment and make manufacturers responsible for the disposal of plastic waste. The treaty also promotes the use of reusable options such as single-use bags, straws and cutlery.
Cheyenne Rendon, senior policy officer for the Society of Native Nations, said supporters need to focus on the people the treaty is intended to serve.
“The United States has already made it clear that it is not prepared to act on the basis of existing laws,” Rendon stressed. “While they are in favor of a global plastics treaty, it is a treaty with the lowest possible designation. So we need to take a people-based approach here. How can we protect not only our planet but also our people?”
Texas is one of the largest producers of fossil fuels and plastics in the country, with the majority coming from the Houston Ship Channel. It is the second largest petrochemical complex in the world and is surrounded by low-income communities of color. The life expectancy of people in this area is up to 20 years lower than that of white communities just 15 miles away.
Amnesty International recently declared the Houston Ship Channel a “sacrifice zone,” meaning that local residents suffer devastating physical and mental health problems, as well as human rights violations, as a result of living in these pollution hotspots.
Yvette Arellano, founder of the group Fenceline Watch, said they have been advocating for environmental change at the local and state level for years. They argued that by supporting the plastics deal, they would be advocating their causes at the national and global level.
“We are working with over 300 other organizations, from grassroots to academic and legal organizations,” Arellano explained. “We are trying to denounce the serious human rights violations committed by the petrochemical and fossil fuel industries and to expose the false solutions they offer.”
Arellano added that people in the area had no way to escape the poison.
“Whether we are at home, working outside in the garden or spending our free time with the family, whether we are at school, at the supermarket or at the post office,” Arellano explained, “we are consistently and continuously poisoned, with full and free license on behalf of our regulators.”
The groups will testify before the United Nations later this year.
Get more stories like this by email
Hurricane season has begun and environmentalists are shining a spotlight on the role salt marshes play in protecting communities along North Carolina’s coast.
Studies have shown that salt marshes absorb flood and wave energy, reducing property damage in surrounding areas by an average of 20%.
Charlie Deaton, a habitat conservation biologist with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, explained how salt marshes help build areas’ climate resilience.
“They help us reduce some of the carbon we’re putting into the atmosphere, and they’re also good for community resilience,” he said. “They protect shorelines from erosion, and the larger scales of the salt marshes can actually reduce the impacts of storm surges and reduce flooding.”
North Carolina has about 220,000 acres of salt marshes, but the protection they provide depends on their health and preservation. Coastal development, pollution and climate change all pose threats to these ecosystems. Deaton said there are plans in place to restore them. The South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative aims to save 1 million acres of salt marshes from North Carolina to Florida.
With hurricane activity expected to become more frequent and intense, the role of salt marshes in protecting coastal communities will become even more important. Deaton said the evidence is clear that restoring these landscapes is urgently needed if we want to preserve them.
“And if we start losing our salt marshes,” he said, “we’re going to start losing our breeding grounds, and that’s going to have negative impacts on our fish stocks and our fishing communities that depend on them, not to mention the direct benefits to community resilience that come from preventing erosion and reducing storm surges.”
At the state level, North Carolina also has a Salt Marsh Action Plan to improve and restore salt marshes. Deaton stressed the importance of integrating these actions with other pollution reduction efforts to protect coastal communities.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Get more stories like this by email
The summer temperatures are another reason for environmental groups to worry about the nuclear waste stored in the Great Lakes.
There are three nuclear power plants in Michigan and 23 in the Great Lakes basin. Many of the plants store their hazardous waste outdoors in dry barrels along waterways in Michigan and Canada. According to environmental groups, around 80,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste are currently stored near the Great Lakes.
Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist at the nonprofit Beyond Nuclear, said proximity to important freshwater sources is just one problem.
“The danger is that you have to constantly expose this stuff to a radiation field, because a person can be exposed to a lethal dose of radiation within a few minutes,” Kamps explained. “You also have to contain the radiation and isolate it from the environment.”
The Michigan group Citizens’ Resistance at Fermi II is working with other local and national organizations on solutions, including promoting renewable energy and urging agencies like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to enforce so-called “hardened” on-site storage, which they say can keep nuclear waste safer.
DTE Energy, the operator of Fermi II, responded to the concerns in a statement, saying in part: “Fermi’s spent fuel is stored in hardened containers, protected according to strict federal guidelines, and continuously monitored.”
Jesse Deer In Water, community organizer for Citizens Resistance at Fermi II, said many people are under the impression that there are no radiation leaks from the dry fuel storage pools, but his organization disagrees.
“Because there is still hot fuel inside,” Deer In Water claimed. “It is still very unstable and if it is completely enclosed without being able to vent it, radioactive gas can form inside it, which can catch fire and explode.”
DTE Energy also noted that the containers “undergo rigorous testing and analysis to ensure they can withstand natural disasters.”
Disclosure: Citizens’ Resistance at Fermi II donates to our fund for environmental, environmental justice, Native American and nuclear waste coverage. If you would like to help us support news in the public interest, click here.
Get more stories like this by email
