More Weakened Environmental Regulations

Even as we celebrate Obama's victory, the outgoing administration is still working its usual mischief on environmental regulations.

We've seen a number of new rules in just the last few weeks, including ones that would ease restrictions on mountaintop-removal coal mining, push forward plans to store nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, speed up the offshore leasing process, and advance efforts to mine uranium in the Grand Canyon. The Bureau of Land management has also proposed opening wilderness-quality areas to oil and gas drilling in Utah.

The Bush administration is likely to move forward with plans to weaken air-pollution standards for power plants by altering the "new-source review" rules. Those rules now require power plants to install new pollution-control equipment if they are making upgrades that would keep their facilities operating more hours each day and increase overall emissions. Instead, the administration's proposal would allow older power plants to upgrade without installing costly new equipment as long as their hourly emissions rates don't increase. There's also talk of easing limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants near national parks, and allowing increased emissions from oil refineries, chemical factories, and other industrial plants with complex manufacturing operations, as well as weakening the cleanup standards for radioactive releases.

And there is more:

Mountaintop removal coal mining: On the bright side, the Office of Surface Mining is expected to issue a final rule that would extend the current rule—which requires a 100-foot buffer zone around streams—to include all bodies of water. Unfortunately, the new rule requires companies to avoid dumping mining waste within the buffer zone “or show why avoidance is not possible.” If they dump waste, they must minimize hurting waterways “to the extent practicable.” Hello, wiggle room.

All that is in addition to the administration's effort to weaken the Endangered Species Act earlier this fall. Like the ESA revision, each one of these new regulations is likely to be pushed through with minimal review or opportunity for public comment so that they may take effect before Obama's administration takes power. Undoing the regulatory damage will take months or years to accomplish.

Obama Wins!

Photo by Jim Young/Reuters

Obama won at least 349 electoral votes last night, more than enough to win the presidency for the next four years. (As of now, North Carolina and Missouri are still too close to call.) I do not have any illusions about what he is likely to accomplish, with all the roadblocks that exist within the federal government, but his administration will be a substantial improvement over the present one. For now, it is enough to savor the moment and celebrate.

Democrats picked up a few Senate and House seats, which should help matters. Unfortunately, a few Senators that should have been defeated held on, and some others appear to be holding despite vigorous challenges.

Election Day

If you have not voted yet, please go and vote. I voted a week or two ago by absentee ballot since I am temporarily away from home. Today I am just waiting for the results. If you are still undecided, consider Nate's profiles of Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin on conservation issues.

On a different note, the state of Florida is having school children vote on a new state bird today.

The mockingbird has been Florida’s feathered mascot since 1927, but it is neither unique nor representative of the Sunshine State, according to the Conservation Commission. The mockingbird also is the state bird of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

After today’s votes are tallied, The Conservation Commission intends to present the outcome to the state Legislature next year. A final decision on naming a new state bird is up to legislators.

The candidates for a new state bird are: osprey, snowy egret, great egret, brown pelican and black skimmer.

I and the Bird

I and the Bird #87 is available for browsing at Ecobirder. Bring your (birdy) Halloween costumes.

Also, I will probably not be posting over the weekend, but I will resume regular updates on Monday or Tuesday.

Second-Year Sharpies

Most of the adult hawks banded at Cape May cannot be assigned a precise age. Instead, they get the designation "after hatch year" or (more rarely) "after second year." In a few cases, there is sufficient evidence to determine that a hawk is in its second year. In sharp-shinned hawks, a second-year bird will have mostly adult feathers with some hatch-year feathers remaining.

The sharp-shinned hawk below, banded last week, has some of its hatch-year feathers among its wing coverts.

This sharp-shinned hawk, banded yesterday, has several hatch-year feathers in its tail. In addition, it had a few older feathers in its secondaries.

Yesterday's sharpie also had the reddest eye and most orange neck I have seen so far.