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| February/March 1996 | by Jym Dyer |
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| February/March 1996 | by Jym Dyer |
Our monthly review of local print media
Oakland Tribune staff writer Kathleen Kirkwood must have inadvertently hooked up a food processor to her word processor when writing about the Alameda Naval Air Station community reuse plan January 8. Surely only a whirring rotary blade could have produced this paragraph:
The wildlife refuge is an example of a compromise that's still being hammered out. The Fish and Wildlife Service wants 595 acres, and the city has proposed 390 acres as enough to protect endangered species like the California least tern.
It is, of course, the Fish and Wildlife Service whose proposal is designed to protect endangered species, based as it is on the principles of biology; and it's the city's politicians who "want" to put 200 of those acres to other uses (based on an entirely different set of principles).
The article continues, tossing in a few more numbers, and adding the usual sound bite about compromise. None of which has anything to do with the area's ability to sustain wildlife.
A five-part feature about the fight to save Headwaters Forest, titled "The Last Stand," was printed in the San Francisco Examiner December 16 - 21. The extended format allowed writer Jane Kay to explore the issues in more depth than is usually found in the papers. It's good to see a mainstream publication finally paying attention to the connection between the intensification of clearcutting and Maxxam's need to pay off junk bonds.
A lot of details are still missing (Earth First! is barely
mentioned), but overall it was a good feature. The Examiner
is keeping it online at http://www.sfgate.com/special/redwoods,
or you can find it at your local library.
Coincidentally, there's a book out now with the same title -- The Last Stand -- by David Harris. On Sunday, January 14, the San Jose Mercury News printed a lengthy book review, chock full of details about the junk bond deal.
Detroit says it can't make and sell electric cars to meet the demand mandated by California's Air Resources Board for certain smog-choked cities. Automakers and oil companies teamed up to do something about it: They placed ads in major California newspapers decrying the air quality requirements as "politics," meanwhile lobbying politicians to the tune of $24 million. The state capitulated, downscaling its air quality standards for the first time in history.
Angry editorials were written, but a few days later, all was forgiven when GM rolled into town with its new electric car, the EV-1.
The mood was celebratory. The San Francisco Chronicle's story in the January 5 issue was sprinkled with more superlatives than the average car ad. "Californians will get their first chance to buy a mass-produced electric car from a major automaker this year," chirped the Mercury News. Well, Californians who can afford to shell out $35,000 for a two-seater will, at least (hey, that $24 million has to come from somewhere).
Heaven forbid that we'd have to buy something from a minor automaker, several of which are in California and already producing electric cars for less than $10,000. The press didn't mention any of them, thereby preventing readers from being subjected to anything without a familiar brand name.
Not all readers were impressed. One correspondent challenged the Mercury News editors to place 20 orders for GM's car. (For reasons unknown, the editors titled this letter, "A $33,000 Litmus Test for Environmentalists.") "I've been driving one for years," another reader wrote in to the Chronicle, "We'd be happy to share our technology with the automakers who can't seem to locate it."
Interested Terrain readers might want to take a gander at the electric two-seater "City Bee" cars at the Ashby BART station. Plans are afoot to build more of them once the manufacturer sets up shop in the former Alameda Naval Air Station. (Perhaps they'll come out with a "City Least Tern" model.) Other manufacturers can be contacted via the Electric Auto Association at 800/537-2882.
Me, I'll just stick with my bike for now.
The Oakland Tribune and its sister publications were caught up in the enthusiasm for high-priced two-seater cars of a different stripe. An auto review in the January 12 issue hypes a new $65,000 (gasoline-powered) Jaguar as "rock-steady to challenge new speed limits."
Readers may be forgiven if they experience some confusion over this, since only a month before the press was assuring us that the new higher speed limits aren't supposed to have any impact whatsoever, what with the California Highway Patrol tightening up enforcement.
As described elsewhere in this magazine, the state of California has decided to extend the unrestricted sale of methyl bromide, a highly toxic fumigant and a powerful depleter of stratospheric ozone, for another two years. The premise for this extension is that no alternatives to methyl bromide are available, especially for nurseries and for "specialty crops" such as strawberries and nuts.
The press has quoted a few people who insist that alternatives are available, but they've pretty much left it at that. None of them have mentioned, for example, that the U.N. has identified viable alternatives for 90% of the uses of methyl bromide.
Here's some of the detail you've been missing, from the California Department of Food and Agriculture's own study to seek alternatives:
Certified organic farmers, including 22 strawberry farmers, are abundant in California. Some of the study's authors think that having these farmers on hand as a resorce makes California a particularly good place to start a phaseout of methyl bromide.
Use of methyl bromide is banned in Germany and Switzerland (they started phasing it out in the 1970s!). Somehow, both countries manage to grow strawberries.
The Netherlands, which also phased out the use of methyl bromide, has developed a nontoxic greenhouse production system that obviates the need for soil fumigation.
The study's summary stresses a need for more research into integrated pest management, soil dynamics, and other strategies. The authors of the study's soil fumigation report note that the ready availability of methyl bromide has served to discourage such research.
When storm winds knocked down tree limbs and closed a number of roads in Golden Gate Park, hundreds of city-dwellers took advantage of the situation to enjoy auto-free hiking, biking, and skating. The press hasn't noticed.
Reconstruction plans for the earthquake-damanged De Young Museum (which is located in the park) include a new 300-car parking facility. The press has noticed this, and reported on some controversy over the plans, but there's been no mention of the fact that the Museum is easily accessible on Muni lines 5 and 21. (Now you know.)
What Is Methyl Bromide? |
After CFCs and halons, methyl bromide (MB) is the top ozone-depleting substance in widespread use today. The federal Clean Air Act mandates that the production and import of MB is slated to be phased out by the year 2001, as part of this country's compliance with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (an international agreement). MB is used heavily in California to treat fields for strawberries and other crops, and to fumigate soil for nursery stock. It is extremely toxic. Concern for the health of fieldworkers led to a 1984 state law that mandated a ban on the substance if its manufacturers didn't complete studies on its health effects in 7 years. They failed to meet that deadline and got an extension to March 31, 1996. Another extension is being pushed through the state Senate as that deadline nears, and it looks as if sales may not be signicantly restricted until the federal deadline of 2001. Even that deadline is tenuous. There is concern that the parties who produce and use MB will simply avoid implementing alternatives nationwide and lobby for more time, as has just occurred in California. A document leaked from the Methyl Bromide Working Group (comprised of members of the chemical industry) indicates such a strategy: "If we continue to work together, we stand an increasingly good chance of being able to use methyl bromide well beyond the year 2001." Chemical industry pal Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) has already introduced legislation to do exactly that. |
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For more information on the City Bees, take a look at the National Station Car Association's Info Pages. PIVCO, the manufacturer of these vehicles, has since been taken over by Ford Motor Company.
I've got more to say about methyl bromide in the April 1996 column.
Some San Francisco papers have since printed letters from readers singing the praises of an auto-free Golden Gate Park. None of the papers have considered the situation newsworthy.
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