Government▼Watch

© 2003 American Chemical Society FEBRUARY 1, 2003 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ■ 53 A

Barring aquatic invaders

An electrical barrier will keep invasiveAsian carp out of the Great Lakes,thanks to $300,000 in grant moneyfrom three U.S. federal agencies, theInternational Joint Commission, andthe Great Lakes Fishery Commission.Although the action is welcome, it ex-

emplifies the piecemeal, insufficientfunding and policy approach that theUnited States has used to tackle inva-sive species, critics say.

On Nov. 18, 2002, the U.S. EPA pro-vided $150,000, the Department ofState gave $100,000, and the ArmyCorps of Engineers (Corps) contributedin-kind services to install backup powerfor a temporary electrical barrier on theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canal,which provides a passageway from theMississippi River to Lake Michigan. TheCorps has already installed cables alongthe bottom of the canal to create amicropulsed direct current electricfield, which will hopefully prevent fishpassage, says Steven Hawkins, brigadiergeneral with the Corps. The backuppower will keep the electric field opera-tional if there is an outage in the publicpower grid that provides energy for thebarrier. The carp, which can grow to100 pounds and up to 4 feet long, arecurrently in the canal, less than 50miles from Lake Michigan and about17 miles from the barrier.

The project’s funding is small con-sidering the enormous problem of in-vasive species, says Joel Brammeier,

habitat coordinator for the LakeMichigan Federation, an environmentalgroup. His organization has called for$10 million to stop the Asian carp,which could be used to create a perma-nent barrier by adding a second one ofa different type, such as acoustic bub-blers used in Europe, or separating thecanal from Lake Michigan by treating

water between the locks, or closing theconnection to the lake.

Brammeier’s group is demanding amore comprehensive, nationwidemanagement plan with strong fundingand regulations to fight all aquatic in-vasive species. This point is echoed ina new report from the InternationalAssociation for Great Lakes Research, ascientific organization of researchersstudying the large lakes of the world(www.iaglr.org/scipolicy/ais/). The re-port’s authors challenge the U.S. andCanadian governments to establish a10-year goal to eliminate introductionsof new aquatic invasive species andcalls for $30 million annually to fightinvasive species in the Great Lakes re-gion. —JANET PELLEY

Surveying the underworldScientists began heading undergroundin December in one of the largest ef-forts yet to systematically collect andclassify soil-dwelling organisms in thetropics. The five-year project is spon-sored by the United Nations Environ-ment Programme (UNEP) and theGlobal Environment Facility at a cost

of $26 million. Countries targeted bythe survey include Brazil, India,Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mexico,and Uganda.

“We’re surveying these areas to firsttry to understand something aboutwhat biodiversity is there in the soil,and then we’ll look at ways in whichthat biodiversity can be conserved bymanaging agriculture in more sustain-able ways,” says Jonathan Anderson,an ecology professor at the Universityof Exeter and chair of the program’stechnical advisory group.

The clearing of forests for farmlandand a push toward increasing intensi-fication of agriculture have led to thewidespread destruction of habitatsacross the tropics, along with the lossof critical ecosystem services such aswater storage and carbon sequestra-tion, according to Nick Nuttall, UNEPspokesperson.

The idea behind the project is thatby better understanding the role thatbelow-ground life—such as beetles,fungi, nematodes, and termites—play,researchers might be able to restorethe fertility of some of these damagedand degraded lands. At the same time,crop yields could be raised withoutthe heavy pesticide and fertilizer in-puts so common in the United Statesand Europe.

Burrowing by earthworms and ter-mites, for example, helps to betterstructure and maintain the soil, allow-ing plant roots to go deeper and waterto percolate through the soil to re-charge groundwater aquifers andsprings, according to Anderson. Hepoints to a project in India where thereintroduction of earthworms at a100-year-old tea plantation has in-creased previously stalled yields by asmuch as 282%.

The seven countries where the soilsurveys are now under way were cho-sen because they already have somescientific capacity to carry out the workthemselves, Nuttall says. Moreover,these sites were thought to be amongthose with the highest subterraneanbiodiversity. KRIS CHRISTEN

54 A ■ ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / FEBRUARY 1, 2003

EC proposes sulfur limitson marine fuelsThe European Commission (EC) hasproposed regulations to reduce airpollution from seagoing ships. If ap-proved, it would mark the first regula-

tion of maritime emissions. The moveis a reaction to projections in an EC-commissioned report that by 2010,emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) overEuropean seas could be three-quartersof land-based emissions, and emis-sions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) could

be two-thirds of land-based emissions.The EC’s top priority is to reduce

ship SO2 emissions over EU seas by500,000 tons annually, officials say. Theproposals include a 1.5% sulfur con-tent limit for fuels used by all vesselsin the North Sea, English Channel, andBaltic Sea; currently used marine fuelshave an average sulfur content of2.7%. To improve air quality aroundports and coasts, the same limit wouldapply to fuels used by passenger ves-sels on regular service to or from anyport within the EU. Ships at berth inEU ports would have to use fuel with a0.2% limit. Once adopted, memberstates would apply these laws to allvessels in their ports and seas, saysNicola Robinson of the Commission’senvironment directorate.

With these proposals, the EC isputting pressure on the InternationalMaritime Organization (IMO) tospeed up ratification of its MARPOLConvention on air pollution fromships, (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 33,9A), says Melissa Shin of the EuropeanEnvironmental Bureau, an associationof environmental organizations. Thissets a 1.5% limit for SOx emission

control (SEC) areas like the Baltic Sea. To reduce NOx emissions, the EC

intends to press for tougher enginestandards through the IMO. The ECalso wants to develop market-basedinstruments, such as differentiatedport dues based on emissions, to en-courage ship owners to use NOx re-duction technologies.

The oil industry supports low-sulfur fuels for SEC areas, but notelsewhere, such as around the Medi-terranean Sea, where acidification isnot an issue, says Manuel Bravo ofEuropia, the European oil industry as-sociation. He also points out that thecosts of low-sulfur fuel would jumpsubstantially if industry had to pro-duce more than the 4–5 million tonsper year required for the SEC areas.

Shinn points out that a 1.5% limitaddresses only the cumulative emis-sions from the current fleet but doesnot address the emissions producedby a projected 3% growth in the fleetby 2010. “We are concerned that thisstrategy will not stop emissions ex-ceeding the critical loads for acidifi-cation and eutrophication.” MARIABURKE

Southeast Asia development raises concerns Governments of the six countries that share the 4880-kilometer-long Mekong River—China, Thailand,Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Burma—have agreed toform a regional power grid that environmentalists fearwould lay the foundation for an ambitious program ofhydropower development.

The $4.6 billion plan will involve 32 projects, includ-ing the construction of vast transmission lines to createa regional grid, encouraging private-sector investmentin power, and developing a regional system of powertrading. Officials with the Asian Development Bank(ADB), which will provide loans for some projects, toutsregional electricity trade for its “significant economicand environmental benefits”. For example, substitutingcoal and oil with hydropower, natural gas, and other en-ergy sources will reduce emissions of greenhouse gasesand other pollutants.

Although the ADB does not have a specific budgetfor hydropower investment in the region, hydropowerdevelopment is likely to be one of its favored options.However, officials stress that any project must meet itsguidelines on environmental and social safeguards.

“If you are going to develop hydropower, you havesupply countries like Laos and demand countries likeThailand and Vietnam,” says Rajat Nag, director-generalof the ADB’s Mekong Department. “It makes muchmore sense to take a regional, holistic approach.”

Environmentalists are concerned that this agreementis the first step toward a fresh spurt of dam building in

the Mekong basin. “Further dam development along theMekong and its tributaries will result in destruction ofthe valuable Mekong fisheries, widespread downstreamerosion, flooding of important conservation areas, in-creased flooding downstream, and reduction of soil fer-tility along the banks of the river and in the Mekongdelta,” says Aviva Imhof, director of the Southeast AsiaProgram of the International Rivers Network, a cam-paigning organization. Already, at the Theun-Hinbounhydropower project in Laos, fish stocks in affected rivershave fallen as much as 90%, and severe erosion alongthe river downstream of the dam has resulted in the lossof farmland, riverbank vegetable gardens, and the de-struction of fisheries, says Imhof. —MARIA BURKE

Thailand and Vietnam could benefit from new projects thatcollect and transport water from Laos.

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The EC predicts that by 2010, SO2 emissionsover the seas could be three-quarters ofland-based emissions.

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