Journalists Are Only Against Some Cancer

Countless "objective" journalists advocate for mammograms to stop breast cancer.

Katie Couric advocates for colonoscopies to stop colon cancer.

Air pollution from burning fossil fuels like coal and oil definitively & scientifically causes lung cancer. Where are the journalists advocating for Environmental Protection Agency limits on air pollution?

Why are the first two OK, but not the third? Or is advocacy for stopping cancer only OK if there's no big money starting the cancer?

UPDATE: A Facebook commenter points out that media's unwritten rules sometimes allow an advocacy exception when the journalist is personally affected, i.e. Megyn Kelly suddenly caring about maternity leave.

Ask the Green Miles: Which Fish are Most Sustainable & Have Least Mercury?

First, the short answer: Check out the FDA's advisory on mercury in fish & shellfish, then cross-reference the FDA's chart of typical mercury content in fish with your local Seafood Watch pocket guide.

But in the big picture, if you're concerned about mercury in your fish, you should be thrilled about the Obama administration's new limits on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. They're often wrongly treated as separate concerns - coal plants pollute our air & water, and there's mercury in fish. That's why reporters let Republicans like Mitt Romney (sometimes joined by coal-state Democrats) bash Environmental Protection Agency regulations on coal-fired power plants in the abstract without connecting the dots to the 1 in 7 newborns at risk for brain damage and learning difficulties due to mercury exposure in the womb.

Grist's David Roberts digs deeper into why the new mercury rules are a BFD.

Will Rep. Wolf Side With Tea Party or With Children's Lungs?

Just got this email from a local conservationist:

Right now there is a bill in the House of Representatives to stop that rule from moving forward: the “Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act” (H.R. 2401). The bill blocks and indefinitely delays two of the most important clean air regulations of the past few decades – including the mercury and air toxics standards that we all advocated so hard for.

Based on our outreach here in DC, we believe that Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA 10) is yet undedicated on whether he’ll vote “party-line” in support of this bill, or stand up for public health and wildlife and oppose the TRAIN Act.

Which way will Rep. Wolf vote today? If you live in Virginia's 10th Congressional district, please call Rep. Wolf's DC office at 202-225-5136 right now. If you can't get through to Rep. Wolf's DC office, call his Herndon office at 800-945-9653 or his Winchester office at 800-850-3463.

Bush's EPA Rewrites Clean Air Standards "Based on the Interests of Polluters"

Some presidents would react to news their popularity was at a historic low by trying to do things that were, y'know, popular. Not President Bush. He's apparently decided to take the opposite approach, instead trying to set a new low for popularity that will stand the test of time, much like the consecutive games streak of Cal Ripken, Jr.

This should help:

The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday limited the allowable amount of pollution-forming ozone in the air to 75 parts per billion, a level significantly higher than what the agency's scientific advisers had urged for this key component of unhealthy air pollution.

Administrator Stephen L. Johnson also said he would push Congress to rewrite the nearly 37-year-old Clean Air Act to allow regulators to take into consideration the cost and feasibility of controlling pollution when making decisions about air quality, something that is currently prohibited by the law. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that the government needed to base the ozone standard strictly on protecting public health, with no regard to cost. [...]

With Democrats in control of Congress, the proposal to rewrite the Clean Air Act appears to face long odds. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called the move "outrageous," adding in a statement, "The Bush Administration would have us replace clean air standards driven by science with standards based on the interests of polluters."

Here in Virginia, even the new weak Bush standard would mean Richmond, Hampton Roads, Roanoke, and outer DC suburbs Caroline and Stafford Counties will be in violation.

Of course, none of this affects us here in Northern Virginia. We haven't met federally required ozone limits for nearly 20 years. And we're adding lanes of highway. Why start now?

Air Pollution: No Outrage, Just Inaction

If the DC area's water quality were as poor as its air quality, there would be protests in the streets.

A few years back when elevated levels of lead were found in DC's drinking water, there was a massive public outcry, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations.

But report after report warns us of the unhealthy condition of our region's air, yet we do nothing about it. We already knew the DC area's carbon emissions are spiking, with Virginia leading the way. And according to a new American Lung Association report, the air in DC isn't quite as bad as the air in Los Angeles -- but it's close:

The lung association checked for three kinds of pollution: ozone and two kinds of soot -- short-term and year-round exposure -- and found that 136 million people lived in U.S. counties with unhealthy levels of at least one of the three.

Los Angeles was ranked as the most polluted U.S. city for all three categories, even though the report found pollution levels have dropped there. Houston, Dallas, New York, Washington and Philadelphia were among the worst cities for ozone pollution.

Washington and Philadelphia were also on the list of the cities with the most soot. Others were Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and Baltimore.

You can read the American Lung Association's full report here.

So why doesn't poor air quality get people riled up like poor water quality? Major water problems are certainly easier for us to detect -- bad water may look or taste funny, or we may be told we have to boil it. But major air problems show up in more insidious ways, like higher rates of childhood asthma, and DC has one of the highest rates in the entire country.

But here's the bottom line -- water problems can be solved by the government without the need for changes in personal habits, while it takes individual change to address air problems. Sure, the government can ban coal-fired power plants or mandate tougher emissions standards. But paying more for a hybrid, taking public transportation more frequently, or running the air conditioner less are sacrifices most of us haven't yet been willing to make.

There is some good news. Another new report says once adopted, we won't have to wait decades to see the benefits of clean air policies. According to the World Health Organization, they yield immediate health benefits.

In Virginia, It's Still "Thank You for Smoking"

DC's smoking ban is set to take effect Tuesday, to much hand-wringing from DC bar & restaurant owners. The Washington Post follows the pattern of most media coverage of the ban, mentioning bar & restaurant owners' fears of lost business in the sixth paragraph, but waiting until four paragraphs later to mention that New York City and California (among dozens of other communities) have had smoking bans for years now, and from what I hear, people do still go out there.

Another fear -- that smokers will head en masse to Virginia. Luckily for DC, Virginia already discourages people from coming across the Potomac with its 2am last call (which translates to as early as 1:15am at many bars).

A much more likely scenario is that the smoking ban will be a benefit to DC businesses. DC already has the aforementioned 3am last call and the all-important Cool Factor. Now Virginia nonsmokers have another big incentive to head into DC. Montgomery, Prince George's, and Howard Counties in Maryland also have smoking bans.

For Virginia, it's one more area in which we're lagging behind. Virginia not only lacks a statewide smoking ban, it doesn't allow cities or counties to ban smoking on their own. (Because of the Dillon rule, localities only have the powers specifically granted to them by the state [thanks to Vivian for the correction]). You'd think a Democratic governor like Tim Kaine would support a smoking ban, but in fact he opposes it.

If you think Virginia should ban smoking in bars and restaurants (or at least allow communities to make their own choice), email Governor Tim Kaine, your state delegate, and your state senator now.

UPDATE: DCist agrees on the impact of the smoking ban, as do a vast majority of commenters.

Arlington's Transit Future: Green or Lean?

Arlington County has just released a draft version of its Master Transportation plan, and from an environmental perspective, there's an awful lot to like about it.

The plan emphasizes complete streets, environmental sustainability, and reducing reliance on single-occupancy vehicles. Arlington is one of the few communities in the region to recognize you can't pave your way out of transportation problems. New roads fill up just as quickly as they're built, because especially in a fast-growing area like DC, traffic is like a gas -- it expands to fill all available space.

Arlington has committed to smart growth, centering development around Metro stations. Communites like Loudoun and Fairfax Counties have let single-occupant vehicles drive their development, and now find themselves trying to come up with more money to build ever-wider roads. But in Arlington, despite a massive increase in population along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, traffic on Wilson Blvd. isn't much worse than it was 20 years ago.

However, the plan has its drawbacks. While it calls for bringing Arlington into compliance with federal air quality standards, it's only a brief mention. Such a huge problem is going to take years of work and a lot of tough choices to solve. And with Maryland planning to build the Intercounty Connector and Virginia planning to expand the Beltway and I66, it doesn't look like our region's leaders have the stomach to take stands they perceive as politically unpopular.

Then there's the elephant in the room, saved for the last two paragraphs of the 24-page overview: "Identifying funding sources for the wide array of projects and programs recommended in the MTP will also be a challenge. ... The next steps in the MTP process will include prioritizing the recommendations provided in the plan and its supporting elements and the determination of short, mid and long term priorities given current and future funding limitations."

Those two little sentences threaten to undo all that came before them. As the Arlington Connection has reported, lack of funding already threatens to bring pedestrian- and bike-friendly improvements to a screeching halt. With Virginia's House Republicans refusing to raise taxes for transportation improvements, available funds are going to finish already-strarted projects and to maintain existing roads. And when budget priorities are assigned in this transportation plan, environmental projects and alternative transportation could be the first thing to go.

For more details, you can visit Arlington Master Transportation Plan's website, or just read the overview.

UPDATE: I'm quoted in the DC Examiner's article on the plan (note the misspelled name).