Trouble & Attitude 1/Trouble and Attitude - Issue 01.iso/mac/PCTEXT/EWREPB3.TXT

Text File | 1995-06-02 | 17KB | 401 lines

BEGINNING OF EW VOLUME 12, PART THREE
ENVIRONMENT

AUSTRALIA. Australian Prime Minister Paul
Keating's government will consider a $900 million
greenhouse-gas tax to help rein in the country's
budget deficit this year. The measure is one of a
number of tough reforms intended to help cut
Australia's greenhouse-gas emissions. The country
is not otherwise expected to reach its goal of
reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels
by 2000.

In light of the 6.4 percent economic growth
rate, both Keating and Australian Treasurer Ralph
Willis have promoted a carbon tax as part of a
strategy to slow the economy. Senior government
sources stressed that the first issue was whether
fiscal policy should be adjusted to help contain
runaway demand. Over the coming weeks, Envi-
ronment Minister John Faulkner will work on a
proposal to split the $900 million in revenue
among spending on the environment, cutting
greenhouse-gas emissions and reducing the budget
deficit. The Cabinet authorized Faulkner to con-
struct an integrated package of reforms to ensure
Australia cuts its greenhouse-gas emissions in time
for the March 1995 Climate Change conference in
Berlin.


CANADA. Canadian provincial and municipal
officials have called for an environmental assess-
ment of the Ontario Hydro nuclear power plant in
Pickering, Ontario. A conduit transporting heavy
water at the plant burst recently spilling more
than 100 tons of radioactive water into a contain-
ment room and causing a shutdown at one of the
facility's eight reactors. According to a statement
from the province-owned utility, no radioactivity
was released into the environment and no workers
were exposed to excess radiation.

A utility spokesman said the incident occurred
when "one of four heat-transfer valves unex-
pectedly opened," an "extremely uncommon" occur-
rence. The valves are designed to open in case
pressure builds up to dangerous levels in the reac-
tor from an accumulation of steam or water, said
Norm Rubin, director of Energy Probe, a nuclear
watchdog group.

CHILE. The North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) poses "grave threats to the
integrity of the environment" of Chile and will
worsen its already serious pollution problems,
charged Greenpeace recently. NAFTA, which
Chile is due to join in 1996, "will make more
acute the serious environmental problems that
afflict this country," according to a statement
from the environmental group's Santiago office.
The United States, Canada and Mexico formally
invited Chile to start trade talks in April to join
NAFTA and become a full member by mid-1996.
"The anxiously awaited invitation. . .has put Chile

on the road to a model of economic integration
that is fraught with grave threats to the integrity
of the environment," said the statement.

Greenpeace, which is fighting everything from
smog in Santiago to coastal pollution, joined by
local labor unions, is among the few sectors of
Chilean society to express strong opposition to
NAFTA. The government and Chile's exporters
say NAFTA will help Chile's economy. However,
Greenpeace contends that debate on NAFTA in
Chile is being conducted in a "social and environ-
mental vacuum" that will be lifted only by an
"authentic representation of citizens' interests and
concerns in talks with Canada, the United States
and Mexico."

FRANCE. It was something of a surprise that
among the stars of the 12th International Electric
Vehicles Symposium held recently in Anaheim,
California, was a large contingent of French
exports. An ongoing test of electric vehicles
(EVs) in the small French city of La Rochelle has
yielded what manufacturers term "spectacular
results" and prompted 80 other French cities to
volunteer as test locations. France is fertile coun-
try for EVs because the majority of its electricity
comes from cheap nuclear power, while gasoline
costs more than triple U.S. prices. In order to
spur production, the French government has
pledged to subsidize the higher cost of EVs,
which can be up to $4,000 more than equivalent
gasoline-powered models. Jean-Yves Helmer of
PSA Peugeot Citroen said EVs could be incorpor-
ated into a strategy the company is debating for a
possible re-entry into the U.S. market.

The four Japanese auto companies that are
required to offer zero-emissions cars in California
by 1998 also showed prototype EVs. Though some
prototypes had not been shown before in the
United States, the Japanese auto makers did not
announce any "provocative strategies" to comply
with the California mandate. The models shown
were mainly small station wagons used for deliv-
eries in Tokyo.

INDONESIA. After many years of negotia-
tion, Exxon has completed details of its $40 bil-
lion agreement to develop Indonesia's giant Nat-
una natural gas field. Fritz Voight, Exxon vice
president for gas, dismissed industry rumors that
key details of the deal signed in Jakarta with
Pertamina, the Indonesian state energy company,
still need to be resolved. He said Exxon consid-
ered the agreement complete and "there is no need
for further negotiation." A formal signing of the
contract will take place this year.

Natuna, which has been the subject of negotia-
tions since 1980, will be Exxon's first big foray
into the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market in
Asia. The field, located in the Natuna Sea about
800 miles north of Jakarta, is the largest undevel-
oped hydrocarbon resource in Southeast Asia.
The Naturna field is equivalent in size to the
Norway's Troll gas field, the largest in Western
Europe.

The timing of the Natuna deal has surprised
many industry executives. They say the persis-
tence of relatively low oil prices undermines the
economic viability of such long-term, capital-
intensive projects.

Demand forecasts for LNG vary widely. In
addition, a number of existing LNG plants that
supply Japan and the other large Asian markets
plan to expand capacity, while Middle East pro-
ducers such as Qatar also have embarked on large-
scale LNG projects targeted at Asia.

Voight agrees there is little need for additional
LNG supplies in Asia up to the end of the decade
and that Exxon's demand forecasts for Japan are
"slightly more optimistic" than those of the Tokyo
government. But he denies there is a danger of
LNG surplus. Exxon believes there will be a
"significant need" for Japan to increase its LNG
imports for power generation between 2000 and
2010, the period in which Natuna is due to come
on stream.

The company predicts demand will grow also
in Taiwan and South Korea. In addition, said
Voight, China is likely to become an attractive
market for Natuna gas. He said it was impossible
to give a start-up date for the project until Perta-
mina signs up an initial buyer.

ITALY. In the World Health Organization's
(WHO) European Region, more than 100 million
people each year use salt-water and fresh-water
beaches for their recreation. Naturally, they want
to be sure that they can enjoy their beach games
or water-sports without the risk of falling ill from
diseases caused by contamination or pollution.
However, different countries have diverse ways of
measuring water quality standards. Most of them
focus only on swimming and bathing as the main
activities, and limit themselves to checking only
the bacterial contents of the water. The "new"
countries of Eastern Europe are wondering what
standards they should adopt.

The Mediterranean Action Plan - an initiative
covering 17 coastal states and involving the U.N.
Environment Programme (UNEP) as well as the
WHO Regional Offices for Europe, Africa and the
Eastern Mediterranean - had laid down the
microbiological basis for new, more comprehen-
sive guidelines. Now the WHO Regional Office
for Europe is developing broader guidelines for
the health-related monitoring of salt and fresh
water as well as recreational beaches. Dr. Bent
Fenger, water and waste scientist at the Rome-
based WHO European Center for Environment
and Health, comments: "Recreational use does not
begin at the water's edge. Beaches themselves are
just as important, and guidelines are needed to
evaluate their quality as well. Not only that, but
service facilities and amenities such as toilets and
food-vending places have a health significance
that needs to be considered."

The guidelines will also cover aspects that have
hitherto received little attention. Vacationers
want to swim and play in water that is free from
risk of infection and also does not have bad odor,
look cloudy, taste foul or have oil, scum or litter
floating in it. Then there are the physical charac-
teristics of the bathing area. Is the bottom sandy
or have sharp rocks? Is there broken glass or
rusty cans? Is it flat, sloping gradually or drop
suddenly into deep water? The guidelines will
provide clear explanations of what constitutes
quality and offer practical advice on how to
achieve it.

"Our final customers are the people who use
these recreational resources," says Dr. Fenger. "We
want to send a clear message to them about what
WHO as a health organization recommends as
good recreational quality."

RUSSIA. Environmentalists and nearby coun-
tries are concerned by nuclear safety threats posed
by Russia's Arctic port city of Murmansk and the
surrounding Kola Peninsula. The Murmansk
fjord is home to the Russian Northern Fleet and
stores 71 obsolete nuclear submarines, notes the
Norwegian environmental group Bellona, as well
as a nuclear power plant regarded as "one of the
most unsafe in the world." Using Western esti-
mates, Bellona charged that Murmansk harbors
"poorly maintained" nuclear-powered warships, a
nuclear test site, "rickety" ships storing radioactive
waste and up to 2,000 nuclear warheads.

Bellona also estimated that "two-thirds of the
nuclear waste ever dumped in the world's oceans
lies off the Kola." Norway has installed radiation
detectors in its northern provinces near the Rus-
sian border to give early warning of disaster.
While the Norwegian environmentalists fear that
fire or the sinking of a storage ship could trigger
a major nuclear accident, Murmansk governor
Yeveny Komorov contended "there won't be any
atomic catastrophes in this area." Komorov argues
the danger is posed by the United States and
charges that a U.S. nuclear submarine intruded
into Russian waters off the Kola recently risking
the possibility of a collision.

RUSSIA. Russian papermaking company
Khimlesprom and East European-American non-
profit group Ecologia recently began experiment-
ing with Russia's first office-paper recycling
project. So far, more than one-and-a-half tons of
waste have been collected. The source? The U.S.
Embassy and the Russian environmental organiza-
tions that are "already in the habit of sorting and
whose employees may welcome environmentally
friendly products." Khimlesprom recycles the
office paper and sells it back to the participating
organizations.

Ecologia program director Oleg Cherp sees the
venture as a "way to close the recycling loop,"
saying, "Fortunately or unfortunately, Russian
businessmen copy a lot of things from the West. . .
So I think they will copy this attitude to recycled
products." If enough Moscow offices buy the
recycled paper, Ecologia will pull out of the
venture, leaving office paper recycling to expand
or contract with the market.

Poland's Pre-election Problems

The former electrician and Solidarity trade union
leader who has been the president of Poland since
1990, Lech Walesa, faces an election this autumn
that he is determined to win. Already he is cam-
paigning - in his normal bellicose manner. When
the year began, Walesa declared that he would not
approve higher rates of income tax [21, 33 and 45
percent] set for 1995 and urged his countrymen to
follow his example and pay according to the 20,
30 and 40 percent rates of 1992. At the same time
he refused to approve the tax laws pending a
constitutional court ruling, Walesa said that he
would use his veto against this year's budget and
lashed out at Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak,
leader of the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) and the
left coalition government, over his refusal to
accept the presidential nomination of Zbigniew
Okonski to the vacant post of defense minister.
Yesterday, Walesa suffered a setback. The court
ruled the tax laws were constitutional.

Pawlak's choice for the defense portfolio is
Longin Pastusiak, an academic who is a member
of the ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance
(SLD). Walesa's reservations are related to Pastu-
siak's pre-1989 publications in which he was
highly antagonistic towards the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization and the United States. This
controversy provides Walesa with yet another issue
for attack. Yet the governing coalition threatens
to bypass the Constitution and make Pastusiak
"administrator" of the Defense Ministry - a post
that does not require presidential approval.

Yet another constitutional crisis emerged this
month when Walesa refused to accept the resigna-
tion of Foreign Minister Andrzej Olechowski
though Prime Minister Pawlak did. The court
ruled yesterday that officials cannot hold two paid
public offices. Olechowski heads the state-owned
Bank Handlowy.

In typical fashion, the president said that he
would have dismissed Pawlak "six months ago" if
he had the constitutional power to do so. He
added, "Pawlak is young and lacks experience and
we harmed him by giving him the post he now
holds. He should be given a holiday."

A non-sympathetic observer in Warsaw reports
that Walesa is deliberately working to engender a
series of pre-election crises that will enable him
to portray himself as the indispensable man
needed to restore stability. In the process, Walesa
is using every populist trick in the book to dis-
credit potential opponents.

The Walesa tactics at this stage are working as
he wishes. Attacked by his former Solidarity
colleagues for his autocratic tendencies and writ-
ten off by the trade unionists as a political has-
been, President Walesa's popularity ratings last
year slumped to an all-time low of 5 percent.
Today, however, opinion polls show his approval
rating has risen to 13 percent and is still climbing.
Lack of strong opposition candidates could ensure
a Walesa re-election victory. The anti-communist
right has such candidates as Adam Strzembosz,
Jan Olszewski and Alicija Grzeskowiak - but
their polls show that they could muster only some
28.5 percent of the vote.

Walesa is having success recapturing support
among the rank-and-file members of the Solidar-
ity movement, his original base. While Solidarity
remains deeply divided, a majority of its members
again backs the president, as do members of the
Nonparty Bloc for the Support of Reforms.

The elected left coalition government contends
that Poland's problems stem only from the post-
Communist years 1989-92. Walesa maintains that
the country's present economic and political diffi-
culties have their origins under communism from
1945 to 1989. At the year's end, Walesa criticized
the Pawlak performance on market reform, saying
"at the current pace, the effects will take over 100
years to see." He stated that by applying the
experience of other countries, Poland should
complete the transformation within ten years.

Asked if he regards the current government as
post-Communist, Walesa said that at the economic
level the government has no choice but to direct
the development of a market economy. However,
where mentality is concerned, he said, the current
ruling elite is still of the old guard.

Opinion polls show Lech Walesa still trails the
man expected to be his main challenger, SLD
leader Aleksander Kwasniewski, who now has a
19 percent rating - but that is a drop of 5 percent
in a month. In a Kwasniewski-Walesa contest,
the SLD standard bearer could count on support
from his SLD, and probably from the Union of
Labor (10 percent) and PSL (14 percent).

Walesa will be able to focus his campaign on
Kwasniewski's political past. As Russia becomes
more totalitarian, such a linkage could be devas-
tating. Furthermore, Walesa would be battling on
terms of his chosing - defending his country's
new-found democracy against communism.

Published by TMI Print.
P.O. Box 1651, Washington, DC 20013. [phone].
Fax: [phone].
Editor: John Rees. Managing Editor: Martha Powers.
Foreign Editor: Karen Damha. Senior Editor: Robert
Vollmer. Staff Writer:
David Rhodes. Researcher: Erna Wollert. Editorial
Researcher: Bonnie Ebling.
ISSN 1049-9784 Copyright 1995.

END OF EARLY WARNING REPORT VOLUME 12.