Members of Congress were visibly frustrated Wednesday as they questioned an administration official about the slow pace of action on keeping invasive species out of the Great Lakes.

"Here you have these international boats dumping these critters all over the place and you can't do anything," Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, said at a hearing by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

The hearing was called to examine the problems posed by the zebra mussel, the sea lamprey and other creatures that threaten native species by gobbling up their food.

"It's an ecological and environmental disaster," said Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, a scientist and longtime champion of Great Lakes issues.

Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency, told lawmakers his agency and others are researching how nonnative species enter the lakes so they can come up with a way to keep them out.

"We all recognize we need to do much more in terms of the invasive species threat," Grumbles said.

Dennis Rodriguez of El Paso, Texas, pleaded guilty today to criminal environmental crimes related to the operation of his company, North American Waste Assistance, LLC (NAWA), also located in El Paso. Under the plea agreement, entered in federal district court for the Western District of Texas, Rodriguez admitted to making a material false statement or representations in a manifest used to transport hazardous waste and to two counts of transporting hazardous waste to a facility that did not have a permit issued pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Both Rodriguez and his company were indicted in November 2005 for violations related to the handling and transportation of hazardous waste. According to the indictment, Rodriguez and NAWA were hired to dispose of over of 155 gallon drums of construction-related waste. Approximately 75 of the drums contained expired petroleum-based concrete curing compound, which is an ignitable hazardous waste when disposal becomes necessary.

The indictment alleged that on or about March 27, 2002, Rodriguez and NAWA transported the drums using several Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifests that stated that the drums contained “Non-RCRA, Non-Regulated” waste. Rodriguez then made arrangements to transport the drums, for disposal, to landfills in Avalon, Texas, and Walterboro, S.C. that were not permitted under RCRA to accept hazardous waste. The drums of hazardous waster were then disposed of at unauthorized facilities.

Rodriguez faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a total maximum fine of $250,000 per count.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the EPA, with the assistance of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, at a news conference in Paris, will release part one of a four-volume survey, the first such report since 2001. The study was reviewed by more than 2,500 scientists from 130 countries.

The IPCC will revise forecasts for rises in temperatures and sea levels this century. The panel will say it is more than 90 percent likely that global warming is being caused by human activities, Philip Clapp, president of the U.S. National Environmental Trust, said Jan. 31 in Washington. The degree of certainty in the last report was 66 to 90 percent.

"This is a statement by the largest scientific panel ever put together on a major scientific issue that we now have the smoking gun on global warming,'' said Clapp, who has seen portions of the draft. "The central message to governments is that we are at the tipping point and between 2015 and 2025 we have to stabilize the world's emissions'' of greenhouse gases, and then reduce them.

Industrial Revolution

"The science of climate change, of global warming, is now unambiguous: the Earth is getting hotter, the weather is becoming more variable and this is due to our own industrial revolution,'' U.K. Environment Secretary David Miliband said in a Jan. 31 interview. "All the predictions are that the problem is becoming more urgent, that the scientists are becoming more certain and that the dangers are becoming more real.''

The IPCC's report issued today is entitled "Climate Change 2007: the Physical Science Basis.''

Scientists say that carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases produced by burning fossil fuels cause the Earth to heat up when they linger in the atmosphere, trapping energy from the sun that would otherwise reflect back into space.

The level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is at its highest in at least 650,000 years, European scientists who analyzed ice cores from Antarctica said in the journal Science in November 2005.

The IPCC will narrow the bands for its forecast on temperature rise because of a "greater degree of certainty'' in the science, Steve Sawyer, Climate and Energy Policy Advisor for Greenpeace International, said in a Jan. 31 telephone interview.

Greek-based shipping companies Chian Spirit Maritime Enterprises, Inc. and Venetico Marine each pleaded guilty today in District court in Delaware to a felony violation related to the operation of the M/V Irene E.M., a large bulk carrier. Chian Spirit, the carrier owner, and Venetico, the carrier operator, admitted to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) by misleading U.S. Coast Guard investigators during the vessel’s port call to the United States in December 2005. The companies were sentenced by the Court to pay a total criminal penalty of $1.25 million dollars and to implement a detailed, court-monitored Environmental Compliance Plan.

According to the plea agreement, on December 5, 2005, the Irene requested entry into the Delaware Bay, en route to Newark, N.J. During the Coast Guard’s routine boarding, officers aboard the Irene provided Coast Guard investigators with a false log book that omitted required entries of overboard oily waste discharges made during the recent voyages.

Further investigation revealed that the vessel’s oil water separator had been inoperable for several months during the previous year. A vessel crew member testified that the ship illegally discharged waste oil into the ocean approximately four times per week into the open ocean. Most of these discharges took place at night or far from shore during trips to various ports, from Africa to Brazil, and from Brazil to the United States, so as to avoid detection. These illegal discharges were either recorded in the ship’s log inaccurately as having been “discharged through the oil water separator” or were not recorded at all. The Irene’s engineers also constructed a bypass pipe, often referred to as the “magic pipe,” which was also hidden from investigators during Coast Guard boardings.

“Companies that illegally and intentionally pollute our oceans violate the law and harm one of our most precious and vulnerable natural resources,” said David M. Uhlmann, Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Justice Department will continue to prosecute companies who fail to comply with the laws that protect our environment from illegal pollution.”

Engine room operations on board large oceangoing vessels such as the Irene generate large amounts of waste oil. International and U.S. law prohibit the discharge of waste oil without treatment by an oil water separator. The law also requires that all overboard discharges be recorded in an oil record book, a required log which is regularly inspected by the Coast Guard.

As part of the plea agreement, the corporations will pay a combined penalty of $1.25 million, $250,000 of which will be dedicated to a marine-based environmental enhancement community service project on the Delaware Bay.

In a related case, the Chief Engineer of the Irene, Adrien Dragomir, pleaded guilty in August 2006 to one APPS violation for falsifying the Irene’s oil record book. He was sentenced to serve a one-year term of unsupervised probation. Grigore Manolache, the ship’s master, pleaded guilty in July 2006 to a one-count information charging him with presenting false information to the U.S. Coast Guard regarding the vessel’s illegal dumping.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division. This case was prosecuted by the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

WASHINGTON – American-based ship operator, Pacific-Gulf Marine, Inc. (PGM), was sentenced today for deliberate acts of pollution involving a fleet of four ships, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced PGM to pay a $1 million criminal fine, $500,000 for community service and serve three years of probation under the terms of a rigorous Environmental Compliance Program (ECP), which is subject to court approval.

According to documents filed in court, including a Joint Factual Statement signed by the company’s chief executive officer, PGM admitted that the ships illegally discharged hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil-contaminated bilge waste without the use of an oily water separator, a required pollution prevention device. Instead, the ships used secret bypass pipes, sometimes referred to as a “magic pipe,” to circumvent the oily water separator.

After learning of the federal investigation, PGM voluntarily disclosed to investigators the results of an internal investigation comprised of approximately 50 reports of interviews with various current and former employees who had worked aboard the four giant “Car Carrier” vessels used to transport vehicles. Many of the interviews contained confessions, admissions or otherwise revealed incriminating information and evidence of illegal conduct, according to documents filed in court.

Both the Department of Justice and the EPA have voluntary disclosure programs under which a company can seek non-prosecution if it discovers violations and reports them in a timely manner prior to a government investigation. Prosecutors advised the court today that while PGM’s cooperation occurred after the initiation of the criminal investigation, it was nevertheless substantial and warranted significant credit. At the sentencing hearing today, Judge Nickerson recognized that PGM had provided significant cooperation in the government’s investigation.

“We will continue to prosecute companies who use our oceans as dumping grounds until those shipping companies clean up their acts,” said David M. Uhlmann, Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “But this case also demonstrates that companies like PGM can help right their wrongs by cooperating with criminal investigators, and we are hopeful that others will follow PGM's example by identifying misconduct within their organizations and voluntarily disclosing that information to law enforcement officials.”

“We will continue to work to protect the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland’s other waterways by prosecuting people and companies that pollute them in violation of federal law,” said Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. “We are fortunate that PGM responded in this case by accepting responsibility for its actions and assisting in our investigation.” Under the terms of the plea agreement, half of the $500,000 community service payment will fund environmental projects to improve, restore or study water quality in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, while the other half will fund environmental education for mariners at U.S. maritime schools.

PGM admitted that its shore-side management “failed to provide sufficient management resources and support to the ships, and also failed to exercise sufficient supervision and management controls to prevent or detect criminal violations by its employees.” The motive for the criminal conduct was to save money, according to papers filed in court.

The investigation was conducted by the Chesapeake Regional Office of the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the EPA Criminal Investigation Division. Additional assistance was provided by U.S. Coast Guard Sector Baltimore, U.S. Coast Guard Activities Europe, U.S. Coast Guard Fifth District Legal Office, Coast Guard Office of International and Maritime Law, and Coast Guard Headquarters Office of Investigations and Analysis. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2006 - Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that more than $385 million in Forest Service revenue will be distributed to 41 states and Puerto Rico for improvements to public schools, roads and stewardship projects.

"This is the sixth and final year of payments as authorized under the Secure Rural Schools Act and Community Self Determination Act of 2000," said Johanns. "The Forest Service has distributed more than $2 billion under this legislation since 2001 to assist counties in maintaining and improving local schools and roads."

Since 1908, 25 percent of Forest Service revenues, such as those from timber sales, mineral resources and grazing fees, have been returned to states in which national forest lands are located. Because receipts from timber sales fluctuate, the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 was developed to stabilize payments to counties. The funds have been used for schools and roads as well as to create employment opportunities to maintain current infrastructure and enhance forest ecosystems, improving land health and water quality. Authority for the Forest Service to make the payments expired at the end of fiscal year 2006.

The fiscal year 2006 payments are listed in the attached table. The payments do not reflect national grassland revenues, which are calculated on a calendar year basis and will be paid to counties in March. Oregon received the highest payment of more than $149 million; California received $66 million; and Washington received $42 million.

An additional provision of the act provides for an additional $32 million this year to be used by local county Resource Advisory Committees to fund projects to improve federal lands.

The Forest Service manages approximately 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands. For more information, visit www.fs.fed.us.

The Clean Air Act requires auto manufacturers to promptly inform the EPA of defects in emission-related components so that the government can consider whether the defect will cause emission standards to be exceeded and whether a recall is necessary. Both the complaint and the settlement were filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

In response to the EPA's investigation into the matter, Mercedes began voluntary recalls for two of the defects at issue and notified owners that it would extend the warranty coverage to address a third defect, at an estimated cost of about $59 million. Under the terms of the consent decree, Mercedes will also be required to improve its emissions defect investigation and reporting system to ensure future compliance, at an estimated cost of approximately $1 million per year.

Reliable and effective automobile pollution control systems are essential to protect human health and the environment from harmful automobile emissions, said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. Mercedes' failure to alert EPA to a number of defects in emission-related components over a multi-year period is a serious violation because it deprived EPA of the opportunity to promptly determine whether emission standards would be exceeded and whether to order a recall of any of these vehicles.

"These defect reporting requirements are a critical part of EPA's program to reduce air pollution by ensuring that vehicles on the road comply with the Clean Air Act's emissions standards," said Catherine R. McCabe, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

The vehicles subject to the voluntary recalls and extended warranties have defective catalytic converters or defective air pumps. The voluntary recalls and extended warranty will reduce the emissions of harmful pollutants caused by the defects by over 500 tons cumulatively. These pollutants include nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO). NMHC and NOx are key ingredients in the production of ozone, a major contributor to cancer-causing smog. CO impairs breathing and is especially harmful to children, people with asthma and the elderly.