Eco Report – March 31, 2023

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This is Eco Report for Friday, March 31st, 2023.

Later in the program, Environmental Correspondent Zyro Roze hosted a conversation with Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights. Roze and Linzey discuss the environmental attorney’s background, early career, legal triumphs and current court battles to secure civil rights for Ecosystems by conferring personhood to aspects of Nature under the law.

And now for your environmental reports:

Clean Fifteen and The Dirty Dozen: Pesticides in Produce

U.S. grocery shoppers take note, EcoWatch is reporting on pesticides in produce. The Environmental Working Group released its 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, with its annual Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists of the conventional fruits and vegetables most and least likely to be contaminated with pesticides, and this year’s lists have important new additions.

In particular, blueberries and green beans were both added to the Dirty Dozen, with green beans even testing positive for a neurotoxic insecticide called acephate that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has already banned.

The Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists are based on tests of 47,000 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.
This year’s round of tests uncovered 251 different pesticides on almost 75 percent of non-organic, fresh produce sold in the U.S. The worst offenders — rated by the percent of samples with two or more pesticides, the average number of pesticides per sample, //the average parts per million of pesticides found per sample//, the most pesticides found in one sample of the product or the total number of pesticides across all samples — make up the Dirty Dozen.

In 2023, the Dirty Dozen were: Strawberries, Spinach, Kale, collard and mustard greens, Peaches, Pears, Nectarines, Apples, Grapes, Bell and hot peppers, Cherries, Blueberries, and Green beans.

As a group, the Dirty Dozen tested positive for 210 different pesticides, and at least one sample of each item tested positive for at least 13 pesticides, with some contaminated with up to 23. Strawberries, spinach and the trio of greens have hovered in the top spots for three years in a row. But blueberries and green beans broke with the past when they edged into the last two spots.

The shuffling on the lists partly reflects the fact that the USDA does not test every fruit and vegetable every year. The last time blueberries were tested, in 2014, 81 percent of samples tested positive for pesticides. During 2020’s and 2021’s testing, more than 90 percent of the samples were dusted in detectible pesticide residues.

The two pesticides of greatest concern found on blueberries were phosmet and malathion. These are both a type of insecticide known as an organophosphate. The recently banned chlorpyrifos is another example.

Organophosphates like chlorpyrifos are such a concern because they can be toxic for the brain, harming especially children’s cognitive development. Phosmet, which was found on more than 10 percent of blueberry samples, is currently banned in the European Union. Malathion, which was found on nine percent of samples, is permitted there only in greenhouses.

An organophosphate was also the most alarming pesticide found on green beans, with nearly seven percent of samples testing positive for either acephate or methamidophos, which acephate breaks down into. This despite the fact that the EPA banned acephate for use on green beans in 2011.

Next week we’ll provide the list of the clean 15.

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House Bill 1007 Passes Indiana House of Representatives

A bill that aims to create a statewide energy plan passed the state Senate unanimously on March 21, 2023.

HB1007 requires the state agency that oversees utilities to consider five things in most of its decisions: reliability, affordability, resiliency, stability and environmental sustainability.

The bill also cuts in half the amount of power utilities can buy from the grid during peak demand. That means they’d have to show they can generate about 85 percent of their energy themselves or from contracts with other companies.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. The legislature is promoting small nuclear and carbon capture. They are both very expensive and if adopted, would require a big rate hike. The legislature has been against wind and solar, even though they are both proven and the least expensive options going forward.

Federal Judge Bars U.S. Forest Service from Planned Burns in Hoosier National Forest 

An injunction Wednesday barring the U.S. Forest Service from beginning planned burns in the Hoosier National Forest this weekend was issued by a Federal Judge.

The US Forest Service was sued by Monroe County Commissioners and the Hoosier Environmental Council and the Indiana Forest Alliance, who stated that the prescribed burns would be occurring near steep slopes that drain into Lake Monroe, one half-hour south of Bloomington. Lake Monroe is the source of drinking water for nearly 150,000 Hoosiers.

Documents submitted to the court contend that these planned burns will “significantly exacerbate the degradation of these waters and threaten public health safety and reactional interests in the Lake Monroe watershed.”
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, who issued the order, stated that the Forest Serviced failed to take a “hard look” at the consequences of the planned burn.

The Forest Service plans to hold three burns covering 3,500 acres of the Hoosier National Forest this year, with up to 13,000 acres over a 10-to-15-year period as part of the Buffalo Springs Restoration Project that we reported on last week.

This may have some effect on what might be the final Public Input meeting happening on Monday April 3rd, from 1 to 2:30 pm at the Orange County Community Center in Paoli Indiana, where activists and citizens will have access to public officials including Senator Mike Braun who has set up the event in response to grassroots pressure to reconsider the present Forest Plan, to open up the process and consider preferred alternatives submitted by regional environmental groups.

Feature Report:

And now, let’s listen into today’s feature report as Zyro Roze discusses environmental issues with Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights.

Upcoming Events:

• Learn about Bloomington’s local frogs during the Frog Songs class at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve on Saturday, April 1st, from 6:30 to 8 pm. Did you know that there are frogs that chirp? Others whistle, croak, ribbit, peep, cluck, bark and grunt. Springtime is a great ime to appreciate the chorus of frog sounds. Sign up at bloomington.IN.gov/parks.
• Learn more about the proposed Buffalo Springs Restoration Project and access Forest Service officials and Senator Mike Braun during a special public input meeting this Monday, April First at the Orange County Community Center, located at 1057 Sandy Hook Rd Ste 2, in Paoli, Indiana 47454. This may be the last opportunity to put forth alternatives and voice opposition to the logging and burning planned for some 13,000 acres of the Hoosier National Forest.
• A “Sky Dance” and Twilight Hike will take place at Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve on Friday, April 7th, from 7 to 8:30 pm. Join guest hike leader and naturalist, Cathy Meyer for an evening of exploration along the boardwalk trails. A chorus of amphibians will be the backdrop as you search for the woodcock’s famous mating ritual, the “sky dance.”
• Take the Full Pink Moon Hike at Brown County State Park on Friday, April 7th, from 8:30 to 10 pm. Join the naturalist for a guided night hike around Lake Ogle to learn the history and folklore of the Full Pink Moon. Trail 7 is considered rugged in the dark and will be muddy in spots.
• Wildflower Weekend will take place at McCormick’s Creek State Park on Friday, April 7th through Sunday, April 9th. Workshops, hikes and fun activities are scheduled each day. To see the full schedule, go to the DNR Calendar website.

Credits:

This week’s headlines were written by Norm Holy and Zyro Roze.

Our feature was prepared and presented by Zyro Roze.

Our script today was assembled by Julianna Dailey and edited by Kade Young and Noelle Herhusky-Schneider.

Julianna Dailey and Zyro Roze compiled our events calendar.

Kade Young produced today’s show and edited the audio.

Tomorrow’s April Fool’s Day, so keep your wits about you!