Eco Report – April 28, 2022

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HEADLINES

Some Northern Indiana residents remain skeptical that communities in the area will be free of contamination from toxic coal ash despite a renewed commitment by government agencies and one of the state’s biggest energy companies to clean up polluted sites and transition to renewable energy sources.

—Norm Holy

IndyStar has issued report cards, and it’s not looking good for Indiana lawmakers. A new scorecard that grades Indiana legislators based on their votes in support of or against various environment-related bills has been released. In it, nearly two-thirds received a D or an F. Among them: the chairs of the House and Senate Environmental Affairs committees.

—Norm Holy

Inside Climate News reports that as the coal industry has collapsed in Kentucky, companies have racked up a rising number of violations at surface mines. Internal documents show State regulators have failed to bring a record number of them into compliance.

—Norm Holy

One of President’s Biden’s key campaign promises was not to drill for oil and gas on federal lands. However, the U-S Department of the Interior has announced a plan to do so. The department intends to auction off drilling leases on 225 square miles in nine states—Alabama, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah.

—Linda Greene

Recently we reported that over a thousand scientists from around the world who are deeply concerned about the climate crisis and about governments’ and corporations’ inaction on it committed acts of civil disobedience on April 6th in protest. Protests resumed on April 13th in London. Over two dozen scientists glued scientific papers and their own hands to the windows of a U-K government building (the U-K Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy).

—Linda Greene

The Biden administration wants the EPA to approve the sale of E15, an especially dirty type of fuel that its opponents say is far dirtier than plain gasoline and contributes to smog. E15 is a blend of gasoline  and up to 15% ethanol, a plant-based fuel.

—Linda Greene

For storm-battered residents of the Caribbean, the Southeast and  the Gulf Coast, new research on hurricanes is rarely good news, with recent studies showing trends toward stronger storms that intensify suddenly near the coast and maintain their strength longer after hitting land.

—Norm Holy

Federal health officials are closely watching a highly lethal type of bird flu that’s devastated poultry farms along the East Coast and the Midwest in recent weeks. There are no signs the strain of avian influenza poses a danger to people yet, but experts are on the lookout for potential mutations of the virus that could make it more of a threat.

—Norm Holy

The wildly misnamed federal program called Wildlife Services, part of the U-S Department of Agriculture, just announced that it killed some 405,000 native animals last year.

—Linda Greene

We may tend to think of evolution as something that happens slowly over millions of years, but that’s not always the case. When a population of a particular species changes, there can be a variety of possible causes, including climate change and human pressures on a particular ecosystem, such as overfishing.

—Norm Holy

CALENDAR

The Daisy Days Native Plant Sale will be at the Hinkle-Garton Farmstead on Saturday, April 30th, from 11 am to 4 pm, and on Sunday, May 1st, from 1 to 4 pm.  The sale specializes in native perennials.

The Sassafras Audubon Society is hosting a bird feeder cleaning fundraiser on Saturday, April 30th, at Bloomington Hardware in Bloomington from 9 am to 2 pm.  Keeping your bird feeders clean is one way of preventing the spread of disease.

The Flora Field Day at the Fairfax State Recreation Area at Monroe Lake will take place on Tuesday, May 3rd, from 9:30 to 11:30 am.  This is your chance to work on your flora identification skills.  The naturalist will teach you the proper use and application of an ID key, which opens the door to identifying thousands of species.  Bring Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, bug spray and water.  Sign up at bit.ly/may2022-florafield by May 1st.

A Wild Tea Time demonstration is scheduled for Saturday, May 7th, from 10 am to 10:30 am at Brown County State Park.  Learn what plants make suitable teas and any historical uses for those teas, and take some to try.

It’s Morel Mushroom Time, and Brown County State Park is having a Morel Mushroom Festival on Saturday, May 7th, from 11 am to 11:30 pm.  Join the naturalist to learn about how morel mushrooms grow, how to identify them and where they are likely to be found.