Wednesday
Jul292009
124 Beaches Violated Public Health Standards In 2008
By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service
A new survey by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Water Program on water quality at U.S. beaches found that beach closings due to biohazards surpassed 20,000 for the fourth consecutive year, a rather high, yet steady finding.
“There are 124 coastal beaches in the U.S. that violated public health standards in one out of every four water samples taken last year,” NRDC Co-director Nancy Stoner said during a conference call with reporters. “People swimming at contaminated beaches. . . are pretty likely to get sick.”
A five-star rating was used for the first time this year to judge beach pollution by evaluating each beach's management ability to monitor water quality and communicate to swimmers. While many beaches received five stars, some beaches received four stars because they tested water samples only once per week.
Stoner said that more needs to be done to improve beaches used for swimming. Although current NRDC standards are rather minimal, NRDC is lobbying Congress to pass the Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act, which would require states to begin using rapid-water tests and provide funding for studies to identify pollution sources.
NRDC is an environmental activist organization that was founded in 1970 to advocate its overall goal of cleaning-up the ecosystem. For more information on individual beach ratings, visit www.nrdc.org/beaches.
A new survey by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Water Program on water quality at U.S. beaches found that beach closings due to biohazards surpassed 20,000 for the fourth consecutive year, a rather high, yet steady finding.
“There are 124 coastal beaches in the U.S. that violated public health standards in one out of every four water samples taken last year,” NRDC Co-director Nancy Stoner said during a conference call with reporters. “People swimming at contaminated beaches. . . are pretty likely to get sick.”
A five-star rating was used for the first time this year to judge beach pollution by evaluating each beach's management ability to monitor water quality and communicate to swimmers. While many beaches received five stars, some beaches received four stars because they tested water samples only once per week.
Stoner said that more needs to be done to improve beaches used for swimming. Although current NRDC standards are rather minimal, NRDC is lobbying Congress to pass the Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act, which would require states to begin using rapid-water tests and provide funding for studies to identify pollution sources.
NRDC is an environmental activist organization that was founded in 1970 to advocate its overall goal of cleaning-up the ecosystem. For more information on individual beach ratings, visit www.nrdc.org/beaches.
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Joseph Russell, NRDC, Nancy Stoner in Frontpage 2, News/Commentary
Joseph Russell, NRDC, Nancy Stoner in Frontpage 2, News/Commentary
Poll: Candidates Advocating Clean Energy Have Edge On Competition
By AJ Swartwood - Talk Radio News Service
Recent surveys conducted in states where many of the tightest Congressional races are taking place show that the vast majority of voters support clean energy legislation and the candidates who advocate it.
Wesley Warren, Director of Programs at the National Resource Defense Council Action Fund, and Tom Jensen, Director of Public Policy Polling, said that their organizations conducted surveys to discover how large an impact candidates’ stance on clean energy reform will have on the outcome of November’s midterm election.
“When you want to know what voters think…just ask them,” Warren said. “They’ve said they would like their members of Congress to act on energy. They prefer clean energy and are more likely to support, by a wide margin, those candidates who do.”
In 21 of 23 congressional districts polled, voters said they were more likely to vote for candidates who supported clean energy legislation than those who opposed it.
It is no secret that American voters will hit the polls thinking about the economy and job creation, but figures reveal that clean energy advocates are making the case that a vote for clean energy is, in fact, a vote for new jobs.
“Jobs are the number one issue on everyone’s mind… that’s one of the principal reasons to move America toward a clean energy economy is to create those jobs, ” Jensen said.