The Clean Ohio Fund created by voters in 2000 is expected to get only half the money it had coming in the soon-to-be-unveiled capital budget proposal. The cash-strapped Taft administration is prepared to ask for $100 million for the fund, said spokesman Orest Holubec. That is half of what proponents of the program expected to see in each two-year budget cycle. Environmentalists who joined Gov. Bob Taft when he championed the Clean Ohio campaign in 2000 say the Republican governor and lawmakers are failing citizens if they stop short of paying for what was approved. [ Read Full Article ]

What's the problem?
The ISG Cleveland Works is the largest single polluter of the air and water in Cuyahoga County, according to reports submitted to the Ohio EPA. ISG’s air pollution, visible to anyone driving on the freeways past downtown Cleveland, amounted to 76 million pounds in 2003 (Source: ISG 2003 Title V fee emissions report). The plant sits on the Cuyahoga River, and discharges 100,000 pounds of pollution per year into the river (Source: Ohio EPA Toxics Release Inventory, 2001). Because the plant is so close to Lake Erie, both its air and water pollution can endanger the lake. Since ISG reopened the steel mills last year, pollution problems in nearby neighborhoods have included metal flakes and soot covering people’s cars and homes, nauseating odors including strong sulfur smells, loud noises, and visible orange and yellow clouds coming from the stacks.
[Read Full Article]

EPA Cites ISG Cleveland for Clean-Air Violations
11/3/2004
EPA alleges that ISG violated state requirements that visible smoke emissions not exceed 20 percent opacity the amount of light obscured by the smoke. EPA said the smoke came from two basic oxygen furnaces on the west side of the plant. ISG has 30 days from receipt of the notice to meet with EPA to discuss resolving the allegations.
[Read Full Article]

The Arctic and Antarctic are experiencing severe climate change. The Arctic ice cap is melting at an unprecedented rate due to human induced global warming, according to a new study conducted by 300 scientists and elders from native communities in the arctic, released 8 November. Over the last 30 years the ice cap has shrunk 15-20 per cent. In 2003 the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, the largest in the Arctic, broke into two pieces. With the build up of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, the trend is set to accelerate with forecasts that by the summer of 2070 there maybe no ice at all.

In Antarctica, while the interior of the continent is cooling, disappearin g sea ice and warmer temperatures around the Antarctic peninsula are causing an 80 percent drop in the numbers of Antarctic Krill. This is causing the food chain to crash affecting fish, penguins, sea birds, whales and other animals, as well as commercial Fisheries. The breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002 has also released several glaciers, increasing their speed up to eight fold, and dumping their loads into the Weddell Sea contributing to rising sea level.

[Melbourne IMC: Climate Change Features | Perth IMC: Warming in Antarctica | WWF: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment | Climate Solutions]

Dysart Woods Website
awaiting update: Dysart Woods hearings continue in Columbus on October 6, 7 and 28, 29

More information can be found : Buckeye Forest Council

previous Cleveland Indymedia article

Federal Judge Orders Halt to Logging on Wayne National Forest while case is being heard.
The Wayne National Forest is Ohio's only national forest. It is located in Southeastern Ohio and consists of three units; Athens, Marietta and Ironton. The Wayne currently consists of approximately 236,175 acres of land in Ohio.

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Global warming has been one of the biggest issues of contention among scientists for decades now, but has rarely been discussed by the media or the masses. Recent trends, however, show that may be changing...

We can only hope that more people take notice of the debates raging around this very controversial science, as the potential implications of global warming are not to be dismissed lightly. Knowledge of the science behind global warming is important to understand the debate between some, who claim there is nearly overwhelming evidence of the threat, and others, who remain highly doubtful as to whether it exists at all, but knowledge of the ideological, political, and economical issues at play in this debate may be even more essential. As global warming is truly a global problem, the proposed preventions are of a suitably global scale. I have tried to give a fairly comprehensive introduction from multiple viewpoints, and it may be a little time-consuming to read it all, so for those of you who are pressed for time, but still interested in getting some idea about what this global warming debate really means, you can at least check out this summary/op-ed.