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Cincinnati - Cincinnati City Council was swift to react to revelations that the city's Department of Health has been ignoring potentially deadly lead contamination problems in many of our poor neighborhoods, but council's demand that the 300 open lead complaints be taken to court by the end of the year is not enough - not nearly enough.

Council's Rules and Government Operations Committee demanded faster action on the complaints Monday, the day after The Enquirer published "Lead's Dangerous Legacy," a special report detailing the city's failure to deal with known lead hazards throughout the city. The report showed the Health Department has done little to force landlords to clean up lead paint problems. The department opens a case only after it has been notified by the state of a reported case of a child suffering from lead poisoning.

Lead poisoning, caused by ingesting chips or dust from lead paint, which was widely used before the 1970s, results in learning disabilities, behavioral problems, seizures, coma and in very severe cases, death. Yet despite being able to prosecute violators under civil and criminal rules, and having a special housing docket available in Municipal Court, the health department has taken only two of the 300 open cases to court. More…

The City of Cincinnati is doing its part to enact policies to reduce global warming.

The Blue-Green Alliance will work with Mayor Mallory to promote new public policy under its self-described banner of "Good jobs, a clean environment and a safer world." More…

The Ohio Environmental Council believes the state can fight global warming - without damaging its agriculture, coal, and manufacturing industries - by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Most of the council's 65 recommendations in a report released Monday dealt with replacement of conventional coal-burning power plants - responsible for such high carbon dioxide emissions - with coal-gasification and sequestration power plants. These plants have new technology to capture and store carbon emissions underground.

The council, in its report, cited electric power production, transportation, and thermal heating to be the three largest causes of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, the gradual warming of the Earth's atmosphere.

Ohio is the nation's third-biggest emitter of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, according to the report. In addition, Ohio ranks third in the nation - trailing only Texas and California - for total greenhouse gas emissions. The total emissions account for not just carbon dioxide but also methane gas, black carbon soot (which comes from diesel engine exhaust), and several other harmful gases. More…

(Columbus, OH)—The Ohio Environmental Council, one of Ohio’s leading environmentalconservation groups, today issued a 65-point action plan for how Ohio can combat global

warming, yet strengthen its mainstay industries of agriculture, coal, and manufacturing.

The group’s report calls for deep reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas

emissions through a wide-scale transition to cleaner energy technologies, including no-till

farming, coal gasification power plants, and energy-efficient manufacturing processes,

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Monday it would hear an appeal by environmentalists of a ruling that Duke Energy Corp. did not violate clean air laws by modernizing eight coal-burning power plants in North and South Carolina without obtaining a permit….

"Over 160 million Americans, more than half of the country, live in communities out of compliance with the nation's health standards and today the Supreme Court took a big step toward aiding those communities in their efforts to restore healthy air," said Environmental Defense attorney Vickie Patton. …More

EPA Releases Second National Assessment of Toxic Air Pollutants

Source: US EPA 2/22/06

United Steelworkers

Sierra Club, Ohio Chapter

Ohio Citizen Action

Cincinnati AFL-CIO

Environmental Community Organization

Lower Price Hill Environmental Leadership Council

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EPA Releases Second National Assessment of Toxic Air Pollutants

Source: US EPA 2/22/06