Companies eye enzymes for ethanol production - ACS Publications

Environmental M News Design of natural gas pipeline questioned

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tively costly. To examine these concerns, these critics teamed with other scientists at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, England, which launched a Web site on August 1. The site provides English translations of the extensive Russian scientific literature on pipelines in permafrost. To further the Bush administration’s plans, a study is under way to choose a route for a $20 billion line capable of piping an estimated 100 trillion cubic feet of gas from Alaska’s North Slope to Chicago,

PETER J. WILLIAMS

n response to record-high demand for clean-burning natural gas, President George W. Bush is renewing calls for a natural gas pipeline to whisk abundant supplies from the U.S. and Canadian Arctic to the lower 48 states. A large-diameter gas pipeline has never before been buried in North American permafrost soil, but proponents say they have the technology to manage the freezing and thawing processes that have ruptured gas pipelines in the Russian Arctic.

Thisexperimentalapparatus,w hich can be monitored remotely,w asinstalled in subArctic Norw aybya team ofNorw egian,British,and Sw issresearchersto measure the movementsofpermafrostground thatcan affectgaspipelines.

The problems posed by burying gas pipelines in permafrost are complex (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35 (11), 246A) and require more study, charge critics in the United Kingdom and Russia. They argue that the technical fixes proposed for stabilizing the North American pipeline will be prohibi394 A

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says Curtis Thayer, spokesperson for the Alaska Gas Producers Pipeline Team, a partnership of Phillips, BP, and ExxonMobil oil corporations. The 48-inch-diameter pipeline will be buried to avoid explosions from accidents or sabotage, Thayer says. It will be able to deliver 4 billion cubic feet of gas

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / OCTOBER 1, 2001

per day at a pressure of 2500 pounds per square inch, more than twice the pressure used in Russian pipes. This design may not perform as well as expected, cautions Peter Williams, a soil scientist at the Scott Polar Research Institute. If a pipeline is warmer than the surrounding permafrost, the ice-laden soil will melt and settle, causing the pipe to sag, Williams explains. If the pipe is colder than the surrounding soil, ice forms around the pipe and slowly, but powerfully, heaves it up and bends it. Gas traveling under high pressure will exacerbate the stresses on a pipe undergoing frost heave, increasing the chance of a rupture, he says. To minimize thawing and freezing of the permafrost, the oil companies’ design calls for refrigeration stations every 60−120 miles along the pipeline, which will maintain the gas temperature within a few degrees of the surrounding permafrost, says John Ellwood, vice president of Foothills Pipe Lines, Ltd., the lead contender for designing a pipeline in Canada. The pipeline’s planners also intend to conduct a geothermal analysis of the soil around the pipe to predict the amount of settlement or heave that will occur, adds Dave Calvin, project manager for the Alaska Gas Producers Pipeline Team. This approach will allow engineers to avoid placing the pipe in problematic soils, he says. Because the temperature of permafrost can vary by as much as 4 °C over one mile, as a result of changes in vegetation and soil type, refrigeration stations would have to be much more closely spaced, on the order of 1−2 miles apart, counters Vladimir Yakushev, the leading scientist at the industry-sponsored Research Institute of Natural Gases and Gas Technologies (VNIIGAZ) in Moscow. He says they would also need to be supplemented by ex© 2001 American Chemical Society

become serious, and only in the most extreme cases will the flow of gas have to be interrupted for repairs, he says. “It’s not fair to compare our designs [for pipelines] to the Russians’ because our technology and regulations are more in tune with environmental constraints,” says Fred Wright, permafrost researcher with the Geological Survey of Canada. Depending on the results of an economic analysis and how soon permits can be obtained, Calvin hopes the pipeline will begin delivering gas as early as 2007. Critics like Williams maintain that the North Americans need to conduct more research before embarking on this costly project. —JANET PELLEY

Bt breakthrough reveals good and bad news for pest resistance

TOM BROWN AND SAE-YOULL CHO (ADAPTED WITH PERMISSION)

In the August 3 issue of Science, researchers report that they have found the genetic defect that causes a common cotton pest to be resistant to the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin that is genetically engineered into cotton plants. The discovery should lead to better tests for monitoring pest resistance, but it is also suggests that some insects may develop resistance to the Bt toxin more rapidly than previously thought.

The Btgenesgeneticallyengineered into cotton currentlykeep thistobacco budw orm atbay.Butnew research,w hich identifiesthe gene thatcausesresistance, show sthatthe pestcould develop resistance in lessthan a decade.

Three entomologists—Linda Gahan, at Clemson University, in Clemson, SC, Fred Gould from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, and David Heckel of the University of Melbourne, in Australia—collaborated in the work. They have identified the recessive gene (BtR-4) in the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens, which, when defective, is responsible for resistance to Bt. The tobacco budworm is a major pest that attacks cotton and other field crops in the Americas, and it has already been found to be resistant to many chemical pesticides. In susceptible insects without the defect, the gene makes a protein present in the cell membranes of the insect’s midgut. When this protein binds to the Bt toxin, it leads to the insect’s death. But in resistant tobacco budworms, a particular mutation “knocks out” the gene so it doesn’t make the protein. Without the protein, the toxin doesn’t bind, and the insect is resistant. The finding implies that widespread resistance to Bt may be more likely in the future than previously thought because resistance

Government Watch New EU legislation on GMOs In a move intended to give consumers the freedom to choose what is in the foods they eat and ensure environmental safety, the European Commission adopted new regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in late July. Pending approval by the European Parliament and Council, the proposed legislation is expected to go into effect by 2003. The legislative package has two main components—a new traceability and labeling system for GMOs in food and animal feed and a centralized process for approval of new GMOs. Under the new proposal, safety assessment and authorization of new GMOs, including deliberate release into the environment, will be carried out by committees of the European Food Authority. “With common rules, we should avoid that member states establish 15 different systems of traceability,” said Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström, proposing “one single, effective, and transparent system to keep track of GMOs ... throughout the EU.” The new labeling rules will apply to all food and feed produced from GMOs, even if GMOs are undetectable in the final product. The legislation also adds a provision that permits the “technically unavoidable presence of unauthorized GMOs,” under specific conditions, recognizing the fact that no food, feed, or seed product is 100% pure.

PHOTODISC

pensive drainage systems to avoid problems with frost heave. “Gas pipelines in permafrost areas are not reliable, and to ensure supply while a pipeline is being fixed, two or more parallel pipelines are necessary,” Yakushev says. The capital and operational costs of such a pipeline system are likely to far outweigh income earned from gas sales, he argues. Ellwood responds that the North American pipeline will be carefully monitored by “smart pigs”, bullet-shaped devices that flow down the pipe and use gyroscopes, ultrasound detectors, and measurements of magnetic flux to detect bends, cracks, and thinning of the pipe wall. This way, problems can be arrested before they

Court urges EPA to tighten incinerator standards Incinerators and cement kilns that burn hazardous waste will soon be facing more stringent pollution Continued on Page 397A

OCTOBER 1, 2001 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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Environmental M News does not appear to affect insect fitness, and it apparently can arise in a number of different ways. Resistant insects with the mutant gene appear as likely to thrive as nonresistant budworms—at least in the lab, according to Heckel— which suggests that the insects’ viability may not be affected by profound modifications of this key gene. In addition, the mutation that the scientists have discovered is just one of many that could knock out the gene, says Gahan. Finally, the same mechanism could be relevant to other closely related pests, such as the corn earworm and major cotton pests in Australia and China, says entomologist Douglas Sumerford, who studies Bt resistance in corn earworm at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Jamie Whitten Delta States Research Center, in Stoneville, MS. The U.S. EPA is currently evaluating how this newly discovered DNA marker can be used, according to agency officials. As part of its regulation of genetically modified plants, the agency requires resistance management plans for Bt corn and cotton, and these requirements will be under review

when the existing approvals come up for renewal on September 30. Since their introduction in 1996, Bt crops have spread like wildfire. The transgenic cotton seeds are popular with conventional farmers because they yield nearly 10% more cotton and require less than half as much insecticide as standard seeds. But Bt toxins, which have negligible environmental effects, are also a mainstay of organic farmers who have relied on Bt sprays to safeguard a variety of crops for more than 40 years. If resistance were to become widespread, all agricultural interests would suffer. This is why EPA requires Bt cotton growers to surround Bt crops that express high doses of the toxin with traditional non-Bt crops in what is called the high-dose/refuge strategy. Since resistance is a recessive trait in which both parents must pass resistance on to their young, the strategy aims to limit mating between two insects with the resistant gene. Rare resistant insects that survive on the Bt cotton are likely to mate with the abundant, susceptible insects living on the traditional crop. The new discovery may provide the foundation for an early warning

system to monitor whether the resistance management strategy is working, according to Gahan. Currently, it is difficult and laborious to monitor the presence of a single copy of the resistant gene in a field population of insects, she says. The insects must be collected, mated with resistant insects, and identified by their survival on a Bt diet. But Gahan’s group has already developed a test for the mutation they’ve discovered, and they expect to develop DNA tests for the entire gene in the next two years. In the meantime, they advocate that DNA samples should accompany existing insect monitoring and their new genetic test. The resistant budworms that the scientists studied were bred in the laboratory, so the scientists don’t know if such a resistance mechanism exists in nature. Although resistant budworms have not been found in the field, the scientists have previously estimated that 1.5 out of every 1000 budworm moths carry one of the genes for Bt resistance. Before this genetic discovery was made, the researchers previously predicted that it would take about 10 years for Bt resistance to become a problem. —REBECCA RENNER

U.S. AMRID

Bioterrorism and waterborne pathogens: How big is the threat? Government intelligence exes, says Ken Pantuck of EPA’s perts characterize the threat of Region 3 office, who has an intentional biological or worked with the D.C. Water chemical contamination of a and Sewer Authority in demunicipal water supply as a veloping the city’s response “relatively low probability”, but plan, general details of one with severe consequences which were released at the should such an event take AWWA meeting. Likewise, place. As a result, scientists anything put into a reservoir and engineers at large water would be diluted to such an systems like the one in extent that the amount of Washington, D.C., are developcontaminant needed to ing incidence response plans. carry out such an attack Scanning electron micrograph show santhrax spores(egg The D.C. system is considwould be virtually impractishaped)and a few vegetative cells(rod shaped). ered to be “a more probable cal. “It’s just not the best target than others,” said Greg way to spread disease,” Welter of O’Brien and Gere Water treatment systems are Pantuck adds. Engineers, who presented a paper able to kill or inactivate many natAs a result, most research to date on bioterrorism at the American ural pathogens through a multipleon microbiological agents has foWater Works Association’s (AWWA) barrier approach involving chlorine cused on aerosols because of their annual meeting in late June. disinfection and filtration processcapability for widespread dissemi396 A

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lyze the potential impact of and plan for a terrorist attack against a water utility. For example, EPA officials are working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a model emergency operations plan so that water utilities will know how to respond in the event of contamination, the threat of contamination, or a major disruption of service. And, in collaboration with the University of North Carolina−Greensboro, EPA researchers are looking into a way to detect water contamination through the use of computer chips that can read a biological agent’s DNA. This technology exists, Clark says, but hasn’t yet been applied in the water industry. The beauty of current counterterrorism measures is that they will help to improve water system operations regardless of whether a terrorist act, or a natural event such as a hurricane or flooding, overwhelms a system and causes it to break down, Clark says. Clinton’s directives set in motion a government-wide response plan that is continuing under the Bush administration. Vice President Cheney is overseeing the development of a new plan that is expected to be completed later this year. Also, the U.S. General Accounting Office should release a report this fall on combating terrorism with recommendations on how various government agencies should coordinate their efforts.  KRIS CHRISTEN

Companies eye enzymes for ethanol production Several U.S. states, including California, are curtailing their use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as a gasoline additive. Right now, the only other oxygenate approved under federal guidelines is ethanol. The U.S. EPA recently declined California’s request to get around the ethanol requirement and instead use in-state refiners’ capabilities to bring its gasoline into compliance. As a result, reports the

Renewable Fuels Association, California will need 580 million gallons of ethanol a year—close to 30% of all ethanol currently produced in the United States. Some maintain that the only way to cost-effectively meet this sudden demand is to convert inexpensive and abundant feedstock such as agricultural wastes, forest trimmings, and perennial grasses. And the way to harness this ligno-

Government Watch rules since a U.S. federal court threw out EPA’s air quality standards for the industry on July 24, saying the limits are too weak. Fueled by hazardous waste such as scrap tires and used solvents, about 172 incinerators and cement kilns release more than 11,000 metric tons of hazardous air pollutants each year, including dioxins and mercury. When EPA set the industry’s standards in 1999, they were based on the worst emission level attained by any source using a maximum achievable control technology. But in the case Cement Kiln Recycling Coalition v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 991457, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that those standards violated the Clean Air Act (CAA). The CAA requires air quality limits to reflect emissions actually achieved by the best-performing 12% of sources in each industry. Until EPA drafts a new rule, industries will adhere to the pre1999 regulations, because the court declined to hear industry arguments on how the limit should have been set.

Embattled arsenic rule: To be or not to be? As part of U.S. EPA’s evaluation of the arsenic standard for drinking water, the agency is requesting comment on the same range of options proffered by the Clinton administration. These include a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 3 parts per billion (ppb), the technically feasible level; 5 ppb, the level initially proposed in June 2000; 10 ppb, the level eventually set by the Clinton administration in January 2000; and 20 ppb.

TONY FERNANDEZ

nation and potential to kill or sicken large populations of people through inhalation. But “any [water] system can be compromised,” Pantuck notes. If an agent were introduced, for example, downstream of treatment in one of the many miles of distribution pipes laid in every city, the risk would be greater, but more localized and more difficult to immediately assess. Moreover, some pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium and Bacillus anthracis (the bacterium that causes anthrax), are resistant to chlorine. The tolerance of a number of other waterborne threats, such as Brucella species, plague, and smallpox, is unknown. In 1998, former President Clinton signed two Presidential Decision Directives, which made defending the United States against chemical and biological weapons a top national security priority and identified critical infrastructures that include the telecommunications, energy, banking and finance, water systems, government operations, and emergency services sectors. EPA was appointed to lead federal protection efforts for the water supply sector and received $2.5 million in funding for the job, according to Steve Clark of the agency’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water. EPA is involved in all aspects of the issue, Clark says, working with an array of government agencies and water industry groups to ana-

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cellulosic biomass is to “build” a better enzyme. As evidenced by recent government research contracts and private investment, improving cellulase enzyme performance is key to broadening the base of ethanol production. Enzymes need to be designed to handle often varying cellulosic biomass feedstock, in contrast to grain, a consistent input. Researchers are also focusing on how enzymes can perform in low-temperature conditions, as well as how they can be produced in greater quantities, faster, and less expensively. Edging forward, Iogen, a Canadian enzyme producer, has constructed a U.S.$20 million demonstration facility to manufacture ethanol using wheat and oat straw from Canadian farmlands. The Ottawa-based company received an investment from PetroCanada, and plans to commit another $8−12 million before breaking ground on a $100 million commercial facility to produce 53 million gallons per year of ethanol.

NREL

Environmental M News

Thisillustration show san endocellulase enzyme breaking dow n cellulose,a vital step thatmakesitpossible to generate ethanolfrom biomassproducts.

Iogen’s Vice President Jeff Passmore is guardedly optimistic. “Happily, our challenges have been mostly around engineering, not chemistry,” he reports. Closer to the eye of the California energy crisis, two enzyme research companies have received contracts from the U.S. Department of Energy through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Davis-based Novozymes Biotech will receive $15 million to develop high-efficiency enzymes that reduce the cost of converting

Greening genetic engineering Because “how we choose to produce our food is going to determine whether we have a sustainable future, and ... whether we have biodiversity,” Don Doering, senior associate with the World Resources Institute (WRI), a nonprofit environmental organization, says his organization is launching a new program to evaluate the sustainability of genetic engineering projects. Biotechnology holds promise for ensuring regional food supply in the developing nations and combating climate change, Doering says, acknowledging that this is an unpopular stance among environmental organizations. But Doering told participants at the CHEMical Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN) conference held June 9−13 in Boulder, CO, that “biotechnology isn’t automatically green. . . . What’s important is what we do with the technology and how we apply it.” He characterizes global society as being at a key decision-making point regarding biotechnology’s use. Because freshwater resources and fuel use are directly related to food production, it “is going to be one of the biggest determinants of whether things like rain forests and coral reefs remain in the future.” WRI’s goal is to identify research priorities and technical goals for product design. Doering says he believes that both

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plant material into fermentable sugars. Additionally, the Palo Alto research office of Genencor International received $17 million to develop a total process for enzymatic conversion of biomass to ethanol. According to Karl Stamford, Genencor’s vice president of technology development, the goal is to decrease the cost of the enzyme ingredient in producing ethanol—currently at 50¢ per gallon of alcohol produced—by 10fold. The cost of grain ethanol is roughly $1 per gallon, which goes up to $1.20 when distribution costs are factored in. “North America is equivalent to the Middle East if you compare our supply of biomass to their supply of oil,” says Mark Finkelstein, who oversees alcohol fuel development at NREL. He explained that both contracts aim to improve enzymes, yet through different approaches. “We’re backing two horses that should get us to the same goal.” Another California company isn’t betting on a better enzyme.

society and the scientific enterprise are better served if organizations like his put forth “a productive vision that’s about what we create, not what we don’t want.” This approach gets at what he calls the “design intention” of the scientists and engineers who are involved with genetic engineering. For example, when engineers first managed to splice the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria into corn 15 years ago, their intention was simply to the get the Bt bacteria into the corn, he says. If one were to envision how society might like Bt corn to operate, however, an idea might be to design the corn so that its pesticide gene would only “turn on” when the plant was attacked by a corn borer, Doering explains. Another option might be to engineer the plant so that it would only produce the Bt toxin in tissue that was consumed by the corn borer pest—if there were no Bt in the pollen, there would be no issue with monarch butterflies, he explains. A third option might be to engineer Bt corn so that the toxin was only produced if the farmer sprayed the crop with some innocuous substance whenever a Bt treatment was required, Doering says. The WRI’s focus will be on redesigning genetic engineering in the hopes of fostering a dialogue between industry, government, and nongovernmental organizations, Doering says. —KELLYN S. BETTS

though there are quantum possibilities for improving enzyme performance, the acid hydrolysis process has almost reached its full potential. Any success in transforming biomass to fuel would be welcomed by those seeking solutions to myriad problems. Many farmers are incensed that they can no longer burn their ag-residues. The federal government is anxious to tap domestic energy sources, and fuel companies need lower-cost oxygenates as urban areas tackle smog. —JEANNE TROMBLY

Air pollution expert Glen Cass dies

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, 1979

Distinguished atmospheric scientist engineering. Glen R. Cass died of cancer on Cass made a name for himself Monday July 30 at Duke University by painstakingly sleuthing out the in North Carolina. At the age of 54, myriad sources of air pollution that he had earned widespread regard plague Los Angeles, beginning in for both his professional achievethe 1980s. “An urban environment ments and personal integrity. like L.A. is one of the hardest places “Glen Cass was one of the most to take that on,” says Christine prolific publishers in ES&T, and Sloan, director of technical stratemore importantly, gic development at one of the most sigGeneral Motors, who nificant research dicollaborated with rectors in the field of Cass on the project. atmospheric sciences Cass and his group in the world,” says ultimately generated William H. Glaze, a comprehensive ES&T ’s editor. He database of sourceadds that Cass was emitted and ambient an active member of aerosol particles the ES&T Editorial “that is without Advisory Board since peer,” says John 1998 and “heroically Seinfeld, who holds Glen R.Cass attended our meetthe Louis E. Nohl (1947–2001) ing last May, alProfessor chair at though it was clear that he was Caltech’s chemical engineering desuffering.” partment. Sloan remembers Cass Cass held joint appointments making measurements everywhere at the California Institute of possible, even inside fast food Technology (Caltech) and the restaurants. “He knew the differGeorgia Institute of Technology ence between whether [the food (Georgia Tech). After earning his was] fried or grilled, and even what Ph.D. at Caltech in 1978, he served kind of oil they used,” she says. as a professor of environmental enThe long series of papers that gineering and mechanical engiresulted from this ongoing study neering. In 2000, Cass was hired to “constitutes the definitive body of chair the Earth and Atmospheric work on the chemical composition Sciences department at Georgia of organic aerosols,” Seinfeld says. Tech, where he was also a professor “His analytical chemistry was so of civil and environmental meticulous that Glen was able to

Government Watch A move by the U.S. House of Representatives could render EPA’s efforts moot, however. In a 218–189 vote on an appropriation bill, legislators approved an amendment in late July to prevent EPA from setting a standard less stringent than 10 ppb or delaying the rule’s effective date. The Senate followed suit a week later, voting to force EPA to set a lower standard immediately, but it did not specify how much lower the MCL should be. In a statement, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman said she was “disappointed that the U.S. House of Representatives decided to prejudge the outcome of this issue.” Meanwhile, EPA’s Science Advisory Board, the National Research Council, and the National Drinking Water Advisory Council are reviewing the benefits, health effects, and costs associated with the proposed MCLs. Lowering the current 50-ppb standard to 10 ppb would put the United States in line with standards adopted by the World Health Organization and the European Union.

U.K. taps hydro as one climate change solution The U.K. government has given hydroelectric power its “biggest boost in 50 years,” according to Energy Minister Brian Wilson. New measures that he announced on July 20 to help the country meet climate change targets should trigger $350 million in company investments in hydropower. Beginning in 2010, electricity suppliers are required to buy 10% of their power from renewable energy generators accredited by the government, under a plan known as the Renewables

PHOTODISC

Instead, Arkenol reports it has teamed with JGC Corp., a Japanese energy developer, to build a rice straw-to-ethanol demonstration plant using concentrated acid hydrolysis. According to cofounder Arnold Klann, this approach has higher capital costs compared with enzymatic conversion, but it offers lower operating costs because the sulfuric acid can be recycled. Finkelstein concurs: “Acid hydrolysis has a decades-old track record thanks to research by the Tennessee Valley Authority.” Nevertheless, NREL reports that al-

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Environmental M News find traces of nicotine and cholesterol in atmospheric particles, markers for cigarette smoking and meat cooking in the ambient atmosphere. This body of work is of inestimable importance to air pollution research.” In 1999, Cass initiated a global ozone study at 500 sites around the world that continues today. The effort includes seven monitoring stations in China and four in India and the Maldives. Cass’s dedication to his graduate students was notable, says Janet Hering, a member of the ES&T Editorial Advisory Board and an associate professor at Caltech’s environmental engineering science department. “He was beloved by his grad students,” attests Lynn Hildemann, an ES&T associate editor who studied under him at Caltech before moving on to Stanford University, where she now serves as associate chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. “He took us into his family when we came to Caltech,” adds Susan Larson, now an associate professor of civil engi-

neering at the University of Illinois, Champaign−Urbana. “His research was always geared toward improving society,” she adds, noting that she felt that he did an outstanding job of transmitting this approach to practicing environmental science to his students. Cass served on the U.S. EPA’s advisory committee on Ozone, Particulate Matter and Regional Haze Implementation Programs and on the agency’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. He was also a member of the Health Effects Institute’s research advisory committee and was named to advisory panels for the National Research Council and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. In addition to serving as an author on more than 145 scientific publications, he contributed chapters to a dozen books and dozens of technical reports. For reprints of Cass’s publications, contact Caltech. “For his many good works and his service to the profession, we will always be indebted to him,” Glaze says. —KELLYN S. BETTS

U.K. funds Bangladesh lawsuit

DANIDA

Fifteen Bangladeshis dying of arsenic poisoning have been granted legal aid from the United Kingdom to sue the British Geological Survey (BGS) for negligence. The Bangladeshis allege that the BGS failed in 1992 to check for arsenic in drinking wells while under contract to check groundwater toxicity.

The red painton thisBangladesh village pump indicatesthat the w atercontainshigh levelsofarsenic.

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Government Watch Obligation. This will now cover all new hydropower stations and refurbished existing plants of up to 20 MW. Previously, the Renewables Obligation included only hydro developments of 10 MW or less. Scottish and Southern, the United Kingdom’s largest hydroelectric generator, welcomed the news. It is expected to spend $350 million refurbishing 30 plants, improving their efficiency by 10%, and increasing output by 200 GWh. Kevin Dunion of the environmental group Friends of the Earth, Scotland, says his group supports efficiency improvements to existing plants but warns there would be enormous public scrutiny, regarding potential ecological damage, of any new hydro plans. Renewable energy contributed about 2.8% of the U.K.’s electricity in 1999, and half of that was from hydropower. The government wants renewables to provide 10% by 2010.

This marks the first lawsuit brought over an environmental report, according to the claimants’ lawyer Bozena Michalowska, from the London law firm Leigh Day & Co. A judgment in favor of the Bangladeshis could require the BGS to pay compensation to 2000 or more villagers suffering from poisoning. It wasn’t until 1997 that a second specific survey by BGS detected arsenic at some of the highest levels observed in Bangladesh. The claimants argue that if actions were taken in 1992, their disease could have been reversed. Arsenic poisoning can take 10−15 years for the first symptom to show. The Bangladeshis will win, asserted Michalowska, who points out that World Health Organization guidelines for testing groundwater at the time included arsenic limits. A BGS spokesperson said that the science didn’t acknowledge that groundwater in alluvial aquifers, like those in Bangladesh, could contain arsenic. That realization came in 1996−1997. However, Michalowska argues that there had been incidences of arsenic poisoning in West Bengal in the 1980s, a region that is in the same ‘geological unit’ as Bangladesh. Arsenic in groundwater had also become an issue in the United States, Argentina, and Chile in the late 1980s; and in 1988, a Taiwanese study had reported a link between skin cancer and arsenic in tubewell water, she adds. MARIA BURKE

News M Briefs

Energy efficiency and fossil-fuel technology programs at the U.S. Department of Energy yielded impressive economic returns of $40 billion on investments of $13 billion over the past 22 years, finds a report from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The biggest returns came from advances in refrigerator and freezer compressors, fluorescent lighting components, heat-resistant window glass, a cleaner coal-burning method, and nitrogen oxide emissions controls. Less successful technologies included fuel cells for home and industry uses and magnetohydrodynamic electricity production. Energy Research at DOE: Was It Worth It? is accessible through www.nap.edu/catalog/10165.html. The price of producing electricity from coal or oil would double, if external costs such as damage to the environment and human health were taken into account, finds a report by the European Commission’s research directorate. ExternE: Externalities of Energy represents the first effort to quantify actual damages resulting from different forms of electricity production across the European Union (EU). Renewable energies present the lowest external costs; however, nuclear power also has relatively

low costs because of its minor influence on global warming and the unlikelihood of accidents in EU power plants. For more information, e-mail Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero at [email protected].

Engineering of Food Crops for the Third World: An Appropriate Response to Poverty, Hunger, and Lagging Productivity? is available on the Web at www.foodfirst.org/ progs/global/biotech/belgiumgmo.html.

PHOTODISC

The world is inevitably moving from a carbon-based economy to one based on hydrogen, according to a new report by the Worldwatch Institute. Hydrogen Futures: Toward a Sustainable Energy System discusses progressive government actions in Iceland, Germany, and Japan, and documents recent developments in fuel cell and hydrogen delivery technologies by the automotive and energy industries. Because fuel cells may some day power cell phones, laptop computers, automobiles, and power plants, the report claims that there will be substantial commercial, political, and environmental benefits to the first countries and companies to market hydrogen technologies. To purchase a copy of the report, go to www.worldwatch.org.

Potential environmental hazards from genetically modified foods can be managed, but most developing countries will need help, according to a report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In the 12th annual Human Development Report 2001, UNDP notes that multinational biotech companies tend to play down the difficulties that developing countries may have in managing the environmental risks posed by these foods. The report offers a provocative analysis of the potential of biotech, information, and communications technology in developing countries and ranks 162 countries according to their level of human development. It is available at www. undp.org/hdro. When transgenic crops are “forced” on farmers in developing nations, the risks are much greater than for farmers in developed countries, claims the Institute for Food and Development Policy, a nonprofit group focused on hunger and poverty. In a new report, Peter Rosset, the Institute’s codirector, argues that genetic engineering ignores farmers’ need for multiple varieties of food crops that have been fine-tuned to local soil and climatic conditions. Genetic

U.S. water quality monitoring is failing to take advantage of recent advances in microbial methods for identifying pathogenic organisms, according to an American Society of Microbiology report. Gene probes and genotyping hold great promise for water quality monitoring because they can target specific pathogens, but water quality regulators are not taking the steps necessary to be able to use these methods soon. Reevaluation of Microbial Water Quality: Powerful New Tools for Detection and Risk Assessment (2001) is available at www.asmusa.org/acasrc/aca1.htm. Seven out of 13 great whale species are still endangered or vulnerable after decades of protection, according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund. Populations of other cetaceans, including dolphins and porpoises, are at critically low levels because of such hazards as toxic contamination, climate change and habitat degradation effects, and intensive oil and gas development in feeding grounds. Despite a global moratorium on commercial whaling, whalers catch more than 1000 whales annually from Japan, Norway, and the former Soviet Union. Wanted Alive! Whales in the Wild can be accessed at www.panda.org. A Scottish utilities firm has unveiled plans to build Europe’s largest wind farm near Glasgow, Scotland. The $110 million, 240MW farm will have 140 turbines and will supply 150,000 local homes. Scottish Power says it will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 500,000 tons per year. The company still needs planning approval, and it could be three years before the farm is operational. Currently, Europe’s largest wind farm is in Germany and produces 40 MW.


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Companies eye enzymes for ethanol production - ACS Publications

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