In most contaminated soils and mine tailings, mercury (Hg) is not readily available for plant uptake. A strategy for inducing Hg mobilization in soils to increase accumulation potential in plants was investigated to enhance Hg phytoremediation. Accumulation of Hg in the nickel hyperaccumulator Berkheya coddii, the salt-tolerant Atriplex canescens, and the nonaccumulators Brassica juncea and Lupinus sp. was studied by pot trials containing mine tailings treated with either soluble Hg or sulfur-containing ligands. Accumulation of Hg in shoots of B. coddii and A. canescens after addition of soluble Hg was lower than 10 mg/kg dry weight. The addition of ammonium thiosulfate (NH4S2O3) to tailings mobilized Hg in substrates, as indicated by the elevated Hg concentrations in leachates from the pots of both species. Ammonium thiosulfate caused a significant increase in the Hg concentration in shoots of B. juncea. Conversely, Hg translocation to Lupinus sp. shoots was significantly reduced in the presence of this ligand. Mass balance calculations revealed a significant fraction of Hg was lost from the system. This unaccounted-for Hg may indicate Hg volatilization. The results suggest that there is potential for induced plant Hg accumulation for phytoremediation of Hg-contaminated sites. Issues of Hg leaching and volatilization, however, need to be addressed before this technology can be implemented in the field.

Despite ongoing recession-induced cutbacks of public health program funding, this article presents a feasible option to certain issues raised at the Second National Planning Meeting for the Surveillance, Prevention, and Control of West Nile Virus in the United States (Nasci, 2001; Roehrig, 2001). This county-level, cost-effective program illustrates the importance of maintaining and improving public health infrastructure, including the role of enhanced surveillance and vector control efforts in preventing human cases of infection. Many agencies at the federal, state, and local levels are available to assist in the planning and start-up of such programs. The goal of Monroe County's Vector Control Program has been to minimize or eliminate risk of arthropod-borne disease to residents/resort area visitors, through a comprehensive Integrated Pest Management framework for mosquito surveillance and control. Monroe County has supplemented their efforts with (1) new technology like Internet/Web-based surveillance data reporting, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and Geographic information Systems (GIS); (2) vigorous public education and involvement, including mosquito breeding site identification, control strategies for the homeowner/other residents, and use of personal protection measures; (3) active interaction with East Stroudsburg University; and (4) interagency collaboration, including local, state, and federal agencies. Until September 2003, when the first and only (to date) human case was reported, there were no human infection cases in Monroe County.

This article presents an environmental plan for the area surrounding the Middle Nolichucky River in northeastern Tennessee, developed for a nonprofit group called the Friends of the Nolichucky River, by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The plan is broadly conceived because stakeholders' concepts of the environment include the natural environment and the river/air/water quality, as well as the traditional agricultural landscape, local culture, and historic structures. Numerous problems, such as agricultural runoff, soil erosion, flooding, habitat fragmentation, and impending climate change combine to affect human and ecological health, aesthetics and culture, and environmental economic services. The plan integrates several themes, including the built and natural environments, 21st-century agriculture, sustainable technologies, climate change mitigation, and land conservation techniques. The plan is novel in that it is decidedly multi-faceted, more so than what is found in typical comprehensive plans or more classical environmental plans that focus only on natural amenities.

Bacterial reduction of mercury ions to elemental mercury by the mer operon-encoded microbial resistance mechanism has recently been shown to be a promising approach in the bio-remediation of mercury-contaminated wastewater. Mercury resistance is widespread among environmental bacteria and several isolates have proven to be adaptable catalyzers for mercury reduction in bioreactors. To accomplish high, stable, and predictable performance, however, the genetically engineered microorganism (GEM) Pseudomonas putida KT2442::mer73 has been constructed, which constitutively expresses the mercury resistance operon at a high level, is nonpathogenic, and does not contain plasmids. To assess the safety of this GEM in an open environmental application, gene transfer was investigated in stream and estuarine microcosms containing sediments from the Elbe River and Roskilde Fjord, Denmark. In P. putida KT2442::mer73, the merTPAB genes have been stably integrated into the chromosome to reduce the chance of horizontal transfer. Consequently gene transfer to an isogenic recipient strain, P. putida KT2442::Tc, could not be detected, although parameters such as recipient cell density, cell shock, continuous addition of cells, or application of mercury selective pressure were adjusted with respect to increasing the probability of gene exchange. On the basis of these experiments, the strain P. putida KT2442::mer73 can be regarded as safe.

The early inclusion of tourism, especially skiing, in the economy of Whitefish, Montana, set it on a different path from many other Western towns that relied only on the boom-and-bust cycles associated with extractive industries. Towns that stayed committed to logging or mining relegated themselves to economic oblivion or increasingly severe natural resource degradation. Whitefish, a place that gradually increased tourist business in response to the decline of traditional industries, fared much better both economically and environmentally. Whitefish's history provides insight into the impacts of a place selecting tourism in order to sustain community development. Whitefish's choices produced some problems; minimum wage jobs prevailed and the town's growth led to increased real estate prices. Overall, however, the millions of dollars that poured into local businesses, the solid economy that grew as the number of visitors increased, and the quality of life in Whitefish proved that the incorporation of tourism had positive impacts on the community. Understanding how tourism has developed differently across the Rocky Mountain region will be an important component in thoughtful planning for the future.

Executive Order 12898 requires federally sponsored transportation projects to evaluate environmental justice criteria. These federal requirements for transportation studies have proven difficult to evaluate because of the wide range of potential scenarios that can disproportionately affect sensitive populations (either low-income or minority groups). Therefore, environmental justice assessments typically have been conducted in geographically broad areas without refined resolution for the populations closest to the transportation route. This study uses geographic information systems technology with statistical methods to provide for a more refined analysis at the census block level. The study centers on a proposed commuter rail project in the Interstate 35 corridor in the eastern Kansas/Kansas City, Missouri, area. The project involves construction of five new commuter rail stations, and the study aims to ascertain whether construction and operation of the rail system would have disproportionate impacts on low-income people. Comparisons of the median incomes in census blocks in the county with the census blocks within a one-mile radius of the five proposed stations are provided as the basis for a quantitative environmental justice assessment. The environmental justice parameter of low-income level was evaluated using analysis of variance. Results of the study indicated that the mean of the median incomes in census blocks around one rail station differed significantly from the mean of median incomes in the census blocks around the other four stations, and from the blocks in the rest of the county. The study is useful for demonstrating the importance of using a quantitative method as a tool for environmental justice assessment.