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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Oregon Waterways Under Invasion

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Monday, October 22, 2007   

Portland, OR – Oregon waterways are under attack from invasive species, non-native plants and animals that could damage the state's recreation, tourism and fishing-related industries.

These pests enter local waterways by hitching a ride in the ballast water of oceangoing ships, or on boats that have been moved from different areas of the country. Congress is considering legislation to crack down on non-native species by restricting ballast water dumping, and Phyllis Windle with the Union of Concerned Scientists says the sooner, the better. Invasive species already cause $5 billion a year in economic damage in the United States.

"Oregonians can expect, if they receive organisms with similar negative impacts, that there will be costs to utilities, fisheries, water quality. Aquatic invaders have those costs, plus others, and none of us escape once these sorts of organisms arrive."

Windle explains almost half of the plants and animals on the federal list of endangered species are there, at least in part, because their native habitats have been choked or overrun by invasive species. Newly introduced into the environment, the invaders have no natural enemies -- and thrive accordingly.

The legislation, Senate Bill 1578, has passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; a House companion bill (HR 2830), is part of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2007. Windle says the proposal isn't perfect, but it's a good first step in dealing with a problem that becomes more expensive every year.







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