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WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) — A blue ribbon commission was named Friday to study managing used radioactive nuclear fuel and waste, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.

“Nuclear energy provides clean, safe, reliable power and has an important role to play as we build a low-carbon future,” Chu said in a release. “The administration is committed to promoting nuclear power in the United States and developing a safe, long-term solution for the management of used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.”

Because the administration decided not to proceed with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, President Barack Obama directed Chu to set up the commission to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The commission also will provide advice and recommendations on issues such as alternatives for the storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and defense spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future is being co-led by former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft.

The commission is made up of 15 members with a range of experience and expertise in nuclear issues, including scientists, industry representatives, and respected former elected officials, Chu said.

“Finding an acceptable long-term solution to our used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste storage needs is vital to the economic, environmental and security interests of the United States,” Hamilton said. “This will be a thorough, comprehensive review based on the best available science.”

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 29 (UPI) — The Hogle Zoo in Utah is trying to determine what killed both its zebras this week, officials there say.

Nancy Carpenter, director of animal health at the zoo in Salt Lake City, said Taji, a 15-year-old Grevy’s zebra, and Monty, who was 13, had signs of inflammation in their hearts and intestines. But she said veterinarians who did necropsies on both animals found no indication of what caused their deaths.

Taji was found dead Tuesday, and Monty was put down the next day.

One possibility is the zebras were exposed to a toxic substance. Carpenter said testing for toxins in their systems will take some time.

Last year, four zebras died at the Vancouver Zoo in Canada after cape buffalo were brought in to their exhibit. Keepers there believe the introduction of the buffalo fatally stressed the zebras, a reaction they did not anticipate since the two species live together in the wild.

But Carpenter said that was not a factor at the Hogle Zoo.

“There really have been no changes,” she said. “Everything has been normal. The zebras had been a real steady group here for many years.”

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

QUEBEC CITY, Jan. 30 (UPI) — An industrial solvent used at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier decades ago did not sicken people living in nearby Shannon, Quebec, federal officials say.

The solvent trichloroethylene was used on the base in the 1950s but did not taint the area’s water supply, the federal government said Friday in responding to a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of about 600 Shannon residents.

The lawsuit seeks more than $200 million in damages for health problems the residents allege were caused by the solvent.

While the government denied responsibility for the health problems, it did acknowledge a link between the solvent and some forms of cancer, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday. Shannon residents, however, were not exposed to high enough concentrations of the solvent for a long enough period to become ill, the government’s 70-page defense filing said.

A lawyer for the residents, Stephen Clarke, said the government’s response would prove useful for his side.

“The fact that the government of Canada, after seven years, is admitting that there are cancers connected to (the solvent) is amazing to us,” Clarke said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

OLD BRIDGE, N.J., Jan. 27 (UPI) — A pair of bald eagles have set up housekeeping in central New Jersey, a signal the environment is improving.

Environmentalists and state officials do not want the exact location of the nest reported for fear a rush of sightseers might scare the big raptors away, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported. The nest is in Old Bridge, Middlesex County, an area better known for sprawling suburbs and industry than wildlife.

“You could, through good intentions, destroy what you’re trying to protect,” said Rick Lear, a naturalist in Middlesex County.

Bald eagles came close to extinction from the use of the pesticide DDT, which thins the shells of their eggs. In New Jersey, they were reintroduced in marshes along Delaware Bay and have gradually been moving north along the Delaware River, the state’s western border.

The species is still classified as endangered in New Jersey, although it was removed from the federal list in 2007.

Lear, who discovered the Middlesex County nest, situated in the branches of a tall pine tree, said the birds of prey have been there for about a year. The closest known nest is in an office park on Route 1 on the border between Plainsboro and Princeton.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (UPI) — A range of strategies to keep Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan were discussed at a Washington “carp summit” Wednesday, participants say.

U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said some of the strategies discussed at the meeting, co-hosted by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., included air-bubble, acoustic and electrical barriers as well as temporarily closing locks on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, through which environmentalists fear the voracious invasive species may infest the Great Lakes.

“Several ideas and bipartisan solutions were discussed to prevent the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes,” Hoekstra said. “There is no single arrow in the quiver. Solutions will need to be based upon managerial, chemical, engineering and structural components.”

Hoekstra said wider application of fish poisoning, harvesting techniques, monitoring improvements and eco-separation were also discussed.

Another summit co-host, Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., told the Joliet Herald News she “came away from the meeting with a good feeling.”

The gathering was attended by several U.S. senators and House representatives along with officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Biggert told the newspaper it was important not to close the canal, saying 7 million tons of cargo passed through its locks in 2008 and contending a lawsuit filed by the state of Michigan seeking its closure is self-defeating.

“I think all of the states need to look at the numbers and see how many businesses rely on shipments that use the waterways from here to Louisiana and back,” Biggert said. “Closing the waterways would … have a negative impact on the economy of other states.”

Durbin and Biggert have worked together for years to secure funding for containment projects, the lawmakers said.

Last fall, DNA from Asian carp, which have relentlessly made their way north along waterways in recent years since escaping fish farms in the South, was found during regular canal water testing, Durbin said. Genetic material also has been found in the Calumet River near Wilmette, Ill., and in Lake Michigan.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa., Jan. 27 (UPI) — A prominent U.S. animal rights group sent a letter to the handlers of Pennsylvania’s famous groundhog, imploring them to replace it with an animatronic.

Gemma Vaughan, an Animals in Entertainment Specialist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wrote in the letter to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club saying keeping Punxsutawney Phil on display year-round is a “cruel” way to treat the animal, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Wednesday.

“Make the compassionate decision to use an animatronic Phil and retire the live groundhogs who are used for Groundhog Day activities to a sanctuary,” Vaughan wrote. “Tradition is no excuse for cruelty.”

Bill Deeley, the president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, called the request “crazy.”

“Phil is probably treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania,” Deeley said. “He’s got air conditioning in the summer, his pen is heated in winter … He has everything but a TV in there. What more do you want?”

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

KETTLEMAN CITY, Calif., Jan. 27 (UPI) — A U.S. environmental agency plans to investigate a possible link between an apparent cluster of birth defects in a poor California town and a toxic waste dump.

Kettleman City in the Central Valley about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on Interstate 5 is home to about 1,500 people, many of them poor migrant farm workers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday its scientists will examine whether the nearby dump has caused facial deformities in infants there, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Jared Blumenfeld, regional EPA administrator for the Pacific Southwest, told the Times in an interview Tuesday the Obama administration is looking more at issues of economic justice.

“Kettleman City is a very vulnerable community at the confluence of large agriculture and pesticide use, heavy truck traffic, a chemical waste facility accepting PCBs and a proposed 600-megawatt power plant,” Blumenfeld said. “This is also a community trying to be represented in a way to get its voice heard..”

Kettleman City residents have gone to court to try to block Kings County from expanding the dump to accept toxic waste from Los Angeles and other cities.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 28 (UPI) — U.S. scientists say they’re seeking the cause of a recent decline in the Atlantic blue crab population.

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the College of Charleston, S.C., said the blue crab population has been declining in recent years under the assault of viruses, bacteria and man-made contaminants. But the signs of the attacks often are subtle, so the researchers now are trying to find clues that will identify the specific, yet elusive, cause.

The NIST/CofC research team says it’s using a technology similar to magnetic resonance imaging to identify and quantify metabolites — small chemical compounds created during metabolism — that increase under conditions that are stressful to blue crabs. The scientists said such metabolites could be used as biomarkers to identify the specific source of the stress.

The research, supported in part by the National Science Foundation, appears in the Jan. 20 online edition of the journal Metabolomics.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 28 (UPI) — U.S. scientists say they’re returning to Haiti this week for a study designed to determine whether another major earthquake is imminent for the country.

The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, will assess whether the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean country could trigger another major event.

The scientists, led by Purdue University geophysicist Eric Calais, said most aftershocks occur within weeks of the initial quake.

“The big question is instead of small aftershocks, could there be a bigger earthquake coming,” Calais said. “There are many historical examples of an initial earthquake triggering an even larger one along the same or nearby faults. We are concerned for the Dominican Republic, as our preliminary models show the continuation of the fault (into the Dominican Republic) is loaded.”

The Jan. 12 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti, left 250,000 injured and 1.5 million people homeless. Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, experienced a magnitude 6 aftershock Jan. 20.

Calais’ team has been tracking the build-up of energy along the Enriquillo and Septentrional faults on the island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, for five years. The team issued a 2008 report that warned of a possible magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Haiti and a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in the Dominican Republic.

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LARGO, Fla., Jan. 27 (UPI) — Residents of Largo, Fla., are struggling to deal with 38 tons of dead fish removed from area lakes in recent weeks, officials say.

Gary Morse, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman, said the tons of dead fish removed from Largo-area lakes during the last two weeks represent a disturbing trend statewide as a result of cold January temperatures, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times said Tuesday.

“We’re not shocked that the fish died, but the numbers — this devastation statewide — can be shocking even to us,” Morse said.

An official at the Holiday Shores Park retirement community said the so many dead fish washed ashore near the Largo site that residents were overwhelmed by the smell.

Holiday Shores community board chairwoman Pat Knight said with Largo and county officials choosing not to help, 60 senior citizens at the retirement site chose to remove the fish from local canals themselves.

Knight told the Times during two days of hard work, the retirees were able to remove nearly eight tons of dead fish.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.