Testifying before a House subcommittee on the proposed 1995 EPA budget, EPA Administrator Carol Browner said that implementation of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and programs for n o n p o i n t source pollution, environmental justice, and environmental technology were high on the list for increased funding in fiscal 1995. The proposed budget includes a $77 million boost for the Office of Air and Radiation, w h i c h will implement many rules u n d e r CAA. A final rule gives public land managers broader authority over assessing natural resource damages caused by oil and chemical spills. The rule, issued March 25 by the Interior Department, allows trustee officials to assess the costs of restoration, rehabilitation, replacement, and acquisition of equivalent resources. An earlier, more complicated system w a s thrown out in a 1989 court case that set the stage for the n e w rule. The rule also clarifies w h a t resources the regulation covers by adopting the descriptions u n d e r the Superfund law.
The high levels of nitrogen found in U.S. waters emanate from so many sources that there is no hope for any single solution, concludes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In a report released in April, the USGS analyzed the sources of nitrogen for 107 stream and river basins under the National Water Quality Assessment program. Among the findings are that the proportions of n o n p o i n t a n d point sources vary from watershed to watershed a n d w i t h changes in climate, hydrologic conditions, population, and land use. "It w o u l d be difficult to implement a single management strategy for nitrogen reduction
that w o u l d be effective throughout the nation," concludes USGS ecologist a n d report author Larry Puckett. Copies of " N o n p o i n t a n d Point Sources of Nitrogen in Major Watersheds of the United States" are available from USGS, Box 25425, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225; 303-2367476. Radon in drinking water poses a greater cancer risk than any other water contaminant currently being regulated, EPA reported to Congress March 30. However, the risk falls far short of radon in air. EPA estimates that the radioisotope in water a d d s 192 fatal cancers each year, whereas r a d o n in air produces an estimated 13,600 additional cases annually. Currently, about 19 million people drink water containing more radon than EPA's proposed target level of 300 picocuries per liter. Mitigating r a d o n in water w o u l d cost $272 million per year according to Agency calculations, but the American Water Works Association p u t s t h e annual price tag at $2.5 billion. Report to the United States Congress on Radon in Drinking Water (EPA 811-R-94001) is available from EPA's Water Resource Center. Looking for information on energy efficiency or renewable energy technologies? The Departm e n t of Energy's n e w Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse (1-800-523-2929) answers technical queries; supplies fact sheets, videos, a n d brochures; a n d aids energy-related businesses looking for financing. The clearinghouse joins DOE's other toll-free information lines: Alternative Fuels (1-800-4231363), Clean Cities Hotlines for c o m m u n i t i e s interested in joining the alternative fuel conversion program (1-800-224-8437), a n d the Building Energy Standards Program Hotline (1-800-2702633). EPA has proposed prohibiting all discharges into navigable waters and publicly owned treatment works from facilities that formulate, package, or repackage products containing pesticide active ingredients. The rule w o u l d affect 3900 operations, about 6 6 % of w h i c h already claim zero discharges. The Agency's proposed
rule w o u l d rely on best conventional, available, or practicable technologies as well as pretreatment and n e w source performance standards. Of the 272 pesticide active ingredients regulated by EPA, only sodium hypochloride w o u l d be exempt from the rule.
AWARDS
Tames Pankow has received the John Wesley Powell Award from the U.S. Geological Survey. Pankow, w h o is on the faculty of the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology's Department of Environmental Science and Engineering (Portland, OR), was honored for his work in developing sampling devices for volatile organic c o m p o u n d s in groundwater a n d for his studies of reactions involving gasoline in water. He also aided in the reorganization of the National Water Quality Laboratory, w h e r e he helped create a n d staff the Methods Research and Development Program of the Laboratory a n d served as a technical adviser.
SCIENCE A promising new method for removing uranyl and Th(IV) ions from water or soil, based on supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), is discussed this m o n t h in ES&-T (p. 1190). SFE can extract pollutants from various matrices without using large quantities of potentially hazardous organic solvents. In the study reported here, University of Idaho (Moscow, ID) chemists lowered the uranyl concentration in contaminated m i n e water and soil by as m u c h as 9 0 % using commercially available fluorinated p-diketone a n d tributyl p h o s p h a t e ligands to bind to the metal and supercritical C 0 2 for the extraction. nviron. Sci. Technol., Vol. 28, No. 6, 1994
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