National Research Council recommends sweeping changes to promote technologies Developers of innovative groundwater and soil cleanup technologies are stymied by regulatory and market forces that favor established yet ineffective technologies, according to a new National Research Council (NRC) report. Sweeping changes are needed to stimulate the market for such technologies, improve testing and exchange of data on technology performance and make it easier to comn3.r6 performance and costs of competing technologies according to Innovaiions in Ground Water and Soil Cleanuv From Concept to Commercialization released in June The report notes that one market disincentive to the use of innovative technologies is the perceived cost-effectiveness of delaying cleanup by responsible parties. Paying $1 million per year on litigation to delay action is less expensive than spending $25 million to clean up a site. In a form of full-cost accounting, the NRC committee recommends that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission require companies to report hazardous waste sites as financial liabilities thus making contamination weigh upon the corporate bottom line The longer a site remains unremediated the longer it weighs against profits According to Suresh C. Rao, chair of the 16-member NRC committee and professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, what is needed is to "shift the remediation technology market from a regulatory-driven and technologyprescriptive mode to a market that captures the power of economic self-interest." The report was sponsored by EPA and the Departments of Energy and Defense. "At most sites, site managers and other stakeholders are wary of the costs and risks of failures and have been unwilling to accept any new remediation technology that has not been sufficiendy field-tested," said Rao. "The very government agencies that have funded development and testing of alternative technologies have failed to deploy them at their own sites." The report recommends con-
sideration of national standards for soil and water cleanup, which was a contentious issue among the report's authors, said Rao. "The biggest controversy in the
"[Cleanup technology needs to shift] from a regulatory-driven mode to a market that captures the power of economic self-interest." —Suresh C. Rao, NRC committee chair committee was [a] risk-based versus a strict standard. We had no strong consensus," he said. Although innovative technologies increasingly are being used to clean up relatively simple soil contamination and sites with leaking underground storage
tanks containing petroleum products, they are rarely used to clean up contaminated groundwater at Superfund and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) sites, according to the report. At Superfund sites with contaminated groundwater, conventional pump-and-treat systems have been used 93% of the time. A partial review of RCRA sites found that innovative strategies were being used at 13% of the sites The lack of coordinated, highquality information has made it difficult to compare technologies and to move them from the laboratory to the field. The report recommends that EPA and other stakeholders improve current databases and increase information sharing on technology performance and costs. Success criteria should be developed that include effectiveness in reducing contaminant mass concentration mobility, and toxicity. Given the variety of site conditions EPA should develop a standardized system of template sites for comparing costs of remediation technologies RONALD BEGLEY
California considers tougher diesel exhaust rule The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is expected to vote in January on a proposed rule that would identify diesel exhaust as a toxic air contaminant (TAC), paving the way for the state to establish regulations that are more stringent than existing federal and state diesel exhaust limits. After four years of study, CARB released a draft report in May showing that lifelong exposure to the state's current ambient concentrations of diesel exhaust significantly increases the risk of cancer in humans. Diesel exhaust is a complex mixture of gases, vapor, and fine particles composed of arsenic, benzene, and nickel, which are known to cause cancer in humans. At least 40 other components of the exhaust, including suspected human carcinogens benzo[a]pyrene, 1,3-butadiene, and formaldehyde, have been listed as TACs by CARB and as hazardous air pollutants by EPA, according to the draft report. California has adopted a series of mobile source controls that are expected to reduce diesel exhaust particulate matter (PM) emissions from onroad mobile sources by 75% between 1990 and 2010. In July, EPA came out with a National Ambient Air Quality Standard for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. California will consider how this standard will affect its diesel exhaust particle controls, according to the proposal, which noted that a larger percentage of the fine PM 25 inventory is attributable to diesel fuel combustion sources. The comment period on the draft ends Aug. 22, and a state scientific panel will begin reviewing the proposal in October. CARB air pollution specialist Robert Krieger said the draft is expected to be ready for a board vote by January. If diesel exhaust is identified as a TAC, CARB will begin a public process to determine whether regulatory action is necessary to reduce the risk of exposure, said Krieger. A copy of the May 9 CARB analysis, "The Proposed Identification of Diesel Exhaust as a Toxic Air Contaminant," can be obtained by calling (916) 327-5615. —VINCENT LECLAIR
VOL. 31, NO. 8, 1997 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 3 5 5 A
