NE WS OF THE WEEK However, the big winner percentagewise in the fiscal Commerce benefits most from new 1994 proposed budget is the focus of applied research Commerce Department and Ό change its National Institute of Stan 1994 1993-94 1993 1992 $ Millions dards & Technology (NIST). BY AGENCY Commerce would receive a DOD 1% $39,301 $38,793 $37,418 whopping 30% increase in its 10,704 10,378 10,138 Health & Human 3 R&D budget, to $731 million. Services Perhaps because it is the only 8,667 8,007 7,712 NASA 8 federal laboratory whose pri 5,877 5,954 -2 Energy 5,981 mary mission is supporting NSF 2,221 2,069 7 1,846 the international competitive 1,365 1,336 2 1,335 Agriculture ness of U.S. industry, NIST's 562 731 30 545 Commerce total funding would be up 727 Transportation 656 11 540 $151 million, or 39%, to $535 494 EPA 548 508 8 million. That includes $241 2,012 2,071 1,953 All other agencies -3 million for in-house research BY FUNCTION activities, up 25% from cur Applied R&D 58,153 56,602 55,069 3 rent levels; $232 million for 0 1 Defense 40,726 40,213 38,937 technology development and Civilian 17,427 16,389 16,132 6 technology transfer activities, 2 Basic research 13,940 13,701 12,984 up 170%; and $23.1 million Civilian 12,688 12,306 11,838 3 6 for chemical sciences and 1,252 1,146 -10 Defense 1,395 technology, up 16%. 7 R&D facilities 3,498 3,259 3,903 The fiscal 1993 budget TOTAL $75,591 $73,562 $71,956 3% numbers used as a base in Note: Budget authority, a Assumes Congressional approval of Clinton's request the new budget assume that for additional funding, b Includes military-related programs of Departments of Defense and Energy. Source: Office of Management & Budget Congress will approve Clin ton's $16.5 billion economic stimulus program—current dated projects (so-called pork-barrel sci ly the object of a filibuster by Senate Re ence). BES funding for chemical sciences publicans. If the stimulus program is not research would be up $4.6 million, or approved, increases in 1994 R&D fund 4%, to $110 million. That amount in ing called for in the budget proposal will cludes $7.5 million for the Federal Coor be much higher on a percentage basis. dinating Council on Science, Engineer For example, the 1994 budget calls for ing & Technology (FCCSET) initiative on increasing funds for the National Science advanced materials processing, and $17 Foundation's research and related activi million to support FCCSET's biotechnol ties program 7% to $2.2 billion, based on approval of the stimulus package that ogy initiative. Within BES, funding for materials sci includes an additional $197 million for ences research would increase $6.7 mil that account in 1993. If the package isn't lion, or 5%, to $143 million. This whole approved, the increase would be 16% budget would go to support the two (C&EN, April 5, page 22). FCCSET initiatives. Janice Long a
Colorado gets authority over federal pollution In a case expected to have national im plications, a federal appellate court has overturned a lower court decision and ruled that Colorado has the authority to enforce its hazardous waste laws at federal facilities within its boundaries. The ruling—involving the Army's Rocky Mountain Arsenal, 10 miles north east of Denver—came as a surprise to the federal government. The decision was 6
APRIL 19, 1993 C&EN
written by Judge Bobby Baldock of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, joined by colleague William J. Holloway. It over turns a 1991 district court decision holding that only the federal government has en forcement authority at the arsenal. For some 40 years, the arsenal was used by the Army to produce and then destroy chemical weapons—principally mustard gas and the nerve agent GB— and by Shell Chemical Co. to make pes ticides and herbicides. Wastes from these activities resulted in extensive soil and groundwater contamination.
Cleanup of these wastes is covered by the Resource Conservation & Re covery Act (RCRA) and by Superfund. Colorado has developed its own strict hazardous waste cleanup program, and the Environmental Protection Agency has authorized the state to en force its own program in lieu of RCRA. But after Colorado was given this au thority, the arsenal was listed by EPA as a Superfund site. Although the arsenal occupies more than 17,000 acres, the case at issue re volves around a 93-acre waste pond called Basin F. Colorado has been try ing to enforce its cleanup regulations at Basin F since 1986. Initially, the Army agreed to comply with the state's haz ardous waste regulations. But when EPA listed the arsenal as a Superfund site, the federal government argued that Superfund, not the state's law, should govern cleanup actions there. The district court agreed that Colora do's role is limited. This left the states with "little authority to ensure adequate cleanups at federal facilities in their juris diction," Colorado attorney general Gale A. Norton explains. Norton appealed to the appellate court in 1991, and argued the case in late 1992. The appeal was supported by 22 other states. The appeals court's decision quotes from the lower court's opinion, which acknowledged a possible conflict of in terest within the federal government: "The Army, as a responsible party, has an obvious financial interest to spend as little money and effort as possible on the cleanup." This sentence became the
Norton: states no longer on sidelines
appellate court's basis for granting jurisdiction to the state. "Under this ruling," Norton stresses, "states are no longer relegated to the sidelines while federal facilities police themselves in cleaning up their own pollution." The nation is best served, she tells C&EN, "by having federal facilities abide by the same [hazardous waste cleanup] regulations as private facilities." The decision's most immediate impact will be "on the day-to-day handling of wastes" at the arsenal, Norton notes. But she hopes that for the 22 states that supported Colorado's appeal, the decision will "serve as a clarification of the federal position, and that the federal government will now recognize state jurisdiction over RCRA at federal facilities." Colorado is asking the federal government not to appeal the decision, which it must do within about 45 days. The Army, EPA, and Justice Department will not comment until they review the specific scope and impact of the decision. Lois Ember
CMA issues first data on pollution prevention The Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) announced last week that in 1991 its member companies reduced their emissions of toxic substances for the fifth straight year. CMA also released the first data gathered on the companies' pollution prevention measures. CMA members account for more than 90% of total U.S. basic industrial chemical capacity. Data submitted by CMA member companies to the Environmental Protection Agency as required for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) show that 1991 release levels decreased 6% from 1990 and 35% since the first inventory in 1987. Data on releases and pollution prevention practices from 1553 facilities indicate that in 1991 they emitted to the environment 848 million lb of the chemicals listed in the TRI, and recycled or treated more than 12 billion lb of those chemicals. Emissions totaled 899 million lb in 1990. Data on recycling, included for the first time in the 1991 inventory reports, are required under the 1990 Pollution Prevention Act in an effort to find out what happens to the TRI chemicals when they are not released into the environment.
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Russians probe nuclear waste tank blast in Tomsk A Russian scientist wearing a protective mask monitors the level of radioactivity on the snow-covered grounds of the Tomsk-7 nuclear facility in Siberia, about 1700 miles east of Moscow. Behind him is a brick wall damaged by explosion on April 6 of a 29-cubic-meter tank containing radioactive uranium and plutonium salts. The blast has aroused concern around the world. The secret Tomsk site, one of three major Russian nuclear weapons facilities, carries out chemical reprocessing of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Information reaching the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna blames the blast on possible exothermal reaction of organic compounds in the tank with nitric acid added as a cleanser. The blast tore off a concrete slab covering the tank and short-circuited the plant's electrical systems, setting off a fire. No casualties were reported. Russian officials claim limited environmental impact, with radioactive fallout—mainly isotopes of niobium, zirconium, and ruthenium—over perhaps several hundred square kilometers but with only a few times background radioactivity levels at most Scientists are still looking for possible plutonium contamination, the greatest threat to human health. The Russians have invited IAEA to make an independent inspection.
"We believe that the majority of these emissions reductions are real and are the result of reduction efforts," says Joe J. Mayhew, CMA assistant vice president for environmental and policy analysis. He points out that the reduction in emissions since 1987 occurred at the same time industry productivity rose 11% and the number of facilities reporting to CMA grew 20%. TRI is an annual compilation of manufacturing companies' emissions of about 320 chemicals considered hazardous because of their inherent toxicity or because of the huge volumes in which they are produced. TRI was mandated by the community right-to-know provisions of the 1986 Superfund Amendments & Reauthorization Act. Of total 1991 chemical emissions reported, CMA says its member companies released 389 million lb of TRI chemicals into the air, injected 420 mil-
lion lb into deep wells, put 31 million lb into landfills, and released 8 million lb into water. The water release data show a 77% decrease in emissions since the first inventory in 1987. According to the pollution prevention data gathered, the companies recycled 6.9 billion lb of TRI chemicals in 1991, treated 4.1 billion lb, and burned another 1.1 billion lb for energy. About 85% of the material was handled on site. Mayhew emphasizes that materials handled on site are not released into the environment. In addition, he points out, because of the way companies were required to measure their activities, the impact of efforts in source reduction or raw material substitution is not included in the pollution prevention data. During the next few years, EPA probably will refine the rules it used for the first time to estimate the amounts of pollution that do not enter the environment. APRIL 19,1993 C&EN 7
