ES&T
CURRENTS
WASHINGTON In his State of the Union address, President Reagan announced that no new action to control the sources of acid rain would be instituted at this time. Instead the acid rain research program, which was funded at $27.6 million in FY 1984, will be given $55 million in FY 1985. Last fall, EPA Administrator William D. Ruckelshaus had been considering a limited SO2 control program that would have cost $1.5 to $2.5 billion, but this plan was abandoned. Canada, members of Congress, environmentalists, and other critics were deeply disappointed by the announcement. They consider expanded research a do-nothing approach to solving the acid rain problem. Under the accelerated research program, lake monitoring will be expanded and increased efforts will be made to develop techniques for solving the acid rain problem.
Ruckelshaus: budget request denied EPA Administrator William D. Ruckelshaus will get only half the budget increase he requested. In December, he appealed personally to President Reagan to restore the agency's operating budget to the Carter administration level of $1.35 billion. Instead, Reagan will ask Congress to appropriate only $1.21 billion for EPA. Congres0013-936X/84/0916-0075A$01.50/0
sional analysts say that when adjusted for inflation, the equivalent of the Carter administration budget is $1.66 billion. The most cost-effective sulfur dioxide emission reductions as well as the greatest improvements in air quality would occur in the Midwest, according to the preliminary findings of a new study conducted for EPA by an outside contractor. Benefits as high as $4 billion/y for visibility alone are predicted for SO2 reductions of 12 million tons over 31 states. These benefits, along with other benefits of such reductions, would be much greater than the control costs. This study concludes that emission reductions would be the most cost-effective in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Ohio. The contractor used a method called a "contingent valuation process" to assess benefits. EPA has taken new steps to deal with the controversial pesticide ethylene dibromide (EDB). The agency has ordered the immediate suspension of any use of EDB on grain products and has also issued guidelines for states to use in determining safe levels of EDB in grain products that are already contaminated. The maximum "safe" levels are 900 ppb for raw grain, 150 ppb for processed grain products such as flour and mixes, and 30 ppb for ready-to-eat products. N o action has been taken yet to restrict the use of EDB as a fumigant on fruit, but EPA plans to take action in the near future. California officials have found that the pulp of citrus fruit shipped from Florida contains EDB residues averaging 200 ppb. These products are sprayed with EDB to control fruit flies. Names of companies responsible for contamination at hazardous waste sites will be routinely revealed
© 1984 American Chemical Society
under a policy change, according to an EPA official. The purpose of releasing the names is to increase public pressure on the parties to clean up the sites voluntarily. EPA may also begin to reveal information about the relative amounts of waste each party dumped at the
site.
STATES Virginia has adopted the nation's most comprehensive and stringent standards for mercury in fresh water. The State Water Control Board set a standard of 0.05 ppb for total mercury and 0.01 ppb for methyl mercury. The EPA's standard for total mercury is far higher, a 24-h average of 0.2 ppb, and the agency has no standard at all for methyl mercury. Inorganic mercury compounds have caused mortality in larval fish in concentrations as low as 0.1 ppb while methyl mercury inhibits reproduction at levels as low as 0.06 ppb. In addition, mercury in water presents a human health hazard because it may accumulate in fish. Two of Virginia's rivers have been severely polluted by mercury discharges in the past. In a 5 to 4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government is not required to consider the environmental concerns of coastal states when offering oil and gas leases on the outer continental shelf (OCS). It stated that O C S leasing activities are outside the scope of the Coastal Zone Management Act and therefore OCS leasing decisions do not have to be consistent with state coastal zone management plans. The day after the ruling, Interior Secretary William P. Clark announced that he is adjusting the offshore leasing program to allow more public participation in the early stages. He will, however, folEnviron. Sci. Technol., Vol. 18, No. 3, 1984 75A
low the basic policy of former Interior Secretary James G. W a t t and continue to offer leases on large areas of the outer continental shelf. Sen. Gary H a r t (D-Colo.) has introduced legislation to reverse the Supreme Court decision. EPA has proposed to ban the use of products containing dibromochloropropane (DBCP) as soil fumigants on pineapple fields in the Hawaiian Islands. All other uses of DBCP were banned in March 1981. The proposed ban was prompted by new information that shows groundwater contamination by D B C P at eight new sites in Hawaii. Under the proposal, existing stocks of D B C P may be used on the island of Maui when "it has been determined that contamination of drinking water will not occur." Male workers exposed to DBCP have shown low and zero sperm counts, and laboratory studies indicate that the pesticide causes cancer and genetic damage.
registered in the U.S.—is responsible.
SCHOLARSHIP The Joseph Levendusky Memorial Scholarship for undergraduate chemical engineering students committed to the water technology field has been established by E P I C O R , Inc., and the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding will be up to $7000 a year. Applications for the 1984-85 academic year must be returned by March 30; selection will be made by June 1. For more information and applications, write: Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania, William Penn Hotel, 530 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15219, or telephone 412-261 -0710.
SCIENCE
More than 140 potentially dangerous chemicals and radioactive substances, including uranium, mercury, cyanide, and plutonium, were found in creek sediments near Oak Ridge, Tenn., in a study conducted for the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Department of Energy (DOE) has three facilities for energy research and production of nuclear weapons components at Oak Ridge. The Y-12 plant, which manufactures nuclear weapons components from uranium, is said to be the source of most of the contamination. D O E is analyzing the study to determine whether these contaminants have the potential to cause adverse effects on public health.
A new study states that increasing the efficiency of energy use on a worldwide scale is the best way to deal with the greenhouse problem. The study was prepared for the National Science Foundation by engineers and economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. They estimated that increasing the efficiency of energy use can decrease global energy requirements by half in less than 50 years. They also examined other strategies to reduce fossil fuel burning, including greater use of fission nuclear power and power from renewable or solar sources. The report concludes that "a significant. . . warming in the next century probably cannot be avoided" but that the "rate of increase of atmospheric CO2 . . . can be significantly reduced."
DDT levels have been rising in several western states, threatening critical wildlife breeding grounds. Recently some species of fish and birds have shown levels as high as 40-50 ppm. Until about five years ago, DDT concentrations were dropping in nearly all species tested. Officials of the Fish and Wildlife service believe that the increasing contamination of wildlife results from illegal use of DDT by U.S. farmers who buy it in Mexico. Environmental activists in the West contend that the relatively new pesticide dicofol—which contains 7% or more DDT as an unwanted by-product and is legally
A more rapid and cost-effective means of estimating bioaccumulation potential of chemicals in sediment is being developed at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station (Vicksburg, Miss.). Instead of using a case-by-case empirical approach, this method is based on molecular thermodynamics and the equilibrium partitioning of hydrophobic chemicals. One of the aims is to improve the understanding of processes by which pollutants bioaccumulate from contaminated sediments, especially after these materials are dredged. Hopes are to predict and assess effects better
76A Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 18, No. 3, 1984
as geo-, bio-, and physicochemical aspects of bioaccumulation are quantified. The acidity of precipitation in the Northeast has changed only slightly in recent years, but it has increased in other regions of the U.S., according to a U.S. Geological Survey report. John Turk, author of the report, reviewed more than 200 published reports of acid rain research conducted over the past 30 years. H e found that the acidity of precipitation in the Northeast increased before the mid-1950s and has remained stable since the mid1960s. He also found that surface waters and streams in the Northeast exhibit a similar trend. In the Southeast, precipitation is more acidic than would be expected if it were affected only by natural emissions, but the data for surface waters are ambiguous.
TECHNOLOGY High-sulfur Illinois coal can be burned and air standards can be met if a circulating fluidized-bed combustion (FBC) technology is employed, says the BFGoodrich Company (Akron, Ohio). The company will use FBC at its chemical plant in Henry, 111., probably starting in early 1986. About 50 000 t / y of coal will be burned together with 14 000 t / y of limestone to capture S 0 2 during the combustion process. This would eliminate the need for scrubbers. The dry residue may be useful as a construction material or as an agricultural soil additive. Plastic liners can contain hazardous wastes safely "if the right match is made between the waste and the polymer used to contain it," says Joseph Tratnyek of Arthur D. Little, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.). He notes that some plastic liners are more effective than materials like clay or concrete in sealing off hazardous liquids and leachates; however, their protective abilities can be "compromised" by problems such as bad seams, chemical attack, or even earthquakes or vandalism. Tratnyek calls for "better test procedures and data to establish the time [durability] potential for flexible membrane liners." A "solar pond" might be used to produce 48 MW of power for Southern California Edison customers.
