CURRENTS The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the EPA can impose uniform regulations on industries to control water pollution (ES&T,February 1977, p 144). Eight major producers of inorganic chemicals argued that the 1972 amendments to P.L. 92-500 required that the EPA issue effluent limitation guidelines on a plant-by-plant basis. Speaking for the court, Justice
filters and contaminated carbon cartridges will be sealed in recoverable storage until safe disposal methods are developed.
packaging manufacturers brought suit against the MCPA, but the court, in its recent decision, rejected the industry position.
The Interstate Commerce COmmiSSiOn ordered railroad freight rates cut for some recyclable commodities. Rate cuts in some parts of the US. were ordered for copper matte, zinc dross, aluminum residues, miscellaneous nonferrous metal residues, cullet and ashes. Rate reductions varying from 5 2 0 % must be made within 60 days of February 4. Rates were not cut for scrap iron and steel, for according to the majority of the commission, the present rate structures for these commodities are “just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory.” The ICC was mandated by the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 to investigate the rate structure of recyclable and recycled materials.
Callfornia will be the first state to test a federal program to help small businesses finance pollution control (pc) equipment. Under an amendment to the Small Business Act, the Small Business Administration can guarantee tax-free municipal bonds sold to finance pc equipment. California’s program will help the SBA develop permanent regulations to enable extension of the program to other states such as Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Rules for the California program are now being drafted by the SBA and the California Pollution Control Financing Authority. In this pilot program, a public entityprobably the state-will issue taxexempt revenue bonds. Eligible businesses will sign a contract and make payments to the public entity whose trustees will repay bondholders. The SBA has placed a limit of 25 years on guarantees; financing rates will be about 7 % ; and the loan will run for the life of the pc facility.
John P. Stevens stated that the companies’ interpretation of the law “would placeaan impossible burden on EPA,” one that Congress did not intend. EPA will now be able to write uniform effluent limits on waste discharges for each category of industrial plant; will not be required to provide a variance procedure for new plants; but will be allowed to apply variances on existing plants.
It is now official: Douglas M. Costle is to head the EPA and Charles Warren is to lead the CEO. Costle’s environmental credentials are impressive. He was previously commissioner of Connecticut’s Environmental Protection Department, and he led the study group that recommended the creation of EPA. His most recent job was assistant director for natural resources and commerce in the Congressional budget office. Charles Warren was a California assemblyman who served as chairman of the state assembly committee on resources, land use, and energy. Warren is also highly regarded by environmentalists.
Over 2 million gal of the defoliant “Herbicide Orange” will not have to be burned by the Air Force as previously planned (€S&T, May 1975, p 412). Herbicide Orange is contaminated with TCDD, one of the most toxic substances known to man. But two scientists with the Fish and Wildlife Service have developed a process for removing TCDD by absorbing it onto coconut charcoal filters. Once TCDD is removed, a “safe” herbicide that can be registered is formed. The Air Force plans to reprocess Herbicide Orange at the present storage sites in Gulfport, Miss., and on Johnston Island in the central Pacific Ocean. The empty steel 55-gal drums will be recycled, while the
Minnesota’s comprehensive packaging law was recently upheld in the U.S. District Court. Minnesota was the first state to implement packaging review legislation; this was in May 1974. After a survey showing that 35 YO of the waste stream is packaging material, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, wrote guidelines that specified the types of packages and containers that would be subject to review. If after proper review, the MCPA determines that a package constitutes a solid waste problem, the agency may prohibit sale of that package, according to the 1975 law. A group of trade associations and
Supreme Court Justice Stevens
Oregon and the EPA are at odds over the size of a fine imposed under Oregon’s NPDES program. A GeorgiaPacific pulp mill will not meet the July 1, 1977, effluent limitations mandated by P. L. 92-500 and its NPDES permit. Discharge does not significantly affect the water quality of the receiving body. The conflict is over EPA’s supervisory role of enforcement actions taken by a state with its own NPDES permit program. Oregon wants to fine the company $50lday from July 1, 1977, until April 1, 1978; EPA says a $2501 day fine is more appropriate. EPA Region X is to rule on the appropriateness of Oregon’s action. This ruling will have significant ramifications for other NPDES states.
How do major urban centers affect their environment? For St. Louis, Mo., the answer is “significantly.” Here, rainfall and hail storms downwind of the city are significantly increased; but while damage from hail is greater, it is offset by increases in agricultural crop yields. From the study called METROMEX, for Metropolitan Meteorological Experiment, which is funded in part by the National Science Volume 11, Number 4, April 1977
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Foundation's RANN program (5%T, November 1975, p 1012), it is clear that man's activities can significantly modify the climate of urban areas. One way is by producing more particulate matter, which can serve as nuclei for raindrops and hailstones. Urban pollution also affects lung efficiency-detrimentally. Lung studies are also being conducted in Portage, Wis., Topeka, Kan., Watertown, Mass., Kingston-Harriman, Tenn., and Steubenville, Ohio.
The city of Baltimore, Md., will continue operating the Landgard solid waste pyrolysis plant, although Monsanto, the plant's designer, has pulled out of the project. While the pilot facility worked well, the scaled-up demonstration plant (1000 tpd) has been plagued by mechanical difficulties. Monsanto has recommended that Baltimore convert the pyrolysis unit to a conventional
"For the time being, nuclear energy offers the best, quickest, cleanest way to reduce dependence upon the whims of oil sheikhs on the Persian Gulf," 1944 Nobel Prize winner lsidor Isaac Rabi told a Scripps Institution of Oceanography (La Jolla, Calif.) press conference. He considers solar energy too expensive at present, and coal, "nastier" to the environment, despite its ability to meet U.S.energy needs. Rabi also said that fusion could be practical, and "is not against laws of physics," but is not in the cards for the lifetimes of those present at the conference. As for nuclear safeguards, Rabi asked, "How much do you want to buy? Like retirement homes with dogs and guards?" He observed that if perfect safety were required for railroads, for example, railroads would never have been built. "What is needed is common sense," he said.
incineration system, and this is one option open to the city if it cannot get the pyrolysis plant to operate for a continuous period of time. Monsanto has committed a total of $10.8 million, the EPA $7 million, Baltimore $5.6 million, and Maryland $4 million. Approximately $1.1 million remain for Baltimore to draw upon. The city is now attempting to run the pyrolysis unit for a continuous 30-day period.
Can one keep constant environmental tabs on everything from surface mining effects to polluters illegally discharging effluents under cover of night? According to a NASA spokesman, such complete monitoring could be done with a synchronous satellite. That type of satellite appears to stay over one point on the equator, and can "watch and listen to" what occurs in the area it observed for 24 h/d. Visual surveillance will be done by highly advanced photographic and television techniques; "listening" would involve relaying data telemetered from Earth-based Data Collection Platforms (DCP). At present DCP's and photo techniques provide such data for the Landsat at given intervals; use of the synchronous satellite would comprise the next "generation" of environmental monitoring from space.
Ohio ranks as one of the major producers of industrial waste in the US., and a recent survey showed ineffectual control of this material from generator to ultimate disposal site. Ohio EPA currently has no legal mandate to ensure the safe transport and disposal of these wastes. The Industrial Waste Survey canvassed 12 700 of the more than 17 000 manufacturing industries in Ohio. Preliminary results show that 2.5 billion gal/y of sludges and liquids are disposed of in 128 complexes of lagoons and/or ponds; 151 million Ib of wastes are spread on land; and 16 million yd3 are landfilled. In addition to these disposal sites, some wastes from Ohio are shipped to 13 other states. The survey was taken to provide state legislators with the data base needed to support future solid waste legislation.
Air Force engineers have developed a new remote-sensing pod for the EPA. This pod, called Enviro-pod, can be installed on the Cessna 172 series aircraft to photograph environmental episodes-oil spill accidents involving hazardous materials, violation of standards-and natural disasters. The Enviro-pod will provide EPA with highresolution photographs taken from moderate altitudes; photos will cover an area 4.1 mi wide by 150 mi long. The pod is compact and lightweight, only 48 in. long and 147 Ib in weight. The pod can carry a 70-mm camera capable of taking black/white, color or color ir photographs; a 35-mm camera; air sampling equipment; infrared sensors; and television cameras. The pod was certified by the FAA as accessory equipment for light aircraft.
Baltimore's pyrolysis unif
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Environmental Science & Technology
For measuring SO2 in air, the National Bureau of Standards has issued four new Standard Reference Materials. The new SRMs and their concentrations in ppm are: SRM 1661,480 f 5 ppm; SRM 1662, 942 f 10 ppm; SRM 1663, 1497 f 15 ppm; SRM 1664, 2521 f 25 PPm.
If you had to have a power plant in your back yard, would you prefer a coal or nuclear plant? Prof. Donald Barber of the University of Minnesota said that he would opt for a nuclear plant, which he considers the "safest means of power production ever devised." He explained that coal not only produces SO, and NOx, for example, even with pollution-control equipment, but also can release more radioactive isotopes to the air than would nuclear plants, in some cases. Barber also cited problems of toxic drainage from coal or ash stockpiles. He claims that some radioactive emissions alleged to be from nuclear plants may actually be blown from coalburning plants upwind. Barber also does not worry about nuclear accidents, but only about being alerted in time, should one occur. An answer to the problem of oily wastes in ship's bilges may be found with new demulsifiers developed by Ralph Little and Robert Patterson of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL, Washington, D.C.). The demulsifiers can remove water from oil, or oil from water, as the case may be, effectively and economically, even at temperatures as low as 50 OF. Normally, 100 OF is needed for presently available systems. For waterin-oil emulsions, the key is a good wetting agent and high-molecularweight polymer. For oil in water, selected quaternary ammonium chlorides can do the trick. The type of emulsion present can be determined by a simple field test. The demulsifier approach would work in fuel and storage tanks, and with oil spills, according to the NRL scientists. A wastewater treatment system that makes solids, easily handles biological shock loads, and costs less, has been announced by Mixing Equipment Co., Inc. (Rochester, N.Y.), a unit of General Signal. Known as LlGHTNlN Treatment Systems, the equipment uses flow generated by a surface or submerged mechanical aerator to recycle settled sludge from an integral clarifier. Another feature is common wall concrete construction that enhances economy, or earthen basin construction with durable lining, where conditions permit. The system can operate at
control strategies. Also, technology of SO2 control, types of control systems, and their operational costs should be tailored to the amount of emission reduction necessary, according to EPRI. These and related matters were subjects of a study report done for EPRI by Greenfield, Attaway & Tyler, Inc. (San Rafael, Calif). That report also recommended acquiring more knowledge concerning other airborne sulfur compounds, and called for an investigation to pinpoint what sulfur compounds pose health threats, and how they do so.
Wastewater treat ment system LlGHTNlN aerator
collector
2000- 12 000 mg/L of solids, and higher. BOD loadings as high as 3000 mg/L, as well as suspended solids are brought down to within secondary treatment standards. The company says that all equipment can be serviced without the need to drain the system.
If you want to pyrolyze sewage sludge and cannot use natural gas as a heat source, try wood. That is what Nichols Engineering & Research Corp., a subsidiary of Neptune International Corp., did to test sewage sludge pyrolysis when gas was unavailable. The Nichols plant crew spent 9 h chopping wood, which fired the pyrolysis unit’s hearth, to preheat the sludge that had been dewatered to 42% solids. The wood supplied sufficient heat to start the pyrolysis process, which became self-sustaining, and produced off-gases that burned at 1750 OF in an afterburner. Under contract to the Interstate Sanitation Commission (New York, N.Y.), Nichols was exploring the feasibility of sludge pyrolysis as an alternative to ocean dumping.
Fluidized-bed combustion (FBC) will take a leap forward when Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. (S&W, Boston, Mass.) develops the world’s first designs for a commercial power plant. The plant will burn coal by atmospheric FBC (AFBC), and produce 500-600 MW of power. An S&W spokesman said that the AFBC plant, whose design contract from ERDA is worth $1.35 million, should reduce SO2 emissions more efficiently than would scrubber-equipped plants, and minimize NO,. As subcontractor, Pope, Evans and Robbins (PER, New York, N.Y.) is to define functional characteristics, and performance and interface requirements of the proposed plant. PER has broad experience in AFBC through its engineering and
management of a pilot 30-MW plant at Rivesville, W.Va. (€S&T, February 1976, p 120).
A three-year extension to 1980 for achieving “best practicable” (BPCTCA) secondary treatment for publicly owned treatment works (POTW’s), and water quality standards should be granted by amending Section 301 of P.L. 92-500. This is the position of the National Association of Metal Finishers (NAMF, Montclair, N.J.), which also advocates that pretreatment should be required only when a POTW cannot meet its permit limits. The NAMF also recommends that “best available” (BATEA, 1983) requirements and the 1985 “zero-discharge” goal of P.L. 92-500 be deleted. For water quality standard achievement for certain sources, NAMF would go along with stiffer-than-BPCTCA requirements after a thorough economic, energy, and social cost-benefit determination. Severe snags in projected coal use increases overthe next 10 years may occur because of bottlenecks on congested railroads and waterways, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI, Palo Alto, Calif.) warned. In some cases, for example, coal would have to be shipped by roundabout rail routes, with higher shipping costs resulting. EPRl’s study, prepared by Manalytics, Inc. (San Francisco), may have been optimistic through the assumption that railroads and rolling stock would be kept in good condition, and that conditions on waterways would be normal. The study calls for new cost models for rail, and intermodal transportation of coal. And speaking of coal and other fossil fuels, EPRl says that concerning health effects of human SOn exposure, more information “is badly needed.” Otherwise, it would be difficult to make rational decisions for setting sulfur emission standards, and developing
The job of building the nation’s first large-scale solid waste gasification plant went to Waste Management, Inc., (WMI), under ERDA contract. The plant is to handle 100 tpd to produce about 3000 ft3 of methane, and 3000 ft3 of carbon dioxide per ton of processed refuse. Known as RefCOM (Refuse Conversion to Methane), such a plant could reduce solid waste and sludge volumes by 70 % , H. Wayne Huizenga, WMI vice chairman, estimates. Huizenga said that the plant will be built at Pompano Beach, Fla., at a cost of $2.8 million, and, if it were 1000 tpd, could supply gas needs for 10 000 homes. Huizenga hailed the project as “the beginning of a new era in the creative management of wastes.” An increase in the insurance commitment by $90 million to $390 million for each nuclear risk was announced by the Nuclear Energy Liability-Property Insurance Association (NEL-PIA, New York, N.Y.). Burt Proom, NEL-PIA general manager, said that this sum represents the total insurance available from the worldwide market,
NEL-PIA manager Proom
including the London syndicates. Proom ascribed the high insurance commitment to an ”excellent safety record” of the industry. He noted that “over the 19-plus years of nuclear insurance, only about $400 000 have been paid in claims resulting from nuclear accident,” and called this record “superior” for an industrial activity. Proom said that no member of the public was involved, and that no claim resulted from nuclear plant operations. Volume 11, Number 4, April 1977
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