The new Board of Scientific Counselors will directly advise Assistant Administrator Robert Huggett on the adequacy of the peer review process for the office's intramural and extramural grant programs, said Deputy Assistant Administrator Joe Alexander. The board will also oversee subcommittees that will review each of ORD's five laboratories and research centers, Preuss said. ORD received approval last year to conduct outside peer review of grants under the Federal Advisory Committee Act {ES&T, August 1995, 349A). Although not explicitly part of the ORD reorganization that began last year {ES&T, July 1995, 300A), the board is being formed to meet the goal of the office's long-range strategic plan objective to improve the agency's external peer review. About 12 board members currently are being selected, Preuss said, primarily from academia; industry and other groups familiar with environmental research also will be represented. Members will serve three-year terms. The board will meet three or four times per year, he said.
Court backs TRI additions; groups file appeal On May 2 a federal judge turned back challenges to the addition of chemicals to the Toxics Release Inventory, a mandatory report of industrial releases. As a result an additional 286 chemicals must be reported for the first time on 1995 reports due August 1 {ES&T, March 1996, 107A). Four industry groups had charged that some of EPA's additions to the TRI were "arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law." U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ruled for the agency, finding that "EPA went to great lengths to separately evaluate every chemical on the basis of relevant data." The agency "didn't do good science and cut corners [in reviewing] some of the chemicals," claimed Matt Weinstock of the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA). The association had directly challenged the listing of six chemicals and asked the court to require EPA to justify listing another 147. Three other industry associations had each challenged the addition of a single chemical. However, Kessler wrote
that EPA's scientific and technical judgments were "outside the expertise of a reviewing court." On June 27, CMA and other plaintiffs filed an appeal, Weinstock said. Despite the appeal, the industry groups will comply with the new listing requirement, he said. The judicial decision will allow EPA to move forward in adding other chemicals, said Maria Doa of the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics. EPA had deferred 41 chemicals for further study in the November 1994 rule that added the 286 chemicals to the TRI {Federal Register 1994, 59, 61432-488), she said, adding that the agency would propose additions from these 41 chemicals near the end of 1997. Meanwhile, EPA proposed in June to require annual TRI reports from seven currently exempt industry groups: metal mining, coal mining, electric utilities, commercial hazardous waste treaters, petroleum bulk terminals, chemical wholesalers, and solvent recovery services. This would add 6400 facilities to some 24,000 facilities now covered by the law, according to EPA. The rule could become final by the end of the year.
Panel to address U.S.—Mexico air pollution Strategies for controlling one of the most severe air pollution problems along the U.S.-Mexico border will be developed by a new bi-national panel. Under a May 7 agreement between the two nations, the 20-member panel will be formed in late summer that will recommend ways to reduce pollution in the El Paso, Texas-Juarez, Mexico, airshed. This is the first panel established to deal with a specific border pollution problem, said Pam Teel of EPA's Office of International Activities. Since the 1970s, El Paso has not met air quality standards for ozone, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide, according to James Yarbrough of EPA's Region 6. On an average of 12-15 days per year the city exceeds the allowable levels for these pollutants, especially ozone. And the air in Juarez "is just as dirty if not dirtier than El Paso's," he said. The panel will be made up mostly of local officials and residents and will devise methods for improving air quality that are acceptable to both communities, Teel said. Its rec-
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ommendations will be used by the Paso del Norte Task Force, a binational committee with jurisdiction over border environmental issues, to implement pollution control measures for the airshed. No schedules have been set for the panel's formation, meetings, or recommendations.
Survey of 233 hazardous waste facilities planned Data on hazardous waste concentrations in waste management systems being collected this summer will be used to develop future rules, an EPA official said. The Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) is conducting a voluntary survey of the 233 largest hazardous waste treatment, disposal, and recycling facilities to build a database. The database is intended to improve the regulatory impact analysis required for each rule making, said OSWER's Lyn Luben. It will be used to identify wastes that present a nominal hazard, support delisting criteria of the proposed hazardous waste identification rule {ES&T, January 1996, 11A), determine the effectiveness of waste management methods, and develop goals for the national hazardous waste program. It also will be available for public use, he said.
Hazardous spill report requirements changed The level that triggers accidentalrelease reporting for 202 extremely hazardous substances has been raised by a final rule {Federal Register 1996, 62(89), 20473-490). The rule replaces the uniform, onepound threshold for these substances with chemical-specific levels ranging from 10 to 10,000 pounds, according to Craig Matthiessen of the Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office. Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, a facility storing an extremely hazardous substance on site must develop an emergency action plan if the stored amount is above a toxicity threshold, Matthiessen said. Facilities do not have to report spills that are below the new threshold amount. The rule also eliminates four chemicals from the list. It was scheduled to become effective July 8.
