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Global nsponse 10 oil spills
The US. Senate ratified a global oil spill response treaty Oct. 29 that would require ships to carry oil spill response plans on board, and ships, port authoritios. and offshore platforms would have to report oil spills without delav. National response plans would be required, as would the positioning of response equipmeut and the sharing of technical information. So far. 23 nations that are
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I Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards under a series of energy initiatives announced Oct. 31 by California Gov. Pete Wilson. The state’s 1991 energy plan recommends that regardle of federal action on CAFE standards, California should seek changes that allow states to increase fuel efficiency. According to Wilson, “California has become the third largest gasoline consumer in the world behind the U.S. as a whole and the Soviet Union.” The plan also recommends increased use of clean, alternative energy supplies for transportation and electricity generation. New York City will he the only city to have missed the Dec. 31, 1991,deadline for stopping ocean
ergy. Paul Ziemer, DOE’S assistai secretary for environment, safety, and health, said that residents of nearby communities receive 0.03 mrem/year of exposure to the :H, compared with 367 mredyear from natural and manmade sources of radiation. Milk was found to contain an average of 1.1 pCi/L of radiation; EPA’s maxim missible level is 20 pCi borne releases of :H, however, are said to average 50,000 curies per year, far above the average of “several hundred to a few thousand” from commercial nuclear power plants. Energy secretary James Watkins called for tighter controls, but just how the Savannab River plant will be cleaned up has not been addressed.
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gion 2 , told a House suhcommittee Oct. 30.The failure is caused mainly by delays in construction of sludge dewatering plants. After the scheduled completion date of June 30,1992,New York City will stop ocean dumping at a site 106 mi (66 kml east of the New Jersey coast. New York City has an incentive to speed up construction of the plant-the city must pay $600 per dry ton to dump sludge in the ocean after the Dec. 31 deadline. Bypassing EPA, the Northeast/ Mid-Atlantic Ozone Transport Region (NMOTR) has agreed on automotive emission standards patterned after those of California. Among provisions of the agreement are requirements for reformulated gasoline for areas that do not meet federal air quality standards. Each state could have petitioned EPA to set low-emission vehicle rules as part of a state implementation plan, hut that process could take more than 1% years. Nevertheless, the NMOTR states will petition EPA to allow them to mandate sales of reforrnulated fuels statewide. The states involved are Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; the District of Columbia also joined. The Savannah River nuclear weapons plant (near Aiken, SC) has been leaking tritium (3,H) to surrounding air and water, according to the Department of En12 Environ Sa Techno1 , Vol 26,No 1, 1992
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The stratospheric ozone Iayer over the United States has been found to thin in summer, causing EPA administrator William Reilly to say, “The problem is far more serious than we believed.” The summertime depletion was 2.93.3% over latitudes between Florida and central Canada. Moreover, the ozone layer in winter has notes that scientists are whether this apparent summertime ozone results h m (CFCs) have indeed been destroy-
and will most likely look the same 20,000 years from now,” he told a meeting of the Geological Society of America in San Diego, CA, in late October. Harrington said geologists based their h d ings on heights of boulder deposits relative to their neighboring channels, a method by which they could calculate rates of erosion over the past 1million years. A provable slow erosion rate would support the use of Yucca Mountain as a waste repository, a move strongly opposed by envimnmental advocacy groups and members of the Nevada legis The National Zoo DC) has established a molecular genetics laboratory (MGL) where scientists will he able to isolate and compare animals’ DNA. Laboratory director Robert Fleischer explains that one use of the MGL will he to help select the best an’mals from a severely depleted popuiation for mating. The lahoratory, operated by the Smithsonian Institution, will make such a selection possible even if an animal’s pedigree is unknown. Scientists also will he able to examine the genetic makeup of animals that died centuries ago by studying their DNA-hearing tissue. These studies will help researchers gauge the loss of genetic diversity in the world and evaluate the process and rate at which new species develoD. __I
struction will cause substantial increases in numbers of cases of cataracts and skin cancers. Moreover, the ozone hole over the Antarctic and increased ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth’s surface has been found to cause a 12% decline in phytoplankton productivity in the Antarctic Ocean. Partly as a result of these findings, Du Pont, the world’s 1 ducer of CFCs, will halt ’ production by 1997,thre earlier than originally planned. The slopes of Yucca Mountain, NV, a proposed repository far nuclear wastes, are eroding much more slowly than most other mountainsides in the Southwest, according to Charles Harrington of Los Alamos National Lahoratory [Los Alamos, NM). “Yucca Mountain looks much the same today as it did 100,000 years ago,
For the first time, a combustion turbine has been powered by direct coal firing. A four-megawatt gas turbine located at General Mo tors’ Allison Gas Turbine Divisio (Indianapolis, IN1 was successfully operated for four hours using a mixture of finely ground coal and water. Previous attempts to use direct coal firing have been thwarted by coal ash eroding turbine blades and plugging gas Row passages. To avoid these prohlems, the Allison engineers initially burned the coal at high temperatures (around 1820 “C) in an oxygen-poor atmosphere which limited the formation of NO,. The gases were then doused with water and the coal ash solidified for removal. Combustion was then completed in a fuel-lean atmosphere. Much of the funding for this project was supplied by the Department of Energy.
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An ultra-low emissions engine (ULEE) is the goal of a four-year research program at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI, San Antonio, TX). The desired “product” is technology that will meet or surpass California’s requirements for ultra-low emission vehicles foi the federally mandated Clean Fuel Vehicle Program. The ULEE program will emphasize engine design factors that affect emissions and durability. Combustion will be investigated with a view to maximizing engine performance, especially at low engine power levels. Exhaust after-treatment also will be examined. The final goal is emissions of < 0.04 glmi of hydrocarbons (HC), 1.7 glmi of CO, 0.2 g/mi of NO,, and engine durability of 100,000 mi. Current rules allow 0.41 gimi of HC, 3.4 g/mi of CO, and 1.0 g/mi of NO,, with engine durability of 50,000 mi. U S . and Japanese automotive industry organizations are funding the study.
The microbe Thiobacillus ferrooxidons may remove heavy metals from contaminated soils by producing sulfuric acid which could leach the metals out under controlled conditions, according to The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research [TNO, Delft). TNO researchers say their feasibility studies indicate that the soil becomes sufficiently decontaminated to meet requirements set forth by the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and the Environment. Moreover, the concentration of heavy metals is reduced below the level at which Dutch authorities require a chemical waste designation. TNO researchers like mi-
crobial methods because they are simple and inexpensive to use. .... . . .. . .
tilities will commit $6 bilI lion more for flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems over the next five years, predicts The McI1vaine Company (Northbrook, IL). Purchase orders currently outstanding total $2 million, according to a McIlvaine report, Acid Rain Forecast. By the end of 1992, $3 billion worth of FGD, enough to control 22,000 MW of coalfired power generation, will have been ordered for 1995 startup. By 1997, FGD to control 40,000 MW more will have been ordered. These forecasts are based on a survey of utilities to he affected by the acid rain provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Spurred by environmental safety legislation, the European market for gas sensors is predicted to climb from an estimated $160 million this year to more than $310 million by 1996, according to a report from Frost & Sullivan International. Germany is identified by the report as the country that will benefit most from the growing market. Reformulated gasoline will he the primary alternative transportation fuel in the United States for at least 20 years, according to Arthur Kelly, marketing manager for The M. W. Kellogg Company (Houston, TX). In a speech in Mexico Nov. 8, he added that other possible alternatives include compressed and liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, and methanol. Because reformulated
gasoline displays physical properties similar to those of gasoline, “it is deliverable through existing distribution systems and is usable in existing engines. CO emissions are lower, as are ozone precursors and air toxics, especially aromatics.” However, reformulated “gas” will be more expensive than today’s “gas” because of additives such as methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE). Kellogg is engineering plants to make a total of 50,000 barrels per day of MTBE, about one-third of the total capacity now being built. ELF Aquitaine (Paris la Dbfense, France) observed the 20th anniversary of the creation of its environment division in late October. Environment director Bernard Tramier told a Washington, DC, meeting that currently ELF has several cooperative programs on hazardous substance management and plastics recycling with universities in New Jersey and California. Other initiatives include a bioremediation product used to help clean up the Exxon Voldez oil spill in Alaska, logistic and financial support to clean up the Mega Borg spill in the Gulf of Mexico (though ELF was not liable), and support for environmental training for undergraduate students in France. Tramier explained that his company “is always prepared to face major catastrophic situations” and spends $450 million each year on environmental protection. Environmental management is no longer focused on compliance, but on competitiveness, according to SRI International (Menlo Park, CAI. Properly conducted environmental management actually can increase profits, SRI speakers told senior executives from several Fortune 500 firms. Among suggestions hy SRI’s Robert Shelton for optimizing environmental management are determining the role of CEOs, getting full employee involvement in environmental management, and managing environment via teams rather than committees or staff appointments. Most critically, Shelton said, “companies must establish measurement criteria, actively henchmarking against goals and competitors.” Finally, environmental management must be integrated into a company’s total quality process. Environ. Sci. Technol.. Vol. 26, No. 1, 1992 13
