NEWS BRIEFS A recent series of House Science Committee hearings on stratospheric ozone depletion, global climate change, and dioxin health risks are discussed in a report by Rep. George E. Brown (D-Calif.). Brown, Science Committee ranking minority member, is highly critical of the long-running hearings during the last Congress and charges that they were dominated by "conservative think tanks, high-profile 'skeptic' scientists, and industry groups." Brown recommends that the next Congress return to the subjects but discuss the role of peer review in reaching decisions. The report, released in October, also recommends that Congress routinely require scientific witnesses to disclose funding sources. "Environmental Science Under Siege" is available by calling (202) 225-6375. Exports of environmental technologies reached $14.5 billion in 1995, a 50% increase from 1993 levels, according to the Department of Commerce report "U.S. Environmental Technologies Exports." Exports were responsible for 40% of last year's growth in the overall U.S. environmental technology industry and accounted for 8.1% of U.S. market share, almost 2% more than a year ago. For more information, call (202) 482-5225. U.S. withdrawal from the Basel Convention is urged in a report by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. "Trashing Free Trade" argues that the convention's ban on export of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries deprives the latter of "billions in trade dollars." Solvents, chemical residues, and pharmaceutical byproducts are hazardous but may be usable to the developing world, the report says. For more information, call (202) 331-1010. Mexico is a major new source of illegal chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), according to a report by Ozone Action released Nov. 19. The report says chemical companies in developing countries, like
Mexico, are benefiting from an exemption from the international CFC ban, which allows them to continue to produce CFCs for domestic use. However, the report notes that individuals are illegally exporting CFCs into developed countries, such as the United States, where their production and use are illegal. The report urges an end to production of all ozonedepleting chemicals. For more information, call (202) 265-6738.
National legislation to unify environmental statutes is needed and should be on the agenda of the next Congress, according to a report by the National Environmental Policy Institute, a nonprofit, industry-funded Washington, D.C., think tank. The report, "Integrating Environmental Policy," presents a multiphased implementation process that could lead to restructuring environmental laws. In large part, the institute's proposal is based on a shift of authority to states. For more information, call (202) 857-4784. Much greater public involvement in the U.S. Army's chemical weapons disposal program is urged in a National Research Council report. Without action, the report warns, opposition to the disposal program will continue to grow and will probably delay disposal and thereby increase cumulative risk. The Army is at a critical juncture, the report says, and its credibility must be raised to complete the chemical weapons destruction program. The October report comes on the heels of a September NRC report that urged the Army to examine neutralization of chemical weapons agents stored at Aberdeen, Md., and Newport, Ind. These sites have a single agent stored in
bulk and lend themselves to neutralization technologies, using water or sodium hydroxide to break the agents into simpler compounds. The recommendations come late in the decadelong disposal program that would build incinerators at eight storage facilities and burn the weapons, despite strong community opposition. "Public Involvement and the Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program" and "Review and Evaluation of Alternative Chemical Disposal Technologies" are available from the National Academy Press at (800) 624-6242. Breaches of ethical conduct among Department of Energy employees and subcontractors at DOE's high-level waste repository in Yucca Mountain, Nev., are alleged in a recent General Accounting Office report (GAO/OSI96-2). Other recent environmentally related GAO reports include "International Environment: U.S. Funding of Environmental Programs and Activities" (GAO/ RCED-96-234) and "Bureau of Reclamation: An Assessment of the Environmental Impact Statement on the Operation of the Glen Canyon Dam" (GAO/RCED96-12). To obtain the reports, call GAO at (202) 512-6000. The role of growth-based economics must be rethought as humans move closer to the limits of the Earth's ability to support them, says a special report in the November 1996 issue of Ecological Applications, a publication of the Ecological Society of America. The series of six articles explains ecological economics and presents an argument to integrate academically isolated sciences, especially ecology and economics, to understand the influence of economics on natural systems. Reprints are available by calling (202) 833-8773. Ten case studies of innovative regulatory initiatives and voluntary actions to phase out use of CFCs are offered in the World Resources Institute report "Ozone Protection in the United States." The report looks at programs affecting the military and corporations. It is available by calling (202) 638-6300.
VOL. 31, NO. 1, 1997 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 1 9 A
