Philadelphians protest ocean burning of waste A raucous, hostile crowd of Philadelphia residents shouted down Environmental Protection Agency officials last week at a public hearing on the agency's tentative decision to issue a research permit for an ocean burn of chemical wastes. Unable to make himself heard over chants of "No! No! No!" EPA permit manager David P. Redford gave up trying to explain the research proposal and yielded the podium. The overflow crowd of about 1000 then cheered a succession of local politicians who denounced the plan. The group waved flags and placards and wore bumper stickers supplied by the environmental activist group Greenpeace that read "Ban the Burn!" The proposed permit would allow the incinerator ship Vulcanus 11, owned by Chemical Waste Management (CWM) of Oak Brook, 111., to burn about 700,000 gal of fuel oil containing 10 to 30% polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a site in the North Atlantic 140 nautical miles east of Delaware Bay. During 19 days of burns, EPA would conduct research to determine the incinerator emissions' composition, transport, and effect on marine life (C&EN, Dec. 9,1985, page 24). However, the crowd in Philadelphia—composed mostly of young mothers with children and senior citizens who had come in groups by bus—was less interested in what would occur at sea than in protesting the transport and storage of the waste in their neighborhoods. Under the proposal, the waste would be shipped by train from CWM's Emelle, Ala., facility and loaded onto the incineration vessel at a terminal in Philadelphia's Port Richmond section. From there, the Coast Guard would escort the ship down the Delaware River and out to sea. (Ironically, EPA last year fined CWM $600,000 for storing PCBs at Emelle for more than the year allowed under federal regulations. The firm had accumulated the waste in hopes of obtaining permits to incinerate it in the Gulf of Mexico.) Rep. Thomas M. Foglietta (D.-Pa.),
Philadelphia residents protest at EPA hearing on ocean incineration who represents the industrial north- up; we've got enough chemicals in east Philadelphia neighborhoods af- this area. We'll march and we'll lay fected, said, "Those communities down in the streets to stop it." have taken much more than their EPA will hold additional hearshare" of toxic hazards. He prom- ings this month in Red Bank, N.J.; ised the crowd he would try to Wilmington, Del.; and Ocean City, withdraw EPA's funding for ocean Md. The agency will consider the incineration programs. opinions expressed at the hearings Similarly, Democratic ward lead- in deciding whether to grant the er Norman H. Loudenslager was permit. A decision is expected in cheered when he said: "We're fed late March. D
Trace gases altering atmosphere's composition In its fifth report to Congress, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration concludes that manmade trace gases are changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere on a global scale and that long-term effects on Earth's climate are little understood at this time. The report is a summary of an effort of 150 scientists from 11 countries. It catalogs what is known about the physical, chemical, and radiative processes controlling the distribution of ozone in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) and the upper atmosphere (stratosphere). It quantifies sources of substances able to modify atmospheric ozone. It also highlights the complexity of the trace gas-chemistry-climate problem. Atmospheric concentrations of such trace gases as nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and trichloroethane are increasing at rates of up to 7% per year, a direct result of industrial activity. The production, use, and emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 11 and 12 also are increasing
worldwide. Because some of these gases have extremely long (up to centuries) residence times in the atmosphere, the system will take a very long time to recover. Carbon dioxide once was considered to be the prime ultravioletabsorbing gas contributing to Earth's warming by the greenhouse effect. This report confirms earlier findings that other trace gases—methane, nitrous oxide, ozone—are enhancing the greenhouse effect by an amount equal to that of carbon dioxide. As a result, current estimates predict that during the next 50 years Earth's temperature will increase twice the amount it did from 1850 to 1980. Increased ambient temperatures are likely to cause devastating social and economic consequences. Additionally, methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides react to increase the tropospheric level of ozone, another greenhouse gas. Tropospheric ozone is indeed rising in the northern hemisphere. At the same time, CFC emissions are destroying the protective stratospheric January 20, 1986 C&EN
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