STATES Governor Mario Cuomo has ordered 12 000 businesses in New York State to report where they dumped hazardous chemicals since 1952.
Cuomo: ordered a survey No other state has taken such a systematic approach to identifying the location of toxic chemicals disposed of over the past three decades. This measure will help local communities deal with pollution by informing them of the location and contents of toxic waste dump sites. Previously, business groups lobbied against the survey, but environmentalists are very pleased with it. The Reagan administration and the states may have lost the chance to recover millions of dollars under Superfund. They let a statute of limitations run out which required that claims for natural resource damage be filed within three years of enactment of the law (Dec. 11, 1980) or within three years after discovery of the damage. However, under some interpretations of the law, claims can still be filed. The courts and Congress will have to resolve the question. Before the statutory deadline expired, a number of large claims were filed including a federal suit for $1.9 billion against Shell Oil Company. New York State filed 1100 claims, but many states filed none. The California Air Resources Board has lowered the one-hour standard for SO 2 in ambient air to 0.25 ppm. The new standard is half the previous limit of 0.50 ppm set in 1969. There is no federal primary one-hour standard for SO2, but EPA staff members have recommended that a one-hour standard be set between 0.50 and 0.75 ppm. The new California standard is based on evidence that asthmatics suffer adverse health effects from S 0 2 concentrations as low as
one-fourth of those affecting healthy adults. The standard will have no effect on existing industrial sources, but will limit future increases in SO2 emissions.
with six other hydroelectric units located nearby, have a combined capacity of 42.9 MW.
Scientists studying the Chesapeake Bay have found that the portion of the estuary's channel that is devoid of oxygen has grown tenfold since 1950. According to results published in the Jan. 6 issue of Science, the oxygen-starved region occupies about five billion cubic meters. The authors speculate that excessive growth of phytoplankton fed by nutrients from agricultural runoff and sewage treatment plant effluent has depleted the oxygen in the water. They believe there is a definite correlation between the lack of oxygen and reduced catches of fish in the bay. Recently, Maryland proposed to spend $39 million to clean up the bay, but other states contributing to the pollution have pledged far less. The federal government has committed only $4.2 million to bay restoration in 1984.
AWARD
State health officials have ordered products containing more than 1 ppb of ethylene dibromide (EDB) removed from Florida's grocery shelves. More than three dozen grain-based food products from some of the nation's largest processors have been officially removed. N o federal standard for EDB contamination of food has been established. EPA suspended the use of EDB as a soil fumigant several months ago and proposed to end most other food-related uses of EDB. Until regulations for the other uses are in place, which may take two years, EDB can still be used as a fumigant on a variety of harvested crops including oranges, tropical fruits, and grain. Florida officials say that food products in other states would probably show levels of EDB contamination similar to those found in Florida (1.261.78 ppb) if they were tested. New England's newest hydroelectric facility has begun operating. This 15-MW unit, owned by Northeast Utilities and located on the Connecticut River in Holyoke, Mass., was built for a total cost of $21 million. It includes a fish elevator system that allows fish to move upstream. The new plant is part of Northeast Utilities conservation program to reduce the region's dependence on foreign oil. It, along
The Instrument Society of America's Excellence in Documentation Award was given to Gordon Ortman of EPA's Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory (Research Triangle Park, N.C.) for his paper, "Ozone Precursor Monitor for Investigating Air Pollution." The monitor measures the ozone-forming potential of air through determination of other gases that react with sunlight to form ozone, a principal component of photochemical smog. Ortman developed the instrument in 1981 under EPA's Innovative Research Program.
VIEWPOINT "Science and emotion clash when dioxin contamination in the environment is discussed," said Otto Hutzinger of the University of Bayreuth, West Germany, speaking to a Michigan State University conference. He called for "more objective research to help dispel some of the emotional issues that now cloud the topic. The dioxin problem is very complex, because we know of few compounds that are so extremely toxic, but it has created an antichemical feeling that has not helped," he added. Hutzinger noted that the dioxin issue "is emotional in the U.S. The United Nations has not listed dioxins as one of the 10 international chemical concerns, and the issue has died down in Germany."
SCIENCE A priority action list on certain chemicals considered toxic has been established by the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology (CUT, Research Triangle Park, N . C ) . Other toxic substances are also slated for action. The listed chemicals include acrolein, di(2ethylhexyl)phthalate, 2-ethylhexanol, methanol, glycol ethers, and sulfur-containing compounds (mercaptans, sulfolane, etc). Other studies and recommendations will deal with chemical testicular toxicity, hydrocarbon nephrotoxicity Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 18, No. 2, 1984
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