EDITORIAL Industry publicly parades its air pollution control efforts Yet, this same industry is losing a battle that it appears not to know it is fighting
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or many years government and industry have been pressing the point that the average citizen involved in his average daily tasks and activities is, collectively, the major contributor t o the nation’s pollution problems, a n d that even the pollution caused by industrial activities is done in the name of the consumer. Further, industry, in particular, often claims that measures needed to achieve pollution control are uneconomic, and that the general public is unwilling t o pay the bill. This month, two very different events that bear on industry’s stand took place. Both give some insight into what is sometimes interpreted as industry’s indifference; both will result in a test of industry’s continued resourcefulness and concern. This month President Johnson signed the Air Quality Act of 1967, a n act which reflects the determination of the American people t o clean the nation’s air ( E S & T , page 884). A t almost the same time, the New Jersey Industry Council was conducting its Eighth Annual Chemical Caravan for high school science honor students (ES&T, page 876). The purpose of this year’s caravan was to tell these students of career opportunities in pollution control. The Air Quality Act sets aside $428 million for air pollution control. A t this time of the political year such expenditures-or promises of thenitake on added meaning, particularly in light of present political posture of keeping spending t o a minimum. The American public demanded control of air pollution. The Congress responded by investigating and, finally, passing appropriate legislation. The President signed the act into law. There seems little doubt, again, that industry will have to face its responsibilities or suffer the legal consequences. A t the Chemical Caravan almost 200 science honor students from New Jersey took part in a seminar on pollution problems and visited various industrial facilities t o see what steps industry is already taking in controlling or abating pollution. The principal speaker at the Chemical Caravan was Richard J. Sullivan, Director of the Clean Air and Water Division of the New Jersey Department of Health. After noting that pollution in general has
become one of New Jersey’s most important and most serious problems he went on: “People often think of a particular chimney they know of belching thick, black smoke when we say air pollution-but the smog around our metropolitan areas is more often related to the offshoot of a chemical process.” Mr. Sullivan, speaking as a guest of the chemical industry in New Jersey, called the New Jersey chemical process industries’ pot black. And 200 science honor students left the seminar with the strong feeling that pollution, especially air pollution, is the fault of the chemical industry-and is therefore its responsibility. The newspaper accounts of the day’s ekents, abetted by 200 students spreading the pollution gospel, suggest that from this one instance alone, thousands of people are mentally indicting the chemical process industries for failure t o act in abating pollution. The problem is this: Mr. Sullivan did not attack the chemical process industries. H e simply noted what many before him have noted, that pollution is an offshoot of a chemical process. “ A chemical process.” That does not necessarily mean the chemical process industries. Rather, it means, simply, the transformation of matter into another form generally with the expenditure of energy. It means, also, that the chemical process industries continue t o get the blame for their contributions t o pollution. It is time for industry t o take positive action t o make its technology and expertis- available t o help in overall matters of pollution control and abatement, and t o make that competence known t o the nation. N o longer effective is the casual protestation that industry is not to blame. Let industry multiply its positive actions t o make its abilities known. Industry is t o be applauded for its efforts t o win students t o accept career opportunities in pollution control. Industry deserves a pat on the back for its attempts to place pollution problems in proper prospective. And industry is to be commended for its efforts t o show students and other interested parties its efforts to obtain a clean environment. But, win, place, or show, industry will be a loser every time if it does not take more and stronger positive steps in helping the nation attend t o its overall pollution problems.
Volume 1, Number 11, November 1967 869
