INTERNATIONAL EavhoomenEsldeanupeastrfor EprtGe-yEOnldeYfeed $330 billion, according to a report by West Germany’s Dresdner Bank. A portion ofthat sum would go for research and development to d e mine how to dispose of East Gemny’s large inventory of toxic waptes safely. Dresdmr Bank officials hope that a part of the $330 billion could be m v d Uvough the sale of . liwnses for any n m technology developed as a r e d ofthe research.
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F e MhWer sershr to’d -Tthnt polhdloo sitnatbn is ‘indeed bad” in all of his counby’s environmental mcdia. “Many of our major rivers have bcen f i f e l a for YY-, and air pohtion is very severe in our major cities.” he said. Celac added,“As proof of public concern in Romania, of39 political parties, h-ee are ‘Green.’ ” ~~
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include climate change, defonstation and ~ , d e v r i o r a t i o o o f the stratospheric omnc laya, offor populabiodiversity, tion growth, implications and prospects sustainable development.
maybetoolatetoactbythetime drwlhahaveb&nobtaiacd.
The U.S. Sopreme Court hss @to review r b & r h of ioM and wend uabllity as it ap plies to SupemCnd deanups. l%e petition for reviw concerns a New England site and was brought by two chemicalcompsniesmathaddecmedto be de minimis *. According to these firms, although they contributed about 0.5% of the waste, mey are a i Bssc9scd for moIe!han 50% ofthe state’s costs plus all fuhlrr costs of cleanup. un&joint and liability, EM and stam c ~ l l~egauy~ssesseven o l l ~ party forall costs, E m s o f t h e mwt of w&stcs the m i .The p i t i o m argue
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mnuibuting substantially to the damage are to be subject to joint and several liability and that liabiity in this case couldhavebeen Bp9cssed Uuough the identification of waste
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metstomrrging~chrowledge and ruamciling environmental proteftion with the continued bmw50 of ecoWmic development.” He told the m o v e d panel on cliChange W C ) at its too, DC,meetingthal the united States“willcontinuei tsefforts...to seek hard data, accurate models, and ways to improve the science’’ for improving the understanding of climate change. “where politics and opinion have outpaced the science, we are accelerating our support of the technology to bridge that gap.” Bush’s speech to the IF’CC has drawn criticism from a number of envimamental advocacy groups who argue for regulatory action now becaose it
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nwneedtbemnvenhtgdthe6rst U.S.-spocroored Interperliementsry Coderenee on the Global Environman, to be held in Waslington, DC, April 2!3-May 2. He said that as of the end of last year, 33 nations, including the U.S.S.R.,had accepted invitations. lssues on the agenda 01393BwgoM9zko477$02.50/0
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by so,e m i by 2.3 rnilliontons, and NO, by 2. miuiw toes,
ERAFcb.6 6 d PA~tet&superftmdNational tAdngmq plna (NCP). The NCP containsthe ground rules for cleanups of hazadou waste sites wd oil spills.oocnewprovisioncallsfor EPA to select moodies that not only Techno}
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protect health and the envbnment, butalsominimizeumnstcdwastes. Another minforn the “worst sites 6rst” initiativeof the Wday Superfund review, which requirea quick action at sites posing an immediate
danger.otherpmvisionsaddnss threatsposed by highly toxic wastes, a uniform risk range tobe used in the absence of specific standards, and more comprehensive cleanup levels
[email protected] copies of the NCR telephone Mary Mears at (202) 3824355. The U.S. Gdogkal h y (USGS) will have abudget of more than SSO6 million for 5seal year 1991, if the Bush adminismtion gets its way. USGS’s FY 1990budgel was mom than $490 million. The Survey is seeking theadditional funding partly for increased efforts in global climate change studies, a full-scale National Water Quality Assessment Program, a d v d mapping sysm,wetlands research, and evaluation of eneqy resources. USGSS proposals sre presented in “our chaaging Planet: The FY 1991 U.S. Global Change Research Program.” A copy canbe obtained from the commiaeeon Earth Sciences, U.S. GeologicalSurvey, 104 National Center, Reston, VA 22oSn; telephone (703)648450.
STATES A National Governors’ Assodatlon (NGA) pand is enlling w Coalppas sndthepres;klenttoeettoeleen up polhaioa at federal facilities. The panel, which consists of governors and state attorneys general, focuses onimpmvingcompliance,ensnring better oversight at federal facilities, establishganatidagendaand
schedule forcleanup, providing
adequate funding for compliance and cleanup, and ensuring development of comprehensivewaste management *.onepanel‘onis to a b w states to asses8 civil penalties against federat agencies forviolating envimrnnental laws. Idaho
Cecil Andrus duuaaerizes some federal facilih as being “among the nmt polluted, dangerous sites in the nation.” Ow result oftbe action reqnested by the NGA pawi d b e t b e ebsyre oftbe Rocky Flats (CO) plutonium plant and the conshuction ofamdenwed ‘ plantnearby.The currentplam,whichstartedupin 1982,is chargedwithbeing . . a sou~ce of plntonium cmtmm&m and of radiation hazard to its employees, and it has 8evcrB1 othar flaws. ClosGOV.
478 Envlron. 801. Twhnol.. Vol. 24. No. 4,1880
ing the plant, howevq deprives the
Dqartnmt of Energy of the nation’s only facility for recycling plutonium from retired warheads and other plutonium scrap. R e f u r b i g the plant would cost $I billion, according to DOE esthates. A new, prop d y constructed plant is estimated to cast 5565 million.
A 33.6% dedine In North CarobMngtOtallhEdleatehCnnbe blamed, at least partially, on water p0uution, ~ccordingto william nogarth, director of the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries. The most severe declines have been observed in Albemark and Pamlico Sounds. Pollution increases in those water bodies are amibuted to agridturaJ runoff, industrial pollution, sewage, and woff from development and construction sites. Another cause of the finfish decline is competitioaamong d o n a l and commercial fishermen for the available ti&, according to Hogarth.
The U.S. D e w of Energy is suing Nevada for a an114 order that w d d require the state to
follow federal and state laws by issuing permits to conduct the scientiEc study of Yucca Mountain that Congress has called for. DOE contends that Nevada has prevented DOE from carrying out the needed site investigation work by unlawfully refusing to act on permit applications. Nevada fled a suit a g W DOE in Decanber 1989 in which the state argued that targeting Yucca Mountain for the disposal of highlevel nuclear waste violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and that Nevada has the option of a site vdo. For more on waste storage at Yucca Mountain see ES&Z 1989,23(12),
1452-53.
MONITORING GLobalclimetemdecasysiem ehpngesmigM bemonitored by
MRIS,NASA’s High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, says Alexander Goea of the University of Colorado (Boulder). HIRIS is apolarorbiting U g device designed to zoom in on ecosystem boundaries in order to show any such changes. The 450-kg instrument senses 192 bands of the tight spechum and can rrsolve the doathat make up imagesoflandand water parcels as small as 30 macross. HIRlS will monitor boundaries such as grasslaadowoodlaods, wetlandsuplands, tundra-boreal forest, and estuBTy-oceao. GoeQ believes that the biological activity sensed in this
marmer can give “much earlier indications of change.”
SCIENCE The development of new tests to detect low-level lead exposure in humans is the objective of a $1.91million grant to the University of Maryland at Baltimore and the Maryland Department of the Env ronment, awarded by the U S . Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. BNE Fowler and EUen Silbergeld, the project’s directors, say that the grant “allows us to develop molecular tools for diagnosing low-level lead toxicity in target populations,” such as children, pregnant women, and workers. Also, Edson Albuquerqueof the University of Maryland School of Medicine and his team have discovered in animal studies that lead, even at low doses, attacks the brain by blocking neumreeeptorsin the hippocampus region that controls learning, memory, and co@,tive functions. Lowdose lead affects the glutamate receptor N-methyl-D-aspartate. The atmospheric content of sulfur hss Mplea since 1900, say Eric Sal?zman and Pai Yei Whung of the university of Miami (FL). “hung has been studying changes in atmospheric levels of methanesulfonic acid (MSA) by analyzing more than loo0 samples from Greenland ice cores. MSA is formed fromemif sions by marine phytoplankton. “hung found that from 1760 to 1900,MSA made up 17% ofthe atmospheric sW. From 1900 to the present, MSA decreased to 5 % . Moreover, MSA pmduction has decreased by 50% since 1900 while the total amount of atmospheric sulfur has tripled. Whung told the American Geophysical Union that her work adds to evidence that the increase in atmospheric sulfur wmes from “other than natural sources Meny otherwise healthy prsons can be merely adIected by low lev& of toxic chedcak, according to a report prepad for the New Jersey Depamnent of Health. Such people include indumhl workers who handle chemicals; oecupnts of energyanxmhg “tight” buildings from which contaminants leak out slowly or not at all, persons who have occasional contact with chemicals in the air, food, medicines, and consumer products; and residents of cmnmunities near hazardous-waste. sites, pesticide-sprayingactivities, or diesel fumes.The report suggests that everyone adapts to some level of
environmentalcontaminants,but that certainpersons reach a “saturation point” at a much lower level. The reasons for this are poorly understood.
The International Aerosol Research llnsembly has heen formed to~oteinternationalwllaboration in aerosol research. The assembly is to consist of organizations rather than individuals. For voting membembip, an organizationmust he independentand scientific, must have held at least one meeting a year for the last three years, and have a current membership of at least 50 members. For more information, contact William E.Wilson, -75, EPA, Rasearch ’IIiangle Park, NC 27711; telephone. (919) 541-2551; Fax, (919) 541-7588.
The MU.S. depn eoaltedmologg. project that will foens solely on reduelmgNO, emisdoas is being conducted by Georgia Power. The plant will use a process called “advanced overtire air,” in which some of the oombustion air is diverted away froma boiler’s hot burners. That step is expected to reduce NO, emissions by 30-35 % Another step will consist of replacing existing burners with low-NO, burners. These burners will have a fuel-rich flame that is expected to reduce NO, emissionsby up to 50%. consauCtion of the project began Feb. 9, and the “overtire air” tests should begin in May 1990. The low-NO, burners will be installed in March 1991, and the tasts should be completed by June 1992. wheneocrtsofusingsolarversus fossil fuel ewrgy are compared, the “hidden eats’’ of fossil-fuelcaused pollution should be taken into Bccount, Bccordiog to the American Solar Energy Society (ASFS, Boulder, CO).Hidden costs of nuclear power should also be included. Lag-term costs include those of global warming, acid rain, crop losses (cansedby fossil fuel pollution), radioactive waste disposal, air and water pollution, safety and mrily provisions (e.g., pmtection against vandalism), wage losses caused by energy being produced overseas and imported, and military protection of foreign fuel sources. ASES estimates that the minimum cost is $109.2 billion a year. It msybepaaslMetoaasessuncertainty, the bane of risk management, with techniques sugg~tedby Adam Finkel of Resourcas for the
.
Future p, WashingDon, DC).In a report, “Confronting Uncertainty in Risk Management: A Guide for Decision-Makers,” he snggests tracing and cataloguing sources of uncertainty He then presents methods for depicting and PuantifYinguncertainly, and says that the expertise neededto inwqmteuncertainlyintohealthrisk management decisions “is no more arcane than that used by c o p rate managers in a myriad of investme^ and production decisions.” The report is available at the center for RiskManagement, Resources forthe Future, 1616 P St., N.W, Washington, DC 20036; telephone (202) 3285O00.
BUSINESS Every steel pruduct from cars to bridge supports to food and bexerage eans is recyelabk, accding to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI,Washington,DC).More than 100 billion pounds of steel are recycled each year-more than twice the amount of all other materials wmbined, say AIS1 spokespersons. The institute estimates the U.S. recycling rate for steel at 66%, “the highest rate for any recycled material, including aluminum.” The main reason “every single piece of steel can be recycled” is that it can easily be removed magnetically. AISI spokespersons say that if the steel recycled in 1989had not been recycled, it would have been put in landfillsat a cost of $2 billion.
Between 1980 and 1988, the United ststesspento.~nsboeitsgross
national pmduct on environmental
proteaioll. That places the United States behind the Netherlands, Canada, and West Germany in percentage of GNP spent on the environment; the Netherlands placed fyst
with1.34%.lotemlsofsctualdolLars, however, the United States is expected to spend the most for environmental pmtedon-about $40 billion, foUowed by West Germany (about $5.05 billion), Japan ($5 billion), and Britain ($2 billion). By 2o00,the total envirunmental technology market in western Europe is expected to be about $77.6 billion. These estimates were p q m d for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by the wnsulring tinn Untemehmensberatung Kaiser (Tubingen, West Germany).
MoassntocOmpeqyehairmsa ~ ~ o u ~ t “-pledee”-en prioeiplea of environmental commitment to
which he bound his company. He eaplained to the.National Wildlife Fedemtion’s CorporateConservation council mat the pledge includes reduci dl toxic and hazardous releases, with a gual of *‘ameffect.” Other priodples are preventing undue risk to employees and neighboring oommunitias,achieving sustainable agriculture through new praaiccs,easuringgroundwater involving the wmmunity in -plant-,corporate real estate “to bcneM nafure,” and seeking technology worldwide for reducing and eliminatiag Waste.
e,
Costs unaccounted for in use of fossil and nuclear fuel in the United States I
103
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