The World Bank reported a $400 million increase for 1994 in loans to developing countries to pre serve the environment. In a report on its lending policies released Sept. 20, the Bank said it ap proved $2.4 billion for 25 envi ronmental projects during its last fiscal year, which ended June 30. The World Bank is implementing a total of 118 environmental projects, according to "Making Development Sustainable: The World Bank and the Environ ment." In contrast, the report notes that in 1989 only 15 projects were intended to be envi ronmental. The Bank describes a growing emphasis on sustainability on social, economic, and envi ronmental grounds in making lending decisions. However, envi ronmental critics such as Larry Williams, director of international programs for the Sierra Club, re mained skeptical. Williams noted recent criticisms of the Bank's environmental policies by envi ronmentalists, Congress, and the Treasury Department and worried that the report was nothing more than "window dressing" intended to quiet critics. Citing recent data, he said, "Only two of 46 energy projects funded by the Bank in 1992 promoted energy conserva tion." The report is available from the Bank; telephone (202) 4731788.
As part of increased environmen tal cooperation between the United States and Mexico, EPA has subpoenaed the effluent dis charge records of 95 U.S. compa nies operating in Mexico along the New River. The river flows north into California's Imperial Valley through Baja California and Mexicali and has been the focus of much citizen concern
about high levels of pollution. EPA said the company-supplied data will be used to conduct risk assessments, develop monitoring requirements, and determine the contribution from different com panies. The program is part of ac celerated efforts to coordinate en vironmental cleanup and enforcement along the border, which the countries pledged to do in the North American Free Trade Agreement. EPA first requested companies to respond voluntarily, the Agency noted, through letters sent to the U.S. parent corpora tions of the companies, but only four complied.
FEDERAL Dioxin remains a probable hu man carcinogen, and its noncarcinogenic health effects are also cause for concern, according to a risk characterization draft re leased by EPA Sept. 13. The 2000page document was three years in development and will now be subject to public examination and comment until mid-January. The Agency will finalize the risk char acterization in September 1995, according to Lynn Goldman, EPA assistant administrator for preven tion, pesticides, and toxics. Speaking to reporters, Goldman noted that EPA had last reviewed dioxin in 1985 and said the new risk assessment "reaffirms" the association between dioxin and cancer that was part of the earlier document. The new report, Gold man said, also provides a "stron ger body of evidence" to suggest that dioxin exposure results in noncancer health effects, includ ing immune suppression, disrup tion of regulatory hormones, and developmental and reproductive problems. Goldman said dioxin's primary pathway to humans is via air: the substance lands on plants that are eaten, is passed through the food chain, and bioaccumulates in the fat of animals and hu mans. The study shows that 95% of known dioxin emissions come from waste burning, with medical and municipal solid waste con tributing most. Goldman acknowl edged, however, that there are many unidentified dioxin sources, some of which are natu ral, but she concluded that dioxin was primarily a "product of mod ern industrial society." She noted that EPA had recently issued pro posals to cut dioxin emissions
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from municipal solid waste incinerators and p u l p and paper production a n d w o u l d propose ernissions reduction for hospital incinerators in February 1995. But she emphasized that EPA w o u l d not reassess other dioxin regulations until the review process is complete. The science supporting the report was criticized by scientists and lawyers working for industry groups ranging from the National Cattlemen's Association to the Cement Kiln Recycling Coalition. Environmental groups generally supported the risk characterization but said EPA should move more quickly to reduce generation of dioxins while the final review process moves forward. Goldman a d d e d that during a 120day comment period, the Agency w o u l d particularly seek n e w information on dioxin.
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The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office on Environmental Policy will be merged as part of a general White House reorganization, President Clinton a n n o u n c e d Sept. 23. The merged offices will be consolidated u n d e r the chair of the CEQ, the president said, and he nominated Kathleen A. McGinty to fill that position. McGinty, 31, is currently director of the Office on Environmental Policy and was a former legislative assistant to then-Senator Al Gore. The merger marks the end of a difficult time for the CEQ since Clinton a n d Gore a n n o u n c e d in February 1993 their intention to dissolve the Council. During the next yearand-a-half, several key House a n d Senate members rallied to the Council's support, noting its federal oversight role granted through the National Environmental Policy Act (ΝΕΡΑ). U n d e r this act, the CEQ is given authority to evaluate environmental impact statements (EISs) for federally funded projects a n d to resolve disputes among federal agencies over the quality of EISs. Clinton's plan to shift this function to EPA or to the Office on Environmental Policy was strongly opposed by Sens. Baucus (D-MT) and Chafee (R-RI) and Reps. S t u d d s (D-MA) and Dingell (D-MI). Clinton eventually backed off a n d agreed to fund a 10-person CEQ w i t h authority to oversee compliance w i t h ΝΕΡΑ as part of the administration's 1995 budget request.
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The Clinton administration's desire to shift to an ecosystem management approach for natural resource planning is hobbled by confused, n o n c o m p a r a b l e data, lack of interagency coordination, a n d general uncertainty even about h o w ecosystems work, the General Accounting Office (GAO) said in a report released Sept. 20 at a joint hearing of three House committees. GAO's investigation focused primarily on the National Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, a n d Fish a n d Wildlife Service, w h o s e representatives at the joint hearing defended the administration's intention to increasingly rely on an ecosystem approach to land management decisions. GAO officials at the hearing noted that the president's fiscal 1995 budget request contained some $700 million for ecosystem m a n a g e m e n t pilot programs. Yet they w a r n e d that for the administration to succeed in the n e w a p p r o a c h to resource management it must move beyond "unclear priorities a n d broad p r i n c i p l e s . " The Accounting Office r e c o m m e n d e d that the agencies develop a strategy to clarify policy goals for ecosystem management, take those general principles a n d shift t h e m to practical goals reflected in the budget request, a n d identify internal barriers w i t h i n each agency to using an ecosystem approach to resource management. The report (GAO/TRCED-94-111) is available from GAO; t e l e p h o n e (202) 512-6000. The General Accounting Office (GAO) has charged that Department of Energy officials have failed to use innovative technologies for remediating contaminated sites, thus slowing progress on these cleanups. In a report issued August 10 (GAO/RCED-94-205), GAO said that energy officials are reluctant to employ these n e w technologies, fail to properly identify their technology needs, a n d , because of conflicting priorities s u c h as jobs creation, choose established technologies for c l e a n u p s . In addition, the report said that DOE lacks a coordinated d e v e l o p m e n t program for n e w technologies and has not identified all usable technologies. GAO praised the department's recent efforts o n technology development, but said that regulators and other parties n e e d to be more fully involved.
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Shifts in EPA's top leadership were announced in late September as Robert Sussman, deputy administrator, said he will step d o w n as of Oct. 17. Fred Hansen, director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, has been n o m i n a t e d to replace Sussm a n . White House officials noted that, like EPA Administrator Carol Browner, Hansen has r u n a state regulatory program a n d will bring a state perspective to EPA. Hansen, 48, has led Oregon's environmental d e p a r t m e n t for 10 years, a n d congressional and EPA sources predict a close fit between the two. Sussman, a former corporate environmental attorney, is expected to be n o m i n a t e d to fill one of t w o o p e n slots on the fivem e m b e r Nuclear Regulatory Commission, sources at EPA said. Hansen is expected to easily clear Senate confirmation, according to Senate E n v i r o n m e n t and Public Works Committee staff. Hansen appeared before the committee Sept. 27 w h e n committee chairm a n Max S. Baucus (D-MT) voiced strong support for h i m but took the o p p o r t u n i t y to chastise EPA. Baucus w a r n e d that in his view Clinton administration budget cuts were blocking the Agency from performing its mission, and said his committee w o u l d undertake a major examination of the Agency budget next year.
Tools to help clean up inner city "brownfields" would be developed through a federal pilot program, EPA a n n o u n c e d in late August. The Agency pointed to the increasing national a n d local concern about these industrial sites that fall below the Superfund threshold of contamination but are still so polluted that industrial developers are scared off because of fears they will inherit responsibility for an expensive c l e a n u p project. Estimates of the n u m b e r of s u c h sites in the United States run to more t h a n 500,000. The
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h o p e for the brownfields program, according to EPA, is to give the Agency hands-on experience in developing techniques, technological tools, and knowledge n e e d e d to restore these sites and to rejuvenate r u n - d o w n neighborhoods. The m o n e y will go directly to the cities a n d be used for activities s u c h as technical assistance a n d project management, as well as site inventories and assessments. The first two $200,000 grants for two-year projects went to Richm o n d , VA, a n d Bridgeport, CT, EPA said. Another dozen projects are u n d e r consideration, and five are expected to be selected next year. The Agency said a somewhat similar project is also u n d e r way in Cleveland. Some 2700 Superfund-like hazardous waste sites have been cleaned up between 1980 and 1992, but another 20,000 are waiting for final action, according to a report by the Association of State a n d Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials and EPA that was released in September. T h e report combines state a n d federal figures and presents the first-ever comprehensive look at state cleanups as well as the federal Superfund program. State cleanups far o u t n u m b e r federal ones, the report shows. However, EPA officials point out that federal sites are often m u c h more complicated and have m u c h higher levels of pollution. "We see this report as counting fruit, rather than comparing apples a n d oranges," said an official w h o helped write the document. Although the total n u m b e r s of active federal a n d state sites being studied are similar—about 11,000 for states and 9000 federal—states have cleaned u p 2600 sites a n d the federal government approximately 150 as of 1992. Most of the active federal sites are still u n d e r investigation, the report shows. About 8700 are u n d e r review and 1112 are on the National Priorities List (NPL) or proposed for addition to it a n d were therefore undergoing some level of c l e a n u p as of 1992. Today, 1290 sites are on or proposed for the NPL, according to EPA figures. Altogether more than 20,000 sites are being examined or cleaned u p through state or federal programs, according to the report. The report (EPA Publication 9242.2-09) is available from the National Technical
Information Service; t e l e p h o n e (703) 487-4650. The American Methanol Institute filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals (Washington, DC) on August 27 to stop EPA's rule mandating ethanol in reformulated gasolines. The Institute's suit joins other lawsuits filed by the American Petroleum Institute a n d the National Petroleum Refiners Association, w h i c h argue for a fuel-neutral policy. T h e rule has been widely criticized as a political favor to agricultural interests, a n d in August the U.S. Senate came w i t h i n one vote of eliminating funding for the rule's implementation.
In the w a k e of last year's outbreak of Cryptosporidium in Milwaukee's drinking water, the American Water Works Association a n n o u n c e d in September a 12-point action plan to prevent or r e s p o n d to future incidents. T h e plan mixes technical solutions, public health measures, and community risk-communication efforts. A m o n g the key points is maintaining finished water turbidity levels at < 0.1 nephelometric turbidity u n i t s , increasing testing for Cryptosporidium in source and finished water, improving relationships w i t h local health and medical c o m m u n i t i e s , evaluating the benefits of tracking sales of anti-diarrheal m e d i c i n e s as an indicator of problems, developing an open a n d detailed notification system if Cryptosporidium is found in finished water, a n d forming a citizens' group to consider ways to deal w i t h the issue. The National Research Council (NRC) released a report in September entitled "Ranking Hazardous Waste Sites for Remedial Action" that urges federal agencies to work together to develop a unified approach that is fully open to public scrutiny. Currently, different agencies employ
different models for ranking sites according to numerical scores. T h e report analyzes three of these m o d e l s used at EPA, t h e Departm e n t of Defense, a n d the Departm e n t of Energy. The report finds that i n practice the more data collected at a site, the higher the score a n d the ranking w i t h EPA's model. The report authors find that these m o d e l s need better validation of parameters a n d reference data, clearer d o c u m e n t a t i o n of t h e core elements, a n d greater public involvement in developing and applying the model. The NRC committee r e c o m m e n d s that federal agencies adopt a three-tiered a p p r o a c h to ranking sites and use mathematical models in each step. T h e steps are screening candidate sites, conducting a detailed site investigation to assess the extent of contamination, a n d combining the ranking of the risks and remediation costs w i t h broader social a n d e c o n o m i c considerations. Under a final rule effective October 1, air quality data from state, local, and national air monitoring stations must be reported to EPA quarterly, w i t h i n 90 days after the e n d of each quarter. The n e w rule accelerates the reporting of air quality data, especially for state a n d local air monitoring systems, w h i c h previously reported to EPA annually. The information will go into EPA's AIRS (aerometric information retrieval system) database. EPA published an expanded list of acceptable alternatives to ozone-depleting substances under the Significant N e w Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program [Federal Register, Vol. 59, p . 44240). Acceptable substitutes are listed for use in refrigerators a n d air conditioners, foam blowing, solvent cleaning, fire suppression a n d explosion protection, sterilants, aerosols, adhesives, and coatings a n d inks. Substitutes p e n d i n g rev i e w are i n c l u d e d in the notice. For more information contact Sally Rand, Stratospheric Protection Division, (202) 233-9739.
SCIENCE A major, two-year study of herbicides in the Great Lakes reports that all of the 490 analyzed samples contained atrazine a n d its transformation product desethyl-
atrazine at ng/L levels. Reporting in this m o n t h ' s ES&-T (p. 2228), S h a w n Schottler and Steven Eisenreich of the University of Minnesota calculate that inventories of atrazine and its metabolites in the Great Lakes may exceed 600,000 kg and that residence times in the water column may b e on the order of years. The average atrazine concentrations range from about 20—35 ng/L in Lakes Huron a n d Michigan to 70-110 ng/L in Lakes Ontario and Erie. Moreover, atrazine m a y be accumulating in the lakes, say the authors. At least one herbicide or atrazine metabolite was detected in 24% of drinking water wells that draw water from shallow aquifers, according to a just-released report based on a 1991 survey. Moreover, nitrate was found in 5 9 % of the wells. However, except for nitrate in 6% of the samples, n o n e of the detected pollutants exceeded EPA's m a x i m u m contamin a n t levels for drinking water. The study, c o n d u c t e d by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), collected 600 samples from 303 wells during the spring a n d summer of 1991 in 12 m i d w e s t e r n states. The study focused on wells particularly susceptible to pesticide and fertilizer contamination. Corn or soybean fields were located on at least 2 5 % of the land w i t h i n a two-mile radius of the well, says Dana Kolpin, senior editor of the report. Additionally, the aquifers were w i t h i n 50 ft of the land surface. Samples were analyzed for 11 herbicides a n d two atrazine metabolites at a detection limit of 0.05 pg/L; nitrate's detection limit was 3.0 mg/L. Desethylatrazine a n d atrazine were the most c o m m o n l y detected herbicides. Copies of the report "Herbicides a n d Nitrate in Near-Surface Aquifers in the
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