GOVERNMENT CONCENTRATES Investigation of Michigan pollution set In response to a petition by two Michigan environmental groups—the Environmental Congress of MidMichigan and the Foresight Society—EPA is initiating a full field investigation to determine the causes and extent of dioxin contamination and other pollution problems in central Michigan (C&EN, June 6, page 29). In its response, EPA lists mainly a series of activities that are already under way, including sampling and analytical work to develop a water discharge permit for Dow Chemical's Midland facility, sampling of public and private water supplies for organic contaminants, and preliminary assessments of potentially hazardous waste sites. In addition, EPA says it will discuss the feasibility of specific health effect studies with the Centers for Disease Control and Michigan Department of Public Health, which are the appropriate agencies to conduct them. The agency refused on procedural grounds the petitioners' request for a determination that there is a "significant risk of serious and widespread harm" in central Michigan.
More time to review final PMN rales asked The Chemical Manufacturers Association has requested a 90-day extension on implementation of the final rules on premanufacture notification (PMN) for newly developed chemicals. The rules are scheduled to go into effect July 12. CMA president Robert A. Roland said that "at present, key provisions of the rules are ambiguous and do not provide clear guidance on what information is required." Roland says the extra time is needed so the industry can figure out just what new provisions in the rules will mean and give companies time to work up procedures needed to comply.
NSF back into high school science NSF's board of directors, the National Science Board, after years of working to reduce NSF's programs in science education, now says "precollege science education is a high-priority activity of NSF." It even promotes activity in that old political bugaboo, curriculum development. All this comes in a special statement NSF distributed after its mid-June meeting in Washington, D.C. The statement says that NSF should urge all sectors— industry, community resources, and individual scientists and engineers—to climb on the bandwagon for the improvement of teaching in local schools. Included in the statement are the outlines of an NSF operational plan for science education. A report from NSF to the board is due in October, along with an estimate of what it will cost.
Nuclear licensing reforms draw comments Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Victor Gilinsky has told the House Subcommittee on Energy & Environment that one of the best reforms that could be made to the process for licensing new nuclear power plants would be to get the NRC staff out of the agency's 20
June 27, 1983 C&EN
hearings as a full party seeking issuance of the license. He says nothing has undermined public confidence in NRC more than the "spectacle of the NRC staff, armin-arm with the utility, arguing a common case in the hearings." Gilinsky denounces a Department of Energy proposal that would permit a combined authorization of construction permits and operating license for new plants. "Giving a utility an operating license on the basis of a paper review, before the start of construction, makes about as much sense as handing an incoming freshman his college diploma on the basis of his course outline," he says. NRC's preference would be for a preoperational inspection before plant startup.
Academy's outreach programs reorganized The National Academy of Sciences is planning to reorganize what its president, Frank Press, terms the organization's "outreach" programs. These include those offices now responsible for answering inquiries from the public and press, and offices concerned with federal agency relationships and Congressional relationships. Slated to head the consolidated outreach office is Paul Sitton, who is now special assistant to Press.
House bills deal with employed inventors Rep. Robert W. Kastenmeier (D.-Wis ), chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee tru t handles patent matters, has introduced two bills—H.R. 3285 and H.R. 3286—that create a comprehensive federal system for determining the ownership of and amount of compensation to be paid for inventions made by employed persons. In general, the bills give the employer first right to any service invention—that is, one that grows out of an employee's work. The inventor is to be paid adequate compensation representing the fair market value of the employer's exclusive right to the invention adjusted to reflect the position and duties of the employee and the degree to which the operations of the employer contributed to the making oi the invention. However, the bills also define the conditions under which a service invention can become a free invention and revert to the employee, and define employers' limited rights to totally free inventions—those unrelated to an inventor's job.
Washington roundup • EPA is seeking unpublished and hard-to-find information to be used in preparing chemical hazard information profiles on dimethyl methyl phosphonate, methylcyclopentadienylmanganese tricarbony 1, propionitrile, and ziram. • Judge June L. Green of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has set July 21 as the date for the trial of former EPA assistant administrator Rita Lavelle on contempt of Congress charges. • NSF and the Scientific & Technical Research Council of the Republic of Turkey have signed their first five-year agreement for collaboration in science and technology.
