GOVERNMENT CONCENTRATES Budget cuts will affect science minimally Officials at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy are cautiously optimistic that the expected fiscal 1986 budget cuts will give special care to science. "The best information I have," says OSTP deputy director John P. McTague, "is that there will be discrimination in how the pain will be distributed. If I were a gambling man, I would not expect the rate of growth in basic research to be like what it has been. But if I were in a university now, I would not worry too much that my grant would be canceled." McTague made those remarks before the semiannual meeting of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, held last week at American Chemical Society headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Pollution tax being considered EPA soon may propose the first-ever federal tax on pollution. Under consideration is the idea of making truck and engine makers pay a tax corresponding to the amount of money it would cost a firm to bring its products into compliance with Clean Air Act standards. Firms could make products that violate the standards, although highly polluting products would be banned, but the tax would provide an incentive to bring all products into line with the standards as soon as possible. The proposal is the result of discussions among agency officials and representatives of environmental, industry, and trade groups.
Synthetic Fuels Corp. finally up to strength President Reagan has made three recess appointments to the Synthetic Fuels Corp. board of directors. As the board now has a five-member quorum, it can hold its first business meeting in nearly eight months, now scheduled for later this week. The new board members are Thomas Corcoran, a retiring House member and leading critic of the corporation; Paul W. MacAvoy, an economist who served on President Ford's Council of Economic Advisers; and Eric Reichl, former president of Conoco Coal Development Co. Making the recess appointments when Congress was not in session enables the three to serve until the end of 1985 without Senate confirmation. At this week's meeting, board chairman Edward E. Noble says he will recommend that Norman H. Callner, vice president for technical services of Houston Natural Gas Corp., be elected as SFC's president and chief operating officer.
Acid rain's effect on building materials Under the 10-year National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, Argonne National Laboratory is studying the effects of acid rain on building materials. Uniform marble and limestone briquettes have been carefully mounted at four testing sites in the eastern U.S. Additional sites are planned for the Midwest and Canada within the next two years. Physical and 26
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chemical changes in the stone brought about by weathering are being studied annually, until the program is completed in 1992. Marble and limestone are particularly susceptible to the disintegrating effects of acid rain.
Niagara area cleanup urged by UJS., Canada The final report of the Niagara River Toxics Committee has been released. It urges that remedial cleanup of hazardous wastes sites along the river be speeded up, and monitoring of toxic chemical pollution of the river be increased. The Niagara River is the major tributary to Lake Ontario, the main source of drinking water for more than 4 million U.S. and Canadian citizens. A major contributor of toxic pollutants to the river is the Niagara Falls, N.Y., wastewater treatment plant, now undergoing reconstruction. The study says there is potential for future migration of chemicals from waste sites located along the river. In particular, 61 sites in New York and five in Ontario require immediate attention, the report says. Water sampled at drinking water intakes had median contaminant levels below public health criteria set by U.S. and Canadian agencies.
NIH to assess gene-splicing field tests NIH has agreed to assess, on a case-by-case basis, the probable ecological effects of experiments that would release genetically engineered organisms into the environment. The move came in response to a federal court's injunction, issued earlier this year, that blocked the first experiments involving deliberate release of organisms containing recombinant DNA (C&EN, Aug. 13, page 15). NIH is still resisting two related parts of that injunction that would require broader, formal, and more exhaustive reviews of the environmental impact of such releases. Author /activist Jeremy Rifkin, who led the legal battle against the health agency, calls the change in government policy "an historic turning point." The government, he says, is now acknowledging that genetically engineered products "are subject to the same set of environmental standards and safeguards" as other substances under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Washington roundup • Nancy Harvey Steorts will resign her chairmanship of the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Jan. 5. Her term ended on Oct. 26, and the White House has not sought her reappointment. Steorts' likely successor is Terrence M. Scanlon, the only commissioner who voted for a policy allowing the export of products deemed unsafe by CPSC. • EPA has lifted its requirements that linuron pesticide products be used only by certific d applicators and bear a tumor-warning statement. The agency says that studies by Du Pont have shown that health risks to workers applying the pesticide are much less than originally estimated.
