Environmental ▼ News U.K. fish exhibit intersex traits taken from the Nene and Aire—two rivers that run through urban and industrialized areas—showed some effects and exhibited moderate to severe cases of reduced reproductive capability. One third of these fish failed to produce sperm even after spawning hormone treatment. The research team also studied fish in large aquaria containing ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Estrogenic steroids in treated sewage effluent are feminizing wild fish and impairing their reproductive abilities, according to a report published in mid-June by the Environment Agency of England and Wales, which licenses discharges to rivers. The report drew conclusions from nine scientific papers published over the past few years. To combat the problem, the agency is investigating changing sewage treatment technologies. According to John Sumpter, head of biological sciences at Brunel University, the research shows that the affected fish, which have both male and female traits, can’t reproduce as well as normal fish. The more fish with intersex traits, the less successfully the species reproduces. “The next step is to demonstrate whether a fish population as a whole remains viable when there are intersex fish within it. Until then, regulators will find it very hard to regulate because water companies could argue that there was no evidence that feminization of fish was having an adverse effect on the fish stocks in the U.K.,” says Sumpter. The researchers studied two common fish—the wild roach, which is considered a sentinel fish, and gudgeon, which are found near the sediments rather than in the water column where roach live. Fish from 10 English rivers receiving effluent from sewage treatment works were studied. Between 15 and 100% of the male fish showed some intersex effects, such as gonads with female as well as male characteristics, according to fish physiologist Charles Tyler from Exeter University. All the male fish
Gudgeon, such as this one, are showing intersex traits.
sewage effluents. They found that larvae and young fish that were exposed for three months experienced “apparently nonreversible” feminization of reproductive ducts. The adult male fish also started to produce the egg-precursor protein, vitellogenin, but this was a transient effect. Vitellogenin is a precursor to intersex characteristics and a biomarker for fish exposed to estrogens. The water industry remains unconvinced that the problem lies solely with sewage effluent. “There are a number of ways endocrine disruptors can enter rivers, such as pesticides from fields,” says Rupert Kruger, environment and scientific adviser for Water UK, the industry
Pollutant trading: Key to better water quality? U.S. EPA officials are hedging their bets that a new policy facilitating trading among pollutant sources in watersheds will not only improve water quality faster and more cheaply, but will also spur technological innovations in water quality monitoring techniques. Unregu270 A
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lated agricultural interests, currently the leading source of water quality impairments in the United States, strongly support the initiative, but environmental organizations and regulated point source dischargers, such as wastewater treatment plants, say the devil will
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / JULY 1, 2002
association. “If the desired objective is to reduce feminization in fish, then we need to investigate all possible causes before embarking on major investment.” In separate studies, the Environment Agency confirms that these chemicals show additive effects when mixed together, casting doubt on the usefulness of setting limits for individual chemicals. Instead, the agency will work on developing biological response tests to demonstrate water safety, says Geoff Brighty of the Environment Agency’s National Centre for Ecotoxicology and Hazardous Substances. Sumpter agrees, adding that “a biological response test is one way to test what is out there in ‘real world’ as it integrates all these chemicals into a single response.” The researchers also report that natural and synthetic hormones in sewage effluent were more potent endocrine disruptors than previously thought. The synthetic steroid 17--ethinylestradiol showed estrogenic effects in fish at concentrations below 1 nanogram per liter, the detection level limit of commonly used analytical methods, says Tyler. According to Brighty, the agency hopes to follow up on this research with tests of new pilot-scale treatment technologies for a small number of sewage works presenting the most risk to their rivers. In September, the agency will bid for funding from the water industry’s investment program. The treatment scenarios that the agency plans to examine include increasing effluent retention times, thereby allowing steroid estrogens more time to degrade, and increasing effluent dilution. —MARIA BURKE
be in the details. EPA expects to finalize the policy later this summer. Although short on specifics, the proposed Water Quality Trading Policy released in mid-May sets out voluntary guidelines for marketbased trading approaches that are consistent with the Clean Water Act. General elements include legal authority to conduct trades, which
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could be incorporated into discharge permits; clearly defined units of trade such as pollution reduction credits; and standardized protocols to quantify pollutant loads and load reductions, as well as pollutant reduction credits. Environmental groups and the Association of Metropolitan Sewage Agencies, which represents municipal wastewater treatment plants, support the principles behind the policy, particularly because it addresses the problem of unregulated nonpoint sources. But enforceability of trading programs poses a big concern. “How do I go against a nonpoint source if they renege on their contract?” asks Albert Ettinger of the Sierra Club. “Do I sue the point source for violating his permit because the nonpoint sources he traded with didn’t keep their end of the bargain?” What the trading program does, he adds, is offer point sources an inducement to go out and get nonpoint sources to lower their discharges. “That’s not a bad thing, but
Will pollutant trading be the key to better water quality?
why do we think point sources are going to be any better at persuading nonpoint sources to do it than other [voluntary] programs?” Others worry that trading programs have the potential for creating hot spots, says Kari Dolan of the National Wildlife Federation. For example, a wastewater treatment plant discharging nutrients into a river may decide to expand its operations to service a new subdivision. To offset the increased discharges likely to occur, the facility purchases controls at another point in the watershed. The area downstream of the facility then has a greater risk of algae blooms as a result of changes in dissolved oxygen
levels, which could make it difficult for that water body to support fish or even contact recreation, Dolan notes. EPA maintains that the policy guards against such localized effects and ensures that water quality standards will be preserved throughout the trading area. Under no circumstances should trading result in the pollution cap being exceeded, says EPA’s Dave Batchelor, one of the policy’s main architects. This program “is not a license to pollute. If somebody wants to trade, they have to make a greater reduction than they would otherwise be required to do under existing regulations, and only those surplus credits or reductions could be traded.” EPA’s policy also calls for safety margins in situations where nonpoint sources are involved to account for the uncertainty in shifting loads between the different sources engaged in the trade. But the agency leaves it up to states to determine how they will achieve the policy’s goals. One way for pollutant loads to be established is through the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program, and EPA is likely to incorporate the trading policy into the revised TMDL rule due out in 2003, Batchelor says. Under the TMDL program, states set mandatory caps on the total amount of pollution that can enter a given water body and allocate this amount among the various point and nonpoint pollution sources. Once pollution allocations are made, trading would give sources with less expensive reduction options an incentive to drop nutrient loadings below requirements and sell the excess credits to sources with higher control costs, says Suzie Greenhalgh of the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank. For now, the policy’s focus is on sediments and nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which are some of the most significant pollutants affecting water quality nationwide, Batchelor says. Likewise, they represent a much lower risk compared to toxics in terms of
Government Watch Pesticide labeling guidance pleases nobody After receiving more than 5000 comments, the U.S. EPA plans to significantly revise its proposed language to be used on pesticide product labels instructing applicators on how to control spray and dust drift. A new proposal is planned for release this fall. Until now, pesticide product labels have ranged from detailed instructions to absolutely no instructions, says EPA’s Jay Ellenberger. Factors influencing drift include weather conditions, topography, application equipment, the crop or area being sprayed, and the proximity of people and other sensitive areas. EPA proposed last August that labels specifically state that residues must not be allowed to come into contact with people, animals, homes and offices, parks and recreation areas, nontarget crops, aquatic and wetland areas, pastures, and rangelands. Environmentalists say that the label instructions should be modified to encompass public roads, streets, and sidewalks. But CropLife America (formerly American Crop Protection Association) estimates that EPA’s proposed label would effectively remove some 7 million acres of farmland from production as a result of buffer zones that would need to be left around fields to account for potential spray drift. Moreover, the proposed language would establish a “zero-drift, zero-exposure policy” that is unacceptable because it’s not technically achievable. In the draft notice, EPA does acknowledge that some drift will occur “from most or all applications,” but this acknowledgment would not appear on the label. Susan Kegley of the Pesticide Action Network, which is coordinating the environmental response, says this admission in effect would Continued on Page 273A
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Environmental ▼ News trying out more innovative approaches. The policy stipulates that EPA would allow trading of other pollutants when “such trading achieves a net water quality or environmental benefit and does not cause adverse localized impacts,” but only on a case-by-case basis. A number of states are already developing pilot trading programs, and most of them to date have con-
centrated on nutrients, according to Batchelor. Ultimately, Batchelor envisions a multicredit trading system in which all sources in a watershed can trade pollution reduction credits across multiple environmental media. In other words, combining acid rain trading programs, wetland and habitat mitigation programs, nutrient trading programs, and greenhouse gas trading programs into one.
“If you look at the nation’s waters, what you find are fragmented segments of pollution or impairment,” Batchelor notes. “If you look at efficiencies and how to achieve greater environmental benefits at lower cost, then we need to find ways that can capitalize on multiple benefits that will help us be more efficient in terms of energy, the economy, and the environment.” —KRIS CHRISTEN
National security at the cost of environmental protection?
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thorization bill in May and included two of the department’s proposals, including an exemption that PHOTODISC
In the wake of last September’s terrorist attacks, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is attempting to exempt shooting practice and other military activities from many key environmental laws, claiming they interfere with training. If successful, DOD—which is often cited as being among the U.S.’s largest polluters—will avoid environmental liabilities resulting from its test bombings and other training exercises. Environmental laws erode the discretion of field commanders to determine where and when to train, argues Jim Van Ness in DOD’s General Council’s Office. “The restrictions could undermine the ability of some units to fight effectively,” he said. The proposed legislation was delivered to Congress on April 19 in a report entitled “Sustainable Defense Readiness Initiative.” DOD is seeking exemptions from laws that regulate the cleanup of hazardous waste (Superfund and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)), as well as the Clean Air Act (CAA), and those dealing with the protection of animals and habitat: the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Protection Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Environmentalists say acrossthe-board exemptions are unnecessary because President Bush can authorize specific exemptions for national security purposes. But DOD officials have criticized this process as overly time-consuming. The House of Representatives approved DOD’s 2003 defense au-
The military has taken aim at environmental regulations.
allows for incidental killing of migratory birds during training and a measure limiting the amount of restricted habitat reserved for endangered species on military lands. DOD manages 25 million acres that provide habitat for 300 threatened or endangered species. Under pressure from environmental groups and state officials, a House of Representatives committee rejected DOD’s proposed exemptions from pollution control laws, including a three-year delay on compliance with CAA standards and exclusion for munitions and related pollutants as hazardous wastes under Superfund and RCRA. Dan Meyer, with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit group representing public employees, says the delibera-
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / JULY 1, 2002
tions in the House committee were also influenced by lobbying from state attorneys general who have had “long, painful experiences with environmental contamination on military bases.” Says Meyer, “These exemptions will further complicate state efforts to determine compliance and liability for cleanup” of past and future polluting activities. Van Ness argues that military bases should be free of cleanup obligations “if they’re just going to be used for the same sort of training the next day.” But Meyer counters this view, saying it overlooks the public health hazards that munitions—including lead bullets, exploded fragments, and fuel— already pose near some of DOD’s key training facilities. “Look at Camp Edwards [on Cape Cod, Massachusetts],” he says. “Polluted soils there lie above an aquifer supplying drinking water to up to half a million people.” The entire issue will be resolved when Congress finalizes debate over the annual defense authorization bill this summer. Senators have reviewed the proposals and so far their bill doesn’t include them. The other exemptions could be added when the bill reaches the floor, a Senate Armed Services Committee spokesperson says. But it looks as if DOD’s request faces an uphill battle, sources say. “I don’t think anyone wants this kind of fight on the House or Senate floor,” says Aimee Houghton, with the Center for Public Oversight, an environmental group. —CHARLIE SCHMIDT
Government Watch make the proposed label language unenforceable. “It really puts it up for grabs, and when you’re trying to do enforcement, you have to have somewhere to fall back on.”
Chopping motorcycle emissions A toxicological analysis may help explain why firemen and other rescue workers at the collapsed World Trade Center (WTC) developed “fireman’s cough.”
Gavett and his fellow researchers exposed mice to dust samples collected from the WTC site on September 12 and 13. The study compared the toxicity of WTC dust to volcanic dust from the 1980 Mt. St Helens eruption in Washington state and oily residual fly ash, which is known to be toxic. Only the highest doses of WTC dust, which were delivered directly to the mouse’s lungs by aspiration with a saline solution, produced mild to moderate pulmonary inflammation. An analysis of the dust samples showed them to contain silicon, aluminum, chlorine, and zinc. The WTC air samples taken by the second NHEERL team, which was led by Alan Vette, show that 24-hour PM2.5 concentrations peaked as high as 400 µg/m3 shortly after the collapse of the WTC. Vette’s team began sampling on September 25, and the samples showed that the air also contained high levels of other toxics, including lead and benzene, says Vette. Vandenberg stresses that the difference between how humans and mice respond to inhalation of WTC PM2.5 are unknown and were not considered in these calculations. “We’re looking at some possible reasons about why people might have had the cough [reported by many rescue workers],” says Herman Gibb, acting associate director for Health for EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment. He stresses that the levels of air toxics measured at the site have been at background levels since the beginning of 2002. —KELLYN BETTS
Data showing that motorcycle emissions are rising rapidly throughout Europe has nudged the European Union (EU) to develop low emissions limits for carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) from these vehicles. European Commission (EC) figures show that HC emissions from two- and three-wheel vehicles are growing. By 2010, they are predicted to emit some 14% of total transport HC emissions, while accounting for only 2 to 3% of total traffic volume across the EU. Amendments to the EC’s multidirective for two- and three-wheeled vehicles would cut CO and HC emissions by 60 to 70% beginning in April 2003, with further reductions beginning in January 2006. Testing centers would be required to begin engine testing from a cold engine start, rather than the current practice of measuring emissions after the engine has warmed up. Further changes to test procedures will become final by the end of the year. Bob Tomlin, of the Federation of European Motorcyclists Association, representing motorcycle riders’ organizations from 18 European countries, says he welcomes the limits, but is concerned that subsequent changes to test procedures may introduce “hidden reductions” to the 2006 limits. Final approval of the amendments by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, although not guaranteed, should occur later this year.
JULY 1, 2002 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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The first toxicological analyses of dust in the area around the collapsed World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City show that rescue workers not wearing breathing masks could have taken in sufficient fine particulate matter (PM) to cause significant respiratory, physiological, and inflammatory effects. The preliminary results were presented at the U.S. EPA’s Science Forum held in Washington, D.C., in May. Scientists with the EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) calculated that rescue workers without a history of respiratory problems at the WTC site would have had to breathe in 400 micrograms of fine PM per cubic meter of air (µg/m3) for 8 hours to be affected by it. “Although this is a very high concentration, it seemed reasonable to us that those concentrations could have occurred in the immediate aftermath of the disaster,” says the lead researcher for the study, Stephen Gavett, a research biologist with NHEERL. “The fine WTC PM could have contributed to lung inflammation, airway sensitivity (hyperresponsiveness), and irritant responses—such as coughing,” Gavett explains, noting that sensitive individuals with lung ailments like asthma could have experienced the same diffi culties from breathing in less WTC dust. In the days following the disaster when it was still possible that living bodies lurked within the WTC rubble, some rescue workers did not use masks, according to anecdotal reports. The masks were hot and cumbersome, a rescue worker says. Rescue workers were widely reported to suffer from a coughing syndrome after the WTC disaster. Air samples from the WTC site analyzed by a second NHEERL team show that workers not wearing masks could have been exposed to PM levels on a par with those Gavett simulated in his studies, says John Vandenberg, acting director of NHEERL’s Human Studies Division.
PETER MORGAN
WTC dust may cause respiratory problems
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