LETTERS Mediator The office of Environmental Mediation, established with funds from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations to offer mediation services in environmental conflicts, is seeking a person to serve on a mediation team which assists in the resolution of environmental disputes. The applicant should have a strong background in the private or governmental sector and broad contact and acceptance with the various groups and interests involved in environmental conflict. A working knowledge of economic and environmental issues and experience with the political structure in the western United States is essential. Applications, which should include a resume and three personal references, should be sent to my attention: Leah K. Patton Office of Environmental Mediation FM- I 2 Institute for Environmental Studies University of Washington Seattle, Wash. 98 195 Synfuels scenario Dear Sir: I n general, the article ( E S & T , October 1979, p 1190) is well-balanced and touches briefly on major technologies and some environmental concerns. We would certainly endorse the need to “use synfuel development as the cutting edge for independence from foreign imported oil, at least, if it moves now.” At the same time, it is essential that environmental standards be honored. In the interest of accuracy, some factual errors should be corrected. On p f f91, paragraph two, gasification followed by methanation, not reconstitution, is the route to synthetic pipeline gas to augment natural gas supply. (Actually, the phrase used is a precise description of the SASOL and methanol routes to liquid fuels as described later.) The next two paragraphs are deficient in specific reference to the Solvent Refined Coal processes which are the “farthest along in the U S . ” The reference to Gulf in the first of the two paragraphs is a reference to one version of the S R C processes that produces all liquid products. The other 6
Environmental Science & Technology
important version, developed by Southern Company Services and others, produces primarily a solid fuel of very predictable properties. It should be noted that, with the exception of the SASOL process as operated in South Africa, all these technologies are primarily funded by the Department of Energy. The reference to the Wall Street Journal (pp I192/3) in which Mr. Fred Hartley is quoted as being “unalterably opposed” to the synthetic fuels plan are incorrect since the Journal was quoting Mr. Hartley out of context. The Journal published a correction the next day. As we understand it, Mr. Hartley’s opposition was only to government ownership and operation of those plants, included in the plan as a measure of last resort. At the bottom of p I 193, reference is made to “larger plants, up to 2 million barrels/day,” causing siting difficulties. N o plants of this size are conceivable, of course. It is the number of plants that would be necessary to achieve that level of output which might cause the problem. In the first paragraph beginning near the top of column two of p 1 193, there is reference to synthetic fuels producing “two to three times as much carbon dioxide as do the natural fuels such as coal because of the energy involved in extracting the fuel.” This statement appears to be taken out of context since it is incorrect. The cited carbon dioxide ratio applies only to comparisons with natural gas, which is in diminishing supply. Indeed, heating a home with synthetic gas from coal is less costly, in terms of dollars, energy and carbon dioxide, as well as environmentally cleaner, than doing the same job with electricity produced from the same coal. Edward H. Blum Department of Energy
Washington, D.C. 20585
Hazardous wastes Dear Sir: So far, I have found E S & T to be a good journal for informing the reader of developments in environmental science. I do question, however, the type of reporting contained in the article “Hazardous
Wastes” ( E S &T, August 1979, p 91 3). Although the article is wellwritten and the condition needed to be reported, the use of the phrase “xylene, toluene, and benzene are highly toxic” should have been considered more carefully. The reporter states that “state environmental officials believe that most (drums) contain residuals from the paint industry, but some of thesexylene, toluene, and benzene-are highly toxic.” First, who are the state environmental officials? Are they able to discern or judge what is toxic and not toxic? What is the definition of highly toxic? “Highly toxic” can have broad meaning and, therefore, can be wrongly interpreted and be misleading. Surely the writer does not mean to include these chemicals in the same category as rat poisons, etc. Furthermore, was it correct to make the statement when the contents had not in fact been established? I n the future, for responsible reporting, the use of such words as “highly toxic” should be defined. Otherwise, the public could be misinformed. Oren L. Marrs, Ph.D. 1330 Lariat Bartlesville, Okla. 74003 Editorial policy issues Dear Sir: With regards to the SI policy ( E S &T , August 1979, p 899), I strongly urge you not to accept any exceptions to SI units not on your list. I n fact, the use of feet, inches, minutes, hours, and days should be forbidden also. Although the comment on time units seems trivial, it is not. Since these often appear in the denominator (as in kg/s), using four different time units and several different prefixes to scale the numerator yields an unacceptably large number of combinations. This is why good SI practice requires that the numerator only be scaled in such a situation. Our British counterparts are doing quite well with the entire SI system. I f each American journal makes arbitrary exceptions, we will soon return to the kind of confusion in units that we have now. Michael J. Murphy Battelle Columbus Laboratories Columbus, Ohio 43229
