CURRENTS
Japan's NOPstandard, 0.02 ppm/24 h, is too stringent, Dr. Raisaku Kiyoura of the Research Institute of Environmental Science, told participants at the Air Pollution Control Association's recent conference. In his remarks he stated that Japan's air pollution and population density do not warrant this low level, which is 5-7 times more rigid than any other country in the world. He also stated that "the procedures adopted in the epidemiological and statistical studies . . . were proved to be unreliable and invalid by many scientists at home and abroad." Among the U S .scientists cited were Dr. C. M. Shy, director, Institute of Environmental Studies at University of North Carolina and Dr. V. A. Newell, director, Research and Environmental Health Division, Exxon Corp.
EPA is gearing up to revise and update the air quality criteria documents that form the scientific and legal basis for the federal ambient air quality standards. Roger Strelow and Wilson K. Talley, assistant administrators for air and waste management and research and development, respectively, have instructed their staffs to develop a schedule for revising the six
€PA 's Strelo w
documents. This action was a recommendation of EPA's National Air Quality Criteria Advisory Committee (NAQCAC),which ceased to exist on June 30. The NAQCAC also recommended that a combined document for sulfur oxides and
associated particulates and a separate document for particulate matter be developed. It also suggested combining the criteria documents for oxidants and hydrocarbons. EPA launched a program to control the discharge of 65 hazardous chemicals into the nation's waterways. These strict controls will be implemented by 1983 and will regulate such substances as arsenic, asbestos, cadmium, chloroform, lead, mercury, and vinyl chloride. Studies to assess the best available technology and the economic implications of their implementation will begin soon. Based on the studies' findings, EPA will set maximum pollutant discharge standards by 1979 for at least 21 major categories of industries. For six highly toxic substances, including DDT, benzidine, and PCBs, EPA has already issued proposed regulations. EPA has called for comments from the public on ways to control organic chemicals in drinking water, and has issued regulations to limit radioactivity in drinking water supplies. OSHA has published inflation impact statements for a noise exposure and an inorganic arsenic regulation. OSHA estimates the annual compliance cost for the arsenic standard at $1 10.8 million, with the highest costs occurring in the copper smelting and wood preservation industries. At worse, about 3000 jobs would be lost nationwide. For the noise standard, OSHA estimates noise monitoring costs at about $155 million annually, and audiometric testing costs at $86 million. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recently issued voluntary guidelines, not enforceable as law, for airborne crystalline silica, lead, and mercury. OSHA is developing complete standards for these substances. ERDA has published Volume 2: Program Implementation of its second annual National Plan for Energy Research, Development and Demonstration (ERDA 76-1). For each program listed, ERDA states both nearterm (to 1985) and long-term (to 2000) objectives; describes technical, socioeconomic and environmental problems; and outlines its strategy for
meeting each activity's objectives. The Energy Research and Development Administration has also issued its fivevolume Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Light Water Breeder Reactor Program (ERDA-1541). A government report finds the federal effort to protect the public from cancer-causing chemicals ineffectual. The General Accounting Office study states that the agencies have the legislative authority to regulate the hazardous chemicals, but they lack the scientific wherewithal to extrapolate animal safety tests to humans. The report states that the director of the National Cancer Institute has the responsibility to oversee the federal effort and should establish, with the cooperation of other agencies, a national policy on carcinogens. At the very least, this policy should include the data needed to regulate the chemicals, enumerate the chemicals to be tested in animals, and describe how the tests should be conducted and the results analyzed.
Big Chief Trucking Co. of Fort Lauderdaie, Fla., was found guilty of violating a provision of the Clean Air Act. This is the first time a company has been found in violation of the hazardous air pollutant provision of the act. EPA took Big Chief to court after citing it for failure to remove asbestosinsulating materials in dust-tight containers from a New Orleans wrecking site. On July 14, the judge, sitting in the U S . District Court for New Orleans, fined the company $25 000 and the supervisor on the job $1000, and placed both on 5-yr probations. Five states and the District of Columbia were notified that their dean air State Implementation Plans must be revised. The SIPS of Del., Md., Pa., Va., W.Va., and the District of Columbia were found inadequate to attain and maintain ambient standards for certain pollutants in certain areas. The entire EPA Region Ill was found to require more stringent controls on hydrocarbons. The Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and the southwest 'olume 10. Number 9, September 1976
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