LETTERS
Photochemical smog Dear Sir: I wish to call attention to a potential hazard in controlling photochemical smog by reducing hydrocarbon (HC) emissions without a corresponding reduction in the emissions of the oxides of nitrogen (NO,). If HC concentrations are reduced to keep hourly oxidant levels below the EPA ambient air quality standard of 80 ppb, and if NO, concentrations are not correspondingly reduced, then on many days all the NO will not be oxidized. In the presence of NO, ozone levels are always considerably below the normal background level of 25 ppb, because of the rapid reaction between NO and 03. Thus on the days that NO is not completely oxidized, ozone levels will be considerably below background levels. If many such days should occur in succession, the bacteria count might increase, and this might enhance the incidence of disease (e.g., streptococcus
salivarius shows 90% mortality when exposed to 25 ppb O3 at 60-80% relative humidity for 30 minutes). Automobiles account for a greater percentage of the photochemically active HC than of the NO,. (In Los Angeles it is about 90% for photochemically active HC vs. 70% for NO,). However, the control devices presently being installed on cars are designed to control 80% of the HC and 40% of the NO,. As a result the percentage reduction in photochemically active HC should be about 2-3 times as great as the percentage reduction in NO,. This may not be a policy of wisdom. Julian Heicklen, Professor of Chemistry
The Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pa. 16802 Remote sensing Dear Sir: Since the August 1975 issue of €SAT contained two lengthy articles (pp 714-725) on remote sens-
ing and its growing application to environmental monitoring and assessment, it seems appropriate to bring the services of the EROS Data Center to the attention of your readers. The EROS program was established by the Department of the Interior in 1966 as a departmental effort. The U.S. Geological Survey manages this program. Initial funding for the EROS Data Center occurred in 1971 and Data Center personnel moved into the permanent facility in January 1974. The Center's primary responsibilities are to archive, reproduce, and distribute copies of remotely sensed photographic imagery and electronic data of the Earth's resources, and to provide a variety of professional services to further the understanding and use of these data. The Center serves as an active archival library; a photographic processing facility; a user services facility to assist in ordering data; an applications
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assis m c e facility to provide domestic and nternational training, day-to-day technical assistance, cooperative demonstration projects, and digital analysis and processing capability. Recent developments affecting the scope of activity of the EROS Data Center include the successful launch of LANDSAT-2 on January 22, 1975. LANDSAT-2 joins LANDSAT-1, which has exceeded its expected life by nearly two years and is still sending back quality data. The interest in the use of these data is reflected by increased demand by the domestic and the international community. From 10-15% of the orders received at the Data Center are from non-U.S. customers. The EROS Data Center’s Applications Assistance Branch has been expanded during the past year. The professional staff on this Branch includes applications scientists in mineral resources, land use and mapping, forest and rangeland management, and agriculture and soils inventory. The training and assistance functions are carried out by these professionals in the Applications Assistance Branch. Sixteen formal training courses are planned for this year, two of these to be interdisciplinary courses for foreign scientists. Among the numerous cooperative demonstration projects currently underway are flood and floodplain analysis, South Dakota land use planning, Pacific Northwest land use analysis, forest defoliation mapping, and evaluation of the environmental impact of coal strip mining and strip mine reclamation. The diversity of these programs and projects indicates that the users of the data produced are involved in varied disciplines. The largest segments of serious users of the data are private industry and government. Requests for imagery (LANDSAT, SKYLAB, NASA aircraft, and USGS aircraft) should be directed to the User Services Section. Details regarding remote sensing applications and training courses can be obtained from the Applications Assistance Branch. Mail requests should be addressed to: EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, SD 57198. Telephone inquiries should be made to (605) 594-65 11. Allen H. Watkins EROS Data Center Sioux Falls, SD 57198
It’s your health Dear Sir: Your editorial (€S&T, December 1975, p 1101) states without attribution: “Automotive air pollution kills 4000 Americans each year. Sulfur emissions from coal-powered plants will, if unchecked, kill 25 000 people in the next five years.” I believe your readers should be told that these two sentences were lifted from a political speech by Representative Morris K. Udal1 (November 5 , 1975), and that you and the American Chemical Society are in no way endorsing them. Unless such a specific disclaimer is published promptly, there is considerable risk that these sentences will become accepted as fact, and publication in this journal cited as “proof”. Perhaps a word as to the origin of these statements would be in order. The automotive number is misquoted from Volume 1 of the National Academy of Sciences report, “Air Quality and Automobile Emission Control” (September 1974, pp 11-12). An accurate, undistorted, and attributed paraphrasing of the sense of this report would be “A National Academy of Sciences stud suggested that if air pollution is responsible for as much as 1 YO of urban mortality, this would represent 15 000 deaths annually, of which between 150 and 4000 might perhaps be due to automotive emissions.” Whether even this very different statement than what was published could itself be proven by objective data is yet another matter. The coal-fired power plant assertion is misquoted from a speech by John R. Quarles (December 2, 1974), in which he said, “Other studies indicate that sulfur emissions, largely from coal-fired power plants, are likely to kill as many as 25 000 people between now and 1980” (emphasis added by me). Whether the studies mentioned by Mr. Quarles are themselves based on sound and interlocking clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory animal data, or whether they only represent first attempts to formulate a quasi-quantitative judgment in this uncertain and controversial area in the absence of such data, is also an open question-which is perhaps too important to be left to the experts in these fields. H. J. Kandiner
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Volume IO, Number 4 , April 1976
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