MERCURY:
Pollution in Wisconsin "Dilution is no solution for pollution/' as jingling environmentalists on the banquet circuit are fond of pointing out. And right now, Wyandotte Chemical may be wishing it had listened more closely to the jingle. With production at its caustic-chlorine facilities in Wyandotte, Mich., just resuming after a 10-day shutdown (from April 16 to 25) ordered by a Michigan court because of mercury pollution in the Detroit River, the company was slapped last week with a cease and desist order by the state of Wisconsin that threatened to halt production at similar company facilities in Port Edwards, Wis. "We knew we were losing mercury," Wyandotte says, "but we just didn't think the concentration was high enough to be harmful. We didn't know fish accumulated mercury, either." Wyandotte claims—and government data in Wisconsin back the company— that the mercury it was losing from its mercury cell caustic-chlorine units was present in its waste stream at a concentration of about 0.1 p.p.m. In Michigan this loss amounted to about 18 pounds per day (mostly as mercuric chloride), in Wisconsin—because plant design is different—to only 5 to 10 pounds. A third Wyandotte mercury cell facility, at Geismar, La., is similar to the Port Edwards plant and presumably loses mercury at a comparable rate, the company says. What Wyandotte did not know, it says, is that silt and clay 125 feet downstream of the Port Edwards unit, for example, analyzes 560 p.p.m. of mercury; 4 miles downstream the concentration is still 50 p.p.m. Fish in the 35-mile stretch of river placed offlimits for fishing by the Wisconsin department of natural resources have shown levels as high as 1.13 p.p.m. mercury (0.5 is the upper limit for human consumption ). Though Wyandotte is proceeding with plant modifications at all three locations aimed at eliminating mercury from its effluents, the company stresses that economics—particularly at its Michigan plant, which is a single stream, nonrecycling unit built more than 20 years ago—may militate against continued caustic-chlorine production by the mercury cell process. A total fix at the old plant may run over $1 million, the company says. Already, temporary recycling of the mercury-containing effluent through an isolated brine well has cost the company $300,000. At Geismar and Port Edwards, brine has always been recycled and mercury losses have been occurring 24 C&EN MAY 11, 1970
from multiple points in the recycle system. At these plants the problem is more complicated than at the Michigan facility, and Wyandotte is not yet able to estimate what sealing off mercury losses may cost the company.
THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEÇK
WORLD TRADE:
Mills to Start Hearings What's shaping up as potentially the most significant debate on U.S. trade policy in years begins in Washington this week when the House Ways and Means Committee opens long-awaited hearings on foreign trade and tariffs. The hearings may well presage a new era of U.S. protectionism. The committee has been almost inundated by trade and tariff proposals—no less than 646 had been referred to it by the end of last month. But the upcoming debate will likely center on only two proposals: the Administration's trade bill and committee chairman Wilbur Mills' (D.Ark.) bill to limit imports of textiles and shoes, H.R. 16920. The Administration bill backs freer trade, including provisions for repeal of the American Selling Price (ASP) and for relief from import injury (C&EN, Nov. 24, 1969, page 15). The Mills bill makes it even easier to obtain relief from import injury, but the basic thrust of the bill—and in large measure the hearings—is a provision for setting import quotas, retroactive to Jan. 1, 1970, on textiles and shoes. Quota levels would be arrived at by taking the average of imports in 1967-68. Debate on import quotas may well preclude action on ASP repeal. The Administration has put considerable effort into getting voluntary agreements to limit textile imports— particularly with the Japanese—but has made no real progress. Rep. Mills also favors voluntary agreements, and his quota bill includes a provision that drops legislated quotas if the President gets a voluntary agreement. The Administration had not formulated its position on the Mills bill by press time but is to testify before the committee this week. Stanley Nehmer, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for resources, spelled out some of the effects of the Mills bill at a National Knitted Outerwear Association meeting in New York 11 days ago. Overall imports of man-made fiber textiles and apparel, for instance, would fall by 33% from 1969 levels, with man-made fiber apparel imports cut 50%. In terms of import values, the overall cutback in imports of wool and man-made fiber textiles and apparel would total $330 million—most
Commerce's Nehmer Confident of a solution of which would be in man-made fibers. Moreover, imports of man-made fiber textiles and apparel from Japan would drop 32%; from Hong Kong 40%; from Korea 53%; and from Taiwan 62%. Mr. Nehmer is confident that "In one form or another, this year will see a solution to the textile import problem."
TIRES:
Predicting Technology A new elastomer for tire treads and new methods of building tires are predicted by Fred J. Ko vac, manager of tire-reinforcing systems at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Mr. Kovac uses the methodology of technological forecasting, which is emerging as a new marketing research tool in the tire industry. The technique can be used both to analyze and to shape the future of the tire industry, Mr. Kovac says. Speaking at the 97th meeting of the ACS Division of Rubber Chemistry last week in Washington, D.C., Mr. Kovac explained that technological forecasting defines policy options available to a company and provides a basis for selecting alternative technology programs. As a scientific discipline, technological forecasting is a fairly recent development, dating from about 1960. It has been widely used by military groups and "think tanks" in the pasjt decade to analyze the
