NEWS BRIEFS Manufacturers sent more than 22.5 million pounds of chemical waste directly to 381 facilities that "appear to be farms" between 1990 and 1995, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. The waste included more than 1 million pounds of toxic chemicals, including compounds containing chromium and lead. These chemicals were most likely incorporated into nutrients and spread on the soil. Factory Farming relies upon data from EPA's Toxics Release Inventory to track the flow of chemical wastes from industries to fertilizer companies, dairy operations, and entities engaged in agricultural production. The report is available at http:// www.ewg.org. Environmental and social regulations cost taxpayers $240 billion in 1997, calculated researchers at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to free markets and limited government. In a recently published study, researchers contended that "EPA cannot justify cosdy rules with documented benefits." The report is particularly critical of the burden environmental regulations place on small businesses. For a copy of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Policymaker's Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State, call (202) 331-1010. Half of the top 12 greenest vehicles are electric, according to the 1998 model year ratings in the Green Guide to Cars and Trucks. Published by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the new guide calculates the environmental impacts that will be incurred over the vehicles' life cycles. Based largely on test results that automakers conduct for EPA and the California Air Resources Board, the ratings reflect vehicle emissions, as well as the environmental costs associated with manufacturing the vehicle and supplying its fuel. The guide is
available through the ACEEE's publications office, (202) 429-0063. To protect farmland and limit suburban sprawl development, urban growth boundaries and policies that reward farmers for preserving land are necessary, concludes a Northern Illinois University study. Commissioned by the American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit farmland conservation group, the study found that the revenue from homes built in rural areas surrounding Chicago does not cover the costs of building and maintaining infrastructure to serve them. Living on the Edge: The Costs and Risks of Scatter Development is available at http://www. farmland. org.
Estuaries, marshes, and other wetlands generate three-quarters of the nation's fish production, which supports a $152 billion fishing industry and two million jobs, according to a new report by the Clean Water Network. Fisheries, Wetlands and Jobs shows that where wetiands have been destroyed, fisheries have declined and fishing-dependent jobs have disappeared. The Clean Water Network, a national coalition of environmental organizations, said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers poses the greatest threat to wetlands with its proposed new nationwide general permits for wetland destruction. For a copy of the report, call (202) 289-2395. Indoor radon exposure contributes to about 12% of lung cancer deaths each year, according to a recent National Research Council report. Health Effects of Exposure to Radon (BEIRVI) is the sixth in a series of NRC reports on the effects of ionizing radiation. Continuing concern about the risks of exposure to radon in the domestic envi-
ronment prompted EPA to request the report. EPA recommends that radon levels in homes should be reduced to 4 picocuries per liter in air. Some 6% of U.S. homes exceed this level. Copies of the report are available by calling the National Academy Press, (202) 334-3313. Soil fumigants in groundwater are the subject of an upcoming U.S. Geological Survey field study. The study follows on from 1997 sampling which found 1,2-dichloropropane, a probable carcinogen, in groundwater sampled in northern Washington and Canada. The detections are related to past use of soil fumigants to control pests such as nematodes which attack the roots of crops. Information on the planned study and copies of the 1997 data are available from the USGS by calling (253) 593-6530, ext. 234. Innovative environmental technologies face significantly higher barriers to acceptance by industry than are found in other fields, confirmed a recent study published by the Environmental Law Institute, a nonprofit education association. Barriers to Environmental Technology Innovation and Use examined the approaches used to combat pollution problems by conducting case studies of six Great Lakes industries. The researchers found tiiat technology-based emissions and discharge standards play a key role in discouraging innovation. The study can be ordered at (800) 433-5120 or (202) 939-3844. People in the news. In February, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering elected to its membership Michael C. Kavanaugh, Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., for contributions in drinking water quality and control of pollutants; David N. Kennedy, state of California water resources director, for his work in water resource management; and Vernon L Snoeyink, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, for contributions in organic contaminants in drinking water.... J. Carrell Morris, age 83, an expert in halogen chemistry and drinking water treatment, died Dec. 20, 1997, in Morehead City, N.C.
MAY 1, 1998 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 2 1 3 A
