NEWS BRIEFS A delay is urged in making a final decision on how to clean up radioactive and chemical storage tanks at the Department of Energy's Hanford nuclear reservation in a report by the National Research Council released in September. The report says a draft environmental impact statement prepared for the Washington state facility was inadequate, and DOE should wait until more is known about technology options, future land use, and potential risks before developing a long-term strategy for the site. "The Hanford Tanks: Environmental Impacts and Policy Choices" is available from the National Academy Press at 1-800-624-6242. Problems facing small community water systems are the subject of a National Research Council report released Sept. 10. "Safe Water From }. Every Tap" notes that water systems serving 500 or fewer people have increased from 5000 to 35,000 in the last 30 years, far outstripping growth of big systems, and they are more than twice as likely to violate drinking-water standards for microbes and chemicals than systems serving large communities. The report recommends stable financial support, use of effective water treatment technologies, and better operator training. It is available through the National Academy Press at 1-800-624-6242. The processing of recycled materials and their use in manufacturing account for almost 3% of all manufacturing jobs in 13 southern states, according to a study by Roy F. Weston, Inc., prepared for the Southern States Waste Management Coalition. About 24% of the 138,632 recycling jobs are in processing firms, and the rest are in manufacturing. The study does not consider collection. Paper manufacturing leads the list with 34% (47,000 jobs), followed by ferrous manufacturers with 21% of the total. Approximately $18.5 billion of value was added to the recycled material in the region through processing and manufacturing. "Economic Benefit of Recycling in the
Southern States" is available by calling (770) 242-7712. State programs regulating industrial landfills that accept nonhazardous waste are found to be inadequate in a study by Environmental Information Ltd., an environmental business research firm. "Industrial Nonhazardous Waste Landfills, State Regulation and the Environmental Marketplace" finds that 24 states, including California, Illinois, and Michigan, are unable to even provide lists of the number of industrial landfills in their states. For more information, call 1-800-593-6271.
Fifteen endangered species are featured on U.S. and Mexican postage stamps beginning in October. The U.S. stamps will include images of brown pelicans, black-footed ferrets, Florida panthers and manatees, and other animals on the Endangered Species List. The "collect and protect" program includes teacher lesson plans, student guides, videos, and stamp collecting guides. For more information, call (202) 268-4782. A nation-by-nation compilation of environmental status reports on progress in meeting international as well as national environmental goals is presented in a World Resources Institute (WRI) report, released in September. The "World Directory of Country Environmental Studies" contains citations and abstract information on 414 reports for 181 countries. It is available through WRI at (202) 638-6300. Some $1 million in technology grants for geographic information system (GIS) computer equipment, software, and training is available to nonprofit organizations through the Conservation
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Technology Support Program, administered by the Smithsonian Institution. The program, now in its third year, is intended to enable recipients to display and analyze geographic information through the production of maps in order to support educational efforts, create simulations, and develop conservation strategies. Fifty-six grants were made in 1996. The application deadline is mid-January. For more information, call Rose Meier at (540) 6356543 or e-mail
[email protected]. Although EPA has spent $520 million since 1991 to address Mexican-U.S. border pollution problems, the agency has not assessed infrastructure
