Canadian minister hits Congress's environmental cuts Sheila Copps, Canadian minister of the environment, expressed concern over the environmental agenda of the 104th Congress, especially the House-passed Clean Water Act reauthorization (HR 961), at a mid-December press briefing. Copps was in Washington to sign a modification to the U.S.-Canadian Migratory Birds Convention and to meet with EPA staff and members of Congress on several issues including Canadian fears about bills before the U S Congress Copps called HR 961 "unacceptable." The bill was passed last May (ES&T, June 1995, p. 246A)) "What we want to underscore is that we expect treaty obligations to be respected, and some aspects of the current legislation would violate the international agreements the United States and Canada have signed in good
faith." She singled out water quality in the Great Lakes and limits on industrial discharges in the water bill as potential treaty violations. "What happens in your environmental agenda affects us and vice versa," she said, noting that 50 million Canadians and Americans drink from the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater body in the world. She added that the two countries have signed some 230 agreements on environmental matters ranging from birds to hazardous waste to water quality. "Canadians and Americans drink the same water and breathe the same air " she noted adding that U.S standards for ground-level weaker than those in Canada which she said cerned Canadians living along the ^OOO-mile border Copps predicted that there
would be more international environmental treaties involving the United States, Canada, and Mexico— the latter she called "the third Sheila Copps, ieg 0f the stool." Canadian minister One of the earof the environment liest agreements, expected this year, she •J
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said, would concern hazardous waste transport across borders. She noted that the Canadian national environmental depart ...
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ment, like trie U.S. liPA, nad laceo substantial funding cuts recently: a 25% reduction over three years. But she said that, unlike cuts imposed by the U.S. Congress, none f
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forcement of environmental laws. -JEFF JOHNSON
Oxygenated fuels undergoing high-level review A reevaluation of EPA's winter oxygenated gasoline program is being conducted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy at the agency's request. An evaluation of possible acute health effects, to be published this month, found no evidence to support contentions that MTBE used in the winter program is causing significant increases in acute symptoms or illnesses in the general public. But the centerpiece of the study an analysis of the comparative risk and cost-benefit of oxygencited ga.solin.e versus conventional gasoline was stalled as fiS&Twent to press because "the available data is insufficient for the ourpo_„„ of the analysis " arrnrdint* to OSTP staff Public health complaints, anecdotal reports of reduced fuel efficiency, and concerns about groundwater contamination prompted EPA to request the interagency assessment, according to a letter from Mary Nichols, assistant administrator for Air and Radiation, to Robert Watson, OSTP associate director for environment. In her letter, Nichols calls the program "among the most cost-effective measures ever created to reduce harmful air
pollution." To assemble the information necessary for the comparative risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis, OSTP assembled panels of government and nongovernment scientists to focus on five issues. Draft versions of these reports were being completed in January. The health risks from oxygenates used in the winter oxygenate program are being evaluated on the basis of a literature survey. The effects of fuel additives on groundwater, surface water, and drinking water are being assessed and, if warranted, national monitoring, behavior and fate studies, and toxicity studies could result. The air quality assessment is aimed at evaluating the scientific basis for judging the overall emissions reduction benefits of the The effects of oxygenates on engine performance and an economic analysis of the winter use of oxwenates in being investigated Faced with insufficient data to complete the comparative analysis, OSTP is considering options that include allowing more time to gather more data for the analysis and abandoning the analysis but publishing the five issue re-
7 4 A • VOL. 30, NO. 2, 1996 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
ports, according to OSTP staff. Four oxygenates are being evaluated as part of the study, according to John Zogorski, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist involved in the review. MTBE, the most widely used fuel oxygenate in the United States, has been detected in shallow groundwater from urban areas (ES&T, July 1995 305A). Although the groundwater survey results suggest that nonpoint sources, such as atmospheric deposition or storm water runoff, account for the contamination, the research has also focused attention on MTBE and other oxygenates in gasoline storage tanks. MTBE oxygenated gasoline contains about 15% MTBE by volume. MTBE is highly soluble in water and, unlike compounds commonly associated with gasoline spills appears to be relatively unaffected by natural attenuation or microbial degradation These characteristics suggest that MTBE plumes could travel much further than plumes commonlv associated with gasoline snills a possibility that has alreadv attracted the attention of several ronmental rleparrmpnrs according tn 7neorski. -REBECCA RENNER
