vestments in pollution control equipment will increase for the first time since 1980 if businesses spend as planned. More will be spent for air pollution and solid waste control, whereas in real terms less will be spent for water pollution control. The paper industry, operators of blast furnaces, and the nonferrous metals industry will increase spending for pollution abatement. The chemical industry, petroleum industry, and electric utilities are among those planning to decrease outlays.
STATES Florida is working hard to combat water pollution, which is posing a serious threat to the state's ability to accommodate rapid growth. A new water quality law sets up a pesticides review council, requires local governments to identify all sources of hazardous waste, and establishes a central data bank to record information about all chemicals used in the state. In the past 10 months, 642 of 4978 wells tested have been closed by state officials because of EDB contamination. Under the new law, septic tank regulations also have been tightened and new rules for underground storage tanks have been promulgated. The EPA has taken tentative action to prohibit New York City and other communities in the New York area from dumping sewage sludge at a site 12 miles off the New Jersey coast. The EPA calls the current site "heavily degraded." The agency may require dumping at a site 106 miles off the coast. The agency also said it will try to halt all ocean dumping at the 106-mile site after five years. During a series of hearings about the new plan held in June, New York City claimed it would cost an additional $20 million per year to haul the sludge to the 106-mile site. At present it costs $3.6 million annually to dump the sludge. The state of New Jersey is suing the EPA for refusing to grant 26 claims against Superfund for natural resource damages. The claims were filed before the statutory deadline in December. EPA denied the claims because New Jersey had failed to submit a plan for spending the recovered money and had also failed to obtain preauthorization
from EPA to spend the money. New Jersey believes that Superfund does not contain such requirements and that EPA's dismissal of the 26 claims is arbitrary and capricious. Tree damage has been reported in the Indiana and Wisconsin regions of the Ohio Valley by Orie L. Loucks, director of the Holcombe Research Institute of Butler University (Indianapolis, Ind.). Both severely impaired tree foliage and declining tree growth were observed at 22 sites in the region. Loucks has hypothesized that the damage is caused by high sulfate aerosol concentrations, by high levels of ozone, or both. According to Loucks, sulfate concentrations are up to 100% higher in the Ohio Valley than in New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Boston. John W. Winchester of Florida State University has taken air samples while flying over the Ohio Valley and has found pHs ranging from 1.2 to —0.8 with an average reading of 0.1. State officials are charging that the low level of state grants under the Reagan administration may be eroding environmental progress. Federal grants to states for environmental programs dropped from $269 million in fiscal year 1981 to $230 million in 1983. In 1984 they rose to $242 million and requests for 1985 have fallen to $237.7 million. At the same time, EPA has asked that the states implement more regulations, standards, and programs. EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus counters the charges by saying that nearly all federal programs have been cut in the past few years and that state grants are therefore diminished. State officials contend that unless more funds are appropriated for 1985, the states will be forced to abandon some environmental goals.
SCIENCE There may be a link between marine pollution and diseases of clams, according to Carol Reinisch of Tufts University (Medford, Mass.). The clam diseases occur in the form of tumors. For example, Reinisch has seen tumors in nearly 80% of clams collected in the harbor of New Bedford, Mass., during the past year. By comparison, 10-27% of the clams from the cleaner western
Cape Cod area suffered tumors. But these diseases "may be accelerating. Nowhere along the New England Coast have we been able to find soft-shelled clams that are totally free of this disease," Reinisch said. Can knowledge of how crystals grow help to solve disposal problems of environmentally undesirable materials? George Nancollas of the State University of New York at Buffalo believes so, and is studying the precipitation of radioactive strontium, a fission by-product, as a fluoride. Precipitation would not reduce radioactivity, but it would eliminate the by-product's ability to contaminate groundwater through leaching. Likewise, crystal studies could help to make S 0 2 capture by calcium, and conversion into gypsum, more efficient. However, care must still be taken to avoid tainting surrounding areas.
TECHNOLOGY A inulticomponent emission monitoring system will be set up in the Federal Republic of Germany's highly industrialized state of Saarland. The system will measure SO2, NO*, carbon monoxide, ozone, dust, methane, and methane-free total hydrocarbons. Dust samples will be further analyzed. The key will be the Immesa telemetric system, developed by Siemens AG, which consists of three multicomponent measuring stations, six single-component measuring stations, and a monitoring center with a process computer. Meteorological data also will be obtained. Air pollution will be recorded continuously and classified according to scope and type, as provided by German antipollution laws. A new hazardous waste landfill design "virtually eliminates any chance of groundwater or surrounding land contamination," says Rollins Environmental Services, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.), its developer. Known as the Environmental Vault, the design employs a reinforced concrete base and walls. Multiple protective layers "insulate" wastes from the environment. Any leachate that may escape from the containment structure is collected and analyzed. The wastes and vault are capped with a double seal through which gas and other contents can be monitored. If waste Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 18, No. 7, 1984
205A
Landfill design Umbrella cap
Vent
Drain layer Venting layer
Storm water collection -Cap monitoring system Secondary cap
Compacted, stabilized waste-
Containment wall
Drain and protective layers
Leachate collection system
Primary liner
Monitoring systems (to detention tank)
Secondary liner
Clay, tertiary liner
Source: Rollins Environmental Services, Inc.
reclamation is indicated, it can be removed with no degradation of the vault. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in groundwater are being removed by a stripping tower with a packedcolumn unit. The tower and unit, located in Zanesville, Ohio, were designed by Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., of Columbus. VOC concentrations can run as high as 50 000 parts per billion. The packed column was designed for a 99.0% VOC removal efficiency at 600 gpm, but according to Malcolm Pirnie, it operates at a 99.7% efficiency, "exceeding expectations." Contaminants at an industrial complex included trichloroethylene and trans-l,2-dichloroethylene. An inexpensive way of producing ammonia with solar energy is being developed by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI, San Antonio, Tex.). Air is saturated with water and, under solar light, is pumped through activated silicate foam "doped" with a trace metal catalyst. The moisture is converted to hydrogen and oxygen, the hydrogen combines with nitrogen to form ammonia or one of its derivatives, and the ammonia is collected by an aqueous acid scrubbing process. SwRI says that 5-10 mg/h of ammonia 3can be produced from 0.25 ft /h of air, and that the sili-3 cate is available for about $30/ft . Further test on light, apparatus, and other areas will be aimed at increasing ammonia output. Hospital and industrial wastes might be converted to energy efficiently with the SynchroFire Sys206A
Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 18, No. 7, 1984
tem developed by Kelley Co., Inc. (Milwaukee, Wis.). This base-load boiler system employs automatic controls to use heat from waste incineration, conventional fuels, or both, to make steam or hot water. Calling the system pollution-free, Kelley engineers explain that it combines a single-stack configuration and innovative flue gas flow controls with a rear-entry, threepass boiler and a boiler burner. Flow controls for the stack are nonmechanical, and the system can withstand flue gases reaching temperatures of 2000 °F, according to Kelley. Simultaneous removal of SO x and NO x from power plant flue gas might be accomplished by a zinc oxide process, says Harvey Rosenberg of Battelle's Columbus Laboratories (Ohio). Battelle has a $195,000 contract to evaluate the process on a bench scale and, if the test succeeds, to "cost out" the process for a 500-MW power plant. Optimal removal methods will be sought, as will ways of regenerating zinc oxide. The advantage of such a process would be combining the now-separate processes of removing SO x and NO x . It is hoped that costs could be lowered in this way.
BUSINESS Where does the Great Plains Coal Gasification Project (Beulah, N.D.) stand? As of Nov. 30, 1983, it was 95% complete and only about two weeks behind schedule, according to the U.S. General Accounting Office. Moreover, cumulative project costs were less than originally estimated. Still, the company con-
sortium building Great Plains wanted to withdraw from the project because of forecasted drops in energy prices. For that reason, the U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation (Washington, D.C.), a government concern, is considering assistance in the form of price guarantees for the plant's synthetic natural gas. Du Pont (Wilmington, Del.) has unveiled two new agricultural research facilities to help the company develop products to improve crop yields and to control weeds, insects, and plant diseases. One is at the Stine-Haskell Research Center near Newark, Del.; the other is the Experiment Station near Wilmington. Built at a cost of more than $60 million, these facilities represent Du Pont's largest single capital investment in agricultural research. The new facilities include greatly expanded laboratories, greenhouses, plant growth chambers, and test farms. An industrial market research survey, "Water & Wastewater Treatment—Pulp & Paper Industry," has been completed as part of the WaterMark 84 program of the Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association (WWEMA). Covering 674 mills, the survey is aimed at assisting senior marketing executives with selling their products to this fourth-largest industrial water user. WWEMA also has completed a comprehensive analysis of the petroleum industry for the WaterMark 84 program. Among the survey's features are outlines of historical and present capital expenditures and predicted spending outlays for 10 industries in 1984. To improve the outlook for nuclear power, more stable construction costs and better management by many utilities will be needed, Norman Rasmussen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told the American Nuclear Insurers. An increasing demand for electricity also would be important, said Rasmussen, who pointed out that U.S. electric power demand actually declined by 2% in 1982. He ascribed part of the cost instability to rising interest rates and to the long amount of time— 12 years, now— that it takes to complete nuclear plant construction. Rasmussen also cited "unanticipated revisions in federal regulations" as a factor.
