ES&T
CURRENTS INTERNATIONAL There is no public health problem from exposure of building occupants to asbestos during normal building use, according to a report prepared by the government of the Province of Ontario, Canada. This report concurs with similar findings in the European Economic Community. The mere presence of friable asbestos is not the hazard; however, disturbance of the asbestos during maintenance, renovation, or other work might pose a potential hazard. The full report is available from the Ontario Ministry of Government Services, Publications Services Branch, 5th Floor, 880 Bay St., Toronto, Ontario M7A 1N8, Canada.
WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld EPA's "bubble" concept, which allows states to treat entire plants as single sources of air pollution, instead of considering each stack, boiler, or furnace as a separate source. This concept, used in regulatory activity starting in 1981, had been challenged by the Natural Resources Defense Council and others on the grounds that it weakened emission limits and reduced incentives for compliance. The Court, in a 6-0 ruling written by Justice John Stevens, said that Congress had not made it clear whether regulations applied to each factory or source within a factory. Thus, it was up to EPA rather than the courts to decide what the law means. Attempts to estimate the number of cancer cases attributable to workplace exposures are complicated by problems with documenting cancer exposures, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Such problems include latency periods varying from five to more than 40 years; behavioral factors (drinking, smoking, and the like); diagnostic 0013-936X/84/0916-0233AS01.50/0
errors; lack of occupational histories; difficulties in quantifying exposures; and possible interactions of chemical agents. Moreover, some cancers, unlike hemangiosarcoma, which is traceable to vinyl chloride for example, can have multiple causes, the report suggests.
Senator Stafford: Wants $9 billion Sen. Robert Stafford (R.-Vt.) wants the Superfund law to be reauthorized for five years at a funding level of $9 billion. This is the same amount contained in the bill HR 5640 passed by a House subcommittee. The present law expires next year. Senator Stafford also will seek a plan to compensate persons who have been injured by exposure to toxic substances through recovery of damages in federal courts and an administrative fund to pay such compensation. A possible source of this fund could be a tax on wastes generated. He also proposes a requirement that Superfund, rather than states, pay for the operation and maintenance of cleaned-up sites. A four-year extension of the Clean Water Act, representing a compromise between environmental and industry groups, was approved by a House vote of 405-11. The original act lapsed in 1982 and has been kept alive through temporary budget resolutions. Amendments, calling for more than "routine" antipollution measures, address nonpoint source pollution and toxic pollutants and provide $19 billion through 1988 for sewage plant construction. Still another provision
© 1984 American Chemical Society
would allow those with permits to discharge wastes into waters for 10 years, but would call for reconsideration of any such permit if increasingly toxic pollution were to result. But there may be a hitch— the Office of Management and Budget finds the legislation not in keeping with President Reagan's budget program. "A synfuels industry, by itself, will not prevent the shortages and gasoline lines we experienced in 197374 and 1979," said Deputy Secretary of Energy Danny Boggs. He did call for a U.S. synthetic fuels capability, but added that creating a massive industry which cannot compete without subsidy could damage the U.S. economy. Boggs noted that it is in the national interest to produce lower cost fuels first. He said that the administration would not dismantle the U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation— "that would unnecessarily delay and disrupt the development of commercial synthetic fuels"—but that a recission of $9 billion of the government firm's SI9 billion funding would be proposed. A uniform solution to groundwater contamination may not be possible,
because causes may vary regionally, according to a study by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). The GAO surveyed groundwater in 15 states, of which only Georgia reported no significant man-made contamination problem. In the other 14 states major sources were hazardous wastes of various kinds. In the South, oil and gas production was said to cause contamination; in the North, road salt was a source. In industrial states, hazardous wastes led to contamination; in agricultural areas, a main cause was pesticides and herbicides.
STATES California has an indoor air quality program (Health and Safety Code, Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 18, No. 8, 1984
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