Document oDm0E0146v3Z73RGBE5BxpeRX

Dc ?- ^> 'h -'-V MILLIONS Or GALLONS ol waste automobile oil may be entering the environment In d detrimental manner, according to a report in environmental Science and Technology (January). Approximately 500 million gallons of used automobile oil need to bo disposed of in some way each year. The U.S. re-refining industry, which reprocesses the used oil, has u capacity of only 100 to 150 million gallons per year. Where the rest of the oil is going is somewhat of a mystery, The federal environmental Protection Agency suspects that much of the remaining oil is dumped into sewers, onto vacant ground, or into the nearest convenient waterway. Some of the waste oil may be sold to fuel oil distributors who blend it with conventional heating oil and "sell It to unsuspecting customers." Re-refining of waste oil has become less popular in the past decade because of increased amounts of gasoline additives that can contaminate the oil, and because the re-refining industry has lost a tax advantage it had held over virgin lube oils. Improving technology so that it would be possible to re-refine the waste oil to heating oil encounters the problem of contaminants in the waste oil. ETA has expressed concern that the fuel oil that would be produced by re-refining waste oil may contain potentially hazardous materials such as lead, iron, zinc, barium, and phosphorus. These contaminants would be released to tho atmosphere when the fuol is burned. ' WATER QUALITY of streams in Erie County, New York has improved following a limitation of the allowable phosphate content of detergents, according to Dr. R. A. Sweeney, director of the Great Lakes Laboratory of the State University College at Buffalo. As of June 1971, detergents sold in Erie County were required to contain no more than 8.7 percent phosphates. Tests run independently by tho Eric County Department of Health and the Great Lakes Laboratory have demonstrated that since initiation of the partial ban on phosphates there lies been more than a 20 percent improvement in general stream quality (as measured by biological oxygen demand. biomass, .in<l turbidity). liven jm-t'- id results were found below :u w..g< t,-. i, plant outfalls and overflow!. fr<-ir. e sewage collection rystemr;. Tlico i, , previously grossly polluted, rhow--o ,.mi, as 50 percent improvement in w-.u-r rtu. ,i:y. Dr. Sweeney told Environment II..it I. anticipated further improvement follow: ,<; tne total ban on phosphates in detergent., t lut became binding in Erie County ar. id K-nimry 1, 1972. PROCTOR & GAMBLE (PAG) announced r : release December 2 that tne firm /. min longer sell laundry detergents in D.u.e Florida. Dade County, like Erie >' -ur.t . York, has enacted a total ban on ph".r.p:...te:, in detergents. A spokesman for PAG t. Environment that tho company hut. . ! o withdrawn from the Erie Countv mark. t. Officials of P&G, one of the nation's I,..-;; : t detergent manufacturers, noted mat id' / .. not believe that a safe, acceptable, op ; uv, substitute for phosphates currently oxi: ;. . However, because competitors of P6.G '...w indicated a willingness to supply products that conform to Dade and Erie counties' r.ew regulations, no shortage of laundry product?, in those areas should result. PAY UP, CON ED. In a Into neromU-r w:. rclcjse, the Hudson River rish< im. o'; Association, Inc. announced that it Im,. .i feasible means of easing New York Mu . ' current budget crisis. Richard J. Gam .t, president of the fishermen's association, claims that a recently completed invest!. ,ti. by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission row,.!; that the Consolidated Edison Company ir responsible for killing five million fish .u f. company's Indian Point nuclear plan; on i. . Hudson River. If the state collector; the usual penalty of $27.50 per fish, the tot.:, would equal $137,500,000. Garrett ponv., . out that further investigation might reveal th,,; as many as ten million fish had been killed by operations at Indian Point, thereby bringing a windfall of $275 million to the state. Tho jAHtMMV/l tMIMftV IV72 *. i. HONS 070998 fine ei $27.50 per fi: h is standard in Now Vorl; lor the iHrunl killing or Inking of any fish. Shot i Id Pi'll Ed actually ho fined the $ 137 , MK>, 000 or inni'0, under Now York stair law thr cost could not lx? passed alonn to the consumer, but would have to bo absorbed by thr company. TEARS OP mercury fallout have, in port, caused a delay in thr issuance of a construction pennit for a proposed low-sulfur-coal-fircd power plant in Minnesota. Northern States Power Company's proposed Sherburne plant is designed to burn approximately 20,000 tons of Jow-suJfur coal daily. A spokesman lor the Minnesota Health Department told Environment that low-sulfur c.oal tested by his department measured from 0.05 to 0.1 part per million (ppm) mercury. (Some higher-sulfur coal averages as much as 0.5 ppm mercury.) If, when burned, all the mercury is liberated, as much os 1,500 pounds of mercury per year may be omitted by the Sherburne plant. The spokesman said he could make no estimation of what this might mean in terms of health effects on the population. Application for a construction permit for the Sherburne plant was mode in July 1971. Ordinarily, permits arc issued within 60 to 90 days. A spokesman for the Minnesota Air Pollution Control Board, though, said that as of midJanuary the permit was still being delayed while the issues of sulfur dioxide emissions, degradation of the state's air, and mercury fallout are discussed. POLYCHLORINATED biphenyls (PCBs), industrial chemicals that have recently been found to be widespread environmental contaminants, may be common in human tissue. According to Chemical and Engineering News (January 3), Dr. A. R. Yobs of the Environmental Protection Agency reported to a federally sponsored meeting on PCBs that analysis of nearly 600 samples of human tissue collected from seventeen states revealed that 33.6 percent of the samples contained more than one part per million (ppm) PCBs, and that a further -30.1 percent contained a delectable qiimtily <! th. cl,.-; u ... /.: mum- meeting , ! >r . J j. j 0>i A , li ;, Michigan department Ik ibn , ),,n!r . \. |. lV, found more than one ppm I'CT.. m I | , ,,| of tin' 00 human ndapor.e (fat) tr.M.e p . that he tested. The- effort of PC'it. < humans is not known. CRIMINAL CHARGES were filed this part summer against Sanatkumar Kovl eftr r Mr. Kavi objected to the spraying of DDT jn :.i;j village in India. According to Ic.-Ui ; written by Mr. Kavi, and forwarded to Environment, the charge war. obstructing a public servant in the discharge o; his mp/. In India spraying houses with DDT is cirocteu at eradicating malaria and is campulr ry. The Indian government is assisted i.\ us malaria eradication program by the World Health Organization. The case c.gainr.t Mr. Kavi, who believes that DDT is harmful to both nature and man, illustrates the philosophical, as well as scientific, complexities associated with the use of chemical pesticides. THE GREAT RACE. Effective mass Ir.n,. it systems would not only reduce urban ,ur pollution, but also would go a long v.v.y toward easing commuter traffic. Urai. . :ck time as mass transit is available, os. ^r.t make do. The first Invitational Csms-.a. r Race, held in San Francisco, put, d .. i icycle against an auto and a streetcar. ..cr r to a report in Clear Creek (December) , ti e commuter race, held during rush hour, won easily by the bicyclist, who completed the course a full twelve minutes ahead pi ;.is nearest competitor, the streetcar rider, '1 he auto finished last. --Terri Aorov.scn *CNS 070999