Document xz2Xprv5VZn3YoNyQwq4xaO66

tz Waste Disposal Soil Pollution tj`1 n & rv?\ /rs tftinnr ri /r\ $ u 6 Desalination Noise - f? f&fQ ?FV'-Vr.:h-Si i B JK^iJ U lI Conservation I Weekly Worldwide Environmental Newsletter Leonard A. Eiserer j Business Publishers, Inc., P. O. Box 1067, Blair Station, Silver Spring, Md. 20910, fd.'icr and Fvhiishcr | Telephone 587-6300. Subscription Rate: $90 per year, $50 for six months. Quantity I j and foreign rates on request. Vol. 8 No. 38 September 21, 1970 Page 377 SLANTS & TRENDS TWO DEVELQPMENiS OP PAS I WEEK -- one at Federal level, the other state -- may well have more, effect on air and water polluters than proliferation of laws and court suits, FWQA decision to undertake first nationwide inventory of industrial wastes on volun tary basis is first step toward putting public spotlight -- and heat - - cn polluters. Federal officials have made it clear chat non-response by industry will only hasten mandatory reports on 'waste discharges. See story below. ON SI ATE LEVEL, New Jersey won its catch-all drive against malodorous emissions along northern stretches of N.J. Turnpike, when 9 industrial giants filed consent stipula tions agreeing to abatement measures and timetables even before going to hearing stage. Environmental Protection. Commissioner Richard J. Sullivan instituted group action on regional basis, v7on his case quickly, even though state code contains no standards for odors but relies on citizen complaints. Could become model for others. See story page 380. CONSERVATIONISTS ARE CLAIMING atleast partial credit for unseating veteran Rep. George Fi. Fallon (D.-Kd.), chairman of powerful House Public Works Committee, at polls last week. Fallon, who has served in Congress since 1946, is leading advocate of nation's Federal highway program and was one of the. "dirty dozen" Congressmen marked for de feat by Environmental Action group (A/WPR, Sept. 14, 1970, p.369). Conservationists raised an estimated $10,000 for his opponent... Rep. John Blatnik (D.-Minn.), sponsor of landmark water pollution control legislation,will succeed Fallon, if House remains Democratic. ' MUSKIE-SPONSORED AIR POLLUTION bill, which squeaked through Senate Public Works Com mittee by narrow 8-6 margin, faces tough floor fight, Sept. 21-22. Amendments are certain to be pushed by supporters of auto and other major industries which see dead line and other provisions "impossible" to meet. Sen. Muskic said enactment would "af fect patterns of housing, transportation, patterns of work, technology, and the entire economy."... House-Senate conferees may reach agreement this week on much less con troversial Rssourcs Rscovbtry Act. j? * < * ' FWQA LAUNCHING FIRST NATIONWIDE INVENTORY OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES t {j After seven years of admitted "frustration," the House Conservation & Natural! Resources Subcommittee was assured during hearing Sept. 17 by FWQA Commissioner David! D. Dominick that the agency would launch a much-needed national inventory of indus- j j trial wastes in the "immediate future ... within the next month." Federal officials i j have fairly good data on waste discharged into waterways by municipal and Federal in- j ' stallations, and this will be the first nationwide effort to close oan. in indus- l. \ trial information. (Continued on following page) DSW 552397 Service for Subscribers: For further details on materiel appearing in A/WPR, subscribers ere invited to verite The Editor, P. O. 8ox 1067. Elair Station, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910. Prompt service given at no additional cost. Deluxe, vinyl imprinted bindcs available ot $3.00 each. ' STLCOPCB4090814 -feata/ wt&uii&i pmmisn report tage j/o .FIRST NATIONWIDE INVENTORY OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES (Cont.) In opening the hearing into, "the long delay of the Executive Branch," Subcommittee Chairman Henry S. Pceuss (D.-Wis.), asserted that in the seven years that his panel has been urging the inventory needed for cleaning up the Nation's waterways, "the Interior Department and the Budget Bureau, at the urging of industry, have toyed with the contents of a questionnaire form while industrial pollution of our waters increases daily." Dominick conceded that disagreements in the Executive Branch had long delayed the project, and agreed that "an industrial waste inventory will substantially improve our capabilities for enhancement of water quality... With the quality of the Nation's environ ment immediately at stake, the data on industrial waste must be an integral part of realistic pollution control planning, and the ordering of priorities for the commitment of billions of dollars and substantial manpower to the water quality effort." The com missioner said the data is needed to determine costs in a realistic pollution abatement effort; in developing new legislation and in effectively administering water quality programs; for effective basin-wide and regional plans; for establishing effluent require ments proposed by President Nixon; for refinement of water quality standards. .' Public- Disclosure Issue In his prepared statement, Dominick said the questionnaire developed by Interior, with approval of the new White House Office of Management and Budget, would inform the respondents that submission of data requested "is completely voluntary," and that such information "will be considered confidential within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 1905 which provides penalties for unlawful disclosure of trade secrets and other classes of con fidential information. Accordingly, release of such information will, with certain exceptions, be limited to statistical summaries which do not identify individual plants." The commissioner said FWQA would make the information fully available to "state, interstate and local water pollution control officials and agencies and to Federal officials and agencies, subject to the safeguard that such information will not be dis closed unlawfully." In his interrogation of Interior witnesses, Reuss zeroed in principally on the broad protection planned for data received in the survey, and on who was responsible for blocking the inventory since it was first requested by the panel in June, 1963. He cited FWQA's report to Congress last March (The Economics of Clean Water), which called the lack of reliable information on industrial wastes "intolerable" and admitted "every effort to initiate an industrial waste inventory has been frustrated without noticeable public comment." Reuss insisted his hearing would provide "noticeable public comment," as he pressed Dominick for names and addresses of the "frustraters." The commissioner declined to divulge, and was supported by Under Secretary of Interior, Fred J. Russell, who likewise refused to name names for the panel. On the public disclosure issue, the Interior officials yielded and agreed that only trade secrets would be protected, not the contents of what comes out the pipes. Reuss insisted that the name of company, point of discharge, nature and quantity of pollutants belong in the public domain and should be disclosed in the public interest. Russell accepted this change in confidentiality, and Reuss acknowledged, "We are making great progress." ______________________________________ '____ ____ Inventory Planned in Two Phases Material submitted to the panel by Interior indicates the inventory is planned in two phases to provide time for analysis and possible modification after the initial mailing. . First phase will consist of a mailing to about 250 plants to provide a pilot samp ling both in types of industry and regional distribution. At least one follow-up will be made to non-respondents. Analysis of this phase, extending over about 4 months, is intended to provide FWQA with information on which to base improved plans and pro cedures. ' Second phase will consist of mailing covering 10,000-12,000 plants. It is tenta- ; tively planned that mailing will be direct to industry, but with close coordination with t similar activities conducted by states. . 1 The nationwide effort will place priority on coverage of (1) plants for which DSW 552398 STLCOPCB4090815 September XJL, J.V /U V viLi uJ poMimi report Page 379 FIRST NATIONWIDE INVENTORY OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES (Cont.) abatement needs are identified in implementation plans of state water quality standards, and (2) plants with Standard Industrial Classification Codes covering (a) food and kindred products, (b) textile mill products, (c.) paper and allied products, (d) chemi cals and allied products, (e) petroleum refining and related industries, (f) primary metal industries, (g) transportation equipment (motor vehicles). While prime purpose is to get data on nature of waste discharges, a review of the .questionnaire already informally approved by the White House reflects a search for much broader information. In addition to listing of such pollutants as phosphorus, mercury, arsenic, oil & grease, solids, chloride, etc., FWQA is asking such questions as how much was spent on waste water treatment since 1948; how many employes, and in what cate gories, spend more than 40% of their time on water pollution control; how much was spent and how many people were involved in waste treatment for the past year, with estimates for next five. Nader Hits Trade Associations . While Interior officials declined to tell who had blocked the waste inventory for past seven years, Ralph Nader joined Reuss in placing major blame on Bureau of the Bud get which, under the Federal Reports Act, has authority to approve distribution of questionnaires by Federal agencies presumably to avoid duplication, but which has also assumed right to determine whether the data should be collected at all. Both Reuss and Nader charged BOB has withheld consent in the past because "many industries opposed it.1 Specifically named by Nader as influential in stalling the inventory were American Petroleum Institute, Manufacturing Chemists Association, National Canners Association, American Paper Institute, National Association of Manufacturers, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. There's no question they don't want this inventory, Nader said, warning that effectiveness of the upcoming voluntary inventory will be undermined since responses will be "coordinated by the trade associations." He insisted the inventory should be compulsory, since the public has right to know what pollutants are being dumped into public waterways, and that the "voluntary" record of industry in pollution abatement is "not encouraging." . Government sources confirm sharp differences within Interior over the inventory. Carl F. Klein. Assistant Secretary for Water Quality and Research, who has ambitions for top spot in the President's proposed Environmental Protection Agency, strongly opposed the industrial survey. FWQA Commissioner Dominick was just as vigorous in its support, and the issue was decided in his favor by Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel. Neither Klein r.or Hickel appealed at the hearing, although Reuss had invited both to testify. GENERAL MOTORS TO INSTALL CATALYTIC CONVERTERS ON SOME '73 MODELS General Motors Corp. will install catalytic converters to control carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions on some 1973 model cars, on additional 1974 cars, and on the entire 1975 line, Fred Bowditch, GM director of emission control, told the Califor nia Air Resources Board last week. The converters will be combined with two other pollution control units -- air pumps and an exhaust gas recirculation system. The pumps will be a new version of the air injector reactor introduced in the 1966 model year on the first GM exhaust emission control systems in California. Exhaust recirculation will divert some of the gases back to the intake system, reducing oxides of nitrogen by lowering the peak temperature. To prepare for catalytic converters, the auto industry has been redesigning most engines to run on unleaded gasoline, since the new devices work only with unleaded fuel. Bowditch told California ARB that preliminary 1971 model certification tests of GM cars show that, compared wTith 1970 data, carbon monoxide emissions were reduced an average 12.5%; hydrocarbons 2 8%; oxides of nitrogen 21.4%. He predicted these gains would -be reflected in the field when new vehicles get on the road. - In Detroit, GM declined to put a price tag on the converter systems, but some estimated that the clean air goals of 1975 could add from $75 to several hundr 1 dollars .. _ to car cost. .- DSW 552399 STLCOPCB4090816