United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
Public Awareness (A-107)
Washington DC 20460
Volume 6
Number 1
January 1980
xvEPA JOURNAL REPRINT
State
of the
Environment
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Cleaner
Environment
How are we progressing in
efforts to achieves
cleaner, healthier environ-
ment? To what extent have we
succeeded in protecting public
health and the environment
from the pollutants that are
byproducts of our highly
technological society?
The following case histories
are examples of what has been
accomplished over the past
decade in the nationwide effort
to show that there is hope for
a stressed and threatened
environment. They also illus-
trate that while science and
technology do not yet have all
the answers, workable pollu-
tion controls do exist and can
make a difference when they
are used.
The list is not intended to
catalog every pollution control
accomplishment, however. The
focus is on examples of water
clean-up, although we do cite
some examples of accomplish-
ments in other program areas.
The EPA Journal will report
progress in air quality, solid
waste control, and other areas
in later issues.
Our report includes the
status of pollution control in the
Great Lakes, waste recycling
in Hawaiian sugar mills, the
return of the Atlantic salmon
on the Penobscot River in
Maine, the resurgence of
aquatic life in the Savannah
River, pontrol of industrial
polluti&n in the Mobile-
Tombigbee River System in
Alabama, an innovative pollu-
tion control approach in
Muskegon County, Mich.,
action on the dumping of
wastes in the Gulf of Mexico
and the Atlantic Ocean, posi-
tive air cleanup results from a
vehicle inspection and main-
tenance program in Portland,
Ore., cooperation in dealing
with the hazards of methane
gas in Denver, and safer
controls over the tussock moth
that damages Douglas fir
forests in the Pacific Northwest.
While EPA has made enor-
mous efforts over the past
decade to improve environ-
mental quality, in some of
these cases EPA's role has
primarily been to devise a
strategy, to establish standards,
or to help bring about a climate
in which others—State and
local agencies, private cor-
porations, the courts, citizen
groups, and individual citizens
—could take steps to improve
the quality of the environment.
The examples in this list
show how such a partnership
can work for a better environ-
ment. Some recount triumphs
of States and cities. Some are
examples of outstanding
accomplishments of individual
citizens or of communities
working together to deal with a
common problem.
The list contains few unquali-
fied successes. Hard-won gains
are always subject to unex-
pected setbacks. The unre-
solved problems are many.
And new ones are constantly
being uncovered.
But while much remains to
be done, these accomplish-
ments, both large and small,
offer evidence that with time
and continued efforts, much
more can be done to achieve
a cleaner and more healthful
environment.
The cases were prepared by
EPA's Regional Offices and
consolidated by the Office of
Planning and Management in
EPA headquarters.
Water pollution, emphasized
in these cases, became serious
and widespread with the
tremendous industrial and
population booms of the last
one hundred years. The pollu-
tion rapidly worsened following
World War II when use of
man-made chemicals became
more widespread. Industries
and cities increasingly used
rivers and lakes as dumping
grounds for their wastes. By
the mid-1960's water pollution
in many areas had reached
intolerable levels. These con-
ditions led to the massive
cleanup efforts in the 1970's.
While many rivers and other
waterways are still heavily
polluted, cities and States
around the country, usually
with substantial assistance
from EPA, are scoring signifi-
cant gains in reversing the
pollution tide. Here are some
examples of what has been
achieved:
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The Great Lakes
The five Great Lakes—con-
taining 65 trillion gallons
of water and covering 95,000
square miles—are the world's
largest reservoir of fresh water.
For more than a century
many of the Midwest's largest
and most successful cities and
industries have depended on
this water as a vital element in
their growth. Billions of gallons
of sewage and industrial and
agricultural chemicals have
been discharged into these
lakes because it was the most
economic and convenient way
to get rid of these wastes.
These discharges have
prematurely aged some of the
lakes, killed fish, and forced
the closing of many bathing
beaches.
While Lake Erie's condition
became notorious, parts of
Lake Michigan and Lake
Ontario also became seriously
polluted. Most beaches on
these lakes were closed.
Millions of fish were killed.
Although problems are less
severe in Lake Superior and
Lake Huron, even these bodies
of water have some pollution
problems.
In 1972, the United States
and Canada signed an agree-
ment to continue their joint
long-term attack on the sources
of pollution. Updated in 1978,
this agreement views the Great
Lakes as an ecosystem of in-
teracting components—water,
land, air, and living organisms.
It calls for control programs to
protect this complex system by
dealing more effectively with
pollution from all sources
including agricultural and other
drainage wastes as well as
-------
direct discharges from indus-
trial and municipal pipelines.
In the most severely polluted
lakes—Erie, Ontario, and
Michigan—major pollution ills
still exist, but progress is being
made. A total of $5 billion has
been spent by EPA in the last
decade to help clean up the
Great Lakes. Additional billions
of dollars have been spent by
State and local governments
and industries in the effort.
A 1978 survey of people
who live and work along the
lakes found that nearly all of
them noted visual improve-
ments in the lakes. At the same
time, many shoreline property
values are increasing rapidly.
Recreation industries—sport
fishing, boating, and vacation
resorts—have been booming
and several beaches long
closed to swimmers have been
reopened.
The prognosis for the Great
Lakes then is cautiously
optimistic. Here are some
specifics:
Lake Michigan. This lake's
industrial pollution created
public alarm 10 years ago. A
Chicago Tribune reporter's
hand dunked into the Calumet
River, a Lake Michigan tribu-
tary, emerged pitch black—
and the photograph was sent
around the world.
EPA conducted intensive
water quality studies on Lake
Michigan during 1976-77.
Trends were developed by
comparing results of that study
with a 1962-63 study by the
U.S. Public Health Service
and with data from various
universities during 1970 and
1973. In short, the report con-
cludes that: (1) There have
been continual improvements
in nearshore conditions in the
southern end of the lake which
are strongly linked to remedial
programs. The programs in-
clude the diversion away from
Lake Michigan of the dis-
charges of 12 municipal plants
and one industry in Lake
County, III..between 1973 and
1978; Indiana's phosphate
detergent ban in 1972-73; and
pollution abatement programs
by northwest Indiana industries
and municipalities through
1979. (2) The 1969 DDT ban
has been very effective, with
levels in Lake Michigan fish
reduced approximately 90
percent since that year.
Although results of a PCB ban
are inconclusive so far, there
is some evidence that a down-
ward trend has started.
(Lake Michigan was hardest
hit by PCB contamination.)
(3) During 1976, when the
worst trophic conditions were
found, Lake Michigan was still
classified as oligotrophic
(clean, clear) in all but the
nearshore areas and in Green
Bay, Wis.
In sum, there are some initial
signs of progress on Lake
Michigan.
Several other parameters of
water quality suggest the need
for further attention, including
chloride levels, which are
increasing more rapidly than
in the past in the open lake,
and changes in plankton.
Lake Erie. This is the shallow-
est of the Great Lakes (210
feet maximum depth as com-
pared to Lake Superior's 1,333
feet, Michigan's 923 feet,
Huron's 750 feet, and Ontario's
802 feet maximum depth).
Lake Erie became overloaded
with nutrients, largely from
municipal wastes and rural
runoff but also from industrial
wastes and urban runoff. By
1966, 65 percent of the bottom
water in the lake's central basin
was without oxygen in the
summer months. Bathing
beaches were closed, and the
recreation industry suffered
most from nuisance algae.
EPA's Great Lakes National
Program Office is in the midst
of its second year of intensive
water quality monitoring of
Lake Erie (1978-79), designed
to determine the effectiveness
of remedial programs. There
is some indication that Lake
Erie is improving. All bordering
States but Ohio have banned
high-phosphate detergents; the
appearance of Lake Erie and
its tributaries has improved
enormously, and winter
1978-79 Program Office tests
at selected research stations
conducted by boring through
the ice revealed that oxygen
content had improved.
In recent years aircraft pilots
flying over Lake Erie began to
notice that sheets of algae
that had previously covered
large expanses of the lake were
now significantly reduced in
size. Sport fish planted in the
lake survived, and gulls—a
harbinger of cleaner waters—
began to be spotted once again.
The beaches, most of which
had been closed by 1975,
began to be reopened. And
deep water in the central basin
was without oxygen only five
percent of the time.
Lake Superior. This lake has
been plagued by asbestos-like
particles, found in the tailings
from taconite mining. These
particles have gotten into
drinking water in the western
arm of the lake and have
caused communities that once
drew drinking water with
virtually no treatment to turn
to bottled water and to install
filtration plants, which pre-
viously were not required on
Lake Superior. EPA and the
State of Minnesota were able
to get the Reserve Mining
Company to agree to stop
dumping taconite tailings into
the lake and to place them
instead in a landfill. Discharges
of taconite tailings into Lake
Superior are expected to cease
in 1980.
Lake Huron, next to Lake
Superior the least polluted lake,
has had serious problems in the
Saginaw Bay area. Bay City,
the Saginaw River, and its
tributaries suffered from heavy
industrial pollution, including
discharges from the chemical
industry. However, both
scientists and local residents
have noted substantial improve-
ment in the quality of Saginaw
Bay during the last several
years.
Lake Ontario. A massive
cleanup effort has been
launched along the shores of
Lake Ontario, the most eastern
of the Great Lakes, and, next
to Lake Erie, the most polluted.
EPA construction grants
have provided millions of
dollars to help build treatment
systems in communities whose
wastes used to pollute Lake
Ontario. Today the sewage
generated by over 95 percent
of the population on the U.S.
side of the lake is treated
before being discharged into
the lake or its tributaries. Most
of the systems provide second-
ary or tertiary treatment. This
has significantly reduced the
load of nutrients and oxygen-
consuming wastes pouring into
the lake.
Another part of the cleanup
effort has been the ban on
phosphates in detergents in
Canada and New York State.
Phosphate levels have de-
creased substantially—and
more quickly than computer
models had predicted. Because
it is downstream from the other
four Great Lakes, Lake Ontario
has also benefited from the
reduction in phosphate levels
in the other lakes.
And, of course, the dis-
charge restrictions in permits
required by the Federal Clean
Water Act have compelled
industries as well as communi-
ties discharging into Lake
Ontario to improve their
treatment systems.
The Tributaries of
the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes ecosystem
consists of dozens of major
and hundreds of lesser tribu-
taries within the United States.
This is an update of some of the
most dramatic improvements
that have occurred within the
eight-State Great Lakes
drainage basin:
The Cuyahoga River (Ohio).
No river in the U.S. has a more
notorious national reputation
than the Cuyahoga, which
flows through Akron and
Cleveland on its way to Lake
Erie. By the mid-1960's it ran
muddy brown; gas from fer-
menting organic material on its
bottom bubbled to the surface,
and the river's waters were so
thick with oil that more than
once the surface of the river
caught fire. The Cuyahoga also
had a bacteria count, especially
after a heavy rainfall, matching
that of raw sewage.
A detailed EPA study con-
cluded several years ago that,
even with the implementation
of all planned pollution con-
trols, the Cuyahoga will still
be able to support only the
most pollution-tolerant forms
of life. Nevertheless, condi-
tions have improved signifi-
JANUARY1980
19
-------
cantly. The visible oil has
nearly disappeared, and
oxygen-demanding waste,
cyanide, phenol, and phos-
phorus levels all have been
reduced.
Problems still exist, how-
ever. Some debris and sewage
still float on the river's surface,
and the river continues to have
excessively low levels of
dissolved oxygen. Only if these
problems can be solved will
the Cuyahoga once again be
fully healthy. Nonetheless,
conditions have improved so
markedly that plans are under-
way to build parks and green
strips along the river's banks.
The Detroit River (Mich.). The
Detroit River, which connects
Lake St. Clair and the upper
Great Lakes (Huron, Michigan,
and Superior) to Lake Erie, is
a major—if incomplete—
cleanup success. Before the
Civil War, the river supported
a rich and varied population of
fish. But, with increasing
industrialization and with the
rapid increases in the amount
of human wastes to be dis-
posed of, the Detroit River's
quality quickly deteriorated.
By the late 1940's, 35,000
gallons of oil per day were
dumped into the river's waters.
A quarter-inch-thick coating of
oil covered its shoreline, and
grease balls 8 and 10 inches
thick washed up on its banks.
Finally, in the cold winter of
1948, 20,000 ducks diving
into openings in the ice cover
came up coated with oil and
died. Massive duck kills, with
as many as 40,000 dying a
year, continued into the 1960's.
Now the obvious pollution
problems are almost gone.
Only a few hundred gallons
of oil reached the river's
waters in 1976. No large duck
kills from pollution have
occurred since 1968, and some
local fishermen are calling the
Detroit River's once-again
blue-green water "the world's
biggest trout stream."
At the lower end, however,
the City of Detroit still dis-
charges large volumes of
inadequately treated sewage,
and there is still considerable,
if invisible, contamination by
toxic substances.
The River Rouge (Mich.).
The River Rouge is the Detroit
River's most industrialized
tributary. Its color had become
a rich orange because of
pickling liquor, a steel-pro-
cessing acid that was dumped
into it. Its surface was so
thoroughly coated with oil that
it looked black; the orange
color could only be seen
momentarily, in the wake of
passing boats. A State of
Michigan biologist at that time
once drew a bucketful of water
from the Rouge, and in an hour
and a half, acids had eaten
away the bucket's bottom.
But the industries along the
Rouge have now greatly re-
duced their discharges, and
the river now flows green again.
Egrets are returning to its
banks.
Yet, while many of the
pollutant sources from industry
have been removed, further
cleanup is expected when the
City of Detroit implements a
combined sewer-overflow
program. In the upper reaches
trol efforts, the Grand River
still suffered from severe prob-
lems in the mid-1950's. In
1966 two major fish kills
occurred.
Now, with the upgrading of
most municipal discharges by
secondary treatment plants and
the elimination of 90 percent of
the waste previously dis-
charged by the metal plating
industry, the Grand River's
waters are significantly im-
proved. Trout are plentiful, and
fishermen come out in force
to catch the salmon migrating
to spawning grounds upstream.
There is still an occasional spill
from the metal plating industry.
The Fox River and Lower
Green Bay (Wis.). The Fox
is the largest river flowing
into Lake Michigan and has
been one of the Nation's most
polluted waterways. Until
recently it suffered annual fish
kills due to wastes from
municipalities and from the
largest concentration of paper
manufacturing in the U.S.
of the Rouge, impoundments
have aided in attainment of
water quality. Further studies
on best management practices
for treating urban stormwater
should significantly aid in
attainment of fishable,
swimmable waters.
The Grand River (Mich.).
Despite vigorous pollution con-
At times, dissolved oxygen
would be totally unmeasurable
for a distance greater than
20 miles.
Pollution controls installed
in recent years have reduced
the problems. Bay Beach, a
park and beach area near the
mouth at the City of Green
Bay, had been closed since
1936 because of high bacteria
levels. In 1976 the beach was
reopened.
Also, by 1976 the area of
diminished oxygen levels in
Green Bay, into which the Fox
River flows, had been cut by a
third to 50 square miles. As
more industries and munici-
palities begin to meet pollution
treatment requirements, even
more dramatic improvements
are expected. However, both
bodies of water suffer from
the more intractable problems
ofPCB's.
Ironically, cleaner water has
produced a problem. During
1978 lampreys were observed
moving upstream toward Lake
Winnebago, and it is feared
that if they become established
in that lake, its sport fishery
will be severely damaged. In
the past, the polluted Fox River
was an effective barrier to
these pests.
The Indiana Harbor Canal
(Ind.). The Indiana Harbor
Canal carries wastes from the
heavily industrialized cities of
Gary, Hammond, East Chicago,
and Whiting into Lake Michi-
gan. The canal is made up
almost exclusively of industrial
and municipal wastes and is
the most significant discharge
to southern Lake Michigan.
In the early 1970's a boat
could not navigate the canal
without blackening its hull with
oil, and a hand carelessly
dangled in the water would
emerge with a black film. Lake
Michigan waters surrounding
the mouth of the canal were
constantly discolored by iron-
red discharges from the nearby
steel industries.
Now oil is a rarity in the
canal, and the iron-red stain is
no longer visible in Lake
Michigan. Beyond that, fish are
occasionally seen jumping in
the canal.
The steel mills and oil re-
fineries have cleaned up their
discharges reasonably well but
several of the municipalities—
specifically Gary, East Chicago,
and Whiting—still have dis-
charges that are not adequately
controlled. And the canal,
though considerably improved,
still does not meet water
quality standards.
20
EPA JOURNAL
-------
Other Waterways
• n addition to the Great Lakes
-1 and its tributaries, there are
many other rivers and lakes
around the country where
progress has been made in
reducing pollution.
Starting in February, EPA
Journal will begin a series of
reports on progress and prob-
lems in correcting pollution
maladies in some of the
Nation's better known rivers.
Meanwhile, here are some
examples of gains made in
reducing pollution in some of
our smaller rivers and lakes:
Northern
Rivers
rTUie Naugatuck River
-1- (Conn.) was so grossly
polluted due to wastes
from 57 industries and
seven cities that no fish could
survive on certain reaches.
Now, because 95 percent of
the industries have pollution
controls and there are seven
new wastewater treatment
plants, the water is clean
enough to support small-mouth
bass, bluegills, and bullhead.
The Pemigewasset River
(N.H.), which runs through an
important recreation area, was
so polluted by the mid-sixties
that few fish could survive in
it and it was spurned by
tourists. It was discolored,
ugly, and gave off a terrible
stench. Now with pollution
controls both on industries and
municipalities, 55 miles of
the river are suitable for both
fishing and swimming. The
river is now the centerpiece
of a successful vacation area.
The Stevens Branch of the
Winooski River (Vt.) suffered
from a fine granite powder
that gave it a milky color. This
powder, discharged by the
granite and gravel industries,
caused gill scour in fish and
smothered their spawning
beds. The various abrasives
used by these industries also
contributed to the problem.
Now, both these industries are
using an inexpensive treatment
method that results in zero
discharge to the river. The
river, once suitable at points
only for industrial use, is now
suitable for swimming and
other water-contact sports.
Along the Kenduskeag Stream
and the Penobscot River
(Maine) into which it empties,
Atlantic salmon had, by 1947,
virtually disappeared due to
the discharges from seven
pulp mills and from numerous
towns and cities along the
Penobscot. With substantial
control of all these pollution
sources, salmon now thrive as
far up the Penobscot and the
Kenduskeag as the City of
Bangor.
The Mohawk River, which
flows through the heavily
industrialized Utica-Rome area,
was until recently so polluted
that only "rough fish"—carp,
bullheads, and suckers—could
survive there. Now, with more
than 75 percent of the dis-
chargers controlled, more
highly sought-after sportsfish
like large- and smallmouth
bass, walleye, perch, sunfish,
and even trout, which are
highly pollution sensitive,
have returned.
JANUARY 1980
21
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The Hackensack River by
1971 was officially declared
to be a "highly disturbed and
truncated ecosystem" that was
"virtually dead." Many of the
fish, shellfish, and crustaceans
that had thrived in it for
thousands of years had, over
the span of a mere 40 years,
been driven out. The river had
become filled with garbage,
rusting auto bodies, and indus-
trial oil slicks. After an inten-
sive five-year cleanup effort,
the Hackensack Meadowlands
Development Commission was
able to report in 1976 that the
river was coming back to life.
Ribbed mussels have been
introduced into its waters and
have survived. Blue claw crabs
are back in abundance. Water-
fowl and shore and wading
birds now frequent its banks,
and stripers, alewife, and
herring are turning up in fisher-
men's nets again.
The Smyrna, St. Jones and
Mispillion Rivers and Silver
Lake (Del.). These waters are
all located in Kent County, Del.
Construction of a regional
wastewater treatment plant has
dramatically improved water
quality in all three rivers and
has reduced considerably the
rate of eutrophication of Silver
Lake in the City of Dover.
The Wisconsin River
(Wis.).The Wisconsin
River's condition in the late
1960's was very grave due to
the combined impacts of sus-
pended solids and oxygen-
demanding wastes from both
municipal and industrial
dischargers. The most critical
industrial dischargers were
pulp and paper mills. The
river's quality had not markedly
improved by 1975, although
the rate of oxygen-consuming
discharge had been lowered
to 200,000 pounds per day.
By mid-1976 the levels had
dropped to 35,000 pounds and
definite improvement was
discernable. Nevertheless, the
State Department of Natural
Resources now estimates that
critical low flows in the
Wausau segment might require
a reduction of point source
discharges to 4,000 or 5,000
pounds per day. This premise
has not, however, been tested
by an actual low flow, and
it is suspected that even more
stringent loading requirements
may be necessary to obtain
the planned objectives.
Wilson's Creek (Mo.), runs
through Battlefield National
Park, a popular outdoor recrea-
tion area. Until early 1978,
municipal wastes from the
City of Springfield caused such
severe pollution of the creek
that it was dark in color, gave
off an offensive odor, and was
unable to support any aquatic
life. In 1978, however, an
advanced wastewater treat-
ment plant was put into opera-
tion in Springfield. Within
months the stream had a clear
sparkling appearance with no
odor and was providing sup-
port for at least two species of
fish—carp and catfish—as well
as such other wildlife as
turtles, muskrat, and wild
ducks. None of the park's
employees had ever seen any
of these animals along the
stream prior to the opening of
the treatment plant; they are
impressed by the extent of the
changes they have been
witnessing and by the sudden-
ness with which the transfor-
mation has occurred.
Southern
Rivers
'T'he Pearl River (Miss., La.),
-•- which forms the lower
boundary between Louisiana
and Mississippi and into which
Bogue Lusa Creek flows,
Innovative
Technology:
Finding
Something
Better
Muskegon County (Mich.),
adopted a form of alter-
native wastewater treatment
to solve its worsening water
pollution problems.
Near the end of the 1960's,
each of the many independent
communities in the county
were trying to deal separately
with their own municipal and
industrial wastewaters in
small, over-burdened treatment
facilities. Several of the main
industries and principal com-
munities were still discharging
inadequately treated waste-
water directly into the county's
lakes.
As a result, the three main
recreational lakes were becom-
ing severely polluted. The
specific problems encountered
included severe algal blooms,
encroaching weeds, and
periods of foul odor. Swimming
and boating were becoming
unpleasant and unsafe. Older
industries were closing or
leaving rather than rebuilding,
and new industries and busi-
nesses were not coming to
replace them.
Muskegon County's solution
was first to persuade its many
independent communities to
agree on a unified approach to
the problem—then to develop
a common wastewater treat-
ment system. Working with
authorities at the State and
Federal levels, they designed
and built a large scale spray
irrigation system that would
reliably and safely handle up to
43 million gallons of waste-
water per day.
This land treatment system
has removed about 98 percent
of the oxygen-demanding
wastes (BOD), suspended
solids, and phosphorus, and
70 percent of the nitrogen from
the 27 million gallons of waste-
water treated daily in the
county. It is protecting and
enhancing the quality of the
county's lakes and streams as
well as benefiting Lake Michi-
gan. In 1975, the system also
used its treated wastewater to
irrigate over a quarter million
bushels of corn grown on what
had been sandy, unproductive
soil. The project has served
as a keystone in the county's
effort to revitalize its economy.
Although the primary pur-
pose of the Muskegon system
is wastewater treatment, corn
watered with the effluent
yielded an average of 60
bushels per acre. That nearly
equals the average 65 bushels
per acre yielded by Muskegon
County's privately owned
farms—and the land treatment
site has some of the poorest
soil in the country. Sale of the
corn reduced the cost of treat-
ing the wastewater by
$700,000.
Hawaii. Frequently, pollutants
can be recovered and put to
good use. The sugar industry
in Hawaii is one example.
Until EPA intervened in 1972,
five sugar mills on the north-
east coast of Hawaii were
dumping 4,000 to 5,000 tons-
per-day of sugar waste into the
Pacific Ocean. Thick sludge
banks accumulated on the
ocean floor and red plumes of
water fanned out in a thin film
over the sea. As a result of
EPA's enforcement actions,
operating permits now require
an end to these discharges
and a reduction in suspended
solids in the mills' effluents.
With the addition of control
equipment,,the mills have
achieved substantial com-
pliance. In addition three mills
discovered that they could use
the wastes as a fuel to
generate electricity and are
now selling power to the
Hawaiian Electric Company.
Othec companies are using the
cane wastewater to reclaim
land for cultivation.
22
EPAJOURNAL
-------
was grossly polluted. This
pollution was due in great
part to wastes flowing in from
Bogue Lusa Creek. Dead and
dying fish could regularly be
found on the Pearl as far as
30 miles downstream from its
confluence with Bogue Lusa
Creek. But much of the Pearl's
problem was coming from
other points on the river as
well. Municipal wastes from
the City of Jackson, Miss., for
example, contributed floating
sewage and noxious odors.
With the installation of a
new treatment plant in Jackson,
the floating sewage and the
odors are gone. The same kinds
of fish now found in Bogue Lusa
Creek are also found in the
Pearl both below and above
the point where the Bogue
Lusa joins it, and sea trout are
now found in the river's tidal
areas.
Bogue Lusa Creek (La.). In
the early 1960's Bogue
Lusa Creek was so grossly
polluted that a scuba diver in
its waters checking some
equipment at a paper com-
pany's outfall suffered severe
chemical burns. The water was
so corrosive that it stripped the
paint off a thermometer placed
in the creek's water to measure
its temperature. The Bogue
Lusa shoreline was barren of
vegetation and both its shore-
line and its waters were devoid
of all signs of life.
But beginning in the mid-
sixties, public outrage was so
great that the paper mills,
chemical company, and
municipal dischargers contrib-
uting to the problem began to
clean up their pollution. Bogue
Lusa Creek's color has now
improved; fish have returned
and are now free of the
turpentine taste that formerly
permeated their flesh. Catfish,
bream, and crappies are once
again to be found in the creek's
waters.
Sope Creek (Ga.), a tributary
of the Chattahoochee River
in Atlanta, had suffered greatly
from an explosive surge of
suburban development. It had
become little more than an
open sewer. Abandoned by all
pollution-sensitive aquatic life,
it was populated only by ugly,
highly pollution-tolerant or-
ganisms known as bloodworms.
Swimming and fishing in its
waters were forbidden.
With adequate treatment of
the municipal wastewater that
had brought on these problems,
Sope Creek improved imme-
diately. Within two months,
all the bloodworms had dis-
appeared, the odors were
gone, the creek's color had
improved, and fishermen were
catching bream and largemouth
bass along its banks.
A Mountain River (N.C.). In
the early 1970's the French
Broad River in the mountains
of wastern North Carolina was
grossly polluted. Many portions
reeked with foul odors and ran
black under a cover of foam.
The cause of the problem was
dissolved oxygen levels near
zero due to raw sewage from
the City of Asheville, together
with metal precipitates and
industrial salts from the Olin
Corporation and the American
Enka Company.
The two companies were
very responsive to the new
cleanup requirements called
for in their 1974 discharge
permits. After some initial
resistance, the city has also
been cooperative. The results
have been remarkable. The
odors and foam are gone and
the water's natural color has
been returning. Dissolved
oxygen levels were improving
rapidly and, by 1976, fish had
already started to reappear.
The only remaining problem is
that wet weather causes over-
flows from the city's treatment
works. A planned addition to
the treatment works will
eliminate this problem as well.
The Neches River (Tex.). On
the Neches River in south-
east Texas, the bass are back
after 15 years and as one fisher-
man reports, they are "scrappy
.ones, and tasty, too." In 1976,
a tarpon was caught in Lake
Sabine on the Neches—the
first caught there in 30 years.
Other aquatic life has been
reappearing in the tidal areas of
the Neches as well. Shrimp
have moved up the Neches in
large enough quantities to plug
up industrial water intakes,
and commercial crabbers have
made money working the river.
Tar Creek (Okla.). Tar Creek,
a little prairie stream in north-
eastern Oklahoma, was once a
watering place for buffalo.
But it became heavily polluted
in this century. Its cleanup is
now underway and long absent
wildlife are beginning to return
to its banks.
Little Deep Fork (Okla.). Not
far to the south, Oklahoma's
Little Deep Fork, once a clear
stream while flowing to Lake
Eufaula, was also running dark
and discolored by wastes. A
new treatment plant went on
line in the town of Bristow
in 1975 and the waters of the
stream are once again clear
and free of odor.
Smaller
Lakes
/Innabessacook Lake
-*** (Maine). Priorto 1972,
Annabessacook Lake was one
of the four most polluted lakes
in Maine. Algal blooms lasted
70 days a year, and it was
rare for a person looking into
the lake to be able to see more
than three feet below its
surface.
The main problem was
inadequately treated waste-
water from two towns and
two woolen mills.
The solution adopted was to
collect the wastewater from
these four sources and trans-
port it to a secondary treatment
plant in Augusta, on the
Kennebec River. Once treated
there, the additional waste-
water would have minimal
impact on the river, and would
greatly reduce pollution into
the lake.
Although problems remain,
Annabessacook Lake is sub-
stantially improved. By 1976,
algal blooms lasted no more
than 15 days per year, and it
was possible to see 15 feet
below the lake's surface. Work
is now underway—aided by
an EPA grant—to control runoff
from the remaining non-point
sources of pollution. These
sources are primarily the dairy
and poultry farms in the lake's
watershed.
Lake Minnetonka (Minn.).
Lake Minnetonka is Minne-
sota's tenth largest lake and,
due to its location only 15
miles west of Minneapolis,
is heavily used for all forms
of water-oriented recreation.
By the early 1960's how-
ever, the lake's quality had
become unacceptable. Green
scum and weeds were abun-
dant; several fish kills had
occurred; and many species of
bottom organisms important
in the food web—snails among
them—had disappeared.
Weeds and algae were thriving
and consuming the dissolved
oxygen necessary for fish
to survive.
The problems were due
primarily to the inability of the
lake to absorb the effluent
even from the secondary treat-
ment plants that surrounded it.
The solution was to transport
the sewage to a new regional
treatment plant on the Minne-
sota River, which could better
accommodate the secondary
effluent. By 1976, four years
after the diversion, nutrient
levels were dropping and sur-
face algae were disappearing.
Lake Hamilton and Lake
Catherine (Ark.). Hot Springs,
Ark., has long been noted as
a vacation area. But by the
early 1970's, residents began
to be distressed over the
pollution of nearby Lake
Hamilton and Lake Catherine.
Raw sewage discharges were
causing odor problems and
presented a potential health
problem that endangered the
recreation industry, which is
the lifeblood of the Hot
Springs area.
The problem was due pri-
marily to inadequate municipal
wastewater treatment facilities,
but septic tank overflows also
played a major role.
Improvements to the treat-
ment facilities are partially
completed—others are still
underway. But the water
quality in the two lakes has
already improved and the
Continued on page 25
JANUARY 1980
23
-------
Other
Cases
Abandoned Car Project (Ky.).
•**• Eastern Kentucky earned
the nickname "Detroit's
Graveyard" because of the
large number of abandoned
vehicles in the area. Kentucky's
Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental
Protection set out with trucks
equipped with a winch and
loading ramp to haul in the
abandoned vehicles and recycle
them. The State agency relied
on local service organizations
to arrange for vehicles to be
brought to a central collection
point in each county. In a year-
long demonstration project
funded by the State and EPA,
a total of 5,045 cars was
collected. The State has since
continued the effort, with some
minor changes.
Chattanooga (Tenn.). Munici-
pal officials believed 1,50,000
gallons of oil and sludge in
tanks contaminated with pesti-
cide posed a threat to the city's
water supply. They feared that
the tanks, left behind by the
National Waste Oil Company
when it filed for bankruptcy in
1978, would spill over during
heavy rains. If such a spill
were to occur, Chattanooga's
municipal water supply would
have been contaminated. The
State, with technical support
from EPA, filed charges, and
the owner cleaned up the site,
eliminating a major threat to
the city's drinking water supply.
Detroit (Mich.). The expansion
plans of the Marblehead Lime
Company were threatened
when the Wayne County Health
Department Air Pollution
Control Division found itself
unable to issue a building
permit. The problem was that
a kiln the company wanted to
purchase anc! convert was
located in the city of Detroit in
a heavily polluted area and
would add an additional 91.2
tons of dust per year to the air
where air quality standards
were already seriously violated.
Marblehead could get per-
mission only if it found a way
to offset the additional pollu-,
tion it would cause. It finally
came up with a plan to do so.
By improving collection effi-
ciency at an existing Marble-
head plant and resurfacing
nearly one mile of roadway
owned by another company,
the company would reduce
emissions to the area's air by i
more than 144.7 tons a year.
This would more than offset the
emissions of the converted
kiln. As a result of the actions
to be taken, air quality would
actually improve. The settle-
ment also means an increased
tax base for a beneficial impact
on the balance of trade since
'lime previously had to be
imported from Canada.
Camp Grayling (Mich.). The
National Guard base here was
aware that some local real
estate agents were selling prop-
erty bordering the base, which
contained a tank firing range.
It was also known that prospec-
tive buyers had no way to judge
the noise level emitting from
the range. The Guard contacted
noise program staff in EPA's
Region 5, who after conducting
tests, prepared a report show-
ing actual noise measurements
at specific locations and
providing a formula for pre-
dicting levels at any distance.
The Guard used the results to
relocate the range to reduce the
noise levels off the base. Both
landowners and prospective
buyers are now benefiting
from this cooperative venture.
Noise levels off the base are
lower and prospective home
buyers can get the facts about
noise conditions.
Denver (Colo.). As organic
material in municipal garbage
decays underground in land-
fills, methane gas is produced.
While methane is a clean fuel,
it can also be an explosion
hazard when it reaches par-
ticular concentrations in
enclosed spaces. In the Denver
area, four children were
seriously burned in 1976 in a
flash methane fire at a con-
struction site where they were
playing and in 1977 two
workmen were killed in a
methane explosion while
working on a sewer.
In cooperation with the
Colorado Department of Health,
EPA's Denver regional solid
waste office hired a contractor
to examine 22 old metro-area
landfills. Nineteen were found
to be generating sufficient
methane to be hazardous. The
situation was complicated
further by the fact that many of
the former landfill sites have
been built on. Schools,
churches, shopping centers,
and apartment buildings now
sit above the former landfills.
With increasing recognition
of the potential problem, local,
State, and Federal agencies
organized the Intergovern-
mental Methane Task Force to
collect and disseminate the
most up-to-date information to
builders, developers, communi-
ties, and governments.
In March, 1979, more than
200 participants from 29
States, Australia, and Canada
met in Denver to share infor-
mation on the problems and
promise of methane . . .
promise, because methane can
be used as fuel.. In fact, a
Department of Energy study
is now underway to establish
the feasibility of "piping"
seven landfills together and
collecting the gas.
Additional sites are now set
for examination and policies
are being developed to guide
further public protection
measures.
HCN Cylinders: (New Jersey).
During the 1950's and 1960's,
the American Cyanamid Com-
pany filled and distributed
cylinders with liquid hydro-
cyanic acid (HCN), a fumigant
used widely in the grain indus-
try to control insects and
rodents. Some 100 of the old
cylinders are unaccounted for,
causing safety concerns. The
chemicals become unstable as
the cylinders age, and if
moved, the containers might
explode. In cooperation with
EPA, American Cyanamid,
headquartered in New Jersey,
has worked out a new, protec-
tive procedure for disposal,
using techniques that reduce
the threat of danger of explo-
sion as the cylinders are found.
Another New Jersey chemical
company, as a result of the
American Cyanamid'experi-
ence, has also cooperated in
a similar effort.
Portland (Ore.). Vehicle in-
spection and maintenance pro-
grams were shown to be effec-
tive in reducing two major
urban air pollutants—hydro-
carbons and carbon monoxide
—by a major EPA study con-
ducted in Portland. The cars in
the study which required repair
generally only needed minor
tune-up work to pass State
inspection. And while the
average cost of repair for cars
requiring it was $29.47, for
half these cars the cost was $14
or less.
Tussock Moth Outbreaks
(Pacific Northwest). The U.S.
Department of Agriculture has
developed new techniques to
control tussock moth outbreaks
in the Douglas fir forests of the
Pacific Northwest. The USDA
research program was triggered
by EPA's cancellation in 1972
of most uses of the pesticide
DDT. In, 1974 the timber indus-
try sought an emergency
exemption to allow continued
use of DDT in controlling
tussock moths. EPA granted
the exemption on the condition
that a comprehensive research
program be undertaken to find
alternatives to DDT. By 1978,
acceptable alternatives had
been developed. Outbreaks of
the moths can now be detected
before they reach epidemic
proportions so that immediate
corrective action can be taken
on a localized basis. The USDA
has also developed methods
using Tussock moth-killing
bacteria and a new chemical
pesticide as alternatives to
DDT. Meanwhile, new inte-
grated pest management tech-
niques are thought to be within
reach. As a result millions of
board feet of valuable timber
are being protected at less
hazard to the environment. D
24
EPA JOURNAL
-------
Continued from page 23
remaining problems should be
eliminated once all the planned
facilities are placed in
operation.
Bays and
Harbors
Uscambia Bay, Pensacola
J-J Bay, and East Bay (Fla.).
Before nearby industrialization
and heavy development, these
three large, interconnected
bays supported a rich variety of
marine life including speckled
trout, oysters, shrimp, and even
porpoises. There were impor-
tant commercial oyster and
shrimp fisheries. The clean
sandy bottoms and clear blue
waters also made it pleasant
to wade and swim, attracting
thousands of tourists each year.
Then, by the late 1960's
and early 1970's, the condition
of the complex of bays had
deteriorated so rapidly that
they appeared to be polluted
beyond hope of recovery. The
oysters and speckled trout
were gone—and so were the
porpoises. Commercial shrimp
landings were down 99 per
cent. Those brave enough to
wade into the water trudged
around in sludge and, if they
stayed in too long, were in
danger of developing a skin
eruption. Furthermore, the
entire 140 square mije estuary
was in an advanced state of
eutrophication, and fish kills
were rampant, especially
among the gulf menhaden, a
small fish of considerable
commercial importance. The
biggest kill, which occurred
in September, 1971, was so
large that it had to be measured
in miles of dead fish.
The principal polluters were
industries that had grown
rapidly in the 1950's. Among
them were plants producing
fertilizer, alcohol, ammonia,
polyvinyl chloride, and nylon
fiber. Inadequately treated
municipal wastewateralso
played a major role, as did
thermal pollution from a manu-
facturing plant and a power
plant. Furthermore, tidal cir-
culation was impeded by a
dense barrier of pilings from
a railway bridge.
With stringent pollution con-
trol efforts and the removal of
unneeded bridge pilings, the
system of bays was, by 1976,
well on the way to a substantial
recovery. Shrimp, oysters,
and menhaden were all return-
ing to the estuary's waters.
Although fish kills still occur,
they are much less frequent
or severe, and planned pollu-
tion controls are expected to
eliminate them completely.
Kodiak Harbor (Alaska). Since
1967, the residents of Kodiak
had complained of foul odors,
which were due to wastes from
the town's 15 seafood proc-
essing plants. Untreated
wastes, including decomposed
fish and shellfish, were dumped
under the docks and into the
inner harbor. As a result,
dissolved oxygen levels
dropped to about 6 to 10 per-
cent of normal. These low
dissolved oxygen levels cannot
support a healthy community of
marine organisms. Furthermore,
50 acres of harbor bottom were
matted over with a black, foul-
smelling sludge from which
toxic and noxious hydrogen
sulfide gas bubbled to the
surface.
But since 1973 there has
been a drastic reduction in
indiscriminate waste disposal
by the processors. One com-
pany responded to the problem
by building a facility to convert
solid seafood waste into a dry,
packaged protein meal for
export as animal feed. Kodiak
Harbor should now be meeting
all water quality standards.
Grays Harbor (Wash.), pro-
vides a point of passage for
migrating salmon. Dissolved
oxygen levels, however, had
dropped so low that salmon
could no longer survive the
passage.
The harbor was suffering
water quality problems due to
numerous different pollution
sources, among them: bacterial
contamination from raw
sewage overflows, depleted
oxygen due to wastes from
pulp mills and runoff from log
wastes, as well as wastes from
cranberry processors and sea-
food processors. Agricultural
runoff also played a role.
Recent pollution controls
have doubled the dissolved
oxygen levels, so the salmon
can once again pass freely.
And plans are underway to
control the municipal wastes
as well as the other point and
non-point sources responsible
for much of the remaining
problems.
Waterways
Made
by People
HPhe Houston Ship Channel
•*• (Tex.), was opened in
1913, and in the years imme-
diately thereafter, there were
no serious water quality prob-
lems. Buffalo Bayou, which
winds through the City of
Houston and forms the
channel's upper reaches, was
a lazy little stream notable for
its Sunday swimming and
canoe races.
But with Houston's growth
into the Nation's third largest
port and with explosive indus-
trial development along the
channel's banks, water quality
began to deteriorate. By the
early 1970's, EPA called the
channel one of the ten most
polluted major waterways in
the Nation. Since then, signifi-
cant reductions in discharge
levels have been achieved.
Oxygen-demanding waste
(BOD) discharge levels, which
were 400,000 pounds a day in
1970, were expected to have
decreased by 90 percent by
the end of 1979. The result is
the return of dolphins to the
lower end of the channel and
the return of fish, including
tarpon, to within five miles of
the turning basin at the upper
end.
There is, however, a new
worry: heavy concentration of
industry along the channel's
upper end has led to concern
about the possibility of high
levels of toxic pollutants.
Dillon Reservoir (Colo.),
located high on the Continental
Divide, was built to supply
drinking water to Denver. In
the early 1960's, only 2,000
people were living in its
watershed and its water was of
very high quality. But the
reservoir itself stimulated the
growth of a major resort area
and by 1972, there were
55,000 housing units built,
under construction, or planned.
Furthermore, the recreational
use rate, measured in visitor
days, rose from 43,000 in
1966 to one million in 1976.
The possibility of accelerated
eutrophication and related
harmful impacts on water
quality loomed.
By 1976, four of the ten
wastewater treatment plants
above the reservoir had been
upgraded to advanced treat-
ment and four others had been
phased out. These reductions
in pollution from point sources
helped, and will continue to
help, maintain high water
quality in the reservoir. Con-
stant vigilance will be needed
to protect the quality since the
reservoir remains susceptible
to accelerated eutrophication
that could be fueled by in-
creasing growth pressures in
the immediate and surrounding
area.
Preserving
the Wetlands
Tulalip Landfill
(Wash.). Until last year,
5,000 tons per week of Seattle
solid waste was disposed of in
a large dump on the Tulalip
Indian Reservation. The dump,
located on vulnerable wetlands
adjacent to Puget Sound,
posed a significant threat to
the fisheries and wildlife re-
sources of the entire Sound
and endangered the quality of
nearby waters used by water-
skiers, boaters, and scuba
divers.
Legal complications arose
because the Tulalip Reser-
vation does not fall within the
jurisdiction of State or local
authorities. So EPA itself had
to intervene, finally obtaining
a consent decree requiring
closure of the dump byrApril
of 1979. The fragile ecosystem
of the Puget Sound wetlands
is now safe from these hazards
to which it was too long
exposed.
JANUARY 1980
25
-------
Decade
The 1 970's were a decade
of historic environmental
achievement.
How will the 1 980's compare?
EPA Journal has asked
that question of a wide spectrum
of leaders who are concerned
about the environment.
Here are their answers:
26
EPAJOURNAL
-------
Rene Dubos
Professor Emeritus
Rockefeller University
Pulitzer Prize-winning author
on environmental subjects
f f Mybeliefisthattheright
H H to a good environment is
now taken for granted by the
immense majority of the popu-
lation. Because of that it seems
to me that people will not
accept some of the conditions
that they took for granted only
ten years ago. They will not
accept the amount of soot and
sulfur dioxide that was in the
air of New York City only 10 to
15 years ago. They will not
accept the amount of garbage
that there was in the Hudson
River or Jamaica Bay.
Even if the controls over
environmental pollution are
relaxed, I think the present
gains will be maintained.
Moreover, some of the labor
organizations are beginning to
demand that environmental
quality be maintained within
the factories, which means that
there will be if anything a
further improvement in the
places of work.
What I'm not so sure of is
whether people will develop
sufficient concern for the
esthetic aspects of the envi-
ronment. So my conclusion
would be that there will not be
a loss of environmental quality
with regard to pollution, but I
only can express hope that the
concern for environmental
quality will extend to
its {esthetic aspects.
i t>i i ia i
55
U.S. Senator
Edmund S. Muskie
Chairman,. Subcommittee on
Environmental Pollution
f f Near the beginning of
H H the last decade, I said in
a speech that America was
awakening to a new age. I said
it would be an age when we in
America finally realize that our
world is not a cornucopia.
There would be limits to re-
sources, limits to air, water,
and land, limits to the ability to
sustain human life.
Going into the 1980's, these
limits will surely not expand
and the quality of our environ-
ment will still depend on how
we respond to pressures that
will come from those who
would bypass environmental
law in the name of energy and
emasculate important regula-
tions in the guise of cutting
red tape.
The beginning of a new
year, or a new decade, does
not necessarily change the
status of our environment or
what we must do as a Nation to
maintain its quality. But the
1980's will present us with a
new environmental challenge.
We made tremendous progress
in the 1970's with the enact-
ment of the Clean Water Act,
the Clean Air Act, the Toxic
Substances Control Act, the
National Environmental Pol-
icy Act, the Safe Drinking
Water Act, and many other
landmark pieces of legislation.
But our environment in the
1980's will be best served if
we take on the challenge of
implementing the legislative
victories that we have
already achieved.
Philip Ca I dwell
President, Ford Motor Company
The outlook for the envi-
ronment is very promis-
ing for the decade of the eighties
because we now know that it is
possible to reverse environ-
mental damage. Much has been
done to make our air and water
clearer and cleaner. We have
a better understanding of the
roles our forests and wetlands
play in the maintenance of
our ecosystems. The American
people will demand that
environmental considerations
continue to be weighed in our
future economic expansion.
To facilitate weighing these
considerations, we are develop-
ing more effective systems for
measuring both the costs and
the benefits of alternative
plans for controlling pollutants.
The task ahead is to maintain
the country's economic health
as we improve the environment.
That task requires achieving
an optimum balance among
public health needs, environ-
mental considerations, energy
objectives, and economic
goals. Making such judgments
is never easy, but I am convinced
we are learning to make
them more effectively.
Janet Welsh Brown
Executive Director
Environmental Defense Fund
f f Things are likely to get
• H worse before they get
better, but they will get better
in the 1980's. Steady pressure
in the name of energy develop-
ment and inflation control will
continue in the early 1980's to
roll back some standards
protecting the environment.
We will see further selective
erosion of laws and degrada-
tion of the environment. In
some cases this will be steady
and incremental—as in the
increase in acid rain and carbon
dioxide—and in others the
damage will be dramatic and
irreversible—as in the destruc-
tion of land and contamination
of water associated with huge
strip mining and synfuel ven-
tures, okayed for the "fast
track" by the Energy Mobiliza-
tion Board.
But public awareness of the
health, environmental, and
economic costs of misusing our
air and water and land will
not diminish. It will continue
the phenomenal growth it
had in the 1970's. As more
and more citizens—and their
elected officials—increase
their understanding of the
i elationship between the envi-
ronment and human welfare,
as the cost of degradation
becomes clearer, as people
realize that synfuels are not
filling their gas tanks while
renewable resources take on
their share of the job, then we
will see a remarkable and per-
manent nationwide turn toward
environmentally sound solu-
tions to our energy and other
resource problems. It will bring
by the end of the 1980's a
reversal of policies and
strategies that now threaten
the hard-won gains |
of the 1970's.
55
55
Gloria Steinem
Editor
Ms. Magazine
f f As Americans who stand
HI largely outside the tech-
nological establishment,
women may be better able to
see the cost to this country and
this Earth of the drive toward
the technological profiteering
of the powerful few.
As the majority of com-
munity leaders, we are also
more likely to support populist
concerns within the environ-
mental movement, instead of
the more elitist concerns that
are important but have limited
appeal.
For both these reasons of
an outsider's clarity of vision
plus inside community involve-
ment, I believe that the
women's movement and the
environmental movement will
and must become more synony-
mous in the 1980's. Women
have always been the troops
of environmental work, but
have tended to be displaced
when salaries, organizations,
and hierarchy have been
introduced.
In the 1980's, women will be
in the leadership as well as in
the ranks of environ- • •
mental preservation.
Cecil D. Andrus
Secretary of the Interior
The next decade pre-
sents a stern test for
those who care deeply about
environmental values. The
American public has sig-
nalled many times that it is
seriously concerned about
our environment and is willing
to pay for its cleanup and
protection. But we must under-
stand that no one can sign a
blank check for open-ended
costs. Our national economy
and our resilient political sys-
tem have their limits too. As
we struggle to break free of
over-dependence on OPEC oil,
and try at the same time to
maintain high living standards
and control inflation, we face
growing internal pressures.
Public impatience with seem-
ingly endless delays based on
environmental purity could
lead to a bitter backlash from
voters who need jobs and
understandably want to proceed
toward energy independence.
Environmentalists must learn
to forego the dubious battles
for lost causes, and concen-
trate instead on the big oppor-
tunities to win new ground and
defend gains already won.
Development and technology
can co-exist with a clean
environment and in fact can
help achieve one, if we are
wise enough to strike the right
balances. Man and his natural
JANUARY 1980
27
-------
surroundings are fated to live
together in tension, not perfect
timeless harmony. Let us make
that tension creative and SB •
turn it to worthwhile ends. T? **
Frank Wallick
Co-Chairperson
Urban Environment Conference
Editor, United Auto Workers
Washington Report
f f There are setbacks—
H H but on balance I thinkthe
environmental movement is
making great strides to clean
up and making us all aware of
the air where we live and work.
I hope the old-line environ-
mentalists will increasingly
realize that the worst, most
polluted environment is where
millions of men and women
work. This clean-up of the work
place will take the skills and
insights of the best en-
vironmentalists among us.
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
President
National Urban League
f jf Environmentalist! in
m H the 1980's will have to
become increasingly involved
with the needs of people living
in urban areas. This is where
the majority of Americans
are located and where environ-
mental problems pose the
greatest danger to health and
well-being. And the urban
environment has to be seen as
more than air or water quality,
for it also embraces economic
and housing opportunities as
well. These latter two elements
cannot be viewed as uncon-
nected to environmental
issues in the 1980's as they
have been in the 1970's, if our
cities are to be made live-
able for all our citizens.
55
William G. Milliken
Governor of Michigan
f f The environment will
H H farewell in the 1980's
because environmental con-
sciousness has been firmly
established in governmental
decision-making processes.
The National Environmental
Policy Act, the Endangered
Species Act, and Clean Air and
Clean Water Acts are examples
of actions which require con-
sideration of the impacts of
our decisions on our natural
world.
Perhaps one of our greatest
challenges in the upcoming
decade will be to reconcile the
need to move toward energy
independence with the need
to protect our ecosystem.
Those of us who are con-
servation minded must be
diligent in our efforts to assure
that we do not retreat from the
progress we have made, for
our children—and theirs—
share a right to the bounties of
the Earth that is equal to |
our own.
55
Lloyd McBride
President
United Steelworkers of America
Cf The easy answer is that
H we will see slow but
steady progress in cleaning up
the environment during the
1980's. The more significant
answer, though, is that we are
probably at a crossroad right
now that will determine
whether the progress will be
far slower and far less steady
than it ought to be. For the
most part the laws we need for
environmental controls in the
workplace and in the general
environment are on the books.
What remains to be seen is if
we have the political resolve to
enforce those laws both by
retro-fitting existing pollution
sources and by assuring that
future economic, industrial, and
energy development be carried
out in an environmentally sound
manner.
I fear that our national will to
do so is very close to being
weakened. Politically attractive
calls for regulatory "reform"
threaten to beguile us into regu-
latory paralysis, and energy
programs may needlessly be
allowed to stampede over sub-
stantive environmental safe-
guards. While regulatory pro-
grams are often claimed to be
impediments to economic and
energy solutions, those prob-
lems require far more basic and
structural solutions than tinker-
ing with or even removing regu-
latory programs.
A loss of our environmental
will would indeed be short-
sighted. It would mean more
health suffering and other so-
cial costs that accompany pol-
lution; it would increase the
costs of controls that ultimately
will have to be imposed; and it
would continue mismanage-
ment of our depletable re-
sources. We have the tools to
make the 1980's a decade of
solid environmental progress.
It only remains to be seen
whether we will be forward
thinking enough
to use them.
Maggie Kuhn
National Convenor
Gray Panthers
f f I am optimistic about the
H H health of the environ-
ment in the future, if we utilize
our resources and energies to
look to new solutions. Personal
problems and needs cannot be
dealt with without fundamental
social, economic, and political
change.
In a modern society of com-
peting, conflicting special in-
terests and aggregates of power,
mediating forces must be found
and utilized. Alternative^ must
be found and made legitimate.
We should press for alterna-
tive sources of energy, safe
decentralized sources such as
solar systems, windmills whirl-
ing in backyards, solar green-
houses on every house. These
could supply our energy, a path
endorsed by 94 percent of the
American people according to
a recent Harris Poll.
I rejoice in the new interest
in neighborhoods. The neigh-
borhood can indeed be a medi-
ating, highly unifying force in
the reordering of our national
life and the survival and revival
of urban places.
The pollution created by oil
refineries, the poisoning of land
and water by varied chemical
wastes, must be exposed.
We can take the first step
forward by being responsible
critics of what we are now
doing, by supporting and build-
ing alternatives, and by creat-
ing support groups. Coalitions
with environmentalists and safe
energy groups are essential for
survival. We should be alert to
the environmental dangers to
our physical health and well
being. We are the best possible
stewards and protectors • •
of the environment. 77
S. David Freeman
Chairman, Board of Directors,
Tennessee Valley A uthority
America woke up in the
1970's to the realization
that its life-sustaining resources
were endangered. The chal-
lenge for the 1980's is to avoid
going back to sleep. We are at
a dangerous fork in the road.
The energy shortages should
reinforce our awareness that all
of our resources are finite. Yet
there is a nasty backlash in the
air, aided by the red tape with
which some environmental laws
have become encumbered. The
challenge for the 1980's is to
advance environmental protec-
tion, especially the protection
of our land—a job that hasihard-
ly been initiated. The prospects
are by no means bleak if • •
we focus on substance. 77
Esther Peterson
Special A ssistant to the
President, for Consumer A ffairs
f f A fresh breeze is blow-
H H ing that bodes well for
the 1980's. Not only can we
understand that statement in its
literal sense—our efforts to
reduce air pollution are having
some effect—but many con-
sumers are thinking "environ-
ment" as they evaluate what
they buy. Assuming this trend
goes on, we can expect less
noise around the home, more
small cars and bicycles on
roadways, fewer broken bottles
and torn plastic packages in our
landfills and on our streets.
As the media now animated-
ly share news and documen-
taries on environmental traumas
such as oil slicks, toxic chemi-
cal seepages into backyards
and drinking water, so we can
expect the media to build such
concerns into their television
dramas, talk shows, and syndi-
cated columns during the next
decade. Affected consumers,
themselves, will probably be-
come major media focuses.
The viewers/readers will be
that much more motivated to
act in the interest of their sur-
vival, their health, and the ulti-
mate cost that society would
incur from not protecting our
environment.
The consumer movement
may well help our 1980's en-
vironment by taking advantage
of the economic benefits in
28
EPAJOURNAL
-------
returnable containers and re-
cycled products. The more con-
sumers support such choices,
the more employment will be
generated by environmen-
tally "healthy" business, f
55
U.S. Representative
Bob Eckhardt
Chairman
House Commerce
Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations
I am concerned about
the Administration's ab-
sorption with the intermediate
situation concerning energy
production problems in the en-
vironment and its failure to
first address the immediate
problems and then most seri-
ously consider the long term
problems. The most counter-
productive program with re-
spect to both inflation and the
long term problem of environ-
ment is a crash program of
producing synthetic fuels.
Also, Congress and the
Presidency have caught the
deregulation fever. The failure
to establish standards of con-
trol and restraint has already
sowed mine beds of hazardous
waste and the relaxation of air
quality standards now threatens
to make of the Earth a poisoned
hothouse where life is at best
uncomfortable and at worst
unbearable. Too much atten-
tion has been given to the un-
predictable intermediate future
and not enough to the observ-
able present and predictable
final result of a failure to plan
and regulate intelligently.DB H
Gus Speth
Chairman, President's Council
on Environmental Quality
L L I am confident that the
B H 1980'swill see a contin-
uation of the progress we have
made during the past decade in
protecting our environment and
natural resources. Despite our
short term economic and en-
ergy problems, the basic com-
mitment of the American people
to a clean, safe, and healthy
environment remains strong.
Americans want their cities to
be free of air pollution, trash,
and noise. They want natural
areas nearby where they can
fish and hunt and hike. They
want to be able to work and
play without worrying about ill
effects from toxic chemicals or
nuclear power plants. More
than ever before, the American
people appreciate that this is
the only planet we have, and
that we must walk
softly on it.
Anthony Wayne Smith
President, National Parks and
Conservation Association
mL £ The state of the environ-
B B ment today is notorious-
ly poor, and the prospects for
improvement are dim. The
plunge toward coal and nuclear
power is dangerous; we should
move into the oil to natural gas
to methane and hydrogen se-
quence in the pipelines for cities,
industries, and power plants;
we should go from gasoline to
gasohol to alcohol for autos
and airplanes; we should go for
cogeneration, wind turbines,
windmills, and the mass pro-
duction of photovoltaic cells.
We should get urban sprawl
under control, partly by focus-
ing Federal programs on urban
renovation. We should expand
protection for parks, forests,
wildlife, rivers, and country-
side, and spend the nee-1
essary public funds.
55
Ruth C. Clusen
Assistant Secretary
for Environment
U.S. Department of Energy
£ £ The state of America's
• • energy supply and the
state of her environment will be
bound even more closely in the
1980's than ever before. Na-
tional policy calls for using
more and more coal in place of
oil while the development of
alternative energy sources con-
tinues. Coal is dirty, but plenti-
ful. Feasible but expensive
environmental control technol-
ogies will have to be used in
direct and indirect coal burn-
ing. Conservation will provide
a bridge over the economic
maelstrom until renewable
energy sources are able to
power the United States. Envi-
ronmentalists will have to take
a more moderate role if they
want the gains of the sixties and
seventies to last. Environmen-
tal groups should continue ac-
tions in Congress, in state-
houses, in courthouses, and
city halls to protect existing
environmental laws; get their
priorities in order so that the
more critical issues will receive
major attention; make a better
case for the economic advan-
tages of conservation and envi-
ronmental protection. The en-
vironmental ethic is established
firmly in the American con-
sciousness, and what will be
needed is a more responsible
partnership between decision-
makers and activists to permit
us to cope with the energy
crisis without environ-
mental degradation.
James H. Evans
Chairman
Environmental Task Force
The Business Roundtable
and Chairman
Union Pacific Corporation
• H 'n *^e s'xt'es we recog-
™ • nized that our air and
water resources are finite. In
the seventies Congress passed
a series of laws and EPA issued
regulations to protect and en-
hance our national environmen-
tal resources. By the end of the
seventies, we learned that there
are technical and financial lim-
its to our ability to achieve
absolute environmental goals.
We also learned that some en-
vironmental strategies can pose
obstacles to the achievement of
other, equally important, na-
tional goals.
In the 1980's Congress and
EPA should continue to re-
assess existing environmental
priorities and programs. Envi-
ronmental goals determined to
be ineffective should be modi-
fied to make resources available
for more efficient environmental
programs.
A critical reevaluation of
existing and new regulations
should emphasize the scientific
and technical justification for
each control strategy and ex-
plore cost-effective compari-
sons of alternative environ-
mental programs.
During the 1980's we
should strive to select balanced
environmental strategies and
goals which permit achieve-
ment of the Nation's economic
and energy goals, while at the
same time continuing to enjoy
an improving level of
environmental quality.
."_> tH I J W J
55
Jack Lorenz
Executive Director
Izaak Walton League of America
f- L The environment is not
B B likely to improve in the
1980's. It is possible that we
will lose some of the ground
gained in the 1970's.
Key factors are pressure for
rapid energy development, a
faltering economy, unstable po-
litical conditions in energy-rich
Third World nations, growing
resistance to environmental
regulation, and public dissatis-
faction with the Federal
Government.
These conditions are work-
ing together to force the envi-
ronmental community to estab-
lish strategies that will hold the
line on the progress of the past
decade.
New proposals will and
should come forth, but they
must be built on those that pre-
ceded them. Retention of that
foundation will be our
greatest challenge.
Ruth J. Hinerfeld
President, League of
Women Voters of the U.S.
L £ With each passing day
• B the public has grown
more aware that our natural
resources are very limited. And
with this realization comes the
acceptance that the 1980's will
require continued efforts to
abate pollution, deal with haz-
ardous wastes, preserve farm-
lands, encourage wise land use,
and influence other major en-
vironmental decisions.
A personal environmental
ethic has evolved—one which
we believe will flourish in the
1980's if nurtured. People no
longer talk about energy and
environmental conservation in
the abstract—they practice it.
They recycle solid waste, con-
serve energy, and do their part
to help save our resources.
The public has become in-
creasingly aware of the danger
of assuming that major prob-
lems we face in coping with
high inflation, energy needs,
limited food supplies, and other
JANUARY 1980
29
-------
areas can be easily solved at
the expense of the environment.
Society will always face con-
flicting values and needs. But
citizens have begun to realize
that we must be on guard lest
environmental protections be
sacrificed in the rush to con-
front complex national and
international problems.
The issues of the 1980's will
include: preserving American
farmland to insure adequate
food supplies; coming to grips
with the impact of various forms
of energy development; learn-
ing much more about hazardous
materials; focusing on the
impact of diffuse sources of
pollution from urban and rural
areas on water quality; deal-
ing with the acid precipitation
issue.
We have learned through
experience that protecting the
environment is a dynamic
process and citizens must con-
tinue to play a role • •
in this vital effort. ^ ^
U.S. Representative
Toby Moffett
Chairman of the Environment,
Energy, and Natural Resources
Subcommittee
f f Industry's neglect of
H H environmental dangers
will surely haunt us more and
more in the 1980's. It is con-
ceivable that the energy short-
age of today could be the clean
water shortage of the 1980's.
New and different distinctions
must be made in mapping out
energy-environmental policy:
How can our existing energy
supplies be used more efficient-
ly? What costs are being dis-
placed to the consumer? What
hidden, deferred costs are in-
volved in a particular energy
source or process? In our drive
to produce more energy from
depletable resources, we too
easily ignore the cleaner, safer,
renewable energy sources. The
frightening irony is that we are
sacrificing strong environmen-
tal protection precisely when
the risks are highest. . . and
when better alternatives
are available.
Russell Peterson
President
National Audubon Society
f f.The environmental de-
H • terioration of the past
century is largely energy related.
The digging and burning of coal,
the transporting and,burning of
oil, and the indiscriminate
cutting and burning of trees,
have had a devastatingjimpact
on our life-support systems.
The end of the petroleum era
is fast approaching. Now is the
time to dedicate ourselves to
using our remaining fossil fuels
more efficiently, while develop-
ing renewable solar resources
that will provide future genera-
tions with safe, clean, endless
energy.
This dual approach—more
efficient use of energy and de-
velopment of solar energy—
provides an environmentally
sound path into the future. Suc-
cess in this venture will permit
us to make the nuclear fission
period a brief one and thereby
minimize the threats to life cur-
rently accumulating from
this alternate energy path.'
U.S. Representative
Joseph L. Fisher
Co-Chairman, Environmental
Study Conference
f f The 1980's will see con-
H • tinuing pressure on the
natural environment, both urban
and rural. But the pressure may
diminish somewhat with slower
population and economic
growth and if progress toward
cleaner air, water, and indus-
trial products mandated by laws
passed in the late 1960's and
the 1970's can be maintained.
In the early part of the 1980's a
strategic retreat on a few fronts
may be necessary to enable the
speedy laundering of a syn-
thetic fuels program and an
acceleration of investment gen-
erally. The best energy bets for
the 1980's are conservation,
solar applications, as well as
research and development,
renewable sources, and, at
least a few new, environmen-
tally sound, big ticket items.
One hopes that the environ-
mental movement has come of
age and that the American
people will expect and be will-
ing to pay for a cleaner, health-
ier, safer environment in '• •
the 1980's and beyond. ^ Jf
David R. Brower
Chairman of the Board
Friends of the Earth
f jf The 1980's will be the
H H either/or decade. We
could choose the soft energy
path, a concept invented by
Amory Lovins. It can lead to a
recovery of the senses. It is a
world energy strategy for attain-
ing a sustainable global society
'fueled by renewable energy,
phasing out the use of fossil
fuels in half a century, and re-
quiring no nuclear energy at all.
It minimizes the need for costly
electricity, for hard to get cap-
ital, for vulnerable overcen-
tralization, and for waste. It
matches the energy needed
with the most logical source.
Or we could choose the hard
path which is just the opposite.
Mr. Lovins has made clear the
many reasons for choosing
without further delay the soft
path.
Many individuals and some
corporations are already mak-
ing that choice. By concentrat-
ing on energy productivity and
conservation, they have made
available, in the last five years,
two and one half times as much
new energy supply as has been
provided by alternative hard
path routes, including energy
imports,
The Congress and the Ad-
ministration have been slow to
perceive the importance of the
soft path. They are rushing
down the hard path seeking
strength through exhaustion,
providing energy for a brief
America.
A swift change in course,
profiting from the soft path
energy studies here and abroad,
can vastly improve the world's
chance to enhance equity,
create jobs, reduce the triple
threats of inflation, acid rain,
and nuclear proliferation, and
preserve irreplaceable re-
sources inanimate
and living.
Michael McCloskey
Executive Director
The Sierra Club
The shape of environ-
mental work in the
1980's will be forged by the
course of arguments over the
scarcity of high-grade re-
sources. The depletion of oil, in
particular, will fuel high rates
of inflation and economic in-
stability. The high cost of ex-
ploiting low-grade resources
will produce two sets of quite
different pressures on the envi-
ronment: severe pressures on
one hand to improve produc-
tivity by trying to cut environ-
mental investments and less
consumption and throughput of
raw materials on the other
hand. Thus, the economics of
scarcity may push us towards
becoming a "conserver so-
ciety" because we can not
afford conspicuous consump-
tion anymore. But there will
also be loud voices claiming
that we can not afford to install
new pollution control devices.
One can hope that slower
growth in pollution will offset
growing resistance to
pollution controls.
M. Rupert Cutler
A ssistant Secretary for Natural
Resources and Environment
Department of Agriculture
f f The people of America
• H know full well that envi-
ronmental protection cannot be
sacrificed if we are to remain a
thriving, productive Nation.
Farmers, ranchers, and ur-
ban dwellers realize that the
quantity and quality of water,
soil, forests, and other natural
resources must not be
degraded.
People will not tolerate fur-
ther pollution that is hazardous
to their health.
There are many other bene-
fits from environmental protec-
tion, but those which have eco-
nomic and health values will
serve as substantial bulwarks
against emerging pressures to
gouge our natural resources
and lower standards against
pollution.
We must dedicate ourselves
to carrying out the
people's will.
Allan Grant
President, American Farm
Bureau Federation
We have reached a
cross-roads in environ-
mental regulation. Adequate
laws are now on the books to
assure protection of the air,
water, and land. However, these
laws will survive Congressional
oversight only if EPA imple-
30
EPAJOURNAL
-------
ments them reasonably, respon-
sibly, and within clearly defined
boundaries of scientific knowl-
edge. The day is past when
EPA will be allowed to initiate
regulatory action in response to
unsubstantiated demands.
Implementation and enforce-
ment of environmental regula-
tions will have to be in harmony
with intelligent economic
growth and development so
that environmental decisions
show a dedication to the great-
est good for the greatest num-
ber in our overall society.
Without a healthy economy,
and the resultant employment
opportunities, industrial expan-
sion, and reasonable profits,
the country will be unable to
achieve any of its long-term fi-
nancial objectives, be they
environmental enhancement,
social security, or
national defense.
Denis Hayes
Director, Solar Energy
Research Institute
f f The 1980's promise to
I I be a decade of transition
during which energy-related
environmental problems will
call urgently for resolution.
Wisdom dictates an energy
economy resembling a climax
forest ecosystem in which en-
ergy is allocated in efficient,
sustainable patterns. Solar and
other renewable energy sour-
ces, with their benign environ-
mental impact, offer us an oppor-
tunity to move toward such an
economy. Shortsighted fixes
would carry dire and perhaps ir-
reversible consequences for the
environment. This is a\ time for
us to take the longer view and
accelerate our switch
to renewable energy.
Thomas Ehrlich
Director, U.S. International
Development Cooperation
Agency
L f The outlook is positive.
• H The developing coun-
tries of the world have changed
their perception of environmen-
tal concerns dramatically since
the Stockholm Conference in
1972. Most now see the neces-
sity of environmentally-sound
development and the pursuit of
Programs to restore or protect
the natural resource base on
which future development
depends.
The problems and priorities
of desertification, water man-
agement, deforestation, habitat,
species loss, and environmen-
tal education are gaining wide-
spread recognition. Several
developing nations have estab-
lished ministries of the environ-
ment; others are learning more
about the extent of
their problems.
Thomas L. Kimball
Executive Vice President
National Wildlife Federation
« Emphasis in the 1980's
will center upon energy
shortages and economic short-
comings, with environmental-
ists being hard pressed to hold
gains recorded in the past dec-
ade. Our studies indicate that
the qualities of our air, water,
soil, forests, minerals, wildlife,
and living space resources are
either deteriorating or barely
holding steady. Unless the
Nation adopts a conservation
ethic particularly in light of our
expanding human population
with its increasing needs, we
are not optimistic about the
state of the environment for the
future. Such an ethic will re-
quire that we adopt simpler life
styles, doing more
with less.
55
Gray Jacobik
Project Coordinator
Year of the Coast
f f The fact that a new pub-
H H lie education campaign
that will involve hundreds of
thousands of people has re-
cently been launched, and that
this campaign—"1980: Year
of the Coast"—brings together
the support of fishermen, sports
and recreation users of the
coast, and labor and urban
groups as well as the environ-
mental community, is a good
indication that environmental
issues will continue to have
high visibility during the
1980's.
Environmental organizations
are still quite strong at all lev-
els: local, State, and national.
The Coast Alliance feels that
during the 1980's coastal zone
issues will be a major concern.
Environmental issues regarding
the coastal zone have not been
adequately addressed and the
full impact of the further degra-
dation of the shoreline in recent
years is just beginning to be
experienced. Specific concerns
such as offshore oil and gas
leasing, onshore facilities sit-
ing, and coastal water quality
will continue to be central. Loss
of food-producing land dueto
dredge and fill operations and
the health of fisheries in gen-
eral due to commercial devel-
opment as well as overfishing
will become an increasing con-
cern to Americans. Pressures
are not going to let
up on the coast.
55
Dr. David Rail
Director, National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences
and National Toxicology
Program
Legislative tools now in
place, the Toxic Sub-
stances Control Act, the Re-
source Conservation and Re-
covery Act, etc., were major
accomplishments of the 1970's.
The need now is to assure that
we have the scientific informa-
tion needed to use these tools
most effectively. The Depart-
ment of Health, Education, and
Welfare in establishing the
National Toxicology Program,
has taken a significant step to
coordinate and strengthen the
development of this necessary
scientific base. The actions we
take will be critical for the en-
vironment in the 1980's
and the1990's.
-
• •
^ ^
Dr. Hope S. Dougherty
National Director of 4H
Young people have a
major stake in how our
.Nation faces up to the prob-
lems of our environment and
energy. Moreover they want
a meaningful role in helping
to solve these problems as we
enter the eighties. To do so
they need opportunities to 1 )
become involved in individual
and group projects which con-
tribute to environment, 2) pro-
vide initiative and leadership in
a wide range of environmental
improvement efforts conducted
by local, area, and State envi-
ronmental organizations and
agencies, 3) explore careers
and educational opportunities
in environmental related fields,
and 4) become gainfully em-
ployed in furthering the devel-
opment and maintenance of
natural resources. Accordingly
a recent national 4H goals
document has recommended
that the 4H environmental im-
provement program must have
high priority and resources allo-
cation must be commensurate
with the need. Conservation and
wise use of 'our energy resour-
ces must be the theme of 4H
programs and related to all
pertinent subject matter areas.
These recommendations are
currently being implemented
in all State 4H programs
throughout theNation.
55
George H. Lawrence
President, The American Gas
Association
f f Increased use of natural
H H and supplemental
sources of gas in the future are
keys to protecting and enhanc-
ing our environment. Gas energy
is the cleanest major source of
energy available today. Com-
bustion of gas produces gen-
erally less air pollutants
than combustion of either coal
or oil using the best available
control technology. The in-
creased use of gas in stationary
installations has contributed
significantly to the improve-
ment of the Nation's air quality
since the 1960's.
New discoveries of domestic
gas as well as increased supply
from Mexico and Canada and
expanding imports should con-
tinue to make gas energy the
centerpiece of future energy
planning. For example, in-
creased use of gas energy dur-
ing peak pollution periods can
make it possible for us to use
30 percent more coal by using
just five percent more gas than
today and still comply with
currentair quality standards. In-
deed, the selective use of clean
gas energy could be the key to
overcoming the Nation's cur-
rent standoff between our na-
tional needs to increase coal
use while continuing to comply
with the Clean
Air Act. • • Q
JANUARY 1980
31
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State of the Environment: A Fact Sheet
Air
Water
Nationally, sulfur dioxide is
down 17 percent since 1972,
Dirt and smoke are down 8
percent. Carbon monoxide is
going down at a rate of 7 per-
cent a year.
Overall, the Nation's air quality
is improving. Combined data
from 25 major metropolitan
areas show that the number of
unhealthful days declined by 15
percent between 1974 and
1977 while the number of very
unhealthy days declined 32
percent.
Nine of the more populous and
more polluted areas in this
group showed even greater im-
provement, with a 35 percent
reduction in the number of un-
healthful days since 1974.
These improvements are mainly
attributable to a reduction in
automobile pollution.
Data from about 50 of the most
polluted counties across the
country show that violations of
ambient air quality standards
generally either stayed constant
or decreased between 1974
and 1977.
The greatest improvements
were made in reducing viola-
tions of the carbon monoxide
and sulfur dioxide standards.
Violations of the primary am-
bient air quality standard
(established to protect human
health) for these pollutants de-
clined by 43 percent and 54
percent, respectively, during
the 4-year period.
Air pollution has by no means
been eliminated. In 1977, the
air in 2 of the 41 urban areas
for which reliable data were
available still registered in the
"unhealthful" range for more
than two-thirds of the days of
the year. These two, the New
York and Los Angeles urban
areas, together contain almost
8 percent of the Nation's
population.
Except where footnoted, these figures are
from EPA-sponsored studies or the latest
annual report of the President's Council on
Environment Quality-
There were significant improve-
ments in dissolved oxygen
levels (the primary indicator of
pollution from sewag'e and
other organic matter)(in the
Northeast, South, and^Great
Lakes regions of the country
from 1971-2 to 1977-8.
Phosphorus levels also im-
proved across the country,
especially in the Great Lakes
area (where an international
agreement with Canada limited
phosphorus discharges) and
in the Southwest.
For most cities where data go
back far enough, analysis
shows definite improvement in
ambient water quality. For ex-
ample, a study of coliform
bacteria levels in rivers near 24
cities between 1968 and 1976
showed higher levels in only 4,
no change in 2, and lower levels
in 18. (Fecal coliform bacteria
are a common measure of
water pollution.)
EPA has found more than 70
examples of clear-cut improve-
ments in ambient water quality,
from Hawaii to Maine, and
from Alaska to Texas.
On July 1,1977, about 50 per-
cent of all major municipal dis-
chargers had achieved second-
ary treatment; about 80 percent
of all major industrial, dis-
chargers were using the "best
practicable" technology. For in-
dustrial discharges alone this
means a reduction of from 50
to 80 percent in key pollutants
since 1972.
As of September 30, 1979, EPA
had made grants of $24.2 bil-
lion to cover the Federal share
of 17,000 municipal waste-
water treatment projects. About
11,000 projects, representing
$22.1 billion, are in progress.
In the 6 years from 1973 to
1978, ocean dumping dropped
from about 10.9 million tons a
year to 8.3 million tons—a 24
percent decrease. This does not
include dumping of dredged
material. Federal law requires
a halt to the dumping of all
harmful municipal sewage
sludge by the end of 1981.
In October, 1979, EPA set pre-
treatment standards to control
discharges from the electro-
plating industry. This industry
is the largest single contributor
of metal wastes to public sewer
lines and treatment plants, ac-
counting for over 70 percent of
the cadmium and over one-third
of the cyanide known to be
discharged.
Toxics, Pesticides and Radiation
EPA has begun reviewing new
chemical substances before
they are manufactured for
commercial purposes to
evaluate any risks which they
may present to human health
and the environment. The
program officially began July
1,1979.
The Agency has also pub-
lished the country's first
comprehensive inventory of
chemicals produced in the U.S.
or imported here. This initial
listing of chemical names,
published June 1, 1979, has
43,278 compounds.
Nearly 400 new chemicals
are introduced into the market
each year. For the first time,
the government will be able to
review these substances before
their exposure to people or
the environment.
EPA's review program,
authorized by the Toxic Sub-
stances Control Act, requires
chemical manufacturers to
notify the Agency at least 90
days before they manufacture
new substances.
One of the highlights in the
pesticides area last year was
action by EPA on a new pro-
gram to encourage the use of
a class of pesticides called
biologicals. These include
bacteria, viruses, and naturally-
occurring biochemicals such as
insect sex lures. These pesti-
cides work on the target pest by
means other than poisoning
and generally affect a narrower
range of life forms.
The Federal pesticide law
authorizes EPA to help promote
the development and use of
such biologically integrated
alternatives for pest control.
A number of these agents
already have received approval
by EPA for either regular or
experimental use. These
biologicals now comprise less
than one percent of the 35,000
pesticide products marketed in
the United States.
In the radiation area. Agency
scientists early last year moni-
tored radiation levels in the
wake of Chinese nuclear testing
and found no evidence of
radioactive fallout in milk
samples taken from EPA's
national monitoring network or
in air particle samples.
Researchers reported no in-
crease in background radiation
levels because of the testing.
On another front, Administrator
Costle warned that some
Florida residents may suffer
increased risk from cancer due
to radioactive gases emitted by
phosphate-rich aoils under their
homes. Last fall EPA sent a
team of scientists to assist at
the site of the Three Mile
Island Nuclear reactor accident.
This team has been awarded
a gold medal for outstanding
performance and dedication in
establishing and conducting a
comprehensive environmental
radiation monitoring program
at the Three-Mile Island site.
32
EPA JOURNAL
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Noise
Hazardous and
Solid Wastes
Economics
In the past decade the number
of local noise control ordi-
nances has increased dramat-
ically. In 1972 only 59 munici-
palities had some type of noise
law. By 1977 that number had
grown to 1,607. Today, more
than 50 percent of the U.S.
municipal population lives in
localities having some degree
of noise legislation.
If current regulations control-
ling noise emissions from air-
craft are implemented, and if
special take-off procedures are
used, the number of adversely
affected people is expected to
decrease from about 6 million
to about 3.6 million by the year
2000, although it then may
grow again with increasing air
traffic.
It is estimated that as many as
20 to 25 million people—about
1 in 10 in the United States—
are exposed to noises of dura-
tion and intensity sufficient to
cause a permanent reduction in
their ability to hear. Of these,
10 to 15 million are estimated
to be workers exposed to ex-
cessive noise on the job.
Even now an estimated 13.5
million people in the United
States are exposed outdoors to
an average noise energy level
of 75 decibels or more from
transportation or recreation
vehicles, a great enough level to
cause risk of permanent dam-
age to hearing.
In the past two decades there
has been a dramatic increase in
the number of noise sources.
Ther&'are more cars, trucks, mo-
torcycles, and other vehicles;
there are more office typewrit-
ers, houses equipped with air
conditioners and labor saving
devices, and more industrial
plants.
The Love Canal disaster made
the hazardous waste problem
clear to everyone. An estimated
90 percent of hazardous wastes
is being disposed of in ways
that do not adequately protect
public health or the environ-
ment.
Working with the States and the
Justice Department, EPA has
investigated 300 hazardous
waste disposal sites; seven
major legal actions have been
initiated and many more are
under preparation. This effort
will be substantially expanded
during fiscal year 1980.
The hazardous waste regula-
tions will be promulgated over
the next several months. As
rulemaking progresses this
initial program will be strength-
ened and expanded on the basis
of information now being de-
veloped and assessed.
Standards for disposal of other
solid wastes on land were
issued by EPA in September,
1979. States will use these
standards to identify facilities
that need to be upgraded or
closed because of the adverse
effects they might have on
health or the environment.
EPA grants will aid 63 commu-
nities in planning and develop-
ing projects to recover materi-
als and energy from municipal
solid waste.
In addition to high interest and
activity in waste-to-energy
projects, there has been growth
in recycling programs. In 1978,
at least 218 cities had programs
for separate collection of re-
cyclables; 178 collected news-
papers only, the others col-
lected two or more materials
which could be recycled. More
than 500 buildings had office
paper recycling programs.
In many cases, environmental
regulation improves output and
productivity by speeding up the
reexamination of production
processes.
While it is nearly impossible to
completely quantify this posi-
tive aspect of regulation, some
examples make the point:
(1) Great Lakes Paper Com-
pany—installed an $8 million
closed cycle waste treatment
system, which they expect will
save $4 million a year in lower
costs for chemicals, water, and
energy while containing con-
taminated effluents.
(2) Long Island Lighting Com-
pany—used a magnesium fuel
additive to reduce sulfur tri-
oxide concentration. This not
only solved the environmental
problem but also produced
vanadium, a marketable by-
product. In 1978, the company
sold 362 tons of recovered
vanadium for $1.2 million,
saved $2 million in fuel be-
cause of increased thermal
efficiency, and saved $400,000
due to reduced boiler corrosion.
(3) Dow-Corning—found that
a $2.7 million capital invest-
ment in equipment to reduce
the amounts of chlorine and
hydrogen lost to the atmosphere
reduced operating costs by
$900,000 a year.
(4) The Georgia-Pacific Cor-
poration—developed a special
scrubbing system to eliminate
"blue haze" emissions caused
by plywood production. Collec-
tion of the airborne pitch pro-
duced a thick liquid that has a
BTU rating equivalent to #6
fuel oil. The company now uses
this residue as a fuel supple-
ment and collects enough to
replace 51,000 gallons of #6
fuel oil each year.
According to a 1979 study, if
1970 levels of air pollution
were decreased by 60 percent,
the health benefits would total
about $40 billion annually.
In addition to studying health
benefits, the 1979 study at-
tempted to quantify the es-
thetic benefits that result from
air pollution control in Los
Angeles. Findings indicated that
Los Angeles residents would
pay $650 million per year for a
30 percent improvement in air
quality.
Data Resources, Inc. (DRI)
estimates that from now
through 1986 the unemploy-
ment rate will be 0.2 to 0.4 per-
centage points lower with the
pollution control program than
it would have been without the
program. Every decrease of 0.2
percentage points in the unem-
ployment rate results in
200,000additional jobs.*
The DRI study also concluded
that the costs of air and water
pollution clean-up required by
Federal legislation will add no
more than 0.1 to 0.2 percentage
points to the average annual
inflation rate over the next eight
years.
Firms making equipment used
to clean up air and water pollu-
tion had sales of $1.8 billion in
1977 and are growing about
twice as fast as the rest of U.S.
industry.**
EPA's program to construct
wastewater treatment facilities
tptals $44 billion authorized by
Congress between 1973 and
1982. Each billion dollars spent
for construction produces ap-
proximately 12,500 workyears
on the construction site and
about 19,300 offsite. (A work-
year is the equivalent of one
person working one year.)
A 1978 survey for Resources
for the Future showed that 62
percent of the public was will-
ing to accept higher prices to
protect the environment while
18 percent were opposed. D
• 1979 report for EPA and CEQ by Data
Resources, Inc.
"Arthur D. Little, Inc. Study for EPA
JANUARY 1980
33
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EPA is charged by Congress to protect the Nation's land, air and water systems. Under a mandate of national en-
vironmental laws focused on air and water quality, solid waste management and the control of toxic substances,
pesticides, noise and radiation, the Agency strives to formulate and implement actions which lead to a compatible
balance between human activities and the ability of natural systems to support and nurture life.
If you have suggestions, questions,
or requests for further information,
they may be directed to your near-
est EPA Regional public information
office.
EPA Region 1 • JFK Federal Bldg.
Boston MA 02203 Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
617-223-7210
EPA Region 2 «26 Federal Plaza
New York NY 10007 New Jersey,
New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin
Islands
212-264-2525
EPA Region 3 • 6th and Walnut
Streets Philadelphia PA 19106
Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia, District of
Columbia
215-597-9814
EPA Region 4 • 345 Courtland
Street NE Atlanta GA 30308
Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Missis-
sippi, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky
404-881-4727
EPA Region 5 *230 S. Dearborn
Chicago IL 60604 Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin,
Minnesota
312-353-2000
EPA Region 6 >1201 Elm Street
Dallas TX 75270 Arkansas,
Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New
Mexico
214-767-2600
EPA Region 7 . 324 East 11 th
Street Kansas City MO 64106
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,'Nebraska
816-374-5493
EPA Region 8 • 1860 Lincoln
Street Denver CO 80295
Colorado, Utah, Wyoming,
Montana, North Dakota, South
Dakota
303-837-3895
EPA Region 9*215 Fremont
Street San Francisco CA 94105
Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii,
Guam, American Samoa, Trust
Territories of the Pacific
415-556-2320
EPA Region 10 .1200 Sixth
Avenue Seattle WA 98101 Alaska,
Idaho, Oregon, Washington
206-442-1220
EPA Journal Subscriptions
The EPA Journal is published monthly, with combined issues July-August and
November-December, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If you wish
to subscribe to this publication, send check or money order to Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. Sub-
scription price is $12 per year domestic, $1.20 single copy, $15 per year foreign.
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