Public Report
> P
The Mississippi K: er gets a
Dt .it jH-'ntio-1 'h^ si !
Pages 7 through 9
•••'
Mike LaVelle s/ngs
fhe 6/ue Collar Blues
Page 4
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Mobilizing
in
Duluth
DULUTH - June 26—As the Region V Public Report
went to press, over 2 dozen regional staff specialists
were continuing field operations efforts here following
the discovery of asbestos-like fibers in the Duluth
water supply.
This followed discovery by EPA staffers from the
National Water Quality Lab in Duluth of high con-
centrations of the fibers in the drinking water supply of
Duluth and several communities on the Minnesota
shore of Lake Superior.
The source of the fibers was believed to be the
discharge of (aconite tailings by Reserve Mining Com-
pany of Silver Bay. Minnesota.
EPA. in announcing the findings, said it felt that
prudence dictated that an alternative water source of
drinking water be found for very young children.
though no conclusive evidence had been found to show
that the drinking water was unfit for human con-
sumption.
To get further information on the problem, EPA con-
tracted with Dr. Irving Selikoff of the Mt Sinai Hospital
in New York City to determine within 60 days the ac-
cumulation of fibers in the tissue of area residents.
Selikoff was looking into the effects of the drinking
water over the last 17 years on human tissue, since
there is little past data on the effects of water-borne
asbestos on human health. Most previous data has dealt
with air emissions of asbestos. Dr. Selikoffs report is
expected in Jnly.
I was asked by Russell Train, Chairman of the Coun-
cil on Environmental Quality to direct the Federal ef-
forts in Duluth. Mr. Train was appointed by the White
House to oversee the Duluth problem.
Since June 15 Region V has been running a field
operations center in Duluth to coordinate air and water
sampling in the area and working with state and local
officials to determine possible alternate water supplies.
The discovery of the asbestos-like fibers in the
Duluth drinking water was made by Drs. Philip Cook
and Gary Glass who were working with National
Water Quality Lab Director Donald Mount on a pen-
ding EPA suit against Reserve Mining Company filed
last year and scheduled for trial Aug. 1.
—Francis T. Mayo
Region V Administrator
Ecology Winners!
Forty-one high school ecology clubs from as many
states have been named national winners in the
Ecology Council of America's (ECO America) search
for top youth environmental programs in the country.
The competition is sponsored by Keep America
Beautiful, Inc., and the Pepsi-Cola Co.
School representatives from the 41 schools were to
meet in New York at the end of |une, where the three
grand prizes were to be awarded from among the 41
finalists.
Here are the Region V winners:
Oak Park and River Forest High School Pollution
Control Center, Oak Park, 111. Fort Wayne. Indiana's
Elmhurst Senior High School Ecology Class. The LIFE
Ecology Club. Lawton Community Schools, Lawton.
Mich. Greenway High School Ecology Club, Coleraine.
Minn. Montgomery County Joint Vocational School En-
vironmental Science Club, Clayton, Ohio, and the
Chetek High School Ecology Club, Chetek, Wis.
Not all kids get out of school for the summer.
Chicago's Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum of
Natural History are conducting two, four-week ecology
courses for high school students. One began in June.
and the second will begin July 30 and end August 24.
The classes will meet at the aquarium among the
fishes, a good environment to learn about "Living with
Lake Michigan" which is what the course is about. The
students will learn the concepts of ecology as they
relate to Lake Michigan and methods of testing and
sampling the biological and physical parameters of the
lake.
Further information on the course, and other
educational programs the two institutions offer, may be
obtained from James Bland. Field Museum Education
Department, Chicago, 111. 60605; or from Linda Wilson,
Shedd Aquarium Education Department, Chicago, 111.
60605.
The Public Report is published periodically by the
Public Affairs Office, Region V EPA, 1 N. Wacker Dr.,
Chicago, III. 60606.
Francis T. Mayo Region V Administrator
Valdas Adamkus Deputy Administrator
Frank Corrado Public Affairs Director
Sally W. Jones Public Report Editor
Ann Hooe Graphics Editor
Letters and comments on the report or other en-
vironmental issues may be sent to the address
above.
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Ken Malmberg. surveil-
lance and analysis sec-
tion, pauses for the
drink that refreshes •
but not from the Duluth
tap.
Keeping an eye on Duluth
EPA's Gene Moran checks air surveillance equipment.
The press center was manned throughout the crisis
Reserve's mining fields.
3
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LaVelle
Blue-collar
bumps heads
with
pollution
A feisty pipebender-turned-blue-
collar-philosopher will be the host
for a new pilot series on the
working man and his environment.
Outspoken in his opinions that
the working man usually gets the
raw end of deals is Mike LaVelle.
He has spent most of his working
years living in Cicero, 111. and
laboring as a pipebender and is
ready to take his blue collar bias to
public television.
The pilot series, which will be
broadcast sometime this summer
over WTTW, Chicago, is a half-hour
panel discussion aimed at making
environmental issues relevant to the
men who make their money by
hard, physical labor.
LaVelle isn't new to the business
of communicating his views. He
was one of the regulars in "Talkin'
with Terkel," a segment of the
popular American Dream Machine
Series sponsored nationwide by the
Public Television System. That for-
mat was set in a friendly neigh-
borhood, blue-collar bar, and the
patrons discussed the gamut of
what was happening in society.
Currently, LaVelle writes two
columns weekly for the Chicago
Tribune, entitled "Blue Collar
Views."
LaVelle has made it clear in his
columns that he thinks environment
is for upper-middle and upper class
liberals who have nothing better to
do with their time than to save
trees.
And so the television pilot, "Blue
Collar Blues," is an attempt to
bring the environmental issue home
to the bungalows and apartments
where staying healthy is more im-
portant than saving birds.
Says LaVelle. "I've been critical
of the ho'ier-than-thou en-
vironmentalists. I'm doing this
show because environment for the
working man is the place where he
makes his money, the neighborhood
where he lives, the places where he
and his kids play, not some remote
wilderness or extinct birds."
"Our first emphasis is going to be
on health—labor and management
have let it go too long," LaVelle
said.
What the first pilot will do—the
second will be broadcast in
August—is show that pollution
from large industrial sources
seriously affects the health of the
men working in the plants. And
that very often, these men and their
families live near the large
polluters.
That means they're probably
paying more than most people for
medical care, dry cleaning and
washing, and home maintenance.
And, as some medical studies
have shown, they may not live as
long.
William McCarter, WTTW
general manager, says the show is
being aired as part of new efforts
by the station to reflect all the com-
munity's interests and concerns,
not just those of the "egg-heads" as
LaVelle calls them.
If for no other reason, the pilots
are attractive for their cost. Robert
Osborn, producer of the two
programs, said the cost of each
show is less than $1,000. for most of
the efforts put into it are voluntary.
The sponsoring groups are the
Chicago Lung Association, Chicago
Clean Air Coordinating Committee,
the U. S. EPA, and the Calumet En-
vironmental and Occupational
Health Committee. Inc.
The show will be presented in a
news magazine format. The first
segment is called "Danger Spots."
and is a description of health
hazards in specific neighborhoods.
The second segment will be short
lessons in health effects and will be
Continued on page 5
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presented by Dr. Bertram Carnow,
medical director of the Lung
Association.
For the third segment, coke oven
workers will discuss health dangers
at a union meeting in East Chicago,
Ind. In the fourth segment LaVelle
will go back to the studio and
discuss with Mike Olzansky efforts
to improve health conditions in
Northwest Indiana.
LaVelle will wrap it all up in the
fifth segment, which will be a short
newscast on what governmental
agencies are doing to protect
workers' health, a box score of in-
dustry's track record in pollution
control, and a special report on
what a Chicago area utility is doing
to protect its workers' environment.
At the end of the telecast, LaVelle
will ask viewers to telephone or
write in their comments and con-
cerns.
A Study on Ecologists:
Wherein it is shown
that people bore easily
A 614-page research report has
confirmed the suspicion of some
that ecology is pretty much a white-
collar, elitist issue.
The report was written by the
National Center for Voluntary Ac-
tion, which interviewed 3,000 en-
vironmental groups in 11 states. In-
terviewed in depth were more than
200 leaders of the groups.
The study was funded by a
$75,000 grant from the EPA.
According to a summary of the
report in the Rocky Mountain
News, the typical environmental
volunteer-activist is also more than
30 years old, married, and angry
over what he feels is governmental
inaction toward environmental
goals.
The activist also has probably
had a college education and makes
more than $10,000 a year.
And he's fickle. The report shows
that drop-out rates in en-
vironmental groups are high once a
crisis passes. Members' interest
lags, and the group then must
recruit additional members.
The center's report also criticizes
governmental agencies, including
the EPA, for failure to encourage
public participation. Most of the in-
terviews, however, seem to have
been conducted before regulations
requiring public participation
began coming into effect.
But what the report suggests is
that more must be done to com-
municate the relevancy of the en-
vironmental movement to those
who are the mainstay, blue-collar
work force, to the inner-city poor,
and to the rural dweller.
Cartoon drawn for EPA
by William O'Brien
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
LEAGUE
-------
Sfate actions
Ohio, Michigan tops in ecology
Ohio continues to have one of the strongest en-
vironmental control programs in the nation, but the
legislature in June began to put pressure on the
program by moving to cut the Ohio Environmental
Protection Agency's budget from $24 to $15 million for
two years.
Meanwhile, the state EPA continued with its
projects. It joined with the Ohio Jaycees for a massive
information drive on recycling, which it planned to
continue at the Ohio State Fair. (See box.)
Its new regulation prohibiting the dumping of wastes
from boats came into effect, it continued to hold
hearings of variance applications from industries, and
it presented two Governor's Awards for Community
Action.
One award went to the Akron League of Women
Voters, and the other to the Ohio Valley Health Ser-
vices Foundation, Inc.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency re-
ported in its newsletter that three rural counties may
have the solution to preventing indiscriminate dumping
on quiet back roads. Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford
(Counties) planner Mike Edwards decided to put
truck-size metal receptacles along the roads for the
trash. It was so successful in Peoria County that the
trucks were filled to overflowing.
The state EPA also filed 24 enforcement cases in a 6-
week period in February and March.
Members of Michigan's Water Resources Com-
mission visited the Escanaba River recently and saw a
dramatic improvement in the stream, which used to
run white with paper mill wastes.
Part of the reason the stream's cleaner is that the
Mead Paper Co., Escanaba, has installed pollution con-
trol equipment at its plant. Mead officials met with the
commission to report the company's clean-up progress
since 1964.
The commission staff also reported that 97.5 per cent
of 2,015 industries paid $1,002,566 the state billed them
for wastewater surveillance fees.
The Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board also
was active in June. Oral Hert, technical secretary of the
board, asked the state attorney general to seek fines
against three companies that allegedly polluted Indiana
streams in early June.
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The Ohio EPA is using a poster similar to this, in full
color, for its anti-litter campaign this summer.
Hert sought action against the Penn Central Railroad,
near Greencastle; the Owens-Illinois Co., Gas City; and
the Thayer Chicken Farm, near Versailles.
Hert also announced the state's participation with
EPA in a lake study in Indiana.
The board and Indiana Board of Health will train
national guardsmen to take samples from 97 testing
points in 26 lakes statewide. The data will be used as
part of EPA's National Eutrophication Study and part
of Indiana's five-year study of 600 lakes statewide.
The Michigan Natural Resources Commission has
also designated 950 miles of public and private
property as "shoreland environmental areas" under
the state's 1970 Shorelands Protection Act. Local
governmental units within the area have until April,
1974 to adopt acceptable zoning ordinances to protect
the shoreland areas. A similar bill designed to protect
Illinois' scenic rivers has failed twice since last year in
Illinois' legislature.
-------
Stepha Jonsson, exchange student from Sweden,
contemplates the Mississippi, as millions of
Americans have done before him.
Lazy Ole Miss once again feels Mark Twains,
Louis Jolliets on her waters.
The Midwest's life bloodstream pulsates, pumps.
from Minnesota on the north to New Orleans on the
south.
The barges, laden with iron ore, coal and other
nutrients to an industrial society, push on steadily:
bound for the thirsting ports to the south.
But the Mississippi River's water today is brown
with silt, dirty from sewage, and green with algae pat-
terns seen from the DC-3 aircraft above.
Decades ago, the Peregrine Falcon. Great Horned
Owl, Eagle, and Hawk looked at a much cleaner river
as they flew overhead.
Today, Great Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets are the
masters of the air currents above the Mississippi. Do
they see the six-foot catfish Mark Twain saw when he
wrote "Life on the Mississippi" in 1896?
Do they fear the rush and bump of fish Louis Jolliet
and James Marquette felt as they entered the
Mississippi from the Wisconsin River on June 17, 1673
in their birch canoes?
* * *
The Corps of Engineers Upper Mississippi River
navigation map gleams blue for the brown river: the
islands refresh with green; yellow wing dams dot the
channel—and up in Brownsville, Minn., the state
Department of Natural Resources has said to the corps
"no more dredging, for the stirred-up silt is killing
myriad organisms on the bottom."
Lazy Ole Miss suddenly is getting the love, affection,
medical diagnosis, attention she deserves.
* * *
Two expeditions. Two alarms to the Valley.
One starts May 17 from St. Ignace, Mich. — modern-
day voyageurs canoeing to and down the Mississippi as
Jolliet and Marquette did three centuries ago when
they discovered the big river's course.
The other starts in June from Dubuque, Iowa.
The first, a crew of canoe-bound adults — educators
and naturalists striving to communicate that man must
change his exploitive rape of nature.
The second, four houseboats laden with high school
students — the young striving to learn the values, the
tools, to carry on the fight the early explorers and
modern-day voyageurs live.
The first crew is led by Reid Lewis, a high school
French teacher from Chicago, enacting Jolliet's role.
With him. Ken Lewis, playwright; Father Charles
McEnery, Jesuit priest; Dean Campbell, con-
servationist; Lee Broske, high steel worker and off-
Continued on page 9
7
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The two groups learn,
teach the meaning of
environment.
season adventurer; Jim Phillips, biology teacher; Bill
Dwyer, engineer; and Jeff LeClerc, a Boy Scout playing
the Indian boy the crew was given near the Iowa River
mouth.
And the towns welcome them all warmly, throw
their arms open to the outsiders.
On June 17, Lewis and his crew pull into the
Mississippi from the Wisconsin River across from
Iowa's Pikes Peak State Park. From the high bluffs
above, you feel a spinal tingle as the canoes feel the
lazy, yet pulsing Mississippi below. Their coming
marks a holiday in Prairie du Chien and McGregor,
with the children, and young-at-heart adults wanting to
spend moments with tired, tanned, ragged voyageurs.
Young men determined to complete the voyage down
along Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi and back north.
Dramatizing the heritage left by the early explorers.
North 240 miles to Minnesota from Iowa and back
come the young. What they're doing is called the Up-
per Mississippi Valley Interdisciplinary Educational
and Cultural Field Experience, conceived two years
ago by Kirk Daddow and Dwight Zimmerman, teachers
at Maquoketa High School, la.
The final plan evolved "after many beers and many
hours of discussing and cussing," says Robert Ham-
mon, Maquoketa High's principal.
Up along Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota
and back.
A social studies boat studying the effects of the
river's changes on the communities around it.
Facing page, center: Bill Dwyer leaps from his canoe, as the
Tricentennial Jolliet-Marquette voyagers land in McGregor,
la. with a modern-day escourt behind. Upper left: Jan
Christensen tests the Mississippi's water on the science
boat. Upper right: Bob Majerus and Robert Mammon pilot the
in houseboat down the Mississippi. Bottom: the Iowa
science boats beach for the night, and students get a
chance to stretch their river legs.
A science boat, testing the health of the ancient river.
And a communications boat to question the veracity
of town officials and industries, pulling the whole
study together.
Two groups of 25 students; two weeks of living the
throb of the river.
They learn a power plant's thermal plume extends a
mile downstream—not 400 feet as the plant spokesman
says. They see 75 different kinds of birds, and classify
them with Sherm Burns' help—a teacher who's one of
the chaperones.
Three towns pump the sanitary wastes from the
students' boats; then pump the pumped-out sewage
back to the river. The drinking water taken on board is
found to contain fecal bacteria. Frank Strathman's
students do their job of testing the water well; and the
students beware of the contaminated water.
They are all aware of their "fellow-explorers" far-
ther down the river. "We missed the voyageur crew by
two days—we really wanted to talk to them."
The Mississippi smiles—the voyageurs will rewrite
Marquette's journal with modern-day differences; the
Iowa students will rewrite Twain's immortal "Life on
the Mississippi."
Both voyageurs and students learn environment is
society, communications, physical characteristics
around them.
Tricentennial-voyageurs allow the towns to fit into
harried paddling schedules—Jolliet's schedule.
Students go out to meet the towns—five hours asking
questions in LaCrosse for the communications crew;
five hours testing the Mississippi's water quality for the
science crew.
The students from Maquoketa, Andrew, Miles,
Sabula, Preston, Bellevue, and Marquette High
Schools—a mixture of socio-economic status and IQ
levels—are vibrant participating in this one-of-a-kind
project, funded by a $29,000 grant from the federal
government.
The next year, the grant gets cut by a third, and a
third again the year after. So already the schools make
plans to continue the project—maybe on a tuition
basis.
Daddow, Zimmerman, Hammon, Strathman, Burns
join feelings with Bob Majerus, Francis Johnston, Carol
Hammill, and Chuck Lindgren. They're tired; they've
been away from their families for a month; the trip is
wearing on them. But they smile with satisfaction as
they look at the students.
Next year, we'll
Further south, the voyageurs also complain. The
town people and legislators won't let them get enough
sleep; want them to visit or stay longer. But they, too,
smile.
"When this is over, I'm going to start over again
. . . . " says Broske.
And the barges move through the night, bound for
their eight-day journey from Minneapolis to New
Orleans.
—Sally /ones
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U. S. Steel: last act
The United States Steel Corp.,
Gary, case is closed—hopefully for
the last time.
On June 22, 1973, Region V Ad-
ministrator Francis T. Mayo issued
an order against the giant cor-
poration, saying it must clean up its
particulate (dust) emissions from
all sources at its Gary, Ind., plant
by the end of 1975.
The order represented the largest
single industrial air pollution
source to be the subject of an EPA
compliance schedule since the
Clean Air Act Amendments were
passed in 1970.
The order was issued after three,
lengthy EPA conferences with the
corporation, Indiana Pollution Con-
trol Board, and Gary officials
during May and June. (EPA had
issued a violation notice to the cor-
poration on April 15, giving U. S.
Steel 30 days to meet with the EPA
to formulate a clean-up schedule.)
The Gary plant became subject to
federal enforcement in May of 1972,
when the EPA accepted Indiana's
implementation plan for meeting
1975 ambient air quality standards.
U. S. Steel, in April of this year,
was still not on an enforceable
clean-up schedule.
The June 22 order subjects the
Gary plant to a number of
deadlines for cleaning up emissions
from specific sources. The
deadlines range from December,
1973, to December, 1975, when the
plant must have completed coke
oven emission controls.
During the course of the three
conferences, Indiana issued two or-
ders against the company, which
contain essentially the same
requirements as those in the EPA
order.
EPA will give primary respon-
sibility to enforcing the clean-up to
Indiana. But by issuing its own or-
der, EPA will have the ability to
assure the clean-up takes place. In
the event of a default by the com-
pany, EPA can invoke civil and
criminal penalties of up to $25,000
daily and one year in prison.
The orders issued by Indiana and
the EPA are similar in a number
of respects. Both provide for a Dec.
31, 1974 deadline for cleaning
emissions from the Gary plant's tin
mill boiler house, scarfing
operations, and the no. 3 sintering
plant. They both provide for a Feb.
1, 1974 clean-up of the coke boiler
house; and for clean-up of the
Universal Atlas Cement plant by
Nov. 1, 1974. And both provide for
the Dec. 31, 1975 date of cleaning
coke batteries.
The EPA order differs slightly
from the Indiana orders in that:
* EPA will require coke battery
maintenance.
* The EPA order establishes
definite compliance schedules for
the no. 3 and no. 4 open hearth fur-
nace shops and foundry. If U. S.
Steel elects to continue to operate
these facilities, controls must be in-
stalled by April 1, 1975. If the cor-
poration elects to replace these
facilities, they must be phased out
by Dec. 31, 1973. The Indiana or-
ders did not provide for the choice
of installing controls, but, instead,
set dates that the facilities must be
closed.
* The EPA requires slag process
operations to be in compliance by
May 1, 1975. Indiana's orders did
not deal with these emissions.
10
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Short Subjects
Orchid, Onion Prizes Given
In the true spirit of giving credit where credit is due,
the Western Communities Architects Association (West
of Chicago) again this year bestowed its orchid (for
good environmental deeds) and onion (for en-
vironmental no-no's) awards. Onions went to the
village of Villa Park, 111. for putting a parking lot in the
scenic Illinois Prairie Path; and to the city of Aurora for
a "profusion of bewildering signs" in town.
Orchids went to the Shell Oil Co. for a well-
landscaped gas station in Glen Ellyn; to Mrs. Yvonne
Burt, of Wheaton, for her work in landscaping a park
there; and to Kenneth Zweifel, Naperville Plan Com-
mission chairman, for a good sign ordinance.
Three other individuals received orchids, also:
Richard Young, Kane County environmental director
for his "genuine and constant concern for the total
ecological process, his belief that giving nature a
chance is the most practical and economical solution to
many planning problems, and his talent for being able
and willing to communicate his concerns." Michael
Brock, a teacher at Oswego High School. Oswego also
got an orchid for promoting environmental awareness;
and Thomas J. O'Donnell, scoutmaster of Boy Scout
Troop 65 in Western Springs, got one for helping set up
a glass reclamation project.
The World Wildlife Fund has begun circulating a
pamphlet describing what people can do to cut down
on pollution. But the pamphlet also gives capsule
descriptions of the extent of various pollution
problems, and what may be done in the future to get
rid of them. It was written by Malcolm B. Wells, a con-
servationist from Cherry Hill, N.J. Information on the
pamphlet, which deals with people, not animals, can be
obtained from the fund, 910 17th St. NW, Washington,
D.C. 20006.
The Dutch may have hit on a way to cut down on
polluting cars in the city. They initiated a "white bike"
program. The bikes are painted white and are left on
the street for anyone to use for free. The only catch to
the scheme is that the bikes must be returned to the
original spot for someone else to use. The program has
been so successful that the Dutch are now planning a
"white car" program in downtown Amsterdam. They'll
have a fleet of 100 battery-driven, two-seat cars parked
at 15 stations. They're not free like the bikes, but a $16
initial fee and $8 key fee will be used. The cars will be
recharged in the stations after use.
Children, from now on, will have their own forum
for telling us all what they think about ecology. A new
publication, Kids For Ecology, will be published six
times yearly by Zoles, Ltd., P.O. Box P-7126,
Philadelphia, Penn. 19117. The magazine will contain
bylined poems, puzzles, articles, and drawings by
children. Subscriptions are $4 a year.
A Region V environmental reporter won a Nieman
Fellowship award in journalism in June. Whitney
Gould, environmental reporter for the Madison (Wis.)
Capitol Times, will go to Harvard University this fall to
study in any part of the university he chooses.
And on the lighter side, a San Francisco Chronicle
columnist has "translated" for the layman a tricky
technical term—ppm, or parts per million. Herb Caen
writes what the term means: "Justin Mace, bless him,
has the answer: 'One part per million is one ounce of
vermouth in an 8,000 gallon tank car of gin'."
The Caterpillar Canoe Club, of Sandwich, 111.
cleaned up Illinois' Fox River from Montgomery to
Yorkville in June.
The Committee on Lake Michigan Pollution, a
citizens' group to protect Lake Michigan in Illinois, has
begun a public awareness program. The committee is
gathering signatures and donations to publish an ad-
vertisement urging the boycott of products connected
with pollution of the lake. Further information on the
project can be obtained from the committee, Box 583,
Wilmette, 111. 60091.
In Indiana, the Ball State University board of
trustees recently approved establishing a Department
of Natural Resources within the university. The In-
stitute of Natural Resources at the university also was
renamed the Institute of Environmental Studies. Fur-
ther information on curricula can be obtained from Dr.
Clyde Hibbs, Chairman, Department of Natural
Resources, Ball State, Muncie, Ind. 47306.
The Save Lake Superior Association, 1707 9th Av.,
Two Harbors, Minn., is opposing proposals of those
living around the "lower Great Lakes" to reduce out-
flow from Lake Superior to control erosion. "The
water's high here and throughout the Great Lakes
primarily because of natural forces," the association's
"News" said in June, and concluded that these natural
forces should not be tampered with at the detriment of
those around Lake Superior.
11
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EPA's transportation propos-
als may limit auto use in cities
On June 15, the EPA took its first significant action to
place the burden of pollution control on the public
rather than big industry.
For 18 urban areas, the EPA proposed transportation
plans designed to allow the compliance by 1975 with
federal air quality standards.
Since it was formed in 1972, the EPA has issued a
number of environmental regulations. Most, however,
have been aimed at industry, requiring that sector of
the economy to accept the burden of cleaning the en-
vironment.
Although automobile emission limits require clean-
up by Detroit and foreign automakers, the trans-
portation plans are likely to affect directly the urban
driver.
EPA Acting Administrator Robert Fri put it this way
when he announced the new transportation plan
proposals: "We are basically . .. asking people to
change their habits—their long-standing and intimate
relation with the private automobile. This is a fun-
damental change, but the only one that fundamentally
will work."
EPA had no choice in proposing the transportation
plans for the 18 cities. A court order overturned EPA's
decision to delay implementing transportation plans
until 1977. The states then were required to submit
their plans by mid-April, and EPA must review, reject
and/or approve the states' plans by August 15.
It's a tight time table both for the states and EPA, but
the Federal District Court ordered it.
Basically, Fri told a Washington press conference
that was piped into EPA's 10 regions, the EPA will be
looking for transportation plans that stress the use of
mass transit, encourage and require maintenance of
vehicles, and assure a good traffic flow.
Both mass transit and vehicle inspection and main-
tenance help save fuel. Vehicle inspection and main-
tenance also helps cut down auto emissions, as does a
good traffic flow. Idling cars emit more pollutants than
moving ones. So EPA proposed combinations of these
strategies, including limiting on-street parking in order
to get the 1975 standards met.
In turning down the city plans (which were for-
mulated by the individual states). EPA did not criticize
the reports already submitted. In most cases, EPA
recommended refinements in the plans.
For other cities, the EPA has held off making specific
proposals because the state plans were submitted too
late for evaluation by June 15.
Other urban plans submitted by the states were ap-
proved, including those for New York City; Bir-
mingham and Mobile, Ala.; and Rochester, N.Y. Plans
for Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kas.; and Baton
Rouge, La. were also approved pending changes that
may be needed to be made based on public comment.
In all, the EPA's action involved 37 urban areas in 23
states.
Here are highlights of the action taken in Region V:
Chicago's transportation plan as submitted by the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency was rejected.
The U.S. EPA did not, as of June 22, propose
regulations for Chicago because the plan was sub-
mitted too late for full evaluation and promulgation of
regulations.
The U.S. EPA noted, however, that the state's
estimates that certain transportation control strategies
would reduce auto-related emissions by 50 per cent
were overly optimistic. Instead, the federal agency
said, the controls probably would reduce pollutant
levels by 44 per cent. The Illinois plan called for
limitations of on-street parking in the central business
district to increase traffic flow, expansion of the
already-implemented vehicle testing program, and
limitations on new off-street parking facilities.
Cincinnati's plan, as submitted by the Ohio En-
vironmental Protection Agency, also was rejected
because the state submitted insufficient data to support
its estimations of pollutant level reduction. The state
plan called for programmed mass transit and highway
improvements. U.S. EPA is proposing that the city also
implement a vehicle testing system.
Indianapolis' plan, submitted by the state Air
Pollution Control Board, did not provide for trans-
portation plans because its data indicated the 1975
standards were met in 1972. The federal agency said,
however, that the monitoring equipment in the city was
not properly maintained, and that 1971 data must be
used. EPA also proposes that the city ban back-yard in-
cineration.
Minneapolis' plan also was rejected because EPA
was uncertain whether completion of a new interstate
bypass highway would discourage more traffic in the
central business district. EPA also questioned whether
a program to improve traffic flow would be completed
by mid-1975. The EPA proposed that the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources, which submitted the
plan, consider limiting new off-street parking facilities,
begin a vehicle testing program, the retrofit vehicles
with controls.
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EPAlog
EPA offering
new books
New Publications
"Questions and Answers from EPA's Second
National Citizens' Briefing" answers some of the most
commonly-asked questions about EPA's programs. The
booklet also gives insight into the reasoning behind
EPA decisions and how citizens can participate in
regulatory and enforcement processes. Single copies
are available free from the Office of Public Affairs, U.
S. EPA, Washington, D.C. 20460.
"Selected Publications on the Environment," is a
catalog of EPA's publications that are available, com-
plete with a reader service order blank in the back. The
publications listed are free for single copies. The
booklet can be obtained from the EPA's Office of
Public Affairs, 1 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. 60606.
"A Drop to Drink" is a report on the quality of the
nation's drinking water. The publication is a boiled-
down version of EPA research and reports that formed
the basis for the pending drinking water standards bill
in Congress. Single copies are free from EPA Office of
Public Affairs, 1 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago 60606.
"Action for Environmental Quality," is a 22-page
color booklet on standards and enforcement for air and
water pollution control. Free copies are available from
EPA Public Affairs, 1 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago 60606.
Because of demand, EPA has reprinted the
publication "Toward a new Environmental Ethic." It
explains, with sensitivity, why a pure environment is
needed. Single copies are free from the Office of Public
Affairs, 1 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. 60606.
With the courtesy of the Tuberculosis Institute of
Chicago and Cook County, the Region V Public Affairs
Office, 1 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago 60606, has received
copies of Ringlemann charts for distribution. The chart,
a useful tool in assessing air pollution smoke density, is
copyrighted by the Plibrico Jointless Firebrick Co.,
Chicago.
The Federal Register
As a matter of public record, notices of EPA
hearings, proposed rulemakings, promulgations of
regulations and other regulatory actions are published
in the daily Federal Register. It is available at most
libraries or by an annual subscription rate of $25 from
the U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington,
D.C. 20402.
May 21—Regulations requiring state water resource
planning were published . .. EPA established toleranc-
es for three pesticide chemicals on agricultural
products . . . Five companies applied for EPA
registration of pesticides containing DDT.
May 22—In this issue, EPA published the final
regulations for the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) . .. also published were
proposed rules requiring cities to assess user charges
for sewage treatment and a cost recovery system for
the cost of treating industrial wastes . .. Also set was a
pesticide tolerance.
May 23—EPA amended, effective May 23, standards
for opacity of air contaminants . .. Proposed were
rules governing disposal and storage of pesticide con-
tainers (comments due by July 23) and guidelines for
preparing water quality management plans for states
... A temporary tolerance for a pesticide was set.
May 30—EPA published proposed regulations for
planning and management of waste treatment facilities
... A correction was published relating to proposed
regulations for the NPDES system ... And tolerances
and exemptions for tolerances were set or proposed for
six pesticides, including BHC.
June 1—A tolerance for the pesticide Ethephon was
set ... And the EPA also published revised air im-
plementation plans for three states. None were in
Region V.
Continued on page 14
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EPAlog ...
June 4—EPA published regulations, effective July 5,
outlining the maintenance auto manufacturers may
perform on test vehicles for certification under the
Clean Air Act. The regulations apply to 1975 model
year autos, and include requirements that warning
devices be installed on cars to alert motorists when
emission controls need servicing .... Both the EPA
and Council for Environmental Quality published
projects for which environmental impact statements
are available.
June 5—EPA approved revisions to Delaware's air
implementation plan . . And proposed that nitrogen
oxide standards be loosened.
June 6—EPA published allowable tolerances for the
pesticides sodium and potassium arsenate as residues
on animals.
June 7—In this Federal Register are the final
regulations regarding the requirement to give prior
notice when filing citizen suits. Copies of this
regulation can be obtained from Region V EPA Public
Affairs, 1 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago. 111. 60606.
June 8—EPA published requirements for
preparation, adoption, and submittal of implementation
plans or transportation control measures .. . Also in
this issue are proposals for the reclassification of air
quality control regions (comment period is open for six
months) . . . Two pesticide actions were published . . .
And the Council for Environmental Quality gave notice
on the availability of Environmental Impact statements
upon which it has commented.
June 11—A temporary tolerance for a pesticide was
established . . . Proposed standards of performance for
seven new stationary source categories were published
(comments due by July 26) and additional categories
for new sources were added for later regulation.
June 12—Acting Administrator Robert Fri agreed to
extend a stay on orders prohibiting the use of the per-
sistent pesticide Mirex to allow the Allied Chemical
Co. to spray Mirex on Hawaiian pineapple fields. Full
hearings on whether to permanently cancel Mirex' use
were scheduled for the end of June . . . Also published
were proposed regulations to prohibit sex
discrimination under any program or activity receiving
assistance from the EPA under the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act.
June 14—The EPA published a notice on the
procedures it will take in the future to publish ex-
planations of regulatory decisions and standards ...
The Council on Environmental Quality also published
a list of federal projects it has reviewed for en-
vironmental impact.
June 15—In this issue, the EPA revoked its earlier
disapproval of New Jersey's air implementation plan.
June 18—EPA promulgates regulations requiring the
assessment by states of the impact on air quality of
construction programs and other activities that may not
involve direct pollution from mobile or stationary
sources . . . Two notices relating the pesticides
Ethephon and a chloride polymer.
June 19—The issue sets up procedures EPA will
follow in the event states ask for a one-year extension
for submitting implementation plans under the Clean
Air Act ... The agency also established a temporary
tolerance for the pesticide isopropyl.
June 20—EPA set down regulations approving,
disapproving, and setting compliance schedules under
state implementation plans for meeting Clean Air Act
ambient air quality standards. Contained in the
regulations are specific dates for stationary source
emitters, proposed rules for states in which all or parts
of the plans were disapproved, and a series of hearing
dates for July.
June 21—EPA established a temporary tolerance for
a pesticide . . . Published were proposed rules for the
administration of federal grants, contracts, or loans un-
der the Clean Air Act (comments due by Aug. 6).
June 22—In this issue, EPA gives notice of a number
of activities under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,
and Rodenticide Act ... Also published were actions
on a number of state air implementation plans and
transportation controls . . . None of the actions refer to
Region V states.
June 25—EPA established a tolerance for the
pesticide thiabendazole, effective June 25.
14
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EPA Action
Clean autos affordable, and
EPA labs provide interest
On June 22, the EPA released a position paper en-
titled "Clean Air and the Automobile," which con-
fronts some of the major public issues involving the
federal auto air pollution emissions program.
The EPA holds that carbon monoxide and hydrocar-
bon reductions set by Congress are necessary to
protect public health, and that transportation plans and
similar strategies cannot alone assure the standards are
met. The EPA also holds, in the paper, that the extra
costs of installing emission controls in autos are not out
of proportion to options consumers purchase on cars,
such as vinyl roofs and air conditioning.
Copies of the report are available from the Office of
Public Inquiries, EPA 401 M Street SW., Washington,
D.C.
In a regulation proposed in the June 21 issue of the
Federal Register, industrial facilities found to be in
violation of air pollution regulations would not be
eligible for contracts, grants, or loans from the federal
government. The regulation also would require the
EPA to list facilities that are violating the act. The
listing is planned to be used as a tool to bring about
voluntary compliance with regulations. Comments on
the proposed regulation are due by the beginning of
August and should be sent to the EPA's Office of
Federal Activities, Washington, D.C. 20460.
Do-As-We-Do Dept: Forty-seven EPA employees
have decided to set a good example for ecologically-
sound commuting. Hah7 the workers in EPA's Office of
Radiation Programs in Washington, D.C. decided to
charter a bus when their office was relocated. It was as
inexpensive to all as participating in four-man car
pools. They call their chartered bus the "Radiation Ex-
press."
The past 10 years have shown a decrease in sulphur
dioxide and particulate (dust) levels in many urban
areas, according to a recent EPA study. The sulphur
study was conducted in 32 cities from 1964 to 1971; the
particulate studies in 116 cities from 1960 to 1971.
Single copies of the report, "National Air Quality
Levels and Trends in Total Suspended Particulates and
Sulphur Dioxide Determined by Data in the National
Air Surveillance Network" are available from EPA
Public Inquiries, 401 M St. SW, Washington, D.C.
20460.
It seems that EPA's National Environmental
Research Center (NERC) workers in Las Vegas have
jobs that never cease to be interesting. The "Com-
munique," published by NERC-Las Vegas, highlighted
these activities in its late May issue: All lakes in Illinois
were sampled under the National Eutrophication
Study; a semiannual beef herd roundup was completed
for cows living around Nevada nuclear test sites (the
cattle are "guinea pigs" to determine radiation levels in
living tissue from tests,) and they kept tabs on the after
effects of a nuclear experiment to extract natural gas
from the ground.
EPA's National Environmental Research Center in
North Carolina reported in June that thermal pollution
could cause changes in weather and climate patterns.
This manmade heat, according to scientist J. T. Peter-
son, already is affecting weather in some areas.
Washington, D.C.'s frost-free growing season is longer
than in adjacent rural areas. He predicted that
precipitation downwind outside cities may be on the
increase, while the cities may have less fog and
snowfall. All because of manmade heat.
The Waukesha (Wis.) Water Utility has joined other
public water supplies in Region V as being certified for
interstate use. The approval is required from EPA for
water supplies used by bus, train, and aircraft
passengers.
On June 5, the EPA proposed performance standards
for asphalt concrete plants, petroleum refineries,
petroleum storage tanks, secondary lead smelters,
secondary brass and bronze ingot production plants,
iron and steel plants, and sewage treatment plant in-
cinerators. The standards are for new sources or
existing facilities modified to increase production.
Requests for background documents and comments on
the proposal should be made to Emission Standards
and Engineering Division, EPA Research Triangle
Park, N.C. 27711, Attn: Don R.. Goodwin.
A team of marine scientists from the U.S.S.R. arrived
in Washington to participate in a cooperative study
with EPA on the effects of pollutants on marine
organisms. They stayed two weeks, until the end of
May.
Continued on page 16
15
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EPA Action . . .
A contract for nearly $5 million will help the EPA
determine what happens to air pollutants once they
leave their sources. Science has learned they don't
escape the earth's atmosphere, but more study is
needed to determine exactly what does happen to
them. The Rockwell International Science Center.
Thousand Oaks, Calif., will set up 25 remote sensing
stations around St. Louis. Mo. to conduct sophisticated
studies of pollutants in the atmosphere. They'll also he
looking at possible weather effects from pollutants.
On June 2(i. a federal District Court Judge in Min-
neapolis ruled the EPA must release water con-
struction grants funds to Minnesota. The ruling by
Judge Miles Lord was similar to a May New York
District Court decision on the same issue. Judge Lord,
in his decision, said EPA does not have discretion in
allocating funds, and thus must spend them when they
are needed and appropriated. The judge said, however.
that EPA does have discretion in obligating the funds,
or. in other words, approving a particular facility for
funding under the grants program.
Duke University has been awarded an EPA grant to
study crabs. The university's Marine Laboratory,
Beaufort. N.C.. will study the effects of mercury on
crabs, and determine whether juvenile crabs are more
sensitive than the adults. The $52,000 grant was award-
ed by the EPA's National Marine Water Quality
Laboratory at Narragansett. R.I.
Besides all the other duties Skylab performed before
the astronauts splashed down to earth in June, the
mission aided NASA in providing resources and in-
formation to EPA from atmospheric studies of suspend-
ed particulates. Skylab's big eye in the sky also zeroed
in on Illinois' controversial Oakley Dam project near
Monticello, 111. to see what it looks like from that high
above.
The Great Lakes Basin Commission, a federal-state
agency in which EPA participates, reports that 300,000
lake trout fingerlings will be planted in Lake Huron
this year. They're being planted by the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources.
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