inside US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY -WASHINGTON, DC 20460 • FEBRUARY 1973 $44-Million EPA Budget Rise Sought A $44-million increase in the En- vironmental Protection Agency's operating budget for fiscal 1974 was proposed to Congress by Presi- dent Nixon on Jan. 29. This would raise the 1974 total to $515 million, compared to $471 million for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Six programs and supporting op- erations would get increases total- ling $74 million, and two programs would be cut $30, for an overall net increase of $44 million. The increases would include: water quality, $51 million; pesti- cides, $5 million; noise abatement, $1.6 million; program management and support, $10 million; Agency and regional management, $6 mil- lion; and intermedia activities, $.7 million. The solid waste management pro- gram would be cut more than 80 percent, from $30 to $5.7 million, and air pollution control trimmed 4 percent, from $152.5 million to $146.4 million. The drastic cut in the solid waste funds reflects the administration's decision that this is "really a local problem," Administrator William Ruckclshaus told a press conference two days before the President's budget message was released. The Administration intends, he said, to "reorient" Federal work in solid waste toward a "regulatory ac- tivity dealing with the safe disposal of toxic and hazardous wastes." Legislation for this purpose would be submitted soon. m Hale Issues Statement Despite the budget cut, "we are not zeroing out EPA's solid waste programs," said Samuel Hale Jr, deputy assistant administrator and program chief, in a statement made after the budget was announced. "Even though we will be redi- recting our efforts toward industrial and hazardous wastes," he said, "many important activities fully funded under the 1973 budget must continue to receive a high level of attention and effort. These include major technical assistance projects, existing demonstration programs, on-going studies to create the sound data base required by the Resource Recovery Act, the Mission 5,000 dump-closing program, and techni- cal and public information activi- ties. "Moreover, the bill to replace legislation which expires July 1 is still being debated within the admin- istration. The proposed budget rep- resents how much we think can be accomplished in 1974, consider- ing the many activities budgeted in 1973 which will carry over into 1974." Air Cut Laid to Progress The $6-milIion cut in the air pro- gram, Ruckelshaus said, reflects (Continued on page 3) Current Year and Fiscal '74 Proposed, by Program and Function Agency and Regional Management 1973 1974 Air Water Quality ._ Water Supply Solid Wastes . Pesticides . . . . Radiation . . Noise ... ._ Intermedia . Program Mgt & Support . Agency and Re- gional Mgt. .$46,184 $50,800 Scientific Activi- ties Overseas __.__ . . . (dollars in thousands) Research and Development 1973 $67,382 48,114 2,266 17,071 5,252 2,287 281 13,768 1974 $57,097 46,723 2,304 2,200 5,441 2,471 550 14,472 Abatement and Control 1973 $80,807 70,262 2,015 12,942 14,112 4,848 2,135 538 1974 $79,735 121,677 2,052 3,560 17,224 4,651 3,487 547 Enforcement 1973 1974 $4,301 $9,528 20,867 23,956 Scientific Activities Overseas Totals 1973 1974 1973 1974 1,626 2,808 ._, $152,490 139,243 4,281 30,013 20,990 7,135 2,416 14,306 $146,360 192,356 4,356 5,760 25,473 7,122 4,037 15,019 16,724 17,442 24,376 31,167 8,780 11,108 _ 49,880 59,717 _ 46,184 50,800 $4,000 $4,000 4,000 4,000 Totals . 46,184 50,800 173,145 148,700 212,035 264,100 35.574 47.400 4,000 4.000 470.938 515,000 N.B. This table does not include construction grants for water quality activities. ------- EPA Sharing New Lab With Texas EPA and the State of Texas are sharing in the operation of a new laboratory for environmental testing in Houston. Jointly staffed by scientists and technicians from EPA's Region VI, Dallas, and from Texas air and water pollution control agencies, the facility has about $750,000 worth of scientific equipment for making chemical and biological tests of air, water, and soil samples. It was formally dedicated last month at a meeting attended by some 150 local, State, and Federal officials. Because the laboratory proper did not have room, the cere- mony was held in a nearby hall borrowed for the occasion. Administrator William Ruckel- shaus said the Houston laboratory would help give the five-state region "the kind of technical backup and information we need in order to act wisely" in enforcing environmental protection laws. Acknowledging that there is some- times friction between States and the Federal Government in these mat- ters, Ruckelshaus said the new laboratory was a good example of the cooperation that sometimes goes unnoticed. Opened in August The laboratory has actually been operating since August, with much of its work involving checking indus- trial waste discharges into the Hous- ton Ship Canal and Gatveston Bay. Arthur W. Busch, regional EPA administrator and former professor at Rice University, presided at the dedication and introduced the guests, including Reps. William Archer and Robert Casey, Houston Mayor Louis Welch, Chairman Gordon Fulcher of the Texas Water Quality Board, and Chairman Herbert C. McKee of the Texas Air Control Board. Ruckelshaus said the United States is making "significant prog- ress" in controlling pollution, al- though the changes are not yet readily apparent to the average citizen. Chemist at Region VI's new laboratory facility at Houston operates an atomic absorption spectrophotometer for measuring minute amounts of metals in water. Photo was taken by Malcolm Kallas, facility manager. Speakers, Films to Alternate In Washington Noontime Series A series of lunch-hour films and talks for EPA headquarters employ- ees has been scheduled every Wed- nesday at 12:15 p.m. in the new Visitors' Center on the ground floor of Waterside Mall's West Tower in Southwest Washington. Ellen Dayton and Diane Pirkey, who are arranging the series for the Office of Public Affairs, said short, informal speeches by EPA officials on various aspects of the Agency's work would alternate with films of "But in a relatively short time- by that I mean three or four years —the man in the street will be able to see cleaner air and cleaner water,'' Ruckelshaus declared. In a decade the Nation's major pollution problems may be under control, he said, and then "we may be asking ourselves what all the fuss was about." general interest: documentaries, travelogues, and a variety of educa- tional films. "We are not planning to show en- vironmental films," said Ms. Dayton. "That would be too much. We hope to encourage employees to meet each other and get acquainted as well as to learn more about EPA's programs." Administrator William Ruckel- shaus was scheduled to lead off the series on Feb. 14. A film (still unchosen at press time) will be shown on Feb. 21. Dr. Alvin Meyer, director of the Noise Abatement office, will speak on Feb. 28. The Visitors' Center occupies most of the West Tower's ground floor. Color photographs from EPA's Documcrica project are on display, together with a variety of Agency literature and environmental posters. — 2 — ------- S44-MILLION RISE IN EPA BUDGET SOUGHT FOR '74 (Continued from page 1) technical progress in pollution con- trol. The "first generation" tech- nology for curbing emissions, pri- marily from industry, has been de- veloped and demonstrated. It is now up to the private sector to put into practice. EPA is continuing its work on "second generation," improved tech- nology, including fuel cleaning tech- niques, he said, but this will not involve expensive, large-scale dem- onstration projects in fiscal '74. When the Agency's proposed budget is broken down by func- tion, rather than program category, similar internal shifts in emphasis can be seen Research and devel- opment would be reduced by $24.4 million, but there would be substan- tial increases in other functions: abatement and control $52.1 mil- lion, enforcement $12 million, and Agency and regional management $4 million. Ruckelshaus said the budget in- creases would help the Agency carry out the requirements of laws passed by the last Congress in four environ- mental areas: water pollution, pesti- cides, noise, and protection of ma- rine and cstuarmc waters. Sewer Aid Separate The operating budget does not include construction grants for water quality activities primarily to assist local governments in the building of sewage treatment plants Be- cause of the long lead time for such construction, the authorization, obli- gation, and outlay of the funds may span several years. A recent release of $5 billion of 1973 and 1974 contract authority for waste treatment plant construc- tion will supplement $1.9 billion in 1973 appropriated funds. This makes a total of $6.9 billion in con- struction grant money available in the 1973 and 1974 fiscal years. Increases in EPA manpower are EPA Manpower Budget, 1972 to 1974 (Fulltime Permanent Positions) Research and Development Abatement and Control Enforcement .. _.___ _. _ Agency and Regional Management.. Operations, Research, and Facilities 7,815 Revolving Fund * ._ .. Allocation Account" 1972 Actual 7,815 12 8 1973 Estimate 1,943 3,573 1,481 1,795 51 15 1974 Estimate 1,899 3,724 1,686 1,835 51 8 Change 1973 to 1974 44 + 151 +205 +40 ..... Total . . . 7,835 8,858 9,203 345 * positions supported by fees ** positions supported by other agencies Transfer of 130 Jobs Approved From Corps of Engineers to EPA The transfer of 130 positions from the Army Corps of Engineers to EPA has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget. The transfers are to be made be- fore June 30 and are not part of the 345 new positions approved by the White House and proposed in the Administration's budget request for fiscal 1974. EPA had requested the job shifts to fulfill its obligation to enforce the new Permit Program required by the Federal Water Pollution Con- trol Act Amendments of 1972. All of the COE employees who transfer arc expected to be assigned to Permit Program activities in re- gional offices, under the Office of Enforcement and General Counsel. Most of them will be assigned in or near where they arc now working for the Army. also planned in the 1974 budget: 345 new positions in addition ro 358 positions recently approved by the President's Office of Manage- ment and Budget. The additional staff will include some 130 posi- tions to be transferred from the Army Corps of Engineers to help EPA carry out its mandated duties in enforcing water pollution control regulations. EPA's total roster of fulltime, permanent positions is planned to reach 9,203 in fiscal 1974, an in- crease of 345 over the estimated total at the end of this fiscal year on June 30. These new positions are in addi- tion to an expansion of 358 posi- tions approved recently by OMB, Administrator Ruckelshaus revealed at a pre-budget press conference Jan. 27. The Agency's manpower budget for the next fiscal year (see adjoin- ing table) envisions 205 more posts in the enforcement function, 149 more in abatement and control, and 40 more in Agency and regional management. But there will be 44 fewer fulltime posts in the research and monitoring function. Correction A story on "Project Safeguard" in last month's Inside EPA, mis- takenly said the Agency's laboratory at Chamblee, Ga., was responsible for telling the medical profession how to deal with accidental poison- ing by the new, degradable but dan- gerous pesticides. Dr. Bill L. Stevenson says this work is being done by Pesticide Programs' Operations Division at Chamblee, not by the Toxicology Laboratory there. ------- PUERTO RICO'S SOLID WASTE PLAN APPROVED A comprehensive solid waste management plan for Puerto Rico was approved last month by EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus and is slated for early formal adop- tion by the Commonwealth's Envir- onmental Quality Board. In a letter to Gov. Rafael Hernan- dez Colon, Mr. Ruckelshaus urged that the plan be adopted and carried out as soon as possible. The Ruckel- shaus letter was delivered in person to Gov. Hernandez by Region II Administrator Gerald M. Hansler on a business visit to San Juan. Puerto Rico's new plan, devel- oped with the aid of a $56,000 planning grant from EPA, calls for new legislation that would give the Commonwealth full responsibility for solid waste disposal throughout the island. No More Dumps Municipalities would still be re- sponsible for collecting the waste, but the old town dumps would be progressively phased out and all waste deposited at regional sites ad- ministered by the Environmental Quality Board and employing mod- ern methods of sanitary landfilling. The plan was worked out by the Board, whose executive director is Cruz Mates. Open burning of solid wastes would be prohibited, except in emer- gencies when the public health might otherwise be endangered. Some 1.8 million tons of solid waste is produced each year in Puer- to Rico, and the plan projects an increase to 2.7 million tons per year by 1980. Only eight of the island's 77 mu- nicipalities now handle their solid waste in an acceptable manner, the study said. Refuse from the other 69 municipalities is burned in 62 open dumps that pollute the air and furnish breeding grounds for rodents and flies. The regional landfill sites would —photos by Tom Warren EPA secretary Bobbie DeWeese gets instructions from teammate Mike Crouse, left, before mixing it up in first game with Corvallis city league. Bobbie Works Mighty Hard In Corvallis Basketball League When Bobbie DeWeese, 24-year- old secretary in the NERC-Corvallis Office of Public Affairs, wanted some exercise she joined a basket- ball team. Nothing unusual about that, ex- cept that it's a men's team. Bobbie is the first woman to play in the Corvallis city basketball league. "I expected to get some resent- ment," she said after a practice session with the Water Lab team, made up of NERC workers. "I was surprised when they accepted me." Her first league game last month was a surprise to the opposing team. Bobbie checked in at the scorer's table at the start of the second quar- ter, and the other team members be covered with earth after each day's deposit. They would be de- signed, wherever possible, for even- tual use as open space or park land. protested. But she had a note from the city parks and recreation department saying she was eligible. The depart- ment has no rules against women playing in the league, probably be- cause the question had never been raised. She played about four minutes in the second quarter and all of the fourth, and got no display of chival- ry from the opposing team, which beat the Water Lab 87-40. "Don't let her score," yelled one of the opposing squad from the bench. Bobbie, who is 5'1" tall, got only two scoring chances in that game and missed both. "I was hop- ing I'd get fouled," she said after- ward. "I can make a free throw." Bobbie has played in half a dozen games since her inauspicious start, and she plans to finish the season. Her father, who used to play basket- ball too, approves. "She may get a black eye, but that won't hurt her," he said. — 4 — ------- U.S.-Soviet Exchanges Scheduled A team of environmental scien- tists from the Soviet Union is sched- uled to come to the United States late this month for a 10-day study- visit, and two teams of EPA people arc going to the U.S.S.R. in March. The visits are the first of a series of exchanges and joint symposiums that are planned throughout the next five years, in which the two nations will cooperate in 30 specific areas of environmental research and tech- nology. The Soviet team of eight air pol- lution officials and technical people is due in Washington Feb. 27 to launch a joint study of air pollution modeling and instrumentation. Most of their time on this first visit will be spent in Washington, conferring with top Agency officials and people from the Office of Re- search and Monitoring. Dr. Herbert L. Wiser, head of ORM's Processes and Effects Division, is arranging the meetings in the Capital with technical experts from various EPA laboratories and program offices. Personnel from the Council on En- vironmental Quality, the State and Commerce Departments, and other Federal agencies will also take part in these sessions. Field Visits Set The delegation will make two field visits: Friday, Mar. 2, to St. Louis, Mo., to inspect the work in modeling a metropolitan airshed there, and Monday, Mar. 5, to Re- search Triangle Park, N.C , at the central laboratory for EPA's air pollution research. The first cast-bound exchange will be a two-week visit starting March 11 for an eight-man Amer- ican team on techniques of air pol- lution control in industry. The team will visit Moscow, Leningrad, and four smaller cities where control projects are under way for cleaning stack gases and desulfurizing fuels EPA team members include R. E. Harrington, K. H. Jones, Eric Stork, and J. K. Burchard. Two former EPA men, now consultants, will also make the trip: J. H. Ludwig and P. W. Spaite, plus representatives from the Department of Transporta- tation and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Later in March at a date still to be set, a water pollution team led by Dr. John L. Buckley, ORM, will visit the Soviet Union. Buckley said the team will include Donald Mount and Arnold Joseph, ORM; Ralph Palange and Mark Pisano, Water Programs Office; Dr. Peter Doudoroff of Oregon State Uni- versity, an EPA consultant who speaks fluent Russian; and a repre- sentative from the Council on En- vironmental Quality. The groundwork for the coopera- tive program was laid last May in in Moscow when President Nixon and US.SR. President Nikolai V. Podgorny signed a formal agreement for the two nations to work together in 11 environmental problem areas, ranging from pollution control and urban planning to weather research, earthquake prediction, and arctic ecology. METRIC UNITS NEEDED IN ALL EPA REPORTS EPA has officially endorsed the metric system of measure- ments. Metric units should be used in all Agency standards, reports, and other documents, according to an "all-hands" memorandum issued Jan. 18 by Deputy Admin- istrator Robert Fri. The action was taken, Fri said, to bring EPA in line with the dominant international system of weights and measures in the ex- pectation that the metric system would be adopted, sooner or la- ter, by the United States, one of the few developed countries still using more cumbersome systems. Wherever it seems desirable, the memorandum said, equivalent units in the British system (feet, acres, pounds, etc.) may be given in parentheses beside the metric units in the text of any document. Typists Learn Keyboard Plus Pupils in Mrs. Barbara Gciger's typewriting classes are learning about the environment while they practice typing. Her students at Old Mission Junior High School, Shawnec Mission, Kan., would benefit, Mrs. Gcigcr reasoned, if they had something better than typical business letters to practice on, something relevant and interest- ing. So she called EPA's Region VII headquarters in Kasas City. Could you help me, she asked, with copies of letters, pamphlets, or other material dealing with en- vironmental problems? She said she hoped timely, informative material on a subject of wide- spread interest would liven her pupils' typing drills and, who knows, perhaps some of the in- formation would seep in. Last month Mrs. Geigcr visited the EPA office to pick up the material that Mrs. Eloise Reed of the regional public affairs office had gathered for her. Mrs. Reed's package included a variety of letters actually sent out to answer public inquiries: letters explaining the pesticide laws, the new Federal water pol- lution act amendments, and other up-to-date environmental matters. Mrs Geigcr also took back to Shawnce Mission a lot of EPA publications for use in her school's "Project Clean," an en- vironmental study and action program. ------- A Child's-Eye View of Inner City By Frank Corrado Public Affairs Director, Region V, Chicago Home safe, out of harm's way, kids on the street yell "Allie Allie in Free." This street game provides the title and opening sequence for an unusual environmental film. "Allie Allie in Free" was shot in Cleveland last summer by Dr. Es- telle Zanes, communications pro- fessor at Cleveland State University and an acute observer of inner city problems there. She did the film in conjunction with a local citizens group, the Area Councils' Associa- tion. ACA is an old-time coordinating group for 19 neighborhood commu- nity groups in inner-city Cleveland. It has long been a spokesman for improving local conditions for both blacks and whites and has been con- cerned with inner-city environmental problems like air pollution, conges- tion and solid waste. Under a $2,500 grant from EPA's Public Affairs Office, ACA and Dr. Zanes put the documentary to- gether and secured one-half hour of television time in mid-December for airing the documentary. The documentary played in prime-time, and its unique point of view—the citizen's view of his community— was succinctly stated in the station's advertising before the broadcast: "The People of Cleveland Proudly Present—the People of Cleveland." The documentary was really a bination of community concern, professional commitment and tele- vision public-mindedness. "Allie Allie in Free" looked at the city as a "house" through the eyes of young children, with their comments, drawings, games and perceptions of crime, housing, en- vironment and other issues. It was a unique attempt to show the inter- relatedness of these issues and the need for a place to live that is "safe" and "out of harm's way." The docu- mentary will soon be converted into a movie version, and there are some W PiQPlE Of CLEVELAND PROUDLY PRESEN THE PEOPLE OF CLEVELAND Dr. Estelle Zanes of Cleveland S ale University directed television film on the inner city environment as seen through the eyes of young children. New Rules for Training Grants New regulations for EPA training grants and fellowships were pro- posed last month and printed in the Federal Register for Jan. 29, page 2705. They will not be formally adopted until some time after a 30-day wak- ing period for public comments. The proposal would unify the policies and procedures that have heretofore followed guidelines estab- lished by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for predecessor agencies of EPA. Main points of the proposed new regulations arc: • Financial assistance to students is generally limited to tuition and fees. indications it will be shown again. Rev. Earl Cunningham, president of ACA, said, "When television, the university, the citizen, the city and the Federal government are able to cooperate on a project like this, the word we use is not success, but rather hope—hope for this city." • Special stipends are established to provide additional financial as- sistance where needed to attract students to specific environmental control programs. • A pilot fellowship program is provided to enhance the attractive- ness of State and local employment in environmental control jobs. Public comments on the proposed regulations should be submitted in writing before Feb. 28 to the Direc- tor of Grants Administration, EPA, Washington, D.C. 20460. Inside EPA, published month- ly for all employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agen- cy, welcomes contributed articles, photos, and letters of general interest. Such contributions will be printed and credited, but they may be edited to fit space limits. Van V. Trumbull, editor Office of Public Affairs Room W239, EPA Washington, D.C. 20460 — 6 — ------- CITY HALL LOSES EPA CHECK FOR $1.3 MILLION More than a year ago the City of Atlanta mislaid a Federal check for $1,309,200, represent- ing an EPA contribution to help pay for a waste water treatment plant. The loss was not discovered until a routine audit by EPA in December revealed that the check had not been cashed. Regional Administrator Jack E. Ravan promptly issued a stop- payment order on the check, and wrote Atlanta Mayor Sam Mas- sell asking what had happened. At first city officials refused to believe the check had ever been sent. But Ravan pointed out that it had been delivered by certified mail and signed for on Jan. 10, 1972, by a secretary in Mayor MasselFs office. City hall files were combed to locate the missing piece of paper. No dice. The check was really lost. Now city officials have filled out the Treasury documents needed to prove the loss and per- mit the Federal authorities to re- issue the check. In his letter to Masscll, Ravan said: "We hope that a better method of control has been insti- tuted by the city so that Federal dollars can be recorded, de- posited, and expended in a timely manner " Ruckelshaus Defends Nixon On Water Fund Allocations Correction The November story on the use of abandoned strip mines for sani- tary landfill sites, Leonard Lion, EPA project engineer for the Frost- burg, Md. demonstration program, was mistakenly identified as work- ing for the National Environmental Research Center in Cincinnati. Lion is with the Office of Solid Waste Management Programs in that city. President Nixon's power to limit Federal aid allocations for water pollution control to less than that authorized by Congress for fiscal 1973 and 1974 was vigorously de- fended by EPA Administrator Wil- liam D. Ruckelshaus. The law, which was passed Oct. 18 over the President's veto, allows the Executive Branch "discretion" in fund allocations, Ruckelshaus testified at a hearing Feb. 6 of a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee. Ruckelshaus told the subcommit- tee that, on the President's instruc- tions, he had allocated to the States, for construction of municipal waste treatment facilities, $2 billion for fiscal 1973 and $3 billion for fiscal 1974. The Act authorized $5 billion and $6 billion, respectively, for those years. The executive discretion is im- plicit in the wording of the law and was several times cited in floor de- bates and committee reports, Ruc- kelshaus said. He quoted Rep. George Mahon (D-Texas), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, on the House floor last March: "Some seem to think that con- tract authority will guarantee full funding of the authorization. Of course, nobody is so naive as to think you can bypass the President or the Executive Branch. The Pres- ident is the top official—and he would permit or not permit full- scale application of the contract au- thority—or appropriations, for that matter." Ruckelshaus also quoted Rep. William Harsha (R-Ohio), ranking minority member of the House Pub- lic Works Committee, discussing on Oct. 4 certain revisions made on the bill in conference. These wording changes, Harsha said, were "intend- ed by the managers of the bill to emphasize the President's flexibility to control the rate of spending. . . . The Committee recognizes that there are many competing national priori- ties. That is the very reason the Committee has placed in this legis- lation the flexibility that is needed for the Executive Branch." The Administration's commitment to the cause of environmental pro- tection is "abundantly clear," Ruc- kelshaus told the hearing. "The de- cision to allocate less than the maxi- mum funding under the 'water' Act is not a departure from or a con- tradiction of that commitment. "If fiscal responsibility is to be achieved, as the President has re- solved it will be, hard decisions to fund Federal programs at less than their maximums may be necessary. . . . The responsibility was placed on the President's shoulders by the legislation itself. "It is a difficult and complex responsibility and it has been carried out in the full context of a com- prehensive and long-range policy direction toward the health and prosperity of the Nation." Jean Heads Effort To Train and Hire Spanish-Americans Paul R Jean has been named to coordinate the Agency's efforts to help Spanish-speaking Americans obtain training and employment in environmental work. Jean's appointment was an- nounced last month by Carol M. Thomas, director of EPA's Office of Civil.Rights and Urban Affairs. Before coming to EPA last year, Jean had been a social worker and job counselor in Chile. A graduate of the University of Montreal and holder of a master's degree in edu- cation from New York State Uni- versity, Jean has studied the Spanish language and Spanish-American his- tory in Bolivia and Mexico. — 7 ------- Holding Providence Journal's certificate and EPA flag are, from left, Rob- ert Frederiksen, reporter; John McGlennon, EPA regional director; Mi- chael Metcalf, vice president; and Leighton Authier, promotion director. Region I Honors Newspaper TUDOR DAVIES NEW DIRECTOR AT GROSSE ILE Dr. Tudor T. Davies is the new director of the Grosse He, Mich., Laboratory, one of the nine EPA laboratories associated with the Na- tional Environmental Research Cen- ter in Corvallis, Ore. He succeeds Dr. Norbert Jawor- ski, who was transferred last fall to Corvallis to head the Pacific North- west Water Laboratory. The Grosse He Laboratory, on the Detroit River just south of De- troit, concentrates on research and development work related to the Great Lakes, including research on the effects of industrial waste dis- charges and dredging. In his new post, Dr. Davies will represent EPA on an interdiscipli- nary study of the pollution problems of Lake Ontario that is being con- ducted by the United States and Canada as part of the Great Lakes International Field Year. Dr. Davies formerly was on the special projects staff of EPA's Office of Research and Monitoring in A certificate of Meritorious Achievement and an EPA flag were presented Jan. 26 to the Providence Journal by Region I Administrator John A. S. McGlennon. The morning paper of 65,000 circulation was cited for its "excel- lent coverage" of environmental news in general and for its sponsor- ship of a massive cleanup campaign of the Blackstone River last fall, McGlennon said. The newspaper organized and vig- orously promoted a concerted drive to clean trash of all kinds that had accumulated along a 12-mile stretch of the Blackstone, which winds through the city of Providence be- fore emptying into Narragansett Bay. The award was the first to be given to a communications medium in Region I, McGlennon said. Meri- torious achievement certificates had previously been presented to the U.S. Army at Fort Devens, Mass., and to the Nashua River Watershed Association. Washington. He was born in Great Britain and received his bachelor's and doctor's degrees in geochemistry from the University of Wales. ANGLER FINDS GOOD AND BAD ON FIRST TRIP On his first free weekend in Oregon, Dr. Raymond Wilhour, plant pathologist at the National Ecological Research Laboratory, Corvallis, had some good news and some bad news. Ardent fisherman Wilhour went after the famous, hard-to-catch steelhead trout, which they don't have back East in North Caro- lina, where Wilhour used to work at NERC-Research Tri- angle Park. Local experts told him it takes, on the average, 35 hours of fishing per steelhead caught. The good news: Ray landed a 29-inch steelhead weighing more than 10 pounds on his first time out, making him a likely candi- date for the elite 10 percent of steelhead fishermen who catch 90 percent of the fish. Now the bad news: In his excitement Ray hustled back to his car and drove home to Cor- vallis with his prize, leaving all his fishing gear on the bank of Alsea River. When he returned he found that some other sportsman had "liberated" his rod, reel, and tackle box. Decline Is Found In DDT Residues Clams and oysters found in U.S. coastal waters contain much less DDT and its by-products than they did five years ago, according to Dr. Philip Butler of EPA's Gulf Breeze Environmental Research Labora- tory, Gulf Breeze, Fla. Dr. Butler's studies are summa- rized in a report, "DDT in Estua- rine Molluscs," soon to be pub- lished. The report is based on more than 8,000 mollusc samples collected in 15 coastal States over periods rang- ing from two to eight years. Most of the samples were analyzed by Butler and his co-workers at the Gulf Breeze laboratory. — 8 — ------- |