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U S ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY-WASHINGTON, D C 20460 MARCH 1974
42% Increase Proposed for EPA Budget
A 42 percent boost in EPA's
operating budget for fiscal 1975 (the
12 months starting July 1) was
proposed in the President's budget
message to Congress recently
A total of $731.2 million is
sought, compared with $515.9 mil-
lion for the current year, an increase
of $215.3 million.
Nearly four-fifths of this in-
crease, or $168 5 million, would be
for energy-related programs in re-
search and air pollution control. The
added funds would go to develop
and demonstrate ways to control
pollution resulting from the produc-
tion and use of energy, said Ad-
ministrator Russell E. Train, and
for accelerated research on energy
conservation and effects on human
health and the environment
"The energy research program,"
Tram said, "will assure that en-
vironmental protection and energy
conservation are achieved while
striving for greater energy
self-sufficiency "
He called the proposed budget "a
very solid one, which strengthens
on-going program activities across-
the-board "
Other increases are proposed for
air pollution control, $13.3 million,
solid waste management, $5.9 mil-
lion, toxic substances, $4 5 million;
water supply, $3.0 million, pes-
ticides, $2 million; and noise con-
trol, $1.2 million.
Air Goal Still Set
The air program's proposed in-
crease reflects the Agency's inten-
tion to meet national air quality
standards by July, 1975. Funding
for enforcement would be increased
$3 million (including $1.4 million
for auto pollution control), and an
additional $10 million would go for
health effects research, particularly
in the formation and action of sulfur
pollutants.
The solid waste management
budget increase would permit the
program to continue substantially at
its current level The program is
now using about $6 million in unob-
ligated funds from previous years as
well as its current budget figure.
The proposed increases for toxic
substances, water supply, and noise
abatement anticipate legislation m
this session of Congress requiring
new standard-setting, research, and
enforcement
An increase of $11 7 million is
sought for program management and
support and an increase of $3 7 mil-
lion in agency and regional man-
agement
The decrease of $1 4 million in
the water quality program is due
largely to curtailed schedules for
water quality research, but there
would be a $1-million increase for
the Great Lakes Demonstration
Project, a joint effort with Canada
to control pollution in the Great
Lakes.
Same Job Levels
The budget calls for continuing
EPA employment at the fiscal 1974
level of 9,203 permanent positions
and 1,015 temporary ones. The
Agency will make adjustments in its
job assignments according to chang-
ing work loads and shifting program
emphasis
Other aspects of the President's
proposed budget would have sub-
stantial effects on efforts to improve
the environment, Train said. He
noted that $400 million in grants
(double the current year's figure) was
being sought for the purchase of
buses for urban mass transit sys-
tems, and a total of $321 million (a
$51 million increase) to eliminate
pollution from federally owned or
operated facilities
In the use of mass transit aid,
Tram said, the Department of
(Continued on page 2)
Train Sees Some 'Good News7
In the Nation's Energy Crisis
Good news in the energy
crisis?
Some people have regarded the
current shortage of energy as a
"green light" to relax antipollu-
tion efforts, Administrator Rus-
sell E. Train told the American
Farm Bureau Federation in At-
lantic City recently
But the real "good news," he
said, is that the energy crisis
"confirms what environmen-
talists have been saying all along.
if we continue to indulge in a 'no
deposit, no return' attitude to-
ward our earth and its resources,
we will both run out of energy
and irretrievably ruin our envi-
ronment
"Whatever the temporary
conflicts between our energy and
environmental needs, the fact is
that both our energy and en-
vironmental ills stem essentially
from the same source
"We cannot expect to cope
with either of these ills unless
and until we are willing to adopt
far more conservative patterns of
growth and development."
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2 From EPA Visit Soviet Union
For Survey of Urban Problems
EPA was represented on a
nine-member work-study team from
the United States on a recent two-
week survey of urban environmental
problems in the Soviet Union.
Ralph J. Black, Office of Solid
Waste Management Programs, and
Alice H. Suter, Office of Noise
Abatement and Control, took part in
the second meeting of the two coun-
tries' joint working group. The first.
was held last spring in the United
States, and a third is planned in Oc-
tober, also in this country.
The group which included rep-
resentatives from the Departments
of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment, Transportation, and Interior,
and the Council on Environmental
Quality visited Tashkent,
Samarkand, and the "planned" in-
dustrial city of Tolyatti as well as
Moscow and Leningrad.
Ms. Suter reported that the Soviet
Union tries to curb urban noise
through extensive governmental
planning as well as by setting max-
imum standards for factories.
homes, and public buildings.
Black said solid waste had only
recently become a matter of interest
to Soviet city planners, but they are
working to upgrade their methods of
collection and disposal. New com-
posting plants in Leningrad and
Moscow sell their product to collec-
tive farms and reclaim scrap metal,
he said.
42% INCREASE
SOUGHT FOR EPA
(Continued from page I)
Transportation will give special
consideration to urban areas af-
fected by EPA's transportation con-
trol plans.
The President's budget, which
this year totals more than $300 bil-
lion, is only a proposal. Congress
must appropriate the money, and its
appropriations set the limits within
which any Federal agency must op-
erate.
EPA's current budget was not
finally set until late October, nearly
Beside Moscow's Ostankino tower,
a masonry structure for TV trans-
mitters, are Richard Brown, HUD;
Ralph Black and Alice Suter,
EPA; and Eugene Lehr, DOT.
four months after the start of fiscal
1974. Until then the Agency oper-
ated under a "continuing resolu-
tion" of Congress, an authorization
to operate in anticipation of the pas-
sage and signing of an appro-
priations bill.
EPA Operating Budget, Fiscal '74 Estimated and Fiscal '75 Proposed
(dollars in thousands)
Program
Agency and
Regional
Management
Research and
Development
Abatement and
Control
Enforcement
Scientific
Activities
Overseas
1974
1975 1974
1975
1974
1975
1974
1975
1974
1975
19,662 26,668 31,593 11.653 15,042
Totals
1974
Energy $22,SOO $191,000
Air 54,307 64,387
Water Quality 43,359 40,998
Water Supply 2,502 4,518
Solid Waste Mgt 2,209 5,014
Pesticides 10.125 10,747
Radiation 2,199 2,733
Noise 499 513
Toxic Substances 2,000
Interdisciplinary 14,985 15,496
Program Manage-
ment & Support 16,231
Agency & Regional
Management $63.953562,736 63
Scientific Activ-
ities Overseas . $2,000 $4,000 2
$80
96
2
ft
17
,1
1
4
709
,572
207
549
,628
978
491
292
$81
96
\
9
IX
4
4
fi
873
,974
193
,675
m
649
699
,797
$8,598
23,401
3,108
21
$10 674
23.953
3,650
21
$ 22
143
163
4
8
30
7
4
4
14
500
614
,332
70Q
7S8
861
177
01 1
7Q-J
985
1975
5191,000
156,934
161,925
7,711
14,689
32,920
7.382
5,233
8,797
15,496
672 62,377
953 62,736
000 4,000
Total
63,953 62,736 168.916 357.068 243,094 257.976 46.781 53,340
2.000
4.000 515.864 731.200
*Does not include additional $6 million from prior years
Note: Does not include construction grants and areawide planning grants.
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X-Rays Speed Pollutant Measurement
EPA scientists in North Carolina
are developing a new x-ray tech-
nique for rapidly determining the
presence and amounts of polluting
trace elements in air.
The method, which holds great
promise for faster and more accurate
monitoring of pollutants that can
endanger human health, is called
x-ray fluorescence spectography. It
is being developed in the Chemical
and Physics Laboratory of the EPA
center at Research Triangle Park,
under the direction of Robert K.
Stevens and Thomas G. Dzubay.
AEC's Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory in California is helping
in the work under an interagency ag-
reement.
Stevens is supervisor of the proj-
ect, and Andrew O'Keeffe is branch
chief. Others working in air panicu-
late measurement include John Bell,
Lowell Mines, Kenneth Krost, Ron
Nelson, and Carole Sawicki.
In the new technique, chemical
elements in tiny airborne particles
are stimulated by a special kind of
x-ray beam to emit other x-rays that
are recorded in patterns, called
spectograms, revealing what ele-
ments are present and in what quan-
tity.
Elements that can be so measured
include potentially toxic metals
(lead, arsenic, nickel, selenium,
etc.) and non-metallic elements like
sulfur, silicon, and bromine, whose
compounds are often poisonous.
Particulates are usually measured
by total weight per unit volume of
air without being analyzed for
hazardous substances. Such analysis
is laborious and time-consuming by
wet chemical methods. The new
technique is rapid and semi-
automatic.
In tests at St. Louis, Mo., last
August, Dzubay and Stevens meas-
ured 25 different elements in
Dr. Thomas Dzubay prepares computer controller that prints out x-ray
spectrograms measuring chemical elements in airborne particulates.
amounts ranging from less than 10
billionths to several millionths of a
gram per cubic meter.
The tests showed some clues to
pollutant sources, Dzubay said, as
samples taken at different times of
day were compared. The level of
titaniuma metal used in paints -
had a wide, daily swing, indicating
a discrete, local source. Lead con-
centrations seemed to follow rush-
hour traffic periods. Sulfur showed
no regular fluctuations, indicating a
variety of continuous sources.
The system has also been used for
pollution studies in Los Angeles,
for analyzing auto exhausts, and for
health effects research, Stevens
said. This summer the analyzer will
be moved to St. Louis for further
use in the RAPS program (Regional
Air Pollution Studies).
Region X Office
Wins High Praise
For Citizen Help
EPA staffers of Region X were
praised last month for "helping to
preserve Seattle as a habitable
place."
Benella Caminiti of Seattle wrote
to Sen. Warren Magnuson to ex-
press her thanks for Agency help in
two "battles" last year: "in one in-
stance contending with the Seattle
Park Department and in another
with a private development on the
shorelines." The Region X staff got
involved through the environmental
impact statements mechanisms, Ms.
Caminiti said.
"In both cases EPA saved the
day, assisting embattled citizens by
citing the law to the responsible city
agencies. These laws do exist, but
citizens are often unable to use them
through ignorance or inability to ac-
quire legal help, due to its high
costs, and even due to the ignorance
of most attorneys," she said.
She concluded by saying she
would like to endorse her income
tax check "for payment to EPA
only."
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Julie Eisenhower Pays Visit to EPA
Julie Nixon Eisenhower speaks at EPA's Visitors Center. Behind her
are Deputy Administrator John Quarles, left, and Russell E. Train.
Public Service Ads Concentrate
On Clean Air and the Automobile
A multi-media public service ad-
vertising campaign has been
launched by EPA's Public Affairs
Office to help make individuals
aware of their own automobiles'
share in air pollution, traffic conges-
tion, noise, and energy waste.
The campaign was conceived and
written, and broadcast portions pro-
duced and directed, by the office,
Ann L. Dore, director. More than a
dozen persons worked on it. Tech-
nical production of television and
radio spots and mechanical produc-
tion of print advertisements was
done at commercial studios and
shops.
Among the well-known artists re-
cruited for the four television spots
were the Smothers Brothers and Tim
Conway. Bob and Ray recorded six
radio spot dialogues in their own in-
imitable manner.
There are five print advertise-
ments, all with the campaign's
theme "Does It Have to Be This
Way?" as a headline. The broadcast
announcements open with the same
question and close with another:
"Asked yourself about your car and
clean air lately?"
These questions are appropriate,
Ms. Dore said, because each indi-
vidual can provide an answer for
himself. Collectively, such answers
could lead to actions that improve
conditions in our automobile cul-
ture.
The TV and radio side of the
campaign takes an entertaining ap-
proach, she said. "In a light and
human presentation, the citizen may
be more willing to see himself as
part of the problem and part of the
solution at the same time."
The broadcast spots have been
sent to 6,000 radio stations and 800
television stations throughout the
country. The print ads have been
sent to magazines of general circula-
tion, with special mailings of some
of the ads to publications dealing
with urban problems and with
health.
4
Julie Nixon Eisenhower, younger
daughter of the President, visited
EPA headquarters in Washington
Jan. 28 to honor General Mills for
helping to promote an environmen-
tal education campaign for children.
Mrs. Eisenhower presented a tet-
ter of commendation from the Pres-
ident to E. Robert Kinney, presi-
dent of General Mills, Inc. The firm
is advertising the free, 16-page EPA
booklet, "Fun with the Environ-
ment," on more than 60 million
boxes of its breakfast cereals.
The booklet is designed for chil-
dren from four to 12 years of age. It
uses puzzles, stories, and games to
teach the concept of "environ-
ment," effects of pollution, and
ways people can help improve their
environment.
Administrator Russell Train gave
Mr. Kinney a framed plaque made
up of materials from the booklet.
The booklet can also help to in-
volve children in the President's
Environmental Merit Awards Pro-
gram (PEMAP), an EPA-sponsored
project to encourage environmental
improvement work by young people
in school and club groups.
While at EPA, Mrs. Eisenhower
previewed the new exhibits at
EPA's Visitors Center, which were
opened to the public the following
week.
Backing up the ad campaign are
promotional materials. Viewers, lis-
teners, and readers are invited to
send for a booklet, "Your Car and
Clean Air." Lapel pins and decals
bearing the campaign slogan,
"Does It Have To Be This Way?"
are also available for selective dis-
tribution.
Published for all employees of the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
Printed on reclaimed paper.
Van V. Trumbull, editor
Office of Public Affairs
Room W211, EPA
Washington, D.C. 20460
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Agency's New Visitors Center
Drawing 1,000 Persons a Month
EPA headquarters in Washington
has an attractive new educational
center for visitors -- a kind of en-
vironmental museum.
Called the Visitors Center, it oc-
cupies most of the first floor of the
Agency's West Tower. When com-
pleted next fall it will cover 6,000
square feet.
Visitors are now averaging more
than 1,000 a month, according to
Joseph B. Handy IV, who is in
charge of the center. By far the most
numerous are school and youth
groups, who come by the bus load
from throughout Washington and
nearby counties to see this new at-
traction.
Center staffers speak to visitor
groups and answer questions; Ellen
Dayton handles junior and senior
high school groups and Dolores
Cooper the children of elementary
school age. For adult groups the
center staff arranges for other
agency staffers to speak on particu-
lar problems or aspects of EPA's
work.
The north wing of the Center is a
special exhibit area finished late in
January. It dramatically depicts
environmental deterioration through
the life cycle of man. The visitor is
led past an animated globe and
through a many-roomed tunnel that
provides a series of sound-and-light
presentations of environmental
problems.
In some areas the images color
photos of air and water pollution,
urban crowding, trash dumps, etc.
come from all sides in dizzying array,
accompanied by appropriate
sounds and music. In other areas the
visitor can push a button to trigger
sound films projected from the rear.
In the south wing photos, charts, and
other materials are displayed that
review some of the Agency's efforts
to solve environmental problems.
This portion of the center will be re-
built during the summer with per-
manent exhibits on the same theme.
The south wing has a small au-
ditorium for meetings, lectures, and
film showings. Various EPA publi-
cations, posters, and other educa-
tional materials are available to vis-
itors near the south wing entrance.
The permanent exhibits in the
Most visitors carry home leaflets, posters, and other informational mate-
rials on the environment after seeing EPA's new Visitors Center.
north wing were built by Lester As-
sociates, Thornwood, N.Y., and
were designed for EPA by Barry
Howard Associates, Larchmont,
N.Y., who have also designed the
exhibits to be built in the south
wing.
In addition, three aquariums will
be built at the back of the entrance
hall, displaying the plant and animal
life of three kinds of water environ-
ment: fresh, marine, and estuarine.
MOWS THE TIME
TO APPLY FOR
SCHOLARSHIPS
Applications for EPA scholar-
ships should be made as soon as
possible, according to Robert F.
McDonald, manager of the EPA
Scholarship Fund.
The awards are made, in varying
amounts up to $500, for fulltime
undergraduate study in any ac-
credited college or junior college.
Recipients must be sons or daugh-
ters of career employees who have
been with EPA or its predecessor
agencies for at least three years. The
applicant's parents' gross income
must not exceed $19,000 during the
last tax year.
McDonald said present scholar-
ship holders can apply for renewals,
accompanied by transcripts of their
current grades. Renewal applica-
tions will be reviewed in the same
light as all others on the basis of
academic performance and availa-
bility of funds, he said. Applica-
tions for the next school year must
be submitted before July 1.
The Scholarship Fund is made up
of donations in lieu of payments for
speeches and articles by EPA
officials, plus other contributions.
Federal law forbids acceptance of
fees for lectures and writings by
Agency people in their official
capacities.
Application forms are available at
the personnel office at each EPA lo-
cation. Completed forms should be
sent to Robert F. McDonald, man-
ager, Scholarship Fund, code
A-100, EPA, Washington, D.C.
20460.
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Fast Work on Research Farm Wins
Bronze Medal for 6 at Corvallis
A group award of the Bronze
Medal for meritorious service was
recently made to six staff members
of the National Ecological Research
Laboratory at Corvallis, Oregon.
The team is credited with setting
up a farm site northeast of Corvallis
for the study of terrestrial ecology
many months sooner than was ex-
pected, after the laboratory was
transferred early last year from
Durham, N.C.
Dr. Norman R. Glass, laboratory
director, said only minimal research
results from the farm site had been
expected during the spring and
summer of last year, because of the
laboratory move.
"Several months of planning and
purchasing were needed prior to
starting the research program,"
Glass said. "Initiation of crop plan-
ning activity so late in the season,
coupled with the lack of equipment
and supplies, left little hope for ac-
complishing meaningful field re-
search before the summer of 1974.
"But the farm site team met this
challenge head-on... (and) initiated
an effective field crop research pro-
gram many months ahead of
schedule, significantly advancing
studies on the ecological effects of
pollutants on vegetation."
The team members were Dr.
Lawrence C. Raniere, chief, Plant
Ecology Branch; Harold A. Bond,
staff ecologist; James R. Miller,
physical science technician; Grady
E. Neely, agronomist; Denis E.
Body, mechanical engineer; and Dr.
Raymond C. Wilhour, plant
pathologist.
The Bronze Medal, third highest
employee award in EPA, and
certificates for each man were pre-
sented by Dr. A.F. Bartsch, direc-
tor of NERC-Corvallis, of which
the laboratory is a part.
Bartsch Presents
Five Other Medals
Five other Bronze Medals were
presented by Dr. Bartsch late in
January during a tour of laboratories
associated with NERC-Corvallis.
Two went to individuals and three
were team awards:
Dr. H. Page Nicholson, chief
Ecology farm site team at Corvallis receives Bronze Medal as a group.
From left are NERC Director A.F. Bartsch, Dr. Raymond Wilhour,
James R. Miller, Grady E. Neely, Denis E. Body, Dr. Lawrence
Raniere, Harold A. Bond, and Dr. Norman R. Glass, lab director.
of the Agro-Environmental Systems
Branch at th'e Southeast Environ-
mental Research Laboratory,
Athens, Ga. Dr. Nicholson, a vete-
ran of more than 32 years of Federal
service, was honored for "innova-
tive and inspiring leadership" in
studies water pollution by agricul-
tural pesticides.
Reed McNabb, an electronics
technician at Athens, for outstand-
ing service in designing, installing,
and maintaining highly-specialized
instruments at the laboratory for the
last seven years.
A 19-member team at the Na-
tional Water Quality Laboratory,
Narragansett, R.I., that converted a
surplus Navy barge into a "wet
laboratory" with a continuous-flow
seawater system. The barge is now a
primary test facility. Team mem-
bers are Dr. Clarence M. Tarzwell,
Dr. William S. Hodgkiss, Dr.
Donald K. Phelps, Dr. Gilles
LaRoche, Allan D. Beck, George
E. Morrison, Richard J. Blasco,
James H. Wood, Wayne R. Davis,
Raymond L. Highland, Bruce H.
Reynolds, Mrs. Doris G. Girard,
Mrs. Dianne E. Everich, William
Giles, Maurice E. Hines, George
Gare, Edward A. Weber, Ross
Johnson, and Frank Osterman.
A 10-member research team at
the Gulf Breeze Environmental Re-
search Laboratory, Gulf Breeze,
Fla., that conducted an emergency
study on effects of the pesticide
Mirex. This pesticide, being used to
control the fire ant, was also destroy-
ing a wide range of other organisms.
The study was the base for proposed
Federal action to regulate Mirex.
Team members are Dr. Thomas W.
Duke, Jack I. Lowe, Alfred J. Wil-
son, Jr., David J. Hansen, Patrick
R. Parrish, Gary H. Cook, Jerrold
Forester, Patrick W. Borthwick,
Johnnie Knight, and James M. Pat-
rick.
A three-man team at the Na-
tional Water Quality Laboratory,
Duluth. Minn., which is credited
with discovering asbestos-like fibers
in community water supplies along
Lake Superior and alerting au-
thorities to the potential health
hazard. They are Dr. Phillip M.
Cook, Dr. Gary E. Glass and James
H. Tucker.
6
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TRIPLE AWARD Three awards were recently presented to Betty
Watts, second from right, computer operator in Region IV's Data Sys-
tems Branch in Atlanta. She received a quality increase, a cash award for
special service, and a 10-year length-of-service award. From left in the
photo are Jack E. Ravan, Region IV administrator; Mrs. Watts; Ms.
Charlie K. Swift, director of the EPA's Women's Programs Division; and
John C. White, regional deputy administrator. Mrs. Watts prepared
more than 100,000 water quality back datacardsoverasix-month period.
All Regions Will Be Equipped
With New-Design Noise Meters
Plans to have all EPA Regional
Offices equipped with a new, inex-
pensive sound level meter have been
announced by Dr. Alvin F. Meyer
Jr., deputy assistant administrator
for noise control programs.
The meters will be used by re-
gional officials and in giving techni-
cal assistance to local programs to
measure noise levels of motor vehi-
cles, construction equipment, air-
craft, trains, and appliances used in
and around the home. EPA will be
proposing standards for all such
noise sources.
The instrument was designed and
developed by the U.S. Air Force
Academy at the request of EPA's
Office of Noise Abatement and
Control. It meets the "Type 2"
specifications of the American Na-
tional Standards Institute, Meyer
said. The high costs of such meters
now available commercially ($300
and upward) often hinder State and
local governments from establishing
noise control programs.
The new meter is expected to cost
no more than $150, and even less if
bought in kit form and assembled by
the user.
Meyer said 15 of the new meters
will be made for testing and use by
EPA: one each for the Regional
Offices and five at noise control
headquarters in Crystal City, Va.
They will later be manufactured
commercially.
They Saved Stamps
For Worthy Cause
Sandra Savage, a secretary at
NERC-Cincinnati, collected 19
books of trading stamps from her
fellow workers recently to help a
paralyzed young man in his plans to
go to college.
Thirteen EPA employees gave
their stamp books to Spence Jones
Jr., Jeffersonville, Ind., injured in a
Appointments
Robert V. Zener, deputy general
counsel. He succeeds Alan G.
Kirk II, who was confirmed as as-
sistant administrator for enforce-
ment and general counsel in De-
cember. Zener has been acting in his
new post for nearly a year. Before
coming to EPA in March, 1971, he
had worked in the Justice
Department's Civil Division.
Robert J. McManus, chief of the
Oceans Division, a new post in the
Office of International affairs. He
will coordinate EPA programs relat-
ing to international ocean affairs
and marine pollution. He has served
in the Office of General Counsel
since 1971, first as a special assist-
ant and later in the Water Quality
Division.
William J. Dircks, executive as-
sistant to the administrator. He was
formerly a senior staff member at
the Council for Environmental
Quality.
Roger Strelow, acting assistant
administrator for air and water pro-
grams, replacing Robert L. San-
som, who resigned to return to pri-
vate life. Strelow's responsibility
for water programs will be tempo-
rary. Administrator Russell Train
said, pending a reorganization of the
Agency's main program divisions.
Betty Ann Williamson, public
affairs director for Region VI, Dal-
las. Mrs. Williamson, former aide
to Sen. John Tower of Texas, is the
second woman to direct a division in
a regional office and the third in the
Agency to serve as a public affairs
director.
Conrad S. Simon, director of the
Environmental Programs Division,
Region II, New York. Formerly
chief of the division's Air Programs
Branch, Simon succeeds Weems
Clevenger, who has transferred to
the San Juan, PI, field office.
high school wrestling accident
seven years ago. Jones is near his
goal of 2,000 stamp books, the cost
of an auto van that can accommo-
date his wheel chair. He hopes to
study commercial law at Indiana
University Southeast.
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Aircraft Scan Spills, Aid Enforcement
EPA has established a nationwide
system for rapid aerial surveillance
in environmental emergencies, such
as oil spills, and for a variety of
other information gathering to back
up the Agency's enforcement and
research.
The system is controlled from the
Monitoring Operations Laboratory
at NERC-Las Vegas, Nev., but it
can be triggered from any regional
office or from Washington
The laboratory has the use of
three remote-sensing aircraft and
will respond to calls for aerial sur-
veillance in the western states. In
seven other locations throughout the
country, the laboratory has con-
tracted with private firms and
scientific institutions to gather the
information
Albert Pressman, chief of the
lab's Image Acquisition and In-
terpretation Branch, said the system
uses airborne instruments like
cameras and electronic scanners to
get fast, accurate information in
Magazine Features
Secretary From
Region VII Office
Peggy Mathes, a 23-year-old sec-
retary in EPA's Region VII Office
in Kansas City, Mo., is one of three
young women featured in the Feb-
ruary issue of Today's Secretary, a
national magazine published by
McGraw-Hill
She is interviewed on her work as
secretary to Randall Jessee, director
of public affairs, and on her keen
interest in the environmental move-
ment
Peggy says her work as an en-
vironmental secretary has affected
her lifestyle She reuses her lunch
bags until they wear out, saves
newspapers for recycling, and rides
to work m a car pool Her husband
Stanley, uses the family car in his
work as a salesman
Since the article appeared Mrs.
Mathes became secretary to Donald
Townley, regional director of the
Division of Hazardous Materials
Control.
emergencies
An example was a recent massive
oil spill on the lower Mississippi
River after a 12-inch pipeline rup-
tured west of New Orleans. EPA's
men in charge were Robert Landers,
NERC-Las Vegas, and Jerry Thorn-
hill of Region VI, Dallas. EPA's
contractor in Houston, Texas, the
Philco-Ford Corp , obtained the
planes to make the aerial surveil-
lance Films and infrared scans
were air-shipped to Las Vegas for
processing, analysis, and mapping.
Preliminary data were telephoned
to the scene within 14 hours after
the imagery was obtained. Final,
mapped results were m Coast Guard
control center in New Orleans
within 38 hours On alternate weeks
Pressman and Landers are on call
around the clock, carrying a pocket
"beeper" wherever they go
"Three men m Washington can
turn us on," says. Pressmen They
are Kenneth Biglane, Russell Wyer,
and Donald Jones of the Oil and
Hazardous Materials Division. One
of these three is always ready to take
emergency calls from regional
offices
Aerial surveillance is also useful
in such non-emergency work as
documenting pollution violations
and supporting scientific studies.
Recent examples include:
Making a graphic inventory of
industrial outfalls near Moss Land-
ing, Calif.
Mapping air pollution sources
in relation to air sampling stations in
the San Francisco area.
Surveying industrial and
municipal outfalls on the lower
Hudson River and New York Bay.
Non-emergency calls may come
from anywhere in EPA. regional
offices, laboratories, or enforce-
ment and monitoring officials m
Washington
Besides Philco-Ford at Houston,
the contractors ready to assist the
laboratory in aerial surveillance are
the Fairchild Co., Germantown,
Md ; Franklin Institute, at
Philadelphia, Pa and Daytona
Beach, Fla.; the Calspan Corp.,
Buffalo, N.Y.; the Bendix Corp.
and the Environmental Research In-
stitute, Ann Arbor, Mich.; and
Philco-Ford at Brookmgs, S. D.
Federal Information Centers?
There Is One Near You
Every EPA office gets phone
calls from the public asking for in-
formation that only another
agency can supply. Often we don't
even know what other Federal
bureau can help, and this makes us
look dumb and unresponsive to the
public we serve.
A story in January's issue of In-
side EPA mentioned the new Fed-
eral Information Centers that have
been set up in scores of cities
around the country just to handle
such referrals. But we did not list
the 36 FICs, or the 37 other cities
having toll-free tie-lines con-
nected to the FICs.
TheFlCsareoperatedjointlyby
the General Services Administra-
tion and the U.S. Civil Service.
Here are their phone numbers for
EPA's Regional Office cities and
NERCs:
I Boston, Mass. (617) 223-7121
II New York, N.Y. (212) 264-4464
III Philadelphia, Pa. (215) 597-7042
IV Atlanta, Ga. (404) 526-6891
V Chicago, III. (312) 353-4242
VI Dallas, Texas (214) 749-2131 via
toll-free tieline to Fort Worth FIC
VII Kansas City, Mo. (816) 374-2466
VIIIDenver, Colo. (303)837-3602
IX San Francisco, Calif. (415)
556-6600
X Seattle, Wash. (206) 442-0570
NERC-Clnclnnati (513) 684-2801
NERC Research Triangle Park,
N.C., nearest number is Charlotte,
N.C. (704) 376-3600, a toll-free
tieline to Atlanta FIC
NERC-Corvallis, Ore., nearest FIC is
Seattle, Wash., (206) 442-0570
NERC-Las Vegas, Nev., nearest FIC Is
Los Angeles, Calif. (213) 688-3800
In Washington, D.C., the Federal In-
formation Center number is (202)
655-4000.
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