V?

 Uranium   Survey  Will   Help   Navajos
  EPA radiation monitoring experts
have  started  work  to  determine
whether the Navajo  Indians  can
safely  make  use  of abandoned
buildings at old uranium ore-milling
sites on Indian lands.
  The  Navajos  want to  use  the
buildings—most of  which  are in
good condition with  plumbing  and
electrical services intact—for schools
and  workshops. The hitch is  the
structures are close to or  built on
piles of uranium  mill "tailings."  a
mining waste that looks  like  fine
sand and is slightly radioactive.
  Tribal leaders  asked  EPA.  the
Atomic Energy Commission, and the
Indian Health Service for assistance,
and   the   three   agencies   are
cooperating in a field study by the
Las Vegas  facility  of the  Office of
Radiation Programs.
  A  mill site  near  Mexican  Hat,
Utah,  is  being   examined   first,
according  to Jon  Yeagley  of  the
Region  VIII Office.  Denver.   The
monitoring team has spent about 10
days at the site, gathering data on
radiation  types  and  levels   and
assessing  possible  methods  of
controlling  the hazard. The complete
analysis, including an  engineering
evaluation and a cost estimate,  will
take several months, Yeagley said,
and a report will be given the Navajo
Tribal Council  in the fall.

        3 Regions Involved

  There   are  four abandoned
uranium mines on Navajo land in
three states. Arizona.  New Mexico,
and Utah.  Since each state is in  a
different  Federal  Region. EPA
radiation   representatives  from
Region  VI.  Douglas  Keefer,   and
Region IX, James Channel!, will take
part in the project, as well as health
and radiation agencies of the three
States. The monitoring team from

 Tom Sell, left,  and Dan Lambdin use stakes  to  mark  contours of
 radioactivity blown from tailings pile, at Shiprock, N.1M.
NERC-Las Vegas will be headed by
Joseph   Hans  and  will   include
Gregory  Eadie, Thomas  Morton.
Donald  Lambdin.  Bruce  Mann,
William  Moore,  Thomas  Sell.
Robert  Snelling, and  Jack  Thrall.
  Uranium  mill tailings  were not
recognized as  a  radiation  hazard
until several  years ago. long  after
many   mines   had   slopped
production.   In Grand  Junction.
Colo., tailings were used as  fill dirt
under   houses.   schools.  and
commercial buildings. Colorado has
started   a   multi-million-dollar
corrective program—with 3-to-l
Federal  aid—using  a  range  of
remedial  measures,  according  to
types  of  radiation  found  in
individual buildings. In some cases,
the tailings have to be dug out and
replaced.
  In Salt Lake City  last  year  a
private developer wanted to build an
auto race track  on  a  100-acre site
containing  1.7  million   tons  of
tailings.  The  Office of Radiation
Programs recommended to the State
of Utah  that no  structures be built
mi the tailings pile and warned that
occupancy of buildings within half a
mile might be hazardous.
  However, the tailings occupy land
of  great potential  value   to  the
expanding city, value which  could be
realized if a way were found to clean
up or seal off the tailings.

      General Survey Urged
  The kind of study under way at
Mexican Hat is essentially what Dr.
William D.  Rowe. deputy  assistant
administrator   for   radiation
programs,    advocated   at   a
congressional hearing March 12 for
about 20 known tailings  piles at
        (Continued on ]>;IL>

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Field  Tests  Set  This Summer
On   Poisoning of  Wildlife
  The   first  comprehensive  field
studies  of  the  effects  of rodent
poisoning on desirable wildlife will
be  sponsored  this  year by EPA's
Office of Pesticides Programs.
  The studies will be done by the
Interior  Department's Bureau  of
Sports Fisheries and Wildlife in the
Rocky   Mountains,   under  an
interagency  agreement with EPA.
Richard   Tucker  is  EPA  project
officer  and Ivan  Dodson  of  the
Region VIII Office, Denver, will help
in overseeing  the  work,  which is
expected to take 22 months.
  Bureau biologists will  use  two
kinds  of  compounds—"1080"
(sodium    monofluorate)   and
strychnine—both  of which  are
registered for  use against  rodents
such as  rats, mice,  moles  and
gophers.
  Such poisons are opposed by many
environmentalists, who contend that
desirable "non-target" animals and
birds may be  killed by  eating the
poisoned baits directly or by eating
the  rodent victims.
  EPA's  laboratory  studies  have
shown  that such  unintentional
poisoning is possible, but  reliable
information  on the extent of  such
poisoning  under   field  conditions
does not exist. A series of informal
hearings  last fall  on whether to
continue or cancel the registration of
these  rodenticides  yielded  little
"hard, scientific information,"  said
Tucker.
  The Bureau's study will attempt to
answer three questions, he said: (1)
Can field use of compound 1080 for
rodent control kill other wildlife? (2)
What  are  the  relative effects of
ground or aerial application of the
compound? and (3) Can grain baited
with strychnine in the customary
manner kill desirable wildlife?
  Other studies are planned on the
field  use  of  cyanide  compounds,
which  are  also  registered  for  use
against rodent pests.
  Some of the information obtained
may possibly be  applied  to  the
problem  of  controlling predators,
larger carnivorous  animals like the
coyote, wolf, and bobcat, for which
these poisons  and  poisoned bait
cannot legally be used.
  However,   EPA   has   given
permission  for limited tests of a
cyanide spring-gun device to control
coyotes on certain  private  lands in
Texas. Evidence of the effect of this
device  on other   wildlife  will  be
studied carefully before any further
relaxation  of the  ban on  predator
poisoning.
Lighting,  Heating,  Cooling Policies
Will  Save  Energy at EPA  Facilities
  New measures to save  energy at
EPA  installations  were  announced
recently  by   Deputy   Assistant
Administrator Howard M. Messner.
They  have been put into effect at
Agency buildings in Washington and
are recommended  for  all regional
offices, research centers,  and field
laboratories  using  Government-
owned or -leased space.
  The guidelines reduce lighting and
heating levels and raise cooling levels
as follows:
  Lighting—no more than 50 foot-
candles at work stations, 30 foot-
candles in work areas, and 10 foot-
candles  in   nonworking  areas;
elimination of all  exterior and  off-
hour lighting except  that necessary
for safety and security.
  Cooling—not lower than 80 to 82
degrees during working hours.
   Heating—thermostats  set  to
maintain 65 to 68 degrees  during
working hours and  55  degrees at
other times. Window draperies and
blinds should be opened to augment
heating on sunny days and closed to
cut heat losses on cloudy days and at
night.   Portable  and  threshold
heaters are  banned.
   Employee unions having exclusive
recognition  should  be  consulted
before local  managers put these rules
into effect,  Messner  said.
          Elbert C. Tabor

  Scientist at  RTF

 Wins Gold Medal
  Elbert C. Tabor, assistant director
and senior technical  advisor  at the
Quality      Assurance     and
Environmental    Monitoring
Laboratory,  NERC-Research  Tri-
angle Park, was recently awarded an
EPA Gold Medal for distinguished
service  and for  scientific contribu-
tions to air quality monitoring.
  A 27-year veteran  in  the Federal
service. Tabor has been called the
"father of air pollution monitoring."
He was the first chief of the National
Air Sampling  Network when  it was
established in  1954 in one of EPA's
predecessor agencies.  Under  his
general  direction   a nationwide
network of air sampling stations was
developed. These have grown in size
and sophistication over the last two
decades and now provide most of the
background 'data for decisions by
Federal,    State,   and   local
governments    concerning   air
pollution  control.
  The medal  was presented by Dr.
Jack  Thompson,  NERC  deputy
director,  at a dinner  in Tabor's
honor,  in Raleigh. Tabor has held
several  offices in the Air Pollution
Control   Association and written
many technical papers in  this field.
He  is  a member of the  American
Chemical  Society and the  Society of
Applied Spectroscopy.

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 Air,  Water  Programs  Are  Separated
   EPA's air and  water programs
 have been  separated  under  a
 reorganization announced  April 10
 by Administrator Russell E.  Train.
   Under the new alignment—which
 Train  said  in  January  he  was
 planning to  make—there are  two
 offices, each headed by an assistant
 administrator: the  Office of  Water
 and Hazardous  Materials and  the
 Office  of   Air   and   Waste
 Management.
   The  former  includes  Water
 Planning and  Standards,   Water
 Program Operations, Pesticides,  and
 Toxic  Substances.  The   latter
 includes Air Quality Planning  and
 Standards, Mobile Source Pollution,
 Noise Abatement  and  Control,
 Radiation  Programs,  and  Solid
 Waste Management Programs.
  The names of the nine program
 offices have not been changed, and
 each is still headed by  its deputy
 assistant administrator.
  Train  appointed  James L.  Agee,
 regional administrator for Region X,
 Seattle,   as   acting  assistant
 administrator   for  water  and
 hazardous  materials  and  Roger
 Strelow   as   acting  assistant
 administrator for  air  and  waste
 management.
  "These changes, coupled with  the
 knowledge  and   leadership  which
these men bring to their positions,"
Train  said,  "will   improve   our
capacity to deal with environmental
  Inside EPA, published for all
 employees   of   the   U.S.
 Environmental   Protection
 Agency,  welcomes  contributed
 articles, photos,  and letters of
 general interest.
  Printed on recycled paper.
  Van V. TrumbuII, editor
  Office of Public Affairs f A-107]
  Room W211, EPA
  Washington, D.C. 20460

  Tel. (202) 755-0872
          James L. Agee

 problems."
  Agee   has   been   regional
 administrator since 1970. and before
 then had served ten years in EPA's
 predecessor agencies holding senior
 staff posts in water pollution control.
 He is an officer in the Public Health
 Service and holds a  B.S. in sanitary
 engineering  from  Oregon  State
 University and an M.S.  from
 Harvard  University.
  Strelow was executive assistant to
 Train  before  being  named  acting
                                         Roger Strelow

                                 assistant administrator for air and
                                 water programs in January. Before
                                 joining EPA  he  had  been  staff
                                 director  of  the  Council  on
                                 Environmental Quality and  an
                                 assistant  to  the  secretary  and
                                 director   of   the   Office  of
                                 Environmental  Affairs  in  the
                                 Department  of Health,  Education.
                                 and Welfare. He is a graduate of
                                 Principia College,  Elsah, 111.,  and
                                 earned a law degree at the University
                                of California.
Uranium  Tailings  Survey
Will  Help  Navajo  Indians
       (Continued from page 1)
abandoned uranium mill sites in the
West.
  Rowe said  EPA  opposed action
now  on a  bill  sponsored by  Sen.
Frank Moss  of Utah  to provide
Federal  aid  for  the  study  and
cleanup of the Salt Lake  City  pile.
More should  be  learned  about
remedial actions and  costs, Rowe
said,  not only for Salt Lake City but
also  for  other  sites, so  that  any
legislation would apply  to all such
sites.   An   AEC  spokesman  gave
similar testimony.

            — 3 —
                                  The Joint Committee on Atomic
                                Energy is expected to approve a two-
                                phase program, proposed  by AEC,
                                under which EPA and  AEC would:
                                  • Make a preliminary survey of
                                    all abandoned tailings piles to
                                    define the problems,  and
                                  • Follow up with field studies,
                                    engineering evaluations, and
                                    cost estimates for any  remedial
                                    action necessary at each pile.
                                  Thereafter, a general bill for joint
                                Federal-State remedial action on all
                                tailings piles may be proposed.

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EPA's  Largest  Computer
Is  Installed   in  North  Carolina
  EPA's  largest computer  facility
started operations last  month  in
Research  Triangle  Park, N.C. The
$4.8-million Univac 1110 computer
system is  the largest such facility in
the  southeastern States.
  Dr.  Burton  Levy,  director  of
administration,  said the new unit
will  accommodate the computing
and data storage needs of more than
100 scientists at  NERC-RTP and will
also serve the Office of Air Quality
Planning  and  Standards and  the
Office of  Administration.
  "Environmental research depends
upon prompt, accurate processing of
data,"  he said. "As  EPA's  North
Carolina  research  operations  have
grown  in  the  past two  years,  its
computer  needs  have   grown
correspondingly,  exceeding the
capacity  of  its former  computer
system."
  Harold  Sauls, director of the Data
Processing Division, said the Univac
1110 system will increase the speed
and  expand the  division's  data
handling capacity more than 12-fold.
It will be operated seven days a week
on two or more shifts a day.
  The expanded computer operation
in North Carolina will  provide a
larger data capacity for EPA's two
air pollution  monitoring  programs,
the  National  Emissions Data Base
(NEDS) and the  Storage  and
Retrieval  of  Air  Quality  Data
(SARQAD);   increased   use   of
mathematical    diffusion   and
prediction   modeling   studies;
additional statistical and correlation
capacity for  human  health effects
studies;  and  increased "memory"
capacity for  the  Air   Pollution
Technical  Information  Center's
bibliography and abstracts.
  The new system will provide faster
turn-around  service for  users,
increased terminal plug-in  capacity
for  remote  users, and  a  greater
flexibility to  accommodate future
needs.
  It    can    handle   operator
instructions in billionths of a second,
permitting a multiple programming
capacity of millions of instructions
per  second.  It  replaces  an IBM
360/50 system.
 Alvin L. Aim, assistant administrator for planning and management, cuts
 the ribbon on the Agency's big new computer system at Research Triangle
 Park, whfle Harold Sauls, director, Data Processing Division, lends a hand.
60 From Region  II

Win Service  Pins
  Sixty employees at  EPA's  Region
II office in New York were honored
recently  for  government  service
totaling about a thousand years.
  Gerald  M.  Hansler,  regional
administrator, presented  pins and
certificates to ten employees  having
30 or  more years  of  service; 19
having  20 years or more, and 31
having  served for 10  years.
  The  award   for  the longest
individual  service—34 years—went
to   Julian  Grossman,   grants
administrator, who began in  1940 as
an accountant at the Brooklyn Navy
Yard.   By  1966 he  had  risen to
civilian-in-charge of the largest data
processing system in New York City.
That year Grossman  transferred to
the Federal Water Pollution Control
Administration, one  of  EPA's
predecessor agencies.
  The awards ceremony was the first
in  the  New York Regional  Office,
accounting for the large number of
recipients.
  Similar   presentations    are
scheduled for Region  II field offices
at Edison, N.J.; Rochester, N.Y., and
San Juan,  P.R. Employees at these
installations   will  get   awards
representing 980 years of service.

Toastmasters

Seek  Members
  About  24 men and  women  at
EPA's  Washington   headquarters
meet every Tuesday  noon to give,
and listen to, short speeches.
  They constitute a new chapter of
the Toastmasters'  Club,  whose
purpose is to improve its members'
public  speaking abilities. At  each
session in conference room 3805, two
or three  persons give formal  talks
lasting 5 to 7 minutes. Each speech is
evaluated by another member,  and
the evaluators  are  also  evaluated.
  "It's a  lot of fun for a very little
investment of time and  effort," says
John Settle,  one of the organizers,
"and most of us have become better
speakers   already."  The  club  is
looking for about a dozen  additional
members.  Interested  persons should
call  Settle (ext. 58108) or  Nina
Dougherty (ext. 64567).

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Group  Weighs  Vinyl  Chloride  Peril
  A   21-member   task   force
 representing  many  components  of
 EPA has been named to assess the
 possible danger—to human health
 and to the environment—of vinyl
 chloride, a gas sometimes used as the
 pressurized propellant for pesticides,
 and of a widely used plastic made
 from the gas.
  Administrator Russell  E. Train
 suspended from  further   sale  all
 pesticides containing vinyl chloride
 for  use in enclosed areas and ordered
 their  recall  from stores  and
 distributors.
  Vinyl chloride, a synthetic organic
 compound  containing   carbon,
 hydrogen, and chlorine, is  suspected
 as being a causative factor in  the
 deaths of 12 plastics plant workers
 from a rare form of liver cancer. The
 gas is used  to  produce  polyvinyl
 chloride, a common plastic material.
 In aerosol cans the  gas has always
 been regarded as an inert ingredient,
 a carrier for the pesticide.
  Although the toxicity, if any, of
 vinyl chloride in  ambient air is not
known,  Train  said,  "the  link
between the gas and  the cancer  is
suspected strongly enough to make it
prudent public policy to ban further
use of these products."
  Glenn  E.  Schweitzer, director of
the Office  of  Toxic  Substances,
heads  the  task  force,  which  will
review all available data on toxicity,
measure levels of vinyl  chloride in air
and water near  plastics plants,  and
investigate the ecological effects and
the impact  of various methods of
disposal.
  The task force  has met  with
various environmental  and consumer
groups  and with other interested
Federal agencies: the  Departments
of Health, Education, and Welfare;
Labor;  Commerce; the Consumer
Product Safety Commission, and the
Council on  Environmental Quality.
  The group plans to finish its work
and report  by  the  end of June,
Schweitzer   said.   Preliminary
measurements of vinyl  chloride levels
in air and water in the vicinity of the
B.F. Goodrich  plastics plant  in
Louisville,  Ky., have already been
made by EPA experts in Region IV,
under  George  Moein, hazardous
materials control officer.
  Task force members include Leslye
Arsht, Public Affairs, Nancy Be.ach,
Toxic  Substances;  David Becker,
Water  Programs  Operations;  J.
Wesley Clayton Jr. and Henry Enos,
Research and  Development;  Joel
Jacknow,     Planning     and
Management;  Bryan  LaPlante,
Office  of  Legislation;  Pope
Lawrence, Federal Activities; George
Marienthal,  Regional  Liaison;
George Moein, Region IV, Kansas
City;  William  Musser and  John
Nardella,  Water  Planning and
Standards; Vaun Newill, Office of
the Administrator; Lester Otte, Solid
Waste  Management;  Will  Reid,
Enforcement;    John    Ritch,
Pesticides;  Richard  Rhoden  and
Frank  Scaringelli,  Air  Quality
Planning  and  Standards;  Oscar
Ramirez, Region VI,  Dallas;  and
William   Upholt,   Hazardous
Materials Control.
Women  Urged  to  Combat  Discrimination
  For  employers to hold women
back in status or pay because they
are women is not only inhuman and
wasteful,   it's   illegal,   James
Robinson, senior budget examiner in
the  Office  of  Management  and
Budget, told a recent conference in
Dallas  on "Today's Challenges for
Women in Government."
  The conference, chaired by Diana
Dutton, assistant regional counsel
for EPA's Region VI, was the second
national meeting to be sponsored by
the  Federal  Executive Board's
Women's Program. The Dallas-Fort
Worth  FEB was  host for more than
100 women and men executives from
Federal,   State,   and   local
governments.
  Arthur W. Busch, EPA regional
administrator and chairman of the
Southwest Federal Regional Council,
greeted the conferees at the opening
of the three-day meeting.
  Robinson, a keynote speaker, said
"occupational   segregation,"—not
allowing women to work in  certain
jobs because of their sex—is still a
real roadblock for women, although
it  is generally  illegal. But he  said
women are not making full use of
existing   rules  against   sexual
discrimination.
  "To  bring about change," he
advised, "women should know and
utilize  the  system,  counteract
unfriendly acts and  opinions,  and
learn  to  marshal  the facts  and
statistics  on  each  disputed case."
  The  greatest  impact  of   the
women's   movement  will  be to
improve the  human  condition, he
said.
  Several  projects involving  EPA
regional leaders were reported at the
conference. For example, Cincinnati
FEB women had put on  a Career
Day program  for 200  managers,
heads  of  agencies  and personnel
departments  under  the title,  "It's
Your Move." Delores Platt, women's
program  coordinator  for  NERC-
Cincinnati, was an activist in this
program,  and  Charlie  K.  Swift,
director  of   EPA's   Woman's
Programs Division in  Washington,
was a speaker.
  The Federal agencies in Region VI
reported on six  one-day conferences
for GS-1  through GS-7 employees.
More than 800 persons were involved
in "How  to Move Up"  counseling
sessions.
  The  Denver  FEB  Women's
Program  held  career counseling
sessions  for 340  GS-8 and below
employees, sessions which  lasted
three days and were conducted by a
management   institute   under
contract.
  Other EPA representatives at the
Dallas meeting  included  Ruth
Sasaki, Region  V, Chicago;  Pat
Allbright, Region VI,  Dallas; and
Kate  Stahl,  Women's  Programs
Division, Washington.

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 'Coughing'   Fish  May  Spot  Pollution
  Polluted water makes some fish
"cough" in  much  the  same way
polluted air  makes people cough,
according to  EPA's National Water
Quality Laboratory at Duluth, Minn.
These fish coughs may some day be
used  to monitor water  quality in
lakes and streams.
  Robert  A.  Drummond,  aquatic
biologist in charge, said the fish-
coughing study was begun more than
two  years  ago  as  part  of the
laboratory's basic investigation of
how pollutants affect freshwater fish.

        Clearing the Gills

  When a fish coughs, it clears its
gills of debris in a manner analogous
to a person's coughing to clear his
throat. But the Duluth scientists do
not measure the gill clearing sound,
if any. They detect minute electrical
signals generated by the gill muscles
and  record  them  on  apparatus
similar  to  a lie  detector or  an
electrocardiogram.
  Normal gill action is a continuous
rhythm, punctuated at  regular
intervals by a "cough" that sends the
recording pen in several rapid swings
to form a heavy line on the chart.
Such  coughing is natural in bluegill,
sunfish, fathead  minnow, trout, and
salmon, Drummond said. "We don't
yet know whether all other species
cough, but we will try to answer this
question in later tests."

       Coughs Rise Sharply

  When pollutants are added to the
water the number  of coughs per
minute  rises  sharply. In tests with
copper  and  mercury,  Drummond
and his co-workers found the  levels
that  speeded  up coughing  were
about the same as those which other
studies had shown to be damaging to
fish growth and reproduction.
  "We are now looking at the short-
term  effects of 10 heavy metals and
pesticides," said Drummond, "to
compare the  cough-test results with
already determined  long-term
effects. If the comparisons are close,
we feel the cough frequency test may
be valid for other chemicals.
 Seven-inch bluegill swims placidly in test tank between sensitive electrodes
 that detect tiny, rhythmic electrical signals from its gill muscles.
                     CONTROL
                         FISH
                        TEST
                          FISH
Five-minute strip charts record the "coughing" signals (rapid fluctuations
that make a thick line) about once a minute for the control fish in clean water
and five times as frequently for the test fish in polluted water.
  "Ultimately,  we  may have the    treatment plants and  industry.  A
beginning of a  new  method  of    sudden increase in fish coughs in a
keeping  tabs on  wastes  entering
lakes  and  streams  from  sewage
                               given body of water could trigger an
                               alarm."

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EPA  Defines the  Noise  Levels
Required  for  Health, Welfare
  Noise  levels  needed  to  protect
health and welfare were defined last
month  by  the  Office  of  Noise
Abatement and Control after almost
a year of  study in cooperation with
many other Federal agencies and
scores of expert consultants.
  The final technical report defines
70 decibels as the maximum 24-hour
exposure  level  needed  to  protect
humans from hearing  loss  over a
lifetime.  (A  decibel  is  a  physical
measure of sound, and 70 decibels is
about equivalent to freeway traffic
heard from a distance of 100 feet.)
  To prevent  annoyance  and
interference  with normal  human
activity,  an   8-hour   exposure
averaging 55 decibels  (light auto
traffic  100  feet   away)  was
recommended for outdoors and 45
decibels (a quiet  living room)  for
indoors.
  The  report,   "Information  on
Levels of Environmental Noise
Requisite  to Protect  Public Health
and  Welfare  with  an  Adequate
Margin of Safety," will be published
soon by  the  Government  Printing
Office.
  The first  rough  draft  of  the
document was made  almost a year
ago  by  the Air Force  Medical
Research  Laboratory at  Dayton,
Ohio,  under   an   interagency
agreement. It was reviewed by more
than 30 persons representing various
scientific and environmental groups
and  the  National  Academy  of
Sciences, and redone at the Dayton
laboratory.

  Alice Suter edited the final report.
Joseph  Flanagan,  of  the  Noise
Abatement Office, said: "We had
inputs  from almost everybody,
including the Departments of HEW,
Commerce, Transportation, and
Labor;  the  National  Academy of
Sciences; various environmental and
professional  groups; and  more than
40 individual reviewers."

  The  defined  levels  are  not
standards. They are intended—with
the mass of technical  data  and
references—to help State and local
governments set standards for noise.
Such standards would take account
of local conditions and problems, the
means available for abatement, and
judgments  concerning  costs  and
benefits.

  The  report  deals  only  with
available scientific evidence of the
effects  of noise on  health  and
welfare.
Defense  Seeks  EPA  Advice
On  Disposing  of  DDT Stocks
  The  Department  of Defense
recently sought the advice of EPA on
how it can dispose of 100 million
pounds of pesticides,  mostly DDT.
  The  military  stocks  of  DDT
—banned by EPA  for more than
two years for all but  a few special
uses in the United States—are being
held  by  various  Defense agencies,
which are seeking to dispose of them
in a legal and inexpensive way.
  Eight EPA  officials  at  the
interagency   conference   gave
informal approval of the Defense
Department's plan  to export the
pesticide to foreign nations that need
it  for controlling disease-carrying
insects. These nations include many
African, Middle Eastern, and Asian
countries, including Taiwan and the
Philippines. The State Department's
Agency     for    International
Development (AID) would assist in
disposing of the excess DDT stocks,
which exist  in a  score  of different
formulations.

  Harry Trask of the Office of Solid
Waste Management Programs, said
Defense would follow the procedures
for  packaging   and   transport
required in the Federal Insecticide,
 SHE  HELPED

 GET  HER  TOWN

 $100,500  CHECK

   It isn't often that a Federal civil
 servant—all in the line of duty—
 gets to help give her home town a
 check for more than $100,000.
   That thrill  came recently to
 Mary  C.   Leyland,   grants
 administration  chief  in  EPA's
 Region II, New York.
   Mrs. Leyland's office processed
 more  than  $624  million  in
 reimbursements    to    local
 governments  in Region  II  for
 sewage plant construction work
 done before 1972. Among them
 was $100,500 to Hoosick Falls, a
 village of about 4,000 people in
 upstate  New  York  near  the
 Vermont border.
   As Mary Cahill, Mrs.  Leyland
 grew up in Hoosick Falls and was
 a  schoolmate  of  the  present
 mayor, Richard A. Severson, who
 had corresponded  with her  over
 the   progress  of  the village's
 reimbursement for part  of the
 cost of its sewage plant, pumping
 station, and interceptor.
   When the funds came through,
 Don  Bliss,  acting director of
 public affairs, had  a photo taken
 of Mrs. Leyland,  with  Deputy
 Regional Administrator Eric
 Cutwater signing the check. The
 Standard-Press, Hoosick  Falls
 weekly  newspaper, printed the
 photo and a story about Mrs.
 Leyland's happy coincidence.
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. and
that AID would certify the need and
willingness  of  the  importing
countries.  Final procedures were
published by EPA in  the Federal
Register for May 1.

  Other  EPA   people  at  the
conference  were  Henry  Thomas,
Hazardous Materials  Control;
Charles Sell and  Pope Lawrence,
Federal   Activities;   William
Hoffman, Pesticide Programs; John
Neylan, Pesticides Enforcement; and
Anson Keller and George Robertson,
Office of General Counsel.

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  Surplus  Navy  Shell  Is  Now  Lab  Apparatus
         Battleship's big shell, left, now serves as a deep sea simulation chamber, right, at NERC-Corvallis.
  A surplus 16-inch projectile for a
Navy battleship's  biggest  gun has
been recruited for peacetime duty at
EPA's Northwest  Environmental
Research Laboratory, Corvallis, Ore.
  The surplus projectile, minus its
explosives and fuse, was converted to
a pressure chamber to help EPA
scientists study what  happens to
sewage  sludge  dumped into the
ocean.
  William  P. Muellenhoff,  an
Oregon State University  graduate
student who has  been conducting
research for EPA, was responsible
for  converting the  heavy steel shell
into the principal  component of a
system  to  simulate  deep sea
conditions. Last year  Moellenhoff
lived for a week in  an  underwater
laboratory  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean
floor near Grand  Bahama  Island
doing studies on sludge dispersal in
shallow water.
  The deep sea simulator  permits
Muellenhoff  to  create  in  the
laboratory the pressures encountered
on the ocean bottom, up to 10,000
pounds per square  inch,  equivalent
to a depth of nearly  4,500 feet.
Samples of sludge are placed in the
casing,  the chamber is  closed  and
natural  seawater  under  high
pressure is pumped  slowly  through
it. Both temperature and pressure
can be controlled and the effects of
bacteria and other  forms  of  sea-
bottom life on the decomposition of
the sludge can be measured.
  The  simulator  was  built  "at
relatively  low  cost,"  Muellenhoff
said.  "1  started  with  the  surplus
projectile  casing, an  air-hydraulic
pump from a State surplus facility,
two  unused  aquariums  from  a
storage  shelf,   and   an  existing
temperature-controlled  room in the
laboratory."    Machining   and
modifications  to  the  shell  and
purchase  of  various  items  of
equipment cost about  $2,000.
  Muellenhoffs  experiments  will
continue until this summer, when he
will present some  of  his research
results as a doctoral dissertation in
civil  engineering at Oregon State.
    TAPED  PROGRAMS  EXPLAIN  EPA  ON RADIO AND TV
    Stop, look, and listen  for two
  broadcast media  features  from
  the  Office of Public Affairs.
    On  radio,  a series of short,
  taped   "spots"   are   being
  distributed  to  about  1,000
  commercial  stations  throughout
  the  country. Conducted by  Anne
  Blair, they feature interviews with
  Agency experts on a variety of
  environmental  problems.  Some
  last 4  1/2 minutes and others 90
  seconds.
    Programs  distributed  so  far
  include Dr. Alvin F. Meyer on
 noise pollution, Arsen Darnay on
 trash and  the  consumer,  Eric
 Stork on "You  and  Your Car,"
 and John  R. Quarles Jr. on air
 pollution and public utilities.

   Future  releases  will  cover
 pesticides, low-lead gasoline, and
 water pollution. All  these tapes
 have been supplied  on  recycled
 reels.
   The second media feature is a
 series of videotaped programs for
 Agency  employees. Featured are
 interviews with EPA officials for
use primarily by Regional Offices
and NERCs. They will be seen
and heard at employee meetings,
open house programs, and similar
sessions. The aim is to help ex-
plain  Agency programs and
problems in a face-to-face format.
  Already  taped  are  interviews
with Administrator Russell Train
on   the   Clean   Air   Act
Amendments,  Dr.  Stanley M.
Greenfield  on  energy  and the
environment,  and Dr.  Alvin
Meyer on the noise levels needed
to maintain human health.
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