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U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY • WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 • JULY-AUG. 1974
Key Trial Evidence: EPA Pictures
Aerial surveillance by EPA experts
which showed how heated water
spread into Lake Michigan from
Indiana Harbor was important evi-
dence in a water pollution case under
trial in Chicago.
William J. Scott, Illinois attorney
general, said the Agency's work was
a key factor in presenting the State's
case against Inland Steel Co. The
State charges the firm with polluting
the lake waters near Illinois from
which the City of Chicago draws its
drinking water supplies.
The trial in Cook County's Circuit
Court was still under way at press
time, and no decision is expected for
at least a month.
Scott said Albert Pressman and
Gordon Howard of NERC-Las
Vegas, did an "outstanding" job of
data collection and analysis,
"despite severe time limitations . . .
and adverse weather conditions."
In early May the NERC-Las Vegas
aerial sensing team flew over the
Michigan shoreline where the two
states meet and obtained infrared
scanning pictures. The pictures
showed the heated water discharged
from Indiana Harbor, where the
company has a big steel mill, drifting
Trial evidence included Skylab satellite photo (left) of Lake Michigan shoreline from East
Chicago. Ind., at bottom, to Chicago's southeast fringe at top. Polluted water from Indiana
Harbor (arrow), dark with suspended solids, flows away from Illinois with a northwest wind.
EPA's infrared scanning image (right), covers strip of same area on same scale taken from an
aircraft when wind was from southeast. Heat traces pollution plume, lighter gray to the scanner.
as it flows northwest toward Chicago's water intake. Short white lines on water are ships. Dark
streaks at bottom are factory fires that momentarily overload the sensor.
north into Illinois waters with little
or no mixing.
The heated water served to track
the movement of the "plume" of
pollution, which other witnesses
testified contains phenols, ammonia.
suspended solids and other dele-
terious substances, requiring
frequent shutoffs of Chicago's water
supply intake.
"It is our opinion," the Illinois
state official wrote in a letter to
EPA's General Counsel Alan G.
Kirk II, "that the infrared pictures
taken by your personnel will be a
cornerstone for liability in this
complex environmental litigation. In
addition to gathering the remote
sensing data . . . Mr. Pressman testi-
fied with great skill and precision as
a witness in our behalf."
Scott also thanked Dr. Murray
Felsher and Robert Zener of Kirk's
staff and Regional Counsel Harvey
Sheldon and his people for as-
sistance in the case. "These gentle-
men were extremely helpful in
cutting through the red tape nor-
mally associated with obtaining the
extent of technical assistance
supplied." wrote Scott.
Other Region V people who
assisted in the case included James
O. McDonald, director, and Walter
Romanek, Glenn Pratt, and Howard
Zar of the Enforcement Division,
and James Pappas and Roscoe
Libby, Surveillance and Analysis.
Attorney Romanek said the
Inland Steel case is very unusual and
one of the first of its kind. The com-
plaint against Inland Steel was filed
by the State of Illinois nearly two
years ago. It was later consolidated
with a similar case filed by the
Metropolitan Sanitary District of
Greater Chicago. Both charge viola-
tions of clean water standards for
Lake Michigan and the existence of
a nuisance.
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Rules Proposed for 'Farming'
With Heated, Polluted Water
Certain kinds of water pollution
can be useful in aquaculture—
"farming" fresh or salt water ponds
to grow fish, shellfish, and other
water plants and organisms.
EPA recently proposed
regulations to assure that
aquaculture projects make full and
safe use of such pollutants and that
discharges from the projects do not
pollute downstream waters.
Some commercial and many
experimental aquaculture projects
already under way make use of
heated water from power plants
("thermal pollution"), according to
Leonard J. Guarraia, Office of
Water Planning and Standards, who
led the EPA team that drafted the
proposed regulations.
Water carrying waste heat is being
used on Long Island to speed the
growth of oysters and clams.
Facilities are being developed at
Trenton, N.J., to grow freshwater
shrimp, and there are several catfish
farms in the central part of the
country which=>use such "thermally
enriched" water.
Experimental projects which use
nutrient-rich, disinfected effluent
from sewage treatment plants to
nourish as well as warm aquatic
farm organisms open up new areas
for pollutant utilization. Guarraia
said. At Woods Hole, Mass., treated
sewage is used in a multi-stage
farming process: the first crop is
algae; this is fed to oysters and
clams; after the shellfish are
harvested, several kinds of fish are
grown, and even worms for bait.
The National Science Foundation
and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration are
supporting many aquaculture
projects in these areas, Guarraia
said.
The regulations do not apply to
fish hatcheries or fish farms that do
not use waste water as an input.
Their output wastes, however, are
subject to EPA's discharge permit
system (NPDES).
The object of the aquaculture
regulations, which are authorized by
the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act of 1972, is to stimulate the
productive use of waste water
wherever possible, while
safeguarding the environment and
public health.
EPA anticipates that in some
cases a discharger would be allowed
under the new rules to discharge
more heat or more nutrients into an
aquaculture project pond than he
could into a waterway. The project
would use the pollutants to produce
animal and vegetable protein. Waste
water from the aquaculture
operation would have to satisfy
EPA's discharge permit standards.
Guarraia said some industrial
effluents are rich in nutrients and
suitable for aquaculture, principally
the waste waters from food
processing and canning.
Other EPA people who helped
draft the proposed regulations
include: Joseph Lewis, Water
Planning and Standards; Roy Irwin.
Permit Program; Peter Smith,
Federal Activities; Robert
McManus, Henry Garson. and
William Frick, Enforcement and
General Counsel's Office; and Harry
Thron, Effluent Guidelines Division.
Alexander Joins
Washington Staff
George R. Alexander Jr..
Region VI (Dallas) Deputy Regional
Administrator since 1972, has been
selected as EPA's first mobility
assignee under the Executive and
Management Development
Program. Alexander's Fellowship
assignment will be in the Office of
Regional Liaison at Headquarters in
Washington.
One goal of this assignment.
according to Deputy Administrator
John R. Quarles. Jr., is to strengthen
overall coordination and control
between Washington operations and
regional activities across the country.
Prior to joining EPA, Alexander
was an attorney in private industry.
EPA Attorney
In World Series
Of Lacrosse
Stephen H. Schroeder, attorney in
EPA's Region I Office, Boston, was a
member of the 26-man United States
squad that won the world lacrosse
championship in Melbourne,
Australia last month.
The team competed against
England, Australia, and Canada for
the world championship.
Schroeder played lacrosse for four
years at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and was team captain in
his senior year, 1967. Since 1969 he
has played with the Boston Lacrosse
Club and has been captain of that
team for the last three seasons.
Vote Decides
Paper Drive's
Beneficiaries
Employees at NERC-Las Vegas
voted recently to determine which
charities or institutions should get
the proceeds from the Center's paper
salvage program.
The top three organizations
selected were the American Cancer
Society, the EPA Scholarship Fund,
and the NERC-Las Vegas Employees
Association. Each will receive a
share proportionate to its vote tally:
36 percent, 35 percent, and 29 per-
cent, respectively. The money will be
disbursed whenever there is at least
$300 in the paper salvage fund.
Jeff van Ee is in charge of the
volunteer drive.
N.C. Fund for Band
Funds from a similar scrap paper
drive at NERC-Research Triangle
Park will be donated to help pay for
sending the Cary High School Band
of Cary, N.C., to an international
school band festival in Geneva,
Switzerland, in August.
The Cary band recently performed
at Duke University at a track meet
which had been scheduled between
top athletes of the United States and
the Soviet Union.
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Standards Will Be Set Soon
For Interstate Truck Noise
Nationwide noise standards for
interstate trucks are expected to be
formally adopted by EPA soon, after
more than a year's work by the
Agency's Office of Noise Control
Programs.
The standards as proposed will
apply to all interstate motor carriers
weighing five tons or more and will
affect an estimated five million
vehicles, mostly diesels, according to
Dr. Alvin F. Meyer, deputy assistant
administrator for noise control. The
regulations will be the first to be
promulgated under the Noise
Control Act of 1972.
About 350,000 trucks now on the
road would be in violation, Meyer
said. He estimates that owners may
have to spend an average of $115 per
vehicle to meet the standards.
The standards involve five
different criteria: measurement by
sound-level meters under three
conditions, visual inspection of
engine exhaust systems, and visual
inspection of tires.
The maximum sound levels
permitted are 90 decibels when the
truck is driving in speed zones
greater than 35 mph, 86 decibels in
speed zones less than 35 mph, and 88
deibels in stationary engine rev-up
tests. A decibel is a physical measure
of sound pressure. All measurements
are to be taken at a distance of 50
feet.
An adequate and well-maintained
exhaust system is the principal cure
for noisy trucks. A secondary factor
is the type and condition of tires.
Tires with "pocket" treads—i.e.,
road-contacting cavities in the tire
surface not connected to grooves on
the tire's circumference or not
vented to the side—are particularly
noisy and will, in effect, be banned
by the new regulations.
STORM WATER
STUDY STARTS
IN ROCHESTER
New methods of reducing water
pollution from urban areas that have
combined sanitary and storm sewers
will be tried in a two-year project in
Rochester, N.Y.
An EPA grant of $600,000 will
cover about 70 percent of the cost of
the project, part of the joint effort by
the U.S. and Canada to control
pollution in the Great Lakes, under
Section 108 of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act. of 1972.
The project will involve first a
system study and modeling of the
sewers and storm drains in the
Rochester area, simulating the use of
different kinds of treatment facilities
and storage basins, and then the
construction of a pilot system at the
city's Eastman-Durand wastewater
treatment plant.
The grantee is the Rochester Pure
Waters District of Monroe County,
which includes the City of Rochester
and adjoining parts of the county.
Some of the district drains into
Irondequoit Bay, an almost-closed
arm of Lake Ontario. The bay's
ecology has been altered in recent
years by urban drainage, especially
from de-icing salts spread on streets
and roads in winter.
EPA people who will oversee and
assist in the demonstration project
include Richard Field of the Edison,
N.J., Water Quality Research
Laboratory; Ralph Christensen and
Anthony Tafuri of the Region V
Office, Chicago, and Lawrence
Moriarity, of Region II's Rochester
Field office.
HEARING TEST—Dr. Alvin F. Meyer Jr., head of EPA's noise control
programs, was one of 550 EPA employees who were given hearing tests
during May, Better Hearing and Speech Month, in Washington, Dallas,
Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Kansas City. photo by Don Moran
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. Trumbull, editor
Office of Public Affairs [A-107]
Room W230, EPA
Washington, D.C. 20460
Tel. (202) 755-0872
— 3 —
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Narragansett Lab Helps in River Cleanup
More than 500 tires were removed from Rhode Island's Saugatucket River in
a cleanup drive recently hi which 15 volunteers from EPA's Narragansett
laboratory took part. At upper right, Mimi Johnson loads a pickup truck,
and at lower right, Karen Koltes rests after a long day. Other volunteers were
Carolyn Barszcz, Doranne Borsay, Earl Davey, Linda Ferraro, Neal
Goldberg, John Gentile, C.S. Hegre, Ross Johnson, Carol and Gerold Pesch,
Bruce Reynolds, Peter Rogerson, and Suzanne Sosnowski, plus several
members of their families. photos by Carol Pesch
Sewage Treatment Progress
Seen in Great Lakes Area
Municipal sewage systems in the
Great Lakes area will be providing
adequate wastewater treatment for
15 million people, or 95 percent of
the area's sewered population by
1978. Administrator Russell E.
Train announced recently.
By the end of this year. Train said.
all of the waste treatment construc-
tion called for in the U.S.-Canada
Great Lakes Agreement should be
under way. The agreement, signed
by President Nixon and Prime
Minister Pierre Trudeau in Ottawa
two years ago. calls for extensive
action by both nations to clean up
Great Lakes pollution. Train was
then chairman of the President's
Council on Environmental Quality
and head of the U.S. team which
developed the two-nation agreement.
"We have made substantial
progress in meeting our com-
mitments," he said. "We are
basically on schedule in waste treat-
ment construction and phosphorus
removal."
At present 588 municipal systems
on the U.S. side are giving adequate
wastewater treatment for 6.8 million
people, 43 percent of the sewered
population. By the end of 1975 it is
expected that 700 systems will be
completed, serving 9.6 million
people, or 61 percent of the sewered
population of the basin.
With the completion of the Detroit
treatment plant, scheduled for Sep-
tember 1976, the adequately served
population will rise to more than 80
percent. By 1978 an additional 47
treatment plants are expected to be
operating and the percentage will
rise to 95.
Phosphorus removal is the second
aspect of the Great Lakes cleanup
program. On the U.S. side 466
municipal systems will require the
extraction of phosphorus from waste
water to reduce algal growth and
eutrophication of the lakes. Nearly
half of these systems, 205, now
provide such treatment. Train said.
By the end of next year this number
will grow to about 300 systems,
representing 80 percent of the waste-
water flow and serving 78 percent of
the sewered population.
EPA has allocated $4.4 billion to
the eight Great Lakes States for
waste treatment construction. This is
nearly 40 percent of all such funds
available.
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Reducing Consumption Is Her Bag
What do a returnable beer bottle,
a string shopping bag, and a Rolls
Royce have in common?
Eileen Claussen has the answer:
Each lasts a long time and is
reusable. Compared to competing
products, each uses less material and
energy over its normal life, and when
it finally must be scrapped, there is
less unrecoverable waste.
Ms. Claussen manages the Office
of Solid Waste Management's effort
to promote saving resources at the
beginning of the economic cycle.
A refillable beer or soda bottle can
be used 10 or 15 times before it is
discarded, she points out. There is
less drain on resources and less litter
to clean up. The string shopping bag
can replace hundreds of kraft paper
grocery bags before it wears out.
The Rolls Royce is a tongue-in-
cheek example, an attention-getter,
Ms. Claussen admits. Any big,
heavy, luxurious automobile is
wasteful of resources. But the Rolls
is a symbol of product quality, long
life, and no planned obsolescence—
the "string-bag" limousine. Why
not, she asks, apply Rolls Royce
principles to small cars, appliances,
housing, or any other product?
While most of the Office of Solid
Waste Management works on better
ways to dispose of trash, the Re-
source Recovery Program seeks to
develop ways to recover materials
and energy from the trash.
Ms. Claussen's small group, allied
to the Resource Recovery Program,
seeks to reduce consumption at the
start. The program's official name,
"source reduction," is misleading; it
really means waste reduction at the
source. Through research and per-
suasion the program seeks to
promote some revolutionary
changes: design products to use less
material; reduce and simplify
packaging; make things that last
Wins Honorary Doctorate
Ruth Mondschein of the Women's
Programs Division, Office of Civil
Rights and Urban Affairs in
Washington, was awarded an
honorary Doctor of Letters at
Dakota State College, Madison,
S.D., recently, and she gave the com-
mencement address. She was the
first woman to be commencement
speaker and the first woman to
receive an honorary doctorate at the
college which was founded in 1881.
The citation noted her distin-
guished work in the Federal civil
service and in other organizations
"in behalf of women and
minorities."
Ms. Mondschein told 300 grad-
uates and more than 2,000 guests
that, while America's material
abundance may be declining, there is
a new frontier for individual action:
creating a better physical and spiri-
tual environment.
With EPA since 1972, Ms.
Mondschein was on loan to the U.S.
Civil Service Commission for six
months last year to plan and
Ruth Mondshein
organize a national conference on
women in Government. During this
time she helped to organize and took
part in a Conference on Women and
Business at the college.
Before joing EPA she had been
program director for B'nai B'rith,
the Jewish social service organi-
zation, working on cooperative
educational programs with many
Federal agencies.
longer and don't go out of style.
Finally, (an almost unthinkable
thing only a few years ago), design
products so they can be easily
recycled.
Frank Smith and Michael Loube,
economists; Larry McEwen and
Charles Peterson, operations
research analysts; and Harold
Samtur, environmental engineer;
also work in the program. Ms.
Claussen says she's looking for "at
least one more person."
Through contract studies,
speeches, and testimony before
legislative bodies, the program is
trying to get industry to change its
products, people to change their
habits, and legislatures to spur these
changes with new laws.
Hottest item on the agenda right
now is the refillable beverage con-
tainer. Three states, Oregon,
Vermont, and South Dakota, have
adopted laws banning throwaway
beer and soft drink containers. Since
January, Ms. Claussen says, "We
have testified on this issue in Cali-
fornia, New York, Virginia, Mary-
land, Ohio, and Massachusetts."
Last month EPA spoke out in
favor of nationwide legislation to
require reusable beverage con-
tainers, in Senate testimony by
Deputy Administrator John Quarles.
Other facets of the waste
reduction program are:
Consumer information—Studies
of the environmental impacts of
different products and their pack-
aging. The group plans to publish its
findings in non-technical brochures.
Product design — Some good
things have already been done, due
largely to current shortages of energy
and materials. An example is a new
half-pint milk container that uses 25
percent less material.
Plastics and polyvinylchloride
(PVC) - These studies are just
beginning. Plastics are difficult to
sort from mixed waste, and PVC is
hazardous when burned.
Future policy—Should EPA seek
authority to set standards for waste
reduction, material saving, and
product life?
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SPECIAL BUS
NEEDS RIDERS
The special bus that carries a
group of EPA headquarters
employees from two Maryland
suburbs and back again each day
has room for more riders, accord-
ing to Jean Maguire, secretary in
the Radiation Programs Office.
The bus provides fast service.
50 to 60 minutes, from Gaithers-
burg and Rockville at an average
cost of $35 per month.
Persons interested in joining
the group -- or in using the bus
occasionally - - should call Ms.
Maguire, ext. 54894.
Cincinnati Lab
—Beautiful!
The Taft Laboratory at NERC
Cincinnati is beautiful. Says who?
Says the Garden Center of
Cincinnati, and they should know.
The lab won a second place award in
the Garden Center's Annual
Industrial Beautification contest.
Accepting the award on behalf of all
Lab employees was Facilities
Operations Branch Chief Robert
Chandler. The beauty of the facility
has recently been enhanced by new
plantings and major building
renovations, inside and out.
30 to Speak at
On Hazardous
More than 30 EPA officials and
technical experts will take part in the
1974 Conference on Control of
Hazardous Material Spills Aug. 26-
28 in San Francisco.
The three-day session is sponsored
by EPA's Industrial Waste Treat-
ment Research Laboratory, Edison,
N.J., a component of NERC-
Cincinnati; and the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers.
About 600 chemical engineers,
environmental and government spe-
cialists, and people from the
transportation, petroleum, and
chemical industries are expected at
the meeting. It is being managed by
the Institute, with Ira Wilder of the
Edison laboratory as EPA project
officer.
Accidental spilling of dangerous
chemicals like acids, pesticides,
phenols, and heavy metal salts can
cause extreme damage to the
environment and hazard to public
health. Individual sessions and
workshop groups will concentrate on
different aspects of spill control:
prevention, emergency planning,
IN THE ARMY NOW—Two employees in the Financial Management
Division, Washington, recently joined the Army Reserve. They will take their
basic training at Fort McClellan, Ala. before serving with the 354th Civil
Affairs unit at Riverdale, Md. They are Barbara Edmondson [second from
left] and Kate Awkward [right]. With another recruit, they were sworn in by
Col. Arthur Wagner, unit deputy commander.
Conference
Material Spills
cleanup methods, and legal and
economic effects.
New rules on hazardous spills, to
be proposed soon by EPA, will be
discussed. These will extend the list
of substances designated hazardous,
quantities deemed harmful, and the
penalties for violation.
Directors of all four EPA research
centers will preside at different
sessions: John F. Finklea. NERC-
RTP, airborne problems associated
with spills; Delbert S. Barth, NERC-
Las Vegas, surveillance and detec-
tion; Andrew W. Breidenbach,
NERC-Cincinnati, safe disposal
practice; and A.F. Bartsch, NERC-
Corvallis, environmental damage.
Other session chairmen from EPA
include Deputy Counsel Robert V.
Zener, Kenneth E. Biglane and
Robert Suzuki, Oil and Special
Materials Control Division; C. Hugh
Thompson, Hazardous and Toxic
Substances Branch; John E.
Brugger, Peter B. Lederman. Ira
Wilder, and Joseph Lafornara, of the
Edison laboratory; Paul R. Heitzen-
rater. Research and Development;
Allyn M. Davis, Region IX; and
Clarence Clemmons, NERC-
Cincinnati.
Region IX Administrator Paul
DeFalco Jr., Dr. Breidenbach, and
Dr. Thompson will speak at the
opening plenary session.
Authors of technical papers and
speakers at workshop sessions in-
clude Allyn W. Hemenway, Region
I; Howard J. Lamp'l and P.R.
Elliott, Region II; Roger B. Griffith,
Region III; Al Smith, Jack Moser,
and George Moein, Region IV;
David Henderson, Region IX; John
Brugger, Ira Wilder, Joseph
Lafornara, Thomas Roush, and
Royal Nadear, Edison laboratory;
Michael Roulier, NERC-Cincinnati;
and Russel H. Wyer, Richard E.
Hess, Harold Snyder, T. William
Musser, Donald R. Jones, Alfred W.
Lindsey, and Allen Jennings.
Washington.
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Awards Day Held at North Carolina
More than 100 EPA employees
were honored at an outdoor Awards
Day ceremony recently at Research
Triangle Park, N.C.
Deputy Administrator John
Quarles told the group of more than
700 Agency people and family mem-
bers that, though it has been "a long,
cold winter" for the environmental
movement because of the energy
shortage, "I feel we are on the
winning side. I believe Congress and
the public do not want us to back
away from our environmental
mission."
Bronze medals for commendable
service were presented to 33 persons
by the directors of the three Agency
components in North Carolina, Dr.
John F. Finklea, NERC; Dr. B.J.
Steigerwald, Office of Air Quality
Planning and Standards; and Dr.
Burton Levy, Office of Administra-
tion, which serves both NERC and
the air quality office.
Gerald R. Groon of the Personnel
Management Division, and
Chandlee L. Murphy, coordinator of
women's programs, also took part in
the presentations.
Bronze Medals
Bronze medals went to:
NERC Frank F. McElroy,
Gordon C. Ortman, Larry J. Purdue,
David L. Coffin, Robert P.
Hangebrauck, Gloria J. Koch, John
B. Moran, John S. Nader, William C.
Nelson, Frank T. Princiotta, and
Homer C. Wolfe.
AQPS — Donald P. Armstrong,
Robert C. Clark, Nancy P.
Eggleston, Sally T. Gordon, Sheila
L. Law, Eva G. Lloyd, John L.
Robson, Robert C. Ryans, David C.
Sanchez, Lewis D. Tamny, Ronald
A. Venezia, Susan H. Watson, and
Frederick Winkler.
Administration — Cynthia A.
Bass, Swade W. Carroll, Paul H.
Harris, Richard Hines, Joseph M.
Moore, Arnold L. Samuel, Nelson
Stone, David L. Westmoreland, and
John DeFord.
Performance Awards
Outstanding performance awards
were given to 15 persons as follows:
NERC — Ann H. Akland,
Thomas G. Ellestad Jr., Bruce W.
Gay Jr., Larry E. High, and Foy G.
King Jr.
AQPS — J. Roger Morris, Andrew
R. Trenholm, and Mary C. Wilkins.
Administration — Cooper S.
Atamanchuk, Allan P. Baker Jr.,
John B. Cline, Carold J. Daves,
Maureen M. Johnson, Darlene C.
Jones, and Gerald O. Miller.
A special local award was given by
Benjamin Loftin to 14 employees for
outstanding achievement in the field
of equal employment opportunity:
Linda H. Carroll, Marie L.
Davidson, Deloris K. Harrison,
Elaine C. Hyman, Beatrice T.
Weaver, Eleanor M. Westmoreland,
Esther M. Anctil, Frances P.
Duffield, Anne S. Rampacek, Char-
lotte V. Small, Ann H. Akland,
Dorothy C. Avent, Peggy M.
Hamilton, and Carole R. Sawicki.
Gordon C. Ortman received a
certificate of commendation for
having donated more than nine
gallons of blood, a record topped by
only one other person in the Durham
area.
Service Pins
Nine employees received 30-year
service awards: Gory J. Love and
James E. Moore, NERC; Rosa T.
Brown, Robert M. Chunn, Harry M.
Daskam, F. Cecil Myers, and Isabel
S. Parker, AQPS: and Martha C.
Abernathy and David R. Hicks,
Administration.
Twenty-year service awards went
to 29 employees as follows:
NERC - - Aubrey P. Altshuller,
Earl J. Blommer, Donald H. Fair,
Marvin F. Guyer Jr., John C. Lang,
Ernst Linde, James E. Meeker,
Henry C. Miller Jr., John S. Nader,
Charles D. Robson, Eugene Sawicki,
Jack E. Thompson, Ernest R.
Whitcomb, and Frank T. Wilinski.
AQPS — Willis E. Brothers,
Dorothy S. Carpenter, Virginia M.
Henderson, William O. Herring,
Herschel H. Slater, Lewis D. Tamny
and Frederick Winkler.
Administration — Ruth E. Biddy,
Harris L. Gibson Jr., Elmer E. Gray,
Frank A. Jones Jr., Franklin D.
Mathews, Harriet J. Myers, Edwin
R. Strickland and Laborn D.
Sullivan.
OUTSTANDING FEDERAL EMPLOYEE in the Cincinnati area in 1973 is
Dr. Robert S. Safferman, EPA research microbiologist, left, shown with
NERC Director Andrew Breidenbach beside the Robert A. Taft Laboratory's
new electron microscope. The award was made by the Federal Executive
Board in Cincinnati. Dr. Safferman is the discoverer of, and foremost
authority on, algal viruses.
— 7 —
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Labeling Pesticides Is a Problem
How to make the labels on pesti-
cide containers clearer and more
effective was discussed last month in
Washington, D.C. The two-day con-
ference attracted about 700 people
from Federal and State regulatory
agencies, farmers and other user
groups, industry people, and
university scientists.
Sponsored by EPA's Office of
Pesticide Programs, the symposium
was the first of its kind ever held.
Conferees agreed that most present
labels could be improved. They
suggested many ways—sometimes
conflicting—to make labels safer for
users, more specific for their target
pests and crops to be protected, and
yet simpler to read and easier to
understand.
The label is "getting to be too
much of a legal document," said
James Dewey of Cornell University,
Conference Set
On Home Sewage
Disposal Methods
New methods of handling and
disposing of sanitary waste from
individual homes, small housing
developments, recreational areas
and marinas will be discussed at the
First nationwide Home Sewage Dis-
posal Symposium to be held in
Chicago Dec. 9-10.
Sidney Beeman, a sanitary
engineer in EPA's Municipal
Pollution Control Division, will
speak on the Agency's research that
relates to home sewage systems. This
research includes studies, completed
and under way, on flow reduction,
pressure-grinder systems, and the
handling and treatment of
"septage," or sewage sludge.
The conference is sponsored by
the American Society of Agricultural
Engineers. EPA's Office of Research
and Development is one of seven
government and scientific organiza-
tions cooperating in the conference.
More information may be
obtained from Beeman, mail code
RD-678, EPA, Washington. His
telephone is (202) 426-0823.
yet he advocated giving more detail
on recommended dosages for differ-
ent crops, climates, and pests.
Few Words, Large Print
Simplifying the label was urged by
Channing Jones of the Chevron
Corp., a pesticide manufacturer. The
message should be given in "the
fewest words, largest print, and
simplest language," he said.
James Rod of the National Audu-
bon Society said that hazard notices
were often insufficient but that
signal words like "warning" and
"caution" were used so much as to
lose their effectiveness.
EPA's primary job is to register
pesticides rather than labels, said
William Wells, head of the Stand-
ards and Labeling Section. Wells,
one of five EPA speakers, said the
Registration Division is beefing up
its screening procedures. The
product manager is the contact point
for each product, and internal
guidelines are being developed for
application reviewers. Ideas and
problem areas being considered, he
said, are: standardized terms, better
use of symbols (many speakers
agreed that the skull-and-crossbones
sign for poison should be kept be-
cause it is so widely recognized), uni-
formity of information placement on
labels, regional labels keyed to
climates and crops, and labeling in
two languages. He said he felt the
signal word should give the most
hazardous aspect of the product, for
instance, "poison," or "flammable."
Difficult to Read
The average pesticide label
contains 487 words and is "fairly
difficult" to read, reported Rudolph
Salcedo of Milwaukee, an environ-
mental scientist who led a four-year
EPA-supported study of more than
37,000 pesticide labels. Signal words
were generally legible, the study
found, but the direction type tended
to be small. Labels are too often de-
signed to sell the product, with too
much emphasis on brand names and
too little on cautions, he said. Many
contain scientific terms that are hard
to understand, yet fail to include
information essential for safe and
— 8 —
effective use.
Other EPA speakers at the
meeting included James Agee,
assistant administrator for water and
hazardous materials, and Henry
Korp, John Ritch, Douglas Campt,
and A.E. Conroy of the Office of
Pesticide Programs.
The proceedings of the symposium
are being published and will be
available soon. OPP hopes to have a
follow-up symposium aimed at small
manufacturers and the regional
handling of labeling requirements.
Radio, Video
Tapes Issued
The pesticide labeling symposium
was the subject of a four-and-a-half-
mmute tape recording distributed to
farm editors of 218 radio stations by
the Office of Public Affairs.
Prepared and broadcast by Anne
Blair, the tape includes comments by
John Ritch, head of EPA's Pesticide
Registration Division; Delman W.
Dean of the California Department
of Agriculture, and Administrator
Russell E. Train.
The radio farm editors also
recently received a series of question-
and-answer spots on new national
regulations for agricultural
pesticides, featuring Edwin Johnson
of the Office of Pesticide Programs.
Safety Program
Wins Award
EPA's safety and health program
has won an Honorable Mention in
the President's Safety Award
competition, it was announced
recently by Peter J. Brennan, Secre-
tary of Labor.
EPA competed with 14 Federal
agencies having 6,000 to 112,000
employees and rated by the Depart-
ment of Labor as having "medium
hazard" exposure. Each agency re-
ceived points for its annual safety
report, accident reduction improve-
ment in Fiscal 1973, and an on-site
evaluation by the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration.
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