ENVIRONMENTAL
                NEWS
                SUMMARY           Janua^ 25  1974
     Office of Public Affairs      U.S. Environmental Protection Agency      Washington, D.C. 20460
 EPA'S "STRATEGIC RETREAT"

         In "strajtenic retreat" from two transpo control  plans (see 1/17/74 L'ews  Summary
 Houston Chronicle (l/14/74)sees several advantages for EPA:  (1)  Loses  nothing  it wouldn
 have lost anyway, if Congress proceed s as expected;  (2) By  voluntarily  following Con-
 gressional wishes, agency may avoid being stripped of power  in future; and (3)  "uproar"
 will cause pressure for better definition of EPA powers, making  it easier for  agency  to
 co-exist with "irate citizenry. " Chronicle thinks delineation needed  on EPA authority:
 "The problem of the EPA's limitless powers over people...is  still  with.us.  That power
 still needs to be checked."

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 CANCER DEATHS MAY RESULT FROM AIR POLLUTION

         Industrial smog study in L.A.  county! sn°ws "far higher rate" of lung cancer
 deaths for men living near oil  refineries, chemical plants than  for those  in rest of
 county,says  Wash. Post (1/20/74).   While study doesn't  "prove"  a  link,  "it lends added
 weight to the theory that industrial  smog can cause cancer."  Findings  "especially im-
 portant" in light of current push to weaken environmental controls  on  oil  refineries.

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-INDUSTRY SHOULD RECYCLE OWN PRODUCTS

         America's rapacity for nonreturnable containers,  paper products  '"is kind of dis
 graceful in a way1"  says CEQ head Russell  Peterson in  N.Y. Times  (1/20/74); recommends
 voluntary, promotional  effort,  or some government  regulation  requiring manufacturers be
 responsible for collection, disposal,  reclamation  of products.

         IN OTHER SOLIp  WASTE DEVELOPMENTS.   When fully operative  (probably this  fall)
 Nashville's $16.5 million Thermal  Transfer Plant will  burn 720 tons of garbage daily,
 heating, cooling 27  downtown buildings,  reports  N.Y. Times (1/20/74);  but consulting en-
 gineer to project, Maurice Wilson,  says  not enough garbage available nationwide  for  rea
 dent in energy shortage:  '"If all...waste...in  the U.S. was incinerated, it would  pro-
 vide only three percent of the  nation's  energy  needs.  '"
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 TRAIN WANTS CHANGE IN AMERICAN  LIFESTYLE

         "Distressed  about the federal  government's  focus on getting more energy without
 at  the  same time providing leadership  in  conservation," Train  argues that nation  is

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                                                       ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY
  faced  "fundamentally  with  a  crisis  of demand  rather  than supply," must therefore change
  the way  people live.  Urges excess oil  profits  be  spent  on mass transit rather than, as
  Federal  Energy Office recommends, new energy  sources. Adds,  IMWe need leadership with
  the courage to tell the American people  the truth.  '"  (Wash. Post. 1/16/74).

          IN OTHER TRANSPORTATION DEVELOPMENTS.   Nixon expected to announce $2.5 billion-
  a-year urban-transpo  program emphasizing mass  transit over roads, reports Wall St. Jour-
  nal (1/21/74). Would  (1) expand funds  for transit purposes,  (2) authorize first federal
  spending for transit  operating deficits, (3)  appease rising  clamor for new rail-transit,
  and (4)  ultimately kill the  "long-sacrosanct"  Highway Trust  Fund.

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  STRIPPING THE STRIP MINE BILL

          Pressure exerted by  industry leaders, administration, to soften  strip mine con-
  trol bill passed by Senate but put  off for House  consideration until  after Jan. 27.
  Wash.  Star (1/20/74)  says  main criticism aimed at three sections:  (1) Prohibition of
  surface  mining on land where federal govt. owns mineral rights;  (2)  requirement that
  strip mined land be returned to "approximate  original  contour"; and  (3)  requirement that
  coal operators pay $2.50-a-ton reclamation fee to government, with deductions for cer-
  tain environmental, safety expenses. Carl Bagge,  pres., Nat!. Coal Assoc., calls bill
  "a fraud", asks for new hearings.  Rep. Hechler fo.-W. Va.)  says stripped  coal not nec-
  cessary  to alleviate  fuel  shortage: "The bleeding,  hills  of  Appalachia will  be dealt a
  death blow if...Nixon has  his way in stepping up  the strip mining of coal."  Star says
  "indications are" that House Interior Committee won't  start  markup till  March, and "un-
  likely"  Nixon will get measure before summer, if  then.

          IN OTHER STRIP MINE DEVELOPMENTS.  Federal  officials select  eastern  Montana's
  Ft. Union coal fields as "target"  for full-scale  federal  strip mine  (with  "major parti-
  cipation" of coal companies) to help  '"demonstrate  to  the world a national commitment  to
  achieve...energy self-sufficiency as soon as  possible,1"  notes  Independent-Record, Hele-
  na, Mont.  (1/10/74).  AEC officials  s.ay project "might" be expanded to five mines in
  Mont., Wyo., Dakotas. AEC  project officer says industry efforts  so far  have  "'not dem-
onstrated a successful  return to productive land use1" and  planned  project "'a gamble
r)ight here in Montana."1	Western coal will  be strip mined.rather than  underground mi nee
because earth over most Western coal"!ess than 100ft.  deep, and  hard base  lacking to sup-
port roofs of underground mines, says Christian Science  Monitor  (1/15/74). Also, one-thirc
of all U.S. electricity from strip mined coal  stripping  will  account for  93% of growth  in
doal production for  '74-'75.
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  COLORADO OIL-SHALE LEASE GOES TO STANDARD, GULF

           Bidding  together at $210.3 million,  Standard Oil, Gulf get 5,080-acre Cob. oil-
  shale tract offered  for lease by Interior Dept.  in prototype program to weigh ecologica1
  effects, commercial  feasibility of oil-shale industry.Chicago  Daily  News (1/9/74)	
  While citing  tremendous economic benefits of oil-shale boom to Colorado, Rocky  Mountain
        »  ..._.^_«       .  . _  .    .       •  i   _•»_!_ ^_ - -	 II _ _ _ T _ 	 J	T  L _ ^ J- J	    1.1 _  J «. u. *».
  News  (1/13/74) urges Legislature to protect state from "ecological beating	We dare
  not~let  it be done at the expense of increasingly precious land, of air which already i:
  deteriorating in quality, and of unbridled, unplanned growth."

           IN OTHER OIL DEVELOPMENTS. Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth, Environmen-

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    ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY
  tal  Defense Fund, notify federal  court they won't raise  constitutional objections to
  Congressional  legislation authorizing Alaska pipeline  permits, reports Wall St. Journal
  (1/17/74).  But Friends of Earth may file suit against  specific actions during construc-
  tion	"Most geological surveys agree that beneath America's coastal waters there's
  enough undiscovered oil  and natural gas to meet the national demand for years to come,"
  announces  Detroit News (1/4/74)	N.J. Senate Pres.  Frank Dodd introduces bill to
  establish  autonomous agency, under state Dept.  of Environmental Protection, authorized
  to build and operate oil  port oif N.J.  coast on  lease basis with oil  companies.  While N.J
  Governor Byrne remains opposed to idea, he promises to keep  "open mind" on issue  (Asbun
  Park Press, N.J., 1/4/74).
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  GAP URGES  INCREASE IN CLEAN WATER FUNDS

          America must spend far more than it currently  does to meet target dates set in
  '72 Clean  Water Act, says GAO in report to Congress. Report  adds that money, management
  problems are hampering hunt for new ways to treat water  pollution  (Wash. Post, 1/18/74)

          IN RELATED DEVELOPMENTS.   It seems "short sighted" to Wash. Star (1/18/74) for
  Nixon to impound another $3 billion earmarked for sewage facilities.  Questions Ni-on's
  justiff cation of curbing inflation: "We don't believe  that the effort to make the world
  a cleaner and healthier place to live in should fall victim  in the battle against infla-
  tion.  Furthermore, if forecasts of an economic downturn because of the energy shortage
 :ome true, it may be that spending the sewer money rather  than holding  it°back is the pro
 >er thing .to do." Star also questions legality of move,  cites  commitment to states, pre-
 licts opposition in Congress, "which already is chafing  over alleged usurpation of  its  au
thority by the White House."
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  BIGGEST RIVERS AMONG DIRTIEST

          EPA study shows some of nation's biggest rivers  are  also the  dirtiest, relates
  N.Y. Times (1/18/74). Major problem appears to be nutrients  (such  as  phosphorus,  nitro-
  gen), which can overfertilize waters, causing heavy  vegetative growth, shutting off ox-
  ygen supplies.  Pollutants most heavily controlled (such as  sewage, bacteria) show
  over-all improvement, but nutrients, which can enter  rivers  naturally through erosion,
  as well as from eoriirnerc'luil and industrial sources, on  the increase,

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  U. S. LAGS BEHIND CANADA IN CLEANING UP GREAT LAKES

          Since  '72 agreement to clean up Great Lakes,  Canada  has  fulfilled  nearly  three-
  quarters of its $250 million commitment (putting 16  new municipal  treatment  plants into
  operation, extending or  improving  18 others), while  U.S. fulfills  only  21% of  commit-
  ment, with no projects yet operating.  Officials blame U.S.  delays on Nixon  impound-
  ments, bureaucratic snarls.  New York official says,  "It's  a supercomplicated  paper  ex-
  ercise getting the EPA to approve  a grant."(Wall St.  Journal,  1/16/74).

          IN RELATED DEVELOPMENTS. The International Joint Commission,  created to monitor
  progress of  '72  agreement,  "has yet to  get  its  first teeth"  Buffalo  Evening  News
   (12/29/73;.  "Undermanned and underfunded,  the  IJC already has missed  some  deadlines  set
  forth  in the agreement., fandj another year may go by  before its staff reaches opera-

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                                                     ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY
tional proportions."

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URBAN PLANNERS GAINING RESPECT OF POLITICOS
        Urban planners starting to shake up government-developer  partnership,  observes
Louisville Courier-Journal  (1/13/74).  Indicators  of change:  (1) Since mid-'60's,  court"
decisions place burden of proving project environmentally sound on developer;  (2)  plan-
ning commissions not so monopolized by builders;  (3) planners  less insulated from deci-
sion-makers than a decade ago; and (4) ^lanners apt to  be more politically  realistic.

        IN OTHER URBAN ECOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS. Adelpjii University institutes  first  re-
search effort into consequences of massive population shift  to suburbs,  reports N.Y.
Times (1/20/74), which comments: "It is not the right to. . .domestic  happiness  that is
in question, but the planlessness and wastefulness of the process. There have  been no
land use policies; transportation linkage, when it happens at  all, is after the fact;
there are rarely standards of environmental design... The time  is  tragically late  for
the issues to be defined and faced."

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NEW ENVIRONMENTAL BATTLE LOOMING OVER HIGH VOLTAGE LINES

        Mrs. Louise Young, Illinois environmental crusader,  urges power  companies, regu-
latory agencies, to investigate human effects of long-term exposure  to electric fields
surrounding high voltage lines, notes Chicago Tribune (1/10/74).  She says overhead unin-
sulated "lines constantly discharge current that triggers chemical reactions such  as o-
zone— which may cause genetic mutations, damage nerve and lung tissue.
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