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." ************************* 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. ******************************* -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. '" i ******************************* 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 ------- 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. ********************** 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. ^ r ***************************** i 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- ------- 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). ~************************ 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." ************************* 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, ************************* 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- ------- ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY tional proportions." ************************* 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." ************************* 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. *************************** ------- |