ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY May 3, 1974 Office of Public Affairs U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 RESERVE MINING CASE Three-judge panel from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals stays ruling by U.S. Dis- trict Judge Miles Lord which ordered Reserve Mining Co. to shut down operations. Court stays ruling pending May 15 hearing to determine whether Reserve can continue operations during appeal(Wash. Post, 4/24/74)(Wall St. Journal, 4/24/74)(N.Y. Times. 4/24/74). Lord's ruling ordering halt to Reserve's discharge of asbestos fibers into air and Lake Superior from Silver Bay, Minn. plant(4/20/74) gets wide coverage: N.Y. Times(4/28/74), Wash. Post(4/22/74). Wall St. Journal(4/22/74), Wash. Star(4/21/74), Newsday(4/22/74). Louisville Courier-Journal(4/21/74), Cleveland Plain Dealer(4/21/74), Kansas City Star (4/21/74), The Oregonian(4/21/74), Birmingham News(4/21/74), Minneapolis Tribune(4/21/74) Duluth News-Tribune(4/21/74). REACTION TO CLOSING; "Consternation", anger among many citizens of Silver Bay, where 95 percent of work force employed by Reserve(N.Y. Times, 4/22/74), (Duluth News-Tribune, 4/21/74). Silver Bay Mayor Frank Scheuring: "Everyone is stunned, shocked and angry. People are mad because the closing was a very emotional de- cision based on the flimsiest type of evidence"(Detroit News. 4/22/74). "That judge must be a lovely person," says citizen of nearby town. "I hope he has been thinking about what some of the people are going to eat"(Duluth News-Tribune. 4/21/74). Still, Silver Bay- er's opinion not unanimous--latter piece and Detroit Free Press (4/22/74) stress "mixed reaction." Local environmentalists happy, some Reserve workers stoic: "It had to come to this sooner or later...but life goes on and another day dawns...I wonder if my 19 years of seniority are down the drain." Armco, Republic Steel, joint owners of Re- serve, say shutdown will have no "immediate" effect on steelmaking operations(N.Y. Times, 4/23/74) N.Y. Times(4/28/74) calls Lord decision "courageous." Adds, "The compan> could not have been surprised. It has been on notice by Government regulatory agencies for more than five years that it should shift to disposing of its wastes on land. It has apparently preferred instead to stall for time while investing its money in more modern facilities elsewhere. The United Steel Workers Union has passively gone along with this shortsighted policy rather than make a clean-up at Silver Bay into a major issue in its negotiations with Armco and Republic. The nation can no longer tolerate the profoundly irresponsible and anti-social behavior of corporations, sometimes supported by unions, that use lakes, rivers, and the surrounding air as their private sewer system. Nor should the workers bear the whole price of the cleanup. Armco and Republic created the mess at Silver Bay and profited from it; it is up to them to clean it up." "THE DECISION IS INDEED A DRACONIAN ONE,"says Baltimore Sun(4/23/74). "Should it stand up ' on appeal, the implications for environmental improvement in the United States will be immense." "THERE IS LITTLE QUESTION in the mind of most of the public, from the ecologist to the industrial leaders in the area," says Duluth News-Tribune(4/2I/74), "that Reserve Mining cannot continue to deposit taconite tailings in the lake...Essen- tially, the ruling is punitive, without being constructive. And the people punished are really not the principals in the case, but the people who depend on the Silver Bay plant for day-to-day employment. The action is not constructive because it does nothing imme- diately to change the potential health hazard in the water, if there is one." IN RELATED DEVELOPMENTS. Just prior to Reserve closing decision, Judge Lord orders U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately begin filtering asbestos fibers from drinking water of six communities in Lake Superior Basin, with removal cost responsibil- ------- ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY ity to be determined at later date(Duluth News-Tribune. 4/20/74).(Minneapolis Star. 4/ 20/74), (Minneapolis Tribune, 4/20/74); but earlier, mayors of said cities say they should not have to pay for asbestos removal (AP story in Milwaukee Journal, 4/10/74, Minneapolis Star, 4/9/74) EPA declares Duluth, Minn, drinking water unfit for in- terstate use(Wash. Post, 4/27/74). IN OTHER GREAT LAKES DEVELOPMENTS. '72 Canadian-U.S. Treaty to clean up Great Lakes becomes "waterlogged" by U.S. tardiness—due to a "wide range of problems, from administrative snafus to red tape to laxness by municipal officials in aggressively going after available federal funds and, according to some Canadian officials, to im- poundment by Mr. Nixon of federal water-pollution-control funds."(Christian Science Mon- itor. 4/17/74). Similar story in N.Y. Times(4/9/74). OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING Reacting to CEQ offshore oil drilling report (see 4/12/74 News Summary), Train says there should be "very careful advance planning" before any leasing, and that EPA expected "to participate and comment on any plans--absolutely."(N.Y. Times, 4/15/74). Adds that while some CEQ recommendations "acceptable" if "well-planned fand] strongly regulated with tough environmental protection fully enforced," he also believes "there are some places where it shouldn't be done." Similar story in Boston Herald-American (4/15/74) CONTINUED COVERAGE of report in Wash. Post(4/19/74), Wall St. Journal (4/19/74), N.Y. Daily News(4/19/74), Newsday(4/21/74), Chicago Sun-Times(4/13/74), Newark Star-Ledger(4/13/74), Energy Resources Report(4/19/74) REACTION TO CEQ STUDY; National Academy of Sciences committee calls report "a useful first step" but "inadequate and incomplete" (N. Y. Times. 4/26/74) Sen. Stevens (R-Alaska) says CEQ report attempting to "scare the hell out of the East Coast...! think someone better analyze these scarecrows" (N.Y. Times. 4/24/74) ENVIRONMENTALISTS CHARGE report in- adequately assesses where richest deposits might lie, and therefore where economic ad- vantage most worth environmental risk; also, report fails to study proliferating effects of drilling, in terms of unwanted industrial, residential development, and po- tential damage to fishing, tourism (N.Y. Times. 4/21/74). IN RELATED DEVELOPMENTS. Director, Va. Institute of Marine Science, says state "cannot afford a major oil spill within its waters" (AP story in Wash. Post. 4/25/74). Says spills would come from tankers, not from drilling MAJOR OIL SPILL OFF MASSA- CHUSETTS COAST could have serious detrimental effects in Maine, says State Sen. Harrison Richardson(R-Maine); UPI story, Manchester Union-Leader(4/8/74) STRESSING INABIL- ITY of local governments to defend environment when well-financed steamroller gets goin& Newsday(4/11/74) says all Long Islanders should get together "to fight a coordinated legal and legislative battle against offshore drilling." MAZDA RE-TEST In light of plunging Mazda sales—attributed to low gas mileage ratings in EPA testing last fall(Newsweek, 4/15/74)--EPA retests the rotary-engine car along with four others in same weight class. Results; Mazda improves its own fuel mileage in city driving (from 10.7 to 13.1 m.p.g.) but still uses 50 percent more gas to travel any given distance—city or open highway—than do comparable pis ton-powered cars. Broad coverage in Wall St. Journal(4/12/74), Wash. Post(4/12/74). Wash. Star(4/12/74). Newsdav (4/12/74), Chicago Daily News(4/11/74), Chicago Tribune(4/12/74). Chicago Sun-Times (4/ 12/74), Cleveland Plain Dealer(4/12/74), Buffalo Evening News(4/12/74), Denver Post (4/ 12/74). IN RELATED DEVELOPMENTS. Slamming EPA's '74 Gas Mileage Guide, Chicago Daily News Service(Portland Oregonian. 4/9/74) says that considering EPA warning in accompany- ------- ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY ing press release that fuel economy affected by wide range of factors, "anyone who reads comic books without moving his lips should realize that these factors affect mileage so much that the figures must be viewed with supreme skepticism.. .One can only wonder about the unbridled arrogance of the EPA...Mileage test is really an emissions test, not spe- cifically designed to measure gas mileage." Quotes Consumer Guide's auto test magazine: "It is our firm belief, after much study, that the (EPA's) fuel economy figures are un- realistic because they are based on the toughest driving conditions possible and make no allowance for varied driving conditions. This has confused an auto buying public eager for accurate information." EPA mileage tests "come under fire" from Consumer Guide, Consumer's Research, and Consumer Reports, "all of which have come up with figures that are different from the agency's—and from one another's."(N.Y. Times, 4/4/74). IN OTHER AUTO EMISSION DEVELOPMENTS. "In no case has the [energy] crisis been more fraudulently exploited," says syndicated columnist Milton Viorst(Wash. Star, 4/11/ 74), "than in the automobile industry's ongoing campaign against laws to require the pro- duction of pollution-free cars...Most recent tests show that...cars equipped with ['75 emission devices] have actually been getting better gas mileage than the 1974 models that are without them...If the auto companies—and the House of Representatives--were serious about saving gasoline, they would need only to eliminate not anti-pollution devices but certain gadgets with which a large majority of cars are now built." EPA plans to spend $5 million to find out if catalytic converters produce harmful amounts of sulphur- ic acid mist, platinum, hydrogen sulphide gas(N.Y. Times. 4/7/74) "BECAUSE OF GAS- OLINE SHORTAGES, the automobile campanies are going all out to get better mileage from their cars and will bring an array of new fuel-saving accessories and parts to the mar- ket within the next few months(N.Y. Times. 4/2/74) HENRY FORD asks EPA to guaran- tee that unleaded gas is readily available for '75's, or else the effect would be "dras- tic," since regular gas will poison catalytic converters(Wall St. Journal, 4/4/74),(Las Vegas Review Journal. 4/4/74) COUNTERING POPULAR THEORY which labels auto hydro- carbons as the principal form of air particulate, Fort Worth Air Pollution Control Chief Glenn Bradbury says that after 2% years of testing, "we're finding calcium carbonates and silicates the most significant particulate. We're thinking it's from airborne dust from the earth." "Nature is the significant contributor" to pollution, he says. "The car is second."(Dallas Times Herald, 4/12/74) Federal Power Commission prediction that 38 million electric cars will be cruising America in 1990 appears in Atlanta Consti- tution (4/9/74) . Two other feature pieces on electric autos: Detroit News(4/7/74), Louisville Courier-Journal(4/7/74), latter generally unfavorable. TRAIN FAVORS REORGANIZATION Train thinks environmental problems call for creation of Cabinet-level depart- ment, because of: (1) Dispersion of ecological responsibilities among a dozen fed agen- cies; (2) EPA being pushed into policy-making on scale not envisioned when agency creat- ed (NJLY._Tlmes_, 4/13/74), (Colo. Sun. 4/8/74). CHLORINE SHORTAGE FEARED EPA study shows 74 U.S. cities experienced shortages of chlorine, other water treatment chemicals during eight months ending 1/31/74, with possibly worse problems this summer due to heavy power demand. EPA, state agencies working on problem but agen- cy spokesman says Congressional mandatory allocation program may be needed(Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/14/74).(Denver Post, 4/11/74).(Dallas Morning News. 4/14/74). ------- ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY SUPPORT FOR EPA Dallas Times-Herald(4/9/74) decries the pressure building "to dismantle EPA by reducing its funding, limiting its authority and exempting EPA's previous role in energy industries"--in name of energy crisis. "A grave mistake will be made...if the achieve- ments made in abating pollution are now undone. While there might have been some mis- takes in a wave of environmental concern two years ago, it would compound our country's problems to make further mistakes in a wave of energy concern today." ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS Citing increased fed agency time and employees being consumed in writing EIS's, Oregon Statesman(4/13/74) observes that "it is hard to know how much of the EIS problem is due to agency foot-dragging and how much comes from...assembling data and writing re- ports...As the public looks at this growing mountain of paperwork and the months and years of costly delay which are accompanying it, there is a great temptation to demand an impact statement on Environmental Impact Statements. But that 'solution1 may be like trying to cure a disease by being exposed to more contagion." COMPLEX SOURCE AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS EPA "complex" or "indirect" source regs (affecting shopping centers, parking fa- cilities, etc.) —"the federal government's first real exercise of land use controls"— will face attack from developers when hearings held to reexamine Clean Air Act, which expires 6/30/74. "Danger that the clean air effort may be seriously damaged"(Wash. Post. 4/13/74). IN OTHER LAND USE DEVELOPMENTS. Milwaukee Journal(4/9/74) urges public express support for land use bill currently deadlocked in Rules Committee. Cites Rep. Udall(D- Ariz.) statement that Rules members, almost without exception, received not a single constitutent letter in favor of bill; therefore, Udall won't attempt revival until pub- lic interest, support more evident. SCC-VdS A3N39V NOI13310lid 1ViN3WNOaiAM3 OlVd S3M ONV 39VlSOd -v syivjjv onand jo ------- |