ENVIRONMENTAL
            NEMVS                         January 9, 1974
            SUMMARY
Office of Public Affairs     U.S. Environmental Protection Agency     Washington. D.C. 20460

AEC SETS NEW A-PLANT SAFETY  RULES

        AEC says final  standards regulating emergency  core-cooling systems
for nuclear reactors (issued 12/28/73) will have  "'minimum impact"1 on indus-
try.  Regs "tougher" than interim  standards issued 6/71, but Ralph Nader,
Union of Concerned Scientists,  call  new  regs a  "'continuation of the AEC's
cover-up of critical safety  problems involving  the susceptibility of nuclear
plants to catastrophic  failure  '"(Wall St. Journal. 12/31/73).  Also reported
in N.Y. Times (12/29/73), Wash. Post (1Z/Z9/73T7"Hash. Star (12/29/73).

ADMINISTRATION BLASTED  FOR STRIPPING EPA RADIATION AUTHORITY

        Reaction to shift of plant emission radiation  standard authority
from EPA to AEC	  "When the  E.P.A.  had the task...the country at least
had the benefit of relatively independent scrutiny and judgment.  The A.E.G.,
by contrast, is both a  regulatory  agency for civilian  nuclear power plants and
the Government's chief  promoter of their development.  A conflict of interest
is inherent in these two functions; and  no one  can be  confident that the stan-
dards set by the regulatory side of the  agency  will be untarnished by the
eagerness of its promotional side  to go  full speed ahead "(N.Y. Times,12/18/73)
Nader contends shift of power unlawful:   "'The  authority of the EPA is statu-
torily based and cannot be overridden by executive order  '"(Chicago Sun-Times.
12/13/73)...."The White House has  resumed a course that has been rejected by
Congress and which is logically inconsistent, demonstrably dangerous and pos-
sibly illegal...The AEC has  convincingly demonstrated  that it cannot be
trusted to safely oversee an industry that inevitably  must play a vital role
in American life "(Chicago Sun-Times. 12/17/73).... "There is visible hypo-
crisy in Ash's [OMB head] memo...:'EPA has construed too broadly its respon-
sibilities to set generally applicable environmental standards for the
protection of the public health and the  environment from radiation hazards.1
This is about as broad  a mandate as you  can imagine, and Ash's (or Nixon's)
objection seems to be that the EPA interpreted  it to mean exactly what it
said   We'H feel a lot  better about administration decisions...if it weren't
for  clumsy  attempts to  justify them with devices  too obvious to fool a school-
boy "(Chicago Today. 12/18/73)	Rep. Seiberling  (D-Ohio), who intends of-
fering amendment to  '73 Energy Reorganization Act giving EPA back above-men-
tioned authority, says, "If the OMB position  is allowed to prevail, the
AEC will go the way of most...regulatory agencies: it  will serve the interests
of the very industry that it was designed to  regulate, rather than protec-
ting the public from that industry "(Congressional Record, 12/18/73).

        IN RELATED DEVELOPMENTS.  National Science Foundation grant study by
political scientist, nuclear engineer, on AEC nuclear  plant hearings con-

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                                                  ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY
eludes they are "'neither fair nor expeditious nor democratic in any substan-
tive or meaningful way...the only consensus among all  the parties involved
appears to be general evaluation that the whole process as it now stands  is
nothing more than a charade "'  AEC, says report, characterized by   arrogance
expert elitism, stacked deck proceedings and the consigning of citizens
to helplessness before the steamroller of big government "'(Sun., Colorado Springs,
12/16/73)	"The nuclear industry may well have the best safety record  of
any major  industry in the history of the United States.  It has been subjected
to examination and scrutiny on a level that is without parallel.  Some of
the most  brilliant minds in the world are working to see that the industry
does  not  destroy  us while trying to save us. "(L.A. Times, 12/17/73).
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INTERIOR  OPENS ADDITIONAL OIL ACREAGE OFF CALIFORNIA COAST
	Interior  opens 7.7 million acres of California's ocean shelf, some
just  off  L.A. beaches, to oil, gas exploration.  Original Proposals called
only  for  areas  between offshore  string of islands and  up to 110 miles out,  but
fuel  shortage   spurs  decision to expand up to  three-mile limit of state-con-
trolled waters  (N.Y.  Times, 1/3/74).  Also  rpnnrtpd  **  Ma11 St* Journa1
 (1/3/74).

         IN OTHER  OIL  DEVELOPMENTS.   Interior holds  hearings on proposed Amoco
Production Co.  oil,  gas  drilling on  9595 of Fla.'s Ocala National Forest.  No
guarantee of oil, but Interior  impact statement  says '"the potential for addi-
 tional  drilling exists whether or  not oil or gas is discovered  in the original
well."1   Amoco  says  "fuel  shortage"  necessitates drilling, could be  done with-
 out serious ecological  harm;  but conservationists claim Interior green light
 would ruin forest, cause "total  exploitation  and inevitable  damage  to Cen-
 tral  Florida's vital freshwater basin located  beneath  the middle of the  vast
 wilderness." (Wash.  Post, 1/7/74)

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 STRIP MINING COULD DRAIN WESTERN WATER RESOURCES

         Power plants built beside Western strin mines could use so  much
 water government agencies would have to reallocate already sparse supplies,
' causing entire regions to "'undergo major social and economic changes,   sa
                                                                        says
caubiny entire rcyivjna «.u   wn^v.. y~ 11I-«-;  	~'  	  j   .  »mc- ~*.~*~ m4Ma
National Academy of Sciences report   Other points made  in NAS strip mine
study:  (1) Western erosion rates, far exceeding  East, will  5ccelfa^eJ^n
strip mining; (2) Most Western state laws "'do not P^^.^^P13""1"9'
monitoring, enforcement and financing of rehabilitation.      3) Str p
mining could possibly disrupt underground flows of water;  (4) Rehabilitation
of deserts can only be attained "'with major, sustained  inputs of water  fer-
tilizer and management.'"  It may '"take decades, or  even  centuries, for nat-
SralluccessTon to reach stable conditions.'"  (5) Rehabilitation possible  if
long-term  care and land use management techniques are Pr?P^'y JPP.^d;.  .
Report adds that its maximum requirements '"cannot  be m*t  by existing  state
laws  or without adequate government funding1"  fStanoard-Examiner. Ogden,
Utah, 12/16/73).

POLLUTION  CONTROL  DEVICES  IN DANGER?

       Pa.  State Sen.  Clarence  Bell  (R-Delaware County) introduces bill

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ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY
 permitting Pa.  auto owners to  remove,  disconnect or otherwise neutralize their
 pol 1.1-tion controls till  energy crisis  subsides.  Says,  "'I'm just fed up with
 the  fact that the environmentalists  have  cut  down on the efficiency of the
 automobile.   The basic question is,  are we  going to drive or are we going to
 sit  home and  breathe cleaner air?  I think  irost citizens want to drive '" (Phil
 ly Inquirer.  12/10/73) ---- Philly Mayor Frank  Rizzo, denouncing "'the power of
 environmentalists to stymie everything,'" calls for removal of air pollu-
 tion controls on the 6,000 city-owned  cars  (Philly Inquirer, 12/11/73. Phil-
 ly Daily News,  12/11/73; ---- U.S.  car  dealers start drive to reduce, eliminate
 pollution controls.  Petitions  urging  Nixon,  Congress to remove controls will
 "'soon be in  all  dealerships across  the country,1" says Hugh Gibson, soon- to-
 be Pres. of Natl . Auto Dealers  Assoc.  He adds, "People have become exasper-
 ated with poor  car performances caused mostly by the pollution control equip-
 ment "(Cleveland Plain Dealer.  12/23/73).... EPA "spokesman" says,  "It's
 almost impossible to improve mileage by just  removing the pollution controls
 and  in most cases there would  be a loss in  fuel economy, especially in
 small  cars."  Story adds that its illegal for  dealer to disconnect control; one
 Clean Air Act interpretation says it's illegal for any garage selling new auto
 parts to do so; illegal  for anybody  to do it  in about a dozen states (Cleve-
 land Press. 12/13/73)

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 SOME DEALERS  REFUSE TO SHOW EPA MPG  STICKERS

         Spot  check by L.A. Times shows some suto dealers removing EPA gas
 mileage labels from new cars.   One dealer says, "'It's unfair to the sales
 people to put a number on a car with a very small interpretation of what the
 number really means.  '" Another dealer: "'The prime tenet of selling is to
 make it as easy as possible, not to  give  people something else to stumble
 over.'"  While practice "apparently  legal," EPA's Eric Stork says, "'It's
 perhaps as good an example as  any of the  reasons the American public is
 calling on Congress to enact laws to force  the industry to act in the putlic
 interest "'(Denver Post, 12/19/73).
 AGRICULTURE DEPT.  ASKS EPA FOR DDT APPROVAL

         Agriculture asks EPA to approve  possible  DDT use next summer against
 tussock moths in Northwest. Ag.'s  Butz says  DDT would be used only if other
 measures fail (N.Y. Times, 1/8/74)

         IN RELATED DEVELOPMENTS.  Citing the claim  that nearly 700,000 for-
 est acres have been defoliated in  the Pacific Northwest, (Barren's,
 12/24/73) says, "In the name of the environment,  EPA et al. have offended nature
 and man alike.  In so doing, Russell  Train is merely following in the footsteps
 of...Ruckelshaus, who, by shunning the recommendations of his own hearing ex-
 aminer [approving DDT] and hewing  to the fanatical  ecologist line, set the
 stage for the disaster. . .In the end, what is perhaps most alarming is EPA's
 ignorance , which, in unholy alliance with its arrogance, has wrought untold harm.
 In seekinq to excuse its inaction, the agency reoeatedly cited alleged evidence
 of a three-year cycle of tussock moth infestation , in the final year

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                                                   ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SUMMARY
of which the epidemic supposedly burned itself out.  Yet according to plain-
tiffs and other knowledgeable observers, evidence of such a cycle is suspect:
The Northwest apparently has suffered several of four-and five-year outbreaks.
EPA also has sought to blame the disaster on the Forest Service, although the
latter, at least in its initial environmental impact statement, recognized that
DDT is the only effective pesticide against the tussock moth and flatly recom-
mended its use.  Whatever the court decides, Russell Train et al . have much
to answer for."
OREGON BOTTLE BILL UPHELD BY COURT OF APPEALS

        Oregon's Court of Appeais rules state law requiring deposits on  beer,
soft drink containers "'a valid exercise of Oregon's police power.1" Court
rejects all 'ederal , state constitutional challenges, repudiates brewer  and
soft drink, can company plea to balance values between economic hardship
on the plaintiffs and possible benefits to Oregon citizen? .Appeal  likely to
state Suoreme Court, and, if necessary, to federal courts  (Register-Guard,
Eugene, Ore., 12/17/73).

        IN OTHER SOLID WASTE DEVELOPMENTS.". . .Voluntary recycling  centers...
are not exactly a roaring success, despite fine words on the  environment.  It
seems volunteers don't show up, people scatter papers, there  is poor coordina
tion in pickup and discouragement sets in  (Independent-Record, Helena, Mont.,
12/13/73).
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