APRIL 1975
VOL. ONE, NO. FOUR
PROGRESS IN WATER POLLUTION CONTROL:
THE GREAT LAKES, ESCAMBIA, ENFORCING THE PERMITS
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
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THE QUEST FOR CLEAN WATER
Standing on the observation platform of the Terminal Tower in Cleveland,
Ohio, a decade ago one could look out on a sunny day 42 stories below at a
magnificent blue sea that seemed to spread endlessly .
Even today you can remember how the winds whining past the tower were
ruffling the water.
White capped waves slapped a small boat passing through the harbor and
hurled foam over the breakwater walls. Gulls wheeled, dived and soared
unsteadily in the stiff breezes.
It was difficult to realize that this lovely seascape centered around the
notorious Lake Erie, world-famous for its pollution.
And who would believe that the picturesque river twisting its way through
the congested city to the harbor was the infamous Cuyahoga River, once so
kxaded with inflammable wastes that it allegedly was dangerous to toss a
lighted match into it.
It is encouraging to know that the illusion of beauty given then by the
tower's great height is now closer to reality.
Years of effort and huge expenditures of money are beginning to result in
improvements in the condition of Lake Erie and the rivers that flow into it,
such as the Cuyahoga and, most significantly, the Detroit River, the main
carrier of pollution into the lake.
As the fifth anniversary of the original Earth Week approaches, it is
heartening to learn that the long decline of the Great Lakes water quality is
finally being checked and that sections of other major waterways are now
showing improvement.
All across America streams, rivers and lakes play a major role in enriching
the lives of people and providing the beauty which, in Shelley's phrase,
gives "grace and truth to life's unquiet dream."
It is also good to know that the dumping of toxic materials in the ocean has
been banned and that strict controls through a permit system have been
placed on dumping of wastes at sea.
The notorious Santa Barbara Channel oil spill in January, 1969, helped
spur the environmental awareness which resulted in the first Earth Day, April
22, 1970.
Many of us will never forget this spill. It seems only yesterday that we
were in the Coast Guard station at Santa Barbara waiting to find out whether
the escaping oil would be swept to shore or go out to sea.
Preceded by a sickening odor, the black oil tide finally crept into the jewel-
like harbor on the evening of February 4,1969, besmirched the white bottoms
of hundreds of boats and captured many sea birds in its sticky and often fatal
embrace. A trip to the site of the oil leak was made unforgettable by the
appearance of a seal who suddenly surfaced through the heavy slick, looked
back in bewilderment at our boat and then, completely smeared with oil,
dove to an uncertain fate.
The current concern of citizens, State government officials and EPA about
proposed off-shore drilling in the Atlantic reflects a determination, inspired
in part by the Santa Barbara experience, to protect our coastlines, giant
nurseries for aquatic creatures, refuges for countless birds and other wild-
life and playgrounds for millions of people.
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Russell E. Train
Administrator
Patricia L. Cahn
Director of Public Affairs
Charles D. Pierce
Editor
Staff:
Van Trumbull
Ruth Hussey
PHOTO CREDITS
Cover: Cleveland skyline as seen
from Lake Erie at daybreak.
Cover, Frank Aleksandrowicz*
Page 7, Don Moran
Pages 9 & 10, Ernest Bucci
Page 16, Ernest Bucci
Page 20, Remote Sensing
Branch, EPA, Las Vegas
Back Page, Don Moran
* DOCUMER1CA photos
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UNITED STATES
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY
In This Issue:
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
PAGE
PAGE 14
PAGE 16
Contents
Hope for the Great Lakes
A two-nation effort to clean up the world's largest
collection of fresh water is beginning to show
results, including game fish in the Detroit River
and lower bacteria counts in Lake Erie.
By William C. Omohundro Page 2
Florida Bay Improving
Escambia Bay on the Florida panhandle used to be
notorious for fish kills. Now its health is reviving;
even the bream fishermen are pleased.
By Charles Pou Page 4
Curbing Water Pollution —
Enforcement of the Permit System
Water discharge permits are meaningless if they
are not enforced. Here's what EPA and the States
are doing to police nearly 25,000 permits that
specify just what and just how much can be drained
into waterways.
By Richard H. Johnson Page 6
Equal Opportunity Promised for EPA
Women
Third Annual Conference highlights advances in
women's rights in the Agency and criticism of past
performance. Page 8
Women at Work in EPA
Random interviews with women holding a variety
of jobs; what they are doing and how they feel
about it. Pa«e 9
Around the Nation
Reports on environmental activities in the Regions
Page 11
People
Arrivals, departures, new jobs. Page 14
Inquiry
What some EPA people do in their spare time to
help the environment.
Page 16
Photo Essay
Watchers in the sky detect pollution
Page
EPA Aids Oil Spill Efforts
Aerial surveillance and photo interpretation by
EPA helps determine spill damage and guide
cleanup work.
By Leslye Arsht Page 20
HThe EPA Journal wili be published monthly, with combined issues for July-August and November-
December, for employees of the U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency. It does not alter or supersede
regulations, operating procedures or manual instructions. Contributions and inquiries should be addressed to the
Editor, (A-107) Room 209, West Tower, Waterside Mall, 401 M St., S.W. Washington. D.C. 20460. No
permission necessary to reproduce contents except copyrighted photos and other materials.
PAGE
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HOPE FOR THE
GREAT LAKES
BY William C. Oniohundro
Deputy Director, Public Affairs Office, EPA Region V
Jim Foote, a biologist with the
Michigan Department of Natural
Resources, took a bucketful of
water a few years ago from the
Detroit River's tributary, the River
Rouge, and let it stand there for an
hour and a half.
"When I came back," Foote said,
"there was no water—.the acids had
eaten out the bottom completely."
This is an example of how dangerous
wastes in tributary waters were fouling
the Great Lakes.
The lakes had become a dumping
area for raw sewage, bilge waters, oil,
chemicals and other wastes carried to
them not only by the Rouge and Detroit
Rivers but also by such polluted "feed-
ers" as the Calumet in Indiana, the Fox
in Wisconsin, the Buffalo in New
York, the Cuyahoga and the Maumee in
Ohio and the St. Louis in Minnesota.
All of this contamination has threat-
ened to ruin the Great Lakes as a
source of food, water and recreation,
and, until recently, the future looked
dim.
But now concerted efforts by govern-
ment at all levels, industry, and private
citizens appear to have achieved a
turnaround.
EPA's Region V Administrator,
Francis T. Mayo, said the moss drama-
tic example of cleanup to date in the
whole Great Lakes area is the Detroit
River, al the head of Lake Erie. Be-
fore-and-after pictures show a remark-
able improvement in appearance of
whal was a foul industrial and munici-
pal sewer.
Around 1950 as much as 35,000
gallons of oil were finding their way
into the river each day from Detroit-
area industries. In addition, thousands
of gallons of "pickle liquor," an acid
used in steel processing, was being
dumped, along with millions of gallons
of inadequately treated sewage.
Today, except for an occasional acci-
dental loss, oil is no longer dumped
into the Detroit, and an enormous
municipal sewage ireatmeni plan! has
been built to handle Detroit-area sew-
age. Some 60 industries along the shore
of the river now have facilities for pre-
treatment of their wastes.
At one time as many as 40,000 ducks
died oily deaths each year when they
landed in polluted marshes along the
river. Now such kills are down to only
50 to 100.
FISH
ARE RETURJVWG
Game fish like trout and salmon that
can live only in cold, clean water are
coming back in the Detroit. Their
numbers are burgeoning, and fishermen
are surprised at their caiches.
Hopeful signs are not limited to the
Detroit River. Scientists have detected
a 60 percent drop since 1970 in mer-
cury concentrations in rock bass,
perch, walleye and catfish from Lake
St. Clair, located between Lake Huron
and the Detroit River. This decrease is
attributed to the elimination of indus-
trial dumping of mercury.
DDT concentrations in Lake Michi-
gan chub have decreased since 1970 by
around 60 percent, and concentrations
of this pesticide in Lake Michigan
salmon have decreased by 50 percent in
the same time period.
Chicago officials responsible for
treating the city's drinking water report
that they now use 40 percent less
chemicals than they used in 1970.
Fishing for walleyed-pike in Lake
Erie, the most polluted of the lakes, is
reported to be better now than it has
been in many years.
In the past several years there has
been a significant reduction in the
amount of phosphorus that flows into
Lake Erie to give nourishment to slimy,
smelly algae growths which reduce
oxygen levels. In just two years, 1972
and 1973, the amount of phosphorus
going into the lake was reduced by
about 46 million pounds.
EPA officials in Region V say there
has been a "tremendous improvement"
in the Calumet River, a Lake Michigan
tributary near Gary and Hammond,
Ind., which used to be "grossly pol-
luted." Oil film, they say, is still
occasionally visible, but no longer does
the river have big chunks of grease and
oil from factories along the shore.
"Now badgers go down to drink
from it," said Dale Bryson, deputy
director of enforcement. "Four years
ago, no self-respecting badger would
go near it."
The Cuyahoga River, a Lake Erie
feeder, was so oil-laden back in 1969
that it caught fire, destroying a bridge.
Action by government and industry has
resulted in a significant cleanup of the
Cuyahoga.
Mr. Mayo points out that you can
tell the future of a body of water by
looking at its feeders. "The Great
Lakes feeders are getting betier all the
time," he says.
BACTERIA LEVELS
DROPPING
Cleveland officials say that high
bacteria levels in Lake Erie from in-
adequately treated sewage have
dropped significantly and that beaches
which were once routinely closed are
"generally well within the limits estab-
lished by the Ohio Department of
Health."
The job of cleaning up the lakes is
enormous. They have received mind-
boggling amounts of wastes, and, un-
like rivers which have a relatively rapid
"flushing" rate, the waters from the
Great Lakes move at a snail's pace
toward the Atlantic via the St.
Lawrence River.
Some scientists have estimated, for
instance, that It takes almost 200 years
for Lake Superior to completely flush
itself.
This means that marked improve-
ment in overall lake water quality
cannot be expected in the near future.
In fact, if all dumping of pollutants
into the lakes ceased immediately,
notable improvement in overall water
quality could be expected to take years.
Nevertheless, experts agree that if it
had not been for the substantial efforts
already made by government, industry
PAGE 2
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and private citizens. Great Lakes water
quality would be far worse than it is at
present. And recent developments indi-
cate even further cleanup in the coming
years.
Probably the most hopeful sign for
long-range Great Lakes cleanup is the
concerted efforts of both the United
States and Canada to establish strong
legal and administrative machinery.
and to provide sufficient resources for
pollution control.
In April, 1972, both countries signed
the Great Lakes Water Quality Agree-
ment committing them to adopt pro-
grams and other measures to control a
number of different kinds and sources
of pollution. Control efforts on the
lakes are coordinated by the Interna-
tional Joint Commission, made up of
representatives of both countries and
established under the U.S.-Canadian
Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.
TIMETABLE FOR
C'LEAOTP
The Federal Water Pollution Control
Act of 1972 set a timetable for cleanup
"of water pollution, and EPA is moving
swiftly to achieve these goals on the
Great Lakes.
All sewage treatment plants in the
Great Lakes Basin must have secondary
treatment by July I, 1977. Region V
Administrator Mayo pointed out. In
secondary treatment, bacterial action
plus primary treatment by screening,
sedimentation and flotation is used to
clean up waste water.
"In addition," Mr. Mayo said,
"the states have adopted the further
requirement of phosphorus removal in
accordance with the Great Lakes Water
Quality Agreement."
He noted that Michigan, New York,
and Indiana have limited the phos-
phorus content of household detergents
sold in those states.
"In the next two or three years, the
remainder of the $18 billion authorized
by Congress and not yet distributed to
municipalities for construction of sew-
age treatment plants will be a major
thrust of our efforts to clean up the
lakes." he said.
Carlysle Pemberton, EPA's Great
Lakes coordinator, said that since the
U.S.-Canadian Agreement was con-
cluded in 1972, $860 million had been
granted to build 250 projects in the
Great Lakes Basin as of Dec. 1, 1974,
representing a total construction cost of
$1.3 billion.
"We expect that 60 percent of the
population served by sewers on the
U.S. side will be provided secondary
treatment by the end of 1975, and that
95 percent will be so served by 1978,"
he added.
Five of the eight Great Lakes States
—Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio
and Wisconsin—have been authorized
to take over the discharge permit pro-
gram. Almost all major wastewater
dischargers on the lakes have been
issued permits limiting their effluents
and placing them on compliance
schedules to meet future deadlines.
"This is significant because EPA and
the States can now take enforcement
action against those dischargers who
are not taking steps to comply with the
law," Mr. Pemberton pointed out.
One notable exception to the major
dischargers issued permits is the Re-
serve Mining Company of Silver Bay,
Minn., which dumps 67,000 tons of
(aconite tailings into Lake Superior
each day. This company has been
ordered by the U.S. Court of Appeals
to clean up its water pollution within a
"reasonable time."
RESEARCH
TODEKWAY
EPA is actively participating in a
number of large scale research projects
in the Great Lakes Basin under the
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
These include a joint study with
Canada to determine the baseline water
quality conditions of Lakes Superior
and Huron, to identify pollution
sources, and to develop recommended
control programs.
"Because we don't know how to
solve some of the pollution problems
we've encountered in the Great Lakes,
our research efforts are almost as impor-
tant as our actual control program."
said Mr. Pemberton. "We're learning
a lot more about these big lakes,"
The Agency's research vessel, the
122-foot Roger R. Simons, will be
taking part this year in the collection of
water quality data on Georgian Bay and
Lake Huron in conjunction with similar
efforts by the Canadian government.
Some major watersheds an the lakes
have been selected for study of pollu-
tion problems caused by drainage from
land disturbed by agriculture and
construction.
EPA will spend SI 1.8 million for
studies of the Maumec River, Indiana
and Ohio, draining to Lake Erie; the
Menominee River, Wisconsin, draining
to Lake Michigan; the Nemadji River,
Minnesota and Wisconsin, draining to
Lake Superior; and the Gencsee River,
New York and Pennsylvania, draining
to Lake Ontario.
The results of these studies are ex-
pected to result in improved methods
of controlling pollution from "non-
point sources" in the Great Lakes
Basin and elsewhere.
EPA officials arc optimistic that
these efforts and the efforts by all
levels of government, industry and the
private citizen are beginning to bear
fruit.
EPA Administrator Russell E. Train
has said: "Both the United States and
Canada can be proud. We have
mounted the most concentrated water
pollution control program in the world
on the Great Lakes and we have high
hopes for its success." CD
PAGE 3
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FLORIDA BAY
IMPROVING
Hv Charles Pou
Region IV Public Affairs Director
Southern pride even extends to
adversity. If something is bad in
the region, Southerners figure it
might as well be known as the worst.
Natives of Tupelo, Miss., and Gaines-
ville, Ga., for instance, have argued
for decades over which town lost the
most people to killer tornadoes which
roared through the Southland on April
5 and 6, 1936.* So recorders of fish
kills for EPA should not have been
surprised when the Pensacola chapter
of the Bream Fishermen Association
complained bitterly that the Pensacola
area (notably Escambia Bay) had been
omitted from a 1970 report. Their
statement added:
"Local information from the Florida
Department of Pollution Control indi-
cates more than 50 million were killed.
This is more than twice the (reported)
U.S. total."
This wasn't just perverse pride speak-
ing. Like commercial fishermen, the
association wanted all to know the
plight of Pensacola and the Escambia
Bay ecosystem. The bream spokesman
was operating under the ancient maxim
that things have to get worse before
they get belter.
Now, nearly everybody admits, some
cautiously, things arc better. Items:
—There were no major fish kills in
Escambia Bay in 1974. Some sug-
gested cynically that this was probably
because there were no more fish lo
kill. But this wasn't true.
—Fish species in Escambia Bay now
compare favorably with those caught in
similar Gulf of Mexico estuaries in
Mobile Bay, Ala., and Biloxi Bay,
Miss. "The similarity in the catches,"
said an EPA report, "indicated that
Escambia Bay is functioning as a pro-
ductive estuarinc nursery for young
fishes."
—Au optimistic preliminary report
on a feasibility study by EPA on
.stocking striped bass in Escambia Bay.
REPORT LISTS
IMPROVEMENTS
There are encouraging words in the
preliminary report, soon to be released,
of the massive survey Region IV
scientists under the leadership of
Lawrence Ollinger are making of Es-
cambia Bay and its watershed.
Others working with Mr. Ollinger on
the Escambia Bay survey and monitor-
ing program include Ted Bisterfeld,
biologist; Reginald Rogers, aquatic bi-
ologist; Dr. Russell Todd, micro-
biologist; Dr. Paul Pore, fishery
biologist; Bullard Mullins, chemist;
Lloyd Wise, engineering technician;
and Donald Lawhorn, general
mechanic.
For the past three years, the Region
has had a small, full time station on the
Bay to monitor enforcement actions
initiated in 1970 and 1971 by Federal,
Florida, and Alabama conferees.
The preliminary report says: "In the
five-year period from 1970 through
1974, there has been a gradual re-
duction in the frequency, as well as in
the magnitude of (fish) kills . . . Over-
all, the number of kills has declined
from a high of 56 in 1970 to 14 in
1974, a decrease of 75 percent. In
addition, there were no major kills in
the Escambia-Pensacola Bay area in
1974."
For tho.se who recall the dramatic
photographs of acres and acres of dead
Escambia menhaden which frequently
were flashed across the nation in the
late sixties and early seventies, this is a
cheery note. There are other good
omens in the report. Efforts at re-
vegetating the estuary through trans-
planting marine sea grass so far have
been at least 50 percent successful. All
of the marine-to-brackish species had
been eliminated •
The report details notable progress in
eliminating some of the pollution that
had reduced Escambia Bay from one of
the finest fishing spots on the Gulf
coast to a 37-square-mile body of
murky, shallow water with a zero
shrimp population. The zero figure on
shrimp is a comedown from catches of
700,000 pounds for 1968.
Although the shrimp apparently
haven't responded yet, life-sapping
loads of waste from beach-front indus-
tries have come way down, too. The
three major industrial dischargers are
American Cyanamid, Air Products &
Chemicals, Inc., and Monsanto Corp.
The report said: "All three industries
were within their effluent limitations,
with the exception of Air Products &
Chemicals, Inc., which exceeded the
BOD effluent limit by 12 percent . . .
In the five-year period between Sep-
tember 1969, and September 1974,
BOD, nitrogen and phosphorus loads
discharged have decreased by 57, 73
and 92 percent, respectively. By Jan-
uary 1977, when all the final effluent
limits will be in effect, BOD, nitrogen
and phosphorus should be reduced by
at least 88, 88, and 89 percent, re-
spectively." Additionally, the report
continued, "American Cyanamid dis-
charged 100 milligrams per liter of
acrylonitrile, a highly toxic substance,
in September 1969. At the present
'time, no acrylonitrile is being
discharged."
THE WAT
THINGS WERE
The desire to have things the way
they once were along the shorelines of
historic Escambia Bay was one of the
chief motivating forces behind the
cleanup. In the sixties, residents began
to notice a gradual clouding of the bay,
runs of bad luck at fishing, and oc-
casional small fish kills. By the early
seventies, Escambia Bay had assumed
its champion role in the fish-kill-total
game. The biggest kill came one Sep-
PAGE 4 *Tiipelo. 216: Gainesville. 20.1
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teniber day in 1971 when the deaths
hud to he measured in miles: one
square mile of dead fish in Mulatto
Bayou, a finger of the bay, and a 10-
mile stretch of dead menhaden and
some game fish along the eastern
shore.
Mrs. Ray Geiger, a 60-year resident
of Escambia Bay, said in a letter to the
Federal Water Pollution Control
Agency, one of EPA's predecessor
agencies: "Once my whole family en-
joyed swimming in the clear water
with sandy bottom and sandy beaches.
where now you would wade in sludge.
We longed oysters midway across the
channel. We caught in half an hour
enough speckled trout for a supper on
the beach. Now there is no clean water
to swim in. I cannot let my dog wade
in the shallows, for his ankles develop
a skin eruption.
"There are no oysters! There are no
speckled trout in our area. After one of
these fish kills, a rookery, near my
home, of about 25 egrets, little blue
herons and great blues, were wiped out
from eating these fish. It is rather heart
breaking to see the old lovely bay
become a death trap."
INDUSTRIES
WORST OFFENDERS
The industries which rimmed the
Bay at the end of World War II were
the worst, but not the only, pollution
offenders. Industrial waste water con-
taining nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium was flushed into the waters,
in several spots directly into Eseambia
Bay. Chemicals—some of them the
same as those farmers use to make
crops grow—over-enriched the waters.
causing explosive algae blooms. Oxy-
gen was depleted in the process, bring-
ing toxic conditions, and death would
run like wildfire through the entire
chain of marine life. The bay devel-
oped a thick gray mat of sludge, seven
feet deep in places. Tightly spaced
pilings for the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad trestle, which stretched across
the upper end of the bay, reduced the
flow of the already sluggish waters. An
order to remove those pilings, the
suggestion of former Florida Gov.
Claude Kirk, was one early get-tough
mandate in the opening rounds of the
belated war against pollution.
It was not the only we-rnean-busi-
ness directive against industry. One
large paper mill, on neighboring Per-
dido Bay and the Escambia River, was
instructed to reduce pollution or reduce
production. Although local industry by
and large has been cooperative in the
struggle, there were occasional veiled
threats that a firm just might pull up its
plant and pollution and go elsewhere.
Nor would sinners always admit they
were sinners. A spokeman for one
firm, whose discharge point was sus-
piciously close to a high-kill area.
suggested that the real culprit was an
underground "phantom river" which
was sneakily spewing its toxin into the
bay.
Recently, though, industry has been
getting praise from some of its strong-
est critics of the early seventies.
Charles Lowery, a president of the
Bream Fishermen Association, spoke
glowingly of pollution abatement ef-
forts by industry during the past five
years.
In an interview with the Pensacola
News-Journal, a newspaper which has
campaigned ceaselessly tor cleanup,
Mr. Lowery said, "I think we are
making some strides forward. Data on
the area waters is entirely different
from just a few years ago. Escambia
Bay has definitely improved. Fish kills
last year were negligible."
But the battle has not been won. As
this was being written, one large indus-
try was seeking a cutback in its dis-
charge limitations. Bottom silting in
the bays and bayous remains a problem.
Still there is the great fall-off in fish
kills, and some species, absent from
the bays for several years, are return-
ing. "There are speckled trout and red
fish that were almost completely wiped
out. being found now." said Mr.
Lowery.
Back. too. is the sardine-like men-
haden, a little fish often used for
fertilizer. But for the present, the men-
haden of Escambia aren't making the
front pages as they once did.D
Several years ago Escambia Bay frequently looked like this, with
menhaden and other fish strewn on the open water and clogging the bayous.
PAGE 5
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CURBING
WATER POLLUTION
EPA Enforcement of the Permit System
Hv Richard II. Johnson
Acting Assistant AdralnlstratoT for Enforcement
The Environmental Protection
Agency has started to use a major
new weapon in its effort to pro-
vide the Nation with clean water.
It is cracking down on violators of the
permits granted to industries and muni-
cipalities to reduce the discharge of
pollutants into waterways.
Discharge permits setting limits on the
kinds and amounts of pollutants that
may be poured into the Station's water-
ways are meaningless if they are not
enforced.
Such enforcement is provided for in
the law (the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act Amendments of 1972), in
EPA regulations, and in the laws of
Slates that have received approval by
EPA to administer the permit program.
As of Jan. 1, 20 States had done so, and
we expect that by the end of June an
additional ten States will qualify to
issue permits and police discharges
within their borders.
We have developed working agree-
ments with these and other States for
joint drafting of permits, joint public
notice and hearing procedures, and
joint visits and surveys to check on
compliance. Thus we encourage maxi-
mum participation by States in our
enforcement activities.
There are approximately 35,000
"point source" dischargers of waste
water into navigable waterways in the
United States. A point source is any
single waste outlet — as from an indus-
trial plant or sewer system. Navigable
waterways are the waters of the United
States including the territorial seas,
The issuing of discharge permits has
been an enormous task, since each is
tailormade for that discharger. The
permit specifies the maximum amounts
of different kinds of pollution — bio-
chemical oxygen demand, total sus-
pended solids, certain chemical com-
pounds, and so on — which may be
discharged into that waterway.
MAJOR DISCHARGERS
FIRST
Permit processing has concentrated on
the "major" dischargers, those with
the largest amounts and most damaging
kinds of water pollution. At the end of
last year 94 percent of the major
industrial permits and 85 percent of the
major municipal permits had been is-
sued, by EPA and the States, as well as
approximately 50 percent of the minor
industrial and municipal permits.
We estimate that by the end of fiscal
1975 (June 30), permits will have been
issued for 2,900 major industrial
sources, 2,500 major municipal
sources, and 20,000 minor sources,
mostly industrial. This total of nearly
26,000 permits will represent nearly
three-fourths of all point sources in the
Nation and more than 90 percent of the
volume of waste water from such
sources. How are all these discharges
to be monitored by EPA and the
States? How can the dischargers be
made to comply with their permit
requirements? What sanctions are in-
voked if they fail to do so?
The answers to these questions can be
found in the Act itself and in the
regulations adopted by EPA to carry
out the law.
PROCEDURE
Enforcement of discharge permit re-
quirements is analogous to the Federal
income tax. The discharger, like the
taxpayer, fills out his own forms and
attests to their legality and accuracy,
As a condition of his permit, each
discharger must keep track of the
amount and composition of his waste
water effluent and report these figures
periodically to the EPA Regional Of-
fice (or to the State if the State has
taken over administration of the permit
program).
Many permits also require dischargers
to report on their progress in installing
equipment and making process changes
to enable them to comply with effluent
limits not yet possible for them to
meet. These compliance schedules,
with specific deadlines, are also self-
monitored and reported.
For EPA or the State, checking up on
the self-monitoring reports is done in
three steps: I. Has the discharger filed
the reports required? 2. Do the reported
facts comply with the permit's effluent
limits and the discharger's upgrading
schedule? 3. Does the inspection of the
discharger's premises confirm the facts
reported?
Here again there is a similarity to the
way the Internal Revenue Service
checks up on taxpayers: first insuring
that all returns are filed; then checking
the returns themselves, using sampling
techniques and concentrating on the
major filers; and finally, conducting
full audits (inspections).
Reviewing the self-monitoring reports
-------
is a formidable task, hut one that is
essential to the success of the discharge
permit program. The Regions are aware
of what reports are due tor any given
period, and they make sure that all
required reports are submitted. Reports
from major dischargers receive greater
attention than those from minor dis-
chargers. The nature of the wastes and
the potential impact on the receiving
waters are considered also. Setting
such priorities helps to speed the
elimination of pollutants.
"TICKLER FILE"
We have developed a simple, semi-
automated system to help Regions and
States keep track of when reports are
due from permit holders. It is a com-
puterized "tickler file" hi help identify
permit violations and enable us to
respond quickly. This system was de-
veloped and tested in Region V and is
now available to all States and Regions
to assist in their enforcement efforts.
Field inspections are made selec-
tively, concentrating on dischargers
who have the greatest potential for
environmental damage, and on leads
provided by missing reports and reports
indicating possible violations.
Each State and Regional Office issues
quarterly reports on non-compliance
with plant improvement schedules.
These reports are available for public
inspection.
When non-compliance is detected and
confirmed, the Agency tries to abate
the violation as quickly as possible.
Minor violations of a permit condition
usually can be resolved informally
through correspondence or conference
with the permit holder. More signifi-
cant violations are subject to formal
action such as: administrative orders to
abate the violation; injunctive relief in
a Federal or State court; and court
action seeking civil or criminal pen-
alties.
So far we have issued more than 500
administrative orders, two-thirds of
which were issued since July 1974.
reflecting the increasing number of
permit holders subject to reporting re-
quirements and compliance monitor-
ing. About a third of the orders were
issued to municipalities and the rest to
industrial dischargers.
The most common citations were:
failure to apply for a permit, violation
of effluent limits, improper monitoring
of wastes, failure to report, and im-
proper reporting. Relatively few permit
holders have been cited for failing to
meet construction and improvement
schedules.
At the end of 1974. EPA had referred
22 civil cases and 15 criminal cases to
the Department of Justice for court
action.
An example of a completed civil case
is that against the Great Western Sugar
Co., Eaton, Colo. This sugar beet
processing firm allowed a large amount
of water, containing high BOD and
high suspended solids, to drain from a
holding pond into the Eaton Draw
which discharges into the Cashela
Poudre River in violation of its permit.
The company settled in March 1974,
for a civil penalty of $3,500.
TWO
CASES L\
-------
EQUAL
OPPORTUNITY
PROMISED FOR
EPA'S WOMEN
Administrator Russell E. Train and other top officials
of the Agency pledged support to providing equal
opportunity for women at EPA at the Third Annual EPA
Conference on Women held in Washington last month.
The Conference was sponsored by the Office of
Planning and Management and the Federal Women's
Program Committee.
Mr. Train said at the conference "every person should
endeavor to develop his or her potential to the utmost.
All of our training and other employee programs should
have as their goal the providing of opportunity for
development. The fact that over 80'/i of the women in
I-.PA are in Grades 8 and below indicates that our efforts
have not been good enough.
"We must increase our recruitment of women and get
more of them into the Executive Development Program.
I have instructed the Regional Administrators and the
Assistant Administrators thai they must do better to
accomplish this end.
"I have asked Carol M. Thomas. Director. Office of
Civil Rights, to report to me regularly on the success of
the women's program."
In opening remarks to the conference, John R.
(,)uarles. Deputy Administrator, reaffirmed this Agen-
cy's commitment to the achievement of equal rights
tor all its employees and the ending of all discrim-
ination— whether based on race, place or national
origin, or sex. "Discrimination is an ugly word in
America," he said, "for the cardinal principle of our
country is the full recognition of the dignity and
importance of each individual."
Mr. Quarles went on to say that the most complicated
problem facing women is finding a balance between the
demands of career success and the other values that
constitute the quality of life. This is especially difficult,
he said, in a commercial society, such as ours, with its
heavy emphasis upon financial success. He said that he
had no quick or easy answer to the conflicting pressures
upon women, but thought the best hope lay in the
evolution of greater flexibility in the roles played by
men and women.
Mr. Quarles saw promotion as the major concern of
women in EPA. "Women must be assured of the
opportunity to move ahead. On this score 1 assure you
that you do not have to do battle with me. with
Administrator Train, or anyone else in high position in
EPA."
A highlight of the conference was the presentation of
an award to Congress woman Barbara Jordan of Texas.
;is the Outstanding Woman in Government in 1974. The
award was presented by the Federal Women's Program
Committee at a dinner held at the Pier 7 Restaurant.
The conference included a career development work-
shop open to all employees, a personnel management
workshop for EPA Federal Women's Program Coord-
inators and special sessions for EPA managers.
The Washington Women's Legal Defense Fund pre-
sented a panel on Women and the Law which covered
sex discrimination suits and new legislation attecting
women.
In a joint statement submitted to EPA Journal as the
conference opened. Kathy Libby and Rosanne Light.
two members of the Federal Women's Program Commit-
tee, noted that in 1973 women constituted approximately
35 percent of the Agency work force, with most of them
at Grade 7 or below .
They said that although the Agency had agreed to meet
certain goals by February 1974. for increasing the
number of women at upper grade levels in EPA. these
goals generally were not met. and 83 percent of the
Agency's women employees are now GS-8 or below.
". . .Except for the GS-9 and II levels, the goals
have not been met by EPA managers." the statement
said. "Women at EPA still remain at about 35 percent
of the permanent full-time work force. In percentages
EPA women are: 66 percent of the GS-ls. 79 percent of
the GS-2s, 87 percent of the GS-3s. 87 percent of the
GS-4s, 76 percent of the GS-5s. 87 percent of the
GS-6s, 53 percent of the GS-7s. and 67 percent of the
GS-8s."
However, Charlie K. Swift. Director of the EPA
Federal Women's Program, said that statistics do not
tell the full story and that "there is now discernable
concern expressed by our top managers that we seek
new ways to bring balance, make right, this untenable
situation."
Ms. Swift also said "Women have moved from a
stance of hopelessness to one of serving notice: we shall
not have our employee rights denied nor abridged. 1 sec
the Women's Program as a vital part of our Agency's
implementation of P.L. 92-261. which is the statutory
base for the program. I also see the Women's Program
as part of EPA's commitment to simple justice."
Ms. Swift said that EPA has taken steps in the last year
to help career advancement for women, such as the
opening of a new employee training center and the
beginning of upward mobility training programs.
Rep.Barbara Jordan
I'ACi! S
-------
WOMEN
AT WORK IN EPA
//; conjunction with the EPA Conference
on Women, EPA Journal conducted ran-
dom interviews with women who are
working in various Agency posts about
their jobs.
DR. Hl-:i.l-:.\ McCAM MO.\.
DIRECTOR
OFFICE <>!-' RI:\I:AIU H -\.\1)
DEVELOPMENT
Kl-dlON I. BOSTON, MASS.
I like the challenge of my job. and the freedom I have
had in developing a program to relate the Agency's
research and development mission to regional problems.
I work closely with state and local personnel to learn
what their problems are and then acquaint them with
what we are doing that can apply to their specialized
environmental needs -- whether in the field of health
effects or new pollution control techniques.
In two and a halt years, I have come to know the
northeastern states well through many on-site visits to
EPA projects. I keep abreast of new research in the earth
sciences and environmental engineering by frequently
attending seminars at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and the University of Massachusetts.
AIR
.IOYCI-: dKAiiscn.
ADMINISTRATIVE.
SI' U-'l- ASSISIA \ I
oi-iici: or
A\n it'.i.sy/. MA\A<;I:M/:\I
As administrative staff assistant I screen all incoming
correspondence for the Assistant Administrator and
ensure that it receives a prompt response. I also act as
an information contact between the Assistant Adminis-
trator and his staff. This gives me a view of the
activities of a key part of the Agency, but 1 would like a
broader view of the overall Agency effort.
It's my feeling that women employees should be
informed of the mission of their respective offices so
that they would have some feeling of participation in the
activities and overall objectives of the Agency. If there
were some way women could gain a better understand-
ing of the Agency programs, this would generate more
enthusiasm and better esprit de corps.
1 believe in what we are doing here — I know it is very
important. But sometimes I feel like the "flea on the
elephant." The elephant is so big that the flea can't
possibly see the whole animal. In the same way, a lot of
women, and men too. for that matter, cannot understand
the overall Agency programs.
What can be done to correct this problem0 I realize that
not everyone shares this concern, but many of us would
like to feel that we are real participants in the Agency
objectives. We want to know what EPA is doing and
why. We need to be kept informed. I feel the Agency
would really gain if some way could be found to give us
a greater sense of being part of the team.
ANN JOSEPH,
/./•.(HI HK.-I\('H.
I \I OKI I MI \i D/l'ISH)\.
KI:iilO\ III. 1'HIL ADI. I I'll/A. I'A.
A great deal of my work has been in the "National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" program. 1
have been involved in important eases (as well as some
that were dogs), adjudicator}' hearings, and compliance
and enforcement actions under the program.
At times there is frustration because we prepare the
cases for enforcement action, hut the Department of
Justice argues the cases in court. On occasion Justice
will not accept a case for prosecution, and then you feel
as if a great deal of your time and effort has been
wasted.
,/a-i.v oni / /
ASSOC'IATl: < /7..Y/7MI COI \SI.I..
oi-i-ici: oi- nil-.
(.7-.A7-.7M/. ( <>l \S1:I.
Personally. I feel very fortunate to have the oppor-
tunity to make my contribution as a lawyer to HPA's
programs and policies. The 14 years of legal experience
I had in local government ha\e been very useful to me
and, I hope, to the Agency. 1 make decisions and offer
advice based upon my legal training and experience. I
believe those with whom 1 work recogni/e this, and we
work together well, both men and women, as legal
partners.
1 see no difference between the role of women and the
role of men in this Agency. We have a common role -
thai of governmental officers and employees — and a
PACK 9
-------
common mission — to clean up our environment. This
is a substantial challenge to us all, and no useful
purpose would be served by excluding persons on the
basis of sex, if they can enhance the Agency's
capabilities.
EPA has recognized this fact from its inception, and
women have served, and are serving in positions where.
through their education and skills, they can make a
substantial impact on decisions. A real effort is being
made to train women, side by side with men, for more
responsible jobs within EPA.
S/V ( IAI. ..|.V.V/,ST..1,\T TO
I HI .-I.S.S/W.-l \7
ADMINIMRWOK I'OK
ri i \ \i\a A\D MA\A(,I-:MI-:NT
My job requires attendance at the daily staff meetings
held with the Deputy Assistant Administrators, where
assignments are made, and I then follow up on them to
assure that the Assistant Administrator's requests are
met and on schedule. I do a preliminary reading of the
mail, routing it to proper stuff for review and recom-
mendation for action. I handle special requests from the
Administrator's Office that may involve the White
House, ilie Congress, other Federal agencies and the
regions.
This is an action under pressure job. A typical day runs
from 8 a.m. through 6:30 p.m. A lunch away from my
desk is an occasion.
<;i \7-.r.-i noi'ai.AS,
t'l'HI.U At I .MRS D1KI.CTUK
A'.-l / IO\A I / \yiKONMI-:.\'!'A 1
Ri.StARt. II ( I-.MI It,
LAS yi-:G.-lfi. ,\7 I
With the help of a staff of six, 1 try to inform the
public of the research and monitoring activities of the
Center and thus create public awareness and support of
its programs. 1 supervise the writing of news releases
and newsletters, make arrangements for meetings, ex-
hibits, and the briefing of visitors. Also, 1 oversee the
editorial review of research reports, and process them
for printing and distribution.
! particularly like the diversity and visibility of the
research programs. We have some unique stories to
tell—about EPA's special monitoring aircraft; about Big
Sam, out famous steer with a hole (fistula) in its side;
about our photo-interpreters at Las Vegas and in
Warrenton, Va., who can tell amazing things about the
sources and environmental effects of pollutants by
looking at aerial photos and infrared scans; and about
our cowboys and dairymen who manage a herd of 100
beef cattle and an experimental dairy farm at the Nevada
Atomic Test Site.
CARoi.y\ oi-'i r//.
CHEMIST.
\IAKI.\I-: i'Ron-:( no\ HKAM~II.
Oil. AMI SI'KCIAI. MATERIALS
CO \TROI. D
I have been engaged in significant work and have met
many interesting and dedicated people. For example. I
spent two weeks as a member of the scientific crew of a
ship monitoring the marine environmental effects of the
incineration of chemical waste materials in the Gulf ol
Mexico.
In the year and a half I have been with EPA I have
been impressed with the excellent opportunities which
have come, I realize, from the willingness of my
supervisors to use my talents.
Probably because I work in a technical field, I thi.ik of
myself primarily as a chemist in EPA rather than as a
woman in EPA. I chose EPA as a place to work because
of my long-standing interest in and concern for the
environment, and with the hope that my work could
influence national environmental policy.
DOLOR/-:* cRi-.aoRY.
DIRECTOR
i>n'i\io\ or \'isrrt>Rs
AM) IM-OR.MAl'lf>\ l:\('/IA\(i
Ol-'l-'H't: 01-
/. A(. 7YK/7Y/..S
Since joining EPA, in 1471, I have been responsible
for international exchanges of information and officials
with other environmental agencies around the world. To
create communication linkages between EPA and its
counterpart agencies abroad 1 have developed, with the
help of many EPA colleagues, a program for sharing
environmental information resources.
Starting with documents exchanges -- now in etfect
with 50 foreign countries and international organizations
- we are extending the exchange with selected coun-
tries to include close collaboration in information
systems design and pooling specialized data bases to
avoid unneeded duplication.
In a related effort 1 recently spent three weeks at the
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Head-
quarters, Nairobi, Kenya, working with a team of UNEP
staff and consultants on plans for the International
Referral System for Sources of Environmental Informa-
tion. Continued on puge 15
PACK 10
-------
dumping
Safety Projects & Engineering, Inc.,
Quincy, Mass., recently paid a civil
penalty of $1,500 for violating its
ocean dumping permit. The penalty is
the first in Region I and one of the first
in the country to be levied under the
1972 ocean dumping law.
The company violated a provision of
its permit requiring explosive materials
to be encased in concrete inside a
metal container.
The violation was discovered last
November when one of the rusted
drums washed up on a beach and local
children found it and removed some of
the explosives. The company has
assured EPA it will make good-faith
efforts to comply with the permit.
lead in water
Final results of an EPA-sponsored
study of lead in the drinking water
supplies of several Boston communities
will be announced this month.
Preliminary results showed 20 percent
of the households sampled in Brighton,
Somerville, and Beacon Hill with lead
levels in excess of the 50 parts per
billion standard established by the U.S.
Public Health Service.
In the control community of
Cambridge, only 5 percent of the
households sampled showed lead levels
exceeding the standard. Cambridge
adds an agent to its water supply that
halts the corrosion of the lead pipes.
On the basis of the preliminary results,
EPA has urged the Metropolitan
District Commission to add the anti-
corrosive agent to Boston water
supplies.
sludge dumping
Region II anticipates late April will
bring requests for renewal of some or
all of the current permits for disposal
of sewage sludge at the Region's
present dump site 12 miles off the
Atlantic coast. This site receives 70
percent of all sewage sludge — 6
million cubic yards per year — dumped
into the oceans by U.S. cities.
The permit review will include
comments from an April 1 public
hearing. Previous hearings and
meetings have been jammed since a
Brooklyn College professor forecast
that the sludge would move from the
site onto Long Island beaches. EPA
and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration disputed
that assertion.
Plans are already under way to move
the site by 1976 some 65 miles out in
the Atlantic to accommodate the
anticipated three-fold increase in sludge
resulting from better sewage processing
as more EPA-funded treatment plants
come on line. Region II Administrator
Gerald Hansler is seeking public
comment on EPA's environmental
impact statement on the plan to move
the site.
PHILADELPHIA
d.c. sewage change
In view of rising costs, shortages of
energy and other resources, and new
technical information, Region III has
proposed several changes in the water
quality management programs for the
Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
These programs were first developed in
1969 by the Potomac River
Enforcement Conference.
The proposed changes would defer the
removal of nitrogen at the Blue Plains
sewage treatment plant and would
reconsider using incineration to
dispose of sludge.
PAGE 11
-------
The Virginia State Water Control
Board and the District of Columbia, in
addition to EPA, have recently
questioned the need for nitrogen
removal at Blue Plains. The equipment
would cost $104 million to build, and
SI4.1 million a year to operate. It
would use large amounts of electricity,
methanol, and other resources.
Nitrogen removal was originally
considered necessary to reach dissolved
oxygen goals and control algae growth
in the Potomac River. However, it is
felt that phosphorus removal facilities,
scheduled to go into operation at Blue
Plains Jan. 1, 1976, may be able to
hold algae growth to an acceptable
level.
Incineration of Blue Plains sludge
would consume nearly 14 million
gallons of petroleum products and 45
million kilowatt-hours of electricity per
year. Incineration and handling
facilities would cost about S56.4
million.
Sewage sludge contains nutrients
potentially valuable for agriculture. Ji
can partially replace commercial
fertilizer, which has tripled in price
since early 1973 and which is in short
supply worldwide. It also contains
organic materials which can improve
the structure and fertility of marginal
soils.
However, land disposal alternatives
are difficult to implement on the large
scale required, there are unanswered
scientific questions, and various
jurisdictions need to cooperate in
selecting suitable sites. To help solve
these problems, EPA intends to provide
over $1.7 million to develop a large-
scale composting process for raw
sludge at Beltsvillc, Md. EPA will also
provide technical assistance to State
and local parties who will have to
select the appropriate alternative to
incineration.
atlanta transit
Construction has begun on the Metro-
politan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority
(MARTA) system, with a ground-
breaking ceremony in suburban DeKalb
County. MARTA plans call for laying
60.9 miles of rail lines, with feeder
busway routes, at a cost of $2.1 billion.
PAGE 12
Target completion date is 1980. Most •
of the bus service is already in
operation.
When MARTA was sanctioned by a
vote of citizens in 1970 the semi-public
agency purchased the privately owned
Atlanta Transit System. In 1971 fares
were slashed from 40 to 15 cents and
riders increased by more than 25
percent.
concerned citizens
In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the Coalition
of Concerned Citizens meets monthly to
review actions by the local Pollution
Control Board. The same group also
regularly monitors County Commission
and land use planning meetings.
sulfur dioxide
Levels of sulfur dioxide in Chicago's
air have dropped substantially since the
1960's, Region V air pollution control
officials report. This improvement in
air quality is attributed to Chicago's
regulations limiting the sulfur content
of coal burned and requiring the
conversion of most residential heating
plants to natural gas. Annual averages
of sulfur dioxide levels were 50 percent
lower in 1970 than in 1964, and current
levels are well within the Federal
Ambient Air Quality Standards for
1975.
convention exhibit
Region V will have an exhibit at the
IOth annual convention of the National
Utility Contractors Association April
10-13 in Indianapolis, Ind.
The display will be business-oriented,
with handout materials from the
Construction Grants and Technology
transfer programs. Region V's partici-
pation is designed to improve
communication between the Agency
and business and industrial leaders.
Some 3,000 industry leaders from
throughout the country are expected to
attend.
dumping reduced
The scenic Gulf of Mexico is the
Nation's biggest sink, draining two-
thirds of the country. Before the ocean
dumping law (the Marine Protection,
Research, and Sanctuaries Act) took
effect two years ago this month, the
Gulf also may have been the Nation's
biggest dump, though no one could be
sure how much solid and liquid waste
was jettisoned there.
In 1973, the first year of EPA ocean
dumping regulation, 1.4 million tons of
waste were dumped in the Gulf. In
1974, after Region VI had denied a
permit for any dumping by one
company and banned the chlorinated
hydrocarbon portion of another firm's
waste,the total dropped to950,000tons.
This year the total is expected to be
140,000 tons, since only two renewal
applications have been received,
instead of last year's seven. The
companies are Ethyl Corp., Baton
Rouge, La., and Shell Chemical Co.,
Deer Park, Texas.
After public hearings, the permits
were granted by Deputy Regional
Administrator George J. Putnicki.
Ethyl was permitted to dump
sodium-calcium sludge and Shell
biological sludge at specific areas far
from shore, but each firm must
continue research to find better
disposal methods.
uranium survey
Region VI people took part in a recent
month-long survey to determine the
effects of uranium mining on surface
and ground water in New Mexico's
Grants-Ambrosia Lake area, about
1,000 square miles containing nearly
half the Nation's uranium reserves.
The study was a cooperative effort
with the State's Environmental
Improvement Agency, and it involved
other EPA people from the National
Field Investigations Center, Denver,
Colo., and the National Environmental
Research Center, Las Vegas, Nev.
Results of the survey will be used to
set priorities for additional monitoring
and environmental control activities in
case uranium production in the area
increases.
-------
oil spill plans
Out of 93 field inspections of oil
storage and handling facilities, Region
VII enforcement officers uncovered 63
violations of rules concerning oil spill
contingency planning. Notices of
violation have been or will be issued in
all cases, and penalties already
assessed total S52.750.
Regional Administrator Jerome Svore
said compliance "will save oil jobbers,
service station operators, and storage
facility operators time and expense."
He estimated that more than 10,000
facilities in the four-State Region are
required, under the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act, to prepare and
implement specific plans to prevent oil
.spills and contain them if they occur.
Each plan must be certified by a
professional engineer and kept
available for EPA inspectors. Under
the regulations, the plans should have
been developed by last July and
implemented — including construction
of dikes, holding ponds, etc. — by
Jan. 10 this year. Failure to comply can
result in a fine of up to $5,000 per day.
$6.2-million grant
Approval of an EPA grant of
$6,184,140 to Council Bluffs,'Iowa,
for pumping and treatment facilities
will help provide secondary treatment
of the City's sewage and improve
capacity and efficiency. Total cost of
the project is $1 1.4 million.
plutonium
Thirty minutes northwest of Denver,
Dow Chemical Co. manufactures
nuclear weapons components for the
Energy Research and Development
Administration (formerly the Atomic
Energy Commission).
Plutonium is involved in the
manufacturing process, and over the
past several years, measurable amounts
of this man-made radioactive element
have entered the environment through
accidental releases at the Rocky Flats
plant.
State and EPA officials seem to agree
that amounts found so far in soil and
water in the vicinity do not constitute
dangers to public health, provided
precautions are followed.
(Region VIII recently completed an
investigation of plutonium levels in
bottom sediments in nearby water
impoundments used for irrigation and
domestic water supply).
However, health officials also agree
the long half-life and extreme toxicity
of plutonium warrant close scrutiny of
any discharge or accumulation in the
environment.
Region VIII is currently negotiating
with the Colorado Health Dept. and the
University of Colorado Medical Center
to study, through autopsies, plutonium
levels in the organs of people who lived
at least four years in the Rocky Flats
vicinity. Results will be compared to
autopsies performed on bodies of
people with no history of possible
plutonium exposure.
SAN FRANCISCO
whither l.a.?
A series of seven informal workshops
is under way on how and where Los
Angeles County's wastewnter will be
disposed of for the remainder of this
century. The first session was
scheduled in Long Beach April 9; the
last will be in South Gate June 26. EPA
is a joint sponsor with the Los Angeles
County Sanitation Districts.
In brief, the issue comes down to
whether to spend EPA grants on ocean
disposal or land disposal. These grants
could amount to as much as $500
million. But the implications are much
broader. The decision could affect the
area's land use policies and patterns of
development and growth for decades to
come.
The public is invited to attend and
participate. In addition to Long Beach
and South Gate, workshops will be
held in Bellflower April 17, Monterey
Park May 2, Pomona May 15, La
Puenta May 29, and Redondo Beach
June 17.
water seminar
The Pacific Northwest Section of the
American Water Works Association
will conduct one of the first technical
programs on the Safe Drinking Water
Act in Spokane, Wash., April 23-25.
Regional Administrator Clifford V.
Smith, Jr., and the regional water
supply section will participate in the
program, which will acquaint State,
local, and public utility officials with
the Act's requirements. The AWWA
will conduct one-day seminars on the
same subject throughout the country
later in the year.
paper mill fined
The Oregon Department of Environ-
mental Quality has assessed a $5,000
fine against the Georgia-Pacific Corp.
for violations of the discharge permit
of its paper mill at Toledo, Ore. The
fine was assessed after monitoring
reports showed that limits for
suspended solids and oil were exceeded
on 22 days during December and
January. Georgia-Pacific had been
notified in November of similar
violations and informed that the civil
penalty would be assessed if the
conditions persisted.
meetings
Oregonians will have an opportunity
to help shape their State's
environmental strategies at upcoming
public meetings of the Environmental
Quality Commission. The commission
advises the State on pollution control
policies. Meetings are scheduled for
Klamath Falls on April 25 and Salem on
May 23.
PAGE 13
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Myron Knudson, 35, formerly Chief,
Surveillance Branch, Surveillance and
Analysis Division in Region I, has
been appointed Director of the Sur-
veillance and Analysis Division for
Region VI in Dallas. Mr. Knudson,
who had been stationed at Region I's
laboratory in Needham, Mass., has
been with EPA since its inception and
formerly was with the Federal Water
Pollution Control Administration.
Charles Corkin II, formerly an EPA
hearing judge stationed in Boston, has
accepted a position as Assistant At-
torney General for the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts. He accepted the two-
year appointment under the Inter-
governmental Personnel Act exchange
program.
PEOPLE
Don Mausshardt, formerly of Region
IX, San F-'rancisco. has joined the
Headquarters' staff as chief of imple-
mentation tor hazardous wastes. Solid
Waste Management Programs.
Under EPA's career executive and
management development program, he
served during the past 17 months as a
Presidential Interchange Executive at
Bcchtel Corporation. On this assign-
ment Mr. Mausshardt set up a depart-
ment of environmental services and
managed u major study on the indus-
tiiuli/ation of Saudi Arabia. As the
principal manager of this project, lie
worked closely with the Council of
Ministers of that country.
Earlier work assignments involved the
direction ol technical investigations of
pollution problems in the Southwest,
and the development of pollution con-
trol plans for Guam, the Trust Terri-
tories of the Pacific, and American
Samoa. Mr. Mausshardt holds degrees
in Civil Engineering and Sanitary-
Hydraulics from Oregon State-
University.
PAGE 14
Tarn/en C. Krueger, a former chair-
man of the Seattle Federal Executive
Board's Equal Opportunity Committee,
has been appointed personnel officer
for Region X.
Clifford V. Smith. EPA's Northwest
Regional Administrator, said Ms.
Krueger will be responsible for recruit-
ment and placement, training and devel-
opment, employee relations and
position management for more than 280
persons employed by EPA's Northwest
regional headquarters and environ-
mental laboratory in Seattle, and at
EPA operations offices within Washing-
ton, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.
Ms. Krueger's personnel experience
includes work from 1969 to 1974 with
the 13th Naval District, the U.S. De-
partment of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment, the U.S. Civil Service
Commission and the Federal Aviation
Administration, all in Seattle.
Last year, Ms. Krueger moved to
Billings. Montana, to assume duties us
the Affirmative Action Program Co-
ordinator at Eastern Montana College.
She was responsible for equal oppor-
tunity for faculty, staff and students
involving employment, employment
practices, admissions, housing, finan-
cial assistance and discrimination
complaints.
A native of Prince Rupert, British
Columbia. Ms. Krueger is a 1962
graduate of Holy Names Academy in
Seattle. She holds bachelor's and
master's degrees from the University of
Washington where her graduate work
was in the fields of political science
and public administration.
George Marienthal resigned as di-
rector of the Office of Regional Liaison
Feb. 14, to become Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Environmental
Quality.
Mr. Marienthal, with EPA since 1971.
had headed the Office of Federal Activ-
ities and had served in both the New
York and San Francisco regional of-
fices us acting deputy regional adminis-
trator.
The Office of Regional Liaison is now
part of the new Office of Regional and
Intergovernmental Operations.
Robert VV. /eller is the new director
of the Municipal Permits and Opera-
tions Division. Office of Water Pro-
gram Operations. He succeeds Kenneth
L. Johnson, recently shifted to Boston
us deputy administrator of Region I.
Dr. /.eller, 38, had been director of
surveillance and analysis for Region V,
Chicago, and he has worked for nearly
13 years with EPA and its predecessor
agencies in water pollution control.
A native of Rochester, Minn,, and
graduate of the University of Minne-
sota with a B.S. and M.S. in civil
engineering, he earned his Ph.D. in the
same field at the University of
Wisconsin.
Dr. Zeller, his wife, the former Donna
Weber of Rochester: and their three
children are living in Potomac. Md.
-------
Continued from page I 1
Robert C. Thompson has been ap-
pointed General Counsel for Region 1,
succeeding Thomas B. Bracken. Mr.
Thompson had served as Assistant Gen-
eral Counsel since 1973. Before joining
EPA he was an associate of the Boston
law firm of Choate, Hall and Stewart.
A magna cum laude graduate from
Harvard College, with a B. A. degree in
political science, Mr. Thompson also
received his law degree from Harvard.
Paul Keough, Director of Public Af-
fairs for Region I, has received the
Massachusetts Conservation Council's
annual award for "most valuable serv-
ice to conservation through the field of
public relations." The Council is an
umbrella institution with 27 conserva-
tion-oriented member organizations.
CIVIL SERVICE DIRECTOR
COMMENDS EPA POSITION
The executive director of the U.S.
Civil Service Commission has com-
mended EPA's leadership for its posi-
tion on personnel management as
expressed in a recent EPA Journal
article.
Bernard Rosen said in a letter to Alvin
L. Aim, Assistant Administrator for
Planning and Management, that he had
received a copy of the February issue
of the magazine containing an inter-
view with Mr. Aim titled "Does the
Merit System Have a Future at EPA?"
"I think the informal approach is a
very effective means of communicating
top management's views on topics of
interest to EPA employees," Mr.
Rosen said. "I especially noted your
replies to questions concerning person-
nel management and your indication of
support for the merit system.
"EPA has come a long way in its
effort to provide form and substance to
its personnel management program.
This turnaround could only have come
about through the support and insist-
ence of top management."
ROSAUK MICH! I S(>.\
C RANTS SPECIALIST.
Ri:GIO.\ VII, KANSAS CITY. MO.
My job entails the administrative processing and
coordination of grants projects and I provide advice on
the program to grantees. State agencies, engineers, and
others.
Because of the complexity of the program my work is
varied. It calls for a lot of decisions, attendance at many
meetings, and some speech-making. 1 also like to think
that one of my functions is to "humanize" the rather
confusing bureaucratic network for our sometimes
confused grant recipients.
V SAN HYATT.
cn'it. I:\GI \t-F.R
OFFICE 01 AIR Ol'AUTY
A.\'l) STAXflAKDS,
RI-:SI:ARCH TRIANGLE PARK, Af.C
Our group gathers the background information needed
to set emission standards, the limits EPA sets on point-
source air pollution. Right now we are working on
standards for vinyl chloride and arc trying to get the
background document completed on schedule.
1 am primarily responsible for writing the environ-
mental impact statement and to some degree coordinat-
ing several people who are working on different aspects
of the vinyl chloride problem: health effects, engineer-
ing methods for control, and costs. All this has to be put
together in one reliable and authoritative report before
EPA can decide what the standards should be.
EVl-:i.r\ THORNTON.
(HIIS .
POLICY AMI
l'ROCI-:i)i'RI-:S HKANCII
GRANTS
A nMlNISTRA TIO.\ t)l I Y.V/fA'
In my current position, 1 have substantial responsibility
in a rather complicated grants area. My job is very
interesting and challenging, and I feel it is very
important to the Agency as a whole. There is still much
more to he done, for there are always rusw statutory
requirements, executive orders, OMB directives, and so
on. that affect grants policy and procedures.
My EPA work experience convinces me there is more
acceptance now of women in executive positions, but
prejudice is still with us. Generally, a woman must
work doubly hard, compared to her male counterpart, in
order to advance. In staff meetings and conferences, for
instance, the higher the level of the people involved, the
fewer the women. I think women constitute a massive
resource that is still not fully utilized.
PAGE 15
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WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME
TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENTAL CAUSE?
Keltic A. Bolts
Bettv McDonald
Klaine Cole
Carol Lant/.
Dwain Winters
Jerry A. Moore
Kmma Abbot
I'AC.I If.
-------
Bettie A. Botts, Communication
Specialist, Facilities and Support
Services: "The ecology of the world
today requires constant consideration in
order to avoid waste and deterioration.
In my day-to-day life I try to avoid this
waste by keeping my thermostat at 69
degrees and washing clothes in cold
water to help conserve energy. 1 use a
bio-degradable detergent when washing
my clothes to help eliminate pollution of
our streams."
Betty McDonald, Secretary,
Fiscal Policies and Procedures: "My
contribution to helping the environment
is very simple: daily do's and don'ts. I
ride in a car pool to save time and money
as well as conserve fuel. I don't use my
gas stove as often as before, because the
price of food has gone up and 1 can't
afford big meals any more. My
thermostat is always five or six degrees
below what it used to be. If your gas bill
doubled you would turn your heat down
too!
"I also save ail my newspapers for my
nephew, whose Boy Scout troop collects
them for recycling.
"At first I didn't think I was
contributing much to cleaning up the
environment, but with inflation and the
fuel shortage, maybe we are all doing
more than we realize."
Elaine Cole, Secretary, Cincinnati,
Ohio: "1 don't do anything very
structured, since 1 don't have much time
to be involved in community affairs.
During the summer I coach a girls'
baseball -team, and not only do I enjoy
that, but I believe it is a useful
contribution to young people.
"EPA programs receive a good bit of
criticism in Cincinnati, so I spend time
explaining our programs and defending
EPA'sgood name to family, friends, and
neighbors."
Carol Lantz, Secretary, Corvallis,
Oregon: "Oregon has a land use plan
under which each county has the
responsibility of helping to develop a
comprehensive land use plan for its own
area. My husband and I worked as
members of a citizens advisory
committee preparing a plan for our
county. We live in a very beautiful rural
area and we hope the plan will control
growth and prevent everything from
being spoiled. We recycle all our cans
and bottles and try to practice
conservation because we are very
interested in it."
Dwain Winters, Special Assistant,
Office of the Administrator:
"Environmental considerations in-
fluence my life style. I consciously
chose to live within walking distance of
my work, so I live about three blocks
from Waterside Mall. In general, I am a
low consumer of goods.
"1 am a member of the Audubon
Society, the American Museum of
Natural History, and the Smithsonian
Associates."
Jerry A. Moore, Wildlife Biologist,
Office of Pesticide Programs:
''Environmental improvement is my
hobby as well as my work. This past
year I received the Virginia Wildlife
Federation's educator of the year award.
As the Virginia Jaycees' program
manager for energy and environment, I
work and guide 14 environmental
programming areas^and was named the
outstanding state chairman for
environment by the U.S. Jaycees last
year.
• 'As president of the Northern Virginia
chapter of the Wildlife Society 1 edit and
publish a nationwide student newsletter.
In lecturing on fish and wildlife
management for the past five years at
Northern Virginia Community College I
have developed a text for a book 1 am
writing on the subject. My Ph.D
program at American University in
environmental systems management also
indicates my willingness to broaden my
existing environmental awareness."
Emma Abbot, environmental protection
specialist, Office of Enforcement: "1 use
phosphate-free detergents because they
do not stimulate undesirable growth of
algae in our waterways. I'm a member
of a car pool. I've done a lot of planting
of flowers and trees in my yard. I had it
landscaped in an effort to provide a little
beauty for the neighborhood.
"I save newspapers for the county's
recycling program, I avoid using spray
cans because of the danger of reducing
the ozone in the upper atmosphere and
I've managed to plant a live Christmas
tree yearly so far.
"1 find that if you're an employee of
EPA you can be an emissary of
environmental good will. When people
find out you work for EPA they are
curious because our work touches their
lives. Almost invariably they ask how
the environmental movement is doing
and it is a great chance to tell them what
we are doing, how vital it is for our
survival, and how they, too, can pilch
in."
PAGE 17
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WATCHERS IN THE SKY DETECT POLLUTION
EPA uses cameras and other
instruments — both in high-flying
aircraft and in earth satellites — to
detect and document air and
water pollution and other
environmental damage. This work
is done both for research and as
technical backup for the Agency's
program operations and
enforcement efforts. Photo
interpretation facilities are located
at Las Vegas, Nev., and
Warrenton, Va., and are available
to all Agency units and Regional
Offices. The following aerial
photographs are typical of the
kind of reconnaissance that can
be provided for routine or
emergency monitoring anywhere
in the country on short notice.
When EPA planes and pilots
based at Las Vegas are busy,
contractors' aircraft and pilots are
used.
Smoke plumes from two tail electric utility
stacks are recorded at Pt. Marion, Pa.,
the West Virginia border.
-
mm' -t-v.
''cip^B.
•»&.<&«.,1 JR&
>&i&$w
High-altitude view of Clairton, Pa., shows air pollution from coke plants blotting out
portions of the Monongahela River.
PAGE 18
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All's well for the moment at this cluster of oil refineries and tank farms beside the
Atchafalaya River near Baton Rouge, La.
Strip mining for coal scars these Appalachian hills near Maidsville, W.Va.
PAGE 19
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EPA AIDS OIL
SPILL EFFORTS
BY LESLYE ARSHT
EPA PRESS OFFICE
Last January 30, a total of 34,000
barrels of crude oil seeped from the
ruplured hull of an oil barge which
collided with a freighter in the Missis-
sippi River below New Orleans.
One day after this collision, a tanker
unloading 350,000 barrels of crude oil at
a Delaware River refinery was rammed
by a ship loaded with chemicals. The
collision set off a dozen explosions as
flames shot 400 feet into the air.
Six weeks after this double spill oc-
curred, clean-up operations were still
continuing. And before the Mississippi
spill had been cleaned up. another col-
lision occurred 300 miles away on the
same river. More than one million bar-
rels of oil oo/ed into the waterway after
two of lour barges being pushed by a
towboat struck a bridge pier.
In these accidents a total of 12 crewmen
were killed, !6 were missing and
presumed (.lead and 22 others were in-
jured. Vast quantities of waterways and
shoreline were smeared with oil.
Soon after each of these spills, planes
under contract to EPA and directed by
the HPA remote sensing team at Las
Vegas, were sent to take aerial photo-
graphs.
After a rapid processing and analysis by
EPA experts in Las Vegas, the aerial
photographs were distributed to on-the-
scene EPA Regional and U.S. Coast
Guard officials. They, in turn, used the
data to assess the impact of the spills,
plan and direct clean-up operations and
evaluate the effectiveness of the clean-
up. The aerial surveillance planes were
soon back in the air providing contin-
uous photographic support to the clean-
up exercise.
Oil tanker burns at refinery dock at Marcus Hook, Pa., after collision with another ship Jan.
31. Millions of gallons of crude oil spilled into Delaware Bay. and 11 crewmen were killed.
White area is fire-quenching foam.
The U.S. Coast Guard provides an
"on-scenc" commander if the spill oc-
curs on coastal waters; an EPA official
serves as his principal advisor with final
responsibility for ecological matters.
If the spill occurs on inland waters the
EPA official serves as the "on-scene"
commander, with the assistance of
EPA's Oil and Special Materials Control
Division in Washington, headed by
Kenneth Biglane.
To assist officials at the scene, the
Remote Sensing Branch of the Monitor-
ing Applications Laboratory located at
the National Environmental Research
Center in Las Vegas. Nevada, processes
color and black and white and infrared
photographs of the spills.
Examination of these photos can help
determine the size and location of the oil
spill at frequent intervals around the
clock.
The pictures also indicate the thick-
ness, or amount of the oil so the floating
layer can be categorized as a "slick"
"sheen" or "rainbow." A "slick" ap-
pears as a heavy, dark, sinuous mass
while a "sheen" is a light surface
coating and a "rainbow" is a very litzht
film,
The photographs are printed using high-
speed automated machines and rigid
quality control is emphasized. Film data
arc compiled in an elaborate photo-inter-
pretation laboratory and a computer
center.
The data from the analysis is then
returned to the field to be passed on to
the clean-up coordinators. This process
is repealed continuously throughout the
emergency.
Every spill is different and the end of
the emergency or the decision to de-
activate the surveillance team is deter-
mined by the EPA and Coast Guard
officials at the scene. The special teams
are kept on stand-by until the clean-up
operation is completed and all danger
has passed. A ship could spring a new
leak during the cleanup operation, in
which case the skills of the special teams
would again be required.
This expertise in controlling oil spills is
a significant breakthrough for protection
of the Nation's waterways. Prior to 1969
oil spill control technology was not
widely known. Since then EPA has been
conducting bi-annual oil spill control
training sessions around the country and
in Puerto Rico.
EPA officials state that since 1969
there have been fewer spills from sta-
tionary sources which they attribute, in
part, to EPA's spill prevention program.
This program, stipulated in the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act of 1972,
requires people who store or process oil
to have spill prevention control and
countermeasure plans.
Failure to do so can result in a civil
penalty up to $5,000 per day. Under this
program 290 notices of violation have
been issued by EPA: civil penalties have
been assessed on 244 facilities as a result
of those violations.
The best prevention plans will not
prevent all spills. But these plans in
conjunction with the expert surveillance
and clean-up operations carried out by
EPA and the Coast Guard can diminish
the environmental harm resulting from
the spills which do occur.
PAGE 20
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briers
iiuilliiiiiiiiiniTiimiuiiiiu
TASK FORCE TO CHECK RESERVE MINING CLEANUP
Administrator Russell E. Train has directed that an interagency
task force be formed to monitor the cleanup work by the Reserve
Mining Company ordered by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Train said that the task force will be composed of experts in air
and water pollution, geology, economics, law and other fields.
He explained that this group will also cooperate with the State
of Minnesota in determining the progress being made on arranging
for the disposal of Reserve Mining's taconite wastes on a land
site rather than into Lake Superior as at present.
FEDERAL DRINKING WATER STANDARDS TO BE ADOPTED SOON
National health standards for public water supplies are expected
to be adopted by EPA in June, following public hearings this month
in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington and consideration
of public comments received through May 16. The proposals would
set maximum levels for 10 inorganic chemicals, 9 pesticides,
turbidity (murkiness), bacterial contamination, and residual
chlorine. They would also specify methods and frequency of water
testing by State and local agencies and require water supply
authorities to inform the public of any non-compliance with the
standards.
LOUISIANA'S DDT REQUEST REJECTED
The State of Louisiana's request to use DDT on its cotton crop
this spring has been turned down by Administrator Russell E. Train.
The amount proposed -- 2.25 million pounds -- is about one-fifth
of the total quantity of DDT used in the United States before
the pesticide was banned for most uses by EPA, Mr. Train said,
and "environmental and public health risks...outweigh the potential
benefits." Other methods are available to control the tobacco
budworm on cotton plants, he said.
ADMINISTRATOR TESTIFIES ON AUTO DECISION
Administrator Train told the Senate Public Works Committee recently
that his decision to suspend the 1977 automobile emission standards
for one year "should not be interpreted to mean that the national
effort to control automotive-related pollutants should be
deemphasized. The suspension decision was based solely on the
need to protect public health from the effects of an unforeseen
by-product of the technology used by industry to meet the emissions
standards, sulfuric acid from catalysts."
PAGE 21
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U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
OFFICE OF PUBLIC' AFFAIRS (A 107)
\VASH1NGTON. D.C 20460
POSTAGE AND FEES PAID
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
EPA-335
•™"RD CLASS BULK RATE
Return (his page it you do NOT wish to receive this publication ( ), or if change of address is needed ( ), list change, including zip code.
TRAIN NAMED
"CONSERVATIONIST OF THE YEAR'
Administrator Russell E. Train re-
ceived the "Conservationist of the
Year" award from the National Wild-
life Federation at the organization's
39th annual meeting in Pittsburgh
March 15. The award was presented to
Mr. Train-for his "determined effort
to protect the Nation's environment
in the face of strong opposition."
FIREFLIES LIGHT UP
SOIL SAMPLES FOR SCIENTISTS
Tail lights from the firefly are
illuminating scientific efforts to
measure the amounts of living ma-
terial in soil samples and thus
providing important evidence of
pollutant effects on the soil.
To increase understanding of soil
ecosystem reactions to pollutants,
scientists at the National Ecological
Research Laboratory in Corvallis,
Oregon, are conducting a compre-
hensive study to measure the effects
of ozone, sulfur dioxide, acid mist,
and heavy metals on certain organ-
isms in soil test plots.
And firefly tails furnish a critical
enzyme used in the analysis of the
soil samples.
Pollutant effects on soil ecosys-
tems have received little attention,
according to Dr. Allan Lefohn,
Chief of the laboratory's Animal
Ecology Branch. But he notes,
scientists now suspect that con-
tinued exposure to pollutants inter-
feres with the life-supporting
processes that take place in the soil.
To determine just how the eco-
system is changed, current research
is evaluating the biomass (dry
weight of living matter) of soil
samples after exposure to various
pollutants.
The researchers bring soil plots
from a Douglas fir forest to the
laboratories and expose them to
different concentrations of pol-
lutants. Soil samples are then an-
alyzed to determine carbon dioxide
evolution, oxygen uptake, and popu-
lations of arthropods, nematodes,
bacteria, fungi. algae, and
protozoa.
Scientists identify the species and
measure both the total biomass and
the amounts of individual living
organisms. To do this, they extract
from the soil sample, ATP, a chemi-
cal substance found only in living
cells which is an important indi-
cator of living material. The ex-
tracted ATP is clarified into a liquid
and mixed with the enzyme which
is responsible for the firefly's light.
Once the ATP is combined with
the extract of firefly tail, the mix-
ture is placed in a photometer to
measure the intensity of the emitted
light. It is this light reading that
indicates the amount of living
matter in each sample. Thus, firefly
lights give scientists a reliable indi-
cator of the effects of pollutants on
a critical segment of the environ-
ment.
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