MARCH 1976
VOL. TWO. NO. THREE
FUROR OVER OFFSHORK DRILLING
LI. S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGHNCY
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Of Offshore Oil,
the Nile River
and Plagues
FPA's interest in protecting the environment ex-
tends even to the bottom of the oceans.
The reasons for this concern are explained in an
article on drilling the seabed for oil and gas. As a
result of the Nation's growing need for fuel, drilling
in the ocean floor is now being proposed in new
areas off both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.
One aspect of this proposed search that the Agency
is giving close attention to is the probable develop-
ment impact on the nearby shore areas if oil is
discovered.
Another article reports on an effort EPA is helping
to finance in Hgypt—a study of the impact of the
Aswan Dam on the Nile River area.
While much has been written about the negative
environmental impact of the huge dam. the scientific
evidence has been skimpy. KPA is helping a team of
scientists to make a careful assessment of the
impoundment's long-range effects.
On another front, the Journal has an article on the
pioneering work being done by a Maryland organiza-
tion. Environmental Concern. Inc.. to help save, and
in some cases expand, marsh areas by new tech-
niques. The marsh grasses act as pollution filters and
help retard shore erosion.
Once again the Journal carries one of its periodic
interviews with Alvin L. Aim. Assistant Administra-
tor for Planning and Management, to help answer
some of the questions of interest to Agency employ-
ees generally.
A little known loan program that has helped save
some companies faced with the necessity of installing
expensive pollution control equipment is reported on
also in this issue.
A profile of the new Assistant Administrator,
Andrew W. Breidenbach, attempts to give a picture
of how this well-known KPA executive from Cincin-
nati is doing in his new Washington job.
ITie status of the Agency's budget is also reviewed
in this issue. An article reminds us that the new
fiscal year starts Oct. 1. 1976, rather than July 1.
Other articles include:
Region 111 on Parade.
A report on EPA's first registration of one plague—
a vims insecticide—to help combat another plague:
insect pests in the Nation's cotton fields.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY
Russell E. Train
Administrator
Patricia L. Cahn
Director of Public Affairs
Charles D. Pierce
Editor
Staff:
Van Trumbull
Ruth Hussey
Cover: Offshore oil wells in the Gulf of
Mexico off the Texas coast.
PHOTO CREDITS
COVER Blair Pittman*
PAGE 2 American Petroleum
Institute Photo Library
PAGE 3 Shell Oil
PAGE 4 United Nations
PAGE 5 Paul Almasv.
World Health Organization
PAGE 6 D. Henrioud, J. Stordy
World Health Organization
PAGE 10. II Environmental Concern Inc.
PAGE 13 Neil Valis
PAGE 19 Richard Frear
PAGE 21 Fabian Bachrach
BACK PAGEAnimal and Plant Health
Inspection Service.
USDA
*DOCUMERICA Photo
The EPA Journal is published
monthly, with combined issues for
July-August and November-Decem-
ber, for employees of the U.S. Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency. It does
not alter or supersede regulations,
operating procedures or manual in-
structions. Contributions and inquiries
should be addressed to the Editor, (A-
107) Room 301, West Tower, Water-
side Mall, 401 M St., S.W., Washing-
ton, D.C. 20460. No permission nec-
essary to reproduce contents except
copyrighted photos and other mate-
rials.
ARTICLES
FUROR OVER OFFSHORE DRILLING
EPA is playing a significant ro!e in protecting
environmental interests in the oil hunt.
EPA AND THE NILE RIVER
The Agency is assisting in the funding of a new study of
the impact of the Aswan Dam. 4
INTERVIEW WITH ALV1N L. ALM
The Assistant Administrator for Planning and
Management answers questions about job security and
other matters of interest to employees. 7
HELPING NATURE CREATE NEW
MARSHES
Maryland organization creates new marshes through
special planting techniques. 10
CLEANUP LOANS FOR INDUSTRIES
EPA, working with the Small Business Administration, is
helping industries to get loans for pollution control. 12
BREIDENBACH PROFILE
New Assistant Administrator is working to get a head-
start on future environmental crises. 13
CONGRESS RECEIVES NEW EPA BUDGET
16
REGION III ON PARADE
18
TOURING THE MID-ATLANTIC REGION
20
PLAGUE AGAINST PLAGUE
BACK PAGE
DEPARTMENTS
PEOPLE
AROUND THE NATION
14
22
INQUIRY
NEWS BRIEFS
24
25
Printed on recycled paper
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FUROR OVER
OFFSHORE DRILLING
As the intensive drive to meet the
Nation's energy needs turns to the
potentially great, untapped sources of
new oil and gas along the continental
shelves of the Atlantic Ocean and the
Gulf of Alaska, concern has mounted
for protecting the environment from
these proposed developments.
The Administration has proposed
speeding up its program of leasing
outer continental shelf lands to oil
companies. However, a substantial
number of Governors and environ-
mentalists have protested that the pro-
posed leasing is too hasty because
environmental and coastal planning
needs have not been met.
As a result the Department of the
Interior has reduced the size of the
offshore areas now under considera-
tion for leasing.
EPA is playing a significant role in
the leasing process through its com-
ments on the environmental impact
statements for leasing in the Gulfs of
Alaska and Mexico, offshore Gilifor-
nia and the Atlantic.
In commenting on the environmental
impact statement for the proposed
Northern Gulf of Alaska leasing. Ad-
ministrator Russell H. Train took the
unusual step of advising the Secretary
of the Interior that this proposed
development is "unsatisfactory from
the standpoint of environmental qual-
ity . . .'
Mr. Train called for a delay in the
sale of Gulf of Alaska tracts.
He noted that the Gulf of Alaska was
rated by the Council on Environmen-
tal Quality "as having the highest risk
of any virgin Outer Continental Shelf
area being considered for oil and gas
development.
"The area was described as having
storms more frequent than any place
else in the Northern Hemisphere, and
seismic activity as violent as any place
in the world.
"Gale force winds occur year
around, gusts of 60 knots or greater
occur during the winter season, and
wave heights frequently exceed 20 feet
in months from September through
April.
"Earthquakes with magnitudes above
7.0 (on the Richter scale) can be
expected to occur on the average of
PAGE 2
once a year, and damage to structures
can result from direct seismic vibra-
tions, ground breakage, landslides.
rockslides. mudflows, liquefaction of
sediments, differential settlement and
seismic seawaves."
At the same time. Mr. Train said the
Gulf of Alaska is extraordinarily rich
in bird, fish and other animal life, al]
of which could be threatened by major
oil spills.
The Administrator also stressed that
oil spill cleanup measures under the
hostile environment in the Gulf of
Alaska "would be virtually impossi-
ble."
Drill riggers al work mi ;m offshore
platform.
Mr. Train said that sale of these
Gulf areas should be delayed for
several reasons. One of the most im-
portant, he pointed out, is the need
for time to improve the proposed
Department of the Interior Operating
Orders which would set drilling condi-
tions, including those designed to help
prevent oil spills.
The proposed operating orders, he
said, are largely "a recasting of opera-
tional procedures used in the drasti-
cally different environmental setting of
the Gulf of Mexico."
The Administrator also called for a
delay to permit time for completion of
environmental studies now being con-
ducted in the Gulf of Alaska and to
allow the State of Alaska to plan and
prepare for development on the Gulf
Coast that will result from offshore
drilling.
Offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of
Mexico are reached by boat and helicop-
ter.
After a series of meetings, sponsored
by CEQ. between EPA, representa-
tives of the Department of the Interior.
the State of Alaska and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion. Administrator Train wrote to
CEQ that "if in the national interest, it
becomes imperative to proceed with the
sale this year, it is our view that such an
action could only be made environmen-
tally satisfactory" if the sale is re-
stricted to certain tracts in the North-
eastern zone of the Gulf.
"Such a limited sale would involve
minimal off-shore environmental dis-
turbance while allowing an estimated
30 percent of the total crude oil
resource to be developed," Mr. Train
said. He emphasized that restricting
the sale to one area would provide a
greater degree of ecological safety and
permit consolidation of oil storage and
onshore operating facilities. EPA
also stressed the need to complete
adequate operating orders and to help
the State of Alaska cope with the ex-
pected onshore development.
Meanwhile, EPA is developing com-
ments on a Department of the Interior
environmental impact statement on
drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.
Considered the three most promising
Atlantic areas for oil and gas are the
Georges Bank Basin off New Eng-
land, the Baltimore Canyon Basin off
the Middle Atlantic States and the
Blake Plateau Basin off the Georgia-
South Carolina Coast.
The best drilling prospects are all
more than 30 miles from shore and
most are over 50 miles offshore, well
beyond sight from land.
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The first Atlantic environmental im-
pact statement reviewed by EPA is
not expected to pose problems as
serious as the Gulf of Alaska pro-
posal .
The preliminary indications are that
EPA will express concern about the
need to tighten operating procedures
for the proposed drilling some 50
miles off the Maryland coast, but that
the Agency will not find this proposal
"unsatisfactory."
EPA is expected to continue to
emphasize the potential problems from
rapid major onshore developments
stimulated by offshore oil production.
An article in the Conservation Foun-
dation's monthly Letter last Novem-
ber urged that the United States look
to Scotland and the North Sea for
insight about the effects of offshore oil
drilling.
Even though the United States has
had an offshore industry which has
operated in the Gulf of Mexico for 40
years, this experience may not be
entirety relevant to the proposed drill-
ing in the Atlantic and Gulf of Alaska,
the article pointed out.
"Along the Atlantic and Alaskan
coasts, the climate, sea conditions.
landscape, and perhaps even the so-
cial structure, resemble the North Sea
coast of Scotland more closely than
the shores of Texas and Louisiana."
The report, largely based on a study
by Pamela L. and Malcolm F. Bald-
win for the Conservation Foundation,
notes that while the discovery and
production of oil in the Gulf of Mex-
ico occurred gradually over a period
of time, current demands for oil can
be expected to trigger much more
rapid exploration and drilling activity.
Only with a full, detailed analysis of
onshore effects can the United States
properly assess and plan for new oil
development, the article warns.
Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico
where thousands of wells have already
been drilled the Nation's energy needs
have pushed oil and gas exploration
up to 100 miles offshore. Some off-
shore drilling is being conducted 24
hours a day.
Plans to build a huge offshore plat-
form the height of the Empire Suite
Building in approximately 1,(XX) feet of
water 100 miles southeast of New
Orleans have been announced by
Shell Oil Company. The platform
which will be used for development
drilling is expected to cost in excess of
$100 million and will rise some 1,220
feet off the ocean floor, according to
Shell.
Region VI has the primary responsi-
bility for EPA in protecting Gulf
coastal waters from pollution caused
by the oil drilling and production. For
operations up to three miles offshore.
Region VI is reviewing Spill Preven-
tion Control and Countermeasure
plans the oil companies are required
to prepare by EPA regulations. These
prevention plans must be approved by
Regional Administrator John White.
Beyond the three-mile limit. Region
VI works, on a consultation basis.
with the United States Geological
Survey and the Coast Guard which
have the primary oil spill control re-
sponsibility in these waters.
Although EPA's spill prevention
control authority is limited by the
three-mile limit offshore, it has au-
thority under the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System pro-
gram to issue permits for discharge of
wastes from any production facility,
regardless of the distance from shore.
While EPA has developed effluent
guidelines for offshore oil production
Schematic drawing shows how pressure
waves travel downward (solid lines) and
are reflected back (dashed lines) h\ var-
ious rock lavers to instruments trailing
behind the vessel.
An air "gun" suspended from a float, is lowered from Ihe stern of a Shell Oil Co.
vessel. Pressure waves from the guns are directed downward through the water into
rock lavers helow.
facilities, court action challenging
these guidelines has delayed issuance
of permits.
"Preventive planning is the key to oil
spil! reduction in Region VI." Re-
gional Administrator White states.
"Progressive strides have been made.
Through the cooperative efforts of
EPA, State and local agencies, and
each company. Gulf of Mexico waters
will be kept environmentally sound,
while economic development and re-
source exploration continue."
The oil companies begin their explo-
ration for offshore oil by using seis-
mic data to detect the kind of sub-
surface configurations where oil and
gas are often found.
A ship often obtains subsurface data
by using air guns which bounce shock
waves off the rock straight below in
much the same way that radar utili/es
reflected electromagnetic waves to lo-
cate objects above the earth's surface.
After a company believes it has
found oil and has obtained a lease, it
sends a movable rig to the scene to
drill exploratory wells.
The odds of actually striking oil are
low. But if the exploratory drilling
indicates a good supply of oil is
present, a fixed platform is erected.
The platforms are designed to with-
stand severe storms. As many as 30
or more wells can be drilled direction-
ally from a platform. Some wells have
been drilled on a slant as much as a
mile horizontally from a platform.
Once the wells are drilled, produc-
tion equipment is installed. The oil
produced is usually transported to
shore by pipeline. D
PAGE 3
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For more than five thousand years
the River Nile nourished a rich civili-
zation in its 500-miie-long lower val-
ley. Regular summer floods spread
fertilizing silt on the fields. During the
high-water months canals and ditches
irrigated the crops. Throughout the
year—except during the floods—the
river was Egypt's main highway; all
the stone for the pyramids was carried
on Nile barges from southern hill
quarries to the great cities in the
North.
Five years ago this ancient pattern
ended with the completion of the High
Dam at Aswan. Now Lake Nasser, a
reservoir that extends 270 miles, con-
trols the annual flood, generates more
than half of Hgypt's electric power,
irrigates farms for two or three crops
a year instead of one. and keeps the
river navigable all year.
KPA is cooperating in a five-
year study to provide hard scientific
data concerning all of the environmen-
tal impacts of the dam and to develop
decision tools that can be utili/.ed by
the various Hgyptian Government
ministries to realize the full potential
benefits while controlling and minimi/-
ing any adverse effects.
The study is financed under the
Special Foreign Currency Program of
the (Mike of International Activities.
headed by Fit/hugh Green. Associate
Administrator, and supervised by the
Office of Research and Development
headed by Assistant Administrator
Wilson K. Talley.
The program. "Water Quality Stud-
ies on the River Nile and 1 .ake Nas-
ser," is starting its second year. It is
expected to cost about $1.2 million
over the five-year period, almost all of
which will come from existing United
States credits in Kgyptian pounds
which cannot be spent outside that
country. (Such "excess currency"
funds are also supporting HPA-super-
viscd scientific projects in Poland.
Tunisia, and Yugoslavia, and the Of-
fice of International Activities is nego-
tiating for similar bilateral programs in
India and Pakistan.)
PAGE 4
Main building, power plant, and switch yard at Aswan High Dam.
The Nile-Nasser project is one of the
most significant and comprehensive
studies ever undertaken of the envi-
ronmental effects of a manmade lake.
The studies will coverall facets of the
lake itself: its chemistry and physical
characteristics,its plant and animal life
(already there is a fishing industry on
Lake Nasser),and its shores and water-
shed. Downstream the studies will mea-
sure what is happening to the river:
sediment transport, pollution from
municipal, industrial and agricultural
runoff, effects on industrial and muni-
cipal water supplies (particularly in
the Cairo area), and the changes taking
place in the delta where the river water
meets the salty Mediterranean.
Value to EPA
"The things we expect to learn will
be of great value to the United States
and other countries," according to
Donald Oakley, Director of Ol As Inter-
national Technology Division. "Our spe-
cial-currency projects are not a form of
foreign aid. These scientific studies in
Hgypt will add to our knowledge of
the environmental effects associated
with reservoirs in arid areas, some-
thing of great interest in our own
southwestern States."
The Ford Foundation is also spon-
soring this work and is providing
about $125.0(K) in the project's first
three years, primarily for instruments,
laboratory equipment, and personnel
training that cannot be obtained in
Egypt.
The work is being carried out pri-
marily by Egyptian scientists and
technicians under the direction of Dr.
Moustafa Hafez, of the Egyptian
Academy of Scientific Research and
Technology at Cairo. The principal
investigator is Dr. Khali! H. Mancy.
Professor of Environmental Chemistry
at the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor. Ten other Michigan faculty
members are on a team of consult-
ants who make periodic visits to
Egypt to assist in the work.
EPA's project officer is Dr. Walter
M. Sanders, III. Associate Director
for Water Quality at the Environmen-
tal Research Laboratory at Athens,
Ga.. who recently returned from one
of his periodic visits to Egypt.
The Aswan High Dam was com-
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The Nile near Aswan is nan-
, the shores rocky.
pieted in July. 1970. after 10 years of
work. It cost $625 million; the Soviet
Union provided technical assistance
and loans totalling $240 million. Dur-
ing construction some ancient monu-
ments, most notably the Ahu Simel
temple, were moved at great expense
to higher ground to protect them from
being flooded.
Lake Nasser is now about 270 miles
long and extends far into Sudan.
where it is called Lake Nubia. It
twists and turns above the old riv-
erbed, with an average width of seven
miles. The lake has just filled to its
operating level of 175 meters above
sea level, and when it is filled to
rapacity some time in the 1980s the
lake will cover approximately 2,500
square miles and store approximately
158 billion cubic meters of water. It is
the second largest artificial lake in the
world; Lake Bratsk in the Soviet
Union is the largest.
Lake Nasser has already brought
these benefits to the Egyptian econ-
omy:
* Assured water supply for irrigation.
From 1965 to 1974. Nile flows were
below average, and the reservoir pro-
vides a continuous supply.
* Electric power. In 1974. the most
recent year for which figures are avail-
able. 4.46 billion kilowatt-hours were
produced. This was 53 percent of
Egypt's power consumption that year.
The dam is designed to supply 8
billion kwh when Lake Nasser is full.
*15 percent more land irrigated, and
growth of two and three crops a year
made possible.
* River flow control, year-round navi-
gation and flood protection. In 1975
there was an exceedingly large flow,
and the lake level rose 10 meters
above normal. The dam's ability to
contain these large flows prevented a
possibly disastrous flood in lower
Egypt.
*Creation of a large lake in a formerly
barren region. Lake Nasser fisheries
already produce an estimated 10,(XX)
tons per year, and shoreline develop-
ment for cities, industries, and parks
is now possible.
Along with these unquestioned bene-
fits have come some environmental
Fellucea sail boats on the Mahmudiya
C'anal. near Alexandria. ha\c scarcely
changed in design and construction since
pyramid-building da\s.
problems that have been blamed on
the dam and have received worldwide
publicity. However, most of the accu-
sations are based on little solid scien-
tific evidence, according to Dr. Oak-
ley.
*Schistosomiasis. a debilitating disease'
that is carried by snails, is said to
have increased since the dam con-
struction.
* River bank erosion is no longer
counreracted naturally by annual silt
deposits carried by the flood waters.
*The virtual disappearance of sardines
in the Mediterranean near the Nile
delta is also blamed on the lack of
nutrients that used lo Iv earned with
the silt; the silt now settles in Lake
Nasser above the dam.
* Egyptian farmers are said to be using
eight or nine times more chemical
fertilizer than a few years ago. This is
also blamed on lack of silt, but it may
be due lo a number of other coinci-
dental circumstances.
*The river and lake are said to be
showing signs of eutrophication, with
algae clogging Cairo's water supply
plant, and with water weeds covering
the delta branches of the Nile.
The EPA-supported studies uill
gather scientific data on these and
many other aspects of the Aswan
High Dam's effects, concentrating on
exhaustive and careful measurement
and monitoring of both Lake Nasser
and the 500-mile stretch of the Nile
from the dam to the delta.
PAGE 5
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Information
Center
A Nile Information Center and Data
Bank is being established at Cairo
University, capable of storing and
retrieving huge masses of information
about the river and the lake. Other
scattered scientific studies already
made will have their data entered in
this computerized system, which will
resemble in many ways EPA's STO-
RHT system for water quality infor-
mation on United States lakes and
rivers. Professor Rolf A. Deininger of
the University of Michigan is special
advisor on the data bank project.
Computer modeling of lake and river
ecosystems is another important as-
pect of the Nile-Nasser program. Dr.
Sanders of EPA's Athens laboratory
will be working with Egyptian experts
on modeling studies. Experience with
the EPA's "controllable river" physi-
cal model and the aquatic ecosystem
mathematical models being developed
at Athens are expected to be of use in
modeling both the Nile and Lake
Nasser. Nile data obtained will be
used by the Athens staff to refine and
verify their models.
The Nile-Nasser program also in-
volves extensive training of techni-
cians and scientists in water quality
monitoring, hydrogeology, and several
other specialized fields. Many profes-
sors and students from Egyptian uni-
versities are being employed in the
studies, and a few Michigan students
are taking part also.
The program includes corollary
studies of the effects of the lake and
dam on people: public health effects,
like rural sanitation; the impacts on
agricultural practices and labor in the
Nile valley; and the social and eco-
nomic implications, on families, occu-
pations, recreation, and so on.
Only when all these interconnected
factors are measured and understood
together can the new environment of
the River Nile and Lake Nasser be
effectively managed for human better-
ment, said Dr. Oakley. "We believe
these studies will be of great impor-
tance to Egypt, to the United States,
and to the world." n
A debilitating disease, schistosomiasis, can spread from snails to people when clothes
are washed like this in irrigation canals watered by the Nile.
PAGE 6
Wadi Haifa, a Sudanese town near the Kgyptian border, as it appeared before it was
submerged by the Aswan High Dam.
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IS EPA A SUCCESS?
INTERVIEW WITH ALVIN L. ALM,
ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR
FOR PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
Will there be any reductions in force in calendar 1976? Will
some Headquarters officials be given tours of duty in the
Regions? What progress is being made in the Headquarters
review to determine proper job classifications? What are the
prospects for a four-day week? What is being done to help
minority employees? Mr. Aim answers these and other
questions.
QUESTION: Is EPA a success?
ALM: In my opinion, the accomplishments of the Agency
are quite remarkable. Over a five-year period, EPA has
established itself as a very viable institution. Visible
progress has been made in the quality of both our air and
water. We have developed a highly talented professional
staff and have strengthened our relationships with State
and local governments. The Agency has weathered both
the energy crisis and national economic troubles. We still
continue to have strong Congressional and public support.
I can think of few institutions that can look back on as
much progress as EPA.
QUESTION: What do you think will be the major
emphasis in EPA programs in 1976?
ALM: The most significant new emphasis in 1976 and
later years will be in the area of toxic chemicals. The
recent incidents involving PCB's and Kepone are only
indicative of a broader problem. As our measurement
techniques improve and as more health effects research is
accomplished, I am.afraid the health problems from toxic
chemicals will appear even graver than today. I might add
that we hope to have enactment of the Toxic Substances
Control Act sometime in the spring of 1976 and that should
give the Agency a very strong boost in the endeavor to
control chemical pollution.
QUESTION: What is your impression of EPA's future for
this year and over the next five years?
ALM: Overall, I think the future is very bright for the
Agency. In the near future, budgets and personnel ceilings
will be tight, but livable. On the positive side, Congres-
sional and public support is high, and the efforts the
Agency has made in the past are beginning to pay off in
terms of environmental improvement. I think EPA will be
viewed as a Federal agency which made major changes in
the course of the Nation's history.
QUESTION: Do you anticipate that EPA will become
part of another Government department in the future?
ALM: No.
QUESTION: When is EPA's lease on Waterside Mall up?
ALM: There is no EPA lease on Waterside Mall. The
GSA has a lease that extends until May 31, 1992, and
EPA occupies the space under assignment from GSA.
QUESTION: Do you anticipate that EPA will continue to
remain at Waterside Mall then?
ALM: As of this time, we have no plans to move. If
appropriate facilities were available, however. I would
certainly be interested in pursuing them-.
QUESTION: Is any thought being given to raising parking
fees at Waterside Mall?
ALM: No.
QUESTION: Were any employees laid off or riffed in
1975?
ALM: Only a handful. In those cases where positions
were lost, the affected employees were generally placed in
other positions.
QUESTION: Do you think there will be any RIFs in the
1976 calendar year?
ALM: We are not contemplating any significant reduc-
tions in force, although in a number of cases, RIFs will be
necessary.
QUESTION: Since this is an election year, will your
Office issue any special cautions on how to avoid violating
the Hatch Act?
ALM: The same restrictions that apply now will continue
to apply in the future unless the Hatch Act is amended.
We do plan to get out guidance, but that guidance will be
consistent with the current policy.
QUESTION: On a scale of 0 to 100, how would you rate
the quality of overall management of EPA?
ALM: I would place EPA's management pretty high on
that scale. I think the Agency has achieved major
accomplishments—greater than almost any other Federal
agency over the same time period.
We administer the largest public works program in the
country with only one-fifth as many people as the Highway
Program for example. We have achieved substantial com-
pliance with the Federal Water Pollution Act and the
Clean Air Act, We have built up a highly professional staff
and we have developed programs, such as the Executive
Development and the Upward Mobility ones, to better
train and use that staff.
QUESTION: Is any effort being made to send more high-
and middle-grade personnel from Headquarters to the
regional and field offices for short tours of duty?
ALM: Yes. In our original Executive Development
Program, we emphasized long-term mobility assignments.
Upon gaining experience with the program we are now
emphasizing two- to six-month mobility assignments. These
assignments would allow Headquarters personnel to famil-
iarize themselves with regional operations and vice versa. I
feel that this kind of interchange is critical, not only as a
training experience but also as a method to gain better
Headquarters and regional office understanding of each
others operations and responsibilities.
QUESTION: Are the regions going to welcome individuals
from Headquarters?
ALM: I have discussed this program with a number of
Regional Administrators and staff and am certain they will
be enthusiastic about this program.
PAGE 7
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QUESTION: Last summer, you spoke of a review being
done of all Headquarters positions to determine proper job
classifications. Has this review been completed?
ALM: No, it has not. We have completed the review in
the Office of Enforcement, the Office of Air and Waste
Management, and the Office of Research and Develop-
ment.
The total survey will probably not be completed until
October of 1976. Generally, the survey has found that a
significant number of positions are overgraded, although, in
some cases, we find that the incumbents are actually
undergraded.
We have been working very hard to find solutions to
these problems by organizational changes, through reas-
signment, and by increasing levels of responsibility.
Through these steps, we have been able to minimize the
number of adverse actions, and at the same time, greatly
improve the management of the Agency.
QUESTION: Do you plan a position classification review
in the regional offices and laboratories as well?
ALM: We currently have a program for periodic regional
evaluations. We initiated these evaluations a number of
years ago and have been so successful that the Civil
Service Commission relies upon our evaluations rather
than doing their own. We have covered all our regional
offices at least once, and have re-reviewed many of them.
In addition, our personnel offices conduct an annual
review of positions.
QUESTION: Last summer, the Agency's average grade
was 9.3, and you said you thought that was about right.
Has this grade level remained relatively constant or has it
been raised or lowered?
ALM: The Agency's average grade target remains at 9.39,
while our actual grade level has been in the neighborhood
of 9.25 for the past year and a half.
QUESTION: Doesn't this restriction in the average grade
penalize the eager hard-working employee who wants to
move up?
ALM: No. The average grade controls place a constraint
on management to take a number of actions to prevent
aggregate grade increases. Management should fill posi-
tions at lower grades when they become vacant and take
other actions to stabilize average grade. If these actions are
successful, then promotions are possible. Moreover, by
filling positions at lower levels, there should be even
greater potential for promotions.
QUESTION: What is your assessment of employee mor-
ale?
ALM: As I've indicated previously to you, I do not think
morale is nearly as high as it ought to be in the Agency. I
think there are a number of reasons. Some of the reasons
are inherent in the way EPA was put together from a
number of Federal agencies five years ago. The perceived
progress or lack of progress being made in EPA's
programs affect morale. Problems stemming from reorgani-
zation have had a harmful effect on morale, as have the
Headquarters position audits.
I do think we have taken a number of steps that should
have a positive impact on morale. Our employee develop-
ment programs, such as Executive Development, Upward
Mobility, and other training programs should open greater
opportunities for EPA's employees. We have taken steps
to reduce the number of reorganizations and the turmoil
that often results from them. 1 am confident that we are on
the upswing in terms of improving morale and will see
decided improvements in the future.
PAGES
IS EPA
A SUCCESS?
QUESTION: 1 understand that EPA is experimenting with
flexible working hours and a four-day -week in some of the
regions and laboratories. Is this arrangement working well?
ALM: We have experimented with flexible hours in our
Region IX office and in our Cincinnati facility with great
success. Federal laws and -regulations, however, limit our
ability to experiment. For example, EPA does not cur-
rently have the authority to implement a four-day work
week, even as an experiment. If Congress does pass such
legislation providing more flexibility in terms of both
flexible hours and the four-day week, I believe EPA could
and should take the initiative in promoting both of these
flexible working arrangements.
From the environmental point of view, both flexible hours
and the four-day week would have positive impacts on
reducing congestion and air pollution. For this reason, and
for the reason of improving employee productivity and
morale, 1 think we should take the lead in flexible working
hours.
QUESTION: What is happening to improve the grade
structure for women?
ALM: Since 1973, the number of women in grades 13
through 18 has increased from 3.8 percent to 5.0 percent.
Although this level is unacceptably low, there has been
some improvement.
We are taking a number of steps to improve the overall
grade level for women in EPA. For example, we are
setting a requirement that 15 percent of all executive
development slots be filled by women and minorities. The
Upward Mobility Program should have a significant impact
on average grade for women, since 65 percent of all full-
time employees at grade 9 and below are women. We are
also planning an Administrative Management Development
Program for employees at grades 9 to 11. which should be
particularly helpful to women.
QUESTION: Have training and development programs
been effective in upgrading the employment and career
opportunities for blacks and chicanes, and other minori-
ties?
ALM: I think there is no doubt that these programs have
had some effect. We do not have precise statistics
available at this time, but based on feedback from
employees and supervisors throughout the Agency over the
past two years. I would say our training and development
programs have been successful in upgrading employment
opportunities for women and minority groups.
-------
However, we have to do much more in the future. I am
especially hopeful that the Upward Mobility Program, and
the Administrative Management Development Program
will help lower-grade employees reach new levels of
responsibility.
QUESTION: Have we met the goal set for the hiring of
minorities and women in the 250 new Construction Grant
positions?
ALM: We set a goal of employing 36 professional
minorities and women, and currently. 28 have been
selected for the program. In addition to the 28 profession-
als, we have also hired 62 minorities and women for
clerical or administrative type positions.
As you may be aware, the Administrator sent a number
of memoranda to Regional Administrators first urging them
to hire women and minorities for the program, and
ultimately holding back positions until an adequate number
of women and minorities were hired. This vigorous action
represents the strongest step that has been taken to
increase the number of women and minorities in the EPA
work force.
QUESTION: What is the present Agency enrollment in
the various training and development courses?
ALM: The latest statistics we have available are for
Fiscal Year 1975. During that year. 7.744 Agency employ-
ees were enrolled in some type of training during the
coDrse of the year. Obviously, the level of participation
varies from office to office depending upon the workload
and funds available.
We are currently working on the development of com-
puter reports which will give us a more precise comparison
of the various EPA components. The greatest amount of
training is in areas of technical skills and communication
courses, which include a large number of clerical and
administrative employees.
QUESTION: Has the reorganization of the Office of
Research and Development been completed?
ALM: It has been substantially completed.
QUESTION: Is it working well?
ALM: While it is difficult to give a definitive answer
because the reorganization is just being implemented,
progress is apparent in a number of areas. The reorganiza-
tion was designed to streamline relationships between the
field and Headquarters, to develop a more straightforward
planning system, and to be more responsive to program
office and regional needs. Achievement in these areas is
already being noted.
However, any reorganization is a traumatic experience for
some employees. 1 would be less than candid if I did not
indicate there will be a certain amount of unrest for a
period of time. I'm optimistic, however, that as employees
become used to their new supervisory arrangements and
duties, that other problems will be overcome and morale
will greatly increase. In the long run, I believe the program
will be better for these changes.
QUESTION: As a way of encouraging employee bike
riding, have additional shower and changing facilities been
provided?
ALM: The facilities are currently being designed. There is
limited space, and we have had some problems designing
the facilities so they don't interfere with other ongoing
activities. I have asked Jack Tarran to move ahead on the
shower facilities as fast as it is humanly possible.
QUESTION: Has tightened security decreased theft and
physical harassment of employees?
ALM: During 1975, there has been a significant decrease
in thefts at Waterside Mall. For example, there was a 51
percent decrease from 1974 to 1975 in the theft of
Government property. Also, during 1975, we were essen-
tially free of harassment by outsiders within the EPA
office space.
Having said this, I realize there are still security problems
both within and outside the building. These problems are
of great concern to Charlie Jenkins and myself. We are
taking every step possible to provide adequate security in
the building, but it is not an easy job.
QUESTION: During the fall and winter months, some
offices in Waterside Mall are inadequately heated. Is there
any way, given the need for energy conservation, that heat
could be better equalized in the Headquarters building?
ALM: This has been a perennial problem since I have
been with EPA. We have spent a great deal of effort trying
to equalize the heat, but I realize that some offices are
exceptionally cold, and some are exceptionally hot. I might
add that in my own office, I average a level of about 68
degrees; but the extremes range from 90 degrees to about
45 degrees. I suspect there are many other employees that
have similar problems; I want you to know there is no
discrimination in terms of rank.
QUESTION: There is considerable employee dissatisfac-
tion with the present eating facilities available for Head-
quarters personnel. And the American Federation of
Government Employees has petitioned the General Serv-
ices Administration for an evaluation for the need for a
cafeteria in Waterside Mall.
What is happening to this proposal?
ALM: We have given this proposal our very vigorous
support. We have written GSA on a number of occasions.
Recently, the Administrator, Ed Rhodes, Jack Tarran and
I met with Mr. Jack Eckerd, the new Administrator for
GSA, and discussed the cafeteria situation. 1 have also
discussed our concern for a new cafeteria with the new
Deputy Administrator of GSA. I will shortly meet with
Mr. John Galuardi, GSA Regional Administrator for
Region III.
The Union has played a positive role in setting forth
employee concerns about the need for a cafeteria. This
issue demonstrates how the union and management can
work together on matters of mutual concern.
QUESTION: I understand there is a movement on to
persuade the Government to provide day-care facilities for
employees' children in much the same way it provjdes
subsidized parking for VIPs and caipool drivers. Here in
Washington, the proposal is being pushed by the National
Organization for Women.
Have proposals for day-care centers reached the Office of
Planning and Management?
ALM: We have not received any recent proposals for
child-care centers. As you may know, there is currently no
legal authority to provide day-care facilities. There are
several bills pending in Congress, one of which would
establish Federal day-care facilities on a pilot basis. If such
a bill is passed, we would want to survey employee
interest in participating in a pilot project. If interest is high,
we could then offer to be one of the pilot agencies, or offer
to participate in conjunction with other agencies.
In general, my feeling is that EPA should.take leadership
in this area. Q
PAGE 9
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HELPING NATURE CREATE
NEWMARSHES
By Truman Temple*
Environmentalists arc increasingly
aware that marshes are precious re-
sources, serving as a kind of giant
nursery for fish and waterfowl, and
providing food and shelter for them
during infancy. The marsh grasses
also serve as handy pollution filters.
absorbing nutrients that otherwise
would encourage the spread of algae.
Scientists worry about the disappear-
ance of these wetlands. During the
last 100 years, more than half the
Nation's coastal marshes have been
destroyed by development. On the
Chesapeake Bay, the problem is eco-
nomically serious since the marshes
not only nurture Maryland's cele-
brated blue crabs and striped bass but
also help to keep muddy runoff from
clogging and polluting the bay.
At one time it could be said that
everybody talks about the wetlands
but nobody docs anything about them.
That no longer is true. Numerous
States have enacted laws to protect
them. And a small non-profit organi-
/.ation called Environmental Concern,
Inc. in St. Michaels, Maryland, has
been attracting national attention since
1972 by actually creating new marshes
through special planting techniques.
Environmental Concern came into
being by a roundabout route. Its foun-
der, president and director. Dr. Hdgar
W. Garbisch, Jr., was a chemistry
professor at the University of Minne-
sota. But during a leave of absence
back in 1970 he picked up a book by
John and Mildred Teal, Life and
Deaili ttj lite Sail Mursh.
"The book and some other writings
suggested that wetlands were a renew-
able resource, unlike coal or oil. I was
intrigued with the idea." he says. He
also was disturbed that the typical
approach to wetlands was simply a
holding operation, to keep existing
marshes from any further destruction
by developers.
Dr. Garbisch researched the subject
and planted an experimental patch of
marsh grass on a beach in front of a
house he had bought near St. Mi-
chaels. The patch flourished, and he
became fascinated with the possibili-
ties. Marshes, as the Teals pointed
PAGE 10
_ , - V . «,
• '"' -. —
Hdgar W. Garbisch Jr.. left. President of
Environmental Concern. Inc.. uith !•".
Curtis Bohlen. Deputy Assistant Secre-
tary of the Interior for Fish. Wildlife, and
Parks, and HPA Administrator Russell H.
Pols of marsh grass are planted hy hand
near Quinby. Va.. on a tidal flat of
dredged material hy workmen wearing
special shoes to keep from sinking in (he
mild.
out, are highly productive places.
These grasses not only become part of
a rich food web including shellfish,
game fish, and waterfowl, but also
help to prevent erosion by trapping
sediments. Obviously here was an
environmental workhorse that could
be very useful in helping to save
estuaries and bays.
Nature Coaservancy
Dr. Garbisch decided to pursue his
new interest full-time. He joined the
Nature Conservancy in 1971 as direc-
tor of the Center for Applied Re-
*Triini(in Temple a a lleiiiUjiianci^ ljuh-
lic Affairs Officei.
search in Environmental Science, and
organized the creation of a salt marsh
on tidal sand flats at Hambleton Is-
land, a mile south of St. Michaels.
The site was interesting for several
reasons. It was uninhabited, small
enough to measure results, and also
subject to erosion because of its ex-
posed position at the confluence of
three tidal creeks.
Nothing like this experiment had
been attempted before, and Dr. Gar-
bisch had to improvise not only the
techniques but the equipment for
planting marshes. He found that if you
coated snowshoes with plastic, for
example, you could walk around
muddy bogs without sinking up to
your neck. To plant clumps of marsh
grass under a foot of water, he and Kis
colleagues discovered a way to float
over the mud, lying on rubber mat-
tresses, their aims immersed.
In 1972, encouraged by his success
in planting 60,000 seedlings at Ham-
bleton Island, Dr. Garbisch incorpo-
rated Environmental Concern and in-
stalled it in a rambling old antebellum
house with white pillars overlooking
San Domingo Creek in St. Michaels.
He and his staff built greenhouses and
added equipment, including a minia-
ture phytotron or growth chamber to
simulate the temperature conditions
found in early spring in New England,
where he has contracts to establish
marshes.
Since 1972 Environmental Concern
has been involved in nearly a score of
projects along the Atlantic seaboard,
including ,>ne with the Public Service
Electric and Gas Company of New
Jersey to restore wetlands disturbed
by an underground transmission line
that ultimately will bring power from a
floating nuclear station.
Trial and Error
Dr. Garbish and his staff have had
to learn through trial and error in their
work. After tropical storm Agnes in
June, 1972 created a number of sand
islands from sediment at the mouth of
the Susquehanna River in the Chesa-
peake, the Maryland Department of
-------
r
Jane Loth and Eric Knudtson, Antioch College students, and Dr. Paul B. Woller of
Environmental Concern. Inc.. use mechanical equipment to plant a salt marsh near
Huntinuton. I,. I.
Natural Resources backed a project
by Environmental Concern to plant a
marsh there to stabilize the islands.
The crew succeeded in establishing a
two-acre plot of cordgrass—but it
proved so attractive to Canada geese
that they nearly destroyed it by gob-
bling up the tender underground rhi-
zomes of the plants. To keep the birds
from eating up the profits, Environ-
mental Concern found that it had to
protect fresh plantings the first year
with chicken wire.
The organization, which has varied
from half a dozen scientists and nurs-
ery workers to more than double that
during the warm planting months, has
also taken on students from Antioch
College pursuing work/study programs
in ecology. A fleet of seven boats and
barges as well as portable tractors and
specially adapted planting rigs are
used in the course of a season.
Right now Dr. Garbisch also is
interested in encouraging communities
to plant their own wetlands, and he
sells packaged cordgrass and other
species to coastal cities and towns
seeking to restore their marshes and
stabilize dunes.
The ability of marsh grass to hold
soil and resist wave action also inter-
ests Dr. Garbisch. The Chesapeake-
Bay is especially prone to erosion.
One study by a Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity geologist estimates that in the
past three and a half centuries, about
145 square miles of Maryland shore-
line have been washed away.
Dr. Garbisch thinks that rather than
building expensive seawalls and bulk-
heading, it would be far cheaper and
environmentally desirable to plant
marsh grasses. In several projects
with the U.S. Corps of Engineers, he
already has demonstrated that dredged
material placed at the right elevation
can be planted successfully to prevent
erosion from tides and wave action.
The former chemist has had numer-
ous job offers from universities to
teach and lecture on his environmental
work, but he is happy right where he
is. creating new wetlands and new
shelters for wildlife. D
PAGE 11
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CLEANUP LOANS FOR INDUSTRIES
A factory manufacturing household
paper products \v;ts discharging a large
volume of untreated wastes into
Maine's scenic Kennebec River.
The Maine Department of Environ-
mental Protection was pressing to get
the paper company, Statler Tissue, to
install adequate waste treatment facili-
ties at its factory in Augusta, Maine.
as part of a major drive to clean up
the State's rivers.
Company officials were discouraged
and uncertain what to do because of
the high cost of obtaining a multi-
million dollar loan to pay for the
pollution control equipment.
Then, with the help of HP A. the
company succeeded in getting the loan
it desperately needed from the Small
Business Administration at a low in-
terest rate.
Leonard Sugarman, president of Sta-
tler Tissue, told EPA Journal "that
low-interest loan was a wonderful
thing.
"We were at the crossroads. We
didn't know whether we could con-
tinue operating. Then the Federal gov-
ernment came along. This loan was a
real help to us. Both the Federal
government and Maine were very
good. It took us a long time to install
the pollution control equipment, but 1
am sure it will be well worth it. The
pollution control facilities will be com-
pleted by fall of this year."
A spokesman for the Maine Depart-
ment of Environmental Protection said
that "The paper industry in Maine has
spent $125 million since 1970 on pollu-
tion abatement for best practical treat-
ment, and most of this money has
been spent since 1973.
"At the same time, the paper indus-
try in Maine has undergone its largest
expansion in the history of the State."
The Statler Tissue case is an illustra-
tion of an important but little known
program under which EPA is helping
industries across the Nation.
The loans are provided by the Small
Business Administration through its
revolving Disaster Loan Fund. The
present loan rate is 6 and 5/8 percent.
and loans may be stretched out over a
30-year period. The pollution abate-
ment equipment itself may be used as
collateral.
PAGE 12
('(instruction work in foreground is part
of the waste treatment facilities being
built at the Statler Tissue Co.. Augusta,
Maine, on the Kennebec River.
EPA's role in the program is to
certify to the Small Business Adminis-
tration that the pollution control
equipment is "necessary and ade-
quate" to meet pollution control re-
quirements.
Sheldon Sacks, the EPA coordinator
for this program, said that since the
project began in August 1974 more
than $18 million has been loaned to 32
businesses for water pollution control
facilities and to 57 businesses for air
pollution equipment and facilities.
The program is expected to be more
fully utilized as deadlines for pollution
cleanup get closer and businesses real-
ize that they will be subject to heavy
fines if they do not comply.
The loan program was created with
the intent of providing low-cost long-
term loans to those businesses faced
with substantial economic hardships
because of government regulations.
The intent is to provide funds for
businesses that are at a disadvantage
with big businesses that can secure
more favorable bank loans, utilize in-
ternal capital, or issue tax exempt
pollution control revenue bonds. The
pollution control loans are provided
when commercial loan sources are
unavailable, prohibitive in cost, or can
only provide part of the required loan.
To be eligible for such loan assist-
ance a business must be an independ-
ently owned and operated small busi-
ness and must meet employment or
sales size standards established by
SBA. In addition, a small concern
may be eligible for a loan if its need is
a result of the following:
t. The business has an effluent dis-
charge requiring a National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System permit
under Section 402 of the FWPC A.
2, The business emits discharges
through a sewer line into a publicly
owned treatment works, and the city
or town requires the treatment of
waste discharge.
3. The business plans to discharge
into a municipal sewer system through
the construction of a lateral or inter-
ceptor sewer.
4. The business must meet require-
ments of a State or Regional authority
for controlling the disposal of pollu-
tants that may affect groundwater.
5. The business needs a Corps of
Engineers permit for disposal of pollu-
tants that may affect groundwater.
6. The business must meet Coast
Guard or State requirements regarding
the standard of performance of marine
sanitation devices controlling sewage
from vessels.
7. The business is implementing a
plan to control or prevent the dis-
charge or spill of oil or other hazard-
ous substances.
Section 8 of the FWPCA amended
the Small Business Act by empower-
ing SBA to make loans to assist any
small business concern in making ad-
ditions to or alterations in its equip-
ment, facilities, or methods of opera-
tion to meet water pollution control
requirements. SBA later interpreted
their regulations to have these loans
apply to air pollution control require-
ments as set forth by EPA and the
States as well.
The loan coordinator in each of
EPA's ten regions is responsible for
certifying applications for SBA as to
the 'necessity and adequacy" of pollu-
tion abatement equipment.
The States that have the NPDES
permit program are expected to as-
sume this certification program and
are encouraged to do so. Maryland
was the first State to assume the
certification program. Several other
States have also assumed this respon-
sibility or are preparing to do so.
In Maryland, alone, about 2,000
businesses in the State could qualify
for the low-interest loans, according to
Mr. Sacks. He added that many of
the Nation's 43,406 waste discharge
permit holders might qualify for the
low-interest loans, o
-------
DR. ANDREW W.
BREIDENBACH
Andrew W. Breidenbach, EPA's
new Assistant Administrator for
Water and Hazardous Materials, is
determined to help his programs "get
ready for the environmental crises that
will be emerging over the next few
months or years.
"We need to get beyond the crisis of
the week or the month. Now that the
Agency is five years old, we should
do a better job of anticipating the
problems that will be confronting us.
We need to get ready for some of
these problems at less than crisis
speed."
Discussing his goals in an interview
with EPA Journal, Dr. Breidenbach.
a friendly, down-to-earth executive,
said that he feels strongly he must
build a team to achieve his objectives.
"I am not implying that we don't
have a team now," Dr. Breidenbach
said. "My predecessor, Jim Agee, did
a good job of placing significant
amounts of responsibility in his depu-
ties. 1 think that was a step I can
agree with. It has made it much easier
for me. Now I want to build on the
existing foundation."
The EPA official also said that he is
keenly aware of the importance of
developing good relations with the
regions and the States.
"The States must be full partners
with EPA. It takes a lot of effort to
make sure a partnership between the
States and the Federal Government
really works.
"Although 50 States seems like a
tremendous number. I would like to
get to know the State people better
than 1 do. We need to develop a
sensitivity about the intricacies of how
programs are operated below the na-
tional level."
Dr. Breidenbach also said that he
wanted to become better informed
about the positions of organizations
such as the American Waterworks
Association and the Water Pollution
Control Federation.
"These organizations represent a
well established body of professionals
in the field we serve," Dr. Breiden-
bach said. "They have front-line ex-
perience. We need their advice and
counsel."
The EPA official also said that he
spends a lot of time in meetings
conferring with professionals such as
the Committee of 10, a group consist-
ing of a top-ranking State \\ater pollu-
tion control official from each of the
10 regions.
Dr. Breidenbach said that while he
spends a lot of time in meetings, he
recognizes that personal contact and
exchange of views is vital.
"If the guys in the Super Bowl had
not been allowed to talk to each other
in the huddle, they would have been
terribly handicapped. Talking to each
other is still very important."
The EPA official also said that he is
interested in building better communi-
cation lines with the other Federal
agencies EPA has to deal with.
"I have made two forays so far, in
this area," he said. "I have discussed
with an Assistant Secretary of Agri-
culture plans for improving coopera-
tion and correcting problems at all
staff levels in relations between EPA
and Agriculture. I have also had the
same kind of discussions with the
Deputy Commissioner for the Food
and Drug Administration."
Asked what he considered to be the
biggest problem in his new job. Dr.
Breidenbach replied that he believes
"budget responsibilities are the most
serious. Trying to deploy \oiir re-
sources in the best way to meet
legislative mandates is a tough thing to
do because our budget is in a rela-
tively static condition. It's much eas-
ier to deal with problems if your
budget and resources are growing."
Dr. Breidenbach said that the biggest
challenge ahead will be carrying out
the Safe Drinking Water law in an
effective manner.
"This program will have to grow to
meet the legislative mandate. It will
have growing pains. This is the pro-
gram that has the greatest need for
attention now, but the others are not
far behind."
On the subject of reorganization. Dr.
Breidenbach said that at present he
plans "nothing major or sweeping."
On the differences between Washing-
ton and Cincinnati, where he served
as an EPA research executive before
his present assignment. Dr. Breiden-
bach said that "In Cincinnati 1 was
pretty much in command of my own
time. When 1 needed time to think I
closed the door. But in Washington I
find I am getting requests from all
levels all the time. My calendar fluc-
tuates on an hourly basis and the
hours are a little longer here.
"I get to work at 7 a.m. The traffic-
is a little better at that hour. Also it
gives me a little solitude to dig into
things before the regular day begins.
Washington does take a little getting
used to, though."
Asked about his hobbies. Dr. Brei-
denbach said that "1 love to play golf.
but 1 haven't swung a club since 1 got
here in September. 1 also like to fish.
I did get in a week of fishing before I
came here."
In his present position. Dr. Breiden-
bach has responsibility for the Offices
of Water Planning and Standards.
Water Program Operations. Water
Supply, Toxic Substances, and Pesti-
cide Programs.
Continued on page 14
PAGE 13
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Profile Cont'd.
From August 1971 to July 1975.
Dr. Breidenbach was the Director of
the National Hnvironmental Research
Center in Cincinnati. Ohio.
The Center's major focus was on
environmental engineering and Dr.
Breidenbach directed research in the
areas of water supply and pollution.
air pollution, solid waste management
and radiation.
An internationally recogni/ed author-
ity in a number of environmental
areas. Dr. Breidenbach has lectured
frequently throughout the United
Stales and aboard. He also serves as
Adjunct Professor of Hnvironmental
Health and Civil and Environmental
Engineering at the University of Cin-
cinnati.
Dr. Breidenbach recently received
"The President's Award for Excel-
lence" from the University of Cincin-
nati.
The award said, in part:
"Breidenbach brought worldwide
recognition to the EPA's Hnvironmen-
tal Research Center because of its
development of scientific methods for
the detection and elimination of harm-
ful substances in public water sup-
plies. In the formative years of the
Nation's war on environmental pollu-
tion, he carefully and scientifically led
in the promulgation of environmental
guidelines that were practical, reason-
able and helpful to the total survey.
He has published more than 50 arti-
cles and reports on the environment in
widely studied publications and has
thus added much to the store of
knowledge on this subject. . . ."
Before his service with EPA. Dr.
Breidenbach had worked for the De-
partment of Health. Education and
Welfare in a number of executive
positions in both the solid waste man-
agement and water supply and pollu-
tion control areas.
He began his environmental career
as Chief of the Chemistry Division of
Maryland's State Health Department
in Baltimore in 1953.
A graduate of the University of
Cincinnati with a B.S. degree in
chemistry and /.oology in 1949. Dr.
Breidenbach received his M.S. degree
in 1950 and his Ph. I) degree in 1953
from the University of Florida.
Born in 1924 in Newark. New Jer-
sey. Dr. Breidenhach is married to the
former Jeanne Forsberg of Maple-
wood. N.J. They are the parents of a
daughter and three sons, n
PAGE 14
•EOPI PI
Rebecca Ward Hanmer has been ap-
pointed Director. Office of Federal
Activities. She has served as Acting
Director of that Office since October
of 1975. In announcing the appoint-
ment Administrator Train said:
"Becky Hanmer has served with our
Office of Federal Activities since
1971. Over that period she has
earned the high regard of officials
throughout the Federal Government
for her objectivity and competence."
Miss Hanmer began her Federal ca-
reer in 1964 with the Department of
Health. Education and Welfare. Her
work with the Federal Government in
the environmental field began when
she joined the Office of Program
Planning and Evaluation in the Fed-
eral Water Pollution Control Adminis-
tration in 1966. Eater she was Staff
Assistant to the Assistant Commis-
sioner for Environmental and Program
Planning in the Federal Water Quality
Administration. Department of the In-
terior. Miss Hanmer received a B.A.
in political science in 1963 from the
College of William and Mary. Wil-
liamsburg, Virginia, and her M.A.
from American University. Washinu-
ton. D.C. in 1966.
In 1974. she was awarded EPA's
Silver Medal for Superior Service for
her work as Assistant Director. Re-
source Development Eiaison Staff. A
Virginian by birth. Miss Hanmer now
lives in Washington. D.C
(Jlen R. Ballard, Electronics Techni-
cian at the Health Effects Research
Laboratory in North Carolina, and
Lillian Johnson, Public Information
Assistant in Region II. New York
City, recently received personal letters
from President Ford praising them for
saving the taxpayers' money.
"You are to be commended for . . .
improving Government operations and
for the outstanding example you have
set for all employees." the President
wrote. Each had previously received
an EPA cash award for money-saving
suggestions.
The President launched a special
campaign last year to encourage em-
ployee participation in cost reduction
within the Federal Government. In an
appeal to all Federal employees. Pres-
ident Ford said: "Each of you can
make a personal contribution by sub-
mitting constructive ideas and working
cooperatively to eliminate waste, im-
prove equipment, streamline opera-
tions or make more productive use of
time, facilities, and energy resouces."
Mr. Ballard's idea dealt with the
periodic replacement of a converter
unit in nitrogen oxide analyzers used
in air pollution monitoring. Instead of
buying a new converter unit for $220.
he suggested replacing the graphite
chips inside it for about $5. This saves
an estimated $ 19.000 annually. Mr.
Ballard was awarded $775 and a certif-
icate.
Ms. Johnson's suggestion was to
group and combine the legal advertise-
ments required in the wastewater dis-
charge permit program, eliminating
duplication and reducing the space.
and cost, of such ads. Savings were
estimated at $47.600. and Ms. Johnson
received a cash award of $1.095.
-------
KPI PEOPLE? 01
Frances K. Phillips James H. Finger
Two appointments in Region IV
have been announced by Regional
Administrator Jack E. Ravan.
Frances E. Phillips, the new Regional
Counsel in the Atlanta office, has
been a specialist in environmental law
with the firm of Bracewell and Patter-
son. Houston. Texas, for the past 16
months and was one of two associates
selected for that firm's Washington.
D.C. office.
Before that Ms. Phillips had been an
assistant regional counsel for EPA in
Atlanta and an attorney in the
Agency's Enforcement Division.
A graduate of Baylor University and
of the University of Texas Law
School, Ms. Phillips also attended the
World College Afloat, where she stud-
ied sociology and economic geography
in 14 foreign countries.
James H. Finger, Research Chemist
with EPA and its predecessor agen-
cies, is the new Director of Region
IV's Surveillance and Analysis Divi-
sion, located in Athens, Ga. He suc-
ceeds John A. Little, recently named
Deputy Regional Administrator.
Mr. Finger, a native of Gastonia.
N.C., has been in Federal public
health service work since I960. His
assignments have included directing
laboratory work on the Charleston,
S.C.. Harbor Project, the Hillsbor-
ough Bay Project in Tampa, Fla.. and
the Lower Florida F,stuary Study. In
Region IV he headed a team that
pioneered in testing for mercury in the
waters of the Southeast.
He is a graduate of Western Carolina
University and earned an M.S. in
Science and Public Health from the
University of North Carolina. He
lives in Athens with his wife, the
former Marie Bradford, and their two
children.
Robert M. Martin, Environmental
Protection Specialist with the Office
of Air Quality Planning and Standards
in Durham. N.C.. recently received a
cash award of $100. He devised a new
type of filter holder for sampling the
participates in stack gases, and the
Agency has applied for a U.S. patent
on it.
Office Director B. J. Steigerwald.
who presented the award, said, "Mr.
Martin's design is a significant innova-
tion in emission testing." It is smaller
than the usual holders—permitting in-
sertion through small sampling ports in
an industrial stack—yet it contains the
same filter medium and cross section
as the larger devices for outside sam-
pling. The Emission Measurement
Branch's equipment shop makes the
holders for EPA use. and a commer-
cial vendor has begun to produce a
similar holder.
The cash award was the first to he
given under the EPA Awards Man-
ual's new provisions that encourage
employees to report inventions
through their supervisors to the Office
of General Counsel.
The patent application on Mr. Mar-
tin's device was filed last October. If
a patent is granted, it will belong to
the Federal Government.
Anthony M. Vent re, a student intern
with the Office of Pesticide Programs.
recently received a special achieve-
ment award of $HX) from Edwin L.
Johnson. Deputy Assistant Adminis-
trator for Pesticide Programs.
Mr. Venire's work last summer in
collecting, organizing, and presenting
information for the Office's Strategic
Studies Unit saved both EPA and the
Department of Agriculture "at least
three man-months each," according to
his supervisor. Charles D. Reese. Mr.
John H. DeFord
Ventre is a prc-law student at the
University of Maryland and has been
a Federal Junior Fellow for two sum-
mers and between semesters.
John H. DeFord has been named
Acting Director. Office of Administra-
tion, for EPA's facilities at Durham
and Research Triangle Park, N.C..
succeeding Dr. Burton I.e\\.
Mr. DeFord. who has headed the
Office of Administration's Contracts
Management Division, worked for the
former National Air Pollution Control
Agency in Durham when that agencv
was made part of EPA in 1970.
During his IS years of Federal service
he has worked with the Air Force
Academy Construction Agency. Colo-
rado Springs. Colo.; the National Aer-
onautics and Space Administration.
Cleveland. Ohio; and the Department
of Health. Education, and Welfare in
Washington. D.C.
A native of Alton. Kan., he attended
Kansas State Universiu and served
four years in the U.S. Army. He is a
member of the National Contracts
Management Association and the So-
ciety of American Military Engineers
and a director of the Carolina Forest
Property Owners Association.
Last year Mr. DeFord was awarded
the EPA Bronze Medal for commend-
able service. He lives in Raleigh with
his wife. Dena Richardson DeFord.
They have a married daughter.
PAGE 15
-------
$718 MILLION BUDGET PROPOSED FOR FISCAL 77
Congress is considering a budget for
EPA operations in Fiscal 1977 total-
ling $718 million, or $53 million less
than the curent year, which ends June
30.
The $53-million decrease, said Ad-
ministrator Russell E. Train, is pri-
marily due to the "phasing down" of
grants for State and area-wide water
quality planning. However, Mr. Train
said, the proposed budget would "en-
able the Agency to continue most of
its programs at current levels" and
provide for "increases in some high-
priority programs."
The Water Supply Program would be
increased $10.6 million to provide
double the current level of grants to
States to assist them in supervising
public water systems and in establish-
ing underground injection controls to
protect groundwater supplies. EPA
expects that 41 States will have as-
sumed this responsibility by the end of
Fiscal 1977.
Other budget items that would be
increased are Regional Management
and Support, $7.4 million, and Scien-
tific Activities Overseas. $2.0 million.
Decreases are proposed for water
quality, $59.7 million; pesticides, $4.5
million; energy research and develop-
ment, $3.6 million; air pollution con-
trol, $2.3 million; and radiation $1.3
million. Lesser cuts would be made in
interdisciplinary work, toxic sub-
stances, noise abatement, and solid
waste management.
A detailed breakdown of the current
and proposed budgets is given in an
adjoining table.
The number of full-time, permanent
positions in EPA would remain the
same, 9,550, in Fiscal 1977, but there
would be 99 positions reassigned
Table 1, EPA's Operating Budget
Current Year and Fiscal 1977 Proposed
by Program and Function
(dollars in i
Program
Research and
Development
Abatement and
Control
Enforcement
Agency & Regional
Management
Totals
1976
1977
1976
1977
1976 1977
1976
1977
1976
1977
Air Pollution
Water Quality
Water Supply
Solid Waste
Pesticides
Radiation
Interdisciplinary
Toxic Substances
Noise
Energy Research & Devel.
Program Mgt. & Support .
Agency & Regional Mgmt.
48,542.2
43,939.6
12,253.9
4,066.0
10,887.0
1,678.9
28,155.4
1,355.0
100,550.3
15.587.4
46,542.2
42,168.5
12.253.9
4,066.0
10,887.0
878.9
25,355.4
1,355.0
96,973.0
15,915.1
84,715.2
174,546.7
19,839.9
11,618.6
29,492.2
4,486.8
8,788.9
6,850.3
9,544.2
83,139.0
115,172.9
30,449.2
11,670.4
24,175.0
4,022.4
10,664.4
6,012.0
9,576.4
33,694.4 34,692.3
12,499.3 13,743.0
19,792.7 21,241.9
80.0 81.0
3,911.1 4,745.1
1,029.3 708.6
15,431.3 16,031.9
68,183.4-75,671.5-
145,756.7
238.279.0
32,173.8
15,684.6
44,290.3
6,165.7
36,944.3
8,205.3
10,573.5
100,550.3
64,713.1
68,183.4
143,424.2
178,583.3
42,784.1
15,736.4
39,807.1
4,901.3
36,019.8
7,367.0
10,285.0
96,973.0
66,639.3
75,671.5
Total 267.015.7 256,395.0 383,577.2 329,574.0 52,743.756,551.5 68,183.475,671.5 771,520.0 718,192.0
" includes Buildings and Facilities and Scientific Activities Overseas totalling S6.1 million in 1976 and $8.1 million in 1977.
Table 2, EPA's Manpower Budget
Current Year and Fiscal I977 Proposed
by Program and Function
Program
Air Pollution
Water Quality
Water Supply
Solid Waste
Pesticides
Radiation
Interdisciplinary
Toxic Substances . .
Noise
Energy Research & Devel. . .
Program Mgt. & Support
Agency & Regional Mgt. .
Advances & Reimbursements
Total
Research and
Development
1 976 1 977
473 473
548 548
85 85
22 22
157 157
50 30
204 214
7 7
123 123
142 142
1,811 1,801
Abatement
Control
and
1976 1977
803
1,819
175
161
671
184
130
45
74
170
4,232
815
1,816
210
161
639
174
129
45
74
167
4,230
Enforcement
1976
462
738
4
166
21
177
1,568
1977
482
764
4
156
21
177
1,604
Agency & Regional Tntak
Management
1976 1977 1976
1,738
3,105
264
183
994
234
334
52
95
123
489
1,822 1,798 1,822
117 117 117
1,939 1,915 9,550
1977
1,770
3.128
299
183
952
204
343
52
95
123
486
1,798
117
9,550
PAGE 16
-------
among various programs and functions
(see manpower budget table). Most of
these would be shifts from Headquar-
ters to Regional Offices to increase
regional enforcement efforts in water
supply, air pollution control, and
water quality programs. Categories
that would lose personnel would be
pesticides, radiation, and Agency and
Regional Management.
Mr. Train said these shifts would
reflect two basic principles of the
proposed budget: decentralizing man-
power resources whenever possible
and fulfilling high-priority needs first.
Budget Highlights
Here's a quick summary of salient
features of the proposed EPA operat-
ing budget for the next fiscal year:
*$I0.6 million more for drinking
water supply than the current year,
and 35 new positions.
*$59.7 million less for water quality.
and 23 fewer positions, reflecting
phase-out of areawide planning grants,
though water quality enforcement
would gain $1.4 million and 26 posi-
tions.
*Air pollution control. $2.3 million
less but 32 more positions. 20 of them
in enforcement with a budget boost of
$1.2 million.
* Pesticides, down $4.4 million and 42
positions; a rise in enforcement grant
funds more than offset by a drop in
abatement and control.
*Solid waste management virtually
unchanged, budget down $52.000.
same number of positions.
* Radiation $1.3 million less and 30
fewer positions. n
No Increase
Sought in
Construction Grants
No new authorization for Federal
construction grants to municipalities
for sewage treatment facilities was
proposed by the President in his re-
cent budget request to Congress for
Fiscal 1977.
About $10 billion "currently availa-
ble." said Administrator Russell E.
Train, "will be sufficient to meet grant
needs through Sept. 30. 1977."
At the same time Mr. Train re-
vealed plans to ask Congress to make
the construction grants more cost-
effective by amending the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act. The
proposed amendments would:
* Focus Federal aid on projects most
needed for pollution control—sewage
treatment facilities—by continuing the
current aid level of 75 percent.
*Lower to 60 percent the Federal
share for combined sanitary and storm
sewers.
^Eliminate aid for separate storm
sewers, collector sewers, and sewer
replacement and repair.
"Eliminate aid for that portion of a
project designed as reserve capacity
for population growth.
* Restrict aid to projects providing
"secondary treatment" of sewage, ex-
cept where the municipality can prove
that higher treatment is worth the
extra cost.
*Allow EPA to extend the 1977
deadline for cities to comply with
sewage effluent standards: this would
be done on an individual basis and the
extension would not exceed six years.
About half the Nation's cities will not
be able to meet the legal deadline. Mr.
Train said.
Construction grant funds already
authorized. Mr. Train said, will permit
EPA to obligate (allocate to specific
projects) $4.5 billion in the current
fiscal year. $1 billion in the July-
September transition period, and $6.1
billion in Fiscal 1977.
Outlays, or payments, are expected
to total $2.35 billion this fiscal year.
$600 million in the transition period.
and S3.8 billion in Fiscal '11. The
outlay "target" for Fiscal "78 is $4.6
billion, o
Shifting Gears
on the
Fiscal Year
This year Uncle Sam is changing
his bookkeeping.
Fiscal 1977 will start next Oct. 1
(instead of July 1) and will end Sep't.
30. 1977. The shift was authori/ed in
the Congressional Budget and Im-
poundment Control Act of 1974.
July. August, and September this
year will be a transition period, a gap
between Fiscal '76 and Fiscal '77.
Congress has authorized E.PA in
that period to pay salaries and spend
money at approximately the rates set
in the Fiscal '76 budget.
In the past EPA has usually started
the fiscal year under a continuing
resolution, because Congress had not
yet formally adopted its budget for the
Agency. Congress often makes
changes in the budget proposed by the
Executive Office, n
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-------
REGION III
Although the past year has been one
of progress for the Middle Atlantic
Region, it was not without disappoint-
ment.
Region HI is composed of Delaware.
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
West Virginia and the District of
Columbia. Most of its environmental
problems are representative of those
in other parts of the United States.
Certain factors, however, compound
the difficulty of environmental im-
provement.
The Region is home to 25 million
people. It has much of the Nation's
coal mining industry, about one-fourth
of the primary metals industry, and
three of the busiest seaports. A large
share of the Nation's oil imports, as
well as substantial domestic ship-
ments, move through the Chesapeake
and Delaware estuaries.
Improvement in the water quality
has been dramatic in some areas, but
less success has been shown in others.
Major rivers continue to be polluted
by poorly treated sanitary wastes.
complex industrial wastes, and urban
runoff. Non-point sources and agricul-
tural runoff significantly contribute to
the nutrient loadings of many of the
streams of the region.
Although the upper reaches of the
Delaware River are nearly pristine,
the lower portions continue to experi-
ence zero dissolved oxygen levels in
the summer months. Sections of the
Potomac River have shown improve-
ment, while other sections continue to
be degraded. There has been enough
improvement in the Schuylkili River
that fish ladders are now being consid-
ered at one of the dams. The im-
proved quality of the Monongahela
River demonstrates that success can
be achieved through acid mine drain-
age abatement programs and sewage
treatment plant projects. Fishing and
swimming are now possible in areas of
the river which could support neither
activity a few years ago.
Water quality is expected to improve
considerably in the coming years be-
cause of several EPA programs. The
most important of these is the con-
struction grants program for municipal
PAGE 18
Independence Hall in downtown Philadel-
phia, where the Declaration of independ-
ence was signed, also served as the
Nation's capital in the formative years.
sewage treatment systems. Region ill
has 738 active projects costing a total
of $1.06 billion.
Discharge Permits
The Region has issued 3,675 waste-
water discharge permits, including
ones to virtually all major dischargers.
Another 4.460 applications are await-
ing action. Virginia. Delaware and
Maryland have been delegated com-
plete authority to issue permits. West
Virginia and Pennsylvania issue per-
mits in conjunction with EPA.
An important new program that
holds bright hope of improved water
quality over the next 20 years is
comprehensive areawide planning for
wastewater management. The region
has 12 designated planning agencies,
at least one in each State. Setting
priorities for federally funded munici-
pal wastewater treatment grants, iden-
tification and treatment of non-point
sources, design of effective storm
water systems, and an integrated plan-
ning strategy with air quality mainte-
nance considerations are the major
goals of this program.
Since a large share of the Nation's
oil imports are handled in this region,
oil spill prevention and cleanup is a
major program. Regional officials
monitored or actively participated in
the cleanup of more than 1,000 spills
last year. Within the past year and a
half two large tankers have had acci-
dents on the Delaware River, spilling
millions of gallons of oil. Of the spills
reported last year, 43 were forwarded
to the Coast Guard for civil penalty
assessment and three have gone to the
U.S. Attorney for criminal prosecu-
tion. More than 300 facilities have
been inspected for compliance with
EPA's spill prevention regulations.
and 88 violations were found.
The Region has continued to wrestle
with the problem of ocean dumping.
Under the Marine Protection and
Sanctuaries Act, interim ocean dump-
ing permits have been issued to the
Cities of Philadelphia and Camden
and to the duPont facility at Edge
Moor, Del. However, it has been
demonstrated that there are alterna-
tives to disposal of waste into the
ocean, and all three permit holders
must submit plans to phase out ocean
dumping by 1981.
During the year, two major incidents
in the Region emphasized the neces-
sity of insuring the quality of drinking
water.
In December 1974, complaints from
residents in a section of Pittsburgh
precipitated an investigation by EPA
into the cause of taste and odor
problems. Although positive findings
could not be made, evidence pointed
to industrial discharges from steel
plants into the Monongahela River as
the cause. EPA ordered the water
company to closely monitor their in-
take system to determine when con-
taiininants are present in the water. In
addition they were required to up-
grade treatment methods.
EPA's "80 Cities Survey" of drink-
ing water led to the other incident.
Analysis of a water sampje collected
at Philadelphia's N.E, Sewage Treat-
ment Plant disclosed the presence of
the organic chemical and suspected
carcinogen, bischloroethylether, in the
Delaware River. The source was dis-
covered to be the Rohm and Haas
Company. Following meetings be-
tween Region III, the City of Phila-
delphia, and Rohm and Haas, it was
agreed that the operation causing the
discharge should be discontinued. The
company has developed pretreatment
techniques to remove the substance
from its wastewater and discharges
are continually monitored to assure
that the drinking water remains free of
it.
-------
Downward Trend
The problems of air pollution are
faced by EPA on a day-to-day basis,
and considerable progress has been
made. An overall composite of air
sampling sites shows a definite down-
ward trend in air pollution, but trends
and levels vary from area to area. In
Philadelphia, carbon monoxide ap-
pears to have been reduced about 25
percent over the past three years.
There have also been reductions in
sulfur dioxide and particulates. Other
areas are experiencing similar de-
clines, but air quality standards are
not being met in many of the Air
Quality Control Regions.
Scanty past information makes it
difficult to accurately measure the
change, but it appears that oxidant
and nitrogen dioxide levels have in-
creased. Photochemical oxidants pro-
duced in one area can be transported
to another. Therefore, while oxidant
levels have decreased in places like
Baltimore and Philadelphia, new mon-
itoring sites are detecting levels in
areas that may not have had them in
the past. Although nitrogen dioxide
levels have increased, it is anticipated
that emission controls for the 1977
automobiles will have a beneficial ef-
fect.
A good deal of controversy sur-
rounded the discovery of certain car-
cinogenic substances in the air around
chemical plants. These substances in-
cluded vinyl chloride and dimethyl
nitrosamines. While levels of these
substances found in the air are not
immediate health hazards, their pres-
ence is cause for concern. The Region
is continuing to monitor these sub-
stances closely.
Some great strides have been made
over the past year in eliminating cer-
tain major fixed sources of air pollu-
tion. The Philadelphia Electric Com-
pany agreed to install flue gas desul-
furization equipment (scrubbers) on
two coal-fired stations that are major
sources of sulfur dioxide in Philadel-
phia. Agreement was also reached
with the City to equip two of its
incinerators with pollution control de-
vices. Operations are to be discontin-
ued at four others.
Last October, EPA, Allegheny
County, and the Jones & Laughlin
Steel Corp. agreed on a timetable to
clean up J&L's Pittsburgh Works.
The order commits the company to
spend about $200 million for expan-
sion and upgrading, approximately half
of which rs for pollution control.
Bird's-eye view looking west from the
U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monu-
ment. Museums and government build-
ings flank the Mall. In the foreground are
the Library of Congress, left, and the
Supreme Court, right of center.
Comparable success has not been
achieved in controlling mobile sources
of air pollution. Four air quality con-
trol areas in Region III require trans-
portation control plans: Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh. Baltimore, and Washing-
ton, D.C. In recent months Federal
courts have ruled that portions of the
plans for Baltimore and Washington
are unconstitutional. While upholding
the plans in theory, the courts rejected
EPA's authority to require certain
legislative actions necessary to imple-
ment portions of these plans. The
courts ordered EPA to work with the
States in developing new measures
which would be feasible and effective
in meeting the requirements of the
Clean Air Act. Although plans in
Pennsylvania survived a similar court
challenge, opposition to many of the
proposals at the State and local levels
has delayed implementation. Measures
such as inspection and maintenance,
retrofit, and exclusive bus lanes have
met the most opposition. On the other
hand, measures like car pooling and
vapor recovery have proved to be-
both effective arid well received.
Inspections
Region III regularly conducts inspec-
tions of pesticide manufacturers to
insure that these businesses are fol-
lowing all legal requirements including
proper labeling and product formula-
tion. Pesticide-related accidents are
closely investigated. Reports of wide-
spread illness among employees at a
company in Hopewell. Va.. led EPA
and other Federal and State agencies
into an investigation of the cause. It
was found that the company, the
Nation's sole manufacturer of a pesti-
cide known as Kepone. was not a
registered pesticide-producer establish-
ment. Region III then issued a stop
sale, use or removal order under the
Federal Insecticide. Fungicide and
Rodenticide Act. In a subsequent or-
der the remaining Kepone at the plant
was ordered stored until a safe dis-
posal method could be found. The
interrelationship of environmental ef-
fects was pointed out explicitly in
this case, which touched on not only
the pesticides issue, but on air, water,
and disposal by land.
Regional elYorts in the area of solid
waste management, noise pollution
and radiation have centered on techni-
cal assistance to State and local gov-
ernments and in monitoring and pro-
gram studies.
The Region's number one priority
will be the administration of $1.2 bil-
lion in construction grants. These
funds will be granted for the construc-
tion of municipal sewage treatment
works which are cost effective and
planned so as to minimi/.e adverse
environmental impacts.
Region III officials feel it is impor-
tant to operate both grants and regula-
tory programs in a manner that will
encourage maximum re-use of waste
products, thereby saving energy and
scarce raw material resources.
Region III is pleased by the progress
made, but is well aware of problems
still unsolved. These problems can be
solved if everyone is willing to work
together on them. It demands the best
ideas, the greatest cooperation, and a
lasting determination to make the so-
lutions work, n
PAGE 19
-------
TOURNG THE
MID-ATLANTC REGION
Bv Michael J. Chem"
The Mid-Atlantic Region is a land
rich in both scenic beauty and history.
Here we have the Appalachian
mountains, rolling countryside, rela-
tively flat stretches of the Tidewater
country and finally the Atlantic
Ocean.
Cireat and famous rivers course this
land. The Potomac. Susquehanna.
.lames. Delaware. Monongahela. Rap-
pahannock and the Schuylkill.
This area is also part of the megalop-
olis which stretches from Boston
through Washington. The portion of
the giant urban chain in this region
includes Philadelphia. Baltimore. Wil-
mington and Washington.
Yet. despite the fact that it is home
to these major cities, the area also has
a wealth of plant and animal life.
In the mountains of West Virginia.
the urgent hammering of a pileated
woodpecker breaks the forest stillness.
(lulls screech as they compete for
fish in Washington's Tidal Basin. Ca-
nadian geese winter in Delaware's Bom-
bay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.
(iloriotis rhododendrons flourish in
the Shenandoah National Park. A/.a-
leas flame along the Skyline Drive.
Camellias and wisteria decorate
homes in the warmer portions of the
region. Pink and white dogwoods lend
grace and beauty to the area.
First State
In reviewing this region, let's start
with IX'laware which calls itself the
F-'irst State because it was the first
State to ratify the Constitution.
The major city in the state. Wilming-
ton, is the site of Ft. Christina.
founded by Swedes in 1638.
Near Smyrna in the central part of
the state is Bombay Hook National
Wildlife Refuge, a breeding ground for
many shore and aquatic birds.
At the southern end of Delaware is
the 50.000-acre Great Cypress
Swamp. While once used for mining
bog iron, it is relatively untouched by
man and is now a haven for many
forms of bird and other animal life.
Along the Atlantic Coast, the resort
of Rehoboth attracts huge crowds dur-
ing the summer, including many
Washingtonians trying to escape the
steamy heat of the Nation's Capital.
Another major ocean resort city
nearby is Maryland's Ocean City.
where towering apartment and con-
dominium buildings recently erected
along the coast give the appearance of
a Miami Beach of the North.
Offering relative peace and quiet a
few miles to the south is the long sand
barrier of Assateague Island. This
isolated island provides a home for
many forms of wildlife, including wild
ponies said to be descendants of ani-
mals that escaped from a wrecked
Spanish ship over 4(X) years ago.
To prevent the herd from getting too
large for the limited food supply, a
roundup is held annually and the
surplus ponies sold at auction.
Nearby is Chesapeake Bay. the larg-
est estuary in the United States.
pom gva/es on marsh grass at Assateague National Seashore.
Hundreds ot Sals
The great gash of this Bay splits
Maryland almost in two. isolating the
Eastern Shore on the Delmarva pe-
ninsula from the main part of the
state.
Dotted with hundreds of sails in
summer, the bay is the source of a
huge fishing industry as well as a
boating center.
Near the northern end of the Chesa-
peake is historic Annapolis, capital of
Maryland and home of the United
States Naval Academy.
A few miles north in Baltimore Har-
bor is Fort McHenry. whose bom-
bardment in the War of 1812 inspired
Francis Scott Key to write our Na-
tional Anthem.
Along the northern border of Mary-
land is Pennsylvania, with its two
major cities of Pittsburgh and Phila-
delphia.
Scenic areas in this State include
Moraine State Park, north of Pitts-
burgh, which was created by reclama-
tion of abandoned strip mines. At the
New York border is the large Alle-
gheny National Forest.
In eastern Pennsylvania is the mag-
nificent Pine Creek Gorge, sometimes
called Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon.
and the Delaware Water Gap, a noted
scenic area where the Delaware River
breaks through the Appalachian
Mountains.
In Philadelphia, "birthplace of the
Nation." are several historic attrac-
tions. Independence National Historic
Park is the site of the national shrine
of liberty. Independence Hall, where
the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution were adopted.
One of the Nation's finest urban
parks. Fairmount Park, is located in
Philadelphia.
Also steeped in history is Virginia.
The British founded their first suc-
cessful colony in North America at
Jamestown. Nearby is Yorktown,
where Cornwallis surrendered to end
the Revolutionary War, and Williams-
burg, Virginia's colonial capital, now
restored and a major tourist attraction.
One of Virginia's most striking assets
is Shenandoah National Park. This
slender national park in the Blue
Ridge Mountains, only two hours
from Washington, provides a sylvan
retreat for residents of the megalopo-
lis.
Washington itself is a city enhanced
by trees and numerous park areas.
* Mr. Chern is ti Writer/Editor in
Region Ill's Public Affair* Office.
PAGE 20
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Rock Creek Park, with its forests and
fields, provides a refreshing escape
from the daily crises in this Rome of
the modern world.
Washington is also the beginning of
185-mile long Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal which winds along the north
bank of the Potomac River, leading to
Harper's Ferry, W. Va., where the
Shenandoah meets the Potomac
River.
Thomas Jefferson is reputed to have
said that the view from the bluff at
Harper's Ferry is worth crossing the
Atlantic to see.
Flowing through the Region is one of
the oldest rivers in the world—archeolo-
gists and geologists say probably only
the Nile is older. Paradoxically, it is
called the New River. It begins in
North Carolina and flows north and
west through Virginia and into West
Virginia.
More than one million acres of West
Virginia, sometimes called "America's
Switzerland," are publicly owned and
devoted to conservation and recrea-
tion.
Albert Montague
Office of Research and Development
Daniel J. Snyder. Ill
Regional Administrator
Stephen R. \Vassersug
Director, Enforcement Division
Alvin R. Morris
Deputy Regional Administrator
George T. Dukes
Director, Office of Civil Rights
Region HI's
LEADERSHIP
TEAM
Greene A. Jones
Director, Water Programs Division
James K. I'.lder
Director. Management Division
Ralph Rhodes
Director, Surveillance and
Analysis Division
R. Diane Margenau
Director, Office of Congressional
and Public Affairs
Gordon M. Rapier
Director, Air and Ha/ardous
Materials Division
PAGE 21
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harbor cleanup
Region I has announced agreement on
a 10-year. $800-million construction
program to improve the water pollution
control facilities of Boston's
Metropolitan District Commission. The
Commission serves 43 communities in
the Boston area, and the program is the
largest pollution control effort ever
undertaken in New England. It is
designed to make Boston Harbor and
the Neponset and Charles Rivers
fishable and swimmable and to
complement plans to develop the
Boston Harbor islands for greater
public use.
poems and posters
Entries have started pouring in for
Region I's fourth annual Elementary
Education Ecology Poem and Poster
Program. Grade school pupils write
poems and draw posters about
environmental problems studied in
class. Teachers select two outstanding
entries from each class to submit to
EPA's judging panel representing
various citizen, environmental, and
educational groups. Last year more
than 100,000 students from all six States
took part in the program.
PAGE 22
oil skimmer works
An oil-skimming device originally
developed with EPA and Navy funding
helped to clean up a big oil spill in
Brooklyn recently. The Dynamic
Inclined Plane Skimmer, developed by
the JBF Scientific Corp., Burlington,
Mass., was brought in by the Navy at
the request of EPA and the Coast
Guard. It recovered 165,000 gallons of
oil from the harbor waters in its first 12
hours of operation. The spill followed
an explosion and fire at an oil terminal
near the Gowanus Canal Jan. 3. The
amount of heating oil spilled was
variously estimated at between 500,000
and two million gallons.
minority workers
Sewage treatment construction projects
in New York City are employing more
minority-group workers than they did a
year ago.
An EPA analysis of hours worked
during a recent month showed a four
percent gain from the year before for
operating engineers, dockbuilders.
electrical workers, metal lathers, and
plumbers working on EPA-suppotted
projects. This occurred despite a 30-
percent unemployment rate in the
industry, the analysts noted.
power plant cited
Region 111 officials have ordered the
Potomac Electric Power Co. to cut
soot and dust emissions from its
generating station at Dickerson. Md.
The company burns coal with a high
ash content in three boiler units, and its
paniculate emissions have been as
much as six times the allowed amounts.
It must install a stack gas scrubber for
two units, modify an existing scrubber
on the third unit, and upgrade existing
precipitators on all three units. All
work must be completed and the whole
plant in compliance by May II. 1978.
deep-well test
Region IV is backing an experiment to
determine if treated wastewater from
the Orlando. Fla., area can be safely
and economically injected into deep
wells.
The Agency has agreed to provide 75
percent of the cost of drilling a test well
at the Sand Lake Road sewage plant in
Orange County. The well will be drilled
down to the "boulder zone" of salt-
water-bearing rock sealed off by
impervious strata from the fresh-water
aquifer that supplies Orange County's
drinking water.
The well's depth is expected to be
about 3,000 feet, but may have to go as
far as 6,500 feet, which could cost
about $1 million.
13
I CHICAGO )
coke batteries closed
After a three-year air pollution control
effort by EPA and State officials, U.S.
Steel Corp. recently closed three of its
most highly polluting coke batteries in
' Gary, Indiana.
EPA's enforcement action began with
issuance of a notice of violation in April
1973, and was followed by the issuance
of an administrative order in June 1973,
and included a subsequent Federal
court civil suit. Although the civil suit
was settled by entrance of a consent
decree covering a majority of the
facilities at the Gary Works, three coke
batteries were expressly omitted from
the decree because the parties could
not agree on an appropriate time frame
for achieving compliance. EPA's
Chicago Regional Office advised U.S.
Steel Corp. that if an acceptable
-------
agreement on these coke batteries could
not be reached promptly, EPA would
reissue a notice of violation and keep
all enforcement options open, including
criminal sanctions.
After long and frustrating negotiations,
a second notice of violation was issued
last March. Because the Company still
failed to submit an acceptable
compliance program, EPA in July of
1975 referred the matter to the
Department of Justice to initiate
appropriate action under Section 113 of
the Clean Air Act. The Department of
Justice advised U.S. Steel Corp. that
continued operation of the three
batteries beyond the end of calendar
year 1975 would potentially subject the
Company and its responsible officials to
criminal liability.
Scott Fleming was the regional attorney
handling the case, and the Chicago
Regional Office's Air Surveillance
Branch supported the actions with field
investigations.
meetings, speeches
Regional Administrator John C.
White's speaking engagements last
month included the Arkansas
Federation of Air and Water Users,
Hot Springs, Ark.; the Mayors'
Institute, Albuquerque, N. M.; the
National Safe Drinking Water Advisory
Council, Dallas; and the "Solutions '76
Seminar on Traffic, Transportation, and
Parking," also in Dallas.
This month Mr. White is scheduled to
speak at the 58th Annual Water
Utilities Short School at College
Station, Texas, and to give the keynote
luncheon address at the National Air
Pollution Conference in Dallas March
12.
photos speed survey
Thanks to EPA's photo interpretation
experts in Vint Hill, Va., previously
unlisted facilities for oil production and
storage in southwestern Kansas have
been spotted, and Region VII field
teams know where to go to make on-
site inspections.
The Vint Hill unit, part of EPA's
Environmental Monitoring and Support
Laboratory, Las Vegas, Nev., was able
to interpret aerial photos of a 2,706-
square-mile area in six weeks, with
substantial saving of time and
manpower for the Regional office. Data
from aerial photos and electronic scans
were transferred to topographic and
county road maps to locate oil wells,
storage tanks, transmission lines, and
possible spill areas.
breaking a record
Region VH's Grants Administration
Branch had set a goal for the second
quarter of the fiscal year, October
through December: $65 million in
construction grants funds obligated.
They surpassed their goal by nearly 60
percent, obligating $103.7 million, and
Carl Blomgren, Director of Water
Programs, threw a party for all hands
to celebrate.
woodman, spare that . . .
In the first two months of Region
VIII's paper-saving drive, 42'/2 mature
trees have been spared the axe. This is
calculated on the assumption that it
takes 17 trees to make a ton of high-
grade paper.
Denver was the first regional office to
join EPA Headquarters in the
organized effort to save all high-grade
white paper waste for recycling.
Regional Administrator John A. Green
is encouraging other Federal agencies
to participate, collecting such paper in
desk-top containers for shipment to a
recycling contractor, Shade, Inc.,
Green Bay, Wise.
Production of recycled paper requires
about 60 percent less energy than
manufacture of paper made from new
wood pulp, and there is a reduction of
60 percent in air pollution and 15
percent in water pollution. Money for
the reclaimed paper goes to the U.S.
Treasury.
hawaii turnaround
Hawaii has achieved a "historic
turnaround" in its wastewater treatment
construction program, according to
Region IX Administrator Paul DeFalco
Jr. Hawaii's "rate of progress among
the 50 States has gone from near the
bottom to near the top in less than a
year," Mr. DeFalco said at a recent
convention of the National Utilities
Contractors' Association in Honolulu.
Through outstanding Federal-Slate
cooperation, he said, EPA has been
able to approve projects and commit all
presently available funds, $93 million
altogether, of which $77 million was
approved in the last nine months.
"EPA is striving to transfer the 'nuts
and bolts' of this program to the
States," Mr. DeFalco said, "and in
Hawaii this is now largely the case.
The results will be a more effective
program to achieve cleaner water and a
program which is more responsive to
the unique environmental needs of
Hawaii."
tv town meeting
EPA's first television "town meeting"
in Spokane, Wash., last month reached
an audience estimated at more than
100.000 persons.
John H. Quarles Jr.. Deputy
Administrator, and Region X
Administrator Clifford V. Smith led the
two-hour session "live" from the
studios of KSPS-TV. the Spokane
educational station, on Feb. 9. Beyond
the Spokane area the program was
carried on about a dozen cable TV
stations, bringing the town meeting to
viewers as far west as Wenatchee.
Wash., as far south as Oregon's
northeastern corner, east across the
Idaho panhandle to western Montana.
and north to Calgary. Alberta. Canada.
PAGE 23
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MOULD you
yCUR CHILD TO ENTER LJ
THE EEDER4L CIVIL SERVICE?
Peter Devine, Regional Counsel. Re-
gion II, New York:
"If I had only one child 1 would
have no objection to his or her enter-
ing the Federal service. It's been good
to me. It's satisfying to provide a
public service, to contribute to soci-
ety—to pro hono—in a special way.
Working for the Federal government
is a good way to spend one's time in
one's career, and, of course, it also
provides a living in an admirable way.
However, since I happen to have 10
children. I hope they will have a
variety of experiences. I look forward
to vicariously enjoying a variety of
different life styles. So 1 would cer-
tainly not discourage, and would prob-
ably encourage, one or more to enter
the Federal service, if they so desire.
But I would hope that they ail don't
decide to become civil servants."
Dolores I). White, secretary. Congres-
sional Affairs Division. Region X,
Seattle, Wash.:
"Yes, but only if there is a better
chance for their advancing, getting
proper training and equitable salary
than in the private sector, regardless
of their being a minority male or, two
strikes against my daughter, being
black and a woman. Now the
Federal government is making prog-
ress in this area for minorities and
women and is keeping abreast with
the private sector. Hopefully by the
time my children are of age they will
be able to choose a job in either the
Federal government or the private
sector because it offers them the bene-
fits they want as a qualified person
and not because there is potential
advancement as a minority or a
woman."
Clara J. Delay, secretary. Enforce-
ment Division. Region IV, Atlanta,
Ga.:
"Being the mother of two girls, I will
definitely advise my children to go
into Federal service when they be-
come of age. In addition to the leave
benefits, retirement plan, and low in-
surance costs, more women are reach-
ing their full potential in Federal serv-
ice in terms of job security, job ad-
vancement, training and educational
opportunities, and upward mobility
opportunities."
Donald VV. Whitlock, Chief. General
Services Branch. Region V, Chicago.
111.:
"Until my exposure to FPA, my
answer would have been 'no'. I had
always felt that the Federal govern-
ment was too impersonal in its deal-
ings with employees, as well as being
a haven for those without motivation
for either improving themselves or
alleviating national problems. Employ-
ment with FIPA has shown me that
the challenge to improve the environ-
ment has brought together a Federal
agency composed of people willing to
expend extra effort to attain Agency
goals. There are many opportunities
available for Federal employees for
self-improvement. They can obtain job
related education at no cost to them-
selves which will prepare them for
promotion. I have suggested to two of
my sons that they seek employment
with the Federal government, and I
hope they will accept this piece of
advice."
Gilbert M. Gigliotti, Director, Techni-
cal Information Staff, Office of Re-
search and Development, Cincinnati,
Ohio:
"I believe the question is a timely,
well-conceived one. and I am pleased
to say, 'Yes'! I have talked with my
teen-age children who have reinforced
my own conclusion.
"Although it is true the Federal Civil
Service System has received much
negative nation-wide attention, there
are employees who perform their du-
ties with dedication. These men and
women have found selfimprovement
in their job and advancement available
in their work life. Regretfully, some
employees have not been given or
used the opportunities to make use of
their skills and resourcefulness.
"Many of today's Federal service
employees (scientists, engineers,
clerks, and wage board) have long
records of experience in their fields.
They bring a high quality of man-
power to the Federal family, and
because of their example I can urge
that my children include Federal em-
ployment among their career options."
IVter De vine
Dolorts I>. White
Clara J. Dt-lay
Donald \\ . Whitlock Gilbert M. Gigliotti
PAGE 24
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briefs
QUARLES NOTES INDUSTRY CLEANUP
Most American industries have "responded positively to our efforts
to develop reasonable solutions to environmental problems," Deputy
Administrator John R. Quarles Jr. told a group of business leaders
in New York recently. But, he said, there are exceptions, most
notably the United States Steel Corporation. "Substantial compliance
problems have been encountered" at 17 of the firm's 20 major steel-
making facilities, he said. "In my opinion, U.S. Steel has compiled
a record of environmental recalcitrance...second to none."
$7.5 MILLION AVAILABLE TO STATES FOR DRINKING WATER PROGRAMS
EPA has allocated $7.5 million to help States set up and administer
drinking water programs under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The
funds will be used to formulate standards, certify laboratories,
and survey and enforce compliance. Each allocation was determined
by the number of public water systems in the State, and its
population and land area.
EPA SURVEYING RADIATION FROM TV AND RADIO STATIONS
A specially equipped van carrying three scientists from the Office
of Radiation Programs is touring major U.S. cities to measure the
amounts of microwave radiation near television and radio broadcasting
stations. By next October the van will have surveyed seven large
cities in the East and Midwest. It will visit a similar number of
western cities in the following 12 months. Objectives are to
measure the intensity of radiation present and possible effects on
human health.
FINAL REGULATIONS ADOPTED ON SEWAGE DISCHARGE FOR VESSELS
EPA recently adopted final rules limiting the discharge of sewage
from vessels into U.S. waters. When they are in full operation
after a phasing-in period (January 1977 for new vessels and three
years later for existing vessels), the rules ban any sewage
discharge into most freshwater bodies within a State, and they
require on-board treatment before discharge into coastal and
interstate waters.
PAGE 25
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PIAGU&PIAGUE
New steps have been taken in
EPA's efforts to encourage develop-
ment of natural enemies of the insects
which rob the American farmer of
millions of dollars worth of crops each
year.
For the first time an insecticide made
from a naturally occurring insect virus
has been registered by EPA. The
product, Elcar, is approved for use
against two highly destructive cotton
pests, the cotton bollworm and to-
bacco budworm, which despite its
name, also chews cotton plants.
The virus, Nuclear polyhedrosis, is a
natural disease of these two pests.
The insecticide is produced by raising
diseased bollworm and budworm in-
sects in a laboratory and then extract-
ing the virus and mixing it with other
materials, which can then be applied
by either ground equipment or air-
plane.
This natural insecticide, produced by
Sandoz, Inc., Homestead, Fla., ap-
pears to have no adverse effects on
beneficial insects, birds or other wild-
life that help keep cotton pests under
control.
Other environmental benefits of the
insecticide are that it becomes harm-
less shortly after application and that
it is not capable of building up in the
bodies of birds or other wildlife that
might eat the treated bugs.
In cotton growing areas where other
pests such as the boll weevil are a
problem, research is being conducted
on ways of combining Elcar with
chemical products for effective treat-
ment.
Registration by EPA means that the
Checking for hoi I worm damage in a Southern cotton Held.
product has met extensive test re-
quirements for safety and effective-
ness.
Different viruses are now being
tested under experimental use permits
from EPA for control of two serious
tree defoliating insects, the gypsy
moth and the tussock moth.
Other natural or biological pesticides
being developed are:
An insect bacterium, Bacillus thurin-
giensis. which recently was registered
by EPA for use in combating the
Eastern spruce budworm and for con-
trol of gypsy moth and several vegeta-
ble and crop pests.
A parasite, Nosema locustae. which
is mixed with wheat bran and then
dropped from airplanes in Montana
and Wyoming to control grasshopper
infestation. The Nosema feeds on the
grasshopper's fat and multiplies until
the insect gets puffy, turns while and
dies. Mass grasshopper populations
have been eating forage needed by
cattle on western grazing lands.
Use of this parasite is being tested
under an experimental use permit
from EPA. Also being tried under
such an EPA permit is a fungus that
is a natural enemy of a weed common
to rice fields in Arkansas.o
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