VOL. TWO, NO. SEVEN
JULY-AUGUST 1976
AMERICA'S LAKES
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY

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LAKES
      Floating on your back in a country lake you can watch clouds
      drift across the blue sky and hear the taint laughter and squeals
      of children pushing each other off a distant wooden platform.
  Swimming toward a tree- and rock-lined shore, you can see a
stilt-legged heron searching for food before he suddenly  flails his wings
to look elsewhere for an unwary frog.
  Painted turtles basking in the sun on a fallen tree at the water's edge
silently slip into the  lake as a swimmer approaches.
  A sudden cool  tingle lets you know that you're crossing through a
current from  an underground spring feeding the lake.
  Blue darning needles zig-zag back and forth and swallows skim  low.
From shore a small  boy skips a rock along the lake surface in a series
of diminishing dimples.
  In the distance a  fish leaps in one bright flash and plummets back
with a splash into the lake.
  This diversity of sights, sounds and feelings is  one of the great
attractions of swimming in a natural setting—an appeal which no
millionaire's artificial pool could duplicate.
  Each lake, of course, has a setting and personality of its own. And
every lake changes greatly not only from season to season but
between dawn and dusk.
  Helping to preserve the enchantment of lakes is one of HPA's
functions, although Congress may not have phrased it exactly so.
  On Lake Shagawa in  northern Minnesota a distant splash heard at
sunrise announces the launching of a canoe from a faraway shore  by
an eager fisherman.  The eerie cry at night echoing across this lake is
the  wail of a  loon.
  A year ago, EPA Journal carried an article about the work the
Agency is doing at Lake Shagawa  to help bring this lovely island-
studded lake  back to life. EPA  scientists have reported that for the
first time  anywhere  in this country they are showing how to restore a
lake suffering from excessive algae, the plant cancer of water pollution,
by removing  phosphorus, a fertilizer, from wastewater flowing to the
lake.
  Although expensive, this process might help some of the other aging
lakes EPA has  been studying in a massive national survey reported on
in this issue of the Journal.
  Some of the satisfaction lakes can offer is described by Thoreau.
who recalls in Walden. spending "the  hours of midnight fishing from a
boat by moonlight, serenaded by owls and foxes,  and hearing, from
time to time,  the creaking note  of some unknown bird close  at hand."
  In his chapter on The Ponds, Thoreau concludes that lakes like
Walden "are great crystals on the surface of the earth. Lakes of Light.
If they were  permanently congealed, and small enough to be clutched.
they would, perchance, be carried off by slaves, like precious stones.
to adorn the  heads of emperors; but being liquid, and ample, and
secured to us and our successors forever, we disregard them, and run
after" foreign diamonds.

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U.S.
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY

Russell E. Train, Administrator
Patricia L. Cahn, Director of Public
             Affairs
Charles D. Pierce, Editor
Staff:  Van Trumbull. Ruth Hussey
The EPA Journal is published
monthly, with combined issues for
July-August and November-
December, for employees of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. It
does not alter or supersede
regulations, operating procedures or
manual instructions. Contributions and
inquiries should be addressed to the
Editor, (A-107) Room 301, West
Tower, Waterside Mall, 401 M St.,
S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. No
permission necessary to reproduce
contents except copyrighted photos
and other materials.
Printed on recycled paper.


COVER:
Youngsters frolicking on Shagawa
Lake in northern Minnesota.
PHOTO CREDITS

COVER      Donald Emmerich*
PAGE 2      Donald Emmerich*
PAGE 5      Belinda Rain*
PAGE 10,11   Energy Research and
       Development Administration
PAGE 12     Dick Dickenson,
            Black  Star
PAGE 13     Ernest Bucci
PAGE 14     Al Wilson
PAGE 19     Paul S. Kivett
PAGE 20     Sharon Storm
PAGE 21     Charles O'Rear*
PAGE 22     Pat Duncan*
BACK PAGE Bikecentennial '76
* DOCUMERICA
                               ARTICLES
THE PENALTY
The landmark court case brought by
EPA to stop pollution of Lake Superior.
HELP FOR OUR AGING LAKES
Pollution is making many of the Nation's
lakes prematurely old.
ALGAE
The world's oldest plants and their
role in water pollution and life support.
MAKING REGULATION WORK By Russell  E. Train
           8
BALLOON  CHASE
           10
SCENES AT THE FLORIDA EXHIBIT—A photo essay       12

FREE CAR CHECK                                       13
REDUCING GOVERNMENT FORMS
           IS
REGION VII ON  PARADE
           19
SAVING THE GRASSLANDS By Rowena Michaels
BIKECENTENNIAL
BACK PAGE
DEPARTMENTS
PEOPLE
          14
NATION
           16
INQUIRY
          24
NEWS BRIEFS

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             •?&•'
I

Overall aerial \~ic\\- ofdischarge of' iwonitc  tailings by  Re nerve  Mining Company into Lake Superior. This photo and the
othersin this series were taken in 19731  hut the discharge ix continuing.


South  t'onvevtir chute pouring
wastes from Reserve Mining.

PAGE  2
Close-up of discharge  oj mine tailings.
Vapors rise  front the discharge site
in Lake Superior.

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THE
      Pending before  the  Eighth U.S.
      Court of Appeals is a landmark
      environmental case  which is re-
garded as an  epic struggle between
environmental and economic values.
  It is an appeal by the Reserve Min-
ing  Company and its parent firms from
a U.S.  District  Court decision which
assessed  them  with fines and penalties
totaling more than $1 million for pollut-
ing  Lake  Superior with pulverized rock
wastes in violation of State  permits.
  The decision in what is already  the
longest and  most expensive environ-
mental trial ever prosecuted by  the
Federal  Government  was  rendered by
Edward  J. Devitt. Chief Judge for the
U.S.  District Court in Minnesota. The
lawsuit  by  the  Justice  Department
against Reserve  began in  1972 at  the
request of former EPA Administrator
William  D.  Ruckelshaus.  Plaintiffs in
addition to EPA included  the States of
Minnesota,  Wisconsin, and  Michigan
and several environmental groups.
  The case became significant from the
standpoint of public  health when EPA
reported in June 1973. that  high concen-
trations  of asbestos fibers, which have
been  linked  to some  forms  of cancer.
had been found in western Lake Supe-
rior where  the taconite  wastes from
Reserve  are discharged.  The city of
Duluth and  a  number of  smaller com-
munities draw their drinking water from
this area of the lake.
  In  1974, Miles W. Lord, the original
U.S.  District Court judge  in  this case,
ordered  the discharge into the  lake
halted after he  found  that the daily
disposal  by  Reserve of up to 67,000
tons of taconite tailings,  or  fine  rock
waste, from its iron  ore processing
plant, was a  health threat.
  Judge  Lord's  ruling was  overturned
by  a three-judge panel of the  Eighth
U.S.  Circuit Court of Appeals which
found that pollution from  Reserve  cre-
ated some health risk  but that since the
danger was  not imminent,  closure of
Reserve's operations would not be  jus-
tified. The Appeals Court ordered  Re-
serve to  take  immediate steps to curb
its fiber discharges into the air and gave
the company a "reasonable time" for
switching to  an on-land system for
NA1TY
  disposal of its tailings.
    Efforts by the State of Minnesota to
  persuade the  U.S.  Supreme  Court  to
  reinstate Judge  Lord's order to halt the
  tailings  discharge into the lake were
  unsuccessful.
    An interagency task force was named
  by  Administrator Russell  E.  Train  to
  work  with Minnesota in  monitoring the
  progress  made in  complying  with  the
  court order for changing to a land
  disposal site.

         LAND DISPOSAL
    Reserve indicated  that it would con-
  sider depositing its taconite wastes on a
  land  site three miles from  the  lake
  known  as  Milepost 7.  However, a
  Minnesota state hearing examiner re-
  jected the Milepost  7 site and  recom-
  mended  that the  taconite wastes  be
  deposited at another site known  as
  Milepost 20 in  the  Superior  National
  Forest.
    The recommendation  got  a mixed
  reception from State  officials who were
  still  reviewing  the matter when EPA
  Journal went to press.
    Before the State  examiner's  recom-
  mendation.  Reserve and its parent com-
  panies, Armco Steel  Corp. and  Repub-
  lic Steel Corp., said  that any  site other
  than  the  Milepost  7 would not  be
  economically feasible and would require
  closing of its mining operation.
    Reserve,  with  more than  3,000 em-
  ployees at  its huge lakeside plant at
  Silver Bay,  and  an  annual payroll  of
  about $55 million, is the largest em-
  ployer in northern Minnesota.
      The Federal interagency task force,
  headed by  Dr. Robert Zeller of EPA,
  is considering  what  position  it should
  take on the land disposal site  question.
    Last  January,  the  Eighth Circuit
  Court of Appeals had removed Judge
  Lord from the case after finding that he
  was biased against Reserve.
    After Judge Lord's  removal,  Judge
  Devitt took over the  case. Judge  Devitt
  found that Reserve and its parent com-
  panies violated State discharge permits
  and assessed penalties totaling  $837,500.
    The judge also found that  Reserve
  had  violated court rules and orders  by
  not providing information requested and
fined Reserve $200,000 for this offense.
  In addition, the judge decided that
the city of Duluth should be reimbursed
$22,920 for funds spent to filter drink-
ing water for its residents.
  Discussing the penalty for violation
of the  State discharge  permits. Judge
Devitt  noted that  "the  court is aware
that, as a result of these discharges,
defendants  are liable  for the costs,
expected  to  be approximately  six mil-
lion dollars, of supplying clean water to
the affected communities.
  "In addition, the injunction resulting
from this  litigation  will compel Reserve
to either  cease operations  or expend
substantial sums, estimated at over
three hundred million dollars,  to de-
velop an alternative means of disposing
of production wastes."

     HELPED ECONOMY
  The judge  also commented that "it is
not disputed  that Reserve, by supplying
needed  jobs  and  services, has revital-
ized the economy of northeastern Min-
nesota and, by adding to the supply  of
domestically produced  raw  iron, has
contributed  to the  economy of the
entire country.  But similar contributions
have been made by  other corporations
while complying with applicable pollu-
tion control laws and  regulations."
  The court  also noted  that  "it should
be appreciated  that Reserve did not set
out  to spoil the air and  water or cause
inconvenience  to   or  apprehension
among residents of the area.
  "It launched its  business venture
with  the encouragement, even  the im-
portuning  of all segments of govern-
ment and society.  But  in this business
venture, the record  shows  it returned
very substantial profits to its corporate
owner-parents. Republic and Armco.
... It is reasonable to conclude  that
some of those  profits are attributed  to
operations  made less costly by  dis-
charging tailings  in Lake  Superior
rather than on land  as  is  done by  its
competitors.  . . .  And  ...  the  record
shows   that  Reserve, particularly
through its Vice President  Haley, frus-
trated the court rules  and orders and
thus prolonged  the status quo.
                Continued on page 4

                          PAGE 3

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                                                       P  FOR OUR
Continued from
  "While the discharge of 67,000 tons
of tailings into Lake Superior is shock-
ing in these days of improved environ-
mental  awareness, those discharges
were  expressly authorized in 1947  by
the State of Minnesota. Hindsight tells
us that  was a mistake,  but the gravity
of it has not yet been determined. The
Court of Appeals  held  that  Reserve's
discharges have not yet been found to
be harmful to the public health and that
the danger is  potential, not imminent."

         "BAD  FAITH1'
   Discussing  what  it called "bad faith
conduct'' by  Reserve,  the court said
that "one of the primary issues in this
lawsuit was whether Reserve  would  be
forced out  of business  if ordered  to
modify  its discharge methods.  It was
plaintiffs' position  from  the  beginning
that  Reserve  had  the ability  to imple-
ment  an on-land disposal system while
Reserve maintained that  this  was eco-
nomically and technologically impossi-
ble.  The trial court determined that
Reserve's position  was  taken  in bad
faith and made  extensive findings con-
cerning  Reserve's  misconduct during
this phase of  the lawsuit . . ." summa-
rized as  follows:
  "1.  Reserve Mining Company repre-
sented to this  court that its underwater
disposal  system  was a feasible alterna-
tive to the  present  mode  of  discharge
when  in  fact the plan had been rejected
as technically  and economically  infeasi-
ble.
  "2.  Reserve Mining Company repre-
sented to this  court that it was techno-
logically  and economically infeasible for
them  to dispose of their  tailings on
land, when in  fact their own documents
indicated that such was not the case.
  "3.  Reserve Mining Company with-
held existing documents as to their
plans and concepts  for on-land disposal
system in violation  of plaintiffs'  discov-
ery requests and this court's order."
  Judge Devitt said that "the  trial court
found that these actions  were  taken for
the  purpose of delaying  final  resolution
of the dispute and  resulted in substan-
tial  delay,  waste of time and unneces-
sary expense to plaintiffs."•

PAGE 4
M
        any of the Nation's lakes found
        to  be  deteriorating can be
        helped, a massive national EPA
study is finding.
  The "eutrophication,"  or aging,  can
be  halted  in  many cases,  or even
reversed, by controlling the phosphorus
that drains  into a lake  from sewage
treatment plants, agricultural lands  and
urban areas.
  Phosphorus and nitrogen are two of
the  main nutrients that  nourish algae
and other water plants which are the
main cause of eutrophication.  How-
ever, the discharge of nitrogen is often
more difficult to control.
  These findings are included  in EPA's
massive study of 812 selected American
lakes which found  that  about three-
fourths  of them are  deteriorating from
too  much  phosphorus or too  much
nitrogen, or both.
  The survey covered only large lakes
and reservoirs, including many sus-
pected of accelerated aging and  many
that receive polluted  water from cities
and  farms.  Thousands of other  lakes,
including most of those  in wilderness
areas, were  not surveyed.
  In early  stages of eutrophication,  a
lake may provide good fishing,  swim-
ming, and  boating.  But  as  algae and
aquatic weeds  proliferate  the desirable
fish  disappear and  recreational attrac-
tions decline;  sediments  and organic
debris accumulate,  and  the  lake  be-
comes a swamp. This natural  progres-
sion normally takes thousands of years.
Man's activities can  greatly speed up
the  process.
  The survey found wide variations in
nutrient  levels.  As  a result  of  these
differences  some lakes are aging  faster
than others. And  the amounts of  nu-
trients washing into the lakes from their
watersheds  also vary widely.
  Lake sampling in  the four-year. $12-
million  National Eutrophication Survey
ended last  fall, when airborne  teams
from the Environmental Monitoring  and
Support  Laboratory, Las Vegas.  Nev.,
completed their visits to 152 lakes in 1!
Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast
States. The testing of tributary streams
and sewage plant discharges to  the
lakes was completed in the winter.
   Individual reports are made on each
 lake and given to State  officials as soon
 as possible, according to Jack H. Gak-
 statter of  the  Environmental  Research
 Laboratory at Corvallis, Ore.
   Reports on 547 lakes  had  been issued
 as of early June.
   Dr.  Gakstatter and  Victor W. Lam-
 bou of EPA's laboratory in  Las  Vegas,
 Nev., are directing the survey.
   All reports on western lakes sampled
 last  year and  the major  over-all findings
 of the nationwide survey are  expected
 to be completed by the end of this year,
 Dr.  Gakstatter said. It will  probably
 take another  year or more to  complete
 peripheral studies of specialized aspects
 of  lake eutrophication, based on the
 mountain  of  information  accumulated.

   Patterns  Revealed—Preliminary sum-
 mary studies  of the 485 lakes sampled
 in  1972 and  1973 reveal  patterns  that
 are  likely  to  prevail nationwide  in the
 final reports:
 • Nearly  three-fourths of the eastern
 lakes are "eutrophic."  The word's
 basic meaning is "well-nourished." Ap-
 plied to a water body it means  rich  in
 plant nutrients and subject  to seasonal
 lack of oxygen.  Each  lake was rated
 according  to  three degrees of eutrophi-
 cation. using  criteria generally accepted
 by lake  scientists.
 • Only a handful of the  eastern lakes
 are rated "oligotrophic"—having few or
 scant nutrients and an abundance of
 dissolved oxygen.
   Rangeley  Lake in Maine.  Winnipe-
 saukee in  New Hampshire,  and Canan-
•daigua  in  New  York are the only
 oligotrophic lakes among a group of 133
 analysed for  phosphorus loads and re-
 ceiving  effluents from municipal  waste-
 water plants.
   Twenty of these lakes have an inter-
 mediate rating of "mesotrophic." and
 110 are  eutrophic.
   In 23 other lakes that have no known
 point sources of  pollution  the  ratings
 are  better:   11 eutrophic.  six  meso-
 trophic, and six oligotrophic.
 • Phosphorus is the "limiting nutrient"
 for  62  percent of  the eastern lakes;
 nitrogen is limiting for  38 percent. The
 limiting nutrient is the one needed by the

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AGING  LAKES
Lake Tahoc, one of t/ie lakes ineli/Jeil in the National Entrophication Survey, is plagued in some sections hy flouting
algae. Lake Tahoe had long been noted for its remarkably pure waters.

EPA helicopter Jlics over Lake Mead,
Ne\'., after alighting on the hike to take
water .samples for the National Entro-
phieation Survey.
algae which is in shortest supply in any
particular !ake. Plant growth will stop
when the limiting nutrient supply stops; it
is usually not necessary to control both
chemicals to control plant growth.
  It is  useful to know the limiting nu-
trient before taking action to improve the
quality of a particular lake. Treated sew-
age wastewater is usually high in phos-
phorus that can spur the growth of algae
in phosphorus-limited lakes. Removal of
phosphorus at the treatment plant is
therefore likely to be the most effective
method of halting eutrophication in such
lakes.
• If phosphorus from municipal wastes
and other point sources  could be re-
duced by 80 percent, about one-sixth of
             Continued on page f>

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Continued from page 5
the  eutrophic lakes could he upgraded
to mesotrophic  (moderate algal growth
potential) or oligotrophic (negligible al-
gal growth potential).

  Watersheds Studied—To augment the
lake sampling and provide guidance for
lake improvement, the survey also stud-
ied  the lakes" tributary streams and the
types of land use in their watersheds.
  About  5.000 National Guardsmen co-
operated in the stream study, taking
monthly samples for analysis in EPA's
Corvallis laboratory. Operators of sew-
age treatment plants in the  watersheds
provided the scientists  with periodic
samples of  discharges from their plants.
Aerial photography and  large-scale
maps from many  State and  Federal
agencies  were  used to  determine  the
portion of watersheds  devoted  to such
uses as forests, agriculture, and urban
development.
  Each watershed's predominant  soil
type,  geological classification, average
slope, total stream flow  rate, and  esti-
mated  density of farm animals,  were
also tabulated, as were measures of the
total  amounts of nutrients washed from
the land and nutrient  levels in tributary
streams.
   All of these factors were correlated
to see how  they  affected  each  other.
The  results have  been analyzed for
nearly  500 drainage areas in  24  States
(most of the States east  of the  Missis-
sippi, plus Minnesota) where  lakes and
streams were sampled in the first  two
years of the survey. Several significant
relations have emerged:
   •  N utrient levels are highest  in
streams that  drain farm land and lowest
in streams  that drain  forests.  Streams
from urban areas have nutrient readings
between these levels.
  • When  total  amounts of nutrients
washing from  the land are  measured.
urban areas rival agricultural areas.
 CITY  LAKES   AIDED
    HPA grants totaling $2.1 million are
 helping .to restore water quality in  11
 municipally owned lakes in six  States.
    All are in or near urban areas and
 are degraded by pollution from urban
 and stormwater runoff,  chemicals
 leached  from septic  tank  fields, or
 farmland drainage.  Many are in public
 parks.
    EPA is paying half the  cost. State
 and local governments the  rest.  All
 projects were approved by  Regional
 Offices and the Office of Water Plan-
 ning and Standards.
   The  most  costly project  is at Half
 Moon  Lake,  within the city limits of
 Eau Claire. Wise., where $743,000  in
 State and Federal funds is being spent
 for dredging,  constructing  embank-
 ments, drilling of wells to augment the
 lake's  inflow  during dry periods, and
various  other  measures  to  reduce
pollutant drainage into the  lake.
  The smallest project is the construc-
tion of three sediment-control dams on
roads around  Lake  Cochrane.  in
Brookings, S.D., at a total cost of
$18,011.
  The other projects are:
  Long  Lake, in  Kitsap County,
Wash.,  near Bremerton. $711.940.
Lake Albert Lea,  Albert  Lea, Minn..
$605,600. Lilly Lake.  Kenosha, Wise.,
$546.000.  Mirror and Shadow Lakes.
Waupaca, Wise.,  $430,000. Chain of
Lakes, Minneapolis. Minn., $358.000.
Lake  Apopka, Lake  County.  Fla.,
$287,000. White Clay Lake. Shawano
County,  Wise., $214,000.   Spada and
Chaplain Lakes, Snohomish  County,
Wash., $198,000.  Collins  Park  Lake,
Schenectady County. N.Y.. $92.500.
  Specific  and Practical—The  Survey's
reports on  individual lakes  are factual
and specific.  Here are summaries from
two typical examples:
  Wonder Lake, in  Me Henry County.
Illinois, about 25 miles northwest of
Chicago,  is  "highly eutrophic."  It
ranked 3()th in over-all quality among
the  31 lakes surveyed in that  State.
Algal  assays showed that phosphorus
was the limiting  nutrient in the  spring
months, nitrogen  in  late  summer and
fall.  (Algae need both  to  grow, but
growth can be most easily prevented by
reducing the amount  of the nutrient that
is in  relatively short supply.) Known
point  sources of wastewater  are: the
Alden and Woodstock sewage  treat-
ment  plants,  and  the  Woodstock  Die
Casting Co.
  Mountain  Island Lake in Gaston and
Mecklenburg Counties,  N.C..  near
Charlotte,  is mesotrophic, "moderately
enriched." It ranks third  in over-all
quality among the 16 lakes  sampled in
that State. Since this lake  is formed by
a dam on the Catawba River and has a
flow-through  time of only  12 days,  it
resembles  a slow-moving river.  There
are  no point sources of pollution di-
rectly on the lake, but  it receives
nutrients from Lake  Norman, a larger
manmade  lake, and upstream areas.
(Point sources contribute  9 percent of
Lake  Norman's phosphorus,  and any
reduction there would benefit Mountain
Island Lake.) Large amounts  of phos-
phorus were measured  in  McDowell
Creek which drains  into the lake from
the urban area of Huntersville.
  The individual lake reports also in-
clude  physical and  chemical measure-
ments from all sampling stations for
three  periods  during  the sampling  year.
k.inds  and numbers of algae found in the
water, chlorophyll and limiting nutrient
data,  tributary sampling  data, nutrient
loading rates and sources, and compar-
ative  statistics for  all other  sampled
lakes in the State.
  These  factual  reports  permit  State
and local authorities to decide what,  if
anything, should be  done to safeguard
and improve a lake's quality. They also
advise these officials how  to obtain the
most benefit from clean-up efforts.•
PAGE 6

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CHAR A
PRAR4RNALDJA
                                       O:
        ne of the most common symp-
        toms of water pollution in lakes
   	   and other bodies of water is the
heavy growth of algae scum fostered by
excessive  fertilization from sewage or
other wastes.
  These plants range in size from single
cells to such seaweed as giant kelp
which  sometimes reaches  200 feet in
length.
  When heavily fertilized, these plants
can be  a nuisance in  many ways. Some
forms  of algae, such as  Chara.  a
branched  erect alga, can  become de-
tached from their mooring and  form
huge floating rafts which obstruct navi-
gation  and emit vile  odors. After being
washed on shore, decaying algae attract
swarms of buzzing flies.
  Algae  when  decomposing can  also
rob  water of  its dissolved  oxygen.
thereby killing  fish  and other aquatic
life.  Algae  can also cause taste  and
odor problems  in drinking  water,  turn
swimming water pea-green  during a
"bloom" when  a  sudden rapid increase
in  the  number  of these plants occurs.
and foul fish harvesting equipment and
water intake devices.
  One  species  of algae—Gymodinium
breve—carries a potent poison. It forms
the  "red tide" which occurs off coastal
waters  and can cause fish kills.
  There are an  estimated  17.400 species
of algae in the  world. They are among
the  most  widespread of living things.
Without them,  many scientists doubt
that  man  could have evolved  and  sur-
vived.
  The  one-celled algae are believed to
be  the ancestors of all  multi-cellular
organisms.  In the oceans, algae form
the vegetable part of plankton on which
all life  depends.
  Algae were the first  plants and the
first living things  to  take  hold on land.
Scientists  estimate that the first  algae
appeared  on this planet  about three
billion  years ago.
  Among the hardiest  of  living  things.
algae  thrive in the  ice  of the polar
regions, in near-boiling hot springs, in
brine lakes far saltier than the sea. and
in deserts.
  In addition to being a vital part of the
food chain,  most algae are very useful
to man.  Algae substances  are used  in
hand  lotions, chocolate milk, photo-
graphic film,  puddings, rubber  tires.
beer,  antibiotics,  house paint, and  ice
cream.
   Although  decomposing  algae rob
water  of  its  oxygen,  living algae  in-
crease the supply of oxygen in the
water.
   It  is the blue-green family  of  algae
which cause most of the pollution  prob-
lems.  When nutrients  from  sewage or
industrial  wastes pour  into a lake or
river,  these plants begin a rapid, can-
cer-like growth.
   Another type  of algae,  diatoms,  are
used by some scientists as water pollu-
tion indicators.
   Dr.  Ruth Patrick, one  of the  coun-
try's leading  limnologists  (students of
lakes), has developed  a  system that
relates  the type and number of diatoms
present in a lake  or stream to the type
and extent of pollution.  This method is
now used  in many parts of the world  to
identify contamination problems and  to
help determine water quality.
   Another form of algae,  Chlorella. is
believed  to  have  great potential  as a
food source  for the  earth's  growing
population. Although this alga is high in
proteins and vitamins, it is too costly to
market now.
   Yet  many  scientists believe that  the
day is approaching when  this kind  of
algae may play a useful role as a food
crop.
   So  algae floating on a  pond comes
from   an  ancient family  which has
played a  major role in the natural world
and which conceivably could  have a
major impact  on man's future.•

           rUJUC.
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                                                                                                           V
                                                                                                           i-A
 FFUG1URIA
                                                                                                        PAGE 7

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MAKING  REGULATION  WORK
Excerpted  from  remarks by
EPA  Administrator Russell  E.  Train   at the  National  Conference on
Regulatory  Reform,  Washington,  D.C.,  May 26,  1976.
       Most of us. I am sure, would agree
       that one of the most striking
 phenomena to  emerge in this country
 over recent years  has been  the in-
 creasing  antipathy,  even antagonism.
 toward government,  marked by a re-
 volt against "Washington" in  general
 and Federal regulation in  particular.
 This public attitude  appears,  indeed.
 to be  opening  up a  whole new order
 of politics—one with which  I must
 admit to a good deal of persona!
 sympathy. Like most people.  I have
 little personal liking for the constraints
 upon individual choice which govern-
 ment regulation often imposes.
    I do not think it  is a bad  idea to
 look at government with  a skeptical
 and jaundiced  eye.  I believe,  in fact.
 that we must do a far better job. as a
 people and as a country,  of  keeping
 an eye on government  and  insisting
 that it do its job better than it has. 1
 am, however,  deeply concerned that.
 while the  antigovernment rhetoric
 finds easy and  enthusiastic  acceptance
 and is rapidly  becoming the common
 coin of  American  politics,  it may
 prove  difficult  and perhaps impossible
 in actual practice  to produce  the
 changes promised. It may well be that
 we have had  thoroughly  unrealistic
 expectations  of what  government
 could  do for us; but I am afraid we
 may be  replacing these with  equally
 unrealistic expectations about how
 rosy life would be  without govern-
 ment.  We  may, in  short, be selling
 ourselves up for an even more  shatter-
 ing recurrence of the "manic-depres-
 sive"  cycle  we went through  in the
 late Sixties and early Seventies—a
 cycle of inflated rhetoric and  meager
 results, followed by massive  public
 frustration and  resentment.
    I would suggest that the  intrusion of
 government regulation into  our lives  is
 not the real issue before us—at least
 to the degree that it  assumes we have
 a real  choice between regulation or no
 regulation. To  pose the issue in these
 terms  is just as mistaken and mislead-
 ing as to argue that, as a society, our
 only alternatives are  between  growth
 PAGE 8
or no growth. It is not a question of
growth or no growth. The question is
how and where we are going to grow.
Similarly,  it is  not a question of
regulation  or no regulation.  It  is a
question of how and  where  we are
going to regulate.
  Surely, we can reduce and cut out
some  government programs;  we can
improve the efficiency of others; we
can streamline, simplify and otherwise
improve regulation—and  President
Ford has, in my view, exercised admi-
rable  and  effective  leadership along
these  lines. But these are very differ-
ent things from simply "getting rid of
regulation;" these are ways  of making
regulation work.

Regulation Inevitable
  It seems to me that increasing regu-
lation  is an inevitable,  if perhaps un-
fortunate, by-product of our high tech-
nology and high economic growth so-
ciety,  associated  with high  and rising
densities of human populations. If we
really  wish to maintain our commit-
ment to an increasingly complex  eco-
nomic, technological,  and  social  sys-
tem, it is  illusory to think  we are
going  to get  away  from big govern-
ment.  Major government  programs
and widespread regulation are inherent
in  that kind of society, which is the
kind of society we apparently want.
  I think we had better face the fact
that increased economic growth,  more
intensive agricultural production, in-
creased energy usage, more  synthetics
in  the environment,  instant global
communications,  the increasing speed
and volume of transportation,  more
population, crowding and land  pres-
sures—all inevitably  mean more  regu-
lation. If we must have nuclear power
to insure the supply of energy we feel
we need, we had better accept as well
the  need for regulation to protect the
public from accident, from radioactive
wastes (perhaps for  thousands of
years), and from terrorist acts. If we
must greatly expand the use of coal,
we had better accept as well the need
for regulation to protect the  health and
safety of miners, to protect the land.
and to protect the  public health from
the products of combustion. If modern
agriculture  requires the  use of highly
toxic chemicals to control  pests, we
cannot avoid regulation  to protect hu-
man health and  the environment. And
so it goes.  There is no way to accom-
modate such levels  and kinds of activ-
ity without regulation. To put it even
more  bluntly, it is really regulation
that makes further  growth possible at
all. Alvin Weinberg has suggested that
our commitment to nuclear power
involves a  Faustian bargain. Perhaps
we need to  recognize  as  well that
ever-increasing levels of  economic and
technological  activity  may also exact
a cost in terms of human freedom.
This  is a recognition that will come
particularly hard to Americans—wit-
ness  our present antagonism  toward
regulatory constraints—since much of
our economic success  has stemmed
from  the opportunity to exploit with
few constraints  the natural riches of a
virgin continent. What  once  seemed
limitless resources of soil,  forest.
water, minerals  and energy have sud-
denly  become a finite world in which
interdependence is the new reality.
  Once we understand  that "govern-
ment regulation" is here to stay, and
that we need to focus our efforts on
making it  work better,  we need  to
distinguish  between two  very different
kinds  of Federal regulatory activities
and agencies: between what we might
call the  "social regulators" such  as
EPA and OSHA. and the more tradi-
tional  "economic regulators" such as
the Interstate Commerce or  Federal
Power Commissions. These traditional
agencies  are  designed to help get rid
of obstacles and  inefficiencies that
keep  market forces  from  operating
freely. EPA was  established not  to
keep these  forces from  operating, but
to make certain that they operate in
the public interest by insuring  that the
market increasingly takes into  account
environmental costs that it would oth-
erwise exclude  from its calculations.
Left unregulated in a highly advanced

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industrial society, all the normal eco-
nomic incentives of a competitive, free
enterprise system work to encourage
the disposal of vast volumes of wastes
into the  environment, at rapidly  in-
creasing cost to public  health and
welfare  and  the  natural environment.


Public  Participation
   In the area of environmental protec-
tion,  therefore,  there  can be  little
question  of "deregulation."  What
must always be open to examination—
and what EPA.  as an Agency,  must
do an increasingly better job of insur-
ing—is the degree and extent of public
participation in the regulatory process.
the efficiency and effectiveness of spe-
cific regulatory approaches  and  time-
tables, and the accuracy and adequacy
of the scientific  and other data  upon
which these are based.
   In this regard. EPA has pioneered a
process that—to my  knowledge—
comes closer than that of  any  other
agency  in the Federal government  to
achieving the goal of full  public partic-
ipation in regulation development. We
have,  over the past several years.
taken  a number of  major steps  to
overhaul  and  improve our  processes
for developing  guidelines and regula-
tions.  These  efforts have  had four
main  objectives:  First,  to open up our
processes for developing regulations;
Second,  to  simplify our regulations:
Third, to streamline  our regulations:
and  Fourth,  to  reduce to the  barest
minimum any adverse social and eco-
nomic impacts of our regulations.
   As a result of the improvements we
have made  over the  past several
years, every  regulation we  now issue
must  run the most grueling  and  rigor-
ous gauntlet of comment, review and
revision  that exists  anywhere  in the
Federal government. To be sure, our
processes are by no means perfect:
they  are  still in the  early—even  pi-
oneering—stages of development, and
we have a long  way to go  before  we
can be anything  close to  satisfied with
them.
   It is  by thus continuing to improve
the  regulatory  process itself and.
where it is necessary,  by revising  the
basic  legislation itself,  that we can
expect to achieve an increasingly  ef-
fective  Federal regulatory  approach
toward safeguarding the  public from
the  hazards  of pollution. The  Con-
gress is  now considering  amendments
to our air and water and other envi-
 ronmental legislation.  Some of these  I
 fully support as essential toward genu-
 inely strengthening the legislation: oth-
 ers I oppose as undermining  our  abil-
 ity to achieve the goals set foith in the
 legislation itself.

 Item  Veto
   1 am. in  particular, disturbed by
 various measures introduced in the
 Congress that, while  they  vary in
 some  details, would all  give the  Con-
 gress  what  amounts to a direct  item
 veto over regulations  issued  by  EPA
 and other agencies.  In fact and in
 intent,  these amendments would  thor-
 oughly  subvert  not only the  orderly
 processes of government, but the  sep-
 aration of powers that the Constitution
 has established as one  of  the  most
 fundamental elements  of our system of
 government.
   It is essential  that  the Congress
 continually assess and review regula-
 tions  to  assure that they  do   help
 achieve the goals set forth in the
 legislation and  that they are justified
 and authorized  by the law. But  these
 measures go far beyond the bounds of
 such  thoroughly legitimate  Congres-
 sional oversight  and review. They are
 unworkable;  they would throw an al-
 ready complex  regulatory process into
 virtual chaos;  they  would  put the
 Congress  into a quasi-judicial position
 which  could bring  it  into direct  con-
 flict  with  the courts,  not to  speak of
 the Constitution.
   Beyond the  extensive delays, the
 chaos,  the  conflicts  with  the courts
 that these measures would surely gen-
 erate,  the simple fact is  that  they are
 unworkable.  EPA promulgates a  large
 number of regulations each year,  most
 of them required by statute.  These
 often  include  extremely  complex
 standards based on extensive  scientific
 and  factual  records,  ll  would be an
 enormous task for  the Congress  to
 review  all the data necessary to  make
 an informed decision  regarding the
 correctness  of  the regulations.
  Where  Congress disagrees with  a
particular regulation it already has pro-
cedures for  voiding the actions of the
regulatory agency—through  amendment
of the authorizing legislation or,  in
some  cases, riders to  appropriations
acts, both  of which  techniques  have
been used for EPA. The Congress, on
several occasions,  has exercised  an ef-
fective  oversight on  EPA implementa-
tion of its statutes such as the regula-
tions involving  transportation control
plans.
   I believe that the Congressional over-
sight  of agency  actions  can best be
accomplished  by  the  continual  ex-
change of  information between  the
agencies and Congressional committees
and  by prompt  consideration  by Con-
gress  of  amendments  to the statute
where  it believes that an agency's regu-
lations  do not  comply  with  Congres-
sional  intent.  This approach  will cer-
tainly  avoid the  problems  I  have re-
ferred  to  and preserve the traditional
and  complementary  roles of the three
branches of Government.


Life-style  Changes
   We have had the most success, as an
Agency, in carrying  out those parts of
our environmental laws that involve the
control  of specific sources of emissions
or effluents  by  the  application of tech-
nology. We  have had the  least success
in trying—often  under deadlines  im-
posed  by  the courts—to require pollu-
tion control  measures that involve  very
real changes in life-styles  and  land  use
patterns.  These are changes  that can
take place only over a  period of time;
they entail very basic social and  eco-
nomic  and environmental choices and
tradeoffs that can only be made  by the
people  involved and effected through
the political process at  the State,  local
and regional levels.  1 see  such a proc-
ess as  one in  which societal  choice
evolves from the ground up with open
"give-and-take" which  recognizes and
reflects the extraordinary  diversity of
needs, conditions and aspirations which
make up this country.
   Increasingly, in the years ahead,  real
and lasting environmental progress must
substantially depend on  State and  local
initiative and action. The  Federal role
must,  inevitably,  focus  more and more
not simply  upon  the development of
national standards and  regulations and
guidelines,  but  upon encouraging and
assisting  in the development of joint
Federal. State  and local decision-mak-
ing processes  that can  enable the citi-
zens of this country to  deal effectively
with what might be called the  issues of
growth—the issues  involved, for exam-
ple,  in  trying to preserve  and maintain
air quality,  to control nonpoint  source
water  pollution, and  to  relate and rec-
oncile  different environmental  concerns
such as clean  air and clean water with
each  other and  with social and  eco-
nomic  concerns such as  housing,  and
jobs, and  energy.B
                             PAGE  9

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BALLOON CHASE
Shortlv after \unri\e at an airfield wext of St. Louis, the  Da Vinci II  /.v inflated with 160,000 cnhic feel of helium through
two li>nf> plastic "sleeve*" that are Inter tied off and allowed to dandle.
       When a huge plastic balloon drifted
      across St. Louis and southern Illi-
nois  las) month, half a  do/en  KPA air
pollution experiments went with it.
   Dangling  from  the pear-shaped. 70-
foot  high 'hag was  a  10-foot-squarc
gondola carrying three men and  a
woman, radios, cameras, and a score of
scientific instruments. Its total weight
was more than three tons.
   The aircraft, named Da Vinci II. was
hitching a ride  on St. Louis's polluted
air. It followed the same air mass for a
day and a night while scientists aboard
gathered data on sulfur dioxide, particu-
lates. and other air pollutants.
   Da Vinci  II was a  joint project of the
Knergy  Research and  Development
Administration  (KRDA). the  National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion (NO A A).  [{PA. and the  National
Geographic  Society. About  a  dozen
other Federal  agencies, universities.
and private research laboratories also
participated,
   Da Vinci  II took off at  9 a.m.  on
PAGE  10
June 8 and floated for almost exactly 24
hours at altitudes ranging from 1.000 to
3.(KM) feet.  Its  crew  included  Dr.  Ru-
dolph J. Kngelmann of  NOAA. coordi-
nating scientist; Jimmie  M.  Craig,  a
civilian employee of  the U.S.  Navy at
China Lake. Calif., pilot: Vera Simons.
Washington. D.C., co-pilot; and Otis
Imboden. National Geographic Society
photographer.
  LPA's  on-board experiments were
tied in with  the Agency's Regional  Air
Pollution  Study  (RAPS),  a five-year.
S22-million  research program at  St.
Louis. (Because of the wealth of infor-
mation already learned about St.  Louis
air pollution  by  RAPS, the Da  Vinci
project leader in  KRDA chose  St.
Louis for the balloon-borne tests.)
  KPA played  a  vital role  on  the
ground and in the air. although  no KPA
employee  rode in the  balloon's gondola.
  Launching a big  balloon  is a ticklish
operation,  explained  Frank  Schier-
meier.  RAPS operations  coordinator.
Wind must be less than  five  miles  per
hour and steady while  the gas bag is
being filled and during liftoff.  Strong or
gusty winds  can easily  whip the thin
plastic  (four  thousandths of an inch)
into ground-based gear and tear it. and
mishaps during  liftoff can wreck  the
gondola and injure the crew.
  Two  pilot  balloon crews were at the
launch site, an airfield I? miles west of
downtown St. Louis, six hours before
liftoff. They  released the toy-size pilot
balloons every 15 minutes to  check on
wind conditions. These  little  balloons.
rising at a known rate, are tracked with
surveyor's telescopes.
  After the launch of the Da Vinci the
two crews piled  into motor-pool station
wagons and  took  off  after the  big
balloon.
  "We  would 'leapfrog' ahead of it."
Mr.  Sehiermeier said, "release more
pilot balloons, and radio the wind con-
ditions  back to the command  post. This
was  to  help  the balloon  crew  know
what was coming and keep their craft

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                                                          For most of the day. in the first half of the flight, the
                                                          balloon  drifts over the St. Louis area during a xi'vcre air
                                                          pollution alert, while  the crew of three men and one woman
                                                          study flic polluted air mass.
                                                          Da Vinci II lands gently in an Indiana wheat field 24 hours
                                                          and 150 beeline miles from takeoff. Local farm workers
                                                          cluster around the tired aeronauts. Shiny hags containing air
                                                          samples for analysis in  EPA laboratories are clustered on
                                                          gondola's side. In left background is a small oil well pump.
as closely as possible in the polluted ail-
mass.
  "It  was a beautiful  mission. There
was a lot of pollution up there, so much
so that it  was difficult to get a good
photograph of  the  balloon.  The  St.
Louis  area  was under  an o/.one alert
that day."
  One EPA experiment involved simul-
taneous measurements of o/.one at  the
balloon and on the ground under it. A
chase vehicle took o/.one readings from
the  ground. This experiment was man-
aged by James Worth of the  Research
Triangle Institute, on contract to EPA's
Environmental  Sciences  Laboratory at
Research Triangle  Park. N.C.
  The balloonists  took "grab  samples"
of air  throughout the  flight  for later
analysis at the EPA laboratory.
  Another experiment involved taking
pollution  measurements from  a  small
ail-plane that flew back and forth across
the  air mass. This  provided  a cross-
section of the  pollutant  "plume"  for
comparison with the balloonists' core
readings. This project was  planned and
managed  by  Dr.  Rudolph  Husar  of
Washington  University  in  St.  Louis.
under an EPA contract.
   Da Vinci II landed gently in a wheat-
field just  across the Wabash  River  in
Indiana,  near the little town of Ciriffin
in the southwest corner of  the State. It
had  traveled  across  metropolitan  St.
Louis and  the southern part of Illinois.
The  beeline distance  was 150 miles, but
meanders made the  actual  path  much
longer.
   Dr. Engelmann said the  landing v\as
"like an automatic elevator coming to a
stop." There was no need to deflate the
balloon rapidly. The air was so still that
the crew used the balloon  to carry  the
heavy  gondola  to  the nearest  road.
They dumped some ballast and walked
both gondola and balloon to the high-
way.
   Another flight—Da  Vinci 111.  cany-
ing similar experiments—is  planned
for some  time  in July, from the same
launching  site.  The  actual  date will
depend on weather conditions.
   The  Da  Vinci  experiments are de-
signed to give researchers a better idea
of the long distance impact of cities' air
pollution and to answer such  questions
as:
•  How  much  air pollution originating
in urban areas  is carried  into  the coun-
tryside, and how far does it go?
•  Does such  pollution  disperse and
become  harmless, or does it  retain its
noxious qualities'.1
•  Do the compounds found in polluted
city  air  change as they travel down-
wind? For  instance, does  sulfur diox-
ide,  commonly discharged  from power
plants and  industries, change to sulfates
and  sulfuric acid?  How  quickly do
unburned hydrocarbons  and  nitrogen
oxides become  photochemical  oxidants?
These changes  have been  observed  in
the laboratory but  never before directly
in  the air.
   The Da  Vinci project was the idea of
Ms.  Simons, an artist, a  balloon de-
signer and pilot.•
                            PAGE  II

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SCENES  AT  THE   FLORIDA EXHIBIT
 More than 200,000 people have visited
 the EPA Pavilion at the U.S.
 Bicentennial Exposition since its
 opening May 30 at the Kennedy
 Space Center in Florida. A special EPA
 Day will be held at the exposition on
 July 30. Visitors to the EPA exhibit
 learn how science and technology are
 applied to the understanding and
 solving of environmental problems. The
 Exposition closes Sept. 7.
 A Ford automobile chassis, specially built
 for the EPA exhibit, shows the location of
 pollution control devices in use today
 Telephones here give additional
 information about the role ol transportation
 control plans in reducing air pollution.


PACiK \2
After listening to introductory
messages under sound domes,
visitors follow a log and stone
pathway through the exhibit.
Exhibit cylinders, such as this
one on Lake Eutrophication,
highlight various
environmental programs.

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A human figure symbolizes our need to
apply our knowledge and natural
resources towards achieving a better fife
in America's Third Century
Large columns identify various exhibit
sections in the pavilion.
                                   FREE  CAR  CHECK
    Free  tests of automobile  exhaust
    emissions are being  offered  bv
EPA to summer visitors to the Nation's
capital.
  A  three-man team  from the  Mobile
Source Enforcement Office is providing
the  service every weekday  to anyone
who wants it  at a special parking lot for
Bicentennial  visitors  near  Arlington
Cemetery, across the  Potomac River
from downtown Washington.
  The free tests began June 21 and are
expected to  continue through  Labor
Day, according to Norman D. Shmtler,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator
for  Mobile Source and  Noise Enforce-
ment.
  The parking lot is one of two  "fringe
areas" where  Bicentennial visitors can
leave their cars and take shuttle buses
into the  city's central historic area,
where parking is virtually impossible.
Thousands of motorists use the  Arling-
ton  lot  each  day, providing a  pool of
cars  of  all ages, makes, and models
from all over  the country.
  Dr. Shutler believes the test  pro-
gram—which is  entirely voluntary on
the  part of the  motorists—can be of
major benefit in increasing  public-
awareness of  the value  of regular in-
spection and maintenance for automo-
tive pollution control systems.
  Signs and arrows at the entrance of
the  Arlington lot direct motorists to the
testing station. The test takes about  half
a minute, and no one has to leave  the
car. With the car's engine idling, an
electronic probe  is held at the  car's
exhaust  pipe. The operator takes read-
ings of carbon monoxide and unburned
hydrocarbons, jots them down  on a
card, and gives the card to the driver.
  The  diagnostic  card contains printed
interpretations of the meaning of var-
ious degrees of exhaust  pollution and
recommends remedial action if needed.
It also contains tips on maintenance
and driving methods to increase fuel
economy.
  The  test team includes two  parttime
summer employees to operate the emis-
sions analyzer and  a supervisor from
the  Mobile  Source  Enforcement  Divi-
sion who is  familiar with inspection-
maintenance programs and can answer
motorists" questions.
  The free testing station is open  ever\
day but  Sunday from  8 a.m.  to  1
p.m. •
                                   Man\ vixitorx to Washington, /).('.,
                                   this summer arc  taking  advantage <>/
                                   /i'P/r.v free Hutu emission tests til ti
                                   fringe parking lot. This photo shoe's a
                                   .similar test  being given by  Fairfax
                                   Conntv, Va., air pollution officials Don
                                   Parmeter. left, partly  obscured by ear.
                                   and Jim Dusek.

                                   Probe inserted in car's tailpipe carries
                                   exhaust  gases to portable instrument
                                                                                               PAGE 13

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                                                                          PEOPLE
Administrator Russell E. Train was
interviewed on film in his office
recently by Philippe Cousteau, the
oceanologist. for a series of
documentary films to be shown on the
Public Broadcasting System next fall.
  The series, to be called "Oasis in
Space." will deal with environmental
problems on a global scale: water and
ocean resources, food supply.
population, and the quality of life. The
six half-hour programs are being
produced by the Cousteau Society.
headed by Philippe Cousteau's father
Jacques, the pioneer undersea explorer
Michael Bonchonski has been appointed
Water Coordinator for Region II, New
York, replacing Patrick Harvey who is
now chief of the regional Water
Facilities Branch. Mr. Bonchonski had
been Chief of the Organic Wastes Sec-
tion of the Branch.
S\vep T. Davis has been appointed
 Director of Analysis and Evaluation, a
new post in the Office of Water
 Planning and Standards, by Deputy
 Assistant Administrator Eckardt C.
 Beck. Mr. Davis, 31. is a native of
 Hattiesburg, Miss.,  and was graduated
from the Georgia Institute  of
 Technology in 1968 with a B.S. in
mechanical engineering. After two
years with the Army Corps of
 Engineers, he attended  the Harvard
 Graduate School of Business and
earned a master's degree in business
administration.  He joined EPA in July
 1972 in the Economic Analysis
 Division. Office of  Planning and
 Management.
PAGE 14

Elizabeth M. S. Smith, Chief of the
Library Services Branch at Research
Triangle Park. N.C.. recently received
the largest cash award—SI.534—ever
given under EPA's Employee
Suggestion Program.
  Her ideas were for improving the
efficiency of the Air Pollution
Technical Information Center, now
being shifted primarily to a contract
operation. A key element was
expanded use of commercially  available
systems  for  searching and abstracting
technical literature. It is estimated that
EPA will save $434,000 annually.
  Mrs. Smith's suggestions, first made
in January, led  to the naming of a task
force and the complete revision of the
contract proposals.
  The award check and commendation
letters from  President Ford and
Administrator Russell  E. Train were
presented by John  DeFord,  Director of
the Office of Administration, on behalf
of Bernard J. Steigerwald, Director of
the Office of Air Quality Planning and
Standards.
Richard Field, of the Municipal
Environmental Research Laboratory,
Edison. N.J.. has been chosen to
receive the State-of-the-Art of Civil
Engineering Award of the American
Society of Civil Engineers.
  The award is a plaque and certificate
to be presented at  the Society's annual
meeting in Philadelphia Sept. 29. It is
given  for the best technical paper on
"state of the art" advances in civil
engineering published the previous
year.  Mr. Field's paper on the control
of water pollution from urban runoff
was published in the Journal  of the
Society's Environmental Engineering
Division  in February 1975. A co-
author. John A. Lager of Metcalf and
Eddy. Inc.. Palo Alto. Calif., will
receive a matching award.
Kenneth H. Walker, Director of EPA's
Rochester, N.Y., Field Office since
1972. has been named Deputy Director
of the Great Lakes Regional Office of
the International Joint Commission, the
U.S.-Canada border authority. He is
now located at the IJC headquarters in
Windsor, Ontario.

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Richard C. Brenner, sanitary engineer
with the Municipal Environmental
Research Laboratory in  Cincinnati. \\as
recently named the outstanding  Federal
employee of the year by the Greater
Cincinnati Federal Business
Association.
   Mr.  Brenner was cited for his
leadership in managing several
multimillion-dollar projects for the
laboratory's Wastewater Research
Division. A panel of private citizens
chooses five persons each year for the
awards. Mr. Brenner was winner in the
professional-scientific category.  In the
Federal Service since  1967, he has
received numerous commendations
from EPA and  from contractors and
municipalities. His work has helped to
advance several wastewater treatment
processes from pilot-plant status to full-
scale systems. He holds B.S. and M.S.
degrees in engineering from the
University of Cincinnati and is a
licensed professional engineer in Ohio.
Donald P. Dubois, 41, Deputy Regional
Administrator in Denver, has been
appointed Regional Administrator in
Seattle for EPA's Region X, which has
jurisdiction over Federal environmental
matters in the States of  Idaho, Oregon.
Washington, and Alaska.
  The appointment was made by Ad-
ministrator Russell E. Train who said
that "Mr. Dubois is a career civil ser-
vant with an exemplary record in
public health protection and environ-
mental improvement. He will bring a
wealth of professional experience and
administrative talents to the ecological
problems of the Northwest."
  Mr. Dubois, who has  been with EPA
since it was1 formed in 1970, holds a
B.S. degree in civil engineering from
Washington State University in Pull-
man. He did post-graduate work in civil
and environmental engineering at the
California  Institute of Technology in
Pasadena,
  A native of Seattle, Mr. Dubois
held a number of engineering and
management posts with the U.S. Public
Health Service before joining EPA.
Mr. Dubois succeeds Clifford V. Smith
as Region X Administrator. Mr. Smith
resigned in May to join  the Bechtel
Corporation.
  Mr. Dubois is a member of several
professional engineering organiza-
tions and has been awarded four
outstanding service medals from the
Federal government.
Stuart J. McDonald, of Region VIILs
Office of Congressional and
Governmental Relations, used to be a
cartoonist for the Grand Forks Herald
and other newspapers in North Dakota.
The originals of most of his editorial
cartoons, published from  1961 through
1967.  were recently purchased by the
First  Federal Savings and  Loan
Association in Grand Forks. Selected
cartoons are being displayed in the
Association's main and branch offices.
and the  whole collection will be
donated to the Chester Fritz Library  of
the University of North  Dakota. Grand
Forks.
Marcelhis Blount, part-time clerk-Upixt
in Region IPs Civil Rights and  Urban
Affairs  Division, has received a four-
year scholarship to Williams College.
WilliamsUmn. Mass., plus a three-year
additional scholarship from the college
to any law school he chooses.
   Marcellus, who is 16. has been
working at EPA since July 1975. finds
the job  "enlightening and  rewarding"
and plans to continue during his college
vacations.  He has received a number of
other awards and citations for
scholarship and leadership.
Reorganization of the  Corvallis. Ore..
Environmental Research 1 .aboratory
was completed recentK with formation
of three new branches (consolidated
from six former groups) and the naming
of their chiefs by  Dr.  A. F. Bartsch.
Laboratory Director. The new branch
chiefs are: Donald J. liaiimgartner,
Marine and Freshwater Ecology
Branch: Lawrence C. Raniere,
Terrestrial Ecology  Branch: and Jack
(iakslatter. Special Studies Branch.
Administrator Train has announced his
intention to appoint Bryan I-aPiante as
the new Director of the Office of
Legislation. Mr.  LaPlante replaces
Robert Ryan, who has left F.PA to
become Director of State hvgiams for
the Nuclear Regulator) Commission.
   Mr.  LaPlante  has served as Deputy
Director of the Office of Legislation
since  December.  1970.  Prior to the
establishment of EPA he was Associate
Commissioner of the Department of
Interior's  Federal Water  Quality
Administration.
   During his  30  years of Federal
service. Mr. LaPlante has worked for
the Senate Republican Policy and
Conference Committee,  the  U.S.
Atomic Energy Commission and  .Air
Force Security and Intelligence.
   Mr. Ryan had served as  Director of
the Office of  Legislation since June,
1973.  In his new position he will be
responsible for directing liaison efforts
between N RC and State  radiation
agencies.
John C. Kolojeski has resigned ;is
Special  Assistant for Health Regulators'
Affairs to Assistant Administrator
Andrew W. Breidenbach. Mr.
Kolojeski, F.PA Consultant Ian Nisbet.
and a group of scientists have formed
an environmental consulting firm.
Clement Associates, in Washington,
D.C.  He had previously been Assistant
General Counsel for Pesticides. Toxic
Substances, and Solid Waste
Management and later  Deputy
Associate General  Counsel for
Litigation.*

                           PAGE  15

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boston harbor
Region I experts have begun assessing
the environmental effects of a proposed
$850-million project for the cleanup of
Boston Harbor. They will file an
environmental impact statement on the
complex project, which includes the
expansion and upgrading of existing
sewage treatment facilities, the possible
construction of two new plants on the
Charles and Neponset Rivers, sludge
disposal, and facilities to prevent
pollution from combined storm and
sanitary sewers.

providence  plan
A comprehensive transportation control
plan  for Providence.  R.I.. is being
drafted and will be formally proposed
soon. It includes inspection and
maintenance of vehicle emission
controls, solvent and vapor recovery
regulations, carpool incentives, transit
improvements, downtown traffic and
parking strategies, and monitoring.
new york warned
Smoke from four of New York City's
incinerators—two in Brooklyn and one
each in  Manhattan and Queens—is
violating Federal and State law.
according to Region II Administrator
Gerald  M. Hansler.
"EPA estimates that during the course
of a year the incinerators are allowing
more than 6,400 tons of excess
paniculate matter to come out of their
PAGE  16
smoke stacks." he said.
Previous deadlines for the city to
purchase equipment to  correct the
violations have not been met. Mr.
Hansler said. An official notice issued
by Region II recently gave the city 30
days to take cleanup steps, after which
EPA may seek a couit  order requiring
compliance.

vapor controls
More than 7,000 gasoline stations and
storage facilities  in New Jersey are
installing equipment to  control the
discharge of hydrocarbon vapors. When
fully operative these systems will
recapture about 90 percent of the
gasoline now lost to the atmosphere
during storage and transfer in 14
counties having the highest pollution
levels. Region II officials estimate the
controls reduce the total emission of
hydrocarbons by 11 percent.
working with states
The  Region III Emergency Response
Team recently conducted a seminar for
Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Resources personnel on
oil spill regulations, prevention, and
cleanup methods.
The  Water Supply Branch has released
a comprehensive evaluation of the
Delaware Water Supply Program.
including field surveys of public  water
supplies and review of State laws and
regulations.
The  Pesticide Branch, in cooperation
with the  National Enforcement
Investigation Center in Denver,
recently sponsored a pilot program to
monitor the effect on the environment
of aerially-applied insecticides in
Magnolia. Delaware.
phosphate impact
Region IV will prepare an
environmental impact statement on
Florida phosphate mining. The Region
will also head a multi-agency industry
study that is expected to take 18
months and cost about $1 million.
Regional Administrator Jack E. Ravan
has named Gene McNeill and  Tim
Smith of the Atlanta Office to
coordinate the preparation of the impact
statement.
The $1-million study, ordered by
President  Ford, will look into the
industry's  effects on water,  air, wildlife,
and agriculture as well  as land  use and
radiation levels. Other  Federal agencies
involved include the Council on
Environmental Quality, the  Departments
of Interior and Agriculture, and the
Corps of Engineers. Florida State and
local governments, environmental
groups, and the phosphate industry will
name advisors to the study  group.
Mr.  Ravan said the study will  not
establish an EPA moratorium on
existing phosphate  mining in the central
Florida region.  All mining already
approved will continue.
pleasant prairie plant
Preliminary approval for construction ot
a power plant—the first such action in
Region V under EPA's "significant
deterioration"  rules—has been given to
the Wisconsin  Electric  Power Co.
Regional officials decided that the
company's proposed 1.160-megawatt
coal-fired generating facility at  Pleasant
Prairie,  Kenosha County, would not
cause significant deterioration of the
county's already clean air.

great lakes board
Region V Administrator George R.
Alexander has been appointed  United
States Chairman of the Great Lakes
Water Quality  Board by the U.S.-
Canada International Joint
Commission. He assumes the Board
post vacated by his predecessor in
EPA's Chicago office,  Francis T.
Mayo.
Mr.  Alexander said: "I look forward to
my new responsibility with the Board.
The experience I've had in Washington
as spokesman  for and to EPA  Regions
should help me to work with
representatives of the Great Lakes
States, the  Province of Ontario, and the
Canadian Federal government."

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vapor controls
Public hearings will be held in a
number of Texas cities during July and
August on ways of controlling oxidant
air pollution. Proposals to be  discussed
include requiring gasoline terminals and
stations to install equipment to recover
hydrocarbon vapors, measures to
encourage carpooling, extension of
controls on  stationary sources, and
voluntary inspection and maintenance
programs for auto  emission control
devices.

at-sea incineration
Shell  Chemical Co. has applied for
another permit to incinerate chemical
wastes on a specially equipped ship in
the Gulf of  Mexico.  The company did
this last year under a research permit,
and EPA monitoring indicated that the
chlorinated hydrocarbons (mostly
wastes from pesticide production) were
burned with high efficiency and no
immediate environmental damage.
charlie chipmunk
Region  VII's Office of Public Affairs
recently published a children's
storybook, "Charlie Was Just a
Chipmunk." and held an autographing
party for a kindergarten class from
Cherokee School. Overland Park.
Kansas.
The author. Mrs. Danita Ross Haller.
and the illustrator. Mrs. Susan Still.
both of Kansas City, signed copies of
the book for the children. The book's
brief story gives a chipmunk's view of
littering and other manmade
environmental pollution. Copies have
been distributed to all depository
libraries in the  Region. EPA speakers
at elementary schools will make further
distribution.
                                        rangers trained
                                        Iowa's State park rangers have been
                                        certified as water and wastewater
                                        treatment plant operators. The
                                        Conservation Commission sent the
                                        rangers to a week-long training course
                                        at the  University of Iowa, and the
                                        Department of Environmental Quality
                                        held a special examination for them.
                                        The training will help protect the health
                                        of people using park facilities and
                                        assure adequate wastewater control in
                                        the parks.
free emission tests
Nearly 700 car owners in the Denver
area are getting free tests of their cars'
emission controls, $50 savings bonds,
rental cars for one to three  days, and
full tanks of gas at the end of the tests.
The program that started in  May is
designed to measure the effectiveness
of EPA's pollution controls on
domestic and imported autos of the
model years 1972 to 1975. The Denver
area tests are being made at
Automotive Testing Laboratories. Inc..
in nearby Aurora. Similar testing of
cars in use is under way in  Phoenix.
Los Angeles, Houston. St.  Louis.
Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
The Denver tests include a bonus not
available in the other cities: cars that
fail their emissions tests (an estimated
50 percent) are given free engine
tuneups to bring them into conformance
(if the tuneup does not require more
than SI00 worth of mechanical work).
The free testing service is not for all
comers, however. Since this is a
research project to simulate the effects
of emission testing and maintenance
programs, a carefully "stratified"
sample of cars is needed in  each city.
This means just so many cars of each
make, year, model, and engine size.
When each particular sample slot is
filled, no more owners of that kind of
car will  get a free savings bond.
alcohol in the tank
E PA-sponsored research at the
University of California at Santa Clara
is investigating the use of methanol as
auto fuel. Methanol, or wood alcohol,
can be obtained from organic waste
such as manure, garbage, and sawdust.
The university is now operating three
test cars on  methanol or  methanol-
gasoline blends, and it will shortly add
two more vehicles.  Meter readers in the
City of Santa Clara have been driving a
Valiant on pure methanol for four
years.  According to the researchers, the
whole  program should bear "practical
fruit" in about 18 months.
ketchikan closure
Region X officials have moved to
forestall the threatened closure of a
pulp mill in Ketchikan. Alaska.
Officials of the Ketchikan  Pulp Co.
were told  May 19 that EPA will
exercise "administrative discretion"
and delay enforcement action, pending
further hearings on the economic
feasibility of the company's cleaning up
its wastewater.
Ketchikan Pulp faces a July I, 1977.
deadline for providing secondary
wastewater treatment. Its permit calls
for construction to start by July I this
year, and  failure to meet that date
would usually subject the company to
immediate legal action.
Delaying such action till next January
"will enable Ketchikan Pulp to
continue full operation of the mill .  . ."
said L. Edwin Coate,  Acting Regional
Administrator, "at least until the
current hearing process produces a
reappraisal of the company's financial
ability to install the needed treatment
facilities."
The company had announced seven
days before a public hearing it would
close the mill in July  1977. •
                          PAGE 17

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REDUCING
GOVERNMENT  FORMS
    In the last three months I-IP A has
    cut by  more  than  10 percent the
number of information-gathering Forms
it sends out. The  reduction was made
after President Ford ordered all agen-
cies to curb  the paperwork they require
of the public.
  Frederick  V. Lilly MI. Director of
the  Program Reporting Division. Office
of Planning  and Management, said his
office is  interested in further reduction
and streamlining of EPA's information
requests.
  The Federal Government  is fond of
asking questions,  as  anyone who has
tilled out an income tax  return knows.
  Applications for jobs,  requests for
funds, reports on a thousand  things
required  by  law.  all contain those little
blank spaces to be filled in with num-
bers, check  marks, ratings, and  so on.
And don't  forget  the larger spaces for
longer answers and comments (attach
extra sheet if necessary).
  F.PA is one of  scores  of government
agencies that ask  such  questions.  Un-
der  Ihe  Federal  Reports Act.  dating
back to 1942. all forms requesting infor-
mation from people outside the Federal
(iovernment—industries, contractors,
schools  and colleges.  State or local
agencies,  or individuals—must first
have the approval of (he  Office of
Management and Budget.
  The  OMB-approval hurdle was de-
signed to prevent overlapping requests
by two or more agencies, to assure that
only necessary and useful information
was collected, and generally to limit the
amount  of  public  paperwork required
by  Uncle Sam.

Information  Need—Whether it has suc-
ceeded  or  not depends  on where you
sit.  New  legislation—like  the National
Hnvironmental Policy  Act—requires
new regulatory actions and new re-
quests for information to carry out the
law. Those  who are  regulated tend to
think there's too  much paperwork re-
quired of them; agencies say they can-
no!  carry out Congressional mandates
without asking more questions.
  A new drive to reduce the public's
form-filling load was launched March  I
by  President Ford. "American citi/ens
PAGE  18
are  understandably  exasperated."  he
said, "by the complexity of reporting to
the   Federal Government  .  . . (The
forms)  are  too many,  too long,  too
frequent, and take too much time to fill
out." And he ordered all agency heads
to cut  the  number of public report
forms by 10  percent by June 30.
  FPA Administrator Russell  F. Train
had  anticipated the President's  order.
  Last  December Mr. Train named an
ad hoe committee, headed by Mr. Lilly.
to recommend ways of reducing  all
HPA's  information requests,  including
internal and interagency reporting as
well  as the  "public use reports"  that
must be cleared through  OMB.
  "We have done our best to  meet the
President's  directive." Mr.  Lilly  said.
"EPA's public use  reports  normally
total about  78. By  April we  had  re-
duced that total to 71, and in  mid-June
the figure was 69."
  More than 5.(KM) report forms were in
use throughout the  Federal  Govern-
ment before Mr.  Ford  ordered the 10
percent cut. which would mean a  re-
duction goal  of more than MX) forms.
  Since every public use form is ap-
proved by  OMB for only a limited
time, old  forms are  constantly becom-
ing  obsolete, and the current total is
continually  changing.  Mr,  Lilly  ex-
plained. FPA's public use forms range
from cards  for  reporting calibration
tests of air sampling instruments to
medical questionnaires for health effects
research to  surveys of municipal water
supplies.

Combining Forms—"We  have  tried to
combine two or  more forms  into  one
wherever possible." Mr.  Lilly  said
"We have declined to  seek renewal of
some forms that, in the  light of the
President's order,  seemed of lesser im-
portance,  considering our planning
goals and priorities.
  "Throughout our study,  EPA people
have exercised the judgment. We have
decided what could be cut.  And we
have carefully followed the OMB  pol-
icy of limiting our  information gathering
to what is required by  law. and neces-
sary and useful to  Agency programs.
  "We have tried to  put  ourselves in
the  public's  shoes: is the value of this
information sufficient to justify the time
and  effort  needed to fill out this form'.'"
  The ad  hoc committee working with
Mr. Lilly  on paperwork  reduction  in-
cludes Bernard J.  Steigerwald,  Deputy
Assistant Administrator for Air Quality
Planning and Standards; Jeffrey Miller,
Deputy  Assistant Administrator for
Water Enforcement; L. Edwin Coate.
Region X  Acting  Administrator,  and
Alvin  R.  Morris. Region  III  Deputy
Administrator.
  Three experts from outside EPA are
serving as  committee participating
members:  Michele Schrecker. Intergov-
ernmental  Relations  Coordinator.  Fair-
fax  County, Va.; Wesley E.  Gilbert-
son, Deputy Secretary,  Pennsylvania
Department of  Environmental  Re-
sources; and Thomas G.  Frangos. for-
merly of the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources.
  Howard  A.  Howell  of  the Program
Reporting Division represents FIPA on
the  Commission on Federal Paperwork,
a joint legislative-executive  group that is
working to reduce all categories of
government reporting  and information
gathering. •

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The J. C. Nichols Memorial Fountain at Country Cluh Plaza in Kanxtix City is one of many which helped this Midwestern
metropolis become known as "the city of fountains."
REGION  VII
      The economy of the four states in
      Region VII, Iowa, Kansas, Mis-
      souri and  Nebraska,  is based on
agriculture  or "agribusiness." The Re-
gion,  with only 5.4  percent of the
national population, contains 21 percent
of the productive cropland in  the  coun-
try.
  Iowa  is the   Nation's  No. ! corn
producer;  Kansas is No.  I  in  wheat
production. The Region supplies 43
percent of the  Nation's market  cattle
and 44 percent  of the butcher  hogs.
Agribusiness, including farm income, in
the  four States  amounts to approxi-
mately $45  billion annually.
  The associated environmental  prob-
lems and technical challenges they pro-
duce strongly influence the environmen-
tal quality  and research needs of the
Region. {Economical technical solutions
are  needed for: 1)  ammonia  removal
from effluents. 2) erosion and sediment
control, 3)  ground water contamination.
4) environmental impact of irrigation, 5)
pesticide management, and 6) land dis-
posal of sewage. The impact of regula-
tions and guidelines that might impose a
heavy  economic burden on agribusiness
would affect the  whole country  both
nutritionally and economically.
  Environmental problems in the met-
ropolitan  areas are similar  to  those
found  in all large cities. A  significant
problem for both rural and urban areas
is finding a means  to achieve  proper
treatment and  disposal  of solid and
hazardous wastes.

WATER POLLUTION  PROBLEMS
Agricultural and surface  runoff that
add  nutrients, organics, and bacteria to
the  waterways  are problems in  every
river basin.  Pollution of streams from
feedlot  sources continues  to be a  major
problem. Nonpoint  sources of fecal
coliform and ammonia wastes are  major
obstacles to achieving full water quality
standards compliance, increased em-
phasis is being given  to the solution of
nonpoint sources of pollution.  A na-
tional strategy has been formulated and
policy and procedures have been devel-
oped for dealing with this  problem.
  The  States have  all  implemented
water pollution control programs which
satisfy current State and Federal regula-
tions. Program objectives of the States
may, at times, disagree with long-range
Federal goals, but satisfactory working
relationships are maintained.
               Continued on page 20
                         PAGE  19


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St.l.t>uix's ftjO-foot-hifih (iatewtiyAnii makes an abstract pattern in this photo.
Continued from paf>e 19
   A few  raw  sewage discharges into
the Kansas  and Missouri Rivers are  a
continuing problem.
   Strip mining in  southeastern  Kansas
has  caused  an acidic  condition  in
nearby streams.
   Full  funding of  the  Omaha. Ne-
braska, secondary treatment projects
would  obligate all of the States'  con-
struction  gran!  allocation for several
years.  This delay  in  funding of all
construction of the Papillion Creek and
Missouri River plants will  make  it
impossible to meet  the July  I, 1977,
deadline for secondary treatment.  A
similar situation exists for several major
projects in Iowa and Missouri.
   The  requirements of  Federal  Water
Pollution Control  Act  Amendments of
1972 increase the States'  work load, but
the Act provides additional funding that
was lacking  in the past.  This Federal
funding improves  the prospects for in-
PACii:  20
creased State staffing needed to achieve
more  satisfactory water  pollution con-
trol programs. The States, however,  are
experiencing difficulties  in recruiting
and maintaining staffs to  respond to  the
comprehensive and  demanding  require-
ments of the law.
  The construction grant funds allo-
cated  to the  States in Region  VII  are
not generally adequate. The broadening
of eligibility  to include collection sys-
tems and other facilities,  increased con-
struction costs, secondary and tertiary
treatment requirements, etc., have com-
bined to create a greater need.  EPA's
estimate of the total cost—based on  the
May  1975  revision  of the 1974 Needs
Survey—was about  $2.4 billion. Only
$0.7 billion has  been  allocated to  the
Region as  its share of the $18 billion
authorized  by the Act. On an  average
funding basis, it would  take about  10
years  to satisfy the  construction needs.
  All  four States  have  indicated  that
they plan to  seek  primary  enforcement
responsibility for their  water supply
programs  under  the Safe  Drinking
Water Act. At  present Nebraska  is the
only  State with the  necessary legisla-
tion.  To assist the States in monitoring
their  water  supplies, EPA  has con-
tracted with  American Management
Systems  to  develop a Model  State
Information  System.  This is  a  com-
puter-based information system for  use
by  individual States in  managing  the
increased volume of  water quality infor-
mation  required to implement the  Na-
tional  Interim Primary Drinking Water
Regulations.  While  it is primarily  de-
signed  for States without automated
systems,  it  will also help  States  with
them.

AIR STANDARDS
High  background particulate levels may
prevent  meeting ambient  air  quality
standards for particulates  in 1976.  In
Iowa  legal authority is needed to permit
the  imposition of regulations to control
complex sources and hazardous pollu-
tion sources.  Additional personnel and
funding will be  needed if this  legislative
backing is given.
  In  Kansas  funding and personnel do
not  meet the  requirements stated in the
Implementation Plan  but  this should
not  unduly hamper the State's effort. In
Missouri inadequate  manpower  and fis-
cal  resources have hampered progress
in developing an  effective State-wide
enforcement program.  A more  positive
approach, including court action  as
needed,  is required  to enforce  State
regulations. In Nebraska the program is
hampered by  a  lack of funds  and
personnel.
  Only  one  Transportation Control
Plan,  for the St.  Louis  area, was re-
quired in Region VII. Coordination of
the  plan's preparation and  implementa-
tion  was handled by the East-West
Gateway Coordinating  Council.  Be-
cause of difficulties in  negotiating  a
contract  between the  Council and  the
State  of  Missouri,  the plan  was  not
submitted until  April 30. 1976.

SOLID WASTE
Increased concern  and effort at  all
governmental levels are  required  for
necessary improvements  in the various
aspects of solid  waste management. All
four States have solid waste processing
and disposal site  permit requirements'.
There are varying weaknesses  in  their
laws,  but open dumps and open burning
sites  are  being closed.  Implementation
of permit systems requires  additional

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funds and  personnel to provide techni-
cal assistance, plan review, and provide
inspection  and  enforcement services to
local  solid  waste agencies. All State
agencies are hampered by  lack  of re-
sources. In  addition,  the permit  pro-
grams have produced  a  wider recogni-
tion  of the hazardous waste  disposal
problems.  Each State has undertaken a
survey of the  generation  of these
wastes to form a base for developing a
control strategy.  Resources  recovery
efforts  for both solid  and hazardous
wastes will contribute to the long-range
solution of both disposal  problems and
are being investigated by  Kansas.  Mis-
souri, and  Nebraska.

PESTICIDE CERTIFICATION
Urn a has  fully certified over  10.000
private  and 2.800 commercial applica-
tors,  km a  State  University Extension
Service trained  13.220 private applica-
tors  during  192  training  sessions  and
3.300  commercial applicators at 14
training sessions.
  With the cooperation of a Sioux  City
TV-station  and  funds from  some pesti-
cide  producers,  a  county  agent and an
agronomist  produced five  half-hour' TV
tapes for  private  applicator training in
12 northwest  Iowa  counties.  These
were  shown on  live weekends.  Over
3.200 training manuals  were  requested
from  the  station, and  2.453  private
applicators from  these  counties have
been certified.
  The Nebraska Extension  Service has
agreed  to  hold  participatory training
sessions this fall  to make private appli-
cators eligible for certification.  The ses-
sions will  be in conjunction with  their
fall Crop  Clinics,  which always draw
well.
  The  Nebraska Legislature has  en-
acted a statute that enables  the State
Extension  Service to  train applicators
and  act as  the  lead agency in promul-
gating  regulations and  developing a
State plan.  Work  is progressing  on the
plan.
   In  Missouri.  1.275  commercial appli-
cators have passed the  general  stand-
ards  exam  and one or more  category
exams  and are qualified for certifica-
tion.  Exams were  held across  the State.
An estimated 400 additional applicators
will  have  been  examined  when  final
reports are received.
   Missouri law  now  requires  dealers
selling restricted-use  pesticides  to be
examined and  licensed. Over SIX) have
been examined.  Thirty-nine  training
sessions, each  one day in length, were
held with  an attendance of 2.160.  The
entire  program is  to  be repeated next
winter.  Train-the-trainer sessions  have
been held for 40 area  extension special-
ists, and a  staff  member  has  been
designated  for  each counts in the pri-
vate applicator program to coordinate
training.  A  participation  program  is
being developed  with a 35-part  stiulv
guide for use  in the  planned  four-hour
training sessions.
  While  waiting   for  a  law  and  an
approvable State plan, the Kansas State
Extension Service   has held 16 training
and testing  sessions for  commercial
applicators.  The  Regional Office  re-
viewed  the program to determine  that it
met the certification criteria. Of the
2.300 attendants.   2.000 took  the  test
and 1.300 passed.
  Kansas trained and made eligible b\
 mils, timely compliance, and  effective
 enforcement.
   By late  May  of this year  60 oil spill
 cases  had been referred to  the  U.S.
 Coast  Guard and or the  U.S.  Attorney.
 Fifty-four administrative orders had
 been issued for various permit  viola-
 tions and  15  substantial permit  viola-
 tions had been  referred  directly to  the
 U.S. Attorney.  Five Notices of Viola-
 tions have been  issued to the  States for
 violations of State issued discharge per-
 mits.
   The  Division is  conducting a  pilot
 program for the Enforcement  Manage-
 ment System,  which, if successful, may
 be used in other Regions. It  has issued
 88 administrative  orders. 66  unleaded
gasoline complaints, and  two  Notices of
 Violation  under the  Clean  Air  Act.
Windhreak hedgerows of trees divide the rich farmlands of Nebraska.
written tests 600  private applicators.
This was  done under' a training grant  to
the Kansas State University.

ENFORCEMENT
Region  VII has a long history of vigor-
ous environmental  enforcement.  Since
1^70. the  Enforcement  Division  has
worked closely with  the  Surveillance
and  Analysis  Division to develop an
extensive  data  base defining the quality
characteristics of major rivers  and the
major waste discharges. This data base
has been  used  to  resolve disputes on
water quality standards and to support
permit development.  To  date  the  Re-
gion and  its States have  issued  over'
6.(XX)  permits covering almost  909; of
the known point sources.  Three of the
four States  have  assumed  discharge
permit  authority and  are maintaining
active permit and compliance programs.
The  major future goal of the Enforce-
ment  Division is  to  work with  the
States to  ensure valid, reasonable  per-
Over 1.000 warning letters have  been
sent to  various  facilities advising  them
to comply with the provisions of the
unleaded  gasoline  program.  Eighteen
prohibition orders  have been  issued to
various  power plants  under  the  author-
ity  of the Energy Supply and Environ-
mental Coordination Act. and consider-
able additional  activity  is expected in
coming  months.
  The Pesticides Branch of the  Air and
Hazardous  Materials  Division  has is-
sued 64 complaints  this  year',  all of
which  were  handled by the Enforce-
ment Division  in cooperation with the
Pesticides Branch.
  Surveillance and  Analysis  has  under-
taken a State laboratory  quality assur-
ance program and a field quality assur-
ance program in-house  to improve the
quality and credibility of air and waste-
water  data put into various program
and data  systems.  A water laboratory
certification  program began this  sum-
mer. •
                            PAGE 21

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S/MNG
By  Rowena Michaels
      To the untrained eye of a  casual
      traveler,  the four states of Re-
      gion VII.  Kansas. Nebraska.
Iowa  and  Missouri hold little in  won-
drous spectacular  scenery . .  . no tow-
ering snow capped peaks, no pounding
surf, no heavy black  forests, no white
sand beaches.
  Rather  manmade attractions dot the
scene . . .  the  towering steel arch that
dominates  the city of  St. Louis .  . . the
Lake  of the O/.arks,  a body of water
created by a utility company-built dam.
whose tree dotted shoreline  is  longer
than the entire coast  of California . .  .
two magnificent libraries erected  in the
honor of  Presidents of the United
States, Dwight  F.isenhower and  Harry
S. Truman . . . scholars from all over
the  world  come to study and  pore over
these archives .  . .  the  Nelson (Jallery-
Atkins  Museum houses one of the
finest collections  of  Oriental art any-

Ms. Michaels /.v Director. Region VII
Office oft'uhlic Affairs

PAGE 22
where in the world.
  Kansas City has more fountains than
any place but Rome, more miles  of
boulevards than Paris, and her Country
Club Plaza, the first suburban shopping
center in this country, is the  epitome of
good taste in planning.
  But there are those of us in  Region
VII who feel that the quiet beauty  of
the prairie is as awesome as  snow
capped peaks and raging rivers.
  Harly  American  surveyors riding
through the virgin tallgrass prairie found
the grass stirrup high  to  their horses,
and in some  spots in the region this
grass, big bluestem, still grows on lower
slopes  and valley floors. Midgrasses,
such as needle grass and little bluestem,
cover the high ground. Further west in
Kansas  in "short  grass" country, that
American  Indian favorite, buffalo grass
predominates.
  These early  surveyors  found that the
land belonged  to the  Indian grass and
big bluestem ... to wildflowers and to
the sky and the sun . . . and always the
wine! .   . that  trees shrank from  it and
for a long time, so did people.
  Slough grass, often found in low lying
areas of the  prairie  and avoided by
Indians  and settlers alike, was  called
"rip-gut"  because of its tough, saw
edge blades. But its sod was unexcelled
for building the "soddie" home of early
settlers,  and if cut  early it made good
hay for the animals.
  Wild prairie flowers and wild  straw-
berries covered the prairie hills  like  a
colorful blanket and  150  years later
the  picture is repainted each spring.
  It is estimated that  the Sheeder Prai-
rie in southwestern  Iowa is over  10.(KM)
years old.  Once  mammoths, masto-
dons, giant  bison and  wild pigs roamed
there. Now, only the tallgrass remains
to remind us of an ancient time.
  The largest  Iowa prairie to survive in
its  original form is Kalson Prairie in
northwestern  Iowa. Only  160 acres re-
main, but  in the full  blaze of an Iowa
summer day the prairie is brilliant with
golden rod and ripening bluestem.
  True  prairie was  not a matter of
location  but of composition. The  lie of

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the land had nothing to do with whether
it was  prairie or not; some prairie was
flat,  much  of it  was rolling and  some
was  broken and rocky. But.  it needed
tallgrasscs,  Indian grass,  cordgrasses
and  the big bluestem.  towering  to 12
feet in  some areas,  to be true prairie. It
was  here that the forested East ended
and the West really began.
  One  old journalist wrote "the  ver-
dure  and flowers are beautiful, and the
absence of shade and  the consequent
profusion  of light  produces a gaiety
which animates every beholder."
  Open as  they  are, the prairies are not
treeless.  Most  prairie  has a  roll and
break,  with the  land rising to  the  sky-
line and some timber down in the folds.
Prairie  must have sweep  and  perspec-
tive to  look like  prairie. It is more  than
just native  grasses, prairie  chickens on
their booming grounds, coyotes howl-
ing,  bison grazing or whitefaced  cattle
running before a  storm.  To be  prairie it
must stretch from  horizon to  horizon.
and the only places where you can still
find  it  are in parts  of Nebraska's Sand
Hills and  the  Flint  Hills of eastern
Kansas.
  The  Flint Hills  prairie  has  survived
because beds of cherty  limestone  lie so
close  to  the  surface it  cannot be
plowed.
   A very active organization is working
diligently to save the  tallgrass prairie
but cattlemen and landowners and oth-
ers are working equally hard against it.
It  was in  the  Flint Hills  that former
Secretary  of the Interior Stuart  Udall.
was  forced to leave, at gunpoint,  after
helicoptering in  to investigate  the possi-
bilities of  locating a  National Prairie
Park there.  Billboards dot major high-
ways stating "Save Our  Grass" . .  .
"Keep the  Park Out." etc. But enthusi-
asts  do not appear to be weakening . .  .
the movement  has been afoot for over
40 years  to secure this  sophisticated
climax ecosystem.  Perhaps  they will
win . . .
   Those of us  who  have heard  the
angry  buzzing of a prairie rattlesnake.
crawled a quailer of a  mile to  observe
the  communal   life of a  prairie dog
town, heard the lonesome chorus of the
wily old  coyote as he  hunts a  yucca-
studded ridge,  listened  to the distant
thunder of prairie chickens booming in
their weird dance on centuries  old
booming ground, or felt the prairie wind
in our face under the  beating  sun of  a
cloudless Kansas sky as we rode horse-
back through belly-deep bluestem . . .
we are hoping  the tallgrass prairie is
saved. too.B
Region Hi's
LMDERSHIP  TMM
                  Jerome H. Svore.
                  Regional Administrator
                  Charles V. Wright.
                  Deputy Regional
                  Administrator
                  Carl Blomgren.
                  Director.
                  Water Division
                  Donald Townley.
                  Director.
                  Surveillance and
                  Analysis Division
                  Arlem Wicks.
                  Director.
                  Office of
                  I n I e rm ed i a Program s
                  John Morse.
                  Regional Counsel
Karl Stephenson
Director.
Hnforceiiient Div ision
Robert Markey.
Director.
Air and Ha/ardous
Materials Division
Charles Hajinian.
Directoi.
Management Division
Ronald Kilter.
Concessional and
Intergovernmental
Relations Officei
Rowena Michaels.
Director.
Office of Public Affairs

          PAGE  23

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INQUIRY
What are you  doing
to conserve  resources?
Xack I)ohbs, Chemist.  Rochester Pro-
gram  Support  Branch.  Region II.
Rochester, New York:
  "My  program ot conservation is
based on the premises that things com-
monly  considered  "wastes'  are re-
sources to be used and reused, and that
in  the past we have  been heedlessly
extravagant  in  our  use of energy and
materials.
  "Botties. other  glass  containers.
newspapers, and aluminum cans  are all
carted off to recycling centers. Paper is
conserved by always using both sides;
lights are turned off when not  in actual
use and during the winter the  house
thermostat is  kept at  68:.   I  try  to
organize errands that  require car use
into one continuous trip  rather than
making a series of  separate  runs: this
nol only saves gas but reduces the
amount  of  pollutants released  to the
atmosphere. I  plan  my work  so  as to
utili/.e instruments  and machinery at
their fullest  capacity and with  the least
expense  of energy. "

Polly Johnson,  Mail Clerk. Environmen-
tal Research Laboratory. Corvallis. Or-
egon:
  "My  life style is pretty  much  struc-
tured  around conservation,   both be-
cause  of conviction and a preference
for a  simple life that  makes low de-
mands on energy and other resources. I
live in a valley in the Coast  Range
Mountains  near Blodgett. Ore., and
drive the 20 miles to Corvallis  daily in a
carpool with two other women who live
nearby.
   "I  built  my house from  recycled
wood  from  an  old barn: I  use wood—
              there is a lot of dead and windfall wood
              around—for heating and cooking; a pro-
              pane  lantern provides light; a  spring
              brings water to the  house  by  gravity
              (low;  a traditional outhouse  affords the
              other  amenities. My twenty  acres have
              been  logged  over, but  I am planting
              trees,  and I have a garden that provides
              much  of my food and  ultimately  will
              yield  even more  for  canning and pre-
              serving."

              Norbert Shomaker,  Chief. Disposal
              Branch.  Solid  and Hazardous  Waste,
              Research Division. Municipal Environ-
              mental Research Laboratory.  Cincin-
              nati. Ohio:
                 "I  live in  Green Hills, a  small town
              just north of Cincinnati and I have been
              active in advising the Town  Council on
              management  of solid  waste. About 18
              months ago we devised a workable and
              profitable way  to re-use newspapers
              rather than dumping  them  with other
              trash in the landfill.
                 "Kach resident  is  required to sepa-
              rate newspapers from other waste and
              when town  collection is  made, the
              papers are placed  in  special containers
              and taken to a  town storage place. The
              market price  for recycled paper  varies a
              great  deal, so the papers are stockpiled
              until the  price  goes up. Then they are
              hauled to the  Diamond International
               Paper Co.  plant in  Cincinnati where
              they are recycled into  usable paper.
                 "Profits from sale of the old papers
              go into  the town's general  funds."

              Robert F. Powell, Physical Scientist.
              Office of Water  and  Hazardous Sub-
              stances. Washington. D.C. :
                               "Most of my conservation activities
                             are focused on promoting sailing  as a
                             pursuit that is conserving of energy and
                             resources,  intellectually  and  physically
                             challenging, non-polluting,  relatively
                             cheap—and fun! For years I've worked
                             as  an  environmentalist  with  youth
                             groups and directed the environmental
                             science and national sailing programs of
                             the Boy Scouts of America.
                               "Next  year there will  be  about
                             100.000 boys  at the National  Scout
                             Jamboree in western Pennsylvania, and
                             I plan to have a fleet of 150 boats and
                             staff there  to  teach the rudiments of
                             sailing to boys and  leaders from all
                             walks of life.  Sailing competition  is a
                             marvelous  discipline  for creating  per-
                             sonal  interaction with the environment
                             and other people."

                             Sylvia  Miller,  Clerk-Typist,  Research
                             Support Branch.  Environmental  Re-
                             search Laboratory,  Duluth. Minnesota:
                               "Although many people thought we
                             were crazy  then, my family  and  1
                             started conserving energy and materials
                             about six years ago. We are motivated
                             in  part by  environmental considera-
                             tions, but also by the  earlier morality of
                             'waste not. want not.'
                               "Our procedures are quite simple.
                             We live in  rural Dututh on Lake Supe-
                             rior where  it  can  be very cold.  We
                             regularly burn wood, in  an  iron  pot-
                             bellied stove that throws out a tremen-
                             dous amount of heat,  to supplement the
                             gas furnace. The furnace is not started
                             until  December and it is shut off in
                             March and in this area it is not unusual
                             to  have  May  temperatures in the  low
                             thirties! " •
/ark l>ol>l>s

PAGE 24
Polly Johnson
Norlx-rt Schomaker
    .
Sylvia Miller

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                               "briefs
TRAIN URGES BETTER LONG-RANGE PLANNING  FOR NATIONAL PROBLEMS
The Nation must face the reality  of  the long-range problems of
energy, food supply, natural resources, population and uncon-
trolled growth, Administrator Russell E. Train told a recent
joint hearing of the House Committees on Science and Technology
and Merchant Marine and Fisheries.   These "critical issues are
...interrelated and long-range ones" that call for continuous
analysis and comprehensive planning  by  Congress and the Execu-
tive Branches, he said.

DDT APPROVED TO COMBAT PLAGUE IN  COLORADO
The burrows of rock squirrels and other rodents in five counties
near Colorado Springs are being dusted  with DDT powder this month
to control an outbreak of bubonic plague among rodents.  State
health authorities sought and obtained  EPA's permission to use
the generally-banned pesticide.  They are concerned that rodent
fleas could carry the plague germs to humans.

SPECIAL HANDLING NEEDED FOR VINYL CHLORIDE CANS
Spray cans that have vinyl chloride  as  the propellant gas are
hazardous to get rid of.  EPA recently  issued recommendations
for disposal of these products.  Vinyl  chloride is a cancer-
causing agent, and sale of all spray cans containing it has
been banned by the Consumer Product  Safety Commission.

DISCHARGE LIMITS PROPOSED FOR FOUR TOXIC PESTICIDES
Strict limits on wastewater discharges  containing four toxic
pesticides have been proposed by  EPA to protect human health,
fish, and other water organisms.  The substances are: aldrin/
dieldrin, DDT  (and related compounds),  endrin, and toxaphene.
EPA's proposals would forbid the  discharge of any aldrin/diel-
drin or DDT  (and related 'compounds DDE  and DDD) from plants
manufacturing these chemicals and would place severe restric-
tions on discharges from existing plants making endrin or toxa-
phene .
                                                               PAGE 25

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U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS (A107)
WASH I NGTON.DC. 20460
                                    POSTAGE AND FEES PAID
                                                   GENCY
                                                   PA-335
                                                   ;RATE
 Return this page if you do NOT wish to receive this publication (  ), or if change of address is needed (  ), list change, including zip code.
BIKECENTENNIAL
 Bicyclists travel  yuict  hack  roads pas! snow-capped mountains on  the Trans-
 America Trail.
       Several thousand Americans are
       spending part  of this  summer
 riding across  the  country on  a  non-
 polluting form  of transportation—bicy-
 cles.
   Will  Foster,  EPA environmental en-
 gineer, and Eileen Kadesh. an  EPA
 environmental protection specialist,
 who resigned from  the Agency to  make
 the  trip, are among those riding across
 the  Trans-America  Trail, a system of
 secondary  and  rural roads 4,250  miles
 long, developed by Bikecentennial '76.
 a non-profit bicycling organization.
   Asked why he  was making the trip,
 Mr. Foster replied  that "locomotion by
 muscle power is an important objective.
 We  need to return to a simpler and less
 polluted kind of existence."
   While at his  EPA job in  the mobile
 source  enforcement office. Mr. Foster
 hiked  or  jogged  to  work from his
 residence  two  miles  from  Waterside
 Mall.
   "The most I have ever hiked in one-
 day was 150 miles,"   Mr. Foster  said.
"I hope to do an average of 50 miles a
day on the cross country  trip,  which is
a relatively easy pace, providing you
don't  run  into a head wind.  A  head
wind can be a real bummer."
  Mi.  Foster  attended  a leadership
training course at Yorktown.  Va..
sponsored by  Bikecentennial before
flying to the  West Coast,  where he
began his bicycle  trip back to  the East
from Oregon.
  "I just didn't have enough leave time
to be able to bike both  ways." Mr.
Foster explained.  He added that it will
also be easier biking to the East Coast
because  the prevailing winds are gener-
ally from the  West.  Ms.  Kadesh also
flew  to  the West  Coast  to begin her
biking venture.
  Before  leaving Washington .  Ms.
Kadesh said  she hoped  to bike from
Reedsport. Oregon, to Yorktown. Va..
with a group of other bicyclists.
  In a phone interview with EPA Jour-
nal  from New Meadows. Idaho, Ms.
Kadesh said that  "We are now on our
15th  day  and  both  I and my  bike are
holding up well. There are 15 people in
our group ranging in age from  16 to 66
and I am one of three women.  I'm with
a fine and friendly group.  One  night we
celebrated the 66th birthday of our
member from Los Angeles.
  "He is doing fine, though he usually
walks up the steep hills. We come from
all over the United  States. Usually we
are out on the road by 6:30 or 7 a.m.
and do 55-60 miles a day. The weather
has generally been good.  The  prettiest
day so  far was going over the  Cascade
Mountain Range  in Oregon. We  were
scheduled to  go  over  the  McKenzie
Pass, but the  snow was  too deep. So
we used  the Santium  Pass in  Central
Oregon instead.
  "I guess I'm a little bit crazy to be
doing this, but I  love biking.   It's the
only  way  to see the country. I've  been
amazed by the variety of  terrain we've
gone  through.  I expect to  complete the
trip in  Yorktown. Va.. about  August
24. It's so nice to get away from the
tensions and pressures of the city."
  The Trans-America  Bicycle  Trail is
the first transcontinental bike route.
The trail is divided into a  series of two-
and three-week vacation length sections
designed to make  bike touring attractive
to both the casual bicyclist  and  the
seasoned bike traveler.
  Overnight accommodations  are pro-
vided at simple  bike inns and hotels.
Camping facilities are also available all
along the route.
  The trail crosses  25  national forests
and its development has received major
support from the  U.S.  Department  of
Agriculture's  Forest Service. The trail
is also recognized  as the keystone route
in a  future interstate system of bicycle
trails. New routes  are already being
developed.
  Bicyclists traveling the  Trans-Ameri-
ca  Trail this summer have been in-
vited to join in  a variety of local
Bicentennial  celebrations  along the
way.  •

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