United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Issue No. 3
June 7, 1982
Page 9
oEFA TIMES
A PUBLICATION FOR
EPA EMPLOYEES
Personnel
Stiffer Penalties Proposed
in Clean Water Act
CAREER OFFICIALS NAMED TO
TOP EPA POSTS
Four career environmental
specialists have been named
to high-ranking posts at
EPA.
Selected as Deputy Assist-
ant Administrator for Water
was Rebecca W. Hammer, a
former EPA Regional Admin-
istrator. Appointed as
Director of Water Enforce-
ment and Permits was Bruce
R. Barrett, who had
previously served as Acting
Assistant Administrator.
Sheldon Meyers, former
Deputy Director of Nuclear
Reactor Programs at the
Department of Energy and a
former EPA official, was
chosen as Director, Office
of Air Quality Planning and
Standards. Glen L. Sjoblom,
a career Federal nuclear
engineer, has been named as
Director of the Office of
Radiation Programs.
Hanmer, who began her gov-
ernment career in the
Department of Health,
Education and Welfare in
1964, was EPA's Region 4
Administrator in Atlanta
from January 1980 to July
1981. Since then, she had
been a special assistant to
the EPA Administrator and
to the Assistant Admin-
istrator for Water. She
had previously served in
Continued to page 12
More drastic penalties for violators and other revisions in
the Clean Water Act have been proposed by EPA. Administrator
Anne M. Gorsuch explained in a letter accompanying the legis-
lative recommendations sent to Capitol Hill that while the
Clean Water Act is "fundamentally sound" the proposed amend-
ments are needed to improve its effectiveness.
The recommended changes in penalties include a proposal that
would allow the EPA Administrator to assess civil penalties
of up to $10,000 a day for clear violations of the Act. At
present civil penalties can be imposed only through court
action.
"Cleaning up our rivers and streams, our ponds and lakes, our
harbors and estuaries is and should remain a paramount nation-
al environmental objective," Mrs. Gorsuch said. "The attached
legislation will not only accomplish this, but will do so
effectively, with greater efficiency, with lower compliance
costs, and with greater State and local government participa-
tion."
The proposed amendments would not allow exemptions of indus-
trial facilities from stricter control measures for toxic
pollutants. Some industry representatives had sought such a
waiver provision, but Mrs. Gorsuch said there is not enough
data available to decide whether waivers are necessary.
EPA did recommend giving industry more time to comply with
stricter controls, which are designated in the law as Best
Available Technology Economically Achievable (BAT) and Best
Conventional Technology (BCT).
The current law establishes a deadline of July 1, 1984, for
compliance with BAT and BCT controls, but regulations imple-
menting those requirements have been issued for only two of
24 industrial categories. The proposed amendment would give
EPA until July 1, 1984, to issue the remaining regulations
and set a compliance deadline of July 1, 1988.
The Agency also proposed revisions that would allow local-
ities more flexibility in the administration of pretreatment
requirements, which apply to industries that discharge
wastewater into publicly owned treatment facilities.

-------
10
REGIONAL PROFILE
(This is another in a series of profiles of the Agency regional offices and
laboratories that EPA TIMES is presenting.)
A Report on Region 2
The outstanding characteristic of Region
2 is its diversity. It ranges from the
densely populated, highly urbanized New
York/New Jersey metropolitan area to the
pine forests of the Adirondacks--from
the chemical and steel industry of the
Niagara River area to the coral reefs of
the Virgin Islands. The issues dealt
with by the Regional Office, therefore,
run the full gamut of EPA programs.
Region 2's Administrator is Jacqueline
Schafer, who joined EPA on March 8,
1982, after five years as a professional
staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee
on Environment and Public Works. The
Region's employees today number about
430, and they work in three
locations--the Federal Building in
Manhattan, the laboratory in Edison, New
Jersey, or the San Juan field office in
Puerto Rico.
Superfund
Region 2 is a center of Superfund
activity. Over 1,400 sites have been
identified by the States as potentially
hazardous and in need of investigation.
Of the 115 national priority sites, 20
are in the Region. They include such
widely known names as Love Canal in
Niagara Falls, Price's Pit near Atlantic
City, and Pollution and Abatement
Services in Oswego, New York.
The Region worked with the State of New
York on the initial leachate collection
system at Love Canal, and further re-
medial work will be based on the
extensive environmental study carried
out by the Office of Research and
Development in 1980. At Oswego, cleanup
of 14,000 remaining drums of chemical
wastes is underway through a cooperative
agreement with New York. Superfund is
paying for short-term connections and
treatment to make sure Atlantic City's
water supply is protected this summer
while a long-term solution to Price's
Pit is developed, Altogether, nearly
$12 million has so far been allocated to
Superfund sites in Region 2.
Niagara River
At Administrator Gorsuch's direction,
the Region is carrying out a Niagara
River program to remedy the problem of
toxic discharges. Based on a report
prepared by the National Enforcement
Investigations Center, the program was
developed to deal with complaints in the
Region on both the U.S. and Canadian
sides of the Niagara River. The investiga-
tion center found that most environmental
indicators have actually improved in the
Niagara over the past decade, but that
serious problems still remain with
abandoned hazardous waste sites and
other non-point sources.
Ocean Dumping
An issue almost unique to Region 2 is
ocean dumping. More than 98% of the
non-dredge-spoil dumping takes place in
the region, as well as nearly 15% of the
dredge spoil dumping. The issue is
controversial because, while ocean dump-
ing of sewage sludge and industrial
wastes is undesirable, acceptable land-
based alternatives are expensive and
hard to site in a densely populated
area.
Delegation
The delegation of appropriate environ-
mental control functions to the States
is well underway in Region 2. Both New
York and New Jersey have highly devel-
oped and talented State environmental
agencies, and their legislatures have
provided strong support to the programs.

-------
11
ENFORCEMENT
$2.5 Million Cleanup for	News Briefs
North Carolina
Administrator Anne M. Gorsuch has announced
that EPA is giving North Carolina $2.5
million m Superfund money to clean up
PCB-contaminated soil along roadsides in
this State. The State will remove and
dispose of 40,000 cubic yards of PCB-
contaminated soil from highway shoulders
under the new cooperative agreement.
Mrs. Gorsuch stated that EPA had now
approved nearly $54 million in Superfund
money for remedial cleanup work at 53
sites across the country in the seven
months since the Agency released the list
of 115 top-priority sites. She added
that "significant progress in our campaign
to clean up abandoned hazardous waste
sites across the country has been made,
and we expect continued progress as more
States like North Carolina work out
cleanup agreements with us." North
Carolina will develop a detailed plan for
removing the soil, conduct soil sampling
and analysis, remove and dispose of the
soil, reconstruct excavated highway
shoulders, and construct a landfill to
dispose of the soil in Warren county,
N.C. Cleanup is expected to take four to
five months to complete.
Between June 1978 and August 1978, over
30,000 gallons of waste transformer oil
contaminated with PCBs (polychlorinated
biphenyls) were deliberately dumped along
approximately 211 miles of highway
shoulders in 14 counties in North Carolina.
In May 1981, four men were convicted in
Federal court of criminally violating the
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). One
of the defendants is serving a prison
sentence, two defendants are on probation,
and the fourth is appealing his conviction.
An environmental review indicates that no
significant adverse impact will result
from the cleanup.
•	Robert M. Perry, EPA's enforcement
chief, has praised the efforts of pros-
ecutors and investigators that led to a
sentence of one year imprisonment and a
$200,000 fine against a Pennsylvania
waste dump operator for criminal viola-
tions of Federal pollution laws..."The
deterrent value of these strong sanctions
is undeniable," said Perry.
•	EPA has approved use in all of its
10 Regions of a new chemical process
developed by Sunohio to destroy poly-
chlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) safely...
"We are encouraged by the initiative and
ingenuity shown by industries that are
coming up with solutions...to our
environmental problems," said Admin-
istrator Gorsuch.
•New pesticide tolerance regulations
proposed...to ease regulatory burdens on
U.S. farmers while continuing needed
environmental and public health protection.
•	Administrator urging local officials
to give priority to completing sewage
treatment facilities started as phased
construction projects...future of Federal
construction grants assistance may
depend on getting the new facilities
into operation quickly, she said.
•	Judge approves Hooker-Hyde Park
consent agreement...requires Hooker
Chemical Company to take corrective
steps to clean up Hyde Park landfill in
Niagara, New York.
•	New actions have been taken to
clean up four hazardous waste sites in
Massachusetts...sites are: Industriplex
in Woburn; Cornel 1-Dubi1ier Electronics,
Inc., in New Bedford; Aerovox, Inc., in
New Bedford; and Re-Solve in North
Dartmouth.

-------
12
Personnel (continued)
EPA as Assistant Director
and later Director of the
Office of Federal Activ-
ities and then became
Deputy Regional Admin-
istrator in EPA's Region 1
in Boston in October 1977.
Hanmer was honored as a
Presidential Meritorious
Executive in 1980 after
receiving EPA's gold medal
for exceptional service in
1977 and the silver medal
for superior service in
1975. She received a
bachelor of arts degree
from the College of William
and Mary in 1963 and a
master of arts degree in
political science from
American University in
1966.
Rejoined EPA
Barrett had served as
acting Assistant Admin-
istrator for Water for
seven months, rejoining EPA
after nine years as head of
the environmental affairs
office at the Department of
Commerce.
Barrett began his career in
the environmental field in
1962 as a staff member with
the Central Valley Regional
Water Quality Control Board
in California. He joined
the Federal government in
1966 and was assigned to
EPA's research laboratory
at Ada, Okla., unti1 1972.
As Director of Water Enforce-
ment and Permits, Barrett will
be the national manager for
permits and compliance
functions involving over-
sight of approximately
65,000 wastewater dis-
chargers under the Clean
Water Act and the
control of permits of
underground injection wells
under the Safe Drinking
Water Act.
In his new position as
Director of the Office of
Air Quality Planning and
Standards, Meyers will
direct the periodic
review and development of
national standards for
air quality, including
emission standards for
stationary sources of air
pollution.
Previous Service
For three years Meyers
directed the National
Nuclear Waste Management
Program in the Department
of Energy. He also
served from 1969 to 1977
with EPA. During that
period, he directed the
Office of Federal Activ-
ities and Federal Solid
Waste Program. He also
held management positions
in the Office of Air
Quality Planning and
Standards, the office he
wi 11 now head.
Meyers received a B.S in
mechanical engineering
from the State University
of New York in 1952, and
an M.A. in business
administration from New
York University in 1967.
He received a certificate
from the International
School of Nuclear Science
and Engineering in 1958.
Meyers was named a
Princeton Fellow in
Public Affairs in 1964-65
and received the Presi-
dential Meritorious Executive
award in 1981.
In his new pos ition
as EPA's Director of
the Office of Radiation
Programs, Sjoblom wi11
manage EPA programs
related to protecting
the public from unnecessary
radiation exposure.
Naval Officer
Sjoblom has served in
the radiation and nuclear
engineering field for
18 years, four years
as a naval officer,
over two years in industry,
and with the U.S. Naval
Sea Systems Command's
Nuclear Propulsion Directorate
since January 1971.
As Assistant Director
for Environmental Controls
in the Naval Reactors
Program, Sjoblom had
been responsible for
a broad range of radiation
control activities,
including such environmental
programs as radioactive
waste management.
Sjoblom, 40, has a B.S.
degree from the University
of Minnesota and an
M.S. degree from the
University of California
in chemical engineering.
Both degrees were awarded
with honors. In 1966,
he received a certificate
in nuclear engineering
from the Bettis Reactor
Engineering School in
Pittsburgh. He has
published articles in
the radiation field,
and is a member of the
Tau Beta Pi Honorary
Engineering Fraternity.
The EPA Times is published every two weeks by EPA's Office of Public Affairs, A-107,
Washington, D.C. 20460, to provide current information for all agency employees. It
is printed on paper with three ring holes so that it can be filed in a binder for
future reference.

-------