NEWS FOR AND ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES
INSIDE:
~	Terms of Environment
~	Schafer to CEQ
~	Slow Paychecks
VOLUME 1
NUMBER 16
July 6, 1984
Trying to Catch the Wind
"Snakelike, it whipped
through space slithering
along for miles. But it was
duller and heavier than a
snake—like an undulating
pillar of smoke. As the
seconds went by, it seemed
to increase in volume until
it was a huge, roiling cal-
dron of heated darkness.
Numerous suction vortices
formed beneath the one
central cone. They stabbed
at the fields and sucked
huge portions up, spinning
them in the darkness. The
winds were moaning,
almost howling. We were
alone."
Thus, author Marion
Long* describes a few mo-
ments shared with David
Hoadley and his Volks-
wagen Rabbit on the plains
of Kansas. If your idea of a
good time includes being
bombarded by rain, hail,
and lightning while stalking
winds that can reach 300
mph and lift 70-ton boxcars
from their tracks, then you
might want to ask Hoadley
to take you along on his
next vacation.
For 49 weeks each year
Dave Hoadley works with
budgets for the Water pro-
gram's Office of Water
Regulations and Standards.
For three weeks each May
he chases tornadoes.
A childhood fascination
with storms led Hoadley to
begin chasing twisters in
the 1950's, when most sci-
An awesome sky in central Kansas
*Article in Science Digest,
May, 1984.
entists thought it couldn't
be done. His pioneering
work has been taken up by
a handful of other amateur
researchers, and a few pro-
fessional meteorologists,
many of whom subscribe to
~
k
David Hoadley
Hoadley's self-published
newsletter called "Storm
Track."
Courage and agility are
often required in the proc-
ess of chasing tornadoes,
but knowledge and creative
thinking are equally impor-
tant, for before a twister can
be pursued it first must be
found. Being there when
the funnel touches down
means doing some sophisti-
cated forecasting in addi-
tion to a lot of hard driving.
Hoadley has developed his
own formulas for turning
data on dew points, wind
speeds, water vapor, surface
temperatures, and atmo-
spheric pressures into fore-
casts of storm-watch areas.
Despite a lack of academic
meteorological training, he
is correct a phenomenal 70
percent of the time.
Tornadoes are born when
a core area of cold heavy air
breaks downward through a
layer of warm, moisture
laden area trapped beneath.
As the cold air rushes
down, the warm air surges
upward, resulting in a col-
umn of air spinning at high
speeds. Low pressure with-
in the resulting vortex con-
denses water vapor into vis-
ible clouds and causes the
upward pull.
Tornado chasers contrib-
ute to the public safety by
reporting ominous cloud
formations and by supply-
ing most of the photographs
used in training meterolog-
ists and volunteer spotters.
In addition, Hoadley says:
"I feel I have an obligation
to share the beauty and
magnificence of these
storms. People don't look
up as much as they should
to see the beauty of the
sky." ~

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People
Congratulations on 30 years of federal service to: Annie
Williams and Charles Luczak, Region 5 . . . Helen Fischer
and Kirby Campbell, Cincinnati . . . Ruth Mills, Region 10
. . . George Harlow, Region 4 . . . Bernard Rychlik, Region
1 . . . Ernest Whitcomb, Durham . . . Margaret Holladay,
Ann Arbor.
Retirees from Region 1: John Conlon, 30 years, Sur-
veillance Branch . . . Edgar Bernard, 20 years, Personnel
Branch . . . Kenneth Wood, 11 years, Water Quality Branch
. . . Allyn Richardson, 19 years, Municipal Facilities
Branch.
Quality Step Increases awarded to: Dorothy Woodward,
Bessie Hammiel, Helen Handon and Maria Whitting,
Office of the Administrator . . . Curtis Chitwood, Office of
the Inspector General . . . Sheila Allen, Margot Pyles,
Marianne Bender, Gina Constantino and Peter Murtha,
Air and Radiation . . . Linda Bell, Janice Looper, Dorothy
Jackson, Barbara Gudger, Sheila Hall, Rebecca Vidi and
Patricia Wade-Neal, Administration and Resources Man-
agement . . . Dolores Keith, Karen James, Jannie Latta,
Richard Martin, Diane Brower, Paula Monroe, Paula Wil-
liams, Edna Geter, Judith Hechtand Sylvia Bell, Water . . .
Lynn Cusick, Region 1.
Special Act Awards presented to: Rebecca Neer and
Cheryl Veon, Office of the Administrator . . . Mary Fee
and Fiona Jarrett, Policy, Planning and Evaluation . . . De-
bra Miller, Office of the Inspector General . . . Gerald Lap^
pan, Kevin Bell, Kaia Kitagawa, Karen Simpson, John
Koechlin, Ronald Wood, Michael Smith and Lori Austin,
Air and Radiation . . . Georgene Boiling, Solid Waste and
Emergency Response . . . Lori Mackey, Marilyn McKenzie,
Allison Duryee, David Evans, Stuart Tuller, Anne Wein-
berg, Robert Dunn, Cassandra Holmes and Helen Cannar-
ota, Water . . . Deborah York, Research and Development
. . . Bernadine Davis and Marcella Osterholt, Administra-
tion and Resources Management . . . Susan Zoino-Quealy,
Joel Blumstein and Charles Bishop, Region 1.
Continued Superior Performance Awards to: Diane
Smith and Shirley Smith, Office of the Administrator . . .
Dwain Winters, Shirley Harrison, Mary Smith and John
Guy, Air and Radiation . . . Lois Canada, John Pai, Lori
Mackey, Sandra Duncan and Gerald Widdowson, Water
. . . Felicia Jackson, Sheila Brown, Brenda Zollicoffer and
Jeffrey Meetre, Administration and Resources Management
. . . Evelyn Alukonis, John Carlson, Janet Sessions, Au-
stine Frawley-Curtis, James Lord and David Mclntyre, Re-
gion 1. ~
Agency Activities
Civil suit filed against Republic Steel Corporation for
air pollution violations involving wastewater. The
company failed to meet a prior agreement with Region
5 to build a facility to treat wastewater which is used
to quench (cool) the coke it processes. Quenching with
untreated wastewater causes a large number of particu-
lates and other pollutants to be released into the air
through the resulting steam.
Superfund Update: Actions are underway at almost
every site on the National Priorities List. A search has
begun for the responsible polluters of 543 sites on the
list. Those potentially responsible have been identified
for 188 of the sites and have been notified of their
responsibilities under the law. Investigatory and other
program activities have been undertaken at 541 NPL
sites, including long-term remedial action at 315 and
emergency removal actions approved for 100 sites.
Officials of W.B. Sprague Company have admitted
that their company illegally used pesticide products in
a manner that caused the death of migratory birds pro-
tected by federal law. They agreed to pay criminal
penalties of $5,500 each, and $20,500 for the corpora-
tion.
Over $250,000 in civil penalties proposed against
alleged participants in a widespread vehicle tampering
operation in Corpus Christi, Texas. Acting on an an-
onymous complaint, inspectors found evidence that 24
catalytic converters had been lemoved by Shaffer Muf-
fler Shops, Inc. Seven of these cars had been taken to
Gainan Chevrolet City, Inc. for service and, in turn,
taken by the dealer to the muffler shop.
Restrictions on federal highway and air-quality pro-
gram funds proposed on the State of Michigan for fail-
ure to submit an approvable plan to establish a vehicle
inspection and maintenance program in Detroit. ~
Around EPA
The Headquarters Library initiates a history/archives
section to preserve and display papers and photographs
documenting Agency "firsts" in environmental manage-
ment. Contributions or queries should be sent to Sarah
Kadec, PM-211E, Room 2903, Headquarters.
The Office of Pesticides issues a slide/tape show de-
signed to train farmworkers in the safe application of pes-
ticides. The $42 package is available from the University
of Florida, IFAS—Building 664, Gainesville, FL 32611. For
further information contact Carol Parker on 557-7666.
The effective date of the new policy for mailing
paychecks (no more than two days prior to paydate) has
been postponed from July 3 to August 28, 1984.
The National Water Well Association (telephone number
614-846-9355) is sponsoring three meetings during August:
•	A conference on the impact of mining on groundwa-
ter, August 27-29, Denver Airport Hilton.
•	A conference on practical applications of groundwa-
ter models, August 15-17, Ohio State University.
•	A lecture course on safety and liability considerations
for hazardous materials site work, August 21-22,
Bloomington, Minnesota.
Managing environmental risks will be the topic of a
conference sponsored by the Associated Colleges of the St.
Lawrence Valley (telephone 315-268-3981) on October 2-4
at Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York.
Prospective authors are invited to respond to a call for
papers for a July 1985 symposium on coastal and ocean
management, which will be held in Baltimore. Corres-
pondence should be addressed to Orville T. Magoon,
General Chairman, COASTAL ZONE 85 - Code A, P.O.
Box 26062, San Francisco, CA 94126. ~

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Environmental News
A selection of noteworthy lines culled from the 300-400
newspaper and magazine articles on environmental mat-
ters which we receive every two weeks.
"When the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
sailed into San Pedro Bay in 1542, he noticed that the dis-
tant mountain peaks were obscured. Smoke from Indian
campfires would rise for only a few hundred feet and
then, contained, would begin to spread. Hesitant to stay
during a possible smog alert, the explorer continued on
his way. For the residents, there wasn't any getting away
from it then, and now—442 years later—there is still no
escaping the subject. Especially with the Olympic Games
drawing ever nigh."—Los Angeles Times, 6/3.
"Two large companies were the only two entities cited
by the state Air Pollution Control Board in 1983 and 1984
which did not have tn pay a monetary fine . . . 'There is
inconsistency, but I don't think it's totally irrational in-
consistency,' Harinder Kaur, a board staffer, said . . . 'The
largest companies and the largest polluters have the worst
economic problems."—The Evansville Press, 5/18.
"Anne Burford . . . will tell a group of business ex-
ecutives about her 'Ten Commandments of life in Wash-
ington, DC, as they were revealed to me.' Among them:
'Do not enter Washington without your criminal lawyer.'
The speech—at a business show in Atlanta—is part of Bur-
ford's return to public view after months of silence . . .
Burford plans to write a book: 'It will not be a bitchy,
wliiney book,' she says."—USA Tuduy, G/j.
"Lead-free gasoline by the start uf 1989 lids been piu-
posed by the European Commission. West Germany is
committed to lead-free by 1986 and the UK by 1990, but
'other members of the 10-country group have been reluc-
tant to adopt the proposals."—Automotive News, 5/28.
"Six environmental groups today entered the debate
over a national industrial policy with a report that cites
the promise of open world markets and high technology
and opposes trade protection . . . The report contended
that trade barriers, besides being economically self-
defeating, damage the worldwide environment in several
ways: by allowing domestic industries to pospone mod-
ernization measures that also reduce pollution, by damag-
ing third world economies where prosperity may be key to
environmental protection, and by hampering international
cooperation that is critical for solving such global prob-
lems as acid rain and ocean pollution."—The New York
Times, 6/17.
"Health officials agree that carbon filtration offers the
best long-term solution for households with EDB-
contaminated drinking water, but . . . filtration systems in-
stalled below a kitchen sink would be effective for no
more than two months in removing ethylene dibromide, a
cancer-causing pesticide formerly used on tobacco fields
in northern Connecticut."—The Hartford Courant, 5/18.
"With a minute-long zap of irradiating microwaves, 90
percent of the sulfur can be purged from coal to make a
cleaner and more attractive fuel for homes and businesses
... By the end of the year, DOE plans to award a contract
for further development of microwave coal cleaning . . .
the project would involve building a microwave reactor to
clean 20 pounds of coal per hour."—The Grand Rapids
Press, 6/1.
"'There is a lot of money in radioactive waste,' attorney
Catherine Ortner said from her office in Hot Springs, S.D.,
one of several towns in Fall River County that voted Tues-
day in favor of building a low-level radioactive-waste
dump in their county.'—Minneapolis Starand Tribune, 6/7.
"Earlier this spring, when a swatch of dry scrub on a
steep hillside that abuts Heroic Drive was plowed under,
Rancho Palos Verdes got rid of more than a fire hazard . . .
Federal officials fear that for the first time, one of the 286
creatures protected by the federal Endangered Species Act
has become extinct—a rare butterfly that lived only amid
patches of locoweed on the staggered terraces of the Palos
Verdes Peninsula south of Los Angeles."—Los Angeies
Times, 6/11.
"New Orleans' water, which is cursed by many and
avoided by the discrete, was picked ... as the best in a
blind taste test that also included samples from Miami,
Dallas, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and Tor-
onto. After the outcome was announced, one judge . . .
said Safe doesn't have anything to do with taste.'"—UP I
wire, 6/10.
"Six New England governors today voted unanimously
to create a committee to study the possibility of suing util-
ities responsible for acid rain."—The New York Times, 6/
19.
". . . in a recent study by the Justice Department's
Bureau of Justice Statistics, which asked 60,000 citizens to
rank various crimes in order of their severity . . . factory
polluters are worse than a mugger robbing someone ot
gunpoint or a corporate lobbyist who bribes a public of¥i
cial or a teenage boy who beats up his mother."—The
Seattle Times, 6/3. ~
Letters
Dear Editor:
This is in reference to "paychecks which are mailed. . ."
[The EPA Times number 14) and the statement that: em-
ployees are urged to consider having their pay handled
through Direct Deposit/Electronic Fund Transfer process."
Prior to moving to Denver I had received my pay
through the Direct Deposit system and found it to be effi-
cient. However, the bank which I dealt with at that time
guaranteed deposit.
I have been an EPA employee in Denver for the past 4
years and started the Direct Deposit system when I first
started working for Region 8. However, the bank which I
dealt with did not guarantee deposit, the Electronic Fund
Transfer process was always down on the days paychecks
were supposed to arrive, and there was a 3 to 5 day delay
in having these funds available. Unfortunately, 1 depend
upon my paycheck as a means of surviving and such a de-
lay caused an extreme hardship.
Unless the Agency is able to provide a more reliable sys-
tem for transmitting paychecks, I will continue to receive
mine at the office; however, even this is far from reliable.
Romano Knudsen
Region 8

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Region 2 RA
Named to CEQ
Jacqueline Schafer has
left the post of Administra-
tor of Region 2 to assume
new responsibilities with
the President's Council on
Environmental Quality
(CEQ). Her White House
appointment as one of three
members of the Council
was confirmed by the Sen-
ate on May 24.
CEQ has a broad mandate
to advise the President on
governmental policy and
programs to effectively
manage the country's nat-
ural resources and
environmental problems.
Richard Dewling, Deputy.
Regional Administrator in
the region since 1978, has
become acting RA. Region 2
has a staff of over 500 and
an operating budget (exclu-
sive of grants) in excess of
$20 million.
Schafer took the reins of
Region 2 in March 1982 af-
ter five years as a pro-
fessional staff member of
the U.S. Senate Committee
on Environment and Public
Works.
Dewling is an engineer
with a Ph.D. in
environmental science from
Rutgers University. He has
been with EPA since the
Agency was founded, and
has been honored by both
the Presidential Meritorious
Award and the Dis-
tinguished Rank Award. ~
Jacqueline Schafer
Richard Dewling
Public Information
Handled Privately
In response to Office of
Management and Budget
(OMB) circular number A-
76, the library at Headquar-
ters, the library in Cincin-
nati, and the Public In-
formation Center (PIC) are
now being operated by a
private contractor.
The OMB circular directs
all federal agencies to give
high priority to reviewing
activities that fit its defini-
tion of "commercial" and
are, therefore, likely candi-
dates for operation by the
private sector. Such ser-
vices have been contracted
out at Research Triangle
Park for the past 10 years,
and most regional offices
currently use contract li-
brary staff.
So far, all affected per-
sonnel have either been
placed in new positions,
found other outside em-
ployment, or retired. Ad-
ministrator Bill Ruckels-
haus said that his ex-
pectations were that all em-
ployees would be placed in
appropriate positions.
PIC has been relocated to
820 Quincy Street, NW„
Washington, DC 20011,
telephone 212-829-3535.
Walk-in clients seeking
pamphlets will be served by
the library in Waterside
Mall. ~
Terms of Environment
An attempt to aid in the consistent, correct, and clear
usage of terms and phrases which often appear in Agency
reports, regulations, and publications. Readers are encour-
aged to submit questions, opinions, and suggestions for
items in this column.
We present for your consideration the term: Parameter.
The first definition our dictionary gives for parameter
concerns mathematics: "An arbitrary constant whose value
characterizes a member of a system (as a family of
curves)." Since our concern is rarely with math, we shall
move on to the second definition: "any of a set of physical
properties whose values determine the characteristics or
behavior of something (the parameters of the atmosphere
such as temperature, pressure, and density)." The third
and final definition offered says that parameter can be
considered "broadly" as: "a characteristic element" as in
("political dissent as a parameter of modern life)."
A review of Agency submissions to the Federal Register
over the past few months revealed numerous uses of "pa-
rameter," some seemingly correct and others used in
dubious manner. For example:
For a wash-oil scrubber, the design parameters include
the wash-oil flow rate, the temperature of the gases ex-
iting the scrubber, and the pressure at the scrubber
spray nozzle.
Here, "parameter" seems expressly called for. "Rate,"
"temperature," and "pressure" are clearly sets of physical
characteristics.
Some other uses seem to stray from the definitions to
the extent that the term is weakened.
The management plan involves testing each batch of'
stabilized waste for a number of specific parameters
(i.e., metals, total organic carbon, etc.)".
Calling "total organic carbon" a set is stretching the lan-
guage towards murkiness. Perhaps the term "constituents"
would be better here.
Another phrase culled from the Federal Register
apparently confuses "parameters" with "symbols."
In section 4.2.1, the parameter for the per-cycle water
energy consumption using gas-heated water is pro-
posed to be changed from "We" to "Wg."
And finally, since parameters are levels, the follow-
ing boldfaced phrase is redundant and should have
been dropped.
. . . the date and time of any occurence when the mon-
itored parameters exceed or drop below the parameter
levels determined in the design specifications. ~
The EPA Times is published 24 times per year to provide news
and information for and about EPA employees. Readers are encour-
aged to submit news of fellow employees, letters of opinion, ques-
tions, comments, and suggestions to: Miles Allen, Editor. The EPA
Times, Office of Public Affairs (A-107). Telephone 382-4394. In-
formation selected for publication will be edited as necessary in
keeping with space available. All letters of opinion must be signed
and accompanied by submitter's office location and telephone
number.
GPO ^ue-0t>8

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