Times NEWS FOR AND ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES ~ Small Business Info ~ Safety Stats ~ Biking Options VOLUME 1 NUMBER 20 9/19/84 This Volunteer Really Makes a Difference Thanks to Susan Harkin, Region 8, for submitting the information in this story. CeCe Forget might not have a commonly heard name, but that is fitting, for this woman has long dis- played an uncommon con- cern for dis-advantaged people and a rare willing- ness to put her efforts where her heart is. A Public Participation Coordinator for Region 8, CeCe (short for Cecelia) Forget devotes most of her own time to the goal of self- determination for people who have less than an equal voice in society. In recognition of some of her recent work, Forget was presented with the "Chair- person of the Year Award" at this year's convention of the Association of Retarded Citizens. After receiving a degree in sociology from the Uni- versity of Windsor, her de- sire to help others led her to serve with VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America). When she arrived in Denver in 1972, Forget joined the staff of the Den- ver Association for Re- tarded Citizens (DARC). In 1976 she was selected as "Outstanding Young Woman in America." She now serves on the Board of DARC and the Board of the Colorado Association of Re- tarded Citizens (CARC). She organized and chairs the Nursing Home Action Committee of CARC (for which she received the chairpersonship award). This committee works to create opportunities for de- velopmentally disabled peo- ple in nursing homes. Forget points to Mickey Rooney's inspiring perform- ance in the television pro- duction "Bill" as demon- strating the struggles of mentally retarded persons to take their place in soci- ety as self-sufficient adults. "Eighty-five percent of men- tally retarded persons such as Bill," she says, "can live free of institutions with the aid of community-based support systems." She advocates that dis- abled persons are human beings first, with the same feelings and needs shared The new Administrator of Region 2 is Christopher J. Daggett. Daggett comes to EPA from the Cabinet of Gov- ernor Thomas Kean of New Jersey. Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus said he was "delighted to have someone from the Governors staff take charge of one of our key regional operations," because "under Governor Kean's leadership, New Jersey has been in the fore- front nationally in concern for the environment and in carrying out an aggressive program to clean up hazardous waste sites." Previously, Daggett has served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, and by all of us. Our ex- pectations for disabled per- sons should be as realistic and natural as possible, she believes, without undue sympathy, pity, or over- protection. "They have the same rights as other Americans—the right to dignity and the right to take risks." EPA surely can point with pride at employees such as CeCe Forget who well understand the an- swers to the ancient adage: "If not me, who? If not now, when?" ~ as Vice President of Public Affairs Consultants of Springfield, N.J. Daggett, 34, holds a de- gree of Doctor of Education from the University of Massachusetts, and a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ~ Christopher Daggett CeCe Forget with her Chairperson of the Year Award Daggett Assumes Region 2 Command ------- People Died: Syed Nooruddin, 49, Region 4, on May 4 . . . Mar- tin Greif, 56, Office of Pesticides and Toxic Substances, on August 8 . . . Tim Matzke, 40, Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, on August 24. Special Act Awards presented to: Edna Beasley, Jack- son Hubbard, Lucille Hurst and Virginia Maphet, Cincin- nati . . . Richard Green, Russell Wright, Ralph Jennings, Benjamin Woods, Carlton Layne, Drunell Williams, Mil- ton Henderson and Tryphenia Jones, Region 4 . . . Patricia Scoville and Julie Tankersley, Pesticides and Toxic Sub- stances". . . Lucille Roth, External Affairs . . . Joel Schwartz, .Hugh Pitcher, RaAnana Levin, Bert Ostro and George Sugiyama, Policy, Planning and Evaluation . . . Richard Ackerman and Steven Hoover, Air and Radiation . . . Martha Dickerson, Office of General Counsel . . . Michael Quigley, Water. Continued Superior Performance Awards go to: William Klettner, Richard Eaton, David Lorentz and Lora Kociban, Wheeling Field . . . Russell Keeison, Jeffrey Davidson, George Semenuik, Jane Talarico, Lois Rossi, Arvella Farmer, Doris Jackson, JoAnne Dizikes, Glenda Farmer and Homer Toma, Pesticides and Toxic Substances . . . Sheila Kelly, Administration and Resources Management . . . Geraldine Colfer and Elaine Rice, Office of the Ad- ministrator . . . Priscilla Smith and Clara Mickles, Ex- ternal Affairs . . . Elenora Karicher, Research and Develop- ment . . . Keith Hinman and Wendy Green, Policy, Plan- ning and Evaluation. Quality Step Increases awarded to: Suzanne Olive and Vene Glascoe, Office of the Administrator . . . Patricia Minami, Policy, Planning and Evaluation . . . Marion Thompson, Water . . . Betty Crompton, Delores Williams, Martha DeLaney, Walter Waldrop, Grace Kaiser, Robert Hitch, Denise Devoe, Richard Hefter, Patrick Miller, Pamela Pinder, Ram Rakshpal and Chris Tirpak, Pesti- cides and Toxic Substances . . . Marlene Carriker and Be- verly Hemsley, Administration and Resources Man- agement. ~ Letters This letters column is intended to provide a means for Agency employees to communicate to other employees and/or the Agency administration whatever messages of criticism, praise, opinion, or explanation they so de- sire. Brevity and constructive suggestions are encouraged; obscenity and rudeness are disallowed Letters mil be published as space alioivs and may be edited for clarity and conciseness No attempt is made by the editor to confirm any data presented by correspondents and the opinions expressed should not be taken to represent Agency positions All letters must be signed and accompanied by submitter's telephone number. Dear Editor: I was interested to read in the July 20, 1984, issue of The EPA Times about EPA employees bicycling to work. I was particularly impressed with the employee who "bikes 7 miles one way and runs the other all year through." I'm sure other employees would be interested in how this feat is accomplished. I have several ideas about how it is done. First, the person rides to work and runs home carrying the bike on his or her back. Second, the person uses disposable bicycles which can be trashed after the ride to work; of course the cost of approximately 250 such bicycles a year may be prohibitive. Third, the person sells the bicycle to c'hers at work every day, thereby avoiding the need to ride it home each day. Fourth, the person rides in/runs home one day, then runs in/rides home the next day. I hope you can enlighten us in the next issue. James Nelson, Pesticides and Toxic Substances Have you ever considered applying your creativity to hazardous waste disposal? Certainly a few good "options" are needed there. The biker/runner, of course, follows your fourth conjecture. Dear Editor: It was like being on the cover of the Rolling Stone and the authors of "FEDS" appreciate very much the fine coverage you gave us in the EPA Times. One EPA person not mentioned, but very instrumental in getting us up and going was Walt Kovalick of the Su- perfund program. Walt's contacts in community theater here in Washington gave us an outstanding director and some first rate cast members. Thanks to all the EPA "family." Peyton Davis and Frank Corrado Dear Editor: Concerning your article "The Bureaucracy as Theater" in the 8 August 84 issue. I am nonplused. Does this mean: (a) I should view a good portion of my job as a joke, (b) that study in the dramatics is eligible for training as being job related, or (c) I have latent on-the-job Thespian quali- ties requiring membership in the local Actor's Guild? Jocularly, (from a first row balcony seat) Dick Goehlert Region 1 The EPA Times is published 24 times per year to provide news and information for and about EPA employees. Readers are encouraged to submit news of themselves and of fellow employees, letters of opinion, questions, comments, and suggestions to. Miles Allen, Editor, The EPA Times, Office of Public Affairs (A-107). Telephone 382-4394. Information selected for publication will be edited as necessary in keeping with space available. ------- Agency Activities New report estimates the cost of meeting federal air and water pollution control standards over the 10 years from 1981 to 1990 at $526 billion. Costs, such as capital invest- ent in pollution control equipment, and operation and aintenance equipment, are based solely on compliance with federal regulatory standards. The Agency's 3983 Motor Vehicle Tampering Survey shows that fuel switching and tampering with emission control devices is continuing at a high rate Of the 197S- 1983 model automobiles sampled, 26 percent had been tampered with and 14 percent were subject to fuel switch- ing. Formation of a public/private task force to analyze acid rain in the moutain states announced by Region 8. The Western Atmospheric Deposition Task Force is composed of representatives from federal and state agencies and in- dustrial and environmental organizations. Cancellation of all non-wood preservative uses of the pesticide creosote proposed due to determination that con- tinued use may cause unreasonable risk to public health. Affected uses account for two percent of creosote's pesti- cide use. New policy adopted to accelerate permit reviews of hazardous waste disposal facilities most likely to threaten groundwater and air. Submission of more'extensive and specific information on pesticide products now required of manufacturers under new regulations. Two-year national study initiated to investigate sites that might be contaminated with low levels of dioxin. EPA will sample fish from more than 400 waterways and collect soil samples from 500 urban and rural locations to determine "background" levels of dioxin in the general environment. Polycyclic organic matter will not be regulated as a class of compounds under the Clean Air Act. The Agency had not collected enough information to support regula- tion as of a court mandated decision date. Such emissions have been reduced by regulation of other air pollutants. Region 5 approves the State of Michigan's request to manage its own dredge and fill program, making it the first state with such regulatory authority. ~ Around EPA Correction: In a previous issue the area code for the Public Information Center was mistakenly given as 212. The correct telephone number to call for information about EPA publications is 202-829-3535. The library in Water- side Mall has copies of pamphlets for headquarters em- ployees and visitors. Environmental Platforms: According to The Washington Post, the Republican Party adopted a 1984 platform which does not mention EPA, but does say: "We will be respon- sible to future generations, but at the same time, we must remember that quality of life means more than protection and preservation. [It] . . . means development as much as it does protection." The Democratic platform states: "The Environmental Protection Agency should receive a budget that exceeds in real dollars the agency's purchasing power when President Reagan took office." SPF.FC.HCR AFT. an eight-session program tn improve verbal communication skills is being offered once again by the headquarters Toastmasters club. The sessions will be held on Tuesdays from Noon to 1 p.m. beginning on Octo- ber 2. For details call Norma Hughes (755-2927) or Her- man Baucom (382-7021]. Glen Sjoblom has been selected to oversee international activities in Air and Radiation. Sheldon Myers will re- place Sjoblom as head of the Office of Radiation Pro grams. FY 1984 Blood Drives at EPA were tremendously suc- cessful according to Red Cross Statistics. Headquarters em- ployees donated 699 pints, far exceeding the goal of 550 pints. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment will hold Technology Transfer Conference number 5 on November 27 and 28 in Toronto. For details call M. Moselhy at 416- 965-5788. Persons wishing to submit papers for the Second Annual U.S. -Dutch International Symposium on Aerosols, to be held next May in Virginia, should contact Dr. Si Duk Lee, Research Triangle Park (MD-52). EPA managers are oncouraged to take advantage of the Cooperative Education Program to hire college students through formal agreement with their schools. The program allows for non-competitive conversion to a permanent appointment. For more information contact Tom Wyvill at 382-3347. ~ /EPA Worker Safety In 1983. the Agency lost the equivalent of R 4 staff year? due to job related injuries or illnesses Compared to the federal agency average, we have done well—but we can do better From 1982 to 1983. V The rate of incidences per 100 employees involving lost time DROPPED from 0.63 to 0.58 (The federal agency average rate is 2.8) V But the severity—measured in lost work days— INCREASED from 14.5 to 22.3 (The federal average was 14.6) ^ The cost of Workers Compensation per employee INCREASED from $53 to $85 (The federal average is $280) Don't Be A Statistic—Work Safely Source EPA Occupational Health and Safety Staff ------- nvironmental News "A majority of Americans profess to be more concerned about the environment than they were in the past and say they are willing to pay for environmental improvements, according to a Media General-Associated Press poll . . . only one in five said they consider environmental issues 'very important' in the 1984 presidential campaign."—AP 8-28. "Glenwood Springs, Colo.—A district judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking damages on behalf of mos- quitos killed by a city spraying program, but the plaintiff claimed a moral victory. District Judge J.E. DeVilbiss ruled that plaintiff Paul Crawford has no standing in the case, had shown no personal harm and that arguments by Craw- ford, a carpenter and a poet, were 'essentially cosmic."'— UP I, 8-29. "Concern for potential damage to thousands of acres of range land in southern New Mexico from a vast military exercise prompted authorities to order an archaeological survey today . . . Because the exercise will occur during the lambing season for the Desert Bighorn sheep and the nesting season for Peregrine falcons, aircraft noise could be a problem, officials said."—UP I, 8-24. "In addition to the health problems fat people already face, the obese may now have to worry about extra levels of toxic chemicals being stored in their bodies, according to Dr. George Blackburn, a nutrition expert at Harvard Medical School . . . More fat means people can store larg- er amounts of toxic chemicals in their bodies . . . Black- burn warns against crash diets, which can suddenly re- lease large amounts of the toxic chemicals into the blood- stream as fat is burned off."—The Boston Globe, 8-27. ". . . J. Lincoln Pearson, pesticide coordinator at the Uni- versity of Rhode Island . . . contends that the persons most likely to misuse pesticides are home gardeners because they tend to apply them liberally and without the training farmers must receive. As a result, Pearson said, he would rather eat a vegetable that is commercially grown than one cultivated by a neighbor. There's more Diazinon used to control grubs in the lawn by homeowners than used by the whole agricultural industry in the state,' he said."— The Providence Sunday Journal, 8-19. "Health experts were called in to help regional water officials fight a baffling and potentially hazardous infec- tion of chlorine-resistent bacteria in the water supply of 376,000 people in and around New Haven."—The New York Times, 8-29. "Varanasi, India—Devout Hindus believe that in this most holy of Indian cities, the Ganges River performs miracles . . . Each day, 100,000 pilgrims pour into Var- anasi ... At sunrise, many of them bathe in the water and some sip it . . .The pilgrims are untroubled by the human corpses that occasionally float past or by the bodies of dead cows, or by the fetid odors rising from the pea-soup- like river, a foulness caused by as much as 10 million gal- lons of raw sewage pouring into the water each day along the three miles of the riverfront."—Newsday, 8-15. "West Chicago Mayor Eugene Rennels on Tuesday de- scribed a federal plan to study radioactive material in the suburb as 'totally improper, illegal and unwarranted' and threatened to arrest EPA representatives as trespassers. 'Any effort on their part to initiate the study will be viewed by the city as interference with the cleanup we are already conducting,' Rennels said."—Chicago Tribune, 8-8. "If the EPA prevails, leaded gasoline may soon go the way of rumble seats, running boards and fins. But at the Ethyl Corp., the nation's leading producer of lead addi- tives for gasoline, executives seem ready for that change. . while Ethyl will produce more that $250 million in lead additives this year, executives . . . have been steadily guid- ing the company into other, less politically charged businesses."—The Times-Picayune, 8-19. "The soft crunching sound of sheep grazing is music to David M. Kelly's ears. 'That's the sound of four-legged herbicide', says Kelly, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management range conservationist. The sheep are being used to remove vegetation from around young trees in the mixed pine for- ests of Southern Oregon. The ground plants sap precious moisture form the seedlings."—The Oregonian, 8-6. "Buffalo—A judge here has ruled that a local company illegally dismissed a pregnant woman who refused to work with toxic chemicals unless given information about them. The ruling . . . marks the first time a company has been cited for violating a 4-year-old state law guaranteeing workers the right to know about the toxic substances they handle."—The New York Times, 8-19. "New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo signed the first bill in the nation specifically designed to curb acid rain last week. While the language is vague, the bill requires in- dustries throughout the state that produce sulfur emissions to reduce the current amount 12 percent by 1988 and 30 percent by 1991."—Engineering News and Record, 8-23. ~ Available Information Copies of the reports and pamphlets listed below are available from EPA's Small Business Ombudsman, Marc Jones, in the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. Jones' new telephone number is 703-557-7015. Environmental Regulations and Small Businesses: An Overview of issues Concerning the Economic Impact of EPA Regulations on Small Business (Includes evaluation of economic impact analysis methods, survey of com- pliance issues, and data bases for future regulatory de- velopment.) An Estimate of Small Business Financing Needs to Com- ply With EPA Regulations (There are 37 forthcoming regulations which will significantly impact small busi- nesses.) Small Business Assistance at EPA, April 1982. (Brochure describes the duties of the Small Business Ombudsman.) Responding to Small Business Environmental Issues, March 1984. (Pamphlet discusses the nature of small business regulatory problems and what the Agency is doing about them.) Assistance Programs for Pollution Control Financing, May 1984. (Folder gives federal, state, and local sources of financing.) Impact of Hazardous Waste Regulations on Small Busi- nesses, February 1984. (Paper presented at Symposium on Hazardous Waste Control at Georgia Tech.) Regulatory Education Program for Small Quantity Hazardous Waste Generators in the United States, June 1984. (Speech text describes preliminary plans for an education program.) ~ CPO 909*468 ------- |