StEEfc
Times
NEWS FOR AND ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES
INSIDE:
~	When to Retire
~	Open Season
~	Body Checks
VOLUME 2 NUMBER 3 NOVEMBER 14,198/
Making CFC Work at EPA
By Jack Lewis
The Combined Federal
Campaign (CFC) depends
on far more than the chari-
table instincts of federal
workers. It is in every sense
of the word a "campaign."
Like a political or a military
campaign, CFC owes its
success or failure to the or-
ganized efforts of countless
individuals. The average
contributor may have little
idea how much behind-the-
scenes activity goes into
planning and operating a
Combined Federal Cam-
paign.
Landon Holt and William
Whitson are in the eye of
the hurricane. They have
been detailed full-time to
work on this year's head-
quarters CFC as Principal
Account Executives. Both
report regularly on their
progress to Clarence Hardy,
EPA's CFC Coordinator, and
Howard Messner, the agen-
cy CFC Vice Chairman.
This is the first year
either man has been di-
rectly involved in running a
CFC. Holt has been with
EPA Personnel Management
since the founding of the
agency in 1970. Whitson, a
Presidential Management
Intern at EPA since Decem-
ber 1983, worked most re-
cently in the Contracts
Management Division.
The overall goal of this
year's headquarters CFC is
the most challenging in the
history of the Campaign. By
November 21st Holt and
Whitson hope to convince
every EPA employee in
Washington to make a con-
tribution toward an EPA
area goal of $190,000.
How do Holt and Whit-
son work to achieve this
formidable goal? First, they
recruited and trained 12
Agency program coordina-
tors and approximately 100
key workers. Each of the
keyworkers is responsible
for spreading awareness of
CFC to employees in their
part of the agency.
Holt and Whitson sched-
ule visits to these Campaign
zones to give what they call
"M & Ms." "M & Ms" are
not candy but the psy-
chological equivalent:
energy-boosting Motivation-
al Meetings. These small
group meetings give EPA
employees a chance to view
the Campaign film, "The
Winners," narrated by John
Madden, as well as to dis-
cuss CFC and to ask any
questions they have regard-
ing the Campaign. Dozens
of these meetings will be
held before the Campaign is
over.
EPA Administrator Wil-
liam D. Ruckelshaus gave
an "M & M" of his own on
October 22nd at the Cam-
paign's Kick-Off Rally.
Ruckelshaus is Vice Chair-
person of the entire Com-
bined Federal Campaign.
Also featured at this year's
kick-off rally was EPA's
Loaned CFC Executive, Paul
K. Mickey, who works reg-
ularly at the Department of
Transportation. Mickey has
been detailed to administer
the CFCs at EPA, USIA, and
AID.
To keep the momentum
going on a day-to-day basis,
Holt and Whitson distribute
promotional materials to
program coordinators and
keyworkers. Most important
of these is the official CFC
leaflet and pledge card
which every headquarters
employee should by now
have received. Holt and
Whitson also arrange to
have posters and milestone
charts put up throughout
EPA's Washington offices to
publicize the Campaign and
keep headquarters EPA
workers informed of its
progress.
When all the last-minute
contributions are totaled af-
ter the Campaign ends on
November 21st, it is hoped
that EPA employees will be
able to take pride in their
part in meeting the area
campaign goal of
$17,686,000. It is already
certain that we can take
pride in the tireless efforts
of our CFC account ex-
ecutives, program coordina-
tors, and keyworkers. ~
- 1
Landon Holt	William Whitson.
CFC Principal Account Executives
CArCH*THE SPIRIT

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People
Congratulations to David Stephan, Jerry Stara, Robert
Booth, Richard Bull, Francis Mayo, William Benoit, Cal-
vin Lawrence, Lowell Van Den Berg, Clarence Clemons,
and AndreaTanner, Cincinnati, on being recognized for
their meritorious contributions to EPA's Minority Research
Apprenticeship Program.
Thanks in large measure to the work of Sheila Cook,
James Favors, and Matthew Robbins of Region 4, EPA was
cited as "The Outstanding Federal Agency" by the Depart-
ment of Commerce's Minority B.usiriess Development Cen-
ters in Jackson, IVIS, Atlanta,'GA, and Orlando and Tampa,
FL.	" . ' ' ' •
Quality Step Increases awarded to: Elliott Gilberg and
Brenda Black, Enforcement and Compliance Monitoring
. . . Abraham Mittelman, Kenneth Partymiller, and Esther
Perry, Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
Special Act Awards presented to: Harriet Gray and
Cheryn Jones, Region 4 . . . Yvette Carter, Susanne Lescal-
Ieet, Kenneth Henderson, Annette Green, Leslie Haney,
Richard Lemley, Patricia Spatarella, and Earl Price, Ad-
ministration and Resources Management . . . Deidre Tho-
mas, Sharon Dukeford, Renelle Rae, Merle Miller, Connie
Gocher, Rosanne Light, Richard Duffy, John Lyon, John
Winder, Kim Pearson, Deaetra Hicks, William Repsher,
Charles Hungerford, David Rochlin, Carol Barnes, Bar-
bara Jackson, Robert Brook, Pasquale Alberico, Sally
Mansbach, Nancy Hunt, Matthew Amarella, Betty Durica,
Pamela Lott, David Van Slyke, Janice Corwin, William
Walsh, Joseph Schive, Heidi Hughes, and Steven Leifer,
Enforcement and Compliance Monitoring . . . James Tomp-
kins, Mary Wildermuth, Lori Simon, William King, Sher-
lagh Griffin, Cheryl Smith, Stephanie Kaiser, Mary Wal-
ler, Carol Langley, Karen Farmer, Kelly Jackson, Marite
Nickens, Richard Johnson, James Roelofs, Linda Vlier,^
Roger Holtorf, Paul Lapsley, Barbara Moore, Arvella
Farmer, Linda Stallard, Christine Gillis, Fannie Mosley,
Anne Barton, Richard Schmitt, Gary Burin, Edward Za-
ger, Stuart Cohen, Joe Reinart, Sami Malak, John Worth-
ington, Charles Trichilo, Esther Saito, Diane Rains, and
James Davis, Pesticides and Toxic Substances . . . Linda
Wilcox, Angela Wilkes, Martha Madison, Eric Males,
Michael Burne, Amy Schaffer, Russell Dawson, Lee
Daneker, Paul Cassidy, Michael Flynn, Johanna Miller,
and William Samuel, Solid Waste and Emergency Re-
sponse . . . Vene Glascoe, Jeralene Green, Mary Rhones,
Patsy Stewart, Sue Tehrani, and Mary Young, Office of
the Administrator.
Continued Superior Performance Awards to: Toni Fra-
zier, External Affairs . . . Vivian Thomson, Policy Planning
and Evaluation . . . Jerry Schwartz, Enforcement and Com-
pliance Monitoring . . . Roxanne Yoder, David Kelly, and
Ethel Bush, Research and Development . . . Michelle
Bynum, Anne Hollander, and Sharon Briddell, Pesticides
and Toxic Substances . . . James Michael, Richard Nace,
Lorna Holloway, Kelly Lenox, Margaret Atchison, Donna
Prince, Margie Russell, Loa Herbert, Patricia Savage,
Vicki Campbell, Debra Villari, Arline Sheehan, Bill
Myers, David O'Brien, Richard Horner, Barbara Hostage,
Sharon Blandford, Dougles Cohen, Willimina Pipkin,
James Jowett, Jack Jojokian, Steven Smagin, Karen Bur-
gan, and Charlene Shaw, Solid Waste and Emergency
Response. ~
Around EPA
With the flu season coming up, the agency Health Unit
is conducting an immunization program for headquarters
personnel. If you are interested in receiving the vaccine
please contact the Health Unit at 382-4349.
The Health Unit would also like to remind all eligible
employees that comprehensive physical exams are avail-
able on an annual basis. The criteria for eligibility are: GS
rating of 11, 12, 13 and forty years of age or older; and GS-
14 and above of any age. It is suggested that you schedule
your physical during your birth month.
Health benefits Open Season for federal employees is
November 5 through December 7. Employees may enroll in
a plan or change plans or options by completing a SF-2809
(Health Benefits Registration Form). The SF-2809 should
be in the Personnel Office by COB December 7. Employees
who do not wish to change their current enrollment need
take no action. The effective date for Open Season changes
is January 6.
The 98th Congress adjourned October 12 having passed
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act during its
final days. Of the nine major EPA legislative authorities
only RCRA, when signed, Superfund and Construction
Grants (authorized through FY 85) have not expired. ~
Agency Activities
Rules proposed to reduce human health risks from fires
in electrical transformers containing PCBs. Based on
evaluation of recent transformer fires in Binghamton, N.Y.,
San Francisco, and Chicago, the agency believes that the
combustion of PCBs in these transformers presents signifi-
cant risks to humans and the environment. PCB combus-
tion can result in the formation of polychlorinated di-
benzofurans (PCDFs). Tests on rats have shown PCDFs to
cause anemia and other blood problems.
Mazda Motor Corporation will voluntarily recall approx-
imately 47,000 vehicles to service an emission control
tube that may deteriorate due to contact with road salt.
The voluntary recall campaign will include all 1981 and
1982 Mazda 628 models currently registered in high salt
usage states.
Regulations proposed for new pollution source review
and monitoring requirements for 34 states which failed^Q
adopt such measures in order to protect visibility in ai^B
around pristine areas. Of the 36 states required to develop
and adopt plans, only Alaska and Louisiana have
approved plans.
Rule proposed to make many future surface coal mines,
or strip mines, subject to construction permitting require-

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Environmental News
"A New Orleans man faces hundreds of thousands of
pilars in fines for allegedly selling a highly toxic agricul-
Jral pesticide in half-pint fruit jars for home use in kill-
ing roaches. Emile Joseph told investigators he has been
involved with selling the poison, methyl parathion, for 10
years."—The Times-Picayune, 9/26.
"It began to rain as Team 2 headed into the forest . . .
Out front, Martin Pfeiffer, his mustache dripping, forged
ahead, leading the four-member team and its llama,
Ferrous, toward one of the 2,759 lakes and ponds that se-
quin Adirondack Park . . . Team 2 is one of four research
units that are part of a three-year survey of ponds and
lakes in the Adirondacks . . . Llamas . . . are being used
for the Adirondack project because they eat virtually any-
thing and, with their thick woolen coats, they are not
bothered by the changing climate. Descending steep terrain
seems to be their specialty."—New York Times, 10/16.
"Drilling fluids dumped into the ocean by offshore oil
rigs post no significant danger to marine life despite the
claims of some environmental groups to the contrary, says
a Duke University marine biologist who headed a national
review of the practice. About two million metric tons of
drilling fluid wastes are dumped into U.S. offshore waters
each year, half that amount in the Gulf of Mexico."—The
Durham Sun, 10/4.
"In the haste to clean up asbestos, the fibrous material
often is stripped and disposed of haphazardly, causing
new environmental dangers, a House subcommittee was
told Tuesday. 'People haul it away in automobiles and
Jlush it down their toilets. They create asbestos levels hun-
M'eds of times greater than those that existed before,' said
john Welch, president of an environmental group called
the Safe Buildings Alliance."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10/3.
A parasitic mite that preys on honeybees has invaded
beehives in five states, including New York, forcing the
authorities to destroy millions of bees, a spokesman for the
Federal Department of Agriculture has disclosed. There is
no known way to control the spread of the pest, according
to entomologists, because no insecticide that would kill or
repel the mite without harming the bees or adding toxic
substances to the honey has been approved by any United
States Government regulatory agency."—New York Times,
10/8.
"Living next to a nuclear power plant could con-
taminate you less than if you jet around the world, work
with gold or coal, or live in the wrong natural location,
according to a book by United Nations agencies. The re-
port, Nuclear Power, Environment and Man, prepared by
the International Atomic Energy Agency here and the
World Health Organization says, 'natural background can
give you higher radioactive doses than a nuclear power
station.'"—The Baltimore Sun, 10/8.
An upstate landfill ... is dominated by an organized-
crime network that controls hauling throughout the New
York area, an FBI-protected witness has told a State
Assembly committee. The landfill ... is controlled by a
Westchester County garbage firm with ties to organized
crime, said the witness, who, testifying under heavy guard
before the State Assembly's Environmental Conservation
Committee, also said toxic wastes were illegally dumped
at the site."—Newsday, 9/21.
"Atmospheric pollution is a major problem at a giant
Siberian power plant designed to supply a large part of
Soviet electricity needs, the Communist Party daily Pravda
said Wednesday. The complex at Kansk-Achinsk in central
Siberia burns large quantities of locally mined coal . . . the
plant's waste products include nitrates and flying ash in
quantities that at times blot out the sun."—Los Angeles
Times, 10/18. ~
ments for major sources of air pollution. The rule would
require that "fugitive" emissions from these sources be
taken into account in determining if a source is a major
emitting facility required to meet preconstruction permit
requirements. Fugitive emissions, in this case, involve
dust and particulate matter from mining procedures.
Proposed standards for radionuclide emissions with-
drawn. The withdrawals for phosphorus plants, Depart-
ment of Energy facilities, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
licensed facilities, and non-DOE federal facilities are based
on determinations that current practices provide an ample
margin of safety. For underground uranium mines, the
risks are significant but rules based on the original pro-
posal could not legally have been issued under the Clean
Air Act.
U.S. participation in the first World Industry Con-
ference on Environmental Management, scheduled for
¦ov. 14-16 at Versailles, France, announced jointly by U.S.
ateel Chairman David Roderick and Administrator Ruckels-
haus. The French government is host to the conference,
sponsored by world industry with the U.N. Environment
Programme, in cooperation with the International Chamber
of Commerce.
Region 7 Administrator Morris Kay describes training
offered by three EPA-funded asbestos centers as: "unique
in that it will provide contractors, school officials and
other interested parties the opportunity to gain 'hands-on'
experience in all asbestos abatement techniques." The goal
of this program, he says, "is to produce skilled craftsmen
capable of safely eliminating asbestos exposure situa-
tions."
Speaking Out: "These days EPA's people are being
squeezed between two views of the role of a regulatory
agency in securing safety from toxic substances. One group
says that EPA must presume knowledge where there is
only a question, and regulate possible threats to public
safety whether or not they are proven and even though we
lack adequate means to secure absolute protection. The
other view suggests that, lacking complete knowledge of
the threat and a proven means of protection, EPA should
withold judgment and temporize on solutions. Amid a
clamorous din from both sides, EPA risks losing the free-
dom to examine each matter in turn and to make a dis-
passionate judgment in the public interest."—
Administrator Ruckelshaus, before the National News-
paper Association. ~

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Letters
... a means for Agency employees to communicate to other employees
whatever messages of criticism, praise, opinion, or explanation they so de-
sire Brevity and constructive suggestions arc encouraged, obscenity and
rudeness are disallowed. Letters ivill be published as space allows 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, unless signed by the
head of the appropriate office. All letters must be signed and accompanied
by submitter's office location and telephone number
Dear Editor:
Information contained in the January 24, 1983, issue of
The EPA Times, concerning the commencing date of
retirement annuities was erroneous. As noted in the ar-
ticle, people would conclude that annuities begin on the
first day of the month after the month in which the retire-
ment occurs. On Friday, January 7, 1983, the Washington
Post reported in The Federal Diary that Congress changed
the law in December, 1982, for the benefit of about 80
retiring members, to allow retirements that occurred up
through the third of the month to go on immediate retire-
ment. That allowed them to be on the payroll into the
month of January, 1983, thereby qualifying for Medicare
benefits, and also allowed them to qualify for immediate
retirement benefits, as long as they were in retired status
by the end of the day on January 3rd. Under the law im-
mediately before this change, to start retirement on Jan-
uary 1 the retirement would have had to be in effect as
December 31, which meant they wouldn't qualify for MeTT"
icare coverage.
This change applies to all Civil Service retirees, and is
not limited only to January, nor only to 1983. Employees
who qualify for retirement any time after the 3rd of the
month may determine it is to their advantage to continue
working until the 3rd of the following month, to limit the
length of time they will have to wait for the first retire-
ment check. For example, a person retiring on the fourth
of the month will not be eligible to start collecting retire-
ment pay until the first of the following month. The pay
check will not become available until the first of the next
month, almost two months after the employee stops work.
I had expected to see a correction of this information in
a later issue, but if it ever happened, I must not have seen
it. Such a correction is long overdue, twenty months after
the fact!
Norman A. Whalen
Office of Water
Use It or Lose St	CFC Now Open to All
By Marilyn Rogers
The personnel office re-
minds us that the 1984
Leave Year ends January 5,
and that Non-SES personnel
are permitted to carry over
a maximum of 240 hours of
annual leave from one leave
year to the next. Any un-
used annual leave in excess
of this carry-over is for-
feited.
Agency supervisors
should review the leave
plans of their employees for
the remainder of this year
to assure that annual leave
forfeiture is avoided.
Federal leave regulations
only allow restoration of
forfeited annual leave if it
was lost due to an adminis-
trative error, illness, or an
exigency of the public busi-
ness. The regulations fur-
ther stipulate that restora-
tion can only be considered
if the leave was formally
scheduled and approved in
writing before the start of
the third bi-weekly pay peri-
od prior to the end of the
leave year. The last date for
approval of potentially re-
storable leave for this year
is Saturday, November 24.
More detailed informa-
tion about leave policies
may be found in the EPA
Leave Manual. Questions
should be referred to your
servicing Personnel
Office. ~
The Combined Federal
Campaign gives federal em-
ployees a chance to help
300 charities through a
single donation, but donors
who prefer to target their
contributions now have
more options than ever
from which to choose.
In years past, employees
interested in designating a
specific charity could
choose only from the 300
private, voluntary agencies
that fall under the CFC
umbrella.
Now, contributors inter-
ested in helping an unlisted
charity are at liberty to
write in the name and ad-
dress of other, non-listed
agencies. CFC then for-
wards to that organization
the dollar amount specified,
minus a nominal handling
charge (which applies to
listed designees as well).
The only specific quali-
fication a "write-in" de-
signee must meet is: it must
be a human health and wel-
fare charity recognized as
tax-exempt by the Internal
Revenue Service. Should a
"write-in" charity fail to
meet IRS standards, CFC
will notify the EPA donor
and give him or her another
chance to designate a
specific charity.
This year, potential CFC
contributors will have ac-
cess to more information
than ever about specific pri-
vate voluntary agencies.
Charities now have the
right to distribute brochures
to federal workers in public
areas at or near the entrance
to office buildings.
EPA has set up desks in
the entry ways of the East
and West Towers of Water-
side Mall for the use of
voluntary agencies wishing
to distribute literature. An-
other distribution channel
open for the first time is
EPA's interna] mail servi^
Any charity furnishing a
minimum of 5,000 copies to
the headquarters mailroom
is entitled to free agency-
wide distribution. ~
The EPA Times is published 24 times per year lo 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.
GPO B1 0-983

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