TiSSI
NEWS FOR AND ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES
INSIDE:
~	Bonds Are Back
~	Testimony Training
~	Running Rewarded
VOLUME 2
NUMBER 12
April 10, 1985
Watching Over the Earth
by Margherita Pryor
Frank Wolle well remem-
bers listening to the news
broadcast one night in
October of 1982. "I was
working in Key West, inter-
preting aerial photos of
Cuba," Wolle recalls. "We
hadn't any idea how the
pictures were going to be
used. Then we heard that
Adlai Stevenson had shown
them to the United Nations
as proof of the presence of
Soviet missiles only 90
miles off U.S. shores."
Some 20 years later, Wol-
le (pronounced "Wally") is
still analyzing photographs,
but he's no longer looking
for weaponry. Instead, Wol-
le is deputy director of
EPIC, the Environmental
Photographic Interpretation
Center which EPA operates
in Warrenton, Va.
EPIC's mission is to use
aerial photography and
other imaging processes to
discover and document
threats to our environment.
The Center is small, but it
draws on many diverse
skills. Its staff of 50 in-
cludes biologists, geog-
raphers, and foresters as
well as photo analysts and
cartographers. Their joint
expertise can provide an-
alyses ranging from surveys
of entire states to detailed
descriptions of specific
ground conditions, down to
and including the number
of drums on a given site.
By comparing past and
recent photographs of par-
ticular sites (a technique
called historical analysis),
they can even identify
dump sites hidden for dec-
ades or disguised by more
recent development. Vern
Webb, EPIC's director, re-
calls receiving a series of
photos of the Buffalo, N.Y.,
area which had been taken
on the suspicion that other
sites like Love Canal might
be hidden in the area.
When the photos were com-
pared to archival photos of
Buffalo, Webb says, hun-
dreds of possible dump
sites were found within 5
miles of the city limits.
The specialists at EPIC
are sometimes called upon
to acquire information
rapidly about large areas.
Using U-2 planes—
originally designed for mili-
tary reconnaissance at over
60,000 feet—they once
photographed the entire
State of Pennsylvania
(48,000 square miles) in
only 8 hours of flying time.
From that "day's work,"
they identified about 3500
landfills and dumps and
several times as many im-
poundments.
For lower-altitude work,
EPIC uses an Enviro-Pod
camera system which can
be mounted beneath small
aircraft and adapted for
still, television, or thermal
imaging.
Television cameras have
proven invaluable in
responding to spills of
hazardous chemicals. The
view from above allows
emergency response teams
to monitor the flow of the
substance and direct abate-
ment actions more safely
and accurately. Thermal
scanning can pinpoint
potentially dangerous "hot
spots" in a landscape of
drums.
According to Steve
Novick of Region 1, EPIC's
pictures have been ex-
tremely useful. "They've
been particularly effective
at large oil terminals, in-
cluding port facilities," he
says. The photographs en-
able an inspector to study a
facility so that he won't be
led around to non-
representative areas during
site inspections.
Yet, the EPIC staff feels
that their talents could be
used more often. According
to Wolle, aerial photog-
raphy is still considered the
"icing on the cake." "So
often," he laments, "people
say 'Gee, why didn't we
think of you guys
before.'" ~

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People
Richard Brenner, a professional engineer with the Water
Engineering Research Laboratory, was presented the Feder-
al Engineer of the Year Award by the National Society of
Professional Engineers. Mr. Brenner directed money-saving
research that corrected deficiencies in a type of wastewater
treatment unit that had been experiencing structural and
process failure.
Richard
Brenner
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 are encouraged; obscenity and
rudeness are disallowed. Letters will be published as space a/iows 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, unJess 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:
I read with much interest Peter Kelly's letter in the Jan-
uary 23 issue of The EPA Times. I share the same curiosity
with respect to "Budgeted amounts available for awards."
Specifically, my interests lie in GS employee cash awards.
As a supervisor of GS employees, I have had to accept rea-
sons for a cash award being denied like "no budget for
awards," "the awards budget is already depleted," or "the
awards budget has been shanghaied by a PC&B shortage.
If these reasons are valid, the Agency should reexamine
the cash awards system and/or audit the system to assure
that it is being properly managed.
Any insight into how Offices' budget for cash awards
and how funding is distributed would be appreciated.
The "Where's the Cash?" article in the March 6 issue
was informative on how awards were distributed in FY
1983. Unfortunately, it didn't address how much is avail-
able for awards (preferably by office).
Steve Hitte
Office of Air and Radiation
We'll see what we can do.
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 382-4359. Information
selected for publication will be edited as necessary in keeping with
space available.
Quality Step Increases awarded to: LeAnne Boisvert,
Office of the Administrator . . . Elliott Laws, Enforceme^
and Compliance Monitoring . . . Doris Dyson, Pamela
Yowell, Justine Schaeffer, Jacqualine Donaldson, Jasbir
Sarna, Maime Younger, and Sarsha McLean, Pesticides
and Toxic Substances . . . Lynett Thomas, Solid Waste and
Emergency Response . . . Portia Perry, Research and De-
velopment . . . Mel Kollander and John Warren, Policy,
Planning and Evaluation.
Special Act Awards presented to: Lynn Schoolfield,
Office of the Administrator . . . Joan Kuchkuda, Sandra
Lee, Eleanor Merrick, Ronald Wilhelm. James Walters,
Judy Kosovich, Donna Thomas, and Jane Lane, Pesticides
and Toxic Substances . . . Donna Baldwin, Michael Del-
larco, and Rizwannul Haque, Research and Development
. . . Mary Lyon-Allen, Policy, Planning and Evaluation.
Sustained Superior Performance Awards presented to:
Dorothy Woodward, Maria Whiting, Shirley Smith, Helen
Handon, Bessie Hammiel, Carolyn Osborne, and Patricia
Dear Editor:
Gordon Robeck, who is nationally and internationally
known for his work in public water supply and related
public health research, has retired from the Environmental
Protection Agency.
Distinguishing himself among his peers as a research A
gineer and scientist, Robeck is an effective research man™
ger, a first-class communicator, a sought-after participant
in international conferences, and an ardent supporter of
the principles fostered by the American Water Works
Association.
In large measure because of Robeck's personal contribu-
tions, the national drinking water research program, con-
ducted in Cincinnati, enjoys a Mecca-like status that was
established worldwide among researchers during the days
of the Public Health Service, which preceded the creation
of EPA.
Robeck has been recognized by the American Society of
Civil Engineers as the winner of its Huber Research Prize
and has been nominated as an honorary member. The
American Water Works Association has presented him
with 10 awards and an honorary membership. He earned
the U.S. Public Health Service Meritorious Service Medal,
the EPA Gold Medal for Exceptional Service and, in 1980,
was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (an
honor no other EPA employee enjoys).
At a time when successive administrations question the
worth of federal employees and managers, and the Heri-
tage Foundation urges federal political appointees to keep
career managers in the dark about public policy, Robeck's
example serves to contradict the negative attitudes that
these actions imply. He epitomizes the career federal man-
ager who understands the prerogatives of the political
process and the necessity for career managers to offer
counsel on new policy directions and to pursue es-
tablished goals responsibly.
Francis T. Mayo
Director, Water Engineering
Research Laboratory

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Around EPA
Howard, Office of the Administrator . . . Samuel Sasnett,
^fcta Schmidt, JoAnne Folks, Alice Watson, Kathleen
^ffinedy, Juanita Herman, David Brooks, Lorraine Ran-
decker, Marion May, Milwina Slappey, Donald Rodier,
Annett Nold, Tammy Boulware, Karen Hammerston, Kia
Williams, Betti Sterling, Sherrell Sterling, Karen Hoffman,
Vincent Giordano, Phyllis Bennett, Mary Miller, Paul
Hayes, Lawrence Culleen, Ruth Woodruff, Valerie Bael,
Raymond Landolt, Anna Coutlakis, Robert Jones, Diane
Hayden, Richard Blackman, Roberta Ward, Paul Bickart,
Amy Moll, Hollis Call, Denise Keehner, Catherine Turner,
Leo Schweer, Marcia Humbaugh, Evelyn Altston, and Lia
Seales, Pesticides and Toxic Substances . . . George Ames,
John Smith, S.C. Huang, John Maxted, Joseph Gormely,
Dennis Athayde, Cassandra Holmes, Helen Cammarota,
Peggy Michell, and Sheila Frace, Water . . . Margaret
Pfeiffer, Jane Mika, Brenda Mason, Mary Beard, Sheila
Hall, and Barbara Gudger, Administration and Resources
Management . . . Richard Westlund, Karen Shafer, Kath-
leen Bundy, Judith Greenwald, and Joel Smith, Policy,
Planning and Evaluation.
Brenda T. Bell, of the Office of Civil Rights, has re-
ceived a Tribute of Appreciation for her planning and
arranging of activities during Black History Month 1985 at
EPA. ~
Training Opportunities	
fie following courses ivili be held in the Headquarters Training Center.
r further information contact the Program Assessment and Support
Branch at 382-2997
The EPA Witness—Your Day In Court, April 16, 18, or
19 (your choice of dates): This 6-hour seminar was de-
veloped by an EPA attorney to familiarize employees with
the litigation process.
Executive Secretarial Seminar, April 17-18: Designed
for senior level secretaries, providing simple steps you can
take to keep operations flowing smoothly—even when the
boss isn't around.
Secretarial Development Institute, May 12: Appropriate)
for secretaries GS-4 through GS-6. A highly interactive
program, densely packed with information on such topics
as time management, interpersonal/written/telephone com-
munication, and performance and career development.
Retirement Planning Seminar, May 15-17: Designed to
help participants shape their future, rather than be victims
of it.
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, May 14 or 30: To
familiarize the manager/supervisor with his/her responsi-
bility to take remedial action when the use of alcoholic be-
verages and/or drugs impair an employee's performance,
attendance, or conduct.
Time Management for Professionals, May 28: Learn
powerful strategies that will give you specific insights into
how you can get better results through using your time
feire effectively. (Apply by May 3.)
^Congressional Briefing Conference for EPA Pro-
fessionals, June 3-5: Gain in-depth knowledge about Con-
gressional operations, organization, functions, and pro-
cedures and better understanding of the role Congress
plays in the activities of the Executive Branch. (Apply by
May 6.) ~
Larry Gardner has been appointed Deputy Director of
the Personnel Management Division. He will direct the di-
vision's ongoing operations. The Director, Clarence Hardy,
will focus new attention on expanding the division's role
in meeting the Agency's personnel management needs. ~
Agency Activities	
An indictment for criminal violation of the Clean Water
Act was handed down by a New Hampshire grand jury
against KW Thompson Tool, Inc. The company, a gun
manufacturer, has filed a countersuit against former Ad-
ministrator Ruckelshaus and former Deputy Administrator
Aim alleging that their personal support of handgun con-
trol and desire to put gun manufacturers out of business
was the purpose behind initiating this case.
Final standards announced to cut the amount of lead
used in gasoline by 90 percent as of January 1, 1986.
The new standard will limit the lead content of gasoline to
0.10 grams per gallon. The current standard allows 1.10
grams per leaded gallon. Adverse health effects from ele-
vated levels of lead in blood range from behavior disorders
and anemia to mental retardation and permanent nerve
damage. EPA estimates that between 1985 and 1992 the
new standards will result in almost one million fewer in-
cidences of elevated blood levels.
Standards issued to significantly reduce nitrogen oxide
and particulate emissions from light- and heavy-duty
trucks, as well as urban buses effective with the 1988
model year. This action should result in a 50,000 tons-per-
year (46 percent) decrease in urban diesel particulate emis-
sions by the year 2000, as compared to no further controls.
An estimated 175,000 businesses that produce small
quantities of hazardous waste will be subject to new re-
quirements under federal law. Beginning August 5, 1985,
businesses that produce between 220 lbs. and 2200 lbs.
per month of hazardous waste will be required to use a
hazardous waste manifest form to ensure that their waste
is cont to an EPA or state approved waste facility.
The first of a series of grants to states has been
announced for exploring solutions to problems they
expect to face should a national acid-rain control program
be adopted. Awards totalling $590,000 have been made to
Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources, the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation,
and an organization of northeastern states.
The Wyckoff Company, a Seattle wood treatment firm,
pled guilty to charges they violated the Resource Con-
servation Recovery Act and the Clean Water Act by dis-
charging wastes into the Duwamish Waterway. The com-
pany has agreed to pay a $150,000 cash penalty and con-
tribute another $850,000 to a trust fund to help clean up
Puget Sound.
Moving to protect ground water supplies on Indian
lands in Osage County, Oklahoma, the Agency has issued
the first permit to regulate an underground injection well
used in oil production on the Osage Mineral Reserve. The
permit incorporates stringent groundwater protection re-
quirements from the Agency's new Underground Injection
Control (UIC) program. ~

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Seif to Head Region 3
The Benefits of Bonds
James M. Seif has been
named the Agency's Region
3 Administrator. The re-
gion, which has its head-
quarters in Philadelphia, in-
cludes Virginia, West Vir-
ginia, Maryland, Delaware,
the District of Columbia,
and Pennsylvania.
Seif, 39, comes to EPA
from the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Com-
pany where he was Region-
al Manager of Government
Relations.
From 1979 to 1983, he
was the Administrative
Assistant for Governor Dick
Thornburgh of Pennsyl-
vania. As Administrative
Assistant, Seif managed leg-
islative and policy issues,
news media relations and
the general counsel's office.
Between 1975 and 1977,
Seif served as Special
Assistant to the Attorney
General in the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice's Criminal
Division. From 1973 to
1975 he was Chief of the
Legal Branch of EPA's Re-
gion 3 office, where he su-
pervised the development
of cases in all of EPA's pro-
grams and developed
enforcement guidelines and
procedures. He was also an
Assistant U.S. Attorney
from 1971 to 1973. ~
by Juelee Street
Getting into the habit of
saving money isn't easy, no
matter how hard you try.
There is, however, an easy,
convenient method of sav-
ing regularly that offers tax
advantages and near-market
interest on small sums of
money. That's the Payroll
Savings Plan for U.S. Sav-
ings Bonds.
When you join the plan,
you select an amount to be
set aside from each
paycheck to buy bonds. The
rest is automatic. You save
payday after payday, with-
out interruption.
It's smarter than ever to
join. Bonds held at least 5
years earn 85 percent of the
average return on 5-year
Treasury securities. If 5-
year marketable rates are 10
percent, for example,
ings bonds earn 8.5 pt^^ht
interest. If market rates are
higher, bonds earn more.
Should market rates drop
sharply, bonds held at least
5 years cannot earn less
than 7.5 percent. That's
guaranteed.
Other attractive benefits
of buying bonds include ex-
emption from state and lo-
cal income taxes; federal
tax deferral; and free
replacement of bonds that
are lost, stolen, or de-
stroyed. Consider how
bonds can help you achieve
your savings goals. Sign up
for the Payroll Savings plan
during the 1985 Savings
Bonds Campaign April 15
through May 15. ~
Environmental News
A selection of noteworthy lines chosen from the 300-400 newspaper and
magazine articles on environmental matters which we receive every two
weeks.
"The British naturalist David Attenborough, whose
television series 'The Living Planet' has won critical
acclaim, said that global planning for using land was
needed to prevent the rapid extinction of plant and animal
species. 'The real problem is not the loss of particular
kinds of environments,' Mr. Attenborough said in an inter-
view . . . 'We are only putting Band-Aids on until we rec-
ognize we need to be protecting environments, not just en-
dangered species.'"—New York Times, 3/14.
"A coalition of environmental, public health, labor and
religious groups launched a nationwide petition campaign
aimed at forcing President Reagan to accept a toxic waste
cleanup program costing $13.5 billion, nearly three times
more than the administration wants. The group, whose
membership includes the Sierra Club, the National Au-
dubon Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the
United Steel Workers, and the United Church of Christ,
said the current Superfund waste cleanup program 'can
barely make a dent' in the nation's toxic waste crisis."—
The Oregonian, 2/8.
"New York State's 60-day emergency ban on the use of
chlordane and two other chemicals to kill termites has
pleased health officials, but some exterminators and en-
tomologists say the homeowner will be the loser if the ban
prevails. This season's first swarms of flying termites seek-
ing new nesting places have already been sighted on Long
Island, where the misapplication of the banned pesticides
in recent years has led to the demolition of at least two
homes found unsafe by health officials."—New York
Times, 3/14.
"Beverly Davis, 52 years old, looks nice and sweet
innocent. But once a month she crosses the state line from
her home in Madison, Indiana, to this town of 800 people.
She buys a container of powder and then drives back
across the Ohio River to her home where she uses it to
wash clothes. Her score? A box of Cheer laundry detergent
containing outlawed phosphate. Mrs. Davis is a phosphate
junkie. She can't cop the stuff in Indiana but it is sold le-
gally in Milton. Milton store-keepers have opened their
doors to the cross-border trade, even flaunting the pow-
der's attributes. Mrs. Davis said: 'Colors come out
better.'"—Wall Street Journal, 2/26. ~
«
Administrator Lee Thomas and Captain Moody (USMC,
Quantico) congratulate EPA's top finishers in the Marine
Marathon, November 4, 1985. (1. to r.—Mike Cook, Vernon Iwlf
Lee Thomas (holding team award). Capt. Moody, Ken ShusterJ.
The runners are wearing their individual award medals. EPA
took third place out of twelve teams in the Civilian
Governmental Agencies category. This marathon is the second
largest in the U.S.	aPO 914-092
s,

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