Polar sunrise provides clues to dynamic mercury cycle

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Environmental�Ne

When the sun appeared afterweeks of darkness, signalingthe end of polar winter, sci-

entists at the German Antarctic re-search station Neumayer began toobserve significant losses in tropo-spheric elemental mercury (Hg0).This unusual springtime phenome-non, first noted in the Arctic, hasnow been observed at both poles.Although the ultimate fate of themercury is uncertain, these so-calledmercury depletion events may bean important removal pathway foratmospheric mercury, and a betterunderstanding of them could leadto improved global mercury-cyclingmodels.

Depletion of Hg0 in the loweratmosphere was first observed atAlert in the Canadian Arctic in spring1995 by a group of scientists led byWilliam Schroeder of the Meteoro-logical Service of Canada (Nature1998, 394, 331–332). The team wasinvestigating losses in troposphericozone, which are known to occureach year in the Arctic following polarsunrise. From April to early June, theresearchers found that mercury con-centrations in the lower atmospheredropped in tandemwith ozone levels.

In the March 15 issue of ES&T(pp. 1238–1244), Ralf Ebinghaus ofthe Institute for Coastal Research atthe GKSS Research Centre, in Geest-hacht, Germany, and co-workers re-port the first observation of mercurydepletion events in the Antarctic.According to Ebinghaus, ozone de-pletion events had previously beenreported in the Antarctic followingpolar sunrise, but no one had lookedat mercury. So, in January 2000, heand his colleagues traveled to theNeumayer station in the Antarcticto investigate whether troposphericmercury levels decrease with decreas-ing ozone.

It turns out that although mer-cury loss in the Antarctic tracksozone depletion, just as in the Arc-tic, the mercury depletion events inthe Antarctic are less intense andseem to occur earlier than those inthe Arctic, even after shifting thetimescale by 182 days so that thetwo hemispheres are seasonallycomparable. In the Antarctic, theresearchers observed mercurydepletion events as early as mid-August, which corresponds tomid-February in the northernhemisphere. In contrast, in theArctic, researchers have reportedsuch events beginning in mid-March.

One explanation for this differ-ence could be that polar spring be-gins earlier at lower latitudes thanat higher latitudes, says Ebinghaus.The measurement site in the Ant-arctic is located about 70°S, whereasthe Alert site in the Arctic is about80°N. As to why mercury depletion

events in the Antarctic are less in-tense than in the Arctic, Ebinghaussays, “It coincides fairly well withthe ozone depletions, which arealso less in the Antarctic.”

Scientists have been trying tounderstand this ozone–mercuryconnection ever since mercury de-pletion events were first discovered.Although some researchers arguethat chlorine plays an importantrole, the most generally acceptedtheory is that in the presence ofsunlight, bromine on sea ice sur-faces is photolytically decomposedto bromine atoms, which react withozone to form oxygen and bromineoxide (BrO) radicals. Unlike ozone,mercury cannot be chemically de-stroyed, so if mercury is depletedfrom the atmosphere, it must beaccumulating elsewhere. Indeed,this is what researchers have found.

Apparently, BrO radicals oxidize at-mospheric Hg0 to Hg2+, which isthen deposited onto snow, but theactual mechanism of the oxidationreaction is still unclear. Some re-searchers have observed Hg2+ asreactive gaseous mercury (RGM),which can be deposited directly

Polar sunrise provides cluesto dynamic mercury cycle

LossesintroposphericelementalmercuryfollowingpolarsunrisehavebeenobservedforthefirsttimeintheAntarcticattheGermanresearchstationNeumayer.

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onto snow, whereas others have ob-served it associated with particulatematter.

In the March 15 issue of ES&T(pp. 1245–1256), Steve Lindberg ofOak Ridge National Laboratory andcolleagues report some of the high-est levels of RGM (>900 pg/m3) everrecorded in the world, with the ex-ception of inside a chloralkali plant,following polar sunrise in the re-mote Arctic troposphere of Barrow,Alaska (see also Environ. Sci. Tech-nol. 2001, 35, 434A–435A). “As soonas you start to see Hg0 depletion,you see RGM build up,” says Lind-berg. RGM has a short lifetime inthe atmosphere, however, and rapid-ly deposits onto snow. “We still don’tknow what RGM is. It could be HgCl2or HgBr2. I think it could be mer-curic oxide (HgO),” he adds.

The accumulation of mercuryin snow has some scientists con-cerned because some of it is in aform that is biologically available tobacteria. Using a reporter gene as-say, in which genetically engineeredbacteria produce light when Hg2+

enters their cells, Lindberg and col-leagues were able to distinguish be-tween bioavailable and inert Hg2+.In January 2000, before polar sun-rise, bioavailable Hg2+ was unde-tectable in snow at the Barrowmonitoring site, the researchersreport. By May, however, the bio-available Hg2+ levels had reached8.8 ng/L (or about 13% of the totalHg) in the Barrow snow.

Although the assay indicatesthat mercury can be taken up by aparticular microbe, it does not indi-cate the potential for mercury tobecome methylated, acknowledgesLindberg. Methylmercury is thetoxic form of mercury known tobioaccumulate in the food chain.Nonetheless, “it’s probably theclosest thing anybody’s come to intrying to identify the nature of dif-ferent mercury compounds with re-spect to their ability to be utilizedby bacteria,” he says.

Because snowmelt in polar re-gions occurs during a short periodof time, some researchers view it asa large pulse that releases dissolvedcompounds, like toxic mercury, intothe environment. “It is a high input

in a fairly short period,” Ebinghausobserves. “When the snow starts tomelt, there are two places the mer-cury goes. We know some of themercury is lost to runoff, probablyas HgCl2 or HgBr2, and the otherpart is re-emitted to the air as Hg0,”Lindberg says. Although Lindbergand colleagues estimate that onlyabout 10% of the mercury in snowis re-emitted to the atmosphere asHg0, some researchers say that fig-ure is closer to 100%.

Janick Lalonde and co-workersat the Université du Québec inCanada recently reported that oncedeposited in snow, mercury can berapidly reduced to Hg0 and re-emit-ted to the atmosphere (Environ. Sci.Technol. 2002, 36, 174–178). On av-erage, they saw mercury levels insnow decrease by 54% within 24hours after deposition. Accordingto Lalonde, the work has been criti-cized because they examined snowfrom a suburban area in Canada,rather than the remote Arctic.Suburban snow has higher levelsof mercury and could be com-plexed differently than snow fromthe Arctic, she acknowledges. Forexample, there could be more par-ticles associated with the mercurybecause of pollution from nearbycities.

Since then, however, Lalondeand colleagues have ventured outto remote areas like northwesternOntario and the high CanadianArctic. Although data from thosestudies have yet to be published,Lalonde says they observed thesame phenomenon—mercury insnow being rapidly reduced tovolatile Hg0 and re-emitted to theatmosphere. If that is indeed whathappens to the mercury once it isdeposited onto snow, mercury de-pletion events would have less ofan impact on polar ecosystemsthan previously anticipated.

Nonetheless, several researchershave shown that mercury does ac-cumulate in snow at an acceleratedrate following polar sunrise. Al-though what happens to the mer-cury after that is still unclear, suchevents seem to be an importantsink on a global scale. —BRITT E.ERICKSON

Low-level perchlorateexposuresPerchlorate concentrations greaterthan 1 part per billion (ppb) in drink-ing water pose risks to humanhealth, according to the U.S. EPA’sdraft toxicological report issuedJanuary 16. The draft recommenda-tion reflects EPA’s determination toensure that mothers who drink per-chlorate-contaminated waterdo not give birth to childrenwith lower-than-average IQs,according to EPA toxicologistAnnie Jarabek.

Manufactured perchloratesalts have been found inground and surface water,mainly in the southwesternUnited States. Perchlorate persistsin the environment and is not readilyremoved by conventional watertreatment methods.

EPA’s review determined a re-vised reference dose (RfD) of0.00003 milligram of perchlorate perkilogram of body weight per day(mg/kg-day). Converting the refer-ence dose to an action level, mea-sured as a water concentration,requires assumptions about expo-sure—how much a person weighsand how much water they drink.The standard assumptions taken torepresent an average adult are 70kg and 2 L, respectively. These as-sumptions yield water concentra-tions of 1 ppb based on the newdraft RfD.

The January draft is a revision ofa 1998 draft review that could havesupported a 32-ppb standard con-centration (Environ. Sci. Technol.1999,33, 110A). Neurodevelopmentaleffects, first noted in the 1998 re-view, form the basis for the newdraft reference dose.

Laboratory studies conducted forthe toxicological review related tothis neurobehavioral outcome maybe intensely scrutinized in an exter-nal peer review workshop on thereassessment scheduled for March5–6, predicts toxicologist Joan

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A December 31, 2003, phaseout ofwood treated with chromated cop-per arsenate (CCA) has focused at-tention on its alternatives, some ofwhich may threaten sensitive aqua-tic ecosystems. Although alternativewood treatments are much saferthan CCA-treated wood for terres-trial uses, they are five times moretoxic to aquatic organisms becauseof their high copper content, sayFlorida researchers. The potentialfor damage has led some govern-ment regulators to limit the useof copper-treated wood in poorlyflushed (low rate of turnover) coas-tal areas where the copper is notrapidly diluted.

Mounting public concern overarsenic poisoning from exposure toCCA-treated wood in jungle gymsand decks led the U.S. EPA and thewood treatment industry to an-nounce a gradual phaseout of allresidential use of the product inFebruary. Research has shown thatarsenic, which is highly toxic andcarcinogenic to humans, can be re-leased from pressure-treated woodby rubbing and exposure to rainfall,says Tim Townsend, a solid wasteengineer at the University of Flori-da, Gainesville.

In the first study to systemati-cally compare a range of treatedwoods across the board, Townsendand colleagues tested the leachingand toxicity of metals from CCA-treated wood and alternative woodtreatments, including alkaline cop-per quat (a quaternary ammoniumcompound), copper boron azole,copper citrate, and copper dimethyl-dithiocarbamate. A draft of this re-port was released on theWeb inJanuary.

The results confirm earlier find-ings that CCA-treated wood, be-cause of its arsenic content, qualifiesas a hazardous waste and “has astrong potential to contaminategroundwater if disposed in an un-lined landfill,” Townsend says. EPAexempted the wood from hazard-ous waste disposal requirements atthe request of industry. The CCA-treated wood remains exempted—

a dilemma for disposal now thatmany homeowners and public parksare projected to jettison their CCA-treated tables and playgroundequipment, says Bill Walsh, nation-al coordinator for the Healthy

Building Network, an environmen-tal organization.

Because the alternatives containno arsenic or chromium, they aremuch safer to landfill. The potentialrisk to human health from soil con-tamination with the metal is 2000to 20,000 times lower than for CCA-treated wood, the study finds be-cause the metals in CCA-wood,arsenic, and chromium are muchmore toxic than the metal copperin the alternative products.

Unlike terrestrial organisms,aquatic plants and animals are ex-quisitely sensitive to copper andmay be put at greater risk by the al-

ternative wood treatments, whichleach from 2 to 20 times more cop-per than CCA-treated wood, Town-send says.

Marine communities that clingto pilings and submerged rocks ex-perience declines in biodiversitywithin several meters of decks andbulkheads made of pressure-treat-ed wood in poorly flushed estuariesand marshes, according to PeddrickWeis, an aquatic toxicologist withthe University of Medicine andDentistry in New Jersey. Snails fedoysters grown on the wood atemore slowly, accumulated copper,and didn’t gain as much weight assnails from a control group, he says.

Over the long term, treated woodsonly leach from 0.15 to 0.50 micro-grams of copper per square cen-timeter per day, posing little riskto aquatic environments, countersKen Brooks, an environmental toxi-cology consultant from Port Town-send, Wash. Although water undertreated wood bridges may exceedEPA’s copper limit by more than 30times immediately after construc-tion, within two weeks the levelsfall below the standard, he says.

Nevertheless, the NationalMarine Fisheries Service (NMFS)has banned the use of pressure-treated wood in New Jersey shell-fish beds unless the wood is coatedwith plastic to prevent leaching ofcopper, says Stan Gorski, fisheriesbiologist with NMFS.

A copy of the Florida studycan be found on theWeb at www.ccaresearch.org/publications.htm.—JANET PELLEY

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Environmental�News

Leachatefrom woodtreatedwithchromat-edcopperarsenate(CCA)istoxictoaquat-icorganisms,suchastheseoystersfrom(right)aresidentialcanallinedwithCCA-treatedwoodbulkheadingand(left)arockoutsidethecanal.

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Taiwan is currently facing an unusu-al problem for a densely populatedisland nation: Because of the unex-pected success of its recycling pro-grams, there is not enough garbageto burn in the country’s incinera-tors. Environmentalists charge thatthe situation is forcing the countryto generate pollution unnecessarily.

The problem dates back to 1997,when Taiwan embarked on an am-bitious program of building inciner-ators to ease the increasing pressure

on its landfill sites. Environmentalofficials expected that by the time36 incinerators had been complet-ed in 2003, about 90% of Taiwan’shousehold garbage would be burnt.

The Taipei-based anti-incinera-tor group Green Citizens’ ActionAlliance (GCAA) calculates that by2003, Taiwan’s incinerators, whichare both publicly and privately op-erated, will be capable of burning30,400 metric tons of householdwaste per day. However, last year,

Taiwan questions need for incinerators

Treated wood linked to aquatic damage

Taiwan generated 19,932 metrictons of household waste per day.Groups like the GCAA credit the re-cycling program operated by Tai-wan’s Environmental ProtectionAdministration (EPA) for the dra-matic drop in the amount of wastegenerated in recent years.

According to the EPA, the coun-try’s household garbage recycling ratewas 7.3% from January to August of2001, up from 5.1% in the same peri-od in 2000. “The amount of wastegenerated in Taiwan is still in declinedue to the promotion of recycling.So, what are we going to burn?” asksJian-zhi Chen, director of the GCAA’swaste policy committee.

The situation has changed dra-matically in less than a decade. In1993, according to the country’sEPA, about 90% of household wastewas chucked out at landfills. Now,the EPA is poised to meet its goalsof recycling 13% of its householdwaste and incinerating 85% of thewaste in 2004.

As a result, anti-incinerator ac-tivists like GCAA claim that manyof the country’s incinerators—someof which are under construction—are unnecessary, and they are pres-suring the Taiwanese governmentto reconsider its burning-orientedwaste management policy.

The activists fault Taiwan for

failing to carry out thorough assess-ments of health risk from incinera-tion. They charge that Taiwan’spractice of disposing of the fly ashand bottom ash generated by theincinerators in regular landfills putsthe country at risk. The 36 incinera-tors that the country hopes to haveoperating by the end of next yearwill generate 7600 metric tons ofthis ash each day, they point out.

In 1999, German dioxin expertOlaf Papke, managing director ofthe ERGO Laboratory in Hamburg,warned the Taiwanese governmentthat failing to bury incinerator ashin specially designed landfills couldlead to environmental contamina-tion. “In Europe, none would try totreat toxic fly ash and bottom ashlike the way Taiwan does,” saysJohn F. Lee, managing director ofGermany-based DFI Forschungsge-sellschaft mbH.

Activists are agitating for the flyash and bottom ash collected fromincinerators to be treated separate-ly. Although they applaud thecountry’s EPA for beginning to in-vestigate options for recycling flyash last year to create products likeroads, walls, artificial reefs, andbricks, the activists complain thatthe project has not moved forward.

In the meantime, even legislatorsare beginning to question the EPA’s

Dollarhide, with the ToxicologyExcellence for Risk Assessment, anonprofit risk assessment consult-ing firm that monitors the reviewon behalf of a group of perchlorateusers and manufacturers.

Once finalized, the assessmentwould be a major factor in the pos-sible development of drinking waterstandards for perchlorate, a processthat would take several years, ac-cording to EPA officials.

Ecological GDPTrading between Canada, Mexico,and the United States, worthU.S.$9 trillion annually, has damagedthe environment on which it depends,according to a new report from theCommission for EnvironmentalCooperation (CEC), an environmentaloversight agency set up by the NorthAmerican Free Trade Agreement.

The North American Mosaic: AState of the Environment Report(www.cec.org) is the first comprehen-sive scorecard on the condition ofNorth America’s natural capital. Withdata drawn from other analyses, theCEC uses indicators, such as trendsin endangered species, pollutantemissions, and population growth, topaint an often-bleak environmentalportrait of the three countries.

The CEC recommends that thethree countries should adopt anecological gross domestic product(GDP) to better measure the truecosts of producing goods and ser-vices. By measuring only the amountof goods and services producedand not counting pollution and envi-ronmental degradation, the GDP isoverestimating economic wealth,according to the report. For instance,from 1985 to 1992, Mexico’s GDPgrew at 2.2% per year, but an eco-logical GDP for the same period cutthe growth rate to 1.3% per yearafter integrating environmentalaccounting.

Released in January, the report isprojected to boost efforts, such as

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VisitorstotherestaurantatopthistowerinoneofKaohsiungCity’sprimetouristareasaretreatedtoaview ofoneofthecity’sincinerators(circledinred).Althoughtheincineratorisabletotreat900metrictonsofhouseholdwasteperday,cityofficialssayitactuallyburnslessthan700metrictonsofwasteeachday.



Environmental�Newswaste-burning policy. “Counties arefighting for garbage to burn,” lamentsDemocratic Progressive Party legis-lator Chin-lin Lai.

In Kaohsiung County in south-ern Taiwan, for example, two incin-erators with a combined capacity of2700 metric tons fight for the 1200metric tons of waste residents gen-erate each day. And its neighbor,Kaohsiung City, the country’s lar-gest industrial city, produces only1400 metric tons of waste daily, butoperates two public incineratorswith a combined daily treatmentcapacity of 2700 tons.

Such scrap squabbles are theresult of build-operate-transferagreements mandating that localgovernments guarantee the deliveryof set amounts of garbage to incin-erator operators. The incineratorsneed a steady supply of garbage,Lee explains, because burning un-fixed amount of garbage can leadto incomplete combustion, whichcan in turn generate toxic dioxins.

To help make up for the short-falls being experienced in placeslike Kaohsiung County and Kaoh-siung City, the EPA revised theWasteDisposal Act in January 2001 toallow incinerators to accept non-hazardous industrial waste andnoninfectious medical waste. Theagency’s rationale is that the lawprevents illegal dumping.

The new law prompted TaipeiCity’s Peitou waste incinerator toincrease the charge for treatingnonhazardous industrial waste by400 New Taiwan dollars (NT$) toNT$2000 per metric ton. In thesouth, however, incinerators inKaohsiung City vie for garbage,with prices ranging from NT$580to NT$1700.

Because the fee for handling andtreating toxic solvents in Taiwan isabout NT$10,000 per metric ton,environmentalists warn that theruling could inspire incinerators tobegin accepting toxic waste. “Wesuspect that incinerators now un-der construction are designed toburn toxic industrial waste becauseit’s more economical for the indus-try,” says George Cheng, executivegeneral of TaiwanWatch Institute,an environmental group.

Huei-Min Tsai, deputy director-general of the EPA’s incinerator en-gineering bureau, counters that acomprehensive mechanism to in-spect all waste sent to incineratorshas been established. He says thatit helped operators at the Peitou in-cinerator discover toxic solvents

that were mixed up with nonhaz-ardous industrial waste.

Despite the outcry against it,Taiwan EPA officials told ES&T inJanuary that the country’s burning-oriented waste management policywould not be changed in the nearfuture. —YU-TZU CHIU

Sequencing the Populus genome,under which hybrid poplars, cotton-woods, and aspens fall, could havewidespread implications for carbonsequestration, phytoremediation,and biomass production for conver-sion to biofuels. But obtaining strongsupport for anyresulting trans-genic treesfrom a skepticalpublic burnedby the firstwave of geneti-cally modifiedplants will re-quire “engi-neering humanand environmental safety right”, saysDon Doering of theWorld ResourcesInstitute, an environmental thinktank.

Populus will be the first tree, andonly the third plant, to have its com-plete genome sequenced, and re-searchers are excited about theinformation the sequence may re-veal. It “should be a big shot in thearm for basic research into forestbiology,” because trees’ large sizeand long growth times make themso difficult to breed, says TobyBradshaw of the University ofWashington, who is providing theDNA for the project, which got un-der way in January.

“A plant’s performance in what-ever environment it exists is at leastpartially dictated by its geneticmakeup,” says Jerry Tuskan of OakRidge National Laboratory, thetechnical contact for the project,which is being funded by the U.S.Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Of-fice of Biological and Environmen-tal Research.

Better understanding of how in-dividual genes work could allow

scientists to manipulate their per-formance in an effort to removecarbon from the atmosphere morequickly, fixing it into a chemicalform that resists microbial degra-dation to keep the carbon belowground for longer periods of time,

Tuskan says.Likewise, withmore knowl-edge of thetree’s biologyand metabolicprocesses, sci-entists mightbe better ableto optimizethe uptake of

heavy metals and conversion of or-ganic solvents into nontoxic com-pounds or even engineer the tree toobtain higher yields and more effi-cient conversion of its biomass intobiofuels.

“It’s having access to the suite ofall the genes that control how theplant grows that will allow us to in-tentionally manipulate those genesto a point where we can customizethe plant for the contaminant and/or environment in which it’s goingto be grown,” Tuskan says.

Getting the genome sequencedis a powerful tool for understandingthe environmental effects of treeplantations, tree breeding, and thegenetic manipulation of trees, Doe-ring says. “I tend to be optimistic onthe subject of trees just because we’lllearn from the mistakes and lessonsof faster-growing transgenics.”

Brian Johnson of English Nature,the U.K. government’s environmen-tal agency, adds that “we’ll want toask some very serious questionsabout the stability of any transgenictrees, their ability to persist in thewild, and how they behave in the

Mapping out the Populus genome

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those in Canada, to adopt environ-mental sustainability indicators,says David McGuinty, presidentof the National Round Table onthe Environment and Economy, anadvisory council to Canada’s PrimeMinister, Jean Chretien.

Lessons in precautionOfficials in Europe and the UnitedStates need to reach an agreementon how much evidence of harmfuleffects is needed to justify pre-ventive action, according to areport by the European Envi-ronment Agency (EEA).

The report Late Lessonsfrom Early Warnings: ThePrecautionary Principle 1896–2000analyzes how policy makers haveand haven’t applied the principleover the last century, particularlywhen addressing hazards wherethere is scientific uncertainty.

Fourteen case studies showwhere warnings were ignored andregulatory inaction led to costly andunforeseen consequences, such asfishery collapses and the deaths ofhundreds of thousands of peoplefrom the asbestos cancer mesothe-lioma. Other case studies involvemad cow disease; the use of growthhormones and antibiotics in farmanimals; the use of benzene, MTBE,and tributyltin; chemical contamina-tion of the Great Lakes; and air pol-lution from sulfur dioxide.

The EEA draws a number oflessons from the case studies, in-cluding the value of preventing oneor two materials from monopolizingthe market, as was the case withasbestos, CFCs, and PCBs; ensuringthat “lay” and local knowledge isused along with scientific expertisein risk evaluations; and being realis-tic about how materials will be usedand disposed of.

The report can be downloadedfrom http://reports.eea.eu.int/environmental_issue_report_2001_22/en.

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Robert VanceThurston, thefounding direc-tor of the Fish-eries BioassayLaboratory atMontana StateUniversity (MSU)

in Bozeman, Mont., and a researchprofessor at the school’s chemistryand biochemistry department, diedon February 16, 2002. Thurston wasa water quality expert and author ofone of ES&T’s most highly cited re-search papers (Environ. Sci. Technol.2001, 35, 488A–494A).

Thurston was an internationallyrecognized authority on ammoniatoxicity, says Rosemarie Russo, di-rector of the Ecosystems ResearchDivision at EPA’s National ExposureResearch Laboratory in Athens, Ga.,who collaborated with Thurston formore than 25 years. His researchspecialties also included fish physi-ology, laboratory and field aquatic

toxicity testing, water quality moni-toring, and chemical limnology.Thurston is widely cited in nationalwater quality regulations, Russo says.

At the time of his death at age 75,Thurston was the project manageron a North Atlantic Treaty Organi-zation (NATO) grant to conduct fieldstudies in the Baltic republics ofEstonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Theresearch team has been gatheringdata on oxygen-consuming nutrientinputs into the rivers that feed intothe Baltic Sea, a major water bodysuffering from hypoxia. He was alsoone of the principal leaders of a19-nation NATO study on nutrientloadings to rivers and estuaries.

Thurston helped establish thefirst U.S.-Lithuania environmentalresearch and education agreementin 1989, while Lithuania was still aSoviet republic. He was a mentor tomany Lithuanian researchers, whomhe brought to Montana State Univer-sity for technical training, and he

wild.” On the whole, however, hesays he views the Populus sequenc-ing as basic fundamental researchthat is likely to “give us some fasci-nating insights into a whole rangeof scientific questions.”

The sequence is expected to be

complete within two years, and allof the data will be made publiclyavailable on theWeb. Other partici-pants include DOE’s Joint GenomeInstitute, Genome Canada, and theSwedish University of AgriculturalSciences. —KRIS CHRISTEN

Noted water researcher dies

Crittenden named to NAEES&T Associate Editor John C. Crittenden was recently induct-ed into the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). NAEacknowledged Crittenden’s development of theory and appli-cation of processes for removing toxic organic compoundsfrom air and drinking water. He and his colleagues have devel-oped methods, software, and two new technologies that maybe used to remove hazardous compounds such as benzene

from drinking water supplies. They are also currently involved in the design of thedrinking water treatment system for the space station. Crittenden, who is a presi-dential professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan Technologi-cal University (MTU) and director of the EPA-sponsored National Center for CleanIndustrial and Treatment Technologies (one of its research bases is located atMTU in Houghton, Mich.), says “I’m happy that people have found our work to beuseful, especially in developing technologies and expertise that provide safedrinking water.” Membership to the NAE is conferred on engineers who havemade important contributions to engineering theory and practice, as well as onthose who have demonstrated unusual accomplishment in pioneering new anddeveloping fields of technology. —LEONA KANASKIE

Loss of no net loss?The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’(Corps) updated permits for wet-lands development sparked accusa-tions from environmentalists andgovernment agencies that the per-mits ignore the impacts of moun-taintop removal mining, and theyrenege on the Bush administration’spromise to protect wetlands under a“no net loss” policy (http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2001/oct/policy/cc_corps.html).

The 43 permits, renewed onJanuary 15, speed approval for de-velopment projects that cause only

minimal impacts on wet-lands (Fed. Reg. 67 (10),2020−2095).The U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service (FWS),in written comments,told the Corps that na-tionwide permit (NWP)21, which covers moun-taintop removal for min-ing coal, authorized thedestruction of 14,000

acres of aquatic habitat and theburial of 88 miles of streams in theyear 2000 alone. The Corps does nothave the scientific basis to claimthat NWP-21 causes no more thanminimal impact to the environment,the FWS added.

But the Corps argues that NWP-21 does not need to be strength-ened because other regulations,such as the federal Surface MiningControl and Reclamation Act andstate laws, do a sufficient job ofprotecting the environment.

Kentuckians for the Common-wealth, an environmental group,have filed a lawsuit over NWP-21,alleging that the Corps does nothave the authority to permit com-panies to dump mining waste instreams. More information on theCorps’ new permits can be foundat (www.usace.army.mil/inet/functions/cw/cecwo/reg/nw2002dd/index.htm).

Governm


Environmental�Newswas instrumental in providing muchscientific equipment, computers, andlaboratory supplies to the Universityof Vilnius, Lithuania, Russo says.

“Thurston was truly a ‘hands-on’instructor in the water quality mon-itoring field expeditions he helpedorganize in Lithuania with VilniusUniversity and the Lithuanian Envi-ronmental Protection Ministry,” re-calls J. Jackson Ellington, a researchchemist with EPA’s Ecosystems Re-search Division who began travel-ing to the Baltics with Thurston in1989. Thurston spent “countless days”working with local personnel in thecountry’s laboratories and at river andlake sampling sites, Ellington says.

Thurston earned his Ph.D. in zo-ology fromMSU and held degrees ineconomics, science education, chem-istry, and limnology. Before joiningthe MSU faculty in 1971, he held

positions at the University of Maine–Farmington, the University of Wis-consin, and the Massachusetts In-stitute of Technology. He also servedas a visiting scientist at the Universityof British Columbia, the Universityof Guadalajara, the University ofBaja California, and the Universityof Washington.

Thurston was a National ScienceFoundation Fellow at Harvard Uni-versity, and he served as chair of theWater Quality Review Committee ofthe American Fisheries Society, whichhonored him with a distinguishedservice award in 1980. Thurston’s longand varied career also included asix-year stint as a high school sci-ence teacher and service in the U.S.Navy duringWorldWar II. “He wasa truly remarkable man who touchedthe lives of people all over the world,”Russo says.KELLYN S. BETTS

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Ocean fish energy recovery rates are fallingBeef feedlots are the only animal food source that is less energy-efficient thanfish caught in the ocean, claims Reg Watson of the University of British Columbia(UBC). As part of the Sea Around Us Project, funded by the Pew Charitable Trust,the UBC researchers have calculated “energy recovery” rates for ocean fish bycomparing the amount of fuel needed to catch them with their edible protein con-tent. “As fishers go into deeper water and use more extreme methods, theamount of energy [they must use] has increased substantially,” Watson says.“We’re not only burning more fuel, we’re pursuing resources that are more thinlydispersed,” explains Peter Tyedmers, an ecological economist at DalhousieUniversity also involved with the Sea Around Us Project. Tyedmers estimates thatthe amount of energy recovered from ocean fish has plummeted by a factor of5–10 over the past 40 years. —KELLYN S. BETTS

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h/fu

elen

ergy

%

2000Year

30

20

10

0

Japanese squid fishery1

New Bedford fleet2

Icelandic fleet3

Atlantic Canadianfleet3

1990198019701960

Source: Peter Tyedmers, Sea Around Us Project.

O g

1 Sato et al. 19892 Mitchell and Cleveland, 19933 Tyedmers, 2001

Almost 1200 public schools in fivestates are located within a half-mileof a hazardous waste site, accordingto a report by the Child Proofing OurCommunities Campaign, a nationalcoalition of grassroots organizations.The report finds that these schools,which are attended by more than600,000 children, are one potentialsource of the rising numbers of chil-dren afflicted with asthma, cancers,lower IQs, and learning disabilities.For a copy of Creating Safe LearningZones: Invisible Threats,Visible Actions,go to www.childproofing.org.

Citizens from across the globe be-lieve that environmental quality hasdeteriorated over the past 10 years,according to a survey of public opinionconducted by Environics InternationalLtd., a research firm. The poll reflectsthe views of 1000 people in each of 23nations on 6 continents representing67% of the world’s population; the ma-jority of the citizens in 60% of thesecountries said environmental qualitywas worsening. In a separate poll thatwas released simultaneously with thepublic opinion poll, sustainability ex-perts in half of the countries includedin the citizens’ poll said that withoutfaster progress toward sustainable de-velopment, it is unlikely that humani-ty can avert irreversible damage. Toorder a copy of the report, go to www.environicsinternational.com.

Over the next 100 years, changes inclimate will pose serious risks forinland freshwater ecosystems andcoastal wetlands in the UnitedStates, predicts a new report bythe Pew Center on Global ClimateChange. Variations in temperatureand precipitation patterns will likelyalter the geographic distribution ofaquatic species, affect ecosystem pro-ductivity, reduce water quality, andfurther stress sensitive areas alreadyimpacted by human activities, saysthe report. However, the report ac-knowledges that critical uncertaintiesstill exist regarding how climate will

change regionally and how complexecosystems will respond. AquaticEcosystems and Climate Change: Po-tential Impacts on Inland Freshwaterand Coastal Wetland Ecosystems inthe United States is available at www.pewclimate.org/projects/aquatic.cfm.

Global warming models overesti-mate the greenhouse gas emissionsof junked refrigerators, according toa new analysis sponsored by the Asso-ciation of Home Appliance Manufac-turers in conjunction with the U.S. EPA.Computer models have assumed that100% of the chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons(HCFCs), and hydrofluorocarbons(HFCs) used inside refrigerators enterthe atmosphere when the appliancesare decommissioned.When researchersfromDenmark Technical University inCopenhagenmeasured emissions afterrefrigerators were shredded, however,they found that less than 40% of thegreenhouse gases were actually re-leased over six weeks. For more infor-mation, go to http://aham.org.

Pollution in Australia’s coastal flood-waters poses a serious threat to theGreat Barrier Reef, finds a study bythe Great Barrier Reef Marine ParkAuthority, a government agency. Pol-lution levels are 4 times worse than15 years ago. Nutrients, sediment,and pesticides in flood plumes ex-ceed safe levels, thereby stressing theworld’s largest coral reef, depressingcoral reproduction and even killingcorals outright. Flood Plumes in theGreat Barrier Reef: Spatial and Tem-poral Patterns in Composition andDistribution concludes that river pol-lution must be cut more than 30–60percent to protect the reef. To see the

report, go to www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/key_issues/water_quality/index.html.

Lewis & Clark College in Portland,Ore., expects to become the first col-lege in the world to meet the KyotoProtocol standards for reducinggreenhouse gas emissions.Beginning next fall, students havevoted to begin paying $10 annuallyinto a fund that will be used to pur-chase “offsets” from the ClimateTrust, a nonprofit environmentalgroup that supports green energyprojects. An inventory of the school’sgreenhouse gas emissions has shownthat the fees collected will be suffi-cient to allow the school to meet theKyoto standard of emissions 7% be-low the 1990 level. The school joinsa growing roster of colleges and uni-versities that have committed to meetthe stipulations of the Kyoto Protocol.

This year’s Environmental Chemis-try Graduate Student Awards wentto 11 students at 10 universities, theAmerican Chemical Society (ACS) an-nounced in February. Graduate advis-ers can nominate students who havebeen enrolled for at least a year in aprogram that emphasizes environ-mental chemistry at a U.S. university.Award winners are chosen by themerit of their course work and re-search productivity, and recommen-dations regarding their potential asprofessionals. A one-year member-ship to the ACS Division of Environ-mental Chemistry and a one-yearsubscription to ES&T were awardedto Yi He, Queens College of CUNY;SharonWalker, Yale University; Sun-Lin Yang and James Day, GeorgiaTech; Christina Friedel, SouthernIllinois University; Brian Quinn,University of Florida; Tanita Sirived-hin, Northwestern University; JosephBushey, Carnegie Mellon University;Michael Gershenzon, Boston College;Qingguo Huang, University of Michi-gan; and Jian Zhan, University ofMassachusetts–Dartmouth.

News �Briefs


PHOT

ODISC


Environmental�News

Fiscal Year 2003 BudgetPresident Bush asked for a rec-

ord total of $111.8 billion forfederal research and develop-

ment (R&D) funding for fiscal year2003 (FY ’03), a whopping 8.3% in-crease beyond what Congress ap-proved for the current fiscal year.

Bush’s emphasis on the waragainst terrorism is clear in hisbudget request, where he awardsnearly the entire increase in R&D($45 billion) to the Departmentof Defense (DOD). Most of thesefunds would go to weapons systemsin the military services, rather thanto research, according to a prelimi-nary analysis by the the AmericanAssociation for the Advancementof Science (AAAS). Another large in-crease is proposed for the NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH), ($3.7 bil-lion), a remarkable increase thatfullfills a commitment to doubleNIH’s budget between FY ’98 and’03, according to AAAS.

Without the NIH increases, totalnondefense-related federal R&Dwould fall by 0.4%, to $26.7 billion(see table). As a result, all othergovernment programs would seeflat or declining funding in theirR&D budgets under Bush’s request.In three separate stories, ES&Ttakes a look at the budget requestfor environment-related funding inthree key agencies: the NationalScience Foundation, the Depart-ment of Energy, and EPA.

Research funding in the FY 2003 budgetMost federal agencies would see flat or decreased funding for theirresearch programs under President Bush’s proposal. Budget allocations aregiven in millions of dollars.

Research FY 2001 FY 2002 FY 2003(basic + applied) Actual Estimate Budget Percent

Defense (military;including medical) 4944 4961 4952 –0.2Health and HumanServices 20,665 23,432 26,846 14.6National Institutesof Health 19,491 22,182 25,748 16.1

NASA 4185 4675 5397 15.4Energy 4720 5294 5383 1.7National ScienceFoundation 3075 3285 3441 4.7Agriculture 1846 1848 1826 –1.2Commerce 818 890 868 –2.5NOAA 505 549 542 –1.3NIST 305 334 317 –5.1

Interior 590 628 596 –5.1Transportation 462 535 421 –21.3EPA 475 488 532 9.0Veterans Affairs 733 780 829 6.3Education 174 180 213 18.3Agency for InternationalDevelopment 249 268 182 –32.1Smithsonian 108 111 114 2.7All Other 246 249 235 –5.6

Total research 43,290 47,624 51,835 8.8

Total researchexcluding NIH 23,799 25,442 26,087 2.5

Source:AAAS, based on OMB data for R&D for FY 2003, agency budget justification, and information from agencybudget offices.

The Bush administration’s proposedbudget for fiscal year 2003 (FY ’03)increases the National ScienceFoundation’s (NSF’s) budget 5%over current levels. The $5 billionbudget highlights support for newequipment for environmental stud-ies that hint at homeland securitymeasures, a new climate change re-search initiative, raising graduatefellowships, and an increase in NSFstaff for the first time since 1990.The budget also includes controver-

sial transfers of $74 million in fund-ing control for three environmentalprograms from federal agencies toNSF. The American Association forthe Advancement of Science esti-mates that these transfers are halfof NSF’s 3.6 % R&D increase.

NSF is an independent agencythat distributes grants on a competi-tive basis and, according to theagency’s statistics, currently provides49% of all federal money for basicresearch in environmental science.

That percentage could change,thanks to a new management ratingsystem put in place by the Bush ad-ministration’s Office of Managementand Budget (OMB). Under a systemknown as the Executive Manage-ment Scorecard, NSF ranked higherin financial management than anyother U.S. federal agency (see side-bar on p. 134A).When announcingBush’s budget request, NSF directorRita Colwell commented that 95%of all funds allocated to NSF go di-rectly to researchers.

When presenting his budget re-quest to Congress, Bush said, “When

Bush proposes shifting $74 million to NSF


objective measures reveal that gov-ernment programs are not succeed-ing, those programs should bereinvented, redirected, or retired.”The proposed transfers supportBush’s interest in reforming the fed-eral government and are not relatedto supporting the nation’s war onterrorism, according to OMB pressofficer Jennifer Wood.

According to OMB, high praiseregarding NSF’s low overhead costsand competitive process explainwhy NSF is slated to take over a $55million Sea Grant program from theNational Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA), a $10 mil-lion toxic substances hydrologyprogram currently operated by U.S.Geological Survey (USGS), and a$9 million environmental educationprogram aimed at grades K–12 nowmanaged by the EPA.

The Sea Grant program is a part-nership between U.S. universitiesand NOAA that promotes researchprojects, education, and technolo-gies that preserve oceans, lakes,and bays. NOAA’s Under Secretaryof Commerce for Oceans andAtmosphere, Conrad Lautenbacher,Jr., noted that the program is notnew to NSF. “Sea Grant started withNSF and moved to NOAA, and ifyou look at it honestly, you can seethe pros and cons of having it ineach of those organizations.” Headds, “We are going to work as hardas we can to ensure that [the SeaGrant program] continues to servethe purposes it was designed for[by working with NSF].”

But others say they worry thatshifting this program from NOAAto NSF could compromise the re-search. In a recent letter to theOMB, Carolyn Thoroughgood, act-ing president and chair of theConsortium for OceanographicResearch and Education, a non-profit organization that promotesocean research and education, re-minded officials that a 1994 Na-tional Research Council (NRC)study of the Sea Grant programoversight recommended elevatingthe program within the ranks ofNOAA. “Sea Grant supports ap-plied, objective-driven science, anapproach that is inconsistent with

the basic research mission of NSF,”she states. With the transfer, SeaGrant extension projects that movescience and technology from thelab to practice in the public andprivate sector, such as diagnosingtoxic algal blooms, face elimina-tion, warns Thoroughgood. SeaGrant researchers estimate thatone-third of the program’s fundsgo to these extension projects.

A USGS hydrologist speakinganonymously says he is also wor-ried about the future of theirunique water quality monitoringprograms. A 1996 NRC review citedUSGS as one of the few organiza-tions (including universities, otherfederal agencies, and states) thatcan do long-term field studies.Moreover, the same review statesthat discontinuous funding andlimited infrastructure restricts whatuniversities can study. In a state-ment reacting to the proposed bud-get, USGS officials says that $10million of the $13.9 million allottedin FY ’02 to the USGS Toxic Hydrol-ogy program will go to NSF. In addi-tion, USGS’s long-term NationalWater-Quality Assessment Program(NAQWA), which has monitoredpollutant levels across the UnitedStates, would have to secure about$6 million in outside funding tomaintain its schedule and scope.However, the hydrologist recalls thatalthough Bush proposed to cut the

toxics program and reduce NAQWAin FY ’02, Congress restored theprograms in final appropriations.

Environmentalists quicklyvoiced their criticisms in responseto the proposal. The USGS transferis “inappropriate, and hopefully, itwon’t happen,” says Sue Gunn, di-rector of budget and appropriationsat theWilderness Society. She ar-gues that it is “ridiculous” to move

a long-term program that studiestoxic substances in water from ascientific organization to a grantingagency characterized by basic re-search initiatives.

“Under the NSF model, all [SeaGrant and hydrology] funding will[now] be allocated through a com-petitive, merit-based process,” saysWood. The environmental educa-tion program was used more foradvocacy under EPA, whereas atNSF, it can better serve educatorsand students, she adds.

With a proposed 13.4% increase,the NSF Geosciences Directorate(GEO) did much better overall thanother NSF programs that receivedpercentage increases that barelyapproached inflation. Partneringwith such agencies as NOAA, theNational Aeronautical and SpaceAdministration, and the U.S. De-partment of Agriculture, GEO isexpected to receive $15 million tosupport a new multiagency ClimateChange Initiative directed toward

NSF budget for FY 2003Excluding transfers and educational programs, proposed R&D spending at NSFincreases 3.6%. Budget allocations are given in millions of dollars.

Percent changeFY 2002 FY 2003 between request

NSF account current plan request over plan

Research andrelated activities 3598.64 3783.21 5.1Education and humanresources 875.00 908.08 3.8Major research equipmentand facilities construction 138.80 126.28 –9.0Salaries and expenses 176.40 210.06 19.1Office of Inspector General 7.04 8.06 14.5Total, NSF1 4795.88 5035.79 5.01 IncludesproposedPensionandHealthcarecostsundertheBushAdministration’sCostsIntegrationLegislation,whichre-quiresagenciestopayfullshareofaccruedcostofretirementbeginninginFY2003.

Source:National Science Foundation.


Environmental�Newsanalyzing risk and “other knowl-edge gaps”. According to assistantNSF director Margaret Leinen, GEOwill also fund new major researchequipment by allocating $35 mil-lion for Earthscope, a project formonitoring events like earthquakesand landslides in North America,and $12 million for the NationalEcological Observatory Network,

an array that can detect abrupt en-vironmental changes and long-termtrends. Colwell commented thatthese instruments will help “takethe pulse of the environment” andcould “serve as early biological de-tection systems”.

NSF has also identified variouspriority areas that will get moneyfrom its other directorates. The En-

vironmental Biocomplexity priorityarea will garner $75 million in totalto focus on such projects as micro-bial genomic sequencing and ecol-ogy of infectious diseases, invasivespecies, and biological weapons.

Colwell is “truly delighted” thatthe budget would add $37 millionto graduate stipends, saying thatthese increases are “key to develop-

Green means go?The White House Office ofManagement and Budget (OMB)used a rating system for govern-ment agencies and cabinet officesas a decision-making tool for plan-ning the FY 2003 budget.

OMB applied the five criteriaof the Executive ManagementScorecard in order to identifywhere federal dollars were notmanaged well. The system sup-ports President Bush’s emphasison government reform. In a speechto Congress on February 4 whenhe released his FY ’03 budgetrequest, Bush said, “From the be-ginning of my administration, Ihave called for better manage-ment of the federal government.Now, with all of the demands onour resources, better manage-ment is needed more sorely thanever.”

Using the rating system, departments and independentagencies across the federal government were judged ontheir ability to use human resources; apply competitive out-sourcing; show good financial performance, such as limitedbookkeeping error; expand the public’s electronic access togovernment; and demonstrate that budgeted money wasactually used effectively (see table). In addition to overallranking, several agencies had specific program initiativesevaluated, including an assessment of research and devel-opment projects within the Department of Energy (DOE).

Compared to a “traffic light” in budget documents, thescorecard is considered important to governing with account-ability. “The scorecard employs a simple grading system:green for success, yellow for mixed results, and red for un-satisfactory” and reflects performance through September30, 2001, said Mitch Daniels, director of the OMB, when hereleased the assessments late last year.

In an October 30, 2001, memo to heads of executive depart-ments and agencies, Daniels warned that “clearly, the September30 baseline will show a lot of poor scores for current status, re-

flecting the state of the government we inherited.”But Daniels said that the National Science Foundation (NSF)

deserved to be singled out. “NSF is one of the true centers ofexcellence in government where 95% of funds that taxpayersprovide goes out on a competitive basis directly to research-ers who pursue the frontiers of science. This is all at a verylow overhead cost,” he said. NSF received a green light for fi-nancial management, the only one awarded across all 23 de-partments and agencies in the federal government.

The Democratic staff of the House Committee on Sciencecalls into question the effect of the rating system on researchand development spending. According to budget documents,DOE and the Department of Health and Human Services,which oversees the National Institutes of Health (NIH), eachgot increased funding despite earning five red lights (seetable). In a written analysis, the committee charges that“[management] metrics have become a cloak behind whichpolitics, both Presidential and Congressional, can carry onas before with a new patina of impartiality.”

More information about the FY ’03 budget is available atwww.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2003/index.html.

Selected scores from the Executive Management ScorecardAccording to the Bush administration’s ranking system of federal departments andagencies, the National Science Foundation (NSF) got the only green light of all 23federal departments and independent agencies.

Federal Budgetdepartment Human Competitive Financial E-govern- performanceor agency capital sourcing management ment integration

NSF • • • • •EPA • • • • •Commerce(oversees NOAA) • • • • •Defense • • • • •Energy • • • • •Health and HumanServices(oversees NIH)

• • • • •Interior(oversees USGS) • • • • •


ing our nation’s talent”. Previouslyset at $21,500, stipends would nowaward $25,000 annually to thosewith NSF Graduate Research Fel-lowships, Graduate Teaching Fel-

lowships in K–12 Education, andIntegrative Graduate Education andResearch Traineeships. The budgetalso includes “overdue investmentsin NSF workforce”, says Colwell,

that permit 67 full-time employeesand provide travel money thatwould be allocated for site visitsessential for better assessing grantproposals. —RACHEL PETKEWICH

President Bush requested $7.7 bil-lion to fund the EPA in the upcom-ing fiscal year (FY ’03), just $200million more than what he request-ed last year and $400 million lessthan what Congress approved ($7.9billion) for FY ’02. The budget in-cludes $685.2 million for scienceand technology projects, a slightdrop from the current budget of$712.8 million.

Bush is seeking $650 million forEPA’s R&D program, a 6.2% boostover the current level. Much of theincrease, $77.5 million, is attributedto research related to homeland se-curity, according to the AAAS.

“Fostering Environmental Part-nerships” was EPA’s theme on Feb-ruary 4 when EPA AdministratorChristie Whitman announced thebudget. Developed in the currentera when the cost effectiveness offederal funding is under intensescrutiny, the partnership approachhelps the agency leverage federalmoney and effort, according to oneEPA budget analyst. “The idea ofpartnerships is growing in the gov-ernment. It is one of the principlesof this administration that not all ofthe answers lie inWashington,” theanalyst says.

This theme was seen in theagency’s proposal to designate $21million for the new TargetedWater-shed program. EPA staff wouldconsult with state and local govern-ments and groups to develop vol-untary strategies to improve thewatershed’s condition.

Bush is also seeking $200 millionfor states to clean up abandonedindustrial sites known as brown-fields. The funds would provide anincrease of $100 million from theFY ’02 request, but they would ac-tually fulfill the authorization in-cluded in a new brownfields lawsigned by the president in January.

Whitman called the brownfields pro-gram“a cornerstone of EPA’s partner-ship[s]”, noting that the funds will gotoward additional assessments of haz-ardous waste- and petroleum-conta-minated properties, and for state-runvoluntary cleanup programs.

Under Bush’s request, another $15million would be shifted from EPA’senforcement program to the states.

States are eager to receive theenforcement funds, says R. StevenBrown, deputy executive directorof the Environmental Council ofStates (ECOS). In a survey of statebudgets for the current fiscal year,ECOS found that state legislaturesreduced their environmental fund-ing in response to the recession,and the average cut of the 35 stateswho answered the national surveywas $6.5 million. “Eighty percent ofthe enforcement is carried out bythe states now,” Brown adds.

Overall, however, funding forthe agency’s large programs would

remain relatively stable when therequest is compared with the cur-rent budget. These items include$1.29 billion for the Superfund pro-gram, $2.1 billion for Environmen-tal Programs and Management,$1.2 million for the CleanWaterState Revolving Fund, and $850 mil-lion for the DrinkingWater StateRevolving Fund, the last two itemsbeing state loan programs.

Whitman touted the importanceof developing better and cheaper

environmental technologies for as-sessments and cleanups when sheannounced Bush’s $10 million Na-tional Environmental TechnologyCompetition. If EPA receives thisfunding from Congress, the agencywould issue competitive solicita-tions for technologies in severalareas, including arsenic treatmenttechnologies for drinking water sys-tems that serve small communitiesand research to reduce the bioaccu-mulation of PCBs and VOCs, Whit-man says.

The president requested $3.2 mil-lion for the National Computational

Bush highlights transfer of EPA funds to the states

Summary of EPA’s resources by goalMore than half of EPA’s budget supports programs designed to improve air and drink-ing water quality and to better handle hazardous waste. Budget allocations are givenin thousands of dollars.

FY 2003FY 2002 FY 2003 versus

Goal enacted request FY 2002

1. Clean air $593,361.8 $597,977.3 +$4615.52. Clean and safe water $3,738,990.3 $3,214,674.2 –($524,316.1)3. Safe food $109,071.7 $109,814.6 +$742.94. Preventing pollution $319,915.1 $326,651.9 +6736.85. Better waste management $1,520,683.8 $1,711,279.8 +$190,596.06. Global and cross-border risks $276,588.0 $269,727.2 –($6860.8)7. Quality environmental information $197,067.8 $199,124.0 +$2056.28. Sound science $336,066.9 $327,837.9 –($8229.0)9. Credible deterrent $386,539.6 $402,462.9 +$15,923.310. Effective management $424,928.0 $460,963.2 –($36,035.2)

Grand total budget authority $8,006,801.6 $7,723,600.8 –($283,200.8)

Source:U.S. EPA.


Environmental�NewsToxicology Project, which wouldbring the total funding to $8 mil-lion. The program, which began inFY ’02, uses gene arrays to identifyhow an animal’s system responds totoxic exposure. Researchers willbuild on the work done by the Na-tional Institute of EnvironmentalHealth Sciences with computerchips and high-performance com-puters, says Office of Research andDevelopment’s Assistant Adminis-trator Designee J. Paul Gilman (En-viron. Sci. Technol. 2000, 34, 244A−245A). The agency’s endocrine dis-rupter screening program will actas a pilot program for the toxicolo-gy project.

The budget includes $124 mil-lion for projects related to home-land security, including $75 millionearmarked for research into im-proved techniques for cleaning upbuildings contaminated by biologi-cal agents. The remaining fundswould be directed toward the secu-rity of drinking water and waste-water treatment facilities. EPAalready received $175 million in thecurrent fiscal year to address the at-

tacks on September 11, Whitmansays.

As was the case with the Clintonadministration’s budgets, this re-quest has zeroed out all $510 millionin “earmarks” Congress insertedinto the current budget to supportlocal projects. Some of those funds($59 million) would affect local re-search projects, and $343 millionwould reduce funding to drinkingwater and wastewater treatmentprojects, EPA staff says.

Environmentalists criticized therequest saying that the zeroing outof the earmarks, if enacted, wouldtake money from clean water re-search. An analysis from the envi-ronmental group Friends of theEarth (FOE) notes that $124 millionis being cut from the current bud-get of the Office of Science andTechnology (OS&T) for clean waterresearch. The Natural ResourcesDefense Council (NRDC) foundthat funding the $21 millionTargetedWatershed program wouldreduce funding for a controversialregulatory program for watersheds,known as the Total Maximum Daily

Load program. Another $124 mil-lion would come from OS&T’s bud-get for clean air research, accordingto FOE.

The groups also bemoan Bush’srequest to shift $15 million fromEPA’s oversight enforcement pro-grams to the states. “The federalgovernment provides an essentialbackstop for the states ... especiallyin cases that are tough to handle,such as intrastate cases, or thosewhere a company has an unwieldyinfluence,” says NRDC’s WesleyWarren, formerly an associate di-rector at the U.S. Office of Manage-ment and Budget.

But it’s unclear whether Con-gress will approve Bush’s request.Several key senators in Februarycomplained of what they consid-ered low funding for the state cleanwater and drinking water grantsand inadequate funding for cleanair research. They also criticized theenforcement grants program. Lastyear, Bush requested $25 million forthe same initiative, but Congressshelved the idea. —CATHERINE M.COONEY

In keeping with the general belttightening and focus on fiscal effi-ciency flavoring President Bush’sentire budget request for FY ’03,the Department of Energy’s envi-

ronment programs are targetedto receive only slight increases inthe agency’s $21.9 billion request.Although the overall DOE budget,which was unveiled in early Febru-

ary, reflects a 2.7% increase over lastyear’s appropriation, the agency’sEnergy, Science, and the Environ-ment division is slated to receiveonly a paltry 0.7% raise to $13.1 bil-lion in 2003.

The 2003 budget codifies DOE’snew approach to dealing with envi-ronmental management, whichcovers cleanup of the environmen-tal contamination at sites through-out the country. At $6.7 billion,environmental management is theagency’s largest line item. EnergySecretary Spencer Abraham saysthat the agency’s new “expeditedcleanup plan”, which was an-nounced in late January before thebudget was unveiled, will result in“faster, cheaper, and better”cleanups.

The new cleanup plan takes atriage approach to dealing withwastes at contaminated DOE sites.Significant health and safety risksare to be eliminated as soon as pos-sible, with the remaining risks re-viewed on a case-by-case basis in

DOE budget marks new approach to cleanup

Department of Energy FY 2003 budget requestComparing the budget request for 2003 with the appropriations for the last twoyears shows that DOE's funding for energy, science, and environment is relativelyflat, while national security spending is growing.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy.

25

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billi

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20

15

10

5

0

National NuclearSecurityAdministration

Energy, Scienceand Environment

Other

FY 2001 FY 2002 FY 2003

$6.8

$12.4

$7.6

$13.0

$8.0

$13.1

$1.01$0.76

$20.2B $21.3B $21.9B

$0.81


conjunction with state and local of-ficials. To encourage DOE sites toparticipate in the program, DOE isoffering participating sites a greatershare of its cleanup resources, atleast in the short term.

Environmentalists caution thatthe expedited strategy could lead tolaxer cleanup standards. “Instead ofimproving the [environmentalmanagement] program by ag-gressively addressing theworst risks first—such asburied transuranic wastearound the nuclear weaponscomplex or the leaking high-level waste tanks at Hanford—DOE is proposing a programthat, if implemented, wouldrely on expedient, short-termapproaches and encourageregulators and communitiesto agree to less stringent envi-ronmental standards to ensurecontinued funding,” claimsthe Natural Resources DefenseCouncil (NRDC), a nonprofitenvironmental group.

Abraham counters that the70-year cleanup time framesassociated with existingcleanup schedules are simplytoo long. He says the expedit-ed plan provides a “betterfocus” for cleaning up agencysites. NRDC notes that DOE’sHanford Reservation inWashington state, SavannahRiver in South Carolina, andLos Alamos in New Mexico areall slated for significant cuts intheir cleanup budgets. The en-vironmental management budgetrequest is for 0.2% more than lastyear’s appropriation.

Because the DOE budget con-tains many cuts, environmentalgroups generally praise the DOE forcontinuing funding for energy effi-ciency and renewable energy, al-though they charge that the modest0.8% increase didn’t go far enough.Still, Dave Garman, assistant secre-tary for renewable energy and ener-gy efficiency, says that this is thedivision’s largest budget requestsince 1981 (in real dollars, not ad-justed for inflation).

Funding for renewable resourcesresearch is up 6%, with a 37% in-

crease for hydrogen energy produc-tion, a 14% hike for wind—wherethe focus has shifted to lower-speedtechnologies suitable for less windyareas—a 2% cut for bio-mass/biofuels, and a 2% cut forsolar. The request also extends ex-isting wind and biomass tax credits.

The DOE budget’s inclusion of$71 million for nuclear power R&D

represents a 35% increase. The ma-jority of the new funds are for theagency’s new nuclear power 2010initiative, which aims to build ad-vanced nuclear power plants in theUnited States by 2010. The DOEstresses that nuclear power is aCO2-free energy source, but ErichPica, director of the Green ScissorsCampaign, a program run jointly bythe Friends of the Earth and othernonprofit groups, faulted the 2010initiative pushing for the develop-ment of new nuclear power plantsdespite their inherent security risks.The budget also includes a $2.1 bil-lion tax credit for nuclear powerplant decommissioning.

Although the fossil energy re-search and development budget isdown by 7%, environmentalistsblasted its inclusion of $325 millionfor coal research, including fundingfor three “failed programs of thepast”: the coal research R&D pro-gram, the clean coal technologiesprogram, and the power plant im-provement initiative, Pica says.

DOE’s core mission is nationalsecurity, Abraham says. ButWesleyWarren of NRDC’s Air& Energy staff faults the over-all budget for reducing fund-ing to some of the programsthat would have the greatestimpact on reducing that de-pendency—energy efficiency,which sustained an 8% cut—while actually increasing sub-sidies to “dirty” forms ofenergy. “Simply examining thenumbers paints an incom-plete picture of where theWhite House’s priorities lie.Polluting energy companieswill rake in more than $28 bil-lion in tax breaks over the next10 years,” Pica adds.

The watchdog organiza-tions note that the ultimatefate of H.R. 4, a bill proposedby President Bush last yearand passed by the house thatgives subsidies and tax breaksto the fossil energy compa-nies, is unclear. Although theBush budget banks on the$1.2 billion from drilling in theArctic National Wildlife Refugecalled for in H.R. 4, the budget

omits much of the $38 billion in taxbreaks and handouts to pollutersthat are in the bill, Pica says.

If H.R. 4 passes, “you’re going tosee an increase of the tax creditsand tax breaks that the oil, coal,gas, and nuclear power companiesare going to receive, as well as anincrease in the authorized levels forthe R&D programs that were cut,”Pica says. Even if the H.R. 4 isn’t re-suscitated, he points out that thereare major supporters of fossil fuelresearch on Capitol Hill, whichmeans that the fossil fuel fundingcould be reinstated as the budgetbill makes its way through Con-gress. —KELLYN S. BETTS

TheDOE’sfiscalyear2003budgetrequestincludesa35%increasefornuclearpowerresearchanddevelopment.Amajoragencygoalistoworkwiththeprivatesectortobuildadvancednuclearpowerplantsby2010.

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Polar sunrise provides clues to dynamic mercury cycle