Comprehensive Area Surveys in New York State

The proposed By-law changes have been suggested over the last two years. They are basically housekeeping changes which correct the language, eliminate duplications, and clarify the dates for the receipt and acceptance of the ballots for nominees for the Board. The major revision proposed is in Article XV of the Technical Council which was necessitated by the new structure of the Technical Council approved by the Board of Directors in June 1970.     

The Radial Distribution of Sulfur Dioxide Source Strength and Concentration in Nashville

This progress report describes the National Air Pollution Technical Information Center currently under development in the Division of Air Pollution, Public Health Service. It briefly reviews the report "Science, Government, and Information" (Weinberg Report) and the White House delegation of responsibility to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for handling air pollution technical information.     

APM-3 Recommended Standard Methods for Continuing Air Monitoring for Gaseous Contaminants

The purpose of Manual APM-3 is to provide a guide which will help increase the uniformity between various surveys, and thereby increase the useability of the data by others.     

Sulfur Dioxide Fumigation of Soybeans: Effect on Yield

In order to determine the influence of SO₂ fumigation of soybean plants on yield, a three-year experiment was conducted on 485 plois of soybeans. Single fumigations of S0₂ were applied at 10 different stages of growth in 1968-69 and 7 stages of growth in 1970. A linear relationship was found to exist beiween the percent of leaf area destroyed and ihe percent crop loss with a significant regression coefficient of b = —0.659, or iwo-thirds of one percent crop loss for each percent of area destroyed. No definite significant stage-of-growth effect was found and no treatment effects were significant for the early stages of growth from the 3-leaf to the 15-leaf stage, nor was there any loss in yield without visible leaf injury.     

An Overview of EPA’s Quality Assurance Program

Quality Assurance has been defined in many different ways to express concern for the “quality” of the output of some operation or function. For the purpose of this presentation, quality assurance is defined as the sum of those activities within an environmental monitoring or measurement program which are primarily for the purpose of documenting the precision, accuracy, representativeness, and completeness of the data that are produced. Further, we view quality assurance as a management tool which encompasses both administrative and technical functions which generally fall into three categories: (1) Prevention which includes those activities carried out prior to the proper placement and operation of the measurement system; (2) Evaluation which includes the continuous overview and checks on the performance of the systems and operators; and (3) Correction which includes changes made to improve or stabilize the capability and performance of the system.     

The Effect of Building Fan Operation on Indoor-Outdoor Dust Relationships

As part of an energy conservation program recently implemented by the Bell System, fans in many telephone equipment buildings now operate only when necessary to bring the temperature within allowable limits, rather than continuously. In the study reported here the effects of fan operation on indoor-outdoor dust relationships were monitored at 2 representative telephone offices. Automatic dichotomous samplers were used to collect fine and coarse aerosol particles inside telephone equipment buildings at Wichita, KS and Lubbock, TX. At both sites, outdoor samples (roof top) were collected at the same time as the indoor samples. During the tests the building fans were repetitively cycled between 2-week intervals of continuous fan operation and 2-week intervals of intermittent fan operation. The indoor dust concentrations typically increased when the fans were off. The results indicate that this increase was due to loss of constant filtration, but not due to loss of building pressurlzation (i.e., filtration of the recirculated air is largely responsible for the lower dust levels when the fans are running continuously). An expression is derived for the relative dust increase when the building fans are switched off. Among other factors, the relative increase is directly proportional to the efficiency of the building filters and to the rate at which air is recirculated through them. The present findings can be extended to similar buildings.     

R&D Activities,Operating Experience Discussed at Fabric Alternatives Forum

ABSTRACT

Previously reported volatile organic compounds (VOC) radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements for 1992 summertime Atlanta, GA, have been compared with chromatographic data and emissions inventory predictions. The chromatographic approach that was used provided a more comprehensive VOC characterization than typically achieved, and the emissions inventory was research-grade level (date-, site-, and time-specific). The comparisons are in general agreement that biogenic emissions contribute only modestly (<10%) to the VOC content of the particular ambient samples that were collected and measured. The choices of sampling site (near city-center) and times (early morning and late evening) are major influences on the results, which consequently should not be regarded as representing the average VOC biogenic impact for the Atlanta area.     

Comparison of Predicted and Measured Concentrations for 58 Alternative models of Plume Transport in Complex Terrain

The purpose of this study was to evaluate alternative prediction models for the SO₂ concentrations produced in the vicinity of the Ohio Edison Company Sammis Power Plant. The plant is situated in the northeastern portion of the Ohio River Valley in complex terrain. Comparisons of the 16 highest predicted and measured short-term SO₂ concentrations were conducted for a one year period for 58 alternative models. Several models were found to predict reasonably accurately the 16 highest measured 24-hour SO₂ concentrations. Each of these models requires an upward adjustment in the plume centerline location as the plume is transported downwind in rising terrain. These same models overpredict by substantial margins the 16 highest measured 3-hour SO₂ concentrations. Improvements in emissions inventory data and improvements in the prediction models used are believed necessary to increase prediction accuracy further.     

Development of Federal Air Standards to Reduce Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from New Industrial Boilers

Federal new source performance standards to control air emissions of sulfur dioxide from new industrial boilers were proposed by EPA on June 19, 1986. These standards would require boiler owners to reduce SO₂ emissions by 90 percent and meet an emission limit of 1.2 lb/MM Btu of heat input for coal-fired boilers and 0.8 lb/MM Btu for oil-fired boilers. In developing these standards, several regulatory options were considered, from standards that could be met by firing low sulfur fuels to standards that would necessitate flue gas treatment. The environmental, economic, and cost impacts of each option were analyzed. National impacts were estimated by a computer model that projects the population of new boilers over the 5-year period following proposal, predicts the compliance strategy that will be used to comply with the particular option (always assuming that the lowest cost method of compliance will be selected), and estimates the resulting emission reductions and costs. Impacts on specific industries and on model boilers were also analyzed. This paper focuses on these analyses and their results. The Agency's conclusions from these analyses, which led to the decision to establish percent reduction standards, are provided, and the proposed SO₂ standards are summarized. The proposed standards also include an emission limit for particulate matter from oil-fired boilers (0.1 lb/MM Btu). However, this article focuses only on the SO₂ standards.