Development of Cleanup Standards at Superfund Sites: An Evaluation of Consistency

The Washington Department of Ecology (WDOE) recently developed a regulatory program for determining cleanup standards at hazardous waste sites. One of WDOE's first tasks in the development of a cleanup standards program was to evaluate how standards have been developed and implemented under Superfund.

The evaluation of cleanup standards revealed: (1) a great deal of variation among sites, both in the magnitude of the standards set for some contaminants and the basis on which they were set, and (2) that there is no consistent decision-making approach for determining how standards should be set. This lack of consistency and guidance has the potential to result in overly stringent or underprotective cleanup requirements and inefficient standard development.

Washington State has adopted an approach that allows for implementing uniform numerical cleanup standards at relatively straightforward sites and provides a process for establishing site-specific cleanup levels at more complex sites. This approach is expected to facilitate development of standards that offer appropriate human health and ecological protection while minimizing private and public sector site management and cleanup costs.     

Some Effects of Atmospheric Fluoride on Plant Metabolism

Leaves of Tendergreen bean plants exposed to atmospheric fluoride concentrations in the range 1.7 to 7.6 μg/m³ showed increased levels of enolase and catalase activity and decreased levels of pyruvate and α-ketoglutarate. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity and oxalacetate were not affected. The leaves of Milo maize plants exposed to 5.0 μg F/m³ showed increased levels of enolase and pyruvate kinase activity and a decreased level of pyruvate. Oxalacetate and α-ketoglutarate levels were not affected. Catalase activity was increased, then decreased by IIF fumigation. The changes induced by HF were greatest six to 10 days after the start of fumigation and disappeared or decreased in magnitude during the post-fumigation period.     

acid rain and environmental policy

Editor’s note: This paper by Dr. Jacobson was presented at the 74th annual meeting of the Air Pollution Control Association as part of a panel discussion entitled “Acid Rain–1981: An International Issue.” The session was held on June 22, 1981, and was arranged by APCA’s TT-6 Energy-Environmental Interactions Committee.     

Correlations in the chemical composition of rural background atmospheric aerosol in the UK determined in real time using time-of-flight mass spectrometry

An aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS) was used to determine, in real time, the size and chemical composition of individual particles in the atmosphere at the remote inland site of Eskdalemuir, Scotland. A total of 51,980 particles, in the size range 0.3-7.4 microm, were detected between the 25th and 30th June 2001. Rapid changes in the number density, size and chemical composition of the atmospheric aerosol were observed. These changes are attributed to two distinct types of air mass; a polluted air mass that had passed over the British mainland before reaching Eskdalemuir, interposed between two cleaner air masses that had arrived directly from the sea. Such changes in the background aerosol could clearly be very important to studies of urban aerosols and attempts at source apportionment. The results of an objective method of data analysis are presented. Correlations were sought between the occurrence of: lithium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, beryllium, strontium, barium, ammonium, amines, nitrate, nitrite, boron, mercury, sulfate, phosphate, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and carbon (both elemental and organic hydrocarbon) in both fine (d < 2.5 microm) and coarse (d > 2.5 microm) particle fractions. Several previously unreported correlations were observed, for instance between the elements lithium, beryllium and boron. The results suggest that about 2 in 3 of all fine particles (by number rather than by mass), and 1 in 2 of all coarse particles containing carbon, consisted of elemental carbon rather than organic hydrocarbon (although a bias in the sensitivity of the ATOFMS could have affected these numbers). The ratio of the number of coarse particles containing nitrate anions to the number of particles containing chloride anions exceeded unity when the air mass had travelled over the British mainland. The analysis also illustrates that an air mass of marine origin that had travelled slowly over agricultural land can accumulate amines and ammonium.     

Assessing of Environmental Quality in Six Areas in India,Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

Environmental quality for environmental health has been examined visually by describing general conditions and drinking water supply, sanitation and solid waste treatment conditions and practices in six South-East Asian villages with a dense population. The environmental review was supplemented by discussions with local people and political and administrative decision makers. Some drinking water analyses were done in order to show the water quality to the local people. The quality of the general conditions and the conditions and practices of drinking water supply, excreta disposal and solid waste treatment practices have been graded with the grading system presented below. The grading could be done in 1 or 2 days in each area by two persons, of which one was an environmental scientist and the other a social scientist, who also knew the local culture and worked as a translator.     

Quality assured measurements of animal building emissions: gas concentrations

Comprehensive field studies were initiated in 2002 to measure emissions of ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC), particulate matter <10 microm in diameter, and total suspended particulate from swine and poultry production buildings in the United States. This paper focuses on the quasicontinuous gas concentration measurement at multiple locations among paired barns in seven states. Documented principles, used in air pollution monitoring at industrial sources, were applied in developing quality assurance (QA) project plans for these studies. Air was sampled from multiple locations with each gas analyzed with one high quality commercial gas analyzer that was located in an environmentally controlled on-farm instrument shelter. A nominal 4 L/min gas sampling system was designed and constructed with Teflon wetted surfaces, bypass pumping, and sample line flow and pressure sensors. Three-way solenoids were used to automatically switch between multiple gas sampling lines with > or =10 min sampling intervals. Inside and outside gas sampling probes were between 10 and 115 m away from the analyzers. Analyzers used chemiluminescence, fluorescence, photoacoustic infrared, and photoionization detectors for NH3, H2S, CO2, CH4, and NMHC, respectively. Data were collected using personal computer-based data acquisition hardware and software. This paper discusses the methodology of gas concentration measurements and the unique challenges that livestock barns pose for achieving desired accuracy and precision, data representativeness, comparability and completeness, and instrument calibration and maintenance.     

Discordance between age- and size-based criteria of child passenger restraint appropriateness

Objectives: In this study, we sought to accomplish the following objectives: to (1) calculate the percentage of children considered appropriately restrained across 8 criteria of increasing restrictiveness; (2) examine agreement between age- and size-based appropriateness criteria; (3) assess for changes in the percentage of children considered appropriately restrained by the 8 criteria between 2011 (shortly after updates to U.S. guidelines) and 2015.

Methods: Data from 2 cross-sectional surveys of 928 parents of children younger than 12 years old (n = 591 in 2011, n = 337 in 2015) were analyzed in 2017. Child age, weight, and height were measured at an emergency department visit and used to determine whether the parent-reported child passenger restraint was considered appropriate according to 8 criteria. Age-based criteria were derived from Michigan law and U.S. guidelines. Weight, height, and size-based criteria were derived from typical restraints available in the United States in 2007 and 2011. The percentage appropriate restraint use was calculated for each criterion. The kappa statistic was used to measure agreement between criteria. Change in appropriateness from 2011 to 2015 was assessed with chi-square statistics.

Results: Percentage appropriate restraint use varied from a low of 19% for higher weight limits in 2011 to a high of 91% for Michigan law in 2015. Agreement between criteria was slight to moderate. The lowest kappa was for Michigan law and higher weight limits in 2011 (κ = 0.06) and highest for U.S. guidelines and lower weight limits in 2011 (κ = 0.60). Percentage appropriate restraint use was higher in 2015 than 2011 for the following criteria: U.S. guidelines (74 vs. 58%, P < .001), lower weight (57 vs. 47%, P = .005), higher weight (25 vs. 19%, P = .03), greater height (39 vs. 26%, P < .001), and greater size (42 vs. 30%, P = .001).

Conclusions: The percentage of children considered to be using an appropriate restraint varied substantially across criteria. Aligning the definition of appropriate restraint use with current U.S. guidelines would increase consistency in reporting results from studies of child passenger safety in the United States. Potential explanations for the increased percentage of children considered appropriately restrained between 2011 and 2015 include adoption of the updated U.S. guidelines and the use of child passenger restraints with higher weight and height limits.     

Factors influencing property selection for conservation revolving funds

Finding sustainable ways to increase the amount of private land protected for biodiversity is challenging for many conservation organizations. In some countries, organizations use revolving‐fund programs, whereby land is purchased and then sold to conservation‐minded owners under condition they enter into a conservation covenant or easement. The sale proceeds are used to purchase, protect, and sell additional properties, incrementally increasing the amount of protected private land. Because the effectiveness of this approach relies on selecting appropriate properties, we explored factors currently considered by practitioners and how these are integrated into decision making. We conducted exploratory, semistructured interviews with managers from each of the 5 major revolving funds in Australia. Responses indicated although conservation factors are important, financial and social factors are also highly influential. A major determinant was whether the property could be resold within a reasonable period at a price that replenishes the fund. To facilitate resale, often selected properties include the potential for the construction of a dwelling. Practitioners face with clear trade‐offs between conservation, financial, amenity, and other factors in selecting properties and 3 main challenges: recovering the costs of acquisition, protection, and resale; reselling the property; and meeting conservation goals. Our findings suggest the complexity of these decisions may constrain revolving‐fund effectiveness. Drawing from participant responses, we identified potential strategies to mitigate these risks, such as providing adequate recreational space without jeopardizing ecological assets. We suggest managers could benefit from a shared‐learning and adaptive approach to property selection given the commonalities between programs. Understanding how practitioners deal with complex decisions in the implementation of revolving funds helps identify future research to improve the performance of this conservation tool.     

Public Attitudes and Knowledge about Ecosystem Management on Department of Defense Land in Florida

New ecosystem management policies at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, emphasize the need for public education and involvement in the changing focus of natural resource practices. To collect baseline information for ecosystem management, we measured and compared the knowledge, attitudes, and interests of critical Eglin audiences: recreational users and neighboring citizens. Factor analysis of surveys of 700 permitted recreational users and 1000 neighboring citizens revealed four content areas for measuring knowledge and attitudes: (1) native and endangered species, (2) fire ecology, (3) forest resources, and (4) ecosystem management. Overall, both audiences lacked basic ecological knowledge and held neutral to slightly positive attitudes toward the key content areas. Recreational users were significantly more knowledgeable than general citizens about native and endangered species, fire ecology, and forests. However, citizens held significantly more positive attitudes toward native and endangered species conservation and ecosystem management concepts. Eglin's consumptive recreationists (hunters and anglers) held the most negative views. Sociodemographic information from the surveys suggest that the recreational users and neighboring citizens are a stable, educable population that would respond positively to programs aimed at improving knowledge of and attitudes toward ecosystem management goals at Eglin.