Word: epa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Forty years after the Hooker Chemical Co. used the site for disposal, and four years after residents discovered the toxic effects from seepage of the waste, the EPA has determined that most of the 400 nearby homes are now safe for habitation. "The Love Canal area is ... as safe as other residential areas in industrial towns around the country," announced Dr. Clark Heath of the Department of Health and Human Services. Only those houses within a block and a half of the canal, many of which have already been razed, are still considered dangerous...
...latest Administration environmental proposal marks the opening of the battle on a new front: the government now wants to gut the Clean Water Act of 1972, which is currently up for renewal. In line with this wish, the EPA has announced it will press Congress for 14 alterations...
...from environmentalists was deafening. Companies that had already invested in alternative disposal methods also lodged protests. The abrupt change in standards, said Connecticut Congressman Toby Moffett, who chairs a House subcommittee on the environment, was "ill-conceived and a danger to public health." A congressional resolution to force the EPA to reconsider its decision quickly won support from both parties. Last week the agency reversed itself and reimposed the ban. "It was a mistake to suspend the rule," admitted Gary Dietrich, director of the agency's office of solid wastes. Added Agency Administrator Anne Gorsuch: "I believe the EPA...
...contaminating thousands of disposal sites. Critics of the ban, including the Chemical Manufacturers Association, had claimed that sorting out liquid from solid toxic wastes and then getting rid of them was prohibitively expensive. Incineration, for example, costs more than $100 per bbl., vs. $25 simply to bury the stuff. EPA officials admitted last week that even before the ban went into effect, they had decided to scuttle it as "unworkable." Edgy environmentalists think that may still happen, despite last week's retreat by the agency. Reason: the EPA filed a separate proposal last month to replace the ban with...
Opponents of the 25% proposal hope that the Administration, burned by the furor over the toxic-wastes ban, will move to rein in the combative EPA. Repeated samplings of public opinion, they argue, demonstrate that environmental protection is still a high priority nationwide. Indeed, pro-environment political-action committees are now working to promote candidates in more than 30 states. Some wary EPA watchers were encouraged by another step taken by the Administration last week. After resisting for a year, the White House authorized the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to require that all chemical containers carry a label describing...