Wisconsin's "Bad by Alan B
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&EPA JOURNAL United States A Magazine on National and Global Environmental Perspectives Environmental Protection Agency Office of Communications. November/December 1991 • Volume 17. Number 5 22K-1005 Education. and Public Affairs William K. Reilly Administrator From the Editor Lew Crampton Associate Administrator Charles Osolin erhaps we should forgive the bureaucrats for the phrase, Director of Publications nonpoint-source pollution. Consider a shopping mall parking lot in the dead of winter. Salt has done its work; the macadam is free of John Heritage Psnow. But the snowmelt has carried the salt, crankcase oil, and Editor whatever else it finds to the gutter, and from there to the nearest stream. Karen Flagstad If you're not into shopping malls, consider a several-hundred-acre farm Associate Editor enjoying a soaking rain: dairy cows, fields of corn protected by pesticides, Ruth Barker a stream meandering through. You get the idea. If you fertilized your lawn Assistant Editor last spring, you're probably a nonpoint-source (NPS) polluter. Jack Lewis There's the rub. Nonpoint sources are so diffuse we find it difficult to Assistant Editor wrap our arms around the problem. I'm reminded of the early days of the Nancy Starnes magazine, when we sent photographers out to capture pollution on film. Assistant Editor One came back with a beautiful shot of the New York City skyline. Douglass Lea "That's carbon monoxide over Manhattan," he said. Who could say he Contributing Editor was wrong? Marilyn Rogers According to the most recent review the states made of their lakes, 56 Circulation Manager percent of assessed lake acres failed to fully support the uses designated for them-uses such as drinking water supply, contact recreati0n, and Editorial Assistance Leighton Price fisheries. The same can be said for 37 percent of river miles and 32 percent of estuarine square miles. By all accounts, NPS Design Credits pollution was the leading cause. Ron Farrah The diffuseness of the sources of runoff, for that is what we're talking James R. Ingram about, compounds the difficulty of controlling it. We can't single out, as Robert Flanagan we can with point sources, the owner of a factory outfall and slap him with a fine for violating his National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Front Cover: System permit. NPS pollution has to be tackled through the Rainstorm-runoff in the management of land use, a sea of troubles in itself. making. In this issue of the Journal, we attempt to outline the dimensions of Photo by David Falconer of Folio, Inc. NPS water pollution and introduce you to the controversy over the problem. EPA JOURNAL is printed on recycled paper. EPA JOURNAL Subscriptions Tho annual rate for subscribers in the U.S. for EPA Journal is $10. The charge to subscribers in foreign countries is $12.50 a year. The price of a single copy of EPA Journal is $3.50 in this country and $4.311 ii sent to a foreign country. Prices include mail costs. Subscriptions to EPA Journal as well as to other federal government magnzines are handled only by the U.S. Government Printing Office. To subscribe to EPA journal, send a check or money order payable to the Superintendent of Documents. The requests should be mailed to: Superintendent of Documents, GPO. Washington, DC 20402. Contents The Problem The Issues and the Finding Solutions Departments Introducing NPS Policy My Experience Newsline- Water Pollution View from EPA The more the residue, News and Comment We can't write permits Mostly, it will be local the less the pollution on EPA on parking lots. building and land use of surface water. For the Classroom by Robert Griffin, Jr. decisions. by William Richards A Lesson Plan on NPS Case Studies by William K. Reilly Some Other Options Pollution Agricultural View from USDA by Jack Lewis Farms only five miles Titans in 0 Chemicals: The Karst Nutrient Trading-in Conservation Case apart may need the Wings different solutions. Gifford Pinchot by John Weiss The Phosphorus Club by Jack Lewis by James R. Moseley Agricultural recommended the View from OMB Dillon Bubble. Featuring EPA 11 Sediment: The Case of Enlisting Space in the Otter Creek Must farmers prevent by Bruce Zander pollution to escape Cause by David Wann Wisconsin's "Bad by Alan B. Nichols and jack Wilbur regulation? 5 Actors" Program by Susan Offutt The bad actors lost the On the Move Urban Runoff: The New Names in Key rn Example of Barnstable Questions the Reader manure wars. by Ed Odgers Agency Posts by David Still II Might Ask An Interview with Logging: The Robert H. Wayland 1II 15 Washington State Situation by Steven Ralph Abandoned Mines: Taking Action 16 Report from West A Forum 3 What Will It Take ... ? Dos and Don'ts Virginia around the Home by Lyle Bennett by Robert Goo Construction: The 18 Whitemarsh Case by Karl Blankenship EPA is charged by Congress to protect the nation's land, air, and water systems. Under a mandate of national environmental laws. the Agency strives to formulate and implement actions which lead to a compatible balance between human activities and the ability of natural systems to support and nurture life. EPA JOURNAL is published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Administrator of EPA has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the puhli r. business required by law of this agency. Use of funrls for printing this periodical has been approved by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Views expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect EPA policy. No permission necessary to reproduce contents except copyrighted photos and other materials. Contributions and inquiries should be addressed to the Editor, EPA JOURNAL (A-107), Waterside Mall, 4tl1 M Street, SW., Washington, D.C. 20460 NEWSLIN GEO Metro Communities that Violate Wins 1992 Air Standards Are Named Mileage Derby and New Jersey; the Connecticut, and Rhode EPA has listed 98 areas of Fuel economy estimates for Chicago-Gary-Lake County Island abstained .... 'Cars the country that violate the 1992 model-year vehicles areas of Illinois and Indiana; air quality standard for are responsible for over half rank the 1,875-pound GEO and Milwaukee-Racine in ozone, 42 that exceed the the emissions which create Metro XFi as the most Wisconsin . The EPA carbon monoxide standard, ozone,' Fran Du Melle, of the efficient car at 53 71 the particulate standard, earlier this year estimated American Lung Association, miles-per-gallon (mpg) city, that while the overall air and 12 the standard for lead. said in a statement. 'We are and 59 mpg highway. It is quality improved in the EPA will update the list encouraged to see the states the second year in a row for 1S80s, more than 84 million every year to track progress act without capitulating to this subcompact to come in people continued to live in in meeting the standards. the auto industry's tired first. The Lamborghini DB areas where the air does not Administrator Reilly said: exaggerations about cost and 132/Diablo again received the meet at least one of the "New clean air programs will technical feasibility.' lowest fuel economy rating of federal standards ...." begin operating in designated Automobile industry 9 mpg city and 14 mpg places over the next couple The Washington Post officials, however, called the highway. of years. The effect of these commented:" . .. Four California restrictions a Also included in EPA's list measures, combined with outlying suburban counties, costly and excessive step. of the top 10 high-mileage other recent actions such as some considered rural only a Some auto dealers oppose cars were various models of reformulated gasoline, will decade ago, are now so having to offer 'California the Honda Civic, Suzuki mean healthier air for more polluted by commuter traffic cars,' because they would be Swift, and other GEO Metro Americans to breathe." that the Environmental required to stock two types of models. Their fue l economy vehicles in a market that The Washington Times Protection Agency yesterday estimates ranged from 48 reported: " .. While states added them to the official includes more than one state mpg city/55 mpg highway to . The California rules have considerable leeway on Washington smog zone .. 39 mpg city/43 mpg highway. phase out sales of cars how to clean up the air, The clean-air law lets states Light trucks have become a meeting less-restrictive preferred measures are likely require that new cars major portion of the national standards through to be requiring registered meet California light-duty fl eet-30 percent cleaner-burning gasoline, tailpipe standards, which are 1999, and phases in the sale of the fleet now, as opposed tighter tailpipe emission tighter than federal mandates. of cars with little or no to 15 percent in 1980. emissions. By 2003, 10 standards. the use of Yesterday, a regional Consequently, EPA tabulated percent of new cars must alternative motor fuels for commission representing separate top 10 and bottom emit no pollution; they fleets, tougher vehicle states from Virginia to Maine 10 lists for them. The Suzuki probably would be powered inspections, required promised to ask legislatures Samurai 2WD received the employer-sponsored to adopt the California by batteries. All clean cars highest fuel economy rating would carry a 100,000-mile rideshare programs and standards. Representatives of 28 mpg city/29 mpg warranty on emission-related controls on emissions from from nine states, including highway. The lowest rating of parts, including the engine, such businesses as bakeries, Virginia and Maryland, voted any vehicle in the 1992 Gas higher than current dry cleaners, and breweries.