GOVERNMENT

NIH celebrates 20th anniversary of minority research support programs A poster session of research by minority stu­dents was part of the National Institutes of Health's commemoration last month of the 20th anniversary of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences' programs that sup­port research and research training designed to increase the number of minority biomedical scientists. The posters presented work carried out by Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) and Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) students doing summer re­search at NIH and other institutions near Washington, D.C., and research presentations by outstanding graduates of the programs. In the 20 years since its inception, about 2700 un­dergraduates at schools with substantial mi­nority enrollments have taken part in research projects with support from the MARC pro­gram. In addition, some 16,500 minority stu­dents have participated in the MBRS program, which awards research grants to faculty at mi­nority institutions.

Industry praises EPA's toxic waste redefinition The chemical industry has given some hearty support to the Environmental Protection Agency's effort to remold its definition of a hazardous waste. The agency's proposal to use a concentra­tion-based standard would save chem­ical companies millions of dollars in waste treatment costs.

The Hazardous Waste Identification Rule, proposed in May, is the response to a federal appeals court decision late this past year that found part of the agency's regulations under the Resource Conserva­tion & Recovery Act invalid (C&EN, Dec. 16, 1991, page 4). Specifically, the court said regulations defining wastes that are mixed with or derived from hazardous waste had been promulgated without proper public comment.

To replace the stricken rules, EPA has made two proposals. One would define hazardous waste on the basis of the con­centration of a listed waste in the stream—below a standard concentration, a waste would be defined as nonhazard-ous. This concentration-based exemption criteria (CBEC) would relieve many com­panies from expensive treatment of wastes with very low levels of toxic ma­terial. EPA estimates companies would save up to $270 million annually from what is currently being spent. The sec­

ond proposal would expand the use of toxic characteristics to increase the amount of waste regulated as hazardous.

CBEC has the full support of the chemical industry. 'This means that low-risk wastes will be redirected to nonhazardous waste treatment of dis­posal facilities, where they belong," says Morton L. Mullins, vice president for regulatory affairs for the Chemical Man­ufacturers Association. "This doesn't mean these wastes will escape the sys­tem, it simply means they will be treated in a more appropriate fashion."

The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association concurs. In comments to EPA from SOCMA gov­ernment relations manager Sherry L. Edwards, the association says CBEC "represents a balanced approach of giving generators flexibility in handling waste while still protecting human health and the environment." SOCMA thinks an improved risk-based approach to deciding what will be regulated as hazardous would be particularly helpful to the smaller chemical companies it rep­resents.

Another aspect of the CBEC proposal the industry likes is contingency man­agement. This concept recognizes that the way a hazardous waste is managed can affect its potential threat to health or the environment. So a well-managed waste disposed of carefully might be able to have a higher concentration of toxic chemicals than one not so well

managed and still be exempt under the CBEC rule.

EPA's proposal would help chemical companies handle wastes, both CMA and SOCMA agree. But they believe the idea should be expanded. EPA has suggested that the idea apply only to landfilled waste. But industry repre­sentatives say expansion of the idea to include impoundments, waste piles, tanks, and underground injection wells would be the most effective way to substantially reduce the amount of reg­ulated waste.

On the other hand, EPA's expanded characteristic option is not getting much industry support. This proposal would bring large volumes of new waste into the hazardous waste universe by mak­ing more substances hazardous if they are corrosive, ignitable, reactive, or toxic. EPA says this would simplify hazardous waste identification. The chemical indus­try says it would involve a major change in the way hazardous wastes are classi­fied and handled, with unknown com­pliance and legal problems.

Mullins notes that for a decade, com­panies have been managing nonhazard­ous wastes as though they posed serious hazards, even though everyone knew their risks were extremely low. "It took a federal appeals court to overturn the current system," Mullins says. "But EPA has developed a new program that, with some changes, makes good sense."

David Hanson

20 AUGUST 17,1992 C&EN