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From: 	"BNA Highlights" <bhighlig@bna.com>@ENRON  
Sent:	Sunday, December 30, 2001 11:34 PM
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Subject:	Dec. 31 -- BNA, Inc. Daily Environment Report

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DAILY ENVIRONMENT REPORT
Highlights & Table of Contents
December 31, 2001
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ISSN 1521-9402

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HIGHLIGHTS
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NUCLEAR WASTE REVIEW BOARD TO ISSUE YUCCA MOUNTAIN
ASSESSMENT

The independent Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board plans
to release an assessment of the Energy Department's site
characterization process for Yucca Mountain before Energy
Secretary Abraham recommends whether to proceed with that
site as a nuclear waste repository. The assessment will come
in the form of a letter to Abraham commenting on the
technical and scientific validity of the department's site
characterization process, according to the board's executive
director. Abraham is widely expected in January to complete
the site recommendation process on the Yucca Mountain
project, a proposed permanent repository for high-level
nuclear waste. . . . Page A-2

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4b6r4_


EPA PROPOSES TO RELAX REGULATIONS FOR TWO LANDFILL PROJECTS
IN VIRGINIA

As part of a pilot project, EPA proposes to relax regulatory
requirements for two municipal solid waste landfills in
Virginia to demonstrate alternative landfill liners are
sufficiently protective and to assess the effects of
applying different amounts of liquids to landfills to
degrade solid waste. The landfills, owned by subsidiaries of
Waste Management Inc., are part of EPA's Project XL, a
national program that allows state and local governments,
businesses, and federal facilities to develop strategies for
achieving superior environmental performance in exchange for
regulatory flexibility. . . . Page A-1

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3p7x6_


EPA TARGETS REMAINING ANTHRAX IN FUMIGATION OPERATION ON
CAPITOL HILL

EPA again fumigates with chlorine dioxide gas the heating
and ventilation system of the anthrax-contaminated Hart
Senate Office Building. The third fumigation effort is
needed to rid the site of trace amounts of anthrax. . . .
Page A-2

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4d2r9_


BRIEFING SET ON EPA RISK ASSESSMENT FOR ORGANOPHOSPHATE
PESTICIDES

A final briefing on the methods EPA uses to develop its
preliminary assessment of the cumulative risks of
organophosphate pesticides is scheduled for Jan. 15. EPA
says it will hold the briefing to discuss how it estimated
exposure to the organophosphates. EPA also seeks public
comments on its preliminary assessment, which found
organophosphates may pose dietary risks to young children
and could present risks from residential exposures. . . .
Page A-3

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3z7e4_


COURT AFFIRMS NO COST ALLOCATION FOR MINIMAL RELEASE OF
CONTAMINANTS

Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act, a court may decline to
allocate response costs to a polluter whose release of
hazardous materials is "inconsequential" in comparison to
that of other polluters, according to the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Although the court finds
Rockwell International Corp. liable for the release of
contaminants into Michigan's Kalamazoo River, it says
Rockwell's release is miniscule when compared with those of
three paper manufacturers. . . . Page A-3

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3p3x8_


EPA CONSIDERS WHETHER TO GROUP TOGETHER TWO CLASSES OF
PESTICIDES

Public comments on whether certain members of two classes of
pesticides should be grouped together because they affect
the body in similar ways are being sought by EPA. The
agency's announcement refers to thiocarbamates, which are
used as herbicides, and dithiocarbamates, which are
primarily fungicides. Under a consent decree with the
Natural Resources Defense Council, EPA was to decide by
today whether the thiocarbamates and, separately, the
dithiocarbamates should be grouped into two distinct classes
of pesticides that cause effects through a common mechanism
of toxicity. . . . Page A-6

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3z2d3_


VIRGINIA POWER COMPANY TO PAY $600,000 TO OIL SPILL
LIABILITY TRUST FUND

Dominion Virginia Power Co. agrees to pay a $600,000 penalty
to settle alleged environmental violations at the company's
Possum Point Power Station, in Dumfries, Va., according to
EPA. The company, based in Richmond, Va., agrees to the
penalty to settle alleged past violations of oil-spill
prevention and emergency preparedness regulations at the
power plant.  EPA says the $600,000 penalty to be paid to
the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is one of the largest
civil penalties on record for such violations at a single
facility. . . . Page A-8

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4e3r3_


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EUROPEAN UNION
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AIR POLLUTION: The EU Council of Environment Ministers
agrees on a proposal calling for the introduction of
"sulfur-free" gasoline and diesel fuel starting in 2005 and
mandating its use by 2009. The council approves the
proposal, despite heavy lobbying by the European oil
refining industry against the 2009 deadline, which is one
year later than the deadline approved by the European
Parliament in November. . . . Page A-6

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4b2y6_

CLIMATE CHANGE: A minority of EU member states favors a
voluntary emissions trading scheme and those countries are
blocking a proposal to establish a mandatory plan. . . .
Page A-5

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3n5a7_

SOLID WASTE: The European Commission proposes new packaging
waste recovery and recycling targets. The new targets would
require 60 percent to 75 percent of all waste in the EU to
be recovered, of which 55 percent to 70 percent is to be
recycled by 2006. . . . Page A-7

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3m4e7_

TOXIC SUBSTANCES: The European Commission proposes to
tighten its law aimed at preventing or limiting the
environmental damage from major industrial accidents. . . .
Page A-4

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3v1b5_


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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NEWS

AIR POLLUTION
   EU Council of Ministers approves plan for sulfur-free
   gasoline, diesel by 2009 . . . Page A-6
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4b2y6_

BIOTERRORISM
   EPA targets remaining traces of anthrax in latest
   operation on Capitol Hill . . . Page A-2
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4d2r9_

CLIMATE CHANGE
   Minority of states continues to stymie mandatory EU
   emissions trading scheme . . . Page A-5
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3n5a7_

PESTICIDES
   Briefing scheduled on exposures in organophosphate risk
   assessment . . . Page A-3
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3z7e4_

   EPA seeks to group chemicals in thiocarbamate,
   dithiocarbamate classes . . . Page A-6
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3z2d3_

RADIOACTIVE WASTE
   Nuclear waste technical review board to issue Yucca
   Mountain assessment soon . . . Page A-2
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4b6r4_

SOLID WASTE
   EPA proposes to relax regulations for two bioreactor
   projects in Virginia . . . Page A-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3p7x6_

   European Commission advances recovery, recycling targets,
   prevention . . . Page A-7
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3m4e7_

SUPERFUND
   Sixth Circuit affirms no cost allocation where party's
   waste contribution minimal . . . Page A-3
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3p3x8_

TOXIC SUBSTANCES
   European Commission proposes changes to Seveso directive
   on industrial accidents . . . Page A-4
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3v1b5_

WATER POLLUTION
   Dominion Virginia Power agrees to pay EPA $600,000 in
   penalties . . . Page A-8
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4e3r3_


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CALENDAR
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CONGRESS
   Legislative calendar . . . Page C-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4h3r6_

PRESIDENT
   President's calendar . . . Page C-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4h3y5_


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REGULATORY AGENDA
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COMMENT DEADLINES
   Due dates for comments on pending rules . . . Page D-4
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3x2z5_

DEC. 31 FEDERAL REGISTER
   Entries from today's table of contents . . . Page D-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4b9v7_

DEC. 28 FEDERAL REGISTER
   Previous day's entries with page citations . . . Page D-2
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3x3b7_


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JOURNAL
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MEETINGS
   Calendar of meetings, courses, and seminars  . . . Page
   G-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4c2p5_


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TABLE OF CASES
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Kalamazoo River Study Group v. Rockwell International Corp.
(6th Cir.) . . . Page A-3
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b3p3x8_

U.S. v. Virginia Electric and Power Co. (E.D. Va.) . . .
Page A-8
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/den.nsf/id/a0a5b4e3r3_

   ___________________________________________________________
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