1. SPECTRUM.
- Author
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K. B.
- Subjects
- *
ENVIRONMENTAL policy , *METHYL isocyanate , *ACID rain , *TIDAL power - Abstract
This section presents news briefs relating to environmental policy as of January 1985. On December 14, 1984, after being informed at field hearings in West Virginia that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not consider the chemical methyl isocyanate to be a hazardous air pollutant, Congressman Henry Waxman (D.-Calif.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, announced he will introduce legislation to force EPA to regulate the compound. Meanwhile, three significant actions related to acid rain occurred in 1984. On November 8, EPA proposed new restrictions on the use of tall smokestacks to disperse pollution in order to avoid local pollution reduction requirements. Sulfur dioxide from these stacks has been identified as a source of acid precipitation in areas distant from its origin. The rules require industries to reduce emissions by using scrubbers or by burning low-sulfur coal. Finally, the first tidal power generating station in North America opened in 1984 at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. The plant, which can generate about 20 megawatts of electricity, is a pilot project designed to evaluate the operational characteristics and potential of the turbines for large-scale generation of tidal power in the Bay of Fundy, which has the world's highest tides.
- Published
- 1985
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