EPA NOMINEES SNARLED IN SENATE
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12 C&EN / JUNE A. 2001 HTTP://PUBS.AC5.ORG/CEN NEWS OF THE WEEK PANDEMIC [GOVERNMEN T I House review. So until the stan- At current rates of | ™ ^ J A BL • ^ % A 4 I A | ••• ^ ^ dard s are issued, Reid is using a infection and mortality, [ ^ | A \ 1^1 ^ J 1^111^1 EL EZZi) legislativ e maneuver known as a a teenage boy in ^ Α Ι Α P% I ^" ••% ι^ι ^% • " A | A w ^W mÊ "hold " to prevent a Senate vote Botswana has about a S N A R L E D I N S F N A T F t o confirm Bush's EPA nominees. 90% chance of dying of WI^^^I%^^1^ ii^ W^I^J-^I •— Tw o EPA nominees currently A,DS ^ So r U M th . Afri ?;, Lawmaker delays confirmations until ΓτΤ 8 ** m ** b ? d: ? e P hen over 65%. [Nature, 411, · ι ι · ι L . Johnson, selected to become 545 (2001)]. See also Y l l C C a M o u n t a i n Standards are iSSUed assistant administrator for pre page 25. vention , pesticides, and toxic sub- A NEVADA SENATOR is HOLD- I EPA, under the Clinton Ad- stances, andJeffrey RHolmstead, ing up confirmation of ministration, sent draft standards Bush's pick for assistant adminis- President George W. for Yucca Mountain to the White I trator for air and radiation. Bush's nominees for upper man- House Office of However, Reid agement positions at EPA until Management & agreed not to delay the agency issues radiation stan- Budget just be- the vote on Bush's dards for nuclear waste to be fore President nominee for the stored at Yucca Mountain. Bush was inau- number two EPA The proposed Yucca Moun- gurated. They are undergoing re- I slot. On May 24, the Senate con- tain repository, located about 90 view and possible revision before firmed Linda J. Fisher, formerly miles outside of Las "Vegas, would they are issued. vice president of governmental hold some 70,000 metric tons of Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), affairs for Monsanto, as EPA dep- high-level nuclear waste. EPA is a foe of the Yucca Mountain uty administrator. TELLING to set radiation release standards repository, says he is concerned Reid also has placed a hold on SECRETS Deep for the site, and the Nuclear Reg- that NRC and the Energy De- the nomination of James L. Con- channels descending ulatory Commission (NRC) is to partment "are attempting to naughton to the President's a martian crater wall determine whether YuccaMoun- weaken the provisions of the EPA Council on Environmental Qual- suggest the presence tain will meet those benchmarks. I standards" during the White I ity-CHERYL H0GUE of water. SPACE EXPLORATION I work on integrating them should ΛΓΛΙ IDIKir^ klADC ΛΠΙΙ "be started immediately" WELUUIXIINW IMAIAW OUIL- ThepossibiUtythatthemartian m^*%0±*w*+ *\ * I ^ m A P^^PI I samples will contain unequivocal ROCKS ON EARTH :: dence : {Me 2 s :7 Km ^' the report says, but design of the Seven-year lead time for facility to q^tine facility and protocols r - J t / for releasmg samples to research- Safely handle returned material ers must start from the premise that life might exist. Research on W ORK ON A QUARANTINE I tamination from... hypothetical sterilization techniques using heat facility must begin soon organisms, and that protects the and gamma radiation should be- if it is to be ready for a samples from contamination by gin now to determine their efficacy spacecraft returning to Earth terrestrial organisms and chemi- and their effects on organic com- with samples of martian soil cal components." pounds in rocky matrices. I and rocks—now projected for as Accomplishing this requires The amount of research to be early as 2014—accor- that a quarantine facility combine conducted in the quarantine facil- ding to a report by the sometimes conflicting features ity itself should be fairly limited, the National Research of biological containment and according to NRC. Nevertheless, Council. clean-room conditions. Biological the amount of time required to NRC's Committee containment facilities are held at plan, build, and staff an adequate on Planetary & Lunar lower than atmospheric pressure quarantine facility "is surprisingly Exploration notes that sotliatanyleakageofairisintothe long: seven years," and NRC says samples brought back facility; by contrast, clean-room its most important recommen- from Mars "must be facilities are held at higher près- dation is that planning and con- collected and handled sure to ensure that leaks flow out structionofsuch a facility should in a way that will pro- of the facility The NRC report be begun at least that far in tect the terrestrial en- says that a facility combining the advance of the anticipated return vironment from con- I two has never been built and that I of Mars samples.—RUDY BAUM
Transcript of EPA NOMINEES SNARLED IN SENATE
1 2 C & E N / J U N E A. 2 0 0 1 H T T P : / / P U B S . A C 5 . O R G / C E N
NEWS OF THE WEEK
PANDEMIC [ G O V E R N M E N T I House review. So until the stan-At current rates of |™ ̂ J A BL • ̂ % A 4 I A | • • • ̂ ^ dards are issued, Reid is using a infection and mortality, [ ^ | A \ 1^1 ^ J 1 ^ 1 1 1 ^ 1 EL EZZi) legislative maneuver known as a a teenage boy in ^ Α Ι Α P% I ^ " ••% ι ^ ι ^% • " A | A w^WmÊ "hold" to prevent a Senate vote Botswana has about a S N A R L E D I N S F N A T F to confirm Bush's EPA nominees. 90% chance of dying of W I ^ ^ ^ I % ^ ^ 1 ^ i i ^ W ^ I ^ J - ^ I •— Two EPA nominees currently A,DS^SorU
Mth.Afri?;, Lawmaker delays confirmations until ΓτΤ8** m ** b ? d : ? ePh e n
over 65%. [Nature, 411, · ι ι · ι L. Johnson, selected to become 545 (2001)]. See also Y l l C C a M o u n t a i n S t a n d a r d s a r e i S S U e d assistant administrator for pre page 25. vention, pesticides, and toxic sub-
ANEVADA SENATOR is HOLD- I EPA, under the Clinton Ad- stances, andJeffrey RHolmstead, ing up confirmation of ministration, sent draft standards Bush's pick for assistant adminis-President George W. for Yucca Mountain to the White I trator for air and radiation.
Bush's nominees for upper man- House Office of However, Reid agement positions at EPA until Management & agreed not to delay the agency issues radiation stan- Budget just be- the vote on Bush's dards for nuclear waste to be fore President nominee for the stored at Yucca Mountain. Bush was inau- number two EPA
The proposed Yucca Moun- gurated. They are undergoing re- I slot. On May 24, the Senate contain repository, located about 90 view and possible revision before firmed Linda J. Fisher, formerly miles outside of Las "Vegas, would they are issued. vice president of governmental hold some 70,000 metric tons of Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), affairs for Monsanto, as EPA dep-high-level nuclear waste. EPA is a foe of the Yucca Mountain uty administrator.
TELLING to set radiation release standards repository, says he is concerned Reid also has placed a hold on SECRETS Deep for the site, and the Nuclear Reg- that NRC and the Energy De- the nomination of James L. Con-channels descending ulatory Commission (NRC) is to par tment "are at tempting to naughton to the President's a martian crater wall determine whether YuccaMoun- weaken the provisions of the EPA Council on Environmental Qual-suggest the presence tain will meet those benchmarks. I standards" during the Whi t e I ity-CHERYL H0GUE of water.
S P A C E E X P L O R A T I O N I work on integrating them should ΛΓΛΙ IDIKir^ klADC ΛΠΙΙ "be started immediately" WELUUIXIINW IMAIAW OUIL- ThepossibiUtythatthemartian m^*%0±*w*+ * \ * I ^m A P^^PI I samples will contain unequivocal
ROCKS ON EARTH ::dence:{Me2s:7Km^' the report says, but design of the
Seven-year lead t ime for facility to q^tine facility and protocols r - J t / for releasmg samples to research-
S a f e l y h a n d l e r e t u r n e d m a t e r i a l ers must start from the premise
that life might exist. Research on
WORK ON A QUARANTINE I tamination from... hypothetical sterilization techniques using heat facility must begin soon organisms, and that protects the and gamma radiation should be-if it is to be ready for a samples from contamination by gin now to determine their efficacy
spacecraft returning to Earth terrestrial organisms and chemi- and their effects on organic com-with samples of mart ian soil cal components." pounds in rocky matrices.
I and rocks—now projected for as Accomplishing this requires The amount of research to be early as 2014—accor- that a quarantine facility combine conducted in the quarantine facil-ding to a report by the sometimes conflicting features ity itself should be fairly limited, the National Research of biological containment and according to NRC. Nevertheless, Council. clean-room conditions. Biological the amount of time required to
NRC's Committee containment facilities are held at plan, build, and staff an adequate on Planetary & Lunar lower than atmospheric pressure quarantine facility "is surprisingly Exploration notes that sotliatanyleakageofairisintothe long: seven years," and NRC says samples brought back facility; by contrast, clean-room its most important recommen-from Mars "must be facilities are held at higher près- dation is that planning and con-collected and handled sure to ensure that leaks flow out structionofsuch a facility should in a way that will pro- of the facility The NRC report be begun at least that far in tect the terrestrial en- says that a facility combining the advance of the anticipated return vironment from con- I two has never been built and that I of Mars samples.—RUDY BAUM
