wastenews.com

Court OKs Calif. emission rules

AT DEADLINE

Montreal talks focus on global warming

By Bruce Geiselman

When countries from around the world gather in Montreal Sept. 17 to 21, they will consider an accelerated freeze and phase out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs, as a further means of tackling global warming.

HCFCs were touted more than

See At Deadline, Page 21

A federal judge in Vermont has rejected arguments from automakers and ruled that states may adopt California’s proposal

for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.

Judge William Sessions, of the U.S. District Court in Vermont, ruled Sept. 12 that Vermont and New York may proceed with en-

acting the California Clean Car Standards, pending the EPA’s approval of the California plan.

California and 11 other states want to implement their own greenhouse gas emissions stan-

dards for new cars that would reduce emissions by about 30 percent when fully implemented in 2016.

The Alliance of Automobile Man-

See Court, Page 21

Something in the water
Ag waste
Science detects drug abuse patterns in wastewater
wrangle

By Jim Johnson

IN THIS ISSUE

SOLID WASTE

Public health and law enforcement officials could one day look no farther than their local wastewater treatment plant to gain insight into drug abuse problems in their communities.

Research out of the Oregon State University is proving that less than a teaspoon of untreated wastewater can provide a wealth of information about a community’s drug use — both illicit and legitimate.

Without connecting the dots too graphically, any drug that is ingested eventually ends up

Sides debate
Superfund farm
exemption

By Elizabeth McGowan

Florida couple run a company that collects large items not picked up by most curbside waste collectors. Page 12

Joe Winters talks
about the sale of his
company, Winters
Bros. Waste Sys-
tems, to BFI Canada.
Page 13

WASHINGTON — It’s a classic “us” vs. “them” squabble.

One side, fearful for its livelihood, claims the other is intent on classifying farm animals as Superfund hazardous waste generators. Their opponents cry foul — or perhaps fowl — insisting

HAZARDOUS WASTE

U.S. Rep. Paul Gillmor, champion of brownfield rejuvenation and other environmental causes, dies. Page 11

The U.S. House of
Representatives approves
a Green Chemistry bill aimed
at making molecules
“benign by design.”
Page 11

AIR

Congress makes a U-turn and eliminates funding on a program that would give Mexican trucking companies access to U.S. highways. Page 21

WATER

New Jersey lawmakers ask the EPA to determine why medical waste recently washed ashore on beaches in Ocean County. Page 14

leaving the body. And wastewater treatment plants are proving to be a fertile ground to gather samples for analysis.

Professor Jennifer A. Field is behind the idea to use sensitive equipment to analyze the wastewater to provide what would be essentially a community profile.

She stresses she has no interest in applying the work to individual users of the wastewater treatment systems or even singling out specific communities.

“We’re environmental analytical chemists. We will apply this with a broad brush tool for drug surveillance. We don’t want to go into individ-

NE WSCOM / PICTURE ARTS

PATTERNS EMERGE: Researchers at Oregon State University and elsewhere are learning that minute amounts of untreated wastewater provide vast information about a community’s drug use.

they only want mega chicken, cow and pig operations to adhere to stringent environmental and health requirements, and heed the “polluter pays” principle.

The ongoing back-and-forth about how to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) continued Sept. 6 as 11 witnesses, including farmers, a water manager, a professor and federal and state officials, testified before six senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee.