More Research on Waste Sites Urged

When the subject of cleaning up old chemical waste sites is debated, one point stops many arguments: Not enough is known yet about the effects of such sites. The need for significant research on the impact of leaking hazardous chemicals into the environment is widely recognized. And a recent report from the Council on Environmental Quality set out the direction it believes federal agencies should take on the issue. Based on a meeting of experts held last year, the CEQ document identifies important research objectives, characterization of critical hazardous waste sites, and criteria for research selection on a variety of topics. Members of the panel included scientific experts from private engineering companies as well as academic researchers and government agencies. They included Clayton F. Callis, former president of the American Chemical Society; Philip C. Singer of the University of North Carolina; Yoram Cohen of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Glenn Paulson from Clean ...