var.

[ttweed@wildrockies.org (Tony Tweedale)]

            Defining Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic Great Lake
            Contaminants and Research Needs
            http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/toxteam/pbtrept/
                     Defining Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic Great Lake
            Contaminants and Research Needs is the final report on phase I of
            a joint project by the Michigan Department of Environmental
            Quality and Michigan State University. A model for scoring and
            ranking PBT chemicals was developed and tested, with input from
            an advisory committee drawn from U.S., Canadian, and State
            governments, industry, and academia. A summary of the report is
            viewable, and both the report and a spreadsheet version of the
            model are downloadable.
  
            Compliance Online
            http://www.ieti.com/taylor/compliance.html
                      Compliance Online is the Internet newsletter for
  finding your way
            through the maze of environmental regulations.  This site
            contains an archive of newsletter issues back to Jan. 1996.
            The most recent online issue is Sept./Oct. 1997, Vol. II, Number
            9/10.  The newsletter contains environmental tidbits, highlights
            a site of the month, and includes a user survey.  Links are
            provided to the sites mentioned in environmental tidbits.
  
  
            "Rep. John Moss, Champion of Open Government, Dies [Obituaries]."
            Washington Post, 6 December 97, B6.
                 Former Democratic Congressman John E. Moss died in San
                 Francisco at the age of 82. Moss is remembered as the father
                 of the Freedom of Information Act and other measures
                 designed to open government and keep it accountable to
                 voters and consumers. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader called
                 him "`almost the prototypical Congressman in terms of
                 serving the people.'"
  
  
  Goldman Announces OPPTS Reorganization, Focuses on Consumer
  Safety, Right-To-Know.  Daily Environment Report, December 11,
  1997, ppA-8-9.
  
       In an unexpected memo to staff, Assistant Administrator Lynn
  Goldman announced her intention to reorganize EPA's Office of
  Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances.  The reorganization
  will increase the efficient delivery of programs and devote
  attention to high-priority areas.
       A new Office of Consumer Safety and Right-to-Know will be
  created under the reorganization, which will be led by Stephen
  Johnson and Susan Hazen.  Some functions of both the pesticide
  programs and the toxic substances programs will be moved to the
  new office.
       OPPTS staff were shocked by the news, because they had just
  completed a reorganization in April.  Unidentified staff members
  called the plan "awful," saying that it "flies in the face of
  this administration's pledge for openness at EPA."
       "We haven't finished moving or training staff in the most
  recent reorganization," said one OPP employee.
       Some staff members did support the idea of creating a new
  office for right-to-know issues, based on the fact that
  initiatives such as the Toxic Release Inventory have experienced
  such growth.