now for better control of open trash burning, incineration, consumption of poor quality fuels and automotive emissions in order to bring down these levels. Research and abatement activities must proceed hand in hand in this area.

I thank you for the opportunity of presenting my views on this important medical subject.

Senator TYDINGS. Mr. Augustus C. Johnson, Chairman, Greater Washington Citizens for Clean Air.

STATEMENT OF AUGUSTUS C. JOHNSON, CHAIRMAN, GREATER WASHINGTON CITIZENS FOR CLEAN AIR

Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator TYDINGS. We will insert your prepared statement into the hearing record and you may summarize as you wish.

Mr. JOHNSON. I would like to skip over what my friends at the table here before brought up. We would like to associate ourselves with a great deal of that.

First of all, our organization is a citizens organization. Our area of interest covers the same as that represented by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. We operate through public education and through encouraging the people to support activities like our own and to support legislation and official action in the jurisdictions of Washington metropolitan areas to reduce air pollution. We have some very specific recommendations and I would like to put them on the record, if I may.

We are very much in favor of the prompt adoption of the council of governments model ordinance on air pollution as a necessary and useful step, first toward cleaning up our air. We are urging the adoption of this by all 14 jurisdictions in the area and we are carrying this on through a program of needling politicians to make sure they get it done.

Second, better control, through ordinances, enforcement and inspection, of the production of excessive smoke and other pollutants by motor vehicles. Some of the ordinances which now exist are not being enforced, partly because they are impossible and because they are too difficult to enforce. Inspections in general inspect only the automobiles for safety and although the ordinances may specifically spell out that they must not produce excessive smoke this is now generally a well known enforced and inspected matter.

The immediate cessation of open air burning of trash at Kenilworth, and the eventual abandonment of all incineration, public and private, in the metropolitan area.

We don't know how long that will take, but we think, it ought to be a path toward doing it.

My last point is that we have rapid progress toward a radical reduction in the number of internal combustion engines in the area, through the development of rapid transit and the adoption of alternative power sources. As an interim measure, every effort should be encouraged to reduce the pollution produced by today's vehicles.

Senator TYDINGS. Would you comment, Mr. Johnson, on the District of Columbia government's actions and efforts in regard to air pollution and the control program?

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, I would be glad to.

My friend, Mr. Katz has a great deal more to say about this. But we can say they are very much uncoordinated and very far behind the times and that air pollution, the production of air pollution, has a very low priority on the list of things that the people in the District think about when they go about their daily business in the government.

Senator TYDINGS. Senator Spong?

Senator SPONG. I know that you have publicly objected to the Kenilworth dump for some time. Have you made any progress to date?

Mr. JOHNSON. No, sir. I think once again my colleague who has been a specialist in this for quite a long time-before I got started on it-may have something to say. We are not too encouraged.

The thing that is most hopeful is the pressure the chairman of this committee has been putting on the District in the last few weeks. If anything can be produced, we think this will do it. We do think there are some things that can be done, for instance, the District has been in for added appropriations for another operation, and when this gets through the Budget Bureau it will need help here on the Hill to get the money to do that.

We also think that if the chairman will keep his pressure on the District Building this may be speeded up and may come right along. Every day it burns is one too many. We are very unhappy about it. Senator TYDINGS. Thank you very much, Mr. Johnson. Your prepared statement will be placed in the hearing record at this point. (Statement referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF AUGUSTUS C. JOHNSON, CHAIRMAN, GREATER WASHINGTON

CITIZENS FOR CLEAN AIR

Greater Washington Citizens for Clean Air is an organization of citizens deeply concerned with the problems of air pollution and dedicated to seeking solutions for these problems. The area of our interest is the same as the area covered by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. We operate through educating the public, encouraging citizen support of official agencies and legislation, and promoting coordination of clean air activities among the jurisdictions of the area. We are deeply grateful for this opportunity to testify, and we associate ourselves with the efforts of this Committee.

Washington has 4,100 cars per square mile, compared with Los Angeles' 1,350, Philadelphia's 3,730 and New York's 2,200. This is the source of the most worrisome pollutant-unburned gasoline. Gasoline consumption in our area pours 2,000 tons of carbon monoxide, 225 tons of hydrocarbons and 77 tons of nitrogen oxides into the air every day. In our community, we burn 2,400 tons of trash and unmeasured quantities of construction refuse and leaves every day. In an average day, we burn 6,000 tons of coal, 200 million cubic feet of gas and over 1 million gallons of fuel oil.

The DC Public Health Service has detected photochemical smog at concentrations which produce eye irritation, vegetation damage and visibility reduction on about 30 days each year. At times sulfur dioxide has combined with moisture in the air to form acid and even dissolved stockings on pedestrians.

The DC Medical Society has said, "Exposure to relatively low levels of urban air pollution over months to years predisposes people even those who don't smoke to chronic bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, pneumonia and chronic heart disease . . . there is a threat that a combination of weather conditions will allow the pollutants to stagnate and become highly toxic so that this city may experience an acute epidemic of smog poisoning with fatalities such as have occurred in other cities."

Greater Washington Citizens for Clean Air recommends

Prompt adoption of the Council of Governments Model Ordinance on Air Pollution as a necessary and useful first step toward cleaning up our air.

Better control, through ordinances, enforcement and inspection, of the production of excessive smoke and other pollutants by motor vehicles. The immediate cessation of open air burning of trash at Kenilworth, and the eventual abandonment of all incineration, public and private, in the Metropolitan Area.

Rapid progress toward a radical reduction in the number of internal combustion engines in the area, through the development of rapid transit and the adoption of alternative power sources. As an interim measure, every effort should be encouraged to reduce the pollution produced by today's vehicles.

Senator TYDINGS. Mr. Murray Katz, we will be delighted to hear from you. Your prepared statement will be included in its entirety in the hearing record.

STATEMENT OF MURRAY KATZ, VICE PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON CITIZENS FOR CLEAN AIR

Mr. KATZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator TYDINGS. Would you summarize your statement rather than read it? Those are the rules of the Senate and it will be easy for us if you just emphasize those points that you want.

Mr. KATZ. The main point that I wanted to bring out was that the District is so structured presently that each Department has its own function to carry on and it really can't concern itself too much with air pollution.

For example, the Department of Sanitary Engineering has the main job of taking care of all the refuse in the District and its main consideration is the efficient disposal of the rubbish. It may well be that in the incineration this is not the best way to handle it, but the present setup is efficient as far as getting rid of the material and the Department isn't very anxious to experiment to try other methods such as land fill which is probably the best way and ultimate way in which rubbish is going to be taken care of eventually.

The District has under plans the building of a new incinerator, incinerator No. 5. It is going to cost $4 million. As things go now, the District is going ahead with the planning. The site has been selected and the money is going to be spent eventually. There isn't anyone, either willing or authorized to sort of sit down and say, is the money being wasted, is it better to direct the money toward sanitary land fill operations?

Senator TYDINGS. I gather what you are saying is that the Director of the Department of Sanitary Engineering and the Directors of other departments are concerned with their own limited jurisdiction and not with air pollution. They are not interested in the health aspect of trying to protect the air and the environment. They are interested primarily in just trying to get rid of the garbage.

As a result there really is no coordination and no one in the District of Columbia is really concerned with protecting the people from air pollution.

Mr. KATZ. This is the main point I want to bring out. It isn't the fault of any of these departments. They each have their job to do but anyone who sticks his neck out in trying to cut down on air pollution, if he does a good job, he may be thanked. If he fails in any way at all he is going to be criticized in many ways.

Senator TYDINGS. You mean criticized by the Bureau of the Budget, the Commissioners, or the Congress for asking for more money, or who?

Mr. KATZ. Garbage piling up some place because it is not processed very efficiently. Eventually it would be possible to smooth out the operation but there may be some emergency happening and it just isn't feasible to ask a man who had been doing a good job taking care of rubbish to change his ways unless someone higher up is willing to take the responsibility, someone higher up is going to get the thanks, or the abuse.

Senator TYDINGS. You would say that insofar as the District internal problem goes, it is not a problem of failure of execution by any of the District departments, rather it is a failure to set policy and execute policy at the high levels of the District government?

Mr. KATZ. It is a failure of the governmental setup in the District. The Air Pollution Division is there but I don't think it has any power. It can't veto any actions of any of the other actions and it may advise them. So far it really hasn't been effective. Each agency has its own function, drives along and there isn't any overall coordinating force, any overall direction.

There is something else which is of interest. But half a year ago the Evening Star had a news item and it pointed out that 85 percent of buses which are inspected at one time in the year, 85 percent of them passed inspection on the first go around and after studying various figures I find only 10 buses were cited for smoke violation and the figure of 10 included the number of buses caught at the inspection station and those on the streets for the entire year which indicates to me the inspection station is not really interested in the smoke or air pollution concept but only in safe mechanical operation of these buses.

The buses have to be processed and most buses are smoking and probably operating this way. If the buses were weaned out in this way, it may mean that there is a large burden placed on the companies and it is far easier to pass them because this is a standard practice. Senator TYDINGS. Senator Spong?

Senator SPONG. You are saying that buses are in an area where something can immediately be done?

Mr. KATZ. Its a question of putting pressure. I pointed out in my statement that it isn't really reasonable to expect the bus companies to start improving buses because right now the buses are passing the minimum standards and it isn't wise business practice. It really is as far as the ultimate result, but as far as the day to day business, it isn't a wise thing to spend a lot of money when the buses are doing fine now. They are passing inspection.

Senator SPONG. That's what the people at General Motors and Chrysler Corp. tell us, too.

Mr. KATZ. It goes all the way down the line.

I wanted to point out that Kenilworth at present has open burning which is carried on almost daily and the District has a smoke law, while it is pretty ancient in its coverage, it is merely a smoke law. The open burning at Kenilworth is against the law and has been against the law all of these years. I just wanted to bring to your attention that our group is now preparing a suit against the District of

Columbia in which we are going to in effect ask the court to ask the other District officials to carry out the law.

Senator TYDINGS. What you are saying is that they are violating their own law.

Mr. KATZ. There is hardly any question in our own minds.

Senator TYDINGS. Thank you very much, Mr. Katz. Your prepared statement will be placed in the hearing record at this point. (Statement referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF MURRAY KATZ, VICE PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON CITIZENS FOR CLEAN AIR

AIR POLLUTION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

It has become increasingly apparent that the District of Columbia does not have an effective program to combat air pollution, and is so structured that air pollution concepts are of little concern to any particular department. The result is that the District is doing almost nothing to combat air pollution, and the little that is done is almost inadvertent and merely a fortuitous benefit of some other activity.

Various items have appeared in the news media from time to time relative to air pollution problems in the District, but as yet they have not activated any of the departments in the direction of air pollution control. Each department has a function to carry out, and does not concern itself with air pollution aspects lest they interfere with the efficient operation of their allocated functions.

For example, the Department of Sanitary Engineering is concerned with disposal of all the solid waste collected in the District. The fact that their methods of disposal result in air pollution is of lesser importance to them than efficient disposal of waste material. Similarly, the Department of Motor Vehicle Inspection is concerned primarily with the safe mechanical operation of vehicles, and does not involve itself unduly with smoky exhausts.

The thinking of the Department of Sanitary Engineering regarding air pollution was made clear to the Greater Washington Citizens for Clean Air during a recent meeting. The executive board of this citizens group met on February 20, 1967 with Mr. Roy Orndorff, Director, Department of Sanitary Engineering, and Colonel Hensen of the Board of District Commissioners' office to discuss the problem of open burning at Kenilworth, and also to determine the sentiments of these District officials in exploring other means besides incineration as techniques for disposing of rubbish. It is the feeling of our group that incineration has many faults and contributes heavily to air pollution. Other areas, notably Los Angeles, have given up incineration completely and have turned to sanitary land fill techniques. Our organization would like District officials to give full consideration to these other techniques before spending four million dollars on the proposed No. 5 incinerator for the District of Columbia.

The Director of the Department of Sanitary Engineering appears well versed in the subject of refuse disposal, and seems to be a dedicated and efficient employee. His function is to oversee District sanitation operations, and he is determined to do this in an effective manner. However, it readily became clear in our interview that he is not very much concerned about the air pollution aspect of the problem. Incineration is one of the quickest means of reducing the volume of rubbish and converting it to inorganic fill material, and the Director indicated that he is strongly inclined towards this method. He would favor other systems such as sanitary land fill, but only if someone else sets up a working procedure, obtains the necessary land, acquires the machinery, and otherwise presents him with a working facility.

The Director cannot be blamed for having this viewpoint. His job is to get rid of rubbish and he is doing this in a reasonably effective manner. If he were to try innovations he would be required to allocate funds and men for the study and building of new facilities and would, in effect, be taking on great responsibilities which might not be rewarding. The new techniques might be more difficult than the old procedures, especially initially, and the innovator would be risking criticism. It is far easier and more comfortable to proceed using the well known and established methods.

The above is not to be construed as a criticism of Mr. Orndorff or his department, but merely to point out the need for a stronger, more effective air pollution