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 govern

ment.

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

agency which would operate on a high policy level, and which would be able to make basic decisions for other departments. Such agency would be concerned with the operation of the other departments as they relate to air pollution, and would set the guidelines for basic operations so that the pollution aspect is given full weight.

While it is clear that the District "Smoke Law" is in great need of modernization, it is obvious that a law is only as good as the manner in which it is enforced. The present law clearly prohibits open burning, yet such open burning has been carried out at Kenilworth as an "emergency" operation on and off since 1942. About one-half year ago a news item in the Evening Star indicated that during the annual September bus inspection, 85% of the Capital's 2000 buses passed inspection on the first go-around. After studying various District reports I ascertained that only about 10 buses a year are cited for smoke or noxious odors violation. This figure included those which failed to pass inspection, plus those caught on the streets during the remainder of the year. This indicated to me that the blame lay with the Inspection and Police Divisions. It is unrealistic to expect the bus companies to expend effort and money to improve the quality of bus engine exhausts if the buses pass the minimum standards of inspection as enforced by the District. I wrote to the District Commissioners and was referred to the Health, Inspection and Police Departments. Each indicated that it was doing a splendid job and placed the main responsibility with other departments. The result of this shifting of responsibility is evident on the streets of our city. I was also invited by the Health Department to report observed violations to the proper department. This is a Police and Inspection Department function, and certainly citizen action should not be depended on to carry out the main burden of enforcement.

It is apparent that each department is busy with other vital functions and cannot spare men or money for air pollution considerations. The Air Pollution Division as presently constructed has not been able to function effectively in air pollution control. It is clear that the Commissioners or Congress, if they are genuinely interested in combatting air pollution in the District of Columbia must set up a strong coordinating agency to oversee the other agencies in air pollution matters since the present system has proved to be unworkable.

I wish to thank this Committee for letting me appear, and I hope I can be of further service.

Senator TYDINGS. Mrs. John W. Bruce, Jr. We are delighted to welcome you before the subcommittee, Mrs. Bruce. If you wish, why do you not go ahead and read your statement?

STATEMENT OF MRS. JOHN W. BRUCE, JR.

Mrs. BRUCE. Distinguished Senators, I am Mrs. John W. Bruce, Jr., a housewife, and I reside at 7501 Hampden Lane, Bethesda, Md. You have been listening to experts in many fields discuss the problem of air pollution. I trust that you will not feel it a waste of time to listen for only a few minutes to Mrs. Average American Citizen.

Because we are human and innately selfish, we do not get worked up over something that does not affect us immediately or personally. Therefore, I am not concerning myself just now with the crisis periods or problem areas, though I know them well. The 11th of December I was driving south on the New Jersey Turnpike, fearful that I was heading into the eye of a hurricane or a tornado for there was a frightful black cloud over much of the sky in the direction I was going. It proved to be a tremendous cloud of pollutants hanging over the Wilmington area, most of it coming from the stacks of the utility companies. I also am aware of New York's problems. I was there January 25 and thought it was fog that was hampering the traffic. It was only a pollution period that everyone was taking quite casually. What does concern me is day-to-day living in our Washington area. Since we don't have much industry, relatively speaking, our prime