The National Auto Dealers Association uses a 7% figure of vehicle registrations as the number of cars that will be scrapped in a given year. Based on their report of one million registrations in the Washington area, we can anticipate approximately 70,000 vehicles as available for conversion into scrap in the current

year.

The 1970 date indicated in the Model Local Air Pollution Control Ordinance developed by the Council of Governments was established as a realistic target in view of the funding, engineering, conversion and construction that would be necessary for the broad range of pollution contributing machines and functions to have their operating techniques and/or equipment changed. In testimony you heard last week, Mr. Flanagan of the National Center for Air Pollution Control used the term "eventual control" as achievable for power and heating plant emissions. Subject to indications from the auto industry, from engineers working on jet plane produced pollution and a variety of other sources not explored in depth during these hearings, a general community wide major improvement should and can be realized, given total application and reasonable time.

The area is totally unprepared for a premature prohibition of automobile, truck and bus driving without pollution correcting equipment, for an immediate cessation of the use of sulfur bearing fuels or the grounding of the nation's subsidyspurred jet aircraft. In like manner, the area is not ready for and could not operate under an early or precipitous regulation eliminating open burning in general or the ability to prepare old automobiles for scrapping through open burning. The institution of such regulations without allowing a transitional period for the engineering and installation of machinery to handle cars through alternate methods would create an unprecedented backup on our city streets, parking lots, alleys and backyards and would totally destroy the Beautification Program which has enjoyed such progress.

The resulting creation of a new and dangerous health problem would further plague our city. Public health officials have long been distressed by the use of abandoned cars as hovels by indigents, as bathrooms, and subsequently as play areas by children.

An officer in the Business and Defense Services Administration of the Dept. of Commerce, who has devoted the past two years to the study of scrap iron flow with special focus on auto scrap and its importance to the Beautification Program, has expressed grave concern about the inevitable effects of the institution of regulations prohibiting open burning in areas not equipped with incinerator or shredder equipment.

I think it a fair statement to say that the scrap industry, which makes a proportionately small contribution to total air pollution, will participate-locally and nationally-in the pursuit of the valid aims of the air pollution control drive and will do so abreast of the corrective efforts of the major producers of air pollution you have been studying.

Thank you for this opportunity to add to your information.

Senator TYDINGS. We stand in recess until tomorrow morning at 9:30 o'clock.

(Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m., the subcommittees recessed, to reconvene on Thursday, March 16, 1967, at 9:30 a.m.)

PROBLEMS OF AIR POLLUTION IN THE DISTRICT OF

COLUMBIA

(The District of Columbia Government and its Air Pollution Control Efforts)

THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1967

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND COMMERCE

AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH,
EDUCATION, WELFARE, AND SAFETY

OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

Washington, D.C. The subcommittees met, pursuant to recess, at 9:35 a.m., in room 6226, New Senate Office Building, Senator Joseph D. Tydings presiding.

Present: Senators Tydings (presiding), and Spong.

Also present: Chester H. Smith, staff director; Fred L. McIntyre, counsel, and Howard A. Abrahams, assistant counsel.

Senator TYDINGS. We call the hearings before the Subcommittee on Business and Commerce and the Subcommittee on Public Health, Education, Welfare, and Safety of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia to order.

These subcommittees have been holding 5 days of hearings on the problems of air pollution and related problems in Washington, D.C., and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

This is the concluding day of hearings.

We are delighted to have a distinguished group of visitors testify today. We are particularly delighted to have one of the leading members of the Virginia Legislature here with us this morning whom I shall ask my colleague, the distinguished junior Senator from Virginia, Senator Spong, to introduce.

Senator SPONG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would at this time like to present Mrs. Dorothy McDiarmid, one of the fairer members of the Virginia General Assembly, who was vice chairman of the commission that studied the problems of air pollution in Virginia and was the chief patron on the bill which resulted in the formation of a general air pollution control board. We are delighted to have you with us here today.

STATEMENT OF MRS. DOROTHY MCDIARMID, A MEMBER OF THE VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Mrs. MCDIARMID. I don't want to say very much. I just would like to extend the hand of congratulations across the river to the chairman of this committee.

I am so glad you are bringing to the public the dangers of air pollution. I am delighted that Virginia was willing to take the problem on and to set up an air pollution control board, and while Northern Virginia does look to Virginia for advice and counsel, we certainly look across the river and would hope to work with you and with Maryland in the problems of the metropolitan area that we are all part of. Thank you very much for all you have done.

Senator TYDINGS. Thank you very much, Mrs. McDiarmid. Certainly a refreshing breeze from the legislative halls of Richmond. At this time I would like to call on the Honorable Walter Tobriner, President, District of Columbia Board of Commissioners accompanied by Hon. John B. Duncan, member, District of Columbia Board of Commissioners; Brig. Gen. Robert E. Mathe, District of Columbia Engineer Commissioner; Mr. Roy L. Orndorff, Director, District of Columbia Department of Sanitary Engineering; Dr. Murray Grant, Director District of Columbia Department of Public Health; Mr. William N. Dripps, Superintendent, Inspection Division, Department of Licenses and Inspections; Capt. John M. Thot, Traffic Division, Washington Metropolitan Police Department; Mr. William H. Cary, Associate Director for Environmental Health; Mr. William F. Roeder, Chief, Sanitation and Equipment Division; Mr. John V. Brink, Chief, Bureau of Public Health Engineering; and Mr. Charles Brunot, program chemist, Air Pollution Division, Department of Public Health.

STATEMENT OF HON. WALTER N. TOBRINER, PRESIDENT, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS; ACCOMPANIED BY HON. JOHN B. DUNCAN, MEMBER, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS; BRIG. GEN. ROBERT E. MATHE, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ENGINEER COMMISSIONER; MR. ROY L. ORNDORFF, DIRECTOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT OF SANITARY ENGINEERING; DR. MURRAY GRANT, DIRECTOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH; MR. WILLIAM N. DRIPPS, SUPERINTENDENT, INSPECTION DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LICENSES AND INSPECTIONS; MR. GEORGE A. ENGLAND, DIRECTOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES; CAPT. JOHN M. THOT, TRAFFIC DIVISION, WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT; MR. WILLIAM H. CARY, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH; MR. WILLIAM F. ROEDER, CHIEF, SANITATION AND EQUIPMENT DIVISION; MR. JOHN V. BRINK, CHIEF, BUREAU OF PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING; AND MR. CHARLES E. BRUNOT, PROGRAM CHEMIST, AIR POLLUTION DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Mr. TOBRINER. Mr. Chairman, with your permission and the subcommittee's permission, General Mathe will make the opening state

ment.

General MATHE. Mr. Chairman, we are pleased to be here again this morning, and we do have several of our key District officials with us who are prepared to discuss their role in the District government's efforts toward resolution of air pollution on a citywide and area wide

basis.

The Board of Commissioners has followed these hearings on air pollution in the District of Columbia with great interest and we certainly appreciate the tremendous amount of effort which has gone into the planning and conduct of the hearings. We feel the information developed here will be invaluable to us, to the entire metropolitan area, as well as to many other communities, in our continued fight against air pollution. Naturally, we are particularly concerned about conditions within the District of Columbia, and we are hopeful that appropriate measures can be taken to overcome conditions which most significantly contribute to air pollution. But we are more than concerned-we are alarmed-by some of the testimony heard previously concerning air pollution in the District of Columbia. We would hope that in the discussion here this morning we can clarify the record to reflect conditions as we see them.

With this in mind, we are prepared to present a summary, by the departments concerned, of what we are now doing and what we feel needs to be done. When possible or available, comparative data will be furnished in the testimony to show our efforts versus those of the surrounding jurisdiction and with other cities comparable to Washington, D.C.

The key District officials who will testify today are members of our Air Pollution Coordinating Committee. I will introduce them as they appear, but as a matter of information, the Coordinating Committee includes the Directors of the Departments of Public Health, Licenses and Inspections, Motor Vehicles, Sanitary Engineering and the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. This Committee was formed last year to provide interagency support and coordination on air pollution matters.

First, I would like to present Dr. Murray Grant, Director of Public Health, whose Department has been assigned the responsibility for developing and proposing major programs, policies and regulations on air pollution.

Senator TYDINGS. Gentlemen, let me say for the record I am delighted to have the members of the Coordinating Committee here. But when we get down to the brass tacks, we want you to speak with three Commissioners, because we developed a lot of testimony and I want a lot of answers this morning.

We are delighted to have your statements, but the crux of these hearings is the dialog between the Commissioners and the Senate subcommittee.

General MATHE. We expect to be here.

Senator TYDINGS. All right.

Delighted to have you with us this morning, Dr. Grant.

Dr. GRANT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to introduce the two members of my staff with me.

Mr. William Cary, Associate Director for Environmental Health and Mr. John Brink, who is Chief of our Bureau of Public Health Engineering.

Senator TYDINGS. Do you have a prepared statement?

Dr. GRANT. Yes, sir.

Senator TYDINGS. We will incorporate your statement in its entirety in the record at this time and ask that you summarize it and emphasize those points which you think most important.

(The statement follows:)

77-536-67- -50

STATEMENT OF MURRAY GRANT, M.D., DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH,
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

The Department of Public Health has a considerable interest in the District of Columbia Government's effort to combat air pollution, whether such contamination is derived from the burning of refuse, combustion of fuels, propulsion of vehicles, windborne debris from the demolition of buildings, pollen from noxious weeds, or fallout from an atomic explosion. While our Department does not have the legal authority to abate all such hazards, we do seek them out in the community and convey this information and the information resulting from citizen complaints to the agencies whose responsibility it is to correct such conditions. We recognize the futility of trying to combat many of the present day air pollution problems with legal authority that is bottomed on the assumption that the density of the smoke plume was a rightful measure of the amount of contamination. To this end, we have studied the District's legal authority to combat air pollution and are preparing recommendations for consideration by the Commissioners to remedy the shortcomings. More about this later.

The Department of Public Health has been a partner with the Public Health Service in the National Air Pollution Sampling Network since its inception in 1952 and in the National Radiation Sampling Network since its inception in 1957. This has involved the regular collection of samples of airborne particulates by means of high volume filter pad samples and the collection of rainwater, surface water, and milk samples for determination by the Public Health Service of radiation fallout. We have been glad to participate in these programs since they have provided us much information about our local atmospheric conditions.

Air pollution problems in Washington run the full gamet from the purely local nuisance to those of interstate proportion. Complaints from citizens range from those that are concerned with bad odors from a neighboring nuisance, eye smarting fumes from a diesel motor, pollen from an uncut patch of weeds, dust from a demolition site, fumes of gasoline from a filling station, nylon hose being destroyed by sulfurous fly ash, escaping hydrocarbons from a dry cleaning plant, hydrogen sulfide fumes from the D.C. Water Pollution Control Plant, dust and dirt from fuel burning equipment and incinerators, plumes of smoke and fuel from jet planes, and open burning of trash and demolition debris. These are not purely local problems; we share them with our neighbors in Maryland and Virginia, and, in turn, share in theirs.

I would like to divide my presentation into a series of considerations about several of these problems and to enumerate what we have done and are doing about them. It may well be that some expression should also be made about what we think should be done about some of them. This I will do also.

PROGRAM

In April 1963, after we had acquired our first staff who could devote full time to combating air pollution, we began in earnest to consider the needs of the community. Briefly, I would like to tell you of some of these efforts and the results to date:

1. Assembly of laws and regulations.-We have assembled, reviewed, and studied various scattered Federal and District laws and regulations pertaining to the control of air pollution in the District of Columbia. Presently, we are preparing recommendations for up-dated and broadened regulations needed to fulfill the needs of an effecive air pollution control program.

2. Open burning.-We have endeavored to secure an all-out effort to eliminate open burning through the provision of adequate incineration facilities and waste disposal sites. This has taken place through active participation in the activities and recommendations of such groups as the Public Health Advisory Council, The Commissioners Building Code Advisory Committee, and the Regional Sanitary Board.

The Public Health Advisory Council has stongly recommended and supported early action toward eliminating open burning at Kenilworth through the prompt construction of D.C. Incinerator #5. The Building Code Advisory Committee has been responsible for reducing open burning on demolition sites through its recommendations for revision of the Fuel Burning Equipment Regulations. The Regional Sanitary Board has a Solid Waste Study under contract and the report and recommendations should be forthcoming soon.

3. Air pollution source inventory.-We have participated in a mass air pollution source inventory conducted by the Public Health Service. Presently, we