THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE...
	Vermont Governor Requires State Agencies to Join Anti-Climate Change Effort --Programs Developed to Buy Only Energy-Efficient Equipment and Cars
	Senate Education Committee Approves NSF Reauthorization Bill --Includes Doubling Language, Technology Talent Act, and Math and Science Partnership Shift
	Senator Pushing to Block New EPA Source Review Regulations --Concern over Proposed Reforms to Give Industry More Flexibility
	Transportation Department Issues Advisory on Pipeline Incident Reporting --Sets New Reporting Requirements for Incidents
	EPA Report Shows 25 Percent Cut in Six Major Pollutants Over Past 30 Years --Millions of People Still Living with Unhealthy Air

THIS WEEK...

GOVERNOR REQUIRES STATE AGENCIES TO JOIN ANTI-CLIMATE CHANGE EFFORT

Vermont Governor Howard Dean (D) has issued a directive (Executive Order No. 11-02) that requires state agencies to develop programs for car-pooling of state workers, and to buy only energy-efficient equipment and cars.

The Climate Neutral Working Group is also created in this directive, and is charged with coordinating the overall effort of cutting greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. The Group is made of officials from such agencies as the Agency of Transportation, the Agency of Natural Resources, and the Department of Public Service.

This order is the first attempt to implement a Climate Change Action Plan adopted by a group of New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers at a meeting in Connecticut in 2001. That plan set goals of vastly reducing regionwide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Dean's executive order was effective upon signing Aug. 22 and will continue until July 1, 2020. For more information on the directive, contact Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE APPROVES NSF REAUTHORIZATION BILL

The Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has unanimously approved the National Science Foundation Doubling Act. It authorizes, in effect, a 15 percent increase in NSF funding for each of the next five fiscal years.

The HELP Committee included a version of the Tech Talent proposal as part of legislation. These provisions establish a multi-year "Tech Talent" competitive grant program, that would award performance-based grants to institutions of higher education to increase the number of students studying toward and receiving undergraduate degrees in science, math, engineering, and technology disciplines. Recipients would be held accountable for increasing the number of students receiving degrees in these fields.

The Senate NSF reauthorization bill also consolidates the Department of Education and NSF Math and Science Partnership programs into a single NSF program that operates as a competitive grant program in fiscal years 2003-2005 and as a formula grant program in fiscal years 2006 and 2007.

The NSF reauthorization bill now awaits consideration by the Senate Commerce Committee. For more information about the NSF Reauthorization bill, go to: http://labor.senate.gov, or contact Patti Burgio at burgiop@asme.org.

SENATOR PUSHING TO BLOCK NEW EPA SOURCE REVIEW REGULATIONS

Senator John Edwards (D-NC) will try to amend S. 2797, the FY 2003 Environmental Protection Agency funding bill, to prevent the agency from providing more flexibility to industry in complying with new source review requirements of the Clean Air Act. Edwards made his comment while chairing a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety.

Jeffrey Holmstead, assistant EPA administrator for air and radiation, testified at the hearing that he strongly disagreed with Edwards's contention that the new source review changes will result in more pollution.

Under the new source review provisions, power plants and other industrial facilities are required to install expensive modern pollution controls for any change in operations that increases air pollution. Industry has criticized the NSR program, which maintains that it prevents modernization of the plants. The EPA reforms were intended to give industry more flexibility in making plant modifications without triggering new source review.

Edwards will have the opportunity to offer an amendment to the EPA appropriations bill when the bill goes to the Senate floor, probably in two or three weeks. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved EPA funding July 25 as part of the fiscal year 2003 VA-HUD and independent agencies appropriations bill (S. 2797).

On August 13, EPA sent the new source review changes to the White House Office of Management and Budget. OMB has 90 days to review the changes before sending it back to EPA.

The hearing testimony can be found at: http://edwards.senate.gov/issues/enviro/epa_hearing.html. Senator Edwards released a statement on this issue, which can be found at: http://edwards.senate.gov/press/2002/0903a-pr.html. For more information, contact Kathryn Holmes at holmesk@asme.org.

TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT ISSUES ADVISORY ON PIPELINE INCIDENT REPORTING

The Department of Transportation (DOT) wants pipeline owners and operators to make prompt and accurate telephone reports of incidents to the National Response Center, while providing as much information as possible regarding the extent of damages.

DOT's Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), in an advisory published Sept. 6 in the Federal Register, said owners and operators should make additional reports if there is a significant change in the estimate of the size of the gas or liquid release, the extent of the damage, or the number of deaths or injuries. The advisory is being issued to owners and operators of gas distribution, gas transmission, and hazardous liquid pipeline systems and liquefied natural gas facilities.

For more information, go to the OPS web site at http://ops.dot.gov, or contact Francis Dietz at dietzf@asme.org.

EPA REPORT SHOWS 25 PERCENT CUT IN SIX MAJOR POLLUTANTS OVER PAST 30 YEARS

The Environmental Protection Agency's new air quality status report, "Latest Findings of National Air Quality: 2001 Status and Trends," says aggregate emissions of the six principal pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act have been cut 25 percent in the United States since 1970.

However in 2001, even with reductions in the principal pollutants over the past three decades, more than 130 million people lived in counties where air was unhealthy at times because of high levels of at least one of the pollutants. More than 170 million tons of pollution are still being emitted into the air each year.

Levels of the six pollutants--nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and lead--are measured at thousands of monitoring stations across the country.

The Administration has also submitted legislation to Congress for a nationwide emissions trading program that would mandate 70 percent reductions of particle- and ozone-forming compounds from power generators.

This report can be found at http://www.epa.gov/airtrends. For more information, contact Kathryn Holmes at holmesk@asme.org.

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Melissa R. Murray Government Relations ASME International 1828 L Street, NW, Suite 906 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202.785.7380 Fax: 202.429.9417 Email: mailto:murraym@asme.org