water separators and oil content meters and promoting the installation of shipboard sewage treatment plants.

The President's message to the Congress of May 20, 1970 assigned two specific tasks to the Department of Commerce relating to the prevention and abatement of oil spills from tankers. In his message, the President gave the Secretary of Commerce the task of preparing, with the assistance of the Secretary of Transportation, specific technical standards which could form the basis for multilateral action by the Secretary of State to negotiate international standards for the construction and operation of tankers. In addition, the Secretary of Commerce, with the assistance of the Secretaries of Interior and Transportation, was directed to coordinate with private industry and port authorities in assessing the adequacy of existing shoreside facilities for the reception and treatment of oily wastes and to encourage the construction of additional facilities to meet the projected demand.

ANSWERS TO SENATOR MUSKIE'S QUESTIONS

Answer 1. The Maritime Administration's environmental research program has as its goal the development of equipment, systems and practices to enable pollution-free ship operation at the least cost to the ship operator. Currently our research efforts focus on the prevention of oil spills and discharges with expansion of the program during FY-72 into areas of sewage and waste treatment systems for ships. All work is conducted under contract with sources outside the Agency. The program is under the direction of a Program Manager, GS-15, with technical assistance from other operating offices within the Agency. The Office of Ship Construction has established the nucleus of an Environmental Control Group, consisting of three technical people, a GS-14, GS-13 and GS-9, working full time on marine environmental problems. Other engineering personnel up to Grade GS-15, provide part time technical support to marine environmental control programs pertinent to the merchant fleet. The total annual man-hours expended on pollution abatement activities are equivalent to eight (8) full time engineers.

At present we have under our Ships of Opportunity program, six vessels performing environmental research. This program entails the use of midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy who are given training and instrumentation in ocean sciences. During their sea year they obtain environmental data which is relayed to appropriate groups in industry and NOAA, NOAA shares this program with our agency. An R&D laboratory at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy has been established and future plans call for an equipment test and evaluation facility for shipboard pollution control hardware. However, these are future plans and we have not as yet staffed for the facility.

Answer 2. Not applicable.

Answer 3. Present funding level-$400,000. Present authorization level$1,100,000 per annum. No. of years-5.

Answer 4. Our environmental research program addresses the problem associated with the discharge and/or disposal of ship generated wastes so as to avoid environmental pollution. As indicated in paragraph 1, we have concentrated on the problem of oil pollution which occurs from one or more of the following actions:

(a) Pumping bilges.

(b) Deballasting and tank cleaning.

(c). Collision or grounding.

(d) Loading oil.

(e) Pumping or transferring oil.

We are investigating three alternatives for meeting the Administration's goal of zero discharge: (1) Ship Equipment and Practices, i.e., improving Load on Top, collision avoidance systems, oily water separating equipment and instrumentation; (2) Ship Design, i.e., clean ballast systems; and (3) Shore Reception Facilities.

In addition, we plan a technology support project aimed at determining scientific aspects of pollutants such as spreading rates biological effects, source identification, etc. It is hoped that through this work we will be able to scientifically define "harmful" as it applies to oil discharge from ships.

The percentage breakdown requested is estimated as follows:

Answer 6. (a) None: (b) 100 percent; (c) University, 5 percent; Independent Research Firm, 5 percent; and Industry, 90 percent.

Answer 7. Coordination mechanism involving indentifying and addressing largescale environmental questions.

(1) At Departmental Level

a. The Department of Commerce Environmental Work Group, chaired by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Affairs, is staffed by representatives of cognizant agencies within the Department to provide an interdisciplinary team. Agencies represented are: Maritime Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Bureau of Standards, Economic Development Administration, DOC General Counsel's Office, Bureaus of Domestic and International Commerce and the National Industrial Pollution Control Council.

(2) Inter-Agency Coordination

(a) National Committee for the Prevention of Pollution of the Seas by Oil provides government and non-government and industry participation on all matters pertaining to national and international standards for control of oil pollution of the seas.

(b) National Inter-Agency Committee for Control of Pollution by Oil and Hazardous Materials is a government committee primarily organized to provide a National Response Team for combating oil spills under the National Contingency Plan and to provide inter-agency expertise on R & D programs for the abatement and control of pollution by oil and other hazardous materials.

(c) National Industrial Pollution Control Council (NIPCC), established by Executive Order, April 9, 1970, is composed of chief executive officers of major industrial firms whose manufacturing and transportation activities could affect the quality of the environment. NIPCC reports through the Secretary of Commerce to the President and the Council on Environmental Quality. To date, twenty-five (25) reports have been submitted by the Council since October 1970, describing specific industry pollution problems.

(3) Coodination of International Standards

To implement the task of developing the technical standards for tanker construction and operation, the Maritime Administration has been participating as an active member of State Department delegations to the international meetings of three IMCO technical organizations. These include membership in the IMCO Maritime Safety Committee, and two of its Subcommittees, the Subcommittee on Marine Pollution and the Subcommittee on Ship Design and Equipment. MarAd co-chairs with the U.S. Coast Guard the tanker design tasks assigned to the U.S. SOLAS Working Group of the Ship Design and Equipment Subcommittee.

Related to the IMCO committee activities, the Maritime Administration maintains active participation and membership in the National Committee for the Prevention of Pollution of the Seas by Oil and the State Department Shipping Coordinating Committee. The latter committee formulates final U.S. policy and position recommended by the U.S. Working Groups for use by the U.S. Delegations at the international meetings.

(4) Coordinating Maritime Administration Activities with the Environmental Protection Agency

The Maritime Administration coordinates its pollution abatement activities with EPA through the following committees:

(a) The R & D Subcommittee of the National Inter-Agency Committee.

(b) The National Committee for the Prevention of Pollution of the Seas by Oil. (c) National Academy of Science Task Group on the State-of-the-Art Survey of Marine Sewage Treatment Plants.

(d) Ad Hoc Committee consisting of members of MARAD, Coast Guard, EPA and CEQ established to study the inventory of shoreside plants for the storage and treatment of oily bilge and ballast water from ships.

Answer 8. Greatly increased knowledge of the scientific aspects of ocean spills is required if the marine environmental threats posed by such spills are to be understood and effectively countered. To accomplish this, a Research Verification Program is needed to establish baseline information on the hydrocarbon levels and concentrations encountered in marine organisms, sediments and water column, and on the tolerance of marine organisms for hydrocarbon pollution. This type of scientific environmental research can be conducted under the supervision of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

RESEARCH RELATED TO ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

The National Bureau of Standards is the central national laboratory responsible for the compatibility, accuracy, and responsiveness to public needs, of the national system of physical and engineering measurements. It develops and maintains the national primary standards of physical measurement-mass, length, time, temperature, electric current, and luminous intensity (and over forty quantities derived from them)-in use in the United States, and collaborates with similar laboratories in other nations to help achieve compatibility in the international measurement system.

NBS is also responsible for assuring that the practical measurements on which so many of the Nation's activities depend are related to the basic measurement standards and thereby satisfy accuracy requirements whatever they may be. Where measurements have an important role in regulatory activity, the accuracy and integrity of measurements are vital to the fair and effective achievement of the purpose of regulation. This is certainly the case in environmental protection, where court tests of the meaningfulness and accuracy of pollution measurements used as backup for regulation can be expected. NBS is therefore particularly concerned about the effectiveness of the measurement transfer services that relate all quantitative measurements back to the basic standards and therefore to one another. NBS is also engaged in research leading to better measurement methods. Finally, although NBS has no regulatory function, the organization is charged in its enabling statute with providing its measurement competence to other agencies for the solution of practical problems. Such research gives NBS staff direct experience with environmental problems faced by other agencies with direct responsibilities in this area.

There are few areas of concern today where good measurement techniques are so important for the long term as they are in environmental research and environmental control. Major decisions with large economic and environmental impact are being made and must continue to be made as new environmental problems emerge and old ones are better understood. With so much at stake, accurate, definitive measurement of important environmental parameters is crucial to providing the objective data which regulatory decisionmaking must take into account. It is recognized that in many cases the measurement science and technology does not exist to meet present requirements of this kind. To supply already identified needs will require the collaboration of many agencies and laboratories with various established specialties.

Accurate data, for example on pollutant concentrations and pollutant distributions, are essential for several purposes. One is for assessment of environmental quality at the present time, i.e., what are the present problems and with what priority should abatement procedures be instituted. Another is for the detection and establishment of long-term trends, where definitive measurements of a given paramater must be made at intervals. Also, low level toxicity studies, which are at the heart of the assessment of long-term potential damage to the environment. depend on good techniques for the accurate determination of concentrations of substances under test in the laboratory, often in trace amounts. Finally, and not least, reliable measurements are required to determine whether pollution regulations are being violated. The outcome of enforcement proceedings depends directly upon the adequacy of the measurement methods used; the data must stand up in court.

ANSWERS TO SENATOR MUSKIE'S QUESTIONS

Detailed information, as requested by the Subcommittee, follows by question numbers as they appear in the inquiry of May 14, 1971.

Answer. 1. Specific provision is made for the management of environmental research at NBS. Our program structure which provides the basis for planning and evaluating our work explicitly identifies as one of a set of NBS goals: "To Promote More Effective Use of Science and Technology." Under this goal are listed areas of concentration as program elements-among them Environmental Pollution Abatement Technology, with programs in air and water pollution, solid waste, and noise as subelements.

Environmental research at NBS is monitored by a senior staff scientist in the Office of Programs, Dr. Robert E. Ferguson. He keeps contact with representatives of various specialties in other parts of the Bureau who are experts on noise, radiation, air, water and solid waste problems, etc., and is the central NBS point of contact for liaison with other agencies. He is a member of the Environmental Work Group of the Department of Commerce which is chaired by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Affairs. The main function of this NBS staff position is to maintain a general awareness of environmental problems and what other laboratories are doing, and to help select, in collaboration with technical staff, areas where NBS can most effectively contribute to the science and technology of pollutant detection and accurate measurement of pollutant levels. He can serve as a knowledgeable contact point for inquiries from other agencies, the Congress, and other institutions.

Operational management is handled somewhat differently in the different categorical areas of environmental concern. All NBS work related to air pollution is coordinated by the manager (Dr. James R. McNesby) of a special program: Measures for Air Quality. Special funding is made available to the project manager, who has access to staff talent and facilities throughout NBS. Noise pollution is the concern of two groups: the Sound Section of the Mechanics Division and the Applied Acoustics Group in the Building Research Division. A senior expert, Dr. Richard Cook, serving now as a special consultant to the Deputy Director, is planning an integrated and accelerated NBS effort to contribute to the alleviation of noise pollution problems. The final managerial arrangement has not been selected. Water pollution measurement problems are being addressed in several Divisions; coordination is now being effected by the Office of Programs, which coordinates all environmental work at NBS, as described above. Many other NBS activities bear directly on environmental matters through programs or services not explicitly identified. Managers of these activities are sensitive to the high priority to be accorded clients who are using our services in support of pollution research and abatement programs.

There are two major laboratories of NBS: the main laboratory at Gaithersburg, Maryland, with a full-time permanent staff of about 2800, and a laboratory at Boulder, Colorado, with a staff of about 550. Total NBS professional staff with academic degrees is about 1300, distributed by field as shown below under question 2. As mentioned before, research related to environmental quality is scattered in projects over the organization; in all it amounts, in funding, to about 4 percent of the NBS total budget.

An organization chart is attached.