Impact statements

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LETTERS Coal research Dear Sir: Nominations are solicited for the 1978 Henry H. Storch Award In Coal Research. Administered by the Division of Fuel Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, this Award is given annually to a citizen of the United States who has contributed most to fundamental or engineering research on the chemistry and utilization of coal or related materials in the preceding five years. The award consists of a plaque and an honorarium of $500. Nomination blanks may be obtained from Dr. G. Alex Mills, Department of Energy, 20 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20545. Nominations should be submitted by the end of February 1978. G . Alex Mills

Chairman, Storch Award Committee of 1978 Impact statements Dear Sir: In a recent issue, an article (ES&T, October 1977, p 952) indicated that past Environmental Impact

Statements (EIS’s) could not be found without a “wild agency-to-agency goosechase.” Region V of the U S . Environmental Protection Agency (which includes the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) has a simple method of locating past EIS’s. We have large, permanent maps of each State, on which pins have been placed to indicate the location of a project that is the subject of an EIS. I conceived of this system in 1971, when our EIS review staff included only two people. It was the only method that could be developed at that time to keep track of all EIS’s within Region V without the aid of computers. The pins are sequentially numbered, and all of the pins used in one year are the same color. Numbers are used to indicate the order in which the draft EIS’s were received. Thus, the existence of any past EIS in an area can be determined with a glance. The number and year can be easily found in our project logs, which briefly indicate

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York Research Corporation

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One Research Drive, Stamford, Connecticut 06906 Telephone: (2031325-1371 TWX. 710-474-3947 7100 N Broadway, Building 3A. Denver, Colorado 80221 Telephone: (3031426-1582 TWX: 910-938-0391

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Environmental Science & Technology

each project’s full file number, name, the responsible agency, pertinent dates, and EPA’s classification of the project and the EIS. When we know the full file number, we can locate the file on any project within minutes. Depending on the project, one can occasionally bypass the log and go directly to the files with a partial project number. The system has worked well since its inception. Not only can it eliminate a lot of EIS preparation background and baseline duplication, but it can serve to inform other State and Federal agencies of nearby projects that may have environmental effects, some of which can be conflicting. It would be possible to photograph periodically four or five sections of each map in color and publish these exhibits once a year or less with a key to the pin color and number and tabulation of project descriptions in such a form that would be useful to the general public, other State and Federal agencies, environmental organizations, and consulting firms. Robert L. Kay, Jr. EPA, Region V Chicago, Ill. 60604

Trademark Dear Sir:#Wewish to refer to the article concerning “Wet Scrubbing of Fly Ash and SOz” (ES&T, November 1977, p 1054). In the illustration of the Sherco Plant Wet Scrubber System, we note a reference to a Demisterm section. This may or may not be an accurate reference since the word is a registered trademark of our company because of its mesh mist eliminators and entrainment separators. In this illustration, the word is used in a generic sense, and we wish to point out that such use is incorrect. We are sure you are familiar with the necessity to protect trademarks, and request that if you wish to use the word, it should be given the trademark registration. Beyond that, may we say that the article was very interesting and obviously very well prepared. William D. Matthews,

Vice President Otto H. York Company, Inc. Parsippany, N.J. 07054 Correction-trillion, not million In the January 1978 issue it was stated (p 22) that Montana lieutenant governor Ted Schwinden said, “In excess of 1.5 million tons of coal are estimated to lie within the Northern Great Plains Region.” The number should have been 1.5 trillion tons of coal.