The Consulting Engineer offers:

(1) Legislative assistance in conceptual planning for criteria, standards, enforcement, economic incentives and recognition.

(2) Problem definition: independent from industrial and municipal conflicts of interest.

(3) Economic solutions to the complex air pollution problems with emphasis on optimizing environmental benefits with costs and timing estimates.

(4) Air pollution abatement "turn key" capabilities, from initial problem definition through design, construction management, start-up and operation. (5) A planned investigation which yields benefits to man's health, welfare, and maintains the beauty of his environment and his right to an environment which uplifts his spirit and creativity.

II. A STATUS REPORT ON AIR POLLUTION CONTROL

Some progress can be documented towards the solution of air pollution abatement. Most St. Louis citizens have witnessed during the month of August, a reduction of air pollution in the residential areas over that of a year ago by the elimination of backyard burning. Other accomplishments include:

(1) Increase public awareness brought on by the recent St. Louis air pollution crisis.

(2) Establishment of legislative programs such as the Federal Clean Air Act which provided for the determination of the effects of each type of air contaminant and the designation of air quality control regions.

(3) Further establishment and staffing of the local city and county air pollution commissions.

(4) Air pollution research programs with the cooperation of the U.S. Public Health Service; St. Louis County Health Department; the St. Louis Air Pollution Department; the Missouri Air Conservation Commission; the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce; and concerned industry and citizenry; League of Women Voters; Environmental and Sanitary Engineering graduate program, Washington University; the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Washington University; the Mo. Botanical Gardens; the St. Louis Regional Industrial Development Corporation; the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council; and the Consulting Engineers Council of Missouri.

(5) Establishment of Consulting Engineering firms; equipment and product manufacturing and a whole new business of environment quality control specialization in the pollution abatement industry.

There has been very little done to date to further the air pollution control program in the following areas:

(1) The dollars necessary to implement the present technology.

(2) The designation of ambient air quality criteria.

(3) The establishment of emission standards.

(4) Economic incentives to accomplish these goals.

(5) Enforcement of these air pollution control measures.

(6) The establishment of a comprehensive regional air pollution control plan.

(7) A plan for utilizing the professional talents, technology and expertise available through the Consulting Engineers, the scientists, architects, lawyers, medical doctors, planners, bankers, industrialists and businessmen. (8) The elimination of fragmented authority and approaches through establishment of comprehensive regional planning through centralized authority.

III. FUTURE OBJECTIVES

In summary, to effect an air pollution control program, the Consulting Engineers Council recommends:

(1) Utilize the available engineering technology to solve the existing air pollution problems.

(2) Provide a comprehensive regional plan for air pollution control, and provide the criteria and standards.

(3) Provide monies and realistic resources to implement this pollution control program.

(4) Provide incentives for air quality control regions to qualify for monies and resources under a comprehensive air quality control enforcement program.

(5) Legislate an effective research, evaluation, enforcement, and engineering program for pollution abatement.

(6) Continued support of regional research and evaluation programs provided that these are within the scope of an ongoing engineered master plan. (7) Immediate implementation of engineered air pollution control technology within a framework compatible with ultimate solutions.

STATEMENT OF JAMES ROESCH, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, ILLINOIS CITIZENS' CLEAN AIR LEAGUE

Senator Eagleton, other members of the subcommittee, and staff:

My name is James Roesch. I am executive secretary of the Illinois Citizens' Clean Air League and my office is at 725 South 26th Street in Springfield. This new organization is initially aided by the Illinois Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association, which for many years has been active state-wide.

We are working along with 80 State and local agencies to protect our environment and preserve our wildlife. We want to help all official agencies of Illinois to hold back deterioration of our air, water, and land. Our intention is to provide liaison between these State agencies and the citizens' groups.

One of the best of our affiliates is "The Concerned Citizens for Clean Air and Clean Water," which originated in Chicago. The Campers and Hikers Association, the Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, the League of Women Voters, and the Garden Clubs of Illinois are typical organizations. In Madison, St. Clair and Monroe counties live several of our best members, who have made recommendations toward the air quality standards of the St. Louis Air Quality Control Region.

I am here today primarily to support the testimony of our sister organization, the St. Louis Citizens' Clean Air Committee, which is so ardently working in this region. We agree with its chairman, Mrs. Kerstetter, that the obvious proof of degradation of the air we breathe is the reduced visibility. The distressing obstruction to vision-this semitransparent shroud-is becoming persistent not only in Midwestern air basins, but across the hills and prairies. During the August alert here at St. Louis, a friend told us the smoggy air was observable from aircraft, and offensive to the senses, all the way from Dayton, Ohio, to Lambert Field. Indeed, smog is pervading the entire country from coast to coast.

We trust that the National Air Pollution Control Administration, as part of the procedures under the Air Quality Act of 1967, will hold firmly for the restoration of good visibility in all areas. This means that stringent requirements on particulates are needed. Through coming months of implementation of the air quality standards, we will continue to assert the point that a clear view of the horizon is essential to the enhancement of life and the stability of our society. Gentlemen, we thank you for this opportunity to speak.

GRANITE CITY, ILL., October 24, 1969.

Senator THOMAS EAGLETON,

U.S. Senate,

Washington, D.C.

DEAR SENATOR: I endorse the idea of an Alert Warning System for the St. Louis Metropolitan area. I also favor a much stronger Federal role in the control of air pollution.

The Federal Air Quality Act of 1967 is much too weak. The establishment of pollution limits should not have been left up to the whims of the individual states. A new federal law setting more stringent standards nationwide is required.

I favor a federal law with standards similar to the ones recently proposed by the State of Pennsylvania to HEW. Their recommendation was a maximum standard of 65 micrograms per cubic meter of air for suspended particulates, far below an initial recommendation of 100 micrograms. They also proposed stiffer controls on sulphur dioxide, recommending a limit of .02 parts per million based on average readings over a year. They also proposed tight controls on permissible amounts of sulphur dioxide in the air for 24 hour and one-hour periods. I have to breathe to live. And I want to breathe clean air.

Sincerely yours,

BRITTON K. KNIGHT.

STATEMENT OF MRS. HENRY HAUSCH, A DIRECTOR OF THE METROPOLITAN COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

I am Mrs. Henry Hausch of Crestwood, Missouri, a director of the Metropolitan Council of the League of Women Voters, and Chairman of the Committee on Air Pollution. I am appearing today as spokesman for more than 1600 members organized in six local Leagues in the St. Louis Area: the Leagues of Webster Groves, Kirkwood, University City, North St. Louis County, Central St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis. The League of Women Voters is a volunteer citizens' organization devoting its energies to governmental issues.

You have heard today previous witnesses competent to testify on the technical problems of air pollution and the means for controlling it. By this time, detailed presentations have been made on the medical aspects and the economic factors involved in this complex situation. It is therefore our intention to convey the citizens' sense of urgency concerning the threat to the quality of life in this area. The Leagues in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area of St. Louis and St. Louis County have studied air pollution for several years. The membership has a background on the detrimental effects, a chronology of air pollution control legislation on the local, state and national levels and is informed on the air pollution control codes now applicable to this area. We have interviewed state and local officials charged with the responsibility of enforcing these codes.

It is evident that while pollution is most intense in densely populated, urban areas, weather patterns are not stationary and the pollutants diffuse throughout the atmosphere far from their point of origin. It is therefore of concern to those in different governmental jurisdictions. It must not be economically advantageous for a polluter of the atmosphere to move to an area less stringent in its controls. Therefore the League is for extending the highest possible standards throughout the entire region.

Obviously with the rapidly expanding population in the metropolitan area, the country and the world, and with the consequent activities which pollute the air, controls must be regularly upgraded simply to maintain our current air quality. And this is not enough! Every pressure and incentive must be provided to press individuals and industries to recognize their community responsibility and exert prompt efforts to clean up the air!

Attempts made by the Governors of Illinois and Missouri to negotiate an interstate pact on air pollution control ended in failure in 1967. However, following passage of the Federal Air Quality Act of 1967, the St. Louis metropolitan area was declared part of an air quality control region designated to also include several counties in Illinois. Because the League recognizes that air pollution is no respecter of political boundaries, and must be dealt with on an air shed or regional basis if the problem is to be tackled effectively, we urge continuation of the regional approach when the Federal Air Quality Act authorization expires on June 30, 1970.

We appreciate the opportunity of being heard at this time.

STATEMENT OF MRS. CAROLE LANTER, CO-CHAIRMAN, CITIZENS FOR CLEAN AIR, GRANITE CITY, ILL.

Gentlemen, as a housewife in Granite City I have experienced many severe pollution episodes. There have been many hot summer nights when the air was so heavy with pollutants that we were forced to turn off our window fans and close all the windows and doors. The heat, bad as it was, was not so bad as the stinking, choking air outside. I shudder to think what episodes like this do to our health and to the lungs of our small children.

Two years ago I worked at the Missouri Institute of Psychiatry on Arsenal Street in St. Louis. Often I would drive home to Granite City late at night. 11 or 12 o'clock. Time after time during the cold winter months I would arrive home with burning eyes, runny nose, sneezing continuously, and with a sore throatall the symptoms of a bad cold, except that they always disappeared by the next morning. These attacks always began as I was driving down route 55 on the St. Louis side very late at night, but there was never any visible way to determine where they were coming from as one can see industry on both sides of the Mississippi River. These attacks of discomfort never occurred at any other time on my way to or from work. I am convinced that the awful irritation was due to the increased concentration of pollutants in the air late at night.

When pollutants in the suspended air reach such concentrations as I have described and cause widespread discomfort and inconvenience, and endanger the health of the citizens and inhabitants of the area, then something must be done. The only fair and reasonable answer seems to be to call a temporary halt to the flow of pollutants into the air, by enforcing an Alert Warning System which would be federally controlled, and which would benefit all the people in the particular air quality region in which they reside.

(Thereupon, the hearing was adjourned at 6 p.m.) (Appendixes follow.)