COX Newspapers Washington Bureau

Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2006 > October > 30

Monday, October 30, 2006

EPA Closes Principal EPA Chemical Library

By Rebecca Carr | Monday, October 30, 2006, 12:06 PM

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has closed its principal library for researching the effects and properties of chemicals.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) strongly opposes the closure, saying it will undermine the ability of researchers to reveal chemical hazards in the future. There are some 1,700 new chemicals introduced each year.

“Without this research assistance, EPA scientists have fewer resources to conduct thorough analyses on hundreds of new chemicals for which companies are clamoring for agency approval to launch each year into the mainstream of American commerce,” said Jeff Ruch, director of PEER.

The EPA says the materials will still be available

“The EPA is committed to ensuring unique library materials are available to the general public, the scientific community, the legal community and other organizations,� spokesperson Suzanne Ackerman wrote in an e-mail statement.

Physical holdings of the Office of Prevention, Pollution, and Toxic Substances library will be made available on-line, Ackerman said. Other services will be made available electronically, she said.

Typically, data used in the new chemicals program is considered confidential business information and is subject to sensitive data access restrictions, Ackerman said. This data will continue to be available to EPA scientists through internal mechanisms.

Citing budget pressures, EPA has closed several of its regional libraries across the country.

“EPA’s hasty, buzz saw slashing at its library network is now interfering with its mission of harnessing the best available science to protect human health and the environment,” said Ruch, noting that Congress has yet to approve EPA’s actions. “Given the tremendous public health risks, this is absolutely the last place EPA should be cutting.”

Permalink | | Categories: Washington

White House movie night

By Ken Herman | Monday, October 30, 2006, 09:58 AM

It was dinner and a movie Sunday night at the White House. (Trivia du jour: First feature-length movie screened in the White House? “Birth of a Nation” in 1915 while Woodrow Wilson, first southern-born president after the Civil War, lived at 1600 Penn.)

Here’s what they saw, what they ate and who was there:

What they saw: “Children of Glory,” the first Hungarian film shown at the White House, recounts Soviet suppression during the 1956 Hungarian revolution. The film centers on the semi-final water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union at the Melbourne Youth Olympics in December 1956. (Stop reading here if you don’t know want to know the outcome). Hungary went on to win the gold medal.

What they ate: After an “early harvest salad” (avocados, grape tomatoes and maytag blue cheese tartlettes) and toasted couscous, the movie-goers enjoyed miniature veal schnitzel with lemon caper butter or hot smoked salmon on potato pancakes with chive sour cream. Dessert choices were warm apple cake, cinnamon ice cream and “chocolate movie ticket.”

Who was there: The president, Mrs. President and lots of folks, including Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and date (his mother Stacy), actor Tony Curtis and wife Jill Ann, Hungarian-American Coalition President George Dozsa and wife Matilda B., U.S. Ambassador to Hungary April Foley, New York Gov. George Pataki and wife Elizabeth, tennis pro Monica Seles and her mom Efter, Hungarian Ambassador Andres Simonyi and wife Nada P., and several other current and former Hungarian officials.

Permalink | |