InSites is a quarterly newsletter that highlights the personalities and projects of the Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI) of The University of Tennessee. WMREI is an affiliate of the EERC.
WMREI was created in 1985 as a state-funded Center of Excellence. Research areas include solid-, hazardous-, and nuclear-waste management; waste minimization; and pollution prevention.
Biotechnology is the focal point of the institute's technical research, while issues involving public attitudes and federal/state policies related to waste-management issues are the primary concerns of the institute's policy research.
For additional information about InSites, or to be added to our mailing list, please write InSites, WMREI, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, call 865-974-1156, or fax 865-974-1838. Or, if you prefer, email us.
Table of Contents
REGIONAL ORGANIZATION Champions CLEAN AIR, By Kris Christen
Fulbright Program Advances Environmental Protection in the Aegean, By JACK
BARKENBUS
International Conferences Reveal Growth in Microbiological Research,
By GARY SAYLER
REGIONAL ORGANIZATION
Champions CLEAN AIR
ast Tennessee suffers from some of the worst air quality in the country, and
in 2004 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared multiple counties
in the region in noncompliance with federal clean-air regulations for ozone
and fine particulate matter.
The problem stems from a variety of pollution sources small and large, mobile and stationary, and near and far, and getting a handle on them is going to require some tough measures from local and state governments, as well as area residents.
That’s where the Regional Clean Air Coalition (RCAC) comes in, and researchers from the University of Tennessee’s (UT) Energy, Environment and Resources Center (EERC) are playing a key role.
RCAC was born out of the Nine Counties, One Vision initiative, which was launched in 2000 to spur economic, environmental, and social progress in the nine-county region that makes up the heart of East Tennessee, says Jean Peretz, an EERC research leader and an RCAC board member. Participants identified air and water as issues of special concern, and task forces were set up to deal with them.
“When we realized the area was going to be designated for failing to attain federal clean-air regulations,” Peretz notes, “air-quality matters grew in significance.” Mayors from 11 East Tennessee counties, led by Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, responded by creating the RCAC in 2003 and agreeing to coordinate their efforts on improving air quality.
“Every one of these mayors is either threatened by or under some form of EPA nonattainment designation,” says Mike Arms, Mayor Ragsdale’s chief of staff and RCAC board member.
Air quality is slowly improving by a number of measures, but progress isn’t occurring as fast as some had hoped, acknowledges RCAC board member Jonathan Overly, who serves as an EERC research associate and executive director of the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition. “It’s important to remember that air pollution is a problem that took awhile to create,” says Overly, “and it won’t be solved over night.”
DOUBLE WHAMMY
Nestled between the Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland Plateau, the region’s
topography allows air pollutants to blow in from elsewhere and collect in
the Tennessee Valley, unable to disperse over the mountains, Peretz explains.
Added to that are the three major interstates that run through the region,
allowing vast numbers of big rigs to rumble past daily.
As a consequence, the Knox County region experiences high amounts of ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter, especially during the summer months, according to the RCAC. In 2004, the American Lung Association ranked Knoxville and the surrounding region among the top 12 metropolitan areas nationwide with the worst ozone and particulate pollution.
Ozone and some particles form when the warm sun reacts with pollutants emitted when fuel is burned in vehicles, lawn equipment, power plants, and industrial operations. Other particles are emitted directly into the air from vehicles, factories, construction, farming operations, quarrying, and burning.
These pollutants are a major source of haze that reduces visibility, particularly in the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), which the National Parks Conservation Association has ranked as one of the most polluted national parks in the country. Since 1948, average visibility in the southern Appalachians has decreased 40 percent in winter and 80 percent in summer, according to the National Park Service. The air pollution is also harming vegetation, contributing to acid rain, and causing respiratory problems.
Fine particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers, or smaller than the width of a human hair, is of special concern because it has been associated with serious health effects, says RCAC board member Lynne Liddington, director of Knox County’s Air Quality Management Office. Such particles are so small that they can become lodged deep in people’s lungs and may even enter the bloodstream, causing aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, and premature death.
LOCAL SOURCES
Despite the fact that East Tennessee serves as a major transportation corridor
for the eastern seaboard, a big portion of the region’s air pollution is homegrown.
Coal-fired power plants such as those operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a major public utility, for example, are by far the biggest source of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, a key precursor to particulate pollution, haze, and acid rain, says Jim Renfro, chief of the Air-quality Branch of GSMNP and RCAC board member.
As much as 82 percent of the sulfate measured at the Look Rock air-quality monitoring station in GSMNP comes from the SO2 emitted in southeastern states, he adds. But when the focus changes to nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, a major precursor to ozone, almost 60 percent is coming from the transportation sector, Overly explains. And this pollutant source has not seen as much scrutiny as other pollution sources in regional efforts to improve air quality.
“The tendency has been to blame TVA or industry in general, but transportation is a major component, and that’s the contribution that all of us make to compromised air quality,” Peretz says.
Although the region is heavily affected by the interstates and dirty diesel fuels, that doesn’t eliminate passenger cars, and area residents are driving more miles every year. “Until we get that point across, we’re going to have problems,” Peretz adds, “because this is a lifestyle choice, and we’re going either to have to reduce the miles we travel or look at alternative transportation measures.”
This fact has not been lost on area businesses, which stand to lose the most as a result of EPA’s air-quality nonattainment designation. New industrial facilities will face more intense reviews to locate in the region, and EPA will also require emissions from new facilities or expansions of existing facilities to be offset by reductions from other industrial facilities in the area.
The Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership reports that although industry accounts for only 15–20 percent of emission sources, this sector receives most of EPA’s regulatory focus. Moreover, new federal regulations on emissions from diesel engines are expected to reduce particle emissions by 90 percent over the next several years, while little effort has been undertaken to reduce passenger car emissions, the chamber partnership points out.
Indeed, Liddington admits, “when the issue of nonattainment came up, it was scary, because we knew we had no quick fixes.” Industrial emissions are already regulated, and there are not that many of them, she notes.
“TVA was the source of a lot of our problems through the years, but they’ve really stepped up to the plate to curb their NOx and SO2 emissions and are now putting on controls earlier than the law requires,” Liddington adds.
In fact, TVA is spending nearly $1 million daily to reduce emissions from its coal-fired power plants, according to the utility. TVA’s program of installing smokestack scrubbers, low NOx burners, and other equipment has helped to dramatically reduce its emissions—both SO2 and NOx by 78 percent during the summer ozone season. By the end of the decade, TVA expects to reduce SO2 emissions by 85 percent and year-round NOx emissions by 75 percent.
REGION-WIDE EFFORT
A number of federal measures designed to improve air quality are already being
implemented, and now it’s up to local officials to develop further improvements,
Peretz notes.
By law, nonattainment areas must submit implementation plans to EPA, demonstrating how they will meet cleanair standards. For ozone, plans are due in 2007, with attainment required in 2009. For fine particulate matter, plans are due in 2008, with attainment required between 2010–2015.
RCAC has devised a list of various control strategies, a number of which local agencies have already adopted. Others will take more time.
“There’s no silver bullet to this total nonattainment issue,” Arms notes. “It’s a matter of putting together a lot of smaller solutions and educating the public on the importance not only of health issues associated with nonattainment, but actions individuals can take when we have poor air-quality days.”
So far, the biggest measure adopted has been the lowering of heavy-duty truck speed limits to 55, and passenger vehicles to 65, which will take effect this fall, according to RCAC board member Fred Frank, a transportation planner for the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO). “Such measures could have significant impacts on emissions,” Peretz says.
Other measures in place in Knox County and other surrounding areas include controls at fueling stations to prevent fuel vapors from escaping, anti-idling programs, and a prohibition on open burning on days with poor air quality.
TPO also boasts a project to alleviate congestion at intersections by adding turning lanes and synchronizing traffic lights. “This gets the traffic to flow more evenly instead of stop and go all the time, which helps to improve air quality,” Frank says.
Additionally, Knox County is looking at expanding transportation options that don’t involve people driving their own cars, Overly says. One of these is the Smart Trips program run by TPO, which works with area employers to encourage car and van pooling to work. Another is better utilization of Knoxville Area Transit, the city’s public transportation system, which runs on cleaner, alternative fuels (see sidebar). Passengers now ride free on days when air-quality forecasts predict high levels of ozone or particulate matter.
Public education and outreach represent another major focus, according to Peretz, who co-chairs RCAC’s education committee. The group works with UT’s Extension to incorporate information about air quality into curricula and teaching materials delivered to schools in all the RCAC counties. Likewise, they send information on air-quality forecasting to area chambers of commerce to assist businesses in alerting their employees and taking steps to reduce emissions on bad air days.
The Knox County Air Quality Management division also recently entered a partnership with the county’s Health Department to form an active-living coalition to support smarter growth and address air pollution and the area’s high obesity rate, according to Liddington. “We need to change the way communities are developed, so people don’t have to drive to get anywhere,” she explains. “We can clean up our air now and do things to bring the area back into compliance, but because we’re growing so fast, those problems are going to come back unless we look at long-term fixes.”
* * *
Contact Jean Peretz, EERC, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, call 865-974-3803, or e-mail speretz@utk.edu. Also see: http://www.etnrcac.org.
Fulbright Program Advances
Environmental Protection in the Aegean - BY JACK BARKENBUS
As this UT Fulbright Fellow discovers, scholars and nongovernmental
organizations play an important role in bringing environmental
stewardship to Greece and Turkey.
I RECENTLY SPENT THREE MONTHS ABROAD in Greece and Turkey under the auspices
of a Fulbright exchange program titled the Aegean Initiative. The initiative
seeks to bring Greek and Turkish scholars and experts together in a seminar
setting to discuss common interests and possible new collaborative undertakings.
When applying for the fellowship, I proposed sustainable development as the topic for discussion. The U.S. Fulbright program agreed that this would serve as an appropriate and lively topic. Only upon arriving in Greece, and later Turkey, did I realize that sustainable development is still in its infancy in this part of the world and that very few people and institutions are devoted to it.
There are relatively few large, privately owned manufacturing enterprises in Greece, the kind that could advocate convincingly for sustainable development. Turkey, on the other hand, has several large enterprises—and even has a branch of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development—but they are currently more in a learning mode than a leadership phase.
Sustainability’s Environmental ‘Leg’
Based on the fledgling nature of the Aegean’s sustainability efforts, I quickly
jettisoned my hopes of bringing sustainable development programs and proponents
together. Instead I focused on the environmental “leg” that supports sustainable
development.
Both countries have achieved considerable environmental improvement over the past 25 years, but economic growth and growing population (at least in Turkey) are putting severe pressures on the natural environment. Both countries burn low-grade lignite to produce much of their electricity, and this contributes to air pollution and greenhouse- gas accumulation in the atmosphere. Greece is bound by the Kyoto Protocol, and, according to European Union (EU) directives, is allowed to increase its greenhouse-gas emissions 25 percent over 1990 levels through 2010. Unfortunately, it has already exceeded that amount and is adding to the total yearly. Turkey, though not bound by the Kyoto Protocol, is also increasing its greenhouse-gas emissions. Many scholars and organizations in both countries are working to reverse these trends.
As they strive to control greenhousegas emissions, Turkey and Greece are also building up their environmental protection capabilities, and the EU is playing a central role in this progress. As a member of the European Union since 1981, Greece must comply with all directives, regulations, and decisions emanating from the European Commission. Though environmental protection was not originally conceived as a major functional arena for the EU, it has since become a major thrust.
Environmental protection is now widely acknowledged to be a topic area where the EU has gained primacy over nation-states in the promulgation of laws and regulations. There are roughly 300 legal acts that EU countries are now obliged to implement in the environmental arena alone. EU regulations are estimated to represent roughly 95 percent of Greece’s environmental legal canon.
Scholars and NGOs
Many Greek and Turkish academics are full contributing members of the epistemological
network covering the environment and Europe. As such, they serve on any number
of committees and maintain full and busy travel schedules. Turkey is not yet
a member of the EU but wants to be, and accession talks are scheduled to begin
in late 2005. The costs to Turkey of fulfilling EU environmental mandates,
if admittedto the EU, are estimated to be no less than 60 billion Euros (75
billion US dollars).
Another development in each country is the formation of environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In addition to their environmental efforts, these NGOs play a pioneering role in fostering democratic dialogue.
I was fortunate to make contact with two comparable NGOs: the Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association (TURMEPA) and the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA). Both organizations receive financial support from private resources, and both have strong, youthbased programs, working with children ages five-13. The programs involve classroom instruction on the protection of the marine environment combined with outside- of-the-classroom experiences, such as beach cleanup and other activities.
HELMEPA and TURMEPA youth joined forces in 2004 jointly to clean up beaches first on a Greek island and later on the Turkish seashore. Both the environment and inter-governmental relationships were winners through these activities. The more Turkish and Greek youth engage in these joint, volunteer programs, the less enmity there will be between citizens of both countries.
Coastal Cleanup
A clean coastal environment is essential to both countries, not only for environmental
protection but also for commercial prosperity. Ninety percent of Greece’s
substantial tourist trade has a coastal destination. Tourists to Turkey may
not match this number, but coastal areas are still a primary attraction for
the bulk of tourists coming from Europe, the United States, and Russia.
Coastal areas are attractive not only to tourists but also to native populations. Roughly 85 percent of Greece’s population resides within 50 kilometers of the seashore, and over 50 percent of Turkey’s population lives in coastal provinces. Growing urbanization and tourism along the coastlines produce pressures that threaten to degrade environmental quality. It is quite appropriate, therefore, for TURMEPA and HELMEPA to target these areas for special attention.
Under the auspices of the Aegean Initiative, I was able
to get leaders from both organizations together with academics for a one-day
seminar on May 17 in Istanbul. Through the meeting, we sought to identify
other activities HELMEPA and TURMEPA might undertake consistent with their
youtheducation missions. Together, we discussed and evaluated such activities
as water-quality monitoring and hands-on ecological education. Also discussed
was the possibility of assisting groups in other countries in creating their
own “MEPA” programs—particularly in the Black Sea area. A summary of the meeting
has been produced and it can be found, with PowerPoint presentations from
the meeting, at Turkey and the EU When new political leadership came into power in Turkey
a few years ago, however, it made incorporation within the EU its top national
priority. EU leadership, in turn, made it clear that Turkey would have to
make significant political changes simply for accession talks to begin. Foremost,
Turkey was expected to fulfill the requirements of the “Copenhagen criteria”
to qualify for accession. These criteria (essentially the requirements for
membership in the EU) include: Much to the surprise of many, Turkish lawmakers addressed
the criteria with a vengeance. Fully one-third of the Turkish constitution
was changed to incorporate features consistent with and supportive of the
Copenhagen criteria. As a result, EU leaders agreed to open talks with Turkey
on accession as noted earlier.
No one believes that these talks will go smoothly or quickly.
The earliest Turkey could join the EU is likely a decade from now, and there
are plenty of potential roadblocks that could derail the nation’s inclusion.
There is a significant percentage of Europeans who do not want to see Turkey
admitted to the union. At the same time, a significant number of Turks do
not want their nation to join the union.
Unfortunately, we in the United States hear or read relatively
little about the amazing democratic institution building that is taking place
abroad through the expansion of the EU to 25 nations. Just last year, the
EU admitted 10 new countries, many of which are former communist societies
from central Europe.
These countries had to incorporate the Copenhagen criteria
into the fabric of their societies, and they are in the process of adopting
the body of law and regulation that governs all EU countries. These countries
are taking real measures to bring their environmental profiles up to EU standards,
but equally, if not more important, they are building societies that can fit
quite comfortably within a democratic community of nations committed to peace
in the future.
*
* * Jack Barkenbus is executive director
of the University of Tennessee’s (UT) Energy, Environment and Resources Center
and policy director for UT’s Waste Management Research and Education Institute.. International Conferences Reveal Growth in Microbiological
Research - BY GARY SAYLER THIS SUMMER, I PARTICIPATED IN THREE international meetings, each of which
explored the dissemination of molecular and systems biology research in environmental
monitoring, assessment, and protection.
“MicroEnGen II,” the second meeting of the Scientific Committee on Problems
of the Environment (SCOPE) on microbial environmental genomics, convened in
Shanghai China, June 12-15. The International Union of Microbiological Societies
(IUMS) met in San Francisco, July 23-29. And “Engineering Sciences for Space
Exploration” was held in Les Diableret, Switzerland, August 21-26.
The latter meeting was organized by Gordon Research Conferences, which provides
an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research
in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences and their related technologies.
The common thread among these conferences and workshops is the fusion of
advanced bio-molecular technology, bioinformatics (creation and maintenance
of databases of biological information), and computational sciences for real-time
environmental monitoring of hazardous chemical and biological agents. These
meetings also explored the role of science in optimizing and exploiting the
biological complexity and dynamics of the natural environment.
Zero-G Laboratory To date, the bulk of zero- and lowgravity experimentation has been achieved
by using parabolic flight patterns on KC 135 Stratotankers. These planes,
also known as reduced gravity research aircraft, or “vomit comets,” fly in
parabolic arcs, producing only 20 to 25 seconds of near-zero gravity during
each arc.
Though these planes have made a considerable contribution to preparing future
astronauts for life in zero gravity, the challenge remains to obtain and process
samples in an environment virtually devoid of gravity and for sustained periods
of time.
Using the KC 135, simple processes such as aeration, mixing, and heat transfer
require unusual efforts and are often sacrificial with respect to cost, weight,
physical size, power consumption, and versatility.
Among other challenges, the scientists at the conference focused to some
extent on new bio-molecular approaches to solving these problems for possible
applications in the International Space Station and missions to colonize the
Moon and Mars.
Perhaps of larger concern to the gathering was the recent announcement of
NASA’s new objectives, which favor new launch systems and increased hauling
capacity over research for manned space missions.
Several NASA program managers scheduled to attend this meeting were “no shows,”
partly as a result of this putative restructuring. Currently employed researchers
devoted to science of manned space missions are unlikely to be out of work
immediately. Nevertheless, NASA’s apparent short-sightedness in truncating
support for future research in the life and environmental sciences in favor
of increasing lift-capacity weighed heavily on both U.S. and European scientist
and engineers present at the conference.
Meanwhile, some collaborative international programs are already on the chopping
block. Consider, for instance, that Utah State University’s Space Dynamic
Program recently lost a $30- million appropriation for a joint Russian satellite
effort.
Nanotechnology’s Impact I served as symposium co-organizer at the IUMS meeting and a presenter on
the topic of “Sensing Microbial Targets: Biosensors and Nanotechnology.”
Microbiological assays and devices are beginning to move from the research
lab into the commercial market, particularly in the field of pharmaceuticals.
Many of these assays represent fundamental advances in the attempts to embrace
new nanotechnology and nanomaterials to improve speed, sensitivity, throughput,
and robustness of biosensor technology using organisms ranging from bacteria
to human T lymphocytes.
U.S. and international academic institutions along with for-profit and nonprofit
research centers are developing intellectual property and devices (at a prototype
level) that may be broadly applied to environmental monitoring as it pertains
to homeland security.
While the infusion of nanotechnology strategies into biosensing is in its
infancy, it is clear that there are many opportunities— and unknown problems—associated
with building biosensor systems for detecting explosives, nerve agents, and
pathogens used by terrorists. These same technologies can also be used for
studying drugs, therapeutic agents, and infectious disease organisms.
Shang Hai-Tech The Shanghai meeting was well attended by Chinese scientists, particularly
from the host institution, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. China has made significant
commitments to modern molecular biology in terms of training young scientist,
both at home and abroad, and in providing instrumentation for advanced molecular
biological research.
China has made major advances in human genome sequencing and genomic analysis
of rice and cotton and is moving forward in stem cell research, yet its rivers,
estuaries, and air are significantly polluted. Fortunately, China has the
capacity and awareness to begin to address these environmental problems. In
fact, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has identified a number of major polluters
of the Huangpu River (one of the busiest port rivers in the world), and Shanghai
is instituting rudimentary curbs on discharges, which have already resulted
in visibly improved water quality.
This is only a modest beginning for one of the world’s giant cities (nearly
20 million persons), but China has the direction, science, and engineering
manpower to pursue both basic and advanced environmental assessment and pollution
control.
During the course of the meeting, it was mentioned that many Chinese expatriates
are returning home to capitalize on broad opportunities and career growth
in science and technology. This includes those who are both technically well
trained and potentially entrepreneurially inclined for new start-ups in the
environmental services sector. Shanghai is a large, robust city as dynamic
as New York City and more than twice its size.
Shanghai prides itself on excellent highways and public transportation, great
architecture and available commercial space, massive manufacturing and assembly
capacity, and a no-nonsense business attitude.
The 8-to-1 Yuan to the U.S. dollar exchange rate, a plethora of excellent
restaurants, shopping, culture, and friendly natives make Shanghai a tourist
Mecca. These characteristics also give one an uncomfortable feeling that here
are a people, a city, and a country ready to muscle their way onto center
stage, and no one should get in the way.
A taxi driver’s navigational error gave me an eye-popping detour through
several miles of a development district with millions upon millions of square
feet of space devoted to manufacturing and assembly. While these and similar
facilities are obvious contributors to Shanghai’s environmental problems,
they also help explain the massive expansion of China’s GDP.
Global Environmental Science Collectively these meeting are indicative of
the diverse environmental areas in which modern molecular technology and bioinformatic
analysis can be creatively applied. There is a willingness, perhaps even an
outright eagerness, to apply this advanced technology to the environment as
“omic tools” (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics).
These tools can help us understand who or what is active and functioning
in the environment, and that information can help us better understand and
control processes and create sensor systems to evaluate environmental threats.
There are clear interests in developing some of these “omic”-derived sensors
for commercial markets, most notably in controlling terrorism and advancing
medicine. From a U.S. science perspective it seems clear, however, that other
countries—both European and Asian— may be better prepared than we are to marshal
the resources to capitalize on these technologies for environmental assessment
and protection.
*
* * Gary Sayler, a distinguished professor in
microbiology, is director of the University
of Tennessee’s (UT) Waste Management
Research and Education Institute and
UT’s Center for Environmental Biotechnology.
Quite apart from the primary focus of the Aegean Initiative, I was fascinated
with the political changes taking place in Turkey. As recently as the beginning
of this new decade, few held out hope that Turkey would find a place within
the expanding EU, given its fractious political life and questionable dedication
to democratic norms.
•Demonstration of a stable and institutionalized democracy.
•Respect for human rights.
•Adherence to the rule of law.
•Protection of minorities.
•Freedom of the press.
Scientific gatherings in Europe, Asia, and the United States spur an
exchange of knowledge that may help us better understand and manage
environments ranging from Earth systems to deep space.
At the Les Diableret Gordon Conference, attended by dedicated scientists from
NASA and funded researchers from the European Space Agency, I acted as a discussion
leader on environmental monitoring, which tied into the conference’s overarching
theme of advanced monitoring of human life-support and environmental systems
at zero and low gravity.
The International Union of Microbiological Societies meeting in San Francisco
marked an attempt to share information globally on nanotechnology’s impact
on biosensing and bio-micro-electronic monitoring for applications ranging
from healthcare to national security.
The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) gathering
in Shanghai marked SCOPE’s second meeting on microbial genomics, the first
being held in Wageningen, Netherlands, in 2004. These meetings seek to catalyze
international collaboration in genomicrelated analysis of microbes. They also
explore, broadly, methods to evaluate the structure, function, and activity
of microorganisms in natural environments. At the meeting, I delivered the
opening keynote address, titled “Functionalizing Genomics for Environmental
Assessment and Monitoring.”
