USA Control for Hazardous Wastes

At the beginning of January, Jimmy Carter approved a national policy to Control the Export of Hazardous Products by American companies. (See also Environmental Policy and Law, 6 (2) 1980, p. 96).

cribing all actions by US agencies that ban or restrict hazardous substances; 3) the order directs US agencies to encourage international cooperation in shaping a worldwide alert scheme and an international notification system.

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The Executive order has four main features: 1) it creates a single "hazard notifica- tion scheme" by which the Department of State will warn foreign governments of restrictions or bans on certain Amer- ican products; 2) the government will augment these notices with an annual publication des-

Courtesy: The Philadelphia Inquirer

(The US is involved in United Nations discussions to set up such a warning mechanism); 4) a procedure is to be established by which a government task force would list, and possibly ban the export of a very small number of especially hazar- dous substances. These are to go on to a "commodity control list" and will

Federal Aid for Endangered Species Conservation programmes for endan-

gered and threatened species in 38 States and Territories have been helped by $4 million in matching Federal grants for fiscal year 1981, the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in February. How- ever, the amount is $1 million less than was available for fiscal year 1980.

Since the cooperative State-Federal programme began in 1976, $22,233,000 have been made available to participat- ing States to identify, protect, and conduct research on plants and animals that face the possible threat of extinc- tion. A second allocation will be made later this year.

To qualify for grants under the Endangered Species Act, States must enter into a formal cooperative agree-

ment, demonstrating that they 1) have the legal authority to conserve and pro- tect endangered species, 2) have es- tablished acceptable programmes, 3) are authorized to conduct investigations and establish recovery plans, and 4) have provided for public participation in the designation of species as endan- gered or threatened. Allocations are based on State requests for specific projects, with the Federal Government funding 67 per cent of the costs and the States paying 33 per cent. The Federal share is increased to 75 per cent, when two or more States cooperate in work on a single species, such as the bald eagle. In all, 151 Federal or State-listed endangered or threatened animals and plants are now benefitting from the programme. []

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require special export licenses from the government.

All the order can be said to do is to ensure that importing countries, many of which are in the third world, are aware of the risks involved in the pro- ducts they import. For even if a product does appear on the "control list", a country may still import it so long as it acknowledges the risks involved. In ad- dition, there is a very big hole in the scheme which allows American com- panies to build factories overseas to manufacture products banned or strictly controlled in the US. These products include asbestos textiles, vinyl chloride and pesticides. []

New Cleanup Legislation

In one of his last acts as President, Jimmy Carter signed legislation that will provide $1.6 billion for the cleanup of toxic waste disposal sites such as the Love Canal in New York and the Valley of the Drums in Kentucky.

The new law authorizes the govern- ment to recover costs from companies found responsible for dumps and spills. A total of $1.38 billion will be financed by industry through a series of levies applied to oil, feed grain and some other substances. []

Japan Convention Ratified

Although Japan signed the Conven- tion on International Trade in Endan- gered Species in 1973, the government has only recently ratified it.

The latest ordinance will prohibit the importation of 420 endangered species of plants, animals and their pelts. The ban includes imports of rhinoceros horn, ivory, albatrosses, Indian elephants and tiger skins (see also p. 76). []

Ireland More Nature Reserves

Six nature reserves were recently set up in the country and the areas in which hunting is forbidden have been enlarged by the creation of two wildfowl sanc- tuaries.

In preparation for the ratification of the Berne Convention, 52 species of flora were designated protected species on 5 November 1980. Among the 52 is the only Irish species appearing on the Convention list - Limonium paradoxum.

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Environmental Policy and Law, 7 (1981)