tion on the occurrence and effects of various pollutants 

 and on technical means for reducing or mitigating their 

 occurrence and effects will continue to be needed. Addi- 

 tionally, refinement of the analytical tools for weighing 

 costs and benefits of alternative regulatory strategies will 

 be required to implement the President's February 17, 

 1981, Executive Order requiring that all Federal environ- 

 mental, health, and safety regulations be justified by 

 assessing costs and benefits (p. 65). 



nonpoint sources , which account for more than half of the 

 pollutants that enter U.S. waters, is a much more complex 

 problem whose solution is not yet in sight. Additional 

 research is needed on the environmental and health effects 

 of potentially toxic water pollutants to rationalize existing 

 effluent limitation regulations. Research aimed at im- 

 proved techniques for monitoring water pollution levels 

 and for reducing the costs of treating polluted water 

 should also be pressed (pp. 67-68). 



AIR QUALITY 



There is a high-priority need for better information about 

 the relationships between fossil fuel use, particularly coal 

 combustion, and the long-term global climatic effects of 

 increased carbon dioxide concentrations. That informa- 

 tion will be vital for long-range energy planning. Some 

 progress has been made in controlling the industrial emis- 

 sions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides that can lead to acid 

 precipitation. Continued efforts should be directed toward 

 the identification, control, and monitoring of those emis- 

 sions, and to their atmospheric transport mechanisms, 

 chemical transformations, and environmental and health 

 effects (pp. 65-66). Additionally, continued efforts should 

 be focused on the occurrence, transport mechanisms, and 

 health effects of atmospheric particulates, especially air- 

 borne carcinogens (p. 68). 



TOXIC WASTES 



While several promising technologies for handling toxic 

 substance spills are emerging, including dispersant agents 

 and new bacterial substances used as cleanup agents, the 

 development of more effective technologies to detect, 

 contain, and mitigate the effects of oil and hazardous 

 chemical spills is badly needed. Also needed are better 

 means for transporting, storing, treating, and disposing of 

 the 57 million metric tons of hazardous, nonnuclear 

 wastes produced annually in the United States, and re- 

 medial action at the country's 2,000 existing problem 

 disposal sites is an obvious high priority. The hazardous 

 waste disposal problem is being mitigated somewhat by 

 processes that reduce the quantity of wastes at the point of 

 origin and that remove or recover hazardous materials 

 from waste streams during disposal operations (pp. 

 66-67). 



WATER QUALITY 



The technology-based uniform national standards ap- 

 proach to controlling municipal and industrial water pol- 

 lution is expected to achieve marked improvements in 

 point source control, although additional information 

 about the contamination of ground water from those and 

 other sources is needed. The control of emissions fiom 



TRANSPORTATION 



During the next 20 years, per capita passenger transporta- 

 tion capacity requirements in the United States are ex- 

 pected to increase at an average rate of 2 percent per year 

 and those for freight transportation at VA percent per year. 

 While those growth rates are smaller than m the past 

 quarter century, they are still substantial and will require 

 the implementation of new technologies to mitigate a 

 variety of constraints on the growth of the national trans- 

 portation system (p. 69). 



CARRYING CAPACITIES 



The entire U.S. transportation system may begin to en- 

 counter limits on its carrying capacity during the next 5 

 years. Such emerging technological developments as 

 ramp metering signalization for highways could aid in 

 reducing highway congestion and improving safety. Cur- 

 rent developments in advanced air traffic control, which 

 can automate decisionmaking, should help alleviate in- 

 creasing limitations on airport capacity and improve the 

 productivity of the U.S. commercial air transportation 

 system (p. 69-70). 



The anticipated increase in the use of coal during the 

 next decade will require a considerable expansion in the 

 carrying capacity of western and eastern railroads if they 

 are to serve as the primary distribution system for domes- 

 tic coal. Slurry pipelines offer an attractive distribution 

 alternative for distances up to 300 miles, and current 

 research on the flow behavior of coal-water mixtures 

 could lead to significant improvements in this coal trans- 

 portation mode (pp. 69-70). 



ENERGY EFHCIENCY 



Because transportation accounts for 25 percent of U.S. 

 energy consumption, anticipated future constraints on 

 fuel availability will require increased efficiencies in that 

 sector During the next 5 years, the greatest energy effi- 

 ciency improvements are expected to occur in auto- 

 mobiles and commercial aircraft. Conventional gasoline 

 and diesel engines are expected to be more efficient by the 



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