The Pacific Marine and Supply Company

Letter from Al Gore, Re: Senator Inouye's letter

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
WASHINGTON

February 21, 1996

The Honorable Carol Browner
Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460

Dear Carol:

Enclosed you will find a letter I received from Senator Inouye concerning a technology developed by Pacific Marine, Inc.

I would appreciate your reviewing Senator Inouye's letter and responding to the issues he raises directly.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,

Al Gore

United States Senate COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20810-0026
February 2, 1996

Tha Honorable Al Gore
Vice President
The Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Mr. Vice President:

I am writing to request your assistance on a matter which I know will be of considerable interest to you, because it relates to activities under the Department of Defense's Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). You may recall that we have had several discussions about ESTCP and the related Strategic Environmental Research & Development Program, which you championed when you were in the Senate. These programs hold promise for bringing new technologies to bear on the very difficult hazardous waste clean-up problems faced by our country.

Indeed, because of your strong support for the development of new technologies in hazardous waste remediation, I encouraged a constituent of mine (Pacific Marine, Inc. of Honolulu, Hawaii) to apply for ESTCP funding of a demonstration project which would confirm the cost effectiveness and technological feasibility of hazardous waste vitrification, i.e. a process which actually makes glass out of hazardous wastes. Pacific Marine was successful in the competition for FY95 ESTCP funding and has initiated the project.

As a companion effort, Pacific Marine is also seeking certification under EPA's Project XL, which I understand was also something you forcefully advocated in your capacity as the head of the White House Task Force on Reinventing Government. I am informed that Project XL will bring a common sense, more flexible approach to regulation and thereby free technological innovation from many of the constraints of current regulatory practices.
Under Project XL, individual companies with approved pilot projects will be expected to foster technological innovations
that reduce compliance costs and also result in greater pollution prevention. This is exactly what Pacific Marine wants to do in its hazardous waste vitrification process.

Mr. Vice President, you have many, many responsibilities, but this request, I think, is an undertaking which you would enjoy and give you great satisfaction from your work on the environment when you were with us in the State. If you would request the EPA Administrator to personally look into designating Pacific Marine's vitrification process a pilot project under Project XL, this could be a model demonstration of the application of innovative technology and appropriate regulatory practices to the solution of hazardous waste remediation. I
would be most appreciative.

I thank you most sincerely for your attention to this matter. It I may be of further assistance to you, please call me. If you wish your staff to obtain additional information on Pacific Marine or its vitrification process, please ask them to call Mr. John Young, of my Senate staff, at 202-224-7232.

With warm personal regards, I am,

Sincerely,

Daniel K. Inouye Ranking member Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Defense

The Pacific Marine and Supply Company

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