Just when we thought we could take a little breather, the summer flew by and the new year began. Last year was full of success stories and the biggest story was hosting the most successful Annual Meeting and Exhibition ever! To accomplish this task, there was a tremendous amount of teamwork involved among our Section members, Home Office, and non-members. I want to thank everyone for your long hours of dedication and the continuous support throughout the last two years. I also know that while we were volunteering on the front end, we had a lot of support behind the scenes from our companies, supervisors, co-workers and significant others. Although we can't identify everyone, special thanks and recognition go out to the following for their leadership and vision: Thomas Blackwood - Technical Conference Vice-Chair; Richard Edwards - General Conference Chair, and Jay Turner - International Urban Environmental Infrastructure Forum. I would personally like to thank these people and all of our volunteers for the tremendous teamwork.

In addition to the annual meeting, our Section had a very successful year with several new programs and initiatives. Much credit for this success needs to go to Bernadette Hoffmeister, past Chair. Her enthusiasm and dedication have given new momentum to our Section. I would like to thank Bernadette, the Board and other members for helping us achieve our goals. Two examples of successful initiatives were the enhancement of the newsletter and bringing on-line our own website.

I am excited to become the leader of such a strong organization with such momentum. Although the environmental field seems to be getting smaller each year, our Section is growing in members and in participation. My main goal as Chair this year is to keep this enthusiasm and momentum going. Our Section will focus our goals in three main areas: 1) Membership Benefits and Education, 2) Public Outreach and Education and 3) Quest for the Minasian Award.

To bring value to you as a member, objectives this year include: 1) sponsoring local members as honorary members and fellows, 2) providing educational workshops, 3) sending notices using an internet mailing list and 4) updating membership information on the database. Additional objectives for new members will include making them feel welcome, educating them on the benefits of membership, and getting them involved. One other membership goal is to establish a student chapter at one of our local universities.

Our Section has always been a great asset to environmental professionals in the community which is a major objective of the Association - to encourage and facilitate the interchange of information among members and other professional and technical groups. A second objective is to provide and exchange information with the public, its legislators and its administrators. This year we would like to further develop this second objective by providing more outreach programs to the public. Objectives include conducting a teacher's workshop on the A&WMA Environmental Resource Guides, providing scholarships to local university students, and developing a Science Center display.

This year a new objective for our Section will be to apply for the Minasian Award. The Minasian Award recognizes the top three performing Sections for outstanding achievement in serving the mission and the membership of the Association and is named in honor of George T. Minasian, first chair of Sections Council. Using a point system to determine the top performers, points are awarded for membership benefits, education, public outreach and participation in the Association. We are off to a good start this year with earning 10 points as the annual meeting host; nevertheless, many more points are needed to place in the top three. To win this award our goals and objectives will need to be accomplished.

To meet our goals and objectives, we have formed several committees to organize, expand on and implement these ideas. We welcome your ideas and input. We want to be a value-added organization to both your professional and personal lives. I invite you to work with me and our team to fulfill our goal of making A&WMA the premier environmental organization. Please call any of the Committee Chairs, Board Members, or me to become involved. All levels of volunteerism are accepted from a simple phone call to running an entire workshop. Let's keep the momentum going!

Cynthia Pavelka, Chair • cpavelka@purina.com

The St. Louis Section will be applying for the MINASIAN AWARD for OUTSTANDING SECTIONS. We are currently evaluating our status regarding the number of points we have versus the number we will need to have and earn over the next 9 months.

The Minasian Award (named in honor of George T. Minasian, Mid-Atlantic States Section, First Chair of Sections Council) is established to be awarded at the Associations' Annual Meeting for the section having the most outstanding record of activity and accomplishment. Applications are submitted for the twelve month period (May to April) ending in the calendar year preceding the Annual Meeting.

The Minasian Award applications will be reviewed by the Section Council Chair. In the event the Chair disagrees with points as proposed by the section, the Chair will consult with the Past Chair in order to make a decision, after consultation with the Section in question.

As chairman of the "Minasian Award" committee, I am asking if you have any interest or wish to obtain more information on this subject, please call me. We do appreciate your interest and comments.

Tom Maddox Email: tlmaddox@aol.com Web: tlmcos.com

The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act brought irrevocable changes to the permitting and operation of air pollutant sources. Title III, for example, establishes a program for the control of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). These standards require the maximum degree of emission reduction. This generally is referred to as maximum achievable control technology, or MACT. Since 1990 the EPA has been defining MACT for various source categories and subcategories. Every major emission source of HAPs will eventually have a MACT standard. Thermal oxidation, a process for treatment of emissions at their point of release, represents one means to meeting these standards.

Peter Pickard has been Applications Engineer at Callidus for over 5 years. During this time, he has participated in the design of over 20 thermal oxidizer systems. He has worked on systems to handle wastes such as chlorinated hydrocarbon vapors, CO and carbon black tailgas. In his presentation on the new Pharmaceutical MACT standard, Peter will address the use of thermal oxidizers for the Pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, he will discuss waste characterization, the effects of waste properties on oxidizer design and problems to avoid.

St. Louis - Featuring a wide array of exhibitors, new pavilions, well known environmental keynote speakers and a first-ever international urban air-quality forum, the Air & Waste Management Association's (A&WMA) 92nd Annual Meeting & Exhibition drew nearly 4,500 attendees by the second-to-last day. A testament to the high numbers was the standing room only crowd at the panel discussion on a recent United States court decision that promises to affect a large percentage of A&WMA members.

On May 14, a U.S. Appeals Court threw out tough new air-quality regulations; just weeks later, A&WMA had compiled a panel of high-level experts to discuss the ramifications, and drew more attendees than could fit into the 300-seat room. Another such lauded event was the keynote presentation by Interface Inc.'s Ray Anderson, who received a standing ovation after his inspiring address.

"We've been working all year towards these goals, and I think our strategy of adding the new features and the high-profile keynotes to our regular program has really come through for us," said Paul M. King, outgoing president of A&WMA. "The Association is targeting both the nations that stand to improve the most by attending, and those that can help global environmental causes by sharing success stories of their own. Like Ray Anderson and Mike Eskew discussed, it's a win-win situation for the Association, for every metropolitan area around the globe, and for the environment."

Both keynote speakers for the A&WMA convention - Anderson of Interface and Eskew of UPS - made reference to the concept that businesses moving towards sustainability are benefiting the environment as well as the future of their own enterprises.

This year's meeting and exhibition featured the International Urban Environmental Infrastructure Forum, an ongoing dialogue on mobile air-pollution sources and transportation planning; an International Innovative Environmental Technology pavilion, a showcase for new technologies; an expanded list of program tracks that included 600 papers presented during 143 sessions; and tours of facilities and special appearances by local environmental advocates unique to St. Louis.

A&WMA, the leading membership organization for environmental professionals, will hold next year's annual meeting in Salt Lake City (June 18-22, 2000) and already is strategizing to leverage the succession of St. Louis for the benefit of environmental causes in the new millennium. A&WMA promotes global environmental responsibility; helps organizations to make decisions that benefit society; and enhances professional knowledge by fostering technology exchange, professional development, networking, public education, and community outreach. For questions concerning this years Annual Meeting & Exhibition, or for more information on the next one in Salt Lake City, Utah, contact A&WMA at 1-800-270-3444 or 412-232-3444 or visit the web site at www.awma.org.

Reprint of June 23, 1999, A&WMA Press Release

During the 1999 Air & Waste Management Association Meeting held in St. Louis this past summer, our Section in cooperation with the EPA, conducted a very successful ERG (Environmental Resource Guide) workshop. The ERG workshops are designed to give area K-12 teachers (public and private) fresh, new ways to incorporate environmental themes into their science curriculums and class work.

The ERG Workshop was an all-day, hands-on workshop for the teachers. Our Section sponsored the event by providing the Environmental Resource Guides free-of-charge to the area teachers. Additionally, the Section provided lunch and parking so that the teachers could focus on the environmental concepts being presented.

The Environmental Resource Guides cover environmental themes for selected grade ranges (i.e. grades 1 thru 3) and provide projects/experiments that the students can design and construct on their own. The projects provide a simple, fun-filled way to discuss otherwise complex issues.

This was the Section's first ERG Workshop. However, we hope to sponsor another one during the 1999-2000 operating year. We are always looking for professional volunteers to pass along environmental concepts to teachers and assist at the "hands-on" stations where teachers construct and learn about some of the projects described in the Environmental Resource Manuals. The workshops are always simple to conduct yet fun for everyone because we all view the concepts from the students perspective.

If you are interested in helping with an ERG Workshop, please contact Tim Venverloh at tvenverloh@sial.com for more information.

This past June's 92nd Annual Meeting & Exhibition has been quoted by the leaders of the Association as "our most successful ever!" We realize without the support of our sponsors we could not have made it a success. We thank our sponsors for their dedication and commitment to furthering the environmental professions.

By Joe Rubino, Secretary

Welcome back from an exciting summer for A&WMA in St. Louis. We hope that you had an opportunity to attend the 92nd Annual Meeting & Exhibition in June which was a success for the Association and our local section. To celebrate the meeting's success, the Greater St. Louis Section hosted a happy hour at the Bevo Mill in South City which featured great food and a fun atmosphere. Since the March Newsletter, there are several items I would like to report:

Summary of Meeting Minutes

The Section held its last monthly meeting of the 98/99 year on April 13, 1999 at the Engineer's Club. The featured speaker was Mr. Kevin Smith of the City of St. Louis - Air Pollution Control Agency. Kevin provided attendees with an update of Title V Operating Permit reviews being conducted by the City. There are a total of 39 Title V permits which need to be issued. Thanks to additional support staff, the agency is planning to have all Title V permits drafted by July 2000.

Annual elections of officers and board members were also held at the April meeting. The 99/00 fiscal year officers elected are: Chair - Cynthia Pavelka; Vice Chair - Dennis Dubitsky; Treasurer - Courtney Birkel; and Secretary - Joe Rubino. New directors to the board include Jennifer Markwardt, Gwenan Skoba, Larry Waite and Tim Venverloh (past chair from 95/96). Jim Myers, Michael Zlatic and Tom Maddox are completing the second year of their two year board term. Bernadette Hoffmeister is also assisting the local section (past chair from 98/99).

The board of directors met three times over the summer to plan for the 99/00 fiscal year. The treasurer's report identified that the Section, as of September 1999, has a balance of approximately $21,000 with no known outstanding debts. Expenses for the year are projected at $22,000. Net income for the year is projected at $21,500. The majority of this income will be from A&WMA International meeting receipts for hosting this years' annual meeting in St. Louis, local member dues and meeting sponsorship.

Several committees have been formed by the Board to implement local section activities. These committees (with Chairpersons listed in parentheses) include, Monthly Meeting Programs (Susan Myers), Education/Past Chairs (Tim Venverloh), Membership (Joe Rubino), By-Laws and Policy (Dennis Dubitsky), Newsletter/Website (Gwenan Skoba/Jennifer Markwardt), Specialty Conference & Workshops/Seminars, and the Minasian Award (Tom Maddox). We are looking for volunteers to participate in whatever capacity they can offer. If you are interested in finding out more information, please contact the appropriate chairperson or talk to a Board Member at the next monthly meeting.

The Board has developed a sponsorship program to promote local section activities. Companies will be given an opportunity to sponsor monthly meetings for $250. Sponsor acknowledgement will occur in the following places: meeting notice sent to all members, sign posted at the monthly meeting, verbal acknowledgement from Chair during the meeting, next newsletter issue (w/ company logo) after the meeting and on our local section website (w/ company logo) during that month. If you think your company would like to participate in this program, please contact a Board Member to discuss additional details.

This article is only a summary of the Board Meeting Minutes. Please contact Joe Rubino, Secretary, for a copy of the meeting minutes.

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment is considering the adoption of US air dispersion models, such as the US EPA's Industrial Source Complex Short Term 3 (ISC-ST3)model,for use in Ontario.

General Motors of Canada Limited (GMCL)has been assessing the impacts of the introduction of the new air dispersion models.Ontario's General Air Regulation (Reg 346)requires that industrial facilities assess site wide emissions by predicting maximum ½-hour ground level concentrations using a modelling protocol specified in the regulation, and comparing their concentrations to provincial air quality standards. GMCL has assessed ISC-ST3 and compares predicted maximum concentrations against values predicted by Reg 346.

This paper presents the ratio of the maximum predicted concentration of ISC-ST3 to those predicted by Reg 346 and discusses the implications of the proposal to adopt the more advanced model for use in Ontario.

Background
The Regulation 346 (Reg 346) modelling program is based on a simple straight line Gaussian dispersion model. The model designates a source as virtual if the source is either less than twice the maximum building height from the ground for buildings less than 20 m above ground or less than 20 m above the height of the building for building heights greater than 20 m above ground. Reg 346 chooses between three different modelling scenarios based on the physical situation that is presented in the input data. The first scenario is a building cavity or self-contamination condition used when the receptor is less than 5 m away from a virtual source and an adjacent building is less than 100 m from the source. A building wake equation is used when the situation is the same as above except the receptor is more than 5 m from the source. A normal dispersion equation is used for elevated point sources that are not effected by the building wake or building cavity. The model simulates weather conditions by varying wind directions, from 0 to 350 degrees in 10-degree increments, and wind speeds, from 2.235 m/s to 18.232 m/s in 0.5 m/s increments. Virtual sources are only modelled at a wind speed of 5 m/s. The model limits atmospheric stability conditions to neutral (D) and slightly convective (C) for both elevated and virtual sources.

The EPA Industrial Source Complex Short-Term 3 (ISC-ST3) model is designed to simulate typical emission source situations found at industrial complexes such as the GMCL Facilities. It is based on the straight-line, steady state Gaussian plume equation, similar to the Reg 346 model. However, unlike Reg 346,it uses hourly meteorological data records to define the conditions for plume rise, transport, diffusion, and deposition. Modifications to the basic Gaussian plume equation include: accounting for emissions that experience the effects of aerodynamic downwash due to nearby buildings; simple point source emissions from stacks; isolated vents; and multiple vents. Although only point sources have been modelled in this comparison study, ISC-ST3 is also capable to modeling area sources, volume sources and open pit sources. ISC-ST3 uses a combination of the Huber-Snyder and Schulman-Scire methods to account for building wake effects by modifying the plume widths and/or rise. The concentration values for each receptor and source combination are calculated for each hour of input meteorology. The user has the option of several output options including hourly maximums, 24-hour maximums and period averages.

A comparison of these two models is made using two very different GMCL manufacturing sites. The first site is a components plant located in southern Ontario. The plant is surrounded in close proximity by city streets and other industrial operations. This plant has limited emissions, with all stacks being virtual ones, except for one powerhouse stack. The second site is a large multi-plant facility. Located on 650 acres of land, it houses assembly operations, component operations and associated support operations. The assembly operations have only virtual stacks, one of the component operations has a good mix of virtual and tall stacks and the powerhouse has a very tall main stack.

Methods
Three real scenarios were modelled from each plant. Scenario A was similar in both plants as it included numerous sources, which were spread out across each site. At the smaller plant all but one of the sources are modelled as virtual stacks. The larger facility has a mixture of virtual and point sources. Scenario B for the large facility had all the emissions being emitted from two main areas on opposite sides of the complex, whose sources are all virtual. Similarly, Scenario B and C for the smaller plant contained only virtual sources. Scenario C for the larger facility contained mostly tall stacks, which are modelled as point sources in ISC-ST3, however over 50%of the total emissions still come from virtual sources. Table 1,containing the percentage of emissions from the different source types, appears below.

Table 1: Scenario Breakdown by Source Types

Emission	Small Facility		Large Facility
Scenario	Virtual	Point	Virtual	Point
Scenario A	95%	5%	12%	88%
Scenario B	100%		100%
Scenario C	100%		58%	42%

In addition, two single stacks, one virtual and one point, were individually modelled using both ISC-ST3 and Reg 346 in their current building surroundings. Receptors were set up in a straight line in the dominant wind direction.

Results
A summary of the ratios of the predicted maximum Ground Level Concentrations (GLC) appears in Table below. The ISC-ST3 data has been normalized by the Reg 346 data. In addition, the Reg 346 data has been multiplied by a factor of 0.8 before normalization to convert the ½-hour concentrations to hourly ones. This is the conversion suggested by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

Table 2: Ratios of GLCs Summary

Emission Scenario	Large Facility CISC-ST3/CREG346	Small Facility CISC-ST3/CREG346
Scenario A	1.2	6
Scenario B	5.6	24
Scenario C	4.4	36

The results seem to indicate that there is no easy conversion from the ISC-ST3 maximum GLCs to the Reg 346 maximum GLCs. In general the smaller plant seems to suffer from having a much greater C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratio than the larger multi-plant facility. Yet the difference between the C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratio for Scenario A and the C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratios for Scenarios B and C is also quite drastic. The larger facility, although in general has much lower C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratios, also has a dramatic difference between the C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratios for the different scenarios.

The differences between the C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratio for Scenario A and the C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratio for the other scenarios can be partially explained by the spreading out of the emission sources across the plants in Scenario A. For both plants the combination of a mix of source types plus delocalized emission sources seems to decrease the overall C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratio. In Scenarios B and C, the smaller plant experiences much larger C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratios than the larger facility. The small plant, which has close fencelines and primarily virtual sources, has ISC-ST3 maximum GLCs extremely close to the actual location of the emission source. The Reg 346 maximums for these scenarios are in locations further away from the point of emission. Scenario B for the larger facility has the ISC-ST3 maximum and the Reg 346 maximum on opposite sides of the complex. The ISC-ST3 maximum is closer to the emissions from one of the plants, while the Reg 346 emissions are closer to the other plant's emissions. The C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratio decreases substantially to 1.1 when the GLC for ISC-ST3 used in the ratio is the maximum experienced for the same receptor where Reg 346 has its maximum GLC. When this ratio is calculated for Scenarios B and C for the smaller plant the C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratio is very similar to that found when both GLCs used are maximums.

The results indicate two main findings. First, the models predict more similar results for point sources, or a mix of point and virtual sources than when emissions just originate from the virtual sources. This strongly suggests that the methods used by the Reg 346 model to handle building downwash may not predict the outcome of the effects of building wakes as well as the more advanced ISC-ST3 model. Second, ISC-ST3 predicts much higher concentrations than Reg 346 when the receptor is close to the emission source(s)than when the sources are more diversified in location and the receptors are located a greater distance from the emission source.

The results obtained when modelling just a single source give results that concur with the findings from the scenarios. Figure 1 shows the concentrations vs. distance from the source for a very high point source with surrounding buildings. The maximum GLC for Reg 346 occurs at a point where a building still exists, and then rapidly drops off. ISC-ST3,on the other hand, has lower concentrations on the ground close to the source and other buildings, but increases slowly over a much greater distance before decreasing steadily.

Figure 2 shows a similar chart, but for a virtual source. In this scenario, a single virtual source, originating from a short stack right on the edge of a building with no further structures downwind, is modelled. The situation changes drastically from the tall point source, as ISC-ST3 peaks to a maximum very rapidly and then decreases quickly before leveling off and decreasing more steadily. Reg 346,on the other hand, decreases gradually from a considerably smaller maximum concentration. This chart indicates why the GLC ratios for the smaller plant, who s fenceline receptors are so much closer to actual sources, are much greater than those found for the larger plant. The larger plant is able to avoid the high concentrations predicted in the initial large peak from ISC-ST3 by having considerably more sources, which are spread out, and by having these peak concentrations happen within the fenceline of the plant.

When both virtual and point sources are mixed, the resulting C_ISC-ST3/C_REG346 ratio is a combination of the two situations and depends on the percentages of emissions from the two different types of sources, the distances to the fenceline receptors and the spread of the emission sources over the building(s), in addition to the actual stack heights, velocities,temperatures, and other model input parameters.

Conclusions
The effects of a model change from Reg 346 to ISC-ST3 were examined for two very different industrial settings using several different emission scenarios. One facility was a large multi-plant complex with large buffer zones to the fenceline, while the other setting was a single plant facility with limited emission sources and closely bounded fencelines. The main findings of the study are:

• The ISC-ST3 model generally predicts higher GLCs than the current legislated model Regulation 346.
• The ISC-ST3 GLCs are considerably higher for receptors that are close to emission sources, especially if the sources are mainly virtual sources.
• The ISC-ST3 GLCs for very tall point sources can be considerably less than Reg 346 GLCs for receptors close to the emission source, however this reversed as the receptors are moved away from the source.
• The locations of the maximum GLCs is highly dependant on the model, as ISC-ST3 uses meteorological data which takes into consideration the real weather conditions experienced by the facility while Reg 346 only models two atmospheric stabilities.

The proposed change in modelling programs from the Ontario Regulation 346 to the Industrial Source Complex Short Term 3 could have a dramatic effect on the maximum ground level concentration predictions. The model change will have a far greater effect on plants with emission sources close to the plant fenceline and those that have mostly virtual sources, which experience building wake effects.

In this newsletter, the Air Pollution Control Division (of the Department of Public Safety of the City of St. Louis) is featured. Their mission is to maintain and improve the quality of the air resources of the City/Region to protect the public health, general welfare and physical property of the people, to maximize employment and the full industrial development of the City/Region.

The general telephone number to be used to access the various personnel is (314) 613-7300.

The Association's "Gateway to the Twenty First Century Meeting in the Gateway City" finally came and went between last June 20^th and 24^th and thanks to all of you in the St. Louis Section for making the meeting a great success. 4500 people came and went and savored the city and its attractions. You all deserve a giant pat on the back for all your efforts.

And not to mention - THANKS from me, too. I'm humbled when I think about the individual enthusiasm and effort that came through! When we started on the path towards this meeting some five years ago, it seemed that we had all the time in the world. But in the last twelve months, the time slipped away before I knew it and the list of things to do seemingly got longer - never shorter. But there was always someone who'd do whatever needed to be done. Some faces were old and some new.

What's next? Well, that's up to you as members - it's our section. There are A&WMA Awards to work towards, specialty meetings that can be held and more…. Somehow, somewhere I hope there'll be new members who'll come along with their own ideas. We should encourage whoever wants to step forward and give us another meeting or milestone to reach for. This is what has made the Section strong and viable in the past and it is what will make the future too.

Keep up the good work.

Telephone numbers for many offices of Saint Louis County Government will be changing throughout the month of September 1999. The changes became necessary as a result of the dramatic increases in usage of newer technologies such as fax machines and computers. Telephone numbers listed in the current "Blue Pages" of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Directory will carry a recorded message with the new number, and the revised numbers will be listed in the next issue of the Directory. Other direct-dial numbers will not have a message, necessitating the dialing of a department's main number or the County's General Information number (314/ 615-5000).

Over the last several years, the Section has came up with some great ideas. We are in the process of forming several committees to organize, expand on and implement these ideas. Yes, we are again looking for some volunteers. We are inviting interested members to join a committee or simply identify an area they would like to help. We appreciate any level of volunteerism - from a few phone calls to running a whole program. Like to learn more - contact any Committee Chair or Board Member. Listed below are the current committees and a brief description of their goals. Sign up at the next meeting!

Committees:
Monthly Meeting Programs	Chair: Susan Myers
Develop monthly meeting programs & organize other member gatherings
Newsletter & Website	CoChairs: Gwenan Skoba and Jennifer Markwardt
Prepare Newsletter & Meeting Announcements - (Skoba) Develop & Maintain Website - (Markwardt)
Membership	Chair: Joe Rubino
Welcome new members, recruit /retain membership Encourage Members to achieve QEP Certifications Encourage Members to publish in the EM & Journal Membership Database Management Student Chapter Development - (team leader - Matt Shurtliff)
Education/Past Chairs	Chair: Tim Venverloh
ERG Workshops Scholarships for Student Members Science Fair - (team leader - Mike Zlatic) Nominating Fellows & Honorary Members Science Center Display
Specialty Conference, Workshops, & Seminars	Chair: Open
By-Laws & Policy Committee	Chair: Dennis Dubitsky
Continue review of by-laws to ensure they meet the need of the organization Develop policies to uphold the by-laws
Minasian Award	Chair: Tom Maddox
Coordinate w/ other committees and Board to identify and maximize in areas to earn Award