Policy Roundup

China has unveileda three-year plan to prevent accidents involving hazardous chemicals. Municipal and local governments will identify and audit all sites where hazardous chemicals are made or stored, and a new state council will compile a database of the hazardous chemicals in the country. Producers of ammonium nitrate and certain other chemicals will come under special scrutiny.

Wearable devices, such as bracelets, that could measure alcohol levels are the subject of a new competition from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism. The devices must detect alcohol in blood or interstitial fluids rather than sweat. The winner would receive $200,000.

Immigrants in the U.S. who are college-educated—including a half-million with science training—often work in low-skilled jobs or are underemployed, a report from three nonprofits says. If these 1.9 million people were employed at their education level they could make $40 billion more a year and pay $10 billion in taxes.

Vapor intrusion of volatile chemicals that migrate from contaminated soil to the buildings above will now factor into criteria used by EPA to add potential hazardous waste sites to the superfund National Priorities List. The list contains more than 1,300 sites slated for further investigation and possible remediation.