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July 16, 2010
Assistance to Haiti
Duncklee & Dunham has teamed up with ESC Lab
Sciences to analyze a water supply well at an
orphanage in Haiti. A former Duncklee & Dunham
employee and his family doing missionary work in Haiti
reported a leaking diesel fuel underground storage
tank was located near the orphanage's water supply and
asked if the water quality could be tested. We hope to
have the well water tested by the end of July 2010.
June 15, 2010
Investing in Brown Yields a lot of Green Study Says
From delmarvanow.com on June 9, 2010, "Every dollar
spent to restore abandoned commercial and industrial
properties through the state's Brownfields Program
returns nearly $17.50 on the investment, according to
a University of Delaware study. Program Manager Kathy
Stiller said the state Department of Natural Resources
and Environmental Control has provided $29.4 million
in grants to developers and municipalities looking to
clean up sites with a real of perceived history of
environmental contamination between 1998 and 2008.
According to the study, the project stimulated 700
jobs and added $394 million to the state's gross
domestic product during the same period.
In Sussex County alone, the study said property
values increased by $15 million in assessed value. Of
the 135 sites certified under the program, 10 are in
Sussex County, including a gas station in Georgetown,
a marina in Dagsboro and a factory complex in Milton.
Without the state's intervention, Stiller said fear of
groundwater or soil contamination would have caused
most of the sites to remain abandoned. But, because
they tend to pose a lower level of risk than other
sites, Stiller said they would not have qualified for
other sate or federal programs. "These sites are
further down the priority list," she said. "They'd
take years to get to. By having this program, they're
moved up, cleaned up and put into some productive
use." One of those sites is a 1.3-acre parcel along
the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal in downtown Lewes, which
serves as a boat ramp and repair facility. It is now
part of the town's Canalfront Park."
June 2, 2010
Brownfields Grant Awardees
The May 2010 edition of the EDR Insider Newsletter
reports that "in April, the U.S. EPA made its annual
announcement of Brownfields Grant Awardees. This year,
almost $80 million will be distributed across the
country to clean up blighted gas stations, textile
mills, smelters, and other abandoned industrial and
commercial properties that comprise the nation's
estimated 450,000 contaminated sites, This year's
awards target 304 grants, including:
- 188 assessment grants ($42.56 million) to
conduct site assessment and planning for cleanup at
one or more brownfields sites as part of a
community-wide effort.
- 17 revolving loan fund grants ($17 million) to
provide loans and subgrants for communities to begin
cleanup activities at brownfields sites.
- 99 cleanup grants ($19.36 million) to provide
funding for grant recipients to carry out cleanup
activities at brownfield sites they own.
This year's allocation marks a 45% increase over
2009. Going forward, EPA promises to devote even more
resources to the brownfields program, allocating $215
million in grants in 2011."
More information on the 2010
brownfields grant awards can be found at
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/index.html.
May 13, 2010
Upcoming US EPA Webinar on Compound Specific Isotope
Analysis
EPA webinar on
June 16, 2010 - Stable Isotope Analyses to Understand
the Degradation of Organic Contaminants in Ground
Water, Sponsored by: U.S. EPA Technology
Innovation and Field Services Division and presented
by John T. Wilson of US EPA. This webinar will
briefly review the theory behind isotopic effects, it
will explain the units used to characterize the ratio
of isotopes, and it will discuss the simple
mathematics that can relate the shift in the ratio to
the extent of degradation. Then the webinar will
illustrate an approach to estimate rate constants for
natural biodegradation of contaminants in ground
water. The isotope analysis will be used to estimate
the extent of natural biodegradation of MTBE at a
gasoline spill site. The extent of biodegradation will
be combined with the hydrological parameters at the
site to estimate rate constants for biodegradation.
U.S.
EPA has released A Guide for Assessing
Biodegradation and Source Identification of Organic
Ground Water Contaminants using Compound Specific
Isotop Analysis (CSIA) [EPA 600/R-08/148 |
December 2008 |
www.epa.gov/ada]. The Guide provides
recommendations for sample collection, sample
preservation, and sample analysis; recommendations on
QA/QC issues; details on calculations; and a catalogue
of expected initial values for the ratios of 13C
to 12C in organic compounds such as TCE and
PCE. The Guide also illustrates in detail the process
to use isotope ratio data to estimate rate constants
for degradation of organic compounds in ground water.
See
http://www.clu-in.org/conf/tio/stableisotope for
more information.
March 3, 2010
EPA Studies Say VI Final Guidance Needed, TCE
Carcinogenic
Two new studies from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency confirm the danger posed by vapor
intrusion. On December 14, 2009, EPA's Office of the
Inspector General(OIG) released a report stating that
the agency's "efforts to protect human health at sites
where vapor intrusion risks may occur have been
impeded by the lack of fianl [EPA] guidance on vapor
intrusion risks." In addition, the study makes an
important acknowledgement that the draft guidance
issues by EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response(OSWER) in 2002 has several shortfalls,
including not recommending VI assessments at sites
with leaking petroleum from USTs or stressing the
importance of multiple lines of evidence in assessing
VI risk. The report also states that outdated toxicity
values for chemicals associated with VI have created
widely varying standards from state-to-state and
agency-to-agency, which has put human health at
greater risk. According to an EPA scientist, the four
chlorinated chemicals that pose the highest risk from
vapor instrucion are the ornes that are most
frequently found at contaminated sites. These
chemicals are perchloroethylene(PCE),
trichloroethylene(TCE), dichloroethylene, and vinyl
chloride.
In a seperate effort, the EPA issued a lengthy
external draft review of its Toxicological Review of
Trichloroethylene on December 29, 2009. While still in
the draft phase as public comments are considered, the
document, which is based of several uears of lab tests
and field data, concludes that "TCE is characterized
as carcinogenic in humans by all routes of exposure,"
including inhalation. This finding contrasts with past
studies which stated only that the chemical was likely
to be a carcinogen. Moving forward, the EPA OIG
suggests that OSWER identify components of the 2002
guidance that remain valid and portions need to be
updated. (Source, EDR, January
2010)
October 30, 2009
In
Situ Soil and Groundwater Remediation Conference
The AEG Carolinas Section is excited to be
co-sponsoring the Second Biennial Southeastern IN SITU
Soil and Groundwater Remediation Conference 2010, to
be held February 23rd and 24th,
2010, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Over 200
environmental professionals attended the first
conference in 2008. The conference, organized by
John Haselow of Redox Tech, LLC, will provide a forum
for providing state of the art information regarding
in situ remediation technologies. Recognized
speakers from across the US will present on the first
day, followed by case studies on the second day.
The conference organizers will apply for continuing
education credits. AEG members can attend for
$200 which includes a $50 discount. Please
email Dave Duncklee at
dave@dunckleedunham.com and ask for a copy of the
brochure and registration form.
July 2, 2009
Petroleum Brownfields Web Site
EPA's new
petroleum brownfields web site is designed to make
information more accessible for those working to
foster the cleanup and reuse of petroleum-impacted
properties. It provides easy access to information
that both new users and those familiar with
brownfields will find useful. For instance, the Web
site provides access to: "how to" guides, ways to find
petroleum brownfields sites, assessment and cleanup
information, financial guides and EPA Brownfields
program and grants information, public/private
partnership information, and sustainability and
petroleum brownfields. More information at
http://www.epa.gov/oust/petroleumbrownfields/ .
July 1, 2009
Triad Month
Seminar Series - August 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 25.
A little over a
year ago, over 260 individuals gathered from the U.S.
and abroad at UMass-Amherst in Massachusetts to
discuss the use of the Triad Approach to conduct
investigations and remedial actions faster, better,
and at a reduced cost. The Triad Community of Practice
(CoP) has will redeliver updates of several of the
same sessions to benefit the greater CLU-IN audience
that either may not have been able to attend the
conference, or were not able to attend a specific
presentation while at the conference. By doing this,
the Triad CoP hopes participants can learn more about
some of the Triad tools and how they have been applied
by the environmental industry. For more information
and to register, see
http://clu-in.org/live
.
May 21, 2009
EPA Releases
$111.9 M in Brownfield Grants
From the National Brownfields Association and based on
an EPA press release: U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa
Jackson has announced the release of an estimated
$111.9 million in grants bolstered by funds from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009
to help communities clean up brownfields. Communities
in 46 states, four tribes and two U.S. Territories
will share in these grants to help revitalize former
industrial and commercial sites. In total, 389
competitive grants were awarded. The grants include
$37.3 million from the stimulus package and $74.6
million from the EPA Brownfields general program
funding. President Obama's proposed fiscal 2010 budget
would give EPA an additional $175 million for
brownfields.
May 20, 2009
National Forum
on Vapor Intrusion, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
U.S. EPA, Office
of Science Policy, 2009
With attendance
of about 350 people from across the United States, the
meeting was structured on dual tracks with common
sessions. The speakers gave technical presentations on
sampling, assessment, risk, and engineering in
addition to case studies illustrating a cross section
of vapor intrusion issues. The meeting had two
breakout sessions: the Community Stakeholder Breakout
presented areas and issues of interest for community
groups, residents, developers, and possibly local
government; and the Government Stakeholder Breakout
pertained to internal issues of program
implementation, policy, and guidance. Summaries of the
presentations and breakout sessions have been compiled
in a final proceedings report. The final proceedings,
presentations, and posters are available at
http://www.epa.gov/osp/hstl/viforum09.htm
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