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Industry News

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

 

 

 
Latest News at Duncklee & Dunham
 

May  2010

Duncklee & Dunham has been a NC DENR Registered Environmental Consultant (REC) since 1998 and has four DENR approved Registered Site Managers (RSMs) under the REC Program. Duncklee & Dunham RSMs are managing four active REC site projects involving metal, chlorinated solvent, and nutrient contamination in soil and ground water.

February  2010

Jay Bennett, Dave Duncklee, Tom Dunham, Daphne Jones, and Bryson Trexler of Duncklee & Dunham and Andy Rodak of Rodak Engineering recently attended the 2010 Southeastern In Situ Soil and Groundwater Remediation Conference to maintain our edge in In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO), In Situ Chemical Reduction (ISCR),  and bioaugmentation technologies. The technical presentations, as well as interfacing with other consultants, scientists, and regulators, proved to be valuable.

January  2010

Dave Duncklee remains active in the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG), currently serving as treasurer on the Carolinas Section board, as short course committee chair on the AEG Charleston 2010 national meeting, and as co-chair of the national AEG continuing education committee. Dave has also recently been approved by the Interstate Training and Regulatory Council (ITRC) to participate in the newly formed Environmental Molecular Diagnostics team.

November  2009

Duncklee & Dunham's Jay Bennett and Bryson Trexler are using innovative techniques to develop site specific soil clean-up levels and develop a ground water variance for site metals restoration. The site is under the REC program and currently being managed on a fast track basis to accommodate expedited clean-up of soil and groundwater once plant modifications are made.

Duncklee & Dunham is preparing to implement full scale injection plan involving sodium persulfate into shallow groundwater under and adjacent to a former manufacturing building. A corrective action plan and an injection permit were submitted and approved under the Ga EPD HSR program.

November  2009

Congratulations to Jayson Kilcoyne on his promotion to Project Environmental Scientist II. His efforts are currently concentrating on the assessment and remediation of agrichemical and petroleum UST projects.

October  2009

In partnership with a local law firm, Duncklee & Dunham has recently provided pro bono professional assistance to Hope Elementary Charter School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Work was conducted to assess and dispose approximately three tons of soil, potentially contaminated with lead-based paint, from the school property. The closure report was submitted to the school in October 2009.

April  2009

Duncklee & Dunham is performing our third GIS brownfield inventory project for a local NC municipality. This project is being performed for several hundred parcels and will be completed in approximately five weeks time start to finish.

March 2009

Duncklee & Dunham has completed a 1,700 parcel GIS brownfields inventory for a local NC municipality. Muti-parcel Phase I ESAs are currently being performed under this US EPA brownfields grant funded project. To our knowledge, this is the second GIS brownfields inventory completed in NC, both of which have been performed by the firm. Dr. Trexler is currently working with US EPA Region 4 to finalize a QAPP so that phase II assessment tasks can be implemented using the brownfield grant funds.

February 2009

In a joint effort with Rodak Engineering, Duncklee & Dunham is in the process of performing over one hundred SPCC plans across the US. Duncklee & Dunham has prepared over 900 spill plans across the US over the past ten years.

December  2008
 
Cary Office - Office renovations are complete and the Duncklee & Dunham office is back to a full house. Feel free to stop by and take a look. See the Contact page for a before and after photo!


 


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