SUMMARY OF THE REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPMENT FORUM
IN-PLACE INACTIVATION AND NATURAL ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION
TECHNOLOGIES SOIL-METALS ACTION TEAM
CONFERENCE CALL

May 18, 1999
3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

On Tuesday, May 18, 1999, the following members of the In-Place Inactivation and Natural Ecological Restoration Technologies (IINERT) Soil-Metals Action Team met in a conference call:

Bill Berti, DuPont Life Sciences (Action Team Co-Chair)
James Ryan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Action Team Co-Chair)
Sally Brown, University of Washington
Rahul Chawla, DuPont
Mark Doolan, EPA
Bill Duncan, Cominco Ltd. Trail Operations
Andrew Green, International Lead Zinc Research Organization
Dean Hesterberg, North Carolina State University

Also present was Christine Hartnett of Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG)..

ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION MEETING

Bill Berti said that the IINERT Action Team will meet in June 1999 to discuss ecosystem restoration. Several activities are planned, including a 1-day workshop (June 21), a field trip to the Bunker Hill site (June 22), a 1-day meeting session (June 23), and a field trip to the Trail site (June 24). Berti asked conference call participants to talk to each other offline about transportation arrangements. (Sally Brown said that two university vehicles might be available to shuttle people between sites.) Berti said that the workshop and meeting session will be held at the Coeur d'Alene Inn and Conference Center in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He advised conference call participants to reserve sleeping rooms at the Inn by May 21, 1999. (Call 208-765-3200 and reference "RTDF meeting.") Berti said that the Trail site is located in Trail, British Columbia, which is about 3 hours from Coeur d'Alene. He advised driving to Colville, Washington, on the night of June 23, staying overnight at a Comfort Inn--where the RTDF has reserved a block of rooms--and driving to the Trail site on the morning of June 24. Berti said that rooms were reserved in Colville because it is only about 1 hour south of the Trail site and, since it is in the United States, participants will not have to get permission for an overnight stay outside the country. Berti told participants that they should call the Comfort Inn and reserve a room from the block by June 4. (Call 509-684-2010 and reference "RTDF.")

Berti said that more detailed information about the meeting was e-mailed to IINERT Action Team members in a formal invitation, but that some participants were unable to open the document. Berti asked ERG to convert the invitation to a PDF file and to resend it to all potential meeting participants. ERG agreed to do so. Berti encouraged conference call participants to register for the meeting soon.

ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE JOPLIN, MISSOURI, SITE

Berti said that several IINERT Action Team members are planning to meet on May 24 and 25, 1999, to summarize data that has been collected at the Joplin site. Berti said that the meeting will be held at the University of Missouri's College of Veterinary Science Administration Building in Columbia, Missouri. He said that he distributed a preliminary agenda, suggesting that half-hour presentations be given on soil chemistry research, pig dosing studies, rat dosing studies, in vitro analytical results, and plant data results. After each presentation, Berti proposed, a half hour of discussion could be held on each topic. James Ryan said that he liked this format, noting that plenty of time will be available after the presentation sessions to have group discussion and to draft summary tables. Berti said that he also hopes to use the group discussion time to talk about data gaps that still exist and new treatments (e.g., beringite) that could be tested.

Ryan said that several key investigators will attend the meeting. In addition, John Drexler and Mike Ruby plan to participate via conference call to discuss in vitro analyses. Ryan said that he will ask Chris Weiss to participate in these discussions as well.

In addition to talking about the upcoming meeting, conference call participants discussed the following issues related to the Joplin site:

• Berti said that Drexler's laboratory performed a physiologically based extraction test (PBET) on samples that were collected from Joplin in September 1997. Berti said that the results are available and he agreed to distribute them to Joplin field research participants by May 19, 1999.
• Ryan said that he plans to perform a PBET test on Joplin samples in the near future.
• Brown said that she has plant data for three different sampling events.
• Mark Doolan said that he has submitted a proposal to EPA's Office of Research and Development, asking for funding so that the work at Joplin can be repeated at other sites.. He said that he is fairly optimistic that funding will be made available.
• Dean Hesterberg said that he plans to conduct x-ray absorption spectroscopic analyses on Joplin samples in August 1999.

COMPOST STUDY

Brown said that she initiated a greenhouse study 1 week ago to investigate how compost impacts sediments. As part of this experiment, she said, several test pots have been established. Those that contain sediments, compost, and potassium sulfate have experienced a drop in Eh values and are supporting algal populations. These occurrences have not been recorded, however, in treatments that contain only sediments and compost. Brown, puzzled by these results, asked participants for ideas to explain why strong reducing conditions and algal growth have been recorded only in those treatments that had potassium sulfate added.

Participants asked whether potassium or sulfur might be limiting nutrients. If so, they noted, adding potassium sulfate to the system would stimulate strong algal growth. Brown said that these elements are not likely to be limiting agents, noting that the compost in all of the treatment pots has high concentrations of both. One participant said that adding potassium sulfate might create an "algal-friendly" environment by increasing the amount of nitrogen in the system. He said that sulfate-reducing bacteria may be present in the sediments. These bacteria may compete with algae for the same nitrogen sources unless an alternate food source (e.g., potassium sulfate) is added. Therefore, less nitrogen will be available in treatments that do not have potassium sulfate added to them. Conference call participants agreed that this is an interesting concept, but that more work needs to be performed to identify an answer.

Brown said that her experiment will run for a total of 12 weeks. Efforts to measure changes in lead solubility will be initiated soon. Brown agreed to send Hesterberg some samples for lead sulfide analysis. She agreed to contact him offline to talk about how to preserve the samples.

NEXT CONFERENCE CALL

The next conference call is scheduled for June 15, 1999, between 3:00 p.m.. and 4:00 p.m. EST.

ACTION ITEMS

• ERG agreed to convert the June 1999 meeting invitation to a PDF file and to resend it to all potential meeting participants.
• Conference call participants agreed to register for the June 1999 meeting and to reserve hotel rooms soon. Brown agreed to investigate transportation possibilities.
• Ryan said that he will ask Weiss to participate in the May 1999 meeting.
• Berti agreed to distribute Drexler's PBET results by May 19, 1999.
• Brown said that she would like Hesterberg to analyze some samples for her. Brown agreed to contact him offline to talk about preserving them.