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

May 19, 2000
4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

On Friday, May 19, 2000, 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 Central Research and Development (Action Team Co-Chair)
James Ryan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Action Team Co-Chair)
Sally Brown, University of Washington
Rufus Chaney, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
David Mosby, Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Gary Pierzynski, Kansas State University

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

ACTIVITIES AT THE JOPLIN SITE

Over the past few years, the Action Team has established numerous treatment plots at the Joplin site. During this conference call, Gary Pierzynski expressed interest in establishing some additional ones; these could be used, he said, to test "manganese plus phosphorus" amendments. Pierzynski said that he has initiated laboratory studies to evaluate this treatment, but that he needs additional samples to continue these studies. Thus, he plans to collect bulk samples from the Joplin site in May 2000. Before the end of the summer, Pierzynski said, he and his students will perform an incubation study and a rat dosing study. In addition, they will identify commercial manganese sources and compare these to manganese sources that are synthesized in the laboratory. Pierzynski said that the results will be used to determine how many variations of the "manganese plus phosphorus" amendment should be tested at the Joplin site. He would like to establish test plots in the fall.

Call participants expressed enthusiasm for Pierzynski's plan to establish additional treatment plots. Pierzynski asked whether he needed to obtain formal permission to proceed with this plan. Bill Berti asked Pierzynski to send him a one-page proposal outlining his ideas. This will be distributed to Action Team members, Berti said, and they will be asked to respond promptly if they object to it.

Pierzynski asked whether space is available to set up the additional plots. Rufus Chaney thought so; he said some areas at the Joplin site are not being used even though they have been characterized and reserved for study. Sally Brown said that she has a map that labels all of the existing treatment plots and shows where unused plots are located. She agreed to send this to Pierzynski. (Chaney also asked for the map; he said that he needs it because he is going to collect samples from the Joplin site during the week of May 22, 2000. Brown agreed to send the map to Chaney.) Berti said that he has a map that depicts lead isolines at the Joplin site; he agreed to e-mail this to conference call participants.

THE ACTION TEAM'S SYMPOSIUM

Action Team members agreed that their collective work should be presented in a symposium. They said that the symposium should have two components: a conference and a publication. The conference should be held in 2001, as part of an American Society of Agronomy (ASA) conference. The publication, which will compile a number of papers, should be released about six months later in the Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ). (Conference call participants did talk about releasing the papers in a stand-alone publication. They decided that it would be better to release them through JEQ, because this journal has a wide distribution.)

Call participants suggested presenting the following topics at the conference and in the publication:

• Background information. James Ryan suggested presenting papers that provide background information about IINERT technologies and methods used to assess bioavailability. Pierzynski suggested inviting people outside of the Action Team to give these presentations. That way, he said, the Action Team might have access to new expertise.

• Activities and studies performed at the Joplin site. Conference call participants agreed that the symposium should center around the studies being performed at the Joplin site. Data from the site have been generated through a variety of methods, including plant extraction studies, in vitro analyses, rat dosing studies, and swine dosing studies. Brown suggested having individual speakers discuss the data collected under each method. To wrap up, she said, a paper could be presented that integrates all these data; that way, if correlations exist, they will be made apparent. Conference call participants thought this was a good idea.

• Related topics. Although call participants agreed that the symposium should focus on the Joplin site, they thought it would also be useful to include papers/presentations that address other related research efforts. Pierzynski suggested publishing an announcement about the symposium, asking investigators to volunteer papers for it. After reviewing these papers, he said, Action Team members could decide if the "volunteer papers" should be included in the symposium publication. If they decide that certain ones should not, Pierzynski continued, these could simply be presented orally during the conference or as part of a poster session.

Call participants talked about logistics. First, they discussed what must be done to obtain a time slot at ASA's 2001 conference. Chaney asked if a formal proposal has to be submitted. Pierzynski, the S-11 (Soils and Environmental Quality) division chair for the ASA 2001 meeting, did not think so, but he agreed to check nonetheless. Pierzynski said that he could take the lead on reserving a time slot, but said that he needs more information about the Action Team's proposed agenda first. Brown recommended reserving a full day, and dedicating half of it to Joplin-related topics. Ryan thought more time might be needed. He and Berti agreed to start developing an outline that lists proposed topics and speakers. Ryan said that this would be sent to Pierzynski for review. After incorporating his feedback, the outline will be distributed to other Action Team members.

Next, call participants talked about the logistics that pertain to the symposium publication. Ryan said that JEQ might allow an Action Team member to serve as an associate editor for the symposium. Pierzynski agreed to ask JEQ about this. He also said that he would be willing to serve as the associate editor. Berti asked if it will be difficult to coordinate peer reviews so that all of the papers are ready for publication at the same time. Ryan did not think JEQ would require the Action Team to submit all their papers at one time. Rather, JEQ would probably be willing to hold back the papers that are ready and to delay the symposium's release until the tardy ones arrive.

Conference call participants paused to think about whether all of the Action Team's current projects can be completed before ASA's 2001 conference. Although they were not sure the projects will be completed in time, they agreed to hold their meeting in 2001. If data sets are not complete by then, Brown said, available information should still be presented at the conference. Then, in the months that follow, Action Team members could keep working to make sure that data sets are complete for the symposium publication.

NEXT FACE-TO-FACE MEETING

Conference call participants agreed that they should meet in fall 2000. They will use this time, Berti said, to discuss activities at the Joplin site and to make final decisions about how to structure the symposium. Berti said that many Action Team members will be at ASA's November 2000 meeting; thus, he recommended meeting in conjunction with this conference.

MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS

Brown identified several meetings that might be of interest to Action Team members. For example, she said, a meeting will be held between July 17 and July 20, 2000, in Golden, Colorado, to discuss using residuals for restoration. Also, the Water Environmental Federation will hold a meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on September 17 and 18, 2000. In addition, meetings will probably be held by a National Research Council group that recently formed to address contaminant bioavailability in soils and sediments.

David Mosby said that the University of Missouri is summarizing some studies that have been performed at the Joplin site. After the Action Team's last conference call, Mosby said, he contacted EPA's Mark Doolan to find out whether he wanted a copy of this summary or if he preferred a more comprehensive report. According to Mosby, Doolan wants as much information summarized as possible.

Mosby said that he talked to Doolan about EPA's data review requirements, and learned that internal and external reviews can be held at the same time.

ACTION ITEMS

• Pierzynski will collect soils from the Joplin site in May 2000.

• Chaney will collect soils from the Joplin site during the week of May 22, 2000.

• Pierzynski will send a one-page proposal to Berti that summarizes his plans to establish treatment plots with "manganese plus phosphorus" amendments. Berti will distribute this to other Action Team members and ask them to respond promptly if they object to the proposal.

• Brown agreed to send a plot map of the Joplin site to Pierzynski and Chaney.

• Berti agreed to e-mail conference call participants a map that depicts lead isolines at the Joplin site.

• Pierzynski agreed to find out whether a formal proposal must be submitted in order to reserve a time slot for the Action Team at ASA's 2001 conference.

• Ryan and Berti agreed to start developing an outline that lists proposed topics and speakers for the Action Team's symposium. This will be sent to Pierzynski for review. After incorporating his feedback, the outline will be distributed to other Action Team members for their comment.

• Call participants agreed that their symposium should be published in JEQ. Pierzynski agreed to ask JEQ whether it would allow an Action Team member to serve as an associate editor for the symposium.

• Ryan said that he has not yet received samples that were collected from the Joplin site in November 1999. Mosby said that he would call John Yang to remind him to send them.

• Berti agreed to send Brown characterization data on a bucket of soil. (Brown said that she would like to receive data on total metals if possible. To clarify things, she summarized the bucket's history: it was originally held by Yang and Bob Blanchar, but was sent to Berti in February 1997, then forwarded to her.)