On January 17, 2001, the following members of the Remediation Technologies Development Forum’s (RTDF’s) Refinery Alliance met in a conference call:

Mark Lyverse, Chevron Research and Technology Company (Alliance co-chair)
Jeff Hostetler, TriHydro Corporation
Randy Jewett, Texaco Group
Dawn Kaback, Concurrent Technologies
Ali Taveli, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality
Kathy Yager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Technology Innovation Office (TIO)

Also present were Carolyn Perroni of Environmental Management Support, Inc. (EMS), and Christine Hartnett of Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG).

FEBRUARY 2001 MEETING

The Refinery Alliance will meet during the week of February 26, 2001, in San Luis Obispo. The meeting will span two days. On the first day, the Alliance will tour the Guadalupe Oil Field. On the second day, the Alliance will gather in a hotel and have a formal meeting. On one of the nights, a small group might convene to work on specific issues. The aim of this small nighttime meeting, Kathy Yager said, will be twofold: (1) the Alliance will get some work done, and (2) those who are considering joining the Technical Work Group (discussed below) will gain an understanding of how the group operates.

Call participants identified two potential time slots for the two-day meeting: (1) February 27 and 28 or (2) February 28 and March 1. Alliance members found both dates acceptable, but they preferred the latter. EMS and ERG agreed to contact hotel and Guadalupe Oil Field representatives to finalize the dates for the Alliance’s February 2001 meeting. Once this has been accomplished, Perroni will notify Alliance members and Ali Taveli will notify Kent Udell.

Call participants agreed to work on the meeting’s agenda during their next conference call. They brainstormed briefly to identify topics to include on the meeting’s agenda. They listed the following: (1) expectations for the Technical Work Group, (2) Randy Breeden’s efforts to compile information, (3) the Alliance’s decision-making framework.

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

Dawn Kaback said that a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been created. Perroni agreed to distribute the most recent version to the Alliance’s core members, and to ask them to submit comments by February 5. If the comments are extensive, Kaback will ask ERG to set up a conference call for the Alliance so the comments can be discussed. Ideally, Kaback said, she plans to incorporate comments and send a revised MOU to core Alliance members by the week of February 19, 2001. Those who plan to attend the February 2001 meeting will be asked to bring signed copies of the MOU.

Kaback said that she has already received some comments on the MOU, noting that she would send Jewett an e-mail that summarizes one Alliance member’s request that the Action Team always be referred to as an alliance rather than a partnership.

Yager said that TIO has already generated some preliminary comments on the MOU; she agreed to forward these to all of the call participants. The main comment, Yager said, is a recommendation to keep the MOU broad in nature and to leave out specific confidentiality clauses. Such sensitive and proprietary issues can be addressed, Yager said, in a legal agreement separate from the MOU. Some call participants said that they had not realized that there would be a separate legal agreement. Yager said that she assumed Texaco would require one. Call participants agreed to determine what agreements are necessary before they meet in February 2001.

TECHNICAL WORK GROUP

Taveli noted that a Technical Work Group will be created to develop a strategy for remediating the Texaco site in Casper, Wyoming. She said that the Work Group will have two immediate goals: (1) perform a hydrocarbon mobility study and (2) identify a remedial technology for the site. She said that the Work Group will consist of five to eight people; she, Jewett, and Jeff Hostetler have already filled three of the slots, and two other candidates (Kent Udell and John Meyers) have also been identified. Taveli, Hostetler, and Jewett agreed to call Udell and Meyers to talk to them about serving as Technical Work Group team members.

Taveli said that she and Hostetler have generated a preliminary list of expectations that Technical Work Group members will be expected to meet. She agreed to send this list, as well as a summary of the Technical Work Group’s goals, to Perroni by January 26, 2001. (Perroni will forward it to other Alliance members.) In addition, Taveli and Hostetler will compile an information packet on the Casper site and distribute this to Alliance members by mid-February.

Call participants talked briefly about the decision-making process that will be used for the Casper site. They agreed that the Technical Work Group should make decisions about which studies, methodologies, and remediation techniques to use at the site. The Alliance’s larger core group will not have decision-making power, but will be expected to serve an advisory role. In addition, Texaco will likely request absolute veto power for the site. Yager said that this is not unreasonable; Texaco should be able to have the final say on what occurs on its property.

Perroni said that she has received technical reports from a number of Refinery Alliance members. Taveli recommended forwarding these reports to Breeden, noting that he has agreed to distill the information. Yager said that she would be willing to help Breeden with the compilation effort. Hostetler said that the information will eventually be posted to an online library.