October 16, 2002
1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.
On October 16, 2002, the following members of the Remediation Technologies Development Forum’s (RTDF’s) Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL) Cleanup Alliance met in a conference call:
Randy Breeden, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 (Alliance co-chair)
Mark Lyverse, Chevron Research and Technology Company (Alliance co-chair)
Dawn Kaback, Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC)
Ali Tavelli, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality
Kathy Yager, EPA Technology Innovation Office (TIO)
Also present were Carolyn Perroni of Environmental Management Support, Inc., and Christine Hartnett of Eastern Research Group, Inc.
NAPL MANAGEMENT DECISION FRAMEWORK
The NAPL Cleanup Alliance is developing a NAPL Management Decision Framework (NMDF), a document that will help regulators and industry members think through the steps that should be taken to develop meaningful NAPL management plans. Dawn Kaback, of CTC, presented a draft annotated outline of the NMDF at the Alliance’s April 2002 meeting. Comments were provided. Kaback said she is eager to continue work on the NMDF, and that she plans to revise the outline before the next Alliance meeting. Producing the revised outline, Kaback said, is Task #1 in a list of five tasks that must be performed to complete the NMDF. While on the phone, call participants talked briefly about Task #2, which involves taking the revised NMDF outline and field-testing it at several sites (e.g., the Casper Refinery site and some EPA-led sites). Randy Breeden said that CTC’s involvement during Task #2 will be minimal. He envisions asking the field teams that are implementing the NMDF to (1) submit feedback to CTC on the NMDF’s usefulness and (2) generate case studies that summarize what was learned during this exercise. CTC should not be expected, Breeden said, to generate case studies at this stage of the NMDF’s development. Other call participants agreed. Call participants did not discuss Task #3, Task #4, or Task #5 activities in great detail. They did indicate, however, that they hope to complete all the tasks by the end of 2003.
UPDATE ON A POSSIBLE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY OFFICE
In April 2002, representatives from the NAPL Cleanup Alliance and the National Petroleum Technology office (NPTO) talked about forming a partnership. Since that time little has been accomplished toward this end. Kathy Yager said that NPTO has not signed the Alliance’s Memorandum of Understanding. Kaback indicated that she has contacted NPTO representatives to discuss the possibility of collaborating; although she was told that some NPTO members are interested in the Alliance’s activities, no one has contacted her yet. Kaback said that NPTO does fund projects, and suggested checking their Web site to find out when requests for proposals will be issued.
SOLICITING PARTICIPATION FROM STATE REGULATORS
During previous meetings and conference calls, Yager said, NAPL Cleanup Alliance members expressed interest in recruiting additional state regulators to the group. Yager asked for information on what has been done to meet this goal. Ali Tavelli said that she and her colleague, Dave Finley, are trying to determine whether the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) is interested in forming a partnership with the Alliance. Tavelli said that she created a memorandum that describes the Alliance’s goals, and that Finley (ASTSWMO’s former president) has agreed to present the memorandum to ASTSWMO’s Board of Directors. Tavelli said that some ASTSWMO members may have the wrong impression of the Alliance, and that they may perceive the Alliance’s NMDF as an effort to force standardized light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) cleanup endpoints onto the regulatory community. Thus, it is important to let ASTSWMO members know that the NMDF preserves an environmental agency’s ability to set its own cleanup objectives for NAPL sites. Tavelli will let Alliance members know what ASTSWMO thinks of the memorandum. She hopes to set up a conference call between the Alliance and ASTSWMO leadership in the near future.
TRAINING INITIATIVES
Mark Lyverse said that efforts are underway to develop an LNAPL training program that can be delivered across the country. Call participants agreed that industry and the regulatory community should take part in developing the training. Lyverse said that the American Petroleum Institute and industry members have taken the lead in creating a strawman. This strawman will be revised and distributed to the regulatory community in early November. Breeden said that he is interested in providing input, noting that he hopes to generate innovative ways to teach people about residual NAPL. Breeden said that he already knows a couple of state regulators who are willing to review the training program, and agreed to identify others as well. Tavelli said that she will let ASTSWMO know about the training initiative. In addition, call participants agreed, the training materials should be reviewed by the entire NAPL Cleanup Alliance. That way, the materials can carry the RTDF’s endorsement.
Yager described another training initiative that is underway: TIO is developing case studies that describe aggressive NAPL removal technologies. The case studies will highlight three sites, describing lessons learned and obstacles encountered. The three sites have not been chosen yet. Yager plans to create a list of candidate sites, which she will distribute to Alliance members for review.
LNAPL Central
CTC has created an “LNAPL Central” Web site. A conference call will be held in late October 2002 to introduce people to the site and to demonstrate its features. Kaback will send Alliance members information about the conference call’s date and time.
NEXT ALLIANCE MEETING
Call participants decided that they would like to meet face to face over the next few months. They proposed meeting in January 2003 in Texas. Carolyn Perroni agreed to send an e-mail to Alliance members asking for their input on the meeting’s date and location.