July 18, 2001
12:30 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

On July 18, 2001, the following members of the Remediation Technologies Development Forum's (RTDF's) Phytoremediation Action Team, Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) in Soil Subgroup, met in a conference call:

Rich Farrell, University of Saskatchewan
Steve Geiger, ThermoRetec, Inc.
Peter Kulakow, Kansas State University
Kirk O'Reilly, Chevron Corporation
Greg Thoma, University of Arkansas
David Tsao, BP America
Duane Wolf, University of Arkansas

Henry Camp of the Arthur D. Little (ADL) laboratory and Jason Dubow of Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), were also present.

UPDATE ON FIELD DEMONSTRATION SITES

The TPH in Soil Subgroup has created a field study program to evaluate how effectively plants degrade petroleum hydrocarbons. Call participants provided updates on sites that are participating in the program.

• Site A. Kirk O'Reilly said that plant tissue samples and time three (T3) soil samples have been collected from Site A and forwarded to the ADL laboratory for analysis. If the results indicate that phytoremediation has occurred, he said, it might be decided to leave the demonstration project in place and arrange to analyze time four (T4) samples.
• Sites B, C, D, E, F, G, and K. Call participants had no new information to report on these sites.
• Site H. David Tsao said that samples were collected from Site H, but that he is not sure which laboratory they were sent to.
• Site I. Tsao noted that Site I was accidentally tilled early in the summer. After learning about this, Tsao traveled to the site to assess the damage. He reported the following: the vegetated plots have 80% to 90% plant coverage, but so do the controls, which are supposed to be bare. Tsao said that hand weeding and Roundup will be employed periodically throughout the growing season to remove weeds from the control plots.
• Site J. Duane Wolf said that samples were collected from Site J in May 2001. Microbial analyses have been completed, he said, and a statistician is analyzing the results. Greg Thoma said that root modeling is being performed at the site as well. It is hoped that this effort will yield useful information about root density and biomass as a function of depth. Kulakow said that root data have been collected from some of the other RTDF Subgroup sites. He agreed to forward these data to Thoma.
• Sites L and M. Sites L and M, both of which are located in Canada, have recently been added to the Subgroup's field demonstration project. Farrell said that the materials that will be treated at these sites will be excavated from flare pits, spread in raised beds, homogenized, sampled, and planted. He is not yet sure which analytical laboratory to use, but indicated that he has started investigating different laboratories. He asked Henry Camp to send him the Subgroup's standard sample, which has a known TPH content and composition. Farrell will send Camp an import permit and let him know how much sample is needed.
  

MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS

• New site map. Kulakow agreed to update the Subgroup's site map so that it accurately depicts the locations of sites participating in the Subgroup field demonstration project.
• Cost data. Subgroup members are tracking the cost of their demonstration projects. Kulakow said that he has received first-year cost data for all of the sites except Sites C, D, E, and K. He asked call participants to send him second-year cost data by August 2001. Kirk O'Reilly asked whether oversight costs should be included. Steve Geiger said that these costs could be folded under the Operations and Management category or presented as a stand-alone category.
• Next Subgroup meeting. Call participants agreed to meet face to face on Monday, September 10, 2001, in Austin, Texas. ERG will send out a meeting invitation and a logistical fact sheet to all Subgroup members. Call participants discussed the agenda briefly, noting that the meeting will consist of site summaries, discussion time, and a presentation on the Subgroup's annual report. (Kulakow said that he could have the latter finished before the meeting, and if time permits, could send Subgroup members draft text before finalizing the document. Kulakow asked Geiger to send him TPH Criteria Working Group information on Site G so that it can be included in the annual report. Geiger agreed to do so.
• Next conference call. Call participants tentatively scheduled the next TPH in Soil conference call for August 20, 2001. Kulakow will check with the Subgroup co-chairs to find out whether this date is acceptable. August 22 was identified as a suitable alternative.