SUMMARY OF THE REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPMENT FORUM
SEDIMENTS REMEDIATION ACTION TEAM
ASSESSMENT SUBGROUP CONFERENCE CALL

October 6, 2000
11:30 a.m - 12:30 p.m.

On Friday, October 6, 2000, the following members of the Remediation Technologies Development Forum’s (RTDF’s) Sediments Remediation Action Team, Assessment Subgroup, met in a conference call:

Ralph Stahl, DuPont Corporate Remediation (Subgroup Co-chair)
John Davis, The Dow Chemical Company
Jim Harrington, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Ash Jain, EPRI
Joseph Jersak, Hull & Associates, Inc.
David Moore, MEC Analytical Systems, Inc.
Danny Reible, Louisiana State University
Christine Hartnett of Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), was also present.

Ralph Stahl said that the Subgroup is preparing 11 white papers, each of which addresses a different sediments assessment issue. Most of these papers, Stahl noted, were reviewed during a Subgroup meeting that was held on September 12, 2000, in Wilmington, Delaware. The papers’ authors collected comments, and are now revising their documents. Stahl said that papers written by Ken Finkelstein and Danny Reible were not reviewed at the meeting, but attendees agreed to send them comments in a timely fashion. Stahl said that all revisions should be made before the end of 2000 so that final versions of the white papers can be presented at the Subgroup’s January 2001 meeting. (Revised papers should be submitted to Stahl [Ralph.G.Stahl-Jr@usa.dupont] or ERG [chartnet@erg.com].)

Stahl said that abstracts were written for all of the white papers, and that these have been forwarded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for review. EPA has agreed, Stahl said, to print the abstracts in a pamphlet under the RTDF’s logo. (Individual authors will not be listed.) These pamphlets will be available for distribution at an open house that the Subgroup is holding during the November 2000 Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) meeting.

THE SETAC MEETING

As noted above, the Subgroup plans to hold on open house at the November 2000 SETAC meeting. Stahl said that the open house will be held on November 13 or 14. He agreed to inform Subgroup members of the exact date, time, and location once that information is confirmed.

Stahl said that eight Subgroup members have volunteered to be at the open house. These volunteers will pass out pamphlets, answer questions, and direct visitors to the Subgroup’s posters. Three posters will be created. One will provide a general description of the RTDF and another will describe the Sediments Remediation Action Team. The third poster, Stahl said, will summarize the information presented in the Subgroup’s white papers.

THE NEXT SUBGROUP MEETING

Stahl said that the Subgroup plans to meet on January 24 and 25, 2001, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) laboratories near Seattle, Washington. The meeting’s agenda will include the following topics:

• The Subgroup’s white papers. Stahl said that the Subgroup will review the finalized white papers.
  
  
• A framework for performing sediments assessment. Stahl said that he hopes to develop a framework for performing sediments assessment. He said that several organizations (e.g., NOAA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) have issued guidelines on how to perform assessment. Stahl said that it would be useful to synthesize these approaches and create a cohesive framework. In an effort to get Subgroup members to start thinking about this, Stahl said, he distributed some materials at the September 12, 2000 meeting. Ash Jain, John Davis, and Reible asked Stahl if they could have copies of these materials. ERG agreed to distribute the materials.
  
  
• Pilot projects. Stahl said that the RTDF Action Team is working to identify a site for a demonstration project. The Subgroup may want to discuss progress that has been made in this area.

Stahl said that there might be an opportunity to go on a field trip after the meeting. He said it might be possible to tour NOAA’s facilities. Also, there might be interesting projects in Puget Sound that Subgroup members would like to visit.

THE ANACOSTIA RIVER—A POTENTIAL DEMONSTRATION SITE

Stahl said representatives from the Anacostia Watershed Toxics Alliance (AWTA) have expressed interest in partnering with the RTDF to perform pilot demonstration studies. Stahl said that the Anacostia River, which runs through park lands in Maryland, has been heavily impacted by pollutants. The AWTA was formed when several entities (including the Navy, EPA, NOAA, and the State of Maryland) began working together to address the contamination problem. To date, the Alliance has collected significant characterization data. In the near future, they hope to identify some management or remediation strategies to address the site’s contaminated sediments.

Stahl said that RTDF representatives met with AWTA members recently in a conference call. The latter expressed great interest in establishing pilot demonstrations to test the efficacy of remediation and management technologies that can be used to address sediments. Encouraged by this conversation, RTDF representatives (Stahl, Kelly Madalinski, Richard Jensen, and Dennis Timberlake) agreed to give a presentation at the next AWTA meeting, which is scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., on October 24, 2000. The presentation will provide information about the RTDF, the Sediments Remediation Action Team, and a variety of treatment and management technologies. Stahl said that the meeting is open to the public and that other Action Team members should feel free to attend.

If a partnership between AWTA and the RTDF is solidified during the October 24 meeting, Stahl said, Action Team members will need to move forward quickly on the following activities:

• Developing a work plan. Stahl said that the Action Team will need to generate a list of technologies that could be tested at the Anacostia site.
  
  
• Identifying funding sources. Stahl said that cooperative agreements will probably need to be established to fund demonstration projects. Jain suggested finding out whether local utility companies would be willing to participate in RTDF projects. Jain said that utility companies have been known to contribute money toward remediation efforts. They do so, Jain said, to maintain good community relations.

OTHER POTENTIAL DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

Stahl’s discussion on the Anacostia River prompted call participants to brainstorm about other areas that might serve as demonstration sites. The following sites were discussed:

• Puget Sound. David Moore said that he recently attended a Western Dredging Association (WDA) meeting. While at the meeting, Moore learned that Weiss Associates plans to initiate a pilot project in Puget Sound. Moore said that Weiss Associates plans to demonstrate microchemical technology, but that it might be possible to test a variety of other technologies as well. Moore agreed to keep in touch with representatives from Weiss Associates to track their progress in the Puget Sound area.
  
  
• Portland Harbor. Moore said that much of Portland Harbor has been declared a Superfund site, noting that there are about 75 parties that are potentially responsible for the contamination. Large areas of contaminated sediments need to be addressed, Moore said, noting that it might be very difficult to find landfills that would be willing to accept excavated sediment. Thus, the group working on Portland Harbor might be interested in learning more about in situ technologies. Moore agreed to track activities at the Portland Harbor site.
  
  
• A river in the northeast. Jain said that EPRI is performing work on a river in the Northeast. About 13,000 cubic feet of sediment will be removed from the river. EPRI plans to evaluate the long-term impacts of such a removal activity.
  
  
• The Elizabeth River. Stahl said that there might be an opportunity for field work at the Elizabeth River site in New Jersey.

ACTION ITEMS

• Stahl agreed to forward the Subgroup’s white paper abstracts to Reible.
  
  
• ERG will send handouts from the September 12, 2000, Subgroup meeting to Reible, Jain, and Davis.
  
  
• Upon Stahl’s request, ERG agreed to distribute information about an upcoming Anacostia Watershed Toxics Alliance (AWTA) meeting.
  
  
• Jain and Moore will send ERG (chartnet@erg.com) a brief summary of their ideas about potential demonstration sites.
  
  
• ERG will set up the next conference call for October 27, 2000, between 1:00 and 2:30 Eastern Daylight Time.