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

12:15 p.m.-12:45 p.m.
September 15, 2004

On September 15, 2004, the following members of the Remediation Technologies Development Forum's (RTDF's) Sediments Remediation Action Team, Framework Review Subgroup, met in a conference call:

Nancy Grosso, DuPont Corporate Remediation (Action Team Co-chair)
Lyle Bruce, BP
Dana Davoli, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10
Katherine Fogarty, Menzie-Cura and Associates, Inc.
Keith Jones, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Terry Sugihara, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Jennifer Sutter, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
Brett Thomas, Chevron Texaco

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

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Federal stakeholders (i.e., EPA, the Navy, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) have joined forces with the RTDF and the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC) to form a workgroup and develop a document that describes the processes involved with assessing and managing contaminated sediments sites. In June 2004, the workgroup released a working draft of the document, entitled Framework for Evaluating and Managing Contaminated Sediment Sites. In early September 2004, Nancy Grosso, one of the co-chairs of the RTDF Sediments Remediation Action Team, polled the RTDF Action Team members to identify people who are interested in reviewing the document. After identifying a team of reviewers, Grosso set up a conference call to kick off the review process. The proceedings of the call are summarized below.

DISCUSSION

Grosso told the call participants that she would like all comments documented in writing by the first week of October 2004. During this call, Grosso said, she hoped to gauge the group's overall feeling about the document and to record the higher-level comments. She opened the floor to discussion. Several call participants complimented the workgroup's product, saying it was well organized, well referenced, and easy to follow. Call participants did, however, indicate that the workgroup could improve the document by doing the following:

• Strengthening the front sections. Dana Davoli said that the back sections of the document contain excellent information and make several important points, such as the fact that contamination typically extends beyond sediments at a "sediments site." Davoli advised making some of these points earlier in the document. In fact, she thought the entire front end of the document could be strengthened and given more backbone. She advised doing the following to achieve this:




—Clarifying when it is appropriate to perform screening assessments. Davoli noted that the document advises performing a screening risk assessment early in the evaluation process. If a screening risk assessment is performed too early--before enough characterization data are collected--managers might unduly eliminate important chemicals of concern. For this reason, Davoli advised making it clear that it is important to collect ample data before performing a screening assessment.

—Strengthening the discussion on conceptual site models. Davoli advised adding a discussion on the different types of media that might be contaminated at a "sediments site." She also advised adding more discussion on potential routes of exposure for ecological entities and humans. Grosso thanked Davoli for her comment and noted that the workgroup plans to add two conceptual site model figures to the document. (One will depict a simple system and the other will depict a more complex system.) Davoli thought it was an excellent idea to add these figures. In addition, she said, text should be provided to emphasize how important the conceptual models are to the evaluation process. Grosso said that the workgroup might be able to borrow language from an EPA guidance document that is scheduled to be released in the near future.

—Expanding on the sampling discussion. Davoli advised strengthening the discussion on sampling. In the back sections of the document, she noted, the authors say that a sound sampling plan helps reduce uncertainties. Davoli advised making this point earlier in the document.

• Offering more concrete guidance. Jennifer Sutter said that the document fails to offer the level of detail that is required to answer hard questions about sediments evaluation and management. This lack of detail, she said, limits the document's utility. Grosso responded by saying that the workgroup's intent is to reference existing materials rather than to reinvent the wheel. The main goal, she said, is to outline a logical sequence of steps that should be taken to arrive at decisions about contaminated sediments sites. Grosso asked Sutter to provide a list of topics that require more detail, noting that EPA might be willing to develop short technical papers that address specific sediments-related topics.



• Discussing variations among the states. Terry Sugihara recommended providing information on how sediments management approaches differ across states. Grosso said that ITRC's Contaminated Sediments Team is exploring these issues; she advised contacting Rich DeWan (richard.dewan@dep.state.nj.us) for more information.



• Adding more emphasis to the discussion on end use. One call participant complimented the document's authors for mentioning the importance of considering site end use when developing a conceptual site model and identifying receptors of concern. He advised placing even more emphasis on this topic.



• Emphasizing the importance of considering net environmental benefits when making management decisions.



• Ensuring that the document takes advantage of the Internet. Keith Jones recommended taking full advantage of the Internet and setting up a Web site that allows managers to access sediments-related tools in one user-friendly location. Grosso said that the document will be designed to take advantage of the Internet, noting that hotlinks will be provided for many of the references.

ACTION ITEMS

• Call participants agreed to submit written comments on the Framework for Evaluating and Managing Contaminated Sediment Sites by October 6, 2004. Comments should be sent to Nancy Grosso (Nancy.R.Grosso@USA.dupont.com). Once Grosso receives the comments, she will compile them and send them to the workgroup that is developing the framework.



• Sutter will send Grosso a list of the specific types of evaluations, analyses, and topics that she had hoped would be covered in the framework document.