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Significant Developments and Activities Report
LAND AND CHEMICALS DIVISION
Weekly Significant Developments and Activities Report
May 1, 2009
Federal Agencies Briefed on Minnesota Taconite Research
Researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) and the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) presented a special seminar on their Minnesota taconite health and environmental studies to federal agency representatives attending the Interagency Asbestos Working Group (IAWG) annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on April 21, 2009. The IAWG comprises all of the 9 federal agencies who work with asbestos-related issues, and includes EPA, ATSDR, OSHA, MSHA, CPSC, NIOSH, NIEHS. NIST and USGS. The agencies had requested that the University provide a briefing and progress report about its on-going research into the possible cause(s) of an elevated incidence of mesothelioma disease that has impacted the mining areas in northeastern Minnesota. The University is conducting a 5-year, two-prong investigation which includes both miner health and epidemiology as well as community exposure to fiber emissions. Both efforts are in the early stages, with workplans still under development. Region 5 was represented at the IAWG meeting by Phil King from LCD, and Mark Johnson from ATSDR. They also attended the special seminar, as did one of three federal officials currently serving on the University's Science Advisory Board (SAB) for this project, Paul Middendorf from NIOSH in Cincinnati.
Contact: Phillip King, 312-353-9062, Chemicals Management Branch
PTCS Conducted a Pesticide Import Inspection of Best Veterinary Solutions
On April 21, 2009, a Pesticides and Toxics Compliance Section inspector conducted a FIFRA inspection at a warehouse in Chicago to determine whether several pesticide products being held there were in compliance with FIFRA. The products were being imported by Best Veterinary Solutions of Ellsworth, Iowa. PTCS discovered no FIFRA violations related to BVS's products and recommended to U.S. Customs that it release the shipment.
Contact: Joseph Lukascyk, 312-886-6233, Chemicals Management Branch
Workgroup Meeting to Develop NPDES General Permits for Pesticide Application
EPA filed a motion for a stay of the mandate for two years of the 6th Circuit's decision for vacature of the Application of Pesticides to Waters of the United States in Compliance with FIFRA rule. While waiting for the Court's decision on whether to grant a stay, the Office of Pesticide Programs and the Office of Water are holding a two day meeting on April 29-30, 2009 in Washington D.C. to develop general permits for pesticide application to, over, or near waters. The general permits will be issued for unauthorized NPDES states (there are four, none in Region 5), and will be used by authorized NPDES states to develop their general permits. The Region 5 Pesticides Section and NPDES Branch will be participating in the meeting by conference call.
Contact: Bruce Wilkinson, 312-886-6002, Chemicals Management Branch
LCD Participates in the National OPPT Tribal Lead (Pb) Workgroup Meeting
Emma Avant of the Chemicals Management Branch represented the Region 5 Tribal Pb program at the OPPT National Tribal Pb Workgroup meeting held in Denver, CO on April 22, 2009. This meeting, consisting of representatives from several Regions and HQ was the resurrection of an earlier group that developed Pb program objectives to compliment the OPPT National Tribal Strategy. The workgroup has now been charged with developing activities in response to a request from OMB to develop ACS measures for tribes.
Ms. Avant was asked to present to the group a description of Region 5 tribal activities, such as the Direct Implementation Tribal Cooperative Agreements (DITCAs), the exploration of developing a tribal healthy homes program initiative, the tribal Pb program authorization process, the tribal mobile clinic (that is providing free Pb lead test to tribal children) and the Renovation, Repair and Paint (RRP) Renovator training that the Region will be providing to Region 5 tribal housing staff later this year.
Ms. Avant also made several suggestions for the alternative use of HQ funding that was very well received. The group was impressed with the work being conducted in the Region and considered recommending that several of the Region 5 activities be implemented nationally.
Contact: Emma Avant, 312-886-7899, Chemicals Management Branch
Full Field Exercise in Toledo, Ohio
LCD staff Margaret Jones, Paul Ruesch, and Paul Atkociunas participated in a Region 5 Full Field exercise in Toledo Ohio from April 20-24, 2009. The exercise involved an incident management team working through two days of a simulated radiological/”dirty bomb” emergency response scenario. Prior to the exercise there were monthly meetings of the team to prepare for the exercise. The exercise began with an on-site meeting to review the schedule for the week. The team comprised 10 players from the incident commander to the finance section chief and each played their respective role and moved through two full planning cycles developing daily ‘Incident Action Plans’ to report on response activities.
Margaret Jones participated as Environmental Unit Leader, Paul Ruesch as Resources Unit Leader and Paul Atkociunas as Safety Officer. Land and Chemicals Division staff participating in the Full Field Exercise have now completed many hours of position-specific training and are members of the ‘Response Support Corps’, which may be activated in the event of a large scale emergency response. A report on the EPA activities appeared in the local paper, the Toledo Blade, http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20090423%2FNEWS16%2F904230294%2F-1%2FNEWS09.
Contact: Margaret Jones, 312-353-5790, Chemicals Management Branch
EPA Exhibit and Presentation at Deconstruction Conference
The Building Materials Reuse Association's annual conference, DECON '09 was held at the University of Illinois-Chicago on April 28-30, 2009. MMB staff participated on the planning group for this conference; set up an EPA green building exhibit; and presented at the Conference. DECON '09 is an educational forum that focuses on building deconstruction practices and policies as well as reuse and recycling of recovered building materials. Two in-depth post-conference workshops were offered on Building Deconstruction and Construction and Demolition Recycling.
Contact: Phillip Kaplan, 312-353-4669, Materials Management Branch
Materials Management Branch Judges Entries at the University of Illinois Sustainable Electronic Waste Competition
On April 16, 2009 Chris Newman of the Materials Management Branch was a competition judge at the University of Illinois’ Sustainable Electronic Waste Competition. This competition was the end of a two semester course in the University’s Industrial Design Program to reduce the burden electronic waste has on the environment. The class started in the fall of 2008 with students enrolling in a course on how to make electronic waste management more sustainable and running their own e-waste collection event. With the materials collected, groups of students designed and built their concept of how electronic waste can be reused as a new product or device. The MMB staff judged projects in the ‘geek’ category that included a parallel processing computer, in-store recycling kiosk for recycling waste generated at home, and a system that was able to use algae to help clean indoor air. Seven other judges were from public and private organizations around Illinois and across the country. Winning teams received recognition from the University, as well as a cash award.
Contact: Christopher Newman, 312-353-8402, Materials Management Branch
EPA Participates in the Riverside, IL Earth Day Celebration
On Saturday April 25, 2009, MMB participated in the Riverside, IL Earth Day Celebration hosted by the Riverside Sustainability Council. MMB provided a presentation titled “Managing Solid Waste for a Greener Community” to several members of the Riverside City Council and the public. The presentation highlighted ways a community can improve their solid waste management through innovative contracting practices, ordinances and procurement procedures. The information may be used to assist the Village of Riverside renegotiate their solid waste management contract this summer.
Contact: Jacob Hassan, 312-886-6864, Materials Management Branch
Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) Meeting at Badger Army Ammunition Plant
On April 27, 2009, Bob Egan from RRB attended the Restoration Advisory Board meeting for Badger Army Ammunition Plant (BAAP). As at the previous meeting, most discussion centered on the dinitrotoluene (DNT) contamination in groundwater found on- and off-site in the northeast portion of BAAP. Residents are concerned that levels exceeding Wisconsin Health Advisory Levels for some DNT isomers may move toward Lake Wisconsin and nearby private wells. The Army has been pursuing an access agreement for well installation with an adjacent land owner, but has so far been unsuccessful. As a back-up, the Army presented a preliminary plan to use temporary wells in an attempt to search for off-site movement of contamination. RAB members were supportive of additional sampling, but reiterated their desire for permanent sentinel monitoring wells in this area. Interested persons will be invited to a special meeting in the near future to discuss the details of the proposed plan.
Contact: Robert Egan, 312-886-6212, Remediation and Reuse Branch
Environmental Awareness Fair, Andrew High School, Tinley Park, Illinois
On April 25, 2009 a representative from the Land and Chemicals Division (LCD) held an exhibit at the Andrew High School Environmental Awareness Fair. Over 200 students, parents, teachers and others visited the booth and received environmental publications, pencils made from different recycled materials, pens made from cardboard, Earth Day magnets, light switch stickers and more. There were a lot of great questions and the students loved meeting Clara, the guide dog.
Contact: Bob Harris 312-886-7577, Program Services Branch
GM Powertrain Annual Meeting - Bedford, Indiana
On April 20-21, 2009, RRB staff and management participated in an annual project meeting for the PCB remediation taking place at the GM Powertrain facility in Bedford, Indiana. A site tour of on- and off-site activities took place on the April 20, 2009 so that the team could view the remaining off-site removal actions, property restorations, and the remaining on-site work. A project status meeting was held on the April 21, 2009. Project activities from the past year were reviewed and upcoming planned activities for 2009 were discussed. Planned work for the remainder of 2009 includes the completion of the off-site removal activities, the multilayer cap system over the 40 acre East Plant Area, and the stormwater retention ponds. GM will continue to investigate the depth of DNAPL in the location of the former wastewater treatment plant ponds and plans to conduct a pilot scale installation of a perimeter groundwater collection trench in to bedrock.
Contact: Peter Ramanauskas, 312-886-7890, Remediation and Reuse Branch
Conference Call on Dow - Bay City Corrective Action Status
On April 29, 2009 Allen Debus, Dan Mazur, Mario Mangino, a USEPA contractor, and Mary Fulghum of ORC conferenced with Tim King, Dow Company, as well as CH2M HILL contractors representing Dow and several MDEQ technical staff to discuss several matters concerning the Dow Chemical facility in Bay City, Michigan. Technical matters concerning two Project Legacy parcels were emphasized. Dow was instructed on how to properly submit information permitting evaluation of the groundwater to surface water "mixing zone" interface at the Thorium Area, in accordance with MDEQ guidelines. Also, relationships between this mixing zone evaluation to the incomplete ecological risk assessment were clarified. Dow will revise its ecological risk assessment as part of a major Corrective Measures Proposal revision in May. Additionally it was clarified why further characterization of the Thorium and 11.8 Acre parcels must be performed before meaningful human health risk assessments can be written and evaluated, reflecting expected future land use. Dow's proposal to indefinitely defer soil characterization for chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans at these parcels through mechanisms allegedly contained within a Superfund Order directing the Dow Midland river cleanup project was rejected.
Contact: Allen Debus, 312-886-6186, Remediation and Reuse Branch
Green Remediation Training for RCRA Corrective Action Staff
Gary Victorine presented training on Green Remediation for the RCRA Corrective Action Project Managers in LCD, on January 29, February 5, and April 23. With these three opportunities, approximately 75% of the Corrective Action project managers have been able to attend the training, as well as several staff from other LCD Branches. In addition, Gary will travel to the Columbus, OH on May 21, 2009 to provide this training to Ohio EPA’s RCRA remediation staff.
This training focuses on techniques that can be used to conduct site cleanups which use less energy, consume fewer resources, conserve natural habitat, and emit less green house gases and other air pollutants.
Contact: Gary Victorine, 312-886-1479, Remediation and Reuse Branch
Mid-Year Review of MPCA RCRA Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Files
On April 21-23, 2009, Lorna Jereza and Daniel Chachakis, RCRA Branch, conducted a mid-year review of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) RCRA compliance monitoring and enforcement (CM&E) files. Thirty one MPCA CM&E files were reviewed using the State Review Framework (SFR) checklist. Initial findings include:
- Almost all of the files were present and in good order;
- Almost all of the inspection reports and enforcement actions were timely;
- Almost all of the RCRAInfo reports were inaccurate due to the inability of MPCA to translate its Delta system data to RCRAInfo because of compatibility issues with RCRAInfo version 4; and
- Use of an Administrative Penalty Order (APO) for a Significant Non-complier (SNC) may become a larger issue in the future due to the inability of MPCA to collect gravity, multi-day / multiple event penalties, and economic benefit, beyond the $10,000 penalty limit--- an issue that we will continue to monitor. MPCA does not have the ability to change its APO authority .
Contact: Daniel Chachakis, 312-886-9871, RCRA Branch
Review of Vertellus Trial Burn Plan and Risk Assessment
RCRA Section staff reviewed a Comprehensive Performance Test Plan (CPTP) and 2001 Risk Assessment Report (RA) from Vertellus Agriculture & Nutrition Specialties, LLC, Indianapolis, IN. Vertellus burns their hazardous waste in three industrial boilers. The review offers guidance to Vertellus if they choose to use test burn data for their 2011 RCRA permit application. Todd Ramaly reviewed the facilities air modeling report and Christopher Lambesis reviewed the proposed stack test plan and 2001 risk assessment. A report was provided to Jae Lee, RCRA Section Permit Writer, to help plan for the facilities trial burn to be used in their 2011 RCRA permit application.
Contact: Christopher Lambesis, 312-886-3583, RCRA Branch
Regional Administrator's Representative Signs Deferral Letter to Region 4 -
J.D. International Lighting, Inc.
On April 23, 2009, the Region 5 Regional Administrator's representative signed a letter in which Region 5 deferred to Region 4 the proposed resolution in the matter of J.D. International Lighting, Inc. J.D. International Lighting, Inc., is located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, and other locations in Regions 4 and 6. Region 5's RCRA Branch reviewed Region 4's proposed settlement, including the proposed civil penalty calculation, and recommended concurrence with Region 4's proposed settlement with the caveat that Region 4 increase its "bottom line" civil penalty for settlement to an amount that is in accordance with the RCRA Civil Penalty Policy.
Contact: Daniel Chachakis, 312-886-9871, RCRA Branch